There once was a sweet little princess. Her name was Rebecca Joy. She was very appropriately named as she brought her family much joy and happiness. Her dimpled smile brought sunshine to the gloomiest day. When she hugged her momma, her momma was filled with peace. When she cooed "da-da", her daddy forgot all of his troubles. Her brothers and sisters loved to fuss over her, taking her for rides in the royal radio flyer wagon and feeding her the royal pureed carrots and peas. She lived a very charmed, simple, royal life.
Though her life was charmed and filled with good things, Princess Becca had a secret longing in her heart. It was a longing she didn't even understand. She wanted to find her Prince. She had not been able to express this feeling to her daddy and momma, the King and Queen, for although the feeling was very real, she had not yet mastered the art of speaking. She loved hearing the King's scribe read to her from the annals of the King. She especially loved the stories about how the princesses from years gone by had met and fallen in love with their princes.
One lazy summer evening as she was dozing off to sleep in her royal pac 'n play, she listened to the scribe read her a story she had not heard before. She didn't get all of the details because she was half asleep and in a sort of dream-like state. All she remembered hearing was something about a princess, a frog, a prince, and "happily ever after"...
The next morning while the Queen Momma was preparing breakfast after milking the royal cow, and while the older princes and princesses were setting the table, happily chatting about the days plans, little Becca Joy set out to find her prince. She really didn't know what she was looking for exactly, she only knew that she would know him when she found him. Her progress would be slow, she knew, because she had not yet learned to walk and her crawling abilities were still fairly new. As a result, she determined to search the castle thoroughly before venturing out into the real world. After all, sometimes the best things in life are right under our noses and we don't even realize it!
It didn't take long for Becca to find what she had been looking for. She spotted him in the corner of the dining room and scooted across the room just as fast as her legs could slide. When she reached the frog sitting quietly in the corner of the room waiting patiently, unbeknownst to anyone else in the room, for some breakfast crumbs, she tried hard to remember what the scribe had read the night before. She couldn't quite remember what the princess in the story had done to the frog when she found him in order to turn him into her prince. She paused for a moment...and then...sweet little princess Becca...dainty little princess Becca...precious little princess Becca...PUT THE FROG INTO HER MOUTH!!!
The Queen Momma entered the dining room moments later and saw Becca facing the corner of the room but with something hanging from her mouth. Not thinking much of it, the Queen Momma went over to the sweet babe and scooped her up. When she realized that what was hanging out of her precious princesses mouth was, indeed, frog legs, she grabbed the frog and hurled him across the room and vigorously wiped down Becca's tongue. She announced, not calmly, that Becca had been eating a frog. The 6-year-old prince at the table jumped up in exaltation that his lost frog had been found!!
Alas, Becca will have to wait another day to find her prince...and perhaps she'll need to listen to the details of the fairy tale a little more closely next time...maybe a simple kiss would have done the trick .
Our area has a major secret gem. It's called Arts Alive Fine Arts Studio. Brittany took acting from them this year and already had her performance...she was Queen Ellen in an original play written by the teacher that slightly resembled the prince and the pauper, with a Christian twist, if you must know ). They also have ballet (the performance was last weekend...excellent...which is completely written and choreographed in-house...AMAZING) and music lessons and dance, tap, jazz, etc...the purpose of Arts Alive is to bring the arts back to God. The whole area of art has taken a nose dive in the last generation or two and has become almost exclusively the world's domain...but this little secret in Burlington is doing it's part to change that!
This weekend...Friday and Saturday night, the senior acting class will be performing The Hiding Place (about Betsy and Corrie Ten Boom during WWII). My kids and I have read the book twice already and they can't wait to see the play. The book is obviously heavy, but God shows Himself so faithful and so powerfully even during those dark times and that is what shines through the book and, I'm sure, the play!
Please come if you don't have any other plans...or change your plans . Tickets are available through the Paramount Theatre of Burlington...get the details here.
Hope to see you there!!
BTW...a good chunk of the actors and directors and stage crew and well, a bunch of people, are people we are priveleged to worship with each Sunday.
My Uncle Dale, who happens to frequent my blog...well, frequently...has insisted that I post SOMETHING!! ...and it just so happens that I not only have something to blog about, but I actually remember what it is!!!
In short, Joshy has 4 staples in his head and he couldn't be happier about it...every 6-year-old boy needs a story to tell...so, in his words (well, partially ) here's what happened...
