Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Poor Neglected Blog...

At least the title of this post is not "Poor Neglected Children". Yes, I'm a slacker, but there are so many other things calling my name these days. It's hard to choose between them all and if I have to leave out something I usually pick this area. Not that we haven't had a lot to write about. I think we could probably fill a book with all the things that have gone on in the past couple weeks. We've had company the last 3 weekends and had a wonderful time with all of them. Sadly, I'm also neglecting to take many pictures. Just enjoying the journey, so to speak.

We now have a 5 year old in the house again. Caleb turned 5 on Sunday and seems to have developed a bigger appetite to go with his age! That's okay with me though. He's been picking at his food lately and it's nice to see him take 2nds and 3rds for a change. On the other hand, he's also been getting too little sleep with all the company and after they left today he was VERY grumpy! We went for a long walk and that seemed to help. Then Scott came home and they did more work on the climbing wall fort. Caleb was so tired that he fell asleep at 6! He's still sleeping and I'm hoping that doesn't mean that he wakes up at 5 in the morning... If he does he can keep Little Miss Adelaide company;). She's officially been weaned and it's nice to sleep through the night again, but the flip side is that we need to get her to go back to sleep cheerfully when she wakes up at 5 each morning. She's wide awake and sometimes she's happy about it, but many times she's super crabby.

On Monday we'll start our official countdown of the last month of school for the older 2. We started in August and took very little for holidays this year. We had a couple sick days and 5 days at Christmas, but other than that we've tried to do school every day so that we could be done as soon as the snow melted and the weather warmed up. It looks like our snow will still be around for at least another 2 weeks, so we should be right on schedule. Garrison, especially, is looking forward to being done. He's done really well for the most part, but hasn't enjoyed Math that much. Elyssia was like that too, but grade 2 was a bit better and this year of Grade 3 has been awesome!

Tonight it was really neat to see Elyssia sitting in a chair with 3 of her siblings listening while she read. She didn't use to enjoy reading out loud to them, but once Garrison started reading and reading to the others she started doing it too. She will read stories to Kiersten and Ada after they're all in bed and it really seems to draw them closer together.

Kiersten is still getting over the cold. It seems like she's had it the longest and she was NOT happy about it. She told Scott a couple days ago that Garrison should have stayed in his room and not given them all his cold. She thought that they should throw him down the stairs because she was mad about the cold. Our 3 year old is nothing, if not honest about what she's thinking. Reminds me a lot of how I was as a little girl. Overall, she's a lot more outgoing and friendly though. Yes, she has her moments, but she really does seem to like being around others and getting to know new people.

Ada is A CLIMBER!!! Why am I not surprised? All 3 of the younger ones have loved to climb from a very young age. I turn around and find her on the kitchen table, counters, up on Garrison's bunkbed, the piano bench, etc... I won't be surprised if she scales the climbing wall with very little help once the snow melts. I tried putting little boots on her today for our walk. She HATED them! She cried and cried and when I picked her up she was pretty quick to wiggle them off. She's quite the stinker, but an extremely cute one! She is another challenge to us as parents, but with God's help we can overcome and prayerfully direct her strong will for good things. Her garbled chatter is starting to sound a bit like some words, but still not a lot that's clear.

Scott is keeping busy, as usual, but more so with our church family and work at home. There hasn't been a lot of carpentry work lately, but it's been neat to see the Lord providing anyway and we really like all the extra time that we get to spend with him:). He read through The Little Pilgrim's Progress book with the kids in a little over a week's time. They were caught up in the story so much that they never wanted him to stop reading. There's so much to think about in the two stories that were read. I think we could read it a couple times and still not absorb all the life applications. Praying that it brings about some good things in the kids lives. Helping them to see how they, too, can grow spiritually when they're little and help others along the way. Kiersten now talks about being like Patient instead of Passion. It's good to patiently Wait for the good things that the Lord has for us instead of throwing fits and taking what the world has to offer instead. A good lesson for us impatient adults too:).

It's been warming up this week and we're all very thankful for that. There may be some snowflakes that still fall before we can say we're completely done with winter here, but we're trying to be content with whatever the Lord decides to send our way. Here's a picture to remember THE WINTER OF 2013 by:

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Snow Day!

Well, one can truly say that life is never boring out here in Saskatchewan. We had a great time with Kirk and Darlene this weekend. They drove out to celebrate Caleb's 5th Birthday a bit early and just spend some time hanging out with the kids. Garrison got the sniffles on Thursday, but managed to enjoy most of the time anyway, while kindly sharing his germs with all those around him. If only it was that easy to get them to share the rest of the things in their lives;).

It was very cold while they were here, but we kept the house warm cooking a turkey, which we believe must have been mislabled weight-wise. It took 2 hours longer to cook than it should have. Worth the wait though and the kids thought it was kind of fun to eat the meal in courses and actually have the cake and ice cream before the turkey! I'd gotten some games at the Salvation Army when they had their 50% off sale and we played Tic Tac Toe, War and Chinese Checkers. The boys had fun building the new Lego set that Caleb got for his Birthday and there were LOTS of books read, as usual.

