Thursday, December 25, 2008
Keal Family Newsletter, Christmas 2008
Merry Christmas Friends and Family!
Because of various Christmas songs, and stories, our children have heard that the Lord was born into this world to "save us from our sins." I then tried to translate this idea for our children, and as the words came out of my mouth, I found myself "seeing the light" a little bit too: "That means that the Lord can teach us how to be nice to each other, instead of being mean to each other."
One of the things I love about being a parent is how it forces me to explain things to my children in ways that they will understand. And in that process I find myself understanding them better too. This, I think, is a little bit of what the Lord was referring to when He said, "I assure you, unless you turn from your sins and become as little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me." (Matt 18:3-5)
This is also the state of mind that the Wise Men were able to get themselves into. As wise as they were, they knew that they had things to learn from a little Child, "and they fell down before him and worshipped him." (Matt 2:11)
What a wonderful time of year to remember the joy and wisdom that little children bring to our lives, as we celebrate the birthday of the baby Jesus, and the Lord's 1st Advent.
Now that's not to say that children are all sugar and spice and everything nice. There are plenty of difficult things about parenting our small children. Our Christmas Eve was actually pretty stressful, complete with tantrums and screaming. I think we all went to bed feeling lingering anger at each other for our imperfections. But it's hard not to wake up in a better mood when the first words that break the stillness of the early Christmas morning are spoken by a 4-year-old boy: "Wake Up! It's Christmas!" Our tired adult faces broke into smiles, and our tired adult bodies jumped out of bed.
You know the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath-water." I'm a firm believer in life being a constant mixture of "baby" and "bath-water." There's always plenty of "bath-water" to get our spirits down. But there's also always plenty of "baby" to get our spirits up if we're willing to get our hands wet. The wise men knew this. The shepherds knew this. Lord, save us from our sins, and please help us to be nice to each other.
So speaking of the birth of a little child, I'm happy to announce that Tirah is pregnant with our 4th child! She is due sometime around May 17th 2009.
We're enjoying our first Christmas in our new house. We have a white-ish Christmas here in Lenhartsville. It snowed several days ago. And then on Christmas Eve it rained. But the rain didn't wash away all the snow, so it's still a white-ish Christmas.
In music news. I've completed all the background music for our Love Songs album, and we've recorded vocals for about half the songs. There's still a lot of work to do before our Valentine's Day release date (finishing the vocals, mixing, mastering, creating the CD cover and liner notes, and getting it off to the replication house in time), but I'm still hopeful that it will be done in time for the Marriage Conference in Bryn Athyn.
Two separate people that found my music online have taken one of my Christmas arrangements from "Advent" and recorded vocals over-top of it. If you would like to listen to them, click on the following links:
Lisa Shaye singing "Angels We Have Heard on High"
Aaron Kane singing "Away in a Manger"
And finally, we've continued what will hopefully become a tradition in our family, and created another Keal Family Singing Christmas Card, which I will send in a separate email.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Love from,
Solomon, Tirah, Thea, Cirdan, Jaden, and Baby.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Keal Family Newsletter, Autumn 2008
Long time, no write! Happy November everyone!
I've missed two months of family newsletters due to a very busy life
lately. I try to remember to take some notes as I go, but I'm sure
I've forgotten some of the funny cute things that I always try to
capture in these newsletters. Anyway, this newsletter will be a
whirlwind recap of the past three months in the Solomon and Tirah
Keal family.
August 11th, Jaden turned one year old. (Although in a week he will
actually be 15 months old.) We had a really fun birthday party for
him. He had his very first taste of chocolate cake; sort of a
traditional right of passage for our children on their first birthday.
August 16th we moved his crib into the kid's room, and began the
process of trying to get him to sleep through the night, so that we
could sleep through the night. For parents, sleep is like
Christmas. We can't wait for it to come!
It took a while, but for the most part (if he's not sick) Jaden now
sleeps through the night.
When Jaden was around 13 months, he started walking, and at around 14
months he started talking. Aside from Mama and Papa, his first real
two-syllable word was "Apple." These days he gives most of the
words he hears his best shot. It's very cute. When I call out "Who
wants lunch?" I hear Thea say "I do!" and Cirdan say "Me
too!" and Jaden follows up with "Doo!"
Jaden has also recently adopted a stuffed animal/security object
which is a small stuffed duck that Tirah got at Hawk Mountain. He
loves it, and kisses it, and calls it "Duckie."
One of the things Jaden has loved to do for many months now is climb
up the stairs. But he still hasn't mastered climbing down the
stairs. I think it's a very interesting analogy for us: Babies are
built for climbing up, not down. Humans are destined for Heaven not
Hell.
