This Moment

Have you ever waited a long time for a trip or an event, and once it was finally underway you took notice of it?  "This is it!  I'm here!  It's really happening!"


I felt that way about my life today.  I looked around and thought, "This is it!  I am in the middle of the good stuff."

What I especially loved about the feeling was that the moment wasn't what one would think would prompt such a thought.  I wasn't snuggled under a blanket reading to my cherubs, or sprawled on a blanket in the sunshine blowing bubbles and imparting wisdom as they listened quietly with awe.

No, I was standing in my kitchen working on something, with 4 kids in 4 different rooms doing 4 different things. One of them interrupted my work with a funny thought that made him laugh.  It made me laugh, too.  And in that moment, in the middle of another day of housework, parenting, diapering, and schooling, it hit me, "I'm living the good life."

An abundant life more than I could have dreamed up on my own.

Remind me of that tomorrow when three out of four are crying, the house is a mess and lunch is late, 'kay?

900 Posts!

And almost 5 years!

To celebrate I am sharing a couple of Brooklyn videos from today.

While they are for everyone's enjoyment, they are especially for the benefit of the (many) people who seem to only be able to catch Brooklyn at her less-than-best.  (A.K.A. Our entire church family.)

See?  I told you she doesn't cry all the time! :)

She was feeling even more giggly and smiley than these videos show, but I couldn't quite bear recording (and publishing) myself making all the faces and noises it was requiring to get all those smiles and giggles. 

Enjoy! (And thanks for being here for all those posts!)

Hey look!

A poll! 


Would you mind ....


answering the question ....


over there....


to your right.....


under my picture?


Thanks!

Random collection of thoughts, photos, and newsy bits

Sometimes when I want to write a blog post but have nothing in particular to say (which happens more often than I care to admit) I look through my photo files for random, forgotten pictures.


I do have a detailed, and knowing me, probably lengthy post on unmedicated childbirth cooking in my head, but it's not ready yet. 


So guess what?!  A tour through the ol' photo album!


First up, Dale wanted to make his own dessert creation.  With a little help from me and the internet, we came up with this:

S'mores Pizza!  Pizza crust, peanut butter, marshmallows, chocolate chips, crumbled graham crackers.
Make until melty and puffy.  Eat immediately.  Make another the next day with the other half of your pizza dough. Or maybe that's just us.


Have I mentioned it snowed!?  Always big news in this neck o' the woods, and this has been a fairly mild winter, with nary a hint of anything frozen.  Until one day last week!  We woke up to white and it lasted about half the day before the rain washed it away.  We still got our fill.  We love the snow, but we also love our 60 degree winter days. And might or might not venture out barefoot in them occasionally.  But not in the snow.  We suit up in full garb when it snows!  More or less.

One of my little Valentines:

Daddy had a birthday.  He also had help blowing out the candles.

My arm is stuck out all crazy ready to pull Tyler back in case he began to face plant into the flames.  I suppose I planned on snatching him by the hair on his head.  More likely I didn't have a plan.  Just reflexes on the ready.  And yes, the picture is blurry.  With the constant motion around here, I'm not surprised.


And finally, a picture of Tyler.  Just because I like the swirly-twirly motion in it.  And the sweet expression on his little baby face!

My girl...

..... she doesn't like the "Tummy Time."

We do it anyway.

In short bits.

She raises up on those little arms like a good girl for a little while.

And then ends up like this:

Come to think of it, I don't think any of my kids have liked 'tummy time'.  

But we (sort of) do it anyway.

And they've all crawled and walked and developed just fine.

But Miss B is the first one to do this:

Ahh.... that's it.  Much better.  Gigantic tear and all.

I think he got the idea

We've been studying the American Revolution for several weeks now, particularly highlighting the Declaration of Independence.


I should not be surprised, then, by the handwritten statement presented to me yesterday:

in our room

a Delcrition

We can play monopoly when we want to.

We have the right to play Boggle with[out]

having to pay a tax for yorr games.

Dale

Alan

I suppose next they'll be dumping the games in the ocean.  Or shooting at me as I come down the hallway. 
Better confiscate the nerf guns.  

Sugar n' spice n'.... hairbows, of course.

After hooking Miss B up with a handful of hair accessories before she was ever born, things like life and, ohhhh, I dunno... taking care of a newborn and 3 other kids kind of got in the way of the crafting.


But after weeks of good intentions, I've finally whipped out a couple of hairbows!

I have to agree with what Christy said in her tutorial... it's addictive!

I've got a wholllle hanger full of ribbon and a baggie full of clips. 
I've even got a willing subject!

Now I've just got to find make the time.  I think that can be arranged. :)

I think we accidentally got a bird dog

So... we've had our dog -Triscuit- one week now.  


Things are going as well as could be expected, and I'd say even better than that.


I loved what the vet said after he checked her out.  "Y'all did good.  She did good."
Aww.... I thought that was sweet... like he thought she is a good match with our family.


She loves every one of us.  Except maybe Brooklyn. She's not interesting enough.  Either that or she doesn't drop enough food. ;)


A couple of days ago the boys were outside and came in to get me.


"Mama! I think Triscuit killed a bird!"


Really?  I went out to inspect and sure enough, there it was... a pile of feathers:

Growing up with cats I've seen piles of feathers plenty of times.  But uhhh....we don't have a cat.


And while I've seen neighborhood cats here and there, I've never found a pile of feathers in our yard.


