Joy in the Simple

In my ongoing search for true contentment, I have begun to realize the importance of finding joy in the simple and in recognizing the Creator's handiwork all around me.

My sweet daughter brought me some simple joy the other evening.

I could have said "those are just weeds, throw them in the trash" and thrown a daughter's smile in the trash along with the weeds.  I would have also thrown away my chance for a taste of joy.

By the Grace of God, I took those beautiful weeds and put them in my precious grandmother's creamer and placed it on the windowsill.  Simple, right?

At the giving of thanks for our bread that night, Sweet Butter (4) breathed pure Joy "Father God, thank You for this day, thank You for our food, and thank You for all the beautiful flowers You planted, like the Dandelions, Amen."

And my eyes swelled with simple joy.

Search for Him, He is there. And Smile. When you feel like there are just too many weeds, make a bouquet!

I didn't fall off the face of the earth...

even though I feel like I did!

I have just been soooooo busy that my head is spinning far to fast to grab something rational out of it and make them into a post.  We didn't even celebrate Mother's day this year, how bad is that!?

I'd rather not leave you with nothing, so here are some random thoughts-

I am really enjoying this pregnancy, even with the troubles at the start.  I am 28 weeks now, and the baby kicks me harder than any other, I love it!  It already hurts at times, and it is hard to imagine how much stronger the kicks will become, but they are wonderful.  I am feeling great, I haven't had any of the troubles that usually accompany my pregnancies (heartburn, sciatica, varicose veins, complete exhaustion, anemia, you get the idea) and I attribute it to our change in diet (some day I'll post about that) and my super awesome Super Mom vitamins, plus D3-5, Red Raspberry Leaf, Alfalfa, and Probiotics.  I also have hopes for making our own probiotic and microbic foods over the next couple of weeks, I'll let you know how it goes!

I failed my 1 hour glucose test so I had to do the 3 hour test, that was fun.  Fasting for 12 hours and then drinking a bottle of liquid sugar really makes for a happy momma.  Add that with having your blood drawn 5 different times and sitting in a tiny room with 5 kids for 3 hours and you have a great day!  Actually, other than looking like a bruised pin cushion the appointment went great. My kids are awesome sports.  I got the results a few days later, and of course they were normal.

I was informed by my midwife that I might prefer to have my baby in a travel trailer, or even in a parking lot rather than the local hospital.  The hospitals here are not supportive of natural birth, breastfeeding, keeping the baby in the room with mom, not vaccinating or anything that is normal.  I have heard all kinds of crazy stories from mom's who have delivered here but I wanted to stay positive.  So I asked the midwife to lay it on me.  She shut the door and lay it on me she did!  Not very encouraging at all, everything I have heard is true.  She said it is so bad that the midwives (who aren't part of the hospital, they just deliver there) will actually "forget" to let the hospital staff know that a mom has had her baby just so she will have more bonding time right after birth before the staff takes baby off to the nursery for the "mandatory" 4 hour monitoring.  Shocking!  Then I had to meet with the head OB doc to get VBAC approval (that is a normal birth after a c-cestion) and he was even less encouraging.  After looking over my chart he said that if he's working, he'd let me do a VBAC, but if someone else is on when I go in, they may not let me.  Oh, and there are two doctors that definitely won't let me because they are just against it and they won't even let their own patients.  I wanted to clarify so I said "So you are telling me that if I come in there in labor and some doc is having a bad day, he will tell me I have to have a c-section even though I have already had 4 natural births including a VBAC and I meet all the other requirements??!?"  Yeah, I heard him correctly.  I seriously believe if that happens, I will march my in-labor-behind back to my van, have Dad catch the baby, and then go back in.  Wait, why would I even go back in?  Does anyone know how to get a birth certificate if you have a baby at home?  Ok, I won't really have the baby at home.  I hope. But I am determined to have a great delivery and maybe even change a hospital policy or two while I'm at it.  I'll let you know how it goes, (only 84 days left according to the desktop ticker) and please pray for me if you think of it!

