Amanda came over today. . .Weston is a little under the weather but well enough to come visit Aunt Shanda who doesn’t care if her children get sick from fellow family members. 

It was such a wonderful day. . .full of sunshine, laughter, just a little bit of irritation (trying to keep the children all safe, happy, and well-behaved can be a bit much at times). . . .seems like we were constantly missing one of them, but it was mostly a laughter-filled day.  Too short, really.

It was a day that even the Moms went barefoot.

I painted my toes bright pink.

I bought myself a dress at Target about a month ago without trying it on first.  When I got home I decided I didn’t like it.  I had not taken it back yet so I tried it on for Amanda and she said she loved it so. . . . .guess I’ll be keeping it.

She wanted to take some pictures of me.  These next few were all her idea.  She actually took photography in High School.  I just know if I could get a camera in her hands (like today!) she would love the hobby.

She made me laugh during this mini-photoshoot when she told me to stop bossing her around and let her be in charge!  LOL  Guess I do have a lot of “bossy big sister” in me still.  Oops.  So, I shut my mouth and did whatever she told me to do.

**all photos by Amanda (my sister)**

Don’t you just love spring days? 

They are so invigorating!

It’s good to humble yourself, right?   Enjoy the laugh at my expense. .I don’t mind, really. 

This next one is what made us laugh the most. . .the kids roared.  I wondered where my neck was?

Considering I haven’t LEAPED in years. . . . .not too bad!

And this is the reason why I have to jump. . . . . .

I made a cake today.

Oatmeal Cake with Coconut-Nut Topping

1 c. quick cooking oats                           1 1/3 cup flour
1 1/4 cup boiling water                            1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter                                          1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 cup brown sugar                                1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 cup white sugar                                 1 tsp. cinnamon
2 eggs                                                 

Topping:

1/2 cup butter                                         1 cup chopped pecans (I used walnuts)
1 cup brown sugar                                  1 cup coconut
3 T. milk

Pour boiling water over oatmeal, cool.  Preheat oven to 325.  Cream butter, sugar and eggs.  Sift flour, salt, soda, baking powder, cinnamon and add to creamed mixture.  Add oatmeal.  Place in a 9 by 13 inch greased cake pan (preferably fiesta).  Bake at 325 for 35-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in  center of cake comes out clean.  For Topping:  Boil butter, brown sugar and milk in a heavy saucepan for 1 minute.  Remove from heat and add nuts and coconut.  Spread on baked cake and return to oven under broiler for 1 minute or until bubbly.

Last night I went out shopping.  I am not one for “retail therapy” LOL but it sure felt nice to walk around the mall by myself.  I even ate at Panera. . by myself. . .while reading a magazine.  If I’m alone I can’t just sit and eat, it feels too strange.  So I read, which never feels strange.  I got some great deals on clothes for the kids, found some remaining winter clearance specials. . .got Grace two long sleeved Land’s End dresses (size 10) for only 5.99 each.  And I also paid that same price for a pair of pants for Jacob (size 14!!).  I went to The Children’s Place and bought the boys each matching shirts.  It’s just too fun to do that now and then (at least I think so) . . . . . .

I also bought Caleb the cutest pair of green pants.  They make me laugh. . David already had a pair that used to be Ethan’s. 

This next one is my favorite.  I was sitting on the kitchen floor earlier and Caleb came to me.  I gave him a hug and a kiss and he said, “And my feet!” and held up a foot for me to kiss.  I’ve trained him well!  So when I look at this picture I want to kiss his feet again. . . .

My favorite picture of Grace from today:

I am feeling very tired right now.  I could even use the word “weak” even though I don’t want to.  I wonder what is the matter with me. . .I felt fine this morning.  I guess I’ll go eat some lunch and see if that helps.  I’ll probably go crash on the couch for a while. 

When I look at the pictures I just took it doesn’t seem strange that I would feel so tired out at times.

Attached is a link to the most wonderful set of DVD’s.  I bought them  at Costco for much cheaper than amazon.  I highly recommend them, they are so wholesome and fun.  Ethan and I clap after every episode and I often shed a tear or two. . . .we all love watching, including Rich.

Okay. . . I need food and couch.

myLovetoUall

It is so mild outside today!  At about 3:00, while Caleb was napping, I went out with a blanket to look at a catalogue.  Soon Grace came and joined me.  We had about 10 minutes of relaxation time until the boys started gathering around.

They were wearing shorts for the first time this season.  As soon as Grace saw them she got up and ran to the house. . . .  “I don’t have any shorts so I’m wearing Ethan’s”, she explained when she got back.  Hmmmmmm. . . . . .okay, cute actually!

Next thing I knew, they were all wading in the pond.  And then Grace plunged in.  I could not believe my eyes.

If you squint and look in the middle of the picture, you will see her swimming!

She had to run to the house to get into a hot bath.  Then I decided to dare Ethan to jump in.  He paced around, considering.  He would get near the water, then walk away.  Finally I said, “Hurry up E, my camera battery is going to die!!”  When he realized I would be taking pictures of him he said, “Oh alright!  This will be a great picture!”  That’s my boy!

