What Matters Most

Violins for Sale

2012-01-23T10:27:00.007-06:00

My boys keep growing out of their violins!! I really feel like I've been ripped off a bit, because my plan was to have Micah use Josiah's old violins, thus getting double the use out of each purchase. Unfortunately, Micah has decided to give his big brother a run for his money on the whole growing thing. Therefore, we now have the equivalent of twins. Their clothes are the same size and they will have the same size violins....not fair!! OK, so I'm pouting and you're really not interested in my whining. I promise I'll hush now. :)

So, if you've ever had to buy a violin you will know it is similar to buying a used car. According to the salesman, if you are buying a violin, it is such a wonderful sounding instrument and all the dings and nicks give it character. Of course, 6 months later when you try to sell the same violin back to the nice man, he tells you that small violins never have a very good sound and yours isn't worth much! I'm a terrible haggler, and so I really don't play the buying game very well. I've been blessed in that we've bought our violins up to this point from a friend. She's told us honestly what they paid and we've given them a fair price based on what they paid. Now that the boys are in the same size(I might bitterly add a whine here...but, I won't), we have started to have to rent one for a boy and buy the other from the said friend.

Ok so why did I tell you all this? I really have no clue. I have these moments and usually don't post them...part of getting old I think. Oh, look there goes the pretty pink pony. Oh yes, I did have a point. We have two violins to sell. I'd much rather just sell them to a cyber-friend, then deal with the used car salesmen...er I mean knowledgeable violin dealers. So I'm trying my blog and facebook first.

Here is "Goliath"(we are keeping "David" and "Samson" since they were the boy's first violins)
Goliath is a 1/8 size violin. The inside of the violin reads as follows: Florea Modela Oradea Series 3618704 Made in China 2003 We are selling the whole outfit. Violin, bow and case for $50 plus shipping costs, or you can pick it up if you'd like.

Our next lot is "Paul". Paul is a very nice sounding 1/4 size violin. The inside of the violin reads as follows: Peccard Model : V-8 Copy of Antonio Stradivari West Coast String Instruments Anno 2003 We have papers for the outfit that estimates the violin's value at $850 and the bow's value at $300. We didn't pay close to that and the used car salesmen...er I mean experts, valued the whole outfit for less than that as well. We are selling the whole outfit; violin, bow and case for $400 plus the cost of shipping(by the way the bow is is an E. Guasti).

I'm happy to upload a video of each violin being played if you'd like to get an idea of the sound. Just email me at mattnjuwah@yahoo.com for that info or to contact me to make purchase.

An Idea

2012-01-19T11:01:00.004-06:00

Geography is one of those subjects that we haven't really hit hard yet. We often have a world map on the island in our kitchen under clear plastic. As the boys are eating a snack, we sometimes quiz them on the location of countries or they often ask us questions about certain countries. But we've only done one year of a formal geography curriculum. This year we've been so busy with our other subjects that once again, geography has fallen by the wayside. That is until I realized I was missing an opportunity to learn more about geography while doing "school prayer time".

We love the ministry of Voice of the Martyrs and so we get a lot of correspondence from them. A few weeks ago we got their annual prayer map. It shows all the countries that are hostile or restricted nations toward Christianity. Everyday the boys and I choose a country from the map and pray for our brothers and sisters in that country. We wanted to know more about each country and so we ordered the 2011 report from VOM that gives information about the persecution in each country and even a little about the country's history, economic status, or government(you can get 10 of these books for $5). So now while I'm reading about the country of the day, the boys make a flag for the nation about which we are learning. Then we pray for that country. We were doing this for a few days when I realized that we were "doing" geography. Each day as I mentioned a country they would run to the map in search of the country and discover its location. I love combining subjects, so you can image how happy I was that not only were the boys learning to have hearts for the world, but they were also learning about the locations of African and Middle Eastern countries. SCORE!!

After we finish the persecuted countries, I think we may just go on to learn about and pray for the rest of the world.....I'm thinking we've got a couple of years of geography lined out now. :)

Just thought I'd pass that "accidental idea" on to you today.

Precious Birthday Treasures

2012-01-12T11:35:00.006-06:00

Can I have a "mommy moment" here? My boys each wrote me precious birthday poems that I will cherish for life. I thought I'd share them with you.

I'm so glad he thinks I'm "tidy and neat" cause that's not exactly how I would describe myself. :)

Can there really be anything more dull than a shopping mall to a 6 year old boy? :)

2011-12-29T09:08:00.007-06:00

Christmas 2011

I know, I know, it's been a pathetically long time since I've posted. Actually, I've written several times, but haven't posted the results. Most of the times, it just didn't "feel" like the timing was right to post what was spilling from my heart to my fingers on this faithful old laptop. Other times, I'd written, rewritten and then as I hit "publish post" the document was forever lost in cyber-space. Needless to say, I didn't have the heart or the time to start over. So here we are. I do so love to blog, but the phase of life I'm in right now, just doesn't allow for a lot of it. Someday, when my guys are a little bigger and need me a little less in the educational process, I'll be faithfully blogging. Until then, duty call. :)

I hope you all had a marvelous Christmas. We certainly did. Our family and friends spoil us with good gifts that are unnecessary, but certainly appreciated. The Christmas photos and letters are always such a joy to receive as well. This has been my favorite Christmas so far with our boys. While Christmas is always a joy, especially with children, it also affords some pretty intensive training days as a parent. My children did not come into the world thankful, gracious beings. In fact, as "cute" as they were, they were pretty selfish, greedy, and ungrateful. So the last 8 Christmases have been spent in training them to say thank you. Not to open one gift, heave it in a pile and say, "What's next?". To think about the sacrifice someone has made, the hours they have worked and the thoughtfulness they have shown in choosing and then purchasing a gift just for them. We've worked hard to help them experience the joy of giving. The joy of being excited for someone else. You get the picture. So this year was the first year that both of the boys were just thankful, without our prodding. The first year that they both showed as much joy watching the other open a gift as they experienced opening their own gift. The first year that we didn't have to say, but we heard them say things like, "That was so thoughtful of ......to get that for us." It truly is a joy to see your children walk in truth. Don't get me wrong, I know we've got a LONG way to go. Our training years have just begun, but it's nice to sit back occasionally and enjoy the fruit of past efforts before you dive back into the job again.

I will confess there was a little disturbance Christmas day at our house after one particular gift was opened. We now have one Confederate soldier and one Union soldier in our home and never the twain shall meet. Pray for reunification in the Thomas household. :)

One last little tidbit I will leave with you before I rush off to clean my house. I've just recently been exploring the world of Pinterest and I saw an idea that has worked beautifully, well for the last two nights anyway. My dear hubby and I have found ourselves really frustrated with trying to instill in the boys table manners. We feel like most meals we spend saying things like, "Lean over your plate, don't take such big bites, one elbow on the table, don't talk with your mouth full." At the end of a meal we feel as if all we've done is criticize. Well, three days ago on Pinterest I saw an idea I thought worthy of trying. So I went out and bought a pig....a plastic pig that is. We set "Wilber" (terribly original, I know) on the table. If anyone is not using his/her table manners any member of the family is allowed to award that individual the "Wilbur Award". Then the "winner" can watch to see an opportunity to pass the award on to the next "piggy". Whoever has Wilbur at the end of the meal has to clear the table. We have had two evenings with Wilbur as a guest and I will have you know he has yet to be awarded to anyone. It has even been a motivator for Matt and I to be more careful. So Wilbur seems to have brought a solution to our messy mouth issues. Napkins are used, elbows are limited, bites are reasonably sized, and criticism is gone. Wilbur certainly is, SOME PIG!!

New Year's Blessings to you all.

Stationery card

2011-12-06T10:11:00.001-06:00

Very Merry Moments Christmas Card

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2011 Fall Recital

2011-11-14T11:33:00.002-06:00

Saturday was the boys Fall Recital. I promised grandparents that I'd post the videos, so here is Josiah's:

And Micah's:

Busy Summer

2011-08-31T09:38:00.009-05:00

Well, it's been next door to forever since I've posted. Summer is always a busy time, but this one seemed especially busy. It was a good kind of busy mostly, but still busy enough to keep me away from any blogging.

One job I enjoy in the summer is mowing. I mow close to 4 hours a week when the weather is prime for grass growing. While I mow I listen to audio-books, a luxury of which most mothers only dream. I started out the summer listening to A Brave New World, but soon found myself, quite unintentionally, listening to book after book with the French Revolution being a big part of the story. The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Count of Monte Cristo, and now Les Miserables. It only seems like a few books, but the unabridged reading of Monte Cristo alone is over 47 hours of listening. I've so enjoyed all these books. Monte Cristo was fascinating with it's theme of revenge veiled in "righteousness". In the end, however, the lead character realizes that even those who feel they are on a mission from God, must guard against pride. Human beings are subject to error and if they become so self-righteous that they forget they are fallible, they can easily wreak havoc in their world. Of course Les Mis is a story of redemption and self-sacrifice. As Lewis said through Lucy in Narnia, "a good story is a story which reminds her of the forgotten story in the Magician's Book." All "good" stories are the stories that remind us of the great story of Christ and his redemption. Not only have the books I've "read" this summer pointed me to the "Great Story", they also have prepared me for this school year. This year the boys will be studying the 19th Century so I will be thoroughly Napoleoned out before the year is up. :)

We had the joy of hosting some friends this summer as well. Harold, Kayla and their boys came in for a few days while on their deputation. What a blast we all had together. What a joy it was to have a good chat with my dear friend again. Just like old times, with the exception of 6 boys playing in the background. :) Charity and her kiddos also came for a long weekend visit. The kiddos got along splendidly and Charity and I solved the world's problems and laughed quite a bit while we did it. I'm counting on the rest of you to follow Kayla's and Charity's examples and make a visit to the mid-west soon.

We have added another student to our little school this year. She only attends two days a week, but she shows great potential. :) Kenlee is a big hit around here with the boys. I wasn't sure how homeschooling and babysitting would mesh, but with "Little Miss" it's going great. We all enjoy her so much.

That pretty much updates you on our little world. Since I last posted we've lived a lot of life. We've had our share of pain and more than our share of joy. In joy and in sorrow we trust our dear Abba and say to him a clear resounding, "Yes, Daddy!" to all He wills in our lives. I look forward to catching up on all your lives in the next few weeks. What an encouragement reading your blogs is to me.

An Excellent Daddy!

2011-06-17T19:12:00.004-05:00

I wanted to dedicate this blog to my good hubby Matt. I knew when I chose to marry Matt that he was a good man of godly character. I knew he would lead our family to Christ, but I had no idea what an amazing daddy he would end up being.

“Why is the sky blue?” I looked in the rear view mirror at the little one strapped in a car seat, the one who asked a million questions that day already. I was about to give the standard answer, “Because God made it that way”, when my husband says, “Well Bub it’s blue because of the earth’s atmosphere.” Then he continued to explain light and color and all things blue. I laughed inwardly. He looked at me when the science lesson was over, “what?” I smiled coyly and said, “Do you think he got that?” He wisely said, “Maybe not, but he will.” That has always been my husband’s approach with our boys. I read Bible story books to the boys, but he pulls out the Bible and they read together and exegete the scriptures. And yes, they do enjoy it. Not so much because they are understanding every word, but because Daddy is amazing. Daddy is on the floor explaining real life stuff to them. Daddy doesn’t have a life of his own and then occasionally joins our world for a few hours before bed, but our world is Daddy’s world and they know it.

As the boys grow older, I am amazed at how much they do understand. Over the years I’ve seen the wisdom of my husband’s approach and now use it myself. You see when you are shaping a little life, there is no down time. Even the common things of life are opportunities to shape their worldview. Is it easy? No. Sometimes we’d rather just say, “Who had it first?” and end the silly spat. But there are much deeper issues in seemingly simple everyday occurrences . Hearts are being molded. One selfishly snatching the toy and the other selfishly demanding to keep it. If we don’t help them to see what the real issues of life are, when will they learn it? Maybe they won’t. Maybe they will be the ones to split the church because someone sat in their pew or maybe they'll just grow up content with not thinking at all, floating through life like an amoeba that simple reacts to what it bumps into.

Teaching them diligently is not a task that comes naturally for most of us human beings. Our flesh wants to be comfortable and getting off the couch at the end of a hard day to answer a lot of questions or deal with disobedience isn’t what comes natural for us. It is a choice that we make with God’s help. For Matt and I it has been and still is a process. We are still learning to choose daily to teach in the moment, but the more we do it the more it becomes as natural as breathing. I thank God for a husband who challenges me to be a better mother and that my boys have a daddy who is willing to be here in body and spirit moment by moment teaching, loving, and pointing us all to Jesus.

Advice for Abigail....and Julia

2011-05-26T09:19:00.004-05:00

In a letter to his dear wife, John Adams encourages her to parent their oldest two sons in his absence in this way....

"Take care that they don't go astray. Cultivate their minds, inspire their little hearts, raise their wishes. Fix their attention upon great and glorious objects, root out every little thing, weed out every meanness, make them great and manly. Teach them to scorn injustice, ingratitude, cowardice, and falsehood. Let them revere nothing but religion, morality and liberty."

What a challenge this is for me. It goes far beyond the ideals we as a culture have for our children today. A reckless abandon pursuit of "fun", Sponge Bob, and Grossology are what we offer our young boys. Then we wonder why we end up with "kidadults, as opposed to "great and manly" men. I'm not interested in putting 40 year old heads on my 6 and 8 year old's shoulders, fun is a staple at our house and an occasional game of Super Mario isn't forbidden. However, I think I stand to gain a lot if I reject the commonly accepted standards of our culture for our boys and seek the wisdom of the likes of the original "Adams Family".

Spring Recital 2011

2011-05-21T19:32:00.002-05:00

Today was the boys Spring Recital. This was Micah's first recital. He played two songs since the songs were so short. Josiah played Minuet #3.
Hope you enjoy this Papa & Nanny(and Rach). :)

Micah playing Au Claire de la Lune with his teacher.

Micah playing Lightly Row with his teacher.

Josiah playing Minute #3 by Bach

Confessions of a Wimp.

2011-05-14T08:29:00.004-05:00

My name is Julia and I am an approval junkie. From as long as I can remember I have liked to be liked. I love waves in the ocean, but not in my life. I will go to great measures to avoid offending people unnecessarily. There I’ve said it. I’m a wimp by nature. Enter public school. Public school can be pretty tough on a girl who looks so completely different from her peers and all the while she’s craving their approval. Now this could be the sad end to my story, but my parents did something right. I have no idea what it was specifically, but no matter how much of an approval junkie I was I had no thought of compromising my values. I wanted approval, but God’s approval seemed to trump that of my peers. Thank God for that. However, I am a pretty creative little creature and so I figured out a way to have the best of both worlds. I was nice. And guess what? If you are nice to people, with only a few exceptions, they don’t really care how you look. And so public school went pretty smoothly for me. I had a few antagonists, but for the most part I was liked. I even won end of the year awards for being “cheery” and “funny” and all kinds of things that made me feel warm and fuzzy.

I was trucking along through life pretty well, but there were a few bumps on my smooth road of being liked. For instance, a few years after college a friend told me that she knew of a few people who “hated” me during college. Imagine my shock and dismay. Who? Me? Hated? Unbearable!! What had a I done? I knew there were a few who seemed a little cold toward me and I promptly ate lunch with them and started my quest of being entered onto their approval lists. She said(and I’ll modify the words here for public consumption), “You were so self absorbed that you didn’t even notice they didn’t like you.” OUCH! The wounds of a friend are faithful. She helped me open my eyes that day. I determined to be more aware of how I affected people, not just so they would like me, but because people matter.

Enter my babies. I didn’t understand the danger of my desire to be liked until one day my kiddos came along. I don’t even remember the specifics of the moment, to be honest I don’t even remember where I was. I just remember somebody wanted me to do or wanted me to let my kiddos go somewhere or do something that in my heart I knew wouldn’t be good for them. I’m not talking danger here folks I just mean, that little part of your brain that kicks in when you know this activity or whatever won’t kill your kid, but it wouldn’t be best. Anyway, the moment came and I felt this incredible pressure to send my kiddo into a situation I didn’t think best. Why, you may ask? Well, I didn’t want to offend the person who was asking. I didn’t want them to think badly of me. All of that went through my brain in a second and with my heart pounding and my stomach churning I smiled kindly and said, “No thanks.” I’m sure I did my dead-level best to smooth it over….that’s what we approval junkies do. But something changed in me that day. I knew that liking to be liked isn’t all bad, but when gaining self approval puts others at risk, well now that gets into the realm of evil. LIGHT BULB MOMENT!!

And so here I am up the road a few years, some time and experience under my belt. I’ve come to the sad conclusion that if you do end up standing up for what is right, some people won’t like you. And guess what? I still hate that feeling. I know it’s just a feeling and trust me I’ve prayed that this thorn in my flesh(being a wimp) would be taken from me. I long to be the kind of person who speaks boldly, one who does the right thing and walks away with shoulders squared and confident step, letting the chips fall where they may. But the Lord said, “My grace is sufficient for you.” And so I muster all my courage and do what I think is the right thing and limp away with heart pounding, stomach churning knowing full well I won’t sleep that night due to my worrying where the chips are going to fall. I guess my point is, wimp or not I’m accountable to God. Ultimately, it is His approval that I must seek. And whether it’s ever comfortable for me or not, I must love as He loved. That means my love for Julia and approval and all things warm and fuzzy has to be crucified.

Do I go out looking for confrontational situations now? NOPE! Do I seek to be abrasive? Not on your life. I still find myself diplomatically sharing opinions. I read people’s body language like a book to be sure that what is being said is being understood. I like being nice and friendly. I enjoy having lots of friends and knowing they like me too. But I have to keep that all in perspective. And you can just bet if I do or say something that causes waves, that it was done with much thought and prayer and to be honest, an agonizing wrestling match between my flesh and spirit. It’s not easy being a wimp, but by God’s grace I’ll be a wimpy tool in his hands to do with what He wills…no matter how uncomfortable.

Great Family Read Aloud Books!!

2011-05-02T11:47:00.004-05:00

Several weeks ago Matt and I attended the Mid-West Homeschool Convention. While we enjoyed the speakers and all the challenging things that we learned, our favorite part of the convention is browsing the vendor hall. After we make all the necessary curriculum purchases we spend hours scouring book shelf after book shelf finding books we want to read, we want our boys to read and books we want to read to our boys. Children are NEVER too old to be read aloud to....in fact, I can just bet you still enjoy hearing a book read aloud.

At convention we ran across a series of books that we thought looked like good books to read aloud as a family. Sadly we only bought one in the series because we wanted to see what they were about before we took the plunge and bought the whole set. Needless to say, half-way through the first book we went to Amazon and ordered the next two books in the series. The author Chuck Black weaves the story of Christ into this allegorical retelling of biblical history from Genesis to Revelations. There are discussion questions in the back for each chapter which make for a wonderful catalysis for conversation. If you use these books as a tool in family devotional times, I guarantee your kids will beg you for just one more chapter.

I just love running across great resources like the Kingdom Series by Chuck Black and I thought I'd pass the word on to you. Enjoy!!

2011-03-22T08:21:00.007-06:00

Do I wake them? I know, if they went to "school" they would have been up and gone hours ago. I do this mind arguing often. Fighting the mind battle between what I grew up with and think of as "normal" and being the lead apologist for alternative education. I know the discipline of routine and schedule will have to be established, but when they are young don't they sleep because they need it? Then of course enter my flesh to compound the argument. It's kinda nice to be a homeschooling Mom and find yourself in a quiet house with devotions done, mile walked, and a quiet breakfast shared with hubby all before 9:25am. So I wonder...do I wake them? I will confess it is RARE that my boys sleep this late(and yes I checked to make sure they are breathing). So for now, I'm going to let the worry go and enjoy these few moments of quiet.

I've read/am reading two really great books lately that have been perspective changers for me(I love a book that does that). One is a parenting book by Matt Friedeman entitled Discipleship in the Home. This book is unlike any other parenting book I've read because it is so forward thinking. Most of the books I've read would fit into one of two categories. 1. Practical. The how-to kind of books. How to get your baby to sleep through the night. How to train your child to first time obedience. 2. Philosophical. The worldview kind of books. Why you want your child to obey the first time. Why it is important that your motive be right when you are disciplining. What are you thinking and how are you going to teach them to think. Every book I've ever read in either category has helped me to be a better mommy. I need both kinds. But "Discipleship in the Home" has helped me to be more goal oriented. Matt and I know what goals we are shooting for in general, but we've never really sat down and written those goals out. And not only written them out, but then written a plan to implement them. We are in the process of making our "Age 18 List" and it's been a good thought provoking task for us.

Probably the greatest help this book has been for us is in being more positive. I've always thought of myself as a glass half-full kind of gal, but not so when it has come to my kiddos. Because Matt and I are so serious about the task of training our boys(as we should be), we often fail to see the progress made. I so quickly hear and see attitudes and actions that fall short, but days of great attitudes and actions go by and I hardly notice, because that's how it is "supposed to be". Mind you this is wrong, I'm not condoning my actions here, I'm just being honest about my own "falling short". And so this book helped me to recognize that. And just as we address issues of wrong attitudes and actions in our boys, we are addressing them in ourselves. This book has helped me to see that I need to praise more. I need to notice the days of sweet obedience and kindness in play. I need to praise the hard work and good effort and ignore some mistakes. As I do, I see my boys open like flowers in the sunshine, basking in the warmth of our smiles. And so this book is one of my new favorites. As with any book I read, I don't agree with every jot and tittle, but overall this book has changed me and I love a book that helps me to conform into the image of my Abba.

I'll wait for another post to share how the book I am currently reading is changing me. My oldest is up and is reading his latest issue of Ranger Rick and he must share the fascinating facts about 'possums with his Mommy. Did you know a "Mommy possum actually eats snakes, insects, earthworms and slugs"? :)

2011 Ice Storm

2011-02-07T19:57:00.013-06:00

We kept hearing threats of debilitating ice and snow. To be honest, I wasn't worried, we don't normally get anything too scary around here(Ok, so we have had an occasional tornado and just one or two earth quakes in the 12+ years I've lived here). Our boys were pumped though. The idea of "roughing it" with the electricity off would be a real adventure. So everything became exciting...even making bread.

Monday night Josiah said, "Don't you think we ought to get candles and flashlights ready?" We were impressed with his forward thinking....a skill he clearly did not inherit from his parents(as we sat around reading and such on a cold evening). With permission and a pat on the head he and his brother were off to scour the house for all artificial lighting and they had serious discussions on the best placement for each candle and flashlight.

You can only imagine the disappoint when on Tuesday morning they awoke to a warm lighted house. I think the exact words were, WHAT? Why are the lights still on?" :) I assured them that freezing rain was forecasted for the whole day.

The day went as usual and we got our freezing rain. I know it damages so many things. I know it's dangerous. I know it is inconvenient for commerce. But oh it is so pretty to look out on our woods covered in a layer of sparkling ice. Pictures just do not do it justice. Even our dead ugly landscape looked prettier.

