A Saturday at Our House

Sitting around, waiting to recuperate from the miscarriage has really tried my patience!  I am not one to sit around and enjoy it, but I have had fun re-connecting with my scrapbooking supplies.  I've knitted us a new dishrag, organized myself for the co-op class I'll be teaching this year (Apologia General Science), written more blog entries in a week's time than I think I have all year, and plowed through a couple of BBC miniseries on Netflix...Middlemarch and The Buccaneers.  I enjoyed Middlemarch, but not The Buccaneers...Edith Wharton is "sleazy Victorian" IMHO.  Anyway...the rest of the family have been busy too.  Here's some pics from this past Saturday.  We have had to find things to do inside because the heat outside is insane.



Darin has been planning on making grape jelly from the grapes he nurtured and picked from our backyard.  He is a true manly-man...not afraid of seeming unmanly just because he's doing "woman's work."

Grapes!

The beginnings of building a bridge out of craft sticks.  Henry's personal goal for the weekend.

This little beauty lives to color.

Building...

Straining grapes and seeds from the juice.

Me...in between knitting and scrapping.  I love the flattering angle of the picture taken by one of our favorite knee-biters. ;-)

This dirty looking stuff is really grape juice!

Wait...the day isn't over yet.  Gingerbread men!  And maybe a heart or butterfly here and there.

Love them!

Reading a good book.

Grape jelly!

Time for a swim.

Finished dishrag...kinda ugly, but I guess it'll get the dishes clean.

I've been sitting around, wondering just how it was that I filled my days before now.  What was I so busy doing?  Well, the good news is that I'm about to find out!  I can feel the old energy coming back.  I can't wait to get up and about again! 



Waiting

The hardest thing about the miscarriage for me is recuperating.  I can handle the fact that God chose to bring our baby home on His schedule and not mine.  I really can.  It is a little strange to finish a pregnancy and not have a little warm head to snuggle and kiss, but I am still so blessed with a little one to snuggle.  Grace is only 19 months and is still nursing.  I've never had a baby nurse so long - she shows no signs of wanting to give it up.  But again, I think of what a Providential thing that is.  I'm sure that Grace's nursing has helped me heal more quickly.  Just like the nursing of a newborn helps bring things back to shape.



Grace at 15 months



I did too much this past Monday.  Darin had a website launch at work and was working most of the week.  After a weekend of laying around, I felt ready to go!  So I did.  I did everything I would normally have done and by dinnertime I was feeling it.  So since Monday night I've been a slug in my bed or on the couch and I'm starting to feel the effects of that as well.  I'm ready (in MY mind) to get up and get busy, but Darin keeps gently placing his hand on my shoulders and giving me a shove back down.  ;-)  He's also keeping me supplied with Chai Tea from Starbucks - the man knows how to keep me as putty in his hands. 

Divided

Back in 2004, Darin and I started thinking about what a rat race church was becoming for us.  It was a huge hassle to get all our kids into their age appropriate classrooms (big church, long lines) and then ourselves into the service on-time.  We started thinking about just taking our kids into church with us. 

Then a friend of ours loaned us the book, Parenting in the Pew.  This helped us start getting a bigger picture of what we could accomplish by taking our kids into church with us.  It started to become more than just a way to get out of standing in line.  We also came across Vision Forum Ministries.  This site has a lot of great articles about bringing the families back together in church.

Just as we were starting to get into a groove with the idea of our family worshiping together, the leadership in our church decided that children 7 and under were not allowed into the service.  I am not exaggerating when I say that the Children's Pastor stood up and LITERALLY said, "We can disciple your children better than you."  I'm not kidding.  He said it.  I know for sure because when I looked over at Darin to confirm what I heard, he would not make eye contact with me.  And that was our last day at that church.

So now we are members of a great church that allows us to bring our kids into the service with us.  It's not a thing that many of the other members do, so we do get quite a few stares when we walk in with our crew.  Sometimes we do get encouraged by those sitting around us who give Darin and me the ol' punch in the arm by saying, "Your kids are so well-behaved!"  But the goal is just for our family to worship together.  To be on the same page about what we heard at church and to be able to have a discussion about it at lunch.  It's nice.  :-)

SO...all that to say, this weekend Darin, the kids and I watched a great movie titled Divided.  A lot of us have heard about the Barna Survey that shows that 80% of church youth are leaving the church when they graduate from high school and go to college.  This movie explores why and what can be done to lower that stat.  I really recommend this movie.  You can watch it for free RIGHT HERE.