Here we go...headed into the weekend again!
Since I do my grocery shopping on Thursday's I am usually ready for hubby's request for food on Friday mornings. This morning I baked some biscuits and cooked some eggs with cheese on top to make biscuit sandwiches.
His lunch and coffee were ready. The children kissed him and we waved him off to work with smiles.
Ahhh! I love it when a plan comes together!

Yesterday was grocery day. I admit that grocery shopping is not a favorite activity of mine. I have read some blogs where they give the feeling that if they had no other obligations in life they would stand around in the grocery aisles calculating their savings until they were forced to go home and sleep.
I have no such desire. Don't get me wrong. I love to help my husband save money. l love to feed my family. I love to plan my menus. I just don't relish the time spent in the grocery store; especially if I have to go to Stuff Mart for some reason. When I emerge from Stuff Mart I feel like a mole coming out of the ground. My eyes hurt in the sunlight and I have to squint and scurry to the car. My brain gets on some sort of short circuit where I can't hear anything but loud white noise...the mix of unpleasant music, babies crying, registers clicking and hundreds of people talking. I also feel like I've been gone from regular society for an unknown amount of time. Like a time traveler that no one knows was gone. The crackling noise in my head has to die down before I can understand normal people talking again. It's very disconcerting to be on the sidewalk in front of the mammoth store that just stole a large chunk of my life and then have my phone ring....
Ring!
Me: Uh, Uhm...He..He...Heellllooo?
Daughter: Mom, when are you coming home? I mean, I hope you aren't coming home yet. I'm having fun doing crafts and I don't want to clean it up yet. The babies took their diapers off and broke some stuff....but it's fine..." Her voice trails off.
I try to answer with English but my mind is running on some kind of holding pattern and it takes a few words to get into gear.
Me: "Uhhh... I just... coming... out store... I can't...uhhhmmm... remember where I parked.... How long have I been gone anyway?"
It usually takes me 15 minutes or so to shake the side effects.

I am very pleased to say, however, that yesterday I did not have to visit Stuff Mart! I went to Kroger, which is a notch or 2 better. They were having one of their regularly scheduled 10 for 10 sales. I can do those. I can stock up on essentials and basics while the prices are low. In fact I absolutely love to do that. I have shopped for this family for more than 19 years. So I pretty much know what we need, I use a list to remind me of what is on the menu but for essentials I already know the list in my head. Yesterday, my cart was loaded with bags of onions (3 lbs for a dollar isn't too bad) and other basics. You gotta watch those sales though! They try to trick you into buying something for a dollar a can -just because it has a bright yellow sticker declaring 10 FOR 10 DOLLARS-!!!...when the brand right next to it is only 75 cents per can at regular price!

I made it out of there with all the groceries for this week plus lots of stuff for the coming month and I spent less than my budgeted grocery amount! Hurray! That means I have a teensy bit of money to use on something else. Like, add to my envelope of savings for a few new school books that I hope to purchase.

Late last night Osprey called. He has to call late because he's so busy right now that he has no other time slots available....I remember being young...
Anyway, we were up late talking about stuff...you know...plans for life and next year --college? no college? ...jobs, classes and grades and also, he's planning to go on a school organized mission trip to Peru this summer for which he has to raise his own support. I'm just getting used to him being in another state and now he wants to go out of the country for more than a month ...somebody help me breathe...my baby isn't a baby anymore...

Labels: Another Day, Family

This past weekend Osprey got to come home for a short visit.
My parents had some meetings to attend in a nearby town so they brought him and dropped him off on Friday.
It was so wonderful to have him home! We got to hear him play guitar (we've been missing that sound) and just visit and laugh a little.
The time went too quickly and we took him back to the town where my parents were staying on Sunday. We had a nice visit there too and I got a great picture of my five kiddos under a tree behind my grandparents house (their backyard opens into a park).

Ahhhh! Isn't this happy?!