Around 8pm we were all snuggled in our bed watching a movie on Netflix when the power went out. Pure delight, mixed with the realization that without power we can't watch the end of Jack in the beanstalk, filled our boys . :) So they camped out in our room and we piled on the blankets, we were sure we'd be warm enough til morning. And we were.

All Wednesday and a good deal of Thursday(power was restored around 4:30pm on Thursday) we stayed at our dear friends/neighbors who have a generator so we didn't freeze or rough it too long. We were able to get school done and enjoyed visiting with Keith and Rachel. Even school seems more exciting when you change locations and have an in-house accompanist for violin practice.

The snow came after the ice and made the pretty woods, absolutely breath-takingly beautiful. Thursday night the boys started feeling badly(perhaps all the excitement?) and Friday we actually took a day off of school so they could recover. Fortunately, Saturday they were much better, so we took the opportunity to get out and enjoy the very slick hills. There are no photos of me, but I want it to go on record that I did go down the hill several times and on my last time down, I tried out the snow ramp we built at the bottom of the hill! Note to self: sledding down an ice covered hill and hitting a snow obstacle at a high rate of speed at your age is not the wisest plan of action....even if your kids are impressed and giggle heartily at your flailing limbs and screams of terror.

A brave man...I did not go head first!

Happily Ever After

2011-01-31T08:22:00.007-06:00

As a wife and mother sometimes Christian radio is helpful and sometimes not. I don't listen nearly as much as I used to, when home educating having the radio on in the background can be distracting. This morning though, Matt and the boys left early to do chores for friends who are on vacation and as I was preparing the house for the day I was listening to a show on communication in marriage. The show was really geared toward newlyweds or even engaged couples. Being an "old married woman" with 10 + years of marriage experience under my matrimonial belt, there were parts of the show to which I was shaking my head and saying an inward "amen". Other parts I felt like gave me permission to be moody or cantankerous due to my "God given personality". Fortunately, I learned before I got married(through repeated head smashing against the brick wall of life)that I would never be truly happy or fulfilled in any relationship outside of Jesus. I know we all know that in our heads. I know we all say it at church. But do we live it? I certainly didn't. I sought fulfillment in relationships outside of God. I placed on the shoulders of so many of my friends the responsibility of making me happy. I have a "chipper" enough personality and gracious enough friends that the long term damage to relationships was minimal...but inwardly, I often dealt with disappointment and moodiness because another human being failed to make me feel whole.

Then one day I moved to Salem, IL. For the first time in my adult life I wasn't surrounded by the safety net of close friendships...it was me and God. I had relationships here, but they were new, almost foreign. I remember the day so well. I was on my morning walk and the lyrics to a song were running through my mind...the song was entitled "God Spot". I realized that the emptiness and loneliness I was facing in this new place was not anyone's fault. The reason I was unfulfilled "by myself" was because I had inadvertently placed the expectation of fulfillment on my friends. Jesus alone wasn't enough to fulfill....I was a relationship junky. Once I saw it, I realized how wrong that was...I also realized that it was totally unfair to place that kind of expectation on another human being. Relationships are only ever whole and truly loving if an individual finds fulfilment in Christ alone. That frees us to really love another without a self fulfillment agenda getting in the way.

The talk show expressed the need for all married couples to find their fulfillment in Christ first. AMEN to that! However, then they went on to express ways of dealing with conflict...most of the conflict examples they gave, were conflicts stemming from expectations placed on another for one's own validation. I know as humans we are never totally free of the flesh until we are dead. We will feel forces of it until the day Jesus takes us home. We will have moments of unguarded words with insecurities leaking out. Yet, I've found in my marriage that the more I truly believe that my worth is based in Jesus, the less often I fall to attacking Matt when I feel needy. It doesn't mean all conflict disappears, we still have days where we don't see eye to eye or I'm overly emotional and sensitive. But it does mean that once "reason comes riding in on a white horse" I can see what I'm doing and LET IT GO. That, I believe, is the second secret to a good marriage. I don't have to win. There are no winners. I don't have to be validated, I am valuable because Jesus says so.

You see Matt and I have settled into our relationship. We rarely fuss over issues anymore. We've learned to place an issue on the table and emotionally detach ourselves from it. Then we tackle the issue based on truth and what is real. We almost always come to an agreement based on what we both believe to be truth. We don't even think in terms of whose argument or idea won. But, there are the little rubs that come from living with another person and those are a whole different topic. It is those little rubs that can make relationships difficult. For example, last Wednesday night the boys and I got into town, after a long day in St. Louis. We normally meet Matt in town for supper before church. We got to the restaurant and I set the boy's drinks down. Matt starts to move them. I say, "why?" He explains that friends are eating with us and we need to make room for them. It's important to note here that Matt is the Tortoise and I am the Hare. He often thinks, responds, and moves very slowly. I often think, respond, and move at the speed of light(which has led to MANY apologies in my life). I argue, "There's room if we add this chair". He continues to move drinks, think and think and think...(tick tick tick). I think, "What is the big deal?" However, after 10 years of marriage(and due to the public location) I've learned to keep that thought to myself. However, I don't do a good job of hiding the annoyance in my body language. So I grab a plate and head to the salad bar before I say any more. On the way, I'm still annoyed...."why does it take this man 20 years to find a seat? What is the big deal?"...and then I realize what I'm doing. He's questioned my great plan. How dare he? Do I think I'm God? I realize that I'm being silly...after all what is the big deal? Who cares if he wants to deliberate on the seating for another 10 minutes? Further more, I've not seen him all day and when I do, he is greeted with a scowl and annoyance. This is really silly. "Jesus, I'm sorry. Help me." Then with HIS help, I let it go. Not stuff it. See there is a world of difference between washing something away down the drain and keeping it stuffed in your cupboard to mold and fester until another day. I let it go, because he is a good man. Because my way isn't always right. Because there are a million little things about me that he let's go all the time(ie like my rabbit speed way of running through life). Because I'm a child of God and He isn't pleased with this little "tude" of mine. And so I walk back to the table with a genuine smile for him. I've let it go. It's only a table and some chairs after all. He smiles back and humbly says, "You were right, we needed to just add a chair." I honestly answer, "No big deal." It doesn't even occur to me to feel good about being "right". Not because I'm Super-Wife, but because I let it go...and my value is in Jesus, not in whether I'm right or not.

So I talked to the radio this morning and let the good experts know that conflict resolution goes deeper into oneself than a "conflict resolution" card that you carry in your wallet. But it flows from a heart that is willing to let the unimportant things go. A heart that promises to find it's fulfillment in Christ. A heart that is humble enough to say, "I'm wrong". And to be honest, from the hard work of disciplining our tongues to not respond too quickly(I'm learning this skill better everyday from the example of my Tortoise).

2011-01-29T22:33:00.000-06:00

Any mother who has suffered through the first year of violin lessons knows what a joy it is when the songs start sounding more like music and less like a cat screeching after it's tail has been stepped on. The casual listener won't know the difference, but Mommy does and she's filled with admiration at his hard work.

Boys!

2011-01-24T16:10:00.003-06:00

Today I'm helping my eldest with violin practice. He's learning to play the hymn, "What Wondrous Love is This". So I'm trying to explain what the writer was communicating in this song. I said, "Bub, the person who wrote this song is amazed that God, who is perfect and made everything would love us so much that he would leave heaven to come be our example...even when we were sinful and ugly." His eyes are wide, I think I'm making some progress so I wax eloquent. "Do you think when you communicate this song it should sound like this(here I start singing staccato)what. won.drous. love. is. this. o. my. soul. o. my. soul. what. won.derous. love. is. this. o. my. soul." His face is creased with lines of distaste. I'm sure he's getting my point, so I go on. "Or do you think it should sound more like this(here I burst into my attempt at a beautiful legato version of the song). His face brightens, he's impressed, I can tell. "So bub, which do you think would best communicate the words? His face seems a little perplexed again, but he answers, "I think the second way would be best...but Mommy, I think you have a little boogie in your nose."

Well so much for my attempt to teach the beauty of artistically communicating a message through song. He's a 7 year old boy who is easily distracted...especially by boogies. :)

Decorating on a Dime Part 2

2011-01-17T22:45:00.006-06:00

I didn't get as much done as I had hoped today. School went longer than expected. Some days we are done by 2pm and other days....well, let's just say we got our learning in for sure. :) I will post a few photos of what we did get done, with more to come later. Hope you enjoy.

This is my dresser. In it's past life it was stained a light brown and had a 1960's style shiny varnish on it. We sanded it down...not all the way down to the wood(there's just so much my poor arms can take), but enough to get the varnish off. After that we painted it with two coats of regular latex paint, after that dried we painted one coat of oil-based paint. I think if we had to do it again, we may have used a primer first and then just painted with the oil-based black. We are learning as we go. The art work is supper simple. Buy canvas(I got mine at Hobby Lobby when they were 50% off), then buy a stencil (Hobby Lobby $8) and twallah, you've got art. I rolled two canvas with white paint and two with black. Then after much trial and error we found that spray paint works best for the stencil.

This is Matt's dresser and we did the same thing to his as we did mine.

The mirror above Matt's dresser serves as wall art. I got it for $5 at Walmart(it's actually an over the door full length mirror). I used a wall rub on it to make it more interesting. The box on Matt's dresser is from Walmart as well. It serves as storage for all the strange things that come out of his pockets after work, but I'm not allowed to throw away. It's one of those male mysteries. :)

We put the tiles up on our headboard tonight. The 12X12 tiles we purchased at Menard's for around $6 a piece. We cut luon(sp? It's very thin wood) into squares slightly smaller than the tiles. We painted the front of the luon white and trimmed the sides in black. Once they were dry we used construction adhesive to glue the tiles onto the luon. We set heavy books on them to make sure the tiles and the luon became one. We let them set for a little over 24 hours to make sure they were dry(nobody wants a tile on their head in the middle of the night).

Then we measured on the headboard where we wanted the tiles and marked it with chalk. Now the tricky part comes. We spread construction adhesive pretty thick on the back of the luon/tiles and I held them to the wall while Matt double checked the tiles with the level.
Then Matt used pretty small nails(about 4 each tile) to hold the tiles up until the adhesive dries. The nails have to be pounded in only to the tile then a nail punch must be used to drive the nail all the way into the wall so that the glass tiles are not damaged. WARNING: The construction adhesive will most likely damage the dry wall when we take it down. Therefore, be prepared to do some mudding and sanding in the future if you plan to use this method

.
If the headboard looks a little high that's because it is. Matt plans to build a base for the bed to sit on that will be 6" higher than the bed currently is. The higher frame will allow for storage under the bed. There is one last touch we plan to add to the headboard. I have a friend who is very handy with woodworking. She is making me two wood boxes that will hang between the tiles, a candle will be in each box...hard to explain, I'll post photos when they're done. Matt also plans to build side tables for the bed. Those photos are to come, but probably much later. :)

A friend bought me these curtains, but I'm pretty sure they are from Hobby Lobby and if you sign up for their newsletter, you'll get a 40% off coupon every other week, so you can get nice curtains inexpensively. The walls on either side of the window still need some attention, but I'm just not sure what to do on them yet. Do you have any ideas? I was thinking perhaps a few B/W photos of Matt and I, but not sure.

It's been fun trying to decorate economically and in a modern motif. While I love the room thus far, I think the room is on the verge of being a little masculine looking, but I've always felt a little sorry for men stuck in flowered bedrooms for 50 years, so I guess all is fair. :) Seriously, do you think if I add a flower arrangement or something, it might bring a bit of femininity to soften it a bit? Calla Lilies? I'm totally open to suggestions, so feel free to send them my way. I always love hearing from you.

Decorating on a Dime Part 1

2011-01-16T20:37:00.004-06:00

Where do I begin? I guess I first need to figure out who to blame for my crazy weekend of redecorating. I could blame my mother. She started quilting a few years ago and she's really good at it. So she decided to make each of my sister-in-laws and myself a quilt for our beds. Well the time came for me to pick out material for my quilt. That was tough. I love all kinds of color combinations and all kinds of decorative styles. I think a quilt made by your mother is as close to an heirloom as one can get and so I wanted to pick colors that would be classic, timeless. I went with black and white. You can't get anymore simple than that, right? However, our current bedroom isn't decorated in black and white...although, it's not really decorated in anything.

I could blame Carma and Dorinda, my two "old roomies". These girls taught me to jump in and just do it - who cares if you've never done it before? I still remember the day I arrived in Salem. I drove up to the new home I was to be sharing with Carma, Dorinda, and Rachel. I was a little nervous. They greeted me, showed me my room, helped me unload my things and then said, "So did you bring work clothes?" I replied yes and they officially invited me to help them "redo the basement". I welcomed the chance to do something and not just sit around and be awkward with my new friends. I changed clothes went down stairs to do what I thought would be something like cleaning or painting...before I knew it I had operated a hammer-drill to bust up some old concrete, went to the saw mill and planed lumber for a wooden wall and used a shop vac to suck up old coal dust from a coal bin where we would later put that wall for which we had planed lumber.

I could blame Charity. I remember years ago, my long time friend Nate brought this sweet girl around and told us he was going to marry her. So like any good friend I tried to become friends with Charity as well. When girls are becoming friends they talk girl stuff until they find something of substance that they have in common. Charity and I were talking about her future home and how she planned to decorate. She said something like, "One thing I do not want is for our bedroom to be the hang out spot in the house. A place where the laundry gets dumped and the kids run in and out." Several years later, as I looked at my bedroom with piles of things we never know where else to put and baskets of laundry and trim that has never been put up and dry wall mud that's never been painted, I can hear Charity's voice in my head. :)

So dear reader I'll let you decide who is to blame. All I know is that I've been dreaming of a bedroom retreat for quite sometime and so when Mom said she was quilting and Dori and Carma said they'd come help paint, the project began.

At the end of last week Matt and I completely emptied our bedroom into our living room, this is what it looked like.....

While I don't consider myself a Martha Stewert, this kind of mess drives me batty. This is real motivation for me to get the bedroom done. I do not want to look at this disaster all next week. Not to mention, I promised myself nothing would go back in the bedroom unless it had a home...so there is sorting to be done and a van load will be heading to the local thrift store next week.

Once the room was empty, I was able to sand the drywall mud that Matt had finished spreading. On Friday night and Saturday morning my Super Roomies came to help me paint.

Matt and I rarely buy anything til we have cash for it. Therefore after over 10 years of marriage the only brand new furniture we own is our living room furniture. We don't have any official bedroom furniture. But recently, Matt's grandma moved out of her apartment and gave us a queen sized bed and MATCHING dressers!! OK, so the dressers belonged to Matt's dad and uncle when they were high school....in the 60s, but they match. So I decided to update them by sanding them down and painting them. We have no headboard for our bed. However, I got the bright idea of painting one on the wall(like they do in hotel rooms) and so we girls put our heads together to come up with a design for the head board of the bed. This photo shows the beginnings of a headboard, a rectangle painted on the wall with $4.28 worth of wood trim around it. The black and white art you see on the floor is a canvas we painted and then spray painted a stencil on it. Cheap art is good.

Hopefully tomorrow we can get the headboard finished and our clothes back in our dressers and at least a semblance of order restored. So far I love how the room is coming together. The three nights of sleeping on the floor of the school room and the tornado like disaster in the rest of the house were worth it. I'll post the almost final photos tomorrow night....I hope. :)

Happy Birthday to Me!!

2011-01-11T13:44:00.003-06:00

I just bought myself the unabridged audio version of C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy for my birthday!! ALL THREE!! It's so fun to be grown up. :)

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T11:39:00.005-06:00

2010 Cast of The Weston Family Christmas

Happy New Year!! It's been awhile since I have posted. I direct the Christmas drama for our church youth and we start our practices in October. However things don't really start getting busy with the drama until November...notice my last post was in November. :) The drama went very well, I am so honored to work with such talented young people. Our Christmas season tends to be dominated by the drama...don't get me wrong, this isn't a complaint, we LOVE doing it. Our boys participate in the children's drama and I've learned over the last few years how to manage my time in December. This year was busy, but I had all my Christmas shopping done, house decorated and even hosted the Thomas family Christmas BEFORE the drama's opening night. Lots of costumes and props were already purchased or made way before the crunch time and everyone in the church is so willing to help in anyway possible to make the drama a success. So at the end of the day it's a busy time, but it certainly doesn't drain us of the joy of the season.

For Christmas this year I got the new book by Mary Beth Chapman entitled Choosing to See. Reading about the intense grief of a family who has lost a child in such tragic circumstances gives one cause to pause and reflect on priorities. I'm not really big on New Year's resolutions. My history has been one of miserable failure when it comes to resolutions. There was a period of about 10 years that I resolved every year to weigh 115 lbs. Reality set in about 8 years ago and I realized 115 lbs is NEVER going to happen for me. :) So my resolutions have grown up with me. This year though I was struck while reading Mary Beth Chapman's 2008 Christmas letter. She writes, "How would I have lived differently if I knew that my time with Maria was going to be this short?....I would have purposely hugged and kissed more. I would have tried to memorize and lock away in my heart certain smells and smiles. I would have colored more and worked less. I would have laughed more and fussed less. Bedtime wouldn't have become a chore to check off the list of things to get done. Instead it would have been more of an opportunity to listen about the day and offer whatever words were needed. The swimming pool wouldn't have been too cold to swim in. The flowers in the garden would have all been picked, and definitely more ice cream would have been consumed!" Those words have inspired and convicted me. I look at all my relationships differently through that lense. But since my boys are my top priority calling from God, I look at them so differently now. Even if God grants us the gift of enjoying them for a life time, our time is so short. They already are growing up so fast.

And so I resolve in 2011 to hug and kiss more. To memorize and lock in my heart the golden sweet mundane moments. I will sword fight more and be on the computer less. I will laugh more and fuss less. Bedtime will be earlier so that it is not a rushed chore to be checked off, but a time where I do have time to sit and listen to one more story or answer one more question. The pool won't be too cold to swim in. The black berries in the woods will be picked, and definitely more ice cream will be consumed!

2010-11-18T11:16:00.004-06:00

" Here's the hard truth: When we say yes to something, we say no to something else. We don't have an infinite amount of space and time, and...it all comes down to what you want(emphasis mine) and making very intentional choices. I made my intentional choice: After three years, I'm putting my career ahead of my daughter, at least for a little while. Because balance is just a myth; choices are reality."

I read this quote today and it made my heart sad. It was written by a mother who said she wishes she could have it all, career, family, and lavish living. She recognized she can't have it all so she has chosen. How very sad. Some women have to work outside the home, I totally understand that. However, keeping up with the Joneses is far from a need. The reality is we do what we value. Sadly I think this mother will realize in 20 years that what she values is meaningless and what really matters will be off to college.

Whoever you are, dear reader, intentionally choose today to do what matters for eternity.

Raising Warriors

2010-10-22T13:29:00.007-05:00

I hadn't planned to blog today. We host parenting class tonight and I have floors that need to be mopped and toilets that need to be cleaned, but I caught a scene in my front yard that inspired me and I won't get much done unless I take the time to journal it.

The job of training two future men has me often musing on the state of the world and how far we've come from the valour of George Washington to the likes of what we see everyday in the headlines. I ponder the fact that more and more young men are content with being "Kidadults". Living off of their parents, perpetually going to school, and taking pride in the reputation of being a "player". How is it that we got here? Heaven knows I don't claim to be a better parent then those who came before me, so how can I avoid the pitfalls of producing "men without chests"?

I don't claim to know much, but I do think there is something we've lost in our culture. Perhaps in our attempts to throw off stuffy traditions we've tossed the baby with the bath water. Perhaps no one has shown our young men the duty, honor, and joy of being a protector and provider. Sure most guys(notice I use guys and not men) wouldn't think of hitting a woman, and yet they don't even think twice when they play with her heart. I think most women would agree with me, that I'd rather take a blow to the face, than a blow to the heart. Even in the church we smile and say things like, "He's such a heart breaker". As if that is OK. Is it OK for a son of God to treat his sister in Christ like a toy to be used for his own ego gratification?

Now don't get me wrong, I think we ladies have played our parts in our own devaluation. How many times did I, as a young girl, derive a sense of worth from the meaningless flirtations of insincere young men? How often do girls(notice I use girls and not ladies)make themselves too available. Over and over I've seen girls allow guys to cross boundaries, that guys would never feel free to cross if they were dealing with a married woman. I think if more girls were ladies and demanded they be treated as such, guys just might rise to the occasion and behave like men.

It is my prayer that God will teach Matt and I how to bring up men, not boys. Men who understand that their God-given responsibility is to protect the weak, both physically and emotionally. To provide for their families, whether the job is "fun" or fulfills their emotional needs. To stand in the face of temptation, to trust in a God who offers more to this life then fleshly pleasure. It is also my prayer that some dear Daddies and Mommies are out there right now seeking God's wisdom to help them bring up young ladies.

If you have a moment today, please mention Matt and I to our Father. We realize that without His wisdom and His kindness we will fail. We need the true Warrior to teach us how to train Warriors for His kingdom.

A Life Well Lived

2010-10-15T16:46:00.007-05:00

Last week was a very full week. A week that has me thinking about the beauty of a life well lived. A week that has challenged me to live on purpose. To think about what kind of legacy I will leave for future generations.

Early in the week we took a field trip to a farm. One of my very dear friends is a bonafide farm girl. She was driving a tractor before I learned to ride a bike. Her parents still farm hundreds of acres and are currently harvesting soy beans. They graciously invited us to come learn about harvesting first hand. Unfortunately, it rained and we learned that you can't cut beans when they are wet. However, the boys had a great time driving, yes driving, the John Deere tractor around the acreage, sliding down the gravity flow wagon and playing hide and go seek in the barn with "Grandpa Blankenbecker". I learned a lot more than that. I stood in amazement at acres of land that this grandpa had cleared over the summer. Land that had once been wooded, the trees were cut, the stumps were pulled, the rough places smoothed, and the low places built up . This was his "side work". There were still fields to be planted(some more than once due to the weather) and the garden to be tended and fruit trees to be pruned and equipment to be maintained. The list could go on and on. His sweet wife works beside him tending their home and garden, growing more than they could ever use. These people are old enough to be my parents and the energy they exert on a daily basis is convicting to my 30-something sluggishness.

As I stood in the field that day the thought went through my head, "What keeps them going? What motivates them to get out of bed when their bodies are tired?" I'm sure their reasons are many. But as an outside observer 3 things were evident. 1. They work as unto the Lord. I don't think they give it a lot of thought. There is work to be done and they do it. As a workman that needeth not be ashamed. 2. They think beyond the present. Much of the work this grandfather does is for the future. From clearing land, to maintaining equipment, to running with endless energy after little boys. All of this effort is put forth to build for something that doesn't fade away when his flesh does. 3. Others. The garden and fruit trees that countless family, friends and neighbors have benefited from through the years were not planted, tended and harvested for themselves alone. There probably isn't much in their lives that is done for themselves alone. And so as we drove away that day with garden ripe tomatoes and sweet potatoes, with full tummies from a delicious meal, with exhausted smiling boys who thanked God that night for the Blankenbeckers, my heart was challenged by lives that had been and are still being lived well.

