Keal Family Letter, July 2007

Hello Friends and Family!

Tirah is now in week 36 of 40. By next month, the baby will be just
about done and ready to take out of the oven. Currently we are
working hard to keep the baby turned the right way around. The baby
has been breech (head up) for much of the last month. Tirah has been
lying up-side-down, using hot and cold on her tummy, using
moxibustion (or "socks combustion" as I like to call it) which is an
Eastern method for turning a breech baby in which you hold a
smoldering "cigar" near the pregnant woman's baby toes, which is
supposed to trigger pressure points that turn the baby around. How
did they figure that sort of thing out? Then there's also
homeopathy, and chiropractic, and not to mention a daily dose of
prayer. For some reason, the baby doesn't seem to want to just
stay head down yet. Hopefully everything that we're doing will
convince it otherwise. As of this writing, I believe the baby is
head down. Keep us in your prayers!

Cirdan turned three on the 13th last month. Unfortunately he was
sick on his birthday. We went ahead and celebrated that day (because
it was Tirah's day off), but it was not quite the fun day that we
were hoping it would be. We gave Cirdan a little drum set, which he
now likes, but wasn't impressed by on his birthday. Fortunately
Cirdan got a whole bunch of kid's TV shows on tape from Mormor, which
was just perfect for a sick-day/birthday. Thanks Mom!

Cirdan entered the realm of "three-year-old-boy" with a bang. You'd
think he got his first major dose of testosterone, because he
suddenly has become very violent. He just loves to hit and whack
and kick. Which is fine when it's a soccer ball, but not when it's
his sister's head. Our methods of punishment (the naughty room)
don't seem to be having an effect on him anymore. He's still the
sweet little Cirdan that he's always been, but he definitely has a
Jekyll and Hyde aspect to his nature now.

Thea keeps growing up. Her current struggle is with being too
bossy. But over-all I think it's just a manifestation of the fact
that she loves people, and loves to be very involved in whatever the
people around her are doing.

Just this morning, I took the kids to the Younger Children's Service
at our church, and for the first time they got very involved with the
service. In the past, they would just sit on my lap and ask me over
and over when it was going to be over. But this time (for some
reason) they both decided that they were going to sit up front on the
little chairs (without me), and they sat nicely and listened to the
minister, and even answered and asked questions. It was really
cool! I was very proud of them.

Tirah has 11 more days of work (including today) until her maternity
leave. Her last day is the 24th of July. It's definitely been
getting harder for her as the days get hotter. There's no air
conditioning in the Hawk Mountain Bookstore. Over-all though, it's
been a good experience for Tirah to be working while being pregnant.
It certainly helps that it's a job that she really likes. But beyond
that, it's actually a preferable situation to the one I'm in as the
stay-at-home parent. We were realizing the other day that our jobs
are actually sort of similar. We're both managers. Tirah's job
involves telling other people what to do. My job also involves
telling other people what to do. The only difference is... my people
DON'T LISTEN TO ME! And so I spend a good portion of my day
running around after toddlers, picking them up when they're naughty
or hurt, breaking up fights, getting yelled at when they're mad.
It's certainly not an environment conducive to rest. We're actually
really glad that Tirah is not in my position while being enormously
pregnant. When people find out that Tirah is working while being
pregnant, they often say things like: "Oooh, that's gotta be
rough." And our response lately is something like, "Actually it's
better than the alternative!"

On Father's Day this year, Tirah gave me a wonderful present. She
took the day off of work, to give me the day off! It's been a while
since I've had a day off (that wasn't still a parenting day). I got
to play around with some new music software that I got. It was
glorious!

We got to be in the June 19th pageant this year in our church, which
was fun. Our family along with another family was representing the
Children of Israel in the wilderness in the story of the Lord giving
the manna. The nice thing was, just as the kids were getting bored
with the whole pageant thing, the angels came with the manna, which
was real bread, and the kids got to actually eat it! It actually
worked out really well, because before the manna arrived, our kids
were complaining, just like the children of Israel were in the
story. Good job kids! Great acting!

On the 23rd of June, we went to Gordon McQueen's 40th birthday party,
which was a lot of fun. I was asked to write and read a funny poem
in his honor, so I did a spoof of the Night Before Christmas. It
was a lot of fun. It was one of the first social situations where I
was able to relax a little bit, as a parent. The kids are getting
old enough now, that they don't need constant supervision. It was nice.

On the 24th was our 6th anniversary, which we celebrated on the 27th
because that was Tirah's day off. We went out for a family
breakfast in the morning, and then took the kids to the Lehigh Valley
Zoo, and then to lunch at Wegmans, and then we went swimming in the
afternoon. After the kids were in bed, Tirah and I ate our
traditional anniversary dinner: Chicken, Fresh Mozzarella, and French
Bread, with Sparkling Apple Cider. It was a good day.

The July 4th celebration here in Kempton was also a lot of fun. It
was a nice cool day... overcast and windy. Perfect for pregnant
ladies. My A Cappella group sang four songs including the Star
Spangled Banner, and Taps. That evening we got to hang out with Abby
and Malcolm, and Thane. We had a nice barbecue and did sparklers in
between the raindrops.

The sad news is that my Grandpa Keal just passed into the spiritual
world this month on July 5th. He was 92. However, it's very nice to
know that he is out of pain now. I can just picture him running and
jumping and doing a little jig up in Heaven. And I'm sure he's
already making the angels laugh with his jokes. As one Keal leaves
this world, a new one will be entering it soon.

This weekend, Tirah and I are heading up to the mountains of New York
state for a Marriage Retreat led by Lori and John Odhner. It's a
Marriage Support Support Weekend (for people who are actively
involved in Marriage Support) We are very much looking forward to
it. It will be a nice little vacation just before the baby comes.
And made possible by Jori and Abby who are watching our kids while we
are away! Thanks you two!

The jury is still out on this house that we hope to rent in
Virginville. The landlords apparently are in no hurry to get someone
to move in. It's been a month since we turned in our application.
But they still have a toilet to install, and a garage to clean out.
We're just hoping that we'll be the only ones left when they get
around to calling people!

So that's about all for now. Next month... the baby will be coming!

Have a great day everyone!

Love,

- Solomon (30), Tirah (27), Thea (4), Cirdan (3), and Baby Keal
(almost 0).