YaY! It's now 2009. But, what did I do with 2008? Did I hit any of my goals? Did I grow in my walk with God? I know good and well that I didn't lose any of the weight that I desired to. I must get real... I didn't put forth any effort. Sad to say, I know. Did I do better by my children concerning their education? I feel that I fell short, but no guilt. I can't afford it.

My only option... Press On. There is hope and most of all mercy from my Heavenly Father. I get a new chance; a new beginning.

Yes, the goals are set again for the new year, but I refuse to condemn myself over falling short of any of them. I determine to live each day to the fullest and on purpose. The opportunity for my purpose to flourish everyday may be different than what I imagined. That's why I ask God to guide my path everyday. With Him leading, I may be led to or from something that I wouldn't have seen on my own.

Praise God for new beginnings and mercies everyday!

22 Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. 24 "The Lord is my portion", says my soul, "Therefore I hope in Him!"                             -Lamenations 3:22-24

...I can't decide if that was a compliment or not coming from my 14 year old.      

Yesterday (Sunday) we were at our church's "Trunk or Treat" event.  While Brian was off talking to someone else, I was standing around with three of my other children; one of them being my 14 y/o.

There were a few ladies that came up to me and made small talk, but nothing more than that. Then they were off chasing their own children.  That's when I heard, "Momma, you don't talk very much."  I said, "I don't have much to talk about and besides, those ladies don't have the time to stand around and  chit-chat right now."

Later last night I was thinking about that exchange and wondered why I don't talk much.  I'm really content in being an observer and if/when I do have an opinion or something important to say or add, then by all means I say it. 

Then I wondered..."Am I invisible to most people since I don't talk much?"  and "How do I improve my conversation skills (or first get some skills)?" Yes, I know that those are two extremely different thoughts, but that's the way my mind works.

I then remembered that I do have skills that I haven't exercised in a long time.  One thing that I remembered about relating and talking with others, is that the number one thing that people like to talk about is themselves. With that, I have to become sincere and genuine in wanting to listen to people talk about themselves. To remember the things that they say so that I can follow-up with them the next time I see them.

Yes, this is what I want...to make friends. That's what it all boils down to for me.  I don't always have to be interesting because that would exhaust me, but I do want to be interested -- in others. And you know; I still won't talk very much.

Today was a day of rejoicing and laughing at the enemy.

My husband, Brian, and I went out to run a few errands this morning then treated me to lunch. When we began eating our meal, Brian got choked up on his food.  This has happened before so I didn't panic.  He made it to the bathroom and came back out a little while later perfectly fine.

After finishing at the restaurant we finished our run and headed home.  We came to the four way stop near our home, stopped, and since there was no one else at the stop sign, we started rolling through the intersection. By the time we got halfway through, another car came barreling through the stop sign. They had to be going no less than 40 mph.  I think that I yelled "they're not gonna stop!!"  At this time Brian jerked the wheel to the left and the other car went into the yard opposite the stop sign.

Everybody was perfectly fine physically. We slowed down long enough to see if the passengers in the other car were fine, and they were.  We just kept toward home. 

I didn't realize the possible magnatude of the whole ordeal until later.  I could have easily been seriously injured because the car would have hit on my side had Brian not turned the wheel.  We believe that it was our angels working to protect us.

I have no doubt that the prayers of safety and thanking God for His hedge of protection are totally in effect in our lives. 

Psalm 91

Today we decided that the puppies needed to go for a "real" walk. We checked Sydney and Josiah out of school early and set off to Lansford Canal near our home.  We don't know much of the history yet but I do know that the Spider Lilies are beautiful there in the summer. 

The trail was quiet and the ground was covered with multi-colored leaves.  The air was a little crisp; just perfect for a late afternoon walk. 

Aubrey and I took our time strolling as the puppies made everyone else run ahead.  By the time we caught up to everyone, they were all ready to jump the rocks to get to the middle of the river. 

The puppies were apprehensive of the water at first but Thunder quickly got used to it.

I ventured out onto the rocks, but decided not to go as far as everyone else. I "sat back" and observed my family.  Watching Austin and Josiah do what they do best, being curious boys, they were fearless and on top of the world. They were sure-footed and swift.  Caleb wanted to move as quickly as his brothers but his legs just weren't long enough to jump very far.  Sydney was a little wobbly on the loose rocks and chose her steps very carefully with arms out-stretched beside her to steady herself.  Briahna decided to wear flip-flops and that was totally to her disadvantage, but she made it out on the rocks okay.  Aubrey kept up with her daddy pretty well. It was the coming back part that she had a little trouble with. She lost sight of the path that she started out on and had to take a different path back.

At one point, Briahna was helping Caleb get from one rock to another.  That proved unsuccessful.  They both slipped and fell into the water.  Caleb was soaked from head to toe and Briahna was quite muddy herself.  I relieved Briahna of Caleb, while trying not to fall into the water myself. 

After several minutes I let Brian know that it was time to wrap it up and head back to the van to go home.

It was a really good outting for our family.  We enjoyed our time together and plan to do it again soon.

My oldest two have set up a blog page on this site. I have been monitoring theirs when I realized that I have let my page go.  There is so much that I have learned about homeschooling and living life with my family that I must share.

I'm excited about the growth of our family. My desire is for everyone in our household to have a strong hunger for learning.  That desire must be stirred in me so that I will be the example for my family.

...To a new church, that is.  After long and hard consideration, our family has decided to leave our current church.  We have already found another church to visit in three weeks; since we have obligations until then.

We talked to the older two and they took it much better than we expected they would, initially.  After a while Briahna was uneasy about it because she just didn't know what to expect. I (Kela) told her that change brings mixed emotions and that it's fine to feel that way but just to know that she will not be alone.  I know that we will all be more than okay.

We have not told the boys or Sydney yet.  We'll probably wait and tell them the week before we "move".

Brian will be setting an appointment with the new church's youth paster and senior pastor this week to ask specific questions about the church. 

There will be a few people at our current church that he will be talking to about us leaving, but the one that I dread doing the most is the music minister.  Since I am so involved, thats going to be the most difficult.  A couple of my dear friends are in choir and I sing in a ladies ensemble.  Its going to be hard to explain our decision to leave because its kind of hard to put into words. 

I know that its not like we wont ever see any of them but it will be different.

Brian and I are excited about the change and are sitting on the edge of our seats with anticipation.

This is the first snow day of the year.  We are looking forward to a few more. The forecast says freezing rain later but we are enjoying every bit of snow that we can (and it isn't much).  The kids were on a two hour delay but I decided to let them stay home.  Sydney and Josiah started a very small snowman.  Caleb decided that he would have his own fun and jumped on top of their snowman. (I video taped some of their fun but haven't figured out yet how to get it from the camcorder to the web).  Austin pelted Sydney and Caleb and made them cry.  Caleb got the worst of it in the ear.  Needless to say, he got in trouble.  He doesn't realize his strength.

Brian is working in this slushy mess.  He doesn't mind though. 

Some people see snow days as a set back but we see it as a fun filled messy day.

Our Princess, Our Baby. Now a little Lady

Happy Birthday!!!!

This is my first go at this and it is so fun.  To be expressive is my aim and to keep my family informed is important.  I will share often.  Maybe some small pieces, poems, prayers, what I'm learning from/about the Lord, family outtings, game scores and the like.