At the end of the week we attended the funeral of our dear sweet neighbor Ms. Lu. Our family is so blessed to have known Ms. Lu. Through the years we've watched that as her body grew frail, her spirit seemed to grow stronger. I had the privilege to "sit" with Ms. Lu quite a bit and from my pathetic attempts to make salad dressing the way she liked it, to giving her a bath she was always thankful. Full of joy and encouragement. Just a year ago she would sit in her chair and play catch with my boys(they used a sponge ball). I can still hear her laughter. When her heart got so bad that getting out of bed was even too much for her, she would call the boys in and ask how they were. She graciously let them read to her and encouraged them by telling them how much they were improving. It was not uncommon to see both boys sitting on the bed with her, all three of them watching Paula Deen cook and commenting on how good the food looked. Lu faced a lot of adversity in her life, and even at the end, confined to bed, she never gave way to bitterness. In the final days of Lu's life, before she slipped into a coma she smiled and looked up and said, "Oh, I know you Jesus, and you know me!" What a precious testimony to leave us.

I'm challenged by Lu's life. No matter what we face in this life, whether it be hardships, sickness, or joy at the end of it all, all that will matter is if He knows us, and we know Him. Her life was well lived and her passing was sweet.

And so, thanks to the lives I've observed, I face this new week challenged to work hard, to love deeply, to help others, to focus on my blessings and to seek to really know Him.

Nothing Much

2010-09-24T11:00:00.004-05:00

I'm in that stage of life where you feel like you are incredibly busy all the time. Where you fall into bed at night and sigh with relief. Where the calendar fills up faster than you can imagine. And then it happens. Someone asks THE question, "So what have you been up to?" I find myself forever answering, "Oh nothing much, how about you?" It's not that I don't care to open up or that I don't have a To Do list a mile long or cares on my mind that I could share. It's just that I'm living life. Some people might call it the day in and day out of living. You know, up at 7am for time with God, 7:30 breakfast, 8am starts the routine of violin, reading, math, history, grammar, spelling, science, geography...admit it, you're getting bored just reading a partial list. Late afternoon is mowing, cleaning, laundry, or paying bills. Then there is supper to be made, little guys to be bathed, books to be read, silly songs to be sung and sword fights to be won. In between, there are jokes to be laughed at and hearts and minds to be molded.

I have a very full life, but not what most would consider exciting. Or at least not exciting to hear about. It certainly is exciting to live it, that is if I have the right perspective. You see we tend to put so much value on going and doing and being that we can foolishly look outside the windows of our lives and think contentment lies out there somewhere. We don't see the ministry to be had in our own back yard or even in the next room, for all the sighs and longings of go over there and do that. We practically trip over the basin and the towel with which to serve our families or our neighbors, on our way to the couch because we're just so tired and depressed over the "meaningless" to do list that never seems to end.

When I finally understood that it is accomplishing my to do list that teaches my children constancy. It is dusting the furniture and washing the clothes that pulls me outside of myself.
It is checking the mail for an elderly neighbor that keeps me aware of the hurting and the lonely in this world. When I see the reality in all the "mundane" things in my life, it gives them meaning. It gives me purpose. It draws me outside of my natural tendency to "fulfill the desires of my flesh" by running from one thing to another in a never ending search for joy, peace, and contentment. And most importantly, it is being faithful in the "small things" that is pleasing to my Father.

So the next time you ask me how I'm doing, I promise I won't subject you to the list on my calender. I'll probably just say something like, "Oh, I'm just busy living life." But I'm going to keep reminding myself of reality. I'm cleaning my house to serve my family , I'm educating my boys to make them sharp tools for God to use as He sees fit, I'm looking for the lonely and hurting in my sphere of influence that I can give a cup of cold water in Jesus' name.

First Week of School

2010-09-09T14:45:00.006-05:00

Well, we've almost made it. It's 2:45pm on Thursday and our first week of school is almost under our belts. Tomorrow should be a lighter day, not necessarily shorter since we have some "fun" projects to do. It's been a good productive week. I've sworn off Facebook for the time being and rarely touch my computer during school hours, what a difference that has made for us all. Now before you start feeling convicted and comparing yourself, let me explain. I'm not trying to sound like Super Mom. The fact is, I was giving too much of my time to the "cyber world" and too little time to my kiddos. So I've cut myself off, until I can re-establish my priorities and remember that being my boy's mom and teacher is my profession. Just as I wouldn't be a good employee if I spent my working hours cruising social sites, I'm not able to be a good educator cruising social sites either. So you see? You are a better mom, employee, or whatever than I am! Give yourself a pat on the back and keep reading guilt free. :)

Micah started violin this year, and boy was he pumped. Micah has a very bright mind, but a very wiggly body, so we waited until he was a bit older than his brother was when he started violin. The result is, he is SO ready to play the violin. Now if he could just convince his hand to hold the bow and his chin to hold the violin. :) Micah is also growing morally. Boy this has been a journey for his Daddy and I. The questions this boy can ask!! We find ourselves ever more in need of wisdom from our own Father. I may blog later on this journey, but in the meantime, if you think of us, we'd sure appreciate your prayers. We are joyful at the growth Micah is showing. Just a year or so ago, I worried that we would never "have his heart". He was so VERY strong Willed. Don't get me wrong, he's still Micah, Will and all, but it seems he is surrendering that Will and allowing us & Jesus to shape it.

Josiah is growing up so fast. He has completely lost the "baby boy" look. It's bittersweet to see my babies growing. Josiah is also facing a new phase of self discovery. It's human nature to put the best spin possible on our actions. As parent's it is our job to question our little ones on this tendency. Once again, Matt and I find ourselves seeking our Father's wisdom on knowing how to "read the hearts" of our boys. On a very simple level we are trying to help Josiah with this. To put the best spin possible, whether it be to get out of trouble, or get what we want is deception. Often times we shape a person's opinion by only sharing the information that best serves our cause. Never really lying, but deceiving none-the-less. The real danger in all this, is that we actually start to believe the lies ourselves. And dear reader, if we take but a moment to see where the road that self deception leads the "cuteness" of manipulation is gone in a flash.

I confess it has only been in the last 10 - 15 years that I've learned to really honestly see the workings of my heart and the thoughts and motivations that drive my actions. Actually, I'm still in the process of asking God to search me and show me. I believe this is a life-long pursuit. Even still, an awareness that my actions and words represent my values, changes the way I live and think right now. It keeps me honest about why I'm feeling what I'm feeling and why I am doing what I am doing. As I've told Josiah, "We are in this journey together, Mommy is still learning too."

And speaking of learning, that brings us full circle back to our first week of school. It has been good. Sure we are all learning more about history, science, math and literature, but more importantly we are learning to be more like Jesus everyday.

My Plate is a Saucer

2010-08-31T10:01:00.004-05:00

I was in a conversation with some friends recently and I described my plate as a saucer. We've all heard the expression, "She's got a lot on her plate", but time has taught me that it doesn't take much to fill my plate. I know that part of this is my own fault, I'm trying now to get my plate to grow. I spent a good deal of my formative years chasing after what was "fun". I didn't take a lot of things very seriously. Don't get me wrong, I don't regret the friendships I made or a lot of the experiences I had. Many of those friendships have helped me to develop good character qualities. However, I was terribly undisciplined about going to bed or getting up or getting anywhere on time or using the time I had wisely to study or or or. And so here I am in my 30's, working on those things and finding my little plate so, so full.

Recently, our boys have been growing. No shock for 5 and 7 year olds. They are not just growing physically though. They are starting to ask some pretty hard questions. Questions like, "How do we know God is good?" "What if the Bible is a trick and we do what it says, and then find out at the end of life we were wrong?" Explaining trust to a 5 year old is quite a challenge. Then Matt and I observed that our boys were forming loyalties outside of our home. There is a time and a place for that, but right now, while they are so young and impressionable, Matt and I believe that the primary influence in ther lives should be us. We were seeing that primary influence being transferred to their peers. As you know, children can't help children develop into godly adults. Adding to that, our youngest found his conscience. So a good deal of my day is spent encouraging him to question his motives and not just be legalistic. Then of course, I must help him to know how to do that. Then Josiah starts violin lessons again this week, and Micah will be going for the first time. And, oh yes, there's school, and the house and laundry and friends, and family. And probably the biggest job of all, is making sure my heart is where it should be. You see if I attempt to train our boys, or be a friend, or help my family, then I must have a heart that is crying out to my Father, "Thy will be done." I must be, as Peter says, adding to my faith, moral excellence, knowledge, self control, endurance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love. Peter says the only way to do that is by the knowledge of Christ. I have to study Him, let His mind and perspective transform mine.

So many of you have much more on your plate than I do. You are sole providers or mothers of multiple little souls or leaders in your church or community. I take my hat off to you and even say a prayer for you. Because the fact is, no matter how large your plate, when it's full it's full. Don't get me wrong, I'm not stressed or overwhelmed by my full little saucer. I just recognize that I need Jesus and that I must increase in my knowledge of Him if I ever hope to do the few things on my little saucer well for His Kingdom's sake.

2Pe 1:1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:
2Pe 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
2Pe 1:3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
2Pe 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
2Pe 1:5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
2Pe 1:6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
2Pe 1:7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
2Pe 1:8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

What's in your Backpack?

2010-07-06T19:02:00.008-05:00

Sunday evening services at our church are full of variety. The first Sunday night of each month we each take turns being responsible for a service. The second, we have music night..the church orchestra plays and every family has one song or reading to share. The third, we go to a local boarding home for the elderly. The fourth Sunday, our pastor shares whatever is on his heart. I love the variety of this schedule, until it's our turn to take a first Sunday night. :)

Last Sunday was my Sunday to share. I roped Matt into helping me with mine. He and I had been thinking a lot about the fact that we all have baggage and how often that baggage can hinder our lives. We talked pretty extensively on what kind of baggage we were handed down from our families and other shaping influences. That led us to think about what it is we are placing in our boy's bags and what influences we are allowing in their lives that might help or hinder them someday. I'll share with you a bit of what we shared with our church family. We'd love your thoughts on this idea.

We started out with a skit. On the platform was a table full of concrete landscape blocks. Each block had a positive or negative character trait on it. Things like selfishness, insecurity, moodiness, honesty, integrity, loyalty, and thoughtfulness. There were 4 adults on the platform with full backpacks on . These adults were in the process of picking up different blocks and placing them in the backpacks of their children. It only took about two blocks before some of the little ones were struggling under the load. Everyone exited except one teen girl who questioned her need of hauling such a heavy load. She struggled with guilt for wanting to remove the blocks given to her by her mother. In the end she kept the good blocks and with the thought of Hebrews 12:1("Let us lay aside every weight and sin which so easily ensnares us") she removed the bad blocks and exited. Below is the edited form of what Matt and I shared after the skit.

Julia:

We hope that this little skit helps to give you a mental image of what we all have had done to us and what some of us are currently doing to someone else. Whether we are willing to see it or not, everyone in this room has a back pack on…some people like to call it baggage. It would be nice if we could physically take the bag off and inspect what’s inside it. Unfortunately, the bag isn’t physical and the bricks that it contains are what has had a huge influence on the forming of our character, our individual personalities, and even our image of God.

Matt:

Not everything in our back packs is negative. We can all think of some wonderful traits/tools that our parents instilled in us. In my childhood, my Dad was very conscious of others. He still is ever watching to open doors or lend a hand. Julia has mentioned many times how grateful she is that he placed that brick in my bag. However, there is a history of male infidelity in my family. That brick was also placed in my bag and now it’s my responsibility to take it out.

Julia:

Going back to my roots is always an eye opening experience for me. When I am willing to see reality and examine my own heart to see the connection between my past, my bag and myself, then I can begin to really understand myself and why I do what I do. We are not suggesting for a moment to be unkindly critical. However, our own ability to grow beyond what comes “natural” for us is largely connected to our own willingness to be honest about where we come from and how that impacts us today. It really has nothing to do with where other individuals are, that’s just not the point. The point is when I see tendencies, attitudes and/or actions that contradict Christianity then I have to examine my heart and see if those same flaws are in my life. It’s just too easy to say in my mind, “Well, that’s just where I came from and who I am.” But my identity shouldn’t be being a member of any family or group, my identity should be that I am a daughter of Jesus Christ.

Matt:

There are three different categories we’d like to look at tonight.

First let’s talk about the positive things in our bags. These are traits like kindness, discipline, persistence, consistency, loyalty, and integrity. It’s not a bad idea to thank our parents for these kinds of gifts. Let’s face it, without their willingness to chisel away at our characters we’d be pretty obnoxious. In our home, we try to associate our family identity with these kinds of positive character traits. We will say to the boys, “Guys, we are Thomases and Thomases treat people with respect.” Passing on a heritage of godly character is what we are called to do. Each person in this room has a part in filling the back packs of the children in this church. The bricks in our bags are primarily placed their by our families, but I think we all have found bricks in our bags that were placed there by ideologies and people who had a lot of access to our lives. I think we will all live more carefully when we realize that our words and actions can be adding bricks to little people’s backpacks.

Julia:

Did you know there are probably some neutral things in your bag too? You’ll discover this about 10 minutes after you get married. The way your family did things like celebrate holidays or cooked the ham seems like the right way to you. After all, that’s how you grew up, isn’t that how everybody does it? Then you get married and you are living with another person, someone who has their own idea of how hams are to be cooked or Christmas is to be celebrated. The fact that Matt’s family celebrates Christmas with extended family and my family celebrates only with immediate family doesn’t mean either of our families were wrong. It simply means they were different. Now you can spend the next 50 years fussing over this fact, or you can appreciate the positive aspects of each family’s traditions and then decide together what is best for your new family. Just because your family does things in a certain way doesn’t make it right, wrong, or sacred…it just is.

Matt:

We can’t avoid talking about the negative things in our bags. Let’s face it, while it feels nice to focus on the positive bricks in our bags, we will do most of our growing by recognizing the negative bricks in our bags and then doing what is necessary, with God’s help, to remove them.

In Isaiah 56 and 57 we learn of a people who were filling their children’s bags with lots of negative bricks. Their leaders were sinful and they attempted to treat God as a gumball machine, putting their works of religion in and growing angry when the results they wanted didn’t come out. But in chapter 58 things begin to change. God offers them a new deal. IF they will choose to do what is right from a heart of trust in God and not out of legalism as they had been taught, God will change their future. Vs. 11 says, “The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.”

God offered them an opportunity to change their “fate”. To be a spring of refreshing water to the world around them. They didn’t have to continue to pass on the ungodly things from their bag. If they would choose to truly trust God and accept that what had been handed them was wrong, they could change the lives of generations to come. Vs. 12 says, “Those from among you shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of streets to Dwell in.” Don’t we all want to be repairers of the breach? We don’t honor our parents by passing on a heritage of sensitivity, anger, control, bitterness, laziness or any other number of negative character issues.

Julia:

We all have different things in our bag. Generations of women in my family had babies out of wed-lock. My Mom pointed this out to me as a teen. She challenged me to be a “restorer”, to change the trend. I had to see that weakness in my bag and remove it…to change the future. Some of the things in our bags are not as blatantly sinful. But if I have attitudes and actions that are as natural to me as breathing, but that are unchristlike, then I have a choice at the moment I recognize it. Do I shrug it off and say, “Well, I’m an Imhoff, we tend to be…..”. Or do I be honest and say, “I am a Christian first and this is not how my Father behaves.” With God’s help, we can remove the bricks that pull us away from God.

Matt:

So the question is, What’s in your bag? Only you can know. Only you can be honest enough before God to see what is in your bag and remove with God’s help the weight that so easily besets you. We must remember this is a generational changing challenge. Being aware of what is in our bags will not only impact who we are and our relationship with Jesus, but it will impact our children and their children. And hopefully one day our children will look in their bags and see fewer negative bricks. It is my prayer that when my boys see bricks that I didn’t know to remove, they will be strong enough to choose Jesus’ ways over my ways. I also pray they will come to me and show me the brick so that I can remove the one in my bag as well.

Reading Your Way to a Great Relationship

2010-06-23T22:47:00.007-05:00

We are a reading family. One of the first conversations Matt and I had was about a book. You know when you meet someone there's a bit of awkwardness at first. You ask how they are, they ask what you do, you comment on the weather. Then, if you are kindred spirits, you hit a topic that rings true to both of you and the friendship is begun. For Matt and I it was the Chronicles of Narnia. Actually the conversation started because we ended up in the same vehicle while heading to a church service with a group of friends. The van we were in had a video player and someone had the bright idea to watch the infamous "Find Me a Woman" video. If you have no clue what this video is, well, how do I describe it? Let's just say, it was a home video several friends and I did as a joke for a single friend. Needless to say, I had no desire for someone who didn't really know me well to watch that video. So to distract Matt from the video I asked him if he enjoyed reading. The rest, as they say, is history.

And so we read. Before we had children Matt and I read aloud together. The first book I read aloud to Josiah was "The Two Towers". I was nursing him every 2 - 4 hours and so for something to do I would read. I thought why not read aloud? And so I did, he ate, I read. Micah got to hear the Ben Carson story entitled, "Gifted Hands". I don't suppose there is a child alive who doesn't enjoy being read aloud to. It works out nicely that I enjoy reading aloud. That's one reason I love Summer so much. We get to read. Throughout the school year we read aloud, but we usually only have time for 30 mins to an hour 3 or 4 times a week. In the Summer we can read in the morning and then after lunch and again before bed. So far this Summer we have digested several Hardy Boys Books (I confess, Matt reads these and I pretend to listen. The plot lines are a little too predictable for me. Not to mention, I feel so sorry for poor Chet.)

Stuart Little

The Indian in the Cupboard

The Return of the Indian

The Sign of the Beaver

The Matchlock Gun

Currently we are reading Ben and Me

Various short stories

Various lapbooks

Reading aloud is not only a great way to ignite the flames of learning for your children, it boosts their vocabulary. My favorite benefit from reading aloud though, is the bonding that takes place. In our world it's so easy for families to be disconnected. Each individual is doing their own thing, in their own world. Reading aloud puts you in a room together, most likely cuddled up. You are sharing an experience. And if you choose the right books, you have lots of opportunity for discussion. For instance in The Sign of the Beaver, we talked about being teachable, trustworthy and responsible. We talked about making judgements before really knowing a person or situation. Valuable character lessons and opportunity to transfer your values can come from reading good books.

If you don't believe me on the merits of reading aloud, check out the studies done by Jim Trelease. We don't just read aloud because Mr. Trelease says so, but he does give a lot of evidence for the educational benefits. And so I would encourage you to curl up with your kiddos and a good book. It is another tool to building those strong relationships with them that will pay off now and in years to come.

Hello

2010-06-21T22:12:00.005-05:00

I've written, or attempted to write two blogs in the past 4 or 5 weeks. Each time blogger was slow and wouldn't post or I couldn't cut and paste as needed....on and on it goes. So here is try number 3. I really don't have anything too profound to say except that I miss blogging.

I've been inspired of late to blog more about my journey of parenting. I can hear all my single or non-parent readers groaning. I'm sorry in advance and will not be in the least offended if you choose to skip reading any posts that have "mommy content". In fact, I plan to always tag them clearly so that you know which posts to avoid. :) I've done a bit of traveling this year and I've run into a few women out there that feel alone. Don't get me wrong, they are surrounded by people, but it seems not a lot of people are really parenting on purpose these days. I am blessed to have several friends and family members who encourage me on this journey of molding my boys. I gain so much wisdom from other's input. And so for those who are feeling a bit like an island and for my own growth I'm going to address parenting issues more often.

In other news, Matt and I went to see the musical based on the Wizard of Oz entitled "Wicked" last weekend. It was so fascinating. Great music and acting are pretty much expected. And our expectations were met and surpassed. There were a few themes and songs that elicited some lively brain activity for us. I always walk away from something like that thinking, "I wonder what the writer was trying to communicate?" It's so easy to read, watch, or listen through the filter of my worldview. And so I can end up "translating" messages into my language. Or I end up accepting the writers premises without thought. That's why I hesitate to watch anything in passive mode. I want to understand what goes into my brain, because I've learned that what I feed my brain shapes my thinking and my values. For instance, in one scene Elphaba (green witch) meets the "Wonderful Wizard of Oz". As you know, he is far from wonderful. He is a charlatan, to say the least. However, he argues that he is wonderful because people think that he is wonderful. In short, truth and reality are defined by popular opinion. Sounds a bit dicey to me. Elphaba argues, but is eventually drawn by his ideas due to her own longing for other people's approval. In the end, she escapes his influence and goes on to do what she believes is right in spite of other's opinions. I still walk away wondering if the writer sided with Elphaba or The Wizard. Finally, the Wizard is punished, but he is punished by a "leader" whose good reputation and is based on popular opinion and not on reality or truth. So what makes the new leader better than the last? Hmmm? Good question.

So would I go again? Yes I would. Like I said, the music was mostly wonderful, the acting was all wonderful, and the story was so very clever. Just be sure if you do go, do not check your brain at the door. I'd love to hear what you think about it.

Cause and Effect

2010-01-06T13:33:00.004-06:00

Dear Reader;

I've written 2 times since I last posted. And yet, still it is the "Monster Tree" you come back to every time you visit. The first post I wrote, I wrote while I was in a very emotional state. If there is one thing I have learned, it is to wait and think before I speak when my emotions and hormones are walking hand in hand. Fortunately, I did wait and saved you the burden of my spewing. The other post I wrote was a lovely Christmas/2009 overview letter. It took me a full hour to write it and alas, I was thrown off the Internet and blogger had not saved my draft. Obviously, I was too disheartened to try writing that one again.

So here we are today. A theme keeps coming back to me and so I will attempt to share with you where my thoughts have been this week. Through a myriad of differing situations, the reality that what we do right now effects where we will be in the future has been glaring me in the face. How we think right now, will impact where we are tomorrow. What we value this moment, will effect our contentment now and in the future. I was trying my best to communicate this idea to my 6 year old today. Not an easy task. I placed a small red stool in the middle of the room. Then I placed a package of hole reinforcement stickers(what I had handy) on the floor next to me. Very dramatically I said, "Oh I really want that package on the red stool." I went on and on about how badly I wanted this. I looked at Josiah and said, "I really want the hole reinforcers to be on that stool, why isn't it happening?" He thought his mother had lost her mind and said, "Because you haven't picked it up and put it on the stool." I said, "Oh but I really want it to be on the stool, isn't that enough? Or do you think that what I do shows more what I desire than what I say? If I really want the package on the stool I have to cause it to happen. I have to pick it up and make my actions match my words. If I say the words, but don't do the action, my words are meaningless."

