Family-Friendly Quiche

Everyone liked the quiche!!!! (Rachael was a little picky about the onions cause she bit into a big piece of one - my crying eyes could only take so much dicing.)

So from my skill-less kitchen to your skill-filled kitchen I give you the recipe.

Tuna Quiche

1/2 c mayo
2 tbsp flour
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 c milk
1 (7oz) can tuna, drained
8oz (or a little less) cheese (shredded swiss = nice and melty)
1/3 c onion, diced (optional) - red onion = good, but not so hide-from-kid friendly
1 (9inch) unbaked pie shell



-preheat oven 350*
- mix first 4 ingredients
- stir in tuna, cheese and onion
- put pie shell in greased (for easy removal) pie pan
- pour mixture into pie shell and smooth down
- bake 40-45 min or until done




*** Those of you who know me, know that cooking is in no way a forte, but this one was easy and tasty!
 
Enjoy!

A Willing Servant.

In reading through Matthew and working through our recent Sunday School apologetics series, God has taught me all kinds of things. One thing in particular that has popped up again today in my devotion reading is the following:

Many times throughout the Gospels, Jesus tells a newly-healed person not to spread news of their healing or a demon not to announce that Jesus is the Son of God.

At first in my study I used to think this was just Jesus' humility. What a humble God-man, I used to think and move on in my reading.

Then as I thought deeper about it, I thought maybe Jesus' ministry would have been cut short quicker if more people knew He was God at a faster rate. Maybe He'd be kept out of cities and it would have been more difficult to preach to the masses. Maybe He would have been crucified sooner, and less would have had the opportunity to hear first-hand the Good News.

And then in my Sunday School class it hit me for the first time, maybe it was none of those reasons, but that they would not have crucified Jesus if they knew for sure that He was God. The goal of Christ was what? Salvation to all who would believe (the Jew first and also the Gentiles). Would they really have crucified their Obviously Announced Messiah? What did Israel believe? Jesus was coming as a conquerer, not as a servant. So if Christ was announced as a conquerer, even the demons shrank back from His presence, I'm not thinking they'd be so quick to crucify and instead they'd be quick to enthrone Him and finally "beat" their enemies.

Just kind of interesting to think of Christ asking to remain quiet about His Deity early in His ministry (though He made it quite clear in parables and at the end of His ministry that He was indeed God) so that He would be crucified!

Kind of puts a humble spin on Christ accepting and willingly going to the cross for our salvation.

- just some thoughts.

The Kitchen Table

And just like that I look up and see two little girls at the table.

Be still my soul... when did that happen?

Ah yes and did you see those beautiful flowers on the table? That dear friend Jenney of mine brought them to my fine-dining Wendy's luncheon experience in honor of my birthday. And I must say, those beautiful things have just made my days since. It's amazing how color and life bring cheer amid the cold. Such a thoughtful friend, she is. And yes, people, they are pink, but a sweet delicate light pink that catches the corner of my lips and brings out a little smile. Thanks again for the joy, Jenney friend.

Evidently!

I love how God still uses my husband to teach and challenge me in my walk in the Lord. Despite the ordinaries and the "been there, done that's" of each day, God still speaks things to my heart through the casual conversations with my Matt.

One such thing Matt brought up a few weeks ago and I wanted to share it because it has helped change my perspective for the better.

Matt mentioned being challenged by the Lord to not look at others' lives with discouragement for the potential that they could have in Christ, but instead to seek the evidences of faith in their life. Matt said that then he is able to rejoice at the Lord's hand in one's life and pray all the more to find more evidences. And in the concerning cases in which Matt is not able to find any evidences, to then pray for their salvation.

I think this brings a whole new perspective on Christ being alive in us.

It's about exhorting our brothers and sisters to run HARD the race set before us and keep the (evidences) of the faith so vibrantly alive in us.

So today, join me, in searching for the evidences of faith, hope, life, truth, self-control, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and Godliness in others' lives. You might be surprised at the joyful prayers of thanksgiving and the exhortation that seem to flow naturally from your lips thereafter.


- thank you, again, Lord, for Matt's heart for You splashing me in it's overflowing.

"Normal"

I have taken on a few lifestyle changes in the "new year".

Prayer board: With new prayer requests, new to me, for ministries serving the "least of these" coming onto my radar, I have come to realise that I now have more prayer opportunities than I can keep track of on a daily basis or than I sincerely can sit down and pray for daily. So instead of limiting my window of prayer, I am borrowing a 2-month dry erase board from my parents and am going to start scheduling my prayer times for each day so I can pray for everyone during a week and not leave anyone out. Since I'm a visual person, this board will prove to be a quite useful tool in my prayer life. I am also in to process of organizing my prayer/ministry handouts/brochures in a binder so I can simply flip via country/ministry and pray more specifically.

Scripture in a Year: I have taken on the challenge of reading through the Bible in a year. I really needed to discipline myself in this area so many years before, but God loves Himself this slow learner as well. ;) Matt and I found a printout that breaks up the reading to 4 chapters per day - totally doable. Requiring a total of like an hour and a half per day (if that).  We started a bit late so in wanting to push myself to keep up the habit and make the time a priority I have pushed myself to devour Scripture at a feverish rate to begin and then will wean back to 4-5 chapters per day. Thus far I have filled almost all my free time with reading Scripture. I've read 18-26 chapters per day and been learning/retaining so much from Scripture. Really I have chosen to push myself really hard to "catch up" with the reading plan verses just start my reading plan in the middle of January because I know the  greatest challenge in reading Scripture is not making time, but making the priority. So I am pushing myself very hard to make it a priority to think, meditate and read Scripture. But obviously this cannot be done in neglect of the God has given me. So I will not be keeping up this pace all year. But by the end of the weekend I should be "caught up" and be able to go to my 4-5 chapters per day routine.

Gratitude Journal: Theresa and Jenney and I have taken on the challenge of making a journal of 1,000 things for which we are grateful to God for. There is no daily requirement, but it is just in efforts to train our minds to be thankful for the daily normals that God has so blessed us with. I have forgotten some days - just being real, but I really have enjoyed taking random moments to think more about how much God has blessed me so in the little norms of the day. Our God is so good.

Been praying about starting a women's Bible study in my home. This has been a topic of conversation with Matt for over 6 months. We talked about opening our home for a group Bible study and I think we've landed on having separate Bible studies due to the demands and joys of ministering elsewhere taking up a lot of our schedule. So I have been praying and hoping and desiring to start a Bible study focused on reading one chapter of Scripture per week and discussing it at a weekly "mid day" meeting while my kids are napping preferably. I have talked to a few about it to see if there's even an interest out there. But really my heart just longs for Christ-centered focus and soaking in the Word. My heart longs for the true fellowships that Christ alone can stir in our hearts, leaving aside excuses and really running hard to self-discipline ourselves to be more like Jesus. So instead of looking for that environment, I thought I'd try to create it in our home. It's like Anne Graham (Billy Graham's kid) said in her study, "I was so hungry for that fellowship that I was decided to lead it."


So just a few good and doable changes to refocus and continue to push myself to be ready when God want sot use me. It's about being ready and available so that when God says "go" you're alert and prepared to give it all. And since God says, "go" daily, I'm just trying to get with the program here.

More crowns for Jesus' feet!


Side note: This is a beautiful post by my dear friend and missionary, Theresa on Resilience. Oh to not keep the focus on us by clinging to tragedy, but instead to leave the focus on Jesus' power of His hope and sustaining character...

Settling In

So after a few months of not having a computer, waiting on Matt to have Internet access, and feeling semi-in the dark ages. I am pleased to have a new computerized friend to resume my "little world" here.

And as most of you have known from experience, thus begins the few hours of "getting it the way I like it" in the world of putting my files/settings on this wonderful little tool.

One thing I had not anticipated was how silent not having a computer has made life. I am not a tech-savvy person, so a computer primarily functions in online and file storage uses in our household. But one thing I really missed in the past 6 months of non-computer use during Matt's working hours was music. Having most of our music stored on Matt's computer, made "random playlist" options impossible. I've missed my 'Christian music genera" catch-all playlist that has proven to be a background to the chores and play around the house.

So after I get the music downloaded to this computer you had better believe you will find my house back from the silent age and returning to the normal pep in our steps.

sigh... how lovely it is to be spoiled by convenience.

- grateful.

