mommy to a beautiful five

2012-01-24T10:28:00.000-07:00

There is not much more lasting or precious than the love between sisters. The bond only grows stronger with age. Although four years age difference stands between my angel and fifth blessing, it seems to shrink in importance as they grow. I awoke to these two cuddled on the floor under a blanket whispering and giggling away like best of friends.

It made my heart glad.

This day

2012-01-13T10:54:00.004-07:00

This is the day the LORD has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it.

Psalm 118:24

" I get dressed, mommy, I get dressed!!"

Only an enthusiastic 2 year old, with a smile like that can get away with wearing a long sleeve shirt as pants. As I am writing this, my fifth blessing is meticulously putting a puzzle together in the living room, Genesis 32 is being read by The Streaming Bible online, I'm sipping an americano that my mama dropped off for me this morning, about to grade this weeks schoolwork before we ALL head over to our friend's house to play and RUN(training for a half... very slowly... but surely), family dinner date at friends' tonight and my oldest daughter is organizing papers in our attic to make $5 for the kid's "dog fund". Good, good day.

Yesterday my husband, 3 oldest daughters and I went skiing/snowboarding. I have a snowboarder, a skiier and a zipper(my angel never stopped moving up and down the bunny hill. She was so fast off the chair to the hill, you'd miss her if you blinked!) My honey tried out snowboarding. He caught on quick as he usually does with physically challenging sports, but took some nasty spills from going to the top of the mountain(on his first day EVER of snowboarding!) Love him. We had an absolute blast! The sun was shining, the skies as clear as could be, we didn't end the day in the hospital and the snow was just about perfect. Only one downer... I'm as sore as can be!

God is good!

2012-01-08T18:51:00.002-07:00

The weekend of drawn out birthday celebration was a success!

My try at free handing/eyeing/designing this cake with my angel lending a hand when needed was I believe a success!

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday to YOU

Happy birthday

my dear one

Happy birthday

to YOU!

(doodly-doo)

Hand's on

2012-01-08T00:29:00.000-07:00

Today for my angel's 7th birthday we went to the local aquarium for some interactive fun and learning! Here a few of my favorite captured moments from our outing.

By the end of our adventure, there wasn't a dry sleeve in the bunch.

Nothing but blue skies

2012-01-06T09:27:00.006-07:00

Looking heavenward this year will take a choice. Daily. To believe the promises God has given us.

Live for the promise of heaven with me this year?

We will see Him face to face one day and rejoice with HIM for a life we lived to glorify HIM! Let's live our lives like we really truly believe that.

O, joyful day that will be. (:

Remembering

2012-01-05T22:58:00.005-07:00

2o11

Where to begin... when did it END? Whew, time slips by like a child quietly searching for mischief... well, this picture sums up what can happen when they do slip by:

And no, the tears are not because I scolded her for getting into mommy's eye shadow. This one is smart enough to know she's done something wrong the moment I discover her.

Whew.

My fifth blessing is big part of why 2011 has flown by! Loving on and training this sweet girl seems to be what will be the end of me... but I wouldn't trade a moment of it... now, ask me tomorrow morning when she's screaming up a fit yelling,"I DO IT, I DO IT BENNET! You MEAN", and not sleeping peacefully in her tiny toddler bed, it may be another story...

Totally teasing!

Like a sweet man eased my mind by saying during one of her "I've made up my mind", strong-headed moments where she was loudly(while daddy was trying to do worship and mommy was trying to go over verses with Sparks girls)letting us know she did NOT want to go to her AWANA class(even the promise of treats wouldn't ~~trick~~ talk her into it!)or anywhere anyone else wanted her to go for that matter on this particular night, "She's a natural born leader that one."

"Well", I said," God's got a LOT of work ahead of him on this one then." (wink)

Last year was... draining. physically, mentally, spiritually-God only knows. So thankful He KNOWS:

each tear that fell
every dream left for lost
every blessing
the desires of our hearts
our deepest needs
our struggles
areas in need of cleansing and growth

He knows it all.

He knows I can't handle this brood all on my own.

Yes, yes I know, sweet and cooperative, that's them! Ha, and most of the time really they are... but what about those moments when they become wild, selfish animals who can't possibly be related to me!

Awe, shucks I love them anyway.

My mom, sister and I remain close and busy doing activities like home school field trips, bake days and exercise routines together regularly. Game nights, Monday night football with my Dad, drinks and singing around the fire pit, Christmas up at my grandparents cabin with just enough ~~ice~~ snow to make sledding ~~probable~~ possible, my oldest two getting baptized, trips to New York, Mexico(and very soon TEXAS(!!!!!!)) are definitely some of my favorite memories of this past year. I have too many to name.

God is so good. Smiling because of Him tonight.

2011 was busy for a myriad of reasons, and I am thankful that this new year I will be able to focus more solely on my family, blogging, photography and my walk with the Lord. There's nothing I hold closer to my hear than those.

Looking forward to 2012 and all the memories it's waiting to hold!

By the light of my camera screen...

2011-12-20T07:36:00.002-07:00

On this cold December morning, hours before light seeps into the dark horizon, I had an epiphany as I sorted through smiles of children, happy moments and dear memories. I am positive, no I HOPE it is certain that many others have had this same desire and idea, and I am so glad God whispered it into my heart as well. I share that you too may be inspired to participate!

I am going to start a new blog project where I will begin documenting 1000 gifts via photos I take personally! Awesome, right?

After being loaned the book One Thousand Gifts by a long-time friend and sister in the Lord, I was moved so deeply by Ann's words. My overall outlook on life so drastically changed, that I decided I MUST begin a list of simple daily gifts I for which I am most thankful. I walk through my day now, thanking God as I go often but do not always take the time to scribble the memory down, or snap a photo to remember it always by. God has blessed my family richly, but I intend to dig deeper, look closer, open my heart's eyes to new and previously un-noticed gifts and be thankful in every moment of everyday for the small glimpses of God in everything and every situation. Not just the "good" gifts, but every touch, word, moment, manifestation, and situation that our Creator lovingly lets come our way.

"Eucharisteo – life-filling gratitude – the practice of which is exercised in recording blessings, one by one."

I am SO thankful and EXCITED! I hope you will follow my blog; the one thousand humble photos of things, people, places and those little moments of life that I am thankful and grateful for. They will fill it's pages over the course of this coming year(and beyond) until I have at least 1000 "gifts" recorded. You can check out my up and coming blog Eu.char.is.te.o and maybe even be inspired to start a list for yourself if you haven't already! Let's all, friends, choose to be thankful. Choose to live a life drenched in life-filling gratitude. Let's all make a choice to live a life of eucharisteo soaked in gratitude, giving thanks and praise to God in the midst of even grief, loss and uncertainty; for He Is all good, in all and holds all things together.Though darkness spots His rays of beauty, He is light complete. Always light. The kind of light that fills the deepest darkest cranny's of our scorched souls and brings life to our hopeless wastelands.

Blessings to you, and merry CHRISTmas!
Mommy

Mum's the WORD!

2011-12-19T06:42:00.002-07:00

Secrets, just between God and us-I believe they make Him happy!

Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.

Matthew 6:2-4

2011-12-15T07:23:00.004-07:00

“A house is made of walls and beams;

a home is built with love and dreams.”

2011-12-13T11:09:00.006-07:00

"How I want to see the weight of glory break my thick scales, the weight of glory smash the chains of desperate materialism, split the shell of deadening entertainment, bust up the ice of catatonic hearts. I want to see God, who pulls on the coat of my skin and doesn't leave me alone in this withering body of mortality... isn't He the face of all faces? He is infinite and without end, without jaw or sockets, everywhere eye. The face of the moon, the face of the doe, the face of derelict, the face of pain, His, the countenance that seeps up through the world, face without limitation, face that "plays in ten thousand places."

All beauty is only reflection.
And whether I am conscious of it or not, any created thing or person of which I am amazed, it is the glimpse of His face to which I bow down. Do I have eyes to see it's Him and not the "thing"? Satan came in the scales that gleamed, a thing of beauty, and he lured the first woman and she was deceived. Beauty, the disguise can slide dangerous. True authentic Beauty requires of us, lays claim to us, and it is this, the knees bent, the body offered in obedience. A pantheists god is a passive god, but omnipresent God is Beauty who demands worship, passion, and the sacrifice of a life, for it is He who owns it. Do I have eyes to see His face in all things so I'm not merely dazzled by the trinket, glitzy bauble dangling for the ogling, till it flakes and breaks and I strain for more to lie prostrate before?"

~One Thousand Gifts

Why are we constantly as Christians lifting up and magnifying the names of the vessels, those "good" outspoken saints and not the only worthy One, Jesus Christ, God, Spirit within us, Creator and illustrator of ALL things good? Let's be amazed at Him, not his children! Let's scorn Satan and his tactics and leave the judging of radicals and sinners to the One true Judge over all and only One who intimately knows all men's hearts!

A notion

2011-12-11T08:50:00.002-07:00

I am overjoyed
that it's not about
how good I am
but so much more
about how good
I am not and how
overwhelmingly
GOOD God is.

Oh, happy day it is when we grasp on to that concept and let it weave itself deep into the very fabric of our daily living.

favorite things

2011-12-02T14:50:00.001-07:00

Here are just a few of my favorite things from around my house recently. I have MANY more... just have to clean up around them before I go posting pics. Even I have my limits!

As we know, I am NOT perfect, so therefore neither is my house... and I love it.

I adore BOLD simplicity. Latch onto homemade, kid-made goodies- my son's hammer marks can be seen on the vertical coat hook board... he was a huge help and had a grand ole time in the process.

Projects finished, mirrors hung and a huge satisfied grin sitting happily on my face.

That's the view from here.

2011-12-02T11:30:00.001-07:00

Passing on a sweet reminder of how blessed the majority of us American women are and how we can be in prayer for those who are without such handicapping conveniences, for their hard work is truly blessed work and completely fed and spurred on from above. In my ungratefulness and selfishness I may get upset that I have sick kids keeping me from my appointments all the while completely overlooking the fact that some women may be losing their little ones lives to mere colds due to a lack of money and medical care...

I am thankful today for the things God has set before me. All of it is a blessing to walk through with Him.

Author: Elisabeth Elliot
Source: Keep A Quiet Heart

Drudgery

"I must admit I feel a lot of pressure with two children under two years of age. I am committed to do it until they are in school, however, and feel it is God's will. At times like this--when I wonder if I will even be able to finish this letter with both of them screaming for something--or when I miss going to lunch or getting dressed up, everyday life seems a drudgery. I worked hard to get through college--to be a scrubwoman, ha!"

I understand this mother's cry. So does the Lord. He has given us this word: "No temptation has come your way that is too hard for flesh and blood to bear. But God can be trusted not to allow you to suffer any temptation beyond your powers of endurance. He will see to it that every temptation has a way out, so that it will never be impossible for you to bear it" (1 Corinthians 10:13, PHILLIPS).

"A way out," I can hear her say, "What mother has a way out?"

The New English Bible translation throws light on this: "a way out, by enabling you to sustain it." Think, too, of Jesus' words, "My yoke is easy and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:29 AV). He is willing to bear our burdens with us, if only we will come to Him and share the yoke, His yoke.

I saw this principle in operation when I visited the Dohnavur Fellowship in India. There, day after day, year in and year out, Indian women (most of them single) care for little children, handicapped children, infirm adults, old folks. They don't go anywhere. They have none of our usual forms of amusement and diversion. They work with extremely primitive equipment--there is no running water, for example, no stoves but wood-burning ones, no washing machines. In one of the buildings I saw this text: "There they dwelt with the King for His work." That's the secret. They do it for Him. They ask for and receive His grace to do it. I saw the joy in their lovely faces.

Farewell Fall-Good morning frost!

2011-11-19T14:26:00.005-07:00

Sub-freezing temperatures,

grey snowy mornings and quiet icy streets

glistening in the light of the moon,

can only mean one thing-

The beauty of Winter has arrived

to our little northwestern farm town

with all of it's blustering glory!

2011-11-16T00:32:00.002-07:00

"To occupy oneself with God's Word, talking about it and thinking about it, is also a most tremendous help against the devil, the world, the flesh, and all evil thoughts. In such reading, discussion, and meditation the Holy Spirit is present to supply always more light and new insights.
Psalm 1:2 calls those blessed who meditate on the law of the Lord day and night. It is certain that you will be offering up no incense or candles more potent against the devil than by occupying yourself with God's commandments and words, by takling of them, by singing them and by meditating on them. That, let me tell you, is the true holy water, the sign before which he flees and by which you can rout him."

