This and That

I had a yard sale last Saturday. I realized that I had way too much stuff in this little house and that another baby was never going to fit unless we cleared some junk out first. So that's what I did, and it feels great! The baby will now fit.

Plus, we earned almost half of what we need to purchase our Phil and Ted's double stroller. I can't wait to get it. Last time we walked to the park Moses got tired of riding his little Radio Flyer scooter about half way and I had to try to push him and Judah in our single jogging stroller with one hand and carry the scooter with the other. Not fun.

My mom and Bonnie also joined in the sale with me, and one thing they brought to sell was a box of old bone china teacups and saucers. I've been casually collecting old teacups at thrift stores and whatnot, so I picked out a couple for myself. Grace decided she wants to collect teacups too, so my mom let her pick out two. I think she's going to give one to BFF Katrina so they can have tea parties.

Anyway, Grace has also decided she's going to have tea every morning when she wakes up. This morning when I came downstairs with Judah (Moses was still sleeping) she had made her bed, gotten dressed, and was sipping tea from a lovely china cup. "English Breakfast," she informed me, "just like Grandma".

I decided to fly through the shower while Mo was still asleep and asked Grace to watch Judah for me. (Oh, the joys of having a ten year old girl in the house! The showering dilemma is solved!!)

When I got out I peeked into Grace's room, and there was Judah, perched on a stool at Grace's desk, swinging his legs happily listening to praise music and taking long swigs from his sippy cup.

"Judah likes English Breakfast tea, Mom!" Grace tells me. "I let his try some out of my teacup and he smiled and signed 'more' so I gave him some in his sippy cup!"

Sure enough, he likes it. We'll see if he takes a morning nap!

Grace has also been taking care of our neighbor's five chickens while they are on vacation. Who knew you could have chickens in our suburb! Grace has of course made friends with all the chickens and now loves them dearly, especially "Buffy", who obviously loves Grace back because "she's the only one who has never pecked me!" I'm pretty sure Grace is gearing up to ask us for some chickens of her own.

The boys and I go along every morning with Grace to "help," and Moses especially enjoys picking "geens" for the bunny Hannah. ("Geens" would be dandelion leaves.) It's a fun little morning excursion.


One other thing that Moses has been up to lately is not really in the "cute" or "fun" category. I made the mistake of letting him pee outside one time while we were doing school in the yard and I didn't want to interrupt our lesson for the one millionth time. I had him take off his pants and undies and go in an inconspicuous spot. Who knew that would open up a whole new world of possibilities to him! He now drops his pants anytime, anywhere, to relieve himself. And I'll put this delicately by saying there have been one or two occasions where we're not talking about just pee.

Last Sunday we had our Small Group over and were enjoying a meal together outside. All the kids were happily playing and we adults chatting away when Moses comes bolting in from the back yard and yells, "Hey guys! Come see! There's a whole bunch of poop and pee back there!!"

The fact that he was naked from the waist down was a pretty good indication of where said poop and pee came from.

The kid's been potty trained for quite a while, but I feel like we're going through it all for a second time! Ugh. I never had this problem with Grace....


On a different note, I'm really enjoying the Kate Greenaway Illustrations Clip-Art CD that Richard bought for me. She is one of my favorite illustrators and I love how she dresses the children in her books. I've decided to dress all my kids in the style of "Kate Greenaway children". I can't see a mother who looks like this and children dressed so beautifully being anything but light, lively and cheerful all the day long!



In fact, in her own time "Kate Greenaway children" became so popular that a whole generation of mothers in the 1880's and '90's dressed their children in high-waisted pinafores, pantaloons and mobcaps for the girls and "skeleton suits" and straw hats for the boys, all styled after Kate's drawings.

I can't see a little boy dressed like this pooping in the yard.

A (Not Very Convincing) Case Against Homeschooling

I've read a few of the "Top Ten Reasons Not to Homeschool" type of things before and none has ever made me think, Oh my gosh, they're RIGHT! I shouldn't be homeschooling! This one, written by Jesse Scaccia at Teacher, Revised, is no exception.

Some of his arguments include "God hates homeschooling" and "As a teacher, homeschooling kind of pisses me off." Hm.

Anyway, I considered writing my own point-by-point responses, but two other homeschool moms have already done such a great job that I'll just pass their posts on to you!

Anne at Our Homeschool has some great points, including: "I'm not homeschooling to thumb my nose at hardworking teachers, but because I love teaching my kids and think they're thriving in a homeschooling environment."

Spunky at Spunky Homeschool not only refutes each argument with a healthy dose of wit, but gets a crack in at Joe Biden to boot! Awesome. I love this, in response to the argument that "learning" and things like eating and playing shouldn't happen in the same place:

I'm sure this is hard to understand for a teacher confined to teach in an institution all day, but the world is truly both a child's playground and their classroom. It provides both a focused place of study and the ability to roam freely. It's time to think globally and liberate yourself and your students from a classroom-centric world.

While homeschooling isn't the easiest thing I've ever done, I am convinced that it is great for my kids and that I'm not a "self-aggrandizing, society-phobic mother" because I homeschool!