Back Again

Well I'm back, with the darkage of computerlessness still ongoing, but finding refuge in "stealing" hubby's work computer in the mornings and evenings. Christmas was wonderful, I'll drop in a post specific to it's wonders in a while. And New Years was.... well, normal for our little family of small children. We certainly weren't staying up since our bunch would be up at regular time. And we figured our morning gales coming over the monitor would sound more like crows cutting into our beauty rest should we have chosen to stay up til the wee hours of the morning. So we grannied it. =)

I am quite happy to have visited with my dear friend, Theresa, as in "THE Will and Theresa" my missionary friends over in Jos, Nigeria. They visited back for "the holidays" and I got to steal me some time of "tell me about your world." I'm sure they only had to explain their little world once or twice during their visit back to the States (wink, wink). It was so nice to talk about Jos as if it was in my backyard and also drill her about Jos life (sorry Theresa, hehe) without having to wait for an emailed reply.

Rachael's 3rd birthday was January 5, which felt like an extension of the holiday called Christmas-New-Years. Funny how those seem to come back to back, as if the week between them just vanishes. I'll post about Rachael's birthday in another post. Afterall, the firstborn deserves her own post. ;)

But nonetheless, we are just started to get back to normal things here (minus Abi's recent oogies). I have washed all the dolls, stuffed toys, doll accessories, and dress-up clothes in attempt to clear off some of the "to do" list before homeschool starts back up again. I also got Rachael's bedding done and my pillow case and blanket. Now all I have to wash are Matt's blankets/pillow case, our sheets, and Abi's jumble of blanket heaven. I feel all accomplished because I tackled the pileS of baby/toddler clothes that needed organized into their appropriate storage bins and got the house nicely organized, putting up all the old baby toys and cleaning out the playroom over the "holiday season" as well.

So, alas, here we are at the tale end of cleaning frenzy and almost ready to swing back into homeschool mania! (By the way, I just LOVE the flexibility of homeschool!!!) WOOT!

Oh to be the baby!

• Climb in and out of the Lego toy bin for 6 minutes.
• Wander the house.
• Find paci - the long-lost friend- amid the nursery pile of baby blankets that are supposed to go there and certainly not in the crib where Mommy puts them with me to sleep. 
• Talk to paci, reciting his name affectionately a handful of times before putting him in his right place - where he fits so well. Paci remains in my mouth for the next 24 minutes. 
• Immediate hand to rub that one comfortable place on my belly. It always happens that way when paci is in place.
• More hallway walking.
• Climb up on the couch - oh the effort- and bang the blinds a while - what a joyful event!
• Talk to ride-on cow about the latest happenings.
• Throw all the blankets off the couch Rachael put up there for her babies earlier this morning.
• Drag one of the blankets back over to share with cow, resuming our intimate meeting by the cat tree.
• More hallway wandering.
• Drag the play guitar on the kitchen floor. It sounds so funny that it makes me smile.
• Roll on the living room floor while kicking my legs in the air.
• Try to ride the cat carrier.
• Eyeballs peeking up over the table edge and putting an arm up there in hopes of finding treasure.
• Smack a few magnets off the fridge as I walk by.
• Wooden puzzle time- putting all the circle piece on their pegs. Dumping over my head and redoing.
• Abandon puzzle.
• OOOOOH look! Mommy caught a meow! - HURRY! Hurry!
• Calling "Meow's!" and confusion why they run when I just want to give them big hugs while squealing.
• Wander around looking for Rachael.
• Observe Rachael's play.
• Show Daddy the necklaces Rachael dropped.
• Laugh and flap my arms in excitement that he might put them on me.
• Wear necklaces with pride - parading through the playroom.
• Turn a few nearby toys in my hands to inspect them.
• Join in Rachael's marching-band parade with the addition of jingle bells.
• Oh look! Books!
• Abandon parade route and instrument.
• Commence edible book review.
• Talk to Daddy on play phone, then give Mommy a turn.
• Run to Mommy saying, "neigh, neigh" and flapping my arms so she'll put me on the rocking horse.
• "Down" gets me off.
• Laughing that "down" worked. 
• Ooooh! Daddy's putting Rachael in her food chair! How exciting! RUN!

This has been a 35 minute walk in her little shoes.

- love her.

