Our "New" Van

We've had the van about two weeks now. Time sure goes by fast. Here are some pictures of our "new" used '98 Dodge Caravan. This van has really been a blessing. The previous owner took really good care of it.

We originally thought we would have to save up money and find something in February before the baby was born. But the Lord blessed and through a coworker Scott found out about this van for sale at a really good price.

This week was busy, besides what I mentioned in my last post we also went on Tuesday evening to see a replica of the Vietnam Memorial Wall. It was a great learning experience for the kids. The only other change to the weeks plan was finding out that the singing had been canceled. However the pastor and his wife of the host church invited us to visit in their home. We had good fellowship with them.

Today Jonathan was helping Scott fix a computer. I remember when Joshua was that little. Besides the pictures of the van, I'll include a couple pictures of Jonathan helping Daddy.

Jonathan's 2nd Birthday

Jonathan turned 2 last Wednesday and I'm only now coming on here to post some pictures in the few minutes we have before church.

Here is Jonathan with his birthday cake. I made cupcakes and iced them all together to make them look like a big cake. I put smarties around the outside cup cakes as a border and sprinkles on the top. He liked it. Hannah liked the football cupcake wrappers. I think he was probably indifferent about that part. :)

The second picture is Jonathan holding his new teddy bear. It's belly and head glow in different colors when you press it's hand. I got if for him thinking it would ease his transition into his new big boy bed. We wound up ordering the bed after all and he hasn't got that yet. I did buy him sheets for his birthday but without the bed they aren't as exciting. So I hadn't introduced those to him yet.

We were originally planning to give the boys the bunkbed and giving the girls twin beds but Scott looked it over and decided they would be better off with both having bunkbeds. Since the girl's room will be smaller with the baby bed in it.

So the boys should be getting their bunkbed sometime this week or next. Well, it's 5:30 p.m. and we need to get over to the church. We have business meeting tonight. I'm kind of hoping it will be fairly uneventful, unless we have a lot of good motivational ideas happen tonight. :) I guess we'll see.

This week will be another busy one and I'm not sure how often I'm going to post. I have a Doctor's appointment on Monday, Homeschool Park Day on Tuesday, Wednesday Bible Study, Thursday is Mom's night out with other homeschool moms, and Friday a singing in the evening at one of the churches in our Local association. I will try to take sometime in there to post pictures of our van though. We'll be in it enough this week.

Miss Mary Christmas...

"I want to sing the Miss Mary song!" was Hannah's announcement the other day.

I asked her if she was talking about "Miss Mary Mack" which was a song I taught the kids that went back to my childhood. It was a song we used to jump rope to and do a hand clapping rhythm to.

"No, I want to sing the Christmas one!" was her response.

We got her to sing a phrase for us, "I Miss Mary Christmas, I Miss Mary Christmas..."

Joshua and Ruth figured it out for me at that point, "Oh she's talking about 'I Wish You a Merry Christmas'!" So they sang it the correct way for her.

That was the song she wanted but she now sings it, "I wish Miss Mary Christmas, I wish Miss Mary Christmas, and a Happy New Year!"

Last night at the table as we were having our evening meal after church. She announced, "I'm going to marry a football player!" Scott had a brief concerned look cross his face, but then he realized this is our 4 year old talking.

I asked her if she was going to marry a good football player that went to church. She agreed he was going to be a Christian football player. She said "and when I'm a Mommy I'll give him my football, because I won't need it when I'm a mommy."

She must have felt a little sad at the thought of not getting to play football anymore when she's a mommy, so she added, "Of course, some Mommy's can still play football, right?"

Joshua and Ruth both agreed with me when I told her that she was going to make a very interesting Mommy one day. They just giggled at the thought of what it would be like having her as a mommy. She wouldn't be the mommy on the sidelines at a football game she would be right in the middle of it.

Scott said he could see her dressed up as a football player, hiding around the corner of the house waiting to tackle her husband when he got home from work.

The first picture above is of Scott throwing a football with Hannah and Ruth one evening after he got home from work. That's Hannah throwing the football dressed in her football outfit.

The second picture is of Jonathan dressed up as a football player with a Soccer ball in front of him. He loves to copy Hannah.

The last picture is of Joshua mowing. Joshua was mowing that same day I was taking pictures of them playing football. After he had finished mowing he was also throwing the football. I had gone inside when Scott told me that Hannah had tackled Joshua and he went flying. He didn't even have the ball at the time.

I'm going to be praying hard for Hannah's future husband. :)

Surprise, Surprise!!!

I had an ultrasound yesterday. I appreciate my parents coming to help with my other 4 children. Dad and the kids waited in the waiting room while Mom and I went in to see the ultrasound. We found out that the baby isn't a girl after all. He turned out to be a healthy baby boy.

You should have seen the surprise on my children's faces when I came into the waiting room and I announced, "Y'all are having a baby brother!" Joshua was the most excited obviously.

Jonathan doesn't yet understand any of this going on. He will point to my tummy and say, "Baby?" but I think he just thinks that's the new name of my tummy. Ruth and Hannah were a little disappointed. They got over the disappointment pretty quickly though and Ruth even picked out the sweetest little boy card to give to Daddy when he got home from work.