I think about how where I am right now, is a result of the good and bad choices I made earlier in life. I was a "good" kid in school, but I was a lazy kid. My junior and senior years of high school I was late nearly every morning to my first period classes. I hardly studied, I slid by on "average" grades when I could have done so much more. The result today? Well, I still struggle getting anywhere on time, especially in the morning. I'm working on it, but years of habitual lateness doesn't go away without a lot of struggle. I'm having to teach myself about civics. Poor Mr. Jones was there every morning of my senior year teaching his heart out. Planting in the other student's brains things that I really wish I had a better grasp on today. Now I'm reading and trying to learn on my own things I could have learned from Mr. Jones had I been on time or even awake enough to listen. Time management and personal discipline are a constant uphill climb for me. How much better would life be now, had I started these kinds of disciplines earlier in life.

On the other hand there are some great things I learned too. For instance, at some point in my adult life I started studying people. Where they were, how they got there. I asked a lot of questions. I listened as much to how they lived, as I did to what they said. When Matt and I were getting to know each other, we looked around at marriages we thought seemed healthy and happy. We went to those people and we asked them what they did to get where they were. We listened and we applied what they suggested. We understood if we wanted what they had, we had to follow a similar path to get there. We did the same thing with parenting. We didn't just listen to philosophies, we looked at results. We watched families that seemed to have children who really loved God, had good relationships with their siblings and with their parents and were pleasant and thoughtful of others. We talked with these parents, asked their advice. As we have parented, we have tried to apply what we learned from these godly examples. We know that if we want the effect that we've seen in their families we have to cause it to happen by following their examples. It goes without saying that their examples pointed us to Jesus and a strong dependence on Him.

And so I am reminded again today of my new list of desires. If I want to know the heart of God , I have to study His word and seek His mind. If I want strong relationships, I have to trust and be vulnerable. If I want well educated kiddos, I have to do the hard work to educate myself.
If I want my boys to become godly men, I have to be a godly woman. If I want to be/stay debt free, I have to sacrifice temporary pleasures. If I want to fit in that new dress, I have to set the cookie down. :) The list can go on and on from my deeper more serious desires to the lighter more shallow ones. The bottom line is, there is a cause and effect relationship to where we are in life. It's up to me to seek out what it is I believe would please God and then follow hard after that, no matter how difficult that path may be. If not, I'll end up somewhere very far from where it is I say I want to be.

I hope this encourages you today. It sure has helped me to see it written here. I am determined to press hard toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Disclaimer: I know in life there are times when things are thrown at us that are not the direct effect of choices we have made (ie the death of a child etc...). However, at this point in my understanding, I believe that how we respond and react to the unexpected things life throws at us is a result of our perspective. And therefore, is the effect of the choices we have made in the past to trust God etc...

The Monster Tree

2009-12-03T14:27:00.003-06:00

Matt's Aunt and Uncle own Shenandoah Tree Farm. It is practically a sin in his family to own an artificial tree, but in the past we have been given artificial trees and it seemed an "unnecessary" expense to buy a "disposable" tree. Then we had the "cat" incident last year that forced us into the "real" tree phase of life. A phase we may not be able to recover from until the boys are old enough to be OK with a fake tree again.

So on Saturday we went out to Uncle Terry and Aunt Iva's to pick out a tree. On the way there Matt and I were discussing what kind of tree to get. Should we get long needle, short needle, pre-cut, well, the list could go on and on. Neither of us had really strong opinions, but our minor opinions were not on the same page so we left it up to the boys. First mistake. :) After inspecting the pre-cut trees, and I mean Josiah really inspected them. The boys decided we needed to ride the train out to the field to check out the trees there. Within 2 minutes of getting off the train Josiah had spotted the monster tree. Micah thought it perfect and the "chainsaw boy" was called to fell Pineasaurous.

It really isn't an ugly tree, but it is tall and fat. If we had a three story, 4000 sq. ft. house it would be perfect. As it is, our little living room ceiling is going to have sap on it, of that I'm sure. When you walk in our front door the first, yea, the only thing you see is THE TREE!!!! The boys are more than thrilled. The needles are long and loose and I'll be picking them out of the carpet for months to come. But alas, as a Mommy I have to say no to so many things, I'm trying to say yes when I can. I quickly died to the idea of the big bushy behemoth and it's "hair loss" and enjoyed our boy's delight. We even let them decorate it. The bottom half of "Treezilla" was over decorated, due to the fact that the boys could only reach about half-way up it.(Micah put 7 ornaments on one branch.) I confess, on Monday while the boys were doing some school work I did sneak out and rearranged a few ornaments. I even added some ribbon to finish her off. They never noticed the changes. And while the tree is far from beautiful, it is better.

And so that is the story of our Christmas Tree. I suppose if we had gotten the beautiful 6ft., short needled, skinny one we wouldn't have all these fun memories.

Awesome Responsibility.

2009-11-13T09:48:00.006-06:00

It's easy to forget what an awesome responsibility it is to be a parent. I can get so caught up in healthy meals, clean bodies, and strong minds that I forget I'm shaping an individual with an eternal soul. How they think, what they think, how they relate to others and God largely depends on what I teach them and how I live.

This morning I was working with Micah on a Thanksgiving project. We have been studying parts of speech so I thought we would make a diary of thankfulness. We talked about a noun being a person, place, thing or idea. I asked Micah to name something or someone in each category for which he was grateful. In the "person" category Micah said he was thankful for God and Mommy. I asked him to list a few adjectives that describe God. He gave me a list of descriptors for God. I then asked him to list some adjectives that describe Mommy he said, "Well, maybe the same things."

Wow, the responsibility of being God's representative to my children hit me again in a very real way. Having a casual attitude toward parenting seems terribly irresponsible in light of the reality that is going on in the hearts and minds of my boys. It isn't only parents who are God's representatives on earth though, each of us who claim His name are charged with the responsibility of representing Him well. Having a casual attitude about our behaviors and attitudes seems equally irresponsible in light of the reality that we are the only Jesus some people will ever see.

Crying Dragons

2009-11-11T10:26:00.006-06:00

We were listening to "Voyage of the Dawn Treader" AGAIN last night(this is in the top 10 of favorite stories to listen to at our house). When we got to the following part, I almost cried(I always do). It rings so true to my own experience of God changing me from a beast into a "real girl". The process of learning to be honest with myself and seeing things in my life that were "beastly" was painful. But my Father loved me too much to leave me in my beastly state and though the process was painful He has made me new. And He is continuing to tear away layers and show me myself as I am willing and able to see reality. He continues to conform me into His image or dress me more beautifully every day. I'm so very thankful for that.
"Then the lion said, 'You will have to let me undress you.' I was afraid of his claws, I can tell you, but I was pretty nearly desperate now. So I just lay flat down on my back to let him do it. The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I've ever felt. The thing that made me able to bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off. ...Then he caught hold of me and threw me into the water. It smarted like anything, but only for a moment. After that it became perfectly delicious and as soon as I started swimming and splashing I found that all the pain was gone. After a bit the lion took me out and dressed me in new clothes." Eustace on his experience of being changed from beast to boy by the great lion Aslan in c.s. Lewis' "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader".

The Road to Becoming

2009-10-30T15:17:00.009-06:00

An update seems in order. This summer was good and busy. I did a lot of mowing, the boys did a lot of growing, and Matt did a lot of working. Mode Camp was a highlight for us this summer,as usual. The boys would just as soon trade in the 4 bedrooms and 2 baths for the 10 X 10 cabin and outhouses. Cousin Savannah joined us this year for camp and it was such a joy to have her. She's such a ray of sunshine. Matt and I worked with the youth again this year. What an amazing group of young people they all are. Josiah broke his collar bone on the last Friday of camp. He was so brave. He's doing fine now.

Now summer is gone, and it seems to have taken the sun with it. The rain is falling and the wind is blowing. The trees are more bare everyday. With each season comes it's own joy though, so I'll try hard not to dread winter. :) We started school again on Labor Day....seems twisted, but one must labor even on Labor Day. Micah started school officially this year. It's interesting home educating a second child. How do you answer the "what grade are you in" question? He's been "sitting in" with Josiah for two years. His work spans about 3 grades, tough to "place" him. He loves school though and is eager to learn. Siah is doing well with his studies too. He started Karate this year as well, he REALLY loves that. He also has a new violin teacher, as our dear Mrs. Mellado is in the process of retiring. Miss. Guan is a very thorough teacher. We have grown to love her as well.

I am also in the process of learning. I know this is a life time pursuit, or at least it should be. My mind has been turning over the process of "becoming". New forces enter my life as I age and circumstances change. These forces act as a mirror to my soul. I find myself questioning and analyzing my heart. Holding it up to the light of Christ. Overwhelmed at times, as the force of my flesh is so powerful. I am not hopeless though. I recognize that it is my Father's great heart and great love for me, that compels Him to ask more of me than what just comes natural. He shows me reality. Ugly as that is at times. It tells me that He has no intention of leaving me as I am, broken and helpless. He calls me to surrender daily to trust and overcome, to become.

It's so tempting to want to just be, without the discipline of becoming. My flesh kicks against the hard work of self control and self sacrifice. The obvious is that I'm not "making" myself. I know I will never "discipline" myself into His image. However, I also know He calls me to do my part, to partner with Him in my metamorphosis.

And so I am feeding my mind on verses like Ephesians 4:13-16 ...13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ. 14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. And Philippians 3:8-16 8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ, 9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, 10 that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; 11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12 ¶ Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect, but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; 16 however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.

That's a lot for me to think on, so I'll leave you with that.

An Open Letter to My Blog

2009-10-28T13:43:00.005-06:00

Dear Blog;

I miss you. I'm too busy, too lazy, and too Facebooked to pay attention to you, but really I do miss you. I miss the real conversation, the real thinking, and the real sharing that you offer. I won't make promises or plans, I'll just say that I'm feeling motivated. The "fastfood" of FB is leaving me hungry for the "meat and potatoes" of blogging. My appetite is wetted, we'll see what pans out.

Best Regards,

Julia

Happy Independence Day!!

2009-07-05T00:05:00.019-05:00

On July 3rd Keith and Rachel hosted an Independence Day party for our church family at Fink's house. Rachel cooked a delicious meal and Keith kept the fireworks coming. A great time was had by all.

A Newsy Summer Update

2009-07-03T14:33:00.002-05:00

Summer! I love it. It's always a busy time for us, but mostly a good kind of busy. This week has been a little less busy thanks to the Ferguson girls. They have been very kind to come down and play with the boys while I mow. The boys love being with the girls and I can get more done more quickly knowing the boys are well supervised. Thanks girls!

Camp is quickly approaching. Matt and I are helping out with the Youth this year. We are working on lessons right now and I still need to revise the script for the play. It should come together pretty quickly though. We are so looking forward to leading the youth. They are such a great group of young people and we always enjoy "hanging out" with them.

Josiah and Micah are growing like weeks. They both spend MANY hours a week in our pool. Turning into very blond fishes basically. :) Josiah started Karate this spring and is loving it. He also has made the transition to a new violin teacher. It was a tough transition at first for he really loved his old teacher who retired. But, he is learning to love his new teacher too. His old teacher taught the Suzuki method and this new teacher teaches traditionally. I'm thankful for the Suzuki beginning though. Ms. Guan(his new teacher) comments on his "good ear for pitch". I know this is not a "natural" thing of Siah. As a toddler his singing was often monotone. However, the Suzuki training really helped with that. However, I do think the time was right for him to move on to more focused site reading. And he is adapting well. Although he misses "playing songs" as he is mainly working in a site reading book. The songs will come soon enough though.

Micah is still Micah and we love him for it. We call him our drama king. For a while he was getting up in the night a couple times a week. There was always some lame excuse. Finally, we put our "foot down" so to speak. We explained to him that he was to stay in bed unless he had to go potty or had an emergency. This is not only for our own sleeping comfort, but also for his safety(children roaming the house while parents are asleep? Not a good idea). He is sleeping better and so are we as a result. The other night though, actually about 4am we heard a knock on our bedroom door. Micah walks in and says, "I'm sorry for disturbing you, and I don't know if this is really important, but, (and here he starts to sound weepy) I keep trying to get my CD player to turn on and I try and I try and it just won't work and it's getting annoying!" Daddy led him back to bed explaining that this was, in fact, NOT important at 4am and it certainly wasn't an emergency.

Well, it's been awhile since I've done newsy update so here it is. I hope you are well and enjoying your summer.

It's Worth It!

2009-06-15T00:05:00.014-05:00

Learning to work hard and lovin' it!

Well, so much for my lofty plans of once-a-week blogging. I’ve blogged in my head, does that count? Perhaps I'll try for once-a-month blogging. Grass keeps growing and life keeps coming at us at an alarming pace. We spent last weekend working at our church camp grounds. It’s hot grueling work and every year I think most adults look at each other and think, “What are we doing spending a perfectly beautiful weekend breaking our backs?” And so after a couple days of hard work it was with aching muscles and calloused hands that we got into our air conditioned van to come home.

The boys saw the weekend through totally different eyes. They think of our work weekends at Mode Camp as nothing short of a real holiday. We actually have them join in on some of the work, but that doesn’t for a moment inhibit their absolute joy any time we drive onto the grounds. I asked the boys what it is they love so much about Mode Camp and Josiah’s response surprised me. He said, “I love the freedom best.” I asked him what he meant and he explained, “I just love getting to walk around in such a big place on my own.” In all honesty his response perplexed me at first. Is it healthy at such a young age to desire freedom? Or are we smothering our children? I spoke with Matt about my concerns and he quickly informed me

that he well remembers the exhilaration as a child of walking around camp “on his own”. The more we talked and I thought, I realized that I really appreciate Josiah’s response.

Matt and I are not the kind of parents that leave our young children “on their own”. We would never dream of dropping them off for library time, homeschool group activities or music lessons. We think it is very important at their ages to closely guard influences and monitor their behavior. Our church doesn’t hold to the philosophy of segregated worship or learning. During the Sunday School hour there is a children’s class, but our young people join in with the adults once they are ready to leave the children’s class. And we see the benefits of multi-generational relationships as a result of this approach. Our family doesn’t do sleepovers with other kids or even much unsupervised playtime with other children. (Disclaimer: this is not an essay on how you should personally run your church or home. You have my permission to do things differently.) However, for 10 days out of the year we do send our kids off to “children’s church” and when the boys are old enough and mature enough they will be allowed to stay in the boy’s dorm during camp. Are we being hypocritical for 10 days? No, I don’t think so and here’s why.

Mode Camp is a safe place for our boys to “stretch their wings” a bit. What they perceive as freedom is still very carefully monitored. In all of the parenting material we have digested over the years we still come back to an analogy that we find so helpful from the book entitled “Child Wise”. It pictures parenting as a funnel. The narrow part of the funnel represents the child at birth. All of his choices etc. are made by his parents. There is no freedom or independence at this stage. But as the child grows, and as a trusting relationship with his parents deepens, the funnel widens. Until at last by the teen years there is very little restraint on the child from the parents, but he is now governed by self restraint and hopefully his relationship with God.

What better place then at camp when our boys are surrounded by our trusted friends to give a little room in the funnel? What an opportunity for Matt and I to observe and study our boys, watching to see if they are indeed ready for more freedom or how they behave when they think no one is watching. And oh how they love it. Not just the freedom, but the fun of spending hour after hour with so many Christian brothers and sisters young and old. And while admittedly at their ages the pews get hot and hard after a long sermon, their little souls are being fed. Maybe not so much from the sermons yet, but from observing the lives of those they see in the pews around them. At camp, relationships are built and strengthened in a way that the business of everyday life very seldom affords. I firmly believe that a relationship of trust is an extremely powerful tool with which to influence another for Christ. In light of that, even the "fun and games" of camp serves a purpose.

And so in reflecting on all that, I was reminded of why we do what we do. It makes perfect sense that we are spending beautiful weekends breaking our backs. And when I start to question if the work is really worth it, I have only to look into the faces of my children. It's definitely worth it.

Strength to Stand

2009-05-18T11:02:00.006-05:00

Matt and I are very interested in the persecuted church. We receive the Voice of the Martyrs newsletter every month and our hearts are always moved by the trials of our brothers and sisters. A few months ago the cover of VOM had a 10 year old girl named Namrata on it. Her little face had been burned. Her great crime and reason for her charred flesh was because she was a believer. Her testimony was beautiful, full of forgiveness and hope. In spite of the pain and the shadow of death that continually looms over her little life, her faith is strong.

I just read the report of the horrific torture of Gao Zhisheng. I was brought to tears reading all our brother had endured and may still be enduring. I was overwhelmingly thankful for the freedoms I enjoy. If you stop and look at history you will see how time and again freedoms never disappear overnight. It is the slow erosion of a culture. A complacent acceptance of the sirens call to change. It frightens me to hear Christians say it is not our place as believers to stand up against the erosion of our culture. It only takes a glance back at the history of the world to show us the devastating ruins of good people doing nothing. Thank God for the Dietrich Bonhoeffers and Gao Zhishengs of the world. But I digress.

The thought that has weighed the most on my mind is how well would I withstand in the face of such torture? Am I preparing my children to have the kind of faith I saw in the face of little Namrata? A few Sundays ago we were visiting a church. We enjoyed the service, but something struck me during the song service. We sang a few token hymns presumably for the "old people". The song leader stopped us in the middle of "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" and said, "Can we pick this up a little? If we don't, this song just drags on." Musically I understand what he was saying. But it seemed to me the message of the song seemed to be being missed, we were just getting it "over with". Then we moved on to the praise songs and while I enjoyed them, the lyrics were a bit repetitive. And while they inspired good feelings(which aint all bad) the challenge and encouragement found in Luther's hymn was not as evident in the praise choruses. During this portion of the singing we were encouraged to "think of the words" and worship. Now before you get your boxing gloves on, this is NOT intended to be a argument of hymns vs praise music. Neither is this a criticism of the service or the music minister of the church we visited. I gave the background because it was a catalyst of thought for me. I asked myself what would sustain me or my children in the face of persecution? Have we fed them so much ease and feel good theology that they would immediately crumble into the "why me Lord?" mentality when faced with discomfort.

I don't have all the answers to my questions, I'm really just thinking out loud here. I pray we never face in America what Gao is facing in China or what Namrata faced in India or what little Mark in Iraq is facing everyday at school. But should that day come, I wonder if we would be sustained by an understanding that others have faced this and more and stood strong for Christ. Would a knowledge of Luther's world and how powerful his song was in light of what he was facing bring us encouragement? Would the powerful trust of being eternally protected by our Mighty Fortress call to our memories scriptures of promise from our Savior? And so Matt and I are trying to actively prepare our family for whatever may come. To prepare our hearts and minds to lean hard upon Jesus in times of trial. Be that in a jail cell or in a peer group.

1. A mighty fortress is our God,
a bulwark never failing;
our helper he amid the flood
of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe
doth seek to work us woe;
his craft and power are great,
and armed with cruel hate,
on earth is not his equal.

2. Did we in our own strength confide,
our striving would be losing,
were not the right man on our side,
the man of God's own choosing.
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is he;
Lord Sabaoth, his name,
from age to age the same,
and he must win the battle.

3. And though this world, with devils filled,
should threaten to undo us,
we will not fear, for God hath willed
his truth to triumph through us.
The Prince of Darkness grim,
we tremble not for him;
his rage we can endure,
for lo, his doom is sure;
one little word shall fell him.

4. That word above all earthly powers,
no thanks to them, abideth;
the Spirit and the gifts are ours,
thru him who with us sideth.
Let goods and kindred go,
this mortal life also;
the body they may kill;
God's truth abideth still;
his kingdom is forever.

For Mom

2009-05-13T12:26:00.002-05:00

Mom,

The yellow climbing roses have finally bloomed! You can hardly see the electric meter under there. :)

Mothers, Daughters, and Chocolate

2009-05-12T10:57:00.003-05:00

Saturday night my amazing friend Becca hosted a Mother/Daughter dinner for our church ladies. It was wonderful! She had two menu choices that she prepared herself, complete with fine service from some of our young men. The theme of the dinner was chocolate and friendship. Sounds perfect for a girl's gathering huh? Becca asked me to give a short devotional. Below is my "little offering" and I thought I'd share it with my blog girlfriends too. (I handed out chocolates before my talk. None of the ladies knew what "filling" her chocolate held.)

As the infamous Forest Gump would say, "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get." I’ve never seen the movie myself, but there is some truth to what Forest had to say. Life rarely turns out the way any of us planned when we were dreaming it out as young girls. And yet we do have a choice with what we will do with the reality we have. We can hold on to those youthful dreams and demand that life give us what we want. OR we can surrender those dreams to God and let Him give us a life that far surpasses anything we could have dreamed. Don’t get me wrong, I don't think that necessarily means an easy life or even a happy life. But experience has taught me that following God has led to the most fulfilling, joyful, peaceful life imaginable.

Another aspect of life we can learn from a box of chocolates is how our expectations can greatly affect our lives. For those of you expecting a caramel and you ended up with a fruit center didn’t you somehow feel a bit cheated? Your expectations led you to believe something that wasn’t true. Even if you enjoyed the fruit filling and even though the candy was given free of charge our emotions can end up sending us spiraling downward. I have to constantly remind myself when I feel disappointed or dissatisfied with life that I haven’t been cheated or let down by anyone. I have created a reality in my own mind that doesn’t exist. I’m trying to make the world around me live up to my expectations. This, my dear friends, is a recipe for misery. I heard a radio preacher once say, "Expect more from yourself and less from those around you." I think if we practiced that principle we would find ourselves living a much more contented life.

There are many lessons we could take from a chocolate box, but the one I’d like to focus on today is how a box of chocolates, can be like the Body of Christ. While I love the caramels in the box, a whole box of caramels would be unbalanced. Do you wonder if the chocolate almonds ever look over at the cherry cordials and say, "Wow, I wish I could drip when people bit into me like she does! It’s so much more valuable to be a cherry than an almond." I can hear the chocolate creams wishing they were as well shaped as the thin mint patties. The box of chocolate would never fulfill the needs of a whole family if they were all the same. And it is an insane waste of time for the orange creams to wish they were bon bons. It is the beautiful variety in the box of chocolates that helps make the package complete.

Paul admonishes the Corinthians in 2 Cor 10:12 …"but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise". While we share so many of the same values, likes, and dislikes not one of us is in the exact same place in life. Some of us have older children, some young, some none. Some of us are married, some single. Some of us come from large families and some of us are only children. We work at home, in offices, factories, hospitals the list could go on and on. The point is, we accomplish nothing by trying to compare our situation in life with somebody else’s. I find myself wishing to be as organized or as disciplined, or as creative, or as productive, or as intelligent as all of you. And where does that lead me? I end up trying so hard to be like somebody else that I’m not being all that God wants me to be.

