Happy Mother's Day Fellow Mommies!!!

   Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.
~1 Timothy 2:15      
 
   She shall be saved through childbearing: "To censorious men it might appear absurd, for an Apostle of Christ not only to exhort women to give attention to the birth of offspring, but to press this work as religious and holy to such an exent as to represent it in the light of the means of procuring salvation....whatever hypocrites or wise men of the world may think of it, when a woman, considering to what she has been called, submits to the condition which God has assigned to her, and does not refuse to endure the pains, or rather the fearful anguish of parturition, or anxiety about her offspring, or anything else that belongs to her duty, God values this obedience more highly than if, in some other manner, she made a great display of heroic virtues, while she refused to obey the calling of God. To this must be added, that no consolation could be more appropriate or more efficacious than to shew that the very means (so to speak) of procuring salvation are found in the punishment itself."
        ~Calvin's Commentary  
   “The coming of each new child strengthens and deepens my desire to be what I would have it become; makes my faults more loathsome in my eyes, and elevates my whole character.
       ~Elizabeth Prentiss' Stepping Heavenward, page 180

I've MIRLed :)!

   A couple of weeks ago I Met In Real Life a dear friend, Tanya, a frequent commenter here and a long time pen-pal of mine! Our daughters have also pen-palled for over two years so it was a special time for all of us! They got in kinda late the first day so it was pretty much straight to bed for the little ones but we adults sat up and talked for a couple of hours. It was so surreal to me that my good friend from Canada was actually sitting in my living room! The next morning we had a hearty breakfast, packed a picnic and headed to the zoo. The children got to go into the bird aviary and feed the birds nectar from little cups, that is my children's favorite thing to do at the zoo.

 

Everyone was pretty worn out when they climbed out of the vans back at home. Lee snapped this adorable picture of mine and Tanya's oldest girls together doing what they do best...



So cute:)! The children were all recharged by the time we got through supper and had a lot of fun together, giggling and making memories while we grown-ups got to chat some more.
   They had to leave early the next afternoon and there were tears from our girls when their friends had to leave. I am so thrilled to have gotten to meet Tanya! She has such a sweet spirit and she is so soft spoken! It was such a pleasure to get to visit with her and her family and I am so humbled that they went so out of their way to come to see us! Here are a few more pics...
A sweet one of all of the littles but Tanya's smallest...



I love this picture of our little stair-step daughters! By the way, Bri (my oldest in the red shirt) was the oldest child, Tanya's family is very tall :)...



And here is a group shot...



As you can see, I am very short ;). It was such a neat time!
Thank you again Leif and Tanya!!!

A friend loveth at all times...~Proverbs 17:17

There is Truly Nothing New Under the Sun...

   Countless times in Blogdom I have come across mommies explaining what they see as choppy comments or lack of capitalization/grammar, etc.. I've written a few of them myself. Our reason? Babies in arms ;). I got such a tickle out of reading the following quote out of a letter written in 1754 by Esther Burr (married daughter of Jonathan and Sarah Edwards) in the book Marriage To A Difficult Man: "You will not wonder if you see many blunders for I write rocking the cradle." And in explanation of several blotches on the paper she writes, "Now I write with Sally in my arms for I am resolved to write...".
   It has been a wonderful book so far! I remember when I could get through a book in a day or two. The last few years it has slowly stretched out to the point that sometimes it takes me a month or two to finish a book if I really want to get anything out of it. Could that possibly be because I used to read one at a time and now it is nothing for me to be reading several? There are my books, the books Lee and I are reading together, the books the girls and I are reading, the book I'm reading with Bri, the book I'm...well, I think you get the picture.
   Incidentally, please excuse any mistakes you see in this post, I'm typing with one hand as Baby sits snuggled on my lap in the other :).

   Disclaimer: I know my husband would like me to make a point of sharing that I'm not married to a difficult man. When my nine year old saw me reading it for the first time she said in a teasing sing-song voice..."I'm going to tell Daddy!!!" ;).

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. ~Ecclesiates 1:9

Happy Birthday Bethi!

