Standing and Staring

Did you ever have so much to do that you got stuck?

Standing and Staring.

This is me today. I want to sit down and quietly blog, but I have to clean.

We were sick over Christmas AND we had guests AND we were gone over New Year AND we started school this week AND my neighbors house had a serious fire, they lost their little dog and the sadness is nipping at the heels of my production. I really, really need to clean. Laundry shooting out of the chute and a dripping dishwasher. Dog hair on the floor and dust laughing at me from the shelves. Laugh away, I'm coming to get you.

I'm a little swimming in good hard manual labor. It's good but I wish I could just sit and share some photos and doodle on my blog, just a little.

Oh well, there will be too slow days sometime when I'm 88, I'm sure.

Oh, and I have an important meeting tonight. Please pray for me in it!!

All my love,

Amanda

Faith: what I'm thinking about

"Faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see."
Hebrews 11:1

I've been thinking about faith today. Or rather, being faithful. That is, having faith in all things I do, faith that God indeed has my back

he says he'll never leave me

and faith that He knows my future and I can trust Him with it.

he says he has good plans for me, plans of hope and a good future

Because if I really believe, truly believe that God has my back, that if God has good plans for me and isn't going to leave me, I can move freely in Him in everything. I can trust Him to help me be patient with my kiddos when the patience is thin. I can trust Him in my relationships when they're at their shakiest. I can know I don't have to worry about rejection and hurt by others because He loves me....what more is there? I can trust Him in everything.

The God of the stars, the God of the Universe, the God that grew each tiny leaf on each tall tree in the vast forests loves ME. *sigh*

And I have faith that He loves me. A seed-size faith. Well, maybe a little apricot pit. But faith. And yet He loves me beyond what I can understand with my tiny little ant-sized brain. Remember....

Zephaniah 3:17
The Lord Your God is with you, He is might to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with his love, He will rejoice over you with singing.

So I'm free. I'm free to
trust,
love,
hope,
be kind,
rest.
Rest.

So I'll get up tomorrow, not knowing, not being sure...but with faith. Faith that what He's said He'll do. And I can rest, He said that too....

"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

Matthew 11:28 (The Message)

Even the Stones Cry Out

Luke 19:38-40

"Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!"
"Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!"

"I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."

The way I see it....

the rocks do cry out.

They simply are.

They only exist.

They were made, and they are all they were made to be.

It makes me rethink what I think it means to be all that I can be, all that I should be for God.

How much do I work, or think I have to work to be what God made me to be, to be a reflection of Him. I want to be a conductor of His love, His grace. And sometimes I just try too hard.

But then one day I was running and looking at the lichen growing on the rocks, and I thought of this truth. The rocks, they do nothing but exist...and they reflect God perfectly. His beauty, His creativity, His love for things large and strong and small and delicate.

And I think of how if I were to simply be who I was made to be, that I would be perfectly glorifying God.

How much freedom is there in that?

To be, is what God wants for us.

To exist as you were made to exist is to His Glory.

To do as He called us; to love Him, to love people is His will for us.

I was wondering, what does it mean for me to be? I pondered this. To be for me, a mom and a wife....

it's to love my husband. To encourage him, to pray for him.
It's to nurture and teach my kids. To love them and care for them.
To build my home, to be anchored in God so that I can be peaceful and fun for my family.
It's to be a loving, available friend to my friends. To encourage.
And to look others in the eyes, to see people and not look past or through them. To be kind and gracious to all the folks I meet.

A rock for my family, friends and to God. A rock that is beautiful just because it is, and who lives free from the worry or trying to be what I'm supposed to be. And my life too will cry out in praise to my great God.

To tell you the truth...

...not that I've been lying.

However, I would say that I've had many posts where I've tried to paint myself in a "our family is happy and thrives well" only light. Sometimes I like to get a little sticky and give you some of the dirt. So now, on to the dirt.

Our sweet four year old has been in a funk. A LONG funk. For over a year he's been talking with that maddening baby voice so many little ones find fascinating....the same voice that drives most adults up the wall. The voice alone wasn't so worry-some, but the fact that no matter what we tried with him for change he persisted with the voice. Then some other baby-ish behaviors followed, only adding to the puzzle. I personally, was stumped. I prayed for wisdom and change. I did the research, asked other moms...usually I came up with the same answer; it's an attention thing.

