Preachers and Farmers

Greetings friends and family,

For the past two weeks the 4 Webbs were on full isolation lock down from the outside world.  Easton and Layla were still our top priority, but from 8-11 almost every night (and several hours on some days) we were preparing for our first attempt at preaching a full sermon.  OK, maybe not so much preaching as it was teaching and not so much a sermon as it was a testimony of our marriage.  At any rate, we sacrificed TV, household chores, friends, dates, book time, alone time, and gym time. This was the largest collaborative effort Kendra and I have ever undertaken.  An unexpected joy that I received from our message was how great it was to have Kendra's undivided attention for so many minutes at a time.  She was probably tired of me, but I loved every minute of it.

I'm proud to proclaim, "We did it!" and we did it well, with excellence.  The preparation, teamwork, delivery, and results were nothing less than amazing.

The twins survived double church class without any hiccups.  They've never had to be there for two services in a row.  We weren't concerned about it, but they did really well with spending almost 5 hours inside a classroom.  Especially considering the weather is perfect today.

So after the fanfare of our incredible morning, I offered Easton and Layla an option of going to watch our friend's son race on the BMX track or taking a hike.  They chose to head out for the mountains for a hike.

I'm happy to report we made it to the second peak and back to the car without a single injury.  Hooray for coordination and balance!

They were great hikers.  We talked with each and every person we passed or who passed us.  Who'd have thought hiking was a social event?  These two do...

Layla decided she wasn't interested in going to Home Depot for a tomato plant.  Easton and I dropped her off at home and went searching for the necessary components to produce our own tomatoes.  We had the pot already.  The only three things we needed were seeds, soil, and a cage.

Layla joined us two farmers in her princess gear and promised me she wouldn't get them dirty.  We added the rocks in the bottom, soil, and seeds one at a time.

Layla brought the watering can and we made the shift from pretend, imaginary gardening to "the real deal"!  We'll know in seven days whether we have green thumbs or just another pot of useless dirt.

Another shift from imagination to reality is makeup.  Layla rediscovered her cell phone makeup kit when I rescued it from the Pilot center console during a recent trip to the car wash.

I watched as she gently applied the gooey, brown chunk of mascara onto her half-closed eyelid.  Here she is squinting and asking if she looks good.  As always, I know how to respond...  Yes!  She's always asking, "Am I lovely?" and these are the moments when I have a chance to be her inner voice that will carry throughout her life.     

Kendra and I took a lunch break during our on-stage practice run.  We don't get many babysitting dates and it was difficult to consider that we could spend our entire window of opportunity on the stage at church.  We cashed in our Groupon for sushi with delicious raw fish.  yum.  We sat quietly a few minutes with our heads resting against each other and our eyes closed.  We were both so glad to have a few minutes of public alone time without the kids.

Another week in the books and another week closer to my sabbatical in less than 8 weeks!

See you soon.