Our garden is doing AWESOME. I will get around to posting pictures, someday...  Everything is doing so well and I'm excited that it's completely organic.  We had to re-pot some tomatoes because they were getting huge and turns out we underestimated the size we needed for the pots. We even have our first little tomato growing!  I am hoping to get enough tomatoes to can a whole bunch for spaghetti sauce and what-not for a year.  I could already eat a salad for all the lettuce that is growing, and yesterday I used basil and lemon balm for our chicken dinner.  Home grown jalapeno poppers on the grill, here I come, yum!  I can't wait to live somewhere with a huge yard to have a huge garden.  We are really enjoying it!

I have changed up our schedule again, added more to it.  We are making progress to finish up this school year.  We normally school year round, but I have to plan ahead for the new baby and then for moving at the end of this year so I am trying to double up a bit.  We are starting at 7am and going until 3pm at least until the baby comes.  And we've added a new grammar curriculum, Rod and Staff, and we are really enjoying it.

I had to un-attach a tick from Sis's neck.  I've seen lots of ticks in my life, but something about having one attached to your child really changes things.  NASTY!

We watched a water moccasin swim across the lake and slither up the bank on our side, less than 15 feet from our "yard".  I grew up swimming in the Skunk River off the Mississippi with plenty of water moccasins, but something about seeing one where your children play changes things. Why do things change after you become a mom? YUCK!

Mr. Pilot has also been so busy his head might be spinning, but his busyness has been extremely exciting.  He started FORMS last week, that is flying formations in the sky with another plane.  He has to keep his wing 3 feet away from another plane while the other plane is doing all sorts of flips and rolls and turns and stuff that makes my husband come home with sparkling eyes every night.  He also got to do some tail chases (playing tag in the sky according to Sis) that really sent him soaring.

He received a promotion on Sunday to Lieutenant Junior Grade, congrats!  One of the things that comes with a promotion is new uniforms, and since you are an officer, you get to pay for all those required uniforms and silver bars (it's only like $300), congrats again!

Yesterday Mr. Pilot started the forms with other planes.  4 planes flying together with their wings 3 feet away from each other, doing all sorts of flips and rolls and turns and stuff that makes my husband come home with even more sparkling eyes every night.  Makes me wonder if having a hardcore adrenaline rush for several hours a day is a good thing, and if it is, I might be a little jealous.

It's also Dad's favorite season of the year, Softball season.  So we've been going to games a couple evenings a week to cheer Daddy on and enjoy the game.

Oh, and he is still leading family worship at night, and reading The Journey to us.  We loved the first book in the set and we are completely enjoying this one too.

These are all the random thoughts and happenings I have time for right now. When things settle down I'll get better at posting.

If things settle down...

We Were Bored.

Not really.  But we seem to enjoy creating new challenges for ourselves...

I have always wanted a garden.  What better time than now to plant one?!  I don't have a yard, I am tired and pregnant, I don't know if we'll still live here when it's time to harvest, and most of all, I don't have a clue how to garden.  But hey, what is one more thing on my to do list?

Dad has been wanting to learn to build stuff.  What better time than now?!  He's only in flight school, and not busy at all, ha.  Oh, yeah, and we don't have any tools for building stuff.

We both happen to be the determined-headstrong-first-born type.  Once either of us makes up our mind, we aren't about to let anything get in our way.

We decided to take on both projects at the same time, let's have a container garden!  Dad can build the containers, mom can plant the seeds.  It'll be perfect.  Sounds great, right?

So we headed to Lowe's, and bought a bunch of stuff.  Then dad started building.  Then we went back to Lowe's to exchange the wrong stuff and spend more money.

While we made the boxes, the girls made dinner outside.

 Dad's saw-horse helpers.

Mmm, Spaghetti Pie!




Brothers working together.







She really is contributing, by taking a nap!






planting the seeds that need to be started indoors.




The kids painted one box.






 Mom and Dad painted the other.




Just one week later:

Yeah, Guys' flowers are growing and so are the tomatoes!!!  Come on jalapenos!

As much fun as we are having, we don't recommend starting projects without a budget.  Nor do we recommend starting projects and spending money for them without a plan.  Learn from our lesson!

