Spring Break

We had a wonderful break from school last week.  I would love to show you a lot of pictures of all the fun and exciting things we did -- Visiting the Sedgwick County Zoo, playing at the Exploration Place, and just hanging out with Oma, Opa, Uncle Timmy, and Aunt Beth and Uncle Joel.  The kids had a wonderful time and were not ready to come home and start school up again.  I enjoyed some fun shopping with my mom, and attending their church's Tuesday night Ladies Bible Study.

Unfortunately, my camera batteries were dead, and I never put the rechargeable batteries that my dad lent me in my camera (there still in my purse -- Sorry Dad, I'll get them back to you some day - Maybe :) I was able to take a few pictures on my phone.  You can view them here

My Special Valentines

I always loved when my college roommates would receive one of Mrs. Kimbrough's giant cookies  (They were always very kind to share).  I thought this Valentine's day I would share that treat with my kids.

 Each kid received their own giant heart shaped cookie

 Of course Daddy received the biggest cookie

 Ezekiel was asleep when I gave the kids their cookies, so I had to get a picture of him eating it instead

JA and I made lunch for the kids together - Quesadillas

A Really Great Giveaway

I have been trying to find different areas in our budget that I can save money.  The one area I haven't even considered is reducing my use of the dryer  I just can't stand the flimsy drying racks that you buy at Wal-Mart.  They take forever for clothes to dry, and if you even look at them they collapse.  However, Life in a Shoe is doing an awesome giveaway.  There is nothing flimsy about this dryer rack.  If I had something like this, I think I could handle reducing my use of the dryer :)

A New Feature

For those of you who frequently visit my blog, but do not use a feed reader, I have added a new feature to my blog.  In the top right corner of the blog, there is a box where you can subscribe to my blog through e-mail.  This will allow you to know when my blog has been updated so you don't have to keep returning to the blog and finding the same posts you have already read. 

While I have good intentions to blog on a regular basis, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to stay on top of it.  In fact, if my intermittent blogging over the last few months is any indication, I will probably be blogging in spurts followed by long periods of rest :) Well, the rest will only be on my blog, I can guarantee that there will not be a lot of rest around our house!

An Amazing Husband

 I love bragging on my husband, and he makes it so easy for me to do.  I absolutely have the most wonderful husband in the WORLD!  In the first couple weeks of Gabriel's life it seemed like he wanted two things -- To Eat and be Held.  The main problem came when mommy was holding him.  If I was holding him, it wasn't enough to be held, I had to feed him.  That meant for the first week, I didn't get much sleep.  One morning, J.A. woke up when I was exhaustively feeding and trying to get Gabe to fall back to sleep;  He reached over, took Gabe, and carried him downstairs to the living room so I could sleep.

 

 When I woke up, I found J.A. and Gabe both sleeping soundly on the couch; and I felt so much better.

 Tiny Gabe, only two days old.

Gabe just a few hours after birth.

My Little Babysitter

 Kara loves to help "Babysit" her baby brother.  He absolutely loves her.  If he's crying, she'll pick him up and start singing to him.  He just looks at her admiringly and smiles.

 Kara has been a great help to me so I can get some things done without having to hold Gabriel the entire time.

I think in a few years she'll be a great babysitter.

Winter Fun

Okay, I'm just going to say this once -- IT'S COLD OUTSIDE!  Now that I've said that I can continue on with my post.  Last month was quite a busy month for our family.  Between adjusting to life with a newborn, church ministries, having family come and visit, and trying to accomplish a month's worth of school so we don't have to have school way into the summer -- made for a great combination.  I don't know if it's the addition of the newborn or my determination not to fall behind on school again, but this has been one of the most profitable months in our household (as far as getting things done, not financially).

Ezekiel enjoyed his skating ride

School went amazingly well, we started school on January 5 and so far have completed four weeks of school.  Kara is doing great in all of her subjects and in her piano and violin practicing, and Lydia has almost completed her reading lessons, and Andy is beginning his reading lessons.

