Yesterday was so GORGEOUS, a mild, yet sunny, windy day. . . .I felt so energized after days and days of muggy humid heat that I was scurrying around like a new woman!  I did some weeding in my flower beds, went to the grocery store, and we even invited friends over for a day of swimming and fun.

Needless to say, after all that extra activity, this morning I am yawning, squinty-eyed, and tired. 

However, it’s going to be another lovely day.  I went out on the porch just a bit ago to yell at the dog and oh! the air is so clean and clear, there is foggy mist rising from the ponds, the greens of the grass and trees are so bright and vibrant.  It’s beautiful. . . .

It’s FRIDAY!  I cannot wait for Rich to get home, even though it will be late tonight.  He is in Dallas, TX right now.  Too far away from me.

To torture myself, I will post some pictures that Jacob took last Saturday of us~

This is when I feel like my real self, when Rich is standing next to me.  This is REAL, safe. . . .

When it’s just me and the children~I don’t know~ I’m just basically having fun (or, not having fun, depending on what’s going on), and waiting for Rich to get back to us.

This was yesterday afternoon, after our friends had gone back home~

Some houses try to hide the fact
   that children shelter there:
Ours boasts of it quite openly,
   the signs are everywhere.
For smears are on the windows,
   little smudges on the door;
I should apologize I guess
   for toys strewn on the floor,
But I sat down with the children
   and we played and laughed and read:
and if the doorbell doesn’t shine,
   their eyes will shine instead.
So when at times I’m forced to choose
   the one job or the other,
it’s good to be a housewife,
   but I’d rather be a mother.

~Unknown

After dinner last night, the children wanted to go swimming.  That seems to be our regular habit these days and I love it because the lighting at that time of night (around 6:30) is lovely.  The birds are singing their evening songs.  I sat in my chair and watched the children have fun. . . . .

I lasted 20 minutes before I just had to run back to the house to get my camera.

Davy- do’s invention:

We aren’t always happy around here;

but Davy’s tears never last long~

It’s Caleb’s little foot that gets me~

Grace was showing me how she goes under water, when Caleb ran by. . . .

And the big boys have fun in their own crazy ways~

GUESS WHAT?

Last night I had morning sickness for the first time. 

Although I did not like to end the day in such a way (!!), it was an encouraging reminder to me, that a baby is coming!

No one was here to feel sorry for me, so I just went to bed and smiled in the dark, to myself.  It’s true, I’m really having another baby!

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This is the perfect sort of summer morning, because it’s so cool, to turn on the oven and make homemade muffins.  Sweet muffins are fast and easy to make, and you don’t have to turn on a mixer.  It’s all handwork and very rewarding, especially when the children have so industriously picked the berries.  Grace and Ethan went and picked fat juicy red raspberries, free for the taking, by the side of the road.  With a scattering of wild blueberries, the muffins I
have baking in the oven will be scrumptious, with a sprinkle of white sugar on top. 

I can’t tell you how nice it is to mix the batter up in my new marigold fiesta mixing bowl!

Have a wonderful day!

Thanks to those of you who offered your encouragment to me,  in response to what I wrote about feeling guilty that I was not doing more at church.  I was getting mixed up, and confused, about what my real ministry is.  God used the things that you said to me here on xanga, His word, my own Mama, and also a couple of online articles (which someone sent me the links for) to give me the “booster shot” that I needed. 

So, a deep sigh of contentment from a tired mama~ a tired but happy one~ as I press on in my role as a wife, mother, and house keeper. 

Here are a couple of quotes for you;

“What’s wrong with rocking and cuddling and answering 100+ questions, and wiping snotty noses, cleaning up throw-up, and playing blocks on the floor?  This is kingdom work.  And it’s not just something to get through so you can get on to something bigger.  This is big.”

“Mary and Elisabeth touched the world by raising their boys.”

“Women have far too long screamed for the place of honor-rather than humble service.  It is in the home we learn to be like Jesus.  Any woman can be all spiritual with her Christian friends.  But the rubber meets the road in the home.”

~ Audry Broggi

Happy Birthday,

dear choo-choo boy~

He did get choo-choo’s for his birthday~ his favorite is Gordon, with his tender, that Jacob picked for him.  He also got Alfie and Peter Sam, and the troublesome trucks that giggle when you press down on them.