Ruth did tell me we will have to have another baby so we can use the name Elisabeth. Obviously our children don't mind us having a big family.

Here is a picture of our ultrasound. Since I know some might not appreciate the view of the bottom "stamp" that shows whether it's a boy or a girl, I'll not post that one. When she took this picture the technician asked me, "Doesn't he have a handsome face?"

I wanted to say, "Um, he kind of looks like a skeleton in this picture." But I just smiled and said, "Yes!"

Scott finally got to feel the baby kick last night. I had to really move around and rub my tummy to get the baby kicking, but once he finally started poking me in one spot I had Scott put his hand there. I think the baby just wanted us to leave him alone and let him go back to sleep. :)

Busy Week in Progress...

This has been a busy week and it's not over yet. Monday was a normal day. Scott worked at the school as a Computer Tech. The kids and I spent their day working on their lessons. I've been pretty proud of them this week. I'm not sure what happened but something clicked in their head that the more they concentrate on their morning's lessons the more free time they would have in the afternoon in which we might do something fun. My son has been wanting to mow so bad, that that was one of his motivations to get his work done early.

Tuesday, we had park day with our homeschool group. It had been raining most of the weekend and Monday, so that it was nice to have it slack off for a few hours to allow the kids to play outside. I enjoyed getting to visit with the other parents while we watched our kids having fun. My son has a friend he made their and at our Contender's meetings. They were having so much fun they were even yelling instructions back forth from our cars while we were trying to leave about what they should bring next Park Day.

Wednesday, Scott had the day off. It was exciting because he was able to go with me to my Doctor's appointment. I really like my doctor and the experience we had at the office. I did learn that Wed. were probably the busiest days because a lot of mothers are scheduled that day for Formal ultrasounds. I've been scheduled for a formal ultrasound next Wednesday. I'm looking forward to that. We did have an informal tableside ultrasound yesterday. I was happy that she let us see our baby since my husband and kids were able to be there too. It was pretty exciting. We asked her if she could tell whether we were having a boy or a girl. She said, "Well, don't go out and buy pink just yet, but I'm thinking your having a girl." We should be able to find out for sure next Wednesday.

Wednesday evening we had bible study in our home. We didn't have anyone come for it but we always enjoy sitting around discussing the Bible lesson Scott presents. Afterward we have tea and some refreshments. Yesterday we fixed up French Bread that we bought for the occassion.

Today, Scott has gone back to work and will be having a pocket survival class in the evening. The class will be at the same school he's been taking his Russian classes. I'm so glad he has been able to take these classes. This class on Pocket Survival is a two part class. This part is a sit down class where they talk about pocket survival, then Saturday will be a field trip where they will see the practical application of the techniques they learn in class.

As for me and the kids, today I was able to figure out a problem Joshua was having with his math and get it corrected. They were suppose to add two column numbers with carrying. For example: 24+59= He was getting the answer 213. I just couldn't figure out looking at it myself what he was doing to get such an answer. So I asked him and found out what he was doing. Can you figure out how he came to that answer?

Think Abbot and Costello if you've ever seen any of their acts.

Yep, he was adding 9+4=13. He knew to carry the one so that makes 1+2+5 in the next column. He wrote the 3 down carried the one and then added 13+1+2+5=21 So he had already written the 3 and he just wrote the 21 in front of it. I got him straightened up on that though. He told me that it's a lot easier the right way.

Tomorrow is Friday, I've scheduled an appointment to take the kids in to see a pediatrician about their ringworm. It's mostly the ringworm in their hair that is giving me the most concern. Scott told me to make an appointment this week, so we'll be doing that tomorrow morning. Hopefully we can make our home ringworm free before our baby gets here.

Then Saturday will be pretty normal for me and the kids. Scott will have a class on Saturday but will be home after that. I keep thinking eventually things will slow down. Now I just wonder when. :)

Crazy Hats, Football Hannah, and Preacher Jonathan

I wanted to get a better picture of my kids with their crazy hats but I'm going to go ahead and post this one. Last week we made crazy hats for a fun concert some friends of ours put on each year. It was a lot of fun. As one of the activities they had a crazy hat contest for the girls and the ladies. Of course Joshua and Jonathan didn't want to be left out of the fun, so I let them make a crazy hat too. Jonathan wasn't wanting to put his hat on for this picture so the kids just decided to hold his hat for him.

During the girls' contest they were to get up on stage and describe their hats to the judges. I never talked with the girls about how to describe their hats. I simply let them decorate them however they wanted. I simply helped with the hot glue.

One girl had gotten on stage with a hat that had a light bulb on top. She was letting her light shine. Another girl had a skunk hat and the theme of her hat was "little stinker." Another girl had a hat with a phone on it and they described her hat as "can you hear me now." Then Hannah got up on stage and very proudly announced, "My hat is a HOMEMADE hat. My mommy made, my brother made it, and I made it!!!" She then smiled real big and turned to let them see all the cotton balls and beads and ribbon on her had.

