The house is still and quiet, and as I sit at the computer I can see the most lovely sunrise occurring, in all it’s streaks of pinkness (in a light purple sky)….Seth is moving around inside me, he must be getting bigger because I can feel him bumping into my ribs, his movements are more like shifts now, rather than kicks….the children are all starting to stir, I hear the bathroom doors open and close now and then.  The door to my room is open so I can see and hear the fireplace in the livingroom.  I do so love the way a quiet morning begins, gently and peacefully, with my heart thankful that the Lord protected us all through the night.

This morning I thought I would just sit and look at some random photos from our weekend.  We had such a nice one, full of family time, eating, shopping, church-family time, fun and games……..

I think my favorite memory is from Saturday morning, when David came into the kitchen, with still-sleepy eyes, “Do I go to school on this day?” he asked…..”Nope!” I said, tapping him on the nose, “Today is SATURDAY!!!!!”

“Then we can make pancakes!” he replied, and how could I refuse?  I offered to turn on cartoons but he insisted on helping.  What a dear boy.  I usually run around setting the table and warming the syrup as the pancakes fry…..and thankfully David was keeping an eye on things.  He waiting patiently for his pancake, and hoping to help me flip them over.  He even has an apron on.  One of David’s quirks is that he does NOT like syrup on his pancakes, “JUST BUTTER”.

Here is my family, all sitting around the breakfast table.  The paper taped to the china cabinet is our homeschooling cursive writing chart.  Behind the door is a bathroom, and behind the shutter-type doors is my washer and dryer.

Rich and I thought Caleb was cute when we noticed him putting his dishes in the sink after breakfast.  And, he didn’t throw them in this time!

We decided to go to the mall later on that morning.  After everyone was dressed, I took a picture of my husband and his boys (Grace wasn’t in the mood to get her picture taken).

And Jacob took these next ones:

At the mall, we ate lunch at an awesome restaurant for the very first time, Bertucci’s, *I LOVED IT*, we all did.  It’s an Italian place.  The waiter gave the kids the typical crayons and menu to color, and also a ball of bread dough.  The kids got to form it into whatever shape they wanted and then they baked it for them.  David was so surprised, “I made bread?” The food was excellent, especially the bread basket….the rolls were warm from the oven, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, served with a plate of olive oil and spices.  Rich and I shared a cup of soup and a small pizza (with fresh mozzarella, and veggies, and goat cheese on it).  The children each picked their own meals and everyone ate everything all up.  It cost Rich and I an extra 25 dollars to bring our youngsters along on our “date” but it was totally worth it.  The meal was a lot of fun and the kids kept saying things to make us laugh.  For instance, Ethan (after the meal was all done and he was stuffed) said, “Wow.  When I came in here my pants just barely fit me…and now they DON’T.” 

Back at home, Rich and I had a lot of fun with a new game.  Maybe you need an idea for a gift to give for Christmas…..I can recommend this, it’s called “Bananagrams”.  Our three older kids can play, too.

On Sunday, we went to church and then to Costco to get our Thanksgiving turkey.  Guess what?  While we were at Costco, we bought gas for the van at only $1.79 a gallon!  It was almost unbelievable!

All the sitting at church really did a number on my lower back and hips so needless to say, I spent almost the entire evening on the couch, trying to rest up and get comfortable again.  Rich was in charge and when it was time for bedtime snacks, I took these next couple of pictures.  When Rich needs to talk to all the kids at once, he makes them all sit up straight and fold their hands.  Jacob and Caleb each had their lego creations in front of them.

Then, when the bedtime snacks were all planned, he got them all standing and lined up in an orderly fashion.  I laugh when I look at this picture.  Jacob, Ethan, and Grace have had a few years of experie
nce and are standing like little soldiers, while David is flapping his arms and little Caleb was just about to twirl out of line……(back to his legos)…..

But he quickly got placed back at attention……

They all marched to the kitchen, where the boys all had cereal.

But Grace had her favorite snack, *which she eats almost every day*, an entire can of corn.

At least she’s getting lots of fiber!  What a girl.