What do you think?  Visiting kitty the same week we get a dog?


Nah.


Silly dog.... birds are for kitties!

"What?  What'd I do??"

"...For the Lord is good..."

I sit at the end of the day, in the quiet.  A kaleidoscope of stories turns in my mind.  What to write?  What to say?  I realize that tonight I don't want to hear my words.


In the quiet, restful peace of this evening, I want to hear eternal words.  I type them as a balm.  I type them as an offering.  

Psalm 100

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

Serve the Lord with gladness:  

Come before His presence with singing.

Know ye that the Lord, he is God:  

It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves;

We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise:

Be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

For the Lord is good; 

His mercy is everlasting;

And his truth endureth to all generations.

14 Tabs.... and Counting

I have a habit.  A tab habit.


Sure, I prefer my browser nice and neat with just a tab or two (ok, or three) open, but more often than not my tabs are all eeety-bitty because there are so many open.


Things I don't necessarily want to add to favorites or delicious (or already have there), but I'm not quite done with yet.


Here's a little look at the tabs waiting on me this morning:


An art project I've had saved a while and intend to do this week with my boys: learning to draw figures using little green army men.


Self Made Scholar, a site dedicated to self-education and continued learning.  Ran across an article from this site somewhere and want to explore more from it.


In anticipation of Valentine's Day I have open Valentine's Crafts from Around the Web (saving primarily for the mini heart garland) and Easy Valentine's Fudge (hello, canned frosting and chocolate chips).


I almost always have a few recipes open.  Today is no exception. Cheeseburger Pie, Bubble Up Pizza, and Pepperoni Pizza Pasta. Oh, and a grind-your-own meat Old Fashioned Burger Stand Burger.  Looks like I'm hungry for burgers and pizza. :)


On the homeschooling front I have open an argument for teaching cursive first, an article on quitting (quitting the attempt to do it all on our own, anyway), and our Bible curriculum, to print Alan's coloring page.


Plus this hilarious Craig's listing for feral cats, linked to by Smockity Frocks (who also linked to a video of high school kids that couldn't answer basic trivia... funny and sad all at the same time).


And almost always Twitter and/or email.


Yes, that is 14 tabs (counting the one I'm writing this post in).  And I'm drinking heavy cream in my coffee today.  So there.


Several of these links are through my friend Keri Mae.

Baby's First Bites

When you decide your first child is ready to try solid foods, it's a Big Deal.  You get out just the right seat, just the right bib, just the right spoon.  You carefully mix some cereal flakes from a box, and point at least one, if not two cameras at your precious offspring as they embark upon the adventure of eating.


(Ok, so that's not really what happened with my first child, but that's another story for another time.  Just stick with me, 'kay?)


When your fourth child decides she is ready to try solid foods, you end up feeding her some of your banana smooshed off the end of your thumb.  At 9:00 at night.  When she's usually sleeping and all the siblings are already in bed.


But you still have Daddy grab the camera. 


And it's still a Big Deal. 


Happy eating, Brooky!

Disappointment, Respect, and the Family of God

It's no secret that we are Texas Ranger fans around here. 


It happens to be that our 8 year old is a huge Josh Hamilton fan.


As parents it is important to us not to elevate celebrities in our children's minds.  At the same time, we have been ok with Josh as Dale's favorite Ranger.  He's a family man, a hard player, and an out-spoken born again believer in Jesus.


He is also a recovering alcoholic and drug addict.


This is a fact that our 8 year old knows nothing about.  Right now I am thankful for that, because I would hate to explain that his favorite baseball player is admitting to a relapse. 


Was this stupid? Yes.
Is it disappointing? Yes.
Are we going to try to sway Dale away from being a Josh Hamilton fan? No.


The truth is, I hate it for Josh Hamilton.  I hate that he struggles so much with such a problem.  We all have our own struggles.  I'm thankful that my sins, my mistakes, my relapses into those things I hate to do aren't public knowledge.  


Sure, he chooses to be in the public eye.  And maybe it is that public eye that has helped hold him accountable.  He is a strong witness for God's love, forgiveness, and gift of salvation.  I pray that his witness isn't damaged by this relapse, but instead is made stronger.


I have to say, after watching the 12 minute video linked to above, my respect for the man is actually increased.  He speaks with honesty and humility.  He asks for prayers, and he has mine.


When the time comes Dale will know about his hero's mistakes.  Josh Hamilton isn't a hero for "overcoming" an addiction.  He is admirable for humbly giving God the glory in all things.


The part I think is the coolest?  Josh Hamilton may be a celebrity on this earth.  The kind of person many of us recognize but never meet.  But guess what?  I'll be spending eternity with Josh Hamilton.  Along with a whole lot of other people, we'll be praising Jesus together, forever.  Will you be there?

Look Who's New!

She showed up in my grandparent's neighborhood earlier this week, lonely, scared, and hungry!

We kept thinking about her, and after a night or two in the pokey we decided we had to rescue that little pound puppy.

Where we goin'? Huh?

First we took her to meet our favorite people in the world!

 I think pretty soon they are going to be her favorite people, too.

Then it was home to her new backyard, where she wasted no time before letting loose to RUN!

Stopping only for some lovin'.

Think she minds so many little hands? Nah, me neither.

Some supper, a bath, and some more family play time and our new pooch is pooped!

Now all she needs is a name!