365Project.2013 | Week 46

In looking over our pictures this week, I'm realizing how small a picture just one photo a day paints. Our days are SO full. But, I guess that's why I do this--over the course of a year or so, most of the aspects of our days and weeks get captured. Just assume that most of the "ordinary" pictures tend to repeat themselves on a daily basis. :)

 

This week's been especially interesting. The Lord has taught us much--it's been quite a journey. :)
But for now, on to the pictures we took ...

 

Day 315. The kids were so excited to empty our "backpack" and send the money we saved for Bible Clubs in India. :) Mommy rejoiced to see their enthusiasm. ♥

 

I l.o.v.e. the fact that Hannah is eager to include her brothers in her cooking adventures! ♥  Kinda wonder how they managed to get chocolate in. his. EAR. (?!?!?), but some of things are simply best left unanswered ... ;)

Day 316. The sunset Tuesday evening was incredible! Peter was outside biking and called me outside three different times to make sure I didn't miss it. :)

And ... the boys enjoyed helping Daddy hang drywall! :) Our closet is coming ... :)

Day 317. Peter lost his very first tooth! :)

Day 318. Ummm ... yeah. Moving on ...

Day 319. I think I have nearly the same exact picture from about three years ago ... the bread maker has yet to lose its fascination. :)

Matthew had fun learning to make Challah. :)

And the highlight of our week ... dinner with our Pastor and his family. ♥ We do love them!!! ♥

Day 320. And then, what the Lord has been teaching us. To trust Him. And to wait on Him.

We've known we wanted to get a piano for a while now, but certain phases of house renovations needed to be completed before we had space for it. And then we needed to save some pennies ... lots of pennies actually. And then we needed to find a piano.

THAT was the harder piece of the puzzle, and a couple weeks ago we started actively searching for it. Many late nights researching, learning lots of new terms ... the definitions of acoustic, spinet, and console being just a few!, long phone calls with salesmen, good conversations with friends who blessed us with their time in sharing their knowledge, deciding on digital vs. acoustic, hours scouring Craigslist, multitudes of emails asking the questions people didn't feel the need to answer in their ads, a big disappointment when the piano we thought was to be ours was sold to someone else ...

And I'll be honest. Even as many times as the Lord has shown Himself abundantly faithful and clearly guided us in our purchase of a large ticket item, I was having a hard time trusting Him with this piano business. But I kept praying ... and praying and searching and praying and praying and searching ... and He once again proved Himself faithful. Saturday evening He led us to our piano. We are so thankful and glad!

And just another one of His good gifts? This piano is being sold by a piano tuner who will be delivering it as well, so I didn't have to go to the trouble of lining up separate people for delivery and tuning. :) We are rejoicing!! :) I am thoroughly looking forward to getting my hands back on the keys ... limited though my skills may be ... and we are EXCITED that Hannah will begin piano lessons in January. :) Exciting stuff! :)

 

And that my friends, is a glimpse (just a glimpse!) of our week. :)

365 Project | Week 10

The Lord allowed some unique challenges this week, but we are thankful for each one.

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. ...
Every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
John 15:1-2

The pruning process is rarely fun or easy, but it is a necessary part of growth, and we are thankful for it. Here's a glimpse of our week ...

Day 64. Hannah wanted to use an offering envelope for her church offering today. I wanted to remember her creative effort to communicate $3.05. :) I am thankful for her desire to give.

Day 65. After rest time, Peter came out to talk with me while I was folding laundry and to show me the cross he had made from Tinker Toys. My heart melted when he propped his chin on his hands to continue carrying on his conversation. I asked him to freeze so I could grab the camera and capture his sweetness. :)Day 66. Mmmmmm! Who wants a dry, pre-packaged, processed cookie in their lunch when you can have homemade??? To offset the time factor, Hannah and Mommy made a double batch of cookie dough and froze 2/3's of that into balls. Warm, homemade chocolate chip cookies in 11 minutes anyone? :)Day 67. Guess who's growing up?!?!?Day 68. Hannah-bug had some hard lessons to learn about trustworthiness this week. So thankful for the godly teachers who are partnering with us in raising our munchkins for God's glory. And so thankful for God's gracious answers to prayer.

Day 69. Matthew loves tractors. LOVES them. It's going to be a sad, sad day when Grandpa's tractor goes back home. (For the record, he can climb up onto the seat of Grandpa's tractor all by himself. Nope. I didn't see it happen. Just found him on the seat ... happy as a clam.) :}Day 70. Camera appreciation day! Hannah and Peter were invited to their friend's birthday party, and Mommy forgot her camera. It may be blurry, but my camera phone was at least able to capture their smiles to remember the fun they had playing air-hockey. :)

Thankful for God's Light

The Lord has been teaching us much in recent weeks. Two verses have become particularly precious to me:

If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me night,"
Even the darkness is not dark to You;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with You.
Psalm 139:11–12

My God is light.
If it seems dark to me, it is simply because my eyes are closed.

These are some of the precious blessings for which we are thankful from recent weeks ...

Big Helpers ...

A Big Helper in Training ...

A visit from Grandma and Grandpa ...

A fun family outing ...

Family Photos ...

Crayons ...Creativity ...

Snuggle time with our munchkins!!

Daddy!!!

Big Brother ...

Big Sister ...

Ultrasounds ...

We have been looking forward to sharing as one of our Thanksgiving praises that Matthew would be a big brother in 2012. However, this last week, God chose to take our tiniest one Home, and this picture is both our first and last until we meet him or her in Heaven. So, Matthew is a big brother ... but in 2011, and his little brother or sister has already beat him to Heaven. :o)

We appreciate your prayers. There have definitely been many tears and I'm sure there are more to come, but our God is Good. All the time. And we are so thankful to know that even this is part of His perfect plan for us.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Big Kids

The little guy is particularly photographable at the moment, but that doesn't mean his big brother and sister haven't been up to anything exciting. :o)

A couple weekends back we enjoyed "boys' night" and "girls' (+ Matthew) night." Chris and Peter had a blast at our church's Father–Son Campout.

Peter reports that his favorite part was the fire. However, Mommy heard reports from multiple venues that many folks who had previously thought Peter was quiet and mild-mannered discovered that he is very, very much boy with LOTS of energy and a ready stream of conversation. :o) Yep. I could have told you that. ;o)

Since the boys had the camera, Hannah and Mommy didn't get pictures, but we had a blast doing crafts while Matthew slept ... LOTS of bead designs and drawing with chalks. Fun stuff. :o) And the recent most exciting event in her life was the arrival of her big girl quilt from Grandma M! Isn't it beautiful!?!? :o)

Other random miscellaneous items ...

• Mornings have suddenly become very much more enjoyable since Mommy created a playlist of carefully selected music that guides us through our routine. :o) Now, instead of Mommy setting timers and nagging (eh hem, giving regular reminders ...), everybody knows exactly what they need to be doing at all times and precisely how much longer they have until they need to be doing the next thing. It's been fantastic! Our playlist is 45 minutes long, and starts at 6:45 with 5 minutes of cuddle time. :o) It's definitely nicer to be able to wake a sleepy child with "time for snuggle time" than it is "time to get up ... we're running late!" :o} What a blessing all around!


• Hannah and Peter have been thoroughly enjoying having Mommy read the Little House on the Prairie series to them after school ... and after dinner ... and before dinner if we can fit it in ... and before bed ... umm, yep. Pretty much any time there's a remote slow down in the activity level, Mommy is asked for another chapter. :o)


• Daddy's CRAZY before-college-students-return work schedule has somewhat slowed down since the thus mentioned college students have now returned.


• Mommy's been working really hard and is getting really close to having the first year of Missions for Kids ready for printing/publishing. That's been a 7–8 year project thus far, so it's incredibly exciting to see the finish line approaching. Still plenty of hurdles to cross though.

And that's about it. Our days are full to overflowing. And we're very much trying to make sure that the things which are most important (loving, training, snuggling ...) don't get crowded out as we do those things which are necessary (eating, bathing, cleaning ...).

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
Psalm 90:12

Little things ...

Little things fill your heart.


Things like first lollies ...
Lego cities, Complete with Cair Paravel ...

Walking at 15-1/2 months ...

The return of the giggle game ...

Bubble fun ...

Storytime with big sister ...

Toby-love ...

Budding artists ...

Water bottle fascinations ...

Homemade alphabet books ...

Haircuts ...

Swings ...

I am thankful for my camera. I am thankful for the memories it captures for me to remind me of what's truly important. All of the "big" things are important, but the hearts of my children are much more so. Right at the moment, we are in the midst of some major changes in our family, and honestly, there have been some hard days. For a lot of reasons.

Briefly, my heart wants to be homeschooling this year, but the Lord has made it very clear that that is not His will for our family right now. And that's okay. Because more than anything, I want the Lord's will for our lives. I know that His way is perfect. But, that doesn't mean it's always easy.

So, with those struggles in the background, and the hourly giving of those desires back to the Lord, we have also had a major schedule change with the start of school. I tend to be very organized (ummm, ... that may be an understatement), and I like schedules. A lot. And I find it rather challenging when they get turned upside down on me. So, I'm adjusting. Slowly. Some days better than others. And my brain tells me that the new schedule has the potential to be "better" than the old, but at the moment, life hasn't caught up to it yet.

So, I am thankful for my camera. Because in the midst of all of that (and a hundred other things, including poison ivy), I need to be reminded that my munchkins' hearts are most important.