By the end of the night Lydia was skating really well, and refusing all assistance

However, the main point of this post is more about the fun we've been able to enjoy as a family and not about the work we've accomplished.

Andy was doing pretty well skating by the end of the night.

This past month we introduced the kids to joy of rollerskating inside with real skates (not the toys skates you slip on over your shoes that never seem to work very well).  They had a blast and are already looking forward to going back this month for a friend's birthday party.  Enjoy the pictures.

Kara spent most of the night clinging to Sarah or me to help her skate.

 Since J.A. doesn't skate, and I knew there was no way I could teach three kids at the same time to skate, we took a friend's boy with us to teach Andy how to skate.  My plan was to teach Kara and Lydia, but when we arrived at the rink, one of the teenage girls came over and offered to teach help me teach the girls, so we took turns with Kara and Lydia.  I absolutely love our homeschool group, and the servant's heart that so many of our teenagers have learned.  Now to start teach my kids the joy of serving :)

Gabe slept almost the entire time we were there -- waking up just in time to eat before we began the drive home.

The Birth Story

 Wow, I can't believe it has been a month since I woke up to celebrate our ninth anniversary.  God has been so good and gracious to us.  His plans never cease to amaze me.

As many of you know, I was expecting my fifth child.  His due date was December 29, 2010.  However, With my first four children all being exactly 10 days early (OK, Ezekiel missed the 10 day early mark by about six hours), I naturally assumed that my fifth baby would also come early.  I mean, why ruin a perfectly good pattern :)  Even my physician thought that he would come early -- he said I just had to remain pregnant until Dec. 1 to have a healthy baby.  Well, Thanksgiving came and we wrapped up the fall semester of school.  My plan was for us to take off the entire month of December, getting ready for Gabe's birth and adjusting to life with a newborn.  Well, once again, God's plan and my plan's were not the same.  Hunting season came, and I joked with my doctor about making sure I didn't go into labor on his day off so we wouldn't have to drag him away from the deer, and he responded with as long as baby was born before sunrise or after sunset :)

Well, hunting season passed with no contractions.  Then it drew closer and closer to Christmas.  My expected date of December 15 passed (hey, all they others were about 10 days early).  Then it was Christmas day.  All day I had minor insignificant contractions.  It must have been the power of suggestion and the idea of having a Christmas baby.  No labor.  By now I was feeling like I was almost two weeks overdue, even though it was my due date.  Well, my next appointment began the process of making sure baby was okay since I was overdue.  So, my next target date -- January 1, I mean why not have the first baby born in the new year.  Wouldn't it be great to be able to celebrate your birthday every year at midnight when you ring in the new year?  I think it would make for some great parties as a teenager.  Well, once again my plan was not God's plan.

December 28 came, and I was sick and tired of putting off everything that I had been delaying because I was waiting for the birth of my baby.  So I opened up my awesome new pasta maker, and made three pounds of pasta, I cleaned the house, got caught up on laundry (OK, some of this was still part of my daily maintenance of keeping house), and did several other things which I can't recall.  Several friends joked about my going into labor that night because of how much work I had done (Carrie, Dee, and some others).  I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to what they were saying; however, before I went to bed I did feel some minor cramping (nothing new since I'd been having contractions and cramps since before Christmas and they hadn't been doing anything).  But, I did take the time that night to write up my anniversary post -- Just in Case :)

Well, at four thirty on my anniversary, I woke up with more serious cramping, but wasn't ready to share my anniversary with a birthday.  By five o'clock I was having three contractions within a five minute period.  So, I leaned over to J.A. and woke him up asking him what he thought of having a baby as an anniversary present. Since I didn't want to take kids with me to the hospital, I called my sitter (she lived 20 minutes away).  Then I asked J.A. to call the hospital while I took a shower. After my shower, contractions had slowed way down.  Dee arrived shortly after I got out, but I was no longer ready to go in to the hospital.  We sat around talking.  About 6:00, the hospital called, "You didn't have your baby at home did you?"  OK, I didn't know my calling in to the hospital would elicit such a response :)  I explained that my contractions slowed down, and the nurse let me know that they were ready for me whenever I came in.

