The Talens' Tales

I am starting to be convinced that there must be something to the saying "Farming is in his blood." I have used that phrase myself in reference to my husband, and now I see it being true of my son. Certainly we have given him tractors to play with, and a barn with animals. We go to the farm to visit Dad while he is the barn. But, I don't feel like I have forced farming on him in any way.  Yesterday, Wilbert came home with a farming magazine, which Joash immediately gravitated to. So, he and Wilbert paged through it after lunch and Joash quickly found his favorite page.                               "This one, right here."  "See, isn't this a nice round bale wrapper?" "I love this round bale wrapper!" I took about 15 pictures of him with this magazine and he had his eyes closed on ALL of them. And he really only cares about this one page with the pictures of the round...

As a Christian, it is a great comfort to know that all things happen for a reason and that God has a plan through it all. This lesson is very clean in The Reason by William Sirls. The Reason is full of a mish-mash of characters whose lives become interconnected through the book. A blind pastor and his wife take in a single mom and her son, who is diagnosed with leukemia. The doctors in the pediatric ward treating the boy, Alex, become close to this family as well. A stranger named Kenneth meets all of these characters and strange things start to happen in their lives, things that can only be described as miracles. Through all of these events, the characters learn the reason for many of the things that have happened in their lives. I must admit, I did not like this book at all. I finished it only because I felt I had too. I found it very cheesy and predictable. While the characters ask good questions, the answers that seem to convince them are less the token answers given. ...

The bath time sagas continue at our home. I have a feeling that this might be a continuous trend for a long while, since Joash has never liked his bath. In the hospital after he was born, the nurse was getting ready to demonstrate how to give Joash a bath and she said, "All babies loves baths." Then Joash proceeded to scream at the top of his lungs for the duration of his bath. Afterwards, the nurse said she had never had a baby that cried like that for his bath. Once we got him home, things did not improve. He cried and cried for his bath time. We became quite pro at doing baths quickly. Things did settle down once he could be in the baby tub and when he discovered splashing. Then he would only stand in the tub. As long as he was standing, he was fine. He would drive a car around the edge of the tub, fill up a cup and dump it out, all while standing. But as soon as you tried to get him to sit or lie down to get cleaned, he screamed. Then we went to the beach this summe...

While wandering the dessert, the Israelites were struck plague of poisonous snakes. Moses created a serpent on a pole and any Israelite that was bitten could look at the snake and be healed. This snake was thought to be destroyed centuries ago, but it was actually hidden. And now many people are fighting to have it and the extraordinary powers it holds. Jack Hawthorne is an archeologists on a mission to find this object. But, little does he know, there are several other people after the snake and his life own life as well. When Jack doesn’t return from his trip, his girl friend and her brother set out to find him. They quickly find themselves in the middle of a situation much bigger than themselves and one that could cost them their very lives. This was a high paced, action packed book. I enjoyed it for the entertainment value, but the story is pretty far out there. It is interesting to think about if some of these ancient Biblical artifacts do still exist somewhere. Would ...

A little video to give you a taste of the air show and Joash enjoying the tractor. Enjoy!

So last week was pretty exciting around out place. We live very close to the airport and we often have planes flying over head. But this past weekend there was an air show on the Island. The Blue Angels, Royal Canadian Air Force Snow Birds, CF-18 Demonstration team and all sorts of other fighter jets were flying around over head. Joash enjoyed watching them from our yard and my husband dashed outside any time he heard one coming. So, we decided it might be fun to go the Air Show and acutally see the planes' entire show. Joash enjoyed sitting in his stroller. He liked looking at the planes...  And the people...  But what he like most of all was this... There were a few tractors on display and Joash just loved sitting in this one. He declared it was "Joash's tractor" and happily sat it while the Snow Birds did their show in the air above us. And then he cried when we had to leave and leave the tractor behind.

 M(om): Hi Joash. We have had a busy day today and we will tell everyone about it later. But right now, it is time for your monthly interview because you are 22 months old today! J(oash): I will smile nicely for the picture, Mom, now that I know to say "cheese." I still really like cheese. Can I have some cheese to eat? M: Not right now. First can you tell us about how things are going? J: Well, I am getting some more teeth, so that is throwing off my appetite and my sleeping a little bit. I really don't want to eat supper any more, though I will sometime lick something if it looks good. That is what dogs do with their tongues when they eat. I also like to copy you and dad quite a bit. Like when dad stretches, I like to stretch too. And I like to repeat that last words you and Dad say. M: I know that Joash. That means we need to make sure we are teaching you good stuff. What do you like to play with lately?  J: I love my tractors, especially when they are ho...