Requirement

Its hard to believe almost a year has passed since I really took the time to sit down and write.

Part of it was intentional. Sometimes we need to purposefully take the time to just be. To listen to what God and those around us have to say.

Part of it was very much unintentional, but good all the same :) Take this little one for instance. Boy does she keep me on my toes!

Baby K isn't such a baby anymore! I have learned so much from this little one. She really has made me appreciate children. Of course I did before, but she has helped me learn that it is okay to let kids be kids, and not expect so much from them.

This truly is how God is with me. He is very patient with me, His child. It is taking me a long time to get some of the basic things of this life. Yet He still loves me. He still carries me. He still gently feeds me, and doesn't require anything more than He, well, requires of me.

Micah 6:8 says, "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

I can provide you a list a mile long of everything I THINK God requires of me. But often, I would even say mostly, it is just legalism. As I get older, I'm realizing that what God requires of me is pretty simple. Just like what I require of my kids, is pretty simple and basic.

Leave it to me to make it more difficult than it has to be! This reminds me of my oldest son.

So often, I will give Little O a simple assignment. As he begins, I can see him getting weary, frustrated, or angry. Take writing for example. Nearly every school day, I ask him to write a few sentences or paragraphs. As he begins, I can see him giving up before he even writes a few words! As he talks to me, I can see he is frustrated because he is worrying about the fact he can't write a book, never mind a few sentences. But if he stopped, and really paid attention to what I required, it wasn't to write a book. It was to write a few sentences.

This is how I am with God. He asks me to do things not requiring me to do it alone, or to do it perfectly. Yet as a perfectionist, that is what I concentrate on. Not trying to do the simple things, but trying to be perfect on the whole. Like my son, I get weary, frustrated and angry.

Its not very often that I give Little O or my other kids hard tasks. They may think so, but I know what they can handle! I'm their Mama, and know them better than they know them self. Remind you of anything God's Word says about us?

On Sunday, our Pastor gave a great sermon from Hebrews, where it talks about believers who have been feeding on the "milk" of the Word.

The verse that stuck out to me the most was the following:

Hebrews 5:12 "In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!"

There have been many times in my life, where I realize I have gone so far off track, that I need to return to the elementary truths of God's Word again.

It hit me this spring, that we had to do that with our son C with bike riding. We decided to be bold, and just start this year with the training wheels off. He became so fearful, and didn't remember the elementary concept of PEDALING when it comes to biking, that he just froze and didn't go anywhere.

I realized that for him, the best thing would be to put the training wheels back on. Go back to the basics of bike riding, and let him get strong in that before moving on to the next step.

I just love how our simple, every day life that we take for granted, really can be life pictures for us of truths in God's Word. For me, it really helps me understand better.

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I read a wonderful quote somewhere, and I wish I wrote who said this, so I could give proper credit. All I can do is make sure everyone knows, it wasn't me :)

"My children are not a distraction from my work.

My children ARE my work."

Often I get so task oriented that I bulldoze over my kids. I want them to hurry up and get their homeschooling done; hurry up and eat; hurry up and get to bed. I want to move on to what I want to do.

I'm so far from getting this to a point where it is comfortable, natural, and just part of who I am. So please don't look to learn from me, but learn along with me. I realize each day how important it is to teach my little ones and go about my day with them by my side. Having a perfectly clean and organized house, having a well-planned menu, etc. is all for nought if I am pushing my dear children to the side in the process. If I can go about these things with the above in mind, that they are my life's work-it may not be easy-but it is what I know God has called me to do.

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A week ago, I had one of those smack-me-in-the-head "aha" moments. I wanted to cry when I heard the words coming from my daughter M's mouth.

She loves being a princess. In her mind, she doesn't pretend to be a princess. She is a princess. M got a boo-boo on her face, and all she did for two days was talk about how "weird" and "yucky" she looked :(

I thought I had been so careful to not let her hear what my mind thinks every day - "I'm so fat" or "I'm so ugly." I know it can influence my daughters (and sons for that matter), and have been very intentional about not letting those thoughts become words.

