Deep thinking

After a very deep conversation with my sister last night, my mind has been so occupied today. My thoughts and our conversation are not directly related but it seems that it started a whirlwind in my head...

While trying to still potty train, homeschool, taxi to one part-time job, grocery shop, and keep up with laundry and sibling spats, I quizzed myself about why we haven't put anything in the backpacks we purchased this fall. They are supposed to be full of "survival gear". We discussed buying filtering waterbottles for every member of our family. It costs about $300 just to do that! We wondered about packing a set of clothing and shoes in each one with nuts, seeds, jerky, and first aid. Then we discussed that someone should carry rain gear, tents, blankets, knives, cord, weapons, maps, non-hybrid seeds, tarps...oh my!!! Who could carry all that stuff???

How can a family of ten (soon eleven) continue to eat organic, gluten free, take supplements, visit the chiropractor and orthodontist, and afford to make a stash for "later"?

I kept wondering, "how can I know what is most important for us to focus on?" I listened to a very few minutes of a webcast of Dr. Dale Sides, at Liberating Ministries for Christ. It was entitled Urban Survival. I read some links but I didn't really listen to much of the show. Through the links I learned that the items that are most necessary are most scarce. If you did own a generator or a lot of food, it would be stolen from you... I fast-forwarded to the middle, then towards the end of the webcast. The guest speaker was talking about having his bible, talking to God and listening to God. I wondered how he was incorporating that advice into the survival advice show. I didn't have time to listen and find out. But it struck me, in a peaceful way, asking God was the wisest choice.

There are people who stash money because they are afraid of being poor. There are those who hoard weapons because they'd rather die defending themselves. There are people who know all that is necessary for survival in the wild and have all the gear, but they still aren't at peace about the future. Christians do not agree whether the Lord will rapture the church out of this world before the toughest times arrive, or whether we will live through physical suffering. How can any of us be prepared when we don't know what we are preparing for?

We have family and friends who live in the mountains. They have room on their property to house our family. We've never asked to build a safe haven there. We wouldn't necessarily be able to communicate with them in order to come and stay if the worst happens. We are just going to have to trust God to tell us, if and when we need to make a change. For now, we will continue discussing and purchasing those small things that we can afford. But staying close to our Lord, keeping in the Word, holding our thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ are better for us than any amount of worrying over "tomorrow".

January photo frenzy

It happpens every January...we take more pictures than any one scrapbooker can begin to sort and paste. I am amazed looking back at how much I've already forgotten that happened after Christmas! So here's my fast track, photo recap of the last month.

The Saturday after Christmas, my sister and Brian, and my grandfather and his wife, Bea, came to visit. We had a nice lunch and a great afternoon catching up. It doesn't replace our childhood memories of what used to be "the Fahnestock gathering" (my mother's entire family gathering after Christmas), but it was wonderful to share the day with dear loved ones.
Here are all of our children with Carrie and Brian. They all adore one another. It blesses Bob and me greatly!
Our washer died one Friday, and wasn't repaired until the following Friday. The boys and I took all these clothes to the laundromat. We are so thankful for our home warranty and are shopping for a heavy duty washer. Until we could find a solution, we piled all the baskets of dirty laundry in our bedroom.
We have a wonderful friend who is a fireman. He gave us the grand tour one morning. All the children sat in the truck, of course. Here's Noah in the driver's seat.
And Steve with most of our group.

Bob and I usually forget to photograph ourselves and especially neglect pregnancy photos. We were surprised at the early appearance of our baby bump this time and took this 16 week photo.

On the sixth, Joy turned six. Kendal did a great job on the cake.

Dad and Susan visited one Saturday in January. We enjoyed a great lunch together. They brought Christmas gifts too. Susan was invited to help construct one of the gifts with Mary and found herself surrounded by girls for nearly two hours at the table.
Dad, Bob and our boys had no trouble connecting around a case of rifles and model airplanes. Kendal is opening her traditional Noah's Ark gift in this photo.
On the twenty-fifth, Mary turned four! She was very excited about her birthday this year! Since I stayed home from church with Noah, I was able to make her cake, sew her dress, wrap her presents and make lunch while everyone else was gone! (I should have the house to myself more often) We had a nice afternoon together enjoying her special day! Mary looked like a little princess in her new dress, surrounded by her girly gifts!
We are so thankful for our family and friends who've already made this new year so special for us. And for this blog helps which me to remember so many of our blessings! Thank you, God!

Good news and bad news

The good news is that the toddler is wearing training pants and actually used the little potty after breakfast. He just said, "book", begging me to pull one off the shelf for him. This is all very encouraging since thirty minutes ago I was sitting in front of him in the bathroom with my head against the wall asking myself if he would ever speak real words (rather than shooting me with a pretend gun) or be potty trained.

The bad news is that I spent another thirty minutes explaining to the eldest four children the reasoning behind creating, and enforcing a morning rountine. I'm hoping tomorrow will be an improvement.

