A Thankful Thursday (been a while)

Yes! I am still thankful for things! I promise! I have not done one of these for a good long while though.

1- I am most recently thankful as I just cleaned out the cupboard and found some culinary possibilities I had forgotten where there. Note to self: do that more often! It's something God uses to bless me though so I almost want to forget (or is that an excuse not to clean? hmmm)

2- I'm SO THANKFUL for the C.S Lewis book club my friend Donna is doing and that Rick and I get to do it together. Mere Christianity was not something I got as well when I read most of it years ago. Today, it is blowing my mind and putting awe in my heart for God.

3-That God delights in us finding Him and that we delight in finding Him too. That God is so very delightful!

4- I'm thankful that God prepares us for what is to come even when we don't know what it is but we can feel it on the horizon.

5- I'm thankful to get to demonstrate gratitude to my kids in hard times. To be here to give them perspective and remind them that we are, at our worst, an EXTREMELY blessed country.

6-I'm thankful for each of the kids teachers and the diligence they have in teaching well. I'm thankful I get to share my time with them and our lives as they teach our kids each day. We really could have some awful teachers but we don't. I'm so thankful for that.

7- I'm thankful that life does not HAVE to be perfect all the time, because frankly, I just can't keep up.

8- I'm so thankful that my husband is always trying to find ways to support and help me.

9- ON that note, I'm so thankful we enjoy thinking and talking about life together and that our views on life are so similar in order to bring about some great times together.

10- I'm thankful for rest. When it comes I always feel I need it. We live in a time when people can actually afford "down time". How long we will have that luxury?

Life In A Few Words and Pictures

As you can see, blogging is beyond the back burner right now. It always comes down to making the best use of my time. However, I thought it was time I come by and tell how we are.

It's raining today! Another reason I decided to write a bit. The kids woke up this morning so excited and were looking forward to playing "Head's Up 7-up" in class today. I had forgotten about that game until they reminded me and I could not believe they still played it! I have strong memories of having my head down with my nose so close to my desk and I remember well the way it smelled.
Life is busy but good right now. Somehow my kids have managed to stay completely healthy this whole school year so far (no use in crossing fingers, it WILL hit us sooner or later). I know they had some bad stuff, even H1N1 right before school hit so I'm thinking that their immunities are heightened.
Rick is working the first day in the rain today. He got a snazzy new Postal rain coat that he pulled out this morning. He says it's working wonderfully. I'm glad because he use to get soaked. He asked me take some pics of him recently so he could have a new Facebook picture and this was my choice. (Handsome and smart...what can I say?)

He is getting settled into his new rotation of mail routes and even got a tiny raise. Though, it seems you don't see them for long when the prices of gas go up!

Victoria just came off having a HUGE sleepover party here. I was babysitting my friends four children that night too so we had a total of 17 kids in the house for a few hours. The occasion was that her best friend has to move to Idaho. She seems to be doing well but it was hard since this was a new friend that she had really hit it off with. It was a crazy night with eight girls in her room. We won't be doing that any time soon.
(This was just some of them, the others would not let me take their morning hair pictures)


Victoria's teacher had a 8th grader bring in a lost stray kitten last week. I happened to still be at the school when Victoria came tearing down the hall saying that I HAD to come see this kitten. I told her "absolutely NO way!" but walked with her to appease the just looking part of her request. I walked in the door to see her teacher looking at me with a "have pity" plea look on her face. "Don't even look at me like that!" I told her. Well, it turned out her teacher was worse than she was. I got talked into taking it for now with the promise that her teacher, who has a ranch, would help us with getting it's health needs taken care of. So, this is stray rescue #6 people. It's killing me! Although I have to say, the new plan is that they get fixed and they go OUTSIDE! I cannot handle living in a feline zoo.
(We are not sure if the kitten is half blind in the left eye. It is not actually as dark as the photo shows but it is a darker and more cloudy eye.)

(He is not named yet, and I'm delaying since we don't know what we will do with him yet)


(Emma found him this way on her bed. No one wrapped him up, he just crawled in and took a nap. See, how do you turn that sort of cuteness away? Help!)