Yet, apparently my mind wasn't so hidden after all. I know my daughter hasn't watched any TV that would lead her to think this; we homeschool, so I know she isn't being overly influenced by others (I don't think - although we homeschool, we are not the hermit type).

I think its just a bit of me being carried down to her. It made me so sad. It also made me realize that while it is important to intentionally not let these things come out of my mouth, it is equally important to be intentional about believing that I too, am fearfully and wonderfully made, as I made sure my little princess knew that day.

Again, I like to look at the real life application for me:

Just like M is my beautiful child, and it hurt me to hear her say those negative things about herself; I am God's beautiful child, and it hurts Him too.....

....And so are you :)

A Beautiful Life (In Pictures)

First things first, let's see some baby deliciousness :)

We got a new camera, and it takes great pictures! Can you believe Baby K is nearly 5 months! sniff, sniff. It goes quicker with each baby!

She was hungry and couldn't keep her eyes off the flag flapping in the breeze outside the window.

I LOVE this smile - she crinkles her nose. Babies are great!

Hi Mama! Let me touch that camera!

That flag!

See that nice clean carpet? Thanks Dad for shampooing it for us! He also painted this room this week. What a Dad! If you think of it, please say a prayer for him - he lost his job several weeks ago now, and there is just not much out there for work.

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Alright, now to big kid fun (with some baby pictures mixed in here and there :) ). I love having bigger kids. They are so fun! They are so gentle with the baby, and boy does she love her big brothers and sister! They are really cool you know :)

Loving his first pony ride!

Not loving her first pony ride! Well she loved the idea, but she has a fear of heights - I'm thinking this is a thing you are born with. Nothing has ever happened that should cause her to be afraid - hmmm, I dunno. I don't like heights either, maybe its genetic?

How about some pictures around our home? Isn't God awesome? I mean He creates such beautiful things? Children, sunrises.....

...baby birds......

....beautiful flowers.......things to make you crack up!....

And, no I didn't forget about my oldest son. He is turning into quite the shy young man! I have to sneak up on him to get pictures!

Or take them when he's not looking!

Not everyone is camera shy in this family though!

May you find beauty in the simple things as this summer "unofficially" begins this weekend.

God is so good.

Thank You Father for giving me a truly beautiful life!

God bless!

Jen

Happy Spring, Happy Smiles

Happy Spring! Little by little we are seeing the signs of spring - pussy willows, tulips and daffodils just starting to peak their heads up from the earth. It sure is beautiful this world God created!


Its hard to believe, yet again, that time is a tickin' away ever so fast! Baby K will be 11 weeks old this week! She sure is a delight to our family! She loves to smile and coo and kick! She has a very sweet disposition :) See the outfit she is wearing in these pictures? Her big sister M wore it when she was a wee babe. Here, let me see if I can find a picture:


Wow! Thank goodness for dates on digital pictures - I would have thought that was Baby K! My husband jokes with everyone that we only know how to make one kind of baby :) He's right - they sure do look alike. Oh, my heart is swooning this morning looking at how little M was. As I will update you in a bit - she is ever so big these days! Here are some more smiles of Baby K :) You can see why we keep a hat on her so much as in the picture above! She is so bald! It makes me feel like she's warmer with a little cap on :)

Happy Baby!

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Now to update you on our family, we have had a very hard winter with sicknesses. Pneumonia, bronchitis, influenza (the real deal - tested positive at the docs!), stomach bugs, etc. Believe you me, I have had my moments where this has just worn me down. But today, now that everyone seems to be on the up and up, I look back to this winter and see how gracious God is in how He's carried me through. As I've shared, our oldest son has asthma and allergies. I spent the first two years of his life so angry at anyone and everyone whenever he was sick, which was a lot. As I continue on my mothering journey, I realize, it is all in God's hands!

There is a purpose when my little ones get sick. It was so hard to see that the week when all four of my children were sick, and my husband and I were up all night with all of them. It was difficult to see again when my little girl M had a fever of 104.9, and then a few nights later of 105.4. But God didn't allow these sicknesses to happen just to kick me when I was down, as He looked down from heaven laughing away! No!

God never promised me that it would be easy (like I needed to tell you this as you think about your struggles), but God DID promise He would never leave me, nor forsake me (Hebrews 13). I recently came across this story that really says what I am trying to say, so much better!