"We were having a great time at the Kelly family's 3rd Annual Memorial Day Picnic. We had eaten lots of food, watched a baptism, honored our veterans, enjoyed a fun, active scavenger hunt, eaten homemade ice cream, shot bb guns and rode around on plasma cars. Momma and Daddy were getting packed up to go and had Susie, Sammy and Becca in the van already. I was enjoying one last run around the barn. As I was running up the hill I ran into the roof of the barn (the barn is built into a hill so half of it is underground). When I ran into the roof, I fell down and scraped my knee and my head hurt so I put my finger on my head and it went INTO a HOLE ON MY HEAD. Blood strarted pouring down my face and arm and so I screamed. Julia saw me, or heard me, first, and she went running for Daddy yelling, "Daddy, Joshy's hurt and he has blood pouring everywhere." Daddy came running and stuck a SOCK on my gushing wound and began carrying me back to the house.
Momma heard my scream and I hear tell that she knew it was me screaming, but she might not have come as quickly as I would have expected because perhaps she's heard me scream like that for MUCH SMALLER injuries...like perhaps falling on grass or a non-physical "injury" like having something taken from me...so I guess I'll forgive her for her lack of expediency. Eventually she did meet Daddy as he was still carrying me. When we got to the house, no less than a 8 people were surrounding me saying words like "x-rays", "stitches", "skull", "big gash", etc. I informed them in no uncertain terms that I was NOT going to get stitches. Momma just hugged me and prayed for me while everyone else figured everything out. Just as we had a plan to set in motion, another little girl was carried from the barn with the same injury as myself...someone yelled, "We've got another one!"
Daddy and Mr. Kelly took me to the hospital, which will forever now be referred to as "Joshy's hospital" while everyone else stayed and waited for word. I was calm by the time we got to the hospital. I was really pretty sleepy...I had been running and playing all day and by then it was almost 8pm and I really just wanted to sleep. Everyone treated me really nice at the hospital. The other little girl, Sarah, was in the room right down the hall. They gave me a new truck coloring book that has truck light switch covers on the back that I can't wait to cut out and use. They cleaned me up with wipes and put a gel on my head that numbed it. An hour later, momma got there to pick us up and the man came in and said he was going to put the staples in my head. He told me that it shouldn't hurt, but if it hurt too bad, they could give me a SHOT to help it not to hurt. I was pretty determined not to hurt enough to need a shot. I laid really still and smiled as he put 4 staples into my head.
I'm so glad my Daddy gave me my first buzz cut ever just 2 days before all this. I'm also enjoying telling everyone who stops by our house and everyone who calls on the phone what I have in my head. Momma says I've got a ways to go before I catch up with all of her injuries growing up, but I've already passed Daddy.
Sorry for the prolonged silence. We're all still here. I still have lots of good material to write about...my kids are still funny...I just can't remember what any of it is by the time they're in bed. I usually only have enough time to check in on Stellan before my eyes glaze over and I pass out. The fact that we seem to be getting the kids to bed later and later and later (10:15 tonight...I know, that's ridiculous isn't it!!!) could have something/everything to do with it...just a guess)
Hmmm...what has happened of note here in the last 2 months??? Lot's really...The biggest news is that Brittany's family is in a car and moving truck right NOW (well, actually, not RIGHT now...RIGHT now they are in their beds in a hotel in the middle of Louisiana), on their way to move HERE!!!! We are sooooo excited! Brittany is thrilled that she doesn't have to leave us forever on May 23 and we're thrilled that we don't have to let her leave us on May 23!! God is so good!!
In other less life changing news...we tried to be lazy last Saturday...I got the great idea to put T-Bone (our 10 month old steer that we are beefing up to live up to his name in the next 8 months or so) in our big dog lot so he could mow in there for us. We have lots of grass to mow and if he took care of that fenced in area, that would save us 30 minutes or so...good idea, right? A cow is a perfect lazy man lawn mower. I transferred him without incident in the morning...just walked in front of him with a bucket of feed from his area to the dog lot. I didn't even feed him what I led him with because he was so excited when he saw all of that fresh grass.