We already celebrated his birthday on Monday, so that Rich would not miss out (he’s away on a business trip this week). 

Caleb stood up in his chair and joined us all in a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday” and then, for the first time, blew out his candles.

All by himself.

Why wash the icing off his face, when it matches Gordon?

He’s three now!  My beloved little son. . . . . . .

*Edible Play Dough*

2 cups creamy peanut butter
2 cups honey
2 cups powdered milk
2 cups oats
mix
enjoy
(put flour on the table in case it gets sticky)

Davy- do made cookies out of his dough~this is a picture of what he looked like when Mama was taste testing his wonderful cookie. . . . . .he just knew I would love it!

Ethan whistled while he worked.

This is Grace laughing because she threw a ball of dough at her brother.

Leftovers are kept separate from each other, so we can have more fun on another day.

Jonah study:

The other thing that I did with them yesterday was sit them all at the table to read the Bible.  I read them Jonah~the entire book~it’s not long.  Then, I took a Children’s Illustrated Bible and read the whole story again.  Have you read Jonah lately?  It is so interesting.  Did you know that the King of Nineveh called for a fast (after he knew that God was going to destroy the city because of their wickedness) ~ he called a fast for the people AND the animals?  I thought it was fascinating that even the animals were included in the fast.

And we all laughed and laughed when we read about how Jonah “was exceeding glad of the gourd”.  (chapter 4, verse 6)

When I was done reading them the story, I had Jacob write a short story, pretending he was the King of Nineveh.  Ethan wrote one pretending he was Jonah, and Grace wrote one pretending she was a little girl living in Nineveh when Jonah came.  I found a “Jonah and the Whale” coloring page for David and Caleb to color.

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

Rich left this morning for another business trip.  He will not be home until Friday night.  Please pray for me, I need the strength of the Lord to get through this week in a relatively calm way.  I want to try to make some goals for myself and keep myself busy, but also take the time to rest as needed.  I am not sick with this pregnancy (so far) but I am feeling very “out of it” and tired.  Thankfully, I have my friends to lean on~and it comforts me to know that if I need anything I have a bunch of friends that I can call on for help.  And my sister.  Can’t forget sissy.

Church stuff:

Spiritually, I am getting a lot of comfort from Job.  Specifically, the last chapters in which God is talking to Job about all the things that He has done.  He is showing Job how great and powerful He is.  I have been hungering to study the bigness of God~through His word and through His creation.  The bigger GOD is in my mind, the smaller everything else becomes~people, circumstances, my SELF.  I am attaching a link to the book that I’m reading that is helping me along in this study.

In the book, the author also talks about the church and how we are to be a community, a family.

I loved this quote:

“Notice the results if we neglect to see the importance of biblical community.  If we privatize Scripture, turning “we” into “I”, we have the following dilemmas:

~I have to go into all the world and made disciples (Matt. 28:18)

~I have to pray without ceasing (I Thess. 5:17)

~I have to give proper recognition to the widows who are in need (1 Tim. 5:3)

~I have to teach the older men, younger men, and younger women (Titus 2: 1-8)

And somehow, in the gaps of my day, I have to work and make enough money for my family.

Fortunately, these commands are given TO THE CHURCH.  It is only on the corporate level that we are able to evangelize the world.  It takes financial supporters, mission boards, friends and churches that faithfully pray, and many other people in the body for a missionary to go and make disciples.  And to fulfill the command to pray without ceasing, I need the church because I need to sleep every now and then, and I have to go to work.  Round -the-clock praying can only be done by the worldwide church.”  ~Edward T. Welch

The reason why I found that quote so FREEING is that I still suffer a lot of guilt that I am not doing more for the church.  Basically, right now I go to services and work in the toddler room once a month.  I am not involved in choir any more. 

The funny thing is, I am very secure in what I believe God’s will is for me right now.  I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that He want
s me (and my heart) AT HOME, serving my family.  My husband is so very busy, he has a great job but it takes a lot of time and effort to get his work done.  He needs my support, he needs to know that I am taking care of the household and his children while he is away. 

