Chismville

Here is a small sampling of some of the amusing things I’ve heard recently:

Joel: What color are your stripes, Mommy?

Me: White and red.

Joel: White and red? Wow! I love white and red! They my favowites!

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to Kirstie:

Joel: Do you want to hold my precious Aria?

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Chalice always says, “Are you cold, Mommy?” when I change her diaper with cold hands. She never complains that my hands are cold for her.

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Joel is an optimist. I tell him he can’t do something and he invariably asks, “Can I do it Later?” “Later” is his magic word. I told him not to play with the fireplace tools. He said, “Can I use them later?” I told him when he’s older, I’d let him use the fireplace tools. A few days later he announced, “Mommy, I’m older now. Can I use these?”

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Our kids love to help us. Whenever David’s working on a challenging project, Joel will place his little hand on David’s shoulder and say kindly, “I’m helping you, Daddy.”

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If I stub my toe or burn myself (which happens often, I guess I’m a clutz) Chalice says with great sympathy, “I so sowwy, it’s okay!” She usually says it two or three times.

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My dad took Joel by his house when most of my siblings were gone. Joel asked, “Where are all your friends?”

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A couple days ago we had some new friends over. We were making preliminary introductions and Joel stood in the doorway hugging Chalice and said, “This is my cute Chalice.”

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Joel loves looking at pictures of people on facebook or various blogs. We clicked on a picture of Emily Howard and me and Joel said, “Look at Aunt Emily’s beautiful eyes!” “Oh Mommy has beautiful eyes too!” The picture had horrible red-eye. I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

The Chism Family has now officially seen a number of snow days but nothing like the one we had today! The most snow we’ve gotten all season long was probably not much more than 2-3 inches. This morning, I woke up to 18 degree weather and very bright landscaping. There was about 2-3 inches at around 6:30 and by 8:00 about 6 inches. So I was snowed in from work till about 11:30. Our neighbor was kind enough to snow plow our 1/2 mile driveway.

As I was leaving for a few appointments, I got to see a black cat attack a rabbit in our front yard. It was quite cool. There was so much snow, both animals had a hard time, but eventually, the cat one the battle and slow dragged off its lunch. It was actually quite funny watching the attack and the cat pounce through the snow with the rabbit in its jaws. A little adventure for a city boy!

When I left for work, the rest of my family was joined by most of the Howard clan: Heidi, Emily, Kirstie, Seth, Joe and Katrina for a little bit of sledding, snowballs, popcorn and hot cocoa. They had a blast! As we wrap up our final weeks if not days of this cold winter, we’ve posted a few of our snow day photos.

Some folks said I would not like the winters out here or be dying for San Diego. This is of course, my first winter. Maybe I’ll get sick of it in a few years. All in all, the winter in Maryland was not that bad. I enjoyed most of the days. The things I did not like were staying in side most of the time and work being extremely slow. However, I think I will appreciate spring 10x more than I ever have before!