To give you an idea of how crazy this is. . .the kids were outside this morning in winter coats.

Ethan did not even hesitate.  He got right out of the water and ran non-stop to the house to get into the other bathtub!  And next came Davy-do.  I hadn’t realized that he was up at the house, finding a life jacket.  I tried to talk him out of swimming, but he insisted.

Jacob looked on in amusement.  He would NOT join in the “fun”.  *sigh*  I guess one of my children actually has grown into some common sense.  David thought the water was too cold and I thought he was so precious when he sat down on the edge of the pond and said, “I’m gonna wait until it gets warmer”.   He doesn’t realize that it takes a long time for a pond to warm up.

I did some cartwheels outside in the grass and helped Grace with hers. 

David and Grace planted seeds.

I have lots of things growing, but I’m mostly excited about the rhubarb.  My goal is to actually bake with it this spring!  Last year I just never got around to it.  And the year before that we didn’t live here. 

I found an awesome skirt in the Eddie Bauer catalogue that I really want.  It’s not on sale yet though.  We’re going to FL at the end of the month and it’s giving me the urge to get a couple new things for summer. 

We had a rough day yesterday so today I was determined to have a better day (of homeschooling).  Today I separated the kids (rather than all of us sitting at the table).  We were still all in the same room but they each sat in a different desk/spot.  We did devotions together and then they each had a list that I wrote of their daily assignments.  They knew they had to do everything on their list by themselves.  If they needed help they had to ask me for it, but if they knew what to do than they had to go ahead and just do it.  In other words, they were much more independent today.  There was a lot less talking going on which was great.  I didn’t do any preschool work with David.

Other than school work, we’ve spent most of the day outside.  It’s been so nice to feel the warm sun. 

Thank for the input on yesterday’s post.  I was/am so blessed by all of your comments.  I’ve heard a lot of great feedback from it.  I can’t wait until next question!

How are things with all of you?

This morning I woke up to Caleb’s little feet step-step-stepping down the stairs.  A moment later, I turned under my covers to see his little self trying to climb up into bed with mommy and daddy.  I heaved him up into the middle of the bed.  After a while, since I couldn’t go back to sleep, I got up and left him, trapped under the heavy arm of his dad. 

I went out to the kitchen. . it was quarter after 7. . a dark and rainy morning.  I made myself some coffee, prepared it in my favorite Alaskan mug, and toasted some white bread.  Yes, it was raining, and yes it was cool, but the porch was tempting.  I bundled up, grabbed a couple of magazines, my coffee, my toast, a blanket. . and out I went.

What more can a busy mom want than a quiet morning?  To sit on the porch with just a few simple things, knowing that her loved ones are behind her in the house, still cuddled up in their warm covers?

I was inspired by an article I read about a girl who grew up in a country farmhouse, with a mother who delighted in filling the house with beautiful things.  Sweet, simple pleasures.  We could all do these things:

“No other farmhouse I knew boasted a tall amethyst-glass candlestick, or custardy-yellow berry bowls, or a large flower-embossed silver spoon for the Sunday gravy.”

“Mother saw to it that we spoke the language of the flowers”

“On a bright June morning I might awake to find a treat on my painted dresser:  an old china teacup filled with tiny ferns and forget me nots.  And next to it, for no practical reason at all, would lie our one linen guest towel, starched and snowy and artfully placed to show the embroidered versions of the same dainty blue flowers.”

“Our lace was Queen Anne’s, and as long as nature turned it out from unseen bobbins along the roadside, it trimmed our kitchen shelf from a blue milk pitcher.”

“Mother would accept a wilting bouquet of dandelions from a milk-sticky little hand with the graciousness of a queen receiving orchids.”

“Sometimes we spent days collecting glass shards of blue medicine bottles and clear green cups and red pickle dishes, then wrapped them in cloth to snap smartly with a wooden spoon against a flat rock.  The kaleidoscopic jewels that resulted were mixed and shaken into prettily shaped bottles–and set on a windowsill.  When the sun was right, there was the stained glass glory of Chartres, refracted on the ceiling just as simple as that.”

“Like a grand lady, our house changed perfumes seasonally.  It wore cinnamon in autumn when the apple pies never stopped coming, and attar of roses filled the sunny rooms of summer.  We kept spruce and juniper boughs in crocks in the hall all winter, never even pretending they had anything to do with Christmas. In spring we splashed the scent of lilacs everywhere.”

~written by Patricia Myruski, for Country Living magazine, September 1989

So on this happy Saturday, I am in the mood to beautify my home.  I can hope that in future years, my own children will look back and remember my little attempts to make home a lovely place.

Rich took the three older children with him to the nursing home this morning.  After they left, the rain cleared away and the sun started to shine.  The outdoors beckoned to me and so I worked to get David and Caleb ready to go out, complete with the best purchase for SPRING ever: 

black rubber boots

Rich just got home with the children. . . . . .and has a new bike for Grace.  I suppose all the pretty little touches in the world can’t compare to that!  Or maybe childhood is a balance of both parents showing their love in the way they each know best.

