Faith, Family, Friends

Last evening as we climbed into our small but comfy bed, my husband squeezed my hand and said "thanks for this weekend. It was great!" I laughed. "But I didn't DO anything." He thought it was a wonderful weekend. Here is what we did.

Friday evening we went to Delaware to exchange a wrong part for our ailing vacuum cleaner. Tim ordered the carpet attachment for our canister vac and when it arrived it was the wrong one. We found out you can return orders made online at any Sears service center. So we went and found out that we could buy a brand new one from there for the price that we had paid for the carpet attachment! It is exactly like our old one which we love and has worked so well all these years, except the carpet attachment had died. It was delightful to vacuum the rugs really well on Saturday morning!

We also went to Target to look at replacing some small appliances. The carafe to the coffee maker had a small crack in it, that we were unaware of and when Tim made coffee the other evening, we had coffee everywhere! Yikes! What a mess. So we got a new coffee maker. Tim just wanted a simple one that makes coffee. He didn't want bells, whistles, timers etc...we did find one, the last one on the shelf. It seems all the college students have been buying out Target!

We also had our cloths iron die on us, during the time of Tim's hip surgery. Finances were so tight then, so we borrowed an old one from my parents. We decided to buy a new one Friday night. Irons are something we use usually on Saturday nights to iron our cloths for church and on a few other occasions. However we seem to get really bad irons that don't work well, but we keep them until they die because we spent money on them! We ended up getting a nice one - a Shark. Tim ironed yesterday morning and there were now groans of frustration so I think it worked well. It better considering the price.

We also ended up with a new toaster. We have had ours forever. A two slicer for a family of eight. Not usually problem until you want to make BLT's for dinner. And the fact that to get anything toasted you have to do it twice. So we looked at toasters. Did you know you can learn alot about a culture by what their appliances can do for them? hee hee. People must eat alot of frozen breakfast foods because these toasters have defrost settings! They also have special settings for bagels...silly me, I used to just put them in our toaster. You also get to pay alot more for a toaster these days. But the toaster works great, can do four slices at a time, and on a low medium setting burned my toast the other morning! Go toaster!

So that was a lot of shopping on Friday night! Not very usual for us, but I must say, fun! It is nice to have the tools to do my work here at home in a more efficient way!

Saturday saw the girls off to work and Tim out using the chain saw to cut up the fallen trees. It was so hot and humid - it felt like Florida! Anyway a friend from church called and wanted to come by which he did. The kids love Uncle Denny because he brings Moon Pies when he comes for a visit! He and Tim had a good time of fellowship out in the pasture watching the burn pile! He stayed for dinner, which on a hot day was simply Cheese Steaks. Yummy and satisfying!

Sunday is always a looked forward to day. We had great Sunday School class and Church service, then a fellowship meal. We have had several young families attending on a regular basis. They are so sweet and we have enjoyed getting to know them. Rachel and I got to hold a wee baby only 9 weeks old! She was so precious! Rachel held her the most but I did get my baby fix! The mom was enjoying the blessing of a family integrated church. Older children used to younger siblings and blessing the families by helping with the children. Lindsay was holding and playing with the wee baby's older sister, age 19 months! Darling girl, cute, fun, active!

The highlight for Kyle yesterday was the chance to go ride the Strasburg Railroad with his friend Zeb! The dads took the boys using the comp tickets our girls get from work. The boys had a great time!

During that time Kelly , her son Anthony and my three older girls went to Susquehanna State Park to take photographs. They all have the photography bug.

My Mom and Dad came over also, and the three of us played Rook. They were teaching me the way they play with their neighbors. The weather has turned cooler and beautiful and so we sat out on the deck yesterday afternoon. While we were playing cards, a band started playing "cover songs." At first we thought they must be practicing but then they continued to play, and were pretty good so it added to our fun atmosphere! They were somewhere up the hill by our place! Lucky for us they didn't play heavy metal or rap. Not my favorite kinds of music.

