God blessed us with a great Thanksgiving week.  On Tuesday, as I was getting ready to start the day, BW ran in, waking everyone up because there were deer in our backyard!

I know for some of you this would be an everyday occurrence, but for us City Slickers, it was a momentous occasion!  We couldn't believe that they had been able to jump over our fence and we watched for about 30 minutes or so as they hung out in our backyard and ate from our bushes.  BW had the bright idea to share some salad with them.  So he opened the sliding glass door very slowly and threw a plate of leftover salad at them.  They didn't touch it.  Live and learn!

The night before we were to leave, we discovered that our van was leaking transmission fluid.  Yes, that would be the van we had just got back from after it being in the shop for a month getting a replacement transmission.  We praised God that He had shown this to us before we left on our 350 mile trip, and tried to figure out what to do.  Ultimately, the same dear church family that had lent us their car for a month, graciously let us borrow their car yet again.  So we caravaned(ironic - since our broken Caravan was the reason we had to caravan) up to the bay area. 

Also, just before we left BW had a walk through at our new house.  Because of great weather and no shortage of contractors, the completion date has now been moved from March to the end of January!  Umm...that's like next month!  I couldn't really process it at the time because we were still trying to get out of town.

We got off to a later start and ended up getting into the Bay Area around 4:30.  Though traffic was lighter than what would usually be due to the holiday, I have to admit that I am no longer used to traffic at all (after living in the country only 8 months!) and it really tried my patience.  Didn't convince me that I'm missing out on anything.

We visited my sister and got to see her apartment.  We took her out for pizza before heading over to my sister in law's house where we stayed until Saturday.  It is always so wonderful to see how great the cousins get along even though they only see one another a handful of times per year.  It was like a 4 day playdate/slumber party! 

Grandma & Papa gave each child a pre-Christmas gift, individual fleece blankets(which we will defnitely be using as the temps got down to 28 degrees last night).  Here's all 7 cousins together:

We are so grateful for the hospitality and company of family for Thanksgiving.  I know that looking back these will be fond memories.

Blessings!

-j

My oldest turned 9!  And, for some reason, hers always seems to get a little more spread out.  We've been celebrating for quite a while it seems.  The Saturday before Thanksgiving, my parents came over to celebrate.  My mom made cupcakes, we opened presents and sang Happy Birthday.

Then, on Tuesday, we went up to Northern California and got to visit with my sister.  Aunt Kelly had presents for her to open. 

Then, on the Friday after Thanksgiving, we celebrated Girl9 and her cousins' birthday complete with cake, presents and the singing of Happy Birthday.

Saturday was her actual birthday.  We were travelling back home that day, but she got to pick out where we stopped for lunch.  That night, with a lack of food in the house and the exhaustion of her parents, we had pancakes and put a candle on her pancake and sang Happy Birthday.

Then on Monday, we had her birthday party with her friends.  In honor of her first winter in a place that actually has winter, we had a Winter theme. We assumed, when we started planning a month ago, that by now there would be some colder weather, and possibly some snow to play in.  We were very wrong as it was about a 75 degree day as the girls were arriving.  But it was a very good time anyway.

 As the girls arrived, we played a game of how many words you could make from the word SNOWFLAKE.  Then we made snow themed beaded bracelets.  Unfortunately, I am a horrible knot tier so a few of the girls had to repeat their efforts.  Then we played Winter Charades.  The girls were divided into teams.  A player came and had one minute to pop a balloon, find the paper that was in the balloon and act it out.  It was fun to watch the different ways they tried to pop the balloons.  The winning team got to be first in line for our Snowball Hot Fudge Sundae bar.  We stuck a candle and we sang Happy Birthday.  They also got to have Hot Chocolate with marshmellows.   We opened presents and then played a few games of Telephone before parents started arriving. 

This was the first friend birthday party Girl9 has had for a few years as we were on "sabbatical" from birthday parties during much of seminary.  I had to hold back tears as I praised God in my heart for bringing us to this place and blessing my daughter with so many friends in just 8 months.  And at the same time, I also realized that my firstborn is growing up and we are halfway done in our raising of her.  We pray that she will continue to "grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and that the grace of God will be upon" her(Luke 2:42). 

Blessings!

-J

I can't believe it's only her 3rd tooth!  So she put it in her little tooth box and left it under her pillow and, can you believe the tooth fairy forgot to take it!   I told her that since yesterday was a Sunday, the tooth fairy took the day off(actually, the tooth fairy did remember but my almost9yearold was up late reading last night and then woke up before mom did).  Hopefully the tooth fairy will remember tonight.  Pretty sure my smart little one is on to us, but it's cute that she wants to keep pretending.

Blessings for a happy Monday!

-J

I wrote a while back about our experiences with potty training our youngest.   Thought I would give you all an update.  Praise God that we are staying dry all day!  We have BM's under control and he's even wiping himself!  He is sleeping in regular underwear and is staying dry all night long!  So....forgive me if I'm not in a huge hurry to "fix" this little glitch in his use of the potty!

