Saturday, January 27, 2007
Friday's Fillings:
Posted in Daily Life
Yesterday morning, as I was making sourdough for last night’s pizza,
the younger children were sitting in the reading room
playing a game of marbles together…
Ally had woke up with a fever and wasn’t feeling very well,
so she stayed in bed resting for quite some time…
Later in the day, Will and the girls were playing with our plush nativity set
and playing out the nativity story as Will read it from his Bible.
It blessed my heart to see how he was so excited
when he thought of doing that
and was so excited to teach his sisters the story, again …
I mentioned what the Lord laid on Will’s heart.
It was such a blessing to see our son’s interest in spiritual things…
to see his heart afire for godly things.
I praise the Lord when he allows me to see
glimpses into my children’s hearts.
What a blessing it is to see that fruit of our labor.
And I praise Him that He taught me some time ago
that we can do all the training we can (and ought to be doing)
but it is through prayer… daily fervent prayer …
for our children that makes all the difference.
Training them, teaching them, guiding them, etc…
are wonderful things to do…
It is our responsibility (and joy).
However, it is the Lord that changes the hearts of men (children).
What a thrill it is to see when the Lord is answering those quiet prayers!
What a joy and blessing it is to see the hearts of my children
as they love and seek the Lord in their childlike faith and simplicity.
What great lessons I have to learn from them.
It was a blessing to see them playing together so well.
As I was rolling out our sourdough pizza,
Beth and Will played a game of Memory…
Then Beth and Carolynne played a game of it, too…
Ally rested on the couch, reading through a medical book…
She loves to read books like that!
Have I said, lately, what a joy my children are to me?
They truly are.
“…to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the LORD.”
~ Psalm 113:9
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Thursday's Things...
Posted in Daily Life
Today we had a little bit of a break
in the cool weather that we’ve been having
so the younger ones were eager to go outside to play...
Ally stayed indoors and took advantage of the silence
to work on her Worldview and Chemistry…
I went out, too, for a little bit,
working at cleaning up the yard some
and preparing a swing to hang from the tree.
They were excited to use it when it was up...
Ally also spent time playing piano…
She’s been working at her technique in playing a few classical pieces.
It’s a real joy to have our home filled with music.
I am very thankful that we persevered through those ‘tough times’
of piano lessons when she was younger.
And what a blessing it is when she tells me the same.
It thrills my heart to see that she delights in playing.
I hope everyone enjoyed their day!
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Tuesday's Tidbits: Of Teeth, Nuts and Dental Visits...
Posted in Daily Life
Today’s learning moments were quite informal.
Since the children were visiting the dentist this afternoon,
I printed out a few ‘fun’ pages about teeth for them to work on
that I got from enchantedlearning.com.
Ally and Will learned about the anatomy of a tooth
and identifying the different teeth.
The lil’ girls colored a picture of a tooth
and drew pictures of their own on the back.
As Ally did some book work,
Will found our “Take-Along Guide: Berries, Nuts, and Seeds”.
After reading through it,
he asked if he and his younger sisters could go outside
to hunt for nuts or berries to identify.
He knew he had seen some outside before.
So he and the lil’ girls went out hunting
and came back with a few ‘treasures’ to identify.
He led the girls through the book
as they examined and identified the nuts they had found…
He sorted them in piles according to what kind of nut they were…
It was a precious time of learning.
In the afternoon, we went to the dentist
for all of the children’s dental appointments.
All went well, except Ally had to get a filling,
but she actually ENJOYS going to the dentist,
so it wasn’t a problem.
Will did very well
and the lil’ girls only got their teeth counted
(to get them comfortable with going).
This evening, before going to bed,
the younger ones were eager to use their new toothbrushes…
Lots of clean smiles in our house!
Monday, January 22, 2007
Monday's Musings...
Posted in Daily Life
We didn’t have the most eventful Monday.
When it’s rainy out, it tends to create a ‘pokey’ atmosphere.
So today, we were a little pokey.
Ally, however, seemed to have enough energy for all of us.
She seemed to have begun her day with new motivation and strength.
When I thought to myself, “Why?”,
It sure made this mama proud.
I was thrilled to see her eager and committed to getting things done.
She completed her schoolwork and helped in the house a lot.
Will did a lot of individual reading.
He seems to be really interested in the Civil War lately.
He has enjoyed reading books about it and Abraham Lincoln.
He’s been looking through and reading our Abraham Lincoln Photobiography.
He discovered last week that George Washington’s AND Abraham Lincoln’s
birthdays are next month. He was quite excited!
Also today, he and the lil’ girls did a lot of constructive play.
Me… I had ‘business type’ things to tend to
I started two weeks ago! Woo hoo!
Our weekend went pretty well.
We enjoyed a baby shower this weekend at church.
Ally and I sang our first duet together there.
It was a nice time of food, fellowship, games,
and praising God for the new precious one in our church.
Yesterday morning during the service,
I spent realizing that I need to begin training/re-training
a few of my children to sit in church.
After the service, I came home a little exhausted
from leaving the service so many times.
I found myself feeling a bit discouraged.
So I laid the younger ones down for quiet time
and spent time in prayer.
A book I read a few years or so ago kept ‘coming to mind’,
so after prayer I grabbed the book and sat in my rocking chair.
I was so glad I did.
It was a blessing to be encouraged and reminded
of why I want my children in the service with us
and why it’s so important for me to train them in church, in worship.
Through prayer and reading,
the Lord gave me the ‘umph’ I needed to keep pressing on.
I am so thankful we are able to worship as a family.
Well, that’s all from me tonight.
The children all have dental appointments tomorrow
but I hope to accomplish a few things before we head out.
Hope everyone enjoyed their Monday!
“This is the day which the LORD hath made;
we will rejoice and be glad in it.”
