Puzzle Pieces

When John was little he abhorred puzzles. (So I've been told.) When he couldn't figure out where the various pieces went, he began to bang and cram them into whatever empty spots pleased him. It just made for a frustrated little kid.

And that is our life right now. We have pieces of a puzzle.

Wonderful, God-given pieces.

Blessed pieces that will one day, when we aren't smack in the middle of it all, make sense.

But right now? We can't figure out how these wondrous pieces can all co-exist. I feel like banging and cramming. I'm the frustrated little kid.

So this is me trying to trade my banging and cramming for trusting and listening.

"The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in Him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with His hand." Psalm 37:23-24

This is me trying to remember that God is making something beautiful out of all of this....

"Lord, I know that people's lives are not their own; it is not for them to direct their steps." Jeremiah 10:23

even though I can't see it yet.

"I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you. Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord's unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in Him." Psalm 32:8-10

 

Alamo Trip

We started off our school year with a mostly free trip to the Alamo.

John had to travel there for work and already had a nice hotel room so we tagged along.

It was a very hot day, but we Texans are tough. 

While the kids enjoyed seeing where such important history took place, I think they liked the pizza and swimming at the hotel that evening better. =)

Remember the Alamo!!!

The End is Near!

56 minutes ago John started his last final. His last final ever for law school. This final feels so....final. Boxes are being packed. Arrangements are being made. This part of our life is almost over. I should be only happy, but there's a lot of sadness mixed in too. No matter how I feel the moving truck is coming next week. Along with graduation. And then a long drive down south. So much greatness mixed with so much sadness. Keep it together, La.......

Grey Friday

Last night I slept on the couch. No, no, no. The marriage is good, but John is sick. I am the last man, uh, woman standing. All that pie helped fortify my immune system I guess. I don't think our family has ever been sick for so long. I think it's been 6 weeks now that at least one person has been sick at all times. I sent Julia around with the Clorox wipes the other day. She must have missed Daddy's door knob. Oops.

My mom and I spent a good deal of time on Thursday making our shopping plans. We were pumped up and ready to go. Toys R Us opened at 9 pm and I was going to knock out the Christmas shopping for the kids in one night. Buy one get one free and 60% off are words promising enough to make me wait a couple hours longer to put on my couch pants. (That's my clever name for my stretchy lounge pants because all I want to do when I have them on is lay on the couch.)

We pulled into the parking lot around 9 and I think the car itself started to hyperventilate. The line to get in was ri-freakin-diculous. Needless to say, I never stepped foot inside the store and my couch pants were in use sooner than planned. Bitter sweet.

Black Friday shopping in 2012?

No thank you.

Please remind me, because I always forget how terrible it is. Every. Single. Year.

Although, I did manage to get a really great coat (that I needed!) from Old Navy for only $5. I did not, however, get up at 4 am to get it. I ran in on our way to The Muppet Movie. (Which I did not wear my couch pants to. Very tempting though.)

Maybe Black Friday isn't so bad after all. I suppose it's really not a black and white issue for me.

Updation

My husband, good man that he is, has again informed me that I need to update my beloved blog. He's right, I know. It's just that life is so all consuming right now. I'm trusting that it will slow down a little very soon (please Lord!!), but for now I'm keeping my head above water.

Homeschooling is not horribly difficult (not yet anyway), but it is time consuming. We had kind of gotten the hang of things and then we started our Classical Conversations program on Wednesday. LOVED it, but it was additional work plus being gone for the day. PLUS, Wednesday church classes for the kids started back too, so Wednesday was packed.

Overall I'm still in love with homeschooling, but at the end of the day I'm left wondering when I will ever get my house clean (when all the kids have graduated??), what am I cooking for dinner (oh for loads of money to hire a chef!), and when do I get to just sit on the couch and watch television/read/relax/update my blog? The weekends have been very key in keeping order around here. That's when I'm getting some cleaning and grocery shopping done.

The kicker here lately is the fact that we're flying out this week for my brother's wedding in Texas. Packing for five people (John does his own packing thankfully!) is a killer. These are the times I seriously consider the Duggar family's way of dressing. Red shirts and denim for everyone today, blue shirts and denim for everyone tomorrow, and so on. How much simpler would that be?