-Martin Luther, Luther's Large Catechism

2011-11-03T10:29:00.000-06:00

2011-11-01T00:38:00.002-06:00

2011-10-18T09:45:00.004-06:00

Perfect "real life" photo here folks-dust on the mantle,
vacuum cleaner in the background, still dressed in my
bleach and coffee soaked work shirt but deciding,
yes, prioritizing and choosing to spend time with my
little dear blessings nonetheless. A perfectly clean house
completely pales in comparison to sweet moments
like these.

"And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."

Galatians 6:9

"Take heart sweetie, all of your hard work plowing the ground of our kids hearts and minds WILL PAY OFF. The warning from this passage is to not lose heart and become discouraged. For many of us, we lose heart and feel like we can't go on, before we actually can't go on. I will be lifting you up in prayer today...and defending you the best that I can... I love you." -My Main Man

2011-10-05T09:42:00.003-06:00

I adore rainy fall days.
A refreshing run through the cloud's tears.
Quiet time snuggled on the sofa, reflecting while being serenaded by the gentle patter of drops on the window pane.
Open windows, candles lit, bread baking in the oven and steamy coffee in hand.
A handful of my children cuddled close as books take our minds to far off lands, where stories always end happily ever after.
The softness of the soil and green of the leaves they brings... I adore rainy fall days.
Thank you, Lord for today. Refresh, wash, yes, cleanse my heart and soul just as you are the earth this day. Show what wicked ways have become set in my heart. Pour your healing grace on those desert places, Father. In Jesus name I pray, amen.

My "toothleth" Reader

2011-09-30T10:39:00.000-06:00

2011-09-20T09:42:00.003-06:00

My dear husband,

so thoughtful and sweet,

used craft material

left from hours of school fun

to leave his droopy-eyed wife

a good morning message...

it made my day!

Feeling complete, full and beautifully blessed.

Blessing

2011-09-08T10:36:00.000-06:00

Beauty

2011-08-27T12:15:00.001-06:00

Stay young at heart my princess.
Pure.
True to your Maker.

For completely faithful and loving He is,

sincere, forever pouring His love on you.

Give your everything, wholly to your mighty King.

Truly abandon desire for earthly pleasures,

Let His hands hold and protect your gentle soul.

For He formed you,

Designed you with purpose,

And can't wait to walk through

the rest of your life with you.

Capture her heart, Father,

Reach out and grasp her hand.

Let her find her worth in You,

and live to kneel at Your throne.

Fragile Companion

2011-08-22T11:07:00.000-06:00

Every cool summer morning, after spending energy on an invigorating run I look forward to grabbing the garden hose, my straw hat and watering can. I shower my flower gardens with a refreshing drink, faithfully as a summertime ritual. It's my time to pray in silence, tend to my plants, till the soil, dig up impeding grass and weeds and enjoy the warmth and beauty of the rising sun. As summer's end looms near, I was blessed with a visit from a tiny neighbor. It's as if he frolicked and played in the coolness of the water and waved a thank you and farewell as he climbed from his home and back again. God is SO GOOD to his children, he sends reminders of his love and small wonders of his amazing creation.

I will miss these moments come fall!

2011-05-31T11:31:00.002-06:00

A family that works together... smirks together?
Well, I tried. 'Works' rhymes with nothing.
My husband, two oldest girls and I all worked together to install a beautiful laminate floor yesterday. That was our memorial day. I have to say, it was hard work, and not necessarily "fun" but we enjoyed each other's company, laughing at my toilet paper earplugs and protective eye ware, dancing with the broom to Air One radio and using the table saw. YES I DID!
Just call me buff.
My husband and I didn't snap at each other once! We're one of the selective few who can work together without it ending in one of us sleeping on the couch. Heehee. It was a wonderful day, spent working together.
I love my family dearly.

Warning: over-enthusiasm is inevitable after 5 shots of espresso, a large Coke, Wendy's cuisine, fried chicken and a frosty consumed all in one day.

Thy Word

2011-05-27T10:13:00.007-06:00

Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

When I feel afraid, think I've lost my way,

still You're there right beside me.

And nothing will I fear as long as You are near.

Please be near me to the end.

Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

I will not forget Your love for me,

and yet my heart forever is wandering.

Jesus be my guide and hold me to Your side,

and I will love You to the end.

Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

-Amy Grant & Michael W. Smith

Psalm 119:105
Your word is a lamp for my feet,
a light on my path.

Blessing is in the eye of the beholder...

2011-05-19T11:01:00.001-06:00

Enjoying a morning with these blessings right now. They are beautiful reminders of God's love for us, his children as my heart is only for their best! God is so good, His blessings are abundant, real and ever so lovely. Sometimes, they are hard to see, buried under the muck of this life, but always there nonetheless, if we just make a choice to look and see their overwhelming beauty through the ashes.

What a gift!

2011-05-18T11:06:00.000-06:00

I took a few photos of my sister at 7 months along in her pregnancy with her third. She's expecting a boy and looks amazing! I love using Picnik to edit the photos color, style and contrast although, I use the free version so I can't touch any of the photos up... LIKE SHE NEEDS IT! She's beautiful. Here are a couple of my faves!

Gotta love her attitude... and her baby belly!

Wednesday's Word

2011-05-18T07:00:00.000-06:00

Cleanse me with
hyssop, and I will
be clean; wash me,
and I will be whiter
than snow. Let me
hear joy and
gladness; let the
bones you have
crushed rejoice. Hide
your face from my
sins and blot out
all my iniquity.
Create in me a
pure heart, O God,
and renew a
steadfast spirit
within me. Do not
cast me from your
presence or take
your Holy Spirit
from me. Restore
to me the joy of
your salvation and
grant me a willing
spirit, to sustain me.
Then I will teach
transgressors your
ways, so that
sinners will turn
back to you.

Psalm 51:7-13

2011-05-06T22:07:00.002-06:00

Life is a beautiful ever changing thing. Some seasons of blooming, growing and joy. Others withering, thirsty and dormant.

Always lovely. Painful. Beautiful.

Life in Jesus always has the good ending.

I am SO thankful to be mom to my busy beautiful five.

Enjoying the Spring morning sunshine

2011-05-04T11:55:00.001-06:00

May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

~Psalm 19:14

Hope

2011-04-29T09:17:00.002-06:00

As I took a morning run under the grey overcast sky, in the refreshing coolness that early spring brings, I noticed the mountain tops, miles away touching the sun kissed clouds and I couldn't help but reflect. How beautiful and peaceful it would be to be able to fly away, high into the sky and leave all of my troubles behind me. Dwell on the mountain tops. Alone. Quietly living, praising and communing with my Maker. Then, life would be easy. Doing good, would be a cinch. Perfection, AH a piece of double chocolate cake.

But as I labored on in my run, lost in thought and longing I realized that even there, even in that perfect setting, everything done when I wanted it to be, no one whining, expecting or crying at me to DO something, I would still have my sinful nature. My mind would still wander from worshipping my Lord. My feet could slip. Even in the perfection of God's nature, the imperfections of sin's roots run deep. Death, shivering cold and dangerous mountain cliffs still threaten... as I run, persevere physically day by day-so I do so in my spiritual walk. It's not easy. There is no escape route. Laboring on through the flames of refinement produces a life and heart purified, strong and unmovable in God's promises.

So I keep running, crying, holding on to sweet hope-gazing at the far off beauty of heaven. Longing and believing that I will one day be there, perfect, loved... home.

"I remember my affliction and my wandering,
   the bitterness and the gall.
I well remember them,
   and my soul is downcast within me.
Yet this I call to mind
   and therefore I have hope:
Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
   for his compassion's never fail.
They are new every morning;
   great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;
   therefore I will wait for him.”
The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
   to the one who seeks him;
it is good to wait quietly
   for the salvation of the LORD."

~Lamentations 3:19-26

Slug Bug Story

2011-04-27T10:21:00.003-06:00

One thing I LOVE about my kids is how innovative they are! They aren't satisfied with the same ol' same ol'... a chip off the old block I suppose.

They started off having a blast playing the slug bug game-although, truth be told it turns into mean words and nasty fights at times(which leads to the dreaded grounding from playing the game for awhile), too but more than not, they have fun and the slug bug game keeps their minds off of being stuck in the car-but over time that classic game got laborious and boring, not to mention painful. So they started keeping points for each bug they saw. 10 points for new bugs and 25 for the vintage ones. If two of them yell it out at the same time, whoever says "JINX!" first gets the points. So, after a while longer that too got a little monotonous. So the game morphed into the "Kathy Car" game. Let me explain:

We have a beautiful neighbor, Kathy who lives just down the street a block and who also attends our church, where she leads the children in Worship songs. We have visited her a few times, she has gifted us flowers among other things and her dear husband has molded us some wonderful keepsakes from clay. He has a kiln to bake them in, he makes beautifully unique pottery and both of them are some of the most giving, selfless people we know. Thankful for neighbors such as them! Not to mention, I LOVE their house!

So needless to say my kids adore miss Kathy. She has a PT Cruiser and I do believe those may rival the populous amount of Volkswagen beetles one day. Especially if my children have anything to say about it. So anytime they see a PT Cruiser, they now yell out "Kathy CARRRR!" And thus get 30 mega points for doing so. And it doesn't stop there! No, for the "ultimate" Kathy Car, which is actually Kathy's literal car, you get a whopping 100 points. Ding ding ding! Jackpot.

So there you go folks, they have been having a blast playing this incredibly imaginative game every time we get into the car, it's great that they exercise their brains to keep score and it makes this mama smile!

When we went to visit Grandpa Jim for his 90th birthday a couple of weeks ago, they were astonished when they saw a new Volkswagen beetle sitting in his driveway. As their jaws dropped open, they inched toward the car, arms raising, hands extending, in expectation, declaring," We have never seen one. So. CLOSE! May we touch it?" And all in good fun, they did. They wanted their pictures taken with it and yes, my boy kissed it.

Guys and cars. Pshaw. I shall never understand it.

Western beauty

2011-04-25T11:30:00.002-06:00

Random Thoughts Tuesday

2011-04-19T10:17:00.005-06:00

Well, I've got a computer again! It's a relic. Nearly a decade in age... which you know is 100 in human years! And what's worse is it's not a laptop(it's age already gave that away). It's... a... DESK TOP! *Sigh* Children's teeth must come first! Right?
I will grit MY teeth in agony while waiting for photos to load and I will be happy while doing so! Because afterall it WAS my fumbling fingers that clumsily dropped my dear laptop which in turn led to it's untimely demise.

We just returned from a mini trip to visit family out west. It was an 8 hour drive each way and miraculously, we LOVED every moment of it. It took us a couple of hours to get out of town as we had to make a stop at the doctor's office and pharmacy(such is life with kids). But once on the road we stopped to see Multnomah and Horsetail falls, listened to Adventures in Odyssey and thoroughly enjoyed having family close with little distractions.

We celebrated Grandpa Jim's 90th birthday while there! One of my favorite moments of the trip was when he opened a handmade gift from his son and grand kids: a paper cut-out of a boat and fisherman with his pole and line out with 90 fish trailing behind. One for each year. All 90 of the fish were hand cut, unique and got bigger in size as you got the end of the line, symbolizing his legacy, influence and family among other things I suppose. Such creativity, thought and time went into a gift like that... those are the best kind.

I stabbed a can open this morning with a sharp knife while my oldest daughter held the phone poised to call 911 if needed... I do believe it is time to buy a can opener.

My son looks like a who from Who ville. Seriously! He fell off of our bar stool gouging his top lip with his teeth. It's massively swelled up, and well... when he smiles, he almost resembles the Grinch! Hahaha, poor guy. We're all trying not to laugh around him.

I have tons of pictures that I am so very eager to edit, stories that I JUST CAN'T WAIT to post, a house that needs cleaning, dentist appointments that need scheduling, soccer games wanting attendance, dirt that needs raking, an attic that needs finishing, lattes that need steaming, friends I'd love to be visiting, family I'd enjoy calling, clothes that need washing, windshields needing repairing, papers waiting grading and meals that warrant making... I'm quite busy.

I have discovered I am not a wimp after all. A friend, after having 5 kids naturally, recently underwent her first c-section with her 6th child due to complications in her pregnancy. She went on to tell me she doesn't know why I did it more than once, and that the recovery is so hard, especially with other kids in the house needing her, and much more painful compared to having her others naturally. This was news for me!

Having had five c-sections myself and then ~~calling it quits~~ deciding we're satisfied with our family in size and for health reasons for me, we have made the decision to be done with the baby stage. I have never known any other way of delivering a baby than a c-section! I have gone through 15 hours of labor, ending in a c-section. Completely and utterly awful, let me tell you. I have also, gone into the hospital in the morning for a planned c-section, no prior labor and delivered my baby. Much, much more doable and "delightful" than the prior with a slightly faster recovery.