Hopefully, we'll be eating tomatoes, jalapenos, spinach, onions, carrots, and (whatever other seeds someone threw in the cart) this year... If not, it's a learning experience.  An expensive one.

Alright, I confess!

There is one thing from a house that I miss.

I don't really miss my lovely couch, my wonderful dining room table that actually fits us all (for now anyway,) my big screen tv, my perfect homemade horseshoe homeschool table, a dishwasher, my book shelves, or my washer and dryer.  Ok, maybe I miss my washer and dryer a little bit.

But there is really only one thing that I really can't wait to have back.  Really.

Can you guess what it is?

It's the Bathroom.

As any parent of small children knows, the only place you are ever alone is in the bathroom.  Ever.

We have a tiny little bathroom. The door is about 4 inches off the floor so little hands reach under and steal your socks right off your feet while you are trying to have a "moment alone".  The door doesn't lock so you have to hold it shut while the little hands are stealing your socks.  It is so small you can't turn around in it or get dressed in it.  The toilet is small, weird, and you have to empty the tank yourself.  The shower is about the size of a small port-a-potty and only runs cold water.  Besides, it is full of shelves and laundry anyway.  

And now the door knob is broken.

Completely broken.

You have to hold the door shut, cover the hole where the knob belongs, and hide your socks.

I cannot wait to have a normal bathroom.  With a door knob.  And a shower.  And warm water.

Oh, but this is sure entertaining!

Yet another blessing of the travel trailer life...

When you live in a travel trailer and are confined to bed rest, you can direct life from your bed.

I was put on bed rest on Tuesday until further notice for a couple of pregnancy complications. Thankfully the complications should resolve on their own in a month or two. I am doing my best to be mom and wife from the couch, teaching school and directing simple meals, but my husband is truly keeping the show rolling. He is wonderful, he took care of me all during my morning sickness, he did most of the laundry, cooking, and grocery shopping, and plain and simple- picked up my slack all while keeping up with his beyond stressful flight training. Just when things started looking up and I was able to make dinner with out losing it, I was assigned to bed rest. My rock barely bat an eye. It is so very humbling as a housewife to have to rely entirely on your husband to do your normal duties. But, he is so good to me, keeping my spirits up by making me laugh and keeping me positive. Mr. Pilot joked that we might be going broke eating takeout for a month or two, but he would figure out how to feed us somehow. Now matter what we are going through, I am blessed.

This year is truly going to be a year we never, ever forget.

When it Rains, it Pours. And Sometimes it Snows...

It snowed the other night. We were at the squadron Christmas Party (I was quite impressed that it was in fact a Christmas Party, not a holiday party) and it started snowing. It was close to midnight when we picked the children up, but they woke up long enough to play in it for a moment. Even though we lived in Colorado and weren't really impressed by the snow like the locals, it supposedly only snows once every 10 years or so here, so I am glad we could be a part of it.

There were even some remains in the morning, so the children enjoyed some snow for breakfast and a little snowball fight.

That was the snow part. You can read about the raining here.

Now for the pouring...

It seems like it has been one thing after another for us here. I must give you a disclaimer right off the bat though, no matter how much it seems to be so, I am NOT complaining. Just keeping it real. I really appreciate transparency. I can't learn anything from someone who always talks about how perfect and easy and wonderful his life is. I have to know he can level with me, empathize with me, and encourage me. It wouldn't be right for me to brag about how wonderful everything is and how easy my life is and only share the good parts. I am blessed, to be sure, and I am so thankful for all I have. This is not a "woe is me" blog, but I am trying to keep it real here.

Living in a travel trailer has truly been wonderful. I wouldn't change it. I wouldn't move to a house even if someone offered me one for the same price we are paying in our RV. I really wouldn't. There are some invaluable lessons we are learning here, and we aren't done yet. But, as usual, part of that learning process is a bit painful. It stretches, tugs, and scrapes. It causes you to reach deeper, complain less, serve more, and is quite humbling.