Shhh!  Don't tell, but he doesn't like to stand when he goes to the bathroom.  He prefers to undress from the waist down and watch the stream like this:

...which is fine when we're at home, but in a situation when we're in public or when we're out, well, like in Sunday School, this means that he needs to take off his shoes, his socks(though I've been keeping him in sandals to make this easier), his pants, his underwear in order to use the facilities.  Then he needs to be dressed again and disinfected.  So, I know that at some point I'll need to break this little quirk of his, but how can you say no to a face like this?

Any tips/advice would be welcome:)

Blessings!

-J

Pictures from our trip to Stockton are now in my slide show!  The kids really look forward to spending the week with grandparents and cousins.  BW really enjoyed the fact that this was the first time in a long time that he got to visit his family without having a paper due, a sermon to preach or for a funeral.  Playing two days of golf didn't hurt either:)  The week was jam packed with activities to entertain the 7 grandchildren who invade Grandma & Papa's empty nest for a week.  I enjoyed the chance to watch the Olympics since we are on "no cable" at home.  Unfortunately, staying up until 1:30 am several nights straight while keeping to the jam packed kids itinerary left me feeling like I needed a vacation from my vacation!  But it was worth it to watch all the gymnastics - my alltime favorite event - and see Michael Phelps win by the smallest margin a human being can imagine. 

New on the itinerary was a lunch and shopping trip for my mother in law, sister in law and myself while the men watched the kids!!!!!   I was so excited to shop at some of the stores we don't have in our small town!  When we returned at the end of the day, we asked ourselves, "Why didn't we think to do this before?"  Another new addition was watching movies in the backyard  courtesy of a sheet and Papa's powerpoint projector.  Unfortunately, it is quite hard to find a movie that will interest all 7 cousins aged 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 8, 8 AND their parents AND grandparents.  So the parents chose to watch the Olympics instead:)--and left Grandma & Papa outside(but isn't that what they are for)  It makes me so excited that my kids will have these summer memories to treasure, though maybe we'll choose a month next year when there is smaller chance of temperatures in the 100's. 

Blessings!

-J

Our summer is off to a great start!  BW received a new gas grill as his Father's Day present just in time as the heat came and we are adjusting to no air conditioning.  I do have to say that while it's been hot, it hasn't been unbearable compared to all those years of 105+ temperatures.  I don't think we've hit the century mark which really makes all the difference.  However, it is great to have the option to cook outside.

Father's Day weekend we celebrated Girl4's 5th Birthday, making her new name Girl5!  I hope to have pictures up soon.  She wanted a unicorn party.  We had a full house and so much fun!  My parents, brother, sister and dear seminary family made long drives to make it.  My friend's daughter, Caitlyn, made the most adorable Unicorn for the "pin the horn on the unicorn" game along with horns made out of wedding wrapping paper!  It even matched the unicorn pinata even though she didn't even know we were having a pinata!  BW inagurated the aforementioned BBQ  and we enjoyed hamburgers and hot dogs.  Girl5 was blessed with so many wonderful presents, but the theme seemed to be shoes!  She got play shoes and clogs and 2 other fun pairs. 

We started swim lessons last week and God blessed us that all 3 kids' lessons are at the SAME TIME.  Our community pool also has a 1 ft deep "baby pool" for Boy2 to play in since I didn't really think he was ready for lessons of his own.  We are continuing a very light school schedule for now.  Looks something like this:

We are going through a chapter of Proverbs each morning, choosing a few that are most applicable. Then,

Monday - Language Arts

Tuesday - Math

Wednesday - Spelling/Handwriting

Thursday - Konos Activity

Friday - Cleaning & Organizing

Girl8 is also reading Pollyanna to me aloud.  I don't ever remember reading it before, but it is a great book!  I'm trying to resist the urge to read ahead to see what happens next. 

This gives us all a little break while helping them to not forget everything they learned before we start up again and keeps us in some sort of routine.

Last weekend, we enjoyed a visit from my sister in law & her family.  It's always so cool to see all the cousins just pick right up where they left off.  We enjoyed a trip to the park for a birthday party(so they got to meet some of our friends from church) and some time at the pool.  They left after church on Sunday, and the heat seemed to leave with them - Sorry, guys! 

This weekend my mom will be here to visit and babysit as BW will be presiding over his first wedding!!  It is so wonderful to watch God put to use all that BW has learned in the past few years.  (As an aside, there really were times when I wasn't quite sure all those seminary classes could possibly be useful for anything, but turns out that they really know what they are doing:) and have taken a man who loves God's Word and helped him to be able to use it as a tool to teach, reproof, correct, train in righteousness and be adequate, equipped for every good work.(2 Tim 3:16-17). )  It is pure joy to watch him minister to our new church body.

That's about all for now. 

Blessings!