And that was our weekend in a nutshell.  I went right to bed last night at 7:30 and watched a little bit of “Sense and Sensibility” before turning out the light at 8:30.  (Rich stayed up watching football in the livingroom).   I’m up this morning feeling nice and rested and ready to face the week.  Thanksgiving is Thursday, Rich and I will be home making our meal together.  We are looking forward to a cozy day of spending time together eating and watching football.

While I was writing all this, Jacob, Ethan, and Grace all got into their snowsuits and are outside skating around the edge of the ponds (not the middle!!!).  It’s been so cold that the ponds are both frozen over like sheets of glass.

And, Davy-do made his own egg breakfast.  He wanted to surprise me. 

I suppose it’s time for me to get David ready for the bus.  I hope you all have a wonderful day. 

Love, Shanda

Laundry can wait sometimes……..

Have a happy weekend everyone!

Laundry can wait sometimes……..

Have a happy weekend everyone!

Would you believe?  I was on amazon.com this morning, and I read this in a book review of all places…there was no name given, so I have no idea who wrote it, but it blessed me today.

“The more you love God, the more you will want to be free from sin to please Him. The important part of that statement is that love comes first. The goal of a Christian should NOT be to eliminate sin from one’s life. Rather, it is to learn to love Christ more and more, and seek out his transforming power in your life. In doing so, sin becomes less desirable as your desires begin to match His; and your strength to resist sin becomes greater, as He lends you more and more of His own.

If you focus on your sin, you succeed neither in eliminating it nor truly feeling God’s love. If you focus on the love, you will succeed in both with abundance. We will never be free from all sin, and yes, there are times when we must take active steps to change our lifestyle, our habits, our actions, our words, our thoughts—but again, the question you must ask is, “Where is my focus? Is it on God or on my performance?”

*************

So, how do we develop our love for God?   Any love we feel toward Him is a gift FROM HIM.  1 John 4:19 says, “We love Him, because HE FIRST LOVED US.”  So even in our loving Him, HE gets the glory, we can’t, in our own strength, conjure it up for ourselves, it has to come from Him first……. so it makes sense that I have found in my own personal walk as a believer, that the more I meditate on His love for me, the more I love Him back.  That means prayerfully looking into my Bible and searching for those verses that reassure and teach me of His love and meditating on those verses (meditating is like “chewing the cud”…. getting every bit of soul benefit from those healthful verses as possible).  Seek and find those Bible truths about His great love, drink them in, eat them up, over and over and over again, and enjoy!……….God supplies everlasting food for the soul.  Yummy and filling.

“God is love”  1 John 4:8

“…and the burden of my heart rolled away…”

“…this is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior, all the day long…”

I’ve had a heavy burden on my heart for almost three weeks, the intensity of which has come and gone depending on the circumstances and how tired I was at the time.  In a nutshell, my dear husband has been working very long hours to a point where I was beginning to get very bitter and resentful.

Am I the only one who gives her husband the mental evil eye?  That’s how I was feeling, like an injured kitty cat, squinting my evil eyes, ready to swipe with sharp claws……but, on the other hand I was also feeling empty, discouraged, disappointed, and hopeless…seeing my life as a young mom full of endless days of taking care of the children all day long, literally, with a barely-there partner.  In short, while Rich was consumed with work, I was consumed with my SELF.

I’ve cried, I’ve gotten mad, I’ve debated, I’ve given the silent treatment, I’ve worked myself all up.  “It’s just not fair!!!”  “I was never meant to be the wife of a cooperate executive!”  “I don’t want to live for the weekends!”

You get the picture.  It was a huge party.  Pity party, that is.

So.  I’ve been trying to be very honest with the Lord in my prayers.  Instead of “Dear Lord, I’m sorry that I am sinning against my husband, please forgive me and help me to do better,”  I prayed this:

“Lord, I don’t even know what to say.  I feel hopeless and bitter.  I don’t like my life right now.  I don’t want to be fake, I cannot pretend to have feelings that I don’t have.  I don’t know what You’re going to do, but I know it’s Your will that I have peace in my heart so I will wait on You.”  And I would get up off my knees, and shake my head “hopeless” and continue on, muttering in my mind.

I did not say I was sorry.  ’cause I wasn’t.  (yet)  I didn’t walk around Rich acting all happy.  ’cause I wasn’t.

