We have come so far

It was on Christmas day one year ago that an Ethiopian court determined the unrelated Masso and Tamene would now become brother and sister. They were to be our children. The elation we felt when we heard this news made us soar. I was sure we were in for a wild ride. What I did not realize is that I would anticipate all the wrong things. 2010 would prove to undoubtedly be the hardest, most humbling, most eye opening year of my life thus far.

The journey we've been on has taken me by surprise on many levels. Looking back, I see that mostly, I had much to learn about myself. I thought myself equipped as a mother, that I would unreservedly welcome these precious children with open arms, and an open willing heart. The discovery that I was not the person I thought I was brought me to my knees in humble awareness that I need God. I could not muster the strength or energy or kindness or motivation to do what I must do alone. I was forced to rely on Him to help me get through the days when everything was stunningly new, to keep me from falling into hopeless despair, to find vision for the future, to teach me how to love these kids.

As I remember where we've been and think about how much better things are now, one word comes to mind. Amazement. True, awe struck, breathtaking, nearly unbelievable if I had not witnessed it with my own eyes, felt it in my heart, amazement.

Today, when I say, I love you Meadow. She says, I love you too mommy.

Flint wraps his arms around my neck and squeezes for a genuine hug.

They have changed immensely. There is a huge, marked progress. From frightened, nervous, desperate, competitive, insecure children into this. All that they are now. Beautiful, magnificent, transforming, blossoming little ones gaining confidence, embracing their individuality, finding their footing within our family unit.

They have changed me too. I thought they needed me. I had no clue how much I needed them.

Thank you Meadow and Flint for being patient with me. You have bestowed upon me a unique gift that no one else could. You are a testament to the grace and goodness of God our Father who loves us enough to give us just what we ought to have.

I love you. I know there is still much to do, but we have come so far.
I am excited to see what 2011 has in store.

Super interesting discussion

Going on here. It started here.

It is a topic I find really fascinating. The older I get and the more married, separated, divorced, people I know, the less black and white it seems to become. 

I really like his blog and the way he respectfully addresses complicated issues and (usually tactfully - haha! Just kidding Mr. Harrison) deals with any and all disagreement. He has some very wise and well versed readers who leave thoughtful comments as well.

I've been learning a lot there. It's worth a look!

Of course, as always, I am very interested in hearing your thoughts on the subject!

Homeschooling Stats

Certainly, there are many determining factors families consider when deciding whether or not to homeschool.
These statistics hit on some of the academic advantages.
The overall numbers surprised me. I didn't realize how popular homeschooling has become.
As I've thought about school options recently, I've been counting, and I think the people we know are about half and half - home educated vs public school families.
Anyway, I thought the information might be interesting to you as well!

When the baby turns 3

Her mommy cries. Great big tears. I have never slowed down to savor the moments as much with any of my children as I have with Clover. She is truly my dolly.

- Cloverisms -
Hold me
That looks like pretty
I love you so many
Are we best friends?
(She asks me this nearly every day - and we are!)
Read the tree to me
(one of the saddest books ever - her favorite - The Giving Tree)
I need my blanket
Too bad, so sad

Yesterday, as we celebrated (with McDonald's and Coldstone - not my choice, hers :)
she kept asking me, "are we the birthday girls?"

Favorites
color: pink
food: cake
movie: Star Wars & Batman ???
princess: Jayla
thing to play: princess and the frog
way to help mommy: empty dishwasher
song: yes Jesus loves me

What will you be when you grow up? five
How many siblings do you have? 4 sisters and 2 brothers
(close, so close.)


At 3 she is completely potty trained - even at night.
She naps with me every afternoon. It is the best part of my day.
She sucks her thumb when she sleeps.
Her hair is all a mess most of the time.
She eats like a bird and is a petite little girl.
She lets me hold her and rock her as much as I'd like.

This one absolutely melts my heart.

I am just so happy you were born Dolly.
I love you.
Happy birthday baby.