Don’t get me wrong I believe there is power in being challenged to be more than what comes naturally for me. I know the slippery slope of being in a situation where you feel you are the "top dog". Here's a hypothetical: I go to the Dr's office and there are 3 other mother’s there with their children. Their children are wretched. Screaming, climbing and biting. There sits my "perfect little angels". Because of some strange aligning of the planets they are good today, sitting quietly reading books. The other mother’s look at me as if my super hero cape is flapping in the breeze. It’s tempting to think, "Wow, I’m doing OK here." That kind of thinking is just craziness people. The reality is my "little angels" have really devilish days too. Any "success" I may have in any area of my life is a result of the influence of someone else. I have been blessed to be surrounded by godly people who have helped me learn and grow. I NEED to be challenged. I need sisters in Christ who are overcoming in areas in which I am weak. I learn from your lives more than I’ve learned in many years of sermons. The search light of the Holy Spirit using your lives to reveal my own grim is much different than my own measuring stick of comparisons.

If we had time to ask each lady in this room "how together" she has her life, I’d be willing to bet every one of us is working hand in hand with God to refine some character trait in our lives. And every one of us has had a laundry basket unfolded, a junk drawer in chaos, or a frozen pizza dinner with no vegetable in sight to feed our families. By God’s grace we are growing together. Where one is weak another is strong. As a Body, or as a box of chocolates, we can delight in each sister’s strength, and use our own strength to bless others. We can use Christ’s measuring stick in our lives and be thankful for the encouragement we can gain from each other to do more, be more, and live more for Jesus.

I Miss My Blog

2009-05-06T16:47:00.003-05:00

I miss blogging. I miss reading your blogs. Facebook is fun and quick. It helps me to keep in some sort of contact, albeit a very shallow form of contact. It's nice, but I miss blogging. Time is in short supply and the necessities of life rise to the top of the priority list and so my blog time is neglected. I console myself with "summer dreams". I tell myself that when we finish school I will make myself set aside an hour a week to read/write blogs. Perhaps the accountability of writing that down will make it happen.

Since I last blogged we've celebrated two birthdays, attended a homeschool convention, mowed grass, built hundreds of rocking chairs, visited with family and the list could go on and on. And so instead of going on and on right now, I'm going to go read your blogs and see what you've been up to.

Looking forward to being a better blogger in the future.

Julia

Wonderful Weekend

2009-03-14T08:31:00.019-06:00

It's hard to believe that one week ago today I was having breakfast with some of my dearest friends in the world. I am blessed in the friendship department, I have many dear friends, from my past and present. These particular ladies and I have been friends for a very long time. Most of us even went to high school together. I've watched as they had crushes, then loved, and married their husbands. I've held their babies, sat with them in hospitals, and spent many long nights figuring out life and solving it's problems. I've been to Europe with five of them, Asia with one, and Central America with another. I've lived with all but 1 of them at some point. Lots of history, lots of shared experiences, lots of love.

Several months ago Kim sent out an email suggesting another attempt at a weekend together. In 1998 the same group of ladies, including husbands and a couple babies got together in Branson. We had a great time, but as our families grew and our responsibilities became more pressing, planning anymore reunions was difficult at best. This year it happened though. We simplified and stuck to just the girls. We found a very reasonably priced cabin(thanks to Butch Heath) and, thanks be to God, it worked out. We hadn't all been together since my wedding over 8 years ago. Several times over the weekend we'd walk into a restaurant and the hostess would say, "So where are ya'll from?" To which we would reply, "All over." We've all landed in different places in life. 8 ladies and 7 states. But there is something about shared experiences, the tough times of growing up together, and the great times of laughter that have forged a bond between us. The strongest bond we have though of course, is Jesus. It is our shared desire to know Him and pattern our lives after His example that keeps the bond so close.

On Friday several of us met in Lexington, KY and headed south to pick up Gaye and Kayla. This is the really cool state-of-the-art Welcome Center of TN.

Friday night we ate supper at The Apple Barn and then met up with Marty later that evening.

Saturday we went shopping. Kayla and Sonja found these BEAUTIFUL little....things. We ate at Bullfish Grill. Yummo! But mostly we did a lot of this.........

Even baby Emma laughed!

Each of us girls are care-givers of some sort. Combined, we care for and are responsible for over 200 people. That's a whole lot of pressure. While we are content with our lives, this weekend was a much needed time of low pressure and "being young again". We are so thankful for the fun time spent together.

Uppercase Living

2009-02-19T11:16:00.005-06:00

This week is a crazy one. Monday night I was home. But that was it. Violin lessons Tuesday, church Wednesday, DQ Club tonight, Uppercase Living Party Friday, and Parenting Class Saturday. I like to be busy, but this week is a little over the top, don't cha think? I'm looking forward to each event though. I couldn't handle this every week, but once in a while, it's fine.

The Uppercase Living party this Friday is really more of an excuse to have girlfriends over. So if you live close by be sure to stop in around 6:30pm. If you don't, and you desperately need any of the beautiful wall rub-ons that Uppercase Living offers, here is a website you can check out. I'm not sure if Natasha takes orders online or not. If not, call me(618-918-8366) and I'll place the order for you. http://www.natashak.uppercaseliving.net/

Valentine's Day with Peter Parker aka Spider Man

2009-02-16T11:16:00.007-06:00

We had an interesting Valentine's Day here in our neck of the woods. On Saturday Matt worked his normal Saturday hours from 8 to noon. At around 11:30am he was moving some old lumber and felt a prick. He checked to see if he had a splinter and there was none to be found. Almost immediately his finger started swelling. Having seen many brown recluse spiders that day while moving lumber he was pretty sure he had been bitten. We were inclined to wait it out to see what would happen. If you live in Southern Illinois you know that you don't normally ignore a brown recluse bite, but then again, some people don't react too badly to the bite. We looked on the Internet and learned elevation of the bitten area, ice, benedryl and slowing bodily movement down can help the venom not to spread. Matt did all of the above and we spent a half hour or so looking at disgusting videos of Brown Recluse bites on YOUTUBE. (If you want a gross fix go check it out. :))

The swelling remained about the same, but a few of our nurse friends recommended a trip to the Rural Health Clinic to at least get an antibiotic. People can lose limbs and such due to brown recluse bites. So we sent our boys with our trusted friends and spent a romantic afternoon in a waiting room. I know you're jealous, but not all of us can live the life of luxury and romance that I do. After a romantic stroll into the local CVS to fill the insanely priced antibiotic we picked up the kiddos. Then I whisked off to clean the church while Matt stayed home and entertained the children. I came home and Spider Man already had the spiderlings in bed. I was pretty tired so I nearly fell asleep while Spidey was reading Redwall to me.

Now you may find this hard to believe, but it really wasn't a bad day at all. Matt and I don't technically celebrate Valentine's Day on the 14th anyway. Since we were engaged on the 22nd of February we usually celebrate on that date anyway. But any day that I get to spend with my "Superhero" is usually fun. We laughed at all the spider jokes we could think of and both dozed off waiting for the nurse to see Matt. Nothing flashy or exciting, but you don't need bells and whistles when you're with your best friend. We just enjoy being together.

BTW, Matt is doing fine. He had gloves on when the spider bit him so we assume he didn't get as much venom as you might normally. He still has some mild swelling and discoloration, but no pain. We are VERY thankful. Although Josiah was disappointed that they didn't put a leech on Matt's finger at the hospital. :)

Growing Up!

2009-02-11T12:11:00.003-06:00

Last night after we got home from our "Family Night" adventures (which included an excursion to Save A Lot, a drive by at the ATM, a splash and dash to the library, and finally a escapade at the Dairy Queen.) Josiah lost his tooth. Well, "lost" is a strong word. While at Dairy Queen he noticed his ice cream had blood in it (totally disgusting to you, but super cool to an almost 6 year old). When we got home and he brushed his teeth, the tooth got looser. I said, "Boy I hope you don't swallow that in your sleep." This was enough for him to go to Daddy, the great tooth puller of the ages, and ask him to do his handiwork. In one small painless pull, the tooth was "lost".

Josiah was so excited. We were excited for him too. However, I must admit in my Mommy's heart I had a brief sadness. My boy is growing up. Oh sure, " it's just a tooth" you say. But next it will be his voice getting deeper, and then driver's Ed and ......Well, you know. I remind myself that the reason I work so hard everyday is to see them grow up to become men. Not just perpetual boys who hang on Momma's skirt and never fly from home. Who avoid work and commitment like a plague. Men who are grown in body and spirit. SO I say hooray for the "lost" tooth, which is hiding securely in a zip lock in the file cabinet. My boys are growing up and that's how it should be. :)

Check Out This Blog

2009-01-31T13:10:00.002-06:00

I heard Michael Yon interviewed on the radio today. I checked out his online magazine and was spellbound. He is an embedded independent journalist whose eye-witness reports give a fresh, and often differing account of what is really is going on around the world. Check it out. http://www.michaelyon-online.com/

Tying Strings

2009-01-29T14:53:00.004-06:00

We got snow! A lot of snow! Here in southern Illinois we don't see a lot of snow. We get cold and wet, but rarely a sparkling cover of whiteness like we have seen this week. It started falling Monday night, but I assumed by Tuesday morning it all would be gone. It was with joy that we awoke to a yard and woods full of snow. I started to mentally plan my day. "We would have a snow day, no school. I would bundle the boys up and send them out for some much needed outdoor recreation. I would do the dishes, throw in a load of laundry then put the kettle on and curl up with a good book to enjoy my....er, I mean our day off."

As Matt was getting ready for work, I excitedly told him I was going to give the boys a snow day. He innocently said, "You should go out and play with the boys." I gave him the look. He said, "They would love it." Hmmm? What to do? Then I heard the ideas I once read ringing in my mind. "I can discipline my children and they will be well behaved. I can train them in morality and they will have ethics. But it is the time I spend with them, it is giving up my own agenda and enjoying life with them that ties their hearts to mine. It is each act of selflessness, of enjoying what they enjoy that ties their hearts to mine. String by string a relationship is built. A relationship that will endure them to me and to the God I represent. A relationship that will stave off rebellion, that will lead them to Christ.

Suddenly that cup of hot chocolate and book didn't look quite so enticing. So we donned our snow things and trekked through the snow. We threw snowballs, we were snowplows we laughed and I tied strings. In 20 years I will never remember on what days I got to relax and have "me time". I do believe though, I will remember playing with my boys. I'll remember because by God's kindness they will be beside me, not only as my sons, but hopefully as my brothers in Christ.

God Box

2009-01-26T11:00:00.003-06:00

The other day I was speaking to a gentleman and in the course of the conversation he said, “Well you don’t think we can ever be in God’s perfect will, do you? We certainly can be in His permissive will, but we are humans. We cannot be in His perfect will.” Inside, my mind was reeling. “What does that mean? Where do those ideas and terms come from? Why even ask the question?” Outside, I just said, “Well, I’m not exactly sure what you mean by perfect will and permissive will. The conversation went on congenially. He is a precious man who I respect, and he has wisdom that I would be a fool to ignore. However, his question got my mind to turning.

Why do we do that? Why do we have the compulsion to put everything into neat little boxes, especially when it comes to God? Perhaps we get overwhelmed by how big God is and how much we really will never be able to completely wrap our minds around Him. Or perhaps we feel the need of the security that “knowing” brings. I suppose our human answer is to categorize, outline and alliterate our relationship with Him into a neat package that can be put into a book, sermon, or theology class notes.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand more now than ever my need for true Bible study. Not just reading a few chapters and checking that duty off my list, but the need to bathe myself in the word. To eat, as it where, the bread of life and let it become part of me, to change me from within. To take in His perspective and let it change how I see life, how I think, how I act. But is it helpful to make our charts? Does it encourage me to question my heart and motives (which after all is what Jesus is most concerned with) to have an outline that I can check off and then go about my life? If I already have it all figured out and have given it my own man-made terms, then do I really come to scripture open and ready to conform myself to it’s teachings as opposed to making it fit into mine?

I know that as humans we are limited. We can only communicate with language, and so at some point there may be a need for charts and outlines. However, when I look at what a relationship ought to be, I can’t help but think how meaningless a relationship would become if we had to categorize everything. I can see it now. Matt and I have a contract, I do the dishes everyday, however on days that I am unwell, busy or otherwise predisposed he is to awaken early and unload the dishwasher. This is called prevenient love. On days when I unload the dishwasher, even if I’m not feeling well, all because Matt has provided food from which I gain strength to do the said task, this is called provisional love. Sounds crazy doesn’t it? Takes the beauty of Matt and I both doing all that we can for the other simply out of love and trust, doesn’t it? The further danger is that the contract becomes our law, and so I only do what is specified in the contract, because that is all that is required in order to still be married. Furthermore, I have the “right” to be mad if Matt doesn’t fulfill all of my expectations of what I read into the contract. It turns beautiful acts of love and devotion into servitude, and it gives permission to do what I want within the bounds of the contract. Somehow we go from being focused on the other to being focused on ourselves.

What I’m learning is that I don’t need to focus on all the terms if my heart is where it should be. If I am completely surrendered to my Father’s will, if I wholeheartedly trust Jesus with my life , than the obvious desire of my heart will be to please him, to obey him, to study his life and teachings. My understanding at this point is that if I am there, if I am honest before my God and willing to do, go , or be whatever would please Him, than I am acceptable in His sight. Perhaps we should take the energy that we spend on terms and “what ifs” and do the hard work of examining our hearts, asking ourselves the tough questions, crying out, “Search me O God and know my heart today.”

Before I close let me add a disclaimer. I realize that ideas have consequences. Some ideas must be addressed because of the consequence of following after them. So often, terms and charts must be discussed for good reason. Even in this, the terms or ideas are not the focus though; the focus is coming to the place of a heart fully surrendered to God. But that is for another blog…..

The Crow and the Pitcher (A Narration Exercise)

2009-01-23T10:20:00.002-06:00

One of my favorite things we do occasionally in Language is Narration. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Narration, it is the process of reading a story to a child and having them tell the story back to you in their own words. This can also be done with art, the child looks at a picture or work of art and tells the story of the picture. In both cases it encourages the child to listen/look for detail, to imagine the story in their own mind and in their own words (comprehension) and it helps them learn pre-writing skills and sentence structure. Not to mention, when you read back to them their exact words and they hear inappropriate grammar it helps them to correct themselves. Obviously if they don't catch the mistakes, I will point them out. It is so fun for the boys to see "their words" put into story form to read or to read to Daddy when he gets home.

Today we read, The Crow and the Pitcher by Aesop. Below is their Narration.

The crow and the pitcher (Micah)
One day the crow was getting really thirsty because he was flying hard and it was hot. Just then he saw a pitcher on the bottom of a cool patio. He went down and he tried to drink, but there was just a bitty bitty bit of water inside the pitcher. And so he tried to get it with his beak, but his beak was too short. And so he went out under a tree looking and thinking of what could help him. Just then he saw some pebbles, he said, “Oh, maybe I could drop them inside the pitcher and then the water would rise.” He dropped the pebbles in one by one. The water rised and he drank and he drank and he drank and he drank until he was full.

Moral: “Many hard things can be accomplished with stuff.”

The Crow and the Pitcher (Josiah)
Once upon a time there was a crow flying over cottages and he began to get thirstier and thirstier. At the edge of a little patio there was a little pitcher with a bit of water in it. The crow thought, “I will try to tip the jar over and drink what spills.” But the jar was too heavy. So the crow tried to stretch his neck as long as he could to get the water, but he still couldn't drink the water because his neck was too short. And then the crow sat under the shade of a tree so that he could think for a bit. In the cool shade of that tree he noticed by the patio a bunch of pebbles. And he said, “If I can put those pebbles in the pitcher the water will rise and I can drink.” And so he began, one by one, picking up the pebbles and putting them in, picking up the pebbles and putting them in. Sooner or later the water was high enough for the crow to drink.

Moral: Hard work makes joy.

Where Have I Been?

2009-01-12T15:59:00.007-06:00

It's been too long and I make no excuse except to say between our church Christmas play, Christmas, a trip to Michigan and starting school...well, enough said. All is well and I've celebrated another anniversary of my birth, had a great Christmas with my family, enjoyed a wonderful Christmas play and have a great start on second semester.

Our boys were in the younger children's play this year (3-9 years old) All the children did a superb job and I was amazed at how well they did under Miss. Jo and Miss Rachel Ryder's instruction.(Two kiddos are missing from this photo)

Micah played the part of "The Angel of the Lord" and "The Constable". Josiah was the "Sheep who was allergic to cotton".

Becca and I had the privilege of directing the Play for the older kids (9 - 14year olds). We had a blast and were SO proud our "our" talented kids.

Detroit Louie and his side kick, Harry the Lift!

Our two Angels

The Doctor

Mrs. Aiken, Julie, a blind girl, and Mr. Varner. (Don't you love Mrs. Aiken's hair? What a blast from the past. :))

TO ALICE!

2009-01-12T15:53:00.000-06:00

Thank you Alice!

Bailout Please, If You Don't Mind.

2008-11-14T12:08:00.003-06:00

The Discovery
I've come to a brand new understanding and the prospects of it are so exciting. I will explain. As I was growing up my parents had times of financial comfort and many more times of financial hardship. I learned from them that if one spends more than they earn, life can get very uncomfortable. I learned that when times are lean you eat a lot of potato soup and turkey legs, you doctor yourself at home when you are sick, and you can keep warm gathered around a kerosene space heater. So in following my parents misguided example we have avoided the overuse of credit cards, we drive a paid-for-less-than-perfect car (yes, you read right I said car!), we have set a precedence with our children that a few gifts are a joy and a pile of gifts are overwhelming and excessive. We have unnecessarily lived under the bondage of responsible spending and careful living. What liberation we are finding in our new discovery!

The Plan
Matt and I have signed up for a new, higher limit credit card(maybe two). We are excited about the prospect of buying many many Christmas gifts for friends and family this year. We are currently shopping for a brand new SUV, even thinking about a Hummer, just cuz driving a Hummer would be SO cool! My wardrobe has really been pathetic since the boys were born so no more Walmart and thrift stores for me. It is only the finest department stores and boutiques from now on. After all you get what you pay for...or shall I say, I get what you pay for?

The Solution
The first place I planned on getting our handout...er I mean bailout from(for we surely will need one after implementing our new plan)was the federal government, but I quickly realized the chances were slim. The government just bailed out the banks and will probably soon be bailing out the auto industry. Then this morning I heard on the radio (don't worry, the big flat screen blue ray TV is on order) that several large US cities are requesting bailouts as well. I knew even the govenment may run out of bailouts before they got to us. That's where you come in. If each of my blog readers would send us just $100. per month we could maintain our new lifestyle. Really it isn't much of a sacrifice on your part to ensure our financial liberty. After all, how could we possibly wear $200. tennis shoes, drive a hummer and pay our mortgage without your help? So please keep those cards, letters, checks, and money orders coming this way. I can even set up a paypal account if that would be more convenient for you. Thanks in advance for helping us live the American Dream.

Josiah and David

2008-10-28T20:38:00.007-06:00

Since Josiah is not the "exhibitionist" his brother is I don't have opportunity to post video of him as often as I do of Micah. However, I know there are family members out there who would like to hear from Siah too. So I asked Josiah to play a few of his violin songs for Nanny(don't worry, I won't post them all). Enjoy Mom!

Of Entrepreneurers, Miss Austen, and Salsa

2008-10-15T09:35:00.007-05:00

What is a mother to do? I do so long to encourage creativity, perseverance, and entrepreneurealship in my offspring, but alas where does one draw the line? Our boys have oft times come to the door with one scheme or another on how to build a machine, earn money, or trap an animal. I find myself saying again and again, "Actually guys that won't work because......." I grow tired of being the discourager of their far-fetched dreams. So I try to encourage and think of ways to make their schemes reality...when I can. But before you judge me too harshly let me share a few of the schemes I've had to decline.

The boys came to the door the other day and asked for two bedrooms, two beds and an organ. They were building the Swiss Family Robinson's tree house and needed these items. I logically told them that it was impossible to send out such large items. Micah replied, "Okay, we'll just take the Clavanova."

Just a few days ago Micah opened the door and asked for money. I asked why they needed money. Micah replied that they were going exploring and needed funding. I declined the request and he promptly said, "OK, but we won't be able to discover gold and bring it home to you." None-the-less I am NOT Queen Isabella and they can fund their own excursions. This leads to my present quandary. They took me at my word and decided to earn money on their own. They promptly went to the woods, collected fallen branches and set up a table at the end of our driveway so they could sell their "firewood". The real dilemma is that our drive is off of a private drive, the only people who drive by the "wood stand" are our neighbors and their friends. Our boys stand at the side of the driveway and flag these dear people down and then sell "firewood" at the insane price of $1.00 a piece. They've made $4.50 so far. The $.50 was from a dear neighbor who didn't have a full dollar with him and begged to get a small piece of wood for half-price. We've told the boys they may not "hit up" the same person twice, but I still question whether we should let them "hit up" anyone at all. Then again, they are working to collect the wood and becoming quite the little salesmen. Then again, our dear neighbors are buying goods they need not, simply out of compassion. These photos are of our friend Joy. She kindly came by Saturday and bought 2 pieces of wood.

Well the DQ club is still in full swing. We read Pilgrims Progress this summer, but were too busy to actually meet and discuss it. We are currently reading Gulliver's Travels. This is an interesting book full of political satire. In fact, it confirms my belief that we can learn a lot from history. If one did not know that this book was written in 1726 one could oft times easily believe they were reading a political analysis of our current political condition here in the US. While Gulliver has been MUCH easier to read then DQ, I am looking forward to moving on. Miss Austen's Pride and Prejudice is next. I had a credit on my simplyaudiobooks.com account, so I uploaded the unabridged version of Pride and Prejudice. I have never read Austen as I assumed she only wrote romance and as this is not my favorite genre of literature I was not interested. After listening to the book, I am a confirmed Austen fan. The story line is gripping, the historical content and cultural information is fascinating and the language is inspiring. The movie does NOT do the book justice. So run out and get a copy of Pride and Prejudice, it's worth the read.

Many irons have been in the fire around here of late, thus the lack of attention to my blog. With Fall here, life is slowing just a bit. Several weeks ago my Mom visited and helped me "put up" several quarts of tomatoes and corn, make salsa, freeze green beans and she also made two batches of strawberry jam. Yummo! It was so wonderful to have Mom here. She is truly a dear friend. Added to that she was a ready and willing built-in babysitter and kept the wash machine humming and the laundry folded. Boy do I miss her. :)

This photo is of Mom and the boys shucking corn.

Tonight at church we start practice for our annual Christmas Drama. This year we separated into two groups as we have close to 25 children/young people participating. We like to be sure everyone has a part and finding a script with 25 characters is difficult to say the least. Becca and I are directing the older kids drama and are excited about the fun of working with them. They are such talented young people and are all such a joy to be with. We are doing the play, "Christmas Comes to Detroit Louie". I know in 1990 the HS Academy did this play. If any of you who participated in that have an extra copy of the video sitting around that I could borrow or if you want to make a copy I'd be glad to pay for it. I think it would be really helpful to have our kids watch it.

Well, Josiah is done with handwriting and Math and as these are the only subjects I can give him to do without my assistance I must needs fly.