Evening update: the bad news is that the potty training toddler never used the toilet for the rest of the day. The morning success was just a tease. After dinner, the training diaper sagged so low inside of his courduroys that his poop fell out the pants legs, onto carpet, slippers, etc...but he enjoyed a nice shower and a rub down with sweet almond oil. Last night it was a bath with olive oil. I'm hoping we'll find something to remedy his eczema and his potty issues. : )

The good news is that although all the children are in training boot camp (that means I'm really following through on every instruction I give), everyone went to bed in peace and even my teenage daughters smiled at me, hugged me and still love me. Time for bed!

Answered Prayer

A couple of years ago we started having biblestudy and prayer time before school. We've mostly read through a chapter of Proverbs each day. Other times we did specific studies on subjects such as humility and obedience. We focused on the love chapter of Corinthians for weeks until most every child had memorized it. Recently, we've been discussing a verse of two from my personal quiet time. I think it's especially helpful to the children for us to really apply one verse, rather than reading many verses quickly.

At the end, we each take turns praying for whomever comes to mind. I often give reminders about new situations that we should lift up in prayer. We have many family members that we aren't sure are saved so we always mention them. Rather than talking about them amongst ourselves, we agreed that praying for them daily was ideal. We never know the effect of our prayers on each person's daily life. But it is exciting to talk and dream about how God might choose to bless them.

Recently, I realized that one of our daily prayers had been answered in a surprising way. I do not want to forget how incredibly humbling and wonderful it was to know that someone's life has been dramatically changed! We haven't discussed this with the person/people for whom we are praying, but within our family we were able to praise God for His kindness towards us and them. In praying we aren't asking for a better relationship, or anything that would be a reward for us, that is what is so amazing.

We will definitely continue to be fervent in prayer for our loved ones and neighbors. We hope that we can be the answer to someone else's prayers for their loved one.

Prayer works. And we can never guess how. God is awesome!

Partakers of His Divine Nature

I usually try to keep reading during my morning devotions until I get to a verse that falls fresh on my soul. This morning, after loving all of the first book of Peter, I began the second.

In II Peter chapter one, verses three and four:
"According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."

I often have wondered how we can actually be like Christ especially in difficult circumstances. These verses seem to say that by the very promises that we have in God's word we are partakers of Christ's nature...that certainly explains why meditating on His word is so vital to equipping us for spiritual battles. And it's very comforting to be reminded that He has already given to us everything we need for a life that is pleasing to Him!

Journaling

I was reminded by an article yesterday how important journaling can be. God told Jeremiah to write the words He gave to him in a book. People who have kept a journal since young adulthood can testify of it's power to strengthen their faith. I am usually humbled and stirred to gratitude when I reread my journals. Sadly, over the last decade my handwritten entries have been reduced to attempts to recapture a birth story or a milestone birthday of an older child. Some of my favorite entries are prayer requests. It is so easy to see the hand of God years later. It always brings me to tears to realize that I had forgotten the prayer requests, but clearly He had not! Likewise, copying verses and meditating on them has truly blessed me.

Tuesday

It is a beautiful winter morning. Bright and clear. Even the birds are singing again. It's so much easier to get up early and read while others are sleeping when it's not so terribly dark!

Three day weekends are great! (when Bob is off that is) I sort of "took the day off" yesterday myself. I had a quick haircut. Bob and I took my swimming class together. We took only two children and shopped for groceries at Trader Joe's. It's quite a hike from our house but the savings and quality are worth it. Then we could barely pull ourselves away from a place called "Ollie's" where supposedly everything is a bargain.

The books are definitely very good prices. We looked at toys too since we have two birthdays next week. Surprisingly, we reunited with an elderly man we'd met once a few years ago. He is a family friend of friends of ours who've moved to Roanoke. Anyhow "Uncle Elmer" was quite informative about our friends, the Warrens. We were glad to hear about them. Elmer was also interested in teaching our Daniel how to play the harmonica and when he learned that three of our girls play the guitar he was thrilled. So we made plans to have him over soon. God has such a neat way of bringing people's lives together. I can't get over that "coincidence" of seeing him yesterday.

Bob and I had a coupon for a dinner out, so we treated ourselves to a date night. We spent an entire hour just talking and eating. We came home in time to find that the children had put away the groceries, cleaned up dinner, put away the laundry, and were ready for bed. That was what we had asked them to do and they did it all!!! That was worth documenting in case it doesn't happen again. : ) Due to their diligence we had time for singing, some dancing, and prayer before bed. We all turned in early and no one woke up sick today! It's already looking like a better week than last!

I'm almost through the New Testament again. I started James on Friday. I love this part of the Bible. That's silly to say since I love most all of it. But each verse there is such a gem. "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." James 1:2-5

Endurance

Sometimes I don't even want to write or type out how I am really feeling about my life. Emotions are fleeting. Circumstances change so quickly. It will have to suffice to say that the responsibility of parenting is not getting any lighter. It keeps changing but it's never easier. No matter how much I think about how I am parenting and try to compare it to my parents, friends, and parenting books, I always conclude that I have to continue being me. God created me and our children and He knew us before we were all formed. So, if it feels like I invest waaayyy more energy, conversation, and thought to how we are raising our children than anyone else I know, then so be it. I would like to see more "fruit" on such discouraging days though. Long ago (five babies ago to be exact) I declared a favorite verse: "And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap if we faint not." Galatians 6:9 I sure hope I am "well doing".