I have not been so patient with this process. I've been feeling like *urrrgh* the baby talk would never, ever stop. As a result, I'm sad to say that I've gotten less patient with Eli while waiting for the behaviour to change. Not so gracious.

I kind of ruled that out the 'not enough attention theory' after months of my husband and I intentionally seeking him out, taking him on dates, talking more with him (it's easy to let him interact so much with his brothers that we just had very little interaction with him), playing with him...none of it worked.

Last week, my husband had an idea, something we tried early on in the craze...just ignoring him until he used his normal big-kid voice.

So that there wouldn't be misunderstanding we had a family pow-wow, Ralph told all the boys that we were going to do something. When Eli used baby voice we wouldn't answer or respond to him until he used his big kid voice.

You know what? It worked.

The funny thing is, I don't think it really had that much to do with the method...more the timing. I sincerely believe that Eli just needed time to get through that space. Not only has the baby voice dis-continued, but suddenly he's far more affectionate & interacting on an entirely different level. He just needed to be a little, um, baby voice for awhile.

And it all makes me think about Grace.

grace (countable and uncountable; plural graces)

1. (not countable) Elegant movement; poise or balance.
2. (not countable, theology) Free and undeserved favour, especially of God. Unmerited divine assistance given to humans for their regeneration or sanctification.

I'm so much like that in life. I go through phases & funks. I exhibit behaviours that drive people crazy and do things that are contrary to my growth as a healthy person, friend or Christ-follower. I know that these seasons might not be the best for me but sometimes I persist in my wrong thinking or behaviours. I have really screwed up in life. But usually the people around me love me anyway and God always does. It's Grace. It's the earmark of Christianity, the single thing that seperates it from other religions (that's another blog post). I'm so, so grateful for the grace of those around me.

And I want to be a gracious parent. Lord knows my kids will continue to go through phases, long and uncomfortable to those of us around them. But these are little people, my children. And if God can be gracious to me (& this is what draws me to Him) then I certainly want to be gracious to my kids when they go through phases, however uncomfortable. I won't stop seeking wisdom both from God and the moms that have gone before me. God tells us to 'get wisdom & understanding.' I will seek Him in teaching my kiddos how to live and behave, while they are home with us. And I'll be gracious to them when they're living in obnoxious or sinful seasons. I want them, after all, to see love as the greatest good in our home.

And lest you think that's the worst of our dirt, of course of it's not. Just all I'm up to airing today.

Resolute

I seem to have writers block. It's not that I don't have anything to write about, & I have enough photos to make you all dizzy, but I just am not finding good words lately.

I'll start plainly.

When I wrote up my list of Keeping it Real New Years Resolutions, one of the things I wrote was:

Spend 15 minutes each day learning something new.

I got a couple of questions about this...and I do want to share because of all my resolutions, this is the one I'm most excited about.

Let me start by saying that I'm a perfectionist. Most people might think that a perfectionist would be staring a beautiful, uncluttered, organized desk right now. Well, that's not true. That might be more OCD or something. A perfectionist is someone who wants so badly for things to be perfect, that if they aren't able to do it perfectly- they might not even try. (That is me.) When I first got married, I wouldn't vacuum for the longest time because I really didn't have time to move all the furniture and do it right. I'd not really heard of the concept of just doing the traffic areas. ;) I got over that--but I had to relearn it. Not joking.

So that brings me to 15 minutes. In that same season when I was learning that it was okay to do the dishes even if you weren't going to clean every.square.inch.of.the.kitchen, I learned from FlyLady the concept of 15 minutes. "You can do anything for 15 minutes!" She says. Breaking down all the insurmountable tasks in my life, making them doable, a little at a time.

I'm sorry to say that I'm not cured of perfectionism. I'll say that I've mastered it in the home and with our schooling...but not so much in larger arenas in life, such as self-education. I get completely overwhelmed at the thought of learning something new- even taking a class. My husband doesn't know what to make of me, I think. I just freeze up and lose interest in that thing I was oh-so-interested-in.

There are a few things I'd like to learn more about , or things I'd like to learn better. So I'm going to plug away at those things, 15 minutes a day. In a year, I'll be a rockstar.