-J

Picture the regular chaos at the dinner table in a family of 6.  Mom is serving kids food and trying to have a conversation with her Sweetie whom she hasn't seen all day.  Girl4 has finished her water and is asking for more but Mom has kind of tuned her out while talking to her Sweetie and cutting up meat for Boy7.  Boy2 decides to take matters into his own hands.  He takes a large sip of water out of his sippy cup and spits it back out into Girl4's glass.  What a good brother?!?  Dinner conversation stops as Mom and her Sweetie try not to laugh and piece together what just happened.

Blessings!

-J

After church on Sunday, I returned home with 3 of the kids and began the mundane, normal things of life.  The cat had thrown up on our bed...again... so I threw it in the washing machine, started clearing the last of the breakfast dishes.  I was thinking to myself that this dreary cloudy day might be a good day to invite a family over for dinner.  Girl4 was playing near me in the kitchen.  Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye sparks flew and Girl4 began screaming.  The key left in the electrical outlet filled in the blanks for me. 

Oh, the thoughts that race through your mind!  Was there a fire?  Should I call 911?  How could I have let this happen - I was standing two feet from her!  How could I have forgotten to put the covers on after the move?  Although screaming, she seemed fine.  I looked at her hand and 3 of her fingers were black.  I tried calling BW on the cell phone.  It went to his voice mail.  Grrr!  I dialed again(and again and again-he must have been in an area of cell phone dead space) while getting the "owie pad" (a bean bag) out of the freezer.  After a few minutes I finally got hold of BW and realized that the circuit had been tripped.  I tried wiping the black off with a baby wipe but she screamed and said it hurt.  Eventually I got a hold of BW and he was down the street. 

BW came home and took a look.  He called his mom, a nurse, while I offered Girl4 some lunch to calm her down.  Through her sniffles, she asked for her lunch to be served on the couch and if she could pick a movie.  Our private nurse's orders were to soak it in water for a little bit so we could see if the black would come off.   It didn't come off and she didn't want us to touch it at all.  Her little nails looked like marshmellows that had been held over the fire.  They looked charred.  We decided she need to go to the ER to get checked out. 

After they left I busied myself by looking up everything I could find on electric shock online and putting the electric covers on every outlet in the house.  I called my mom(it was her birthday anyway) and while on the phone there was a knock at the door.  It was the wife of the church administrator offering to watch my kids so I could go to the ER too.  Since BW's cell phone only had one blip I took her up on it.  As I was driving, I kept looking at the other side of the road half expecting them to be on their way home already.  Upon arriving at the ER(an indirect route as I had forgotten exactly where it was in our new town), I found that one of the other pastors had beat me there!  I just love our new church family!

While in the waiting room, GIrl4 was asking to be tickled and other than wanting to keep the icepack on, seemed fine.  We got called in and waited to see the doctor.  At this point, she is asking to go home.  The doctor comes and we relay the story.  The doctor tells us that electric burns can be very serious, says he is going to call a burn center.  Then a nurse comes wanting to do blood work and hook her up to an IV.  BW steps in and has the audacity to ask WHY this is necessary.  The nurse, visibly annoyed, goes back to get the doctor.  He explains that a risk of electric burns is that a chemical from the electricity can get into her bloodstream and affect her organs.  The IV will flush it out and the blood work will see if there is any affect on the organs.  We consent to it, but Girl4 is now begging to go home.  At some point, the doctor tells us that he recommends that we go to a hospital with a burn unit 2 hours away and that they are ordering an ambulance. 

The calm I had felt was gone.  I run home to gather some things - some books for her to read, the teddy bear she's requested and make arrangements for the rest of the kids.  I called grandparents to update them and then called a friend to send an e-mail out requesting prayer from our seminary family.  Right outside the parking lot, I break down and the guilt really sets in.  My friend reminds me of God's faithfulness and that is the chorus that is playing through my mind as I go back in and the ambulance arrives.  Girl4 is sleeping soundly. 

The paramendic assures me that ALL children fall asleep in the ambulance within minutes.  Well, he had never met my daughter!  I knew that since she had just had a nap that would not be the case.  Sure enough, she talked his ear off for the ENTIRE two hours.  She told him knock-knock jokes and asked him to show her how everything in the back of the amublance worked and wanted to know what everything was used for. 

We finally arrive at the hospital at around 10:30 pm.  There is a team waiting for us as she is wheeled in.  BW is about 10 minutes away in his car.  The ER doctor takes one look at her and says "I'm really embarrassed that your doctor sent her here.  The black on her hand is just soot.  You should be out of here in about a half hour."  The paramedics joke that we will probably beat them home.  BW gets there and is surprised, but excited, that we are going to just turn around to go home.  Then I watch in amazement as the burn unit nurse uses SOAP AND WATER to take all the black off and show just a minor superficial burn.  They give us a prescription for neosporin and pain relief. 

Soon, we are on the road again.  I realized I hadn't eaten since breakfast so we stop at McDonalds.  We plug in the portable DVD player for Girl4.  As BW looks back, he begins to laugh as he looks at this little girl in her car seat, eating her french fries, watching her movie, happy as a clam completely oblivious to the emotional turmoil that had been experienced by the adults around her; oblivious to the financial cost of this little adventure(praising God for our insurance); oblivious to EVERYTHING!!  We arrived home around 1:30 am, very tired and drained. 