A Little Lull

Just letting you all know, there may be a lull for a little while in my posting. A good while ago my computer's mother-board bit the dust. I had borrowed a computer for a little while, but we're still looking for a permanent fix to this situation. The computer I borrowed needed to be returned before we were able to fix the situation. So for the next little while, Matt and I will be sharing his work computer (which is only available to me when he's home). This really isn't a big deal, people, because the emails and posts can wait - they're not life-sustaining. =) 

But I will miss the fun as we continue to figure this puzzle piece out. =) 

So know I still love you all, even if I am quiet for a while. =)

The Romance of a Place

We loaded up and headed to a small-town church this morning. The Pastor was away for the holiday and asked Matt to fill-in preaching. There were ten people total in the congregation. Matt, I and the girls made up four. Then there was a 7 or 8 year old grandson. So once the children were dismissed and I got settled back down after changing baby's diaper, there were a whoppin' five in the service, including me.

The service began at 10:30a. Matt and I got delayed in our commute due to me forgetting my guitar in the shovel out the door, but ended up being the first people there at 10:20a. At 10:27a, a local attendee arrived, followed by the music leader and his grandson at 10:28a, who was able to let us into the building. At 10:32a, there were still us seven. Matt asked if we should start, smiling at the fact that our family outnumbered the attendees. We were informed to wait for more. Two more came in together, one of which was the Sunday School teacher. After introducing my girls to the nursery toy stash (praise the Lord!) the final congregation member arrived.

No one minded the toddler "praise" occurring in our row as the first 6 (seriously, SIX) hymns were sung (at least 3-4 verses a piece). And pacing in the side row with a baby on your hip didn't even bat an eye. I was still grateful to have remembered to put away the walking toy Abi had found so amusing before the start of church. All we needed to complete the service was a melt-down over who would push the walking toy back to the nursery before the sermon. I'm not even sure if anyone would have noticed a good ole fashioned toddler fall-out tantrum. Graciousness poured from the small bunch.

No one payed any mind to the "Jesus loves me" chorus from the nearby Sunday school room amid Matt's sermon. Rachael's voice sailing in competition of the microphone. Giggles and running feet from the other room were merely a part of Matt's sermon.

We ate at a local diner after church, slightly annoyed by the girls' sugar high post snack cookies. Rachael explained how she learned about Tangled at Sunday School and that Jesus healed someone at a hospital and "another guy was forgived by Jesus because he was a bad guy". I still have no idea what the lesson was, but the butter-rolls were a hit. The grilled-cheese sandwich partial-crusts proved their toddler success.

The drive home included one passed-out baby with head tilted toward the ceiling and a toddler zoning through slit-eyes until her body gave in. Matt chuckled as he heard snoring from the backseat. I pondered the romance of the rural country with a background of AM Radio Sunday afternoon football playing and a husband immersed. Rain fell as thoughts of the romance in working the land with your hands, keeping up with the house chores, and raising the kids consumed me. I remembered the short conversation Matt and I had as we waited outside the church, after walking the small block and looking in all the storefront windows with the girls. "What if a small store-front church called you and asked you to be the Pastor and live above the church, what would you say?" "I'd say yes," he smiled, "As long as the apartment fit our family." We both smiled, remembering our family motto to serve the Lord wherever He may call.

And I was reminded again that it is not the place, but the enjoyment of the romance of the place that brings such joy. Seeing the joy and delight in the everyday normals. Finding the bliss in the here and nows, even if the here and nows are drastically different from one day to the next. It's the reminiscing on the present as if it is told in the future to a circle of grandkids. Enjoying life as it is given to you as a gift from our Father in Heaven.

I wonder if God delights in my delights.


And I know He does.


Enjoy your rainy Sunday, friends.

Error... Recomputing.

I'm going to have to think/type quick for this post because I only have a half hour until Mike is coming to beat to death a pipe in our wall that keeps spewing forth washer drainage (mmm, yes!)

But I wanted to take a minute to share something with you, reader(s). (If you exist out there.)

Yesterday I went to get my hair trimmed. I like to go to a beauty school for a few reasons 1. Can't beat $8 for a wash, condition and trim  and 2. Refer to #1.

While sitting and chatting with the student who was trimming my hair (kinda funny to talk with someone who's squatting on the floor to trim your hair - guess it's a little long these days), the student, mom of 2 preschool kids, mentioned in an outpouring of how smart kids are "these days" that she believed "parents are better parents these days, then they have been in the past." I thought that one through for a quick second and replied, "Maybe some," to which she semi-recanted that she agreed that not all parents were good parents.