As far as the wedding goes, despite the torturous task of packing, we're so very excited! My wonderful parents made sure we had plane tickets so there wasn't a crazy long road trip. We're going to be seeing so many old friends and lots of family we haven't seen in too long. And of course there's the part about getting to watch my baby brother marry the sweetest girl ever. I'm getting a new sister!!! Her name is Cali and there will be plenty of pictures later, I'm sure. I can't to get so many bear hugs from them both!

When we return I need to post about:

• Aulora's birthday party
• John David is now a Bible Quizzer (my kid can quote 6, nearly 7, chapters of Hebrews - can yours?!?)
• The most ridiculous ND football game experience ever
• Our homeschool hutch from good old craig
• reviews for ipad/ipod apps for kids
• some book recommendations I've been meaning to get to

I'm sure there is much more but that's what my brain is coming up with for now. I also need to empty my Flip camera as well as my Nikon. Maybe there's some jewels in there. Who knows.....

No Truck? Moving Furniture? No Problem!

Be sure to note the clever use of seat belts to hold the china cabinet in place. Don't worry. Our ten year old son was also holding onto it.

Also, you should know that this china cabinet lived with us for only one week before I resold it on Craisglist because I found a different one I liked better.

My husband loves me.

Very much.

The end.

Anybody Remember This?

I found this game at a garage sale for a quarter. It brought back memories!

A New Season

For years my heart has wanted it.

For years I had my excuses.

They were lined out so neatly and I had convinced myself they were all very valid.

But you can only run from God's calling for so long before you get worn out. And your excuses are finally exposed as just that - empty excuses.

So several months ago we started talking about it. Pondering, what if-ing, considering. Convincing, dreaming, planning. And today it began.

I am a homeschooling mom!

I expected tears today (because everyone told me to expect it!) but the day went wonderfully. With the exception of one child (who will remain nameless) who will hopefully learn very soon that working quickly means finishing earlier, everything was great! I'm still figuring out the ideal schedule, but I expect that will take awhile.

I went through the day feeling several things over and over:

• I was made for this. This is my purpose.
• When is it nap time? (I imagine this is due to my 5 hours of sleep last night.)
• I am worshiping God in this endeavor.

This worship song has been stuck in my head. I love that as I am teaching my kids numbers I can worship God. I am so blessed that instead of rushing out the door to drop them off at school, I am cuddling with them on the couch while we read Scriptures and stories filled with moral goodness.

And once again, there's the matter of God ordering our steps perfectly. I can't tell you how endlessly I had searched and scoured the internet for the perfect curriculum to use. There's SO much out there. So much good stuff too. But nothing felt right. And I was feeling stressed out and nervous and thinking I had it all wrong and we needed to send the kids back to school after all.

A couple of days before our summer trip to Tulsa my cousin in Dallas mentioned a program she was starting with her daughter this year. I looked into it and it seemed promising. Then we found out there was a 3 day parent practicum right there in Tulsa. From then on it just kept coming together. It all seemed appointed.

This is a video explaining the program - Classical Conversations. Basically, we homeschool four days a week and one day a week we join other families for school. We're schooling based on the classical model, the "trivium".

One of my hesitations was my own feeling of inadequacy, especially when it came to classical homeschooling which involves Latin and some other intimidating things. But one of the speakers addressed that concern at the practicum saying that "homeschooling can be the redemption of two generations".

I'm so grateful. So excited. So content. So......tired!

Good night! ;)

Aiming for Kingdom Life

I read a moving blog post recently titled, "My Life For Yours: A Mother's Pondering About Her Body". Kelly, the author, was inspired to write the post after reading this quote from (at the time, pregnant) musician Alanis Morissette:

“I see my body as an instrument rather than an ornament.”

Motherhood is not without cost and, while I don't see this as an excuse to "let go of myself", it is very freeing. It's freeing to be okay with what my body is (and isn't). This body that I get frustrated with and would sometimes like to trade in for a thinner, more perfect version, is the same body that gave me four beautiful children.

