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A Life Better Than I Deserve
Nov. 26, 2009
Cool Evening!
I just shared a really cool Thanksgiving evening event with my husband and eleven year old Scout.
Earlier today my husband received word that the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle Atlantis would be passing nearly directly overhead early this evening. We put on warm coats and braved the cold weather for several minutes in order to see two bright lights pass slowly directly overhead. They were visible even through the tree limbs for a few minutes. My son stayed outside to watch the lights until they were completely out of viewing range.
A quote from my son who hopes to one day walk on the surface of Mars, "It was amazing." High praise, indeed, for my boy of few words. Now, I do not know whether my son will ever become an astronaut or whether he will instead go on to do something else. Whatever the Lord's plans are for my son, I hope that he goes through his life with that same twinkle in his eyes and that awestruck, "It was amazing."
And, I hope your Thanksgiving has been amazing! 
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Nov. 22, 2009
Last Week's Activities in Photos
Okay, I said I would try to share these photos Friday, but my camera battery went dead right after my husband came home Friday and he took a short video of my two year old. So, we had to charge the battery up today. So, here are some photos today!
Here is a recent woodworking project my son completed for scouts. He actually completed that one last weekend, but close enough! Doesn't my son look proud? That aloe vera plant on the back deck behind him came inside this week, as it has turned cold lately.
And here are some of the Operation Christmas Child boxes my daughters packed this week. Below you can see one of my daughters wrapping shoeboxes.
 
Here are the shoeboxes my children bought gifts for and packed for Operation Christmas Child.
And here is nearly $1500 worth of Trail's End popcorn and trail mix, stacked in our living room ready to be checked off and tagged to be delivered!
And below is what happens when you spend all week at church packing shoeboxes, you sort and deliver BSA Trail's End popcorn, and your husband goes out of town to a conference. Something has to give somewhere, and this week it was laundry getting folded and put away. We finally are caught up just in time to need to wash a few more loads! 
So, there is our week in pictures! How was your week?
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Oct. 29, 2009
It's birthday time again!
My eldest is taking her turn for a day in the limelight today. It is her fourteenth birthday today! Hard to believe how much time has passed! Five out of the seven of us have autumn birthdays, and most of our extended family does as well, so many days my time has been taken up with birthdays or other super-fun things like selling BSA popcorn or AHG gourmet chocolates! Anyone in the mood for chocolate?
So, I thought I would pop on for a minute today to show off a photo!
Hmmm, I see that someone has been avoiding photos lately, but here's one from the summer!
I'll be back with a new review sometime tomorrow!
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Jul. 19, 2009
Growing Can Be So Painful . . .
Today has been an interesting day. Though it began a bit rushed, I had a wonderful time at church. Our pastor spoke on worship, using Psalm 100 as the text, and it has left me in a reflective mood this afternoon--even before a major incident occurred with the children.
Ah, the incident. I shall spare naming the guilty. Suffice it to say that one child pushed another child, placing a third child in harm's way. The motivation was the pure selfish desire to be first upstairs. Two children received stern reprimands, a lecture, and the removal of certain privileges for an as yet unspecified period of time. We yet await repentance on the parts of said children--one of which is even yet adamantly refusing to eat lunch.
So, I sit and reflect upon the afternoon's events. I pray for my children's repentance and for God to work grace in their hearts. Life is serious business. Serious business, indeed--involving either growth or stubborn sinful rebellion. And its resultant misery.
Praying here for God to send growth soon, painful though it may be . . .
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Jun. 2, 2009
Wisdom from a 3 year old: God doesn't brush his teeth
"Miss Ladybugs and Butterflies, it's time to brush your teeth for bed," I cheerfully instructed as I finished washing up dirty dishes this evening.
"God doesn't brush his teeth," was the reply, as Miss Ladybugs twirled in circles in the middle of the kitchen floor.
Hmmm. Not what I had expected to hear. "Yes, that's true. God doesn't have teeth." I paused, "Yet, someday when we're in heaven, when our bodies are glorified, I bet we won't have to brush our teeth, yet they'll always be pretty and won't get dirty. Won't that be nice?"
I think she had quit listening already, and her mind had focused on another topic entirely. "God made us all for a reason," was her reply.
"Why, yes, honey, God made us all for a reason. Why did God make us?"
"That's what you're supposed to answer."
"Oh," I replied. "I think He made us to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever. Do you glorify God?"
"Yes," was my answer as she danced off to the bathroom to let her sister brush her teeth for bed.
Sometimes I think my little ones are not listening; yet sometimes I think more than I realize finds its way into their hearts and minds. I think more is remembered by patient, frequent, consistent instruction during those short teachable moments and also by example than by overt teaching through a Bible curriculum or devotional.
I thank God that my little ones are listening and watching, and that I have time to spend with them, waiting for those moments.
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Jun. 2, 2009
Winks and Tears at Breakfast
Our family breakfast was quite the Rockwell moment this morning.