Over the last couple of weeks we have had some stretching. It is cold in Mississippi. Like, below freezing some nights. For what ever reason (meaning poor planning on my part) all of our winter clothes and jackets are in the back of a storage unit. I am not really sure what I was thinking, most likely I wasn't thinking at all, it was July when we packed up, after all. We each have a hooded sweatshirt (we sort of collect them from places like Yellowstone and Yampa River and San Diego) but that is all we have for 30 degree evenings. It would take several hours if not a couple days to find the winter stuff in the storage unit because the boxes aren't labeled properly (military move, you get what you pay for and it was free). My husband is being double pumped (think a normal day's work x2) all the way until the 23rd. I can't move and open all those boxes by myself and I can't possibly reason to buy stuff to keep us warm when we have stuff already, even if it is buried. I think I'd rather go cold.

Being warm and cozy inside a small space with thin walls and single pane windows takes some effort. And makes some condensation. We discovered it makes a lot of condensation, in fact. We were going through our stuff to see if there was anything we could get rid of (this is now a bi-weekly habit, and I highly recommend it!) and discovered that there was water dripping off the walls in our closets and cupboards. I mean dripping. In the very closets and cupboards that contain our clothes and books. Clothes and books don't mix well with dripping water.

(I may have had a momentary desire to move into a house at this moment, but only momentary) So we spent several hours drying everything in the entire trailer (even the things I had shoved in the cracks and crevices and tried to forget about) and then we spent a few more hours reading about the solution options for the condensation problem.

We ended up buying a dehumidifier. One side effect of a dehumidifier is that it is HUGE. Really, I just needed something else to take up space and I love tripping over things. Another side effect is that it blows out COLD air. Really, it is because we like working really hard to make it warm in here. Thirdly, I can't use anything else while it is on or it will pop the circuit. It is like a circus when I am cooking in here, Hot water on, hot water off, skillet on, wait, need more hot water, skillet off, hot water on, it is getting cold in here, hot water off, heater on, mom I am hungry, skillet back on, pop everything off- forgot to turn the heater back off before I turned the skillet back on, it is my turn to flip this circuit, no it is mine! Just flip the circuit already! Heater off, skillet on, mom the windows are soggy (isn't that funny) soggy windows means condensation, heater off, dehumidifier on, pop everything off, wait!, It wasn't the heater that needed to be shut off, it was the skillet, DOH! Would someone please flip the circuit? Heater and skillet off, dehumidifier on. I am really hungry. Dehumidifier off, skillet back on. Are you getting sick of this yet?

Well, it does stop the water dripping off the walls, so it works, and for that I am thankful.

My skillet died. Funeral is tomorrow. I first noticed a funny smell about a week ago, and it kept getting funnier and funnier. But not in a ha ha sort of way. Then the other day it was only heating up on one side. Today it is dead. Poor thing, it was highly over used. A skillet that is large enough for our family isn't cheap. Since the unexpected cost of the dehumidifier and now the skillet, there goes our stocking suffers. But, I guess we have to eat. I guess.

Since that isn't enough, don't worry, there is more!

Our refrigerator is broken though I don't know if broken is the right word. Frozen is more like it. Frozen solid milk doesn't pour out into cereal very well. It doesn't pour at all actually. And a rock solid tomato can't be sliced for my husband's work lunch. And you shouldn't have to chisel out jalapeños for yummy nachos. I seriously didn't think Louisana hot sauce could freeze. But, it is solid. We read the owner's manual front to back. It only informed us that living in a travel trailer will result in extra wear and tear and a shorter life expectancy. (Of the trailer, not me). Oh, and that winter living will result in water damage from condensation including mold, mildew, and rot, if proper prevention measures aren't taken. Thanks for that, really. Who reads owner's manuals anyway? Turns out the temperature on the refrigerator is factory pre-set and there isn't a way to change it. We even called some RV repair men. There is no solution.

Hey, at least I am not bored!

Our Adventure for Leif Erickson Day

I don't like when so many days pass without a blog post because then I have a ton of posts floating in my head and don't know which ones to share.

We woke up on a couple Friday morning's ago and saw that it was Leif Erickson day. Since Dad wasn't on the schedule for work and we are about to finish our study on Leif, we decided to take a voyage. See, when you homeschool and aren't tied down to your stuff you can wake up and decide to do completely spontaneous things and have fun adventures.

