I really don't want to make this update...two days after I posted our announcement, we had a miscarriage. The ultrasound showed that the baby had no heartbeat and was about 8 weeks old. I am actually glad that I did not know this until the actual miscarriage began. It would have been extrememely disheartening.
My heart goes out to all the women who do know ahead of time and just have to wait it out.
We know that God is in control and we thank Him for his sovereignty.
Aug. 25, 2009 - School has started and already an adventure!
First, I am still in shock that Faith is in first grade! Not that this in itself is surprising--just means that NEXT year will be 2nd grade and that just seems soooo...BIG! Wow!
I had all sorts of plans for starting this year well. I didn't. My room is not what I want it to be. I still have some serious organization to do.
My brain is trying to get around this Phonics , English, and Reading stuff...What the curriculum is doing right now is sooo easy, but it sort of all blends in together, so i am afraid that if I have her jump ahead too much, she's going to miss something...
Then we have this other challenge! She broke her arm (Her WRITING arm) two weeks ago! Here is a pic of her and her arm ! She has one of her sunflowers that she grew with her...it's as big as her face! Anyway, back to school and organization: I am planning to make chair pockets for the chairs from pillow cases and need to rearrange the bookcases so that some of the TE's are easier to access and some of the toys are more difficult to access.
You know, I am sort of low on words and ideas right now ( no, really I am.... at least low on ability of how to express them) But here's a thought for you. Feel free to email me and let me know what you think--if you want a quick reply.
If you have been growing in Christ, there mayb be some desires that God has just taken from your life or perhaps it's just something that you have not participated in for a long time and you recently thought about it and it just is not THAT important to you anymore. That can't really be considered a sacrifice for the sake of Christ, can it?
I was challenged by our pastor's sermon this past week .
http://columbiabiblechurch.org/cmsms/index.php?page=sermons
( click on the August 23 message)
I really wasn't sure what I need to sacrifice...after some thought, I realized that it wasn't this thing or that specifically ( although I am sure there are many specifics that different people would say I should give up, yet that is coming from them and not from God)...if came down to selfishness. in time mostly....Still need to consider this...
Jul. 28, 2009 - Somewhere between Summer and School
Well, we are "starting" school next week...actually it's a trial run but with the real curr. I need to work out some schedule bugs and don't really know what the "bugs" will be so I guess this will be the week to find out.
This will be the first year we are doing school that will require mastery of skills on Faith's part and the first year that nobody will be taking a morning nap, so I have some shoe boxes for Elijah's blanket time.
Isaiah will only be doing about 40 min. of school in the morning and then will be able to play with Elijah after that.
This will be interesting.
Here's some pics I took a while ( month) ago, but I don't think I've posted them yet! Time to eat lunch...more later!
Well, We attended our first "Frog Day" ( an event held at the home of church family members).. We didn't find any frogs, but we did discover a fish! Faith loves "swimming!" ( floating around with a life jacket!)
The surprise was that as much as Elijah loves bathtime, he would NOT get into the baby pool or the pond!
So, here are some pics!
HOMESCHOOLING:
I talked to a woman in line at the post office last week who mentioned that she hated to send her child to school but was so relieved when she did. When we told her we homeschooled, she looked at me like I had 6 heads to want to stay home with my children all day, everyday for the next 20 years.
Surprisingly, she's the only one who has ever given me "that" look!!
I just sent our curriculum consultant our order for next year! As soon as she emails me the totals, I can send her a check! whooppee!! Hopefully, the books will be here in a couple of weeks!! I'm wiggling like a puppy, I'm so happy and excited!
The following posts are what I wrote at home and saved to my thumbdrive until I could access some internet time.
There are pics at the bottom...so keep reading!
Musing (NO date--forgot to look at calendar)
Well, this is just wonderful and does not happen often (if ever) around here. I opened the dryer this afternoon and there were a handful of already dry things. Just a little handful. So, realistically thinking, I made a note to myself that as soon as I finished my kitchen work, I'd head upstairs to fold that huge pile....I made it upstairs about 10 minutes later and guess what! There was NO pile!!What would you think if this happened to YOU? I immediately got excited over the idea that I might actually GET to start working on that other pile of clean laundry that met it's near-demise with a purple crayon!!
I had to laugh at the fact that I was excited about finally getting to that "project" and that there are people in the world who would shake their heads and tell me that I "need" to get out more!
TRAINING UP A CHILD. June 14
Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Prov.