Cirdan is in that very difficult 4-year-old phase. People talk about
the Terrible Twos, but in our house it's proven to be the Frightening
Fours. He's rebellious, stubborn, rude, violent, irrational... and
most of that is very understandable for his stage of development, it
just makes it hard for us parents. When I get too tunnel-visioned,
I can get very codependent with all of that. But when I can take a
step back, I can loosen up and laugh at stories like this one:
One day at noon after I just finished making his lunch and put it on
his plate, Cirdan said: "Papa I'm not hungry, I don't want my lunch!"
I was too tired to fight it, so I said nothing as he walked away...
... then one minute (literally 60 seconds) later, he said: "Papa when
is snack time?"
So I said, "Right now, it's on your plate!"
And he said, "Oh, O.K. great!" ... and he ate his lunch!
It's amazing how easy it is to get mad at our children because they
are irrational. They're not capable of rationality, and yet we get
mad at them when they can't think the way we think. One day when
Cirdan was screaming his head off at me, he included in his long list
of complaints that I was mad at him! It reminded me of how we may
sometimes think that God is mad at us, because things are not going
well in our life. God is never mad. How irrational we must look
in His eyes! Fortunately God doesn't get mad at us for being
irrational, which in turn is a great model for us as parents.
Thea had her first day of Kindergarten on September 3rd. Over-all
it's gone well. She's been a little nervous at times. Some mornings
she is looking forward to school, while other mornings she is a bit
scared. As time passes it's been more of the former and less of the
later. She's also struggled with her own individuality in
school. She is a very good artist, but some of her class-mates
aren't as good, so she feels like she needs to not draw as well as
she can, so that nobody feels uncomfortable. She's a very sensitive
little girl.
Well, as many of you probably know, Tirah's mom, Margie Echols passed
away on September 5th. She died of cancer at only 56 years old. A
few days before she died, the indications were given that it could be
very soon, so Tirah was able to fly out to Ohio, and she was there
when she died. The kids and I flew out on the 6th and we were all
there for a few days, as well as for the Memorial Service in Ohio.
Tirah's boss was very understanding, and she was able to get about a
week of bereavement leave. On the 11th, there was also a Memorial
Service in the Cathedral in Bryn Athyn.
Tirah has been in a state of shock for the last two months, and is
now getting some grief counseling and coming to terms with the loss
of her mother at such a young age. It's nice to know Margie is out
of physical pain, but it's very hard for Tirah to know that she won't
be able to talk to her anymore on this earth, and that the
relationship she had with her mother no longer has the ability to
change and grow into maturity... at least not until we all see Margie
again in Heaven.
The idea of Margie being out of physical pain reminds me of a scene
from the movie "The Five People You Meet In Heaven" when the old man
spends his first hours in the spiritual world running and
jumping... simply because he could. It was poignantly exciting to
note that Jaden was taking his first steps in this world, at about
the same time that his grandmother was taking her first steps in the
next world.
Tirah went to her 10 year High School reunion during the Charter Day
weekend in Bryn Athyn. She was a little apprehensive about it, but
it ended up being a lot of fun for both of us.
We've started a new thing for our marriage recently. Instead of
trying to have regular Date Nights, we've decided to have Date Days
instead. For one thing, date nights are typically limited in what we
can do. Dinner, movie, etc., most of the time costing money we don't
really have, and also not being conducive to actually connecting with
each other. We also tend to be much more tired in the evening. So
even if we decided to just stay home and play a game or read a book,
those best laid plans are often trumped by a lack of energy that gets
us flipping on the TV and becoming couch potatoes. So we decided to
do Date Days instead. We have a regular babysitter that comes every
Wednesday afternoon anyway. Most of the time she watches the kids
while we get work done, or she cleans our house while we watch the
kids. But we realized that we could leave the house! ... in the
afternoon! So while the weather was nice we started going up to
Hawk Mountain to hike the trails together, and then find a nice rock
to sit on and enjoy nature while we read a book to each other for a
few hours. It's been very nice. As we go into winter, we'll
continue reading to each other, inside. We can also take that time
to work on music together.
You may remember that in the past we've been shopping for a month at
a time to buy in discount bulk and to save money on gas by only
shopping once a month. Well, that worked for a while. But we've
shifted our views on what's important. We've done an about face, and
we're now shopping almost exclusively local. We're trying to stick
to our same food budget, and so far it's been O.K. We live in a
great place to shop locally. We can get local eggs, milk, meat,
maple syrup, honey, pickles, vegetables, fruit, jelly, etc. We make
our own bread. We drink raw milk. It feels good to be not only
eating better quality food most of the time, but also to be
supporting our local economy.