Emma and I got the great opportunity to go to the special ceremony of the re-opening of the mission. I don't have pictures but we were in the paper I hear. I still have not been able to get a copy of it though. Senator Abel was there, and that was cool since I have not seen him in person since Rick and I took Victoria to meet perspective president George W. when he rode the train and stopped in our area years ago. Abel was on the train with him.
The mission looks great and will be wonderful to be able to visit again.


I've been helping in Caedmon's class this year, giving out the Friday assessments. I actually just started but it will be a regular Friday thing. It's very fun for me to do and reminds me of that part of my brain I used when homeschooling.



Victoria and I donated our hair to Locks of Love recently. That was fun. I need to get a picture of her though (the above one at the post sleepover breakfast table is not a fair one:). She had wanted to cut it for a while because her hair is very hard to comb through when it gets long. I had wanted to grown mine even further but my patience ran out when I started to get it caught all the time.
Glad to report that I've lost 10.8 lbs. as of last night through going to TOPS. It has not been easy. I made no progress in the summer and in fact I put on weight through it, but the last two months our structure has helped me a great deal. I began by doing way too much working out and could not function very well through the afternoon. I was trying to push myself on a Biggest Looser level of my own. It backfired on me since I still have to be here in every day life and survive the rest of my day! I learned a great deal though this. It was actually the Lord convicting me to slow it down that allowed me to find out I was doing too much. I was literally on the treadmill one day and had 20 minutes left when I was impressed that I should GET OFF. It did not make sense to me why I should not push through the rest but I did get off and found myself convicted to take my exercise (which had been an hour of cardio and 45 minutes toning almost every day of the school week) down to just 45 minutes of either a day. Amazingly, once I did that, I not only had more energy for the day as a whole, I began to loose the weight. I do have to say I have taken the advise of Dr.Oz and limit my food options. This made sense to me because it meant it would take my brain off of food. That was what I really needed to do. The last two weeks I have had the exact same thing for breakfast (and yes I'm about ready for a new option) and either sardines and WW crackers or tuna w/ mustard and crackers for lunch. I try to have a fruit or veggie with each or in between. Dinner is always having to be tweaked a bit but for instance, one night I made a spaghetti squash with our spaghetti and salad dinner and I had my turkey meat sauce on the squash instead of noodles. Just little changes like that. I'm watching the portions and numbers on things and I'm avoiding night eating. I'm also learning that just because I make something for those I love, does not mean I need to have it too. At least not till this journey is over, but even then I need to be more self-disciplined.
My job at the daycare has been a good fit for our family. There are a few high strung boys there though and my kids are usually appreciate of the quiet when we get home. It's been a blessing to be able to do a little something and have the kids there with me. I don't know if I could do more right now and still keep up on the house and things that need to be done here at home.

As far as activities go, the girls dropped their special after school classes out of exhaustion and I was fine with that. I had been worried that although they sounded fun, it was important to not cram so much in after a full day of school. I wanted them to have time to rest and play.

We are however taking eight children (including ours) to Awana now! That has been exciting. The 1st and 2nd grade boys of the lady I work for at the day care started coming with us. They are really enjoying it. The girls want to invite more kids and I just don't know how many we can take! Awana is exploding this year and it's a great thing to see all these kids coming to learn about salvation.
Rick and I have joined a C.S. Lewis reading group as well. This month we are reading "Mere Christianity". My dear friend Donna has put it together and I'm very excited about it. I have been burdened for a year now to really dive into Lewis and Rick and I get to do this together. Her lovely daughter has graciously offered to watch our kids during this once a month meeting so it made it easily possible for us. Our kids LOVED playing at their house and did not want to go home.
We just hosted our church community group this last weekend and will be hosting it this week. We rotate homes. It is such a blessing to have these small groups and go over the sermon of that morning, worship in song with the children, and eat a collaborated dinner together.
Well, gotta run and do one more thing before heading out the door to work.
It was quick, but hopefully it was a good update!?