High-Tech or Hands-On?

While shopping [one] day, I noticed hand-dipped chocolates, homegrown vegetables, hand-spun wool, homemade preserves, cottage-industry soaps—all at premium prices, since they were made with care, individually, by hand, at home. I reflected, too, on how "old-fashioned" doctors, famous for house calls and compassion, are remembered fondly as part of the "good old days" and praised for their one-on-one caring. I mused how our society honors unique, special, one-of-a-kind items and services.

Yet when it comes to maternity care, it seems the bigger and busier, the better: high-tech procedures, standardized treatment, massive patient loads, in-and-out, assembly-line-style facilities. We are urged to leave the clean peace and quiet of home and go, instead, to a large, centralized center and entrust ourselves to a system of detached and often distracted institutional workers whom we've never met and may never see again. I find it hard to believe that anyone would consider hospital care preferable, if they really thought about it.


High-tech or hands-on? The choice is not new. In many cases, of course, mechanical and technological advances have been just that: improvements. Other advances, as we all know too well, have resulted in lasting harm.

— Judy Edmunds, excerpted from "A Grand Triumph," Midwifery Today Issue 37

Track and Field Day

Grace competed in a Track and Field Day with our homeschool co-op last week. It was so fun! Here she is getting ready to run the 100 yd. dash.

And the soccer kick...

...and the standing broad jump...

second try...

Moses refused to go compete with his preschool class, so he followed along with Judah and me as we helped with Grace's group. Of course, he did want to race...

barefoot...

Moses being Moses

Soccer champ

Judah found a friend to play ball with him.

Moses wanted to help set up hurdles.

Grace's last event was the 400m race!

Halfway there!

A sprint for the finish!

She made it!!

Although she didn't place in any of her events, she did so well! It was a fun day for all, and we all napped hard that afternoon!

Baby Names

After reading a post on one of my favorite blogs about baby name fetishes, I realized that I, too, have this issue. (She listed "Judah" as one of her favorites - I read some of the comments and was surprised how many people either had a Judah or liked the name and where planning on using it!)

I came across a fun website called Nymbler, where you can plug in your favorite names, or the names of your already existing children, and it will generate a list of names that may also appeal to you. Fun!

I think maybe I'll have to write a book with lots of characters in it so I can use all my favorite names. Or maybe we'll have to get more pets that I can name. (Does anyone remember our dog Moses who we had before Matthias was born?)

Grace is actually writing a story right now about a family with 10 kids. She was telling Moses a bedtime story last night and it sparked her imagination, so she informed me today that she wants to get it published. So far she's about halfway done with the list of names and birthdays, which seems to be more fun than actually writing the story. I wonder where she gets it?

Well, because I have a husband who dislikes outlandish names, and because I'm not a perpetual baby factory, I'll never have a daughter named Zipporah or a son named Asa. But here are a couple of my favorites, anyway. (Excluded are our #1 choices for boy and girl. Those are secret.)

Atticus

Ephraim

Malachi

Phineas

Theo


Adah

Anouk

Mattea

Thaleia

Tovah

What are some of your favorite baby names?

Perspective

Richard is keeping his job! Praise God for His provision!

We felt so blessed, relieved, thankful, and loved at the news that it hardly mattered when a golf ball flew across the street and shattered out the back windshield of our new van!

As Grace said, "Well, at least Papa still has a job!"

It's funny to think that we might have been really upset about the van, but here we are saying, in the words of Moses' favorite book, "could be worse!"

God Always Does What is Good For Us

Please pray for us this coming Tuesday (May 19th) as Richard finds out whether or not he's getting laid off from his job.

We've been so blessed with this city job he got last summer! We've hardly been able to believe how wonderful it is! Richard works 8 hours a day and gets home at 3pm instead of working 9-12+ hours, plus lots of weekends. The work is physically easy yet mentally challenging, instead of being physically back-breaking and tedious. He comes home with energy and time to spend with his family instead of being bone-tired and needing to just eat and go to bed. The work is all year instead of seasonal, so we have steady year-round income. He enjoys the work, can work up to a higher pay grade and skill level, and works with a respectable group of men.

This job has changed life so much for us! Instead of Richard's work season being grueling, lonely, and difficult for all of us, it has become full of laughing, playing and time together as a family. Instead of having an off-season that means tightening of belts, uncertainty about income and insurance coverage, and too much spare time for Richard, life has continued much the same. We have felt extremely blessed this last year.

Not only is it discouraging to think of losing this job that Richard's already put so much time and learning into, and this lifestyle we've come to enjoy so much, it's frightening to know that finding another job is by no means assured with many cities on hiring freezes right now. I really don't want Richard to have to go back to a construction job. I want him to stay at this job for a long, long time.

At the same time, I know that God provided this job when we needed it, and Richard will keep it for exactly as long as we need it. Who knows, maybe God has an even better, cushier job waiting for Richard! He jokes that every time we've had another baby he's gotten a better job - a few more kids and he'll be making six figures! But all joking aside, one thing I do know is that we need not fear the future! God is FOR us. How amazing. Even if there isn't a cushy job around the corner, even if there is no job around the corner, we need not fear. I have this quote written in my Bible: "God is so for us that even in our suffering we have hope."

