Moon Meanderings

School Has Begun

We've started into our school schedule again, and I have to say I'm happy we have.  We were all ready to start and so far (a week into things!) we are still all enjoying the schedule.  Even Peter seems to be adjusting OK.  Now if you were on the outside listening in it may seem like chaos to some, but at least by my expectations it seems to be going fine.  Peter does seem to pull out any thing within his grasp so it also often looks chaotic, but as long as it keeps him happy I don't mind collecting things later.

A few people have said I should blog about what our day looks like, so I'm going to give you the paper schedule version today . . . and hopefully (though don't hold me to this!) I'm going to blog about what a day actually turned out to be in two weeks!

General Schedule

8:00 Wake-Up, Do jobs:

                        Devotions, Make bed, Dress, Brush hair, Toothbrush, etc. . .

8:45 Breakfast

9:00 Bible (upstairs)

            Prayer, Memory, Psalm

            Bible Reading

            Bible Activities             

10:00 – 10:30 Esther/Jenna  -- Writing activities, vocab and spelling

            Mom with younger kids – read book, do activity

10:30 Math

11:00 Snack

         UNIT

12:30 Lunch, Lunch Clean-up

1:00 Typing/Piano/Exercise

1:30      Outside time (Free play, Job, Around Neighborhood, Hike, Activity, Sport)

Read Aloud Time

Silent Reading

Free Time

MONDAY – Plants and Pillars

WEDNESDAY – Library/Prayer group

THURSDAY – 1 month cooking class/1 month Esther & Mom reading time

FRIDAY – Unscheduled Day – Field Trips, Visit Grammy, Volunteer at BVPSC

I'll try to get some pictures from our "actual" day as well when I post in two weeks.

Also we've been redoing our kitchen. . . though it is taking awhile to complete . . . so soon I should have pictures to show!

Isn't he adorable??

Now how can you expect me to take time to blog when I have an adorable face like this staring at me everyday!!  Hard to believe he turned a year this week!

Poor boy!  I'm sure he'll make up for all the torture his sisters have inflicted some day.

Between Grammy's shoes and the tennis balls on her walker Peter keeps occupied when we visit!  He hasn't tried to use the walker to walk yet but that may be coming soon!

A Tag I Actually Did!

The Inauguration

Well, we tried to watch the inauguration today!  A 3 year old has many of questions though.  Throughout the couple of hours we watched Kaelyn cycled through these phrases 20-30 times,

"Where Rock Obama?" 

"Where those fighting men against the wall?"

The "fighting men" she was referring to were the members of the armed forces that could be seen lining the halls as everyone filed out for the inauguration.!

Jenna's Pictures

It was Jenna's turn to take her pictures! So here is a peek.

Mercy

Today was the baptism of my niece, Marisol.  It was a beautiful day in many ways.  It was neat to see my little sister bringing her little one before the feet of Christ.  It is fun for me to see her as a mom, and her love for her little one.  My mom would have loved to be here today!  Our whole family was able to be here to celebrate with them.  Here is a picture of the babies!

2008 Babies --Gibson Martin (top), Peter Hartman, Marisol Edris, and Maxwell Garvin (bottom)

  As I sat down tonight I came across this quote from John Piper, "It is a precious thing beyond all words -- especially in the hour of death -- that we have a God whose nature is such that what pleases him is not our work for him but our need for Him."  It reminded me of the other day when I sat down on the toilet and looked up at the mirror that Jenna (5) and Kaelyn (3) had just worked so hard at cleaning!  There were definitely more streaks and splotches on it now than there were before it had been "cleaned."  I just had to sit and smile.  They had worked happily and hard on getting that bathroom cleaned.  It reminds me of myself.  It is easy for me to get caught up in what I "need to do for God."  And even be tempted to think that I have "accomplished" something great for Him.  Yet all my efforts are like that mirror.  He accomplishes everything so much better on His own.  I just serve to make it more of a mess.  And yet He still allows me to serve Him!!!  How merciful is that!  Who ever heard of keeping a servant who makes more work for the master!!!  And yet He takes me and my pride and my busyness and holds me in His arms.