Our son came by later in the evening with a friend of his. It was nice to see him. His leg is on the mend, he is now walking without his crutches!

So we had a lovely weekend. One of our favorite kinds - family, friends, good food - and I really didn't have to do anything!

Domestic Life

We have been very busy around our cottage the last several weeks. We have our daily mounds of laundry, our school work, keeping things tidy, cleaning bathrooms, doing dishes. This is daily life around here!

However, domestic life is not only about those kinds of chores. It encompasses all sorts of delightful things such as sewing, knitting, gardening, decorating.

Emily and I have been knitting alot lately working on winter hats and scarves for the family. I have been sewing - I made a skirt for me, an apron for a friends birthday - she is now 16 and while she doesn't cook much she loves to garden and that is what I had in mind when making her the apron. I also made Emily's apron! It is so cute but required much bias binding. I finished it today and will try to post a few photos soon. Now I have to make mine and Lindsay's.

Today the girls didn't have to work and so they were industrious here at home. I have been talking to them about the need for them to take on more "ownership" of their bedroom. They have the master suite and this is an opportunity for them to be responsible for their own place. Today they hung curtains around their beds and strung white lights around them too. It is very cute. They even switched some furniture around to make the curtain surrounds work.

My younger ones being inspired by their older sisters cleaned their room very well and are now trying to figure out how to put curtains up around their bed. They are hinderd by a ceiling fan, however!

I love to see them all being so creative.

I have been working on decluttering, going through boxes which probably haven't been touched in 10+ years. The neighborhood is planning a yard sale for Labor Day weekend. I hope to get rid of baby things, a bike, some children's movies, and more. My mom may bring some things from her home as well. I don't care if we make a lot of money - I just want to get the stuff out of the house! Aaaah, I love the feeling of less "stuff."

We also have been working on clearing up the trees from the storms last week, and I also did the mowing the other day.

It will be busy around here next week too. Tim is taking Thursday and Friday off and planning to start work on the horse barn that has been in the works since April! That will be so awesome to see that finished! Tomorrow he is working on more downed trees! He wants to get all that cleaned up before next weekend!

Domestic life is a great joy to me. Lots of work, but lots of blessing too! I love seeing my children embrace it!

Have a wonderful weekend!

The Government Can

Living In A Bubble World

So yesterday did not go so well....with school work that is. It seemed that everyone who struggled with something had a bit of a meltdown. Minor ones, but fussing none the less. Sigh...Thankfully, I have many years of home educating behind me and I know that there will be days like these.

It takes time and effort to teach your children, especially when the sun is shining and they would rather be outside. God never promised me that I would not have difficulty in my life, even though I would prefer that everything go well and easy.

I had a woman say to me once "well, we don't all live in your nice bubble world" - meaning that because I have a vision and a view about life that didn't match hers, mine must be a fairy tale or somehow without struggle.

Nothing could be further from the truth. As I have written here recently we have struggled this year, financially, physically and with relationships. But in all of it God has been at work, going before us on our behalf. He has taught us much, has supplied every need and many wants, He has worked to bring our thinking into line with His thinking for the plans He has for our family. He has a plan for our lives, and we continue to trust Him with everything.

I have had the blessing of a couple of late night chats with my older girls this weekend. They are growing, mature beyond their years and yet maturing still. They sometimes struggle because they live in many ways counter culturally. They were told this summer that they were too modest!

These girls are such a blessing to me. Emily helped Kyle with his bedroom yesterday. After giving two riding lessons, Lindsay peeled a whole big box of peaches and readied them for canning. We usually freeze them but I wanted to try to can them this year. It was easy and Emily, Lindsay and I working together made the job go quickly. What a blessing to work alongside my daughters. I started dinner, then headed out with Tim and the littles to go to my parents house to borrow the mower. Emily and Lindsay finished making dinner, including homemade biscuits. I arrived home in time to get the table set, and everyone ready to eat. They helped clean up, and freed me up to go take a long soak in a hot bath! When I came out Tim was putting Kyle to bed, Emily had brushed and braided the little girls hair, and everything was done for the evening. I tucked the girls into bed, talking and praying with them, and then went back to see what the big girls were doing. We read together and then discussed the topic and how it applies to us. We listened to music on Em's ipod. We laughed and had fun.

