time for a change

So I thought it would be fun to have a change of scenery  - I will be over here now.

http://www.emyhill.com/

religion and politics

It is Monday night and a very Mondayish Monday it was. I've always liked Mondays as it is a new start to an unwritten week. This week has a very full calendar but no worries, i've got it covered with my new phone. Seriously, what did I do before this? Ah, technology at its finest. Do you ever wonder if we'll laugh at ourselves fifty years from now just as we do at records and the 888 computers? It remains to be seen.
This week is crammed full and while the phone is great it unfortunately cannot teach my children (although I did get a math facts app), cook dinner (although I did use siri to find a recipe for oatmeal this morning), or run errands (although amazon.com is one of my dearest friends). It is also very bad at cuddling sweet babies who need lots of caring for - looks like I am not losing my job to the iphone quite yet. Whew.
I meant to do a run down of our school week last week but here it is already monday and I didn't get it done. Perhaps it is better for me not to remember all the details after all. We took a video of Kaiden expounding on the lessons of the week but as it ended up five minutes long I decided not to bore my kind readers with it. Lets just say the Mongols made quite the impression and even Ellis remembers what we learned about last week.
I feel we are getting in to a groove with lessons and such. We have our "core" work and Tapestry and we alternate days on what we start with. I love the idea of consistency but the truth is if I did the same thing in the same order every day I really would get so bored with it. So we mix it up a little. It usually goes something like this though: God's Names, CC Timeline, FLL, WWE, NAC, PL, SP, MUS, SM, REAL, TOG. Okay, I just had to write it out like that as that's my code language in my lesson plans. Some of you might have gotten some of that. The rest of you - consider yourself blessed with more brain cells than I am currently working with.
Now, politics. They say there are two things never to be discussed at a dinner party and that would be religion and politics. After having had a close relationship with both for a little while now I am fully aware why this would be the rule. Religion I hold near and dear - my heart is fully engaged and I will never belong just to me. I have been bought with a price haven't I? Politics on the other hand - be careful not to hold it too near as you will most likely acquire some damage. Hold it firmly though with a strength given to make a difference in a crooked world.
I am the last person on earth one would expect to be involved in politics and the truth is my involvement flows out of an ever growing love and admiration for Owen. Have I said lately how absolutely amazing he is? I have never met anyone else so naturally gifted with an ability to lead graciously and yet with strength. He recently announced his candidacy for State Rep. here in Colorado and over the past few weeks we have had countless discussions on the way things are, the way things should be, and the way we can create a culture that encourages others to flourish. The powers that be don't seem to support our Divinely inspired decision to take a risk in order to be salt and light. Ah, Republican party, how...funny you are to me. It is mind boggling, baffling, and past my mind's understanding the game that politics is. Even odder is that these people love to play it. I am a simple girl and an outsider in this arena and I will just say here and now that I have every intention of remaining that way.
That being said I have surprised even myself at how strong my thoughts and opinions become when Owen is criticized. Again, I am amazed by how kind and gracious Owen always is in his response towards those who are trying to turn him from this direction. His example of perseverance and determination in pursuing something that really has very little personal gain has inspired and challenged me. He really does love people and wants to see others do well.
There, all that tells you why I am not in politics. It was completely emotional and said very little. Oh wait, maybe I would fit right in right now. Ha! I like what I do and I am thankful Owen is pursuing something that will continue to give me the right to do what I love.
Last year when he ran I was a basket case as I always am when pregnant so it was hopeless to try to keep track of anything. It was survival mode. This year is a new year though and while supposedly I lost another 25% of my brain upon the birth of another child I am going to make an attempt to at least try to make an effort to remember this time in life. Hmm, on the other hand, maybe just as with school documentation perhaps it would be for the best just to have a vague recollection of these days. Ah well, for better or for worse God has called us to great things for His glory and it is a joy to walk in them.
May His Shalom be your's this evening my friend.

pumpkin carving at our friend's Autumn party

of course she would want the baby one

Happy Birthday Kitten Baby

When I woke at 6:30 this morning I smiled as I thought back to a year ago today and a sweet, brand new, minutes old baby, that I had held in my arms. Time, how quickly you run away with my days. That lovely tiny baby is now a year old and walking, jabbering, and showing us the joy of being the baby of the family. She is amazing and has stolen my heart. I can't get enough of her.

Norah Jane holding her new baby doll that grandma gave her

Dear Kitten Baby,

You are lovely my dearest little one and there are times when my heart aches with the beauty of being your mama. I love how you come toddling to me with arms outstretched knowing I will scoop you up and hold you tight. I love the way you laugh when I tip you upside down and kiss your sweet neck. 