Ruth came a couple of girls later and said, "It's a hat I made?" The only way she could think to describe it. I was happy that Hannah won 1st and Ruth 2nd place. Probably because they obviously designed their hats themselves.

In this second picture, Hannah is dressed up as a football player. She put balls up in her shoulders for muscles. She thinks the football player's shoulder pads are their actual muscles. She wants to wear her "football uniform" (pictured) constantly. One day I wanted her to get different clothes to put on after her shower. She told me but I want to put these back on so I can be a football player. I had to explain to her that even football players had to have their uniforms washed sometime. They don't wear them all the time, only when they are actually playing. It took quite a bit of convincing, but she finally relinquished her uniform as long as I gave it back to her as soon as it was clean. If you notice in this picture that she has her foot on is actually a basketball. She kicks it around like a football though. She also likes to do the football exercise where the boys stomp their feet and fall flat on their stomaches and then get quickly back up. She'll do that about 10 times in a row. I don't know where she gets the energy.

I don't have a good picture of Jonathan preaching. I did get a video, but I can't post it on dial-up, so that video will have to wait. I will tell you the story though. I was sitting holding him in my arms and asking him, "Will you always be my baby?"

Of course, he smiles shakes his head and says, "No."

One of the times I asked him that, he smiled shook his head and then said, "No. Daddy!"

Then he immediately jumped out of my lap and started marching around the room with his finger over his lips saying, "Ssshhh... Ssshh..." Then he started singing at the top of his lungs. Of course after a short bit of singing he started yelling at the top of his lungs and marching around the room pointing at everyone. It was hilarious. He even pointed and yelled at imaginary individuals. After making sure we all understood what it was he had to say, he started singing as loud as he could again.

I showed the video to Scott and he said, "Wow, I never knew I preached quite like that."

The only part I can really understand is his "sh..sh..sh..."ing everyone. We do that to him a lot during Scott's sermon. Scott never has to shoosh anyone, but me and the kids are always trying to get Jonathan to be quiet during the sermon. So that was where that came from. I've never seen Scott yell at the top of his lungs in the pulpit or even out of the pulpit. I don't know about that but it was funny seeing his idea of Daddy's preaching. Joshua, Ruth, and Hannah just loved it. We had such fun watching him preach at us. I guess Scott made some kind of impression on his young mind. After watching the video Scott had to sit down and give his little boy trying to be like Daddy a hug.

They're, Their, There ...

I am tired of my children bringing me their papers with the wrong form of their, there, or they're on them. So I gave them those words along with our, hour, and are. Which are three other words they are constantly getting mixed up. I know my kids are country but that's not "are" car. It's "our" car. So the focus of this week has mostly been their, there, and they're. We have touched on the other three but the focus will go on those next week.

I've tried to explain to my kids that if you can't say "They are" in the sentence where they put "They're" then that is the wrong word. "That is they're car" would be wrong because you wouldn't say "That is they are car." I think they get the point but aren't the craziest about now having to stop and think about it before they write the word. Watch me mess up on my blog. :) My sister would be the first to let me know.

Other exciting events in this week. I gave Jonathan a thorough shave this week. He is now practically bald but you can see his peach fuzz a little bit. Joshua was concerned about it, but I reassured him that Jonathan's hair would grow back. This is one of my efforts at getting rid of the ringworm on his head once and for all. If I can't get all signs of it to disappear I'll be taking them to a doctor for a prescription. I want to try one more time to keep their heads clean and put medicine on them for one or two more weeks before I go ahead and take them.

Jonathan's head really doesn't look too bad as far as the ringworm spots go. In fact I almost think they are gone, except for the bald spots that is left behind. People that saw his bald spots before thought that he got ahold of some scissors and he or Hannah tried to give him a haircut. So I decided to shave his hair and let it all grow back together. It will be easier to see if it is clean while short as well.

I gave Joshua a haircut as well but not that short. He doesn't want his head bald. I told him that if he washes his hair good each day, then I won't have to shave it all off. But if it starts looking real bad, I may. I think he plans to keep it as clean as he can.

Hannah's hair is about the same, I scrubbed her head real good today. I don't plan to shave her head. She only has one spot and so far I've been keeping it at bay. She doesn't want any medicine that stings. I use one antifungal cream on her head and trying other medications on Joshua's since his is worse. If I find one that does the trick, I'll use it on her whether she likes it or not. Joshua doesn't mind my putting the different medications on his. He figures the more it burns the more it must be working. I'm not sure if that is always the case but it makes him feel better.

And what are the kids doing in the livingroom while I'm working on this blog? Well, they're working on their math in there. I guess I better go in there and make sure they're still at their work. :)

A Busy Week...

We had a very busy week this past week. It started with Scott having Monday off, however he worked hard mowing the church grass along with another man that volunteered to help. It was really nice for Scott to have someone helping. It's hard for him to make time for push mowing both our yard and the church yard. So when Scott had a volunteer honestly wanting to come out with an extra mower and help he happily accepted.

Monday night we went to a Marksmen concert at another church in our local association.