My first daughter was breech, so born via c-section. My four subsequent babies were also born via c-section as well due to other complications and just plain poor planning i.e. babies 12 months apart(*wink *wink God knows ALL!). So I haven't a clue as to the comparison between natural birth and c-sections. Now I am aware enough to know that every woman experiences different pain levels in natural childbirth and if you throw in their different levels in pain tolerance, it really is hard to compare. It is quite easier though to compare c-sections to natural childbirth, especially in the recovery process. I would love to hear from other women who have gone through both to get even more input into which process is preferred.

God made our bodies to become pregnant, carry the baby to term and then deliver the baby naturally from our body. No cuts, no stitches, no surgery. All natural. The way God planned it from the beginning of time, with the exception of pain... unfortunately the fall of man changed the fate of that! After we give birth, as we nurse our baby, our body amazingly bounces back and begins to go back to normal right away! Within hours or days, besides exhaustion from sleep deprivation, our bodies begin to feel energetic and better than we have in months! In a matter of hours, we go from being pregnant, to pain in labor, birthing baby and to having a beautiful new life in our arms to start nurturing and loving on. It's God's wonderful design, simply stated.

I have never had that exact experience. With each pregnancy, the excitement and beauty of pregnancy and a new baby has always had the looming surgery and recovery tacked onto it. With a c-section, you are cut open, stomach muscles divided, uterus brought up and out of your body and baby and placenta is extracted... then they stitch you up and put you back together again. It's a harrowing process, one that doctors have perfected over the years with technology to where there isn't much risk at all anymore. I would always have a blood pressure dive down to 60 over 40 during surgery(which feels like something I can't explain but I'll try... like your drowning and your eyes are darkening and rolling back into your head, your lungs are seizing and you are passing out.... anyways, no fun!) before the anesthesiologist would get me medicated and my blood pressure back up to normal, but other than that it was a breeze during surgery, just a bit uncomfortable and worrisome. After catching but a glimpse of their sweet little face once they we're born, I wouldn't get to hold baby until about 45 minutes after birth and wouldn't be able to feel my legs for at least 6 more hours after that. The next few days and weeks are hard. No only because I have a new baby to take care of but because being able to walk takes a few days and being able to roll over in bed takes at least a week to be able to do. My overall energy is sapped in trying to heal my cut up body. After five c-sections, the toll on my body can be felt. Scar tissue, nerve issues from the many spinal epidurals and overall tiredness from having had 5 major surgeries in 7 years has caught up with me.

That being said, I am thankful, beyond words that God holds us up in times of trial and hardship... even though things in this fallen world don't always go according to plan, we can rest upon His promises that He knows. He cares. He is always here for us in out time of need. He has proven Himself faithful to us, many times over. I wouldn't change a thing that He has brought us through!

Okay, marching on into our busy day I must go. My second in command and I made muffins to sell to daddy's co-workers this morning and we must get them there while still warm and steaming!
Good Day!

If we had been there...

2011-04-14T20:15:00.002-06:00

As the sun reflects off raindrops upon leaves, may the heartsprings of my life, resting in faith reflect nothing less than the love of Jesus!

I've been playing through hymnals quite a bit lately on the piano as I(and a few little voices at times)sing along. Right now I am playing through beauties from Hymns For the Family of God. In the midst of "His life and Ministry" section, #286 there is a reading that goes along with an American folk hymn "Were You There?" It's thought provoking. Beautiful, prodding words fill it's paragraphs and it's title "If We Had Been There" rightly begs the questions:
We're we there? No, but if we would have seen Jesus' life and ministry firsthand would we live each day differently today? If we had touched his hands, walked in His footsteps and had known the sound of His voice... would our faith be greater? Would we live a life more abandoned for God in this year 2011; a life different than the world's flow, than the tug of society and yes, even our fellow believers?

"If we had been Jews, would we have spoken out for Him

when the Sanhedrin accused Him of blasphemy?

If we had been Gentiles, would we have defended Him

when the Romans condemned Him to death?

If we had been disciples, would we have stayed with Him

when the crowd became a crucifying mob?

Or would we have been like Peter-

who followed Him and loved Him

and denied Him three times before dawn?

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

O! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.

And the Christ who was crucified there, once said:

"As you have done it to the least of these, My brothers,

you have done it unto Me."

As nations rise in war

As governments oppress the poor

As passive people turn and look aside

In silence

We crucify

Again-

We crucify.

As indifference forms the pattern of our lives,

As hungry children cry for food,

As widows mourn alone in empty rooms,

In apathy-

We crucify.

Again-

We crucify.

Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree?

O! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.

I think of the nails that crucified my Lord.

They were made of iron; but more-

They were made of hatred, prejudice and greed.

And I wonder-

What part of myself creates mails in other forms

that wound my brother or sister-and my Lord?

You know how many times I have betrayed you, Lord.

You know the times I have chosen evil over good.

Guilt lies upon me like an iron cloak.

My soul is heavy-my burden hard.

Were you there when He rose up from the grave?

O! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.

In the act of death He absorbs our sins.

In love, He forgives our failures.

In the act of resurrection He gives the promise of acceptance,

the assurance of forgiveness, the affirmation of eternal life.

"Your sins are forgiven you", He said, "Go and sin no more."

Through You love, I am made whole,

Through Your death, I have found new life.

You are my shield, my redeemer and my hope.

My sins are forgiven-Hallelujah!"

-Marilee Zdenek

Vibrant Color

2011-04-13T09:54:00.002-06:00

Life is full of color. Vibrant color. Bright lively color can be found everywhere, all around!

In handstands and smiles

A souvenier purse from China Town, New York City

A goose egg's bold yellow yolk.

God's blue blue sky!

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Mirthful magazines in the mailbox!

Finding something that was once lost.

I am thankful for ALL of the "color" that brighten's life today!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-04-12T09:00:00.002-06:00

2011-04-12T07:20:00.000-06:00

She's a melody singing, book loving sweetie pie.

Treasuring the moment

2011-04-11T08:30:00.005-06:00

Seasons come and seasons go, blessed be the name of the Lord!

During this crazy busy season we are in at the moment, strangely I've found rest, peace and overwhelming contentment in Jesus and focusing my attention on the physically present people and "real" moments in my life. Trust me, and not of my own will, either! I have been without a computer at home for a couple of weeks now and while it has been hard to refocus and shake the habit of relying on the Internet, facebook and blogging to get my "fix" it has been amazing the blessing that has been washing over me in return for more "quiet" days. Those beautiful souls God has placed before me on this path of life to walk beside for awhile for a greater purpose; I'm not so distracted as to dismiss them now... I've found that there has been less of me and more of Him as a result of this thrust back to the 90's. Hahaha...
We all get in needy mode at times, or our deflating pride or battered self-image needs boosting. Regardless of whether you are willing to admit it we ALL have look at me fests as a result of being discouraged. How easy it is to pick up the computer and have instant gratification from the attention received, burying myself in mindless activities and earthly information, reaching out to others for much needed love and affirmation. Now while that isn't all bad in and of itself, have I turned to God first? Where is my heart when I am doing that? Is God not able? Is He not enough? Have I looked to a smaller god in my life, the easier and quicker way of "dealing" with and filling my needs? Those things do work sometimes in boosting morale, but not usually for long. My senses need to be re-stimulated time and time again, more and more,"I just need to be KNOWN and keep it that way!" Have you ever felt like that?
I've found that in setting myself apart for Christ, reaching out daily to those around me, being sensitive to the Spirit's leading in everyday activities and in prayer, I am saying no to my fleshly desires and it is GOD who instead fills ALL of those needs! I don't need to go out and ask for it, look for it or wave attention down to feel noticed or loved, but how often in the fast paced world, full of information at our fingertips and instant gratification are we brain-washed in thinking that is how God works.

Psalm 4:2-4
How long will you people turn my glory into shame?
How long will you love delusions and seek false gods?
Know that the LORD has set apart his faithful servant for himself;
the LORD hears when I call to him.
Tremble and do not sin;
when you are on your beds,
search your hearts and be silent.

He's still.
Mighty.
A firm foundation.
Always present.
All that I need.

Friends, He finds no joy in us filling our days with US.
Father, this day, I live for you! For You only. Not to fill an earthly need, be lazy, make myself or my "life" known by all or satisfy my longings. You know my needs before I even have thought of them. You are my Maker, and I give this day to you, to live for YOUR glory.

I'm sure I will get my "beloved" computer back soon(smile), so I can post all of the wonderful photos and stories that I have to share, but until then I'm going to keep my eyes and heart focused on living by the motto, "Not my will but YOURS be done in my life and family, Lord".

Now onto one of my other daily fixes... coffee...

2011-04-05T10:16:00.001-06:00

Spring, our old reliable friend. You've returned with all of your refreshing rainclouds, warm sunshine, encouraging outdoor play dates and adventurous windy soccer mornings.

We welcome your presence, Spring and the many bird's songs, green shoots and promises of summer that you bring along with you. We've kicked off your coming, sweet Spring with bike rides, yard work and a trip to the park while daddy and our older girls had soccer practice nearby.

Spring you bring on a sense of renewed life and a sense of vigor that has been long shut up indoors.

Spring we embrace you!

("wing, mommy!")

(rolling ~~down~~ across the hill-who knew it was such a hard thing to do!)

(I want down to play, too!)

(~~rolling down~~ crawling backwards down the hill like her sister and brother)

(this moment exuded pure freedom folks)

(I can do it, too!)

Coach B a.k.a. "the bestest daddy ever!"

Spring, what a wonderful season to spend together as a family!

Extra! Extra!

2011-04-04T09:43:00.002-06:00

Smell ALL about it?

Some thought it was dog doodoo as they curled up their nose and checked their shoe bottoms. Other new-comers, thought it may just be the end of the world. But, alas it is neither! Our last week with it's beautiful warm sunshiny days here in the wide open northwest high desert have brought to life the invigorating spring thaw on our frozen fields, hills, lawns and flowerbeds. Farms are teeming with life! Baby animals are being born, birds are chirping and yes, poop is thawing. While the green that it brings is absolutely beautiful and one of my personal fave times of the year; Spring's warmth also brings with it melting, seeping cow pies that are also bursting to life... er, fertilizing our fields after a long, winter freeze.

What a beautiful, awful smelling time of year that encourages life and growth!

Break out the shovels, break out the gardening gloves, and don't forget your clothes pins...

Happy SPRING!

Birthday brownies

2011-04-03T07:03:00.002-06:00

Chocolate

A girl's best friend, right?

Always rich, sweet and invigorating.

My brother had a birthday recently,

I surprised him with some brownies at work!
But of course I had to sample them first.

(I guess they could be labeled a guy's best friend, too right?)

Birthday brownies... yum.

Blessed

2011-04-03T06:48:00.003-06:00

Is there anything more wonderful?

When things are peaceful, and I have a moment to step back a gaze at our children; observe them helping, loving on and respecting each other, it blesses my heart completely.
I love moments like these where I am assured and confirmed in our decision to home school.
There is nothing sweeter than to watch your children grow up and interact with each other.
Of course, grin-ear-to-ear moments like this particular one involving my 1 year old:
"While grabbing some diapers and wipes from the baby isle of the super market, you can always expect to hear my baby girl yelling, "Poopies! Poopies!" while she animatedly points and smiles, because of course that happens to be her quite fitting word for those particular items."
Well, those completely make any day as well.

My husband has hit the big 30!

He's committed more than ever to raising his family. He's always been a leader, lover and friend. He readily puts us first. We wouldn't be here without him, and God gave Him to us because of His great love for us! We're so thankful for this man and how he radiates pure agape love for his family and all those around him. He truly makes me strive to be a stronger Christian, better mother and loving friend. He's sacrificed a lot this year with changes and decisions He's made, but his overall eternal outlook on life and it's pleasures continues to amaze me. He's not striving to live a life that "feels good" but one that makes a difference. He's waiting for those words, "well done, good and faithful servant." What an inspiration. Happy birthday, love!

Thank you, God for this beautiful family you've entrusted me with.

I'm so blessed!

2011-03-31T22:57:00.011-06:00

New York City!

What an opportunity.
In part, it was to celebrate my mother's 50th birthday but in whole, it was a dream trip, long awaited especially for my sister and mother.

"Whether at home, or thousands of miles away, the same moon still shines overhead."