So Tirah and I are trying to complete our album of Love Songs in time
for the Marriage Conference in February. It had been going pretty
well for a while. I had a schedule that I was sticking too. But
then I had to get my computer repaired, and I ended up being without
it for 3 weeks! But we're going to stick to our goal, and I still
think we can do it, if we work hard. It's been a lot of fun so far.
On October 30th, my mom and dad hosted a Halloween Costume Party at
their house, designed for all their grand-children. We all came in
costume, and then the kids got to decorate pumpkins, and do a
treasure hunt. Then we had supper and pumpkin pie. It was just
right for both the kids and the parents of kids. I'm including a
picture of our family at the party. Jaden is Tigger, Cirdan is
Superman, Thea is a ballerina, Tirah is a princess, and I'm a Generic
Historical Figure.
Well, that's all for now.
Have a great day everyone!
Love,
Solomon (31)
Tirah (28)
Thea (5 and 1/2)
Cirdan (4)
Jaden (15 months)
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Keal Family Newsletter, August 2008
Happy August to you.
We've arrived at that time of year when the twilight part of the day
is just heavenly. Just the right temperature, just the right
lighting. just the right time to be outside. Lately we've developed
a habit of going on daily family walks or bike rides right after
dinner. It is very nice.
Jaden has been going through some pretty major teething lately. He
had a pretty high fever the other day, and we thought he was getting
sick, but it turned out to be just teething.
Jaden will be turning one year old on Monday!
He continues to walk around while holding on to things. He has even
been practicing standing up on his own. Yesterday he stood up on his
own for at least 15 seconds in the sandbox. I feel like I'm
commentating on the baby olympics or something: "And that was Jaden
Keal in the sandbox with a full 15 second free stand." "That's a new
record for him, isn't it John?" "Yes, Joe, this young American has a
lot of potential!"
Jaden has also learned how to hold and drink from his bottle all on
his own. That's a fun little piece of development to watch, as he
figures out that he needs to hold the bottle up in the air to allow
the force of gravity to deposit the desired liquid in his mouth.
Cirdan continues to love to play with cars. He has also been getting
a little more into drawing lately. We realized that we may have been
holding him back a little in that area. A year or so ago, we
instated a rule that said that Cirdan was not allowed to play with
markers because he was too young, while Thea was allowed to draw with
markers. This was fine and appropriate. But we realized recently
that we never really rescinded that rule! Here we thought that
Cirdan just wasn't in to drawing, when really he was still abiding by
an out-dated law! So lately we've made a point about telling Cirdan
that he's allowed to use markers if he wants to. And sure enough,
he's been drawing more lately. He drew a very recognizable pig
yesterday. He also has been drawing rocket ships.
Cirdan has recently discovered the existence of Star Wars! I have a
book about the mythology of Star Wars, and it has pictures from the
movie in it. Cirdan somehow found this book, and got hooked on
it. Question after question... I find it very hard not to get
really excited about the idea of my oldest son sharing my passion for
Star Wars.
Just today we decided that it would be alright to show the pod-race
scene from Episode One. Sort of a combination of his most favorite
things: Star Wars and Race Cars.
Thea has also just recently been allowed to watch something new. For
a long time now, Disney's The Little Mermaid has been one of her
favorite things. Just the other day, Tirah allowed her to watch the
movie for the first time. It was some good Mama/Daughter time, as
well as being really exciting for Thea.
Thea continues to get better and better at drawing every day. It's
really amazing to watch. She is also getting better at riding her
bike. She can now stand up on her pedals while riding. It's amazing
how I still think of her as being a toddler. But watching her zoom
around on her bike with training wheels really makes it sink in for
me that she's a kid.
Thea will be going to Kindergarten in less than a month! This will
be a new phase in our life! I think she will really enjoy it.
Life is a little hard for Tirah right now. She's not getting enough
sleep lately because of Jaden's teething and sleep patterns. But
when he turns one, we hope to move him into the kid's room, and start
trying to get him to sleep better, so that we can both sleep better,
so that we can function better as people and parents. And with our
insanely busy schedule, it's hard for Tirah to even find the mental
time to grieve for her mom. But we continue to try to get ourselves
into good physical and mental and spiritual habits so that we can
deal well with whatever comes our way in life.
On July 12th, we took a family trip down to Washington D.C. for the
Ron Paul Freedom Revolution March. We did lots of planning ahead of
time to try to make sure that things would go smoothly, because we
had never done anything like this before.
And everything went as planned! Thank You Lord! The kids were
troopers! They lasted all day: with a 3 hour car drive both ways,
leaving home at 6:00 in the morning, getting on the Metro train,
marching in the July heat. They were amazing.
It helped that we had lots of cookies and a few new toys for them as
prizes for doing so well.