Labels: Family, News

I have been asked to share a little about our family planning belief's...or non-beliefs :-) or 'quiver full' convictions.
So I will attempt to share our story gently and respectfully. I have avoided this subject in the past because it seems to me that most people are not interested in change. When God begins to work on someone's heart He tugs at it and they respond. He doesn't need me to argue them into something. So...this is not meant to be a persuasive paper or a judgment on those with different beliefs. This is just our story. I DO hope it inspires someone to else to trust God with their family size. :-)

I was growing up in the 70’s and 80's-- when it was not typical for the mother to be home with her children--except at my house. :-) My own sweet mother was there for us in the home, always waiting to hear our tales and always ready to pray with us. She taught me that a woman's greatest calling is to be the helpmeet to her husband and a stay at home mother to her children. From a very early age I dreamed of having a large family (I loved the Walton's television show!). Perhaps I was able to dream of the joys of a large family because my own mother and father made our family life such a joy.

Through the passage of time and thanks to the world's excellent brainwashing program, I came to believe that more than 3 or 4 children were an 'irresponsible and burdensome' thing for people to have. Sadly, Christians in the church had bought into the same lifestyle as the world and were now passing it on to the younger generation.

My husband and I married with the agreement that we would have only 2 children. But...deep in my heart I knew it couldn't be wrong to love children and have more of them.
When our second child was about 3 years old I picked up the book "Full Quiver" at a local homeschool book table and began reading. That's when I discovered that my desire to be blessed by children was put there by God! Amazing! The new problem I faced was the fact that my hubby did not share my conviction and in fact, had never desired or been open to us having a large family. Thankfully, the Lord had already worked on my heart and showed me how important it was to respect my husband and his leadership of our family.

After a few weeks of prayer and SERIOUS Bible study, I went carefully to my husband and shared with him about the tugging at my heart. I did not ask him to change his mind. I did not tell him I demanded more children. I simply told him that my convictions about birth control had changed, but that my desire to honor his decision in the matter was more important than anything else. I explained that no matter what he decided I would be respectful, and more than that, I would be happy! After all, I figured if this really was God's call to us that he could change my hubby's heart whenever and however He wanted.
I dropped the subject and went on with my life as though nothing had changed, simply trusting God to do His will. I knew it would be a true miracle if my hubby ever changed his mind! Ask anybody who knew him then and they would tell you the same thing. "He'll never change on that one!"

After about 2 months my Hubby announced to me that God had changed his heart. :-)
I was excited!
I was scared!
What if we started having babies every 9 months?! Oh my goodness! What had I gotten myself into? I should never have studied the Bible like that! I should never have picked up that Full Quiver book!

Oh, how patient God is with us and how much we have to learn.
It was a long time--years-- before I conceived another child. Of course we were overjoyed and began planning where we could fit a little bassinet into our tiny home. Part way into the pregnancy however, I miscarried. The grief was very real. My heart ached and my arms longed to hold the tiny bundle and how I wished I could've touched the baby soft cheek.
Again, it was a long time before I conceived, and again...the baby went to be with Jesus before I ever held it in my arms.

Through these trying years God was teaching us more. We learned that letting God plan your family means that you trust Him no matter what. My dear husband reminded me that it's not right to attempt to 'twist God's arm' to give us more children! What a revelation! It turns out that WE don't make babies! GOD does! WE don't get to add children unless God WANTS us to! He doesn't necessarily want every family to be as large as the Duggar family...though there are many large families out there. Some families that are trusting God with their family size still have no children and some have just one or two. You'd be surprised! God actually has a plan...He doesn't just hand out babies willy nilly...hmmmm...thinking, thinking, thinking... I guess God is smarter than me?!!! :-D Why does it take so long for me to grasp the simple and the obvious?

Waiting and trusting was hard for me. I am one of those people who likes to jump all the way into something. When I decide something should be done, I want to do it yesterday and I want to do it big! I had to learn trust and patience.

When our second child was 7 years old I got pregnant again. This time I carried the pregnancy full term and the baby was born on my daughter's 8th birthday! Please don't tell me that is a coincidence. I don't believe in coincidences. Because I am a Christian I have given God permission to direct every area of my life. I know He does! The stories I could tell...but I won't right now ... :-)

After about 2 years I got pregnant again....and miscarried for the third time. By this time I knew that God had a plan for our family that was unique, just as each of us is unique. I felt a deep sense of trust and joy. No, I wasn't happy to lose another baby...joy is a sense of peace, not just surface happiness.