So we got in our Viking Ship (big van) and set out to explore a new world. Somehow or another the new land we discovered was Milton, Florida. More specifically, it was at our friends, aka the Culburrito's house. Funny how that worked out. It's a 3.5 hour drive and the kids didn't start asking if we were really on a Leif adventure until we entered Milton. They knew we were on the road to Florida, but I think they thought we were going to the ocean or something. We played as thought the waves were taking us where the wind blew all the way until we pulled in the Culburrito's driveway. The children giggled at our surprise.

We planned on staying the weekend and we ended up staying for a whole week. We might be getting addicted to all the sugar they feed us. Actually, we just like how awesome they are and how much we learn from them. I think they learn from us too, though I am not sure what.

4 adults, 1 teenager, 9 children, 2 babies, 3 dogs and 3 cats.

In a 4 bedroom house.

Relaxing.

Bet you don't believe me. But, seriousely, it was totally calm, laid back, and fun. And in the words of the 1 teenager - is was awesome, totally awesome.

Since we said goodbye to them in Milton back in July, we only had plans to see them for Thanksgiving. We have something big planned. We have actually seen them three times already, and are really glad for it.

The 3.5 hour drive is nothing, but it's going to be so sad when they transfer off to the other side of the country for their next part of flight school...

Debt Free!!!

Hey all,

I hope you all have been encouraged by our family to see how incredibly the Lord is working in our lives. One of the first aspects that always speaks to people when we share our experience, is the financial windfall of savings that we receive! Just to help put into perspective how blessed we've been through this experience, in 3.5 months we've already been able to pay down $7000 of debt and pay off two huge credit cards in the process!!! I know this is very exciting news for many, and I want to help share with you one of the tools that has made this possible.

Some years ago, I took over the finances for our family and, with the help of my dear mother, was able to create an Excel spreadsheet that has very clearly helped me to see the nuts and bolts of where my money was going, and how I could make it work for me. I do also use, "Microsoft Money", but it's budgeting tools have not been nearly as user friendly as this spreadsheet has been. It can very clearly show me where my money is going and how I can put it to best use. It also allows me to see approximately how much money I will have at Christmas and birthday's so I can plan ahead accordingly. It is my sincerest hope that you will take a look at this and use it to help you organize your finances in a new way that may bless you as it has blessed me. Feel free to share this with others and please return and let me know how it has helped, and what I can do to possibly improve it.

I am counting on some requisite knowledge of Excel in order to use this program. Although there is no Advanced Mathematics, you will have to look at some of the "Cell Math" to see what is happening.

Good Luck, and God Bless.

-Mr. Pilot

BudgetHelp

*Edited by Mom to add- if the attached spreadsheet seems overwhelming, please feel free to ask us for an explanation. It is actually very simple, once you become familiar. To start, save a copy to your own desktop and then adjust the Pay and the Personal and Household Bills to reflect your own needs. Then you can start playing around with the other numbers to see what happens. Also notice the tabs at the bottom are sheets to last through 2013...

Once we have the budget set, we take our money out in cash to help us stick to the budget. I use a small file folder (we call it "the green thing") that has labled tabs like Personal Care (that is for hair cuts, clothes, and the like) Spending (for entertainment or eating out) Laundry (since we use a laundromat) Schooling (for books or supplies) Groceries (you gotta eat) and I think you get the idea. It helps me to see what $ I have left and decide if I really want something badly enough to watch the envelop go empty. I also get to see where my money goes because I put each receipt in the according tabbed slot and then review them at the end of the pay period (You mean I spent half our spending money on coffee at the bookstore?) and then we can make changes accordingly.

Hope that helps!
~Mom

It has been there the whole time.

I just came upon this verse-

Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands... so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody. ~1 Thessalonians 4:11-12

It made me say wow, isn't that what we are trying to do? So I read it to Dad.

Dad ~ What? Read that again.

Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands... so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody. ~1 Thessalonians 4:11-12

Dad ~ I thought we just had a conviction about some things and thought maybe we should live in a travel trailer to help us change, but no, it's like God is standing there like 'Duh, this is part of my plan, it was there the whole time.'

