Eagle's Nest

I just had to pass along this link. Levi is absolutley fascinated!

Just Like A Real Mom

WeeBall practice started on Tuesday. It was hysterical! An ambulance drives by and the whole team stops to watch:) Levi had a ball (sorry about the goofy pun). I was a little worried that he would be nervous since he didn't know the coach or other kids on the team, but he was fine. My brave little guy:) He's so excited about being on a team and we had the best time watching him. The funniest part for me though came at the end of practice when the sign up sheet was past around for providing snacks. As I picked a day and signed my name I thought "wow, I'm signing up for snacks just like I saw my mom do a million times....just like A REAL MOM!" How long does one have to be a mom before one stops having these little lightbulb "I'm a mom" kind of moments:) Or do they just go on and on as the kids get bigger - "wow, I'm a mom," "wow, I'm the mom of a preschooler," "wow, I'm the mom of a kid who can read" and on and on? Whatever. I'm having a great time!

my 101 in 1001

I saw this idea over at Preschoolers and Peace and it looked like so much fun! I love lists anyway and I always have an ongoing to do list (aka my Master List). But since this is for a longer period of time (about 2 3/4 years) I can put some longer term goals on there and not feel bad when they're still on the list next summer. I started my list yesterday so my finish date will be Jack's third birthday. It's hard to imagine my tiny baby is ever going to be that big:( It was fun to think ahead about putting Levi in scouts and some feild trips we want to go on. I have about 30 things starred that I want to consentrate on over the next three months or so, some of which are pretty easy like growing out my hair to donate. It's growing while I type! I started to add "have another baby" to the list since I hope to within the time frame, but I thought I'd stick to things I have in my power and leave the miracles up to God. If any of y'all have a list, link to it for me in the comments. I'd love to check it out. And one more thing, I was inspired by many of the lists I read so if you see something that looks familiar...well, that's why:) So, in no particular order, here's the list.


Homeschool
1. Pray about our home school goals*
2. have a homeschool planning time
3. Get rid of unwanted hs materials
4. attend hs convention
5. join hslda
6. teach Levi to read
7. start having a regular school time*
8. have a big “starting homeschool” day this fall

Health & Safety
9. buy and take a quality vitamin everyday*
10. put together an emergency/disaster kit
11. put together a first aid kit*
12. serve a raw vegetable or fruit with every meal*
13. get a fire ladder and have a fire drill
14. do a detox after weaning Jack
15. drink only water for a week and see if I feel better*
16. buy and try stevia instead of sugar
17. take Levi to the dentist*
18. exercise 3x a week*
19. use only nontoxic cleansers in the house
20. Lose 60 lbs ( I can’t believe I wrote down the number!)
21. go to bed and get up earlier*

Homemaking
22. Hold a garage sale*
23. Make a family tree and hang it up in the house
24. Decorate the playroom
25. Decorate Mbed and Bath – make it a retreat
26. Get rid of unwanted toys*
27. Decorate the kids’ rooms
28. Fence in the yard
29. clean out my closet and get rid of all the clothes I don’t wear
30. get a new kitchen table and chairs
31. paint scripture on walls*
32. complete my black and white picture frame of all our family
33. decorate patio *
34. invite people over for supper at least 1x every other month*
35. organize storage room to hold outgrown kids’ clothing
36. learn how to make really good biscuits
37. learn how to make a great 14 layer cake
38. have Christmas presents made or bought and wrapped before Dec 1st
39. learn to cook cabbage the way Casey likes
40. put together a list of a months worth of well-liked meals
41. create and follow a workable cleaning schedule
42. make silhouettes of each of the kids to hang up
43. establish a chore chart for kids and use it*
44. keep meals in the freezer to take to people in need
45. pack an emergency diaper bag for the trunk*
46. read or get rid of all unread books
47. Reorganize all my books
48. make a price book for groceries & household stuff
49. grow an herb garden*
50. try once a month cooking
51. Pay off all debt except house

Family
52. sign Levi up for scouts
53. make Easter more meaningful – establish more traditions
54. take the kids to the zoo in Atlanta
55. take the kids to the aquarium in Atlanta
56. swim w/ kids
57. Start Brenna’s pearl necklace*
58. Take the kids to the beach
59. Verbally praise more than verbally correct*
60. teach kids good manners
61. Have a pajama ice cream run
62. Invite Bet to stay with us over the summer*
63. be at Bethany’s high school graduation
64. plan fun things with nieces and nephews
65. start a playgroup in our neighborhood
66. get a playhouse for Brenna
67. have a traditional picnic with Casey and kids

Church Family
68. Encourage someone at church every week*
69. Weekly praise a child that’s not my own
70. start a church library*
71. go to ladies retreat at least once
72. have a cookie decorating party for the kids at church

Personal
73. build a basic wardrobe
74. take better care of my skin
75. get teeth whitened
76. buy and wear really good makeup
77. get a cool shorter hairstyle
78. Take care of my nails*