Bedtime Song

2008-10-05T22:25:00.004-05:00

Micah wanted to sing me a bedtime song tonight, I was so entertained I asked him if he would sing it again so I could video it. I thought the sage advice he gives in the song are words to live by. Enjoy and sleep tight.

It's True!

2008-09-23T10:08:00.005-05:00

I've heard it said that if one works too hard and doesn't sleep enough or eat the right

foods it can actually speed the aging process. It has been at least 10 years since I had a

photo taken of myself. So I thought for the sake of my kiddos and history I'd run

down to Olan Mills and have a picture taken. When I got the pictures back all I could

hear in my head was, "Pictures never lie!" I knew I had been busy, but this photo was

a real wake up call for me.

I'm slowing down!

A Myriad of Thoughts

2008-07-22T10:10:00.004-05:00

So is your summer as busy as mine? I'm sure it is. I've had so many, "Oh, I need to blog about that moments", but sad to say there has been no time to flesh any of those things out. I will give you a brief run down and perhaps you can wander into the world of those ideas without me as your guide. (trust me, you'll be better off for it. ;))

1) A few weeks ago on Wednesday night we did a word study on Worship. Really interesting considering the current hysteria with all things "worship". The most common usage in the NT really conveys a attitude of contrite prostration, a total submission of ones will to another. Hmm, seems that worship should go beyond a liturgy, praise bands or even a Sunday morning service. Really thought provoking fcr me anyway.

2) I just downloaded an audio book to my MP3 that has been great. It is entitled, DO HARD THINGS, by Alex and Brett Harris. It really is technically a book for teens. So why is this 30-something reading it? Well, one Sunday Night a month at our church we all take turns leading the service(this is nice for variety and gives our working pastor a break too). Anyway, I ran across this book and the corresponding website online(www.therebelution.com). The topic fascinated me and has challenged me too. It would be a GREAT read for any young person you know, in fact, I wish I had read it 20 years ago. I think it will help me be a better parent as well. Perhaps after camp I can give you all a little book report. But for now...

3) Speaking of Camp. Our Church Camp starts this Friday. I'm looking forward to it, but my kids are ecstatic! I remember loving campmeeting as a kid. Sure I heard some of the wackiest sermons in my life at Campmeetings, but the fellowship was sweet and I did gain a tender heart toward the things of God. Our camp is good in that we really are wacky evangelist free(well, except that one year Tarrra y D-riko came). If I were an artist I'd draw a little "No Wacky Evangelist" sign and put it up here for you. TEE HEE HEE!

4) As most of you know, the boys and I started to study history this past school year. My eyes have been opened to the significant role history plays in the decisions we make today in so many areas. I know we've all heard that "nothing is new under the sun", but even problems akin to our current political struggles have been faced and handled. The problem is our politicians and certainly the common public haven't read much about history and certainly feel qualified to have opinions without the historical knowledge to form a balanced opinion. In fact, Susan Wise-Bauer has said(my paraphrase here) that our children have been encouraged so much to have opinions and develope "creatively" before they have the back ground knowledge from which to form educated ideas. Therefore, we end up with adults who form their opinions and even beliefs based on how they feel and not from a true understanding of the topic at hand. And so we stumble ignorantly back into the same blunders again and again. At the Home School Convention I attended this year Jim Weiss told a story about Vice-President Truman. He was the last president in US History to not complete college, he came from very humble beginnings, and yet he led America through some of her darkest times after the death of President Roosevelt. After his Truman's presidency he was interviewed and the question was asked how he made his decisions even though he didn't have all the advantages of his predecessor. He took the interviewer over to his library. He pulled out a book and said, "This here book was written 2000 years ago by a Greek feller named Pluto. And this book is full of stories about Greek and Roman leaders of the ancient world. So when I ran into a problem I didn't know how to handle I'd take down this book and I'd read to see how those fellers handled things. If there was someone I needed on my side I'd come to this book and pretty soon I'd find someone in here like the person I needed on my side. Then I'd do what they'd do and 99 times out of 100 it would be the right answer. You see Son Human nature doesn't change." This inspires me to continue to learn and to pass on to my children the value of knowing where we come from and how to learn from those who came before us.

5) I was mowing the other day thinking about the way God sees fit to provide for us. I grew up hearing stories of miraculous ways God answers prayer. How folks would pray for healing or sell all they had in "faith" and then blamo, God would give them a better job or a million dollar check would show up in the mail or they never felt sick again. Now before I start sounding too cynical, please don't misunderstand. I trust God, I have no doubt that He is more than able to do these things. My question is, does He always or even mostly? I'm sure there are cases where God has miraculously provided for the physical needs of his children without any effort on their part, but is that how He usually works? It has been my experience that when a need arises, I without fail talk to my Father about it. I trust Him to help us. Then guess what? We work. And you know what? We are thankful for the work. I've been mowing a lot this summer and it's been nice. While I would prefer to stay home and care for the needs at home full-time, I'm also thankful for work that doesn't take me away from my kiddos all day everyday. I'm thankful for a flexible schedule. I'm thankful to be able to help supply the needs of my family. I'm also thankful for the unexpected joys too. While I mow I have a lot of time to think, to pray and to listen to uplifting music and books. This is such a precious treasure for a mother of little ones. I often think of you while I'm mowing and pray for you. I think about how I can be a better friend and ask our Father to help me with that. So for those of you out there who don't get the "easy answers" from God that we've come to expect, try to see the joy in where you are. See the blessing in how He has chosen to provide for you. Think of our brothers and sisters who have it so much worse than we do. And remember that God is concerned with our souls and eternal destiny, perhaps the difficulty you are facing is what will help conform you into His image. Perhaps it is your difficulty that will help you to show his love to someone else in trying times. And so go out today my friend, knowing that this week as I mow I will mention you to our Father and I will be thanking Him for so many blessings.

6) Another topic that has been wallering around in my mind is the idea of how powerful influence is in determining where we end up in life. This was another topic of discussion at a Wednesday night service and I wish so badly I could just play back the whole discussion for you. It wasn't all brand new information for me, but it defiantly helped me organize and solidify some basic beliefs. I can't communicate it all in this space, but here is a basic "jist" for you. Our actions are a result of our values. So,what determines our values? Our values are determined by what we allow to influence us, be it people, media or ideas. This is pretty basic and in some ways a no-brainer. However, so often we unknowingly develope a value system based on influences we are not aware are having such an impact on our lives and especially the lives of our children. I see this so keenly with my own little ones. While I have years of experience and information that have formed solid beliefs, my kiddos don't have that yet. And if they are exposed to influences that I easily reject, they are probably not filtering the influence in the same way I am. This helps me to vigilantly guard the influences that my little ones are exposed to and to help them filter the ones that they have no choice but be exposed to. Why? Because these influences will help shape their values and in turn their actions. In the same way positive influences are powerful and I diligently seek these out so that they are exposed to the positive shaping these can bring. This is truly a simplification of where the discussion went and where my brain has been. But like I said, perhaps it will spark your mind to explore the idea on your own.

7) I'll end today with a disclaimer. I was looking back over my old posts and saw a comment that was written for my close girlfriends who know me well. However, I remembered that not everyone who reads my blog may know me well. As I know I can't possibly cover every misunderstanding, I do want to correct anything that may communicate a world view that I do know share. I posted a few pictures of my boys. and I said that I posted them because I was a "proud momma". Let me clarify that I believe it futile to be "proud" of my children simply for how they look. Since I really had no control over what DNA strands may have combined to produce the children I have. I am proud of my boys when they make wise choices or go above and beyond what I've asked of them, but that is a whole different situation than being proud of something that takes no effort on the part of an individual. I use phrases like, "A proud Momma" or "You done good" very lightly and my close friends would understand that. It does not however, reflect my true understanding of what one should gain pride or identity.

So there you have it, in a nut shell that's what has been on my brain. ( A nut shell is more than adequate space for my brain.) Blessings on you all today.

Summer Days

2008-07-08T14:32:00.034-05:00

I've been working my brain lately on a couple of topics we have studied in church lately. I'm not quite ready to blog anything on my thoughts, I'm just too short on time to do that. I will, however, leave you with a few more photos of the last few days.

July 4th was a rainy day. We had plenty of outdoor projects needing to be accomplished, but alas Mother Nature had other plans. However, there is ALWAYS the pressing need to fold laundry around here(Tara you know my weakness). We are trying to teach the boys different chores around the house this often takes more time, but hopefully will pay off in the end....

July 5th Keith, Rachel, Matt and I hosted a July 4th Celebration, complete with fire works ala "Super Keith", for our church family ".

This week is going to be busier still. Yesterday Rachel and I did some landscape work up at our church camp. Today "Lil Guy" came to visit and the boys have been having a wonderful time. Our neighbors are finally home from their vacation and the girls came down to take the boys berry picking. These two young ladies have no idea what a break they give this Momma when they come over to "play" with the boys. They are so gracious! Combined the kiddos all picked enough berries to make a pie! Micah is looking distressed because he cut his finger in the woods while picking berries.

I hope you have a lovely week enjoying the beautiful warm summer weather.

Happy Independance Day!

2008-07-03T23:41:00.001-05:00

I know, I know, I haven't blogged in forever. I really do miss you all, but you know how it goes. Busy, busy, busy. This summer I am mowing for 3 hours about two days a week, I help a friend out in her office one afternoon a week and sometimes if it's crazy busy at the rocking chair plant I go help out there. So you add a couple boys and a house to that mix and presto, you don't blog. I will be back though, I do so miss staying in better contact with you. Until it slows a bit I will leave you with these pictures that my dear friend Lora took of the boys. Why? Well, cuz I'm a proud Momma, that's why. :)

Meet the Presidents

2008-06-18T09:09:00.005-05:00

It has been a very busy summer, thus explaining my absence from the blog world. Lots of mowing, lots of chair building, lots of running in general. We are now in the midst of trying to prepare our back yard for a bigger pool this year. And so the "To Do" list never ends. I'm not complaining, I know this is the phase we are in at this point in our lives. Find me a 30-something aged couple(especially with kiddos) and I'll show you a couple of insanely busy folks. Someday when the boys are gone and our landscape is done and our house is clean, we'll look at each other and say, "I wonder if the kids need help with their yards?" I know we will miss the constant questions about some new creature they have found and brought to the door for inspection.

Speaking of creatures, I am officially calling this the "Summer of Creatures". I have unsuspectingly answered the door to find the following creatures in the hands of a boy..... a dead rabbit, turtles, spiders, worms, ants, and I'm sure there have been more I just can't recall. I started washing out peanut butter jars and leaving them in the garage for our explorers to place their charges. We also decided after several creatures into the summer that we should start naming our creatures after the presidents(this is a tricky way to teach your kids). So without further ado, I introduce to you.....(drum roll please...)

GEORGE WASHINGTON(btw, that's Matt's boot, so the spider is covering that much area on an adult male's boot!)

and JOHN ADAMS

Photo Journal Part 2

2008-06-05T09:03:00.018-05:00

OK, where were we? Oh yes, we were at Disney World on Tuesday. On Wednesday we went down to the Treasure Coast. We met Harold, Kayla, Landon, and Dillan at MFI and got a tour of the facilities. MFI and the work the Martin's do there is so practical and yet really is a part of reaching the world for Jesus. If you don't already support Harold and Kayla on a monthly basis I would encourage you to do so.(Pardon the shameless plug for my friends.) After our tour we all went to lunch at a delicious little Mom and Pop place called the Red Barn. They serve the best fresh squeezed OJ you've ever tasted. We then headed on down to HS and the boys spent the afternoon splashing together in the pool. Later Kayla invited her parents, Gay, and Vernon's over for a cookout. It was so good to be with so many dear friends. I don't have many pictures from Wednesday because my camera is very willful and so was in a mood. grrr. Kayla and I on the back porch of her beautiful new home.

Matt and our boys checking out the cockpit of the DC4 Harold flies.

On Thursday we went back to Central Florida and spent the rest of the day relaxing by the pool.

Well, some of us relaxed!

Now you know why I love this man so much!

So much like his mother.

The rest of our time in Florida was spent with Family.

My brother Larry's family at Steven's graduation party.

Micah and Maria.

Carl and Tamme with Steven at his Graduation Party on Saturday.

Carl's Family at Steven's Graduation last Sunday.

A very proud Aunt!

Well that's it. I hope you enjoyed a photo journal of our vacation. We send our best wishes for a blessed summer to you and your families.

Photo Journal of Vacation Part 1

2008-06-03T09:52:00.014-05:00

This year we went to Florida for our family vacation. Since having children Matt and I have made it a priority to go on vacation once a year. We save and save to do this because we feel like it is so important for our family. However, up to this point we've always just taken extended weekend vacations. This year however, my nephew was graduating from High School down in Central Florida so we decided to take a whole week off. I felt rather irresponsible going when gas prices are so high, however, we had already booked the house when gas was $1 cheaper per gallon and just couldn't get out of it without losing money. Well, I'm happy to report we stayed within budget and had a great time! (no more guilt, yeah!)

We met my parents in GA on Sunday and then headed on down to FL on Monday morning. We had to stop on our way down at a farmers market for fresh produce and at a bookstore that priced all their books under $3!! We finally arrived at our rental house around 5pm on Monday and just relaxed and had a cook out with Carl's and Larry's families. The next morning we woke up early and went to Disney World. A man at Carl and Tamme's church works at Disney and gave us all park hopper passes for FREE!! Thanks Eugene! Here are some pictures of our day.

I love the Florida sky.

A nice lady offered to take a group picture for us.

The never ending lines!

Courtney shot this picture for us.

Micah on the Teacups. I had the boys wear hats to protect them from the sun, however, Micah kept turning his sideways with the string over his face. Go figure!

Steven talking with his "Little Buddy". Notice Josiah is sacked out in the stroller, Disney can be exhausting!

Chris watching his cousins play at Pooh Corner.

Micah refreshing himself at a "spring".

Checking out the Swiss Family Tree House.

We also went over to Epcot for a couple hours. The boys LOVED the aquarium there. The photo below is proof that there is such thing as having too much fun. :)

Well, I have more photos from our trip, but I'll stop with Disney for now, since I need to get a few things done before lunch. Check back later for more photos.

WERE BACK!

2008-06-02T15:29:00.006-05:00

Hola my Blogging Amigas!

I sit here a bit nauseated from an all nighter trip home from Sunny Florida!(BTW, this was much easier to do 15 years ago) I've missed you all, but had a wonderful time. As always though, it's good to be home. We left Lakeland yesterday afternoon around 4:30pm and arrived home around 8am. We've just rested today, and plan to rest more tonight. Tomorrow we'll get back into the swing of our lives.

We had such a nice time and would definitely recommend renting a house while on vacation as opposed to hotels. We shared the house with my Dad and Mom and so it was actually cheaper to stay there than get a hotel. We had a private pool, full kitchen and laundry, so spent a very minimal amount on food. Not to mention having a big house with a private pool and game room was so nice when my brothers and their families came over to visit.

So tomorrow I will have energy and I'll post a photo journal of our week. This is the first week long vacation we have ever taken as a family and our favorite part of the trip was just getting to be together. Our lives are so busy, it is a real treat to just have a whole week with nearly every moment spent together. We kept singing periodically during the week, "We're on vacation!" (everything is a song with us)

Well, I need to at least put a few things away and maybe mow the lawn. Check back tomorrow.

Photo Journal

2008-05-15T10:15:00.013-05:00

Mother's Day morning. I got hugs, breakfast in bed and a homemade card with an "Off Duty" badge to wear for the day. Matt answered all questions, cared for the boy's needs, and did Daddy/Mommy duty in general all day. It was WONDERFUL!
We found 2 box turtles this week. Josiah named his Rex and Micah named his Pregnant. I'm thinking he doesn't understand that pregnant is a state of being, not a name.

A couple of weeks ago Josiah had his last group recital. His wonderful teacher is semi-retiring(she is holding the retirement gift Joisah made her in this picture. She will still give private lessons, but will no longer give group lessons or recitals. It was a wonderful concert, I'll have to post a few video clips later.
Some of the kiddos from our church who take lessons from Dr. and Mrs. Mellado.

Our parenting class this month was held at Bryan and Shelli's and we brought our kiddos along. Our class represents 12 children, only 3 of those are girls. :) Here are some shots of the boys wrestling with Mr. Robb.

I had to share this with my girlfriends. I was invited to an Uppercase Living party. It's a new line of wall rub-ons(for lack of a better term). I got this small verse to see how I would like the effect on my wall. I love it, and plan to incorporate more verses throughout our home. They have plenty of great pre-made verses and images to choose from, but you can also customize your own. Such a neat way to add a personal touch to your home.

We've been studying the Romans the last couple of weeks. These are some Mosaics the boys made. Josiah's is of an Aqueduct and Micah's is of a checkerboard. The other day the boys piled chairs, blankets and such in a corner and I heard, "Micah we are two Romans and we are fighting one Carthaginian(I'm assuming that was me). Then Josiah runs to his room and comes out with his pool noodle and says, "And here is an Aquadot!" TOO FUNNY!

Hope you enjoyed this little Photo Journal of the last few weeks. Hope you have a blessed day.

Whew, what a week!

2008-05-15T08:54:00.004-05:00

It's been one of those Mommy weeks. You know the kind that totally exhausts you and you haven't even done a lot of physical labor. It's my poor little brain that is so tired, well my brain and my heart. Not in a bad way, just in a very "worked out" sort of way. Am I making any sense? If not, just blame it on my "exercised" brain. We've had tons of rain and so the boys have been inside. It seems that once Spring comes and they are released from the confines of the house, if it rains and they are confined again they are like caged animals. Lord help the Zoo Keeper!

The very nature of how Matt and I parent lends itself to mental exhaustion. We understand that the first several years of a child's life they cannot really understand themselves and so we attempt to explain their hearts to them. This means we have to be very attentive to their motives etc.. so that we can "read" them properly. Lot's of issues are self-evident, but the energy of explaining it all is tiring. For example, if the boys are fighting over toys they know they are "breaking a house rule" but what they don't understand is that their hearts are acting out of greed and selfishness(greed on the part of the one taking the toy, selfishness on the part of the one insisting on keeping the toy). Sometimes I think, "Wouldn't it be easier to just tell them no, swat their tooshies and be done with it?" And yes it would, but I'm looking to get their hearts not just their actions. And so this has been a week of lots of training and explaining. It also has my mind thinking on what it is God, my heavenly father, wants from us.

On Monday we went to town, we got home right at nap time. I gave the boys instructions. I specifically told Josiah, "I need you to pick up the toys in the yard and then go in the house, because it's nap time." Several minutes later I was still outside and Josiah was nowhere to be found. I looked up at the house and he was sitting in the living room looking out the window. He had followed the letter of my law. I only specifically asked him to pick up the toys,and he had obeyed. I was not at all pleased with his legalistic approach to obedience. But I wasn't sure if he really had understood my intent so I asked him. "Josiah, what do you think Mommy wanted you to do after you picked up the toys?" He responded, "you probably wanted me to go potty and then go to bed." I affirmed this as true and explained that what will help me to really trust him and will in turn give him more freedom is if he will think about what Mommy would want him to do and then do it. Because there is no way I could ever give him enough instruction to cover every little detail in life and so I want him to learn to use his brain to do what he knows would be right.
That little scenario reminded me again of what I believe God wants from me. I'm not one bit interested in a relationship with my children that consists of them figuring out how much they have to do or how much they can get away with and still be following all my rules. I want their hearts. I don't think God is interested either in a relationship with his children that consists of us following the letter of the law and not reading his intent and thinking through what would be pleasing to him. He wants our hearts. If I am truly trusting him for my very salvation at the end of this life, if I am truly loving him with all my heart, mind, and soul it seems ridiculous to look at life through a lens which says, "Now what do I have to do or how much can I get away with?" It's as crazy as saying to my husband, "Now I know I can't commit adultery, but you never said anything about flirting."

So as you can see my brain has had it's work out this week. I'm looking forward to Friday night. Becca, Lora, and I are going to the Friday Night Crop at the local Scrapbooking store. It will be nice to have a few hours to relax and laugh with my girlfriends. My brain could use the break. :)

Mother's Day "Hints"

2008-05-08T19:42:00.004-05:00

I had to laugh today. Let me share a couple conversations with you.

Josiah: Mommy, I can't tell you what we are making you for Mother's Day, cause it's a secret.

Me: OK, don't tell me Bub.

Josiah: I will give you a hint, but not a really good one cause you might be smart like Miss Jo and be able to figure out my hint.

Me: Maybe you shouldn't give me a hint.

Josiah: I won't give you a good hint. Ok, the Ferguson's used to have one and you put it in a tree.

Later today at supper the topic came up again.

Josiah: We can't tell you what we are making you for Mother's Day.

Me: Bub, your hint was pretty good earlier, you probably shouldn't say any more.

Micah: I can tell you after Mother's Day

Josiah: You won't need to tell her, we can show her.

Micah(in a whisper to me): Yes, I won't tell you that we are getting you a fern and making you a hammock.

Me: That's good not to tell me Micah.

I quickly exited the room to laugh.

So guess what I'll be getting for Mother's Day?

On a Lite Note

2008-04-24T11:37:00.003-05:00

I was in the house yesterday trying to get a few things done while the boys were outside playing.....

Josiah: Mommy, Mommy come here.

Julia: Yes, Bub what do you need?

Josiah: Will you go get the video camera? Micah and I have the funniest thing ever for you to put on your blog.

Julia: What is it?

Josiah: Go get the camera and I'll show you.

Julia: Mmm? Well, I'll get the camera, but I'm not promising it will be on my blog.

OK, so it wasn't "the funniest thing ever" but it was a bit "thrilling" to watch.
Hope you have a happy day.

Please excuse me while I remind myself of something.

2008-04-22T08:07:00.005-05:00

We are trying to make a decision right now. It's not life or death, but this decision has the potential to make life a bit more stressful. The right choice isn't terribly obvious and so we are praying and using every ounce of common sense God has given us to make the best choice possible. I'm not one to "hang out" in the valley of decision. I get annoyed by people who wishy wash around on decisions. Ya know, often times the seemingly most obvious sensible choice is staring them in the face and they say, "I don't know what to do, I pray and pray, but I just don't know what to do." Terribly unspiritual of me, but in all honesty it just drives me bonkers. I tend to look at my choices, pray for God's wisdom, and then unless I hear otherwise from God, I make the choice that seems most sensible (which does not always result in choosing the funnest things by the way). This is probably how most of us make our decisions. We just frame it up different ways. Some say they "felt" God wanted them to do such and such or even that he "told" them to do such and such and that's fine, I guess, but it's not necessarily verbiage I can completely understand. And it can have the potental of rendering the person unquestionable. After all God talks to them and tells them what to do, who am I to question? I do however, understand the sense of peace I have felt after making a decision that I thought was one with which God would be pleased. I trust that God will give wisdom to those who truly seek His will. However, I have never had God come out and tell me what to do. I'm not saying He doesn't do that, I'm just saying I've never had that happen. And I also know that people who love God and trust him sometimes make bad decisions. And I don't feel any obligation to come up with a reason for why God "let" this bad decision happen. It's part of the human experience. Sometimes a good Christian will buy a bad car, pastor a bad church, or even invest in bad stock. I believe that while God doesn't enjoy our suffering, neither is He as consumed with our happiness and comfort as modern Christianity has made Him out to be. He is concerned with out eternal destiny.

