Keal Family Letter, June 2005

Hello Friends and Family! I can't believe it's already summer time! I hope everybody here in the States had a nice Memorial Day. The weather here has been great lately, and we are all doing well.

Our little Cirdan is about to turn 1 Year Old on the 13th! It's amazing that it's been that long already. Cirdan has reached that stage where he tries to copy people now. He has learned how to clap, and we think that it sometimes means that he wants to be picked up. He can imitate actions like blowing, and clicking his tongue, and making wabaweeble sounds while flipping his lips with his finger (you know, that's an amazingly difficult action to describe in writing). While standing up, he has occasionally let go of whatever he's been holding on to, and stood on his own for a few seconds. Apparently I took my first steps on my first birthday... we're all wondering if he will do the same.

Thea's ability to speak is jumping in leaps and bounds. The other day she said to Tirah, "I saw a dump truck and a backhoe, and it was digging a hole, just like me in my sandbox!" Of course it sounded more like "Ah daw a Duh Duck ah ah Back Hoe ah ih ah Dig a Hole, da ah Me ih ah Dan Dox!" We were all amazed that she had the capacity to understand the concept of a comparison like that. She also loves singing songs, and is almost always singing something. She even made up a song the other day! (I'm so Proud!) Of course she used what sounds like the first part of the melody for "Hot Cross Buns" but I think is Public Domain, so there won't be any copyright issues. Basically it goes: "I Love You Cirdan, I Love You Cirdan." It comes out sounding like "I Love You Nan-nan, I Love You Nan-nan." It's very cute. Of course that beautiful sentiment is often out-weighed by her spending the rest of her time telling Cirdan, "NO Nan-nan!" Oh well... She's Two.
We are often greeted each morning by hearing her voice over the monitor, either singing a song, or saying, "Mama, I Need a Wipe!" because she's changing her Bear's diaper.

Tirah is doing well. Life is very busy keeping track to two kids, and working part time for Carl, and doing things like the Pre-School Music class, and running a household, and trying to help me get my business going, and now looking for more part-time work because we're running out of money. And yes, it's tiring, but she does it somehow, because she's amazing. I would not have the courage to tackle much of life without her at my side.
Tirah has a regular Thursday get-together with a couple of other moms in the Society, so that's really nice for her.
Our routine is getting a little back to normal now. We have worship every night, which is great! Thea can actually say a lot of the Prayer now. We go on daily walks. We do regular reading together. The TV is back, but it's hidden in the corner, and only comes out when we say it's allowed to. We've only watched a handful of movies this month, which has been very refreshing. We've done more reading, than watching TV. We did manage to go see Star Wars Episode III, that was a lot of fun!
It was fun to get to see Denis and Liz and Family recently, down at John and Ellen's. They are up here for Tammy's graduation.
We'll be heading down to Bryn Athyn for graduation this weekend, and then we'll be staying for the Assembly next week.

I'm still plugging away at this music career. I'm about to finish recording my Christmas album, so that's exciting. Some other exciting news is that one of my pieces made it to number 36 in the Whispering Solo Piano Radio monthly Top 40 List! The Top 40 are less the 10% of the total pieces played on the station! I will be playing background music during the Tuesday dinner hours for the General Church Assembly in Bryn Athyn. I'm putting on a solo piano concert here in Kempton on Saturday June 25th. I'm also playing at a local coffeeshop in July 2nd. Peter and I are still planning a New Church Societies Tour, so stay tuned! Go to my website and sign up for my music newsletter if you want to hear more. (www.solomonkeal.com)

Oh, and on the 24th, Tirah and I will be celebrating our 4th anniversary!

Have a wonderful day!

- Solomon (28), Tirah (25), Thea, (2 and 4 months) and Cirdan (1 Year Old in 12 days)