On a more grateful note, we had a very nice visit with my dad and stepmother. They stayed for lunch and a couple hours of opening presents and chatting. It was truly good. I hope we will continue to add more and more good experiences to the relationships and be able to build on them.

I've been feeling the baby (18 weeks now) kicking around in my belly this weekend for the first time. Until now, he or she was nestled down so low and close to my back that I couldn't feel anything. Apparently he/she has discovered how much room there is available and seems to enjoy trying all the tummy quadrants. : ) When I wake up or right before bed I love to lay my hands on my belly and really enjoy all the movements. I'm still holding out some strange thought that maybe there are two babies, rather than just one. But my OB said they've never missed a twin under ultrasound in his experience before. I'll probably have to blame the prematurely large belly I'm wearing on being a grandgravida...my uterus knows the routine and just didn't waste any time getting there on this pregnancy. : ) I think pregnany bellies are beautiful, so I don't mind at all.

I stayed home from church again today due with little ones who are ill. I think our Mary has a sinus infection. Daniel woke up feeling badly. Noah and Joy have barely returned to normal from last week. Hopefully we can return together next Sunday.

I've been reading about what foods are best and worst to eat for each blood type. Thankfully, Bob and I are the same blood type and we think all of our children are too. It's not a "diet" that we will follow exactly since we can use enzymes to help us digest the items that are supposedly "harmful" to us . It has been eye-opening. I don't know what the original author of the book said about it all. But I like how Pat Block explains it on her website.

It's shaping up to be another busy week. Not as busy as last week I hope. Kelsey will most likely have her braces on. Kendal is working some and Kelsey has a babysitting job. I hope to get to the pool to swim more than once this week. The best part is that we can wash our clothes in our own laundry room since our washer is repaired!

Busy

With the new year has come a new sort of busyness. Driving our eldest to work three days a week has majorly disrupted my "staying home" and homeschooling. I was consistently exercising at the Y three mornings a week after breakfast, biblestudy and helping with math for the younger ones. Not lately. Even this week the next oldest started to babysit for a sweet new family in our neighborhood. Their mother has several immediate needs for doctor visits and we are happy to help. But, there goes my second sitter in our family...this makes running out the door for our own appointments and errands tricky. I suppose we are now living a life a little closer to what the rest of the families in this culture are experiencing. But I doubt if many of them have eight children and one on the way. ; )

Hand, foot and mouth disease (or the coxsackie virus) has struck our four youngest this week. That means that the baby has been refusing food and most everything else. For two days I did nothing but hold him. That can be enjoyable or stressful, depending upon how much else I have to be doing. Sadly two of the younger girls have been vomiting and having sore throats, headaches and fevers. That seems to have ended today! I thought it was strep and am somewhat relieved to know its coxsackie. Poor baby, he has blisters on his toes and feet, hands and face. Thankfully he's eating, drinking and sleeping again!

The washing machine broke last week. It's only three years old. Apparently it was poor choice. The repairman laughingly told me that it is the lightest machine on the market. We need heavy duty and that it is NOT. So off to the laundrymat the boys and I went one afternoon. Fifteen dollars and two hours later we had six baskets of clean, wet laundry. We spent the rest of the evening drying our clothes at home. It was a good learning experience. I think I figured accurrately that we could buy a new washer and dryer with all the money we'd spend in three months at the laundrymat! Note to self: never use a washer with two cups of Downy already inside of the machine if you hate Downy scent!!! We have one load of clean, dry clothes quarantined to the garage due to its horrendous scent. People who use it all the time wouldn't even notice, but since we are scent-free in our home, it is really making us feel sick! When our incompetent washer is repaired tomorrow, I will wash that stinky load several times and hope it returns to normal. Thankfully we bought an American Home Shield warranty a few months ago so the repair will be cheap, comparatively speaking. We've already shopped for the new washer and dryer online and hope to win the approval of the repairman tomorrow. That will be a tax-return or summer bonus purchase.

We're expecting my dad and stepmom to visit on Saturday. The oldest even got off of work to be here. We're planning to make lunch for them and they'll be bringing Christmas gifts. We haven't seen much of them over the last several years. There seems to be a softening of my dad's heart lately and he is making a priority of visiting with us. We are gladly cooperating, and praying for the best.

Another new year, another blogging beginning...

Our teenage girls have taken over our family blog and have lots of followers and friends. That's fine. But it hardly seems like a good place for a mother to blog her lofty or commonplace thoughts anymore. So they can have it. : )

I recently read a lovely blog that was used in a manner that I think I'd like to try: Since my journal is so neglected and I don't have time for beautiful blog entries with photographs and perfectly scripted entries, I'm going just write a little each day. I'll be writing for me mostly. I hope if anyone decides to read it, that it will be a blessing to them too. Maybe it will cut down on the need for long phone calls if I really share my heart...