We got to the Washington Monument on time at around 10:00 AM, even
though there was confusion at the Metro station and we ended up
paying too much for our tickets. Apparently us country-bumkins
didn't understand how their new-fangled system worked. Oh well.
We made it all the way through the mile-long march, pushing all three
kids in two strollers.
There were over 15,000 people who pledged to march. I'm not sure
what the actual count was, but I heard several people estimated that
there were around 10,000 people who actually marched.
After the first part of the rally at the Capitol Building, we walked
back to the Mall area, and got some hot dogs, and then escaped into
the air-conditioning of the Air And Space Museum for a few
hours. Then we walked back to Capitol Hill in time to hear a few
more speeches before we heard the Constitutional Party Candidate:
Chuck Baldwin speak, and then finally Ron Paul himself! Jaden
took two naps in the stroller, and Cirdan even took a short nap on
our picnic blanket under the trees on Capitol Hill. After that we
left and were home by 9:30ish PM as very tired, but very proud
citizens and parents. It was quite an experience! You can watch a
little family slideshow that I put together on YouTube here: http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdNZIhL0JFE
Then on July 17th we took another family trip out to Ohio to visit
with Tirah's parents and most her her siblings for a few days. The
goal was to work on getting some of the downstairs rooms of the house
organized for Margie's caregivers to be able to function well, and
therefore focus on giving care to Margie. It was also a bit of an
Echols family reunion. It was also the first time our whole family
slept in a tent, which went pretty well, except for the fact that
Cirdan had a Night Terror one night and probably woke up the whole
neighborhood. It was good to spend time with Tirah's mom, knowing
that time is limited.
Find out more about how Margie is doing at http://
www.caringbridge.org/visit/margieechols.
We've really been enjoying doing the twice-a-month Coffee Houses at
Creekside, as well as attending the Friday night Vespers services.
If you're in the area, the next Coffee House is August 13th 6:30 PM,
and the next Vespers is August 8th 6:00 PM.
http://www.creeksidecenter.org
I've added some new things to my website lately. I now have a page
where you can purchase and download the music that I composed for the
Glencairn Documentary. http://www.solomonkeal.com/listen/
glencairn. I also have 3 new Bonus Tracks which you can download and
purchase here http://www.solomonkeal.com/listen/#bonus. One is my
own arrangement of the well-known tune: "The Gift of Love (O Waly
Waly)." Another is a short composition called "Home Away From
Home." And for something completely different, I have an
instrumental rock piece which I composed and performed called
"Father's Day."
Well, that's all for now.
Love from,
Solomon, Tirah, Thea, Cirdan, and Jaden
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Keal Family Newsletter, July 2008
Happy July to you.
As I mentioned in the last newsletter, Jaden had just started
crawling. Well, in the space of only a couple of weeks, Jaden went
from just "scooting" to crawling, then crawling all the way up the
stairs, then pulling himself up onto his feet, then attempting to
stand without holding on. It was quite the explosion of motor skill
activity from this little man.
It's amazing to watch him pull himself up to a standing position, let
go, wobble, and then plop to the floor... and then do it all over
again... over and over again. I can't help but think to myself,
"What's driving you dude? What's in it for you? Why do you so
desperately want to stand up?" Well, that's just where he is in
life... that's how the Lord made him. It's wonderful to think about
how the Lord inspires a love for something, at just the right
developmental time. He is capable of standing up, so he wants to
give it a try. It's exciting!
I can apply that to me as well. It's amazing to watch myself pull
myself up out of a selfish position, let go and let God, wobble, and
then plop to the selfish floor... and then do it all over again...
over and over again. I can't help but ask myself, "What's driving
me? What's in it for me? Why do I so desperately want to 'stand up'
spiritually?" Once again, the Lord inspires a love for something at
just the right developmental time. I am capable of learning to be un-
selfish, so I want to give it a try. It's almost like the Lord hard-
wired us to be curious enough about heaven to give it a shot. It's
exciting!
Jaden will be 11 months old on the 11th. We are coming up on 1
year! He's been trying and eating more and more solid food. The
latest is chicken. And just yesterday he starting "parroting."
Thea and Cirdan were showing me something that had fallen down, and
so I said, "Uh-Oh." And then from across the room I hear a tiny
echo: "uh-oh." He tends to say it more when he's not aware of an
audience, but sometimes you can intentionally say "Uh-Oh" to him, and
he will respond in kind. It's very very cute.