Tuesday was our Homeschool groups Park Day. I took the kids to the park and we had a great time with all the other homeschoolers.

Wednesday, I had my Doctor's appointment. It went okay but I have decided to go ahead and switch to another doctor. My first impression with the doctor I visited wasn't the best. I wasn't impressed by the graffitti in the bathroom and it didn't help that I found it very hard to understand the doctor with her very heavy accent. I'm pretty bad about getting confused normally but would definitely hate to answer a question wrong and regret it. It was so bad that she asked me a question about the age of my son and I thought she was talking about my husband. I think the part that bothered me the most is that she never found the baby's heartbeat. They found it the week before during the Ultrasound. Anyway, I decided it was worth a little extra drive to go to another Doctor who delivers at a bigger hospital.

Thursday, was a good thorough homeschool day for the kids. I gave them work on Tuesday and Wednesday as well, but I made sure they caught up as best they could. Both Joshua and Ruth finished their chapter books for their Rewarded Reading and have gotten to 10 books. They made sure that Hannah kept up with them and so they all three got a piece of gum. Jonathan can't have gum, so I gave him a piece of soft candy instead. Then for their 10 book reward I told them I would take them to the store on Friday and let them pick out a candy bar. Thirty Books will be a Pizza Party!!!

Then Friday I took them to their first Keepers of the Faith and Contenders for the Faith meeting. The first meeting was actually for the mothers while the children played games in the gymnasium. I found out that the teachers stay with their groups and the groups just get older each year. I had told Hannah that she would be in a class and then found out that without a volunteer there would not be another 4 and 5 year old class. However all of us mothers were very happy when another mother of a 5year old volunteered to take that class.

Then there was a problem with the boys group who are called Contenders. The teenage boy that took that group last year was no longer able to do it. So there wasn't going to be anyone over that group. They would have just been corralled in the gym for two hours until the girls got done. I couldn't stand the thought of Joshua not having an organized group this year. So I volunteered to be Coordinator for the Contenders group. Another mother offered to take the younger boys, since her son was 5. I will be working with the 12 other boys who range in age from 6 to 14. There were 3 teenagers that I plan to be helpers. I hope to have fathers, uncles, grandfathers, etc. volunteer to present a hobby or skill.

Then after the meeting, I took my kids to the Dollar store and let them choose a candy bar. Of course the older three all chose Bubble Tape. I bought Jonathan a candy bar, but he kept calling it Bubble Gum. I asked him if he could say, "candy" but he still said, "gum." Well, at least he didn't feel left out.

Following the trip to the store we arrived home and I visited with Scott a little bit before we left for a singing at another one of our churches in our association. We had plan to also go to a local association rally first and then to the singing, but we ran out of time. After the singing, the Church had fellowship and I asked the ladies where they would recommend I go for an obstetrician. I was curious of their opinion of the local doctors. They all told me to go to another town. They said that I don't want to go there. I was glad to talk with them since they lived in the town that the doctor's office I visited was in. I plan to take their advice and move on to another doctor.

Saturday, I purposefully had nothing planned. We mostly stayed home. Scott did make a couple of visits for the Church and studied. The kids and I stayed home. I even let them watch a couple Veggietales.

Today we had church and I got a craving for Corn Dogs, which we didn't have hear at the house. We did have hot dogs so I found a corn dog recipe and tried my hand at cooking them myself and had the grease too hot. I burned the first corn dog as soon as it touched the oil. It wasn't even in there a second and the house was full of smoke. Scott and I started opening windows and he held the pan outside for a little bit. I was about to give up and bake the corn dogs but once the grease cooled down, Scott took the corn dogs I wrapped and tried frying them again. They turned out perfect. I'm going to try making those again sometime.

Well, that was our busy week. I even included today which is the beginning of another week. But I hope it will be a little calmer this week. Scott is starting a new job at the local school as a Technical Assistant. He'll have a office and will be fixing campus computer problems. I think he'll enjoy the job.

Well, it's time to go to church so I'll have to post pictures later. I'll try to update my blog a little bit better this week.

12 Weeks...

Today is baby's 12 week mark and here are a couple of pictures as promised. This first picture is of Hannah and Jonathan covered in baby dolls. The smallest baby wrapped in the sock is the size our baby is at 12 weeks gestation.

The second picture is of Jonathan holding the doll that is the size our baby is today. Even though I realize it is just a doll I couldn't stand to let it look that cold with its arms and legs crossed. Covering all but it's face with a baby sock made me feel better.

That's where we are at right now though. I plan to call a doctor on Monday and make an appointment. I've waited long enough. It's now time to decide on a doctor. The doctor I'm considering will be about 20 to 30 minutes drive give or take for stop lights and road work. That town is the closest town with a hospital to us. I've driven that way and I'm sure that the drive will seem longer in March. I'll try to keep everyone posted on how everything goes along the way. I plan to add a pregnancy ticker to my blog page as well. Enjoy the pictures!

It's a Baby!