We are so thankful for God's protection for our little girl who has had a record 3 ER visits in the past year, the only one of our children to ever have to go to the ER.  We are thankful to all those who prayed for us.  We are thankful for our wonderful church family who has ministered to us so greatly since our arrival 8 weeks ago(through flood, fire, 2 broken down cars, and now an ER trip--has it really only been 8 weeks?)  

Hoping next Memorial Day weekend won't be quite so memorable!

Blessings!

-J 

Last week, while my littles were napping, I was feeling generous and gave my big kids a piece of licorice - something rarely done during the day(Yes, Mom, it is the same batch you gave me from Valentine's Day).  All of a sudden, I heard Boy7crying hysterically.  After much deciphering, I figured out that he had bitten into his licorice and his tooth became very loose, to the point that a little blood had come out.  The taste of blood in his mouth completely freaked him out.  He would not let me touch it and wasn't even wild about me looking inside.  He was crying that he didn't want to lose his tooth.  I explained that it was part of growing up, his older sister has lost 2, that it isn't painful to lose them.  He continued to cry and asked why God didn't just put in his big teeth right away.  This made me giggle as I pictured how he would have looked as a baby with adult teeth!  Nothing I was saying could console him or calm him down so I could look to see how loose this tooth actually was.  He even said that he would never eat licorice again!

He was so inconsolable that I called BW to see how far he was from home and prep him for what he was walking into that evening.  I thought that his father would have words to console him, but while Daddy used all the same encouraging words that I did, the wimpering continued.  At dinner and at breakfast an at lunch the next day, he complained about everything he ate saying that it was hurting his tooth and he didn't like that it was wiggling. 

I offered to tie a string around his tooth and slam the door(completely joking).  A few minutes later, he asked if we did the door thing if it would hurt - he was seriously considering it!

That night, during his bath he called me in.  He told me that he had just prayed that God would help him to be brave about his loose tooth.  I told him that I knew God would answer that prayer. 

Fast forward to Sunday night.  We returned from a trip to Northern California for BW's Grandmother's funeral.  It was his turn to brush his teeth.  As he brushed, his tooth just popped out onto the sink!  BW happened to be in there brushing Boy2's tooth.  Boy7 was so excited!  He was jumping around and showing off his tooth to everyone.  So now my guy looks like this:

The next morning, he was in our room to wake us up.  He was excited that God had helped him to be brave, that it didn't hurt and that he received $2 from the tooth fairy.  He also loves sticking his tongue in the empty space and grossing out his sisters. 

Never a dull moment around here!

-J

(picture taken during first snow day)

BOY2 WANTED: For household troublemaking

Today's schooling lasted a little longer than usual.  Boy2 was quiet, but I knew that other kids were in the back of the house so I figured (well, if I'm honest I was pretty engrossed in school with the others and didn't think about him much since there was no crying or loud crashes) that he was playing with the bigger kids.  After finishing school, I became a detective and re-traced numerous crime scenes to determine Boy2's activities throughout the morning:

1) Based on the evidence of cat food all over the laundry room floor and in the cat's water dish, I have concluded that Boy2 started his morning in the laundry room.  It seems he was originally trying to feed the cats, but then found that mixing the cat food and water was pretty fun.

2) His next stop was my bedroom where I found the linen closet door opened and pretty much every towel and blanket pulled out.

3) Apparently looking to see what trouble he could make in other bedrooms, his next stop was his sisters' room where he completely took apart two 100 piece puzzles his older sister had completed.  She may forgive him one day...

4) His final activity was in the kids bathroom where he had pushed a stool over, climbed onto the counter, opened up the medicine cabinet(which fortunately contains no medicine!) and pulled out and unpeeled EVERY bandaid we own - a total of about 3 boxes!   

The very curious thing is that he did not seem to spend ANY time in his own room!  Checking his room, his bed was still made and everything looked to be in perfect order!

I have a feeling I am going to be in trouble because he is just so cute that it's really hard to be mad at him!  When I showed him the messes room by room his defense was "Oh my goooooodnessss!" to each one in a way that made it really hard not to laugh.

And while I'm talking about "his cuteness", he transitioned from the crib to the boys room bottom bunk when we moved.  He's been pretty consistent about going to sleep in his bed, but coming into our bed(with pillow) before morning.  I have been sleeping pretty soundly because most of the time I don't notice he's there until morning(when my back is all tweaked!).  A couple weeks ago he started waking me up with a smile and saying "Mommy, you are my su-shine"...and then he wants me to sing the song to him.  It took me a while to even figure out where he heard that song though one of the kids finally helped me to credit a Veggie Tales movie.   Now, usually when he's in trouble, he will look up at me with the eyes in that picture and say "Mommy, you are my su-shine!" and put his little arms around my neck!  How can the manipulation begin so early?

Blessings!

