A Prayer For a New Season

I can't wait to get back to our school routine and I'm itching for fall weather too. Whenever I catch myself wanting to rush a season, I slow down and remember that each day is a gift and each day offers a special grace or surprise, courtesy of our loving and attentive Heavenly Father. I downloaded some pictures to remind me of summer's graces.

 

 

For the most part the weather and mosquitoes were terrible, and our favorite garden vegetable, yellow squash, failed for the first time ever. Just too wet and not enough sun this summer. The giant pumpkins died on the vine too.

 

But there were blessings, as the photos below attest to. And there is hope for a better summer next year.

 

I love even the sound of that word...hope.

 

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Romans 8:24-25 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

 

In a couple weeks I start schooling the boys again, along with Mary who will be a first grader. Beth will join in as I have time to accomodate her.

I made room for Mary's weak attention span last year, her kindergarten year, but this year I plan to work her hard. She'll likely need the Lord's grace and strength to make the adjustment. And Momma too, because household duties will get behind as I sit with her for longer segments this year.

 

 

My hope is that the right schedule will come together, with God's help, so we're learning and having fun together at the same time. And to maintain Momma's sanity, I pray that under my tutelage, the children will surpass chore expectations as well as their schooling goals.

 

 

And on that note, I'll pray for our family and yours as we look to fall:

 

Dear Heavenly Father,

 

Thank you for your love and unending grace. Thank you for the opportunity to pray and share our hopes with you. A new season will dawn soon and we thank you for it. We thank you for four seasons--four modes of fun and beauty each year. Your plan is amazing. You are amazing.

 

Please bless this blog community as we tackle new challenges in time management and parenting. May our standards be high and our children respond well. Shower us with grace for one another and for ourselves as we start anew. Keep our eyes on you and on what you've done--not on ourselves. Change our hearts from selfish to sacrificial. May we live in this world but be heaven-minded.

 

The world is so very lost, Lord, and that can be scary. We read that 50% of Christian men and 20% of Christian women are addicted to pornography. We read that more and more children are losing their Christian worldview, not to mention their purity. Help us to say no to unsupervised Internet access. Help our children to stand strong for you. Help us, as parents, to practice what we preach. May our children and our families as a whole, become excited readers and doers of the Word this fall.

 

Give us discernment in all things, Lord. We humbly ask you for wisdom. We humbly ask you for blessing in our homes. Knit us together tightly, Lord. Parent to child and child to parent and sibling to sibling. May we stand strong as one unit, defeating Satan's schemes. May your mercy and grace follow us throughout our days. May we love you with all our hearts, never putting ourselves first, but you.

 

May we bless the least of these this fall, Father, whether it be through Compassion International or another entity. Help us to give thanks for our blessings, hold them loosely and spread them wide. May we write many a letter to our sponsored children, telling them that yes, Jesus loves them. They are valued, loved, beyond words by their Heavenly Father and by us. May the words sink deep into their hearts, Lord. May they no longer be bound by hopelessness, Father, but by love. Redeem their stories, Lord, and ours too as we give. Make beauty from ashes in our hearts and theirs.

 

Bless each and every marriage represented in this blog community. May we love one another, sacrifice for one another, extend mercy to one another, for your glory and for the good of our children's someday-marriages. May the health of their marriages begin building today, as our own strengthen.

 

May we look for blessing and beauty in each September day, may we give thanks, and may we slow down for fixed prayer, honoring our first love. Jesus.

 

In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

 

 

Our ninth annual visit to the county fair!

 

 

We're at my aunt and uncle's house here, who are hosting my mom during her visit. Yes, you count five children here. One is a third cousin.

 



Dear Sun

Dear Sun,

We miss you.  That's all I have to say.

Love,

A Desperate Momma

He's eating a pinecone covered with peanut butter and seed, which Peter hung here by a string.

You know you're desperate for entertainment when Momma has to suggest you design a maze for your hamster.

out like a lion - March

These red-winged black birds seemed to know we'd get a few inches of snow.  (Peter learned that some birds can predict the weather.)  They came in droves just before a heavy snowfall began.  You can see the snow starting to collect on the ground.