"How wide and how long and how high, how deep is the love -- How deep is the love of Christ."   It is my prayer that all these 2008 babies might experience this . . . and of course all the rest of us as well.

And Max makes Five!

Wow, we've had 5 healthy beautiful babies in our family this year! (No, not our little family, but as my kids would say in our big family!)  My sister Tesha had the last of the arrivals on Dec 13 -- a boy, Maxwell James Garvin.  What a blessing, and great outcrying of thanks.  I pray that God might protect each one as they grow and raise them up as children of His own.

. . . just a quick recap of who joined our family this year. . . Gibson Martin (to Joel and Alison) in March, Ella Michalik (to Steve and Libby) in April, Peter Hartman (to us!) in July, Marisol Edris (to Tim and Anna) in November, and Maxwell Garvin (to Bob and Tesha) in December.  We should see everyone over the holidays so hopefully we'll get some good 2008 Baby pictures.  . . . and coming next year. . . ???  . . .  no, no announcements of any pregnancies, but my dad is adding to the family by marriage in March!  So we will be welcoming Janet to our family in 2009.

A few photos of the family. . .

Peter at almost 5 months.

At least an attempt at a Hartman kid photo!  Ella, Jenna, Audrey, Esther, Peter, Kaelyn, and Stevie.

Anna, Tim, and Marisol! -- at Thanksgiving.

And all the kids at Thanksgiving -- Peter, Jenna, Grant, Esther, Marisol, Kaelyn (and Lami), Will, Lincoln, and Gib!!

. . . and no pictures of Max yet . . . you have to check out Tesha's blog to see them.  I haven't gotten to see him or hold him yet (sad face!) ... but hopefully before the new year.

Just a few pictures!

In October the kids and I took a trip to she my sister, Tesha, and her family in Hershey and then took a trip together down to Washington DC to do some site-seeing.  Here we are at the beginning of the first day outside of Mount Vernon.   Peter, Jack, Kaelyn, Emily, Jenna, Esther, and Jack.

Still at Mount Vernon, outside a slave's quarters.

At the end of the last day walking around The National Mall -- not bad, there are still smiles!!  Peter missed the picture because he is now in the front pack on me, and I'm not quite sure where Jack disappeared to.

Esther and Jenna at the Lincoln Memorial.  Notice the expander that Esther now sports in her mouth! -- Much to her delight they will be replaced with partial braces at the beginning of the new year.

Here we are on Halloween with cousins from the other side of the family.

Audrey, Kaelyn (holding baby doll "Baby Ella), Esther (holding Peter), Jenna (holding Ella), and Stevie

I just needed to get this picture on my blog so Nate can't delete this picture!  He has successfully turned Esther into a LA Laker fan, so I think I need to start early with Peter.  A friend from Phoenix came and left this for him to help me out!!

The most exciting news in our lives right now is that I have a new niece!  My sister Anna had her first baby -- a baby girl, Marisol Edilia -- born last Monday.  Unfortunately I haven't managed to get pictures yet!!  Hopefully soon, but you know me!

Back to the Rush of Life

Well, tomorrow Peter will be 6 weeks old!  As you have noticed I haven't made an entry since he was born!  It isn't because our house has been too crazy -- I think it has just been because it has been different!  I have to admit, I love the time just after we have had a new arrival.  Yes, there are night time feedings again, a sore and misshapen body, dirty diapers (but of course those seem easy when compared to wet beds and poopy pants of a preschooler! . . . yeah we're still working on that -- we have several great weeks and then we regress again!) and other things of that sort.  But my schedule also gets cleared for a while, my wonderful mother-in-law does my dishes, laundry, cleans the bathrooms, and takes my older kids on outings for a couple of weeks!    I know lots of you go through postpartum blues after a baby, but I think my hormones kick me into a "high."