The Road of Life

At first, I saw God as my observer, my judge,

keeping track of the things I did wrong,

so as to know whether I merited heaven or hell when I die.

He was out there sort of like a president.

I recognized His picture when I saw it,

but I really didn't know Him.

But later on when I met Christ,

it seemed as though life was rather like a bike ride,

but it was a tandem bike,

and I noticed that Christ was in the back helping me pedal.

I don't know just when it was that He suggested we change places,

but life has not been the same since.

When I had control, I knew the way.

It was rather boring, but predictable . . .

It was the shortest distance between two points.

But when He took the lead, He knew delightful long cuts,

up mountains, and through rocky places at breakneck speeds,

it was all I could do to hang on!

Even though it looked like madness, He said, "Pedal!"

I worried and was anxious and asked,

"Where are you taking me?"

He laughed and didn't answer, and I started to learn to trust.

I forgot my boring life and entered into the adventure.

And when I'd say, "I'm scared," He'd lean back and touch my hand.

He took me to people with gifts that I needed,

gifts of healing, acceptance and joy.

They gave me gifts to take on my journey, my Lord's and mine.

And we were off again.

He said, "Give the gifts away; they're extra baggage, too much weight."

So I did, to the people we met, and I found that in giving I received,

and still our burden was light.

I did not trust Him, at first, in control of my life.

I thought He'd wreck it; but He knows bike secrets,

how to make it bend to take sharp corners,

knows how to jump to clear high rocks,

knows how to fly to shorten scary passages.

And I am learning to shut up and pedal in the strangest places,

and I'm beginning to enjoy the view

and the cool breeze on my face

with my delightful constant companion, Jesus Christ.

And when I'm sure I just can't do anymore,

He just smiles and says . . .

"Pedal."

-- author unknown

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During our recent bout with influenza, my little girl here M decided she was ready to go poo and pee on the potty. This was a little inconvenient for me doncha know. But what was a Mama going to do? She was ready, and I just needed to pedal :) With no work whatsoever, this precious girl of mine is now fully potty trained! Just when I'm ready to let her go through the night without a diaper, she'll have a little accident during the night, so we'll keep the diapers at night for now :) Hey, I'm just glad she did the hard work for me :) Potty training is one of those things I'd gladly hire out if I could! Oh, and don't tell her, because she hasn't realized yet, but I took her pacifier away over a week ago (yeah I know - she was a little old for it).

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Back In the Kitchen Again

After what seems like years (it probably was!) I am back in the kitchen again, cooking away! It has been so fun! I'm back to baking bread - I even baked our hamburger buns for our sloppy joes last night! I'm not a New Year's resolution kinda gal - but this year I did make one - to memorize a few basic recipes to keep under my belt. So far I've memorized pancakes from scratch, and a master cookie recipe. I'm now working on my rustic Italian bread recipe to keep tucked back in my brain. What time this saves not having to go look up a recipe!

PANCAKES

Thanks to NancyToday, I've learned a fantastic, from scratch pancake recipe. Throw away the bisquick! This is WAY easier in my opinion (and so much more filling as it has protein in it)!

You simply need to remember the number ONE and a list of ingredients. If you need to increase your amount of pancakes for a larger crowd, just multiply one by the number of batches you need :)

Take 1 egg, 1 teaspoon of oil, and 1 teaspoon of sugar and whisk it good in your dish. Then add 1 cup of milk and whisk that with those ingredients. In another bowl, take 1 cup of flour and 1 teaspoon baking powder, and whisk those together. Add the flour mixture to the milk mixture and you have delicious pancakes batter :) To give you an idea of how much this serves, doubling it is perfect for my family. I've made pancakes every morning now for a week, and plan to keep doing this every morning I can. For one it is CHEAP, for two it is HEALTHY, and for three, nothing feels better than sending your husband and son off for the day with a warm filling breakfast in their tummies :) Come on, you can do it too :)

Well, I better go keep my day going. God bless you this week!

Announcing

Our Baby Girl "K" was born on January 8, 2009 at 12:40 a.m.

Weighing 7 lbs. 10 oz.

