Short, Quick and To The Point...

It's late and I should probably just leave this for another day, but I wanted to write a couple things down before I forgot them.

Today in Sunday School we were choosing animals that would have been on the ark for our song. Garrison picked a beaver(what sounds do they make?), Caleb picked a chipmunk and zebra. Garrison's second animal was a porcupine and then Kiersten took the prize by choosing a skunk(both times!) So it was a stinky ark with lots of teeth marks and Noah and his family probably got stuck by quills a couple times:) Whatever happened to the horse, pig, etc... I know they do it for my benefit though. They know I like to laugh a lot:))).

This afternoon we stayed at the church and tried to keep it as low key as possible. Elyssia asked me to read Alexi's Secret Mission(about a boy helping to smuggle Bibles to other Christians). We ended up reading the WHOLE book! Garrison really enjoyed it and the younger two probably heard close to half of it. I'm so thankful that our kids love to read and that they are also interested in reading about other kids that choose to serve the Lord. Don't get me wrong, we do like to read Franklin and other kids books, but it's nice that they also choose biographies and character building books when given the chance.

We taught the kids how to play Mother May I this evening. When Garrison became the one giving instructions he told Garrison to take 6 "pole" steps. Caleb looks at him and says, "What are pole steps?" Garrison replied, "You take a step and wobble from side to side, then take another one, etc...." I totally give him points for creativity. Elyssia told Caleb to do 5 sommersaults. We totally thought that would get him close enough to touch her. Little did we realize that he would do sommersaults in a circle and not end up any further ahead than when he started with the first sommersault:). That kid cracks me up!

In church this morning, Kiersten did quite well, but at one point she looks at me and says, "He's(Jace) looking at me!". I whispered yes, she smiled at him and life went on. Her newest thing to say is, "what's that noise?" It's usually the furnace or the wind, but she is very curious...

Tonight Caleb and Kiersten weren't getting along as well and I told them that we would have to stay in the car instead of getting to go visit at Caleb Village. Caleb was very upset with me at first, but I explained how quickly someone could get hurt if he and Kiersten weren't listening and told him that I would tell him stories instead. For the next hour I told him stories about when I was a kid and also about when my dad was growing up. They loved it and kept asking for more. I think it was one of the most enjoyable hours I've spent with those two. Sometimes there are things I think are an inconvenience or unpleasant, but the Lord turns it into something quite nice. This was definitely one of those times.

I guess this really wasn't short or quick. Once I got started writing I realized how much we really did today:). Tomorrow is a full day, plus the Ladies Bible Study in the evening. I'm off to get some much needed sleep! Remembering and being thankful for yet another day to serve our RISEN SAVIOUR!

Extra Time?

Today was the start of a more scheduled life at our house. We've been needing to do it quite awhile, but I honestly resisted doing it because I knew it would mean a lot more work for me. Not a good excuse, but that's the best one I used. We had a loose schedule that required certain things to be done before school, school hours, meal times and nap times, but not a lot scheduled in between. Rather than assigning the kids more chores I'd just do them myself because it was faster. After becoming frustrated at their lack of help(totally my fault for not training them before now), I realized that I needed to ask the Lord for guidance in this area, buckle down and jump in with both feet, so to speak. We started today, because I knew that if I put it off I probably wouldn't do it. Can I just say, "hand to the forehead!" Why didn't I start this 2 years ago? The kids get into far less trouble when I keep them occupied with chores and helping with meals, etc... For most of the day they were super excited to help with everything and Elyssia, who knew I was reading "Large Family Logistics", remarked, "Mommy, the ideas you got from that book are really good, they're working to help us get along!". I just need to stop and say, "Thank you Lord, I'm sorry for now listening sooner." I know there will probably be many rough days ahead, but I can also see a lot more good days mixed in. The kids were volunteering to do dishes, because I promised to read a chapter of George Mueller and feed the baby as long as they were washing:). Elyssia didn't want me to stop reading, but I told her that it will be used as a special book for dishwashing time. We've had them help off and on with the dishes, but we haven't had them do it for all 3 meals. It was amazing not to have to wash all the dishes, even though I have to say that I do enjoy it. Trashes were emptied, the deck was cleaned, Kiersten helped wipe down the table after meals, all 3 of the older ones took turns sweeping after meals and probably did a better job than I usually do. We had time to go on a walk after lunch because the 3 older ones finished all their schoolwork by 11. Garrison got through his reading practice a lot quicker when I told him about the walk. He also helped on the walk by holding Kiersten's hand and carrying her for awhile when she got tired. It was super cute, cause she's not a petite little flower, but you could tell he was pleased to be helping. I'm not sure I can remember ever giving out so many words of thanks and praise as we did today. The older ones even helped Kiersten brush her teeth, clean her face and hands, etc... Can you tell that I'm excited about the outcome of this new schedule. Here's a sample of what our days will be like in the weeks, months and years ahead:

MONDAY:Laundry Day(all laundry will be done on this day, unless it's an emergency) School and normal chores as usual.

TUESDAY: Kitchen Day-All Baking and Extra Food Prep, plus cleaning out the fridge, organizing cupboards will be done on this day. The kids are especially excited about cleaning the fridge. They love pulling everything out, washing it down, etc...

WEDNESDAY: Office Day-All card making, letter writing, grocery list,scheduling, phone calls(hopefully) will be done on this day. We will also load the diaper bag, bottles for recycling, library books, etc will be put in the van in preparation for Thursday.

THURSDAY: Town Day-This day will be used for errands and appointments in town. Visiting a friend or just going in for a special treat. Scott is usually willing to pick up extra groceries as needed and we might not need to head in every week, but this day is going to be reserved for that.

FRIDAY: Cleaning Day: There's a long list to do this day, but the reward at the end of it is a TEA PARTY. We will have special treats that we made on Tuesday(hopefully) and a whole hour to sit and read a book together, discuss it and things about the week that went well or that we can work on. We will have one room that we focus on deep cleaning, but not be concerned about making everything spotless. Hopefully most things will already be fairly organized, due to chore times each day, but this day we'll focus on the Bathrooms and any areas that don't usually get attention.

SATURDAY: Outside Day: This means any weeding, watering, mowing, car washing, trash pick up that needs to be done is scheduled for this day. There should also be quite a bit of family fun time, including a picnic whenever possible. More reading together and walks, when the weather is nice. This will have to be tweaked a bit when it's winter, or inclement weather, but we'll see.

Many of you are probably thinking, "you're turning those kids into your little slaves!" No, actually we really just want to work better as a family so that we have more time to enjoy living, learning and reaching out to others as a family. When it's just one or two people doing all the work, the little ones are usually busy just getting into things or having disagreements. Prayerfully we'll have quite a bit more time to read and explore as a family.

Another area that I'm making changes in is computer time. I won't stop blogging, but I'm starting to limit the amount of time I give myself for it. Going on to check it after the kids are in bed for the night. It might mean a few less blog posts, but I'll still try to keep up with it as much as possible. I've already gone 15 minutes overtime, so I'm off for now.

Enjoy a wonderful Lord's Day tomorrow. I'm so thankful for all the Lord has done for me, especially giving his life, to save my soul! Praising the Lord for another day to serve HIM!

Making Cards With Friends

Yes, this does equal checking off another item on my 30x30 list, but we ended up doing this as something special with the kids, instead of the adults:) One friend brought her grandson, which made it even more exciting for our kids. This week has been filled with friends, which has been a lot of fun, but also a bit exhausting. One more tonight and then we're going to take it easy for the next 5 weeks while Scott does his work at the Crisis centre in town.

Wednesday we picked up a lady that just recently started attending church. She moved here from Nova Scotia and was feeling a bit lonely during the week when the others were all working. We brought her out to the farm for the day and I think we all really enjoyed it:). It's very interesting learning about Nova Scotia from someone that grew up there.

Thursday is better in Picture Form:

Card Making is Fun! Great job kids!

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups!

Adelaide's Favorite Spot!

English Muffin Bread=New Favorite!