It all began with the realization as I washed up blackberries this morning that these were some of the largest, firmest blackberries I'd ever seen gathered into one package. The thought crossed my mind that they were probably some new hybrid blackberry designed to travel well to market. I noticed from the packaging that they were from Florida. I was pleased to find that none were beginning to mold, and my hopes for breakfast remained high with only a slight cloud of doubt crossing my mind, a mind which admittedly is not generally at its peak efficiency early in the morning.
After prayers at the table, my mind immediately traveled to the day ahead of me as well as my scrambled eggs and the banana oatmeal muffins. As I was eating my eggs, I realized my husband was commenting on the blackberries. I glanced over at him, and noticed that he was winking at me. And tears were coming to his eyes. Ah, my blackberry-loving husband, enjoying his breakfast.
He choked out the words, "Well, that was sour." A minute later, he tried another. Same watery-eyed winking as before. Only the comment changed this time, "What these blackberries need is about a pound of sugar and to be made into a cobbler."
I decided to try a couple myself. Wow! Have I ever tasted anything this sour in my life? I think a lemon would have been a little more sweet yet just as sour as this! I couldn't hold back the wink or the tears myself. I dried my eyes and thought, Surely the next one can't be as sour as the first. I was wrong. It was just as sour. Really sour.
Next, my thirteen year old daughter decided to try a couple. This time the reaction was different. She was determined not to wink. She had taken it as a personal challenge that she would not wink. So, she stared at us from across the table, not winking, the tears building up until the dam finally burst and spilled over. She agreed, the blackberries were sour. Very sour. The most sour fruit any of us can remember tasting before.
I wish the digital camera had been handy this morning. Yet, more than that, I really hope the blackberry bushes we bought this spring at Sam's Club were not the same variety as the ones which they sell fresh. If they are, those bushes are really going to be in trouble next summer.
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May. 23, 2009
My Son is Growing Up . . .
Do you ever blink and suddenly realize that one of your children has suddenly grown--a lot?!?
This week was such a week. King Arthur celebrated his eleventh birthday. We had one of his friends and his friend's parents over for dinner and birthday cake the other night while my children and the friend played with some neat new Legos and Megablocks.
I also realized that my son has grown an inch in a month.
Today he made his own Royal Ambassadors Pinewood Derby car. Dad only helped him with two things. Helped--not did for him! It really looks pretty impressive, too, if I do say so myself.
Yes, my son is definitely growing up. Growing into a nice young man to be around, too. Why, before I know it, he'll be eating salad at dinner. What? You think I'm delusional on that one? Okay, so maybe he still holds some unusual paranoia of touching anything green for fear it will find its way into his mouth and gag him, but he is still beginning to develop into a young man and is quite enjoyable to be around--even though some days I get tired of hearing the same Boy's Life joke or hearing the same Hank the Cowdog dialogue for the seventeenth time.
God has blessed me with my family.
Update: My son came in fourth in the RA Pinewood Derby. He was disappointed he didn't place with the top three--who all earned trophies--but we were very proud of him for making this car on his own, with only very minimal help, and only using a wood vise and a coping saw! Great job, son!
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Apr. 17, 2009
Gum in the hair . . .
Miss Ladybugs and Butterflies has had a busy day. She has learned that lesson which each of my girls has about that age. She found some gum, chewed it, and instead of disposing of it in the trash, she spit it into her hair. Each of my girls has done this . . . once.
Fifteen minutes of peanut butter applications and repeated combings have resulted in a girl wearing eau de peanut butter and a temporarily pouty face. Oh, and a comb full of hairy peanut butter. I think I will place it in the dishwasher tonight, now that I've emptied it as best I can into the trash.
Undaunted, I managed to make it to the public library to pick up my interlibrary loans prior to closing, and on my way home from that trip and stopping by the grocery store to pick up some sale chicken breast for dinner (the frozen venison loin in the refrigerator is not thawed yet), my husband called to let me know he had left the frozen venison he had set out at home. He had taken our Webelos Scout camping. He sounded disappointed, but I offered a couple of different options, including making the meat and vegetable soup without the meat.
Did I mention that shortly before I lost my nearly-completed review and found the three year old with gum in her hair that I found our two week old mailbox had literally had the door ripped off it and stuffed into the mailbox? So, I had taken care of notifying the proper postal authorities who will be investigating the situation--sometime next week.
So, now I will cheerfully re-write my lost review, while I count my blessings. What do I have to be thankful for? I have a healthy child who has lost a little hair due to her own foolishness (and hopefully learned a lesson in the meantime) and not lost her hair due to cancer and chemotherapy. I have a husband who does great Scout activities with my son and who is forging a great father-son relationship they will both remember fondly in years to come. I have groceries in my house, and I am creative enough in the kitchen to switch over to Plan B tonight there. It may not be a gourmet meal tonight, but it will sustain us. I even have faith that between the postal service, my husband and me we will come up with a plan to have a working mailbox again before the wasps build condominiums in the newly "open floor plan" mailbox version.
So, I will count my blessings. And I will focus on the beautiful spring weather we've been having--even though I sneeze in threes and fours. So, what do you have to be thankful for this week?
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