Maybe I do live in a bubble world - A big bubble of God's Grace!

School Starts In Earnest Today

Mother and Child Reading - Lila Cabot Perry - www.allposters.com

With all of our craziness around here lately, we have only done a few days of school here at home. We usually start around the beginning of August so that through the year we have flexibility in our schedule.

This year I have a 10th grader, a 5th grader and a 2nd grader officially. The beauty of homeschool is that I have the freedom to do history with all my children together. We are continuing our studies of World History. This is our third year, but since there have been about 6,000 years of world history, we aren't doing too badly! Actually it is great to take our time and work from creation until now. We are at the reformation period.

We use a great chart called "Adams Syn-Chronological Chart or Map of History", which goes along very well with Ushers "History of the World." The Chart is a giant fold out in full color that shows you a time line of all the dynasties and kingdoms of the world and shows them in relation to one another! It's awesome!

Emily is also doing biology this year, and British Literature. She is also doing math, art, music and Home Economics.

Rachel is doing math, language arts, health, civics, geography, fire safety, music and art. The great thing about elementary age is that many of these subjects can be combined.

Sarah is finally getting the hang of reading...her glasses for her focusing muscle issue have been a great help to her, she is beginning to read! This is huge for her as she has been wanting to read for so long! She comes from a family of readers and wants to be able to do what everyone else can! This is my main focus with her this year, but of course she will do the same subjects as Rachel and will do most of them with Rachel.

I am not sure exactly what I will do with Kyle. He already knows his letters, numbers, can count nearly to 100, he knows how to spell his name, he knows his colors, right and left. I guess I may work with him to start writing - boys sometimes struggle with fine motor skills but I have found him a large Ticonderoga pencil, that may help him. I honestly think he could start reading - I never have had one of my kids read so early but he seems ready. So we will see!

I have been stopped many times during the writing of this post, to answer questions, help with math problems, show how to form letters in a proper way. This is the life of a homeschool mom.

I wouldn't trade it for the world!

You Just Don't Never Know....

That is what my Grandma used to say, and I have come to see the truth of it!

Thursday night Tim covered our windowless back hatch on our van with a heavy duty length of clear plastic - you know the kind they use to cover fabric tablecloths. He is so smart! It worked fine. I took him to work yesterday morning and then after work we took the van to get an estimate for repair. More about that in a minute!

In the meantime, I went to our pharmacy to pick up Emily's prescription to deal with her poison ivy, which was contracted sometime Tuesday evening during the clean up of the trees that came down in the storm. She has been really suffering, poor girl. Anyway we had a doctors' appointment Thursday evening and they sent the script in electronically. When we stopped to pick it up the pharmacy hadn't received it. We figured that I would stop by and pick it up in the morning, since the doctor recommended she start it in the morning anyway.

It still wasn't there. The pharmacy should have suggested that they call our doctor's office and ask about it. Next time I will definitely have them call, me as a patient had to get the runaround and leave a message for the nurses etc...I talked to the phone gal to see if she knew if they would be looking into it right away - I didn't know whether to go get groceries (this is an all day process) or wait so I could take it home to her. The phone gal snipped at me "I did my job ma'am." No "let me ask the nurse" or anything helpful - she had given the nurse a message and that was the extent of her "responsibility." Arrrrgh. I was getting so annoyed.

Finally after waiting around for nearly an hour, I decided I just needed to head out - the day was getting away from me. Then the nurse calls and says "their machine showed that the script got sent. We don't know why they didn't receive it. But I called it in. They should have it ready now!" Finally! When I left my message on the nurses line I begged them to call it in! Next time, I will ask for a paper script, even though it means that we may have to wait for it to be filled.