Probably about fifteen minutes after the phone call we decided to head in, not because of my contractions, but because we wanted to leave before Ezekiel woke up -- I just didn't want to have to deal with a fit as we were leaving.  We drove the five minutes to the hospital, and found out that my doctor had been in since my first phone call.  Can you tell they were expecting me to have a very fast delivery (Ezekiel was three and a half hour labor total)? 

 Here is Daddy finally enjoying holding our precious new son.

 Mommy and Gabe snuggling.

Our hospital has a wonderful tradition of serving the new parents a steak dinner.  They typically serve the steak dinner on the second night of the hospital stay, but when the nurses found out it was our anniversary, they called the kitchen and ordered the steak dinner for us to enjoy that evening.  Dinner was a bit rushed since J.A. had to get to church to preach.  But, it was certainly a much nicer anniversary meal than what we would have had at home.

Now, for those of you wanting to know the baby's stats, here they are:

Gabriel Titus

December 29, 2010 at 9:39 a.m.

19 1/2 inches long, weight was 7 pounds 9 ounces.

Happy One Month Birthday Gabriel

We Serve an Awesome God

What do you do when your car won't start at 8:30 at night, and you find yourself stranded in a town where the only people you know are the Walgreens clerk and your daughter's violin teacher?  Well, as my kids found out on Tuesday -- You Pray.  Pray that someone with jumper cables comes and can start your car for you.  When that doesn't work, you pray that you can find a place to sleep for a decent amount.  Well, God answered our prayers.  We rejoice that our car decided to not start in the parking lot of Hastings College.  This was a blessing, because at 8:30 at night we were able to call campus security to come give us a jump start.  The battery of our van was not interested in a jump start, so we asked them if they happened to have an empty dorm room we could sleep in for the night so we could get our car towed in the morning. 

The security guard went and talked to who I assume was the dorm mother of the dorm adjacent to the parking lot.  They had an empty room on the same floor as the women's bathroom.  I state this because we ended up spending the night in the men's dormatory, so it was a HUGE blessing to be so close to the women's bathroom with two little girls.  The dorm mom even had some extra bedding. 

Isn't God amazing!  Yes, my preference would have been for the car to have started as soon as we finished violin lessons, but that was not God's plan.  My preference would have been that the security guards could jump start our van, but that was not God's plan.  God's plan was for us to spend the night in a college dorm room with all of our kids and enjoy an evening of reading fairy tales, as well as telling Bible Stories, and sharing small beds with multiple children.  The kids enjoyed this adventure -- You should have heard them talking with the man who came with an extra vehicle to drive us to the service station (J.A. rode with the tow truck and we squeezed seven people into a six passenger vehicle). 

While I didn't plan for us to spend the night away from our home, I am thankful for a quiet evening away from technology (we even limited the use of our phones so the batteries wouldn't die) to play with our kids.  Hopefully they remember this night as having been God's plan for us and I pray we passed the test of teaching our kids to turn to God when trials come and not becoming anxious.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

Nine Years Ago Today

Nine years ago today I married the love of my life.

 We've had quite the journey over the past several years

 Nothing ever tasted so sweet as the love God gave us and has allowed us to share.

 My love is still a romantic who loves to take every opportunity to sneak a kiss.

 I'm thankful for the godly leadership God has given me in my husband.

We have been blessed with a wonderful family, and it continues to grow each year.

Two Days till Thanksgiving

I am thankful today for a cup of hot coffee to help wake up.

I am thankful for the opportunity to read my Bible and to have an over abundant number of Bibles in my house while many people around the world don't even have one.