On Monday the children enjoyed a homeschooling playdate at a park, where Peter found this salamander.  He's thrilled to have a second pet.  Come summer, we'll have a full house of various creepy crawlies.

Paul loves to create and Momma doesn't always have time to put projects together.  More often than not, he comes up with his own ideas.  This will be a ladybug.

Two days in a row Miss Mary created beautiful paintings, along side Miss Beth.  For some reason Beth ruined both of Mary's paintings, by balling them up like a piece of trash.  The first day I gave a mild scolding, but on the second I tapped her hand lightly and told her she needed to treat Mary's work nicely and this better not happen again.  

She was remorseful today and reached over to kiss her big sister and say sorry.  I wonder if she was jealous, because her own paintings are a bit of a mess?  I praise her work as much as I do Mary's.  

Anyway, Mary was so touched by her little sister's kiss, that she immediately forgave her, despite having spent about thirty minutes on the painting.   

I tell my kids frequently that one of the reasons God gave them siblings is to help them learn to love more like Christ.  When squabbles happen, I suggest to them, they need to work peaceably through them and each person must confess their part and be humbled.  They do seem to come to resolution quicker when I give this reminder.

We made brownies yesterday, and though Beth couldn't taste the batter containing four eggs, I did let her sample the frosting we made.  She licked it right off the beater utensil.  Warmed my heart, I tell you, to see her enjoying it so.  

We got a steady, heavy snow on Wednesday, lasting most of the day.  It was breathtakingly beautiful--the biggest snowflakes we've seen yet!  I do fear for the tulips and other bulbs, just coming up in this bed.

  

What made me think I could start morning glories in the house?  Tonight I had to put popsicle sticks in with these, attaching them with bread ties.  I hope we can come up with another solution before long. I didn't realize they would need to climb right away.

Miss Mary was so smitten with her Paul, that she put her arm around him while he read to her.  Oh, how that touched my Momma heart.  Then she kissed his baby soft cheek.

Is not a cardinal in the snow one of God's greatest gifts?  Breathtaking!

Thursday gratitude:

* For sibling kisses

* For husband hugs

* For whole-family cuddling

* For picture books shared all together on the couch

* For brothers who read to little ones so Momma can keep the pancakes from burning

* For a husband who always insists on taking the burnt ones, no matter how much I protest.  He lays down his life for us daily, in these little ways.

* For listening to Peter read while I nursed Beth in the rocker next to his.  He still reads aloud, for now, but he didn't repeat anything or stutter, as he read a Box Car Children book.  God heard my heart on this OCD complication! This is the first time in a while he was able to read peacefully, something other than the Bible.

Later tonight though he had trouble falling asleep because of some details in the book concerning a cave and a monster (not a real one of course, just part of the mystery).  Frustrated, he told me he wasn't going to read these books any more and why don't they write more Magic School Bus Chapter Books, because those are his favourite?

Last time this occurred, he told me he was only going to read these books in the morning--definitely not near bedtime.  This one he found particularly interesting though, because he read for pleasure about four separate times today.  I will be in prayer that this gets resolved soon, somehow, because like holding his hamster and watching his birds, reading calms him.  I had him make a list of self-soothing techniques and he listed the hamster, the birds, and just today, he added reading to the list.  It's something he can choose to do when his temper begins to flare.  Unfortunately, we still have difficulty finding material that doesn't aggravate his OCD in some way.  Tonight he asked me time and again if a monster was going to climb in his window.  It has been years since monsters were an issue.  The OCD makes him terribly skittish about many things. While I'm frustrated over finding something he's completely comfortable with, I'm so very thankful he's reading again!

my precious girls

On Tuesday we made chocolate chocolate-chip cookies, without the chocolate chips, because, once again, I ate them.  Not by myself entirely, mind you.  Every time I chew chocolate chips, stealthy stolen from the baking cupboard, someone sees me, or smells them, and asks for some. And I can't say no, because doing so would undermine my credibility--making me a hypocrite.  I hate the word hypocrite; I don't want to be anything that starts with hypo.

So, between the five of us munching on chips from the baking cupboard, we can only hope to bake with them within 48 hours of buying them.  Beyond 48 hours, forget it.

