Our First Arrow

I have to offer praise for another answered prayer. Our Abigail thrives on structure and an unchanging environment. So, she was VERY nervous about her first day as a mother's helper. There were tears and she would've backed out, if I would've allowed her. I told her she had to go the first time and then after that it would be her choice, whether to go back. Well, she did fine and is willing to go back again. Mrs. L said Abigail was such a blessing with her gift of cleaning. This may sound like a little thing but it was a big step for Abigail. Thank you Lord!!!

It is such a tender time, as we shot our arrows out on little missions, working up to the day they will daily be in the world ministering . There will only be more and more of these opportunities, as the kids grow. I know that prayer is key to helping them have the strength and courage to fly straight.

Doings

I have to keep telling myself that I don't have to have something "important" to say to blog. This blog is to help me keep a little journal (of which this is the only one I have) of our activities, for memory's sake, and to help keep in touch with family. So, on that note, Sunday afternoon we visited a young family with 6 children, under the age of 8. The purpose of the visit was to see if each family felt comfortable with each other, so that Abigail could start being a Mother's helper for them. They are a very dear family and we are planning on moving ahead with the plan. This is going to be very stretching for Abby, since new folks and new places are challenging to her. I became a mother's helper at about Abby's age and it was a huge blessing to me. It's funny that though we had lots of babies at once, my children have had very little exposure to babies. Abigail was only 5 when Karrigan was born, so she remembers it and she helped with little jobs, but they were all little at the same time and so they don't know know how to care for babies.
Last night was Family Fun Night for our local homeschool community. We had a really nice turnout. The children enjoyed shooting some baskets and trying out some volleyball. Steve surprised us by showing up unexpected, as it wasn't planned for him to be able to come. A great surprise! Dear Steve has been putting in some very long hours lately. On Monday, he got up at 3:30 am to take his mom and step dad to the airport, then worked and didn't get home until after 9:00 pm. He worked a normal day yesterday and got up at 3:00 am this morning to work on a restaurant, while it was closed and he will work a full day today. Yes, I'm telling him what a hard worker he is and fussing lovingly over him, worried about his health.
We head out to our local library every Thursday or Friday to take advantage of their high speed internet and foreign language software. The kids are working on Spanish I. We love Jerri for being so patient for us, while we've ironed out our routine for this. I've been like a crazy woman for awhile, trying to help everyone at once on their computer. We must sign out 6 computers, 1 for the Spanish and 5 for the kid's internet, I then have to shuffle them through. I kid does Spanish on the study computer, while the others do an assigned internet activity. When kid 1 finishes Spanish, we switch out and on and on it goes, while 3 of them are asking for help at the same time and I'm reminding them they're in the library and MUST whisper. We're finally getting this down pat and they can finish their school work in record time on library day, anticipating the fun games they get to play while there.
There's a little snapshot of our life recently.

Abigail Rose

Abigail turned 13 on Sunday. Abby and Silas, only 13 months apart, have been best friends since Silas learned to crawl. At times they were partners in crime. Silas, an aspiring writer, asked me if he could type up a card for her. This is what he wrote to his sister:


Dear Abigail ,
You are a blessing, and a sister, friend, helper and commander. It is an honor to be the brother of such a magnificent girl. I wish you much love and joy.
From your generously loved brother,
Silas.

Not ever having had brothers and sisters, it is amazing to me as I watch the realtionships between my children.

Learning to Chatter

OK, just so you know ahead of time, I'm doing this post so I can practice light conversation. I've come to the conclusion that one reason I have a hard time posting regularly, is because I'm just not good with light conversation. Give me a good meaty topic and I can go on and on, but cheery, light, this and that chatter is hard work for me. I really think that's why some of my children were slow talkers, you know they say moms are supposed to talk to their babies, well I just couldn't. So, I'm thinking if I get on here to post and just start typing something, maybe I'll can get better at chattering. My schoolgirl side wants to do an idea sheet first, then a rough draft, edit and then finally post on my blog.
Oh yeah, I finally found a way to fix brown rice that my family will eat it. We have no problem with most other whole grain products, but we just couldn't handle brown rice. Alton Brown has a recipe out that has you bake it in the oven and it works- nice fluffy rice!
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/baked-brown-rice-recipe/index.html