Thinking over this concept, I'd have to personally disagree. While some new "technologies" have allowed parents to be more effective *ahem, the cloth diaper*, I personally think that the new wave of "selfish parenting" that is on the rise kind of hurts that theory. Many parents, check out the commercials, are not parenting for the benefit of their children, but instead in order to shape the child to best glorify the parent. Don't I sound like a conservative crazy?

Just in thinking about it, so many parents dress up their kids for the soul purpose of making them look good. And then there's the "I don't care" population that is letting their kids control everything; the child-rearing, the marriage, the schedule.

I can imagine there must have been this same kind of thinking in every generation. But I believe, at least from my current viewpoint, that many parents are getting worse. The concept of family is drifting from "quality time around the table together" to meals in the car on the way to the massively-packed schedule that "must be kept up."

We all pick our lifestyles. But I just have to say that the more I think about how my mom parented my sister and I, the better Mom I am. Sure she made her mistakes. But her heart was prioritizing our whole good - not just giving in to the moment to get us to shut up (though I could testify to the utter temptation at times). My mom gave up so much to invest in Jes and I. She took the extra time-consuming steps to raise us to the best of her ability. She evaluated herself and tried to leave "the bad" behind in an effort to give us her best. She didn't idolize us, she didn't shelter us from all consequences, she didn't hide us away from reality. But she sure did put her heart and soul into molding us into the people we are today.

I guess if my mom were lazy, disconnected, or self-focused then I could agree with the student's statement that just maybe my parenting could be better than my mom's. But looking through the lens I have been so blessed to see through... I disagree. I think the beauty student spoke in error. I don't think parents are better parents these days, then they have been in the past. I believe it is the job of every parent to submit to Christ and then let your parenting be an outpouring of your heart of service.

Thanks, Mom, for helping me catch that error.

Domestic Me

(cue music) "Watch this is so fun to see. Oh... despicable me..."

Well, maybe not despicable, but certainly domestical me. =) Alright, alright... just "domestic me".


When Rachael was 11 months old I "retired" from the working world and became a homemaker, housewife, and wonderfully unemployed me. Beginning my second trimester of Abi-pregnancy goodness and keeping track of my 11 month old at the time was a whole new challenge. It's been a learning curve as we've gone through different stages and new challenges have arisen throughout the past two years. There have been moments of tears and moments of great triumph in mastering a regular order to the house and intentionally offering myself to my kids. Matt has been more than generous in lending a hand to keep things going during the "newborn: will we even get sleep again?" phase, the Abi-crying phase, and the various challenges in balancing life and kids. I could not have asked for a greater teammate at life.

With increased balance and mastery of the house/child rearing, I have taken on a few "projects" of my own. I am finding the utter delight in mastering and contributing to my family through my "projects". The laundry/cleaning was one of my projects - finding that attainable balance of daily contribution and preventing the utter pile-up.

 - multi-tasking -

Homeschooling is one of my projects. And while it certainly will become a necessity in educating the kids, right now it is such a fun research, curriculum writing adventure of being intentional to instill Christ (to the best of my ability) in my kids. Christ is the one who takes up residence in somone's heart, but I sure can be intentional about watering and planting.

And then there's my very recent project: diapering. My sister in law, Ellen, was wonderfully kind to allow me the borrowed use of my nephew's old cloth diapers. Now while cloth diapering may sound ridiculous to some, disposable diapers are quite expensive and for an investment upfront (which thanks to Ellen was near nothing for us this far), you can diaper and re-diaper for "free". "Free" includes the regular price of laundry soap (really it's about a load or two more per week since the diapers can go through with your regular laundry). I'm trying out cloth diapering after Abi's repetitive rashes, highly irritable skin, and the luxury of being available to tend to her diaper needs promptly if need be. But thus far, count me in that crazy bracket. =)

It's all about trying to do better with what you are responsible to do. Christ has given me the wonderful chance to serve Him through my family and I have to say... it really is a blessing.


Thanks, dear blog, for letting me share a slice of my domestic life here.

Sandcastles

Between Sunday night touchdowns we enjoyed writing it. We laughed about the illustration, building with a dirt foundation and creating a flood. We giggled about the idea of sticks falling all over the place and the utter joy of permitted destruction coming upon the face of a child. We laughed until tears came to our eyes as we thought of accidentally knocking down the building built on rocks and trying to explain that God does a better job at building than this demonstration. And then we sent the lesson overseas with a prayer and a smile. 