You're about to see an insane number of pictures of Mary and Beth and cookie baking.  Why?  Because I love baking with these precious girls. 

- I love that Mary dutifully makes balls with her dough, while popping a bit in her mouth only intermittently.

- I love that Beth really wants to be a Momma's helper, but ends up eating more dough than she rolls (yes, I worry about the raw eggs).  She is like her Momma.  A cookie monster.  I love that about her.  I watch closely, because she'll ruin her next meal if I'm not vigilant.  I put 13 cookies on her pan myself, to her 3. Then I help Mary finish filling hers, before taking away the dough and pans, and releasing the girls.  I finish the baking tasks myself. This saves them both from gluttony and malnutrition, because we bake twice a week.  Don't ask what saves me from cookie gluttony.  Nothing, right now.  Breastfeeding burns calories in Momma's body; it's good for both of us.  When Beth decides to stop nursing, I'll have to give up cookies and eat carrots and celery.  God help me love them--carrots and celery, that is.

- I love how their eyes light up when I announce baking time.

- I love how dutifully, cheerfully, they go and wash their hands.  Not all directions are followed cheerfully around here, but washing hands to help in the kitchen is always done joyfully.  I love that.

- I love how they dip their hands into the dry ingredients, feeling all the different textures.

- I love how the boys, mostly uninterested in helping, always manage to make their way to the kitchen, just as the first batch comes out.  I really love that. Cookies, made with love by Momma and sisters, are one of God's graces to our family.  They bring joy. That new, bisque-colored GE range in the background there, also brings joy.  It heats to 350 degrees in four minutes!

- I love how Mary and Beth put their hands over mine when we use the electric mixer.  I love how they giggle over the vibration.

- I love that Beth copies everything I do--including turning the bowl as we mix.

Tuesday it was chocolate chocolate cookies, Friday it was oatmeal raisin. Beth eagerly started, measuring out some rolled oats before Momma even gave instructions.  Does she have it memorized?

These little girls are in bed, long asleep.  How I want to scoop them up from their beds right now and rock them in my rocker--drinking in their milky skin and eyelashes, trying to etch each curve into memory, for when they're grown and gone, leaving me to rock alone.  They are the sweetest blessings!

God knew!  He really knew!  We tried to get pregnant when we had our boys, but not so with our girls.  We just didn't do anything artificial or fool-proof.  I didn't want to be an old Momma, but I can't imagine life without these girls.  It would be so heavy here without them. They are God's grace to me--to this household.

May I give unsolicited advice?  Go ahead and throw an egg at your computer if you want. Let the babies come!  God knows what's in store for you.  He has perfect plans for every moment of your life. If he wants to give you a baby, let Him.  I promise you, there will never be a baby in your life who won't bless you.  Even a baby lost through miscarriage still blesses.  No, you can't do anything about your husband's vasectomy choice, but you can keep your own heart open.  Though my husband had the vasectomy, I believe God will still bless my open heart--my heart for His blessings, for His open hand, no matter what the hand holds.

No, there is nothing glamorous about people always staring at me with my kids, wondering if I'm the grandma or the mother. That hurts sometimes. But it pales in comparison to the blessing that these girls are--born when I was 40 and 42.

Rearing children is hard.  Gruelling even, at times.  But remember Sally Clarkson and her fishes and loaves?  Nothing forces you to give God your fishes and loaves, daily, like mothering does.  

It's the most beautiful, most worthwhile, most world-changing thing you'll ever do.

And no other endeavour changes--sanctifies, even--your own heart as much as mothering does.  This is true whether you've given birth, or opened your heart to an orphan.

 "You didn't eat more dough, did you Beth, after Momma asked you not to?"

Do you think that's a guilty face?  That full mouth giving it away?

The counter and the floor are always messy afterwards--far messier than if I'd done the baking myself.  But looking at this mess, I feel so blessed.  It doesn't get any better than this.

I don't want tidiness or perfection.  I don't want a fat savings account or manicured nails or exciting adventures.  I want an abundant life.  A messy, poured-out life, lived by faith...full of thanks-giving.

How about you?