I was just standing in my kitchen munching on microwave popcorn while meditating on this. I am not a Bible scholar in the sense that my shelves are filled with Greek and Hebrew translations ( However, I do have an unfinished copy of Spanish in 10 min. a Day!), but I love the Lord and want to know Him more intensely and desire to be more consistent in my part of our relationship. I have heard that this verse means to train a child according to his bent (or, what he is made up of.) I am not completely sure it's translated well all the time.How about training up your child not according to his own little bent, but according To God's word??
Okay, there is a place for that "bent" thing...I can venture to say putting the littles on the narrow path is one thing, keeping them there is another. Very few will walk in the center of that path..they are more likely to stray to one side or another. Also, I am not the strictest Mama in the world and sometimes a bit permissive in the eyes of some, especially when they read the next part. I honestly do not have a problem with how my children stay on the path as long as they are moving towards God continually and as close to the center of that narrow path as possible, oh... and also keeping their eyes fixed on HIM the whole time. They can run, walk, stroll, tiptoe, March (in reverence that is), skip, hop....etc...I guess that is where the "bent" part comes in. I think that too many put a bigger emphasis on the "bent" than on the actual path.
I might be wrong about this. You are free to set me straight.
Isaiah is Disappointed.
June 15
"I am very disappointed!" is what he actually said. "All of my cars go under the hutch and I can't get them out!"
So, big deal...Jen's kid is disappointed...I guess the funny thing is that he is only 3-and-a-half and he said it with such gusto.
This would be a good place for a soundbite. Wish I had one.
Also, two wonderful friends of mine and faithful readers of this blog is coming to Idaho soon ( I hope) because Nancy's "baby" is getting married. I am so looking forward to seeing you again Nancy and Jessica! Her "baby" happens to be engaged to a girl that my little guy ( see above story) is head over heels for himself....sigh...
Did you get all the way through...okay...here are the pics I promised!
Faith with her two week old sunflowers!
Now they are 4wks old! Watch out big sister! They are catching up!
A parent’s right to raise their children as they see fit is a time-honored American tradition, but today it is being threatened. The Supreme Court’s Troxel v. Granville decision in 2000 undermined a 75-year heritage of Constitutionally-protected, fundamental parental rights, which 8 of the 9 justices abandoned. At the same time, a growing body of international law fuels activist judges to legislate foreign standards from the American bench, while treaties such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child would subject parental decisions to government oversight and international review.
Rep. Pete Hoekstra (MI-2) has proposed HJR-42, the Parental Rights Amendment, to stop the erosion of parental rights in American courts while simultaneously defending our laws from international invasion. Please, visit parentalrights.org to learn more about the Amendment, and to join their email network by signing the petition to protect parental rights.
It's my first visit back to my blog from the land of no net. I had everything all written out and saved to a disk, but since our home computer is a mac and my buddie's is not, I could not open it, so now I have to think about what to write. Next time, I think I'll try to save it as a pdf file. We'll see if that works. So, first things first, I did find the pics from Faith's birthday party! Here they are:
Kiddos with the balloons sent from Grandpa and Grandma.
Here's the attempt at a princess cake...
Her actual birthday was the day AFTER her party...Doesn't she look grown up?
THE NEWEST NEWS...
Our dryer died! We had to put up a clothesline, but I am using my buddie's dryer today because it looked like rain. and look! raindrops on the window as I glance up!
Yesterday, God granted us about 45 minutes of beautiful weather in the low 60's. I decided to let Elijah explore the back yard.. He had quite the struggle of crossing over the "line" that separates the cement patio from the garage even though the level didn't change ( no steps). I was thinking I should have brought my camera outside! It was so fun to watch him explore!
Today is the last day with internet at our home. Dh has decided to turn it off forever. However, he has offered to get me one of those USB thingies ( a toggle??) so that I can write what needs to be written and choose the pictures to upload. Then I'll take it to a friend's house and do everything over there.
Yes, inconvenient, but there is an upside to it. He will need to go into the office for work instead of working at home. For his own sanity, he needs it relatively quiet at home, but with him working 30 minutes away, I can give all the kids tupperware and spoons so that we can have a parade in the house!! (something that isn't quiet enough now).
I also have my yahoo email addy where people can write (mamaforhim2004@yahoo.com) if they don't want an instant reply. It is NOT the mode of communication to invite me to coffee that very day... a month out, maybe. Better just call for that!
It is still a great thing for all of those who live far away to keep in touch!!
Quips from my Quiver: Walked in on Isaiah (3y) making plans for our family to buy a baby tiger. He says we can feed it chips because they are yellow.
Here's our growing girl with her first loaf of bread... kneaded it herself. We are planning to teach her to be able to make bread on her own by the time she's 8 or 9.
Every so often one will hear the phrase..."being stretched by x amount of children". I have 3 and I welcome more, BUT I always thought this phrase was figurative. I should have know better!