When our 3rd child was 3 years old God blessed our family with twin girls! Double blessing!
We have been given so much! And right now I am very busy!

There is so much that God has taught me over the years that it's hard to sum it all up here.
I have learned some very important lessons.

1. God doesn't make mistakes.
2. As a Christian, I need to be responsible to train the children God gives 'in the way they should go' or they will cease to be a blessing and instead be a burden...as children are for so many families who aren't Christians.
3. When God gives a child, He gives the means to care for that child...our financial picture improves every time God sends us a new baby (or 2!)
4. I believe that other people's fertility and marriage bed is their own business, as long as they are not aborting babies-which is wrong!
I share our story with those that are interested but I believe it is rude to inquire after another couples private life--unless that inquiry is because you are genuinely interested in changing your own perspective. Meaning--I don't care to have people try to talk me OUT OF trusting God with my family size. I pray that God will inspire people to trust Him through our lives but I NEVER look down on anyone who does not share our convictions and I don't want to be looked down on either. The door goes both ways. I know God is big enough to speak to His own kids when or if He sees fit--just like He spoke to us. I just hope that more people will listen because it's an AWESOME thing to be blessed so much!
5. I discovered through research that many of the 'dangers of having children' were myth's. Especially the ones about older mothers. Please don't try to engage me in an argument here. I don't want to argue. If you disagree with me that is your own choice. If you are not sure or have fears about childbearing. Do some research. I'm not talking about reading conventional reports. I mean REAL research. The kind where you look at actual statistics and find the real info... It's not as bad as we've been told!
6. The more you have the more love there is to go around! And the less selfish every member of the family becomes!
7. Out of all the families that God has blessed with many children I don't see any of them wanting to send any of the children back! :-)

I hope that God chooses to bless us with more children. But if He doesn't, I'll still be fine with that. I so dearly love each one He has given us and I trust His plan.


“And He said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee
for my strength is made perfect in weakness, most gladly therefore
will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power
of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

"Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD:
and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man;
so are children of the youth.
Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them:
they shall not be ashamed,
but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate."
(Psalm 127:3-5 KJV)

Edited to add:
Even though I do not make it a habit to inquire after other people's private practice that does not mean they should be unaware of the dangers of birth control methods.

Birth control pills, Depo-Provera or Norplant can cause abortions -go here to read about it.
IUD's cause abortions- go here to read more.

Food for thought:
If we , as Christians, are so sure that God made us? and that God is the giver of life, and that God doesn't make mistakes, and that we cannot force God to do anything...then why oh why are we so sure that it is US alone who makes those babies happen? Where is God in that equation? How in the world does a precious little spirit get delivered into that tiny body if God doesn't want it to? We know that Satan is not a life giver so the only other alternative would be ourselves...are we really THAT powerful? I have even heard well meaning but very confused young wives say.."oh dear...I think I made a mistake ...we shouldn't have got pregnant right now!" No, no, no, YOU did not make a mistake...you did what God expects every married couple to do and then He blessed you for it! YOU do not have the power to make the baby...just the fun of helping the True Creator of Life! :-)

Labels: Family, More About Me

Today is my first post concerning the new exercise challenge I have taken on.
Go here to read about the moms who have decided to team up and challenge one another weekly to take better care of our bodies.

Okay, so I guess I should report about my week at this point ...


Uhmmm...I didn't do very well.
In fact I only exercised once. I find that odd since for about 2 or 3 weeks prior to me joining this challenge I have exercised almost daily. Do I have a problem? Apparently so! Do I know what it is? Not really... Maybe I just rebel when I feel obligated or maybe my brain purposely tricked me into forgetting.

It doesn't matter because this is a new week and I plan to do better today and tomorrow and every day. The sun is shining, the neighbors roosters are crowing and my 3 littles are already outside enjoying the day. I plan to join them shortly.

My recent 'style' of exercise has been to play on the swings, go for walks, and 'power lift' the littles! :-) I have a younger brother who is a 'strong man'. I'll bet he doesn't use my methods! But that's okay! It's what you call multi-tasking and it gets the job done.

