Amy at Raising Arrows advertised this week that The Cutest Blog on the Block provides free backgrounds and banners, so here we are....back to sunflowers! I clicked over there wanting something pretty and feminine, but then I saw this! Sunflowers allure me. They woo me. To be surrounded by a field of them! Oh, what bliss.
I'll try pretty and feminine next month, perhaps. This makes me feel like my dream--living on a farm--has come true. Let's stay here a spell, shall we?
I did save that beautiful photo of the mountain...just in case. It's magnificent and I might miss it.
Friday, February 5, 2010
resting and drinking
Galatians 5:22
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
After six weeks of wellness, a cold virus attacked--just in time for the homeschooler Valentine party occurring on the 10th. Little hearts here ache to attend, especially since illness hit last Christmas as well, causing us to miss that party.
"Bedrest and fluids! You have to do them if you want to go!" we implore.
While we could take them sick, it wouldn't teach sacrificial love toward others--instead it would teach selfishness. I grant you it's different when the outing is mandatory, like public school or a job. But a party? Different rules. We can't skip life for half the winter, but during the worst of the coughing, sneezing and drainage, I try to keep them confined.
It takes so much self-control for them to rest and drink! And similarly, it takes self-control for us to remain firm but compassionate throughout. After all, we're over-tired, sick and miserable ourselves, during these outbreaks.
I used to dread waves of illness and felt cursed by them.
But suddenly, I see opportunity!
They present a key time for parents to display the spiritual fruit spoken of in Galatians 5:22. Children won't remember specific illnesses, but they'll remember the extra love--making it second nature for them to behave similarly when people are in need.
God wants us to display the fruits of the spirit each and every day, of course. But in times of trial, even more so. It's more of a testimony of God's grace.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
"Bedrest and fluids! You have to do them if you want to go!" we implore.
While we could take them sick, it wouldn't teach sacrificial love toward others--instead it would teach selfishness. I grant you it's different when the outing is mandatory, like public school or a job. But a party? Different rules. We can't skip life for half the winter, but during the worst of the coughing, sneezing and drainage, I try to keep them confined.
It takes so much self-control for them to rest and drink! And similarly, it takes self-control for us to remain firm but compassionate throughout. After all, we're over-tired, sick and miserable ourselves, during these outbreaks.
I used to dread waves of illness and felt cursed by them.
But suddenly, I see opportunity!
They present a key time for parents to display the spiritual fruit spoken of in Galatians 5:22. Children won't remember specific illnesses, but they'll remember the extra love--making it second nature for them to behave similarly when people are in need.
God wants us to display the fruits of the spirit each and every day, of course. But in times of trial, even more so. It's more of a testimony of God's grace.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
rescued
Paul's brunch prayer:
Dear Lord,
Thank you for my family. Thank you for all you provide. Thank you for everything in the world. Thank you for the food. Thank you for the little bit of money. Thank you for the sunshine. May we get more money.
Amen.
Oh, how I needed this prayer--funny though it was! The baby woke me early after a rough night of molar teething. I foolishly went to bed at 1:30 a.m., even while anticipating a poor night of sleep. Anyhow, I did three hours of housework, which has become my standard routine--starting school at 9:00 or 10:00 a.m., after doing laundry and floors and decluttering from the day before. The children play, color, read books, watch a library video, or do crafts during this time. Daddy is usually sleeping in due to late nights of working and studying. The baby stays happily engaged with her siblings.
Peter is off any ADHD medicine, so at times he talks incessantly, not having any social sense about giving people space. After two solid hours of him following me around, talking non-stop, asking questions, it was all I could do to avoid primal screaming. In my mind, I begged the Lord to release me from a very bad mood.
And then the Lord gave Paul this brunch prayer. And my heart? It melted and I discreetly wept my thankfulness.
Bad mood gone. Gratitude back. Heart repentant.
He is SO faithful!
