Jan/ Feb update...Where do I start????

My blog postings have been very slow lately and it seems to pile up like my laundry and some others things. I'll do my best to update everyone on what has been going on....We took Daddy to the airport at the end of January and then I surprised the kids with a trip to the Zoo on our way home.    It was a very cloudy day with a  60% chance of rain so we had umbrellas and extra clothes in-case we got wet.  For school we have been doing a lesson on animals so we read a couple chapters before we headed into the Zoo.  The kids seemed to love the idea that we had the zoo to ourselves, I guess no one else was brave enough to go.  The girls had fun using the maps to show us where to go and identifying where the animals were.  After we where done with everything it started to rain so we headed for cover into the reptile exhibit. On our way out the rain came to a stop and we enjoyed our lunch at the zoo's play area then we headed home.  Right after I put the kids in the car it started to rain again but harder..  I was so thankful that God had the rain wait.  I do love the rain but I'm not one for wanting to take a shower in it.
Pslam 123:3

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.

Holly cut and colored a  green dragon for Liam to play with.   It's so fun to see Liam enjoying a simple thing like something made from paper or making a coloring book with a dino talk to my chap stick penguin as we waited for Ayla and Holly s basketball game to be over. It's times like these that remind me to be content and to learn it from them.   Many times I want to plan ahead and have something for them in every season.  The Lord is teaching me that it's good to just let things happen.  It's in those times that I learn to be content and not fearful.  I am guilty of preparing out of fear instead of out of wisdom.

 All things are full of weariness;
a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.
9 What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there a thing of which it is said,
“See, this is new”?
It has been already
in the ages before us.
11 There is no remembrance of former things,
nor will there be any remembrance
of later things yet to be
among those who come after.12 I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 And I applied my heart  to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 14 I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind. Ecc. 1:8-14

  

A couple days ago I was having a hard day and God blessed my heart with the girls journal writings that day.

Ayla wrote: " I love my mom and Dad and brothers and sister too. I love my family because they love me too. I am glad that we can love."  Holly wrote we a thank you note for taking them to the zoo. She had come to me in tears saying that she didn't do her work right because she wrote a thank you note in her journal.  I thanked her for what she had wrote and told her that it was a blessing to me about what she did.  

Matthew 11: 25-30

25 At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. [7] 27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

The girls have enjoyed the privilege of playing basketball together.  It's been fun to see them learn something new and see them talk to each other about it.

As I look at these pictures I am so thankful for the work of Christ and how much he has blessed me as a mom.  When Daddy isn't home God is faithful to step right into that spot. He has blessed us with three sets of grandparents that live close and they help out. My heart is filled with joy as I think about these things and treasure his faithfulness.
Now that Daddy has been home for the past couple days and it has been a pure joy. 

I just thought of two funny stories:
One night before be the girls where taking a shower together.  And everyone knows that when you take a shower your voice travels.  Well Ayla said Holly I'm going to go pee in the shower because mommy said that it is okay...it's running down my leg and they giggled...Holly said I have to go poop!!! and Ayla said, "DONT GO POOP IN THE SHOWER IT WONT GO DOWN THE DRAIN!! then they giggled.....To be honest with you, if Ayla wasn't in their Holly would have tried it herself.  In this last week Holly put gum on the bottom of the cats foot.  When I asked her why she said I don't know.  She does some of the silliest things.

Earlier this week before Daddy got home the dryer wouldn't start so I called my parents since they own the house. They tried to call an electrician that they knew but  they didn't answer. So they left it in my hands to find one.  I found one and set up an appointment...while I was on the phone call waiting was beeping...after I hung up I listened to it....it was my Dad saying he found someone...at this point I was pretty frustrated because It was already taken care of.  At the time my parent where at the gym and that's where he got the number from.  I then called my parents house to let them know that I already found someone...before I finished my message my Dad called on the other line and said...guess what!! We called the same person.  Then my Dad went on to say that he had prayed that God would just take care of it quickly because they were leaving for a trip.  With in a second I was filled with so much joy at how big God is and how he uses us. 