When evening came, we decided to move the beast back. I teased Brittany and Julia (who had tried to move T-Bone into the dog lot the previous day by catching him...didn't work, but they sure got a good workout) and told them to come "watch the master". Well, pride goes before a fall and a haughty spirit before destruction...this is why I'm not usually a "big talker"...whenever I try it, I always get put in my place... T-Bone got a taste of freedom and realized that outside his fence was a whole world of sweet tasting grass that was just callin' his name. I let him out of the dog lot and he pretended that he was interested in the feed I was carrying. We got just past the point of no return and he took a sharp left and ran. No big deal, I thought, I can lure him back with this feed...well, 60-90 minutes later (I really don't know how long it was exactly, but it was a L-O-N-G time) David and Brittany finally led the creature back to his rightful home. He led them (and me and the smaller kids to a lesser degree) on quite a chase...almost running onto the state highway we live on (which we have learned would be OUR liability if a car were to run into our cow...yes, out here in these parts those things actually happen), leading them through briars and woods 150 yards behind our house, taking a sometimes leisurely, sometimes bronco-style stroll through the neighbor's hay field 100 yards to the right of his home, running around his momma's fence listening to her bellow for him, stopping to pant like a whipped puppy while all of the pursuers caught their breath and finally being cornered and coersed into his area. The poor boy was SOOOO tired (referring to T-Bone, though David was, too :-)) I was a little nervous he might drop dead from exertion...I've never seen a cow pant with his tongue hanging out so far (admittedly, I've not had many cows, but still!)...but a week later, he seems no worse for the wear.
At least he did a good job in the dog lot.
what else? We butchered and ate 2 of our roosters. (did I already tell you that?). The process was quite, um, interesting...it could easily be a 3-part series of posts if I didn't think the SPCA would be all over us. Let's just say it's a learning process and we've got lots of learning to do.
In kid news...a certain 3 year old that WAS completely potty trained is now only half potty trained...yes for one "process", no for the other. It's DRIVING ME CRAZY!! I know she WILL figure this out...gracious, she had it figured out and then just went back... She's not the first to do something strange like this. I once had a 3 year old boy that took to peeing randomly all over the house. On a bucket of toys, on my scrapbooking supplies, in the middle of the room...he couldn't explain himself either, so we just laugh at it now...but at the time it didn't seem funny :-)
I also have a very sweet, helpful 7-year-old girl. Julia is becoming just a gem of a young lady. She's been so helpful with her "buddy" Susanna and loves to help the little ones wherever we go. It is SO helpful and just so sweet to see. She also is a little speed demon...er angel...she took 1st place in homeschool field day (well over 100 homeschoolers) for her age group in the sprint, sack race and the long distance run...those little legs can move so fast!!!)
Susanna (3) is loving the job of feeding Becca(6 mo) ("all by myself"). Believe it or not, it's very helpful...even though there's always a pretty big mess when she's done, at least Becca gets fed!
David, who also did great and had a ball at field day...2nd place in the sack race and sprint and first in the 3/4 mile run, pre-bought a copy of the Newsboys soon to be released CD and as part of the deal he got a free DVD of their I AM FREE concert. He has enjoyed that immensely and now all of the kids run around singing and yelling EVERY WORD of that concert...even "HELLO, TEX-AS" and other things the "leader dude" as they call him...as opposed to the "drummer dude" or the guitar dude, or piano dude...yell to the crowd. I videotaped Sammy singing "Blessed Be the Name of the Lord" with the DVD...it is so sweet, I just wish I could figure out how to upload it...ugh!
Let's see...who haven't I mentioned??? Joshy...sweet Joshy (Joshy loves field day and is learning that it's not all about winning...after having a hard time last year when he realized he didn't get a sticker just for racing, he did so great this year and easily got first place for the best smile while racing...if you know him, you know that smile!!!) ...he's busy becoming a world famous scientist...his birthday gift of a big box of everything he needs to do a gazillion experiments was a hit and he is as happy as can be. He now wants to be an astronaut who starts the first "mission station" on the moon...presumably other people would be living on the moon as well or I'm not sure who he would be reaching with his mission station :-). He did say that he would preach in the rocket because, in essence, he'd have a captive audience...they couldn't go anywhere if they were all stuck in the rocket with him :-). I love that boy!
Off to the cupboard with you, now, Chip...it's past your bedtime! (Name that Movie) Goodnight!
Our pastor has a weekly column in the religion section of our local newspaper. It's really good...if you don't get the Burlington paper, you can e-mail him and get a copy of his article each week. His sermons are also excellent and can be downloaded off of the church website at www.antiochchurch.cc . On to the point of this post...
The topic of his article this past Saturday is one that is very close to our hearts...I think you will see why...Praise the Lord...He is an amazing God!!
