Not only he is a pleasant young man to have around, a helpful older brother, and a Civil War buff, Joshua is also very handy with a set of tools. During my IKEA bookshelf craze, Joshua put together Flarke after Flarke for me. When I start to dream about building the ultimate school room, Tim and Joshua tell me we won’t need walls, we can build the entire school house out of Flarkes. Aren’t they helpful! I can’t help it if IKEA sells a $20 bookshelf that holds LOTS of books. I’m a homeschooler, that’s what we do – buy and fill bookshelves. It’s part of the covenant you sign when you decide to homeschool.
I’m sorry but this person is obviously NOT a homeschooler. Or even a reader at all. What is that seven books on the shelf? Sniff.
Joshua serves another very significant purpose – a Project 365 Photo Model! When the day is coming to a close and I realize I haven’t taken any pictures, instead of panicking I just search for a possible subject. Who is still lingering around with the patience of Job? Joshua.
Obviously I can’t just snap a random picture and call that sufficient, no that would be too easy and mean I actually get sleep at night. Instead I have to come up with something a little bit creative. Thankfully Joshua is usually willing to participate (his patient, cheerful spirit is a blessing to the whole family – I have to be careful not to abuse it ruthlessly). Tonight a project presented itself just as I needed some photos. [I have some cute pictures of Rachel's visit to the allergist this morning but I'm not sure she would like them posted on the blog. What do you say, Rachel?? :)]
One of the Lazy Susan shelves in my cabinet broke today. It didn’t exactly break so much as sink lower and lower into the bottom shelf, rendering it rather useless. Rachel was working on the dinner dishes and Joshua was lying on the couch telling us about Middle School Youth Group when I began setting the stage for some good blog pictures. You have to work up to these things carefully. Fixing the shelf sounded too energetic for Joshua but I managed to convince him to come over and help me unload the shelves. He said I used persuasive words like “sit down while you work.” Did I mention the kids are all a bit wiped out from trying to keep up with the relentless pace of this new Healthy Living? All those vegetables and daily exercise requirements are exhausting.
Taking after his very handy grandfathers (the handy man gene skips a generation in our family), Joshua couldn’t resist the project. That and my threat of going off to get Daniel spurred him on to action. Daniel is VERY talented in the fixing things department (our goal is to gradually bring him to a place where he FIXES more things than he BREAKS – it’s going to be a slow process I’m afraid). Not one to let his younger brother pass him by, Joshua quickly rose to the challenge.
Joshua emptied the shelves but then was stumped at what to do next. He took some screws out but still couldn’t figure out what was causing the trouble. I suggested he look at the Lazy Susan shelf in the upper cabinet to see if that would provide some insight into the problem. Sure enough, that was just the bit of help he needed. The next thing I knew he had taken it apart and fixed the whole thing.
Hooray Joshua!! He even worked on the bottom shelf (the one that WASN’T broken) and raised it up for me a bit. You’re awesome, J!
A little note to those who noticed Joshua’s (rapidly increasing) height – I don’t know exactly when he passed me by. The last time we were at the doctor’s office (maybe 6 months ago) he was hovering right around 5 ft 8 in. The doctor told him at the rate he was growing (on the growth chart) he would pass Tim’s height by the time he was 14 or 15. My goodness!!
Here he is in December 2006, still a pip squeak, barely my height. Tim is not threatened by Joshua’s growth spurt, no, not at all. He always poses for pictures like that.
Only a few months later, in April 2007, look how Joshua has grown. Sigh. He’s now claiming to be almost 5′ 10″. How they do insist on growing up! There doesn’t seem to be any way to stop them.
Kathy
Woah! I certainly do not want to stand next to Joshua now, I will look like a midget! At least I am still taller than Leah, for now. When we left, I still felt at least like a grown up around you Joshua, but now I will have to tilt my head to look you in the eye. At least here in Thailand I am tall, or taller.
OH MY! He really did shoot up. I’m not sure how I’ll feel when one of my kids passes me up! Our dds are very close, but too close to say that they’ve “officially” become taller. GOOD JOB in the repair project, Joshua. My Joshus is also a handyman fixer upper!
It is a sad thing when you have to be careful not to stand next to your own son in pictures, or wherever there are witnesses. Although I am still ‘officially’ taller than Joshua, I suspect it is only because he hasn’t bothered to challenge me to the back-to-back, ruler-on-the-head test.
How kind of him to fix that lazy Susan! She (Susan) has never really contributed much to the family, but rather has used her nick-name as an excuse to avoid work … good to see that Joshua was able to finally set her straight.
For those of you wondering what those strange grains are in the clear bags in the pictures above, nobody knows, not even the farmers. These grains grow up mysteriously, are harvested, packaged, shipped, sold, cooked and eaten without anyone knowing what they actually are. It is just one of the mysteries that we enjoy, living with Kathy.
Great job, Joshua! It is wonderful to have a handy man in the house.
He sure has shot right up. Bessie is taller than I am, but that is not saying much as my very meager 5’2″ is an easy target. I’m not sure anyone will get taller than Bri at 5’11″, but we will see. I’m not sure any of the other girls will even pass me as they are very slight.
This is Bess.
I’m only 5’3 3/4, that really is not a tremendous height.
Great job, Joshua!
Yeah – the 13 yo is taller than me now……and the older two boys are pulling up with Mike. LOL They grow so FAST!!!! Spent the afternoon buying things for graduation.
How tall is Tina?
Sweet blog on Joshua and the fix-it project.
Love you guys!! AK
My 12yold is 5’3″. My kids have always been tall. I always cringe when someone says, WOW, Holly, you’ve grown like a foot! She’s never too happy about that. Height has advantages, but she can’t see that yet.
Kathy, Joshua growing like that has to be a killer on the clothing budget. How convenient it’s shorts season for the next few months!
It’s quite nice that the handyman gene skips generations. At least you are sandwiched right in between!