Happy 9th Birthday Ayla!!! ( January 23rd)

Happy Birthday Ayla!!! You are so creative and it shows in how you did your own party.  Ayla saw, "Santa Buddies after Christmas and wanted to make it into a party.  She spent the next month talking about games that she was going to do.  Then before her party we sat down together and figured out how it was going to all work out.  This was a great mother and daughter bonding time. As I listened to her  ideas I tried hard to keep quite and allow her to plan all of it.  She seemed to love putting it all together.  As the party came closer we went shopping and she said she wanted to do her own decorations like last year.  I stopped and thought about how this could be a new tradition, and it saves extra money.  A day before her party we all went to work making streamers, coloring dog pictures,  blowing up balloons, and painting a happy birthday sign. This was so fun because it was something we all did together and everyone took a part in it.
 The party with 6 other friends was such a sweet time.  They all watched "Santa Buddies", had pizza and played Ayla homemade games.  It was so fun to watch Ayla blow out the trick candles as everyone got a chance to blow before they went out.  Happy Birthday Ayla!! We all love you!!!

January Happenings

On Christmas Day the kids had fun cutting Daddy's hair with Mommy's supervision. It was fun for the kids but I had to quickly clean up before our company came.  That added some extra pressure on the day but it was joy to see the kids having fun.

January Happenings:

As I look back over the things that happened in January I remember spending lots of time at home watching the kids be creative with their time.  On this day the kids dressed the dog up with their dress up clothes.

And the boys spent their time hiding out in the hall way closet playing hide and go seek with mom and the camera. Liam and Silas seem to be buddies these days.  They spend up to and hour in their room each night talking and laughing with each other after they have been put to bed.  I have also seen Liam put a car in Silas's hand over and over again to get him to play cars with him.  And Silas is so mellow that he just takes it and doesn't seem to mind until he wants to do something else.  Then he just leaves and Liam follows him with that car and continues to put it in his hand and gets so frustrated.  Liam has changed so much in the last couple weeks because he is talking so much more and using larger words.  He catches me by surprise when he throws his opinion in about something that the girls told me about.  If I don't acknowledge that he also said something he says, " I want to talk tttt you!!!"  So I've had to make sure that I give him a turn to talk and teach him patience all at the same time.  Silas has a new found love for Daddy...As you can see in the picture below

Silas was trying to hug Daddy when he was exercising it's so cute to see him bonding with Daddy.  Silas lights up when Daddy enters the room and it make Daddy so happy now that he has a son that is a Daddy's boy.  Liam has always seemed to want mom over Dad. And Silas will go to ether easily.
I have noticed that Liam is a boy version of Ayla and Silas is a boy version of Holly.  Like I said earlier the boys are just growing and showing their personalities more and more.  Silas has his own games that he now likes to start and he can now get snacks out of the cabinet, bring them to me, and then he rubs his head to say please.  It is the sweetest thing to watch.

One day when Liam needed some help finding something to do I brought out the Tinker Toys they got for Christmas.  We end up stopping school early and we all sat down and played together.  The girls where amazed at what I made and they started going to town on their own creations. It's something I need to remember to do more often.

It was time for the girls to get a hair cut and I wanted to save some cash so I did it myself again.  This time I wanted to try and do something different so I watched a u tube video on how to cut layers.  I tried it on Holly first who loves being first in line to get a hair cut. Some other thoughts about Holly just came up...She must change 3-5 times a day with new outfits.  When she has to fold her own laundry she has twice as much to fold and hang up as Ayla and she gets so frustrated with that.  She has come up with some really cute outfits that she created on her own.  It's been fun to see her change and do more of what she like instead of just doing what Ayla wants her to do. ....Now back to the hair cut...You brush all the hair forward into a polly tail and then cut the top off about an inch.  If you want more layers then cut more off.  It worked out well and I even did it on my own hair and saved myself the cost of a hair cut.  You can see the after pictures below.

