Family

Life has been very busy since I last posted. When our newest little family member was one month and one day old, we moved to a new home. So we have been very busy packing, packing, packing and then unpacking.

We have unpacked so many boxes in the last six weeks that it has been amazing. As you can imagine, I’ve been a little tired, but the Lord has been good and we finished our unpacking last week. And we are really enjoying our new home.

During all of our business of unpacking the baby has continued to grow and change. They always do so much of that at this age. She’s almost three months old now and is smiling at everything around her. For the most part, she’s really a happy baby.

We all love her so much and already can’t hardly imagine what life was like without her. It’s just amazing how quickly a baby is so much a part of the family.

God has been so good to us this summer. In the next few posts (I hope to be able to post much more frequently now) I plan to show you some of the fun things that we were able to squeeze in to our summer.

Our Baby Girl arrived at 4:10 am, Wednesday, June 23 and weighed 6 lbs 13 oz and was 19 inches long. Here are a few pictures of her.

Ready to go home

With a very happy big sister.

And a proud big brother.

And a very relieved mother.

And last of all, me about five days before she was born feeling so big.

Well, a lot of time has gone by since I last posted. My life has been a little overwhelming, to say the least, and my poor blog has been ignored. So I decided to do a general post to catch up on some of the things that have been going on.

Mexico Birds
I said that I would post pictures of the birds we saw in Mexico and never did it, but my son posted it on his blog, so take a look over there. There are some beautiful pictures that you won’t want to miss (and if you leave him a comment, you’ll bring lots of smiles to one little face). Here’s a link: John Deere Boy

Pregnancy
I finally got over morning sickness for the most part at around 29 weeks. This pregnancy gets an award for tough. I’m just hoping that the award coming my direction isn’t wimp. I’m now 31 weeks. Starting to get very anxious. I can’t wait to meet our new little lady. Oh yeah, we’re supposed to be having a girl. That will make two out of four, so I’m pretty happy about that, and so is the big sister. The brothers are happy too, although they’d have been just as happy if not more so with a boy.

Home
My husband decided that it is time for us to get a bigger house, so we have put ours up for sale. We have been inundated with interest, but no offers. Sigh… Every time somebody comes, the house has to be pristine. We’re a little weary of it all, but looking forward to where God will lead us next. And trusting that everything will happen in His timing.

School
For much of this year, we have been basically unschoolers. Amazingly enough, it has worked. I’m so amazed by it that I just shake my head in wonder. Through the months that I was so terribly ill, we tried to get reading and math in every day, but didn’t succeed. We did get it in a fair amount. During that time, my 9 year old, who was still struggling with reading, took off like a bullet on reading. She’s now reading her Bible in the morning and is working her way through Farmer Boy. I have long believed that reading comes with maturity, but I was pretty sure that I needed to keep working and working with her on it until it clicked. Amazingly enough, she “got it” while I was so sick and I was just barely working with her. Life has so many pleasant surprises, doesn’t it? Sometimes it has difficult ones, too, but it’s sure fun to enjoy the pleasant ones.

I had a few months where grading textbooks was completely out of the question, so all that we did for math was flash cards. This has also worked well. I’ve done some testing that I found online on my oldest and she progressed about a grade and a half this year. Makes me wonder if I make too big of deal out of math sometimes.

Last summer, I made a whole outline for what we would accomplish this year. I looked at it a few times while I was sick, now I refuse to look at it. I just get bummed out. So now that I’m feeling much better, we’re just finishing up this school year with some unit studies and having fun at it. We’ve been working for two weeks on one, and should have it done in the next week or week and a half, so hopefully I can post pictures of something we actually have done for school! Even if that’s not exciting to anybody else, it will be exciting to me!

Life Lessons
One thing that I have sure enjoyed watching while I’ve been sick is my children. At first, they all three had a hard time and made big messes all over the place. But they have grown up so much. Both my 7 and 10 year old can now cook some food. My 10 year old can make a full meal and clean up afterward too. They have been so helpful in keeping our house clean and ready to show too. They have also become better friends with each other. I think that is because I was too sick to settle the squabbles, so they’ve had to figure it out all on their own.

