I don't want to forget

I have not been good at keeping up with my journaling. Life has gotten busy, but those little precious moments and comments still come and I so want to remember them verses letting them be lost.

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After going to see a friend's 5 day old baby, on the way home, I asked Gabby if it made her excited about our little one coming in just 8 weeks. She said, "Well, I'd be more excited if it was a girl, but ya get what ya get."

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Each of the kids have a prayer journal and once every week or so we go back thru and cross off anything we have received an answer on or changed our minds about. This morning after Brian and I's time together and marking off several requests, he commented, "It's so cool. It's like almost anything I add to the prayer list and pray about gets an answer. I should totally pray more."

Which allowed me to mark off a little request for Brian to understand the power of prayer off my list.

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Wyatt has turned a corner on his communication. While once a very quiet little man, he now is talking non stop. He is also said quite a few very cute, (only because it is coming from a 3 year olds mouth), little comments.

"No way Jose!"
"Oh, that's just GREAT!" (in a sarcastic tone)
"Hey woman!" (referring to me)
"That is absolutely amazing."
And tattling on me to dad...."mom poked my eye out and won't give it back."

Sisterhood Creations

I would like to introduce to you Sisterhood Creations. Makensie and Gabby voted out of picking up walnuts this year as a business for themselves. "It's just too cold and dirty". We saw these adorable necklaces at a friend's booth at a craft fair this summer. We were smitten immediately and happily bought a couple of sets. The girls loved mixing and matching their caps, but quickly decided they would like more options. They also thought this was the answer to their business woes and decided to put together their own creations. Hope you will look and enjoy and let us know if you would like to purchase any for yourself or as a sweet girls gift.

Prices:
$3.00 per necklace or bracelet, this is a stretchy choker.
$2.00 per bottle cap or 6 for $10

The back of the bottle cap has a super strong magnet that attaches to the necklace and can be interchanged with other choker colors.


Initials Collection:

Hello Kitty Collection:

Cherry Collection:

Owl Collection:

Cupcake Collection:

Funky Monkey Collection:

Plaid Jammin' Collection:

Pressure Points

And yet...another great book: A Mother's Heart by Jean Fleming.

This book has came along at perfect timing for me. When Allen and I were 1st engaged, I tried to break it off with him several times as I was pretty sure I didn't even want kids and I knew he did. I feel like I'm not one of those naturally wise mom's with wonderful insight as to how to really love and educate and deal with children, yet that seems to fallen in my lap as my full time job as now we are expecting our 5th in March and homeschooling and me wondering at times if I was suppose to be a 1 kid parent and I've mistakenly gotten someone else's assignment:)

This book has tenderly spoken to my heart. We have company coming over for supper this week and so of course the house has become my pressure point of tension. Before kids, I thought I might actually have a shot at being the next Martha Stewart. I dreamed of a home that looked like it came straight out of the pages of "Better Homes and Gardens". But what I seem to accomplish is Pillsbury cookies and decorations sitting in the attic that I have never hung or put out and a house that often times resembles a garden of chaos. I still have that innate desire to entertain and present a lovely everything-in-it's-place, type A personality home, it is just that sometimes the pressure to try to get there immediately takes over....like when we are going to have company.

After snapping at the kids for the umpteenth time to pick up something, ANYTHING! and finding myself seething from irritation, I retreated to breathe and happened to pick up the book, and read just 1 page. I am behind on my assigned reading for this book but God knew where I needed to be. One single paragraph almost strangled me with quilt and slapped me back into reality of having a home with 4 little ones there constantly, a business to run and school to be had.

"How easy to allow the pressure of company (or you could insert here any current pressure point you are dealing with) to determine my values. My guest will be here only for a few hours, but I will live with my children many years. So I've decided not to let what company thinks of my house-keeping or hostessing become more important than "walking blamelessly in my own house."

Thank you Lord for speaking to my heart and teaching me through the words of another mom. Forgive me for letting my little ones take the brunt of my harshness yesterday. Renew our spirits today to reflect a love like yours.

Thankful Thursday

While I am no longer an Oprah fan, I used to be. 12 years ago she had a book on her book club that I decided to buy. Simple Abundance. It is a daily devotional that challenged me to be thankful and find joy in the simple things of life. I kept a journal adding 5 things a day to be thankful for. Over the years, I have went thru that journal a couple of different times, with each pass adding to the list. One of my 5 entries for Oct 21, 2000 was "I decide what affects me." I enjoyed this process so much that I have added it to our family's suppertime tradition. We have index cards labeled for each day of the year and the nights we all sit down together for supper, we go around the table and voice something we are thankful for and I jot them down. As the years have past it is fun to read back on previous years entries such as...thankful for thick pillows, common everyday tasks and ibuprofen.



It is more than just fun though, it is biblical. As Christians, we have a lot to be thankful for. I came across this article by Rev Andrew Cammenga, from Fl regarding the Chapter of Psalms 75:

Another week is almost past. Only seven days but it represents over 600,000 seconds, and in each one the Lord had to provide us with life and all the big and little things which we needed. When David thinks of this he exclaims: "How precious are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them."