Elijah was in the booster seat finishing lunch and not happy!! He kept trying to stand up! Then I hear it from Isaiah in the bathroom in the hallway: "Mama! I have poop!" so what do you do when you have to choose between rescuing a houdini toddler and a potty training preschooler who missed the moment???!!!"
Wouldn't you like to know??? I'm not telling...hahaha!!!!
But I did literally stand there for a few moments with one foot in the hallway and one in the kitchen and I realized that I was being stretched ... for real!
#1 First the bad news: Somehow all of Faith's birthday pics (#5!!) got deleted before put on the computer. I will try to make time this week to somehow load a piece of video...I know my friends don't really want their kids' pics on the web, so I will have to do some cutting and pasting, etc... Probably not until Sunday or even next Thursday!
#2 Elijah is very allergic to nuts...although almonds don't seem to affect him. While we were at the store on Thursday, we accepted a small sample of nuts and before I could pull it away, he grabbed his little hand in the paper dish and shoved between 3-5 in his mouth. He was throwing up 10 minutes later. Still in the store. Took him home and he seemed fine...then threw up again at naptime.. and when I went into get him --I had heard him coughing---saw that he had hives all over his face. We gave him a nebulizer treatment and benedryl for kids and then a bath to wash away any other nut residue. He had hives ALL over his body!!
Oh and the almond butter I made for him so that he could enjoy "PB&J" sandwiches too has proven to be a bit addicting... I keep going into the fridge for another spoonful!! I made it at Winco. It's just really thick pureed almonds...hmmm yum!
#3. A funny heard from Isaiah: "Faithie, I have a job for you...."
#4 Pat made breakfast on Saturday morning as usual and Faith made the comment that she likes his cooking better than mine. I wasn't offended...we talked about how Mommy makes dinner because that's my job and Papa has his job, but that MOST ( I'm guessing) of the world's best chefs are actually men, and her reply was: "Is that why we NEED men?"
#5 Thanks to Grandpa Nagle, Elijah loves the Chicken Dance. We did it at Faith's birthday party in the basement downstairs. Now he goes down on his own and tries to turn it on himself. The other day, Isaiah was looking in Faith's closet for the cardboard chicken wings I made them last summer. As he was looking for them, he mentioned that he wanted to be a chicken that day and you should have seen how excited Elijah got and started flapping his arms!! Is it no surprise that "The Little Red Hen" might end up being his favorite picture book for awhile??!
#6 My parents are planning a trip out here in the spring.The last time they were here, Isaiah threw up on Grandpa! I told the kids about their plans and Isaiah promised, " I won't throw up on him THIS time!" God bless! I am super tired! Have a wonderful week!
Today is Faith's last day EVER of being 4. We had a small, yet sufficiently noisy party complete with a castle cake made by yours truly...therefore, there were crumbs in the frosting! But hey, the frosting was homemade and I even pulled out my cake decorating kit...now that the kids are getting older, I can put it to use more often!!
We also had lime sherbet because she had never tasted it before. It is good that we don't have cable TV and 24hr. access to Food Network, or else she might have requested something like escargot for the same reason!
We ( I should say they--the kiddos) played Twister and most of us did the Chicken Dance.
All is quiet now except for the TV upstairs.. I am letting them both watch Mrs. Lawson (Kindergarten video) while they wind down.
I wore flats today and my feet are killing me. Does Zappos sell new feet too?
My next post will have pics.
Here's some tips for a birthday of small children:
1, make cake out of an 8x8 and then a second of a smaller pan or use the left over batter for cupcakes. You can freeze those and pull out a few as needed for awhile...
I am actually going to make some cupcakes tonight and we'll take them to church with us.
2. Keep the winter birthdays short and sweet. Don't worry about serving every one a meal like I have in the past. We don't do "drop-off parties", where parents just drop their kids off and take a free afternoon. Nope! We keep everyone here... the more grownup eyes scanning the mess ( I mean pary), the better! This year, we did cake/ice cream. That's it!
3. Do your party before naptime... you'll likely get yourself a good hour or two quietness after the guests go home for their own naps!
hmmm... sounds like some separation needs to happen upstairs...keep your eyes out for pics!
well, he CAN walk... he's still crawling as his preferred method of transportation, but he's choosing to walk a bit more each day without coaxing!
I just put the January tape into our video recorder, so I will catch some footage and post it as soon as possible!
I have 13 movie tape things that go into the recorder and they are each labeled with a month of the year. At the end of the month, I dump those contents into imovie to be edited when I have time ( which I haven't had for 3 months!), rewind the tape and put it back in to the movie tape drawer to be used the following year. Why do I have 13 and not just 12?
