Overview

This weekend was a memorable one to be sure!

Here's an overview:

A dinner date with my husband, my parents and darling Ella...A barbecue with many of our church friends and their beautiful families... and a girlfriends night out for me, my sister and a couple of friends. What a weekend to remember!! It's wonderful to me how us girls can go out for a movie, and yet still end the night with prayer for one another's needs... God can be made a part of everything we do!

These are some pics to share some of the fun we have been having as a family of seven!

We walked down to the bike shop and my darling husband bought me a beautiful new bike. Of course it was a necessity as I had found a wonderful bike cart at a yard sale a few days before for $15.00! As seen here...

Big smiles (:

We also fine tuned all of our other children's bicycles; filling the tires with goo, pumping them up with air, adjusting seats for our ever-growing brood...

Mommy's angel is proud of her new, "hand-me-down" bike with training wheels.

My main man is working on a like-new bike we bought for $25.00 at a yard sale for our oldest daughter!

Along with handling the demands of many helmet adjustments, bike tire goo ooze and training wheels galore, my talented husband wrote a new amazing worship song... a beautiful bud, born out of tragedy, which then bloomed into a fragrant, melodic song of praise to our God. He's a one-of-a-kind man, my husband... my life's greatest blessing.

Here's a cute snapshot of my firstborns happy

smile! Why? Because she got a phone call from her out of town cousin and was able to play Club Penguin online with him today, all the while talking to him on speaker phone! It's a sort of online chat room where you each have your own penguin and can play games together...ummm, in a monitored, fun, safe, kiddie style type of chat way that is.

Ahem.

Oh, and did I mention my little one is 10 weeks old now? She's a smiley, sweetheart who sleeps well(7-10 hours actually (!)) and as of today weighs in at 10 lbs 12 ounces and is 23 inches long! She has had her first cold already but handled it marvelously and I believe the congestion is just about over with. Poor baby!


Praise the Lord for His continual grace and mercy. Still serving Him and excited for the things He has in store for our family! Amazing, the things He is doing my heart... He cares for us, and wants even better things for even me, the worst of sinners...

Isn't God good?

Deuteronomy 10:21-He is your praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes.

Thankful

S0 thankful for the many blessings my God has given our family... it's not that everything is good, every situation is ideal and wonderful right now, but it is our ever faithful God, His authentic promises and the substantiated truth that dwelling on even the littlest of blessings in daily life will make my day better... the same goes for the alternative... thinking on all of the irksome, not so ideal things, will only make the day's outcome worse!

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I love the outdoors... it makes me feel so small

compared to this majestic, praiseworthy and extraordinary world made by my God's amazing hands... praise you, Jesus. Thank you for being bigger than my enfeebled, broken-down marrow!

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Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and revering him. For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills; a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.
When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. -Deuteronomy 8:6-10

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Look at these delightful little ragamuffins...

Camping at Diamond Lake, Oregon...they then hiked up to Crater Lake and what a breathtaking view it is!

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I stayed home during this trip with our new baby, reluctantly missing out on the experience... but it turned out to be a refreshing weekend filled with organizing and getting my thoughts and ideas out onto paper as I picked out and ordered curriculum, also writing up a daily lesson plan for this quickly approaching new school year.

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Homeschooling is something I believe in and I hold fast to the revelation in my own heart that it is what I am supposed to be doing with my own kiddos... recently though, with all of the busyness and fatigue with a new little one, I was second guessing myself and God's plan by looking into sending my two oldest to public school. Christian School would be preferred but regrettably does not fit into the budget. I'm not against sending my kids to school and neither is my husband... in fact I think it would be good for them in some respects.