This week, I've been working on reading my camera manual and learning a new song on the guitar..new chords. It's fun to see what I'm learning already. 15 minutes is really doable. Last night I learned two new things about my camera that were so fun. I think it might be good too--because I might just remember those tips because I didn't learn 24 new things at once.

Now, I'm off to spend 15 minutes on blueberry muffins, then 15 more on paying bills.

Did you ever try cleaning out a closet in 15 minute increments? It really works!

Life is busy Part II

This is what happens, I want to post, I really miss my blog and have a million things to ramble about. This desire increases as I read all your fun blogs and see what you're up to. I don't want to take time to share my millions of photos or tell you every detail of life, so I'm just going to share again;

I'm reading....My Upmost for His Highest, and a manual to my new Christmas camera (more on that to come)

Projects....again, beginning to learn my new camera is my major project. That, and getting life back to normal and prepping for next week-back to school. That's plenty for me, now.

In school...school starts up again next Monday. This week I think we'll brush up on our Classical Conversations work and we're also enjoying the first of the Mrs. Pigglewiggle books. ;)

Recent dates...the evening after Christmas I went with my MIL to Macy's for the big after sale. We giggled our way through the store and were amazed when I found my (new) lost earring in the changing room I'd used hours before. Then we met up with our Ralph's for dinner. We ate until we were fat and happy, drove home and finished off the evening with some Poker and lots of laughs.

I'm thinking...that I'm ready for some good hiking. It's been awhile since we've been on a good hike and every day my boys get bigger and faster and stronger and needing the hike too.

I'm also thinking of pulling the boys out of basketball that's going to start in a few weeks. We are just busy enough and I kind of want some *ahem* quiet. Hm?

The boys....are so sweet. ;) I'm enjoying them a lot these days. They had a fabulous Christmas, getting some favorite toys AND a Wii AND a trampoline, which they have been using--even in the snow. Yes, those same Ralph's got out there in the 20' and put it up while my MIL and I were shopping.

Running....might just happen, but then again....might not. I love to run in the snow though, so does Juneau!

God is...settling our hearts. We are feeling more and more that this is a season of rest, amongst new things here in CO. He's also my friend. In a quiet-friendship season of my life right now, I'm very contented in my friendship with him.

Changes... Ralph and I have been asked to head up a college/career group in our church. We are excited to move forward with this and learn about what we'll get to do with the group. I'm looking forward to a girls' Bible Study.

Looking forward to...normal. The after-christmas-craze normal.

Favorite moments...reading to my boys. It's not all quiet uninterrupted time, like you might imagine. The boys have questions to ask and they holler out "PICTURE!" and scramble over when I tell them there is an illustration in the book. Theyr'e usually listening over their work of building or playing quietly. I love it.

Planning...yet a new format for school work for our daily stuff. This is fun work. I have some ideas for blog changes, too.

I do enjoy reading up on all of you here and there even when I can't be bothered with blogging or leaving comments...do leave a comment so I can be sure to read up on you...

10 Quick Takes

So friends, life seems to be quite busy...not just for me but for most of my bloggy friends. Posts come few and far between these days. But I think this is a good minute to make a little blog update;

1. My freshly-turned-8-year-old has a new found awareness of other people. He got an enormous amount of cash for his big day, and recently decided to spend a lot of that cash on Christmas gifts for his brothers. I was so amazed to take him to the store today and watch him unselfishly choose large gifts for his brothers. Gifts he knew his brothers would love. How sweet is that?
2. The sweet sunshine called me out to go running today. I haven't been out there for too long and it felt great to go out today. Juneau was happy to run too.
3. Please pray for this family. A family has several bio kids, and several foster kids. Rumor has it that the foster kids will not be getting Christmas gifts this year because they have to "earn" them, and they haven't. Pray for the parents of these little ones, that their hearts will be melted when they realize how awful this would be for their foster children. Pray that someone respected will confront these parents and give them some kind advice, be so kind to these little ones.
4. I bought my boys some cutsie soft jammies for the season. Eli has peeled his off ONLY for swim lessons and for outings...he loves them. I love that.
5. Ralph is still recovering. He has been going without crutches for a few days now, and still moves slowly, still wears the boot but he's getting around better. Sadly though, he's been sick and it's really wearing on his immune system. Today he went to the doctor after his hands and legs have been covered in a rash that made him swell up like crazy and has given him an awful gut-ache. It seems his body is tired of fighting. He was given antihistamines to take over the weekend, hopefully he'll feel better.
6. School in December is tricky. I hear that from more and more homeschool mamas. We have taken the angle of doing minimal school...doing about 1/2 of what's normal. It's a good way for us to keep school going & to keep sane and paced too.
   