Because I need an extra one for Christmas!
If I want my life to work, I need to get off my duff and go mop the floor and fold some laundry--gotta keep up with Something around here!
Well this entry is not going on the mailing list because it's not really about our family but I want it out "there" anyway! It's being hosted by Tia whose blog is:Sagerat Scribbles
There are a number of things that I am supposed to do here that I'm not sure if I'll do correctly--techie stuff!
We'll see. If I win, I get a popcorn set (whoo hoo!) and if I don't....well, not sure that my ENTIRE life will crumble to pieces!
You do have to read all my answers though because I mention some pretty amazing people that I know and I wish you knew them too! Here are the questions and answers!
1. Why did you start a blog? To keep family & friends updated 2. What do you hope to accomplish with your blogging? The truth? Secretly, some incredible, Godly publishing company would come across it and want to feature it in a magazine or something...even though I rarely have seriously profound spiritual insights..to get these, visit my friend's blog: An American in Pretoria She is amazing.. we used to go to church together when we were in our 20's and her encouragement in the Lord got me through college!).I just write and if God pokes something into it that reaches someone the way He wants to reach them...then at least I know that I am the vessel that He wanted me to be at the time I wrote it! I will probably never be published "for reals" because an editor would scratch everything I said due to poor clauses and grammatical disagreements, etc....but if you took all those away, my writing wouldn't be MY writing! Oh well.... 3. Have you found that you don't post as much as you did when you started? hmmm... I go in spurts...also I think I started blogging before my 2nd child was born and now I have 3! So, I do have lots to say...but not lots of time to say it.... 4. If yes, why not? see #3 5. How important are comments to you? I love comments--more people to talk to!! I always have two special and dear friends who comment all the time ( Hi Nancy and Jessica!). I suppose that if I want to see more comments I need to write more, eh? 6. Do you ever find your self wishing that people would not always leave comments that agree with you? I have only ever had one person leave a disagreeable comment...but it wasn't the disagreeable part that inspired me to delete it, but that it was written in a downright tasteless and rude manner...I think there was some name calling or something. I know that kids ( bigger than mine) sometimes read random blogs and I didn't want the language used in the comment to be seen on a blog that is supposed to be glorifying to God. 7. Do you comment on other people's blogs a lot, sometimes, or very little? If I AM reading someone's blog...I do try to comment...lots of times it might be to ask a tech. question like "how did you do such and such"..I guess that when I am looking at a blog that has something that interests me and I have time to jot down a comment , I will.. but I don't always have time to read other's blogs! 8. What determines why you don't post a comment on someone else's blog? Time. 9. What determines why you do post a comment on someone else's blog? Again, time. And if they say something that makes me laugh or if I have a question about something they've done or a pic that they've posted.
10. Do you have more than one blog? where? I started one somewhere else--I think blogspot) sometime ago because I didn't have enough time to devote to learning all the geek stuff for this site, but I prefer this blog host becuase there is a focus on Christ that is lacking with other blog hosting sites. I don't even know the name of my other blog anymore!
11. Do you read random blogs either off of random blogger or friends lists? For content, I read off of friends' lists, but if I want to see different styles, learn new geek tricks, I'll cruise through random blogs until something grabs my eye. I am really impressed with the people who do their own templates and stuff---way beyond my head! If I could do that in a pinch without having to know millions of codes, etc... I'd do it, but it doesn't seem to work that way!
So , there! Now I have to go find some "Mr. LInky" and create a permanent link and I have NO idea what that is ..
First of all, Welcome to all those who received our newsletter, either by post or by (blushing) email.
If you received it by email, that's only because I could not remember where I put your card that you just sent us---I think someone was "decluttering" my fruit basket, whickh was where I was keeping those return addresses that I was going to need. The other reason, you may have gotten an email style newsletter is because you live too far away for me to get the Christmas card there before Christmas!
Have any of you ( anyone???) started putting away Christmas stuff? I don;'t like to say "putting away Christmas"...I have to add the word "STUFF" because to say it the other way just makes it sound like one is putting away Christ.
Homeschooling phonics puzzle here: Why is "Christ" spoken with a long i sound, but "Christmas" has a short vowel sound for i?
I have not started the physical work of it, but am mentally preparing for it! I need to make labels for my bannister lights to remind me next year how I figured it out this year. We had a Charlie Brown Christmas tree this year, which makes the clean up easier---no sweeping up pine needles and vacuuming!
I am also mentally preparing for next year so that I can spend December not doing Christmas STUFF, but making Christmas memories with My family... so I can be outside with the video camera watching them do snow angels instead of last minute shopping or addressing envelopes!