I breathe in and want to capture the minutes and days of your babyhood. No longer are you the tiny baby meowing at us and calmly taking it all in. You are a busy girl always on the go. You like to wander around the house and follow your brother and sisters in their play. You always find them wherever they are playing and join in the fun. They are so sweet to you and we all think you are our doll baby. 

It has been so fun to watch your personality growing. You shake and nod your head to let us know exactly what you like and don't like. You wave bye-bye and cackle at mysteriously funny things. You are happy and you make us happy. Sweet girl, your name means Bright, or Shining Light and you have been that to us this past year. 

I love you baby of mine and I pray that as you grow He will bless you and keep you and cause His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. 

I love you,

Mama

snow day

The first snow of the year should always be celebrated. One can always find beauty and while cold weather isn't my favorite, today I am thankful for our warm house, four beautiful children who like to snuggle, and lots of craft supplies.
School was somewhat put on hold as we just enjoyed a snow day together.

school news

As homeschooling takes up the largest chunk of time in my life right now I thought it would be fun to document some of what we are working on right now. Some day I will be able to look back and smile at the simplicity of preschool and first grade.

I'll admit it - I am one of those go overboard with school moms and in fact I just had a friend remind me of the importance of just finding joy in learning and not being concerned about getting everything done. I don't think we have had a school day yet that we have gotten everything done. My days are actually planned this way and instead of feeling behind I like to think that we always have so much more to learn. I know I am having way more fun with this than Kaiden is and I have already learned a ton.

So, this week in TOG we are studying the Mongols and Marco Polo. My friend Erin and I are using the same curriculum so it has been great to pass ideas back and forth. She saw a deal online saying if you dressed as Genghis Kahn today and went to Hu Hot Mongolian Grill you'd get a free meal. The timing couldn't have been better as we just learned about Genghis Kahn yesterday! So after CC we did an outfit change and transformed into Kahn. No, I didn't dress up - the things I make my children do that I won't. They loved it though and the restaurant was really fun as they got to choose their food and watch it being cooked. I will just say for the record that I am so very thankful for God's mercy in that we had seven children seven and under who all were lovely to eat lunch with. No fits, meltdowns, whining or arguments. You know, for today, that's is enough.

I just bought a new science curriculum and the answer is no to the question, "Should you have added one more thing to your school day?". I couldn't resist though as it looked like so much fun...and it has not disappointed. Isn't this what science class should look like?

My school room is mostly together. I would love for the walls to be a pale aqua but that will be for the next house. Other than that I am quite happy to sit and do school for hours on end in here. (side note - the room only looked like this while everyone was sleeping this afternoon. It usually looks a little more...shall we say lived in?)

Don't you love my Keep Calm and Carry On canvas? Owen picked that up for me when he was in Oxford, UK last week. He just got back on Saturday from a 10 day trip across the pond. Isn't that fun to say? All those things....Owen got back, ten days in the UK, and trip across the pond. All very wonderful things.
While Owen was away we had our first sleepover - which means a friend came over with her three girls because her husband was out of town too. It was a lot of fun and we had a great time having a girl's + one boy night.

What else with school? I decided one of the flaws with Tapestry of Grace is that there is no real clear point to each week so I feel Kaiden isn't sure at the end of the week what exactly he learned. So to remedy this we decided to start a book - each week we will make a page that says one thing we've learned, one famous person, and one date to remember. Add a picture to this and at the end of the year hopefully we'll have remembered a few things. Owen wonders if you really need to remember this many things at six. I wonder the same thing. All this wondering doesn't seem to stop me.
Speaking of remembering - we are coming along with our CC memory work. Whew, this is a lot to remember. Do any other CC moms just kind of a mumble along and pretend you're doing the memory work along with them when the truth is your memory left you when your child made his/her advent? So far we are about 1/3 of the way through the timeline and we've also got things like the War of 1812, Henry Clay and the Missouri Compromise rattling through our minds. Um, and don't tell anyone we don't practice the tin whistle. How awful sounding is that? I may be an overachiever but I do have a limit.
Kaiden is coming along in music and having so much fun with it. He loves to practice and serenades us morning, noon, and night with music. Miette pulls on her ballet slippers on while he practices and I feel quite the mom-of-big-kids now with lessons and school. It has been lovely to see Miette's grace and balance grow with ballet - she dances through the house like a sweet little ballerina and we smile at the girlyness of it all.