20 inches long

Its taken me a while to post, as I am thoroughly enjoying my "baby-moon" and learning the ropes of being a mom to 4 children! We are all on cloud nine, that is for sure - she is a wonderfully easy baby, the most relaxed one we've had! Let me tell you my birth story:

Last Wednesday evening was like most evenings the last few weeks - I had had contractions off and on - but nothing to sit and time - maybe 3 an hour at most - although most of the time, however, there was nothing.

My husband and I were beat, so we laid down in our bed with all three of our kids around 7:30 p.m., turned off the lights, and let our oldest read Frog and Toad stories to us all with his nifty head lamp he got for Christmas. Around 8:00 p.m., it was time to go to sleep, and I decided to stay in bed with them and go to sleep myself while my husband went downstairs. Around 8:45, I noticed I still wasn't asleep, which was very odd for me. You see, usually I lay down, and pretty much instantly fall asleep. At 9:15 or so, I realized I was having what seemed like regular contractions - but they were about 10-15 minutes apart.

I went downstairs, and told my husband I thought labor may be starting and we should try to time them - they were so erratic, that it was difficult to time anything. So around 9:30-9:45, I decided to take a bath, thinking the in-between cramps wouldn't be felt, and I would only feel the real stuff. Worked like a charm. Within 20 minutes to half an hour, we knew it was it, as my contractions were 5 minutes apart! My husband called my mom and asked her to come just in case. Within another few minutes, I knew I had to get to the hospital. I called my midwife who said to listen and trust my body, and come if I needed to - I told her I needed to. Also, the tub felt so divine, and I had planned to have a water birth if the pool was available, so I wanted to give them time to fill the pool.

We couldn't wait for my mom to arrive (she only lives 1/2 hour from us, but it was progressing so quickly I couldn't wait), so we called our neighbor to come over and stay with the kids until my mom arrived. Good thing we did.

I remember being on the road around 10:40 p.m. or so. We thank the Lord for His protection, as the roads were icy (of course - I had a feeling labor would happen on a stormy night!), and I could not stay seated during contractions. The only way I could get relief was by rocking on my hands and knees, and I did so on the drive there. Being the chicken I am though, after the contraction was done, I would sit back down and put my seatbelt on! LOL!

Once we arrived (around 11:10 p.m.), they started the antibiotic drip (I had Group B Strep), and monitored my contractions and baby for a few minutes. My midwife only planned on checking me if I wanted. I went back and forth - what if I was only 1 cm? I decided, I was what I was, and I wouldn't let any number discourage me. I had her check me (this was the only time I let her - honestly, this was the most painful part of the whole labor!!!), I was 4 cm. I was encouraged as I saw it as being almost half way there :)

Finally after what seemed too long, the pool was finished filling and I entered it. Oh, what sweet, heavenly relief! It was perfect! I have no idea of the time, but would guess I was in the pool by 11:45-12:00 a.m.? Anyway, I was most comfortable leaning my arm on the stool, and being on my right side - I tried my back, I tried my left side, but my right side was relaxing to me. I groaned and moaned through the contractions. I had read in preparation that to make an "oohhhh" sound rather than an "ahhhh" sound or screaming, and to envision letting my cervix open. That is what I concentrated on (and TMI here, sorry folks, but I also was obsessed in a ridiculous way over the fact that I was certain I had to go #2 - my midwife kept trying to nicely and lovingly convince me it was the baby - I didn't believe her!) Finally, because of said obsession, I decided to just push the poo out so it wouldn't bug me anymore. Also, even though I didn't trust my body would tell me when to push, my body did just that, and started a reverse "dry heaving", or so it felt to me. My midwife was right - it wasn't the poo - it was the baby, and so I started pushing my baby.

My midwife and husband kept trying to get me to float over on my back, but it felt impossible. Although my eyes were closed for most of the labor, I remember opening them wide, staring at my midwife (by the way, my husband was in the pool with me, holding me), and saying - "I wish I got the epidural!" She looked at me back and just said, "push." And push is what I did, after the Lord, I believe, floated me over on my back. At that point, the pain was gone as long as I was pushing. And in a few minutes, our little K was born!