So off I go to exercise! and enjoy my children! and the sunshine!

Have a sunny day!

Labels: Another Day, Exercise

Well,
I have finally fulfilled a 20 year dream of mine. At long last we are able to sponsor a Compassion child. When I was a Bible college student back in the 80's, my roommate was sponsoring a child. She would write letters and we had her picture sitting on the dresser. My heart was moved then but I could only afford to eat ramen noodles and green beans. I don't want to go into all the details of the past 20 years--you'd probably nod off right at your computer. But I do want to say that thanks to the Compassion Bloggers I was reminded of my dream. THIS time we have a budget and we're using Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover Plan. So we have money to give! Hurray! It's not much, but I hope it touches the life of one young lady in Uganda in a very real and meaningful way. In time, we hope to sponsor several children.
Oh! Was it ever HARD to choose a child from the list! There are so many with such great needs. I cried quite a bit during the choosing process. My 13 yo daughter was my partner for choosing. We discussed all the different needs and narrowed down a list of about 3 girls. We finally settled on Natukunda Adrine, a 15 year old girl in Uganda. We haven't received our packet yet but you can bet we've been watching down the street for the mail truck to bring it to us.
If you want to have your heart touched visit the Compassion Bloggers page and begin reading all the different stories. I also highly recommend going straight to BooMama's blog and reading her adventures. She was one of the Bloggers who traveled to Uganda last week. I do believe her life has been changed forever. THIS is an excellent post about Compassion and it's many ministries, written by a mom of 11.
One more great link is here. Shaun was another of the Compassion Bloggers and he has set up a Blog Carnival of sorts for people to share their own Compassion Stories. When you get there just scroll down a little bit and you will see the list of bloggers who have linked up so far. Click on any name to read their story. And if you want you can share your own story.
If you want to donate to any cause or believe missions work is a good thing, but you are not actively doing anything about it, may I suggest sponsoring a child? It becomes so personal when you have a face and a name and can write letters. It's also such a simple way to start.

Labels: Inspirations

I want to share a post with you today that was written by
Melynda @ Our Blessed Arrows blog.
She gave me permission to share this here. Enjoy!
After you finish here I encourage you to stop by Melynda's blog and make a new friend.
She has a great blog full of wonderful posts like this one.

How To Do It All

I am asked a lot, "How do you do it all?"

I am just superwoman. That is all. I have been gifted with 48 hour days, self-cleaning floors, and brainiac kids who just LOVE to do school work and get all the chores done.

Yeah right, If only!

Actually, I don't even know what 'it all' is. I guess the accomplished stay at home, homeschooling mama would be up by 5am to feed the baby and get her day started, read her Bible and pray for 1 hour every morning, have a spotless house, no dishes in the sink, kids with fresh hair cuts and unstained, rip-free clothing.
This woman would always look put together, wear a spotless apron in the kitchen, along with high heals. Her hair would be washed and done, her makeup flawless, her finger nails would shine like justice and she would have the fragrance of a rose. Pregnancy would never slow her down or add pounds to her backside.
She would have 3 fresh cooked meals ready at perfect intervals each day, served hot and on good china at the dining room table. She would serve super healthy, homemade snacks at least twice a day with fresh milk from the family's dairy cow and in the kitchen you would find no sign that cooking was ever done, with the exception of the bread dough, made with freshly ground wheat, rising in a warm oven.

An accomplished mama would sew all her kids clothes with the precision of a professional seamstress and laundry would never pile up anywhere. All clothes would be pressed perfectly and organized by color in each child's drawer. All socks would have their matches.
She could wrangle a snake, catch a mouse, and change a tire. An unexpected event in her day wouldn't cause her to detour. She would reset her schedule and get back to work, not missing a beat.

This mom would have a strict schedule, in 15 minute increments, posted on her bathroom mirror to keep her from any dilly dally, along with a memory verse reminding her not to be lazy, though she will find time for tea and a good book sometime in the afternoon.

