So...This is What I Went With

Ignore the mess under the bench, & the fact that I still need to take down the blinds....& the fact that I wish the curtains were longer.

What do you think?

P.S. What do you think of my blog's new look? Or maybe you like this better?

Ok....I am not crazy! We actually pulled it off!

A double sleepover!

Do you have “Jack (or Jill) in the Box” syndrome at your house?

We have it in abundance!

It tends to show up mostly at meal-times, but has been known to rear its head other places as well. Sometimes at story time, or even at church! YIKES!!

Symptoms:
1. The inability of said child to keep bottoms on chairs, or pews, or couches……
2. The magnetizing effect of the floor to the feet. (Hence keeping the feet on the floor-instead of dangling from the seat they should be!)
3. The attraction ANY other activity but the one we are engaged in seems to have. (ie. “Wonder how much food Mom’s putting in my bowl? Better get up & check!”)

We have found a solution! The child must not need their seat, if they can’t keep their bottoms in it, right?

(What a great excuse to take a pictue of those adorable toes, too!)

Ok, Forgive me if You Already Saw This on FB, BUT...

What would you do w/ this window if you were trying to sell your house? This one has puzzled me since we moved in...
I'll let you know what I decide after I get some more imput!

FFF.."Peace"

Very rarely does peace come to our house anymore. As a matter of fact, I have to get up at unearthly hours to find any. (& it only lasts until about 7 am around here).

BUT…..that being said-I know where lasting peace is found.

Peace, Perfect Peace
________________________________________
Peace, perfect peace, in this dark world of sin?
The blood of Jesus whispers peace within.

Peace, perfect peace, by thronging duties pressed?
To do the will of Jesus, this is rest.

Peace, perfect peace, with sorrows surging round?
On Jesus' bosom naught but calm is found.

Peace, perfect peace, with loved ones far away?
In Jesus' keeping we are safe, and they.

Peace, perfect peace, our future all unknown?
Jesus we know, and He is on the throne.

~Bickersteth

&, just once in a while….I stop to appreciate the peacefully slumbering munchkins God has blessed us with. Something about those heads on pillows w/ eyes closed……makes all the trials of the day just melt away. But, today, I am feeling a bit nostalgic (must be my quickly approaching 40th b-day), so I'm posting some of my kids’ first “sleeping pics.” Man, I wish I could slow down time……

One of Nat's refferal pics-this one, after it loaded on the screen, I KNEW. Just knew he was supposed to be ours.

Ruth-2 months old, still in the loving care of her foster family in Guatemala

Ana-2 days old, right before leaving the hospital.

Hop on over to Nora’s blog for more “peaceful pics!”

If At First You Don't Succeed.....

Try, try again...

We have tried soooo many different approaches to organizing out school day.

This is the latest attempt. The whole week is now on a chart Ana can check off as she does it. Her mornings she can pretty much run by herself. In the afternoon, we work together.


If you homeschool, how do you organize your days/your child(ren's) days?

Ruthie's Turn!!!

Remember those marble jars?! Well, they sure are filling up fast around here!

Ruthie was so motivated to get it filled up & go out to dinner w/ me, that she did 10 jobs in about one hour the other day.

Her item of choice at Red Robin? Mac 'n Cheese. Go figure....

Hibernation: to spend the winter in close quarters in a dormant condition

(Hibernation is the theme over at Nora's blog this week!)
Close quarters? YES!
Dormant? Not so much.

We are getting our house ready to sell.

Whew…I put that out there. I have been going to fess up here in Blogger-land for quite a while, but it takes us a LOOOOONG time to do anything. Even announce things.

We decided almost a year ago that our house was just too small & that we would like to move on to something slightly larger. We also would like to be in a different district in case we ever want to (*gasp*) put our kids in public school.

So…..with that in mind, Dave & I went (w/ our realtor) looking at houses in our neighborhood to see what our competition is like.

& decided that granite countertops in our kitchen would be a good investment. & hey, it we don’t sell right away, we get to enjoy them for a while!!!

So, here’s the BEFORE:


& AFTER:

What do you think? Anyone sell a house recently? What do you think helped/helps sell a house?

Blogging for Posterity

I have now been furiously typing at blogger dot com for over three years….a grand total of 799 blog entries (counting this one). My next blog entry will be #800. I can hardly believe I have written that much!!!

My writing might not make the cut for a popular magazine on parenting, adoption or being a wife……but, it has been very rewarding for ME. & I hope, one day, my kids will enjoy reading back through it. I enjoy blogging for anyone/everyone-but really, when it comes down to it, I blog for my family......