I am thankful for the pile of laundry I have to fold -- it reminds me that we have plenty of clothing that have been given to us.

I am thankful for coupons which have helped us stretch our budget this past year.

I am thankful my children love going to the dentist and the doctor.

Three Days till Thanksgiving

I know I neglected to post yesterday.  Sundays tend to be very busy and tiring days for us, and so I try to stay off the computer as much as possible. 

I can hardly believe we are three days away from Thanksgiving.  This year has simply flown by, but it also seems like this pregnancy has lasted an entire year.  This is the first pregnancy that I have had where I have been pregnant in every season of the year.  I must say I will be overjoyed with this bundle decides to make his presence known outside of my body.

However, things I am thankful for today include:

** My father-in-law.  While I have never met him, and have only talked with him once on the phone before he died, I am very thankful for the way he raised his children. This Thanksgiving marks the tenth year since he died.  I just praise God for the life of this Godly man.  I look forward to the day I get to meet him.  My kids are always asking about Grandy and what he liked, and what he did.  They also enjoy speculating about what Grandy is enjoying right now in Heaven.  I thank God for the spiritual heritage he has given my children, and I pray that our children will one day say the same things about us.

1. My baby's very strong movements today.  Friday, Saturday, and for most of the day yesterday I did not feel any movements.  However, he seems to have gotten his second wind and has not let me forget his presence today -- thus avoiding a call to the doctor :)

2.  I am thankful for my husband.  The last couple of days my hips have been so sore that it is extremely difficult for me to even walk across the room (rolling over in bed is nearly impossible).  J.A. has been so helpful with the kids and around the house so that I could rest.  He even took it upon himself to schedule an appointment for me with the chiropractor -- so hopefully next Monday will come quickly :)

3.  I am thankful for my waffle maker that I received last Christmas -- I love being able to have Belgian Waffles once or twice a week.  I even found some mulberry syrup we made last year in the freezer, so we enjoyed some fruit on our waffles this morning.

4.  I am thankful for a dentist who calls to remind us about our appointments.  I have missed so many appointments over the last two months, that I was thankful to receive a phone call reminding me that the kids have their appointments tomorrow morning.

5. I am thankful for Pizza Hut's Book-It Program and that it allows Homeschoolers to participate.  This means tomorrow we get to enjoy pizza for lunch before we head down to my parents house.

6.  I am thankful for this blog which allows me to let our extended family members know what is going on in our lives, and especially what the kids have been up to.  I know this past year I have not been very consistent, but I am thankful for those of you who have continued to visit my blog even in my absence.

7.  I am thankful for the opportunity to take a breather tonight and sit down and play some games with my family.  I need to be constantly reminded to not be so task oriented and focus on the more important things of spending time playing with my children.  I know before long they will be gone.

8.  I am thankful for our church members and how they interact with our children.  They always take time to smile and talk and shake hands with the kids -- often talking with them as they would adults and not treating them as annoyances.  The result -- my kids love going to church, and they love interacting with the people at church.

9.  I am thankful for the new garage door being installed!  We can finally park our van in the garage again. (The van got stuck in the garage this summer, so we haven't parked it in the garage in case the same problem happened again when we didn't have the time to mess with it).

While there are two more days till Thanksgiving, I am not going to be able to guarantee a post either tomorrow or on Wednesday.  We will be heading down to family, and getting on the computer will be down at the bottom of the list.  I hope and pray you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and that you will make an effort to focus on what God has done for you.

Five Days till Thanksgiving

Five more days until we remember and celebrate the first Thanksgiving and how the Lord provided and brought the pilgrims through their first hard winter on the North American continent.

As I think about that first Thanksgiving, I become even more thankful for what I have.  I can't imagine the struggle the pilgrims faced when they landed with very little food, no shelter, and about to face a terribly cold and harsh winter - completely unprepared.  Yet, God brought them through and they were able to plant crops and receive a wonderful harvest the following fall.  And then they offered up a feast in Thanksgiving for what God had done for them.