We lost Cirdan's Superman toy after Abby and Malcolm's wedding. We
thought that maybe we left it in Bryn Athyn. After a long and
fruitless search, we gave up and bought him another one (it wasn't
too expensive.) A few days later, Cirdan was playing with his
flashlight and shining it under his bed. He called out to me, "Papa,
I see a red boot!" Well, I could see that Superman was sitting on
the chair next to his bed, but my heart sank, because I knew exactly
what Cirdan must be looking at. Sure enough Superman Returned! The
Man of Steel decided to Steal away and hide behind Cirdan's bed, and
even with my Parenting X-Ray vision, I could not find him.
So now we have two Supermans, (Supermen?), saving the world together.
Thea has started painting recently. It can be frustrating for her at
times, because paint behaves very differently than markers or
pencils, but she's learning to catch the drips and shake the water
out, etc. We have an old art easel that used to belong to the
Echols family, and was something that Tirah grew up with. We fixed
it up, and put a white board on one side, and a chalk board and
painting pad on the other side. That is what inspired the urge to
paint in Thea.
We had a lot of fun on our vacation, or rather our "stay-cation" as
it is called these days. Tirah got a week off in June, and we had
fun doing various outings, but staying at home. Tirah and I fixed
up our bikes, and then we all went to a local bicycle track near our
house. It's a beautiful track in a park-like setting, complete with
a kiddy track and a huge sand-box. We spent the morning one day
there, and then in the afternoon we went to a place called Bear Rock
Junction. It has mini golf, and a miniature steam train, and really
good ice cream. On another day we spent the afternoon at the pool
at Blue Rocks Campground. Then on the Monday of Tirah's vacatiton,
we went on a day-trip to Knoebel's Amusement Park about an hour or so
north of here. Thea went on several rides that we didn't expect her
to be brave enough to want to try.
On Tuesday the 24th of June, still during Tirah's vacation, we
celebrated our 7th anniversary! We went out to dinner at a very
fancy, very expensive local restaurant. Then we went out to see the
latest Indiana Jones movie. And we finished it off with a chocolate
cake from Wegmans.
We wanted to see Wall-E, the latest Pixar movie, but it wasn't out
until that Friday. We were telling a friend of ours, Matt
Synnestvedt, about how we love Pixar movies, and he came up with a
great term for us: You know how people who love Star Trek are called
"Trekies"? Well, people who love Pixar movies should be called
"Pixies." Yes. Tirah and I are "Pixies," and proud of it!
At the Creekside Center in our backyard, we've started having a
Vespers service every Friday night. This has been wonderful, because
since Tirah works every Sunday, we usually don't get to go to church
very often. This will help to fill the void of regular Sabbath time
in our lives.
At the end of the month, we made the trek down to B.A. for another
wedding: My childhood friend Justin Hendricks got married to Anndwyn
Schrock. Both Tirah and I sang for several pieces of special music
in the wedding.
We had a rainy 4th of July here in Kempton. I was supposed to play
my keyboard for part of the program, and I ended up having to set up
on the porch of the King's house, which meant that people couldn't
here the music very well. Oh well. Later on, during the picnic,
the Kings strung a huge tarp between the trees over top of the picnic
area, which allowed us to continue our picnic during the rain. It
was kind of fun. Later we visited back at our house with Tirah's
sisters Jori, Abby, and Tykah, and Abby's husband Malcolm, and Thane
Glenn and Carl Smith. We had a nice barbecue and then watched Carl
and Malcolm set off some back-yard fireworks. It was a good day.
This weekend we will be traveling down to Washington D.C. to
participate in a March and Rally for Freedom. We're hoping that the
kids won't get too overwhelmed, and that it will be a fun outing.
We've never taken the kids to D.C. before, so there certainly will be
lots to see. We're hoping that we can stay long enough to get to see
Chuck Baldwin and Ron Paul speak. Check out the March at http://
And now for the sad news. The day before Abby and Malcolm's
wedding, we learned that Tirah's mom very likely has cancer. There
hasn't been an official diagnoses, but her symptoms point towards
cancer. Without an official diagnoses we don't know how long she
has, or what sort of cures are possible. Later this month we will
be traveling out to Ohio to visit and to help out around the house.
If you would like to hear the latest updates on her condition, and/or
send your love and support, go to http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/
margieechols
That's all for now.
Love from,
Solomon, Tirah, Thea, Cirdan, and Jaden Keal
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Keal Family Letter, June 2008
Happy June to you all!
They say that April Showers Bring May Flowers, but this year it seems
to have been April Flowers that Brought May Showers. May was a very
cool and rainy month this year. The first real Hazy Hot and Humid
day of the summer was right near the end of May.
We are loving our new house down here by the creek. It has been such
a blessing in our lives.
Jaden is now 10 months old. He crawled for the first time last week,
right around his birthday. Even though he can crawl, he still
prefers the "bottom scooting" action that was his first real mode of
transportation. He sometimes reminds me of a little wind-up toy; we
set him down on the floor and he scoots around for a while,
occasionally bumping into things, until we need to pick him up again.
