Room #3: The Master Bath

Mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, the Lord on high is mighty!

~Psalm 92:4

Over The Sea

Over the sea, over the sea,
Jesus Savior pilot me.
Over the sea, over the sea,

Over the Jasper Sea.

Over and over,

Like a mighty sea.

Comes the love of Jesus,

Rolling over me.

When I was tiny my mother used to sing with us during bath time. The two favorites were He's Got The Whole World In His Hands and Over the Sea.  

Lee designed this medicine cabinet for me. You can't really see the sides very well but there are sea shell rubbings up and down the sides. The ships on the top were dollar store finds :)!

Here is another dollar store find, it is actually a placemat but it looks great on the wall. Isn't it                                                                             fun to be creative?

You can't really see it well in the above picture but we have a copy of Footprints on the wall. One day I would like to frame a matching set of Footprints and The Sailor's Hymn.

Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me (The Sailor's Hymn)

Jesus, Savior, pilot me
Over life’s tempestuous sea;
Unknown waves before me roll,
Hiding rock and treacherous shoal.
Chart and compass come from Thee;
Jesus, Savior, pilot me.

While th’Apostles’ fragile bark
Struggled with the billows dark,
On the stormy Galilee,
Thou didst walk upon the sea;
And when they beheld Thy form,
Safe they glided through the storm.

Though the sea be smooth and bright,
Sparkling with the stars of night,
And my ship’s path be ablaze
With the light of halcyon days,
Still I know my need of Thee;
Jesus, Savior, pilot me.

When the darkling heavens frown,
And the wrathful winds come down,
And the fierce waves, tossed on high,
Lash themselves against the sky,
Jesus, Savior, pilot me,
Over life’s tempestuous sea.

As a mother stills her child,
Thou canst hush the ocean wild;
Boisterous waves obey Thy will,
When Thou sayest to them, “Be still!”
Wondrous Sovereign of the sea,
Jesus, Savior, pilot me.

When at last I near the shore,
And the fearful breakers roar
’Twixt me and the peaceful rest,
Then, while leaning on Thy breast,
May I hear Thee say to me,
“Fear not, I will pilot thee.”

-Edward Hopper 1871

Room #2: The Girls "Powder Room"

The knowingness of little girls is hidden underneath their curls.

-Phyllis McGinley

"Why a picture of towels?!" you ask. Well, because this room was decorated around the towels! They were a wedding gift from a family I used to babysit and they have become a constant reminder of the desires God has fulfilled in my life. The wee ones who were just a dream when I was rocking other people's babies have become my reality! I never want to take that for granted.

If you look really closely you can see that I glued artificial flowers onto the shower curtain rings, it really adds an elegant touch to the whole room!

I also took some of the artificial flowers and filled a glass bowl with a scalloped top half-way with them for the counter top.

My favorite part of the room is the heart and flowers rubbing on the mirror underneath the swag. It will come off if we ever need it to with a little tape and some "goo-be-gone".

The papers on the mirror are the Ten Commandments. One sheet is straight from the Bible and the other is a short explanation of each. Tooth brushing time is a great time to memorize!

"Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water."

-Hebrews 10:22

Room #1: The Nursery

"Babies Don't Keep"

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth
empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
hang out the washing and butter the bread,
sew on a button and make up a bed.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
for children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

-- Author Unknown

This is probably the last "nursery" we will ever have, from now on it's share and share alike. We went with a butterfly theme for Bethani ("new life"). Do you see the butterflies on the wall? They are tissue paper butterflies! We all made them together one family night before Bethi was born. We had a lot of fun, made a memory, the girls really felt like they helped decorate the baby's room, it added something special to the walls, and it was cheap!

Since Bethani was our third girl nobody knew what to get her because we already had all of the stuff, so they sent her money instead. We pooled it all and got a "real" rocking chair like I've always wanted. We had one of those glider's before, that is now in my room beside the cradle soon to be put back to use again! Lee painted the footstool to match. It makes for a very special place to cuddle :).

Bethani's rocking horse just makes the room! My sister painted it for her for Christmas last year, didn't she do a great job?!!!

There's Bethani in the corner wondering what mommy's doing :).

Epiphany at Mealtime

   Feeding a toddler has got to be one of the most exasperating jobs of motherhood, don't you think? Not only is their little mouth never in the same place for two milliseconds in a row, but at the same time they are wiggling in their chairs and those cute little hands are everywhere at once! While feeding Bethani her yogurt today I had quite the epiphany. She was intent on watching the hummingbirds at the feeder outside the window rather than paying much attention to her lunch and invariably the moment I would think I was home safe with a spoonful, she would turn her head to look out the window, mouth still wide open of course, and instead of a mouthful she would end up with a face full of yogurt!

   After about the third time, just when I had about hit the point of giving up, I was struck with the thought, "How many times has my Savior had something for me, a verse to bring to mind, a nugget of wisdom, a solution to a problem, and at the last moment I allowed the world in one way or another to take my focus off of Him, turned away, and missed out, or even worse, made a big mess!?". Luckily, my Redeemer is patient with me and He is always there with another "spoonful".