I am so incredibly grateful for my family, and especially the precious new life that has entered out home.  Cuddling with a sleeping newborn infant has to be one of the greatest feelings in the world.  As he lies upon my chest I'm flooded with emotions of not wanting him to grow up, or at least not wanting to miss anything as he does grow.  My thoughts drift to God as our father -- does he experience these same emotions??  Of course do I take the time to cuddle up in his arms??  Being completely still and trusting??  Are those moments to few and far between, or do I ever even surrender to that point?  Does God treasure those moments when we surrender and sit still?  I so easily get my list or plan for my day and just push forward. 

These last few weeks as I've nursed or cuddled or just sat have given me time to reflect and be renewed for which I am thankful.  In a couple days we'll start a new school year and our schedule will begin being filled with more and more.  But I want to make sure I take the time to treasure my kids as they grow and allow God to treasure me!  In so many ways having my kids at home and studying God's world with them allows me the chance to do both of those!  I'm so thankful to be able to do that.  Don't get me wrong, I have plenty of days I want to tear my hair out as whining doesn't stop or the screams come for the umpteenth time.  But there again I'm sure I give God plenty of those.  It is amazing how much I've grown in my relationship with God by being a parent! 

Ok, enough of my ramblings for now . . . once I sit down I have a million different thoughts running through my mind!  But I'll let you see some pictures.  My camera broke a couple weeks ago so these are all from right after he was born!  I'm hoping to replace the camera quickly so I can keep you updated.  We are also hoping to update our upstairs computer soon so that would make it so I can post from upstairs which should make these posts more frequent as well.

Esther's Pictures

Every school year I have decided to let the kids go and get their picture taken at a photo studio since they don't get school pictures taken.  It usually ends up being cheaper than if they were ordering school pictures and they get to try a lot more poses.  By the time we got around to it this year the school year was just about finished, but thought you may want to take a peek at Esther's 2nd grade pictures.  She had fun with them!

I've decided to let them do whatever they want in their pictures -- for Kindergarten she chose to wear a nice pink sundress, 1st grade was another pink dress along with her favorite stuffed animals, but this year she decided to go with the sports theme!  Jenna will get to try it next year as she will be in Kindergarten and was saying throughout Esther's session, "Next year when I take my picture I'm going to be a flower girl!" -- We'll see!

Nurseries and God's Work

At church this last Sunday I had the chance to share my testimony, and thought I'd just add a post here about that.  It is so neat to take the time to reflect on everything the Lord's done in my life!

I don't have a big, dramatic conversion experience to share -- at times in my life I thought maybe I needed to have something like that.  But as I grew I realized how greatly blessed I have been to know the Lord early in life.  I was always taught that Christ was my savior, so I don't remember a specific day when He became that to me.  I just know that He is my Savior today and he has worked in my life in so many ways throughout all of my days.  Psalm 78 speaks of teaching the things of the Lord to your children and that was definitely true in my experience.  Verse 5 says, "We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation teh praiseworthy deeds of theLord, His power and the wonders He has done."

The Lord has worked in my life in a countless number of ways, so it is hard to pick out a few to share here.  There was childhood, high school, college, dating, marriage, Mom's death, children, . . . and even everyday things such as sunsets, snows, and dandelions!  So what I've decided to share is His work in my life and my family's life as reflected in the nurseries I've had for my babies.  I didn't start decorating them with this in mind, but it has just sort of evolved this way!

Before kids, I had really struggled for several years with not being able to have kids.  I know my struggle was very minimal compared to many, and many would say how can she say she struggled when she is pregnant with her 4th!?  But for me it was real -- it wasn't happening when I thought it should and how I had it planned!  Before I was even pregnant with Esther someone had given me a wall hanging of Noah's Ark that said "God Always Keeps His Promises" --  I knew that God had not promised to give me children as my heart desired, but He had promised that He had a plan for me, and not only any plan but a plan to prosper.  He used that in my life to come to grips with His perfect plan form my life, not my own.  So when Esther came along, her nursery was decorated in a Noah's Ark theme. 