7. Joey is in his first theatre production next week. With 6 lines, his cute little face will make an appearance on the stage for 4 nights next week. It will be exhausting and fun. I'm anxious to see the finished product.
8. I'm hosting Christmas this year. In order to keep myself sane, I made up a special calendar assigning myself to a few tasks to prepare a day. So far, it's working well. I don't always get everything done, but things are getting done and I'm hoping in two weeks I have a lot of the details done so I can just enjoy the season, bake with my kiddos, attend parties and scrub my house up for company. Fun!
9. Speaking of fun, head over to Mama Drama to read a little and watch an interesting snippet about simplicity in living. I love the concept, but it's not so American...not so cozy. I do however, want to simplify as much as I can. One question that reigns in my brain? Kids that go to school don't seem to need too too many toys. But homeschool kiddos...they're home all day- how few toys can we get away with? Oh, and here comes Christmas...

Quick Takes

Some fleeting thoughts...

1. I really, really long to spend more time outside while I can just now. Soon the foliage will be dry and gone and it'll be so cold to be out. I am inspired by this eclectic mama.
2. Ralph had reconstructive surgery last week. This has been more challenging for me than I even thought. I would rather have him here, unable to do anything, than gone on travel though. I'm so grateful he can work from home just now.
3. I've been working out my month-long-menu. October was my first shot and it was a success. I loved not doing a major grocery shop every week. (The kids do too.)
4. I have too many things that I want to do right now, and am not being to reasonable about it. I am overwhelmed with all there is to be done.
   
5. Joey had his first vision therapy appointment today. It went well. This was the first appointment of six months of therapy.
   
6. I am deep into a good book and am enjoying to the hilt. Simple pleasures.
   

A fun little thing to do when nothing else is pressing...

1. Maybe I should be....laying in bed all snug with a book.

2. I love....... God's gracious ways of dealing with my stubborn self.

3. People would say that I ...am outnumbered.

4. I don't understand...... how to get everything done.

5. When I wake up in the morning...immediately have to answer questions of my 5 year old early-bird-brain.

6. I lost.... my sweet diamond earring Ralph gave me, years ago. I still miss it.

7. Life is full of.....opportunity.

8. My past taught me.... to cherish each person in each day.

9. I get annoyed when..... I hear too much about Star Wars.

10. At a party I...... find a friend and sit and chat.

11. I wish......we had this house with our Leesburg back yard.

12. Dogs...... are stinky, shed too much and wonderful.

13. Cats...... make a room look cozy.

14. Tomorrow.... school, playdate, soccer practice and a Darrel Evans concert.

15. I have a low tolerance for..... dirty floors.

16. If I had a million dollars..... pay off our house, get new carpet, invest, give, adopt.

17. I'm totally terrified of...... losing my loved ones.

Mornin' Peeps!

...or should I say peepers. Nothing in the world makes me more curious to see that there are folks stopping in to peek at the blog and I've NO idea who they are. Some one from Madras?? Another from India?

I just wonder who you are. And what you had for breakfast this morning. And what your home is like, and how many kids you have, and whether you hate cleaning bathrooms as much as I? Do you keep a garden? Do you homeschool?

So when you drop by, leave me a comment and share with me your blog too! ;)

Happy-busy

Loose tooth is now GONE!
Nathan lost his first tooth and is officially promoted to "big kid." Sigh...

These school-soccer-boy-choir-theatre-planning-filled days are leaving me with little time to even think about blogging. I'm content to be in the throes of things though, fully enjoying our school this year.

We are just diggin' Classical Conversations. It's a great thing for the kids to have class to go to once a week and it's stinking productive. I get to stay and get in on the classroom too so I'm getting new ideas for teaching all the time. The boys have memorized so much information in the last three weeks I can't believe it. I'm happy to say I've learned most of it too. :) The Ten Commandments, Greek and Roman God's, a little Latin, all about the Kingdoms of Living things and this week about the human cell- that's just the half of it! It's something else to give them this information to be retained, rather than merely introducing it and moving on. I love their presentations each week too... the boys continue to get more and more comfortable speaking before their peers. If you are interested in CC look at their website for a chapter close to you. I'll be posting more about the curriculum as time allows on my homeschooling site.