I know, I know, you were all expecting me to come on here and tell you whether we are having a boy or a girl. Well, we didn't find out this time. I decided to wait until we could be a little more sure and so I didn't even ask. They might could have told us what they thought this time but I think in a few weeks we'll know better. Our new due date is now March 10, 2010.

We went to a Hope Pregnancy Center that gives free pregnancy tests and a free Ultrasound to mothers. I hadn't decided on a doctor so we went there to confirm the pregnancy and they offered a free Ultrasound as well. After our visit yesterday, they gave us a few gifts. They gave me a couple of pictures of the baby and it's heart beat. They also gave us a doll baby that is the size the baby will be at exactly 12 weeks. I'll try to post that picture on Friday, since that will be 12 weeks.

They also gave us a gift package which consisted of a diaper, bottle, pacifier, and samples of shampoo and baby lotion.

When we arrived home we were all sitting together when Hannah asked, "Mom, is the baby wearing a diaper?"
I explained that the baby wasn't wearing one right now, because he/she is in my tummy still.
Then with a look of wonder she asked me, "Where does it go?"
She is picturing our Jonathan's dirty diapers.
Joshua, our oldest, said, "That's a wierd thought."
I won't say how I managed to explain that one, since I'm not even sure how I did it.

It's a lot of fun looking at things from a 4 year old's perspective. :)

Weally?

"Mom, my thumb weally, weally, weally hurts!" Hannah announced this afternoon at lunch.

I try to help her to see her mistake so I asked, "Weally?"

She looked at me, realizing what she said wrong and said, "That's it's name!"

Table conversations are never boring with our four year old. This morning at breakfast the kids were asking where Daddy was. I explained that he first drove the school bus this morning and that after that he was going to another town.

When Hannah heard the name of the town she said, "Is he going to get the Baby?"

I told her, "Oh no, Sweety, he can't go get the baby. The baby is still in my Tummy."

She said, "No! I mean the new BORN baby!"

Hopefully tomorrow when we go to see the ultrasound of the baby she'll understand better. She doesn't remember when Jonathan was born. To her Jonathan was always here.

This is definitely a new adventure. The real exciting part for her is that the baby is due in March which is the same month as her birthday. Of course that seems a "long ways away" to a 4 year old.

I guess I had better get some sleep if I'm going to get the kids ready for my appointment tomorrow. It may be too early to tell whether we are having a boy or a girl, but we're "weally" excited anyway. I'll try to come back and post more on how everything goes.

(Psalms 8:2) Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.

(Matthew 21:15-16) And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?

Videos

We took a break for a couple of days this week to visit my parents. Scott will be starting driving a school bus on Monday. It was good for the kids us to take a break as well. I also am able to post a few videos before we leave high speed internet.

Scott took me out to eat today. We have not had a real date in a long time. Sometimes we'll fix up some kind of meal and watch a movie or just talk after the kids are in bed. But while at Grandparents we are able to actually go out to eat. We even spent a little extra money and visited a Texas Musicians Museum while we were at it. It was pretty fun and my husband got into a really good theological discussion with the man that runs the museum. He invited the man to visit my Dad's church as well.

Here are a few videos I took over the summer. This first video is of Scott singing Action Bible Songs with a doll for the kids.

This next video is of Jonathan and Hannah playing the piano together and singing. I'm not sure which Hymn they are playing.

This last one for tonight is of Joshua giving his siblings a ride on a four wheeler.

I guess that will be all the posts I'll try to post tonight. I may try to post a couple more tomorrow. Hope you enjoy these until then.

Church Camp Pictures

It's been too long since I've blogged. I guess I have gotten a little lazy since I've been introduced to Facebook. Lately I've been putting more short thoughts in facebook and have slacked off on my blogging. But I am going to make up for it today, and try not to forget my blogging world.

Actually I kill two birds with one stone by blogging. Whatever I blog is posted to facebook as well. The best of both worlds. :)

Here are some of the pictures I took at Church Camp. This first is my parents with my kids in the cafeteria line. The meals have actually been very good at camp.

Here is Joshua waiting for the preaching to begin during Tabernacle.

Hannah and Ruth were both covered in Bubbles from the slip-n-slide that was rented for our camp. Shampoo was used to help make it slippery. So they were good and clean afterward.

Scott, Joshua, and Ruth sang a special at camp.

Jonathan loved helping clean the dorm. He was constantly armed with broom and dust pan whenever we went inside the dorm.

It was a very good week at camp. There were 26 campers reported saved, 2 announced their call to preach while there, and several rededications.

The good thing about camp is that you get the children out of the world, away from their t.v.'s and you surround them with the gospel throughout the day. Our scheduled included Morning Devotional in the Tabernacle before breakfast, Bible Classes after Breakfast, Children's Choir after class, Sermon before lunch, Lunch, Free time- where activities were planned each day for the children. The girls had an hour swim time while the boys were doing other activities, then the boys had their swim time while the girls were doing activities. Then after all the fun time ended at 4 p.m. everyone got ready for Dinner and then after Dinner we got ready for the Evening Service, during which was Testimony time, and good preaching brought by one of the Pastor's present. Then after the service, we had free time. We ended each day with cabin devotions and lights out.