By the time Jenna was expected we (Nate and I) were wrestling with what he should be doing vocationally.  I had made a radical change when Esther was born when I became a stay at home mom and suddenly had time to look at the world through a child's eye!  I was away from that hectic, busy schedule that had become so normal.  But now Nate was putting in lots of hours and feeling called to a new path.  But to follow that meant we had to give up a fair amount of security -- were we willing to risk the security of a consistent paycheck, willing to risk the disapproval of others, willing to risk failure??  The verse that often came to my mind was one I had learned in Kindergarten, Matthew 6:26, "Look at the birds of the air, they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?"  So as all that swirled in our heads, we welcomed Jenna into our home and into a nursery decorated with ducks (my version of the birds!).

The next to come along was Kaelyn, and by this time Nate had made the jump from his school job to working on his own to follow a passion and calling he felt the Lord leading him to.  It was still very much a month-to-month venture.  Not sure whether he would still be doing the same the next month or searching for another job.  I really struggled with a sense of control.  I wanted so badly for things to "work."  I struggled with pride, thinking we needed to do everything exactly right so that we wouldn't look bad.  Wanted others to see that "we could do it!"  Thankfully the Lord didn't let me continue in this but lifted my self-imposed burden by bring me to the verse in 2 Corinthians 12:9, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."  We weren't going to do things perfectly.  Actually the success or failure of this whole venture was completely in the Lord's hands -- His power would be shown through our weakness.  So Kaelyn's room was done in sheep.  "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want."  I think as Kaelyn entered our world the Lord was still working out all this in my life, but how appropriate the implication of the Psalm.  The peace He promises even dumb sheep -- leading to green pastures.

Now we are expecting another and of course I just have to change the nursery again!!  (Ugh, Nate says!. . . no, actually he hasn't said much yet. . . we have yet to paint it!)  But this time it is going to be ocean animals!  Since Kaelyn was born we have started to homeschool our kids.  Another instrument God has used in countless ways in my life.  I'm amazed at how much God teaches me about himself through our study of His world even on a very elementary level.  At the beginning of this school year we studied about the ocean and all were just amazed at the creatures that fill it!  Amazed at God's wisdom and creativity.  So it seemed a perfect theme for a nursery!  Psalm 104 says, "Your works Lord are many, in wisdom you've made them, the things you created, they fill all the earth.  And also the ocean, how vast and how spacious, is teeming with creatures too many to count.  The ships are there sailing, and in the deep waters the sea monsters frolic for that is their home." (v 24-26).

It is such a blessing to be able to look back and see the things the Lord has done.  I'm sure I'm only seeing the tip of the iceberg.  I anxiously anticipate getting to heaven and being able to see the rest of the iceberg -- all the ways he worked in my life that I won't even be aware of here on earth.

...A few more pictures

Here are a few pictures from Easter!  Someone had given us these 3 matching dresses, and so of course they were thrilled to wear them for Easter.  They may be wearing them for the next 6 Easters since the sizes were really a lot bigger than what they normally wear!

Here are all the girls at Esther's birthday party.  It is a little hard to make out, but in the first they are gathered around their graham cracker frosting "quilt" they made, and in the second thier chalk squares "quilt."  -- It was an American Girls theme party and that was from the pioneer days (I forget which girl. .  . Kirsten??).

I'm Horrible at this!!

Just wanted you all to know that I am absolutely horrible at potty training!!  Those of you who claim to do it in one day -- I envy you.  I try to do what you say you've done, but it just doesn't work for me an my kids!!  It seems to take months upon months of accidents for me.  I thought with my third I wouldn't push it and didn't start until she was 3 -- I tried the others at 2.  I'm having no more success.  So don't come to me for advice!  I'm sure happy I decided not to put that new carpet in the girls' room this year!  And here is a tip -- you might as well buy stock in the company that puts out "OUT" -- it has become a staple in my house for the last 6 years!!

Just a few pictures!

Esther turned 8 yesterday!!  It is hard to believe.  She really seems to have moved from the little kid stage into a girl this year (does that make sense?!).  It has been so fun to think back over the changes of the past year.  We had about 20 girls over yesterday for an American Girls Birthday Party.  It was a beautiful day for it and lots of fun -- of course by the end of the evening my feet were killing me, but it was all alot of fun.  I'll try to upload some pictures  and put them up soon.