That was the first thought that came into my head as I looked up at a bright full moon in the New York City sky after my mother, sister and I landed on the east coast to begin our 5 day entourage last week.
As the gigantic city came into view of my plane window I remember thinking how huge this world we live on is; how BIG must God be to have created it!? I am small and insignificant compared to this earth in it's intricate entirety, but God still thinks of me... amazing.
While we rode the cramped humid shuttle van to our hotel from the airport I looked up at the sky through the foggy window and felt a comforting sense of closeness to my family. I have always had a hard time leaving them! I gave every step, opportunity, conversation and activity to the leading of the Lord... knowing He had purpose for me here.
I listened in on the conversations of my fellow passengers as I gazed out the foggy window. They all come from different parts of the world, headed for different destinations and I wondered who they were, what their lives have been like and where they are headed... thinking God thinks of and knows them, too! There were mentions of Japan, ice fishing, radiation, family, hometowns, job possibilities, the news/media's huge impact on the views and beliefs of it's viewers(not a good thing in my book) and how they create and fabricate chaos just to have a story to sell. As I continually wiped the condensation off of the window, we passed fascinating buildings, signs, cars, graffiti and people as we made periodic stops to let off passengers. It was late night, after 12am in the morning eastern time. The excitement grew as being in New York was now a reality setting in.
There was one particular animated guy in our van who had obviously had "one too many" and was quite the chatty natty! He made for easy conversation and comfortable discussion with fellow passengers as I took in all that we drove past and all that was said. All three of us girls were split up amongst the van so weren't able to talk closely. I was innately aware that night, taking in everything we drove by and overly conscious of every light, sign and building we passed. I remember thinking how very odd everything was and how we would never have something like that back home! New York City is so bright, old, new, big, bold, close, fast-paced and dirty all at once. I was also, VERY exhausted and keenly sensitive as I have never been a relaxed flyer. By nature I love to be in control and while flying, well it feels out of control at times. Our first flight of the day was quite a bit bumpy... so needless to say I was wide-eyed and happy to be alive, soaking in new sights, sounds and smells now on the ground again.
Once we arrived at our under-renovation vintage hotel in downtown Manhattan, we lugged our luggage up to the 16th floor corner room(okay, there WERE elevators), and checked in with our hubbies, we got settled, set our alarm for the next morning and went to sleep excited for the first day of our trip to transpire...

...and that my dear friends is a summary of day 1 in our adventures in New York City. I was excited to be there, but happy to know that in four days I would be back to my good ol' little predictable town, hugging on my husband and five kids.

Home

2011-03-29T23:26:00.001-06:00

Home is where my heart is.

Where my husband is, where my children play and where we lay our heads to sleep. Home is safe, familiar and warm. Where tiny voices echo, incriminating sippy cups are littered about telling tales of curious toddlers, the tub is full of bath toys and the pitter pattering of little feet is endless. Being home is easy and restful. It's comforts include hugs and kisses, loves and prayers. Safety.

I'm HOME from incredible New York City with stories to tell and pictures galore and while New York and all of it's fascination was exciting, nothing beats moments of timeless pleasure with the ones I love.

The kids and I soaked up our first day back under the same roof with our love of puzzles, snuggles and books and we couldn't be more overjoyed.

Happy to be together once again!!

I'm still here!

2011-03-29T13:41:00.005-06:00

Keattikorn

Jet lag, focusing on family, homeschooling, stubborn computers, house projects, soccer season, work, unpacking bags... it's all keeping me quite occupied these days, BUT I have tons to share and update here and I WILL get to it soon! God is SO good. Life is busy. So many good things are happening, some not-so-good things, too. We have food on the table, a roof over our heads, a home full of love, a computer down(in fact I'm borrowing one as I write this), cavities to fill... regardless of all, I am blessed. I don't take that for granted even for a moment! I realize how quickly everything can change; for the good or bad. No more high highs and low lows for this girl(including plane rides for that matter, at least for awhile...) I'm resting in His level, constant eternal mindset and not feeding on and living for the flesh! Good things are just that. Good things. I'm thankful for them but I don't dwell on them and same with the not-so-good. We'll make it through to the other side of those, too! It won't last forever... so no use dwelling there either...
Amazed.
In love.
Upheld.
Loved.
Happy.
Forgiven.
Living!

Stay TUNED!

Heart's song

2011-03-18T10:23:00.003-06:00

This morning, once again I am reminded of how important it is to keep my eyes focused heavenward and to have an eternal mindset in all decisions, no matter how small. It's so easy to be caught up in life's activities and struggles; being led by the flesh but oh so much more beneficial to rest in God's eternal promises as I instead deny my sinful self. I am not my own. I have not been created to please myself! My heart's desire is to live out every moment of the day for His glory. I fall short. Every minute of every hour, whether it be in thought or deed. All glory to my Maker, the richness of His grace doesn't depend on what I do, and words cannot express how thankful I am to Him for that truth! Praising my Lord and Savior this morning for His gentle mercy, His ALL consuming fire and His promises fulfilled and yet to be in His Word. They work together for the good of His purposes in and through me, as I am robed in Jesus' perfect righteousness, being eternally minded and sacrificing the love of earth for His everlasting glory.

2 Corinthians 5

Awaiting the New Body

For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

The Ministry of Reconciliation

Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Random Thoughts

2011-03-16T19:34:00.018-06:00

I am LOVING all of the refreshing rain we've been having and the green it's awakening these days. It's beautiful and energizing to see new growth and the changing of the season. I'm so ready to be out with the old and in with something NEW!

Now, honestly I am the LAST person to want to slam our president with words. I pray for him and respect his accomplishments and what I am going to say next is not meant to deface or put him down. He is merely a man. I have no prior personal expectations about who he should be or what he should do. As a public figure, though and the leader of our country I do believe we have the obligation to be aware and call him out on blatant lies along with his political and ethical moves or lack thereof. It is frustrating to me to see our president's reaction to the crisis in Japan. It reminds me of a donor, showing up long enough to put on their show and take the credit but leaving as soon as the "deed" has been done and the spotlight is off of them... Really? Leading our country is not about putting on the best show or a bunch of useless words-or even about giving money. That's easy. It's about personally caring, showing sincere concern, sacrifice and leadership. Being the ultimate example in action, not about resting in luxury as you push your agenda. I guess what perplexes me the most is the fact that very few in this selfish country, including our president are willing to sacrifice. Whether it be money or time as well as putting prior plans on hold for a time, leaving room for flexibility; postponing tee time... if it inconveniences too much personally, it isn't even thought twice about. Life isn't a show! It rarely plays out like Hollywood depicts. Sometimes real life happens, catastrophe strikes and the fun stuff has to wait. Running our country is serious business, and I feel our president lives in a dream world, not the real world like the rest of us.

I am completely and utterly busy, busy, BUSY(borderline overwhelmed) getting things ready for my trip to New York City, New York(sorry, I just love writing the entire name, it get's me all excited)! So much to do, so little time, but that doesn't damper my excitement-I CAN'T WAIT!! So excited(did I already say that?) and I know it will be worth all of the gobbledygook to-dos once we're on the plane headed east. I am so thankful for this opportunity to travel, photograph, learn, grow and have heart to hearts with my sister and mom. What a blessing! I thrive on studying diverse cultures, putting feelings into pictures and my heart into print... I am oh-so-passionate to a fault sometimes.

My kids and I enjoyed a day out shopping today despite the downpours. They are such sweet kids who desire to please. I enjoy them!

They are quite the funny crew. They enjoy me, too I suppose most days. Ha ha!

Their favorite school subject is health and it's easy to see why. We do hands on experiments and activities that correlate with our lesson. What child wouldn't love to run around crazy for a few minutes to observe our elevated heart rate or put a raw egg in vinegar for days to watch how the vinegar seeps through the wall of the shell just like oxygen is exchanged with carbon dioxide through millions of alveoli in our lungs every time we take a breath(and we're a product of chance? *Ha ha cough snort choke--whatever floats your boat!), or a surprise oral competition, reviewing things we've learned; playing for candy! Fun times.

The Lord is gracious to give those precious moments, those encouraging times to remind me WHY I am home schooling these ~~sponges~~ children...

For His purposes...
For them.

Sunset on the farm

2011-03-16T06:24:00.001-06:00

Wonder

2011-03-15T17:07:00.003-06:00

Has it really been 4 years since that exciting restless night of contractions?

I remember it as if it was yesterday!

I was awake most of the night with contractions every 5-10 minutes.

Watching the clock. Anxious.

I tried baths, sleeping and resting to no avail.

He wasn't due until the 27th... the 13th seemed far too early to be in labor!

But alas, I was and in the morning I arrived at the hospital ready to deliver our first baby boy!

Wondrous unknown the thought of welcoming a baby boy into the world was for us after having 3 beautiful little girls.

I pondered the difference of meeting, nurturing and watching him grow in contrast.

I still do!

We have been blessed beyond measure with his tender spirit, adventurous willingness and humble gestures.
I stand amazed and thankful as I soak in and cherish every moment of his life.

You will always be my baby boy.

My Little Man.

Happy birthday sweet son of mine.

Praying

2011-03-14T12:13:00.002-06:00

As the world watches, Japan has undergone a catastrophe of a magnitude that has not been seen in many many years... Along with the horrific remnants of an almost 9.0 earthquake, power outages, the threat of nuclear reactor core meltdowns and a 40 foot tsunami wave that left astounding sights such as an entire bus left sitting atop a three story building after the retreating ocean left it there-the entire nation of Japan moved up to 8 feet to the east! Along with that mind staggering statistic, we also know that the rotation of the earth has been altered a few inches from the shaking, shifting and groaning of the planet last Friday... amazing. It's hard to wrap my mind around everything that has happened and for some probably impossible to understand why it has happened. It is impossible on many levels of our comprehension to completely understand why and how these things happen. We sit around as human beings in our robes of worldly wisdom and try to figure things out, take preventative action and box up and label phenomenons because we feel more in control if we completely "understand" the situation. I believe though, as a Christian, that in this world, things are always going to come into our lives that are "bigger" than us. In this world there will be trouble. There just is and always will be. Because this earth is the Lord's and everything in it, we will NOT always understand the reasons behind our troubles. The earth is God's creation. He alone can control, completely understand and prevent catastrophes from happening. Our minds can't comprehend things that we haven't already seen: "The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth..." The earth along with everything and everyone on it will see it's end one day. There is a last breath for everyone. Every dawn of morning brings us closer to that day. The earth is groaning under the weight of age and sin-God can only wait so long.
I plead with my fellow human race, to those who haven't given their lives to Him yet, that you will do so today because Jesus' return is soon. I pray He doesn't tarry and comes quickly and rescues us from having to endure anymore pain and devastation as Japan has seen this past weekend and will undoubtedly have to overcome throughout the coming days, months and years.

Watching. Praying. If possible enabling.

"Where then does wisdom come from?
Where does understanding dwell?
It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing,
concealed even from the birds in the sky.
Destruction and Death say,
“Only a rumor of it has reached our ears.”
God understands the way to it
and he alone knows where it dwells,
for he views the ends of the earth
and sees everything under the heavens.
When he established the force of the wind
and measured out the waters,
when he made a decree for the rain
and a path for the thunderstorm,
then he looked at wisdom and appraised it;
he confirmed it and tested it.
And he said to the human race,
“The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom,
and to shun evil is understanding.”

Shabby Vintage

2011-03-14T11:19:00.000-06:00

A little bit of this and a little bit of that...

2011-03-11T20:07:00.004-07:00

...makes dinner!

1 Celery stalk chopped

1 large carrot peeled and chopped

1/2 green bell pepper chopped

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 heaping cup sliced cabbage

1 15 ounce can lentil beans drained and rinsed

2 chicken breasts cooked and diced

2 cups cooked brown rice

2 cups steamed broccoli

1 32 ounce container chicken stock

1 T minced garlic

1 T white vinegar

1 T Flax meal(optional)

2 bay leaves

Salt and pepper(optional)

olive oil

water

Saute celery, carrot, onion and bell pepper in olive oil over med/high heat for approx. 5 minutes or until soft. Add cabbage and garlic along with a splash of stock and olive oil. Lid pot and saute for approx 5 more minutes or until cabbage is softened. Add stock and 1 stock container full of water, bay leaves, rice and beans to pot. Put lid on and bring to a boil and simmer for approx. 10 minutes on low heat. Remove bay leaves. Add chicken, broccoli, vinegar, flax meal and heat through and Voila! You have a yummy, HEALTHY dinner confined to one pot. Bliss.

Marvelous Moments

2011-03-11T14:37:00.000-07:00

nothing new under the sun

2011-03-11T10:55:00.007-07:00

Oil's in the cereal for a change, ice cream's made from breastmilk, geography lessons coupled with a dose of reality and perspective in the news, prayers for Japan on our lips, heavy hearts and lifted eyes waiting for the return of our Lord and Savior.