We enjoyed going out to breakfast as a family one moring.
The girls just love spending time with Daddy

 Silas didn't want to miss his morning nap so he fell asleep in stroller while we ate. ......It's late and I need to get to bed.  I hope to pick up on blogging more regularly in the future.  I am proud to say that I haven't been as consistent because my honey has been home more and I am reading more books in my free time.  The books I'm currently reading beside the Bible are " A Cross Centered Life" and " Just Do Something"

What my kids reminded me of

It’s a little gray and wet outdoors today so we enjoyed time with friends indoors at the local Mac Donald’s play area. .  As we drove home I thought wow I’m glad the kids got sometime to run out there energy because its starting to rain harder. I had to laugh at myself when we walked inside because as soon as we got into the door the kids headed for the back door with umbrellas to enjoy the rain.  As you can see by the picture they enjoyed a nice cup of hot coco outside.  I share these things because it reminds me of how much I think I need to entertain the kids when I don’t.  It also reminds me of what I read once in a book by Ted Tripp called “Hints for Parents”

            “Do we regularly cultivate higher and nobler principles than the love of earth? If our children are taught that the great business of men is to heap up wealth, attain honors, and enjoy human life, what will be the probable end of their careers? (Colossians 3:23; Matthew 25)

            If we would train them up for usefulness and heaven, they must often be reminded to put a low estimate upon every thing beneath the sun. They must not be shielded from the world, but instead taught how vain and empty a thing it is.

            The sooner a child can see that there is a higher object of pursuit than his own advancement, that there are more elevated and enduring joys than the sordid and transitory pleasures of time and sense, the sooner he will bear fruit unto eternal life. The sooner he sees that even thought he may attain popularity, power and wealth and yet be filled with disappointment and sorrow, the more quickly he is prepared for eternal usefulness.”

After rereading this it reminds me of what I read a couple days ago in Gen. 2:15

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” This was said before Adam and Eve sinned.  (Also showed this to the kids that morning)

One more set of verses that also comes to mind is: Ecc. 1:1-8

 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem .

 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
 What does man gain by all the toil
at which he toils under the sun?
A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever.
 The sun rises, and the sun goes down,
and hastens  to the place where it rises.
 The wind blows to the south
and goes around to the north;
around and around goes the wind,
and on its circuits the wind returns.
 All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they flow again.
 All things are full of weariness;
a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.

Christmas Happening Part 2

I found another picture of Liam play with regular everyday things.

Now back to our night out with Daddy...

After we got a tree we all decorated it as a family and called it a night.

Here's  Christmas picture number 30...You can never get everyone looking at the same time.

The kids and I enjoyed a Christmas eve dinner with my parents while Daddy was at work.

Then we went to their Christmas Eve candle light service at their church. It was a joy to join them and I loved how the service reflected Christ birth and end with a focus on the cross.

Then we enjoyed some Christmas lights and we opened some gifts at their house.

Their is more I will post later...that will make part 3

What I got for Christmas before Christmas...

What I got for Christmas before Christmas.

 I'm sitting here reflecting on the things that God has done in peace and quite  morning of Christmas.  What joy I have found in Christ this last year!! I don’t say this because of my own doing, because none of it is by me, it is by God’s Grace.  We have had less to give in stuff, but my heart isn’t heavy with worry and stress.  I’m walking in thankfulness and finding joy in what God has already given us.  Treasuring Christ above all is what brings me true joy.  I thank him for bringing me that joy and I know it will never end because I am His child.  Bringing joy to others through Christ is what I treasure.  I can only treasure this because of what I don’t have. Christ has opened my eyes by taking away the extra things that I have been distracted by in this world.  Because of the type of work that David does we don’t know when a paycheck will come or how much it will be.  This sounds hard and I’m not going to deny that but, I have found joy in looking back and seeing What God has done with this. I am depending upon him for our daily needs because I am praying for the paycheck to come.  He has been so faithful!! Their have been times that I have been filled with worry and God provided a way for me to pursue him and only find joy in being obedient to him.  And when the money wasn’t there he provided for the need in a different way.