Too much of a good thing...

Hasn't God granted us such amazing gifts as we sojourn together on this earth?
There are pleasures to partake in that refresh our sometimes weary souls. There is noble service to do that fulfills our need to make a difference - to have our lives count for something that will last long after we are gone. There are people to extend love toward, to receive love from - family, friends, our spouses, parents, siblings - the sweetness that only being in relationship with others can offer, knowing that we really matter to someone.

And yet, as I long for these gifts, the ones that make our days and years truly enjoyable and comfortable and palatable, and worthwhile, I am often reminded of these words spoken by Jesus:

Luke 14:26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.
 Matthew 10:37 “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

And I think about how much time, energy, focus and thought I place on the pursuit of the honorable goals He has given us rather than on the giver Himself.  I remember how tempted I constantly am to make my life all about doing what He has told me in His Word to do, they are good things after all, and how easily I forget to fall at His feet, to allow Him to freely give and take away, to open my hand, my heart, my eyes, to drop my own (perhaps cleverly disguised) self advancing agenda and surrender to His glorious will for my existence on this planet....even if it means I can not, should not, will not get the pleasure of experiencing some of His good gifts. Either temporarily or permanently.

Becoming immersed in my family, my children, my service to the orphan or to the poor will all look really, really nice from the outside. It will likely land me the applause of many. It is part of my responsibility, rightfully so. Yet, there are times that I know to the depth of my being that in the very midst of doing all this excellent work, my priorities are completely off. I elevate the creation above the creator. I turn my service, my act of worship, my offering, into my god.

Like other acts of service, I do believe raising a family can be a valuable ministry. We feel it would be a privilege to expand ours. You may already be aware, I earnestly yearn for another child.

Still, if I choose to {subtly} elevate my allegiance to this worthy endeavor over my allegiance to God, I have missed the mark entirely. Let me rather not have it at all than to have it over Him.

I pray that in my tendency to place such high emphasis on this good gift, I do not forget to submit to The Giver's desire for my life, whatever it may be. That I do not fail to praise. Always. Whether or not I ever get what I long for.

"Yes Lord, I do want this....but I want you more."

She wore this for me

For my special day.

Sweet.
Little does she know, I've decided to hold fast at 35....

Headed out on the town

Image courtesy of of the talented, lovely, Miss Jayla Deutsch

 

Just Because We Could

We did. Last night. On a spur of the moment decision. Because we are crazy like that.

Flint was an absolute riot! This must have been the happiest day of this boy's life. He was SO funny to watch and listen to as he opened his gifts.

Cocoa puffs for my cocoa puff.

One day about a month ago we walked into a craft store and Jayla pleaded for these knot a quilt kits, which made me all kinds o happy because I had already bought them for her thinking they would be right up her alley. Yes!

Unable to contain a secret his excitement, Stryder has been telling me (while literally jumping up and down) for over a week about these awesome sugar cookies he was going to give me for Christmas. He chose them with care at the awana gift store and could.not.wait. for me to open his present. I can't say I had exceptionally strong feelings about them before, but now I must admit, I ♥ sugar cookies.

I suppose I discovered that I rather enjoy the challenge of writing exactly 100 delicious words to describe The Secret. The ideas would pop into my mind while I was running or scrubbing the floor or doing school with my kids. Each person is allowed 3 entries in this contest and if you care to read it, my third one is here.
It's a little bit tantalizing!

Yet, I have a feeling we can all relate to some extent....

There is usually something that irresistibly calls out to us.
Something to which we can hardly break free.
Something we do with full awareness that we shouldn't.
Something we succumb to again and again.

It's no secret, my something happens to be gummy bears. ☺

About School

Last year, I could be found here extolling the virtues of homeschooling on a regular basis. I loved the flexible schedule, the abundance of time spent together, watching them learn and develop new skills and aptitudes, the closeness of our family, the lack of evening school work, the overall warmth of our days.