The world is a crazy messed up place full of unsuspecting people pretending to know it all and have everything under control and I have to say I feel a bit like shaking my head in disgust while saying, "yadda, yadda, yadda. Same ol', same ol'." It seems out-of-"our"-control situations like Tsunamis, earthquakes and hurricanes among other natural disasters would serve as a warning coupled with a little reality that we are all minute faulty men at the whim of something or some ONE bigger.

Let's start praying to HIM folks, because Jesus' return looms nearer each day this evanescent world turns.
God is our only hope. He IS hope. We cannot place hope in ourselves, other men, in our knowledge, in our abilities or whereabouts. God is in whom I choose to place my trust. And not just for today or during difficult times, but choosing to walk a consistent life of steadfast hope in Jesus, always and forever and in every situation; He is my hope.

Ecclesiastes 1:8-10 All things are wearisome,

more than one can say.

The eye never has enough of seeing,

nor the ear its fill of hearing.

What has been will be again,

what has been done will be done again;

there is nothing new under the sun.

1 John 5:19-20 We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

1 Corinthians 1:15-17 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Revelation 22:15-22 “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

“Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.

He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.

Slow Dance

2011-03-08T08:25:00.003-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, before we became house bound with rebounding sickness, we had the awesome experience of visiting a 24 hour old colt and his mother and father. The kids and I were enthralled with the beauty of their love and concern for each other.

Even the colt's daddy would nuzzle up his nose to him through the fence, to make sure he was okay(my five kids and I are quite the frazzling crowd at times).

My in-laws have a few guests staying over indefinitely and one of the sweet ladies brought her horses, goats and dog along with her. She also makes glorious goats milk soap!

We so enjoyed the surprise call to come and visit this newborn colt and appreciate the magnificence of God's creation.

I've captioned the pictures of our little adventure with a poem I believe to have been written by a terminally ill girl, looking at life from the perspective of it's end being close at hand.

It's a good perspective to be reminded of, prompted by and spurred on because of.

Have you ever

watched kids

On a merry-go-round?

Or listened to the rain

Slapping on the ground?

Ever followed a

butterfly's erratic flight?

Or gazed at the sun into the

fading night?

You better slow down.

Don't dance so fast.

Time is short.

The music

won't last.

Do you run through each day

on the fly?

When you ask how are you?

Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done

do you lie

in your bed

With the next hundred chores

running through

your head?

You'd better

slow down

Don't dance so

fast.

Time is

short..

The music won't

last.

Ever told your

child,

We'll do it

tomorrow?

And in your

haste,

Not see

his

sorrow?

Ever lost

touch,

Let a good

friendship die

Cause you never had time

To call and say, 'Hi'

You'd better slow down.

Don't dance so fast.

Time is short.

The music won't last..

When you run
so fast to get somewhere

You
miss half the fun of getting
there.

When you worry and hurry

through your
day,
It is like an unopened gift....
Thrown away.

Life is not a race.

Do take it slower

Hear the music

Before the song is over.

Simple Lovelies

2011-03-04T16:33:00.011-07:00

When sickness invades,

or cloudy skies stay over;

when life seems hopeless,

thankful hearts ought not leave us.

When circumstances,

are far from bright and joyful;

simple lovelies can

still be found hiding near.

A choice: make and see

ten blessings around you now;

comforting, real, warm;

though blessed with them everyday.

-mommy

1. Good ol' blue jeans.

2. Schooling together.
Here we are doing our Color the Classics activity. We listen to music written by the particular Hymn composer we are studying at the moment as we color a picture that coincides with the history reading about that particular person. Right now, we are learning about Martin Luther.

3. Family Photo Walls
They just make me smile every time I walk past.

4. Happy healthy baby mornings

5. Popcorn
My ~~life~~ diet saver for the past 3 weeks!

6. Spring's green peeking up through the remnants of last fall.

7. Organic green tea

8. Gift's from the hearts of little ones.

9. and 10. Google and The Yeast Diet.
After 21 days on the yeast diet, I am wrapping it up today! WOOHOO!!! While I celebrate, I am reminded that this isn't quite the end of a restricted diet, in fact it's just the beginning. For years before this diet, along with many more symptoms, I was bogged down, energy deprived and often covered in hives and at my wits end about what I could be allergic to. After cleansing my body, I am feeling 100% better and have my suspicions that gluten and/or dairy could be the culprits. As I add foods back into my diet over the next few weeks, I am going to have to pay CLOSE attention to how my body reacts to them and hope to get tested for those particular allergies as well.
I am SO THANKFUL for the Lord's guidance and sustenance in this area of my life!!

What are YOU thankful for today? (:

2011-03-03T19:09:00.009-07:00

Verbicide
By David Orr

"In the beginning was the word . . ."

"Promiscuity of expression, loss of sensitivity to words, has nearly destroyed the fortress of the spirit. And the fortress of the spirit is the dabar, the word. Words have become slums. What we need is a renewal of words."

Abraham Heschel (1996)

OCTOBER 25, 2000--He entered my office for advice as a freshman advisee sporting nearly perfect SAT scores and an impeccable academic record—by all accounts a young man of considerable promise. During a 20-minute conversation about his academic future, however, he displayed a vocabulary that consisted mostly of two words: "cool" and "really." Almost 800 SAT points hitched to each word. To be fair, he could use them interchangeably as "really cool" or "cool . . . really!" He could also use them singly. When he was a student in a subsequent class, I later confirmed that my first impression of the young scholar was largely accurate and that his vocabulary, and presumably his mind, consisted predominantly of words and images derived from overexposure to television and the new jargon of computer-speak.

Clare Bloomfield

He is no aberration, but an example of a larger problem, not of illiteracy but of diminished literacy in a culture that often sees little reason to use words carefully, however abundantly. Increasingly, student papers from otherwise very good students have whole paragraphs that sound like advertising copy. Whether students are talking or writing, a growing number have a tenuous grasp on a declining vocabulary. Excise "uh . . .like . . .uh" from most teenage conversations, and the effect is like sticking a pin into a balloon.

In the past 50 years, by one reckoning, the working vocabulary of the average 14 year-old has declined from some 25,000 words to 10,000 words. This is not merely a decline in numbers of words but in the capacity to think. It also signifies that there has been a steep decline in the number of things that an adolescent needs to know and to name in order to get by in an increasingly homogenized and urbanized consumer society. This is a national tragedy virtually unnoticed in the media. It is no mere coincidence that in roughly the same half century the average person has come to recognize over 1000 corporate logos, but can now recognize fewer than 10 plants and animals native to his or her locality.

That fact says a great deal about why the decline in working vocabulary has gone unnoticed—few are paying attention. The decline is surely not consistent across the full range of language but concentrates in those areas having to do with large issues such as philosophy, religion, public policy, and nature. On the other hand, vocabulary has probably increased in areas having to do with sex, violence, recreation, and consumption. As a result we are losing the capacity to say what we really mean and ultimately to think about what we mean. We are losing the capacity for articulate intelligence about the things that matter most.

"That sucks," for example, is a common way for budding young scholars to announce their displeasure about any number of things that range across the spectrum of human experience. But it can also be used to indicate a general displeasure with the entire cosmos. Whatever the target, it is the linguistic equivalent of duct tape, useful for holding disparate thoughts in rough and temporary proximity to some vague emotion of dislike.

The problem is not confined to teen-agers or young adults. It is part of a national epidemic of incoherence evident in our public discourse, street talk, movies, television, and music. "We are all engaged," Abraham Heschel once wrote, "in the process of liquidating the English language." We have all heard popular-music lyrics that consisted mostly of pre-Neanderthal grunts. We have witnessed "conversation" on TV talk shows that would have embarrassed intelligent four-year-olds. We have listened to politicians of national reputation proudly mangle logic and language in less than a paragraph, although they can do it on a larger scale as well.

However manifested, it is aided and abetted by academics, including whole departments specializing in various forms of postmodernism and the deconstruction of one thing or another. They have propounded the ideas that everything is relative, hence largely inconsequential, and that the use of language is primarily an exercise in power, hence to be devalued. They have taught, in other words, a pseudointellectual contempt for clarity, careful argument, and felicitous expression. They also write without much clarity, argument, and felicity. Remove the arcane constructions from any number of academic papers written in the past 10 years, and the argument—such as it was—evaporates. But the situation is not much better elsewhere in the academy, where thought is often fenced in by disciplinary jargon. The fact is that educators have all too often been indifferent trustees of language. This explains, I think, why the academy has been a lame critic of what ails the world—from the preoccupation with self to technology run amuck. We have been unable to speak out against the barbarism engulfing the larger culture because we are part of the process of barbarization that begins with the devaluation of language.

The decline of language, noted by commentators such as H. L. Mencken, George Orwell, William Safire, and Edwin R. Neuman, is nothing new. Language is always coming undone. Why? For one thing it is always under assault by those who intend to control others by first subverting the words and metaphors that people would otherwise use to describe their world. The goal is to give partisan aims the appearance of inevitability by diminishing the sense of larger possibilities. In our time, language is under assault by those whose purpose it is to sell one kind of quackery or another: economic, political, religious, or technological. It is under attack because the clarity and felicity of language—as distinct from its quantity—is devalued in an industrial-technological society.

The clear and artful use of language is, in fact, threatening to that society. As a result we have highly distorted and atrophied conversations about ultimate meanings, ethics, public purposes, or the means by which we live. Since we cannot expect to cope with problems that we cannot name, one result of our misuse of language is a growing agenda of unsolved problems that cannot be adequately described in words and metaphors derived from our own creations such as machines and computers. The words and metaphors derived from our own creations, in other words, are inadequate to describe the major flaws in these same creations.

Second, language is in decline because it is being Balkanized around the specialized vocabularies characteristic of an increasingly specialized society. The highly technical language of the expert is, of course, both bane and blessing. It is useful for describing fragments of the world, but not for describing how these fit into a coherent whole. But things work as whole systems whether we can say it or not, whether we perceive it or not. And more than anything else, it is coherence our culture lacks, not specialized knowledge.

Genetic engineering, for example, can be described as a technical thing in the language of molecular biology. But saying what the act of rearranging the genetic fabric of Earth means requires an altogether different language and a mindset that seeks to discover larger patterns. Similarly, the specialized language of economics does not begin to describe the state of our wellbeing, whatever it reveals about how much stuff we may buy. Over and over again the simplistic and seductive language of the specialist displaces that of the generalist—the specialist in whole things. A result is that the capacity to think carefully about ends, as distinct from means, has all but disappeared from our public and private conversations.

Vegadsl

Third, language reflects the range and depth of our experience. But our experience of the world is being impoverished to the extent that it is rendered artificial and prepackaged. Most of us no longer have the experience of skilled physical work on farms or in forests. Consequently, as our reality becomes increasingly artificial, words and metaphors based on intimate knowledge of soils, plants, trees, animals, landscapes, rivers, and oceans have declined. "Cut off from this source," Wendell Berry writes, "language becomes a paltry work of conscious purpose, at the service and the mercy of expedient aims." Our nonparticipatory experience within the confines of a uniform and ugly artificial environment is engineered and shrink-wrapped by the recreation and software industries and pedaled back to us as "fun" or "information." We’ve become a nation of television watchers and Internet browsers, and it shows in the way we talk and what we talk about. More and more we speak as if we are voyeurs furtively peeking at life, not active participants, moral agents, or engaged citizens.

Nuchylee

Fourth, we are no longer held together, as we once were, by the reading of a common literature or by listening to great stories, and so cannot draw on a common set of metaphors and images as we once did. Allusions to the Bible and other great books no longer resonate because they are simply unfamiliar to a growing number of people. This is so in part because the consensus about what is worth reading has come undone. But the debate about a worthy canon is hardly the whole story. The ability to read serious things in a serious way is diminished by overstimulation by television and computers with their rapidly changing images that mock concentration. The desire to read is jeopardized by the same forces that would make us a violent, shallow, hedonistic, and materialistic people. As a nation we risk coming undone because our language is coming undone and our language is coming undone because one by one we are being undone.

The problem of language, however, is a global problem. Of the roughly 6500 languages now spoken on Earth, half are on the brink of extinction and only 150 or so are expected to survive to the year 2100. Language everywhere is being whittled down to conform to the limited objectives of the global economy and homogenized to accord with the shallow imperatives of the "information age." The languages being lost, in Vine Deloria’s words, often "convey deeper and more precise meanings than does English." This represents a huge loss of cultural information and a blurring of our capacity to understand the world and our place in it. And it represents a losing bet that a few people armed with the words, metaphors, and mindset characteristic of a transient, failing industry and technology can manage the Earth, a vaster, infinitely more complex, and longer-lived thing altogether.