Not a spec of dust would be found in the accomplished mom's home, nor an out of place toy. Carpets would always have those fresh vacuum lines and floors would shine, freshly mopped. Not a pile of newspapers nor bills will be spotted and electrical cords coming to and fro will be invisible to the naked eye.

The sounds in her house would be either silence, Christian music, or the piano, of which all her children would be exceptional at. Her kids would be math whizzes, never complain, and get everything done in the time allotted. They would wash their hands and behind their ears regularly, their teeth would always be brushed, and their hair freshly combed.

Her husband would come home to a house that smelled nice, a beautiful woman who was there to wait on him, well groomed kids, and a yummy dinner. Mama would put the kids to bed at 8 with no fussing or whining and stay up with her husband for a few hours and have 'mommy & daddy' time. They would be fast asleep by 10 so they could be up by 5am the next morning to do it all again.

In the words of Elizabeth Bennet, "I never saw such a woman. Surely she would be a fearsome thing to behold."

Expecting yourself to be the picture of the woman I described above is silly. We can never hope to accomplish that. To think we should expect ourselves to always be perfect in everything will leave us feeling discouraged and hopeless. We will end up tired and unable to be the mothers and wives we ought to be.

First: Ask your husband what things he would have you get done first in your day. Make a list of the things that make him feel good when he comes home and work on perfecting those.
Second (and maybe this should be first): Get your kids in line. Children that obey are much happier and happy kids make happy homes. When you have a child who fusses when you tell him "no candy" it dampens the mood of your home. But when your child says, "okay" when you say no and he runs off to play you will see an improvement in the overall feel of your days. Your child is happier knowing his boundaries. He didn't have to fuss or whine for anything. He was able to move on and happily go about his business.
Third: Decide what is truly important and what is just a small thing. Remember that you aren't a robot and neither are your kids. You are all different. Teach your kids how to get their jobs done, even jobs they don't like, and then let them tweak the way they do it to suit themselves. Doing it all yourself won't help your children learn anything but laziness, but making them do it exactly as you would will only teach them disdain for helping out with jobs they must learn to do, and it will be a pain in your tush because you will be frustrated and constantly re-doing everything.
Fourth: Don't freak out when things don't go exactly as planned and don't look at it as getting 'backed up'. Feeling backed up will cause discouragement. Just make a written plan and start again. If that doesn't work, make a new written plan. Don't go back and look at how unsuccessful you have been.

You may think from reading my blog that I am put together and I get everything done. That isn't quite true. Actually, far from it, I just don't blog about my faults too much.
I have the child rearing thing down and we try to take an easy going approach to life - those things do make my days stress free. However, my home is not the picture of perfection. Here are a few confessions for those of you who don't 'see' me in homemaking action.

My kids may get the laundry done, and I may get up, get dressed, and make my bed every morning, but you should see the dust on my ceiling fans and shelves. I have small boxes where I hide stuff when surfaces get too junky. I am queen of the swipe and stuff, taking everything off the desk and throwing it into a box. The desk is instantly clean! But then I have this box sitting around needing to be gone through.

My flooring is made up of baby toys and Match Box cars and our schooling area is usually littered with ripped up crayon wrappers.
My walls need washing and pictures need to be straightened.
I am really bad at remembering to wipe down my appliances and my baseboards probably haven't been washed in a year.

There is more but, alas, I am done poo-pooing myself. I do pretty good for a mama of 6 and, since my main goal is a stress free home, a happy husband and smart, happy kids I think we are right on track.
So, work I must on those things needing my attention but when I don't get it all done I just think back to the wise words of Miss Scarlett O'Hara.
"I can shoot straight, if I don't have to shoot too far."

No, wait, wrong quote.

"Fiddle dee dee... I won't think about it now, I'll think about it tomorrow, when I can stand it. After all ... tomorrow's another day."

Posted by Mel

Labels: Family, Household Helps, Inspirations, Woman to Woman

Katie tagged me to post six miscellaneous things about myself.

The Rules for this meme are:

*Link to the person that tagged you.

*Post the rules on your blog.

*Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.

*Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.

*Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

Ok, so here goes...