Well, that's all the time I have for "exercising" my brain right now. Fire to stoke, supper to fix, schoolwork to check (note to self: hand out more smiles to the children this evening!) Oh no, that thought is putting me on the serious track again- the power of a mother's smile. Yeah it's a good thought, don't want to throw that one out. Oh, this is tough. I really want to delete all this and do it the right way, but I'm going to leave it. I can do this!! I promise there won't be many of these kinds of posts, it's just not me. But if you do something 7 times regularly, it's supposed to become a habit. So, until my blogging habit is established, please bear with me or just ignore my blog for awhile.

I'm back

It's been 4 days since I've even been near a pc and probably 2 wks since I've read anyones blog. So, here's a list of the things that I haven't had time to blog about.
Shopping for a vehicle, online and out of state - Ugg! But we have one now.
2 fires in our house- please go test your smoke detectors!
A nice visit in Ohio and snow.
My frig is empty, the suitcases need upacked and bills need paid. I'll try and add details this week and read all my buddy's blogs.

The Adventures of Breakfast & Lunch

I was awakened at 3:30 this morning by Breakfast and Lunch, no it wasn’t indigestion, it was Silas’ roosters, thus named. The strong winds had knocked over their cage and they were at the back porch complaining. There was no way I could sleep through that racket (Steve was doing a night job) and I figured it would be a good lesson in responsibility for Silas, so I woke him up to take care of it. Good boy, he woke right up raring to go. But he said, “ Mama, this ain’t goin’ to be easy, they aren’t peace lovin’ birds, ya know.” It’s at this point that I’m thinking this will make it to blog post level. The first rooster was easy enough, he was wet and miserable but this allowed the second one to see what was up. Lunch hung around Breakfast clucking, but stayed just out of Silas’ reach. When we saw he wanted to stay with his buddy, I decided it was time for us to head back to bed and he would stay around the rest of the night. We got bedded down when Silas came and said he was sure Lunch was asleep now and that he(Silas) would be able to sneak up on him easy. I gave the OK for one more try and only one. Well, the short version is that Silas came back in covered in mud. After a shower, we got a little more sleep. The camaraderie of hard times is over. This morning Lunch was still staying beside Breakfast’s cage, but now he’s picking fights with him. It’s finally over, Silas has Breakfast put up, but those two youngsters are still picking fights with each other in their connected cages. I can just hear them saying, “It’s your fault we’re back in here!,” “No it’s not, it’s your fault.”

Big Sigh

Ahhh, I can finally relax and settle down for a little while into our school routine, until it's time to head to Ohio and we're still not sure when that will be. The holiday rush is over for us. That's one of the things I like about Thanksgiving being our family's "chosen" holiday. My rushing around is over, even when I'm out in town, the busyness doesn't get to me. It's nice to relax!! You know that mental relaxation -where there's no pressing engagements.
We had a blessed time at a cabin get away with Steve's folks. The snow topped the weekend off beautifully. Snow in the Smokies is gorgeous. My camera stopped on me this weekend, so no pictures, but thanks to mom, we do have video of the best parts.
We still have no van and are patiently waiting for God to provide with something in our price range. Gen is letting us borrow her little car for must do trips. The kids and I will fit, not legally, but it does in the current pinch. Jose let Steve borrow a custom van for the trip over. Wow, was that boat nice, but I worried the whole time about us breaking something. Thankfully the DVD feature kept little fingers out of all interesting hideaways.
I am so thankful. The weekend required me to go 3 days in a row with only 4 hrs. of sleep each night and I didn't fine!! Thank you Lord. Monday I was spent physically and mentally but I just rested. We got back in the groove smoothly today.
Oh, a funny I almost forgot. Steve and I talked about stopping somewhere on the way out of Pigeon Forge for some free amusement, since we stayed in the cabin all weekend and didn't take in anything. The choices were Smokey Mountina Knifeworks or the huge Bass Pro Shop. We pulled into Bass Pro's parking lot and then were too tired to get out and fight the crowd. So, we put in a movie for the kids, layed back our seats and took a nap instead. Umm, sounds like middle age is definatly setting in.