It is three in the morning and while sleep is enticing I wanted to say thank you to the friends who so kindly wrote encouraging notes to me. You cheered my heart.
The dryer is humming and clicking, the washer drumming - second time this week for an impromptu bath in the middle of the night due to a girl throwing up in bed. The first time both Ellis and Miette were thoroughly covered (Ellis being the culprit) but this time roles were reversed and thankfully Ellis was far away from her sister and avoided the worst of it. I see God's goodness this morning as I felt frustration mounting as I tried to contain the mess, get my girl downstairs and in the tub, strip the sheets, all the while wishing I was warmly buried beneath my down comforter. I had just gotten her in the tub as out loud I prayed for patience, love for a sick girl. I felt it steal over me - that peace, Shalom - and I smiled at that pale, not-feeling-well, my-belly-hurts girl of mine and knew that He was good. I was also grateful for warm, running water at that point. No, never even once in my life have I wished to be a pioneer homesteader.

I love this girl so much. She is the most like me which encourages me to pray for her all the more:-) Last night as I followed the nightly ritual of walking around the house picking up pieces of the day after they had gone to sleep my mind rehearsed the joys of the day and my heart gave thanks. For: a little girl chanting, "Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!", for not having to cook dinner, for amazingly beautiful colors of autumn, for warmth inside, for having a schoolroom I love and getting to teach, for music that stirs my heart and fills me with worship, for Him, from whom all blessings flow.
Good morning!

I read yesterday that there are an estimated 40 million moms who blog. All different people, many different reasons, backgrounds, goals, thoughts, and purposes but nevertheless I am one of 40 million. Makes me feel unique and special to know that I am in this one way the same as 39,999,999 other girls in the world. (heavy sarcasm) 

My flaws glared back at me as I looked at my face in the mirror this morning. The list of how I wasn't who I thought I should be grew and demons I thought had been put to rest whispered contentiously in my ear. How easy I find it to compare and fall short. How quickly old struggles resurface and wounds scarred over throb in memory. Wanting to be more than this I find myself settling for less in the fight just to measure up to someone else. The funny thing is that most of my comparing is not with the people I know but with a few of those 39,999,999 other girls in the world. How I wish I was beautiful, how I long for my home to be organized, my children breathtakingly lovely, as well as sweet, kind, obedient, and loving to one another. How I yearn for an obvious passion for Christ, patience and grace with all, creativity and the ability to create beauty. Wouldn't I love for my children to be brilliant, my homeschooling planned and thorough, my house like something out of a magazine and somehow could I add loving exercise instead of dreading it?

I think often of the Screwtape Letters and my own demon working out his strategy. I will not even begin to compare myself to Lewis but perhaps today's note might go something like this:

My dear Wormwood, 

It sounds like your patient is beginning to think too highly of what they would call, "The Cross". It is important for us to work very hard for this so called Love to not take deep root. I would encourage you to jump in quickly with reminders of small failings, ways she does not measure up to others who she might consider better, or higher up than her. Remember, your goal is not to make her aware she is questioning the Enemy's supposed Grace in any way. She is to continue on in a state of supposed belief in His Love but at the same time you will be able to bring her closer to our side as her thoughts of personal failure drag her away from thinking He is enough. This usually works as a great distraction and will quickly take her eyes of our Enemy and onto herself. 

Your affectionate uncle,

Screwtape

Oh blast those demons that persuade and whisper; the sin that continually crouches and begs to be let in. May the desire for more only be for more of Him. May the longing to be beautiful be a longing for a beauty created out of Love itself. May my eyes never falter, never turn away from the light of His countenance. My Glory, the Lifter of my head will time after time again reach down to cup my downcast face in His Father hands and draw my eyes back to Him and it seems that as my eyes find His the things of earth grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and Grace. May this day be a day of looking.

But you, LORD, are a shield around me, 
   my glory, the One who lifts my head high.

...and how could these sweet faces not cheer one's heart?

This day started not like others. Owen was gone. Ellis has been sick and woke up still sick. Stomach bug. Gross. His mercies were once again new. Cereal for breakfast. Baby down for a nap. Baby up from her nap after fifteen minutes because Ellis is in the bathroom throwing up all over the floor and crying very loudly. Cranky baby. Sad Ellis. Baby pulls down the fireplace door onto her head. Baby has a bad bump and bruise on her head. Phone is dead as the baby found it, chewed on it, dropped it. It is no longer functioning. Please don't call or text as I will not reply. Did Owen's plane crash into the ocean and his body get eaten by sharks? Blender broke. Smoothie fell out the bottom all over the countertop. Ha, that one was kind of funny. So we laughed, at the whole crazy-everything-went-wrong day and realized that part of considering it all joy is considering it ALL joy. 

Whatever my God ordains is right,
Here shall my stand be taken;
Though sorrow, or need, or death be mine,
Yet I am not forsaken,
My Father’s care circles me there,
He holds me that I shall not fall,
And so to Him I leave it all.
~Samuel Rodigast