Twice born and twice adopted
Brittany was born to an 18-year-old mother in Siberia, Russia, in 1994. She never knew her mother and really doesn’t know the story of how she ended up in an orphanage, but there she stayed until she was 3 years old. Her memories of Siberia are sparse, but she does say, "It’s very cold there." I personally cannot imagine life in the frozen tundra without the warmth of hearth and home.
God intervened in Brittany’s life in 1997 when an American family from Florida adopted her. She lived in the SunshineState for the next 10 years, on occasion visiting with her adopted Mom’s niece who lives in Burlington and is a wife and mother of six. Brittany struggled at times with loneliness. Her adopted Mom and Dad were very busy and she spent many hours alone in her room, just thinking. She also made some poor choices, like many of us, and did some things as a young teen that she now regrets.
That was part of the reason that God interrupted Brittany’s Florida life last year and orchestrated a plan for her to come and live for a while with her cousin. Her life changed dramatically. For one thing, Brittany was no longer able to sit in silence and drown herself in her thoughts. Her cousin’s six children had other plans. "They don’t let me hide in my room," she said.
This city girl suddenly found herself on a southern Alamance farm, milking a cow, helping birth a calf, mending the fences, and generally just loving her new life. She also found herself being drawn into a family and a home that is built on faith and instructed by the Word of God. She attended church faithfully with her cousin’s family and can often be seen with one of the children by her side or the baby on her hip. And though Brittany immersed herself in her new culture, she still remained on the outside in her heart, knowing that her stay here was only temporary.
Less than two weeks ago, she was hidden away inside herself, thinking about her life but not really wanting to talk about her thoughts. Brittany wrote later, "Michelle saw me in deep thought and kept asking me ‘Are you OK?’ I gave the same reply (as usual) of ‘I’m fine.’ I guess she saw on my face that I wasn’t." Brittany said she refused to talk, but she knew Michelle (and her husband, David) weren’t going to leave until they got an answer that was worth letting her go. "They never forced me to stay but God (did)." Michelle and David’s persistence with Brittany led to a conversation late into the night. Brittany was confused about her life and why she had been brought here to Burlington for a two month visit that had turned into a year. Michelle wisely answered that God has a plan for Brittany and was calling her to himself. They talked about her past and her sins and her need for a Savior. Then at 1:19 a.m., this little orphan girl who had been adopted once found herself being adopted again. She gave her heart to the Lord Jesus. Michelle read Luke 15:7 to her then, where Jesus said, "I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance."
This twice born and twice adopted teen is excited about going back home as a new person with a new reason for living. In my opinion, it doesn’t get any better than that.
J. Mark Fox is pastor of Antioch Community Church on Power Line Road in Elon. His books, "Planting a Family-Integrated Church," "Family-Integrated Church," and "Real Life Moments: a Dad’s Devotional," are available at Amazon.com. E-mail Mark at markfox@antiochchurch.cc
Well, I've added a Twitter account to my right sidebar...hopefully, I'll update this more often than my blog. You can have my updates sent to your phone in the form of text messages, but I don't know why anyone would want to do that :-)...you can also just read my updates on my sidebar.
Since that's not enough to say in a post, I'll give you a few more Sam'isms and Susanna'isms. They are priceless! I WILL add some pictures soon...these kids (all of them!) are just so cute (am I allowed to say that?).
In the past month or two Susanna (3) and Samuel (2) have become obsessed with the song "Awesome God" by one of our favorite artists, the late Rich Mullins. Their second favorite song is also by him and is called "Step by Step". There is nothing sweeter than hearing young voices praising God, and I think God probably even has Himself a chuckle when he hears Sammy sing, "Our God is an aweful God, He reigns from Heaven above..." He also runs around singing, "O God, O My God"...which is close to a line out of Step by Step, but to those that don't know what he's singing, it sounds an "aweful" lot like him taking the Lord's name in vain.
Susie's new word is "very" or should I say "berry"...EVERYTHING is berry-something. "I berry don't need to go potty". "I berry want to go outside." "I berry don't want my beans, but Sammy doos." "I berry not sleepy momma, 'cuz I berry just got a lot of sleeps"
As the older three and I were trying to accomplish some schoolwork the other day, Susie and Sammy had found the empty laundry baskets. When I looked over at them, Sammy was sitting in one on top of the couch, holding on for dear life with Susie standing behind him getting ready to send him over the edge in the basket. She very lovingly instructed him, "You don't need to cry, Sammy"...He sheepishly replied, "OK" and off he went giggling as he plummeted to the floor. They were thus occupied for the next hour.