I was truly amazed that after she was born, the pain was completely gone! I didn't say this yet, but I had epidurals with my other three children. I asked my husband if the time frame in my mind was correct, and he agreed it was, but the amount of real intolerable pain was as long as the real intolerable pain of the epidural (to me - I HATE that needle, etc. going in my back - I always have, it makes me cringe, like nails on a chalkboard.....)

All in all, from the time we arrived at the hospital (when the harder pain began), to when our daughter was born, was 1.5 hours.

My husband also seemed to really enjoy this labor experience more than the others, as did I. Another special part of this birth was shortly after our daughter was born, he played two very special songs to me/us - the first was Third Day's "Blessed Assurance" and our wedding song "Have a Little Faith in Me" by John Hyatt. He also prayed and thanked the Lord for our daughter. That forever will mean the world and be the most special part of the whole birth. I love my husband with a deep, deep love - he is a wonderful, magnificent man!

I still have more pictures to upload to my computer, and will post them over the next few days.

Have a wonderful, hopefully warm (its freezing in our part of the world!) day!

God bless,

Jen

Catching My Breath Today

What a fun and full fall we've had. I still plan on not blogging as much, but I can't miss this time to post some wonderful pictures of some fun times we've had the last week!

Last Friday, we headed over to my sister's. We visited that night with her family and my brother's. As always, it was a wonderful time. Here are some pictures from our visit with my sister (I kicked myself that I didn't take any pictures the evening before while my brother was there!)

My niece, looking more and more like my sister every year!

My son O in the middle with his cousins, his best friends.

Quick picture of our princess #1 before heading up to Pake's house

After my sister's, we headed up to my father-in-law's house for a nice visit with him, and one last ride on the boat, before he tucks it away for the long winter. It was C-O-L-D. The boat ride was the quickest we ever did. But its the funnest way, and the only way as far as my kids are concerned, to get to our favorite place to eat while visiting Pake (Dutch for grandpa, in case you were wondering). Also, this restaurant is where I met my handsome man :)

Pake

In the yard of one of Pake's neighbors. Can you imagine the arguments here? McCain's sign was the closest to the road - I wonder if they argued whose sign could be the closest!

This week, we saw our first snow! Of course, with the first flakes, you must don your winter gear and run out to play! Nothing accumulated really, but there was enough slush on the deck to keep one 6 year old boy busy shovelling for a while (his, and my, favorite activity after a snow storm!) That evening we watched the Halloween Charlie Brown special (can't remember the name for the life of me now), while cuddled in front of our first fire of the year. I could have a fire every night :)

Then, of course, the big event this week was Halloween! I finished C's robe just in time (yes, I sewed the boys' robes, belts, and only O's shirt). O was Anikan Skywalker, and C was Obi Wan Kanobi. Yes, Star Wars is a big thing in our house these days!

The following pictures are from C's Halloween parade at his preschool on Thursday:

Thursday night, we headed up to Grammie and Grampie's for some early trick or treating. I didn't take enough pictures that night, but did capture this cute one of some boys with very luscious lips :)

Friday after lunch, we headed over for O's school Halloween parade. I was not prepared for how fast they make these kids move! So this very large (as you will see in a minute) pregnant Mama ran, found another spot in the crowd, and yelled his name to get a shot - the only shot.

Once O got off the bus, I drove him quick to get his weekly allergy shots. We came home, had a moment to breathe, before dressing the kids up for the town parade, which happens to be walking distance, even for me right now. My husband and I took mental notes, that 2 year olds just do not like Halloween! I have pictures of O crying as a cowboy, C (last year) crying as a Horse, and now this year, M was only happy in a backpack on Daddy's shoulders, with her "bobo and bankie" (pacifier and blanket). Thankfully, eventually she changed her mind :) It was silly in my mind to force her to put on her princess dress, so I put on a cow sweatshirt with her clothes she was already wearing. That way, if, and when, she changed her mind, I just put the hood up. Worked marvelously :)

30 weeks and counting!

Notice his handsome goatee! I guess someone reads my blog ;)

Hope you had a happy Halloween! My kids sure did, they are already talking about what to be next year!

Until next time :) So long!