All three of my older kids were wishing they could live at church camp. I explained that they would be rather lonely all by themselves, so they decided that they want everyone to live at church camp. I'm not sure how the other sponsors would feel about a year round church camp. Despite the fun at camp, I was still glad to get back home and back into a routine again.

I'll be getting the children started back on our homeschooling tomorrow. I gave them a couple of weeks off because of camp and Scott and Joshua's hiking trip. Then I wanted a few extra days to prepare for starting a new year with the children. So tomorrow will be our official back to homeschool day. I plan to take them to the Library tomorrow and then to the store to pick up some homeschool supplies.

I think that pretty much catches everyone up on what all has been going on our summer. I'll try to post more pictures later.

1 John 2:15-17 Love not the world, neither the things [that are] in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (16) For all that [is] in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. (17) And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

All My Ducks in a Row...

While we are on our trip I took this picture of this family of Ducks. I love how the father and mother duck were together with all their little ducks. They have a few more ducklings than I have but we are trying to catch up.

Yes, we are now expecting a 7th member to our ever growing family. Right now the tentative due date is March 14, 2010. We still need to find a doctor or midwife. We are also going to have to keep our eye out for at least a 7 passenger van. Right now we've been squeezing into our 6 passenger car. My husband told our oldest son that sits between us, "Right now a van would be a luxury, but in March it will be a necessity." :) So I know we'll have a van come March.

But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)

Vacation

We went on a trip a couple of weeks ago to Michigan to visit some of my husband's family there. We had such a good time. I wanted to share some of my favorite pictures.

On our way up there we camped out a couple of nights to break the trip up. There was an associational meeting in Missouri so we had taken an extra night to stop and visit with some of the preachers we knew might be there.

We managed to afford this trip by camping out each night. This picture of the kids in front of the tent was taken in Illinois, right by the Mississippi River. We also found on this trip that Hannah and Jonathan have problems with car sickness, especially if we drive right after eating a good meal. We learned to eat real light while driving.

We arrived at Scott's Mom's house and were greeted by "the girls" as my in-law's dogs are called. Hannah had determined before we arrived at Grandma's house that she would not be afraid of their dogs anymore. I had to take a picture of her petting one of them. I told her if I didn't get a picture no one would believe she wasn't scared. So here is proof. :)

On Saturday we celebrated Joshua's 11th birthday. We had cake and ice cream and then we went to the lake and went fishing. I caught 3 small fish and my mother-in-law caught 1. I was praying someone would catch something, since the last time I took the kids fishing we didn't catch anything and it was a stocked pond. Joshua was sure I was doing something wrong at the time. I told him it's a matter of patience, which my four kids seem to lack when it comes to fishing.

Then on Monday we had a cook-out at my in-laws house where most of Scott's Aunts were able to come to. Here is a picture of Scott with his Mom and 3 of his Aunts.

Of course for Joshua the highlight of this trip is getting to drive the four wheeler. We let him give the girls a ride in the woods but we didn't plan on him taking Jonathan. I took this picture after we found out that Jonathan had already gone with them through the woods and he was waving at everyone and saying "Bye!!!!" They grow up so fast.

Over all this has been a very good trip. Scott and I both agreed that we were going to need a vacation from vacation, but once we got home the kids didn't have too much trouble getting back into the routine again.

Getting Rid of the Monsters!

Last night I was going through some of our mail and was looking at some homeschooling advertisements. We normally can't afford all the interesting homeschool resources that are advertised on the little cards but I like to look at them anyway. I found one card that interested me. It talked about a curriculum that the children teach themselves. They don't have to be "taught" by a teacher. They are their own teacher. I took that card to my husband. I'm glad I did. He said that it sounded interesting. So he checked out the website. http://www.robinsoncurriculum.com/info

On the website it talks about unhealthy distractions. How that kids put in the right environment can't help but learn. They talked about the distraction of television, computers, video games. I knew these were definitely a distraction from personal experience. We used to watch t.v. all the time. Then one day a few years ago, I decided to get rid of our T.V. I started off by covering it with a blanket and putting decorations on top. Then after a month of not watching t.v., we watched a movie and realized how terrible some things we watched really were. We sold that television in a garage sale.

Then we were given another t.v. We never hooked an antenna to it. We didn't want the distraction of television in our home. We did watch a few movies on it and had a playstation my husband had obtained about the same time we got the t.v. Surely that won't be a distraction from learning. We didn't want our kids to be different from other kids. We could control the temptation and let them play it occasionally.

Then we gave our son his first laptop computer. I was a little afraid of giving it to him. I knew how addicted he could be to games. Sure enough. That was all he thought about. One time I tried to teach them a history lesson. He had been wanting to play a game all day and he knew I would let him after class was over. I was not happy when in the middle of the lesson he went into the kitchen to look at the clock. He had been thinking about the computer game the whole time.

This morning my husband was a man with a mission. I didn't realize how much he had been thinking on it. He was going through all of our computer CD's and then he informed me that he was going to take all the games off of all the computers, unless they were truly educational. He was going to replace them with Encyclopedias, Bible Software, Dictionaries, and only educational and beneficial resources were going onto it.

