8/16/2018

Recently Grandma K from Wisconsin paid us a visit. 

Here we are together.

She had a lot of fun, especially with all of the kids.

They did chalk drawing in our kitchen. 

They played on the toy guitars, singing O Susana and other fun songs.

They played ball together...

and they blew bubbles together (along with neighbor/friend Jolene)...

and they took selfies together!

Grandma even connected with Skittles, the bird!

She gave lots of hugs, here with the littlest boys...

and here with the oldest two children.

Grandma took my oldest daughter to a movie, as a birthday present "experience."

And she brought me a beautiful wreath for my living room, as a birthday gift.

She also took a few of us out for ice cream one evening. How fun!

We tried to get one last picture before Grandma left. 

It was a circus!

I'm told I'll laugh at this someday :-) 

Glad to have you visit, Grandma! 

You are welcome anytime!

8/8/2018

This little boy is about 13 months old. 

In this picture, he looks like he's dreaming of a far off place.

He was all smiles for his 1-year photoshoot. He had a fun time playing with the props and crawling all around the studio.

We took a few shots of him with older sister, which all turned out wonderful. 

My oldest with my youngest.

Such sweethearts!

8/3/2018

This girl is turning 15!!

She is a delight to our family. She helps. She learns quickly. She loves to read and learn new things. She is witty and talkative. She is growing in grace and kindness. 

Happy birthday, dearest daughter! 

7/31/2018

"Mama said there'd be days like this. 

There'll be days like this, my mama said." 

Jesus said something similar. "In this world you will have trouble, but I leave you my peace." And "Each day has enough trouble of its own." 

Indeed. It's been one of those days for me. 

My little guy is just over a year old. He has now learned how to climb up into the recliners in the living room. So no surprise to us that he has now taken a fall over the arm of the recliner and hit his head on a nearby end table. Ouch! Big gash on forehead. Thankfully it's healing nicely and he was all smiles for me to take a picture of his bonked head.

And my 10-year-old boy is sick. He's had a cough for a few days. It's getting nastier, barkier. And now he's thrown up a few times, not from flu or fever but from intense coughing spasms. So there's puke to clean up. 

Enter my 4-year-old daughter who appears in the kitchen with tears and pleas for help. She has a toy car stuck in her hair! Big sister tried and was unable to get it out. Mom to the rescue! Thankfully we removed it without the use of scissors, though a large clump of hair came out stuck on that one wheel! Ouch! 

And I have a 2-year-old in the typical 2-year-old stage of life. Screams of "No!" and "Mine!" echo throughout the house.

This is real motherhood. 

In the trenches. 

Day in, day out. 

Daily life as we do life together as a family. 

It's messy.

It's loud. 

It's trying and exasperating. 

BUT GOD... 

I love that phrase in the Bible. 

Times are tough, BUT GOD steps in and everything changes.

My day started very early, as my hubby and I woke up earlier than we wanted to in order to spend a few minutes of the quiet in prayer and Bible study. We committed our day to the Lord and our work to His ways. We prayed for ourselves, our children, our friends. 

And so I am thankful that not only did Jesus give us a heads up that we'd have days like this - 

"In this world you will have trouble" - 

but the rest of the verse is just as true -

 "But I give you my peace." 

We can have peace in the midst of chaos. 

We can say that it is well with our soul even when all around us gives way.

Thank you, Jesus, that You are with me in my mothering. 

Thank you, Jesus, for giving us a deep peace that abides even when troubles surround us.

Thank you, Jesus, for meeting with us early in the morning and tuning our hearts so that we can keep our focus when obstacles come to throw us off course.

Thank you, Jesus, for leading us in ways of compassion and grace and tender mercy as we attempt to parent these children the way you parent us. 

God is good, all the time! 

Even on days like this!

Especially on days like this!

7/27/2018 

Last week our entire family attended camp together. Having so many little ones, we didn't especially like the idea of traveling far on a big vacation. So instead we chose Life Action Camp, which is just across the state line from where we live.







This camp has a great beach and waterfront area. Many hours were spent swimming and playing in the sand together.



There is also a playground right by the beach, to give the kids another option for play.


There is a spiritual component to the camp. It's for Christians and it's meant to encourage believers in their faith as they return to their normal lives bolder and empowered to engage the culture. This year's theme was Faith Frontier - so many activities reinforced the Wild West theme.



There was an Oregon Trail game to play one afternoon and some neat chalk paintings on display.



This little guy did really well, considering how topsy turvy his life was this week! He was almost always smiling despite the different bed, different food, different surroundings.


One of the best part of the week was Maddy! 
Maddy volunteers at Life Action Camp as a Family Assistant. She was assigned to help our family in almost any way we needed - an extra hand helping with food at mealtimes, extra eyes watching the kids at the beach, helping pull wagons and haul gear (or kids) around the camp. After we put the little kids to bed, Maddy hung out with us and played games (as she was doing here with my oldest daughter). She's a new friend of the family!



There's a crafthouse at camp called The Art Box. Here the boys made marshmallow shooters together, while the rest of us did painting/coloring projects. This was a nice afternoon break from outside activities.



Each family attending camp was given a free 30-minute time slot for boating. Fun times together!



This guy, our 2-year-old, struggled the most. He is naturally anxious and insecure, so the change of surroundings really threw him for a loop. He didn't sleep enough or sleep soundly so by midweek he was struggling to just make it through the day.



Our family stayed in a 1-room cabin. It had a queen bed for us parents and two sets of triple bunks for kids. 3 of our kids used the bunks, while we used the other bunks for storage of our suitcases and gear. We set up 2 playpens for our littlest boys to sleep in. We aimed for a quiet time each afternoon so naps could still happen, though it was rough. We didn't have a bathroom in our cabin, but the bathhouse was just a few feet away from our cabin so it was super convenient.


A lot of time was spent walking around camp. It was a good distance to the lodge for meals and to the waterfront, not to mention up and down some big hills. We were thankful for our jogging stroller for our littlest guy and for our wagon that helped haul the other 2 little ones. We put many miles on those wheels over the course of this week!


Yeah for Family Camp! The kids give it a hearty two thumbs up and are asking us to reserve our spot for summer 2019!