He is eating a lot more solid food lately including (as was a
favorite of Thea and Cirdan's) pizza crusts. He's got two top teeth
and two bottom teeth, which not only allow for great food-chomping
action, but also the bonus feature of the cutest grin on the planet.
Just the other day, at the dinner table, he accidentally shoved his
index finger up his nose, while trying to get food into his mouth.
Tirah saw this and burst out laughing... and OH NO!... instant
supportive audience! For the rest of the meal, Jaden sat there
shoving his finger up his nose while trying to catch Mama's eye,
because he knew he could get a laugh out of her. The problem was we
couldn't stop laughing... so he kept shoving. Silly kid.
Trying to parent a 5 and 4 year old, while taking care of a baby at
the same time can be very tiring most of the time, and very funny
sometimes. The other day I was holding Jaden on my lap while
reprimanding Cirdan for doing something wrong. I was shaking my head
at Cirdan while I told him that he couldn't do whatever it was he
wanted to do, and suddenly I noticed another little head shaking in
the general direction of Cirdan. Jaden was sitting on my lap
helping me reprimand Cirdan with a big smile on his face and a
vigorous shaking of his head. It was actually really nice, because
it broke the mood, and we all started laughing. Babies are great!
Cirdan turned 4 on June 13th! We actually celebrated his birthday on
the 11th because we were going to be in Bryn Athyn getting ready for
Abby and Malcolm's wedding on the 13th. We had a nice little party.
Cirdan got a Superman action figure from us. And Carl gave him a two-
wheeler bike to match Thea's. So now Tirah and I really want to get
our bikes fixed so that we can go biking as an entire family.
Cirdan started potty training last month, and is now very competent
at using the potty, with hardly any accidents. He has also
successfully given up his binky (pacifier) at night. I think he's
really happy to take on the responsibilities of being a "big boy".
Although, there are some downsides to the new-found freedom that
comes with responsibility. Now that both of our older children are
capable of using the potty on their own, they sometimes think that
it's fun to have a "potty party" in the middle of the night. Well,
not really the middle of the night, but after they should have been
in bed. I can just imagine them whispering to each other after
Tirah and I leave the room at night: "Hey Thea!" "Yeah." "Party in
the Bathroom in 5 minutes!" "O.K.!"
Cirdan's latest favorite thing is: anything that has to do with the
Pixar movie "Cars." We let the kids watch it while we were all sick
with sore throats, and it was an instant favorite. At first it was
nice, because hey: we like that movie too, and it was a nice break
from the monotony of some of their favorite kids TV shows. But it's
starting to get old already for Tirah and I. Of course Cirdan's
favorite character is "Lightning The Queen" as he calls him.
Thea continues to blossom. Her drawing abilities improve daily. The
faces that she draws are very detailed. She has also really gotten
into writing letters. Not just as in the alphabet, but as in a
letter that you would mail. She will draw a picture, and then ask
for an envelope. She knows how to spell her own name, which she then
writes in the return address spot. Then she asks how to spell
someone's name, which she writes in the address spot. And then she
asks for a sticker to put in the postage stamp spot.
She has also started playing the piano more. She knows how to play
ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, AND Baa Baa Black Sheep! (O.K....
They're all the same song, but it sounds more impressive that way)
She has also started composing her own songs, one of which was about
being a flower girl. (She was asked to be a flower girl in her aunt
Abby and Malcolm's wedding, which she was thrilled about.)
And the latest thing that Thea has been doing is magic tricks. She
will come up to us and show us something in her hand, then she will
ask us to close our eyes while she runs off and hides it, then she'll
ask us to open our eyes as she comes back and shows us her empty
hands! She calls herself a "Mugician" (Like "Musician," only with
a "g")
Tirah and I have had two of our Coffee Houses at Creekside Cultural
Center. So far they've been small, but we hope they will start to
catch on eventually. The next one is actually tonight at 6:30 PM.
We had fun going on a date last month to see "Prince Caspian" Good
movie.
Tirah got some time off for us to go down to Bryn Athyn for her
sister Abby and Malcolm's wedding this past weekend! (We just barely
got over our sore throats in time!) Tirah's mom was also in town,
which meant that almost all of the Echols Family was together except
for Eli and Nicola who are expecting their second baby any moment
now. The wedding was beautiful. Thea was a flower girl, along with
her cousin Kate. And I was honored to be asked by Abby and Malcolm
to play "Angel's Birth" for their processional! That was the piece
that I composed for our wedding almost 7 years ago! My sister Tamar
accompanied me on the recorder. It went really well.