This one is a bit of potty humor, so scroll on if it is not to your liking...but with little ones, sometimes you just have to laugh at the stuff they come up with in the bathroom... Susanna is completely potty trained and has been since New Year's Day, praise the Lord! However, in recent weeks, she has developed a fear of #2. She is getting better, but for awhile she would just scream when she felt like she needed to go and hold her bottom. She was then paralyzed and I would have to run to her, race her to the bathroom, unclothe her and toss her on the potty. ...and by that time she didn't have to go anymore. 5 minutes later...scream, grab, run, toss...wash, rinse, repeat... Last night she gave me "the look" and I said, "Susie, go to the bathroom". She replied, "I don't need to, I just have alot of food in there", pointing at her tummy. I answered back, "Yes, honey, but when your tummy hurts like that it's time for the food to come out." She dutifully went into the bathroom and a little while later declared that she had gotten 2 stinkies out (she is very detailed). When I got into the bathroom, she was peering into the toilet. She turned to me and said, "Momma, there's 2 stinkies, but there's no food in there...just stinkies."
Last one for now...this one happened about 2 months ago, but we re-tell it alot around here. It's one of those stories that will only age to perfection over time. We were driving along in the van one afternoon, all of the kids happily listening to some music when out of nowhere came a blood-curdling scream (and not the "I have to go to the bathroom" scream). The scream was followed by panting and more smaller screams and finally the words came from Susanna, "Momma," gasp, grunt, squeal, "I can't" heavy breathing, whine, "get my shoe off" grunt, scream, "momma, I can't get my..." and just as quickly as the silence had been broken, there came the sweetest little voice out of the very same mouth, "I got it, Momma" All of this happened in a span of only 15 seconds. Absolute panic to absolute cheerful calm in 15 seconds. ...and the Oscar goes to...
I have mixed feelings about February ending. February was a good month. David announced on January 31st that we would be buying NOTHING for the month of February (except gas for the car and feed for the cow & chickens). It was not really an effort to save money, although we could stand to do more of that. The purpose was more of a self-denial exercise. Thankfully, I was able to run to the store on the 31st and get a few things I knew we were already low on, but for the most part, we just determined to make it on what we had.
David chose February for a few reasons...1. We don't celebrate any birthdays in February. 2. February has 2 fewer days than some months and 3 fewer than the rest...'nuff said. (Although it is now almost March 3 and I have yet to make it to the store).
Well, we made it. We did have to make a few "exceptions", which I will confess here...the following are the things we bought in February:
saline solution for David's contacts...I guess he could have worn glasses for the month, but that gives him a headache, and that's not good for anybody :-)
2 bottles child Ibuprofen, 2 bottles child Tylenol, 1 bottle infant ibuprofen, 1 bottle infant Tylenol (yes, the kids were THAT sick...we had to break into the second bottles of both Tylenol and Ibuprofen)
Toilet paper (I let David make the call on this one...wasn't sure just where he wanted to draw the line
Canola oil (weird one, but we ran out after only 2 weeks and I can't make granola or bread w/o oil and since we ran out of cereal at the same time, and our lunch options where shrinking, I felt I really needed to be able to make those 2 things.)
Oh, yeah, I guess I have to tell you that we did go on a ski trip that was planned well before January 31st...but, we were minimalists...we were gone from Wednesday afternoon until late Thursday night and we only ate out 1 meal...we brought the rest. ...and, yes, skiing was a blast!! The kids took right to it...'nother post entirely.
That's it...not too bad, eh?
Now, keep in mind, that we do have a cow that gives us 2-1/2 gallons of milk a day (from which I also can make butter and yogurt), chickens that give us 15-18 eggs a day (if I beat the dog to them), and I buy wheat, oats and popcorn by the 50-lb bag, so we didn't have to do without those things.
I'm very ready for some fresh fruit and juice...and we definitely need some diapers, but doing this definitely had some benefits:
less trips to the store...i.e. more time at home
less stuff in the house...I can navigate my pantry.
David had lots more time on his hands during his lunch breaks since he usually does most of my shopping for me...several times a week.
I realized that my pantry is, or was, very well stocked
I can't even remember all of the things I thought of that I "needed" during the month...perhaps I didn't "need" them afterall?!?!?
I learned how to cook improv style a little better
The kids didn't waste their money on chips and candy every time we went to get cow feed.