Since we cannot think clearly about what we cannot say clearly, the first casualty of linguistic incoherence is our ability to think well about many things. This is a reciprocal process. Language, George Orwell once wrote, "becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts." In our time the words and metaphors of the consumer economy are often a product of foolish thoughts as well as evidence of bad language. Under the onslaught of commercialization and technology we are losing the sense of wholeness and time that is essential to a decent civilization. We are losing, in short, the capacity to articulate what ought to be most important to us. And the new class of corporate chiefs, global managers, genetic engineers, and money speculators has no words with which to describe the fullness and beauty of life or to announce their role in the larger moral ecology. They have no way to say how we fit together in the community of life, indeed no idea beyond that of self-interest about why we ought to protect it. They have, in short, no language that will help humankind, including themselves, navigate through the most dangerous epoch in its history. On the contrary, they will do all in their power to reduce language to the level of mere utility, management, narrow self-interest, and the short term. Evil begins, not only with words used with malice; it can begin with words that merely diminish people, land, and life to some fragment that is less than whole and less than Holy. The prospects for evil, I believe, will grow as those for language decline.

We have an affinity for language, and that capacity makes us human. When language is devalued, misused, or corrupted so too are those who speak it and those who hear it. On the other hand, we are never better than when we use words clearly, eloquently, and civilly. Language can elevate thought and ennoble our behavior. Abraham Lincoln’s words at Gettysburg in 1863, for example, gave meaning to the terrible sacrifices of the Civil War. Similarly, Winston Churchill’s words moved an entire nation to do its duty in the dark hours of 1940. If we intend to protect and enhance our humanity, we must first decide to protect and enhance language and fight everything that undermines and cheapens it.

What does this mean in practical terms? How do we design the right use of language back into the culture? My first suggestion is to restore the habit of talking directly to each other—whatever the loss in economic efficiency. To that end I propose that we begin by smashing every automated answering machine. Messages like "Your call is important to us . . . " or "For more options, please press five," or "if you would like to talk to a real person please stay on the line" are the death rattle of a coherent culture.

The proper use of language is a slow art that is easily corrupted by technological contrivances that increase the volume and velocity of communication. Whatever the gains in speed and convenience from the Internet, I seldom receive any e-mail message that could pass a sixth-grade composition exam. Worse, many people are simply overwhelmed by the volume of e-mail. We cannot disinvent the Internet, but--my second suggestion--for our sanity we can and should limit the use we make of it.

My third suggestion is to restore the habit of public reading. One of my very distinctive childhood memories was attending a public reading of Shakespeare by the British actor Charles Laughton. With no prop other than a book, he read with energy and passion for two hours and kept a large audience enthralled, including at least one 8-year-old boy. No movie has ever been as memorable to me. Further, I propose that adults turn off the television, disconnect the cable, undo the computer, and once again read good books aloud to their children. I know of no better or more pleasurable way to stimulate thinking, encourage a love of language, and facilitate the child’s ability to form images.

Those who corrupt language ought to be held accountable for what they do—beginning with the advertising industry. In 1997 they spent an estimated $187 billion to sell us an unconscionable amount of stuff, much of it useless, environmentally destructive, and deleterious to our health. They fuel the fires of consumerism that are consuming the Earth and our children’s future often using only seductive imagery. They regard the public with utter contempt—as little more than sheep to be manipulated to buy whatever at the highest possible cost and at any consequence. Dante would have consigned them to the lowest level of Hell, only because there was no worse place to put them. We should too. If we lack the gumption to do that, we ought to require by law—fourth suggestion—full disclosure of the damage their products do to other people, to the environment, and to the buyer.

Language, I believe, grows from the outside in, from the periphery to center. It is renewed in the vernacular by the everyday acts of living, doing, and speaking. It is renewed in the streets, shops, farms, and rural places where human life is most authentic. It is, by the same logic, corrupted by contrivance, pretense, and fakery. The center, where power and wealth work by contrivance, pretense, and fakery does not create language so much as exploit it. In order to facilitate control, the powerful would make our language as uniform and dull as the interstate highway system. Given its way we would have only one newspaper, a super USA Today. Our thoughts and words would mirror those popular in Washington, New York, Boston, or Los Angeles. From the perspective of the center, the merger of ABC and Disney is OK because it can see no difference between entertainment and news. In order to preserve the vernacular places where language grows we must—suggestion five—protect the independence of local newspapers and local radio stations by forbidding outside ownership. We need to support regional publishing houses and small independent bookstores. We need to protect local culture and local dialects from highbrow ridicule. We need to teach the young to honor difference in speech and dialect. And we must protect those parts of our culture where memory, tradition, and devotion to place still exist because it is there that language is often most vibrant.

Finally, since language is the only currency wherever men and women pursue truth, there should be no higher priority for schools, colleges, and universities than to defend the integrity and clarity of language in every way possible. We must instill in our students an appreciation for language, literature, and words well crafted and used to good ends. As teachers we should insist on good writing. We should assign books and readings that are well written. We should restore rhetoric—the ability to speak clearly and well—to the liberal arts curriculum. Our own speaking and writing ought to demonstrate clarity and truthfulness. And we, too, should be held accountable for what we say.

**********

In terms of the sheer volume of words and data of all kinds, this is surely an information age. But in terms of understanding, wisdom, spiritual clarity, and civility we have entered a darker time. We are drowning in a sea of words with nary a drop to drink. We are in the process of committing what C. S. Lewis once called "verbicide." The volume of words in our time is inversely related to our capacity to use them well and to think clearly about what they mean. It is no wonder that in a century of gulags, genocide, global wars, and horrible weapons our use of language has been increasingly dominated by propaganda and advertising, and controlled by language technicians. "We have a sense of evil," Susan Sontag has said, but we no longer have "the religious or philosophical language to talk intelligently about evil." If that is so for the 20th century, what will be said at the end of the 21st century, when the stark realities of climatic change and biotic impoverishment will become fully manifest? Can we summon the clarity of mind to speak the words necessary to cause us to do what ought to have been obvious all along?

Random Thoughts Thursday

2011-03-03T08:02:00.014-07:00

Well, amoxicillin, benadryl and prednisone, those are the drugs ~~of choice~~ needed these days. It all started with my second in command coming down with strep. We took her in, got her tested and medicated, only to then have to take four more in for testing and drugging. That left two of us. About 5 days later, my baby came down with strep. We took her in and got her drugs. A day later, my son wakes up absolutely COVERED and swollen with hives. I didn't know for sure what it was at first. Many things were running through my head-hives? Scarlatina? Measles? Chicken Pox? It was discouraging to say the least after a week of doctors, colds, coughs, pharmacists and sickness. I took him BACK in to the doctor to find out he had an allergic reaction to the amoxicillin and got yet another prescription for prednisone and orders to give him benadryl along with it... nice. Now today, my oldest daughter is also showing signs of hives so, ceasing antibiotics and switching to benadryl is now in order. This scenario totally reminds me of those commercials. You know, the ones that quickly state the miraculous nature of their drug and it's super-natural power to completely eradicate your problems... only to then take the remaining 3/4 of the commercial to "quickly" and "discreetly" name off all of the side effects of taking their pill. Yeah, not so sure death is better than having to go to the bathroom every 30 minutes... hmmmm...
Doesn't this picture just make you hurt for him?

Thankfully, today he is about 75% back to normal. Thank you, Lord!

Does anyone else have bad hair days bad enough to make you grab the shears and chop away at those stubborn waves? Well, I sure do. I had one of those days last Sunday. I flopped, curled, flattened, poofed, gooed and fluffled my hair... to no avail. SO! I got out the scissors and chopped those unruly pests away.
This is the outcome.

So to have or not to have bangs-this is the question.
Any thoughts?

(My sweet cousin a.k.a. my hairdresser is going to scold me. I know it.)

picture from here

Kids love making decisions for themselves and hands on snacks. I thought I would share some of our recent yummies!
One of our fave snacks to dress up is yogurt. You can blend it into a shake with blueberries and strawberries or you can scoop some into a bowl and add crumbled up graham crackers for a treat that resembles cheesecake! Greek yogurt is the best because of it's richness, but it does have more calories than regular. Often times, I buy plain yogurt so I can add the sweetener myself! All you need is a little honey or agave syrup, vanilla and cinnamon and you have yourself some semi-homemade scrumptious yogurt!
You can add berries, maple syrup, graham crackers, cookies, sprinkles, cereal, oats or toasted nuts to yogurt and your kids will never get tired of creating their very own snack.
Another favorite of ours is freezing chocolate milk to make some mean homemade chocolate bars! The kids devour them!
Another diverse snack are plain ol' brown rice cakes. They are a bit plain on their own, but present your kids with a few bowls of toppings and spreads and they will think it is the best, most fun snack ever. We love hummus, peanut butter, lunch meat and mustard, homemade sour cream chocolate frosting, nutella or melted cheese. Yum!
So make snack time simple, yet diverse, healthy, yet satisfying, quick yet loads fun and you will have happy, healthy children because of it.
I am beginning to feel the excitement of adventure welling up inside of me. New York!!!! That is where my mom, sister and I will be headed come March 21st... there are still so many things I need to get planned, made and settled before we go... Hmmm, I will be working the two days before we go and the day after I get back...AGH! Better stock the vitamins... Spending time with my mom(who is celebrating her 50th birthday!) and sister(who is 5 months pregnant!) will be so refreshing and some of the places, people and cultures we are going to encounter will make the struggle of leaving completely worth it.
My husband and I tried out Google video chat last night for the first time! Awesome! Now I just need to get my sister-in-law Janna, my aunt Sheri and family and my husband's sister's and well, ALL distant family on it as well so we can catch up "in person". My kids would absolutely LOVE to get to talk to their cousins online. I don't know why it has taken us this long to get into online video chatting... five kids would probably have something to do with that, though. The coolness, in style factor and having to keep up with the latest trends kind of gets put on hold when you have kids one right after another... so we're stuck in the 90's. Haha.
A lot of people might wonder why everything I do or say is laced with Jesus or my faith in God. (I sense eyerolls like Frodo's sword senses Orcs) I know that some see that as small minded or naive. Child-like faith- is it really so bad? If we don't have some higher reason for living... why live at all? If there is no eternity, why do anything remotely good for others, follow rules or love anyone or anything at all? If God is not loving infinite Creator, and this life here on earth is all of the time I have to enjoy and experience, well first of all I'd be utterly depressed. Then I would decide to live what life I have solely for me and my purposes, not having a care in the world, subject to no one. I see SO many living that way, only to meet an abrupt end in life.

"The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them. “But if a wicked person turns away from all the sins they have committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, that person will surely live; they will not die. None of the offenses they have committed will be remembered against them. Because of the righteous things they have done, they will live. Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live? “But if a righteous person turns from their righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things the wicked person does, will they live? None of the righteous things that person has done will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness they are guilty of and because of the sins they have committed, they will die. “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear, you Israelites: Is my way unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust? If a righteous person turns from their righteousness and commits sin, they will die for it; because of the sin they have committed they will die. But if a wicked person turns away from the wickedness they have committed and does what is just and right, they will save their life. Because they consider all the offenses they have committed and turn away from them, that person will surely live; they will not die. Yet the Israelites say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Are my ways unjust, people of Israel? Is it not your ways that are unjust? “Therefore, you Israelites, I will judge each of you according to your own ways, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!

Ezekiel 18:20-32

Seek the LORD while he may be found;

call on him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake their ways
and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the LORD.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:6-9

Is it hopelessness, selfishness or rebellion that keeps us from pursuing and seeking out God? Or is it that most just haven't heard or seen the truth? More than not we are all constantly being fed lies and pummeled with worldly "wisdom" and believing them, not even trying to search out the truth!
God is just. He is loving. He is real... I would hope that everyone comes to realize this before they walk through death's door.
Instead, I hear theories like, "We are all gods. We have evolved slowly over billions of years. God is more of a feeling than a person... yadda yadda yadda. The diverse amazing earth and my infinitesimally complicated body's makeup that cannot be 100% explained by scientists just... came to be here one day? " Let's face it, it all sounds a bit like a farce. Let's lay down our pride people and our desire to understand and know all and accept that we are all a product of Intelligent Design. Because if Christians are wrong, yes all of our hopes and dreams and the reason we lived will be crushed once on the other side... but we will still end up in the same place as everyone else. If the rest world is wrong in believing they have no one with whom to give account to... they will be sentenced to Hell for eternity after standing before the Maker they rejected. What do you have to lose?

Three's a crowd...

2011-03-02T17:07:00.006-07:00

...unless that third ~~person~~ object is my camera of course!

If you we're wondering what in the world yesterday's post was about well, really it's about nothing at all. We love to be silly and not act our age at times-just having fun playing around with my beloved(no, I'm not referring to my camera *teeheehee).