   Bethani eventually got done with her lunch, but not without many reminders to "Look at Mother!".

 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

-Hebrews 12:1&2

School Time!

   What sort of people use their child (by means of their stroller) to steal from a christian bookstore? You would think that Lee wouldn't have much problem with theft as the manager of a Christian bookstore but he loses thousands each year through theft. The most ironic, is when someone steals a Bible! Lee has Bibles in the back that he could give out if someone truly was in need but apparently these sort of people don't "just" want the Word of God, they want it with a leather cover and study notes, etc. ;). Of course, whenever someone takes a Bible you have to figure they needed it, whether they thought so or not :).

   Anyway, all that aside, I am absolutely giddy!!! Most of Bri's and Tori's  books have come in and I am really enjoying going through them! We're still waiting on English (from Rod and Staff) and Bri's copybook (from Queen Home School Supplies). We do most of our subjects together, all except math, spelling/phonics, and English. I remember reading books like Little Women, Heidi and Anne of Green Gables to Bri when she was itty bitty and feeling kind of silly, asking myself, "How much can a three year old get out of these books?". Now I realize how instrumental they were in increasing her vocabulary and reading comprehension so I have Tori sit through most of our reading whether it is for history, science, or just a good book. I don't require the same kind of focus from Tori as I do from Bri yet, Tori is free to tend to her dolls or play quietly with blocks, etc. while I read. We are using Saxon Math again this year. I wasn't thrilled with it last year but it was all because of the format. When I got a chance to look at the fourth grade book this year I saw that the format was entirely changed from the third grade book and was actually exactly what I was looking for! So, I'm willing to give it another chance. For science we are using the new curriculum from Answers in Genesis. While we haven't officially started it yet, I have looked through it quite a bit and I would recommend to anyone to check into it, I can't wait to get started! I also ordered the new Zoo Guide from Answers in Genesis and that looks really fun as well. The girls are enamored simply by the pictures and we haven't even taken it to the zoo yet! It makes me think of Pa's "Big Green Book" mentioned in Little House in the Big Woods. We're continuing in Latin with "Latin's Not So Tough II" and I got Bri a spelling book this year because the whole "check it as you go" isn't working out, I think we need some structure there. I got the book Maidens of Virtue to use as a Bible curriculum this year along with our regular Bible reading, etc. and our history will also include a lot of Bible. For art we will be continuing with I Can Do All Things, published by How Great Thou Art, since we haven't gotten even halfway through it yet, the girls are always coming up with their own projects to do. We use the Mary Francis series for a Home Ec. base, as well as what comes up in the day to day. Music is another of those things that just happens around here. We love music and we have cassettes of classical music with the composers biographies scattered throughout and CDs with pure instrumental as well as CDs with hymns and other songs of worship.

    I also got a few books for me! I am currently reading A Chance to Die: The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael by Elisabeth Elliot, what an enthralling book! Some of the things I've come across have really been confirming to me right now. On the other hand, like all of us lowly humans, you can see in this book that Amy had a spirit of flesh to battle just like the rest of us. A couple of the others are The Harsh Truth About Public School and Genesis of a Legacy. Plenty of good books to read, I am in my element!!!

     For now, I need to go get our paperwork sent in for our home school association membership, pay some bills, answer some emails, and write some "snail mail" letters :). All of those good books will just have to wait...

*Edited February 3rd, 2007 to add~ The spelling we used for Bri and the math/spelling we used for Tori were from Spectrum, they are such a good deal!
I'm not saying any of the following to be mean but I would not recommend buying from Queen's Home School supply. They took forever getting the copybook to us, it was also very poor quality for the price. Then we found they had sent us the wrong book (a sports theme instead of a lady theme) and they would not reimburse us the shipping cost to send it back even though it was their mess up. They also held our book "hostage" until they got the one they mistakenly sent, back. In the end they said they never received the book  back but that they would send our order "anyway", reluctantly, as if they didn't believe we had sent it back. The whole thing was odd. I suspect they aren't very organized and I was not impressed by their customer service.

The Downside to Digital Cameras

   It used to be that I could take two or three shots with my automatic camera (is that what it's called?) and one of them was bound to come out. Well now, if I don't get it the first time I'm out of luck because by the time I realize this one's eyes were closed or that one's making a funny face they have all moved and are now clambering at my feet saying, "Let me see!" or "Oh! I want to see" or (if they can't speak yet) "Uh, Uh!" :). And to add insult to injury I know that I didn't get it :)!!! Technology...can't live with it...glad I don't have to live without it...

It's not very comforting when...

...after feeling for Baby's position, etc., the midwife asks, "So, how big has your biggest been?".

Me: "8 pounds even."

(Side note: I love that Bri, our first, was born at eight pounds. The number eight symbolizes "new beginnings" isn't that cute?! Anyway, back to topic...)

Midwife: "Well, we'll have to wait and see, of course, but this one's looking like a big boy!".