This morning we got ready to head to church, only to discover that the roads were "not recommended for travel". We called around to let people know that we wouldn't be making it to town and did our best to have a wonderful morning worshiping and resting as a family. We started reading through a book called, "Little Pilgrim's Progress". The kids are really getting into it and I think that we're pretty close to chapter 10 already. It's neat to see how much the kids understand the story before Scott stops to explain it.

Scott and Kirk had quite a bit of shoveling to do before Kirk and Darlene could head back home today. Thankfully we received a call a couple hours ago to let us know that they'd made it to the outskirts of the city. Praying they have a wonderful flight to visit her family next weekend!

Tonight was fairly relaxing, although Addie has been super fussy. She's got a runny nose and wants to be held as much as possible. We had leftovers for supper and had devotions as a family after listening to Lamplighter Theatre's "The White Gypsy". Makes me cry at the end every time! Must be a mom thing:).

Happy Sunday!

Thursday, March 14, 2013

What's a guy to do?

What's a guy to do when he unexpectedly has a week that he isn't working at an outside job? Well, if that guy happens to be my husband, the pictures explain it all:).




Enclose the climbing wall tree house so that we can sleep up there during the summer time!





Have a family tea party!



Take pictures of Elyssia looking all grown up. Sniff sniff;).



Build a goat feeder...



Build a sewing center for your wife's early Birthday present. Finishing touches to be added later.

Some bonus pics:



Guess who loves books???



Cheeky little monkey!


Bonus features of the week:

Watching Addie dance to bluegrass:))).

Baking and making batches of jam and apple butter. I don't think there's a better smell than fresh bread baking and apple butter simmering on the stove.

The kids climbing the walls of snow and exploring the animal tracks that they can see along the way.

History lessons with Daddy.

Scott teaching the boys wrestling techniques. I watched them in action tonight. They have a lot of fun and it's amazing how well Caleb does for his size. He doesn't give up easily and is often able to wiggle right out from under Garrison and jump on top of him. Will have to get a video sometime. The end up laying next to each other on the floor laughing and saying, "again, again"!

Looking forward to Bannock tomorrow morning and the first weekend of family visiting for Caleb's 5th Birthday. Praying for good weather and a great weekend!



Monday, March 11, 2013

Blessings and Prayers

The past month or so has been full of this post's title.

We've had the blessings of making new friends, enjoying a family trip to Saskatoon, seeing a friend improve after a spinal cord surgery, then praying as a couple friends lost their dear ones.

Rejoiced with warm weather and prayed for God to help us get through the blizzarding weather.

Blessings of talking to family and friends and prayers for those who can't be with theirs for one reason or another.

Blessings of good health and prayers that we'd get over sickness.

We've been blessed to live here in Saskatchewan for 4 years now. God has gone above and beyond in meeting our needs and seeing us through some of the more challenging times.

The Blessings of Children and the prayers that go up every day for the Lord's help to be patient and raise them for his honor and glory.

The Blessing of Homeschooling and prayers for a family in the U.S. that are being told that they'll have to go back to Germany, where it's illegal, and they will most likely have their kids taken away by the government. Praying extra hard for this family and hoping that there are other ways that we can help them.

The Blessing of a wonderful husband and best friend and prayers for those who've lost theirs or are separated as they go off to protect their country.

The Blessing of freedom to worship the Lord and prayer that the Lord would help me not to take it for granted and to take advantage of it as much as possible while we have it.

The Blessing of our acreage and house. It truly is a shelter in the time of storm that the Lord has blessed us with.

The Blessing of family devotions where we're free to read God's word and pray with our children. To hear the children asking questions about what's being read and giving input on what it might mean.

The Blessing of a Merry Heart, especially when your 3 year old whispers to you that she'd really like to have a baby zebra, right before she goes to sleep:).

The Blessing of plenty to eat and prayers for those that don't have enough.

The Blessing of work and prayers through the times that there isn't any work. Enjoying each extra day that the Lord gives us with Scott at home:).

I'll admit that I've been a bit down at times lately. It's truly been a long winter, but God has been good. He keeps reminding me of all the blessings that I have and of how short life really is. I just want to spend as much time with the kids as possible. Treasuring each day, just in case... When I start to feel like complaining there are so many families and the hardships that they face that come to mind and I just have to thank the Lord and start praying for others. I'll admit that it takes me longer to get through sometimes, but I'm thankful that God is patient with me. He is the example that I need in order to be a better wife, mother and friend.

We have so much to look forward to, but we should also be enjoying each moment of the day that we're in. There are challenging times as parents, but I'm learning to still do my best to enjoy each day, rather than wishing that we were past this "stage" already. Life is but a vapor...

Happy Monday!