However, I also did not smash plates, even though I felt like it on several occasions.

Now, this is not about ME and “my issues”.  I’m writing all this so I can tell you about my Father in heaven.  Only He knows the real darkness of my heart and the bluest of blue thoughts and attitudes I’ve been having (and how wrong I’ve been).  And yet, in His mercy, He filled my soul with His Spirit….the contrast between my flesh and His spirit is like night and day, sickness and health!

Here’s the amazing part.  Last night I was all prepared to be upset again, but when Rich got home, I felt LOVE, warm soft happy love toward him, instead.  We didn’t talk about stuff.  He came in and sat down to dinner with us, we were in the middle of eating our enchiladas and cheesy corn casserole and he just came in and got some food.  After we ate I cut us all big huge pieces of warm chocolate cake and we ate that too.  Meanwhile, the children were talking a lot and I was pretty quiet.  

After dinner Rich said we needed wood pellets for our stove and so I said, “Okay, let’s go!  We’ll throw the little boys in the truck and the older kids can stay here for 15 minutes while we go get them”….and on the way Rich remarked (probably with some fear)…”You’re quiet again tonight.”  and I reached over and took his hand, the hand I know so well.  I was quiet, but it was a peaceful quiet.  We held hands and it felt like the first time (that was God).  I’m sitting here right now, with tears in my eyes, thinking about it, and how good his hand felt in mine at that moment.

When we got home Rich and Jacob sat on the floor to look through a magazine together and I got on the floor with them and put my head on Rich’s lap…..just enjoying the closeness (like a cat again, but this time a content sleepy purring one) while they talked.

After the kids went to bed the two of us watched TV but I wasn’t festering with bad thoughts in my head, I was at rest, I had joy again……nothing had changed in our circumstances, but God changed my heart, He really did!  I mean, I’m up this morning and Rich is gone to work and I’m AMAZED with God!!!  AMAZED!  And so thankful. 

I wanted to write this all out so that I can remember that the next time I’m at the end of my rope I can confidently tell the Lord all about it and wait on Him.  He fixed me!

“But the fruit of the Spirit (not Shanda) is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance:  against such there is no law.”  Galatians 5:22,23

“Every Christian I know wants to be better than he or she is. There may be an exception to that, but I haven’t found one. In other words, most Christians aren’t getting any better and sometimes are getting worse…but they really want to be better.

Do you know why most Christians don’t get any better or why you don’t get any better? It’s because you’re doing it wrong, dummy! You are obsessed with sin and your faith has become another “system of laws” whereby you feel guilty and try and try and try to do better. It doesn’t work, never has worked, and never will work. Only really shallow people keep doing the same thing over and over again with the same result, thinking that the next time the result will be different.

So stop it.

You’re just making a mess out of it. People get better by obsessing on Jesus and his love…not by obsessing on their own sin and disobedience. That’s what the cross is about, to wit, a covering for sin. So that’s not the issue anymore. Not only that, the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to our account is a gift beyond measure assuring that God’s anger will never be directed at us again.

And, by the way, an obsession with sin may be the greatest form of pride.”

~Steve Brown

I subscribed to Steve Brown’s Key Life  ….. and listen to him on my ipod.  I find his teaching style very refreshing and down to earth.  The quote is from his blog and made me want to shout “Amen” but the children are asleep……

“Thank goodness I was never sent to school;

 it would have rubbed off some of the originality.” -Beatrix Potter

I just found this quote, isn’t it awesome?  Especially for home schooling families?  It encourages me that yes my children are more likely to be their own very unique individual (and unashamed of it) as we learn together here at home.  It is fun for me as a mom to watch and really know my children, which is something I probably couldn’t experience if they were away from me all day.  Homeschooling, in my opinion, is very hard work and a lot (almost too much) to put on one person (I teach them their school work, not Rich, although obviously he does parent them which is another subject indeed).  But, although it is hard there are some wonderful benefits.  My children are secure in their own skins, in their likes and dislikes, their interests,……and it makes me smile.

Anyway, that was just a random thought triggered by the quote.  I’m really online to post some pictures that my son Jacob took yesterday of the first heavy snowfall.  Unfortunately for them, it did not stick and this morning there is nothing outside except a heavy, silvery frost.  The topic of “snow” has been all the rage in this home and I love the excitement Jacob captured in these photos.

