Keal Family Letter, June 2006

Hello Friends and Family. Happy June to you all!


Our yard is now green again! It's not completely back to normal, but it looks a lot better. We may have to re-seed a couple of areas that didn't quite take, but most of it is green.

Tirah has now settled into her new job as the Operational Team Leader at Jo-Ann Fabrics. It looks like her increase in pay will just about account for the decrease in pay from quitting working for Carl. So our over-all financial life-style will stay about the same. But the biggest benefit will be that Tirah only has one job, and can come home from work, and be done work.

On June 13th, Cirdan will be turning TWO! He is quite the little boy. He loves soccer (or football if you live outside the USA), and spends a good portion of his day running around the house kicking a little ball, and getting pretty good at it. He developed this funny little habit of winding up with the wrong foot. He'll run up to a ball, and swing his left foot back, and then kick the ball with his right foot! It seems to work alright for him, although I think I'd fall flat on my nose if I kicked a ball like that.

His vocabulary increases every day. His latest favorite phrase is "Oh... Yes... Right!" For example: "Hey Cirdan, it's time for you to go into the living room and clean up the Lego!" "Oh... Yes... Right!" Almost as if to say, "Thanks for reminding me Papa, I knew I'd forgotten what I was supposed to be doing." That's pretty much how he responds to anything you tell him. Well... that's not true. He often responds with an emphatic "NO!" He is almost two after all. Cirdan is just entering the Terrible Twos, and Thea has just recently left them. This means that our two children tend to take turns driving us crazy. We have family worship every night before bed, and often times one of our children will be a little angel and participate wonderfully in the worship, while the other one is a complete basket case. And then the very next night it could be the exact reverse. It's almost as if they've worked out their own little schedule: "Hey Cirdan, I was the basket case last night, so tonight it's your turn to be the basket case, and I'll be a good little girl, O.K.?" "Oh... Yes... Right!"

Cirdan is often just a very agreeable little boy. This is usually a very good thing. But sometimes it catches me by surprise. I find it hard to think of ways to punish him, because he loves anything I do. Recently at the dinner table, Cirdan was banging his spoon on the table; something that we try to discourage them from doing. So I said, "Cirdan, if you hit your spoon on the table one more time, I'm going to take your spoon away from you!" Cirdan looked up at me, said "O.K.!" and then slammed his spoon on the table once more. It was almost as if he had said, "You've got yourself a deal Papa! I get to bang my spoon on the table one more time! Thanks so much!" It was hard not to laugh as I took the spoon away from such a content little boy.

A couple of days ago I was sitting in the living room, and the kids were running in and out of the room. After a few minutes, the house was filled with the noise of silence. Any parent will tell you, this is often not a good thing. So I ran into the kitchen to find Cirdan sitting in the middle of the kitchen table, dipping his fingers in the butter dish, and licking to his heart's content. He looked up at me, not with a face full of guilt, but almost as if to say, "Papa! You should try this!" So I pulled him off the table, cleaned his fingers off, put him down, and went back into the living room. But oh, what foolish parents we are! A few minutes later, I heard the same silence fill the air, and sure enough, he was back on the kitchen table licking butter. I often forget that children don't get implied messages. By taking him off the table, I meant to imply that he was not allowed up there. He probably thought I just wanted a go at the butter myself, and since I was bigger... well... survival of the fittest! So as soon as I was gone, all bets were off.

Cirdan has learned the secret of life. We recently watched a funny movie called "Last Holiday," in which there is a great quote that says, "The secret of life is... butter." Cirdan has already figured out the secret of life... at such an early age!

Thea is becoming quite the graceful little girl. She's always loved dancing to music, but recently we've begun to notice how much natural talent she seems to have in the area of dance. She does interpretive dancing to music... at age 3. And it's very good! You can tell, she actually feels the music, and expresses her impression of it in her dancing.

It's always fun hearing the way a little child's mind works by listening to the way they describe things and put together words and phrases. We were driving down a long hill in the car, the other day, and Thea said that she wanted to go down another "Road Slide." Recently we went to Bryn Athyn, and saw where the kid's Aunt Jori works (at Glencairn), and since then, Thea and Cirdan have gotten this impression that the place where people go to work is called a "Castle." We dropped my Dad off at work the other day (at Cabela's) and the kids called it a castle. It was very cute.

Our house has a bit of an ant infestation right now. There are often ants running around on the kitchen floor. Cirdan and Thea find ants to be fascinating, but they don't quite get what they are. I think they think they are little toys. But then even toys are anthropomorphic to little kids. Anyway... the kids were "playing" with an ant on the floor, and they gave it a friendly little swipe, in which they (unintentionally) decapitated the ant. So Thea comes running up to me and says, "Papa, the ant broke! Can you put his head back on?" At their age, they have no concept of death. I don't think they would get it, even if I tried to explain it.

I was thinking the other day about how our children are such strange mixtures of us as parents. At first glance you might get the impression that Thea is a little "Tirah," and Cirdan is a little "Solomon." But you dig a little deeper, and you'll find that Thea is more of a little "Solomon," and Cirdan is more of a little "Tirah." But really, they're a mixture of both of us... for better and worse. Tirah and I are a great example of the phrase "opposites attract." There are so many ways in which we are completely opposites in the way we think, feel, and act. So when you combine opposites in one person... what happens? Well... Thea and Cirdan happen. At times, both Thea and Cirdan can be a wonderful combination of all of our best qualities: thoughtful, socially adept, confident, loving order, yet also joyfully spontaneous. And at other times, they can be a combination of all of our worst qualities: overly sensitive with a temper, obsessive compulsive, selfish, fearful, etc. I guess it all evens out in the wash, and the Lord guides us, as well as our children, towards the combined good in us, and away from the compounded bad.

I was recently noticing how many cousins Thea and Cirdan already have. They have 7 first cousins! Caleb and Garrett, Nathaniel and Malachi, Kate and Genai, and Asher. They also have 4 second cousins: Annicka, Zachery and Daniel Hennigan, and Ingrid Longstaff. As well as 3 sort of "adopted" cousins (close friends of the family): Bethany Genzlinger, and Shanna and Rafe McQueen.

Tirah and I have recently changed our routine a little bit. We used to do our inspirational and meditational readings at night before bed. But we found that we often ended up not really hearing what we were reading, or out-right falling asleep while reading. This is not a good way of dealing with such an important part of life. So we moved our meditation time to the morning, right after we wake up. So now, we wake up, and spend the very first part of our day reading from the Bible, the Writings, or some other spiritual book (or all three), and then we pray. This way we are armed and ready for our day. We can go into each day with some spiritual task, or thought, or goal, as well as having prayed for guidance for the day. We are finding this new routine very valuable and enjoyable. It's also a great time to focus on our marriage.

Lately we are reading a book called "The Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren. You've probably heard of it. We are finding it very useful and inspirational.

Tirah and I celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary this month. The little angel that is our marriage is leaving toddler-hood, and entering early childhood. We have certainly learned a lot in five years, and we find new ways to love each other, and learn from each other every day.

Speaking of toddler-hood, my music business is still growing. Today I began recording my next solo piano album, "Peace of Heaven." I'm also learning more and more every day about the nature of business, as well as specifically the music business. Once again, I'm so grateful to the Lord, my wife, and all of you, for your help in this dream of mine.

May the Lord bless your lives!

Have a wonderful June!

Love,
The Keals:
Solomon John
Tirah Marie Echols
Thea Clarity
Cirdan Ewan.