Nothing can describe the joy I felt in my heart when I found these two wonderful pictures in my inbox this evening.

The foolish man built his house upon the sand...

And you know what happened. 

(Love that this picture captures Auntie Theresa and the new Uncle Ayuba, I presume, in the mix too. How cool!)

Oh but the wise man...

I read over the account of the Bible lesson's success and my heart leaped within me. Thank you, Jesus, for orchestrating such joy and such a blessing in my life.

I just love my little Nigerian kids and their Aunties (and now Uncle).

- to God be the glory.
- love and hugs to Theresa and Will.

The Littlest

She just makes me smile so much.

Hoping these pictures help you smile too.

Welcome to her world...

 Snorkeling in the tub.

 Cracking up about who knows what.

No she wasn't crying, actually she was laughing.
Check out those molars! 

Yeah.. you know we were up in the middle of the night for those honkers...

 Watching Rachael do Ring Around the Rosey.

 Personality for sure.

Love that little baby girl...

Not Another One!!!

Yes, yes, I have another homeschool post. Buckle up, people, these may happen periodically.

I wanted to share a fun little project I did with Rachael. We made a book about shapes. Rachael worked very hard on this book, tracing and coloring in each of the shapes. On the backs of each page we traced and colored six of each shape (repetition, repetition, repetition). I don't have pictures of Rachael making this book because between instructing and chasing down Abi as she "borrows" items from the table, I was a little busy.

But alas I share with you one of Rachael's accomplishments:

Her book on Shapes.

These are each of the 8 pages.

These are the backs of each of the pages that had backs to them. 

And this is what little-one does most of the time while we homeschool:

She loves her books.

The following two pictures is a placemat I made for Rachael to aid her identifying of numbers, shapes, letters, and her Bible verses. Since I couldn't find a placemat that had all these things on them, especially not the Bible verses, I just decided to make one. At each meal she can decide which side of the placemat she'd like to face up, and accordingly we get to talk about and rehears that side of the placemat during meal prep and sometimes during the meal itself. Since Rachael just sits at the table nicely many times while we prep/serve the meal I figured it was a good time to use the captive audience wisely. =)

 The front: Rachael's 3 Bible verses. Believe it or not she know the top two and we're working on the last one, "God is love". She almost has it down. We put these verses to song and she picks them up lightning fast!

 The back: letters, numbers, and shapes. Thus far she can ID A, C, E, H, L, and R (her name) and she can ID all the shapes (confusing some occasionally) and 1-10 with some confusion about 9 and the fact that 10 is ten and not 1 and a 0. 

Proud of my little smarty and her excitement for exploring and learning amidst our day of fun and play. She is absorbing much and hungry for much learning too. 

Thanks for checking out our little world.

How It's Been Lately

Posts have been a little slow lately (I know my reader(s) are hungry for my constant news... NOT!).
Between homeschool and watching a little boy (2 y/o) now during the days there has been minimal time to breathe around here. (My last day watching him was today). We just got off of a Discipleship Now weekend with the youth group. I think all enjoyed it. And now comes the usual exhaustion of a completed busy weekend.

I've found myself some time to reflect amid prepping the "new family member" room as we are finishing our last few pieces of adoption paperwork. While I feel like the phrase, "finishing our last few pieces of paperwork" is a lie, it feels nice to say likewise. =) There's always just one more. But that paper takes on another meaning when it brings you that much closer to your new family member.

We did our child survey, identifying all the traits we would or would nit consider tonight. Matt joked that filling out the paperwork during Sunday Night football may have been a mistake.
Me: "Will we consider a child who has been convicted of murder?"
Matt: "YEAH!!! GO, GO, GO!!!!"
Me: "Will we consider a child with the characteristics of honesty?"
Matt: "Man!!! No way!!! What was that?!?!"

=)

I'm looking forward to spending an evening out of the house with no kids (say what?!) with Amanda tomorrow night. I feel like it's been dark ages since we've sat down. And a good cup of hot chocolate at a bookstore is in order for sure. Don't you love how a good Christ-centered conversation leaves you marveling at how quickly the time has passed?

Matt's playing some war video game. I'm sure he loves that I keep asking questions during his relaxing time blowing up of "the enemy forces". It's a boy thing, I tell myself. Girls aren't supposed to understand. ;)

So that's how it's been lately. A little busy, with laundry on the side. And the joy of lazy Sunday afternoon naps and good husband-snuggles during this wonderful football season. 

