I'm still here :). I've been rather preoccupied with my research into being more productive and efficient as a family. I am really excited about what I've been learning and I can't wait to share what we're doing. I just want to be sure I've got it figured out first! I'm using materials from Steve and Terri Maxwell of Titus 2, Managers of Their Homes and Managers of Their Chores. I have to admit that it does appear to be a lot of work to implement, but I can see how the time investment would be worth it. I am kind of nervous of tying myself down to a schedule, I've always been more of a "routine" person but we're just not getting everything done that I know we could if we were more redeeming with our time. With two in school, a (very curious and creative) preschooler and a (constantly hungry) baby, our "routine" seems to have become more reactive than proactive. I've read through the books, now Lee and I are listening to their workshops and I'm looking forward to putting it all together.
In other important family news, April 16th was Bri's "Heavenly Birthday". We had a cake and gifted her with a new concordance in honor of the day, three years ago, when she professed her reliance on Christ to renew her heart and wash her clean.
Our heavenly birthday cakes are angel food, of course ;). We frost them white to remind us that we are washed as white as snow by our Savior's sacrifice, we use heart sprinkles to symbolize God's love and flower sprinkles to symbolize our new lives in HIM. We bake them round to symbolize our eternal lives in Christ. Lastly, we put a candle on top but instead of blowing it out we light it :)..."Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." ~Matthew 5:16. Tori's first heavenly birthday will be June 13th. I love to see Bri curl up with her concordance and feast on His Word :). There is something else I love to see her curl up with...
I snapped this picture the other day while Bri was watching Andrew so I could fix supper. She is such a blessing to all of us.
Andrew is growing! At his last well baby check-up he weighed 21 pounds...Bethani, our 23 month old, weighs 24. He's getting really big! We had to go shopping again and buy him a size 18 month wardrobe! Here he is in his first "real" PJ's...
He looks so big! His new hobby is to try to pull up on whatever he can, and so it starts :)...
And lastly, we rejoice in the decision of some men on the Supreme Court who "Opened their mouths for the silent in the cause of many such as were appointed to destruction."* through the barbaric practice of partial-birth abortion. One victory won...we pray many more will follow. I wonder how many growing babies had already been marked for destruction in just the following days and weeks had they ruled otherwise, praise God that their blood has been spared! And we also mourn for the families who lost loved ones in the Virginia Tech shooting. My heart found inspiration in the heroic actions of Liviu Librescu, the 76 year old Holocaust survivor who gave his life for his students. Sadly one of the fallen was one of "ours", 20 year old Lauren Ashley McCain was formerly a fellow homeschooler.
Hopefully I won't be away for so long this time :)! Have a blessed day in HIM!!!
*Paraphrased from Proverbs 31:8
I am delighting in being the mother of a son. As a little girl I used to pray that God would only give me daughters. Though I did have a brother he lived on this earth for only a couple of days so I was raised with two sisters and I knew nothing about boys. After a few years of marriage I starting actually wanting a boy, not because I didn't want more girls but because I really thought a boy might not be so bad after all ;). I prayed again and told God that I would take whatever he had for me joyfully. After three girls I figured that God had heard my prayer as a child and we would always have girls, haha :). It wouldn't have been a problem but at that point I really felt that God had a boy for us and even told Lee so. With Andrew I knew he was a boy and I will never forget that ultrasound. When his little face showed up on the screen I "saw" a boy, even though the ultrasound technician had yet to prove it. I am so humbled to share the responsibility with my husband of raising this little man in the ways of the LORD. To train him in the way he should go and help him to be a mighty arrow in the hand of our God. It has been an experience completely different than with our girls, even in ways that I never imagined! One thing that has really hit me is that when I am sitting gazing at him, like all mothers do at their babies, I can't picture his future in the same way I could with our daughters. I don't truly know what it is like to be a husband and a father! When I tell him I love you so much!!! I know that he will never "know" how I love him because he will never know how a mother loves. He will, Lord willing, be a Daddy and, while I'm sure a father's love is just as strong as a mother's I'm also sure it must be a "different" love. I feel somewhat adequate to prepare my daughters for marriage and motherhood but the role of priest/provider/protector seems so daunting to me! I am so glad that God made me a nurturer, I would never say it is an "easy" calling but I feel much more suited for it! And I am so glad that He gave me a wonderful husband to lead our young son into godly manhood. 
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