This year, I'm not quite in the same place. A lot has changed. Our entire family dynamic is drastically different. And, I often find myself wondering if the children would benefit from and enjoy a school setting.

Then, I ask myself if I am only contemplating it to give myself some reprieve from the weighty responsibility of solely providing their education.

There is a charter school near us, about 10 miles away, (when you live in the middle of nowhere, 10 miles is practically next door) with a brand new facility and very small classes and a 4 day a week schedule with Mondays off. Sometimes, I hear it calling my name....

The areas of concern that give me pause are:

The stress of getting everyone up and out the door each morning -

(we would have 6 in school next year.)

The hour after I pick them up when they are all tired and cranky -

Homework -

Negative peer influence -

Keeping track of every one's everything - papers, lunches, backpacks, who needs what when -

Illness due to constant exposure that they are not used to -

Them losing their close relationships between one another -

Having very little time for Bible study, Scripture memorization, prayer, etc. -

So, I am curious and trying to gather information. Do you have any input about school you could offer? Whether you are a hard core homeschooler, or a public school/private school/charter school rules person, I would love to hear from you! (Although, private school is out of the question. ☻)

What do you see as the pros/cons, advantages/disadvantages of either/or? Do you have a rant or rave about either choice you would be willing to share? Several of them?

I know it's Christmas week and you're kind of busy. ☺ If you care to offer feedback, there is time....

Thank you so much!!

It was a very big day for them

"Hey Flint, let me see your eyes."

2 showings of the Christmas play at our church yesterday (the 5 oldest participated - Jayla had a major part! Onyx did some speaking too! The rest sang and danced and looked adorable!) then a Christmas concert/pot luck dinner at Awana last night. Mr. Deutsch had to work and did not return home until after the young ones were fast asleep. Which means it was a very big day for me too.

After tucking them in, I lit a candle, made some tea, put on soft music in my bedroom, locked the door, and wrapped gifts. ♥

We are grateful for all the adults who have spent hours and hours pouring into these children's lives through volunteering their valuable time.

{Life with a large family side note: Of course they had to get out another big round table at the pot luck and pull up spare chairs from other tables so the kids and I could sit together. If we don't race to the open room and quickly save spots before they begin to fill in, this is always what happens. And it usually makes one of those *super highly pleasant* (look at the crazy people with their flock of kids - I don't know how she does it - she must be so patient - are they all hers? - don't they know what causes that? - how much money does her husband make? - and they homeschool too! - will they have more? surely not, that would just be bonkers) scenes while everyone watches. So, if you ever witness that family, the one who has long ago outgrown their minivan, running to grab seats, elbowing folks out of the way with a forceful flying forearm shiver at a large gathering of people sharing a meal together, you'll know why. It's not because they are that hungry.}

Another Day....

Another contest entry....

This was my second 100 word attempt at telling The Secret. The subject matter may be a little lighter than the first, much to the relief of The Man of the House. The lines are supposed to go together - 2 at a time with a space between each set rather than between each line. Does that make sense? Did you "get" the relational journey of this couple? Or did it leave you scratcing your head?

If you have time, I hope you will take a look and tell me what you (really!) think. You can even leave a comment below the entry if you'd like! I've offered to donate the $100 prize to a missionary family serving in Africa if I win, so maybe your feedback will help my cause. ☺

Thank you!

How we do Christmas

Friends and I were just talking about our Christmas traditions.
I'll tell you my naughty little secret....shhhh. This is not my favorite holiday. A lover of a simple life, all of the hype and pressure and busyness of the season is a bit much for a homebody like me.

Plus, it drives me slightly batty that we commercialize the birth of our Savior and make it a reason to buy each other stuff. (Did I mention the simple life I love involves very little shopping? It does. Have you ever shopped with 7 children in tow? No? You're not missing much. Except for lots and lots of deep breathing and repetitive, empty threatening because they know you won't really leave the store without making your purchases, now will you? Not to mention the look you will receive from curious bystanders. You know the look. The one that tells you that you are either 1) a saint or 2) a lunatic. Either one makes me slightly uncomfortable, so I just try to smile between deep breaths. Although #2 is clearly closer to reality.)

I ask myself, "Self, isn't the arrival of our Messiah on earth enough to celebrate? Do we shower one another with material possessions (because we are so needy for more!) and pretend like it's all about Jesus quipping 'don't for get the reason for the season' and all that? Because, with all that Santa flying around, if we're not careful, we may start to actually believe Christmas is about the jolly old fella bringing bags of loot to nice children with visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads!"

So, we remind each other. This holiday is about the most pivotal individual in all of history. Our Lord and Savior who came to earth as a baby born in the most humble circumstances, grew into a man, fulfilled the law, lived a sinless life himself but paid the price for our transgressions, died an excruciating death on the cross, and miraculously rose again, whereby we receive the opportunity to live eternally with God.
As if such an event should ever need compete with a big guy in a red suit or packages under a tree in our living rooms.

Maybe one year our family will forego presents altogether and simply celebrate this amazing, undeserved, almost unfathomable, gift we have already been given.

Now that would be festive!

In the mean time, this is what we do for the kids:
1 gift
1 box of sugary cereal wrapped and placed under the tree
A few small stocking stuffers

They are as excited about the cereal as anything else. A Christmas morning breakfast of Lucky Charms, Cocoa Puffs, Fruity Pebbles, or Cookie Crisp is one even Santa himself would surely approve.

Disclaimer: this is just my opinion at this time.
Which means very little.
And is subject to change.
And in the eyes of some positions me squarely in category #2....

Notes

Friends and I spent another evening at Sally's on Tuesday. (This meant that I had 2 nights out in a row with ladies! Oh.yes.I.did. Yay for me!)

I always come away from there incredibly refreshed, with renewed commitment to carry on despite the days I want nothing more than to throw them on the school bus hardships.

These are my notes:

Women alone become tempted to relinquish ideals. Make time for supportive friendships. (Hallelujah!)

Society will give us permission to compromise those ideals.

When they are young, we do not even realize all the potential our children hold.

Don't be so eager to swoop in to meet all your kids needs as they get older. Let them struggle a bit. Life is not easy. Allow them some room to learn to maneuver.

Trust God with their lives.

We, as moms are on a course of righteousness - God teaches us through our children. Embrace that. Motherhood is transforming our hearts, molding us.

Don't be overly controlling. Live by the Holy Spirit. As the kids grow, let them do the same.

If they are old enough to drive and have a baby, they are old enough for some major responsibility. They will only live up to their potential if you  give them the opportunity. Don't suppress their progress by your fear. Without faith it is impossible to please Him.

Let them launch. Do you know young people who never learned to launch? That is not what we want for our kids.

Prepare a godly leader. We are all stewards of the gospel.

Don't let fear reign, don't be controlled by other people's voices. Practice living by faith.

God takes your fish and loaves and does great things with them. Let Him.

Pray every day that God will help you fall in love with your kids.

Mothering is an act of worship in service.

Most of our messages from God come from the hard things.

In the Christmas story, God exalts the family allowing Himself to be born to a mother and father, to be vulnerable, subject to his parents. God intended the family to be where righteousness was built for generations.

What was it about Mary that made God choose her? She spent her life engaged in the Scripture. Her response to Him would not have been what it was if she was not prepared. Practice engaging your heart in the Scripture. Ponder the things of God. Hide them in your heart.  Mary did not have an easy life. In fact, it was incredibly hard. And, this was a woman chosen to be the mother of the Messiah.

Accept the hard things, allow God to work in your life, God will make you able.