Dear Lord,
Thank you for my family. Thank you for all you provide. Thank you for everything in the world. Thank you for the food. Thank you for the little bit of money. Thank you for the sunshine. May we get more money.
Amen.
Oh, how I needed this prayer--funny though it was! The baby woke me early after a rough night of molar teething. I foolishly went to bed at 1:30 a.m., even while anticipating a poor night of sleep. Anyhow, I did three hours of housework, which has become my standard routine--starting school at 9:00 or 10:00 a.m., after doing laundry and floors and decluttering from the day before. The children play, color, read books, watch a library video, or do crafts during this time. Daddy is usually sleeping in due to late nights of working and studying. The baby stays happily engaged with her siblings.
Peter is off any ADHD medicine, so at times he talks incessantly, not having any social sense about giving people space. After two solid hours of him following me around, talking non-stop, asking questions, it was all I could do to avoid primal screaming. In my mind, I begged the Lord to release me from a very bad mood.
And then the Lord gave Paul this brunch prayer. And my heart? It melted and I discreetly wept my thankfulness.
Bad mood gone. Gratitude back. Heart repentant.
He is SO faithful!
swing dance their hearts
My sentiments exactly! That's a bag of Hershey's milk chocolate chips, by the way. Tough week around here. Chocolate required.
Yes, we're silly. Four rambunctious kids can do that to you--in cold, snowy weather, with no cable TV. When this little guy was a baby, he was just as pale as pictured here. The pediatrician held him up at the sixth month appointment and said, "Wow! Turn down the lights! You're bright white!"
The three sillies.
I believe this is the first two-story Lincoln Log building I've seen Peter build. Don't let these pictures fool you, though. They aren't using their toys more since we shut off the cable. They're dancing more, roughhousing more, and just generally moving around in fast mode a lot more. And the groundhog saw his shadow, I believe? This may be the beginning of the end of my sanity. Stay tuned.
We took a swing dance class before we were married--put together by our church singles group. My honey has two left feet and loves dancing far less than me, but someday, I want to try again. Dancing is good for the soul.
Today the children found our swing dance CD and started their regular frenzied joy dancing. Daddy was studying, but stopped to teach them some swing steps. "Mommy can do this a lot better, but I'll show you some steps." (Actually, that dance class seems like a century ago. I don't remember a thing!) Daddy swung them over his shoulder and spun them around, eliciting such delight.
We rarely have time to be a couple. We've not been without the children since last June, in fact. And that was only for ninety minutes. We're short on romantic love in this season, but long on steadfast love--the kind requiring endless doses of grace and mercy. When he delights the children in this way, I couldn't love him more. I'll tell him that tomorrow. After these dancing moments today, the day sped by--leaving no time for conversation. He's at work most nights.
Wow. I wish he would do that to me.
Monday, February 1, 2010
ring around.....
Baby Beth does the funniest thing when I make a deep-voiced cow moooooo.
She immediately leaves the book and comes at me laughing nervously, as though my voiced scared her. She loves my "quack quack" and my "cock a doodle doo". But my mooo? Scary.
Ring around the rosey
Pocketful of posey
Ashes, ashes
We all fall down!
When the children feel sassy,
And the mess is out of hand,
And there's no chocolate,
And you just changed your tenth diaper,
And you're more focused on your list than your children.....
I highly recommend Ring Around the Rosey.
You'll end up in a heap of hugs and kisses,
And your day will take a sharp turn toward wonderful.
See if it ain't so.
Did you see Sally Clarkson's two recent posts on her personal blog, I Take Joy? I can't wait to read her books. She has such a heart for the Lord and for her children! I find it precious. I'm so glad we can find Titus 2 women on the Web. I certainly can't afford to go to any mom conferences, although I'd love to see Sally!
Did you see Sally Clarkson's two recent posts on her personal blog, I Take Joy? I can't wait to read her books. She has such a heart for the Lord and for her children! I find it precious. I'm so glad we can find Titus 2 women on the Web. I certainly can't afford to go to any mom conferences, although I'd love to see Sally!
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