12/28/2011

It was lovely...

It was lovely, it really was...
...from start to finish...


 Each year on Christmas Eve when I get ready to pile the gifts under the tree I always think we've not done enough...
that our love for each child might be measured by how many gifts they receive the next morning
or by how much money we spent

But...
Each year as I set everything lovingly under the tree
I am overwhelmed by the reality of how generous the Lord has allowed us to be 
and how generous the Lord is with us

in more ways than just tangible gifts...

When we drove through the devastation that is Joplin on our trip two weeks ago we were brought to tears...
and still I am affected.

Acutely grateful and aware of the ways the Lord has spared us, and so thankful to
{{be}}
with family
in our house
under a roof
in the warmth
with food
our own clothes
fresh water
and 
wrapped gifts
Gifts that we don't NEED
only things that we 
WANT
small tokens
weak gestures
attempts to represent
and symbolize
the most

AMAZING

GIFT

OF

ALL

a tiny baby
helpless in an animal feeding trough
wrapped in strips of dirty rough fabric

here to save
.us.

So...embracing all this, we had a wonderful Christmas. We spent the days with family, crammed in small houses, talking above noisy children, waiting for slow food to cook, cleaning up messes, laughing, hugging, and loving every precious moment of it.

I am ready to put behind me all the tears and unanswered questions of this year and
turn to face the only One who knows the answers
and follow Him into the next year,
the future that only He is certain of...

Worrying about what lies ahead and trying to answer things for myself is too big a burden for me to carry
and I gladly

turn

it 

over

to my Savior,
the precious tiny babe
come to save the world.

Happy New Year!
May you look to Him for the truth, and the true measure of your gifts.

Ephesians 3:20-22
Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
(kjv)



12/24/2011

Merry Merry Christmas!

12/19/2011

Wo-hooo!

I'm unabashedly excited!

We had a wonderful time last week on our impromptu trip to Dallas and many other places. I'm so glad we got to go, and so thankful for Marvin's job that allowed us to!

I LOVE Christmas...

I LOVE this week of preparation, of our hearts and home...

We do Advent, but are scrambling to catch up since we missed two weeks being gone...

Marvin always makes Christmas so magical for me, especially! I don't know how he does it, but he's amazing. We didn't celebrate Christmas as kids at my house, so he's trying to make up for a childhood of lost memories!

I can't wait to share our trip with all of you...but right now

It's time to roll up my sleeves and get to work!

(and get Ava out of the bathtub...)


{Ava took this at one of the many beautiful places we went last week...}

12/17/2011

Minus one...

It's been a bit over a year since my miscarriage

I still cry and miss my baby...

I think about how old she'd be right now...she pops into my head at odd times, and I mentally fit her in to what we're doing. 

I always feel like someone's missing and am constantly looking around, counting to make sure we've got everyone. 

I have friends who had babies around the time I would have had my angel, and it makes the empty space in my heart even bigger when I see them.

I also have friends who have shared the pain of miscarriage...but they've gone on to have other children.  "But what if I can't?" I always think...
We've tried...and I had one more miscarriage...

Discovering and dealing with related health issues should make it easier to bide my time. Some days it does, but some days it doesn't.

They say time heals everything, but I'm not so sure. Part of me is forever changed...will forever be longing...
Despite the sadness, I've come to terms with the reality that
it happened.

I am a mother of five...
two of whom I've never kissed
but will someday.

It will forever be a part of who I am
we will always have a part of our family missing.

Our family is not yet complete.
God has promised me to one day fill my aching arms again...but the waiting is so hard.

12/15/2011

{{witty}}

Me: "Who told you that?"
Ava: "No one! I just found it in my head!"

~~~~~~~~

Ava: "Mom? I'll miss you when I'm dead..."

~~~~~~~~~

Ava: "I wish I had fourteen children, then I could have a mansion and fourteen beds!"

~~~~~~~~~

Ava: "Mom? When am I gonna be old enough to go on a stage? I want to sign up for one right now! And I'll be fine with a crowd."

~~~~~~~~~

Ava: "I'm guessing that God is writing our prayers on little Post It notes and hanging them up with our names on them?" (after bedtime prayers one night!)

12/13/2011

sleep in heavenly...



12/10/2011

{proof}


{proof} positive that
they really are!

12/08/2011

Field of Bees

It was a beautiful day...
typical fall in the midwest, brilliant colors everywhere
summer fading away in a last wash of richness

The wildflowers were stunning
but
the field was full of bees...