A story for the kids

Your dad and I shopped together for my engagement and wedding ring.
We wound up purchasing a set from a pawn shop.
(Just because their union didn't work out, didn't mean ours wouldn't.....)
We were young and broke college students - so we put it on layaway.
(Are you wondering what layaway is? Ask me, ok?)
Both of us made payments as we could.
(We were working minimum wage at the same sporting goods store.)
On his 22nd birthday he made the final payment and surprised me with it.
(Wrapped up with a handmade card. Did you know your dad is a great artist? He is!
He doesn't have much chance to use that skill anymore. Maybe one day he will.)
I screamed so loud in his ear as I jumped up to hug him, he may or may not have sustained permanent hearing loss.
(It was at that time he learned just how excitable his brand new fiance truly was.)
Now, you will rarely ever see me wear the ring.
The prongs get caught on things and it scratches you guys, so it's not really comfortable.
(These are hard working hands you know!)
In its place, I have a couple of very small rings he bought me as a gift after the births of Tyden anc Clover.
Still, I cherish the memories attached to that hard earned, second hand,
joint effort piece of jewelry and recall them fondly.
Your daddy is an exceptional man.
(You girls should look for someone who treats you as kindly as he treats me, alright?)
I had no idea what I was getting into.
But I'm so glad I did.

We also shopped together for wedding dresses.
But that's another story....

I find nothing strange about this. ☺

I did something weird.

Remember when I linked to that super interesting blog when I was talking about memorizing verses out of context a couple of weeks ago? Anyway, recently, he shared about a writing contest he was entering. The writing prompt was: The Secret. The entry had to be 100 words. Exactly.

I happened to be reading this particular blog post of his late one night when my people were already asleep and thought to myself, what the heck? I'll try that. So, heavily under the influence of Valerian root that I had taken 2 hours prior to help me get nice and drowsy, I pounded out The Secret on my keyboard and immediately sent it off right away knowing I wouldn't really have time (nor the quietness in my house!) to devote to deliberating over each precious word the way a 100 word essay truly deserves.
This was, of course, at the precise hour I should have been addressing Christmas cards.

Truthfully, it's actually not my secret. Which will be of great comfort to my husband. Because it comes across as quite possibly rather sordid...or at least really juicy. {I'll blame the valerian.}
Although we don't find out what exactly her secret is.....

Here is the link to the site if you're interested in having a look. Mine is the one called The Unseen. :)

It started out like this.

I was here at my local, friendly quiverfull family's website, (I do happen to love and respect this family by the way. They are expecting their 16th child.) reading something they had written in response to an accusation that their message on reproduction may be critical toward the infertile. It was then that I saw a comment from a reader saying that she felt personally called to a focus on ministry - one that does not involve children. The rebuttal to her remark by other readers was largely that singlehood is the call for the childless, and there is no Biblical premise for a childless marriage by choice. In fact, many of them suggested that there is no freedom for couples to restrict child bearing at all, it should be in the Lord's hands. Period.

That didn't seem exactly fair or necessarily right straight across the board to me. I know a myriad of examples of folks in ministry who could not do what they do if they had a dozen children in tow! So, I replied with this:

“Some couples are called by God into a ministry that does not permit time, finances, or energy for many, if any, children. There are people, (even married people, not just singles) doing AMAZING, priceless, intense work on the front lines for God here in the US and overseas that they absolutely could not do if they were welcoming children every year or 2.”

Which, happened to bring me plenty of what she got. Lots of comments to the contrary.☺

(In that same comment, I also said something about the families facing extreme medical/emotional/physical special needs with their children and that meeting the unique needs of their little ones may keep their hands and hearts very full, and perhaps their pocket books rather empty. In that case, continual reproduction might not be a wise option, nor what God has called them to do.)

The family then wrote another blog post  in which they quoted both she and I, to make an argument that this was an unreasonable line of thinking.

Okay, I thought. Well, there are other angles that are possibly oppositional to the assertion that all couples should be open to welcoming as many children as they physically possibly can. So I left another comment. ☺

This time I asked about 2 other points - adoption and infertility treatment.