Looking forward to returning to a less-busy schedule (after the photo shoot, vet appointment, house-cleanup, and girls night out scheduled for tomorrow of course-hehe).

Some errands left to before our final safety audit in this adoption process (lock box, smoke detectors, and a convertible car seat to buy). I'm putting primer paint on my Christmas list. I figure I'll try to get that room painted white and then when we meet/make the matching conference on a child we can ask them what color they'd like their room. Just trying to think of ways to make the room theirs and make them feel welcome.

sigh... alright, that's all for tonight. Thanks for reading my randoms. =)

Happy Sunday night to all!

Who's control is in Control?

You know, I just wanted to take a moment to bring up the interesting conversation/battle of birth control into the topic ring.

I have many times heard the birth control method argued by Christians to be "responsible" and "enabling you to control when you have a kid to best care for the child." I have also heard the conservative approach, and even "excessively" conservative approach argued that "we'll take whatever the Lord gives us."

I find this conversation interesting in terms of the Duggar's new announcement that they are pregnant with their 20th child. So many feel challenged by that information and often throw in their two cents of, "those people are ridiculous" judgement. I could easily find myself in that camp when my kids are obnoxious. I could also find myself in the "test of faith" camp wondering how many other feminist thoughts we are going to try to justify by the Word because the thought of not controlling our family feels uncomfortable and we want to feel justified with our level of control.

Matt and I have had this conversation many times and probably will continue to have this conversation as we continue to surrender our family to the Lord. I agree with him that birth control, whether it be abstaining during your ovulation cycle or a non-abort-effasive method, in many instances can be very responsible. I think it can also be very wrong. I think it boils down to the heart, which is what the Word seems to bring me back to.

Am I saying, "no, I don't want You plan over my own," to the very one I call Lord? Am I saying, "it's not convenient," and viewing children as the "burden" that first began the feminist movement of birth control? Is my heart in line with what God says about kids? Is my mind with Christ's on valuing and delighting in children? And does not being on birth control really mean that I'm going to end up with 30 kids? What about Hannah? Or those in the Bible that were barren? Or those in the Bible that only had a handful of kids?

Or am I using my "faith" in God's plan as a cop-out? Am I being irresponsible in ignoring the things we so clearly know about women's bodies and how and when contraception is at it's most harvest-filled time? Am I being selfish in wanting a particular number of kids and controlling in being non-controlling?

The battle is in the heart. And the surrender, on either side of the argument, is in the heart. But what I do know is that God calls us to self-sacrifice. His Will in exchange for our will. And His Will stretches us and is not comfortable because it defies our fleshly nature. His Will challenges and grows us. And while we can still be Christians and still be controlling, I just know one thing... the Judge looks at the heart to determine who is and who is not sacrificing in worship and evidence of their faith.

Paul states it this way in the Word, that all things are permissible for us, but not all things are good (or beneficial). It is important to weigh out the consequences of either side of this "birth control" argument and surrender our families fully to the Lord. For He even said, "Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?" (Luke 6:46).

We need to be certain His motives are ours in all things, the make-up of our family included.

- to God be the Glory.

Our Joy and Pride

No one prepares to be blown away... otherwise they'd hang onto something.

Homeschool has been trucking along with this Mommy creating random letter-focused practice sheets for Rachael to do and coming up with various other curriculum ideas and Rachael just going along for the ride. It's been fun to be creative and watch Rachael's discovery and pride in her accomplishments.

We have been slowly working on Rachael's letters in her name each week. Repetition, repetition, repetition in tracing the individual letter per week, recognizing each capital letter in books and amongst other letters, and learning shapes, colors, and numbers along the way. I've been very goal-focused in targeting Rachael's weaknesses (fine motor control) while blending them into her strengths (identifying shapes, colors and numbers). We've had our frustrating days (sigh) and our moments of victories. And then came today's in which I found myself blown away.

We were sitting down to the normal homeschool with an audience of Abi and Rachael's newest "goes with her everywhere" stuffed animal. We were working on squares today, Rachael showing off her advancements in fine motor skills over the past 3 weeks of focus and I decided to try it out... Rachael has learned the letters R, A and C (we're working our way through her name - other letters didn't really sick). Thus far we have only been tracing them because her fine motor skills are *ahem* "age appropriate". This is not a problem, but I do like to challenge her. So I decided to try it out... NO DOTTED LINES....