-J

Camping is one of those things that if I think about it too much, I would probably never schedule into our calendar.  It's exhausting, takes an enormous amount of preparation, isn't all that comfortable,  and results in many loads of laundry BUT my children love it so I think it will be part of our family memories for years to come. 

Pictures of our trip with our seminary family from last week are now in my slideshow.  I unfortunately didn't take as many pictures as I usually do - the cold air must have done something to my brain!  After our 3 hour drive down to Pt. Magu, we set to work setting up our area of the campsite.  We have the appearance of very experienced campers since we have so much nice camping equipment thanks to our families who granted our request of camping equipment for Christmas one year.  Since BW is mainly responsible for this task, I got to chase Boy2 up and down some hills and through some bush for quite a while.  It has been 8 months since our first ever camping trip and I was amazed at how much different it was camping with our little guy this time.  For one, he is much more surefooted and fell a lot less.  He was able to get up more trails and this meant that I was pretty constantly on the go.  Conversations were started to be interrupted as I saw him heading for the hills.  Also, since he is out of a crib we didn't bother to take the Pak-n-play on this trip.  He got his own sleeping bag!  Not that he actually slept in it.  Both nights, he wormed his way into sharing my sleeping bag with me!

The wind whipped up early and I pulled out my kids' winter coats, hats and gloves that I had recently bought because we were moving to the snow!  On night two I was glad I didn't have a thermometer to make me feel any colder than I already was.  The kids slept in their coats that night.

I will say that it is definitely more fun to camp with a group of other families.  Not only are there built in friends for my kids to play with, but the cooking is shared!  Each kid found one or two other friends to play with.  Girl4 latched onto a 4yo boy who she only knew as her "camping friend".  She never did find out his name, but just called him her "camping friend."   Boy7 found plenty of other boys who were really good at finding sticks and coming up with all sorts of games with which sticks were required.  Girl8 found a group of girls to go "hiking" with, collect flowers and find secret hiding places. 

On Friday morning, everyone was geared up for a "kid friendly" hike.  It wasn't long before we came to a steep section of trail and we realized that we had taken the wrong trail!!!  We headed back down and I was all ready to say that I had completed my hiking duties for the trip.  But I dutifully followed my kids with up the correct trail.  The wind had died down and it warmed up.  I was surprised by how far my kids were able to go though I did eventually have to turn around with the younger ones.  We were able to see some beautiful wildflowers, lizards and butterflies. 

After a short nap, we headed down to the beach.  I knew it would be way too cold to actually go in the water so I didn't even bother to bring my kids swimsuits, but for some reason my kids couldn't get it through their heads that one COULD go to the beach without actually going into the water.  Eventually, they found something else to occupy their time - rock climbing.  There were some great rock formations and Boy2 thought he could keep up with all the other kids.   Amazingly, we came through without any major injuries.

BW eventually joined a group playing volleyball and the older kids were able to join him.  Girl8 was especially impressed with her dad's volleyball skills and kept bragging in the car about how he was diving for balls.  I just kept thinking about the hike from the morning and knew that my beloved would probably be very sore the next morning.

We heard some great devotions and had some wonderful worship time around the campfire.  Boy2 fell asleep on my lap both nights.  Girl4 enjoyed roasting the marshmellows but wanted to eat hers plain.  Our seminary family has been such a blessing to us and it was so fun to spend some time with them.  I kept myself busy enough that I didn't allow myself to think of the fact that I probably won't be seeing many of them on a regular basis anymore.  I continue to operate in a "see you later" mode since we aren't quite finished with seminary yet.  It will be a great joy to find out where God has planned each to serve - we may have friends all over the world someday! 

In the end, I couldn't wait to get home to my warm bed and a long shower - comforts that you aren't truly thankful for until you've been without them.  Then we looked forward to celebrating Sunday with our new church family and starting (finally) into a "normal" routine. 

Blessings!

-J

For most of us sharing and giving does not come easily.  In fact, the Bible has a good explanation for this truth!  But my Boy7 has always really struggled with sharing, holding onto his toys a little too tight.  He's the kid who the day after his birthday was planning what his next birthday party theme was going to be and what kind of toys he was going to get.  He will spend hours pouring through a toy catalog that comes in the mail and want to go through it with me listing all the things he wants to get.  As we have been going through Proverbs in recent weeks during our morning devotions, we've been touching on a lot of Proverbs that discuss the importance and benefits of giving. 

As I've talked about below, we are moving again (we are down to 15 days! Yikes!  I need to get busy!).  And, as always during a move, I try to "consolidate", particularly in the area of clothes and toys.  In the past, I would bag up some toys in a bag they couldn't see through when Goodwill would come out to pick them up(because I had one experience where they saw the man taking their "prized possessions" through the front window and, oh, the tears that were shed! and another where they saw the bag ahead of time and by the time they were done going through it the bag was empty). 

Well, yesterday I was going through toy bins and trying to make it so that they were not overflowing, but that the tops could actually be put on!  Anything that was making it overflow was going to be given the next time the charity truck comes or given away on Freecycle.  Well, I was particularly working yesterday on our Rescue Hero bin because an e-mail on Freecycle had come through asking specifically for Rescue Hero toys or videos for a 7yo boy. 