These are huge things, but things I take for granted.  Outside the weather is just above freezing, and it hardly even crosses my mind to give thanks for the beautiful house (with indoor plumbing and heating).  I don't even have an idea of what it would be like to go hungry -- something I don't think most Americans can fathom.  Even the poorest of Americans don't have to starve -- with food banks, government assistance, churches, soup kitchens, and homeless shelters -- Every American can enjoy enough food to survive (notice I say enough food -- meals don't have to extravagant or large.  I think most of us would be surprised by how little we need to consume in order to live.)

So today, I am thankful for grocery stores and restaurants.  With these stores even if my garden does not do well, I know I can still have a source for fresh food and all the necessities to feed my family.

I am also thankful for indoor plumbing.  I can't imagine having to go out in the cold to use the outhouse or having to empty a chamber pot every morning (especially in my current condition).  God truly has blessed our nation by providing these for us so that to an American it is a necessity and not just a privilege.

I am thankful for natural gas and for the intelligence that determined how to pipe this gas into homes in order to heat homes (I think a wood stove or fire place would be fabulous but would also increase insurance costs).  I love being able to push a button to make the house warmer when I'm cold.  This is one that I am going to have to remember to be thankful for as the winter comes and the drafts start slipping through the house.  I can't complain about the drafts because at least we have heat :)

I am also thankful for the invention of the freezer (I'm just jumping from one extreme to the next).  Over the course of the past three days  I have been able to make and freeze 34 meals.  This means at least of month of not having to prep and cook supper!  Without the freezer or refrigerator I would not be able to look forward to a small break from cooking after Gabriel's birth.

God has provided so many blessings and comforts to our home and family that I can't even begin to name them.  I hope I will always remember to rejoice in the blessings and the little things and not take for granted what God has provided for us.

Six days till Thanksgiving

We have had quite a full day already today, and I haven't even had the kids do any schoolwork :)

1.  I am thankful for the flexibility of homeschooling which allows me to be able to plan for us to have off the entire week next week so we can go visit family.

2.  I am thankful for Kara's diligent work today.  She sliced almost 20 apples this morning for our Apple Pie Pork Chops (a freezer meal).  This afternoon she peeled 12 carrots and sliced the celery stalks for our Apple Cider Stew (also a freezer meal).  I really enjoyed sitting down at the table and cutting veggies with Kara and carrying on a conversation with her. 

3. I am thankful for the fourteen freezer meals (five recipes) that are already done up and in the freezer.  We have ten more recipes to make up and freeze which will result in about 40 more meals.  This means that I will have almost two months worth of meals made up and in the freezer for after Gabriel's birth :)

4.  I am thankful for the opportunity to get together twice a month with other moms.  We had a wonderful time trying to catch up on our individual projects and visiting with each other.  It is a blessing to be able to share our struggles and encourage each other to seek after God during this time.

5.  I am thankful for a husband who was willing to spend his evening last night cutting up a roast for our freezer (I don't like handling meat unless it is cooked). 

6.  I am thankful for the blessing of a restful and full nights sleep last night.

I hope you are taking time in the busyness of this Holiday Season to consider the big and little things that you are thankful for each day.  I would love to have you comment and share some of the things you are Thankful for.

Seven Days till Thanksgiving

Today, I am thankful for many things, but due to my own tiredness and inability to focus tonight I'm going to stress only one.

