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.

The cleanup goes on

I need to get some after pictures up. The toy room is much more organized and the kids are having a much easier time keeping it that way. We still need more (inexpensive) storage though so we're looking into that. But paying bills gets priority so I may be finding ways to make do for a little while longer. What bothers me the most about this room is the blank walls. One wall is largely covered by the computer armoire, but there are two other small walls and one very long wall that sit totally empty. Since the room is completely visable from the living room, I've been hesitant to hang anything, but it's really time. I want something very kid friendly (it is, after all, a playroom) but nice enough for grown ups, too. Any ideas are welcome!

Here are the rest of the pictures.

 

Cleaning House

First let me just say that my house is often messy. I make no excuses, that's just life in my house. Since my hubby is a neat-freak extrordinairre, I almost always have it clean by the time he sees it. Yesterday was a sick day though - not just me, but the kids too. And it was raining and yucky. And I feel asleep on the couch without doing my last cleaning push before bed. So when I woke up this morning, naturally I went to the computer instead of jumping right in :> Turns out it was a good thing, though, since I read this from Chief Executive Mom. She has some great tips for Spring Cleaning that I'm going to be applying today. I thought before and after pictures would be a great idea. Very motivating. SO here are my big messy spots - the kid's playroom and my bookshelf (actually those are hubby's guitar magazine across the bottom, but the rest is mine) of stuff. So pray for me as I try to bring in some order!
P.S. My kitchen is also quite a mess, but there are limits to how much I'm willing to share.

Baby Jack and his quilt

My mom's friend, Betty, made Jack this beautiful quilt. It's got his monogram at the top and his birthdate and weight and the bottom - his full name is on the back - on antique fabric. It's just beautiful. The colors don't show up as well in the picture, but they're just gorgeous: pale blue, green and gold and white. Honestly, it looks like something a little prince would have:) He looks tiny in this picture, but he's actually growing pretty well - I only had to roll the sleeves once! 

Doing our best...

In my quest to do a better job taking care of my family, I've been searching for information and inspiration far and wide. This post of Lady Lydia's was a wonderful call-to-arms today.

Good News about Jack

The specialist found nothing physicly wrong with his nose or throat! I'm so thankful for that! We still don't know what's causing the noise, so of course I'm still concerned. But it doesn't seem to be anything severe. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers - it's really meant a lot to me!

I can be so ditzy sometimes.

At some point over these last few week, I accidently turned on the comment moderator! So all kinds of great comments were just sitting over there waiting on me for no good reason. And I was pouting because I figured everyone had forgotten about me! Like I said, such a ditz.
So... thank you all for commenting! And for being paitient with me:) I'm going back to comment on your comments now!

I haven't been around much lately...

I've been really busy with Baby Jack. He has what we think is larynomalagia (a "floppy" larnyx) causing him to make a funny noise sometimes when he breathes. He's actually done it since he was born - it's just becoming more frequent and more severe sounding. So there've been doctor appointments and chest x-rays and nights of me just watching him breathe. We finally get to see the pediatric ear, nose and throat guy in the morning and I am so...excited. That word seems so strange applied to a doctor's appointment, but I really can't wait to get a definite diagnosis and to know what I can do! I really pray that the doctor will have a diagnosis for us and that there will be something we can do - the mommy in me just wants to fix this! But more than anything I just want to rest in the knowledge that my God is good and He is in control. The peace He gives is so powerful - I panic, in my human-ness, and I can feel His arms embrace me. I can't imagine living my life without my Father.