Many people have wondered how Dave Chism would survive his first winter in Maryland. Believe you me, I’ve gotten a lot of comments and questions sound like this: “Soooo….how are you liking Maryland with all this cold weather?” or “Do you think you can make it through your first winter?” “Ready to go home to California?” I really don’t mind the questions, but after awhile…it does get a little old. Believe it or not, I’m doing just fine. I do sometimes wonder if winter will ever end. I think that is a normal response, even for the locals. When living in San Diego, I always wondered when the sunny days would end so I could wear a jacket or a sweater now and then. So, no matter where I live, I’ll enjoy it with a few wishes of change in seasons! Ahh…but some people do not know that I spent 1 full year in Indianapolis, IN in 1996-1997. If people think Maryland is cold, it does not compare to Indianapolis. Those days were brutal in January-February. I’ve heard that spring is approaching soon. There was a few signs last week with 60 degree weather, but this weak it has been windy and cold again. So, I’ll believe it when I see it. As for other news, our family is doing quite well in our “little” home. Actually it is the biggest home we’ve lived it, but it sounds good to call it “our little home.” The kids are anxious to get outdoors but still manage to have an adventure indoors. Joel and Chalice have also been very good lately. They seem to go through a series of fits, rebellion, anger, screams, and so on and then have a perfect week where we think they had a religious experience or maybe it is good parenting! Ha! I think it is just God’s grace to show Joli and me that He is always working in all of our hearts.Speaking of God: He is truly been good to us. I have been richly blessed with my job at Hallco Painting. Ted and Karin have been wonderful to me. The construction industry is not doing well in America and seems to have finally settled down in Maryland too. Homeowners just aren’t thinking about painting their homes this time of year. To prepare for the worst, Ted made some very tough but necessary changes to his business after the first of the year. He downsized from his beautiful office space back to his basement and reduced our office staff to: Himself, Karin and me. His basement is amazing! Being from California, where we don’t have basements, this office is just as beautiful! My desk is next to the big sliding glass door with a gorgeous view of rolling country hills! I am amazed that Ted has kept me on his team, and I am praying that God would truly bless Hallco with some work. We need it, and I really want to do my part. I hope God will use me mightily to bless my boss and the staff at Hallco Painting.My struggles have been in the area of trusting God, especially with this troubling economy. I have been diligently marketing and planning on how we can sell work but nothing seems to be coming in the door. I was so frustrated at being a salesman and marketeer a few weeks ago and realized I need to look to Christ. I am reminded to pray continually, casting all my cares upon the Lord. In Psalm 37, we are reminded that God will never forsake the righteous nor see His children lacking bread. We’ve had many years of plenty and now need to continue on on our knees praying for our daily bread: praising Him for the many good gifts! Church is going well. New Hope OPC is where our family has settled into since arriving on the east coast. We also have a nice little home fellowship group too with 5-6 families.I’ve been getting a good workout 2x a week at a nearby middle school in Walkersville. I meet with 8-10 men to play full-court basketball on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6am. It really has been a lot of fun for me. All the men are Christians but hope to have unbelievers show up to play with us. We start of with a 2-3 minute devotional and a brief prayer for our group. We then play for a good solid hour. Believe it or not, I’m one of the youngest on the court at 30. Most of the guys are in their 40′s and 50′s with a few in their 30′s like me. I’ve never been a real morning person but look forward to playing every week. Now I hope I have the same motivation to get up extra early to read God’s Word!My parents and sister will be visiting the first part of April, so I am counting down the days till their visit. I can’t wait! 

I’ve gotten to experience a good bit of snow and ice during my first full winter on the east coast. So far, I’m surviving. The funny thing is, I actually don’t mind 20 degree weather most of the time. It is rather dull and boring when it is in the 40′s in the middle of winter. My thinking is…if it is winter, let it be winter. However, what I really like about winter is not the freezing cold mornings or days. I love SNOW days. Every time it snows it is just gorgeous. It is so peaceful and beautiful to watch. The first major storm we got, I was sick with pneumonia but I just had to go outside. I bundled up nice and warm and sat on the front porch swing for probably a good 45 minutes listening and watching the pleasant snow fall!

Having cold weather has it’s share of problems, and I guess I am getting a little tired of the cold and longing for a few nice days of good temperatures where I can take the kids to the park. They are definitely getting cabin-fever over here! One of the problems is more my fault than the weather. I can’t keep my cars clean! It is humanly impossible. For several years, I always thought it was a great idea to have an auto detailing business in Maryland. However, from November through parts of March, it either rains or snows just enough to keep cars clean, and it is just too cold to wash cars! I know because I tried it! I took my filthy company truck over to the car was a couple of weeks ago to get it looking spiffy once again! I did the self-car wash and had a heck of a time cleaning my truck. The soap suds froze to the car before I could rinse them off. Because the soap was frozen and some water, I could not scrub any of the dirt of my truci. I spent the rest of my $5 in change blasting my vehicle with tons of high-pressured water to get all the suds off. I was able to accomplish that but in the mean time…the rinse water froze to my truck! I drove away with all my mirrors frozen and a layer of ice over my still dirty truck. The temperature? 16 degrees! Can we say “stupid.” I forgot to mention that I almost had frostbit’n hands during the wash cycle too!