Just Waz Up And Some Muscle Building

I have had so little time for blogging lately. Since school has started my life is so structured which is great but I don't have more than just five minutes now and then to update my facebook status and that's it. I hear some people chat how they never could have time for facebook but if you just check in with people by reading updates, and you put your own, it is the quickest way I know of connecting. It's the blogging that has taken a back seat in my life for now. It's hard too because I have so many blogs go through my head.
So, you would think that a mom with three kids in school would have so much time on her hands for her hobbies and what not eh? Nope. No matter what situation, a mom's work is never done and I am never bored. Keeping the house ready for the next thing once the family is home keeps me hopping every moment. On top of that I'm taking some big time to exercise this fall and once I do that a big chunk of my time for the house is even gone. It's wroth it though and I've needed to get myself back on track from years of putting other things first. It's a great benefit to my family and husband for me to drop a few.
I've not had time for a Thankful Thursday this week but I have to say I've been so thankful for some heavy teachable moments with my children. It would seem that having them out there in school is just a different approach to preparing them for life. When we had them at home we prepared them hypothetically and now we do it experientially. The thing with the hypothetical was that I was not creative enough to think of all the hypotheticals and they were not real enough to demand being teachable moments. Now, very interesting things happen that give us wonderful springboards of conversation. How is the right way to deal with this? What would bring glory to God? What do you do when you are tempted to do what your friends are doing? Do you obey friends or God? Are you patient when being wrongly judged? Do you kindly learn to speak up for yourself? Here were some situations this last week or two:

-Victoria has a friend who comes up and acts like she is going to get something out of her hair and instead proceeds to just yank a bit of her hair out. This girl is a quiet aggressive and has shown some signs of being jealous of Victoria for some reason. Her ways are manipulative and unexpectedly insulting. Victoria had to learn to be forgiving but to speak up when someone does something like that and not just take it quietly.

-Caedmon got caught up in a 1st grade tease of a little boy who all the other boys were saying "wore his sisters underwear". We discussed how something being funny does not make it okay. How the one being teased will possibly even laugh but that does not mean they like it but rather that they are covering their shame and embarrassment with laughter. How God convicts us in the middle of these times as to what is right. Caedmon did feel that convicting but decided that since the boy was not saying he didn't mind that it was okay. We talked about the good meter to use of thinking how we would feel if such things were said about us and to always trust the conviction of the Holy Spririt of God.

-Caedmon did a fake stutter back to a little boy at school who stutters. This one was hard for me. It actually made me tear up to know he had done that. Having had a brother who was disabled and standing up for him when he was teased made this a sore spot for me. I needed a moment before we could even talk. We discussed how some children have to be even more brave than he ever will have to be to say what they want to say and always be teased for not being able to speak clearly. How blessed he is to be able to communicate well and how he can be an encourager to the child who struggles instead of making him shammed through mocking.

-Victoria makes a project in science and turns to her supposed friend to ask what she thinks and her friend replies "it looks like crap!". This friend was the one girl who professed to be a Christian and who Victoria had high hopes of being a good pal for her in school but the girl flips between wanting to be cool and popular and wanting to be a faithful friend. She is one of those what I use to call "light switch friends". I seemed to gravitate to girls who did that to me. They are your friend when THEY want to be but when it's inconvenient or uncool they want nothing to do with you. You are kind of their fall back plan. It's a painful thing to go through and she has weathered it very well. Thankfully there is a new girl in her class who has been a cheerful companion to her this year and who has also been troubled by some of the same girls Victoria has so they can relate on that level. Victoria is learning to love her friends even when they are sometimes unkind. The group that has been rough for her are the three girls we usually take to Awana so she has had to stay dedicated to taking them there with her to hear about the Lord even though she has been badly treated by them many times at school.