And man did she blow me out of the water writing the letters she knows...

It's so cool to see her advancements and her increased focus and hear her ecstatic laughter as she masters a skill for the first time.

- love homeschooling.

Some pictures of her work over the past 3 weeks:

Week 1: "R"

Week 2: "A"

Week 3: "C"

We had done other homeschooling prior to this, it was pretty light and didn't focus on writing at all. Then we took a break from it for a while (helpful of homeschool) after I started getting my feet wet so I could reorganize and so life could happen. And then we started into a more "let's get ready for our real written preschool curriculum for the winter" process which I have charted above.

But anyway, thanks for celebrating with us on Rachael's great successes!

More of Jesus

You know, I was thinking today about what it will be like to be nearest to Jesus. I can't possibly fathom what it will be like to see Him for the first time. And quiet honestly, just thinking about it makes me miss Him so much.

Do you get like that? Where you think about how awesome Jesus is and just want to find yourself wrapped up in His arms? It's not that your family isn't wonderful. You're not in some pity-me moment. And it's not a self-loathing moment either. Your day is good, maybe even great, and you just miss Jesus. He hasn't gone anywhere, but something deep inside... something that can't be satisfied just wants to run into His arms.

Something inside you wants to stay in His arms and catch up on the 'remember when's of this journey. You just want to snuggle in deep and hear Him breathing. You just want to feel His embrace - you know that has to feel amazing.

God is no less real on this side of the New Jerusalem. God is no less present and no less enough than He is. The I AM is still the I AM. And there are days that I wish I could just hug Him. No one has been closer to me than Jesus. And no one ever will be.

The closest thing I can think of how my face will be is comparable to this little girl's face when she looks up from her classroom work to see her Daddy standing there, newly returned home from the war.

http://www.godvine.com/Daddy-Gives-his-Daughter-a-Heartwarming-Surprise-at-School-764.html

With tears in my eyes I can say that yes... Jesus is well worth it.

-Keeping my eyes on the Prize.

"...Going to Training"

My two year old told my one year old in the middle of her afternoon play, "You watch my babies and I'll go to training and be back soon."

Can you tell we've been doing our foster/adoptive training for a good while now.

And alas, I finished my last class tonight. Funny how 36 hours can feel like a lifetime.


The final class brings a relief and yet a bit of fear too. You see, God told us to get our license. So we have. We've tried to be good kids. But as we finish this process up, it's kind of like standing on a cliff after climbing the hill in obedience. It's not a fear of someone pushing you off, God has more love than that. But it sure gives you a thrill at God's prospect of saying, "Jump... trust me..."

It's like that moment at the top of a roller-coaster hill when you have that split second somewhere between, "This was a good idea, right?!" and "BRING IT!!!" It's that healthy wondering of what the horizon will reveal.

So much change has happened to our family over the past 6 months, from no longer watching Lexi to temporarily watching Kevin, to God adjusting our plans multiple times and reminding us that He is more than capable of using any situation to grow and change our family, to babysitting Mom's cats and then ending up adding one of the cats to our crew, to getting into the swing of homeschool and delighting in Rachael soaring in her learning. We just never know what's on the horizon. And it's so exciting not to have the "this will be out of God's control" fear that comes from a lack of faith, but instead to have a butterflied feeling of excitement and anticipation for what we have yet to see.

It's like holding your breath and trusting that God will instruct you when to breathe before it's too late - even if it gets a bit uncomfortable at times. He knows what He is doing. And He sure is moving.


Matt still has a class to go in 3 weeks and then our collective training classes will be complete. We have our list of things still left to get done before getting the final stamp of approval from the county before sending the application to the State for a completed license. But with all that being said, our application/license should be complete around Christmas. Christmas, people!!!! That may feel a bit far away when you look at Halloween and Thanksgiving coming up first, but when you think about the fact that i have started Christmas shopping/looking..... eeeeeek, people!!!! That's in a blink of an eye.


God is so good to us. God has blessed us so. And I'm feeling like a little kid in a toy store as this adoption process is becoming more of a reality. Whooooo! Stand back and check out what God will do...!!!!!

We'll be standing beside you, checking it all out and applauding His Greatness,