Scripture wrestles with words to give expression to a heart filled with thankfulness to God. It speaks of "making music" to the Lord, and of "singing" His praise. It chooses such words as "tell," "declare" and "boast." In our text the word "thanks" is used, which in the original means "to stretch out the hand," "to point with the finger," The meaning is significant for it suggests that we go through life and point to all that we have and say, "This is of the Lord, and that is of Him, and that, and that..."

For God's people there is even more to life than that all gifts and experiences come from God; our text tells us that in everything God's name is near. In every gift, great or small, in every experience of joy or soorrow God brings Himself close to us in faithfulness and love. This fellowship with God brings truest joy. It assures us that all God's gifts are directed to our hope and joy in Christ.

As we point to the gifts and experiences of the past week and remember that God gave them in Love, we'll have something to talk and sing about. Praise the Lord, O my soul!
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While the 1st several days it is easy to think of things to be thankful for...our family, friends, homes, day 30 isn't as easy. It is a retraining of our minds to purposely seek out the little things that are commonly taken for granted in our busy lives. I challenge you for at least 30 days, to jot down 5 things a day you are thankful for. Ask God to open your eyes and heart and be ready to point those out to your kids and others.

My 5 today are:
1. Fresh deer steak for supper
2. Potatoes that were in the oven in plenty of time to be soft all the way thru
3. The strawberry cake our neighbor blessed us with.
4. For finding the super soft fleece blanket to snuggle up with Wyatt.
5. Black Cherry Koolaid

hmmm....4 out of 5 things revolve around food.....

June 2010...just a little late

Forgive me for these updates and photos being a good 4 months in the past.

We painted the front porch this summer. This is the little man helping me wash all the wood railings down 1st.

And After:

Gabby turned 9 years old. Although I took the cake decorating classes so that I could make some lovely cakes for my kiddos birthdays, I was turned down for the job as she wanted to do her own cake. I printed off the directions and she did it all including switching out the correct tips. She is by far more creative and talented than I. (it's a pony).

Summer sunburns :(

They were all slathered down with lotion and all out for the same amount of time. Makensie has my skin and got it the worst. She turned red, pink and then back to translucent.

Gabby turned a nice warm tan and peeled a little on her shoulders.

Brian got tan and had a bajillion little blisters on his shoulders.

Enjoyed a beautiful rainbow!

Made a short notice wedding cake.

Worked at a fund raiser for 4H.

Attended a night of ministry where the gentleman tamed a wild horse in front of us in less than 2 minutes and correlated it to scripture. It was amazing.

Took in an area fireworks display. Notice Allen wearing a sweatshirt while the rest of us were sweating! Come to find out he was on the verge of heat stroke. It was a long hot summer for him.

So went the month of June.

How Quickly Life Changes

I haven't posted for quite a while. This past month life as we know it has quickly came to a turn around. I have been sick most days by mid afternoon I'm done for. We have been blessed to not have this kind of consistent pregnancy sickness with any of the other kiddos, so I can't really complain, other than it has been difficult to get everything done that is required of a mom.

This past weekend after a sudden loss of blood, we landed in ER for 1/2 the day and me on bed rest for 3 days. But baby's heartbeat is strong and my body seems to be doing well. We had several hours of silence to sit and think. It was in our minds that God was in control, but your mind can go to some dark places of "what if" at times.

We are thanking the Lord that all is well at now almost 12 weeks. And we would be praising Him all the same for His love if I was posting otherwise today. We are also so incredibly blessed to have the friends and family in our lives that immediately took kids, brought meals, picked up laundry and cleaned our home.

In His Image

God shows Himself in both the masculine qualities we find in men and the feminine qualities we find in women. What is it that we women reveal about who God is? Women are relational. If you want to know how someone is doing you don't ask the man, you ask the woman. We are the ones who dive in and ask those questions, that my husband accuses me of being too personal and invading sometimes. Which I'm sure he sees it that way, most women view it as truly caring beyond that, "how are you?" courtesy question.

The last couple of years have brought many changes for our household. We went from homeschool 2 girls to adding a boy to the mix. A little one that went from baby to full throttle boy toddler. I took on managing the office full time from home for my husbands business. We moved twice. All of that takes a lot of focus to detail. It was exhausting. I am organized to a point, because I have to be. But this is not my desire. I enjoy leadership, but that is because it gives me an opportunity to serve others, not because I'm the best manager. I LOVE spending time with women. I try my hardest to follow up and encourage and continually pray for areas of their lives I know they are struggling.

I had came to a point where I viewed this as a weakness, as if it made me lazy that I was inclined to choose a relationship building afternoon with some phone calls or emails that were pressing on my heart vs mopping the floor. I have come to accept that this is a part of God Himself. He is a relational God. I was so thankful to be reminded to have a Mary heart in a Martha world. I still have to find that balance because my husband is not a relational creature and it is important to have the main rooms picked up and a hot meal on the table, which I enjoy honoring him with. I have given myself some grace and ask for wisdom that the Lord will use me where He may and to help me be a reflection of Him and how much He cares for others. And on this journey to echo more of Him, I'm sure I'll continue to fail many.

We as women often define ourselves by the relationship of our lives with our spouse, children, family members. God yearns for a relationship with us as well. He is a jealous God. He desires our hearts to desire Him. We are tenderhearted, we are inviting, we are hospitable, tender, merciful and at the same time fiercely devoted. God is all these things too. If everyone is created in His image, what is it we can discover about Him in each person we meet?