Those were just the ones off the top of my head.
I marvel sometimes what God must have in mind for my children. Knowing that he has called them to this place tells me that he has a specific set of preparation for them unlike what I could give them by keeping them home. He is building their armor and sharpening their defences as well as their convictions to bring Him glory through all things. I feel honored and challenged to give them what they need at every barrier they face. To seize those teachable moments even when they come fast and plenty! I definitely think you can prepare a child at home for the world and I definitely think you can prepare them from home while they are facing it. There are unique outcomes for both that God will use in their lives. Where we are fits us. It's where the rubber meets the road and for me that's where I can teach the best. Give me the situation Lord and I'll shine your light on it. Throw me one and challenge me to catch it. There is no time for hit and miss training when your kids are in school now days. You have to talk a lot and connect on everything. You have to be all ears. They are out there, in the real world with real people facing real issues. We are so much better at this part with our kids than the academics and I thrill at the challenge. This is why I love working hard on the home all day as well. That way, if we need to sit and talk at the dinner table longer about something, or just congregate in the living room for the evening to discuss life, we can.
I have no fear of what will come next. I look forward to it. There is always sufficient truth in God's treasure house of wisdom to give them. It is a privilege to hold their hands through it until someday we let go and they walk with Him alone through this world. As He leads and we walk through some places I may have chosen to shelter them from, I am thankful that He knows better how to build the foundation of their lives. Other wise I may have opened their cocoon for them thereby disallowing the full development of their spiritual muscles and when they hit the freedom of their transformed lives they would fall in weakness completely unable to survive.
As I work lately to build back my own physical muscles I think of God's goodness to stretch and build my children. Our job is to feed them well from truth and care for them between times so they are stronger and stronger each time resistance or challenge comes their way.

Thankful Thursday

I did not get around to last weeks so I'm really looking forward to reflecting today.

• Today Caedmon's teacher blessed me by telling me that Caedmon was a delight to have in her class. I was relieved because he has a very sharp conscience and tells me how many times the teacher told the class to be quiet that day. I began to worry if he was getting in trouble for talking but she said not at all. He just really pays attention to if everyone is obeying or not. He does not nag them, but he comes home and reports fully! I'm so thankful he has a mind to do what is right. What a blessing.


• All of my children have been a delight and joy to me this week. Not perfect, but really different, interesting, and growing on different levels. I just seemed keenly aware of the gifts they are to me. So thankful.


• My little job (an hour and a half a day at a day care in town) is going really well. My employer/friend is very easy to get along with and it is a blessing to have my children there with me for most of it. It took us a few days to get use to the different schedule at the end of the school day but we seem to have worked into it now. It is also helping me be more disciplined since I'm using the money I get paid each week for weekly groceries. Weekly shopping makes me more dependant on God and more focused on every dollar. We add a little from the regular budget but the old grocery fund is going mostly into paying off debt.


• I'm SOOOO thankful our closet is put back together. We did it the cheapest way we could and although we would like to upscale it in the future, we only spent 20 bucks and pulled a shelf in from the shed to use. No more clothes on the floor waiting to be hung! Yeah!


• God has been good to give me the focus to really work on some fitness goals this week. Rick has been very supportive and I've had some push and inspiration from different sources. It has been hard for me to make it a priority but I'm so thankful for the time. Once I get through this, maintaining won't take as much time.


• I'm thankful the kids have stayed healthy so far. So many kids have been sick and I thought we were headed there this last weekend when Caed got a low fever and headache but he woke up chipper and healthy.


• The girls are going to get to take keyboard and a "soils to succulent flavors" class. I will get to join them on the second one after my day care time and have asked if I can bring Caed with me. They will be growing things, learning nutrition and cooking in the kitchen from what they grow or learn about.


• I'm so thankful for the new schedule. It is helping our family out so much. I love that Rick sits with us for breakfast and reads the word to the kids and we also get on most days to have a family time of more reading and prayer at the end of each school day. It has been a calming time and a blessing.


• I'm so thankful Caedmon is excited about Awana this year. Last year he did not want to go and he said he didn't this year but Rick and I insisted that they would all three go. He shocked me by saying that he was excited the day it was going to start and has loved it so far. He is already excited to invite a friend from school. We all ready have the van full with our kids and three girls in Victoria's class who are back to going with us again this year so on special nights we agreed we would take two cars.


• I'm thankful for mine and Ricks morning quiet time. He brews the coffee and brings it in which is lovely since I'm not the morning person he is (oh and someone at my TOPS meeting had a funny joke about a husband and wife debating about who would make the coffee and she said they would look to the bible for the answer where she found it...HEBREWS...HE BREWS! HA, that was cute) and we sit and talk and wake up slowly and then do our own devotions side by side. Some mornings we even have time to pray together about the day. That has become a great morning routine for us even if it is at 5am! Eeek.

So, that's the thankfulness on my mind this week!