   We had a great day celebrating yesterday, but today it is becoming obvious that we had a bit too much sugar and a bit too little rest!
   We did the birthday party thing exactly ONCE! And I will never do it again, haha :). I think it is so much more special to celebrate the children's birthdays as a family. After all, every time the Master Carpenter has added two feet to our home has been a very special day for all of us. My main tip would be keep it simple and keep it sweet!  
   We love seeing the looks on our children's faces when they walk out into the living room and see all of the decorations, so our children know they are to stay in their rooms until mommy and daddy come to get them. Lee and all of the "unbirthday" children then escort the birthday child out to the living room while I immortalize their reactions through the video camera. Tip: if you run the video camera you can't be caught on the video camera ;). After that we may video a special gift and we will video blowing out the candles by just setting up the camera and leaving it. I used to video everything and after a couple of years I realized I was missing seeing it in action by trying so hard to keep a record of it! Now I focus more in the moment as much as possible with my children while still keeping a few special moments as a record for the children.
    One thing we did for the first time this year and will definitely do again was watching home videos of Bethani's first year while we ate breakfast (and for a while afterwards). That was such a special time! We relived her newborn sweetness, her first steps, and her first birthday. She loved it too! Afterwards we packed up and went to the park to walk the nature trails...



pick weeds flowers...



and we stopped at the park on the way back to the car...



We were all pretty tired by the time we made our way back to the car...



   After that Lee dropped us off at home and he went on to get and bring home Bethi's favorite meal...french fries and chicken nuggets from McDonalds. She was so worn out she didn't get half-way through them before she was asleep at the table. Once our children hit about 3 or 4 they get to start going out for a special birthday meal with Lee in the even years and with me in the odd years.
   While Bethi slept, the rest of us wrapped her gifts and decorated the cake. When she woke up she was refreshed and ready to go! We had such fun getting her gifts together this year. I made her a little apron and head cover to go with the little broom Lee and I gave her...



 I'm working on matching aprons for the other girls and myself. Bri made her a child size doll sling which turned out really cute and Tori made her baby some cloth diapers. She cut the diapers out of fleece that matched the baby sling and I helped her sew velcro tabs onto the sides...  



She is good to go!



She also got a bible storybook. After a couple of hours to play with her new things it was time for cake! I often spend a couple of hours the day before decorating an extravagant cake but I just threw one together yesterday, it took me about 10 minutes after the cake itself was baked and cooled, and it was just as cute as many I've done in the past, though you could tell it was a quick job ;).



It was a very special day and now I have a two year old again! They are all such blessings!



Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.~Psalm 127:3

Goodbye Wonderful Ones...

Hello terrific twos!

It's Bethani's second birthday!!!











To see more of Bethani look here, here, and my personal favorite...this.

Still Here...

 

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

6 Months and a Year

   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.
   It has been a wonderful six months! Andrew now has four teeth, sits up confidently, and imitates some of the oddest sounds! I imagine he will be an early talker. He also scoots, already. If you put him sitting up on a smooth surface he will push with his little legs until he gets to something he wants. He can also do it while he's lying down which makes diaper changes really interesting! Especially since we've switched to cloth diapers (which is going wonderfully by the way and we're saving at least $50 dollars a month between Andrew and Bethani!). He had his first solid food the other day and now he has had a couple bites of a mashed up banana, a couple bites of baby cereal, a teething cookie...loved that...and a few Ritz crackers, he'll steal those right out of our hands! He's gaining fine so we haven't really put him on solids yet, just a few times a week as a treat. He and Bethani, 17 months apart, now wear the same size in disposable diapers! (We still use paper diapers when we go out).  Here he is enjoying his teething cookie...



   There has been another anniversary this last week. April second marked a year since my first post, my blog is a year old! I've been pretty busy lately so I missed it. You know how you can make my day? Leave me a comment :)! I can "see" you on stat counter and I would love to "meet" you :). But really, I don't mind if you would rather not or simply don't have the time, I seldom get the opportunity to comment on the blogs I read either.  I know we mommies are busy people :).

Have a blessed day in HIM!!!