BW had taken the kids out yesterday and I wasn't quite finished when they came back.  "What are you doing, Mom?" asking innocently but accusing at the same time.  I'd been caught!  I explained that we had lots of Rescue Hero toys and that there was a little boy who really liked Rescue Heroes but didn't have very many.  They looked through my bag and did pull one or two out but for the most part realized that we did have many duplicates.  I was expecting a showdown with Boy7 and had my list of reasons why He was being selfish and trying to wrack my brain to remember the Bible references in the book of Proverbs, but he said nothing!

I mentioned to BW during dinner that I had consolidated both the Rescue Hero and Thomas bins down to one bin each, feeling quite proud of myself.  He asked if we were getting rid of the Command Center too.  My instinct was "of course not", but as I started thinking about it, it is this HUGE toy that often has been put in the garage because it takes up sooo much room(sorry Aunt Kelly).  And the house we are going to has less living room area than we currently have. 

It took a little convincing and you could see the war going on in his little heart.  But finally, he said, I guess I could draw a command center out of paper and tape it up in my new room!  Girl8 thought that was a great idea and offered to help in this new project.  So, he said that he'd like the boy to have it.  We put it out before he had a chance to change his mind.

Later that night, he was just beaming!  He just kept talking about how excited he thought the boy was going to be with his toys and Command Center.  We received an e-mail from the mom of the boy this morning and I read it to him.  She said her little guy was more excited than he had been on Christmas morning and included a thank you typed in by her son.  Boy7 keeps talking about how good it feels to make someone else happy. 

I am putting this story, not because I am trying to say that my kids are perfect --- so far from it --- but because for this particular boy he got a glimpse, for what may have been the first time, that doing things God's way doesn't always feel good at first, but in the end gives us great joy and peace.  Also, there are so many times when my thoughts send me down the road of all the ways my kids aren't where I would like them to be that I am trying to be more intentional about recognizing the progress they are making and to remind myself that there is a process to their maturing.  The process can be painfully slow from a mother's view, but when that "light bulb" goes on it is truly God's gift.  I praise God for working on my little guy's heart through His Word and that we parents are not in this all alone, but have the Creator of the universe to help us in this journey of parenting.  Now, if He could only help me teach Boy7 how to tie his shoes!

Blessings!

-J

Take a minute and check out my new slide show!  I included everything from Thanksgiving through Girl8's birthday through Christmas Day so it may take a few minutes to get through, but in my opinion my kids are cute enough that it's worth it.  Also, before you call the authorities on me, my kids just rode slowly around the block on the motorcycle with bicycle helmets.

-J

I just wanted to take a second to share some routines/habits/traditions that my 2 year old has started.  It is amazing what creatures of habit 2yos can be.  I am trying to retrace to see how some of these got started but right now here are a few of his routines that he is really picky about.

Bedtime - He takes Lightning McQueen, Chick, the King and one other no named car to bed with him along with his Rocket from Little Einstein and a sippy cup of water to his crib.  If any of these are missing, he has me trained to go out and search for them.  Then we usually have to move the cat out of his crib and I put him in.  Then he orders me to pray (he folds his hands).  Then he says, "Mama, sing!"  If I sing anything other than the hymns "Take my life and let it be", he interrupts me.  Then I need to sing "Jesus Loves Me."  He sings along with me and does hand motions.  Then he stands up in his crib for a hug and a kiss.  Then he lays down and says "Blanket on."  Then I turn on the radio to the classic music station and he goes to sleep. 

Drinking milk - My little guy has never gotten used to drinking his milk straight out of the refrigerator.  I have lowered the amount of time in the microwave to only 10 seconds.  It seems to be more important to him that it has gone into the microwave than that it gets warm.  Then he had noticed me sneaking Benadryl into his milk a couple months ago when his nose was runny.  Well now, I at least have to feign that I am putting Benadryl in his cup! before he will drink it. 

Poopy diapers - Think this is a sign that he's ready for potty training?  When he has gone #2, he goes to the cupboard, gets a diaper and spreads it out on the floor, takes the wipes off the counter and then comes to get me and leads me over to the floor to change his diaper.  This reveals two things about being the 4th kid - 1)you never get to use an actual changing table like the first kid(we didn't even own one for kids 3&4) and 2)Mom is not interested in thinking about potty training you until you can competently pull your own pants on and off and we have a complete week where we don't have anywhere to go and can be in lockdown.  Maybe we will have a time like this before he leaves for college...

His favorite food is "roni and cheese" and he gives great hugs.  He is just such a joy to our family!

Blessings!

-J

Boy6 was the first one up, saw all the presents under the tree, came into our bedroom and turned on the lights!  Needless to say, he didn't receive a "Merry Christmas" greeting from his parents.  Once we pulled ourselves together, we went out to the living room. 