I noted that if a family is already large, and they feel led toward caring for the orphan through adoption, they may need to restrict child bearing, (at least temporarily) while in process due to country or county standards for maximum # of children in the home, or the country or agency regulations about pregnancy while adopting.
So I asked, are they only for adoption if a couple is either a) beyond reproductive age or b) infertile.
(In El Paso county for example, the maximum # of children under the age of 18 in the home must be 8 or fewer for a foster child to be placed with a family.)

Secondly, if we, as married couples, are to leave family planning solely up to God, then if he "closes the womb" so to speak, wouldn't fertility treatments be a violation of the "no medical intervention" standard just as birth control would be? To say it's not seems inconsistent.

Here was the family's reply:

Keep trying to understand, Tisha. You’re getting there.


Adoption: We know many people who have gone through the process. Voluntarily restrict pregnancy in order to adopt? This is a false dilemma. I don’t think adoptive parents struggle with this concept at all.

Come to think of it, Alicia and Alissa’s {His wife's children from before they were married} adoptions went through when Cynthia was born. Restrict pregnancy? Wasn’t even close to being on our minds.

Artificial means? Again, “go for it!” Medical help to gain the blessing of children is great. Medical help to AVOID the blessing of children, now that–in our mind–is odd.

Well now. ☺
A false dilemma? No. I think not. Adoptive parents don't struggle with this concept at all? So completely not true. They do. We have. If you have been reading long, you know we have. And I know we are not alone.

So, this is the background to the question I posed. I was really trying to get honest feedback from people I know are genuinely seeking His will for their lives and living it out to the best of their ability. The Jeub's commenters are primarily people with views like their own, and I was curious about whether or not that was an accurate representation of the God believing population.

Thank you for your responses here, on facebook and by e mail. I truly appreciate you taking the time to answer this question! I have been mulling this over in my mind a lot over the past few days, and years as our personal journey has been one where we have found ourselves holding several different opinions over our nearly 12 years of wedded bliss.

Incidently, (if you are still reading...are you? Hello? Wow! Awesome. Thank you! You are so kind.) I have very strong, natural 'quiverfull tendencies' myself and have NO desire to restrict child bearing. The arrival of my *monthly cycle* is met with great sadness and mourning each month since the reversal of my husband's vasectomy in June. Which makes this whole conversation quite funny, right?

I'm just not convinced the Bible makes this subject explicitly clear in a way that any of us can make blanket statements that should absolutely apply to every couple.

I may share more of our personal story which led me to this place soon. If you care to hear. ☺

Question:

Do you believe, that because the Bible says to be fruitful and multiply and that children are a blessing from the Lord, that every married couple is to abstain from using birth control as to not restrict child bearing?

Anyone brave enough to answer? ☺ I'm very interested in your thoughts, whatever they may be!

O Christmas Tree

Engaged ~

With people. In conversations about real stuff - thought provoking topics. Some hard things, others merely involving matters of opinion.

I've happened to experience a lot of this over the past few days.

It's got me thinking about how we tend to interact as human beings. It's kind of funny the way we are with each other. All of us to one extent or another, trying to persuade, to influence, to affect the lives and thoughts of others. Sometimes seeing the specks so clearly in one another's eyes, entirely missing our own. Either letting others live out their own processes and loving and trusting and respecting them through it, offering the benefit of the doubt that they are really thinking things through to the best of their ability, or deciding they are clearly missing something, or even entirely wrong, because we happen to not agree. Making judgements. No matter how hard we try, it seems impossible to avoid. We all have our biases. We make determinations about what we believe is right and wrong. Then, so often, in our minds, it becomes - Period.
This is the way things are. Period.

I hate those Periods. As if I am certain about much of anything. Because I'm really not. Opinions I held a couple of years or even weeks ago about something may be entirely different than what I believe to be true today. But without drawing those hard lines, sometimes I feel wishy washy, unresolved, unsure, critical - critiquing all positions. Finally making some sort of once and for all stance about a subject comes with a nice, ample dose of security. Even if it's an illusion, a sense of security is a pretty excellent feeling to have.