My awesome husband and I went on a date about a week back and had a W-O-N-D-E-R-ful time! My main man has always been a hopeless romantic. Don't get me wrong, he's still a guy. He looks at things, situations and problems completely logically, can only see the next thing that needs to be ~~conquered~~ done, feels empowered and accomplished when leading and doesn't let emotions take over his decision making...and it drives his emotional control-freak wife crazy sometimes. Guys and their practical level-headed one-track-mind... how DO they do it!?
Well, the day before our date, before I had any knowledge of it whatsoever, I went out and grabbed the mail from the mailbox. As I was sorting through I noticed a letter addressed to me, from my husband! I tore into it to find a detailed invitation for a night out with my husband. So sweet, so organized, so debonair, so... romantic. ((contented sigh))
I was so very thankful because it has been a crazy past couple of weeks and I'm not going to lie, almost downright out of control at times. So this little piece of joy sitting amongst more "to do's" in the mail pile was a breath of refreshing air!
We had a great evening out, taking a walk along the river and snapping photos of each other. We also had dinner, saw a flick and stopped by the coffee shop. We try to get out twice a month on our own, but it certainly isn't a rule. Ha!
I'm thankful for my husband today. For his compassion, love and positivity... I'm thankful for my main man, peanut butter, freedom, family, prednisone, green tea, God's working in my children, Memaws, Papas, sunsets, my new camera, new friends, gatherings of diverse people around the supper table, Agape love and scissors-ahh, what a great invention.
Here a few peeks from our "photo session".

Just thought I'd share.

God has given us women quite the gift in a husband.

Someone to walk the path of life with, to keep us real, loved and protected... I couldn't have chosen anyone better suited for me than my main man.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-03-02T07:07:00.000-07:00

Excellence

2011-03-01T22:30:00.015-07:00

This season of life my family is walking through is so fast-paced, borderline out of control and downright CraZy... sickness, work, school, commitments... but yet I still have a hard time saying NO. The struggle at times is that I have a hard time choosing priorities or passions and sticking to them. I find myself desiring to DO everything, to try something new, to venture out into the exciting unknown, to be good at everything. The problem I see in that indecisiveness and lack of dedication and unwavering focus is so much mediocrity. Now don't get me wrong, mediocrity along with dabbling in diverse interests, isn't wrong or bad. It's just... shouldn't we strive for excellence? Becoming an excellent photographer for instance, takes dedication, perseverance and sacrifice. Dedication-the time, hard work, practice and study it takes to excel at the hobby. Sacrifice-not giving your energy or means to many other "things", saying NO to other alluring and even urgent projects or even relationships. The thing about photography is it's just a thing. You can always eventually move on to the next fad and not have any baggage or lasting consequences of putting your investment up on the shelf to collect dust... except for maybe a few regrets.
On the other hand becoming a parent-the biggest endeavor one can take on-and not dedicating your life to the raising of upright children may leave one with a life-time of regrets and constant reminders of those failures to invest everything you had into your kids!
Our Christian walk. That is NOT something we can take lightly, off and on again or only pick it up when it's "fun" or convenient.
For a person such as myself and my type DD personality, if a captivating idea comes to me, I feel the means are readily available and the door opens, I dive head long into it. All or nothing with me. Expend every ounce of energy into learning, expanding my knowledge and bringing my new found passion to fruition. Only, I must have dedication A.D.D. because it doesn't usually last long. Once the "honeymoon" stage of a new adventure wears off and the gruelling mundane work begins, I am often quickly caught up and swept away with a new ambition. I make a great starter... just a lousy finisher. This is all well and good, and for the most part doesn't hurt anyone, but the sacrifice of wanting to be good at and try everything, is that I will never ever be excellent at anything.
I believe the first and most important calling we have as Christians is to be excellent in Christ. Our walk with God should be our all-time, 1st in line passion. All of our energy, resources and time should begin with time spent in His Word, prayer, growing in the knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ and following His lead, dying to the flesh and living a life led instead by the spirit... but beyond that-what is our calling as Christians?

Micah 6:8
He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?

Colossians 3:16-17
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

God's grace is enough to cover any and ALL mistakes we make in life-those times when my dedication to spending time with Him wanes. I am so thankful for that truth! I can ask myself when presented with a decision, "Is this to fill an emotional need, to take the place of God? Am I calling it quits on this venture because I feel it's becoming too hard or because God is leading me in a new direction?" I believe whole-heartedly that the MOST important thing about what I might choose to fill up the days of my life is the reason behind WHY I am doing it. Am I doing it for God, alongside and through the strength and means He provides? Or am I looking to step a rung higher up the worldly ladder in my own strength-to appease my pride? If I know I am called to do something and I choose to go my own way instead, that would certainly not be beneficial... even if I thought it was for a "good" reason and helped someone else out, my heart wouldn't be in the right place and I am sure my conscience and circumstances would eventually tell me so! If it doesn't bring my Lord glory or if I am doing it for my own glory, or God just isn't plain behind it, what good is it going to profit anyone? My labor would be in vain because it bears no weight, it's foundation is weak, it's fruits will wither and die.

Proverbs 19:20-21
Listen to counsel and receive instruction,
That you may be wise in your latter days.
There are many plans in a man’s heart,
Nevertheless the LORD’s counsel—that will stand.

1 Corinthians 13
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

So, from what I gather, it's not as much about what I do, but why I do what I do that makes the difference. Am I fueled by God's love or love for myself? Do I have what it takes to be an excellent Child of God? I have faith that God will lead. He provides a plan, a way and the tools to excel in it. I pray that my Christian walk would not resemble my tendency to move from one thing to another-pursuing many different passions and hobbies, dropping whole-hearted dedication the minute something new, exciting and better-looking knocks at the door-and scream lukewarm mediocrity. It's easy peasy to do the wrong thing that in the end, brings death and destruction. It's not so easy to choose God's will and "run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus..." I long to have a heart and spirit that excels in reflecting Christ in everything that I do, whatever I do and every minute of every day I walk this earth.
Because anything worth the getting, takes time. Sacrifice. Dedication. And work... and Lord willing, will end solely glorifying my Savior, through excellence-a heart that desires God.

Psalm 86:10-12
For you are great and do marvelous deeds;
you alone are God.
Teach me your way, LORD,
that I may rely on your faithfulness;
give me an undivided heart,
that I may fear your name.
I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart;
I will glorify your name forever.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-02-23T21:56:00.000-07:00

Gymnastic Meet

2011-02-22T13:10:00.002-07:00

My poor girl. She had been practicing, anticipating and looking forward to this meet for some time, and then a couple of days prior threw up, came down with a fever and became stuffed up with snot.

I "hoped" it was just the stomach flu bug and that she would be over it within 24 hours but when Friday night rolled around and she still felt slightly awful, we decided she should miss her Friday night open gym practice so that she would feel her best in the morning to get out there, despite a fever, and compete in the meet!

Now, I wouldn't normally recommend or allow my kids to attend gymnastics SICK, but this being a once a year occurrence and having already paid for it, along with my second in command really wanting to get out there and try we decided to make an exception.

If you've ever attended a gymnastics meet, you know there is A LOT of standing, waiting, and watching that goes on and it requires much patience and attention. As bystanders, we had a few sleepy babies, unhappy toddlers and restless hungry kids, but thankfully we had two Memaws along to help entertain. My dear second in command was shivering and tired at times but managed to pull out a good performance anyway! So proud of her. She has been participating in gymnastics, for the most part since she was 3 years old. She loves the atmosphere and her teacher miss Anna. We love watching her excel and make gymnastics her own. She did routines on the uneven bars, beam, and floor and also participated in doing the vault.

Well, as it turns out, yesterday we took her into the doctor because we suspected strep throat at this point due to very large adenoids and fever. We were right! Strep. All around. x7. Well, okay x5 at this point... but we all know how THAT goes.

(((sigh)))

So proud of my determined girl!

It's about time.

2011-02-18T17:11:00.002-07:00

Babies grow much too fast for my liking. They change every day! Whether it be in mental development or their shoe size, they are constantly growing up and out.
It has been far and away too long since I have snapped some keepers of my fifth blessing who is 20 months old and who has been quickly changing from cuddly baby, to toppling toddler!
Today we sat on the bed near one of our old paned windows, looked outside, swung on the top bunk rungs and enjoyed some one on one time... with mommy's new camera along for the ride!

The Importance of being...

2011-02-17T23:43:00.001-07:00

So, in the midst of my unique mundane life, those things, memories and circumstances that fill up every minute of every hour, I have found the time to point and shoot a few practice shots today. I can officially say that I love my new camera. It's a beast! But I will tame it yet.
Introducing. Completely un-edited. My most favorite things around the house... in no particular order. *wink

My selfless husband, lover and friend.

Food of course. (my stellar gluten/yeast/sugar free fish tacos)

Story time... one of our faves.

Decor and the colors brown and red.

Okay, so I don't think of myself as my own favorite thing... but I HAD to have a picture of me in here, too!

Marriage to a wonderful Christian man... and my new wedding ring!

My second ~~mommy~~ in command.

A sweetie pie.

My right hand woman.

Cheese!

(yes, he's playing with a My Little Pony... in the bathtub)

My fifth blessing.

Dear friends and time spent with them.

What's not to love about stilling the precious moments of our day and reliving them once again... brings a smile to my weary face.

It's here...

2011-02-17T11:44:00.001-07:00

My new camera has ARRIVED!
And thank goodness, no more cell phone pictures!!

I am so so so so excited to start practicing and experimenting with it's picture taking abilities!! I've spent a good hour researching and reading the manual, familiarizing myself with all of it's gadgets, gizmos, buttons and funtions. Until I get a photography class under my belt and the photog lingo down I may just want to stick to the {auto} or {creative auto} mode... for my own protection. Heehee.

SO EXCITED!!!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-02-16T07:14:00.003-07:00

Happy V Day

2011-02-14T07:00:00.004-07:00

amberfischerphotography

Loving on these blessings today and EVERYDAY!

Random Thoughts Thursday

2011-02-10T09:56:00.012-07:00

I can't believe it's been a whole 2 weeks since I last posted on this blog! Life has been very full. I've had many many an idea pass through my head and heart of things, stories, photograph oldies, my kids' birth stories, prayers, praises that I wanted to blog about... {{sigh}}... Just didn't happen my friends. I've been literally in pain about not being able to put stories into photographs and snap cute pictures of my kids... {gritting teeth} Grrrrrrrr. I just remember that in light of eternity, it's just a thing, an earthly desire. I can certainly wait a few more days!
Fresh bread, supporting my husband, schooling my kids, starting a new season of WOW Bible studies(I just soak in our prayer time together, it's sweet!), living and loving life, buying skinny jeans(yeah, I know, scary)... God is so good! I was able to be involved in a little of my husband's career aspirations lately. It's tough to be intricately involved when you have 5 kids at home, but this last week I was so blessed to have tagged along with him to a BNI (business networking international) meeting, at 7:30 am in the morning... *yawn... SO FUN! It was neat to meet a lot of his peers and colleagues and see how much they appreciate, respect and love my honey. It was his day to do a presentation about his services, job, talents, etc. but he also did a lot of pictures and stories of us, his family-just to throw in a personal touch. He wrote THE FUNNIEST song ever for the event as well and sang it while he played his guitar making everyone become a mess of laughter, smiles and appreciation... everyone feels bad for the person who has to follow up his ultimate prize-winning presentation this week. It was THAT great!
I am so excited to be ordering my camera! Ordered it last night! WOOHOO!!! A Canon EOS Rebel T1i EF-S 18-55mm IS Kit ! It should be here in the next week. I am beyond ecstatic!!! You'll be getting far more pictures on here again. Probably an annoyingly gross amount more...
This last week, I have been a healthy eating, daily exercise participating mama... got to kick those lazy no good holiday eating habits now!! I want to look my red carpet best. Haha. It's ZUMBA day today! Whoot!
Getting excited to head east to New York in March, which is amazingly about the same distance away as flying to Japan from here... crazy. I've been there once before during my highschool days, before the Twin Towers we're gone... We will be leaving on a Monday and getting back on Friday. Three whole days of wandering the streets of New York with my mom and sister... can't wait! Although, it is hard for me to leave my family(and I hate flying), I know this is a wonderful opportunity! I will certainly enjoy spending time with my sissy and mother dear(and taking awesome pictures with my new camera and lens *wink*giddy giggle). We will be doing some high style New York shopping, show watching, delicious dining and historic sightseeing. Excited!!
My baby at 19 months is interested in potty training, we're taking it slow but I have a feeling she is going to be earlier than three of my other kids at becoming potty-trained. My second in command was 18 months old as well as she became trained at the same time as her older sister who is 12 months older... she's always had the drive to keep up and excel and my fifth blessing reminds me of her.
Starting to feel old these days. Crackly joints, sore muscles every morning... I am finding I can't home school my kids, workout and work all in the same day and feel okay. Darn it.
Last night while at work two teenage boys sauntered into Jolts and Juice and tried to bedazzle me into giving them a complimentary "brownie". "First of all..."I said facetiously" those aren't brownies. They're pumpkin bread. Secondly, your charm isn't going to work on me. Nice try though!" So I walk off with a smile and a few moments later they motion for me to come back over and ask, "So, let me ask you something, why didn't our charm work on you?" I replied matter-of-factly,"Probably because I am twice your age." As I rested my elbows on the counter and my chin in my hands, they we're like, "26?"~"27?"~"28" as I shook my head no in between each guess..."29." I said as I finished the guessing game for them. Yes, 29 years old even though I still intermittently interject the word "like" like quite too often in places where "like" doesn't necessarily need to be used... Okay, so I'm not twice as old as them but still... c'mon, give me a break boys. I'm almost old enough to be your mother... and you are old enough to know better than to be begging! Get a job, and budget! Anyway, when they left, stomachs growling and pride delfated, they said thanks for the water and I said thanks for the charm. Heehee.