Other big news on the home front...Nate lost his first tooth. You can see up there that it's getting wiggly, and a few minutes later it was gone. He was thrilled to be in on this graduation, promoted to "big kid" in a matter of minutes. Eli really wants to be part of the hole-in-the-mouth club, but he'll have to wait a minute. Geesh!



Things are moving right along at home, we are thoroughly enjoying soccer boys. We have 5 practices a week and three games on Saturdays. It seems like a lot but because none of us "go" very often it works out just fine. We have three different levels this year. It's really, really fun to watch, especially Eli in his first year; This team has an orange thing going. See?

Well, that's all the blogging this morning can handle. Hoping to do more updating this week but for now it's off to do the early morning school rush I'm glad to do just once a week!

Speaking of Colorado...

As many of you know (or maybe have wondered) part of our trip to Colorado was exploring the area with the eyes of a tourist, and part of the trip was looking with the eyes of "Is this a place we could live?"

I'd love to give you friends all a little background so you can understand our situation. Ralph works for a company that contracts out to the government. He works for D.C., mostly, and has been able to telecommute or be a nomadic employee for the last...um, maybe two years.

This has been a HUGE blessing. When we moved to Bend, Ralph gave up all his exciting work over there on the East Coast and took a good (but not nearly as challenging and exciting) job here in Bend. **Let me say right here that this was a HUGE sacrifice on his part. Ralph really enjoys his work right now. He loved his work back East, and wanted to continue on there, but it was really, really far from our families and I wanted to be closer to my family- so he gave it all up and took the lesser job for ME. What a dream husband!** About a year later he was able to get back on with his old company in Virginia, working at a desk right here in our house. What a dream for him, and me. We seemingly have the best of both worlds.

While his job is going well and his employers are increasingly impressed with him, (it's a good thing Ralph doesn't read my blog) his position is getting more and more frustrating because of his inability to do certain things well away from the office, and move forward in his career. He has turned down promotions in the last six months, jobs that require his physical presence. It's nearly impossible to manage a team from across the country. Ralph wants more and more to be office-accesible. The other issue we have is that there isn't a single job available to him in Central Oregon. While we aren't going to borrow trouble from tomorrow, there is a certain wisdom in setting ourselves up to succeed...in this case, having job possibilities.

So, all that to say, we have been looking at our options a bit. If we needed to move, or chose to go so that Ralph could be in a better work environment...where would we go? Our options for his work: Seattle, San Diego, Colorado, Virginia.

So that brings us to our Colorado trip. Yes, we were there to check things out. I am a little familiar with Seattle, Ralph is a little familiar with San Diego, we lived in Virginia- but we knew nothing about Colorado. So off we went.

Some of you have wondered aloud what we learned, whether we've made any decisions.

No. No decisions. We did like Colorado Springs, but we aren't at this point ready to make any decisions. We don't know for sure what we need to do, where or whether God is leading us in this area...I don't really think God cares where we live, it's how we live.

So we wait. The waiting, that's the hard part. The wait... always waiting, waiting to grow up, waiting to get married, waiting to have babies, waiting to sleep through the night, waiting...the Great Wait to be with my Savior forever. Waiting for job answers, waiting for home answers. I know you have these waits too.

But I hear God prompting me to trust Him.
And I told Him I don't know what that looks like, trusting Him in what is going to happen. That it's all going to be alright.
God asked me then, to trust Him in the process. Trust Him in the wait.


So I'm called to rest in Him. Abide in Him. Wait in Him.


That's been hard.


Yesterday, I was praying through my afternoon, God reminded me of that sweet promise: Jeremiah 29:11...

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Typically, I look at this verse and find hope that God has good plans for me, not to harm me. The hope and the future.

Yesterday I saw the other part. "...the plans I have for you."
He has plans for me.
He knows my days.
He's known all my days since before I was born.

So this, my friends is why I don't have to worry about the future. I will write His word on my heart, on my doorposts, speak them aloud all day long because if I don't, I forget.