1. When I was 3 or 4 years old I realized on my own that Santa was not real. My parents never really tried to make me believe in Santa, but society in general did. I remember being very offended that anyone would think I was so gullible. All the 'santas helper's' walking around did nothing to impress me either. Why did they have to try and wear the same red suit anyway? :-)

2. Even though I really try to serve healthy foods and I buy organic etc... one of my favorite snacks is Jalapeno Kettle Chips. Yummy! It's hard for me to stop eating them...which is why I don't buy them very often-- too much temptation.

3. I have always been very sensitive to loud noises. I can barely stand it when people shout suddenly (like when a friend of mine in high school hid in my back seat and jumped out and roared -- I almost knocked him out in my startled state of mind). When I was a young bride I hated to vacuum or use blenders or mixers or anything that makes loud noise. When turning on the blender I would always quickly cover my ears. Most of the time I would just use a hand beater though.

4. As a child, my favorite place to do homework was in a tree. I had a favorite climbing tree on my uncle's farm. There were two large branches spaced just right. I could take my work and stay there for hours. I often took a good reading book up there too!

5. Some of my very best memories of childhood include the long drives we took as a family. We had limited funds in those days (daddy was the pastor of a small church) so for fun, daddy would tell us to pile into the car and off we would go. We would explore back roads and valleys, hilltops and farms. It was always great to see what was just over the next hill. Sometimes we would go all the way to the state line before turning around to go home.

6. My dream house is not a new house. (although I don't think those are bad ;-)) I dream of having a big old house with lots of character including nooks and crannies and a little (or a lot) of history. :-)


Well, there you go, six random things about me.
Now the rules say to tag six people...hmmmm... I guess I'm going to break the rules and just let you choose to be tagged by me. I know that probably isn't as fun, but I have used more than my share of time on the computer today. I need to get off and do something else. If you read this consider yourself tagged! Leave me a comment when you post yours. I love reading about other people!

** I know many of you have been tagged for these things several times in the past or some of you may not want to participate, so please don't feel obligated....this is for pure fun!

Labels: Just for fun, More About Me

Marie @ View From The Pews said:
I have the utmost admiration for all mothers who decide to educate their own children at home. What an onerous task and at times a thankless one I should think.

When one looks at the way schools are being run today you have to weep at the absurdity of the Political Correct movement which has infiltrated many schools.

By educating your own children you are arming them to face the world and their future with confidence and a great deal of knowledge that many schools dont teach anymore, such as history.

These mothers are selfless in their devotion to educate their children as it should be done. I am also sure that many of these homeschooling mothers have moments of tiredness, they may feel run down and depleted yet they continue. That is courage. That is selflessness. It is love.

So please all blogger homeschool Mothers accept this bouquet for a job well done. Bravo to you all. YOU deserve it.

Anyone who visits this blog, please pass this Bouquet to All homeschooling Moms.

So, I am passing along the bouquet to all of the homeschool mothers who stop by here. I hope you smile today!

Labels: Homeschool

Eaten anything good lately? It has been observed that the human body ceases to feel hungry after a certain length of time without food. The body will weaken but the brain adapts it's signals and stops requesting food. Of course, the body will eventually turn inward and attempt to survive by depleting itself.


The spirit is very much like the body...it gets used to being starved and shrinks away steadily with every meal it misses.
Most of us have good intentions. We plan to feed ourselves spiritually but just don't get around to it very often.


May I encourage you, inspire you, to join me this week? Join me! Let's eat healthy this week. Let's take time to feed ourselves.


My heart longs for more of the Living Water. Forget the fountain of youth! :-) Jesus said " ...But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst..."



The psalmist said "For Your word has given me life." In Psalm 119 he speaks of meditating: "I rise before the dawning of the morning, and cry for help; I hope in Your word. My eyes are awake through the night watches, that I may meditate on Your word."





"Give ear to my words, O Lord; Consider my meditation.
Give heed to the voice of my cry, my King and my God, for to you I will pray. My voice you shall hear in the morning, O Lord;
In the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up."





"Kings of the earth and all peoples; princes and all judges of the earth; both young men and maidens; old men and children.
Let them praise the name of the Lord; For His name alone is exalted; His glory is above the earth and heaven."





"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!"
"For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them."

Labels: Inspirations