Today we had a small ice storm. We had 2+ inches of snow followed by a nice bit of frozen rain. I did not even know what frozen rain was until I moved here! Ha! Now I know. I spent about 15 minutes this morning breaking off the 1/4″ think pieces of ice on my trucks windows. It was rock solid! I had to warm up my truck for probably 20 minutes to help warm up the windows and literally crack the ice with lots of force before scraping it off! I then headed to a postal box to drop off a company newsletter. The walkway up to the box was covered in ice. I was extremely careful while approaching the postal box! I was balancing my right side with my letters and the left side with my cell phone (talking to Joli). Have you ever tried to walk on ice with things in both hands while talking on the phone? It can’t happen! I finally had to quickly hang up and try to slide my way over to the mail box! I made it to the mail box after 2-3 falls! It was such an ordeal that I ended up sliding back to my truck and NOT mailing most of my letters.

So, ice and snow days…what an adventure. I prefer the snow without the ice now that I’ve experienced them both.

This is the blog entry we alluded to in our mini mailing. We promised an update to those interested enough to type in our worldwide web log and here it is!

This has been one of the most eventful years of my life in so many respects. First of all, Aria Noelle Chism entered our family on May 28th beating her big bro and sis’s entrance into the world weights by several pounds (8lb.s 4 oz.s for the female readers out there who care about such details). Aria happened upon a bustling time in Chism history as we had just sold and moved out of our condo and moved into a rental home in San Diego with a bright blue baby room! Aria started off life needing only to be cuddled to be happy.  Since this was not possible all of the time, she was a little fussbudget. But after much (loving) older-sibling abuse, a drive across the country, and several months of bustling life, she has become the world’s easiest baby and we all just love squeezing her pudges and returning her wide smiles.

David signed off a fabulous eight years of service at Chism Brothers Painting. He made the monumental decision to move our little family all the way across the continent to his wife’s hometown, to start a new job, in a new house, in a new climate. It is evident that the Lord had really paved our way in so many respects as all the details of this big move fell gracefully into place.  David took his marketing prowess, family work ethic, sales and business savvy to Hallco Enterprizes, another medium-sized family painting business. Speaking of savvy, David has dusted off his three-point shot, and enjoys playing basketball with a great group of men every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 6 AM. Now that’s dedication to a good thing!

My country-girl’s heart is at home seeing wild turkeys and deer out the windows of our home. My mother’s heart is thrilled to be so safely off the rode with our adventurous little ones. While we deeply miss our dear family, friends, and church family in San Diego, we are much enjoying reconnecting with loved ones on the east coast. One of my joys is an in-home gym-membership/accountability package of my sweet sister, Heidi, showing up at my door each morning (before the kids are up) to exercise with me. I have so appreciated the opportunity to reconnect with my siblings in a way that was impossible before. David and I sure don’t mind the awesome free sitters either!
Joel and Chalice are a fun duo. Their communication has really taken off this year. I never realized how many funny things I say until we got these cute parrots!  Joel is forever plotting his next venture with Chalice close behind. Now that he can peg his little sister, Joel is doubly ambitious with some of his mischief. They love reading books and our frequent trips to the library. Joel is an avid train enthusiast. Chalice is crazy about her little sister!

This year we welcomed three new family members into our extended family—a niece (Kathryn Jean Weld), a nephew (Randy Nathanael Beaty), and a new brother-in-law (Jesse Beaty). Some of our year’s highlights included David’s thirtieth birthday—woohoo! We took my first trip to Disneyland—just David and me—on our fourth anniversary. That was shortly after Aria was born and just before our trek across the country. It was sheer bliss to leave all those boxes behind and enjoy some magical time together in the land where dreams come true!  On our drive across the country, we stopped in Colorado and enjoyed visits to three good friends’ homes. We got back to Maryland in time to watch the autumn foliage change followed by not nearly enough winter snowfall. David purchased his first riding lawn-mower and looks like a natural on it.

Thanks so much for sharing in this journey of life with us! We love you and pray God’s empowering strength to you this new year: “Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength…Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:28,29,31

With love,
David, Joli, Joel, Chalice, and Aria Chism

Nobody ever told me it would be this hard to raise kids. If they did, I was not listening. The books and seminars I remember attending/reading all seemed to give me pointers on being a great parent and having great kids. If they told me it was difficult, that I would struggle, and there was no set system, once again, I must have been to proud or not interested at the time to read all the fine print.