She didn't want to stay and pick flowers.

We left, and it made me think...
Am I ever in a field of bees?

Walking in seems so appealing
Curiosity is my second nature.

Do I stay despite the sting of reality?
Should I?

Depends on where the field is...
sometimes fighting the bees is a good thing!

12/06/2011

Normal

These days Daddy leaves for work at sunrise, before any little feet come pitterpatter down the stairs...and sometimes barely before Momma is awake!

We take our time getting started, sometimes me in my jammies still while I'm getting the kids organized.

More often than not, as I serve breakfast, I look at the clock and it's going on 11:00!

It takes me a long time to feel awake in the morning, I have to do things in a certain order or it just doesn't feel right.

First, the laundry. First before anything else! 

Then making the bed, checking email, showering/getting dressed...

THEN I'm ready for kids, breakfast, etc.

We usually wrap up violin practice and school work around 2, then we have lunch!
Sometimes the munchies hit us around 12 and we'll have a quick bite, but real "lunch" is not usually till 2 or sometimes even 3:00!

Afternoons are usually spent tidying up the house, playing outside, or running errands.

I start dinner at 6 or 6:30 and we eat at 7 or later...when Daddy comes home.

Kids go to bed all at once at 9, parents at 10..or 11...or whenever!

Our normal is not normal for everyone else
but
it 
works
{well}
for 
us!

Do you have a normal that isn't?

12/05/2011

Ava


5 years...

1,825 days...

43,8000 hours...

2,628,000 seconds...

gone by in a blink of an eye!




I still think, "Wow! I have a DAUGHTER!"

Someone to train to be a wife and a mother

Someone who will watch my every move and want to be like me...good or bad




A little person who is like me but also completely un-like...

She mystifies my head
but
my heart completely understands her

 

 Having a daughter is NOTHING like having sons...

I'm still surprised!


 She's a delight to watch...

dancing and singing her way through life
loving passionately
and
hating with fury

There is no lukewarm here!



Stuffed animals are her companion and lovie of choice
I was exactly the same...
and like her, I had a toy tiger!



She's a rose petal tornado...

sweetness
and
wild wind


She amazes me every day
and teaches me things about myself
that
sometimes I do not want to learn


Five marks the end of a journey
and I'm sad
but

in awe of what will be happening
right before our eyes...


grace and beauty...
laughter and sweetness...

tigers, lions and poodles
plastic food
and princess dresses

songs and dances
and falling down

silliness and tears and
coloring books




in {Love} for 5 years...

can't wait for the rest!




12/03/2011

One of THOSE!


It's one of THOSE days...
you know, when you sort of have to forget what is socially acceptable?

When it becomes completely reasonable to let the dog clean last night's dinner leftovers out of the crockpot...


When you don't see anything wrong with staying in your pajamas, bra-less,
even when your 10 year old son invites a friend over...
and the friend's dad is coming over to pick him up...

When you feed your grain-free kids popcorn and pretzels for lunch and then get irritated when they are hungry 15 minutes later...

When the bathroom smells like pee but you see no reason why you should investigate or, heaven forbid, CLEAN it...

When you stare at the laundry pile in the middle of the floor and idly think what pretty colors it is before stepping over it and continuing out of the room...

When the only activity that seems reasonable for everyone to do involves the computer or television...

When you try and remember what your domestic duties are and just hear static...

When you fleetingly wonder if you should pretend to be sick in bed so your husband won't ask what you did (or didn't do!) all day...

Yep...
one of THOSE days!

We all have them, and it's OK.
I don't have anything profound to say about it, other than it's just life, and it's normal.
Honestly, I haven't had one in a loooong time.
I must really need a rest!


12/01/2011

More than just a hill 'o beans



  

I love having three kids...but my heart still aches for my fourth...and my fifth
that we lost.  
I think about it every.single.day.

I'm not angry...just sad...
and
wondering what God will have for us next!

my Three Musketeers love adventures in the outdoors!
They pray every night that Jesus will give us a farm...
with a creek...
and a large hollow log...
and a cave...
and a couch and a TV in the cave...

I tell them that God hears every prayer but sometimes He answers them a bit differently than we expect!
You know, to avoid any tears when our new farm has the hollow log but not the cave with a TV in it!


One of the many aspects of homeschooling I love is that my kids are friends
not just siblings, not just "the other one that sleeps in my bedroom"
but friends. Real honest to goodness friends.
I cherish their conversations...
I love that Ava wants to give Alec "huggies and kisses" before he leaves to play with a friend...
The other night, Ava had trouble falling asleep and Alec sat in her bed reading her Bible stories
till I could come up and talk to her...
Priceless!


