New Cake Topper

k W t

Letters in their place

Here are a couple photos a mom sent of the letters I made her. I think she did an amazing job putting them up with the decor. For close-ups of the letters, CLICK and you will see my own pics in a previous post.

The baby will be in his bassinet for a while...so the mom decided to decorate in the master bedroom. How sweet and what an effort as a new mom. I just kept the bassinet next to the bed, but never thought to doll up the room to coordinate. I'll get more pics when Baby Drew goes to his own nursery. This is a lovely Christian family. As you check out the pics, please lift them up in prayer!

A funny lesson

We watched America's Funniest Home Videos last night. They had a segment on men getting waxed--it showed guys having huge wax strips ripped off their chests, back and stomachs (on purpose!) We were all cracking up--they even had some guys standing on roofs, having a rock thrown off the roof--the rock was tied with a rope--the rope was attached to the wax strip which was attached to the guy's stomach. One by one, the wax strips were ripped off and the guys reactions were simply hilarious. What people do for a laugh.......

So, this morning we were doing "bible" and my eight year old is reading to us about Abraham and the covenant of circumcision. I think nothing of it.

Then, when he finishes the passage, he looks up and says,
"Mom, what is circumcision?"

Oh boy. Hubby, hello, do you have to be at work? And, why can't anyone be here to hear this stuff? And, why can't I have a video camera to capture this stuff? So, I explained circumcision to my eight year old and six year old sons.

There is an eerie dead silence.

Their eyeballs are going up and down and I could tell they are thinking, squirming and confused.

So, my eight year old says, "so it's like 'wah', here's your baby" He then makes a motion of what looks like ripping off a wax strip and makes the noise of paper tearing and then says "I love you, God" sort of mimicking how these men would show their devotion..."Is that what it was like mom, like on America's Funniest Home Video?"

The two boys then began demonstrating it over and over again.... :-) We all laughed so hard...it was pandemonium at our house today but now they know....about waxing/covenants/circumcision/etc etc...

This was great on my last morning as a 33 year old.

THIS...IS HOMESCHOOLING

Lesson: the art of carving! Apples that is!

Skipping math for the day and baking an apple pie to enter into a local fair.

He was 3 years younger than any other kid and he won second place! Woot Woot!

Going to the Cape the day after public school starts!
An eight, two and six year old sharing a morning break with ginger snaps.

OK, so this isn't homeschool, technically. Unless, you call my two year old getting pampered by his Grandma by getting a message and getting to wear big boy underwear while doing so, a lesson.

"Moooah, Mom" he says.

I HAVE BEEN TAGGED!

MY SEVEN WEIRD FACTS

1. I am partially deaf in my right ear. I need a hearing aid, but it is too expensive so I either just say "pardon" a lot or smile and pretend I understand, then realize about 5 seconds later what you have said and either am glad I agreed or I quietly wish I had that hearing aid.

2. Both of my optic nerves were damaged when I was born. Miraculously, my brain "decided" that my right eye would shut down and my left eye took over. I only focus with my left eye. I see with my right eye, but the vision is weak--kind of how everyone else sees peripherally--I can't read past the top line of the eye chart with it! You know the big E. I have all this weird stuff wrong with them that I don't know how to explain, but I should have double vision. But, my brain coped...it's complicated, but I'm thankful for my vision!

3. I met my husband on the internet in 1996--before internet dating was even thought of! Most people didn't even have computers at home yet--I was at an internet cafe and on the internet for probably one of the first times. Read my ABOUT ME for a few more embarassing details.

4. I lived in South Africa shortly after I was married. This is how I met Fee

I loved it there and wish I could have the best of both places in one--including our beloved family and friends.

5. I was attacked by a swarm of bees as a kid, while on the beach--but I didn't get stung even once. Literally hundreds of bees covered my body from head to toe. It took a long time to get them to leave me. The water was freezing, but my mom and her friend managed to coax me into the water and they all flew away. It was terrifying.

6. I was crossing train tracks as a kid and didn't hear a train coming. Stupidly, it wasn't at a marked crossing. My friend and I looked up and there it was. We were terrified and ran as fast as we could. To this day, my heart jumps when we are close to a train.

7. FAMILY TREE Weirdfacts: I am directly related to every founding member of Rye, New Hampshire. For real. There's even a book about the town and I am related to every single person that founded the town. I only found that out about 5 years ago. I am also related to Swedish royalty (supposedly); a guy named Herman the German; my grandmother's grandmother was best friends and first cousin's with LL Bean's wife, Bertha. My grandmother remembers when it opened--she knew LL Bean and his wife as she played at her grandmother's as a kid. There's still a distant relation, but no one cares but us!

I am directly related to 3 Mayflower passengers, including the rebel that was on the ship. He did later turn to Christ, so that's good to know.

She always told us all this stuff and we never believed her, but when we looked it up--we were all saying, "Oh my gosh, she was telling the truth about everything!"