Kelly also includes this excerpt from Loving the Little Years by author Rachel Jankovic:

“Our bodies are tools, not treasures. You should not spend your days trying to preserve your body in its eighteen-year-old form. Let it be used. By the time you die, you want to have a very dinged and dinted body. Motherhood uses your body in the way that God designed it to be used. Those are the right kind of damages…We are not to treat our bodies like museum pieces. They were not given to us to preserve, they were given to us to use. So use it cheerfully, and maintain it cheerfully. You want to fix your body up in order to be able to use it some more. We should not be trying to fix it up to put it back on the shelf out of harm’s way or to try to make ourselves look like nothing every happened. Your body is a tool. Use it.”

So I say -

Watch what you eat.......so long as you don't miss out licking the cookie dough off the beaters with your 7 year old.

Excercise....so long as you don't forget that playing chase with your preschoolers is far more beneficial.

Weigh yourself....so long as your little girl doesn't doubt her own beauty when she looks at her perfect little round belly.

Show your outward beauty....so long as your son sees your inward beauty more.

Look in the mirror....so long as you remember that your husband doesn't see those flaws when he's looking at you.

Work to be healthy and fit....so long as your aim in life remains solely on Kingdom purposes. Let Christ ignite the kingdom life within you, a fire within you, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. (Matthew 3:11)

Kids' Museum

My parents and I took the kids to a local museum a couple of weeks ago. It's the perfect size place for some indoor fun (that was free with our library passes!). We'll definitely be going back soon!

Trip to the Chocolate Cafe

A couple of weekends ago we went downtown to the Chocolate Cafe.

The kids had never had fondue before ("fundue" as they called it) so it was a special treat.

Little hands were anxious to dig in!

It was also a belated birthday celebration with Joshua from Grandmamma and Dodie since they weren't in town for his actual birthday.

All the food was gone but there was still chocolate left. We couldn't waste it so we put our straws in it and started pretend drinking.

John David didn't understand the pretend part - hence his face in this photo. =)

From Irritating to Thought Provoking

As I was driving the other day, I came to a red light. It was a big intersection and I knew the light would be long so I picked up my phone to check for an email I was expecting. Before I even had my emails pulled up, I heard a honk and looked around to see who it was. I noticed the driver to my left, along with her passenger, wagging her finger at me and mouthing, "No, no!"

I was at a loss because it was so unexpected. They rolled down their window and so of course I rolled down mine. She then said, "Don't text and drive!" I just raised my eyebrow and reminded her that the light was red and I never text when I'm driving. (Never mind the fact I wasn't even texting. I don't suppose that would matter though.) She replied, "Okay, just don't do it while you're driving! We're just trying to protect you!"

At this point I just nodded my head slightly and rolled my window back up. I was so irritated. It bothered me for two days straight! I wasn't dishonest with the lady - I don't text or email while driving. I think it just bothered me because she was sticking her nose in my business as if she could tell me what to do. And I certainly wasn't doing anything wrong or unsafe since I was at a long red light. She didn't even know me, but felt she had the authority to speak down to me.

I was so aggravated. Beyond aggravated really. (Which I now see is ignorant, by the way.)

But then the thought occurred to me: this is probably similar to what a pro-choice woman feels when a pro-life person speaks their mind. To them. At them.

I'm not saying those who are pro-life shouldn't speak out, but it really gave me a perspective I've never had before. Just a thought.....

I wonder what you would have done or said if the lady had honked at you?

Colorado Part 4 - The Royal Gorge

During our time in Colorado Springs we rode the train through the Royal Gorge. It was fun to see the rafters along our way! We also walked down to the dining car where we bought some corn dogs and other healthy things. ;) It was not so much fun trying to order and carry all our food in a narrow train car with four kids and other passengers trying to walk by. We probably should have eaten beforehand. Live and learn.

This is a shot of part of the long water line that was built by hand by prisoners back in the early 1900's. They dug through the mountain by hand and it took them years to finish (wish I could remember how long exactly). There were 30 prisoners who either died or escaped during the project - no one knows what happened to them. The water line was used until the 1970's.

Colorado Part 3 - White Fence Farm

One Sunday we went to church and then drove to White Fence Farm. It reminded me a little of the Amish Farm we've been to a few times in Indiana. We had a delicious family style lunch with fried chicken and iced tea and the best corn fritters I've ever had!

After lunch we got to pet and feed animals, play on a playground, go up in a really neat tree house, eat some ice cream, listen to a blue grass band, and put our feet in a creek. It was a very hot day (unlike many of our days there!) so our cheeks are pink in all the pictures!