It is in faith that we follow along the path that the Lord sets before us, without a road map or concrete direction. We often don't have a clue where we are going, but when we look back we can see where He has guided us. This is amazing but, with faith, it is not surprising. God is good!

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable. ~Psalm 145:3

Here a Quack, There a Quack...

We often say we hope to live on a farm some day. At least a place we can have a large garden, a pond, some chickens, maybe a goat, and plenty of room to run around.

Yesterday we discovered Sally’s eggs have hatched, and not too far from our front door.

How very exciting!

Someday we may have our own little farm,

but for now, the trailer park will do.

Back and Moving

Back- While I cannot say we were excited to leave for home, we are glad we are back. We had so much fun with our friends, we were pretty sad to leave. If Dad was already home we would be much more excited to be back, but we will still have to wait a couple of days for him. His trip to the boat was delayed and extended which is no big shocker. Seems there is always a delay when the Navy is involved. (i.e. - we still haven't been paid for moving to Meridian.) So we are just moving along with our regular life waiting for Daddy.



Moving- Whatever we didn't sell or give away was put into temporary storage by the Navy and tomorrow I have to meet the movers at a storage unit and take possession of our household goods. Of course we scheduled the delivery before we knew Dad's trip would be extended and of course the movers can't reschedule. Thank God for some wonderful men from our church who are going to meet me and move all of our stuff into the unit. It is only 6,000 lbs but I feel like it is still too much stuff and I can't even remember what it all is. When we moved to Florida we had 13,000 lbs and now we have about 7,000 with the storage and our stuff in the travel trailer all added together. Crazy thing, I can't even tell you what the 6,000 lbs of stuff we got rid of was, and I can't remember much of what is in the shipment we'll receive tomorrow. I remembered thinking when they packed up all our stuff that I would feel like it was Christmas morning when we received our household goods, like opening up presents of long lost treasures. Now that the day is almost here, I wish I could close my eyes and make it all go away. I don't want to sort through anything yet again. I don't want to figure out what I can part with and what I will never miss. I don't even want look at the 50" TV or the really big (and really comfortable) sectional sofa that we bought (for our material world) only a few months before deciding to move into the travel trailer.

Who knows, maybe I will find something really great that I had forgotten about. Maybe it will actually feel like Christmas morning. Or, maybe I will be reminded that it is all just stuff. Stuff that doesn't matter. I am betting on the latter, but I'll let you know.

It is the simple things...

I took a shower without shoes. By myself. Now that I have been staying in a house for a few days with my children spread all over the place, I realize there really aren't many things I miss. But this was my first shower alone in a few months. And I didn't need to wear shower shoes. It was wonderful.

A great day.

We started the day off like any other, Bible, prayer, breakfast, chores, and a Beautiful Feet lesson. We are absolutely loving Beautiful Feet, by the way. Half-way through our lesson I realized it was September 11th. Instantly regretting that I had not planned out some lesson of remembrance for this day, I decided to wing it. I stopped reading King of the Wind despite the protest of my children. I googled some pictures of the Twin Towers and described to them what I remembered from that fateful day. We talked about the heroes, then talked about the families that were left behind. We talked about what it means to be a martyr. We talked about that email that went around about the guy who was saved because he stopped to buy a band aid on his way to work at the towers and then we talked about what providential means. We talked about daddy and the military and what their role is in defending our freedom. Right as I was running out of ideas Dad called from work and told us to get in the car, they were having a special lunch at the galley for September 11th. Perfect! So we went and enjoyed King crab legs, ribs and bbq chicken, and more teaching of what happened on this day 8 years ago.

We were the last ones to leave the galley and my curious children were amazed by the conveyor belt thingy that carries away dirty dishes in a galley. By now I am ready to head to the door. Everyone is staring at us, as they always do, it looks like 10 people just had a food fight at the table we ate at. These people are waiting for us to leave so they can close up and here we are making a scene around the dirty dishes. My husband is awesome, he adds to my embarrassment by picking the children up to let them stick their head inside and get a better look at the thingy that is taking our dishes, one by one, into some curious unknown abyss. It was all I could do to keep them from climbing into it (including my husband). I feel like the workers are staring at us, and I am thinking enough is enough, lets go. But no, my husband asks if we can go inside the kitchen to have a better look. Yes, they are definitely staring at us. I am secretly agreeing with what I imagine is going through their minds, they must be crazy. One lady finally nods. Not waiting for any other answer Mr. Pilot busts through the door of the scullery and gives us a grand tour of all of the machines. He is an expert after all, since he had to crank (that means he had to take a turn working the galley for 3 months when he was on the ship). No one said a word to us as we enjoyed our impromptu field trip.