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With a quiet household and time to think, pray and get my head on straight while my family was camping, I came to the realization that my whole dilemma was based in selfishness and pride, like it says in Habakkuk 2:4, "See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright" — it's a heart issue rather than an ability issue. I tend to fall into the illusion of and desire to do things and have things "perfect" and have everything under my unwavering control, only... I CAN'T!!! I feel as though there are days where I am barely holding my head above water and adding school to the equation would only drown me and my kids into a sea of arguments, yelling and dissatisfaction. That's it, that's how it would be... in my own strength and without giving my pride and my own desires up to the Lord, giving into, instead, His plan for our days, I will fail and feel overwhelmed. With His priorities ruling and plans being carried out, I have nothing to fear, nothing to fret over and nothing to DO. Haha, of course I must still carry out my daily tasks, and I absolutely love being a mom and teacher but I can do those things without the pressure to be something that isn't humanly possible. The daily burden, that overwhelming feeling, that fleshly need to have everything in it's place, and everyone taught absolutely impeccably a.k.a. "perfection"... that really, is not so important... as a lovely older woman reminded me as of late,"Homeschooling is not always about giving your kids the best education out there... it's about teaching them that in everything we do and say, we do it as unto the Lord..." not so men will see and be amazed, but so God's heart will be pleased.

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You see, it's not about becoming a perfect person and in being so, a flawless, educated genius... or even about what I do...it's about being who our gracious God wants us to be and having a heart that longs to carry out our best in life, for Him... and thankfully that means all I have to do is my best and leave everything else up to my God's very capable hands.

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"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." Colossians 3:23-24

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Lovely

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I love to bake! Not just for the sweet benefit of enjoying the tasty treats but also for the satisfaction I get from throwing a bunch of ingredients in a bowl, watching it develop into a beautiful creation(okay, so they aren't ALL beautiful but anyways)as I mix, stir, roll, pat, shape and bake into my, one of a kind masterpiece!! I love the smells they create, the intoxicating melancholy fragrance that you drink in and makes you feel at home.
I may not be great at baking, in fact, I'm pretty much an amateur but because of my know-it-all independent, experimental attitude, I rarely follow a recipe to the T.
Because of manufacturing my own versions of recipes, my family rarely gets the same thing twice! It's great! Except for when something turns out awesome and I can't remember exactly what I did to make it that way!
The beginning of the week, I made these Almond whole wheat strawberry rhubarb tarts! Woosh! That's a mouthful... only because I added the almond flavoring to the wholewheat crust and added a rhubarb strawberry spread instead of just strawberry like the recipe called for! (: Typical Mommy... that's me! They were delicious, with a nice steaming cup of tea... lovely.

On another "lovely" note, things are going so well here at our zoo home! Having 5 wonderful children, and they are sweet kiddos, obedient for the most part, despite that... it has still been a long time coming for me to get my energy and organization back. I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, oh so faintly, I see it! I feel it. Thanks is all due to my God who has brought us through thus far, unscathed, as I have said before. He has held my head high. In fact just yesterday I was feeling GREAT! I had the house fairly clean, the kids nicely dressed, hair done, plants watered... we even made it out the door on time(okay, well maybe 5 minutes late) to get my second in command to her beloved gymnastics class! After dropping her off, I even had the energy to grab a coffee(I suppose that was for energy) and get to the grocery store for some shopping with my four other beautiful children. As my eldest pushed the cart, I had my hands free to sip my coffee and be pleasantly met with bumping into a few friends and
acquaintances and as I freely flipped my hair behind my shoulders feeling so empowered with my makeup clad face and curled flocks, so organized and on top of it all, I was thankful, thankful for a

beautiful day, a lovely outing where nothing had gone awry............... only later... as I took Anna potty and used it myself... did I realize, yes, feel downright aghast and slightly devastated I must say about my complete failing in the perfect department.... to find, that I had been strutting about... with my fly open... open to my friends, my acquaintances and open to the world. Lovely.

Ah well, feeling as perfect as I can in my flawed humanity, and being on top of the world will just have to wait for another day.
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Yummy.

Mhmmm... there's just something about walking into a kitchen while some delightful delicacy is baking in the oven. The aroma surrounds and grabs hold of all the senses, wraps them up in comforting warmth and goodness and makes everything else melt away.... these zucchini muffins, topped with sour cream frosting were delicious and recently enveloped our home with it's warming fragrance.

Yummy.