Oh my goodness, they are holding hands, is that so precious or what???

I love how Grace is just standing still, watching the snow, in this next picture:

This next one shows the snow coming down in such a lovely way:

And, speaking of Beatrix Potter, the famous children’s author who loved her animals, here is Grace with her very own bunny.  Grace and I recently fell in LOVE with the movie Miss Potter.  Ever since she watched it she’s been drawing animals and has an even greater appreciation for her rabbit.

I just love Grace’s eyes in this photo, and I wonder what bunn-bunn is thinking?

She’s absolutely adorable, if I do say so myself! 

I didn’t mention yet that. . . . .I had the most miserable weekend.  I was so exhausted that my moods swung at an alarming (scary) rate.  Thankfully I have a patient (and somewhat oblivious) family and we somehow (by the grace of God) got through the weekend unscathed.  My spirits are much better now that I was able to get some rest on Sunday (stayed home from every service). 

I only mention that now, because my doctor’s appointment yesterday did so much to cheer me up.  I recently had the glucose test, and an antibody screening, and those tests came back perfect.  My doctor was so happy and told me that my iron levels were awesome—she usually has to put women on a supplement at this point but I don’t need it.  Also, I didn’t gain any weight in the past 4 weeks!  I got to hear the baby’s heartbeat and my doctor even did a quick ultrasound to check his positioning (he’s head down) and I got to see his face!  I keep seeing it again, in my mind, and I almost want to cry I’m so excited.  It was a wonderful appointment, she told me that I’m “so uncomplicated” (after all the moodiness this weekend, that phrase alone is giving me great mirth) that she doesn’t need to see me again for another 4 weeks unless I felt uncomfortable waiting that long (she usually sees women every 2 weeks at this point).  Although I did have to have my Rhogam injection, that part did still make me happy because now I don’t have to think about that anymore either.

Well, it’s seven o’clock and my children are starting to get up so I better sign off for now.  If you haven’t watched Miss Potter yet, do it!  I bought the soundtract for my ipod, too.  And, I recently read “The Tale of Jeremy Fisher” to David and laughed through the whole entire thing.  All of her books are wonderful………..

Thanks for sticking with me this morning, through a variety of subjects!    And, I just so glad you all enjoyed a laugh at my account yesterday….believe me, if I wasn’t laughing at that point I would have never tried to tell the story.  The window IS FIXED, by the way, thanks to my very own Mr. Handsome Fix-It.

Have a great day!

PS, Jacob is in the living room playing “O Holy Night” on his violin.  He had lessons last night and must have learned it then.  It sounds lovely!

OOOOOH, this day…..I don’t know whether to laugh, cry, or scream….so I’ve done all three so far.

First of all.  David missed the bus this morning at 8.  I ran out on the porch to yell and wave as it went away down the road.  I had to get dressed and drive him in myself.

Came home to get the other kids ready so I could go to the doctor’s.  Left the house a big mess, no time to do morning chores.

Got home too late (by mere minutes) to get David back off the bus…..had to go back to school to pick him up from the office (!!)

Of course we can’t skip home school just because Mommy had a doctor’s appointment so now I’m doing that–teaching 4th, 5th, and 6th grade, cleaning, and taking care of David and Caleb.