Next, we ran over to the commissary to pick up a few odds and ends. We did our math lesson while deciding which was the better deal, the baby carrots or the regular carrots and other practical problems. Then, in the check out line, we had our lesson in character training. There was a little old lady in front of us at the checkout struggling as she unloaded her cart onto the conveyor belt. Dad nudged Boy to help her empty out her cart. Boy didn't even think twice, he just did as he was told. The lady sang him praises and was so grateful, it made Boy's dimples show. When we were about to leave the manager of the store came to us and asked if she could borrow Boy. She took him off to the side and told him how she had seen what he had done and how impressed she was. What a reward. Then she slipped him $2. Now his dimples were blushing. He rushed over and was just beaming from ear to ear as he said "thanks for telling me to do that, dad." How fitting for our current memory verse, Ephesians 6:1

When we got home the children were eager to finish up our Beautiful Feet lesson, so we did. Then Boy brought me a dead fish and asked why it smelled funny. Then we learned how to build a trebuchet just because we felt like it.

The day carried on just like that, unrestricted by mounds of laundry or dishes, not limited to pages in a workbook restrained by a clock on a wall.
Sometimes the old way of thinking creeps in and I wonder if I am "doing it right". I am far from perfect and sometimes we have bad days. But I have my feet set upon a Rock and I know, my God is Sovereign. We are teaching our children when we sit in our house, when we walk by the way, when we lie down, and when we rise up. His grace is sufficient.
Yes, this was a good day.

You want me to do what?

The other day Mr. Pilot dared me to stay home for three days. Stay home, as in - not leave the house, for three whole days? He might be a little crazy. Yesterday a very dear friend challenged me to stay home for two weeks, not even going to church. Now, she must be crazy!

Why do I have such a problem staying at home? I love my home and I am so blessed to be at home, yet by about 2 pm I am looking for a reason to run out. The moment my hubby walks through the door I ask if we can go somewhere. I don’t mean I want to leave my family in the dust and rush off and have my nails done or anything like that. I just want the entire family to load up into the Buffalo (that’s our van) and drive somewhere, preferably somewhere with food.

Actually, my husband and friend are not crazy. I should be perfectly happy staying at home. My family would function so much better if I weren’t always rushing us out the door. I’d save my husband’s hard earned dollars if I weren’t putting us in the position of being hungry when we are far from home, out and about in town.

I can think back to a few years ago when I had MOPS at one church, Moppets at another, homeschool co-op, dance for 2 girls, soccer for the boy, and bible study. I also served in the Sunday school class, went to Mr. Pilot’s softball games, and had coffee with friends; all in one week! While there was nothing wrong with going to any of these things, there was definitely something wrong with going to all of them. I wondered why I didn’t have time to cook, or do laundry, or why I didn’t have energy for my husband, or for the children.

I have come a long way. But I still have so far to go. I get bored easily, I think I always have. I now have a darling daughter who asks at least twice a day “What are we doing next, or where are we going” because she too, got used to going, and going, and going.

Be still! Take delight in nothing but spending time with my children. That is what I am trying to do. I’ll start with the 3 day challenge. I have high hopes for reaching the 2 weeks challenge also.
I’ll wait until after my parents visit next week…
I’ll wait until after my anniversary, too.
I will do it.

I’ll let you know how it goes!

Get Rid of It

How many clothes does one person need?