EXTRA in case the others are non-humorous

When I was very young, I was watching a movie about Adam & Eve...I remember watching and being so confused. I thought, well if they were the only two people, who was there filming?

Do you think I'm a weirdo or what?

I'm tagging:

FEE

KELLI

KATHERINE

MRSMANZ

DARCY

SARA

MRS GUTHRIE

New Letters for a New Baby

PARENTING...what a task

What a huge responsibility God gives us, privileges...us...with? Privileges us? Hmmm...before I get sidetracked--is that the right way to say that? Well, I don't want to say what a huge responsibility God bestows us the privilege of--to raise children? OK, I think it's clear what I am trying to say. It's A LOT of pressure, a lot of catching my breath when I think about this big task. Parenting is this vast landscape that I can't quite see the end of. The length of this big field that I am looking at and wondering how am I ever going to get to the other side. I have so much to learn. Take for instance this. My oldest son is now eight and he is entering that phase of not wanting to be cuddled and he doesn't want me to talk to him like he's a little kid any more. Tonight, joking around I grabbed him and held him and started to tell him about this song (OK, truth be told, I actually sang this song) I used to sing to him that I made up all about loving my baby boy. He was hardly amused nor impressed. I would normally do this--hardly ever, but on occasion and we would end up just cracking up. Later, he even remarked about not wanting to be sung to like a baby. Oh, my heart! This is a kid who has always said, "tell me that story..."

But, it's not about me.

What a lesson I am learning. Parenting is not about if it makes me feel good to have this precious moments with my child. It's not about if they're happy either. That's a hard one for me, because I am so easily manipulated by my boys' whines and their running their fingers through my hair and looking at me with loving eyes and saying, "please mommy?"
The baby (my two year old) is even trying to giggle his way through time-outs, but I push forward with a stern look hiding that I am giggling inside too.
Uh, OK, so some things are less difficult than others.

I am just so thankful for the wisdom from the Holy Spirit--reminding me what I've read in scripture. So thankful that I can pray to a God who is listening. I didn't intend to share this, but I just looked up and noticed something on my desk. I have a prayer that I printed up/laminated that is a perfect prayer about parenting and something I need to pray, probably daily. It's from John Piper. I'm typing it up so forgive any typos please:

"Dear Lord,
There is no higher calling than being a wife and mom. You have entrusted these precious lives to our care and what we impart to them while they are with us, is our offering to you. You have not called us to be 'cool', to be liked, or to make our children happy. You have given us the responsibility to shepherd their souls. If they are great in sports, academics or worldy success, but do not know YOU, we will have failed. Help us to live what we proclaim, to be strong enough to discipline consistently when we are weary, to lavish them with love (as You do to us), to be quick to forgive and to admit when we are wrong. Help us to continue to grow in our love for the Savior and for Your word so that we can live an example that will draw them to salvation. We will never be perfect but we can be faithful and that's all that you ask. Please bless each one reading this and encourage their hearts with knowing that You have the power, ability and desire to see them succeed in this endeavor. May they raise up a generation of young adults with a heartfelt passion to serve You, and then know that they will hear ;well done, good and faithful servant.' Amen"

isms

Sixisms--thoughts from my six year old rough, tough and clever boy.


When explaining Creation to Daddy...
"So...then God got tired of working in the dark and he separated the darkness from the light."


As he came running out of the bathroom before bed...
"Mom, mom, I just did something really cool...when I was using my mouthwash, I spit it out in to the toilet and then I peed in there and I made it green--it was so cool, Mom!"



"Dude, look at this, it's so cool!"



When his older brother asked me what it means when God says 'not to pray in the streets, but to pray in your closet...' as this was something he heard recently...

"It means, don't be a show-off!"
Yes, he's six and yes, he understands something most adults don't.


"Poop"
He wouldn't be a six year old boy if he didn't think this word was hilarious.


And, when he was only four and I went away for the weekend during my pregnancy...upon my return he said:
"Mom, I was thinking about you, I was thinking about you and your baby."

Update on Curriculum

I am loving My Father's World curriculum. It's just so...right there, get to work, get it done.
I am beginning the day using Christian Liberty Press' Studying God's Word though, which isn't part of the curriculum. I don't know how I'll work in the science I had planned, but we had a blast going through the MFW science stuff already.

Right now, the biggest challenge is finding extracurricular activities that aren't too costly. I wrote to the local Parks & Rec Ctr to ask for something to be implemented. We'll see.

What has been the biggest blessing is the Morning Routine Chart that I got from that wonderful mom over at Hillside Academy. My boys get up and just get right to the chart chores in the routine. On the first Saturday my middle boy came in and asked if he had to do his morning routine...I give them the weekends off. So cute.
Katherine from Cornerstone Academy has been such a blessing with advice and checking in on me with the MFW change.

Check them out on my blogroll.
Thanks Ladies!

A week at the Cape...Cod that is

What an amazing time we had in Hyannis, MA. We love the Cape and it was another wonderful holiday for the family. I am so thankful we were able to get away like this.