Pumpkin Lapbook

I've been dealing with mastitis this week.  Being sick can be a very productive time for me and this time is not any different.  While I did spend a lot of time sleeping while the kids played outside in the tents they dragged down from the attic, I also did a little internet surfing.  Once they come back in from playing, the babes are usually grouchy and tired, so sleeping is over for me.  ;-)  Last week, I printed out an insect lapbook to begin with Henry, Sophia and Grace.  Well.  Not very good timing on my part considering it's getting cold outside and the insects are hiding!  So we are going to put that one aside until spring.  I'm brilliant.
Anyway...today I printed out, cut and organized needed supplies for a Pumpkin Lapbook that we will begin tomorrow.  I feel mostly better and am tired of laying around and not being with my kids.  I so love being with them. 

Here's a link to the lapbook if you're interested.  Interesting lapbooks written and compiled by Melissa Telling.

Useful House

Yesterday Darin filled the house with dust as he sanded down some spots he is repairing on our walls.  Really, it's overwhelming when we start to look around at the various spots on the walls that need repair.  There are a couple of places where a lacrosse ball has left it's mark, then there's the time when Darin repaired Henry's bike tire in the house.  Henry was so excited he rode it up and down the hallway when it was fixed - then ran into the wall with the handlebars.  Ouch!  Rollerblading, hockey, chasing the dog, basketball...our entryway and hallway just calls for these activities.

The last few weeks, I've been overwhelmed as I've been trying to juggle all our stuff around.  We are gearing up for a renovation of our entire downstairs.  New floors, kitchen cabinets, paint, and floorplan.  Our growing family no longer fits in the plan that we have.  With all the books, school things, toys, and clothes, I am almost at my wits end at making a place for everything.  If only we didn't need beds - think of all the bookshelves we could put where the beds are.  Every inch of our house is being used.  This irritated me at first because I was frustrated.  I felt as if I were standing in the middle of a room with my arms full of stuff and no where to take it.  Then I thought about all the houses with the kids and parents that are gone all day, the rooms that are unused and yet filled with furniture that never gets sat on.  There is not one room or chair or bed that doesn't get full use in our house every day and in the end, I can't help but think what a blessing that is. 

Sisters :-)

Lydia and I just took the "Which Austen Heroine Are You?" quiz.  Here are our results.  I am Elinor Dashwood.

Take the Quiz here!

Here are Lydia's results.

Take the Quiz here!

Lydia is on a big Jane Austen kick these days.  And of course I am toturing her by making her read each book before she is allowed to watch any of the movies.  heh heh  Really.  I think that should always be the way it works, don't you?  So far she has read "Emma" and is now reading "Pride and Prejudice".

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.

Job

One of (what I think) my personality flaws is thinking too much.  I just can't bring myself to stop.  I take an issue and dissect it and tear it into as many little pieces as I can in an attempt to get the big picture.  I've been doing that all weekend as I lay here in bed trying to rest from the miscarriage.  I struggle with a few different thoughts.  One in particular is from my theologically unstable upbringing and even though I know better these days, it's hard to shake this one.  And it's as old as Job.  Er....Methuselah?  But it goes back to the story of Job...what did Job's good pals say?  In chapter 8, Bildad said what Job's other friends consistently parrot back to him over and over again throughout the book:

"Does God subvert judgement? Or does the Almighty pervert justice?  If your sons have sinned against Him, He has cast them away for their transgression.  If you would earnestly seek God and make your supplication to the Almighty, if you were pure and upright, surely now He would awake for you, and prosper your rightful dwelling place."

In other words, "Job, your boys were in sin, you are in sin.  You've done something wrong.  That's why you're being punished this way.  Repent and God will make things right for you again."

Ugh.  The first Prosperity Gospel Preachers!  All Job needed to do was write a fat check to someone, right?

So I've been laying here thinking differnt thoughts to myself...I think it's normal to rehash one's life after going through a traumatic experience.  I've been able to look at a few things more honestly and can see areas that need improvement in relation to my trust in God and my attitude toward Darin and the kids and I've promised God I'm going to work harder and smarter.  But those old thoughts keep surfacing.  "God allowed the miscarriage to happen BECAUSE of these issues in my life!"  I've had to give those thoughts back to God.  Who am I to presume to know the mind of God?  I love Susan's comment to my last post:

My first miscarriage (between babies #8 and 9) was similar, with people telling me, "If you'd have prayed harder and done spiritual warfare..." It wasn't until a godly older woman reminded me that life and death are in the hands of God AND God is ALWAYS good that I was able to grieve with hope and peace.

Amen, Susan!  You know, Job never found out the reason why everything that could, happened to him.  God never told him why.  *I* don't ever need to know why we had a miscarriage.  I just need to keep my eyes on Him and not get carried away with trying to think His thoughts for Him.  And isn't it so much easier that way?  Let GOD handle the whys and what-nots.  ;-)