I've been on both sides of different arguments recently.
Feeling judged. Knowing I am judging. Evaluating. Drawing quick conclusions. Wondering how someone could possibly hold the convictions they do. Having others ask that very question about me.

Petrified of blind spots, I'm always asking friends to point mine out. Although, I'm relatively convinced they're impossible to completely abolish. I can't take the me out of me.

The longer I live, the more I begin to think that there are so very few hard, fast, immovable, absolute lines that must be drawn. That the vast majority of life is somewhere in the middle - people being free to do the best they can with what they've got to work with in any given moment. What they do today may not be what they would have done yesterday or what they will do tomorrow. What resonates with one, moves them to the depth of their being unto good works, may drive another in the exact opposite direction.

As we seek His face, surely God is big enough to work with us all where we are. Only He is intimately acquainted with every detail of our past journey. Only He sees precisely where each of us is headed in the future.

We're all on our way somewhere....
Maybe we should allow each other traveling mercies.

~

Saying this prayer today.

Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace by St. Francis of Assisi



Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love,

Where there is injury, pardon

Where there is doubt, faith,

Where there is despair, hope,

Where there is darkness, light,

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much

seek to be consoled as to console,

not so much to be understood as to understand,

not so much to be loved, as to love;

for it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

it is in dying that we awake to eternal life.

Hot Tip

If you happen to be in the Denver area and you plan on going to this church where you will worship under Andy Landers anytime soon, don't wear mascara.


And bring along a whole big box of kleenex. You may need them....


Thank you Lord for drawing us near to You and softening our hearts as we sing Your praise.

*

Oops. Sorry - I was having trouble with Picasa yesterday.
And blogger. And my computer. And my brain.

Big Deutschlets have play practice this morning.
Only 2 more weeks until their Theatrical Debut!
Is there anything more fun than watching your kids on stage?
(Well, yes. Alright. A few things are more fun. Quite a lot actually. But I'm not counting them.)

Had a good, good week with Meadow and Flint.
{Rejoice and breathe in deep sigh of gratitude - Ahhh.}

Had a less than good, good homeschooling week.
I may have pulled out some of my own hair.
Which is probably better than pulling out the kids' hair.
So, I guess that's good good.

Parade of Lights with the grandparents tonight.
Meeting at Red Top to eat first which means no cooking for me. {Score!}

While we did not have turkey on Thanksgiving, I did buy 5 of the poor, frozen, deceased, birds.
So, I will make a traditional Thanksgiving Day feast on Sunday.
You know what they say, better late than never.
That's right.

This is for you.

~ Friends who offer words of encouragement, advice, humor, or simply commiserate via blog - How wonderful you are. I'm not a person who can easily get out and about among the people. My pint sized entourage does a fabulous job (without even trying!) of inspiring me to just stay home. {Oh the effort required to get everyone ready and presentable to leave.....then, the patience it takes to visit the restroom 5,000 times once we're there....then, the energy it takes to round us up to depart when it's time to go....}

I've learned such a lot from you through your thoughtful, kind hearted, funny, edifying remarks left in your comments. I have asked your opinion and received feedback, another angle to consider, validation, or a good laugh, just when I need it most. Your sentiments run through my mind often as I go throughout my days. Thank you. So, so much.

~ The short person who donated their jeans to Arc when they were finished with them. I found them! Any woman knows, the pursuit of jeans that fit well is serious, serious business. Your pair was just right for me. Thank you for not trashing such precious merchandise. So much.

~ My children who can relish a week of warm weather in December like nobodies business - by being outdoors as much as possible. You teach me how to play and enjoy the days and live each moment to the fullest. You freely shower enormous love and easy forgiveness and pure hearted mercy and you show me by example why Jesus said we must become like little children to enter the kingdom of heaven. I'm so fortunate to know you. Getting to do this thing called life together is my greatest privilege. No joke. I love you. So, so, so much.

~ Today is a perfect day for buying some coal. I did!