Are you still with me? Thank you, dear ones for listen to my tale....

Anyway, I did my shopping, headed home to unload the many, many food items this family consumes in a week, and then picked up Tim from work. We had to go to the estimator that the person at fault in the accident's insurance uses. Then we went to ours, the body shop we prefer to use. I called the insurance company, they told me that they had set up a car rental for us and it was already to go. (the company had accepted 100% responsibility. While on the phone with this gal, I tell her that the midsized car they have lined up for us will not do - we have 5 children and only one vehicle and that we would need a mini van. She tells me that she will upgrade us. Great. So we get there and she has authorized us to get a larger car one that seats 5! Oy vey. The rental guy calls but of course they are all gone for the day. So he tells us he can upgrade us to a van, but can't say for sure whether or not the insurance will pay for it. Tim was inclined to just go with the car for the weekend and upgrade it on Monday. I said "we won't even be able to go to church." So we upgraded and are reasonably sure they will pay the difference.

During this whole rigmarole, we realized that we can't find Tim's cell phone. I will spare you the gory details, and just tell you that it was in our van and that a kind man who works for our repair company got it for us. Tim picked it up today on a break from work.

My parents have been helping us get the girls to work - they live very close to their place of employment and so there have been several sleepovers...We are so thankful for them

Our van will be repaired this week - we are hopeful that Tim will be able to pick up the truck we are buying to replace his wrecked van which started this whole thing in the first place!

Whew! Are you exhausted? I sure am!

Thank you for all your encouragement and kind words! Through all this craziness we have seen God at work and are giving Him the praise and letting Him have his way in our lives. I am trusting that our life can go back to our normal low key ways but as my Grandma said "you just don't never know!"

You Will Never Believe This...

Today we were having a Tornado Warning and I knew that Tim was on his way home and may not be aware. I called him on his cell and he said to me "I was just rear ended!"

Oh. My. Goodness.

I just couldn't believe it. We just got our van a week ago. We are still awaiting the truck that Tim is buying. We have been just a one car family since his van was hit in the city a few weeks ago.

The damage is likely repairable - the back window is shattered and there is a nice dent in the back door.

We need this fixed quickly! The other persons' insurance will reimburse us for a rental, but we have to pay out of pocket up front, if we choose to get a rental. Which we will likely need to...

The adventures continue.....

Ideas Galore!

We are still in clean up mode from our big storm. You can go to Emily's blog to see photos of the storm and damage!

Meanwhile I have been cleaning and sorting and planning. I had a great brainstorm for my basement. We have a great spot for a home office down there and I have a photo of a corner office space that includes desk space for a computer and also lots of file cabinets and shelves. It will be perfect for downstairs! I have been trying to find the photo online, I thought it was in Better Homes & Gardens magazine but I can't find it online.

I also have always wanted to put more bookshelves down there and make sort of a library feel.

We likely will go with a lighter version of the yellow in our living room. So it will be bright and cheerful, and hopefully we will use it!

We Had A Storm

and quite a storm it was!

It rolled in about dinner time last evening...rain pouring down, lightning, thunder, wind....

The wind picked up and then suddenly our trees were swirling around - they also looked like trees that have been through a hurricane. The rain was now coming from a different direction...we headed to our basement.

Within minutes I looked out the basement door and all was calm, wind wise. We went back upstairs and ate our dinner and then when the rain stopped we ventured out. We have no photos of the destruction right now but we lost many trees - several fell onto our pasture fence. Tim and the girls worked hard to clear the fence of the trees so that they could repair the fence.

We lost power during the storm as well. This rarely happens to us, so we kept thinking it would come on soon. When Tim and the girls were done outside it was dark - they finished by Coleman lantern light - and we decided to pack up and head to my parents house. I know we could have waited it out at home, but without electricity we had no way to shower, flush toilets, etc... For us it was a no brainer! It was lovely to have showers and a/c and to watch big screen tv's in bed! We felt like we were on a brief luxury vacation!