Beloved, be familiar with the Word of God.

Stock your memory with the ancient records

of His great goodness.

Drink in the whole narrative of the evangelists,

and despise not Moses and the prophets.

Soak in the Psalms, the Song of Solomon,

and other such books until you come to know

the well-recorded goodness of the Lord.

Have His words and deeds of goodness

arranged and ready at hand.

Let them be at your finger tips, as it were,

because they are in your heart’s core.

Then you will be sure abundantly to utter

the memory of His goodness, for

“out of the abundance of the heart the mouth

speaketh”  (Matthew 12:34)

~C.H. Spurgeon

Books-these are the masters who instruct us with out rods, without hard words and anger, without clothes or money.  If you approach them, they are not asleep; if you interrogate them, they conceal nothing; if you mistake them, they never grumble; if you are ignorant, they cannot laugh at you. 

~R.De Bury

Good morning!  I am up early. . .and just waved my husband down the road.  It’s dark out still, and raining.  But when I opened the door the air was mild.  I can hear the spring birds waking up and singing.  I am munching an apple. 

Today’s post is about books.  As most of you know, I love to read and I do enjoy just about every type of book.  But today I want to share titles that have helped me in my Christian walk.

I truly believe that as Christians, we should be very careful that we put good, wholesome words into our minds.  We have to be very careful about how much “poison” gets in there.  The older I get, the more I know myself and my weaknesses.  I was just sharing with a friend yesterday that I have to be cautious of how much “FOX news” I watch.  The news channels really get me feeling fear at times.  Also, I had to stop reading WW2 Nazi horror story memoirs.  The last one I read was a couple years ago, and that book actually carried me into a depression that lasted several weeks.  I could not read Foxes Book of Martyrs again.  I have studied martyrdom enough to know that God gives grace to His people who are put to death for their faith—I don’t have to fill my head with the details–because I personally can get very morbid about that.

All that to say.. . .reading good, godly, books puts good thoughts in my head. 

The Bible comes first.  Read your Bible more than any book, because that is how God feeds and waters our soul.  The Word of God is ALIVE. . .and able to do so many things. . if only we will pick it up and really study it with interest and longing!  When I read my Bible I like to have a pen or pencil, a stack of index cards, and my journal.  If you only have time to read one book, make it your BIBLE, and STUDY.  Learn of Christ, the Lover of your Soul.

Now, I am just going to type out a list of books that impacted me.  I suppose I could be more organized about it but that would take too much time.  I wish I could link every book to amazon for you, but again, that would just take too much time.  Get a piece of paper and a pencil and jot down any that interest you.  Maybe you could find them at the library, if not, than I will also add a couple of links to online bookstores.

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount by D Martyn Lloyd-Jones (and all of his books would be good)

Brothers, we are NOT Professionals by John Piper  (This book was actually written for Pastors but if the house burned down and I could only choose 5 books to take with me, this would be one of them.  It has changed my life)

By My Spirit by Jonathan Goforth (his wife, Rosalind, has also written How I know God Answers Prayer, which I also recommend)  Missionary/Christian biographies have been a source of inspiration to me.

A Puritan Golden Treasury I.D.E. Thomas  (for the times when getting through a Puritan book seems overwhelming, this book is crammed FULL of wonderful quotes by all different Puritan men, it’s a keeper for sure)

The Worn out Woman, When Your Life is Full and Your Spirit is Empty, Dr. Steve Stevens, Alice Gray

What Every Mom Needs (can’t remember the author’s name)

Grace Abounding by John Bunyan (honest autobiography)

Little Pilgrim’s Progress and The Pilgrim’s Progress John Bunyan

The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs (Puritan Paperback, I have to really concentrate in order to read the Puritans, but it is well worth it!)

A Lifting up for the Downcast William Bridge (another Puritan book)

The Hidden Art of Homemaking Francis Schaeffer

When You Rise Up, A Covenantal Approach to Homeschooling RC Sproul Jr.

In Trouble and in Joy  Sharon James

Patricia St. John Tells her own Story (an autobiography, fun and inspiring)

Singing in the Fire  Faith Cook  (this one is full of stories of Christians who suffered in all different ways, and how God gave them grace to SING during their trials)

Makers of Puritan History Marcus L. Loane

If I Perish Esther Ahn Kim (a biography)

Home-Making J.R. Miller (beautiful book on family, it changed my view of the Christian family)

Anything you can get your hands on by CORRIE TEN BOOM

Anything you can get your hands on by CHARLES SPURGEON

Any good Christian biography that you can get your hands on

Okay, I know I will probably think of several more after I click “save changes” but this should get you started, if you are looking for a good book to read.  And if any of you live near me, you are free to borrow.  And Hannah, if you see anything here that you want me to send you to borrow, let me know.

Also, here are a few websites that I like to order books from:

Grace and Truth Books  (and all the books are neatly organized by topic!  Unlike here!  LOL)

Amazon

More about books:

A Puritan’s Mind, Suggested Books

Have a great day!  And get to reading!

And to all my fellow book-lovers, feel free to add your favorite book in a comment and tell us why you love it.