I was expecting that to be like pulling teeth for our son. He loves his computer games. I just didn't know how we were going to do it.

My husband started off by fixing us pancakes for breakfast without any sugar. He gave me a bite and said, "It will take some getting use to." At the breakfast table we talked about addictions and how sugar can be a big one. I'm a prime example of that. I sometimes feel like I have to have something sweet. We put sugar in everything. However if you don't have it for a long time, you don't need it anymore. Sugar becomes too sweet.

We told our children that we wanted to start changing the unhealthy habits in our lifestyle. Not only in the foods we eat, but in the things we put into our minds. We discussed how when you are addicted to t.v. and games, your brain can't think of anything else to do. You feel like you have to have it. However without those distractions, you can get a whole lot more done and learn a lot more as well. Then my husband told them that he was going to take all the computers in our house and remove all the mindless distractions.

Hannah was sitting in my lap and said, "What is he doing?" I explained to her that he was going to get all the bad games off our computers.

She said, "He's going to get rid of the monsters? I hate monsters."

We laughed and told her, "Yes, Daddy is going to take all the bad monsters off our computers."

I'm real proud of my husband and children. They immediately went to work getting rid of those monsters.

(Philippians 4:8)
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things [are] honest, whatsoever things [are] just, whatsoever things [are] pure, whatsoever things [are] lovely, whatsoever things [are] of good report; if [there be] any virtue, and if [there be] any praise, think on these things.

Peter Pan

We watched the cartoon Peter Pan yesterday evening with the kids. As soon as the movie was over Scott and the kids immediately grabbed their make-shift swords and started sword fighting. I managed to get this picture of them. It is hard to catch five very active people in the same picture. Most of the time they were all over the place.

Hannah decided that she wanted to be Peter Pan. She told me that when she goes to Heaven she'll get to be Peter Pan because he can fly. I told her maybe she can be a pretty flying Hannah. She seems sure she'll get to be Peter Pan.

My husband of course got to be Captain Hook. Interesting how Dad's get to be the bad guy. Ruth said she was pretending to be Tiger Lilly. Jonathan just kept hollering "Bi Man" which is his way of saying "Bible Man". I guess of all the characters he was probably the best one.

After I took this picture I got a video of Hannah jumping off the couch. She was trying to fly like Peter Pan. I told her it was probably best not to fly with a sword in her hand. She then put her sword in her pocket. After a short battle they finally put aside their swords and got ready for bed.

Ruth gave the devotional last night. She picked Ephesians 6:1-3 for her devotional. She said that she would like to give it as a cabin devotional at church camp. Joshua also has a devotional picked out for church camp. I'm looking forward to camp in July.

We also have a trip planned this summer to visit Scott's mother. The children are all excited about it. Last time we visited Michigan, Jonathan wasn't even crawling. This time he is able to run and sword fight. It's amazing how fast children can grow in just a year and a half.

This is a picture of Jonathan at my Mother-in-law's house in Michigan last year. He was about 5 months old at the time.

Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.
(Ephesians 6:1-3)

No More Pancaking

"Ruth's pancaking again," Hannah told me this morning.

I turned from my Bible where I was doing my morning's reading and asked her, "What's pancaking?"

"Oh, I don't know how to say it," was her response.

She told me how she had told Joshua where Ruth was hiding during hide-and-seek and that now Ruth was Pancaking.

I asked her, "Oh, do you mean panicking?"

She was quite happy that I figured it out. I then taught her how to say "panic". Then as we were eating lunch, I joked that the computer was "pancaking" since it was making so much noise. She quite clearly said, "No Mommy, It's panicking!"

So my little girl is "Pancaking" no more. She is learning so quickly.

The girls earned five stickers for our Rewarded Reading program. For every five stickers they earn, they get a piece of bubble gum. After ten stickers, they get a candy bar. Then once they reach 30 stickers, they get a Pizza Party. Joshua has one more book to read to have his five stickers. The older two children have to read a chapter book and write a book report to earn a sticker. Hannah must have 5 books read to her and tell me about them to earn a sticker. They each have a chart on the wall where we write the names of the books and place the stickers.

As I'm writing this, my son came in the room wanting some medicine for an itchy round spot on his arm. He asked me if it could be ringworm since we have a new kitten. I thought I would look up a picture of ringworm for him. I opened another browser window and sure enough, what he has looks just like ringworm.

I looked up information about it and treatment information. I read that it can be contagious by touch. I asked the other children if any of them had any itchy spots like Joshua. Hannah had a mosquito bite that she really wanted to be ringworm. Ruth said she didn't have an itchy spot but she had a bump on the back of her shoulder that bothered her. I looked and yep, she has ringworm too. Jonathan of course held his arm up for me to inspect. So far, the younger two don't have it. I think it's because they are afraid of the kitten. They won't let it come near them.

Okay, it's tempting to "pancake" but I think instead I'll go to the store and by some anti-fungal cream for ringworm. I also need to wash their clothes, sheets, and towels. At least it's treatable. We'll just need to get rid of it before it spreads anymore. Better check on treatments for the kitten as well.