Anybody else start back to school this week? I am having Faith do some Math, but pretty much, it is a "gung ho, let's get everything in order before we officially start next Monday" kind of week. This includes out from under her bed, getting all the laundry done, so that nothing is piled 10 feet up come next Monday, re-organizing toys and clothes....Pat is off this week, so I need to get it all done while he is still available to entertain kids somewhat...
I also am hoping that my shelves get done sometime soon...so that I can organize the closet in the homeschool room...I sort of feel like I cannot advance with any further projects until that is done...mostly because I can't reach the items I need without taking everything out of the closet first!
Time for Bed now..no pics this time!
Nov. 13, 2008 - just a few quips from the quiver tonight....
FROM FAITH:
Elijah was hollering something--not crying , hollering, but just to put in his .02- and Faith came in and mentioned that he sounded bold. "Maybe we could rename him Caleb" was her suggestion.
(For those who don't know, the name Caleb means bold and that WAS on our list of baby names...)
FROM ISAIAH:
I'm a mom.. I have lots on my mind...and it was apparently coming out my mouth in muttered tones the other day as I walked into the kitchen.
Isaiah: Are you talking to yourself?
Me: what? Oh, um, yeah I am
Isaiah: Okay, I'll talk to myself too!
And then he did.
Another one from Faith:
"We'll have an exciting day in 15 sleeps! We're going to Grandma and Grandpa's! Excited Mark!"
She has been reminding me every 20 minutes TODAY of this countdown and again tonight at dinner, she informed me again and said explicitly, "NOT a period. AN EXCITED MARK!!!"
Oh, and Elijah said Papa! He is currently saying "bah-bah" for bye- bye in context also!
So, I guess you are all wanting to see a picture, so here is one that perfectly fits the personality of our "Mr. Man":
That's it!
Goodnight and God bless all of you!
Here is something that Faith dictated to me. She saw an experiment on her school video of the teacher putting different gingerbread cookies (named Ted, Kit, and Ken) into a glass of water and then we (Mom prompting...) wrote what happened and what she learned. I am not sure if you can read the text. I can maybe go back and fix it if you can't. I wish I knew how to make the image larger if you run the mouse over it or click it. Anyway, I will try to add more of her writings here and if I can perhaps learn how to make gingerbread, maybe we can try this...would a graham cracker be cheating? Look below cookie paper to better see what it says:
The Cookie Experiment
Ted put his legs in water for one minute. They got wet.
Kit put her legs in water for two minutes. They got wet and soft.
Ken put his legs in for six minutes! His feet fell off!
When you put a cookie in water, it will get wet and it might ALL fall off!
****************************************************************************************************************** What I'm learning as I am teaching Faith!
Faith is very silly and quite imaginative in her personal interactions,
but she has this other "streak" ( if you want to call it that) of perfectionism
that hopefully will not curb her too much.
I would love to see *her* as I know her in her writing, eventually.
I tried that fun traditional Thanksgiving Prompt of how to cook a turkey.
She was stumped and wouldn't offer any ideas.
We'll see if we can work on that.
REMEMBER TO VOTE ON TUESDAY!
Millions of babies are counting on you!
Don't let Obama's infantcidal ideals steal their future voices!
**
I want to note that while we have the God given wonderful right to vote,
we must remember that it is God who sets up Kings and Rulers.
Whoever ends up in the White House needs our prayers.
These pics MAY offend some...primarily those who are against homeschooling in general and those who are more of an "unschooling breed", but hey... it keeps my kitchen cleaner!
VIDEO WALL!
CRAFT TABLE IS TO THE RIGHT...
THIS SHELF WILL HOPEFULLY BE FILLED WITH FUN ACTIVITIES FROM THE BOOK IN THE NEXT PICTURE...
(the little table in the forefront is where those activities may or may not take place....might end up being a writing or copywork table)
THAT BOOK I MENTIONED
UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL SHOT OF MAMA'S CORNER...HEY, WHERE'S MY JAVA?
I've been married for eight years to Pat with three adorable blessings: Faith is 5 years old (going on 40), Isaiah is 3, and Baby Elijah Joel turned ONE last fall.
We also are people parents to 3 rats (Skittles, Scooter, and Two) as well as several unnamed fish.
I CAN SPELL BUT MY FINGERS CAN'T!! PLEASE EXCUSE TYPOS!
Anyway, back to school and organization: I am planning to make chair pockets for the chairs from pillow cases and need to rearrange the bookcases so that some of the TE's are easier to access and some of the toys are more difficult to access. 
Time to eat lunch...more later!