I also love that Ava will have two BIGGER brothers to look out for her! What a filter that will be when boys come a knockin' down the road! And I also enjoy knowing that Ava will have a really good idea of how to relate to the opposite sex and what makes them tick! Of course God's plan is perfect, but I also certainly wouldn't change the birth order here even if I had a chance!

Getting the three of them to cooperate for a photo is virtually impossible, in fact, I don't really even try anymore. Usually I just put them in the clothes, put them in the location, and then let them do their thing! And honestly, the "outtakes" are probably my favorites, because they capture what my three are really all about...

If the picture below was the norm, I think I'd be deathly bored!

Marvin is working on the big "protect and honor your sister" idea with the boys.  It's tough because even though they are older than her, she's still the pesky little sister and  all they wanna do is protect their stuff! This is, unfortunately, a lesson only Daddy can teach...
He's begun to encourage them to play games that involve "rescuing" Ava from a giant horrible beast, in attempts to make it exciting to learn the life-lesson.
It's REALLY important to us that the message gets through...
I'll keep you posted!



It's so awesome to me to get to watch them all learn new things. Benji has taken off with math like nobody's business and his drawings in his sketch book are completely amazing! Tiny and full of detail and each one tells a complete story.  Alec is becoming so much more self motivated. I can tell he's really starting to enjoy school, HE chose his own science book this time around AND his own history book! Ava is pretty much teaching herself how to read...and is extremely motivated with domestic tasks. Sweeping, scrubbing out the sink with baking soda, and washing the cabinet fronts with vinegar water are some of her favorite things to do!



All I can say about the image above, is...
WATCH OUT!
*grin*


 These two do.not.get.along.
At.All.
(for right now, but...)
It's awful!
I remember Alec and Benji going through the same phase right before we took Alec out of public school in second grade. Within 2 months, we noticed a remarkable positive change in Alec, and in his ability to kindly relate to others outside of his peer group. That is one way that a traditional age-grouped school setting is crippling...kids develop a tight tolerance for only those in their developmental stage. It makes dealing with siblings after a long tiring day in the classroom nearly an impossibility!



My hope is that their friendships will continue to blossom, Ava's naturally bossy nature will subside a bit, Benji's highly sensitive temper will quiet, and Alec will come into a fuller realization of his role as the oldest...
Because, deep down, they really and truly are FRIENDS
and that's the best part of being siblings!


Ava loves animals. More than dollies. More than nearly anything.
She goes to bed with no less than 10 animals piled high on each side of her bed. Good thing she sleeps in a queen! I've come in her room at night before and found her using her big tiger or horse as her pillow!
I remember loving animals as a little girl, too. I remember on several occasions just BEGging my mom for a new teddy bear when we were out shopping.


I love watching the nurturing, motherly side of Ava grow. She takes such good care of her stuffed animals, putting them to bed under the covers, shoving them down in her dolly high chair and feeding them plastic carrots, singing to them, taking them for rides in the dolly stroller...
You WANT to be a stuffed animal in this girl's room! Ha!


 Even though she's turning 5 in a week, I can still see traces of baby sweetness lingering. She likes to bring an animal to snuggle with if she feels shy...she runs straight to me for a snuggle when she wakes up in the morning...she still cries HARD when she's upset...she still needs a rest in the afternoon...
But it's all fading fast. Too fast.


This handsome fellow is my comedian! Oh, the laughter he brings to my heart!
He's finally realized that HE is funny, and we are NOT laughing AT him! It took a while...he cried a lot thinking we were making fun of him for a long time.
Now he knows he's funny. He has great timing, does a fantastic British accent, and spits out the most random, hilarious things all day long.

You can't parent well without a sense of humor!


Benji will be eight in January. That's two years under 10. That's 6 years under driving.
I hope he's still funny then!



My oldest, my perfect baby.
Napped twice, for two hours each time! Slept through the night at 7 weeks!
No allergies, no issues, no naughtiness, no terrible twos...
I thought I was the best mom ever!

How we learn and grow!


Alec is 10...sometimes older, sometimes younger!
Older, more often than not these days.
I love watching him read
and write his school work

He's so big, up to my shoulders...
Makes the weight of my reality on my shoulders heavy.
I will soon have a teenager.

He'll be amazing.
I just know it.


And that, my friends, is more than just
a hill 'o beans!

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