As I'm growing older I'm understanding better what it means to have an eternal perspective. That what is here and now isn't what we are living for anyway. The most important part of the here and now is that the choices we make and the things that we vaule can effect where we are when "real" life begins. This has changed my relationship with Jesus tremendously. I don't expect my relationship with Jesus to result in a "cofortable" life. Instead my serving Him means I will trust Him no matter what this life holds. I trust Him for joy, peace, and comfort in eternity and that gives me joy and peace right here and now. Sometimes I get tired thinking of working for the rest of my life. I start thinking like an American and wondering if there is any weight to the theory that if we handle our money well God will give us more. Or if I make good choices everybody will love, like and appreciate me. That if I ask God for any "reasonable" thing He will give it to me. Then I hear a news flash on Christians living in North Korea. How they are imprisoned, tortured and going without just BECAUSE they love Jesus. And then I wake up and realize that comfort, ease, and plenty are not guarantees of Christianity. And all our best efforts at making good choices may not result in ease, comfort, or plenty either.

And so while I'm not seeking out hardship, I'm not running from it in fear. I trust Jesus. I'll trust him to help me make my decision and then trust Him with the consequences that come with that decision. I'll trust Him with plenty or with nothing. I will trust Him with this life and the one to come. I will trust Him.

Tag Thingy and Pictures that are in no way connected.

2008-04-10T14:04:00.007-05:00

I was tagged a hundred years ago and am just getting to this. See "bad habits" portion for explanation.

What I was doing 10 years ago: I was finishing up the album "The Highway" and traveling full-time with Vision. (I think Jani's wedding prep was going on too.)

Five things on my to-do list today:
1. Read/do school with the boys.
2. Laundry
3. Clean bathrooms/Straighten the house
4. Do my Denise Austin walk Video. (thanks Becca for the accountability)
5. Go to Pregnancy Center fund raising banquet.

Snacks that I enjoy:
MT.DEW!!,chocolate, cheese and crackers, chips and dip, pb&j,....I'm trying to think of something healthy.....I like grapes?

5 Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. Pay off all bills and then invest for the future.
2. Help friends and family in need.
3. Build a gym for our church.
4. Put more showers and flushable potties at our church camp.
5. Buy an ultrasound machine for our local pregnancy center.

Three of my bad habits:
1. Being late. (I really am trying to break this one)
2. Being impatient.(Jesus is helping me, but oh it's a tough one to break)
3. Not following through on good intentions.

Five Places I have Lived:
1. Lakeview,MI
2. Haines City, FL
3. Hobe Sound, FL
4. Odin, IL
5. Salem, IL

Five jobs that I have had:
1. Golden Corral (my first job)
2. Construction
3. Biotech paper shuffler. (one summer Tara and I worked for Southern Biotech, I was afraid when I was pregnant my babies would come out green from some strange illness that was dormant in my system after being in that bio-disease lab for a month.)
4. Trash Out Specialist (you go in a NASTY house and shovel out the filth people left behind. It's gross, but pays very well.)
5. Telemarketer (in college, please don't hate me)

Below are some totally unrelated pictures. They are of the Homeschool Convention I attended a few weeks ago. It was so fun to be with Tara, Derek, and Kelly as well as my girlfriends from home. (So sad we didn't get picture when Tara and Derek were with us.)

In the Vendor Hall

Talking with Jesse Wise a gracious, classy lady.

One of my heroines.

With Jim Weiss and his sweet wife. If you've never heard a book/story on CD by this man, you really must.

An Insanely Long Post for Those Who Have Asked.

2008-04-08T11:32:00.013-05:00

This post will not interest many of you and that's OK. Please don't feel obligated to make a nice comment, I release you from that obligation. :) I've been asked by a few people how we educate our kiddos and after phone calls and long personal emails I've decided it may be easier to write one post on how/why we home educate as a reference for those who are interested. Also as a disclaimer. The following is in no way a reflection on those who choose to educate their children differently. We all obviously choose what we do because we think it best and it would be silly to be offended because someone lands in a different place than we do. I know home education is not for everyone and this is just my account of why we are where we are.

Matt and I decided we would home educate our children before they were even born. We observed children being home educated and were impressed with the contrast between their education and the ones we had experienced growing up. I was publicly educated for most of my years and then privately educated for a few years. While I learned the 3 R's I didn't learn to love learning, in fact most of the time I felt dumb. Compulsory education works well for children who tend to be visual learners. If memorization is easy for you chances are you were on the honor roll and graduated with gold chords. Matt was one of those visual kids. He was in the "challege classes and can still recall facts from 6th grade science class. However, he still didn't learn to love learning or to self-educate. We wanted our children to love learning, to self-educate and to be proficient statesment like Thomas Jefferson. We were also concerned with the influence teachers and fellow students would have on our children. While I know there are some wonderful godly teachers out there, we wanted to be the main influence in shaping how our children think, learn and what they value. Time equals influence and while our children's character is still being molded the thought of 6 hours a day away from our influence and under someone else's influence made us very uncomfortable. I came to believe that "socialization" is not really an issue. We are raising our children to be healthy adults and putting a bunch of 5 year olds together isn't exactly the means of achieving that goal. We do however teach them the value of people according to God and therefore expect them to speak to people and show kindness no matter what the persons age, race, or religion. In other words socialization is taught by parents not schools. I've met many "backward" & shy children and they are found both in compulsory schools and home schools. Now concerning friendships with peers, that 'issue" we address by developing friendships at church and in other outside the home activities. However these friendships are monitored by Daddy and Mommy and we are able to train healthy relationship skills in the moments that provide opportunities.

And so I started reading. I felt very inadequate to teach. After all I was "dumb", how could I ever dream of teaching a child? I figured the best place to start was to pick a philosophy of education then I could pick a packaged curriculum based on that philosophy. So I read about Charlotte Mason, Classical education, Traditional education, Un-schooling etc... After reading "A Thomas Jefferson Education", "For the Children's Sake", and "A Different Kind of Teacher" I was seriously leaning toward a literature based and example based education. But I was intimidated to step away from a packaged curriculum. When I picked up Jesse Wise's book "The Well Trained Mind" I was sold. She made Classical Education do-able. I was drawn to this form of education because it made sense to me. You study history chronologically, you cover a wide range of subjects, and you follow the Trivium(cram facts while in the grammar stage, learn the why of the facts in the logic stage,and then you learn to communicate those facts and apply them in the rhetoric stage). Reading is a must for all of life. I found myself thinking, "I wish I had been educated this way." While I knew it would be a lot of work, I wanted what I thought best for our children so by the time Josiah was 3 I was pretty committed to classically educating him. Of course we had been "educating" him from day one. We talked a lot to him, read aloud to him, not just children's books but whatever I was reading at the time, and once he started talking we answered his many questions with real answers not just, "because God made it that way" etc... We knew that he wasn't catching everything we said, but it was good practise for us and, if nothing more, it would increase his vocabulary. We obviously did the same with Micah. And so that brings me to the present.

"School" is not intense for us. Josiah just turned 5 and Micah just turned 3. So most of their day is spent playing. We work according to what I feel they are able to handle. There are many great choices out there for curriculum, but at some point you have to stop looking and just settle somewhere. Here is a list of curriculum we have used thus far for those who have asked.

Josiah
Reading/Phonics - Hooked on Phonics (I'm not sure I would have picked it from all the options out there, but my Aunt gave it to us and it works.)
We also use various readers to encourage the love of reading and not the work of it only.

History - Tapestry of Grace. As opposed to a textbook this is more of a chronological unit study of history, basically a guide to resources for parents. We love it. (www.tapestryofgrace.com)
We supplement with Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer as well.

Writing - Zaner-Bloser Handwriting (got it on Amazon)

Math - Math U See Primer (Good program for engaging eyes, ears and hands)
We supplement with Saxon's Scope and Sequence to make sure all topics are covered.

Science - Christian Liberty Nature Readers. (I read while they keep a "notebook" of drawings. It blew my mind how accurate their "reports" of the creatures were to Daddy at the end of the day.)

Language - This year we worked through Language Lessons for Little Ones by Sandy Queen. We really enjoyed that, but we had already covered some of the material in that book so skipped a lot of it. We are planning on using Language Lessons by Jesse Wise next year. (also purchased at Amazon)

Latin - I just purchased a Latin program at the Homeschool Convention I attended. I went to a really great seminar explaining all the reasons to teach Latin. I was pumped and so bought Song School Latin. It is specifically geared to K thru 3rd grade. However, Micah is totally into it too. We haven't touched the workbook yet, but listen to the CD. The boys actually request that CD often.

Micah
Reading/Phonics - Micah learned a ton from the Leap Frog Videos on reading. He knows most of his letter sounds thanks to Tad and his siblings. :) Currently we are working through "An Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading" by Jesse Wise. It only takes us about 10 mins each day and Micah LOVES getting his own time with Mommy "doing school".

He also sits in on History and Science with us as well.

Bible - Matt and I read a catechism(thanks Jenny) on a tape and sometimes the boys listen to that or we listen to the Bible on CD. A new wonderful NKJV audio version (with sound effects etc.) is available at WalMart. It is so captivating the boys listen very intently. Right now History includes a lot of Bible for us, so we get quite a bit of Bible during History as well.

I was inspired at the Homeschool Convention to incorporate more poetry memorization into our lives. I am planning to buy a poetry memorization CD set from Andrew Pudewa's Institute for Excellence in Writing. (www.excellenceinwriting.com) I was also very convicted at the convention by Mr. Pudewa to read aloud more to the boys. Since we started "doing" school officially I haven't been reading to them nearly as much as before. Now we start our day with at least 45 mins of me reading a book aloud to them. We just finished Hank the Cowdog this morning and Freddy the Detective Pig last week. They love it and always ask for more. I will say the first week or so of this much reading left me with a sore throat.

Because the boys are so young we do a lot of hands on projects. The pictures in this blog are of our projects from our month long study of Classical Greece. We made Archimedes Screw, a Trojan Horse, and Grecian war helmets. We did these projects during our Tuesday night family nights. So Daddy got in on them too. I have found we better remember the things we study when we incorporate hand-on projects. As I look and see all this written out, it looks like so much. But really we start reading time right after breakfast and getting dressed(around 9am) and we are always done by noon. This includes the hour or so of my reading while they play quietly on the floor, violin, and all the other subjects. Most of what we do except Phonics, Math and Penmanship is me reading while they draw, play with playdough or play quietly on the floor. So obviously it's not terribly intense. As they grow older that will change, but for now it's plenty and they seem to be learning a lot.

So that's about it. For those of you who have questions feel free to ask about anything I may not have been clear on. I will close with a short list of books that have helped me on my journey of home education.

The Well Trained Mind by Jesse Wise and Susan Wise Bauer
For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay (Francis Schaeffer's daughter)
The Homeschool Journey by Susan Card (Michael Card's wife)
A Thomas Jefferson Education by Oliver Van DeMille
A Different Kind of Teacher by John Taylor Gatto (NY state teacher of the year)
The Basic Steps to Successful Homeschooling by Vicki A. Brady
100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum: Choosing the Right Curriculum and Approach for Your Child's Learning Style by Cathy Duffy

Happy Birthday Micah!

2008-04-01T19:45:00.014-06:00

We celebrated Micah's 3rd Birthday yesterday. It's funny, with Josiah I can't believe he's already 5 years old, but with Micah it's hard to believe he's only 3. Strange I know, but I think it's because he is so verbal, he just doesn't seem that young. He brings so much joy to our lives. Micah has a wonderful sense of humor and is forever making us laugh. He loves animals and is as compassionate as he is funny. We are so blessed to have this little bit of sunshine in our home.

I gave Micah a couple options for his birthday celebration, and he chose to go to Build-a-Bear. Uncle Dennis and Aunt Cathy were home from Florida so we had the pleasure of having them join us. Matt took off of work early and we headed to St. Louis to eat Pizza (Micah's requested birthday meal) and to build-a-bear. In spite of the name of the store, Micah actually built a dinosaur and upon it's completion he promptly named it Yikes. While his choice in names surprised us, we felt it was a rather appropriate name for a Triceratops. Really, if one ever ran into a Triceratops it's highly probable that the first words out of one's mouth would be, "YIKES!" Micah and Siah were then treated by Aunt Cathy to a ride on a train in the mall. On the way home we stopped by Cold Stone for yummy ice cream to finish off the night of fun. Below you will find a photo journal of our evening. Enjoy!

Pizza first!

Then Build-A-Bear.

Picking out Yikes

Picking Yike's "sound" (a fierce roar)

Filling Yikes with stuffing

Yikes is done and ready for a hug.

Yikes gets his first bath.

With Uncle Dennis and Aunt Cathy

HE IS RISEN! He is risen indeed!

2008-03-17T09:28:00.002-06:00

Josiah and Micah singing the Easter Song our family has been learning this month.

Farewell DQ! Parting is such sweet sorrow...well maybe just sweet.

2008-03-14T07:11:00.007-06:00

Last night was the final meeting of the DQ Club in which we would be discussing the infamous book entitled, Don Quixote. I have to say that all present were VERY happy about that. While Don Quixote, hereafter referred to as DQ, is one of the most amusing books I have read, it is obvious that this book was written for a much "slower" world that had time for and enjoyed reading minute details. It is somewhat telling of our culture and how spoon fed we have become when it comes to entertainment. When Cervantes published this book in 1605 the world was a different place. Language was more beautiful, and those who could read most likely had enough money to hire most of the household work done. Therefore, they had the time and patience to sit back and enjoy page after page of detail concerning our Knight and his faithful Squire, Sancho Panza.

So would I suggest you read DQ? Yes and No. I literally laughed out loud with this book on many occasions. It is without a doubt hilarious. However, the hilarity goes on and on and on and on....well you get the idea. I would definitely suggest an abridged version of Don Quixote, although DQ himself would probably call me a miscreant for uttering such blasphemy.

So how does one condense such a book? Well you can go online and find a number of reviews by really smart people or go buy Sparks Notes if you want a real review of DQ. However, for your enjoyment and because Jenny asked, I will share my own very simplied version of the Knight of the Rueful Countenance.

The country gentleman of La Mancha,Don Quixada, was enamored with books of romance. He spent all his time and fortune on reading and purchasing books of chivalry. He so enamored his brain with these works that he soon became "soft in the head" and was quite convinced that he too was a Knight. And so one day to the great surprise of his niece and housekeeper, DQ was gone. He saddled his skinny, pathetic workhorse and renamed her Rocinante (translated, workhorse no more). He also decorated himself with old, rusted, patched-together armor he abscounded from the walls and old trunks in his home. He renamed himself Don Quixote de la Mancha (Quijote is a piece of armor). He recognized that a true Knight has no purpose without a Lady Fair for which to fight. So he chooses Dulcenea del Tolboso(Or so he named her). Mind you he had never met Dulcenea, but that's just a matter of consequence to DQ. He sallied forth on his first adventure. Whereupon he met the faithful, yet simple Sancho Panza. Sancho readily left wife and children for the promise of the government of an island that he and DQ would one day vanquish. Fear not though fair reader, Sancho has always planned to have his own Teresa join him when he governs the said island.

It only takes a short time and a windmill to reveal to Sancho the softness of his Master's brain. But, the ever insecure Sancho always questions his own sanity, when his very well spoken Master insists that what he sees is reality. The windmills for instance are great giants to DQ and he bravely attacks them with his trusty lance. Sancho begs DQ to forebear, but alas, there is no stopping the valiant knight. A very bruised and broken-lanced knight is the result of the adventure. And so go all the adventures of DQ. And trust me there are pages and pages of such adventures. DQ attacks imagined foes and the result is almost always his own bruising and often the bruising of poor Sancho.

Part 1 ends with DQ back home thanks to the craftiness of some friends. He is ill(due to the fact that he rarely eats or sleeps as a result of his lovesick heart, a la Dulcinea)and is being nursed back to health by his niece and his housekeeper. Sancho is back home with his Juana(Teresa) who was too concerned with the health of their donkey to properly welcome Sancho home.(Cervantes sometimes forgets what he named a character and so sometimes calls them by a different name. He also forgets details. For instance, at one point Sancho lost his donkey,Dapple. Then a few chapters later he is riding Dapple again.)

Part 2 was written because Cevantes was offended. It seemed DQ was a booming success in Spain and even throughout other parts of the world. This was a nice break for Cervantes, since his life had been full of poverty, wrongful imprisonment and even a kidnapping by pirates at one point. And so success was sweet. Then a man named Alonso Fernandez de Avellaneda published in 1614 a sequel to DQ! To see just how indignant Cervantes was at Fernandez's audacity, read the preface to Part 2 of DQ next time you are in a Barnes and Noble. All in all, we can thank Senor Fernandez for the length of DQ.

Part 2 opens with DQ restless at home and scheming his next sally. .He contacts Sancho, who is all too ready to be off again. DQ is actually encouraged to seek adventure by his friend, the Bachelor Carrasco. Carrasco has a secret plan to bring DQ home for good, but we won't discover this until MUCH later in the book. Once again, adventure after adventure befalls our good knight who in this book earns the name, Knight of the Rueful Countenance and Knight of the Lion. (Due to his encounter with a hungry, and fortunately lazy Lion.)

The last half of Part 2 is a record of DQ's stay at the home of a Dutch and Duchess who are playing him for their own folly and entertainment. Sancho is "given" the government of an Island for their entertainment as well. Sancho soon learns that the responsibility of a Governor is not for him. Meanwhile, DQ after weeks of being the butt of every joke in the palace(of which he is totally unaware)sallies forth. Soon thereafter, he is challenged by the "Knight of the White Moon" (remember our Bachelor Friend and his plan to bring DQ home?) The Knight of the White Moon challenges DQ to admit that Dulcinea is not the fairest lady and that his own Lady is the fairest of all. Now these are fighting words with DQ and the terms are set and agreed upon. If the White Moon Knight wins the challenge DQ must lay aside his arms, desist from traveling in quest of adventures,quit the field and retire to his own habitation, where he should continue a whole year without drawing a sword. The Knight of the White Moon was the victor and so came to an end the knight errantcy of the great Don Quixote da la Mancha. DQ of course being a knight of honor would in every way comply with the terms of his defeat and so headed home with plans to buy a herd of sheep and spend the next year in solitude as a shepherd. Upon arriving home, DQ was taken with fever and was attended by his faithful Niece and Housekeeper. Sancho never left his bedside. And DQ was often visited by his good friends the Bachelor, the Barber, and the Curate. In his illness and impending death, DQ's senses return and he confesses he is not a knight, but the good man Alonso Quixano(this is the first time in the text we are given DQ's real name). Quixano's death is grieved greatly by all aforementioned persons, most especially Sancho.

Cervantes ends Part 2 with an admonition to Senor Fernandez. He beseeches Fernandez to "let the wearied and mouldering bones of Don Quixote rest in the grave."

What I learned from DQ
1. It really isn't that difficult to read this "old style" language once you get in the flow of it. In fact, after reading DQ for a few chapters I find myself wanting in everyday life to say things like, "Hark now my fair offspring. I implore you to acquiesce to the desires of mine heart. I beseech you therefore to quit thine base behavior and forgo the acts of treachery in which you are presently employed." (ie "listen to Mommy, stop fussing with each other!)
2. The prejudice against Jews and Moors in the 1600's in Spain was incredible and very evident in the text. (Spanish Inquisition anyone?) I'm thinking the present day Islamic Extremist haven't read DQ or there would be some considerable violence happening at publishing houses around the globe.
3. I learned a lot about Spanish History.
4. I learned about the pervading literature of the time and how much Cervantes deplored it.

And so, Fair Jenny of the Northlands, I hope you have enjoyed this account of our friend Don Quixote. I am anxious to get to some Jane Austen, thanks to your influence. But first, on to John Bunyan and Pilgrim's Progress.

The Late Winter Blahs

2008-03-08T10:24:00.008-06:00

I've given my blog a "sunny" look because perhaps the "power of positive thinking" will work. So here I am trying to be the first to pressure Spring into showing up. Actually, as I grow older I realize that even in the blah times our relationship with Jesus doesn't have to be. That while we may feel a force of blah and the "boredom" of just living, life can be real, alive and beautiful living in the peace of trusting Him in spite of everything else. I think that may be what Paul was talking about when he told us to let our moderation be known to all men. My understanding is that moderation is perhaps better understood in English as being "even keeled". So this notion of being on mountains and in valley all the time doesn't seem so necessary. I've had a couple weeks of learning. I'll share with you just a couple of the things I've been learning since my last post.

I've learned that I can let education get boring. In just trying to "get things done" and the desire to mark the next thing off my list, I've let our learning get boring. So this week we started projects again. The crazy thing is, while it is more work for me, crafts make the lessons more interesting for me too. We started the year at Creation and we are now up to 500 - 300 BC and so we are studying the Golden Age of the Greeks. The last two weeks we have worked on our Grecian War Helmets.(I'll be sure to share photos of those when they are done.) We plan to make a Trojan Horse and Archimedes Screw. The boys play with Play-Dough while I read History (which consist of Library books and a fun Magic Tree House book and non-fiction companion) and Aesop's Fables. We are writing our letters in rice and reading Clifford phonics books as a break from Hooked on Phonics. Daddy has been doing Violin practise with Josiah(which is a big treat for Josiah) and we are learning to tell time by playing with our Thomas the Tank Engine Clock book. All in all these little changes make "school" more interesting again and the zeal for learning is back in all of us.

I've also learned afresh that while the old saying "character is what you are when no one is looking" is true, that our true character is also revealed in times of pressure. We are studying the book of Mark in Sunday School and last week we read the account of Peter and the other disciples abandoning Jesus. My whole life I'd always looked at them as real losers for exiting the scene when Jesus needed them most. But last week our teacher said something that really opened my eyes. I won't try to quote him, but the basic point was that never before had the disciples been faced with this particular force. Jesus had always "taken on" his enemies and came out the "victor". His words always seemed to put any critic in their place. He healed the sick, came up with money, food, or a place to stay whenever they needed it and even avoided death a few times. The logical end in an ancient Jewish mind was for Jesus to continue to dominate and take the kingdom by storm. Then what they never saw coming happened and they were faced with a brand new force pushing buttons in their lives that had never been pushed. They reacted and their true character was revealed. That has happened to me many times and most recently about a week ago. I had a yucky spot in my character that I wasn't even aware existed, but the right forces came along and pushed new buttons and to my surprise a big ugly showed up. It had reared it's head before, but I always blew it off as a bad day, lack of sleep, or too much on my plate. But this time I realized that even with those excuses it didn't change the truth. While my plate may be full, the truth is what was revealed was the real me. Anybody can be pleasant or content or whatever in times of ease and low pressure, but it is in the times of pressure that the real me comes to the forefront. While it is painful to see these short comings, I really am thankful. It is in having these thing revealed that I become more like Jesus. I am made aware of my desperate need for Him and my utter dependence on Him. Not to mention, it makes me a better wife, mother, and friend.