Here is a shot of the sunset after the storm - such beauty!

I will try to get some other photos and post them soon. I am headed out for a date with my sweetheart!

Off To Longwood

Today my littles, Becky, and I are off to Longwood Gardens!

We have a special reason to go - one that at least Becky and I are excited about! Becky's son Mikey has been doing an 8 week apprenticeship at Longwood this summer. He has been able to work in 4 different areas of the Gardens and to meet most of the employees. One person he met asked him about school and he explained he was homeschooled. Apparently none of them have ever really paid attention to homeschooling or known any homeschoolers as Mikey is their first ever homeschool apprentice! So this gal was interested in our co-op and asked if he thought our group would like to decorate a "wildlife tree" this year at Christmas! Were we ever!

The wildlife trees are a new thing for this year - at least having students decorate them! If you click here and go to the bottom of the page you can read all about it!

We are going to involve our 4th - 6th graders in this project. It has to be all natural and I believe we want them to look like ornaments. Today we will be meeting with the coordinator of this project at Longwood and get some supplies. She mentioned birch bark etc...

My mind is swirling with ideas. Cranberries and cumquats, pinecones with birdseed, orange cups with seeds....

Have you made outdoor ornaments for the birds, and if so what did you do? I'd love to hear all about it!

Tomorrow I will show you photos of our trip!

Thinkin'

I saw a sign the other day at a seed store for fall crops. This made me think that maybe we could still do a bit of gardening. Maybe lettuce...Do you do any fall crops? What kinds of things do you grow?

We are studying about Family Integrated Churches in our Sunday School class. Last night we were at Becky's hanging out with friends and we started to discuss this topic. The Lord encouraged me that we were on the right path for our family. We love the relationships that we have with our church family. We love to see our children growing in the Lord, hearing the word preached, hearing the church family sharing prayer requests and praises. What blessing there is for us all.

We are starting school this week. It is a late start for us! I am not involved with too much outside our home this year, but it has seemed like craziness around here. So I am praying that the Lord will give us the ability to slow down and to spend time really learning...to enjoy books, and music and art. To learn History and science. To write. Emily is in 10th this year, Rachel in 5th, Sarah is in 2nd. I am working on reading with her...she has had some focusing muscle issues and just recently seems to be ready to read. Each one in their own time. One of mine struggled with reading and didn't read well until 4th grade. Now she reads at a upper high school level. Kyle may do some basic stuff. He is 4. So stories and projects for him. I love educating my kids at home. Is it always easy and wonderful? No, but then nothing is. Is it worth it? Oh, yes...it definitely is worth it. I wouldn't trade this time with my children for anything.

On the homefront, we are wanting to make better use of the basement. It is finished but dark and needs some reorganization. I need to make it warm and welcoming so we want to use it! It is the exact footprint of the whole house so I want to be able to make the most of the space. Right now it is painted the most delicious shade of red - it is gorgeous, but unfortunately the color just eats up all the light. I am thinking of leaving one wall red and painting the rest a lighter shade of the yellow in my livingroom/kitchen. The yellow would be warm and bright - we have very little natural light down there. We have a family room space down there already but very little to tempt us to use it. I need to think storage for kid toys as well.

One of the main reasons for getting the basement into shape is that we have way too much furniture upstairs! We need to move some desks and book cases downstairs. We definitely need those items or I would get rid of them but it is way too crowded upstairs. I can definitely see office space down there!

I'd love to hear about any projects you have done and to have you send me links! I love to be inspired by others!

Have a lovely day! Praying for you today, Deby!

Want To See My "New To Me" Ride?

Isn't it pretty?

God lead us to a friend who sells cars for Saturn. We bought it just about Blue Book value for excellent condition. It is a very nice vehicle. We always buy used for two basic reasons. One - we can't afford what they want for new cars and two - you get better value buying used. Did I mention that our little ones are delighted? There is a dvd player in the van. It's a whole new world for us!