Please remind me. And I know my friends, that I don't wait alone. I will pray for you as you wait for whatever that is for you.

Confidence, car trips and the battle of the buldge

I spent a good part of today packing up, getting ready for our biggest venture in the camper yet. We're heading out to Colorado tomorrow. We'll be gone for nearly two weeks, but 5+ of those days are on the road, I'm planning to make those days part of the fun and adventure.

#1-I pilfered all our Highlights Magazines from the bookshelf. My boys NEVER get tired of looking at these. Now that Joey is reading he often reads aloud the stories to the younger boys and of course they love it.

#2-I went to the library and picked up a new stash of books and a couple books on cd for us all to listen to.

#3- I borrowed from the movie library of a friend, 7 movies my kiddos haven't seen. I also got a couple from the public library, including Chitti Chitti Bang Bang. The boys watched that this morning while I packed and haven't stopped singing since.

#4-I made a trip to Trader Joe's and picked up two grocery bags chock full of the boys' favorite healthy snacks. I bagged up the peanut butter pretzels and Pirate's Booty in snack sized ziplocks. I'll put all these snacks along with our waters and fruit in a cooler in the back of the truck to ward off convience store fare.

I'm thinking we're set up for success. I'm hoping for it. These are going to be long days, but hopefully these boys will be busy.


Tonight, when I was bagging up the snacks, Ralph walked in the house and spoke the sentence I hoped I would never, ever, ever hear.

"When you have a minute why don't you go out and drive the camper around the block a few times. You'll do great, just have to take wide turns."

Then he turned and walked away.

Let me tell you what happened in my brain at that moment. I thought, "Well, I really don't want to do this, but Ralph seems to think I can do it. I guess I can." That thought didn't steal the fuzzy feeling in my tummy but I grabbed the keys, went out and got in the truck. Ralph glanced in my direction, but amazingly he didn't come over and say "Be careful! Watch the right side on the turns! And whatever you do, don't run over any small children or drive into the Canyon or wipe out our brand new camper."

He had complete confidence in me. It gave me confidence.

I thought about that the entire time I drove through the neighborhood. Confidence spoken to me completely changed the way I felt about driving this 45 foot monster.

When I got back, I was relieved. I know I have to drive this trip, we're driving some 1600 miles. Of course I'll have to take my turns. Now I have to visualize a safe and perfect trip....

Anyhow this lead me to thinking about me. You see shortly after I did my little test drive, I went up and did something equally scary and brave...tried on a new bathing suit.

Imagine my surprise when I looked in the mirror and saw the woman I usually envision, only slightly rounder in a not-so-graceful kind of way. I thought, "Who is that? Where did my skinny little self go? How can I do that to a bathing suit?" Oddly enough, I thought, envisioning myself skinny is NOT making that happen.

So what do I envision now? I think it's here: I envision me running 3+ times a week. I envision me not snacking at every opportunity when I'm not even realizing it. I envision me not eating any more of those wonderful Joe-Joe's cookies on the trip but rather a piece of fruit. Hmpf.

Here's to positive thinking! See you in two weeks.

Jeremiah 17:7
"But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.

Invisible Tornado

This is what I want to know. I'm demanding a logical answer, so if I have any friends out there who are feeling logical (is that an oxymoron?) right now please feel free to respond with an answer that's going to make me sit back and say "Oh, that's why..."

My house has been hit by a tornado. Did I say tornado? I meant a tornado, hurricane and a three year old tsunami. But this is what I don't understand. HOW could my house look like thiswhen we haven't even been HOME.
We were in Portland for three days.
Then my in-laws came to visit (they stayed at a hotel far from the triple-storm effect) for 7 days. In those 7 days we were gone most of the time.
Two days later we went camping, for three days,
and yesterday we were invited to an excellent day at the local historic and nature museum...
that brings us to today.

I even took the time today (as I've been challenged to do some hard things) to assign each of my boys one bathroom to LEARN to clean with me. I snuggled up my boys to spend extra time with them first thing today. I've started on the mountain of laundry, helped to clean three bathrooms, successfully put my five year old on a bike minus training wheels for the first time all over (running next to him to be sure I could catch a crash), and now I'm typing this blog...and my house somehow looks worse.