Two of these things happened this last week:  All the bills where paid and up to date and after we had bought what we needed we didn’t have anything extra for gifts for the kids. I knew a paycheck was coming and I was hoping it would before Christmas.  Well it never did come, but I was content with that because of how Christ caused me to wait and to found joy in how he had changed my heart and shown me thankfulness. Two days before Christmas he laid it on someone’s heart to give us some money to buy them something. After that I was still content to give them nothing even when we now had something to give.
    On Thursday morning Liam woke up with goopy eyes and saying that his ear hurt.  (We have been waiting for word on some medical insurance that we have applied for so we currently didn’t have it.)  I called the doctor we have gone to in the past when we had insurance a couple months ago.  They said that it would be 174 dollars up front for them to see him.  I started to get a credit card and said no we can’t so I stopped and prayed.  After talking to a couple people and making some others calls I had an appointment that would only cost me 30 dollars up front and they would send me a bill for the rest later.  So I went with them and thanked God for what he had provided.  God not only provided a short line and short wait but he provided someone to take the girls so I only had the boys.  Liam got the appointment and the medication he needed for only 4 dollars that day. And the doctor that he saw and the person who filled his prescription took extra time off their lunch hour to provide a quick in and out.  But I came home and couldn’t find joy in my heart and I was saddened by this.  This day was very hard because I was deeply humbled and emotionally drained.  As I looked back over the day I see the still quite spirit that God had given me through out it all.  After I got home I was encouraged by reading a Morning and Evening by C. H. Spurgeon and my joy in Christ was restored. 

Morning and Evening: Daily Readings
by C. H. Spurgeon
Tuesday Morning, December 22

I will strengthen thee.

Isaiah 41:10

God has a strong reserve with which to discharge this engagement; for he is able to do all things. Believer, till thou canst drain dry the ocean of omnipotence, till thou canst break into pieces the towering mountains of almighty strength, thou never needest to fear. Think not that the strength of man shall ever be able to overcome the power of God. Whilst the earth's huge pillars stand, thou hast enough reason to abide firm in thy faith. The same God who directs the earth in its orbit, who feeds the burning furnace of the sun, and trims the lamps of heaven, has promised to supply thee with daily strength. While he is able to uphold the universe, dream not that he will prove unable to fulfil his own promises. Remember what he did in the days of old, in the former generations. Remember how he spake and it was done; how he commanded, and it stood fast. Shall he that created the world grow weary? He hangeth the world upon nothing; shall he who doth this be unable to support his children? Shall he be unfaithful to his word for want of power? Who is it that restrains the tempest? Doth not he ride upon the wings of the wind, and make the clouds his chariots, and hold the ocean in the hollow of his hand? How can he fail thee? When he has put such a faithful promise as this on record, wilt thou for a moment indulge the thought that he has outpromised himself, and gone beyond his power to fulfil? Ah, no! Thou canst doubt no longer.

O thou who art my God and my strength, I can believe that this promise shall be fulfilled, for the boundless reservoir of thy grace can never be exhausted, and the overflowing storehouse of thy strength can never be emptied by thy friends or rifled by thine enemies.

Now let the feeble all be strong, And make Jehovah's arm their song.

December Happenings Part 1

I'm about ready to blog a book because I haven't blogged in almost a month...

The month of December started with Liam taking a lamb costume home from church so he could get use to it for a future play. He loved it so much on the first day that he took a nap with it.

Ayla and Holly had a friend stay over night for the first time.
Our church had an advent club every Saturday until Christmas that the kids enjoyed doing.

 Before Daddy left for Connecticut we went out for dinner and Liam tried an octopus.  I couldn't believe that he ate the whole thing!!!

After dinner we went shopping for a Christmas tree and we were blessed with a tree for 16 dollars.

After we got a tree, we went to a local Churches live nativity to remember the reason we celebrate Christmas.  It was such a blessing to see people in live costumes as they acted out the Christmas Story. They ended the live nativity play with a light shining on the cross and that was the high light of the play.  ... to be continued

Below are some pictures of the kids enjoying some time off of school.

Holly made Silas and Liam laugh by reading them a Silly book.

Liam didn't want me to put my shoes away beacuse he was using them as a tunnel for his cars.
Ayla made a bed for the cat so Rascal wouldn't bother him.