I am thankful for organizations that help make me aware of issues going on in our country that I am not typically aware of.  One such organization is One Million Moms.com.  If you have never heard of OneMillion Moms, I encourage you to go check out their website.  They are helping give mothers like me a voice to let businesses and other companies know how I feel about their support of inappropriate TV shows as well as inappropriate ad campaigns.  A recent one that I participated in involved Wrigley's Chewing Gum.  Apparently Wrigley's has put funny sayings on the inside wrapper of the gum.  I don't have a problem with this, but I do have a problem with my children unwrapping gum and reading a statement about undressing you with your eyes.  This leads my children's thoughts down a road they have no business going.  One Million Moms notified me by e-mail of this either yesterday or today.  I simply clicked and was able to use a form letter and adjust as I saw fit.  E-mailed Wrigley's and have already received confirmation that Wrigley's is pulling this saying out of their gum packages.  If you are a mother looking to have a voice and let companies know what you don't want them supporting.  Come join One Million Moms.

James 3:2-6
For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well.  Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.

Like fire, the tongue's sinful words can spread destruction rapidly, or as its accompanying smoke, those means can permeate and ruin everything around it.  I must carefully guard my tongue that it be used for good and to build people up rather than to bring pain and destruction.

As a mother of several young children I find that it is often difficult to bridle my tongue.  I love my children dearly, but their are many times that their fighting, arguing, or constant asking for food (ie. candy) can strike a nerve.  When I explode in anger or frustration, my tongue is no longer guarded.  Raising my children is such an important task that I cannot afford to allow my tongue to destroy my children.  I know how hurtful words can be -- they can be the making or the breaking of a person. 


For example, I do enjoy watching the biggest loser.  This season, Ada is a young lady on the show who has lost two brothers and almost lost her third brother in a car accident.  When her parents found out about the accident they accused Ada of trying to kill her third brother also.  Now, I know this is an extreme example, but I'm certain you can imagine the damage those words caused even though they may have simply been said in anger or fear.  Now I don't know whether or not her parents meant it when they made this statement.  But simply stating it is enough for a child to be convinced that her parents believe that the deaths of her two younger brothers is her fault.


I MUST carefully guard my words.  Words I say in haste without examining how they will be received can cause hurt in my children that I cannot reverse. 


My prayer today is that I will bridle my tongue and seek to encourage and exhort my children.  My goal is to affirm each of my children for things they do or say at least three times throughout the day today.

9 Days till Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is fast approaching, and I am finding I have so much to be thankful for.  Today I am thankful  for

1. a kind neighbor who was willing to give me a ride home from the funeral.  I was able to go prepare things for the meal and didn't have to stand out in the cold for the graveside service.

2. having a successful day of homeschooling despite all of the extra things thrown into this day.  I'm always thankful when we are able to get everything done that's scheduled (although I am also thankful for the flexibility of homeschooling).

3. we are able to rent the home we wanted to rent for our extended family vacation to Yellowstone next summer.  Also, I am thankful that we were able to get it for a better price than we were originally quoted.

4. a daughter who enjoys music and who today practiced without arguing or complaining.  Violin practice is becoming much easier and getting done quicker now that the complaining is reduced.

5. that my kids think they are cats, cows, and horses.  If you were to stop in my house unexpectedly, you may find a couple of girls crawling around meowing and a two-year old riding a stick horse saying "Nay", and another boy who will be anything from a dragon (Thanks to "How to Train your Dragon") to a lion.  They are a constant source of entertainment.  Let me adjust this statement. My four-year old is now a "Hero" with his spider man shirt and a purple flowered cape :)

10 Days till Thanksgiving

Wow, I almost forgot to write what I'm thankful for today. 

1.  I am thankful for a six year old daughter who is relatively responsible and an handle pushing a shopping cart with both of her brothers in it so I can push the cart with groceries.

2.  I am thankful for a good friend who needed to go visit someone in the hospital today so she was able to accompany me up for Kara's violin lesson -- This allowed J.A. to stay home and study and prepare for a funeral tomorrow.

3.  I am thankful that we are in the middle of November and I can still walk around outside comfortably without a jacket during the day.

4.  I am thankful and excited about all of the yummy food that we are going to make this week and put in the freezer so I don't have to cook the month after Gabriel is born :)

5.  Most of all, I am thankful for the precious gift of salvation that my Lord has given me.  Without it I know I would be a self-centered, selfish and unloving mother to my children.  God's Word has incredible power to turn a life around.