With five children, and one on the way, and being a homeschooing mama, I have found that I have almost NO extra time or energy to devote to anything else.  I rarely even leave my home during the week, except to go to the grocery store, library, or music lessons for the older boys.  I’m so thankful that my friends are so willing to come here to my house and that I can keep in touch with people through snail mail, email, xanga, and phone calls.

I feel so content and happy at home and yet so often when I go to church, I come away feeling so much guilt that I am not DOING MORE~I’m not out soul winning, I’m not out ministering to the needy, I’m not working with children at church, I’m not singing in choir, I’m not doing this or that or the other.

But, I realize, as I read that quote, that I don’t need to do those extra things!  I have an entire church family surrounding me.  We are all in this TOGETHER.  I have my whole life ahead of me, and what I am doing now is enough.  My brothers and sisters in Christ can and will do the things that I cannot do right now and I’m so thankful for that.  We are not on our own, we have a huge worldwide body all working together, with our head as Christ.  The body of believers is a beautiful thing.~  I need to remember that I am not an individual (when it comes to church) so much as one small part of a BODY.

I don’t expect people to understand what I mean by all that.  There are things that have happened to me spiritually in the past that have damaged my views of Christianity (making it more of WORKS and less of grace) ~ God is showing me, little by little, that the false things that I learned can be stripped away, and the thing that matters most is HIM.  That is why, most of all, in my devotions and meditations, I want to fill myself with Him and His character. . . .to study His LOVE, MERCY, GRACE, His attributes, His creation.  There is so much healing there for me.  And the more I know Him, the more I love Him.

Rich has been home since Thursday and because of all the construction we have had done around here, he had a lot of little things to finish up both in the basement and garage.  He’s been working hard around the house for the past two days.

However, this morning we felt ourselves getting grouchier and grouchier and he said, “Okay, we need to get out of here for a while, let’s go somewhere.”  We all immediately started feeling better and got ready to GO!

Not long ago, I met someone through my blog who used to live in New England and she messaged me to recommend a favorite ice cream/mini-golf place called Kimbell’s Ice Cream Farm.  It was an hour and a half from our house but Rich and I love driving and the children are good little travelers so that’s where we decided to go today.

Besides, we all love ice cream!

We didn’t do mini-golf this time, but Rich and the kids did enjoy a round of “bumper boats”.

They also have fried seafood plates and such.  Rich and I shared a lobster roll on the way home.  YUM.

We also stopped at the mall and I was happy to get my purchase of the newest color fiestaware~ IVORY.  I bought a luncheon plate and a small fruit bowl.  Macy’s also had a nice selection of TURQUOISE and so I bought 4 small bouillon bowls (turquoise is a retired color now, and I only had one other small bowl in that color at home).

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The children all ordered “small cones”. . .ummmmmmm, no one could finish their cone.

“You can taste mine if I can taste yours”  Jacob looks concerned.  He shouldn’t have been, he had more than enough to share. . . . .

Ethan had chocolate raspberry-swirl.

Jacob had orange sherbet.

Rich had coconut almond chocolate chip.

Yours truly had a strawberry sundae.  Christie, if you’re reading this~ this is my new shirt I was telling you about~

Grace had chocolate truffle.  (She ended up not liking the chunks of chocolate~)

I put the camera on a picnic table so we could do a family picture with the self-timer.

I love it! 

The bumper boats were a lot of fun for Rich and the children.

The yummy lobster roll, potato salad, and David and Caleb each got to have a slice of watermelon.

A picture of my new fiestaware~for my fellow fiesta lovers~

 I hope you enjoyed the pictures.  We had a lot of fun and we loved watching the children enjoy their ice cream.  I definitely want to go back there again sometime.  Rich and I think it would also be a nice place for a date.

Have a wonderful evening and Lord’s day tomorrow~

Love, Shanda

Give me this day some small delight.
Some simple joy to cheer my soul.
A singing bird upon the bough,
A drifting cloud in sky’s blue bowl;
The pealing laughter of my child,
The glint of sunshine on his hair,
The feel of his warm hand in mine,
Of these dear things make me aware;
A blossom in the garden spot,
The music of the poplar trees,
The fragrance of a dew-washed earth,
What could enchant more than these?
Grant me the perception that I may
Live deeply through this chartless day,
And when I go to sleep tonight
Be thankful for each small delight.

~Milly Walton