…..and in the midst of it all I decide to wash the window next to the table (where the children were working on school) so we can see our birdfeeder more clearly.  We have the kind of window that you conveniently can tip out into the room and wash the outside of it.  BUT I COULD NOT GET THE WINDOW TO GO BACK UP….I MEAN, IT WENT UP BUT IT WOULD NOT GO DOWN….SO I KEPT TRYING AND THEN IT WOULDN’T DO ANYTHING SO I HAD TO JUST TAKE IT OFF THE WINDOW SO THEN INSTEAD OF A WINDOW WE HAD A BIG HUGE OPEN SQUARE OF NOTHING…IT’S COOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLDDDDDDDD OUTSIDE!!!  SO I PROPPED IT UP THE BEST I COULD AND THEN IT FELL OVER RIGHT ON THE TOP OF MY HEAD AND GRACE LAUGHED AT ME!!!!!!  SO THEN IT WAS OUT AGAIN BUT I COULDN’T JUST LEAVE IT LIKE THAT SO I KEPT TRYING……THERE IS HARDLY ANY ROOM TO MANUEVER THE TABLE IS RIGHT NEXT TO THE WINDOW AND SO IS THE FRIDGE AND I DON’T LIKE BENDING OVER BECAUSE, AS YOU KNOW, I’M SIX MONTHS PREGNANT!  I THOUGHT ABOUT CALLING 911 BUT I GUESS THAT ISN’T APPROPRIATE, BUT IT’S AN EMERGENCY TO ME!  I CALLED RICH, NOT THAT HE CAN DO ANYTHING, BUT I DID TRY AND OF COURSE HE CAN’T ANSWER HIS PHONE SO I LEFT MESSAGE.  JACOB SAYS THERE IS A BENT PART ON THE WINDOW AND THAT’S WHY IT WON’T GO IN RIGHT ANYMORE.  ANYWAY….I FINALLY GOT ONE SIDE TO SNAP BACK IN PLACE SO NOW AT LEAST IT’S IN (HALF WAY) BUT THE WINDOW IS STILL STUCK OPEN A GOOD 5 INCHES AND WON’T GO DOWN…..DO I FEEL A DRAFT?????  I DO HAVE A HEADACHE.

this is the picture I took right before the window fell on my head (I was sitting on the floor, resting after wrestling with it)……

This is the picture “worth a thousand words”

still trying to smile (E took this picture of me)……

AND THERE’S MORE……it’s now snowing like crazy!  For the first time this winter!

The children all got up from the table and are running around outside.  You can’t see it coming down in this photo but as I type it’s coming down hard.

I need some of this energy for myself!

Time to go find something to cover that window, it’s getting colder and colder by the minute…….I feel better now that I’ve “vented”……

I’m not feeling perky today, I think I’m getting a cold.  I woke up last night at 2:30 and had insomnia. . .sooooo, I’m tired.  And my eyes hurt.  However, a mama still has to do something to fill up the day so we did our typical homeschooling, typical laundry and whatnot, and then I made a big batch of cookies, with help from Ethan, David, and Caleb.

I barely had room to maneuver between the two chairs (the kitchenaid mixer is there on the counter, you just can’t see it because I’m in the way).  But I loved it.

We had the cookies all mixed up in record time.  Then we got to taste the dough.

I was left alone to bake tray after tray of cookies. . . . .

Of course once I began pulling them from the oven the children started appearing again.

Today I am thankful . . . . . .

~for the refreshing mild weather

~that Rich is coming home early (2:30!!!)

~that it’s Friday

~my mom, I got to talk to her for a while on the phone last night and she was encouraging to me

~my dad, who surprised me with a happy uplifting email today

~for clean crisp sheets on my bed, ’cause I’m going to take a nap as soon as my husband appears!

Rich bought me an ipod last weekend.  What songs do you think I should put on it?  Any advice or suggestions for me, a first time ipod user?

Happy weekend to each and all of you!

I made the boys superhero capes yesterday.

We were upstairs in the office and all was going along so nicely.  I finished sewing up David’s, tied it on him, and then started on Caleb’s.  After a few minutes of jumping around in his new cape, David innocently informed me, while looking out the window,

“Wearing this cape makes me want to jump off the roof!”

To which I replied, quickly and loudly, “David!  Don’t you even THINK that again!  If you say anything about that again I’ll . . .I’ll. . . .BURN your cape!”

We were both looking at each other with faces that looked like this: 

I really don’t think he’ll try it.  But I sure was worried there for a second.  I had no idea he would be so inspired.

David took his cape to school today for show and tell, he got to do that because it starts with a “C”, the requirement for this month.  I sure wish I could’ve seen him showing and telling.  Hopefully he didn’t tell about the roof story. 

Jumping off the porch steps is permissible.

Here’s an updated close up of his black eye.  He reminds me of a little boy that Norman Rockwell would paint.

What a boy!

EDIT*******  Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for all the heartfelt comments you all left yesterday on my blog.  Truly, I was encouraged and touched.  What more can I say?  “Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love”.  xoxo, ~Shanda