And now, today is the beginning of our summer vacation! Tirah is off
from work from today June 18th to June 26th! We don't plan to go
anywhere, except on day trips, and 1/2 day trips to local places.
We also hope to get a good start on recording our Love Songs album,
which we want to release by Valentine's Day 2009. And of course,
Tirah and I will celebrate our 7th anniversary on the 24th!
In Music News: I have a new piece of Sheet Music available: "Wisdom
of Time" from the "Heritage" album, which you can purchase and
download from my website: http://www.solomonkeal.com/listen
A funny thing I realized the other day: Last December (2007) Tirah
and reached a turning point in our lives. As of this past December,
I have been a stay-at-home parent for longer than Tirah was! Tirah
was a stay-at-home mom for 29 months from February 2003 to July 2005
when she got a full-time job. And I have been a stay-at-home dad for
34 months since July of 2005! And we're still going strong. It may
be unconventional, but it works really well for us.
And that's all for now!
Have a great month!
Love from,
Solomon (31), Tirah (28), Thea (5), Cirdan (4), and Jaden Keal (10
months)
P.S. Here's a family picture in front of our new house:
Monday, May 12, 2008
Keal Family Letter, May 2008
Hello Friends and Family!
Happy May to you all!
So as I said briefly in the last email, we've moved! We now live just down the street from our old house; which is now completely back to being my Mom and Dad's house (or Meemaw and Deedaw's house). They've been working on getting the living room ready to re-paint.
We live on a wonderful piece of property right next to the Maiden Creek. The property is owned by Tori (Victoria) Odhner who is turning the old barn on the Old 22 side of the property into the Creekside Cultural Center. I've already performed there once, and I'll be performing there again. Check out the website: http://www.creeksidecenter.org.
On the Penn Street side of the property is our house, and a little old two-story summer kitchen where Tori and her children sometimes stay on the weekend. Our house is a beautiful brick house with two porches. The living room is the same size as Mom and Dad's but without the wood stove, so it feels bigger. There are lots of windows in the house, letting in glorious sunshine. Upstairs there are three bedrooms, one of which is my studio. But, where my studio was in a 9 foot by 9 foot room in Mom and Dad's house, it's now in a 17 foot by 12 foot room here! It's big enough for many more recording projects than I was capable of before. We're able to comfortably fit the Men's A Cappella Group into it. The room is further from the noisy intersection thus making it easier to get clean recordings. And the room also serves as our guest room and upstairs reading room, with a couch that turns into a bed.
We love our new house. The Lord is very wise. It's always nice to look back and think about the other houses we looked at, and maybe even hoped for, and then realize that this is the best, and the Lord knew what He was doing.
So April 5th was our moving day. Unfortunately we all got sick a day or two before that. So the very first night we spent in our new house, we all felt miserable. It took about a week for us to feel good enough to actually enjoy our new house.
Jaden turned 9 months old on the 11th (Mother's Day). He's got two cute little teeth on the bottom, and two more teeth coming in on the top. Unfortunately, all this teething has meant many sleepless nights for Mama and Papa. Jaden isn't crawling yet, but he scoots around on his little (or not so little) bottom pretty effectively. He's definitely the biggest baby we've had yet. He's wearing summer-time clothes that Cirdan was wearing when he was walking! He's still just experimenting with solid food. Some pretzels, some Cheerios, some peas, and lots of teething biscuits. Jaden has taken on the nickname: Bubba. In part because he's so big, but also because that is the noise he likes to make lately: "Bubba bubba."
It's actually kind of funny to think back and realize that all of our children have had nicknames that started with the letter "B." Thea was "Boo." Cirdan was "Bear." and Jaden is "Bubba."
Cirdan has entered that very difficult phase that we though Thea would never grow out of. Fortunately Thea has grown out of it, so we know that we just have to hang in there with Cirdan and it too shall pass. He likes to push the envelope so much that he could easily get a job at the US Post Office. He's still in diapers and isn't yet interested in getting out of them, sometimes on a daily basis. He has stopped taking naps. He likes to hit when things don't go his way. He likes to kick. He doesn't like to eat supper at all. He likes to yell "NOOOOOO!" All the usual stuff. Unfortunately, because Thea behaves better, and Jaden is so cute and needy, Cirdan often gets lost in the shuffle. So we try to get some one-on-one time for him. Tirah took him out to Cracker Barrel the other day, just Mama and Cirdan time.
Here's a funny piece of dialogue that I overheard the other day:
Thea: "Cirdan! You're a Prince!"
Cirdan: "NO I'm NOT!
Thea: "Oh, yes you are!"
Cirdan: "Why?"
Thea: "Because, I'm a Princess!"
That little dialogue nicely sums up our oldest children's current states of life.