A tradition carried over from my childhood is that the Baby Jesus is not put in the manger until Christmas morning.  Before any presents are opened, Baby Jesus must be searched for and placed in the manger.  This year, he was on top of our stack of Bibles (seminary Dad's idea - He is the Word after all!).  Then the stockings were opened.  Highlights - Boy6 got spaghetti - his favorite dinner - and Boy2 got some Cuties(see below). 

I really tried to maintain some order during the present opening so that I could see what everyone got (and who they were from) and watch the expressions on their faces but it got hard towards the end.  Boy2 wanted to immediately play with whatever he opened, making him behind in the present opening rotation and with a stack of presents to open long after everyone else was done. 

Then Daddy made our traditional breakfast of pancakes and waffles with bacon.  Girl8 was the only one who wanted chocolate chips on her pancake.  After that, everyone picked out a new outfit (well, except BW because I've given up trying to buy clothes for him - he really needs to try things on first) and we took off for Grandma & Papa's.

There was a whole other group of presents to open, a delicious dinner and yummy desserts.  It was great to have all of my siblings together (though I blanked on getting a picture-grrr!) and visit with everyone. 

Overall, it was a very Merry Christmas.

Every year except for last year (we had moved the week before Christmas last year) we have spent Christmas Eve with church family.  This tradition started because our first church home had services at a school four doors down from our house.  We invited people over after church, specifically people who didn't have family in town.  Then we spent Christmas Day with relatives, always fun too!

This year we were blessed to have 5 seminary families and 2 families from our church come over for Christmas Eve.  Rather than trying to do something late after Christmas Eve service, we changed it this year to a Christmas Eve potluck.  Considering all the seminary families with children had an average of 4 kids, our house and backyard was quite full but so much fun!  I was blessed that lots of food was brought so the amount of cooking I had to do was pretty limited.  God was kind enough to make the wind die down just for the party so we were all able to enjoy the backyard.  We sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and had special cupcakes.  For the second time, we had a donut eating contest where donuts are hung on a string and you have to eat it without using your hands.  After the kids had a turn, the seminary men had a competition.  The winner was the host (and probably the most experienced donut competitor in the field) was my dearly loved husband!  We were also serenaded by a dear 11 yo boy who is quite accomplished on the violin.   We had a great time.

Then we did some quick change into church clothes and headed off for Christmas Eve service.  At the last minute, BW being the children's pastor decided it would be fun for the kids who were there to sing Jingle Bells and Away in a Manger.  Well, our kids ended being the only children at the service.  We discovered that we will NOT be the Von Trapp family!  Boy2 took one look at the crowd and attempted to hide behind the Christmas Tree.  Girl4 wanted the microphone to HER mouth(see Christmas Program below) and when she didn't have it said she wasn't singing - what a Diva!  Then once the singing began, she went over and hugged the Worship Pastor's leg as he was playing guitar.  I'm sure it was quite humorous to everyone except their mother!  Maybe a little practice would be in order before we try this again...and each kid have their own microphone:) or maybe they'll just retire early...

Then we went home where the kids usual tradition is to open one present - pajamas, usually matching.  But unfortunately, this year I ordered them online and they didn't arrive.  One of those things I had to work really hard not to let bother me and spoil my Christmas.  Fortunately, though, I had finished wrapping the night before and because no one got anything that needed to be put together, we were able to go to bed early and I don't even remember my head hitting the pillow. 

-J

It was such a blessing for me that BW was home that last week before Christmas with finals done:)  I was able to go out and do some Christmas shopping ALL BY MYSELF!!!!  Only moms with children can truly understand the feeling of freedom to have a whole day to make as many stops as you want and not have to buckle anyone in carseats!

A tradition that I have had with Girl8 was continued this year.  Every year we have gone to the dollar store where she was allowed to pick out gifts for family members.  This year she was very proud and excited because she had her OWN money she had saved to spend.  What fun to watch her try to decide what everyone would enjoy.  She chose a doll (and added a bottle and clothes) for Girl4, a bow & arrow for Boy6, a mini nutcracker and dog bath sponge for Boy2 and a toolbox and flashlight for Dad.  So I assume we are done, but she is hesitating.  She wants to buy something for Grandma & Papa too.  And then if she gets them something she also wants to get something for the others who will be at Grandma & Papa's on Christmas.   How early this gene appears in women!

Then she says she wants to get something for Grandma & Papa in Nor Cal.  I explain that it won't get there by Christmas.  She says it's ok because they will have fun opening something after Christmas.  That was where I stopped her because she was ready to start shopping for all of BW's family and I knew that she was close to her spending limit.  So she decided to buy her own wrapping paper and tape.  Then she got to count out the $15! she had spent by the time she was through.  She just loved wrapping her presents, hiding them from the others and watching them open them on Christmas morning.

The next day I took Boy6 in for the same purpose.  His main worry was that Girl8 had told him what she wanted (she had just been there the day before after all) but he wasn't sure which one was the one she wanted. Then he kept finding things he wanted for himself.  However, within 6 minutes he had finished all of his shopping and was ready to go home. 