And so I am learning everyday. And contrary to the insane idea that at some point we arrive and have it all together spiritually, I plan to continue to learn with God's help until the day that I die.

Happy To You Siah!!

2008-02-24T11:18:00.022-06:00

Just so you know "Happy to you" is not a typo. When Josiah was 2 he called all things related to Birthdays, Happy To You. There was the Happy To You cake and Happy To You cards and Happy To You parties. It's hard to believe he's grown up so much in just a few years. It's really hard to believe that our oldest is 5 years old. Wow, where does time go?

We've had a very eventful weekend. On Friday night we had Josiah's Birthday dinner. He asked for chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans, all served on the "Happy Day Plate" of course. Gone are the days of hot dog and mac and cheese birthday suppers. It's funny Josiah acts like Matt, but he is built like my family, very solid. (see birthday meal choice for reference) He also requested cup cakes, as opposed to a fun shaped cake. In this way he is like his Daddy, he likes things very predictable and simple, chocolate cupcake, chocolate icing....no frills thank you. (He was OK with me adding candy tools as a decorative touch though. Now Micah, well he is built like Matt's family, but the rest is all my fault. :)

On Saturday our family and cousin Savannah went to the Magic House in St. Louis. This is such a fun place. It is basically a Children's Museum with tons of hands on stuff to do. We had a blast. Below are several pictures from our day.

To Brighten Your Day

2008-02-19T22:48:00.001-06:00

Micah singing Holy, Holy, Holy during his bedtime snack.

Parenting Class

2008-02-18T12:04:00.003-06:00

I know I've mentioned a few times that Matt and I host a Parenting Class in our home. Last Saturday night we met together again. We are always so encouraged and challenged by these good friends to continue to pursue excellence in training our little ones. I thought I'd post a couple pictures of our class. I wish you could know all these precious people. Each one brings their own personality and strenth to the table that helps each of us be better parents and better people.

The whole class minus me. (a new couple will be joining us next month.)

The Ladies!

Happy News and other stuff

2008-02-12T10:43:00.000-06:00

While speaking with Charity on the phone the other night she made a comment about my b-day blog still being up. I didn't say anything, but thought, "The poor dear hasn't checked my blog in so long she doesn't know I've updated since then." Well today I sat down at my trusty, albeit slightly neglected, computer and found that Charity was right. So sorry to have you coming back to check a blog with no updates in the past month. Pathetic I know.

We just got home last night from an Expo (for Matt' work) in Minnesota. The boys were a big hit there (the only kids in the place) and we hope we sold rocking chairs too. It was cold, no not the, "brr it's 20 degrees cold", I'm talking freeze your nose hairs cold. I really am rethinking the concept of Hell being hot, perhaps.....well; I'll stop there lest I be labeled a heretic. Let's just say 17 degress BELOW zero is absolutely INSANE. In spite of the weather we did have such a nice time. Pictures will be coming soon.

I also have some very Happy News. I got a message from Jani's Mom informing me that a new little man has joined the JB family. Jordon Lawrence was born Feb. 9 @ 3:25am. He was 7lbs 9 oz and 20 inches long. Mommy and Jordon are doing well. I'll try to get a picture to post of the little fella. (check out www.our365.com, his photo is not up yet, but should be soon.)

Speaking of little fellas here are a few funnies (and one not so funny, but just plain embarrassing) I've been overhearing from Micah of late.

While listening to Brooklyn Tab's "Take up Your Cross", I hear Micah singing, "Count the crust take up your cross and follow Him." He then turns to me with a very perplexed look on his face and says, "Why count the crust?"

I hear banging coming from the other end of the house, upon investigation I find Micah banging on Josiah's bedroom door yelling, "Open in the name of the King!"

Micah - "Daddy was that funny?"
Matt - "Oh yes Micah that was hilarious!"
Micah - "Daddy, hilarious means a BIG funny!"

While Micah was speaking to a lady she said, "oh my gosh!" Micah promptly said, "Oh you shouldn't say that because that is taking the Lord's name in vain."

And from Josiah I have been getting my script on a daily basis. I am rarely Mommy. Over the last two weeks I have usually been one of the following, per instruction from a first born. I have been Eliza Jane sister of Almanzo (Micah) and Royal(Josiah) Wilder. I have been Polynesia the Parrot (from Dr. Doolitle) playing with Gup Gup the Pig (Micah) and Jip the dog (Josiah). I've been Bess, Black Beauty's (played by Micah) Mommy and Josiah is Ginger. Today I am Trunky the Elephant, while two Crocodiles are building a "tent" in the dinning room. One is the Enormous Crocodile that eats children (Micah) and the other is the "Not-so-enormous-crocodile-that-just-eats-fish" (Josiah) See Roald Dahl's Enormous Crocodile for details. I'm not sure if we are having an identity crisis or if we are perhaps listening to too many books on CD. Well I just heard, "Help Trunky, I need help Trunky!" So I must fly....er stampede.

Middle Aged?

2008-01-18T11:16:00.000-06:00

Well I suppose I'm middle aged, right? I guess if I live to be 70 than 35 makes me middle aged.(then again, if I live to be 100, I've got a ways to go.) Wow, I don't feel middle aged, but feel or no that's what I am. I've used more wrinkle cream lately, and can't help but wish that all those years in Florida I would have worn sunblock and read more books while at the beach as opposed to soaking up all those wrinkle creating rays. I very rarely burned and I so enjoyed the feeling of sun on my skin, I never bothered with sunblock. Ah well, we live and learn. But be forewarned my 20 something friend as you run off to the beach, spend the $10 now on sunblock or deal with the $20 wrinkle cream later. :). I woke my birthday morning early. I met several of my girlfriends for breakfast. So fun. I'm so thankful to have these lovely ladies in my life. We have fun together, yet they always seem to challenge me to love Jesus more. At home when I walked back in the door at 8am I was "surprised" with a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY! And so the day went on as normal. A very nice birthday, Matt took me out for dinner that evening and then we browsed leisurely at Barnes and Noble. (this is one our favorite activities) A very nice day indeed. Even a Krispy Kreme Donut in lieu of a birthday cake. woo hoo!
Saturday we hosted Parenting Class. I so enjoyed the lesson this month. I was reminded once again of what a powerful tool for reaching the world for Christ our families can be. To glorify God is to give God a good reputation, it is by our actions and attitudes that we can do this. It is our lives that make God bigger to the world. We live in a culture that has been inundated with weird images of what it means to be "christian". If you watch TV (which happens to be to driving force of our cultures worldview) for any amount of time, you'll run across some character portraying "Christianity" as whacked out or completely out of touch with reality. Or worse yet turn to a "christian" TV station and find a circus of entertainers singing, dancing, healing, and crying all followed up with a plea for money. It's no wonder the world has no concept of what it really means to be a true follower of Christ. And no wonder they aren't interested in Christianity. In this atmosphere I could tell someone I'm a Christian or hand them Christian literature, but the images and ideas that the term Christian conjures up for them is far from what I want to communicate and will probably influence their willingness to listen to my words. However, my life can speak volumes and the power of the combined lives of a family is a force to be reckoned with. A Father and Mother who truly love and serve each other. Children who respect their parents as well as their siblings, and are thoughtful of the people around them. A family that sees the preciousness in others and treats them as such. This is an image of Christ that people are drawn to. This has been the most powerful tool I've ever experienced and it has opened doors for me to have an influence for Christ to others. Don't get me wrong I think there is a place for missions, homeless shelters, and crisis centers. But for us Mom's whose primary responsibility is to train and mold little lives, remember you are a minister. Not only, to your hubby and children, but in loving them, training them, and by understanding as a family that people are precious, you open doors to minister to your neighbors, the people at the store, the teacher at music lessons. They may never be open to a conversation that starts with "Do you ever think about God or spiritual things?" but they may come to you and say, "how do you get your kids to obey you?" "How do you get your husband to take the trash out?" "Do you and Matt ever fight?" I've been asked these questions and I see these as open doors to sharing the hope that lieth within me. They asked, they're open. What a challenge to be a vigilant wife, mother, and person. For a much higher call than "good kids, nice marriage" but for the high calling of reflecting Jesus to a lost world.

Resolutions and Revolution

2008-01-08T11:11:00.000-06:00

Much like SJV, I get a subtle hint from my dear Mother when I don't post for awhile. I knew that phone call would soon be coming, but I've just had a hard time getting back to blogging. Well, the call came and so I will obey. :) It's not that I don't enjoy blogging, it's just hard to find time, but you all know all about that, don't you?

I've had a million thoughts running through my head lately, and will probably never take the time to hash them out in script. However, I do tend to reflect, as I'm sure most of us do, when a fresh new year presents itself. I think of what I'd like to improve and where I have been in the past. I, like Tara, don't bother with lofty resolutions. For 20 years I've been resolving to weigh 115 lbs and at almost 35 am finally realizing that it's just not going to happen. :) I will however post my not so lofty resolutions as accountability. 1. Get more organized. 2. Send Birthday cards on time, to all family members. (perhaps, I'll extend my card sending to close friends next year, but baby steps for this year.) That's it. I suppose I can handle that..... maybe.

While looking to the present and reflecting on the past. I've been thinking about what has really made the difference in my life. What few things can I look back at and say, "That really changed my life for the better." The obvious things like My trust in Jesus, Matt and our boys, my parents love, my friends influence, attending HSBA/C, and moving to Illinois come to my mind. I think I will reflect here on personal choices that have determined how influential I allowed those obvious things to be. I may post throughout the year some of the other life changing choices. Today I will reflect on one.

A very wise friend of mine once said, "You can be surrounded by the right answers, but if you're not asking the right questions, the answers don't do you any good."
One of the most powerful agents of change in my life was learning to question myself. I, like most females, found myself to be a very emotional being. If I felt something, it was real. My moods and emotions tended to dictate my attitude toward others and life. If I wanted to do something, I almost always asked, "why not?" and was pretty good at defending most any position I took by legalism. Then over time and through many influences I started to question my motives. Why am I feeling the way I do? Is the feeling legitimate? Was the comment from someone that hurt my feelings really intended to hurt me? Why would I think that it was? Why do I want to do whatever it is I'm wanting to do? I could go on and on with the questions. The point is I started to question my own motives for almost everything in my life. From why I was eating that 4th cookie to why I was feeling uncomfortable in the presence of someone. This change of perspective, was quite a revolution in my life. It makes me far less legalistic. A simple question of my motive for why I'm wanting to do something, usually makes the right choice pretty clear. It's changed my relationships. A simple question of my motives, usually aids me in trusting others and giving them the benefit of the doubt. It greatly effects how I parent. A simple question of my motives for why I am or am not disciplining a certain behavior and I find the courage or wisdom to do the right thing. The temptation to push my children for my own ego is squelched, when I ask myself why I'm pushing. It is presently helping me work on my impatience with my kiddos. When I ask myself why I'm so frustrated with them, it's usually because I'm being inconvenienced. (ouch!) It's changed my relationship with Jesus. If I question myself and my motives than I understand myself better. If I understand myself better I can begin to see myself as God sees me and it drives me to Him. It's not a quick fix all to be sure, honesty with oneself is not easy. And old habits are not easily broken. Neither do I want to promote a life of paranoia, I'm not constantly checking my pulse spiritually. Actually, it's the opposite. When I know that I am honestly trying to please God in every part of my life. It is a life of clear conscious and no doubt of my relationship with Him.

So in asking myself why I'm writing all this, the answer is that it reminds me to stay vigilant. If I don't I will find myself being carried down stream by opinions, my emotions, and whatever other wind may be blowing at the time. I also hope that it encourages you. Happy 2008!

Well, no post is complete without pictures for Nanny. So here goes.

My niece Karen and her new baby nephew Bradyn(he's my great-nephew too!). At Dad and Moms

My big bro Doug, Mom w/Bradyn, and Dad.

Making Gingerbread Men with Aunt Ginger at Nanny and Papa's house.

The annual "sleeping by the tree" at home. (Thanks for the tent Mrs. V!)

A Christmas Thank you hug!

Christmas Morning!

This last photo is a Siah Funny. I came out after reading Kayla's post about her boys playing with their Nativity set and came upon this scene.

I asked Josiah what Henry was doing at the manger. He told me that Henry wanted to go see Jesus, but a terrible storm blew up and damaged the tracks. Henry yelled, "baby Jesus say, 'peace'." Then baby Jesus said, (in Josiah's most convincing baby voice)"Peace". Then the tracks came back together and the storm stopped and Henry got to go all the way up to the manger to see Jesus.

Christmas Is Coming!

2007-12-14T10:26:00.000-06:00

Hello my friends. Just a quick update, and probably the last until the craziness of Christmas is past. This time of year is so special with little ones in the house. Since having children we are motivated to establish family traditions that make the true meaning of Christmas a focus. I have to be careful with traditions, because the danger with me is that the traditions become the focus and then we end up serving the tradition and not the reason for the tradition. (I think the Pharisees had this problem too.) So we have kept it simple around here. Every Sunday morning in December we light one candle on our Advent Wreath as we eat breakfast and we talk about Jesus, the one who brought light to our darkness by coming to earth. We also each get three presents for Christmas. This really keeps Christmas shopping/spending under control and most importantly, it helps us to remember that Jesus received three gifts too and He is our greatest gift.

Speaking of gifts, wow isn't it so fun and frustrating at the same time to buy for everyone on your list? I struggle most with teenagers. Kids are easy, any little toy or book is usually very appreciated. Adults are usually so happy with a homemade gift. But teenagers, they are really tough. $5 or $10 doesn't buy much for them and I wonder if they think homemade is hokey. We have enough teenagers on our list that we HAVE to keep the cost down. I saw an idea that I'm going to try this year, I'll let you know how it goes over. My first attempt is in the photo here. What teenager doesn't love Soda and Candy?

Well our big Christmas Drama is less than a week away. Becca and I are directing it this year and the kids are doing GREAT! One of the young people at our church adapted the play from the book, THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER. It is really cute and funny. We are also looking forward to the annual church Christmas party tonight. This is a fun time of games and Christmas cookies. The kids really love it that the games are adult and kid interactive. It's a time that no matter your age you're a kid again for one night.

Thursday night we are headed to Michigan to spend some time with Dad, Mom, Grandma, and big brother Doug's family. Mom has promised us snow. I'm not that into winter, but it seems in Southern Illinois we get a lot of cold rain and not much snow. Now, if it's going to be cold, I vote for cold and pretty. If not, than just give me 80 degrees and be done with it. :) But I digress. We will be back home in IL. for Christmas Eve which we will spend with Matt's family. Then Christmas day we are home for our family Christmas. So busy busy busy.

Well, I should close. Thank you all for the gift that you are in our lives. You encourage us to stay close to Jesus and we are thankful for your prayers. May your Christmas be blessed with the Joy of abiding in our Savior.

Jingle Bells

2007-12-07T13:36:00.000-06:00

The Mellado Conservatory Students playing Jingle Bells. Even Micah got in on this one.

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Beautiful Music

2007-12-06T11:29:00.000-06:00

Hey, I'm trying to learn how to upload videos to my blog. Here's my first attempt.

This video is of the String Ensemble from Josiah's Christmas Recital. These are the more advanced students, ranging from age 11 to 17. LaRae and Rachelle (Laura's girls) are in this group.

A Heart full of Thanks and other stuff.

2007-11-21T14:21:00.000-06:00

There are so many many things for which to be thankful, I am truly blessed. This post will be an eclectic update of the past few weeks and an expression of my heart of thankfulness.

1. Recital.
Josiah’s first recital of the year was at the end of October. Every year there are 4 recitals. Two solo and two group, this was a “solo recital”. Josiah played Twinkle Variation 2 (for those Suzuki people out there). All the children did so well. Recitals are a time of encouragement for everyone. It is so nice to hear beautiful music from the older students, it helps the younger ones and their parents realize that all the hard work and diligence will one day pay off.

2. Youth Challenge.
So nice to be with dear friends again. It was also nice to sing with Brent and Jani again too. Obviously, we don’t sound like we used to when we practiced hours on end. However, it just feels so good to join our voices together. I still think that the special blending we feel has more to do with our history and love for each other than the quality of our voices.

3. Creation Museum.
So cool. We had such a nice time. I would heartily suggest visiting on a week day though. Check out Tara’s blog archives for a really great review of the museum

4. Party.
Matt and Dan (a dear friend) are the “babies” of our church. Among all the adults in our church, Matt and Dan are the youngest, (aside from our dear Miss Jo) and this fall they both will or have turned 30! So Carma and I, being the “older women” in their lives had a little party for them. We surprised Dan and Matt with a Roller Palace party, complete with Sam’s CD, Roller Skates, Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes, and noise makers. The real children of the church really enjoyed the party too. What fun!

5. Thanksgiving Week
Well, we’ve made a turkey, a thankful wreath and Cyclops. I know Cyclops doesn’t seem to fit, but we studied the Ancient Greeks last week and Cyclops was quite fascinating to Josiah. We also stole Kayla’s idea and read the Pumpkin Patch Parable book and carved pumpkins. I know it’s kind of late, but if you wait until after Halloween the pumpkins are really cheap. The truth be told, I carved the pumpkins though. Go figure, our boys will play in the mud and hold snakes, but nothing doing when it comes to pulling out the slimy stickiness of a pumpkin. And they say women are a mystery.

It’s been a good week and I’ve done some perspective evaluating too. Here is a short list of things for which I am thankful.

My relationship with Jesus. How truly blessed I am to know Him and be known by Him.
My family. What a joy to have such a wonderful husband and two healthy happy boys. Not to mention, extended family that we enjoy and love.
My Church Family. I am so blessed to have such a beautiful unified church family. We pursue His truth together as we learn more of what it means to be members of the Family of God.

My Friends. I am so thankful for all of my dear friends who have known me in my yuckier times and still love me. So thankful for your consistent faithful friendship.
My possessions. I’ve lived long enough to realize that no matter what our annual income may be here in the USA we are rich compared to most people in the world.
The opportunity I have to stay home with and educate our boys. Sometimes I can feel so overwhelmed with my daily task. I can be so focused on how far we have to go in training and educating that I forget to see how much is being accomplished. I am so blessed to have been entrusted with these precious little souls. While it is scary, it is a privilege. I am so blessed to be the one who gets to see their eyes light up when they read or watch them glow when they add numbers correctly. I get to be the one who explains the history of the world and see them begin to understand the tragedy of a life lived without God. What a bonding experience to learn and grow together. I realize that not everyone has this privilege and I am so thankful that I do.

Woo Hoo

2007-11-15T18:05:00.000-06:00

Well, woo hoo for DSL.....FINALLY! Friday turned into Monday, which turned into Wednesday. Funny how that happens with AT & T. But you will hear me complain no more than that. I can look at pictures on my computer. I can hear music via the Internet. I can even watch the goofy videos my dear friend Brent produces. I will confess I have already watched one archived Hobe Sound Bible Church service. It's interesting how fast church goes when you can FF through the prelims and through particularly long special songs. :) All this from the two minutes I've had since the instillation of High Speed on Wednesday evening. Sadly no matter how fast my computer gets, my life is always faster. Therefore, I will have to close for now. Let's see....tomorrow... oh yes, can't do it tomorrow. Hmmmm.....Saturday, nope Saturday is full. Sunday? Good heavens, that's my only afternoon nap day of the week! Well, I guess I'll catch my blog up next week. We are going to be taking it very easy in school next week. I'm thinking reading pilgrim books and making turkey crafts. So perhaps while the boys are gluing wiggly eyes on something, I'll take the time to chat with you my dear readers.

By the way, who knew Baited breath was spelled Bated? OK, of course Tara knew, but did anyone else? Wow, I just always had this image of a fishing pole with tempting bait. Thus, BAITED breath. Now I'm not sure what to think of Bated Breath. Perhaps this is the beginnings of a mid-life crisis. Until then, I'm off to buy a sports car and large gold chain necklace.

I Shall Return

2007-11-07T16:57:00.000-06:00

Dearest of Friends;

I shall return. We are in the process of getting high speed internet. (a woo hoo was heard by all) Therefore, the computer is a bit "tied up" at the moment. Not to mention, I've just been too busy to post. For a lovely update on part of our weekend in the Cincy area check out Tara's Blog on my friends links.

OK so that's all. Just wanted to let you know that I am indeed alive and will post soon, I promise. (As if you're waiting with baited breath)

Much Love to all.
Juwah

Wacky Weekend

2007-10-22T10:37:00.000-05:00

What a busy weekend. Here is a brief photo journal of the fun. I'll post more later, it's a busy Monday as well, so this will suffice for now.

Here are the Pampered Girls from the Friday night Pampered Chef party. I so wish you all could have joined us, we had such a nice time.

Brent was here for a few days, it was so nice to be with him again. On Saturday morning we went to Indy to meet Jani and brush up on some old songs and learn a couple new songs. It was so good to be with Brent and Jani again. So nice to sing with them again as well. We all wished we had more time and more opportunity to practise before Youth Challenge, but alas it is not to be. The above photo is of Brent in Waiting..... (as if there are not a thousand young ladies dieing to "fill in the photo.)

Below is Jani, Baby B, and I.

Saturday night when I got home from Indy, our family went out to the Gilley's for Indian Tacos. So yummy! Most of our church family was in attendace and some camp friends as well. A great time was had by all. (sorry, I forgot my camera.) Well, we need to get school finished and the Fall Solo Recital is tonight, so lots to do. Hope all is well with you.

2007-10-16T11:49:00.000-05:00

Hey, here are a few photos for your viewing pleasure. Ok, more for Nanny's viewing pleasure.

But before that, I just wanted to let all my fair readers know that I am hosting a Pampered Chef party this Friday night at 7pm. IF you live close enough, you are welcome to come. IF you don't, and need anything from the Pampered Chef line of products you are welcome to check out the website and order at www.pamperedchef.biz/woffskitchen be sure to put my name in as your hostess.

Challah Bread and Hallah Cloth. The bread is pretty and yummy, but much more salty than we are accustomed to. Next time I make it we will use half the salt recommended.

The boys eating the Challah and holding the 10 commandments that they made. We also gave them skull caps to wear. (Don't ask what we used for skull caps.

Some of the boy's friends at the parade. Those fire trucks were loud!

Siah waiting for the candy to be tossed his direction.

Micah enjoying the parade, even the fire trucks. (notice the ear plugs) And yes, I know the Bob the Builder hat is too small, but he thinks it's cool!

Quotable Quotes:

Micah

"I need some almonds to help my rememory."

"I just fell on my big fat bottom!"

When Matt laid down beside him one morning, Micah said, "there are too much people in my bed!"

Josiah

"Oh Mommy, I just love to hug you cause you're so soft and squishy."

"I went to tricky school and now I'm gonna trick you."

"Mommy, Micah just destroyed my train tracks!" (drama anyone?) :)