Philippians 4:6 "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God."

Our Mission Field...

I read a poem a while back, that was a discussion between a mother and God about her desire to be on a mission field. I really liked that poem because by the end of it, it showed that even though God doesn't always send us off somewhere else. We all have a mission field.

My mission field is my family. While that may seem like a small thing compared to feeding and clothing the homeless, taking care of orphans, or reaching far off peoples that have never heard the gospel. It is a very important role that I must take on whereever the Lord has us to go or stay.

I realize that the Lord wants His people to go into all the world but maybe it's not me that's suppose to do the actual going. Maybe it will be my children, or my grandchildren. I can be only one place at one time. However, I have four children. If I raise them to love the Lord and to do his will then how many people could be reached through them. I could have at least 4 Missionaries whether at home or abroad someday.

I do not know what the Lord has in store for us in the future. We may never go into a foreign field. I do know that my mission is right here at home, with my husband, my children, my parents, my in-laws, my grandparents, my neighbors. How many more lives can I touch if I quit looking out and wondering when the Lord is going to use me and looking in at what the Lord has right here for me to do. I could reach the world right where I'm at. Whether at home or in another country.

The Lord could one day decide to send us on a foreign field, but the most important field I have is my family. If I keep this in mind, I will be able to keep my focus no matter where we go.

If you are struggling with where God wants you, maybe you should look at where you are at right now. Are you a Sunday School teacher? Your students are your "Mission" field.

Are you a parent? Your children are your mission field.

Are you married? Then your spouse is your mission field. You are to help your spouse be all that he (or she) can be for God. We all have struggles. Sometimes we can help our spouse reach his full potential by being a source of encouragement and help in whatever he needs to serve God.

Do you have neighbors? Then you are to reflect God's light to them. If they see your life maybe they too will desire to serve him.

Whereever we are God has a mission for us. We need to pray and seek his will for our lives. God knows what is best for each one of us. We cannot decide what another person is suppose to do. But we are able to determine what it is God wants for our own personal lives.

Say not ye, There are yet four months, and [then] cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours. And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did. So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days. And many more believed because of his own word; And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard [him] ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.
(Joh 4:35-42)

And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and [his] disciples rebuked those that brought [them]. But when Jesus saw [it], he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. And he took them up in his arms, put [his] hands upon them, and blessed them. (Mark 10:13-16)

We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please [his] neighbour for [his] good to edification. (Romans 15:1,2)

A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) . . . Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. (1Timothy 3:2-5, 12)

Blisters

Our family loves music. My kids each play instruments. We started them learning music a few years ago. I remember when I first gave them Ukulele lessons. At the time I thought it was a kid's instrument.

I remember telling my husband that I wanted a cheap ukulele just to use to teach the kids. I figured, once they learned to play I wouldn't be wanting to play it any more. I was wrong.

I loved playing that little ukulele more than the kids did. Their ukuleles were louder than mine. My husband, seeing that I really liked it, bought me another ukulele straight from Hawaii. I tell anyone that says they can't play an instrument that they should try the ukulele. There are only four strings and you have four fingers. You don't have to figure out what to do with the two extra strings you would have on a guitar. I remember when I first played it I had gotten a blister since I was new to the instrument.

The above picture was taken just about a week ago. That blister on my thumb is the result of not practicing. We went to a singing about a week ago at one of our local churches. It was a lot of fun, but I hadn't practiced my ukulele in a while. My husband was going to play his guitar, my oldest son was going to play the bass guitar, my oldest daughter was going to play her mandolin, and my youngest daughter was going to play one chord on the piano.

My husband had worked with the kids on their parts. They were all set to go. It was an easy key and I did practice a little. Well, I practiced it that morning with them right before we went. It's not hard to play the ukulele.

My husband said that it would sound really good if I could play a fast rhythm to compliment the rhythm Ruth would be playing on her mandolin. Not a problem. I'm pretty good at playing my ukulele fast. However without practice you don't have a good callous on the finger you use the most.

After our special the kids and I returned to our seats. My husband stayed with the other instrumentalists at the front, that play along with all the songs. My thumb was bothering me. I looked down and saw that I had a blister.

I couldn't play at all on Saturday. Then Sunday we were going to do a special for our fifth Sunday services. We were going to play the same song. I had to wear a Band-aid and still couldn't play it fast. It hurt through the band aid.

God gives us callouses for a reason. Now that the blister is gone, I'm very thankful for that thicker layer of skin that followed it. I try to practice everyday now. That way when my husband asks me, "Can you play this with us?" I'll be ready.

Bible Study is the same way. Without a daily walk with God and practice by studying our Bibles, would you be ready if someone asks you a question about God or His word. Will you have to say, "Um, you'll have to talk to my pastor about that." They may not go to your pastor. You may never even see them again. Will you have an answer for them?

What about the challenges that may come your way? Have you built up those Biblical callouses that will protect you from the enemy that wants to see you fall?

With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
(Psalm 119:10-11)