Spring Cleaning

I know I have not been around a lot lately. Even my IRL friends are wondering if I dropped off the face of the earth. ( I did not by the way!) :)

We are busy putting in our new floors, decluttering, and getting ready to open our home for God. We have Life Group starting Sunday, I'm also looking forward to inviting people in for lunch on Sundays, game nights on Fridays or Saturdays, and just overall fellowships with more of our friends. It's an exciting time. New opportunities have presented themselves to my husband that I can't even bear to think about because I get so excited I'm sure I will burst! So our home is being spruced up and paired down.

I am also getting ready to spring clean my blog. I have many blog links that no longer work that I need to take down and some new ones to put up. Also, as much as I love the picture of my kids I'm ready for a new one.

As things start settling down here, I will be back to more regular blogging. We only have to finish the great room floors and then we can slow down a little. The bedrooms don't have to be done by Sunday. LOL

I hope you all are doing well. If I have not stopped by your blog lately, please know that I am slowly moving down the list and playing catch up as time allows. :)

Be Blessed!!!

The Arrows

These are our pictures from Christmas. High time I got them up, huh? LOL


My two boys. Brothers through and through. Adrian Charles and Jonathan David. My gifts from a loving and gracious God. Adrian can copy anything. Building with legos or drawing. He has a real talent. Jonathan... well we don't know about that kid. He is pretty sure he is his daddy. He follows Roy around with a screwdriver trying to fix everything. Roy let him help pull the nails out of something the other day. He thought he was grown.
A family. God has so blessed me. Psalms 113:9, "He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the LORD."

Look at those cheesy kids. They are a mess. Jonathan just wants the cookie I have. Yes, I bribed him with a cookie. Every picture you see of him smiling or at least not crying involves a cookie.

In this one you can clearly see the words "Cookie" coming from Cookie Monsters mouth. I believe this is when I first walked in with the cookie. Look at the little ladies all prim and proper. What a mess this bunch is!


Attitude. Yes. That's what it's all about. That tall girl in the pink. She is 12 going on 30. Yep. Karly Rose, Kelsie Ann and Tamara Kathleen. They are princesses. They are sisters. They are sweet. They are sassy. But they are my dolls. How could I not take joy in the blessings the Lord has given me?

Psalms 127:3-5, "Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate."

Keep On Keeping On!

A couple of years ago my husband was sent in a new direction. A place far out of our comfort zone. God sent him towards a new career path. A different journey. Dh has faithfully followed after this path trying to discern from one day to the next what to do next. We have had times of awe when God swung wide a door we were sure would be shut tight. We have had low times where we thought surely we must have misheard God. Through it all we have trudged forward.

Recently, with another birthday gone by, we began to question again the direction we both felt God leading us in. Some people who know about the new direction are beginning to raise eyebrows and give little words of wisdom about how if it was truly God's will it would have come to pass by now. I myself was starting to listen to them. But then the other day I caught sight of someone in the field that my husband is being directed to. I watched this man work his work diligently and efficiently and thought of what a perfect job it would be for my methodical, patient husband.

Then I felt this restlessness. As clear as anything I know God was telling me that I have to keep supporting him in this. I have felt such peace about this career change. Such assurance. I don't know if Dh will ever end up in this field, but I do know that I am to keep supporting him and encouraging him to move forward.

It's been a long hard road. But God never promised it would be easy. He is testing our faith right now. Will we remain obedient when it looks like all hope is lost? Will we just go down our own path, the direction we would rather go because it would be easier and make us happy?

We know what God has called Dh to. As his helpmeet He has called me to the same path. I am renewed with hope in God today. I want it to happen now, but I guess David might have wanted to be King the day he was chosen. Abraham might have wanted to have a son the day God promised him one. Jesus' followers wanted him to take up the sword and become the physical King when He was here on earth. But God has a perfect time for everything. God does care about the little details in our lives.

I believe one day I will open this blog and post that my husband is now a ________. But, that day is not today. We have another long road to go down, but in the end we will be blessed for our obedience.