The Lord truly has been good to us.

It’s hard to believe that less than two weeks after my grandmother (my mom’s mom) passed away, my grandfather (my dad’s dad) passed away. My family feels like we’ve been hit hard, but the Lord has been very close to us.

The Bible tells us that it is good to contemplate what our end will be. "It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart." Ecclesiastes 7:2. We all will have to face death. The question that we need to ask ourselves is, are we ready? I’m so thankful that Jesus came to die for us so that we can have eternal life, if we give our lives to Him. I have reresolved in my heart to let nothing between my soul and my Savior.

A friend sent me this song after my grandmother passed away. It reflects my sentiment perfectly.

Home Sick for Heaven

So dear to my heart is the promise of God,
A home with the pure and blest;
Where earth weary pilgrims, strangers here below,
Will find their eternal rest.

Chorus:
I’m homesick for heaven, seems I cannot wait,
Yearning to enter Zion’s pearly gate;
There never a heartache, never a care,
I long for my home over there.

‘Tis Eden, fair Eden, I long to behold,
Where naught can despoil that’s fair;
Where saints of all ages, hold communion sweet,
The glories of heaven share.

But chiefest of all is the thought that enthralls,
That I shall behold my King;
Rejoice in His presence, revel in His grace,
And ever His praises sing.

by Henry de Fluiter

A brief tribute to my grandfather.

My grandpa was the type of man that I don’t think ever got mad, at least I never saw him mad. He was so calm. He also had an awesome sense of humor. He always had these one-liners that would stick in your mind. When my husband and I started being attracted to each other, we were pretty young. I guess my grandfather wanted to give us the advice to not rush it. He told me one day, "Love makes thin soup." (We waited for four years before we got married.)

His passion was growing plants and he could really do it. He could grow flowers and vegetables bigger and better than anybody. After he retired, he spent most of his time in the garden it seemed. It’s no surprise that winter was not his favorite season, because there was no gardening. I’ve thought several times that he would pass away in the winter, because he’d be missing his garden so much. I guess this was the winter.

My grandpa was my first employer (other than probably my parents paying me for odd jobs). When I was around 12, he hired my brother and I to pick strawberries and then help him peddle them in town. He grew the best strawberries ever. And once we sold to somebody, they’d always call us up and order more. And we had enough strawberries for us too. We ate them until our mouths were sore. I have such fond memories of those summers.

I’m going to miss him so much. I’m very thankful that my grandfather also loved the Lord with all of his heart. I want to spend eternity with him.

Life has been overwhelming since I last posted. On New Years my beloved grandmother, age 93, had a mild stroke. She recovered quickly from the stroke, but unfortunately she fell during the stroke and broke her hip. She was not able to recover from that and she passed away on January 10. I would like to write a brief tribute to one of the most wonderful women I have ever known. I feel so privileged to have been her granddaughter.

My grandmother was faithful to the Lord her entire life. She faithfully prayed for each of her children and grandchildren every day. She spent about two hours a day in Bible study and prayer. She read the Bible through every year since she was 16. Every person who ever met my grandmother, whether or not they chose to love the Lord that she had given her life to, knew that she had an amazing connection with her Savior. The Lord rewarded my grandmother’s faithfulness. All of her children, children in-law and grandchildren have remained dedicated Christians. Her two sons became ministers of the gospel. Her daughter (my mother) became a nurse, so she could minister to people. One of her grandsons is studying for the ministry. The other grandchildren minister as lay people.  All of her children and married grandchildren have maintained happy first marriages. All of her great-grandchildren are being homeschooled. I know that each of us have made our own choices, but she has been such a godly influence on each of us and I know that her influence has made a difference in all of our lives. I now just pray that I can leave a legacy of godliness for my children and grandchildren (if I have any) like she left us. I’ll miss her.

For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

1 Thessalonians 4:15-18

In case you’re wondering if I dropped off the edge of the world…I did. I have the worst case of morning sickness imaginable. