Keal Family Letter, December 2005

Hello Friends and Family! Merry Christmas to you all! I hope you
are all enjoying the start of the Season.

We are all just getting over a nasty bout of colds and fevers. I
started it all by getting sick on Thanksgiving, and then the rest of
the family followed suit. We're also feeling the stress of the
Holiday rush, perhaps Tirah more than anyone else, since she works in
retail and it's the most stressful time of year in retail. But other
than that, we are all well.

Cirdan will be a year and a half this month. He's become quite the
little boy. The other day he learned how to put two pieces of Lego
together (I'm so proud!). He loves singing and dancing and playing the
"Nanyo" (Piano). He loves destroying things and getting into trouble.
He loves to throw these little crocheted balls that Tirah made.
He'll grab one, and then bend way over forward, with his hand behind
him... winding up for the pitch; and then he throws... often times the
ball going straight up as he releases too early, and it will come down
and bounce off his head. He seriously looks like a little baby
baseball pitcher. He's also started this really cute habit of
walking around with both of his hands clasped behind his back... he
looks like a baby Charlie Chaplin.

Cirdan keeps talking more and more. He's now in the phase where you
can prompt him to try to say a word, and he'll give it his best shot.
The other day he actually put together a small sentence. He had lost
his binky (pacifier); this was while he was still sick, and he was very
sad. As I was crawling around on the floor looking for it, I heard him
say between sobs: "Ah Wah Da Diddy!" (I want my Binky!)

Thea is definitely a two year old. She will be three in February. The
most common word heard to escape her lips is "NO!" She flexes her Will
every day. It is very hard, for both Tirah and I, to be patient
enough to deal with this stage of a developing child. It's difficult
to remember that just because she can talk, doesn't mean she's
rational. She spends a lot of time in the "Naughty Room." She will
scream until her face turns bright red, just because she didn't get
what she wanted. Thea is also still potty training, and has learned
that she can say "I need to go potty!" right before bed-time or
nap-time and then use it as a stalling tactic and just sit on the potty
for a while, not doing anything.

But aside from all the hardship of this stage, she is ever and always
the cutest little girl on the planet. She learns so much every day!
We have family worship every night, and part of the worship is to read
picture book stories from the Word. Thea's favorite is a picture book
of "the Woman Clothed with the Sun" story from Revelation. She can
recite whole pages from the book! It's very cool!

Tirah is very stressed out and very tired, most of the time these days.
Her work is really stressful, being the Christmas season. Plus she
has a long commute. Plus, she has a flex schedule which means she
rarely has two days off in a row. Plus, she works part-time as Carl's
book-keeper. Plus she's making all our Christmas presents. Plus, we
constantly have only barely enough money to survive, which is very
stressful. Plus, the kids are more than a handful right now, and
usually time their biggest tantrums for when Tirah is home. Plus, she
doesn't have much time in her life for the important rejuvenating
things, like keeping in touch with her girl friends, and family.
It's pretty much all overwhelming her right now. We've started doing
yoga together at night before bed, which helps us stay physically
healthy, as well as being a calming, de-stressing type of ritual. We
also try to keep reading from the Word every night so that we stay sane
and remember what's important in life. We try to find the time to do
things to maintain a healthy marriage. We've been reading books
together, which is fun. Last night we made hot chocolate and read to
each other in bed before starting the night-time routine. We're
trying to hang onto the hope that things will keep getting better. As
always, the plan is that my music business will eventually be able to
support us, and Tirah can stop being the bread-winner. We just have
to hang on 'til then.

Speaking of my music business, "Advent" sales are going really well.
I've done one Christmas performance this season, and I'm looking
forward to three more before Christmas. I have several projects
planned for next year. Peter and I are constantly working on the
business, and I have very high hopes that this will be something I can
live on in the future. I'm forever grateful to Tirah for this chance
to pursue this dream. We both think that it's worth all the stress.
It's been great to be at home, and have so much more time to work on
things. Although, I'm afraid the normal household duties like cleaning
have fallen a little by the way-side since "Advent" has come out.
The most recent news with "Advent" is that it has been reviewed by
noted piano music reviewer, Kathy Parsons! Check out her review at
www.solopianopublication.com, or on my website on the Press/Reviews
page (www.solomonkeal.com).

Perhaps it's fitting that the Christmas season, leading up to Christmas
Day, is such a stressful time of year for so many people. Sort of like
the cold and the darkness (at least in the Northern Hemisphere), that
represents the state of the world before the birth of Christ. Without
the Lord in our lives, we cannot help but be stressed out. But when
the Lord is born into our lives, He brings peace.

May all your lives be filled with the peace of Christmas Day... on
every day of the year!

See you next year!

Love,

Solomon (Full-time parent, part-time musician, part-time housekeeper,
full-time husband)
Tirah (Full-time fabric store manager, part-time parent, part-time
book-keeper, full-time wife)
Thea (Full-time Two-Year-Old, part-time angel, full-time daughter)
Cirdan (Full-time Toddler, part-time trouble-maker, full-time son)
The Keal Family (Works in progress, angels in training.)