Sometimes when people stare at me in the grocery with my three little storms circling around my cart they wonder aloud how I get my shopping done. "Simple, " I answer. "they are a tornado. As long as they don't touch down, they just keep moving and do no harm." I have to keep them moving. But at home...today...ohhh.

I'm going to go vacuum up some toys.

Air? Please? A dull moment?...

I think this has been my longest...fun...week in a long, long time.

Sunday we packed up the car and drove to Portland for a Classical Conversations teaching practicum. I took in more information than I have since college, I'm certain in those three days. Our classes were from three to nine at night (I'm not sure who scheduled that) so the mornings were spent in the hotel pool. We also got in a visit with my nephew and sister at a beautiful park there. It was really fun. Needless to say, the kids were up waaay past their bedtimes every night and so we came home (at 10 pm) on our very last little leg. The boys were fantastic there. They all had a class to go to. Nate does not like to be away from us at all, he cried until Ralph fanagled and slipped him into class with Joey. For the rest of the 6 hour classes he did great and was happy to be with big kids. Eli, on the other hand didn't love being in his class (I think it was a bit chaotic) so he sat with Ralph and I for most of our classes. I was impressed at how well he sat. I also have some fun drawings of his own to share with you someday soon.

So we got home, tired....and we have company!! Now company has been nothing but pleasure...eating out, swimming, hiking and the like---my in-laws drove up from Northern California to join us for a week of vacationing. They're staying at Eagle Crest so we've gotten to swim at the pool there, Ralph and his dad have played a little golf too. We went out for dinner (got a sitter) to the Blacksmith in Bend...the best steak that's ever crossed my lips. We hiked yesterday in Bend and then went to dinner. Today is Father's Day so we'll plan to BBQ here, I'm glad we'll be able to just be home for five minutes.

So we've yet to launch in to the bored summer mode. Right now I'm looking forward to that but frankly I can't find it on my calendar.

One day I'll update you all with some photos too. :) Have a wonderful father's day.

the authentic side

I'm sitting in a quiet house all alone. All alone because all four of my favorite guys are outside having an ice fight...tucking ice chips in each others' clothing is hysterical for them. Each time I look out I see that some little boy has shed yet another piece of clothing because "it's wet." I think they may be on to something- there is only one place to put ice now...in the skivies BUT WAIT!! Who wants ice in your unders???

I love Saturdays. I've been thinking about the next season coming....the beautiful, playful, less-than-home-school-structured days of summer. If you didn't already know this about me I tend to get a little unraveled when big transition is on the calendar. Next week is the last day of school so I've been thinking ahead about what life will look like and I've decided that it can just look like Saturdays all in a row.

That's not to say we plan to be stagnant all summer. My self-assignment for next week is to make book lists for us for the summer. We'll be making regular trips to the library to participate in their reading program. We'll continue on with our weekly sketch challenges that are just plain fun. Also, I'm going to host a reading, drawing and writing contest over the summer so of course the boys will do that. Watch for that to join in!!

Our last camping trip was great. Probably my favorite part about camping is the great amount of relaxing and playing I do, and how little "work" and busyness I participate in. Seems like quiet and calm is a resounding theme in my life right now. Do you know what I mean? Do you ever have times when you hear God speaking something to you and it's confirmed in sacred echos all around you? Over and over you know just want God is asking of you because you hear it in your Bible Study, from a friend, a movie, a book...

The sacred Echo I'm hearing now more than ever;

*be still

**be quiet and find your confidence in Me

***live quietly, do your job

When we're camping life is so still, so quiet. Well, quiet as it can be with three boisterous boys. I have decided to do my best to bring that home. I oscillate between being too busy with a full, full calendar-- and being quiet. I'm going to try and keep a quiet summer.

Wide Margins. I heard it said that it's wise to leave wide margins.



Life has been like this for me:

worshippractice,homeschool,tball,cubscouts,homeschool,choir,read,homeschool,playdates....

I feel my heart rate going up already.

For the summer:

read

swim

blog

appointment

camping

church....

You get the idea? Wide margins....room to breathe and play and pray and read in between.

What is God stirring in you in these days?

*Psalm 46:10 (New International Version)

¹⁰ "Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.