I adore Mary Jane's Farm magazine. My mom bought me a subscription and it is pleasingly chock full of delectable recipes, homey activities, healthy living tips and is just plain bound up quaintness in my hands. Love it! I have also enjoyed using her whole wheat Budget Mix in recipes. It's a lot like Bisquick only healthier! I used it to make cinnamon rolls of sort yesterday. Here is what I did(approximately, as I am always just throwing things into my dishes and baked goods, praying they turn out... and they usually do(fingers crossed).

Cinnamon roll dough:

2 Cups Mary Jane's Budget mix

2T. brown sugar

1/2 cup butter cold and cut into pieces

1 cup buttermilk

t. vanilla

Whole wheat flour for kneading and rolling dough out

Filling:

1/4 cup organic butter softened

brown sugar

honey

cinnamon

nutmeg

Frosting:

whipping cream

2 t. fresh lemon juice

powdered sugar

t. vanilla

Cut in butter with Budget mix and brown sugar until it resembles course meal. Add buttermilk and vanilla. Add whole wheat flour or more budget mix until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Knead and roll out into a 1/4 inch rectangle. Spread butter on top, then sprinkle on brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Top with squeezing desired amount of honey all over the sugar. Roll the dough and slice into about 1 inch pieces. Place in a greased pan and bake at 450 for 15 minutes or until desired brownness.

I then whipped up the frosting adding ingredients until desired consistency is reached.

Yesterday, I also had my two oldest girls walk a couple of these rolls down to a neighbor friend about 3 1/2 blocks walk away. I was slightly worried about letting them go on their own but they did great! Went there and back with no problem. It's hard to let go of our kids but when we do it's amazing how they grow up and excel on their own!

My husband and I enjoyed a date this week. We try to get out every other week on our own. Just to enjoy each other's company, have fun and get to know each other better. We feel like kids again when we are out on the town... we almost don't know what to do with ourselves at times! No diaper changes? No emergency potty runs? No tired fussy kids? Although, we embrace all of that as parents, it is still a nice break from the norm to go on a date. If we don't go to the movies, we usually go around town getting things done! Haha, it may come as a surprise, but we enjoy going to Home Depot to plan our attic remodel or stop by Walgreens and grab diapers... it's just fun to be together, holding hands and spending time together as a couple. I love my husband so much!

We watched the movie,"Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" and we're enamored by it's drama and depiction of how greed rules and runs our country and how rumors/word of mouth play a big role in making or breaking large influential company's success. It sent our brains a reeling. If you like powerful dramas and touching love stories that leave you with the sense of how much the world needs Jesus, I would definitely recommend this movie to you.

I will leave you with this photo of me sporting my new diaper purse... yep, I'm a mom and proud of it!
God bless, friends.

Snip-it

2011-01-26T23:15:00.008-07:00

I love coffee. I work at a coffee shop. I really enjoy talking and relating with people. I'm around hoards of people at work. I am supposing my job fits me well.

I am still saving to purchase a new camera to replace my broken one. I have about $500 saved up thus far but I'm shooting for $700... should have it in about a week. WOOHOO!! I am contemplating getting one of THESE Cannon cameras, within budget... not sure yet, though. Thinking I should get some advice from an expert before finalizing my decision! It's bound to be an upgrade no matter what I end up getting.

I really enjoy taking photographs. Especially of my children... who doesn't! I also enjoy setting up for, taking and remembering pivotal points in life by snapping a "story" picture. A picture says a thousand words, right? I think so. After buying a more "spendy" camera I may decide to invest in a better picture editing software... again I would have to do some research or seek out professional advice first, as well as take a class on how to best use it but as of now I frequently use the free version of Picnik to do minor editing and absolutely love it.

I am so in awe of the men and women who are our military and their families. They are our heroes. We pray for you often and are thankful beyond measure for your sacrifice. Only God knows your sorrows and sense of loss, lonliness and the destitution that you must face at times... we love you and are thankful to you for your service to our country. God bless you!!!

Homeschooling is going so awesome. My husband as always is a godsend and organized the rest of our school year by printing out daily/weekly workbook schedules for my girls AND putting them into handy dandy notebooks ta boot! He rocks. We have been flying through school books and I feel my oldest is more than ready to do the mandatory state test this year. It's pretty much a no-brainer to pass those tests, but a timed test is still daunting for anyone, especially a 3rd grader. She'll do great!

I was home schooled 5th through 12th grade. I graduated a year early, though so essentially I only did 3 years of high school, then went and got my diploma and my GED. Before homeschooling, I attended a Christian school for K-4th grade. I am still in touch with some of those students I went to grade school with in Montana! Such awesome memories and it's completely sweet to still be in contact with them. Daily, we met in a 4 roomed square schoolhouse complete with bell steeple, built in the early 1900's. It was in the middle of a large field of long brown grass and felt like a little country schoolhouse. It WAS a little country Christian schoolhouse! Great memories---Torn pants on the swing and trying to hide it the rest of the day by keeping my legs smooshed together. Haha--- running a race with the boys, oh, and kicking them, too... playing four-square, jump rope contests, show and tell... ha! My 3rd grade teacher with the most awesome-est name ever: Mr. Wolfshorndl... wow, not even sure I spelled that right. But I sure do remember his name!! Do you remember making shapes with a string and your fingers? A friend and I totally did that together for show and tell one time. We. We're. Awesome--- The downtown two story library and all of it's eerie-ness, along with doing an origami class there once... I also tried dried seaweed once from a classmate who was Asian and LOVED to snack on it. My friend and I walking on a frozen swamp and me falling through... Anyways, I could go on and on about fun and amazing memories from that time in my life. What are some childhood memories that YOU might have that just make you stop and smile when you think about them? I'd love to hear about them!!

Some online sites I love to visit are my friend Brooke's Sweet Bee blog for vintage fashion inspiration and Fabulessly Frugal for recipes, deals and coupons... in fact one of my most favorite childhood breakfasts were posted on Fabulessly Frugal recently! German pancakes. Right here. It's fabulously yummy!

One of my fave photographers Amber Fischer is having a Valentine's Photo Booth shoot this Saturday. I am excited to be able take my kiddos in for one of her brilliant photo creations!

So that's a snip-it of who I am, where I've been and some of what it is I like to do.
Now it's your turn to tell me a little about YOU!!

War

2011-01-21T15:44:00.012-07:00

The world's filthy muck has a dark hold of me.
My feet are death gripped by the heavy sludge of sin and rejection.
A once beautiful creation, now marred and disfigured. Covered in the stench of blood and death, I reel with doubt.

Evil clings. Weaves and lies it's way inside to become one. It reigns.
Movement only sinks my feet deeper still as all feeling hardens to stone.
The rancid smell of sulphur steaming from hell below, seemingly streams with laughter down the bars around me. Air has turned thick with ash of the bodies claimed before.
Terror tightens my chest. My lungs seize. My breath shortens and ever living again becomes but a dream as I sink lower still.

The war raged on inside of me but the outcome had seemingly already been written. The ending had already begun.
I struggled. Death beckoned. Then threatened. Hands were useless. Words are empty. Life was definitely slipping away.
The blackness grew stronger. Hope left. I was alone. I could taste the bitter end.
As my last tear fell, I shuddered and became limp as steamy hot breath engulfed my neck.
"Succumb," he hissed, "succumb."

"Jesus..." a prayer flowed from desolation. The rush of the Spirit instantly opened my eyes. My heart confessed and started beating once more.
"Jesus," I whisper again through parched cracked lips as I strain to keep my head above the suffocating nothingness...
"I need you."
"I need YOU."

Instantly my feet we're met with solid truth. Light and life stream from the blackness of the furthest corner of my prison. My broken heart felt again. Relief. Gladness.
I was drenched in renewed strength and joy bubbled from the depths below as out of the blackness my feeble body rose, resting steadfastly on a large wooden cross.
I fell to my knees. Trusting. Staking my faith in Christ and His death on the cross. Which is forever constant. Able. Enough. The end to all ends.

I turned my face into the strong cleansing wind that had begun to mightily blow taking with it the stench of death and the crippling weight of sin and mortality. The disfiguring thickness of earth's mire melted from my skin. Clarity came. Movement began again. Freedom won.
As I turned to face the wind, I saw following closely behind, a mighty roaring refining fire. Purifying. Cleansing as it engulfed. Painfully burning away parts of me twisted with cords of evil. Completely breaking it's hold on me.

Walls crumbled. Hell defeated, roared away, being eaten alive by pure light. Perfectly beaten.
My frame, lifted up as a feather floating to safety became utterly drained of failures. Disappointments and fear. Being filled instead with healing light.
Dead to mortal life. Giving up on me. Hoping once again in Him. Alive. Alive.
Healing tears of joy streamed down my cheeks and soaked into fresh soil below the new green grass-a growing season had now begun. A newly washed heart healthy and thriving, blossoming under the goodness of grace.

"Come" He said beautifully as only a heavenly melody speaks. "Hold onto me." Grace poured from his lips as Jesus reached out, both arms streaming with light and love, revealing his scarred wrists. My hands lifted to embrace His. He smiled tenderly and pulled me safely to his side, "Come, walk with me again, dear one", as we turned towards Heaven, His all-encompassing presence swallowed me up to glorious eternity.

2011-01-19T12:27:00.000-07:00

nuttakit

The Dirty Dozen

The most important foods to buy and eat organic.

2011-01-18T18:58:00.005-07:00

A snip-it's view into of the world of a child's mind and the chuckles I get daily from hilarious things I read or witness while schooling my children:

One of My Second in commands assignments in Science while studying her environment:

Name one thing that you can
See.
Smell.
Hear.
Taste.
Feel.

Her answers:

Name one thing that you can
See.    trees
Smell.    flowers
Hear.    birds
Taste.    sap    grose
Feel.    bark

Where did she come up with THAT? Why not an apple from a tree... or a berry from the bush... Sap? Oh my goodness like she's EVER even tried to taste it. Maybe it's actually very yummy. Haha...and "grose"... let's just say spelling isn't exactly her strong point... yet. Anyway, there are SO many cute little lovelies I get from correcting, teaching and having all of my kids home with me all day. On days when baby is into everything, tensions are high, sleep deprivation looms, questions are coming to me from five different directions and attention spans are non-existent, I sit down. ~~Scream~~. Sigh. Pray. Remember why we chose to home school them. It's not because I have to, because I'm following the crowd or even because it's the best way. We home school our children because we feel led to. The Lord has called us to it. Only He knows the ins, outs and in betweens of why. Only He knows what every other alternative would bring in ours and our children's lives if we chose to go our own way(and believe me I second guess our decision to home school every year). Because along with doing what the Lord desires in our lives for our children's sakes, sometimes sacrifice on our parts as parents spares us reaping the concequences of what would otherwise be completely folly.
On days when life is overwhelming, I take a moment to look up, pray and remember to keep my eyes focused, my perspective heavenly and my heart thankful. It doesn't matter who you are, where you live, your social status, how perfect, pretty, marred or confident you are, whether you're locked in a windowless dungeon because of your faith or on top of the world you can look up and sing:

I have a maker
he formed my heart,
before even time began
My life was in his hands

He knows my name
He knows my every thought,
He sees each tear that falls
and hears me when I call

I have a father,
he calls me his own
He'll never leave me,
no matter where I go

He knows my name
He knows my every thought
He sees each tear that falls
and hears me when I call

-Paul Baloche