Back at the house I'd walk into my girls' room and instantly feel my blood pressure rise because I couldn't even see the floor through all of the clothes when I had just cleaned it two days before. There'd be underwear hanging from a dresser handle and I didn't care to determine if they were clean or dirty. A pile in the bathroom, pants in the hall, and 6 baskets of dirty clothes waiting to be laundered, that's over the top. "That's it! Bring me all of your clothes" I would say for what seemed like the tenth time that month. We would sort out all of the the dirty, fold all of the clean, and get rid of anything that hadn't been worn since the last time we did this routine.

If I wasn't doing 3 loads of laundry a day, it wouldn't take long for me to be sinking in piles of dirty clothes. I tried every different tip I could find. Three houses ago I even had my hubby move all of the dressers into the laundry room (he thought I was crazy, but he is so good to me.) This way, when the children shucked their clothes off at least they were on the laundry room floor, that makes sense, right? Whatever, it didn't work.

So I finally decided to get rid of stuff. I went through each child's clothes and pulled out anything I wasn't emotionally attached to. I had a big yard sale and felt pretty good about it. I only had to do 2 loads of laundry each day. Wait, why did I still have so much laundry, and why do I have an emotional attachment to clothes? I made excuses. Wasn't I being a good steward by sorting and saving my children's clothes to pass down from one to the next? Well, it's a good thought in theory, but we've moved about 9 times in 10 years, our children are different sizes in different seasons and I was just swimming in clothes. A good friend pointed out that I didn't need to hang on to it all. The clothes will always show up, she said, and she pointed out that maybe I wasn't really trusting in God to provide what I needed for each child, lovingly of course. I realized that I do rarely ever buy clothes. Everything we need does just sort of show up, either passed down or gifted. Besides, she has 9 children, 7 of which are girls, so she might know what she is talking about.

Then we decided to move into a travel trailer. We had three more sales and before each one I'd gather more clothes to get rid of. I gave myself a huge pat on the back when I very carefully selected my favorite outfits for each of my children and narrowed it down so each child had only one rubbermaid. Every thing that didn't sell, we donated. I even got rid of the dressers. Surely that would be enough. (I did keep one small rubbermaid of the coming home outfits, the baby clothes that were mine, and the really special stuff, and one rubbermaid of infant clothes for boy and girl)

After 6 weeks in the trailer, I have a huge pile of clothes to donate. One small rubbermaid is still too much. The 3 youngest children now have one small drawer in a little kitchen stand and the two older children have a really small rubbermaid. They don't miss a thing. And I certainly don't miss the laundry. It is awesome, now I only have to do it once a week! ONCE A WEEK. Did you hear me?

I am really trying to weed through everything in our lives. If something is becoming too much work, or if I am up to my eyes in something, I am getting rid of it! Watch out!

Amazing Grace and Things Sufficent

I think it's a "God-oince" that the churches we have been attending as of late sing Hymns for worship. Our church in Florida had just gone back to singing Hymns right before we started attending and the new church here in Ole' Miss only sings Hymns too. We used to think that Hymns are old fashioned and maybe a little plain and boring. We thought there had to be a band and "music that moved you" for the worship to be effective. We probably wouldn't even have attend a church if they only sang Hymns for worship just a short while ago. That was before... Now Hymns are sufficient. We are even enjoying learning them at home. Weird? Maybe!

When I look back a few years or in some cases even just a few months ago, I often think "what a fool I was." And a few years from now I hope will look back and think "what a fool I was a few years ago" because I want to be ever learning, ever growing, ever changing. If I am not moving forward, I might as well be moving backward.

I am so glad for the Grace of God. I am not perfect, yet He loves me anyway. I do not have it all together. Sometimes I might look like it, and I might even occasionally think I do, but it's a lie. I come to the throne with dirty hands and He washes me. His Grace is sufficent for me. Let it be for you too.

...Out of my sin and into Thyself,

Jesus, I come to Thee.

Out of my shameful failure and loss,

Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come;

Into the glorious gain of Thy cross,

Jesus, I come to Thee;

Out of earth’s sorrows, into Thy balm,

Out of life’s storms and into Thy calm,

Out of distress to jubilant psalm,

Jesus, I come to Thee.

Out of unrest and arrogant pride,

Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come;

Into Thy blessed will to abide,

Jesus, I come to Thee...

from "Jesus, I Come" by William Sleeper