**Isaiah 30:15 (The Message)

God Takes the Time to Do Everything Right

^15-17God, the Master, The Holy of Israel,
has this solemn counsel:
"Your salvation requires you to turn back to me
and stop your silly efforts to save yourselves.
Your strength will come from settling down
in complete dependence on me—
The very thing
you've been unwilling to do

***1 Thessalonians 4:11 (New International Version)

¹¹Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you

Home Sweet Home

We're back from our little adventures visiting family in Roseburg and poking around in tidepools at the coast. Our first official "working/schooling" holiday.

I can't wait to show you most of my 286 photos and tell you all about it. Just reading friends' blogs I found three other things to blog about too....

Missing you, bloggie friends. But man, it's great to be offline for a bit!

Soon...

Spring Break!!

(Daffy's I got at Trader Joe's for $1.25)

I just had to stop all the packing madness to share something really fun with all of my fellow Spring-break-happiness-moms. I found these links on a of of a blog friend of a blog friend of a blog friend. Make sense?

At any rate, if you're looking for a little something cute and fun for the kids to do...something anti-commercial & anti-crazy-noisy, here are some links for you.

First I looked at Poisson Rouge, or Red Fish Soup for all of you EFL (English as a First Language) mommies. This site is really fun and quite artsy. Littlest kiddos can play these games--and if you're wondering why on earth I'd suggest littlest ones even PLAY games online...remember that the three year old youngest Peanut of three will not be outdone, even when it comes to 'video games'. This site is artsy, colorful and there is even a little learning stuff.

Then I saw Build A Neighborhood, Mr. Rogers game. Do you remember colorforms? You get to create your own little farm, or neighborhood, kingdom. Very fun for litttler-biggish hands.

The last game, Orisinal: Morning Sunshine did an excellent job appealing to my soft side. The games are cute and simple-arcade-ish and entertained even my 7 year old. The appealing part, the colors are mostly soft on the eyes and the music is lulling. NOT that I'm suggesting by any means that you trade these games for before nap stories and snuggles (those are the best, NEVER trade them) but they're easy on the eyes and ears. Very nice to me. And yes, I was playing a few of the games.

So now that I've given you today's idea for helping to soothe the Spring Fever (and if you're in the sunshine you should have no reason to be inside, playing games....but it's still cold, cold, cold here.) I'd like to share a muffin adventure.

We decided to call these the Blue Soup Muffins. That's exactly what the batter looks like and somehow my kids are more apt to try and enjoy something if you give it an interesting name.



I mixed up these yummy muffins and I've been munching on them all day. They almost have the consistency of a power bar, not quite so solid. They are Y-U-M-M-Y and not too bad for the bod. I used 1/2 sugar and 1/2 Stevia...I've never baked with Stevia before so I only tried 50%. It seems to have turned out just fine. Give them a try and tell me what you think, the recipe is on a blog below entitled "happy"...

Fumbling for bloggits

I've been wanting to write something this week, thinking all week on what to write 'about'...so many times I wait to write until I have a subject. Tonight my subject is just today.

This week has been one of those getting-back-into-the-swing weeks. I have been incredibly tired, which I'm sure is mostly emotional. I've been trying hard to get back to all the normal stuff, which lucky-me, included some fun with friends and lots of chat time.

Some of you knew that Ralph and I were long considering a job promo/transfer. Ralph was offered a double-promo...a dream job for him- back in VA. I know how my CO friends groaned when they heard about this~how my VA friends were pulling for a move, and how all of you just prayed for wisdom and understanding for Ralph and I. It was a full

Brain Chain: in a day's work

wake up, snuggle boy,happy, read and pray, laundry, shower, ahh, dress, beds, flat boy hair, squeaky clean teeth, breakfast, full, vitamins, clean kitchen, hurry, shoes, socks, coats, carseats, hurry!, drive, worship, nate, sit, book talk, chat, brain-tired, chat, drive, husband, dog, make lunch, husband hug, ahhh, talk, frustrated, eat, talk, phone rings, plan, talk, clean kitchen, play, twinkie, pick up, magic beans, go dog!, clean, email, talk to boys, facebook, happy, sweep, school, spelling, art, crochet, correct, content, school, Sesame Street, read blog, listen to Bee Story read by son, happier, paint, art, pattern, giggle, picture, phone, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD, vacuum, spot, vacuum, UPS, snacktime, bleach bathroom,