To anyone who does not believe God called my husband to this new path, I will be gracious. I will not argue. I don't have to, because we are going to press toward the mark. God's words will be fulfilled!

Be Blessed!

The Young Lady

So in a few short weeks I will be the mother to a 12 year old. It's a bit daunting. To understand that my time with her is winding down. There is still so much left to teach her. I pray daily that she will be molded into this young woman who loves God and desires nothing more than to serve Him. I look at all the short comings in my own life and notice how she tends to pick up some of my worst behaviors. I only have a short time to be a better influence on her.

She talks of marriage and babies and staying home. I pray that she truly believes those things in her heart. I pray for her future spouse. That he is right now surrounded by godly, faithful men. Men who are leading him and guiding him into true manhood. A man who loves God and wants nothing more than to serve Him is my prayer for this young man whoever he is.

We talk daily about decisions and choices and how they can help or hinder. About how habits that she forms now will be habits that she can either benefit from or will hurt her in the future.

I look at the young woman she is becoming. She had a gift card to Walmart the other day. She went straight to the toy aisle. She meandered up and down looking at baby dolls, Pet shop stuff, some dress up clothes, eventually she realized the toy aisle did not hold the same appeal it held only a few short months ago. We ended up in jewelry and clothing and shoes. Eventually she wound her way back to bedding. She found a nice fuzzy pink blanket that she claimed as her own.

She has asked for a camera for her birthday. I guess Build A Bear is out this year.

She is leaving girlhood and entering a new season. In another year she will be gifted with her very own home management notebook, full of ideas and inspiration for the daughter at home. With blank pages left to fill in her own schedules and routines and project ideas. It will be designed to grow and go with her.

She enjoys spending time in the kitchen. She loves helping out. In a few short years we look forward to releasing her to help the sick and overwhelmed for a few days at a time. She still has some maturing to do before that season. She loves to read her Bible. She enjoys talking to us about what she has read. I believe that God has something big in store for this young lady. She has been beaten down repeatedly in life but she always springs back for just one more go round. She has a warm gracious personality. I'm not sure she has ever known a stranger. Yes, God has a mighty goal for this young one. I look forward to watching it come about.

On days when she is my hardest child to parent (more and more it seems lately) I remember that God placed her here for a reason. She came to us at 8 years old. Insecure, rebellious, undisciplined, and unruly. I have seen God work a mighty work in her and I know He is not done. I am excited for this daughter of mine. Excited to see what God works out in her life. Excited to see her become a gracious, godly young woman. What a journey!

Be Blessed!

Homestead Happenings

So, whats been going on around here? Rain, Rain, Rain. Lots and lots of it. My garden is very green. Roy is going to put in two more boxes for me, I'm hoping this weekend. I have one box of mostly bell peppers and some cucumbers. My second box has mostly squash/zucchini and one row of banana peppers and one row of tomatoes. I keep praying over these boxes, it would be a big help to our grocery budget. Our neighbor brought us some cabbage over from her garden and it was huge. I am so going to grow some of those next time.

We have some new floors to get in. In three more months we will be painting and doing some touchups on the wood around here. Our goal is to have our house market ready by the end of this year. Of course that always seems to be our goal, but at least we have the means to make that happen now. We have been decluttering like crazy, but still have no room. Let's face it this house was built for a family of four who were never expected to actually LIVE here. The storage space is just sub par. :) But we make do. Creativity is the key!

Homeschooling is going well. I have to do evaluations next month for Karly and Kelsie so I'm busy putting there portfolios together. It stinks because I'm no where near where I wanted to be at this point, but we just keep pressing on. I have to change up what I'm doing with Tamara and Adrian some. Adrian is taking to reading a lot quicker than Tamara. We have been working through An Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Your Child to Read, but the kids don't like it and I'm slacking because it just does not fit our family. I'm moving back to my trusted Saxon Phonics and Explode the Code. These worked great for Kelsie I don't know why I thought I needed to change. :)

Well, I guess I need to get back to my day. Just wanted to update with some of the stuff around here. I miss blogging more regularly but it's been neat to see what all I can get done in a day. LOL

Be Blessed!!