I thought I'd add a few pictures from our year so far here. . .

Here is Kaelyn sledding in February.

Jenna loves to do all sorts of crafts -- here is her first attempt at making her own clothes.  I thought it was pretty good!  Of course we won't mention that if you would see a picture from behind she would be totally bare!

The girls decorating cupcakes for Kaelyn's birthday at the beginning of March.

Wawi's Royal Tea Party - in honor of her birthday!  (See all the fun things you get to do when you are the grandmother of a group of only girl siblings!)  By this point in the tea party Kaelyn had changed out of her "beautiful" tea dress and into a clown outfit!

At the beginning of March we also took a trip with Nate to one of his tournaments in Erie, and then after it finished spent a few days seeing Niagara Falls.  We had beautiful, sunny, yet cold days to enjoy there.  Despite the great weather these are the only two pictures I managed to get there!  The first day I just didn't want to bother with cameras and the second day my camera batteries ran out on our way down the street.  We really did enjoy the falls though . . . along with the arcade and zillions of other tourist traps!

Guess I need to download some more pictures to update our most recent events!

It's not TOTALLY my fault!!

Did you wonder if I was ever going to get back on here!  I am having a computer problem!  For some reason my computer is keeping me from posting an entry.  The title can be put up, but nothing else!  I have been waiting for Nate to help me with it, and for the last month he has been extremely busy, so every evening when I would think of doing this he has been downstairs working.  Things finally let up last week and I was able to drag him away from the NCAA tournament to help, but so far he hasn't been able to figure out why it is happening either!  So for now I am on one of his office computers, not as convenient, but I'm realizing will allow me to post!

Today is my birthday -- I'm 35!!  Am I middle aged now??  Nate informed me last night that the girls and he wanted to make breakfast in bed for me, but realized that would probably just hold me captive in my bed for several hours!  So he said maybe they would just make breakfast for me and if I felt like getting up I could sneak downstairs and do some things so they could still surprise me.  Sure enough, it is after 8 now and no one was stirring!  I definitely don't have the problem of early risers!!

My birthday makes me think about my mom.  How much I've changed and grown since she died!  I don't know if she gets to see that and sort of be a part of that right now or not, but I've definitely got a lot of conversations stored up for when we are together in heaven.  Quite honestly, I still really miss her.  The Lord has blessed me tremendously  . . . I find myself this morning in a mixture of tears of sadness and tears of utter joy and thankfulness.  The Lord has spared me from so much and blessed me with so much during my lifetime it is rather overwhelming at times.

I guess it is an appropriate feeling as we think about Easter -- the awfulness of what Christ had to suffer on our behalf (as we've been reading about Jesus' final days these past couple weeks Kaelyn makes it hit home as she exclaims "NO" everytime something bad happens to Jesus, and then follows it with "That bad guy!") and yet the life that we are given and don't deserve because of what He did.  The older girls and I were talking about a song that we often have playing in the background that talks of Jesus' death as a "beautiful, scandalous night."  It is sort of hard to comprehend how something can be so awful and yet wonderful at the same time.  I think I tend to think about one or the other.  But they are both very real emotions in the midst of our story.

Jenna's Surgery

Yesterday, January 22nd, for the first time we had to take one of our daughters in for minor surgery!  Jenna had a hernia that needed to be repaired -- when I first noticed it I immediately thought of cancer, so a hernia sounded wonderful to me!

Jenna did wonderfully!  Though she didn't do much talking, she smiled and didn't whine or cry at all.  I thought we were going to get to be with her until she went to sleep, but that wasn't so.  So we quickly prepared her that she was going to have to go with the nurse by herself and off she went without any tears.  (Esther was particularly impressed by this -- she is sure that she wouldn't have been able to do the same!)  I on the other hand had the tears coming out of my eyes!  (...but I told her I would be with her utnil she fell asleep!!!)  Everything went fine and within 45 minutes she was in the recovery room.  Then within another hour we were on our way out the door.  She felt fine yesterday, with the anesthesia still hanging on.  Today, though, she has seemed quite sore.  "Why does it hurt when they fixed my bump?"