I lost 3 lbs without trying...couldn't make as many desserts as usual
I found a new favorite snack...Ghiradelli dark chocolate chips and salty peanuts...yum!!
I could think of more if it wasn't past my bedtime...
What have I learned?
I learned that I send my husband to the store WAY too much...Once or twice a month should be sufficient...not to mention cheaper.
I learned that I should not buy things on the internet just as soon as the idea pops in my head...I should wait a few days and see if I even remember what I "needed".
I learned what how much we actually eat in a month so that I can plan better to reduce shopping trips.
I learned that it's really easy to clean a fridge and a pantry when there's nothing in them
I learned that I really don't like to run out of ice cream
Most of all, we just want to be good stewards of what God has given us, and to teach ourselves and our children some self-discipline in the process. Not an easy task for us Gen-X'ers (is that what we are???) that grew up during the start of the "instant gratification" era. We're certainly not rich, but we're used to getting what we need and often times what we want, when we want it...and we're able to do the same thing for our kids (thankfully, a side benefit of homeschooling and no cable tv is that our kids have less exposure to the media telling them what they "need", so their desires are pretty much limited to Legos and ice cream treats).
I am thankful that David took the initiative to lead us through this exercise...and I'm also thankful that it's over and I can go to StuffMart Wal-Mart tomorrow and load up the pantry once again!!!
Last month I posted about our family reading through the Bible. You all were most generous with your comments...could almost make me feel proud...unfortunately, I know the truth...and I can provide references for all of my failings as a mother. My kids are well aware of them, too. Awhile back I was talking with a friend about how I hoped God would give my kids God-induced amnesia as it relates to the many times that I've failed them. I noticed David, Jr. listening in (there isn't much he misses), and I asked him if he had amnesia about the times I'd been angry with him. He smiled and said, "Oh, no, Momma, I can remember LOTS of times like that!" So, there you have it...reference #1...and there are several kids lined up behind him that can attest to the fact that their momma is FAR less than perfect!
So, in light of that, I present you with a new introduction of our family in 2009:
If you don’t know who I am, I’m married to David and my kids are David (8), Julia(7), Joshua (5), Susanna (3), Samuel(2), and Rebecca (4mo)(spelled the unbiblical way J). We also have Brittany (14), my cousin, living with us this year, though she is scheduled to go home in mid-May (sob!!!). I’m pretty happy if I have my act together enough each day to get the kids fed, the cow milked, and math and language done with the kids. My kids sometimes wear the same clothes several days in a row (provided we’re not going to see the same people twice…did I just tell you that???!?!?!?!) and my kids prefer their shirts to napkins. My boys think the bathroom wall is an artist’s canvas and I have a 7 year old that still sucks her thumb…a lot! My 8-year-old is still learning that he is not the reigning authority in our home and tries to sharpen his debating skill on me daily. My 2 year old lays on the floor and pouts when he is told “no”, my 3-year-old is a drama queen and won’t accept help from ANYONE because she can “do it myself!” My 5 year old can be happy one minute and a weepy mess the next minute…I’m looking feverishly for his “switch” so I can disable it! My kitchen floor hasn’t been mopped in who knows how long and my bedroom has so many piles in it that one needs a GPS system just to get to the bathroom safely during the night. Our chickens roam freely…and poop freely, and our goats will NOT be contained…so they roam freely with the chickens. I guess you could say we haven’t “arrived” yet.
We have good days, we have bad days,, we have days I pray hard for that God-induced amnesia. We have sinful kids. My kids have sinful parents. We learn more and more each day how to cast our cares on God. We learn more and more each day that we are NOTHING without Christ. We learn more and more each day that "If God does not build the house, the laborers labor in vain."
That is where we are...I probably should have sent that as my Christmas letter (I knew there was a reason I only got them half done this year!).
Ok, since is this my blog we'll resume rose-colored entries now so you all can tell me I'm great...but we'll all know the truth, ok??!?!
This blog is for all to enjoy. The daily lives of our 6 kids are so full of moments I don't want anyone to miss!! There is truly never a dull moment in our home...thank the Lord!!!
. 
). They also have ballet (the performance was last weekend...excellent...which is completely written and choreographed in-house...AMAZING) and music lessons and dance, tap, jazz, etc...the purpose of Arts Alive is to bring the arts back to God. The whole area of art has taken a nose dive in the last generation or two and has become almost exclusively the world's domain...but this little secret in Burlington is doing it's part to change that!