It was such an answer to prayer. We are so thankful. It drives very nicely and gets great fuel mileage! Our Astro got about 12-14 mpg.

Thanks for your prayers on our behalf!

Inspiration

Melissa at The Inspired Room posted today about Inspiration. She talked about remembering who you were as a girl to discover the things you love.

It made me think about myself as a girl, and how it might apply to my life as an adult.

As a girl I loved to rearrange furniture! I did really. Being the only girl, I had my own room. Usually once a month I was rearranging the furniture in that small 10x10 room! Sometimes the inspiration to rearrange came in the evening and my Mom would come to the door and say "what are you doing in here?" I think she was surprised the first few times that a kid would be doing that, then it became normal.

Today I still love to rearrange furniture to get a new look or feel for a room, better functionality or just change! I figure it satisfies my desire for change and it is FREE!

Another thing I did as a girl was to go to a local department store with my friend Lisa and walk through the furniture department. We would talk about what we liked in the "rooms" and what we didn't like.

I believe that helped me to discover how to put things together to get a warm and welcoming look for my home. It has always been easy for me to "picture" how something will look all put together. Maybe my early training looking at furniture help me to do this.

I love opening our cottage home for hospitality. Have a comfortable home makes it easy to do. You do not need a huge McMansion to do it. We have very few furniture items that were purchased new. We have a ton of hand me downs. Put by using throws, pillows, and other items to pull it all together - it works. It is important to me to provide comfort and welcome, not just to guests but to my family who live and use this space daily.

Also as a girl I loved children. I started babysitting for others at 11 years old. I had a whole group of children around me. Several of the kids I babysat are now married and have children of their own! When I married I had 4 young girls that were special to me as flower girls! I now keep up with these young women on Facebook! But how like the Lord to prepare me in my girlhood for what He had prepared for me as an adult!

Who were you as a girl and how has that transferred to the adult you?

Sweet Dreams

Artwork:www.allposters.com

We have been so busy here...but a good busy. We had a great day at church yesterday and then we came home along with some dear friends from church, Denny, Nigel, and Mindy. We spent the afternoon with good food, we played dominoes, watch some youtube video of Tim Hawkins. He is a family favorite, a great comedian who is also a believer. If you want a great laugh, Tim's your man.

Today I spent preparing for our Parent's meeting with our homeschool co-op. I have been preparing more than just today of course. I usually spend the summer taking memberships and getting to know the new families and staying connected with our current members as well. We have 60 families this year, that means hundreds of kids who will get gym, music and art or science or French or history or leadership for young men. It is so amazing what our parents teach every year!

This year I am not teaching. It is weird for me - but I will teach next year again. We as leaders of the group thought it would be a good idea for me to be hostessing the Mom's room this year. I am very excited about it. I want to create a warm welcoming space for our mom's and the dad's who come with their children every week. These dear folk work so hard to teach their children and often don't get a lot of encouragement from their families. I am so happy to be able to give that encouragement to them.

Right now Tim is on his last week of third shift. We are all so happy about that! He is at this moment laying down with Kyle who is off to dream land for the night. Tim will nap for an hour or so then be on his way to work. Lindsay and Sarah are busy putting together delicious snacks for him to eat overnight. He doesn't want anything heavy so tonight he is getting turkey and cheese wraps, along with some peanut butter and jelly from Sarah! He will have some fruit and coffee as well. Every night he is blessed by his sweet girls preparing something good for him.

Last week we were discouraged over our car situation - what to do? Do we just replace Tim's vehicle or do we keep my Astro, with 202,000 miles on it, for Tim and find a newer van with better fuel mileage for me, as my car does most of the driving workload around here..Our finances would be stretched to the max and we already were stretched with Tim having been off work for his hip replacement. We prayed and God answered so fast. We are getting a newer van - a Saturn Relay - and hopefully a truck for Tim from our friends' work. They are selling a few older work trucks. It seems like we will get it - we should know soon. But regardless we know that God is in control and has a plan for us. Even in the midst of trials He is working good on our behalf.