-J

I hope to have Christmas pictures up soon (I know, I said that about Thanksgiving too - be patient with me!  I haven't had much time for the editing of pictures lately.  Hoping to combine Thanksgiving and Christmas into one slideshow...someday...). 

We were blessed the week before Christmas to attend a wonderful church Christmas concert and a presentation of the Nutcracker specifically designed for kids.  The 3 older kids & I were able to learn a little about lighting, set and costume design as well as enjoy the beautiful ballet and music of the Nutcracker. 

Additionally, we had our own little star in the Awana cubbies Christmas program.  Girl4 was a wiseman(wiseperson?).  Fortunately, since she had been a wiseman last year I had some tips about how to make the costume.  Buy a piece of regal looking fabric, fold in half, cut a hole in the head and buy some gold cord to wrap around the waist.  I had trouble finding a gold crown this time of year so I substituted for a golden candle wreath.  Last year she was freaked out that the gymnasium had been so dark.  Not this year!  This year, she went up, pulled the microphone that was meant for the whole group and belted out her version of "Go Tell it on the Mountain."  Only problem?  The emcee had made a mistake.  The song our group had practiced for weeks was "O Come all Ye Faithful".   So she didn't know the whole song, but the parts that she did know the whole gym heard loud and clear.  Coming off the stage, she said "Can I do it again?"  The rest of the night as we were enjoying refreshments she kept sneaking back onstage to the microphone.  Wonder where she could have gotten that from?

-J

The kids go to Awana on Wednesday nights while I attend my Seminary Wives Discipleship.  We decided that we weren't going to skip out on our church activities because Halloween happened to land on it.  Fortunately, the Sparks are having dress as your favorite Bible Hero Night and Cubbies are having dress as an animal so they are getting part of the Halloween fun.  Girl7 will be going as Queen Esther (went into JoAnn's looking for some fabric to put around her a few weeks ago and found that they were already marking down their costumes 50%! so I got her a queen costume for $8) and Boy6 wants to go as Jesus(will be wearing my white robe).  Girl4 has some ladybug wings to wear (beforementioned sale for only $4) and Boy2 has a spider hat to wear.  Although the kids are bummed about not trick or treating this year, I am pleased that I didn't have to worry about the expense of costumes, what neighborhood to trick or treat in, shielding my kids from inappropriate or scary costumes or purchasing any candy for potential trick or treaters that I would be tempted to eat, not to mention the loads of it that come with trick or treating!

So on our weekly trip to the library last week, I spied It's a Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! and convinced the kids that they needed to see it.   Before showing it, I told them about how when I was little this only came on once a year and we pretty much cleared our schedules(finished homework, etc) so that we could watch it because if you missed it, you had to wait until the next year - there were no VCR's, DVD's, etc.  Girl7 said, "Mommy, you mean when you were little you could only watch what was on TV?"    All of my children stared at me in disbelief and for what might have been the first time as a mother, I realized how much "older" I am than my kids and what different childhoods they will have than my own.  Then we watched the movie and I was the one amazed to find that it's only 18 minutes long when you take out all the commercials.  No wonder my generation has a huge need to buy everything in sight - Do you have any idea how many commercials we saw each day? 

-J

I was helping Girl4 in the bath tonight, which is when we have some of our deepest conversations.  I put the shampoo in her hair and she bunched it up on top of her head

Girl4:  Don't I look beautiful?

Me:  You sure do!

Girl4: This is how I am going to wear my hair when I get married and have a wedding.

Me:  That will look nice. 

Girl4: When I grow up I am going to be a mama and I'm going to have 5 children."(holding up her hand to show me 5).  But first I need to get married.

Me: You need to marry a man who loves God and His Word.  Mommy & Daddy pray that God will give you just the right man.

Girl4:  He's going to have to be like me. 

Me: What do you mean?

Girl4: He's going to have to have skin.

Me: (Holding back a chuckle) That would be important.

Girl4:And he's going to have to talk like me.

Me: Talk like you?

Girl4: Yes, because if he speaks Spanish or somethin we won't be able to talk to each other so he has to talk like me.

Me: Yes, I guess that would be important unless you learned to speak another language or if he knew two languages.

Girl4: And our boys are going to be named Sammy and Peter and our girl is going to be named Love(ends the sentance with her arms folded, a tilt of the head and a sigh).  And I am going to teach them about God and they are going to be so special!

Sometimes being a mom can be lots of fun:)

Here's another one from my deep thinking 4yo.

Girl4 comes into the kitchen and says:  Mommy, did you know God created the WHOLE world with just saying it?

Me: Uh, huh (patting myself on the back since I was her Sunday School teacher last month and taught on creation).  Isn't that amazing?

Girl4: He said, "Let there be the sun and it was just there."  God is very powerful.  I hope when I grow up I can be just like God so that whatever I say will happen just like I want it to.

Me:  Thinking to myself, Um...think I may have missed a step in the Sunday School lesson and need her dad to go over her theology a bit...

-J