My kids are good kids. They are cheerful and most of the time obedient. However, it does seem like 33% of the time, they test my patience and my parenting skills. This morning I awoke to the sound of little feet racing around the home. It was definitely Chalice, my second born (2). I wondered what she was so excited about and decided to take a peek. I wish I hadn’t! I went into the back bedroom where the portable heater was turned on a high setting blasting our electrical usage. I then turned around to find my file organizer with no files in it. 99% of my files, papers, letters, receipts, etc. were all over the floor. I’ve seen a lot of messes raising kids, but nothing like this in terms of the amount of time it would take to clean up this mess. That afternoon, I spent almost an hour and a half putting papers back into the right folders, and back into the file organizer. This organizer has been sitting in the corner of this back bedroom for almost 4 months, and most of the time, Chalice sleeps in this room. She has seen this organizer for months with NO interest. This morning, she decided it was time to investigate!

After I disciplined her and told her she was naughty, I put her in bed again, and she slept for almost 2 1/2 more hours! Very strange!

Later that morning, Joli was getting ready for the day and me…I fell back asleep! I was awaken again by a little noise in my bedroom. My oldest was digging through my drawer investigating all my things I use regularly, phone, earpiece and chapstick! He had the expensive Burt’s Bees in hand when I jumped out of bed to rescue the stuff. I then went out of the room to find the left over expensive massage oil poured out on our wood floor. He had dumped it on the floor, which is NOT the first time this has happened! Why does he keep doing the same things wrong weekly and sometimes daily! Why this morning on a Saturday.

Later that morning, I began to calm down and think about why I was upset at my kids. I disciplined them as I should but was still extremely angry that they would defy their father. I was then reminded of my Heavenly Father’s love for me and began to see what He was teaching me. How many times do I sin in a day? 10x? 20x? I don’t know! A lot most likely! How many times do I have to come before the Lord and seek his forgiveness? How many times does the Lord, say, “When is David going to get it and hold a grudge against me? NEVER!!! He forgives me with so much grace because of Jesus’ sacrifice for my sins. My Father is grieved when I sin but always has open arms saying, “Come. Repent and be forgiven!” My Lord will discipline me when I sin at times but will never hold my sins against me. He forgives and “remembers my sin no more.”

The example God has shown me is what I need to do for my kids. By God’s grace, I hope to begin to correct my children, hug them and say with much grace in my heart, “Go and sin no more!”

The Chism Family stayed home this Christmas. It was the firs time since we married that we did not travel across the United States during Christmas. We decided to stay put because we just had a very expensive move the end of August to the east coast, and with the economy the way it is, we felt it was best to celebrate Christmas in our home. We still were able to attend all the fun parties out here and continue with Joli’s family Christmas Traditions. The Howards celebrate Christmas typically on the 23rd and 24th. Because I am a traditionalist, I asked Joli if we can celebrate Christmas twice! She willing said yes! So, we had Christmas at the Howards 2 miles away and Christmas at our home on the real Christmas Day with just our family of 5!

Christmas morning at the Chism was very relaxing. We started with a traditional egg, bacon and pancake breakfast followed by stockings and presents. The kids loved it! The rest of the day was filled with finger painting, a trip to the bathtub with dirty kids, playing with their new block set, tea set and tinkertoys and naps! Unfortunately, Joli and I did not take naps, just the kids.

Joli and I then headed to the kitchen to make Christmas cookies. Joli whipped up her batch in seconds (as she normally does) while I requested her help to speed up my recipe. She made a peanut butter chocolate cover cookie while I made Candy Cane cookies.

We ended the day with the Howards coming over for a late night movie of Home Alone. All in all, it was a good day for our little clan. I enjoyed the day/week off of work and am very grateful to have such a wonderful family.

The past couple of days you will find us resting, playing with our kids, taking a few quiet walks with family members, having a few friends over (Laughman’s last night), watching a movie or two or reading a good book. Joli got me a few John Grisham books that we are going to read out loud together. I also just started an amazing book called, “Worldliness” edited by C.J. Mahaney. It is powerful and just what I needed to read right now in my life.

I was talking to my parents on my drive home yesterday (Friday) when I was able to announce to them that I had seen my first bit of snow on the ground as I turned onto my street Liberty Rd. I just love my street name! Anyways, I saw just a few specks of snow flurries while I was at my office and in the D.C. area but nothing like what Joli got to see! Our area (Northeastern part of Frederick County) probably got close to an inch of slow for our first snow fall of the season! Hey! Not bad as it is still a little early. It was so fun to drive up my driveway and see patches of snow covering most of the grassy areas around our property. Today there are still a few patches remaining. It is just beautiful. I wish Joli could describe what it was like. She said is was so peaceful when it came down.