We actually even have pitures of our trip to the hospital since Jenna wanted to make sure she could tell her sisters all about her adventure!  So you get a peek too.

Before Surgery

After Surgery

Into a chair

Home

Pictures from 2007

Disney Pictures from May

Ocean Pictures from September

Cincinnati Trip in December

Freedom Center

Creation Musuem

With Sara Groves at the Concert

Christmas

Happy New Year from the Hartmans

Well,  I've decided to try blogging!  I have so enjoyed keeping up with several friends that I would have lost touch with if I wasn't reading their blog so I'm going to try to join in!  I also didn't get a Christmas or New Year letter out this year so I thought you could all enjoy in over the computer!!

I know -- a strange name for my blog.  Moon Meanderings??   Something I have been struck by at several points throughout this year is my inadequacies!  I don't like to admit them, but they seem to be plentiful!  In thinking about this I heard a song by Sara Groves that talks about how we are like the moon -- a cold, dark stone that has no light of its own.  (Sometime I will actually look up the name of the song and share it with you!)  The only way we have any light at all is through our reflection of the Son.  And the only way we can reflect that light is through an intimate, personal, and growing relationship with Christ.  I have been challenged to keep that relationship growing through study of His word and prayer.  So this blog will be comments on my meanderings through life, realizing I am but a cold dark stone in need of another to give me light.

As we look back over our year, it has been packed full!  We were blessed to be able to do a fair amount of traveling during the year.  In January we celebrated Jenna's 4th birthday by going up to Erie, PA to stay a night at Splash Lagoon -- an indoor water park which the kids just loved.  Nate had a very promising NCSAA meeting while we were there which led to all his tournaments being moved to Erie for the year, so he especially has spent lots of time in Erie over this past year.  In March we returned to Erie as Nate helped to host a tournament.  He was busy the whole time but the girls and I enjoyed hanging out at the hotel and making good use of the pool and hot tub.  In May we went with Nate's parents and sister's family to Disney World!!  This trip has been in the making for several years and was finally upon us!  We took an autotrain down since Nate at the moment refuses to fly -- the kids slept great, but mom and dad should have been drugged.  Nate's long legs especially did not enjoy the 17 hour trip.  But we made it and spent a wonderful and exhausting 5 days running to everything we wanted to see in the Disney World complex.  As we were lined up waiting to board the train Nate said,  "Do we really have to ride this train home?  Can't we just drive?"  Well I called and found out they would actually refund most of our money so we pulled out of line and spent the next 5 days slowly making our way home!  It ended up to be quite fun with no set itinerary -- we stopped at several beaches including the resort in South Carolina where Nate and I had honeymooned!  In July we were back in Erie, again at Splash Lagoon since the kids thought Wawi and Poppy need to see this!  In September we took a late season beach trip to North Carolina with Nate's parents.  We really enjoyed being there at an off season time, we didn't have to brave the crowds yet had wonderful weather for being on the beach and an overall relaxing time.  Then in November the girls and I went with my dad out to see my sister Tesha and family in Hershey, PA ... and Nate spent another 4 days in Erie for a tournament.  In December we took the older two girls to Cincinnati to see a Behold the Lamb of God concert by Andrew Peterson . . . and also appearing in that concert was Sara Groves -- both favorites of our whole family this year.  We also took in the Freedom Center which is the National Underground Railroad Musuem and the new Creation Musuem.  We arrived home on Monday evening and woke up on Tuesday to find that the transmission in our van had died!  We were to leave the next day for Erie again for another tournament so rented a van and spent the next 4 days in a hotel and at a tournament in Erie -- this trip was prolonged a day because of a big snowstorm as well!

  We have gotten used to being able to pick up and go as the girls have gotten older -- now 7, 4, and 2.  but we have recently found out that things will change in the coming year as we are expecting another baby in July!

I'd like to have this blog thing all figured out on my first try, but I realize that if I have to do it all in one sitting I'll never actually start ... so check back and I'll post pictures of our year.