I must head off to prepare for bed now. I didn't sleep well last night - the power went out and the little children made their way into my bed one by one....

I wanted to post tonight since it has been so long since I posted. I have been reading your blogs and am so thankful. Our sweet niece Melissa shared an encouraging post that really was a help to me this week. Just click on her name to read it!

Sleep well, friends. Sweet Dreams!

Chicken And Pasta

Last night I made one of our favorite dishes. I do not have the camera that my daughter has so these photos are not fantastic, but I wanted to show you the process for making this easy, but delicious meal.

First you cut up chicken, I used breast tenderloins, and cook in some butter. I am sure you could use margarine but I can't guarantee what it would taste like! When the chicken is almost done, I put sliced up zucchini and summer squash in the pan and season it with salt and pepper.

Oh, look at that butter in the corner of the pan! Yum! When the veggies are nice and sauteed, add a 16 ounce carton of sour cream ( you can use light or fat free however I don't know whether the taste would be the same!) and 8 oz or so of grated parmesan cheese. Let the sour cream blend in with the butter in the pan and the cheese melt.

While this is cooking, boil about a pound of pasta of your choice. I usually use spaghetti but you can use ziti or linguine. When the pasta is cooked, drain and add to the chicken, veggies and sauce. Mix together.

I serve it on my large white platter, and sprinkle some parsley flakes on top. You could add more freshly grated parmesan cheese to it.

We had ours with fresh and local sweet corn! Delightful. This is a fast and easy meal to make if your chicken is already defrosted. Perfect for a needed quick meal, but it doesn't taste "thrown together."

What are some of your favorite quick meals to make?

Unexpected Things - Remembering To Be Thankful

Why is it that somethings seem to come in bunches?

Over the last month or so we have had many items break or need some sort of repair. The carpet attachment on our canister vacuum is dead, the motor on my kitchen aide is going south, the pump, that sends the wash water from the laundry to the septic, is not working properly. Tim's van is totaled....my van needs transmission work and a switch needs to be replaced for the a/c which works fine but now won't blow out the vents.....

Our oldest son has broken his leg - a spiral fracture of both the Tibia and Fibula in his right leg. He had surgery on Sunday and now sports a metal rod down the bone and several lovely screws as accessories!

Are these things insurmountable? No. Are they difficulties? Yes, and inconvenient. It makes it harder for me to get my work done. But certainly nothing like this dear family whose 5 year old daughter Kate, is battling a malignant brain tumor.

All of these things are unexpected - but we need to remember to focus today on what God allows. I can be thankful that we have mostly hardwood flooring and just a few rugs, I can be thankful that my husband is handy with fixing things. I can be thankful for my healthy family, other than the broken leg, recovering hip, sprained ankle!

I was kind of feeling sorry for myself yesterday. Today, God has helped me to put it into perspective. I will remember that God is in control, and that nothing comes to us that He doesn't allow for our ultimate good, and His glory.

My Baby Is Four

I wish I had words to explain to you what this boy does to my heart. He melts it. He is such a joy...so fun...all boy even with having 4 older sisters who adore him! He could be spoiled but isn't, he is just loved. He is secure in his little world. He loves to have adventures.

He is learning what it means to be a man...a gentleman at that. He loves to help and be by his Daddy's side. He loves to hold the doors for us - everywhere we go.

He helps us by emptying the bathroom trash and replacing the bags in the trash cans.

He likes animals and the outdoors. He loves to throw rocks, fly paper airplanes, jump off stuff...
He climbs everything he can, loves trucks, can tell you parts of vehicles by name...

He loves sticks...he loves his family. He has a great memory - he has the whole of Psalm 23 memorized! Plus John 1:1, John 3:16-18...

Have I ever told you about his sweet freckles across his nose?

We are so thankful for this sturdy little boy that the Lord has entrusted us with. I pray for the wisdom to know how to raise him for His glory!

Happy Birthday Kyle!