Thea lost her first tooth on April 12th. It had been loose for a while before, and then during lunch one day, she bit into an orange and the tooth stayed in the orange. It was actually a bit of an emotional event for her. Not knowing what was going on, I looked over to find that she had taken the piece of orange out of her mouth and gotten down from her chair. With a face that was brimming with tears she said as calmly as she could, "Papa, I'm done my lunch." As she said it, I saw a flash of black in her row of whites. So I asked her (in a very excited tone) if her tooth had come out. We looked for it in the piece of orange and found the tiny little nugget of calcium. Thea had been very scared that she had accidentally swallowed the tooth. She was overcome with excitement at this rite of passage, as well as feeling some fear and sadness. I gave her a hug as she laughed her tears out.
That night we put her tooth under her pillow, and in the morning the Tooth Fairy (who happens to work at Hawk Mountain) had left a butterfly coloring book for her. Our kids are very smart. Thea wanted to know if the Tooth Fairy was real or just pretend. We told her that she was just pretend... and yet the mystery remains: how did the book get there? It's an interesting thing to be a parent, and wanting to pass on family traditions, yet also wanting to always tell our kids the truth.
You know the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." So often I think we limit the application of that rule to how we should behave when we're dealing with other adults. But really, it's one of the best Parenting Tips in existence. I can't even count how many times I have NOT done this with my kids, and had it backfire in my face. For example: We ask our kids to please be patient when they're begging us to make lunch NOW, and calling our names (or their favorite foods) out over and over again. And yet, what do we model for them?: "Thea put your shoes on now. NOW! We're going to be late! I don't care what your doing right now, you need to get your shoes on!" Thea could very justifiably turn to me and say "Papa, please be patient." Because we tend to have different priorities than our kids do, we forget that our kids have priorities at all, and that they feel legitimately strongly about them. It's amazing what the Golden Rule can do for changing our perspective and bringing peace and patience to parenting.
Thea recently was given a bicycle as a late birthday present! It's got training wheels, and it's pink and purple with a bell! Thea has been very excited about learning to ride it. Cirdan has been a bit jealous, but there's the hope that comes with his 4th birthday coming up in June. And it has also inspired him to get better about riding his tricycle.
On our street is a wonderful old bridge that crosses Maiden Creek, and gets hardly any car traffic. It's the perfect spot to ride bikes. And it's practically in our backyard. I'm really looking forward to our whole family riding bikes together this summer.
We decided that we will send Thea to Kindergarten at the Kempton New Church School, so we are all looking forward to that this Fall.
On April 12th I had a concert at the new Creekside Cultural Center, which is in the barn at the other end of our property. That was fun, and I hope to perform there more in the future. In fact, Tirah and I will be doing Coffee Houses there. I'll be providing nice live piano background music, while Tirah will provide coffee and snacks, and people can come and hang out. If you're in the neighborhood, we'll be doing those on Wednesday nights, May 14th and 28th, 6-8 PM. We'll tell you how it goes next month.
On April 22nd, I had fun voting for my wife! She ran as an alternate delegate for the Republican Party. Unfortunately she was not elected. But she did get the most number of votes of any alternate delegate in Lenhartsville. And she learned a lot in the process, and was glad to be so actively involved in this election process. I think you can still see her profile here:
My two sisters had their babies; both girls! So now all of my Mom and Dad's children have families with two boys and one girl!
Tamar and Danridge's daughter's name is Tova Allison. Roxanne and Peter's daughter's name is Shiloh Lee. (Don't sue me if I got the spelling wrong on those names.)
On the 29th, Tirah and Thea went down to Bryn Athyn for a shower for Tirah's sister Abby. It was some great Mama/Daughter time. The shower included a wedding dress fashion show, in which Thea got to wear a flower-girl dress. I wasn't there, but I can imagine that she was in heaven.
Tirah has recently discovered (or suspected) that she suffers from ADD. She hasn't had it officially diagnosed. But this has been a positive revelation for her, because it explains things about her behavior that she assumed were just her own faults. But like me with Depression, the Rumpelstiltskin effect has been empowering for her. Just being able to name the problem has given her power over it. She's been discovering many cool things online that are great tools for people suffering from ADD.
Oh, and by the way, I've loaded all of my past and current Keal Family Newsletters onto a blog, which you can read by going here:
And finally, in music news:
I have a music video which you can watch here:
I also have new sheet music available for "Thoughtfulness" from the "Peace of Heaven album."
Well that's about all for now. Hopefully I'll send a family photo soon.
Have a great day!
Love from,
Solomon "Soggy" Keal
Tirah "T" Keal
Thea "Boo" Keal
Cirdan "Bear" Keal
Jaden "Bubba" Keal
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