11 Days till Thanksgiving

1.  I am thankful for the strong movements Gabriel has everyday.  I'm so thrilled that in a month I'll be cuddling a new little baby (or at least I hope it's only a month longer).

2.  I am thankful for the privilege to teach my children at home.  And I am thankful that as of today we are all caught up with school.

3.  I am thankful for the delicious cup of fake eggnog that I am enjoying, and for the easy recipe to make it much lower in calorie and fat than the real stuff.

 

4.  I am also thankful that with the exception of my doctor who delivered Andy, I have always been blessed to have a Christian doctor -- even as a child my doctor was a believer.

13 Days Tilll Thanksgiving and a list included for tomorrow.

Wow, it's hard for me to believe that we are only two weeks away from Thanksgiving.  I am so far behind on everything I had planned to get accomplished before Thanksgiving.  However, I am thankful that most of what I "planned" to get done is simply part of "my agenda" and not necessarily what NEEDS to be accomplished.  I will be including a longer list today so I can take a good break from the computer tomorrow.

Today there is so much to be thankful for.  Last night the weather forecast included snow.  Today we woke up to a comfortable fall day.

I am thankful for the privilege to be able to have my own Bible, and to be able to provide each of my children with their own Bible/Bible Story Books.  This week I have enjoyed making my personal time with God the first thing to start the day (usually while J.A. fixes breakfast).  Since the kids are usually trying to talk with me during my reading, I have had each of them get a Bible or Bible story book to read.  This has freed me up to be able to dig a little deeper in my reading and not just a quick surface study.  As a result, my week has gone so much smoother than it normally does.

I am also thankful that I don't have to fix supper for my family tonight :)  With what may be our last football game in town today, we are going to go and enjoy the tailgate party -- free dinner and a football game -- Andy will be floating on top of the world!!

I am thankful that my computer charger is still working.  One of the kids knocked the cord out of my computer this morning.  The pin got bent and broke off.  I thought all was lost and I'd have to order a new charger.  JA the smart and intelligent man that he is said I should plug it in to my computer anyways and see if it would still provide power.  Hurray it does!!!  Of course, it may be a good thing to spend several days away from my computer :)

I am thankful for the opportunity to school my children at home.  While we don't yet know how long we will continue to homeschool (we are taking it year by year based on our schedules and the kids needs), it has been a joy to be able to have a flexible schedule and to be able to identify characteristics in my kids that I may not have realized had I not been working with them.

I am also thankful for how God so specifically works in our lives.  Wednesday, Kara stole a piece of candy from her brother.  JA and I talked with her about it, and then I took the kids to Kids4Truth.  The lesson of the evening was on STEALING!  Isn't it great how God uses others to help reinforce the training we are giving our young children.

 I am also thankful for where God has placed us.  We are living in a small rural community with very few places to take the kids for activities (other than shopping and the library).  This has helped me to not be so focused on getting out of the house but to enjoy the simple things that our community has to offer -- such as taking the kids to the health fair, going to football games, and enjoying those community events as they come up and making them a priority rather than just an optional activity.

I am thankful for wonderful parents whom I can call and ask to pray for me when I know I am going to have a rough day.

I am thankful for the wonderful invention of computers.  I am a horrible letter writer, I hate talking on the phone, and I'm not very good at communicating.  But, with J.A.'s mom in Africa I want my kids to know their grandmother.  Thanks to Skype the kids are able to visit with and see their grandmother regularly.  And while I know she doesn't like it when the sound goes out on her end, it's probably a blessing since all four kids are usually clambering and talking at once.  I'm looking forward to being able to show off our newest addition to her when he chooses to make his grand entrance.

I could go on and on, but Kara is beginning her violin practice now so I need to be more attentive to her.