I’m still trying to get use to this new part of America and hope I will get settled in soon. I have had trouble breathing on and off since I left San Diego. It all started when I hit Colorado and has been up and down ever since. I’m not sure if it is stress, the different climates, or what! The weather here has changed so much since I moved so I don’t think it is the weather as I’ve seen really hot, really humid, San Diego like weather and now this cold front. Today the high is around 30. The cool part is that I can deal with 30! My buddy, Ben Laughman, told me yesterday it did not get much colder than 30 in the middle of the day in Maryland (not including the wind), so I thought that was real cool! Don’t get me wrong 30 is VERY cold but not outrageously cold. I’m buying my first pair of long-johns today and already have an umbrella and two pairs of gloves! My job this fall consists of selling Christmas displays, so unfortunately, all my estimates are OUTSIDE! I had an appointment the other day when the temp was 23 degrees! OHHH was I cold. My body finally broke down on Thursday. All day Thursday through today I’ve felt like a whipped puppy. I have been outside quite a bit this week, and this has been the coldest week to date. So, I’m staying inside today getting a good amount of R&R trying to beat this flu bug or whatever it is I have! It is hard for me to stay in bed all day, so I got up to upload a few photos of our kids, family and write this quick blog.

One cool activity I just started was playing basketball with a group of Christian men on Tuesday and Thursdays. The last time I played ball with a group of guys on a weekly basis was in high school 15 years ago at the YMCA in Mission Valley. These guys are just awesome. They will discuss a few prayer items and pray together before we all start. We play from 6am to between 7 and 7:30. It has been great for me to get the exercise and get back in shape, as I don’t do well just being a runner or sitting in front of an exercise video. Just completed my 2nd week playing and am feeling better.

In short, besides my health issues, I am LOVING Maryland. I am so happy here yet must say…I wish I could see my wonderful Chism Family more often. God has not made it possible for man to figure out a way to be in two separate parts of the country at the same time. Sometimes I wish it were that easy. I love and miss my California family and my dear friends so much. Please come and visit whenever you are near DC or Baltimore. We are right in the middle of these cities.

Congratulations to Kendra and Jesse on the birth of Randy Nathanael Beaty this afternoon! I am SO excited for my sweet sis and bro and can’t wait to meet my new nephew!

I was pondering how magical are the little things in life through the eyes of a baby. Aria plays delightedly with her feet every time I change her diaper. She has become the world’s easiest baby. She smiles and plays and eats and sleeps and hardly fusses when her overly-zealous sister sits on her or enthusiastically pats her head or face. Although I’m trying to lead a peaceful and simple life, I can scarcely find time to update our little blog. I have written scores of interesting posts in my head like the one about my bubble bath with Joel and Chalice in our fancy whirlpool tub with Aria looking on, or the delightful snow flurries I experienced just the other day. I am proud of my sister Jenny as she books many Premier Jewelry shows and thrives with her new side job. Oh she is so entertaining! Heidi shows up faithfully every 6:30 AM of the weekdays to exercise with me. Sometimes I think it is a conspiracy to get me in shape and get me out of bed before my kids! David is playing basketball two early mornings a week with a group of guys. He’s such a good basketball player. It takes a real man to brave the cold at 5 something before work to shoot hoops. Kendra and I decided to start keeping eachother accountable for Bible memory. We now have nearly half a dozen people memorizing Isaiah 40! Please join us if you feel inclined. I plan to sign off this popcorn sort of post and head to bed so I’ll look perky when Heidi shows up tomorrow morning. Yay! for my new little nephew!

It took about 5-6 weeks but today was a very exciting day for me! I finally received my State of Maryland Salesman’s Licensed! Not every salesman needs a licensed in Maryland. I was required because I was selling home improvement jobs. It is actually a pretty cool system as far as government regulations go. It protects the homeowner to know that a person selling a paint job, a roof or remodeling project must be licensed by the State. It hopefully will set ourselves apart from the competition.

I’ve been working on selling only Christmas lighting projects, which has been cool. I’m really enjoying being Christmas Decorator and helping people light up their homes for Christmas. Now that I have my Home Improvement Lic. in hand, I’m officially licensed to take on residential painting estimates for Ted: and hopefully take a BIG load off his back.