In one of my favorite sermons ("God Did Not Spare His Own Son"), Pastor John said this:

God is entirely for us, and never against us. None of our sicknesses is a judgment from a condemning judge. None of our broken cars or failed appliances is a punishment from God. None of our marital strife is a sign of his wrath. None of our lost jobs is a penalty for sin. None of our wayward children is a crack of the whip of God’s retribution. If we are in Christ. No. God is for us, not against, in and through all things - all ease and all pain.

I love the apostle Paul's reasoning in Romans 8: "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" (Romans 8:32)

In other words, God has already given us the most precious, most valuable, and most necessary gift of all: His Son, and salvation in Him. If He was willing to give us that, will He not also give us everything that we need? Pastor John calls this "The Solid Logic of Heaven."

He continues in his sermon:

And what shall we say to this? We shall say, "The logic of heaven holds!" If God thus delivered over his own Son, then . . . What? Answer: He shall with him surely and freely give us all things. If God did not withhold his Son, he will not withhold any good thing from us.

This is the final purchase and fulfillment of Psalm 84:11, "No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly."

This is the promise and ground of 1 Corinthians 3:21-23, "All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future - all are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God’s."

This is the sealing of the promise of Ephesians 1:3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places."

This is the securing of the promise of Jesus in the words, "Do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’. . . . Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you" (Matthew 6:31-33).

Since he did not spare his own Son, but delivered him over for us all, he will, with absolute moral certainty, give us all things with him. Really? All things? What about "tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword" (Romans 8:35)? The answer is in this magnificent quote from John Flavel from 350 years ago:

He spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all; how shall he not with him freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32). How is it imaginable that God should withhold, after this, spirituals or temporals, from his people? How shall he not call them effectually, justify them freely, sanctify them thoroughly, and glorify them eternally? How shall he not clothe them, feed them, protect and deliver them? Surely if he would not spare this own Son one stroke, one tear, one groan, one sigh, one circumstance of misery, it can never be imagined that ever he should, after this, deny or withhold from his people, for whose sakes all this was suffered, any mercies, any comforts, any privilege, spiritual or temporal, which is good for them.

God always does what is good for us. If you believe that he gave his own Son for you, this is what you believe. And all of the Christian life is simply the fruit of that faith. Look to Christ. Look to the love God. Live in love. And fear no more.

We are clinging to these truths as we face possible unemployment, another baby on the way, a new van that isn't paid off yet, etc., etc. Nothing will separate us from the Love of God! Please pray with us that we would have open hands with all that has been given to us, not clinging to anything but the Cross, not fearing but living in the Love of Christ.

Springtime Fun

After a loooong winter that lasted well into April, it's finally been (mostly) nice here in the Arctic Circle, and we're outside (almost) every day! What a relief. My children seem to act like angels now that they can run around, as opposed to being cooped up in a small house. Or maybe I'm just not in close enough proximity to notice their quarrels. Either way, being outside makes life seem fresher, more enjoyable, and vibrant!

Judah of the Four Teeth.

He loves wearing our shoes.

Moses ready for a game of catch!

Brothers, hangin' out.

Judah's learning how to climb up the slide, now that he's mastered going down it.

I love this picture. Their little hands are so sweet. And grubby.

Don't mind the goose egg on Judah's forehead.
He had a run-in with the bookshelf while he was dancing.

We're all happy to be outdoors!

I Don't Think It's a Hard Question

Tonight at the dinner table Moses asked for more pizza and Richard told him to eat some of his fruit salad first. Several minutes and a few prompts later, Moses still hadn't taken a bite of his fruit and Richard offered him this option:

Richard: Moses, you can either take a bite of your fruit or you can be disciplined.

Moses, lips pursed, eyes turned upwards in deep though: Hmmmm..... I will choose..... let me think.....

Richard, sternly, to keep from laughing: Moses.

Moses, hastily: It's just so hard!

At this, we all burst into laughter. Can't help it.

Moses, smiling now: Yeah, it's just hard to we-member what my choices are.

Mourning on Mother's Day

I know Mother's Day has passed, but I wanted to share this wonderful post by Molly Piper about mourning on a day that can be full of both joy and pain for many women.

Every Mother's Day since Matthias died has been one of mixed emotions for me. My heart overflows with thankfulness for my wonderful children here on earth, and breaks with the pain of missing my baby who's not with me.

And I also think of friends and loved ones who don't have children but are longing desperately for a baby of their own, how Mother's Day brings fresh pain to an already throbbing wound.

So I loved Molly's exhortation,

I guess I want to encourage all of the mourners today to press into the pain with Jesus. Just go ahead and let it flow. Not only can he handle it, he’s the only one who can truly handle it and even heal it.

And in the words of a beautiful hymn, "Ye who long pain and sorrow bear; Praise God and on Him cast your care."