Spiritual
79. Memorize 3 scriptures per week for a month*
80. Pray faithfully for family, church family and friends
81. Finish reading through the Bible
82. establish a daily Bible and prayer time and keep it consistently*

Casey
83. pray with Casey every day*
84. Pray for Casey daily (use POAPW)*
85. plan an overnight getaway for me and Casey

Service
86. be an active prayer partner for a volunteer at the pregnancy center*
87. find a way to volunteer at the pregnancy center
88. make shoeboxes at Christmas for the Christmas Child Project
89. sponsor a child
90. grow my hair to donate to Locks of Love*

Misc.
91. invite another woman over once every other month
92. get to know some neighbors
93. make a will and have it notorized (or whatever to make it official)
94. get a bigger vehicle
95. finish “baby” quilts for all three kids
96. learn more about the Old testament laws/ traditions
97. write something and submit it to be published
98. Write a letter explaining our “quiverfull” philosophy*
99. write 1 letter a month to friends or family
100. Don’t check email on weekends*
101. Catch up on scrapbooks

The Proverbs 31 Weekly Challenge

I've been following the Proverbs 31 Weekly Challenge for the last few weeks and it is doing me a world of good. Here are the verses I'm memorizing this week.

If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in Heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!
Matthew 7:11

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
John 15:5

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship.
Romans 12:1

I'm 30

Yippee!

I'm 30

Ugh.

Disappearing Comments

Some comments are mysteriously disappearing so, please, let me know if you've commented and it doesn't show up. Thanks, Holly, for pointing this out. Also if anyone has an idea about what might be wrong, I sure would appreciate the input:)

Me Time

I still haven't posted the pictures of the cleaned up areas. Y'all will just have to take my word for it - they got straightened, cleaned, and organized. And messed back up, but let's not get into that. God is certainly making good use of my kids to teach me lots of interesting character traits. And by interesting, I mean painful and totally against my nature. Being paitient, long-suffering, self-sacrificing... Well, let's just say that it's a testament to the life altering power of Christ that I even know what those words mean.
And I've been thinking a lot about the topic of being self-sacrificing. Staying at home with my babies has made it pretty clear that I have to get over myself. It doesn't matter how tired I am, when my baby girl has a nightmare I get up. It doesn't matter how many times Levi tests my paitience, I stay calm (or do my very best). No matter how sore I may be, if my baby needs to eat...well, y'all get the picture. But all I hear, all I read these days is about how I have to put myself first - take care of myself first so that I can take care of others. I always come back to the example of the oxygen mask in an airplane. No matter what your instincts say, you have to put the mask on yourself first so that you don't pass out and can put it on your child, right? So does that translate into real life? Should I always take care of myself first and make sure that all my own needs are met before I meet the needs of my children? I don't think so. At least not if we're defining needs the way our culture does. We have a long list of *needs* these days. My family's needs, both physical and emotional, do come first. Before mine. I hear a lot of women saying "well, I can't take care of my family if I don't take care of myself first." But frankly you can't take care of your family if you don't get up and take care of your family. They need me now - not when I'm done with my book or off the stairmaster (never really a big problem at my house!) or out of the bubble bath. It's not that there is anything wrong with taking care of one's self. In fact I firmly believe a mother should do whatever she can to keep herself in top working condition and that includes a lot of time for prayer, for study, for fellowship, for bubblebaths(yippee!!) and, yes, for exercise. But that has to be worked in without shortchanging our primary responsibilities. And it can be, I think. There's generally a lot of time for me to pray during the day. Motherhood seems to create opportunities - "please God, give me paitience. please, Lord, help me get this potty seat off my child's head. "please don't let that be a bug she just ate. please, let it be naptime!" But those are sort of snack prayers, grabbed on the run. For a meal sized prayer, I have to carve out time. But somehow it doesn't seem right to lock myself in a prayer closet while my children run wild outside. Caring for them has to come first. It's the same for all my other needs. They are important, some even neccessary, but I have to be creative about finding time for them.
All this is not to say I think my children should be under the impression that I revolve around them. I have no problem saying "Mommy is going to Ladies' meeting, you're staying with Daddy." I know it makes me a better mom when I'm supported and encouraged by other women. And I know they'll have a ball with their dad. But it always takes second place to their needs. If my husband or my kids needed me to stay home, the ladies would have to understand (and they do, that's the great thing about girlfriends).
So why is it so hard? Knowing all of this, why do I still pout when I can't do what I want? Why do I still act like such a martyr for doing what is really just basic mommy stuff? Well, if I had to guess, I'd say it's because I am still very, VERY human - full of selfishness and greed. Yuck. But what wonderful little teachers God has sent me! They too pout when they don't get their way. And, hey, at least I don't lie in the floor and kick my feet and scream "Iwantit!It'smine!Idon'twanttoshare!" Well, not since I've seen how silly it looks anyway:) So God's growing me. He has His work cut out for Him though.