~ Psalm 118:24
Friday, January 19, 2007
Friday's Fillings: Recovering, Reading Aloud, and More...
Posted in Daily Life
Today was a pretty laid back day for us
as I recuperated from oral surgery yesterday.
Thank you for those that were praying.
God is so Good.
The tooth that they thought would break, when pulled out,
came out all in one piece!
An answer to very specific prayer!
The children have been great helpers for Mommy,
which has been a wonderful blessing.
Today, as I took a little rest, the younger children
sat on the living room floor
and listened to Daddy’s Read Along cd…
They enjoyed listening to their daddy read
and we all had a few chuckles, too.
Daddy is a good storyteller.
We also managed to do a little cleaning up today…
Ally was a great help in this.
They were a bit sad to put their puzzle away
but look forward to the challenge, again, another time.
She posted a picture of it there.
I hope everyone has enjoyed their week!
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Daddy's Read Aloud CD...
Posted in Daily Life
In a previous post, I mentioned how my husband
read aloud some books onto the computer.
This week I was able to compile them all onto a cd
so the children can listen to it.
I also made up a label and just wanted to share…
I may give it to them tomorrow,
since I am having oral surgery.
This way they can have Daddy read to them,
since I won’t be able to.
***It seems I'm having trouble, again, viewing comments on this post.
Interesting that it happened on my other Daddy CD post.
The only way I can view the comments for this post is to log in
and then go to previewing this entry.
I'm assuming it has something to do with
homeschoolblogger's "improvements".
Sorry for the inconvenience y'all.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Tuesday's Tidbits...
Posted in Daily Life
Today we took the day off of our ‘formal’ learning
(even though we just started back up yesterday… grin)
to take a trip to the post office to mail Daddy a package
When our guests arrived,
Ally and Will were working on the Global Animal Puzzle.
I had to smile when I walked to the dining room
and everyone was hovered over it…
The children enjoyed a day of fellowship.
The older ones made a delicious chocolate cake!
And the mamas chatted and looked through a few homeschool catalogs
(always a favorite pastime of many homeschool mamas).
After our guests left, in the evening,
I found Ally and Will working on the puzzle, again…
They have taken a great interest in getting this puzzle put together.
After the younger ones were put to bed,
Ally and I spent some time on the puzzle, too.
And I discovered that once you start, it’s easy to stay focused on it.
I have been especially glad to see
that it is encouraging Ally and Will to work together on it.
It’s always a blessing to see siblings nurturing their relationship.
Thursday, January 4, 2007
Thursday's Things... Enjoying Moments with Daddy...
Posted in Daily Life
Our week seems to be flying by.
Only a few more days till my beloved leaves for Iraq.
It seems we’ve been keeping pretty busy
but we’re also trying to spend time with him before he leaves.
Today he and the children worked at putting the trampoline up.
It’s been laying in our backyard since we move in
so the children were excited to get it put together.
They were also excited to do it with their daddy.
They all lined the poles up on the ground…
Then they worked to get the bottom of it put together…
Ally sat outside writing a story…
But also helped her daddy where needed.
She did help him turn the trampoline over…
Then Dad and the younger ones continued putting it together…
Then they worked at putting on the poles…
It started to drizzle so they all came in to wash up for supper.
Dad finished the net as they washed up.
They look forward to getting to use it tomorrow.
It blessed my heart to see them working with their Daddy
and to see all of them doing it so well.
We’re gonna miss him when he’s gone.
Today our ‘Daddy going away’ gifts came
(I mentioned them in a previous post).
We plan on giving them to the children the day he leaves
so I will share them after that.
Well, I guess that’s all for now.
I hope everyone is having a good week!
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
A Quick Hello...
Posted in Daily Life
I hope that you all have had a joyful Christmas weekend.
We enjoyed visiting with some of my husband’s family
and visiting with friends, exchanging a few gifts,
having food and fellowship, making ‘family’ phone calls,
making and eating our birthday cake for Jesus,
and focusing on our Saviour.
We also enjoyed attending services Sunday morning and evening
and gathering around the church piano to sing Christmas carols.
We look forward to spending the next few weeks
with my beloved before he leaves for Iraq.
I’m not sure how often I’ll be blogging
as we prepare for my husband’s departure.
But I just wanted to pop in and say hello…
Oh, and I wanted to share this photo of Will.
Sunday morning I instructed him to pick out a tie for church,
he came back with his bowtie.
A very nice choice, in my opinion.
I thought he looked so handsome in his bowtie…
Enjoy your week!
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Checking in, a Little Rambling, and an Invite to Share...
Posted in Daily Life
Between packing, moving, unpacking, errands, etc…
My blogging seems to have been scarce.
I do look forward to when things settle down a bit
and get back to ‘normal-ish’.
Ally and I have been working on finishing our family Christmas gift
this week so we could get it sent out to our family members.
We made it to the post office today to send out half
and we will ship out the other half tomorrow.
We have been working on it for months
and are thrilled to have a finished product.
I’ll have to share what we did next week
so that my mom or anyone else that is receiving one
doesn’t have their surprise spoiled.
I also got our Christmas cards shipped out yesterday.
I love the opportunity to share the Gospel every year at Christmas time
through our family newsletter that we include in our cards.
Sharing the Gospel can be/is done any time
but I find it a special opportunity when sending out Christmas cards.
Last year, the children and I made a few deliveries through United Way.
It was a wonderful blessing and we were able to share the Gospel that way, too. Click here to read about our experience.
With moving last month, it was difficult to do that again
but I hope to try next year or something similar.
I would love to hear of ways that you take the opportunity to
share the Gospel with others during this special time!
"Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks,
and to look well to thy herds."
~ Proverbs 27:23
Tending to our sheep...