BUT, I have always had a fear that one day my blog might just POOF!!! Scary, huh!?! If you keep a blog, I know this thought has occurred to you as well!

My friend Andrea “introduced” me to someone who will “capture” & save your blog for you. I have been using this service for over a year now, & have a big weight off my shoulders. No more worries about accidentally deleting my blog (which happened to a friend of mine), or blogger goofing up so much that it’s just……GONE.

If you would like to save your blog, (for a very affordable price), Anne will do it for you. Just contact me here, & I’ll shoot you her e-mail addy!

Then you, too, can breathe a big sigh of relief…..

01-09-09......the day my perspective changed.

2 years ago today, (1-9-09), God literally saved our lives.

Some of us could have died that day.

You might remember that was the day I T-boned an SUV that ran a red light. I was driving about 55 MPH & I never saw him.

BUT….had the timing been milliseconds different, WE would have been T-boned-right where Natty was sitting.

Thank the Lord, the kids were all fine except for Ruth biting her tongue & Natty chipping a tooth. Ana also was pretty sore from her seatbelt.

I, being the driver, of course, tangled w/ the airbag & did get a pretty severe burn on my wrist from it. I had the wind knocked out of me. Ana had to call 911, & at age 7, was able to tell the operator where we were located.

The small scar you see in the above picture is something I’m thankful for. At first, I tried to minimize the scar……then I decided to use it as a daily reminder of God’s grace. Each time I look at it, I am reminded that:
1. God chose to spare our lives.
2. He also spared us major injury.
3. He DAILY protects us-not just then!
4. I am reminded that each moment is a gift-& we have no guarantee we will live to see tomorrow.

Now, to be totally honest, there are a few other lingering effects as well. I still don’t like that intersection (& God must have a sense of humor, since I have to drive through it more than twice a week! Ha!) I especially avoid flying through it at 55 MPH, & I really feel claustrophobic driving in the right lane through it. I also notice that I still naturally grip the steering wheel w/ two hands as I approach it & drive through!

I also am still jumpy on the highway when there’s lots of traffic & someone else is driving (in other words-someone who’s driving I can’t control).

Thankfully, the kids have returned to normal-but it took a while. Ruth cried/fussed in the car for months before she got over it. Ana kept all her fears inside-bottled up to deal w/ on her own. Poor girl. I week or so later, we started having daily times of drawing pictures of the accident & writing out her feelings about it. That helped-she cried many tears then & got many emotions out in the open.

All in all, we have much to be thankful for…..& we are doing much better.
But, in our house, the date 01-09-09 shall “live in infamy.”

Keepin' it Real...... (#2.....)

Now, this is what I *wish* my Family Room looked like at least once a day.....

well, at least the floor & the picked up look. I also wish the fire could be on, but it is super hard to light & get to stay lit (gas).
But, I had some time this afternoon to myself & I CLEANED!!! How crazy am I? All my house (except Dave's office & the kids' rooms) look this clean/picked up.

Ahhhh......

P.S. Linking up to Nora-because this TOTALLY clean house is certainly NEW for this year! (Ah, who am I trying to kid? It hasn't been this clean since well before Christmas! Ha!)

He Did It!!! (& honestly, I'm kinda amazed how well it actually worked!!!)

About a month ago, we instituted a new chore system.

We call it, “The Marble Jar” system.

The kids have graduated sizes of jars to fill. Each time they do an agreed-upon chore, they get to put a marble in the jar.

Nat & Ruth have fairly simple jobs-like clearing their dishes after meals, wiping the table, loading & unloading silverware & cleaning up their toys.

Ana has those jobs plus some other more challenging ones-grinding the coffee, & sweeping the floor to name a few.

All jobs must pass my inspection to get their marble.
Ana can LOOSE marbles (no pun intended) for jobs that don’t pass or “stuff” left lying around.

After they fill them up, they get varying rewards:

N-out for dessert w/ mom
R-out for supper & dessert w/ mom
A-out for an overnight get-away w/ mom

Nat filled his up on Sunday night (the rule is, the lid can’t close & Daddy is the judge!)
So, Monday night, Nat & I went to “Daiwy Queem” to get ice cream.

I tell you, this has been the best thing we ever set up for chores.
We have tried paying Ana.
We have tried bribery.
We have tried threats.

Nothing but this system has worked. (& the other two are suddenly much more motivated to fill their jars, since they saw Nat get his reward!)

What has worked in your home?

Keepin' it Real......

Our Family Room after a busy weekend......the rest of the house ain't much better. How does yours look?
Note the vacuum-good intentions do not a clean room make. Ha!