Just A Mom

This segment on ABC's Good Morning America has a lot of stay-at-home moms really up in arms. The guest, Linda Hirshman, has basically declared that raising children and running a home are not worthwhile pursuits for an educated woman. That we owe it to feminism to work and that our place is in an office. That, in fact, staying home is not an option women should be allowed to choose.
This article is a very good overview of her position and of why she's just so wrong, so I won't go into all that right now. What I want to talk about is this quote. When confronted by women who say that staying home to be wives and mothers is the most fulfilling thing they could do, Ms. Hirshman has this to say...
"I would like to see a description of their daily lives that substantiates that position," she said. "One of the things I've done working on my book is to read a lot of the diaries online, and their description of their lives does not sound particularly interesting or fulfilling for a complicated person, for a complicated, educated person."
Let's nevermind for a moment that she's calling me "uncomplicated" (the educated woman's code word for stupid) and that she assumes her definition of interesting and fulfilling should go for everyone. What's so striking to me is that we do, as a culture, believe that "homemaker" is about as dull an occupation as there could be. We value home and hearth and family so little that this woman believed she could get away with calling for women to be unable to choose staying home. And she's gotten national exposure for this idea. Can you imagine Good Morning America doing a segment on someone who didn't believe women should be allowed to work? Could a person get on national television saying that women were letting down society by going to work?
But frankly I have to say that I'm grateful to Ms Hirshman, at least in some small part for opening my eyes. I guess part of me really thought that with so many intelligent, educated women of my generation choosing to stay home, that we were past the point where making a home and raising children was seen as a big dull waste of time. I thought at the very least we'd progressed to a point where most people viewed it as an equal option to working full time. But clearly the idea that I am "just" a housewife or "just" a mom is still going strong out there. So what do I do? Do I go door to door defending myself with studies that show children are better off when mom stays home? Do I turn on the moms I know who work - my own mom included - in an effort to make myself feel better? I don't think so. I don't have time to go around proving how fulfilled I am or fighting to make everyone take me seriously. And no way am I going to pretend that every minute of my day is mentally challenging and stimulating - no one who's ever swept the kitchen floor nine times a day would buy that anyway. But I can do all those things that make this a fulfilling profession instead of sitting around watching Dr Phil and parking the kids in front of Sponge Bob. And I can make sure I keep my own attitude straight. I can know in my head and heart that what I'm doing is worthwhile. I can really believe that my job is as noble a calling as being a missionary or brain surgeon or Supreme Court justice. And I can let my actions and my speech reflect that. Never again, NEVER AGAIN, will I say I'm "just a mom."

Being a single Mom

Y'all know I'm not really, but with DH working so much lately it sure is starting to feel like it. He's been working at least 60 hours a week lately and with a brand new baby, the timing couldn't be much worse. This isn't a post to whine, though:) Although that's what I'm in the mood for this morning since my microwave just up and died on me in the middle of making my popcorn. The house was already smelling yummy and the kids were all excited, but we only wound up with a small handful a piece:( Oh, I said I wasn't whining. Never mind. What I wanted to say is how much God is growing me during all of this. He has so much work to do in me! Years ago when we only had one baby and it took me all day to get us dressed and out of the house, I complained all the time about how much my hubby worked. Never mind that his incredible work ethic is exactly what made it possible for me to stay at home with our baby. I was always cranky about "having to do everything myself" and "never getting to go anywhere." If he was home I expected him to keep the baby so I could buy groceries or run errands or even just clean up - all the things I should've been doing while he was at work so that we could spend his off time together. But over the last few years God has really been speaking to me about my job as a mom, a wife, and a homemaker. Basically, He's been calling me lazy:) If someone else said it I might have a thousand example to defend myself with, but when the God of the Universe speaks to me I don't bother. He's right. I am lazy. I mean, I'd been getting by. My house was usually fairly clean - or at least I could get it clean pretty quick if we were having company. The kids were fed and clean and happy. But even when I got things done, I was being such a martyr - "look how much I managed to do even though you I had to take care of these kids at the same time!" But this is my life. I'm not just killing time here, trying to keep our heads above water. We should be swimming along, even floating:)
So I've made some changes. I don't doubt God could *cure* me of this sin (laziness is a sin) overnight, but I think He intends for me work through it, leaning on Him the whole way. So I'm going to. I know I can't run this house or raise these kids on my own. I can't even get my heiny off the couch on my own:) But by His strength, I can move mountains - even Mt Washmore.

Please pray for Molly

Her little boy is very sick. I think any mother can imagine the pain of watching our little ones suffer. It's just more than we can bare on our own. Please pray Molly and her husband have the strength to get through this and for her precious little boy's recovery.

A New Computer

Wow! Hubby is wonderful! We got a new computer for Valentine's Day (and a new bed, but I'm not posting about that!) and it's so fast that I might be able to sqeeze in a post every now and then:)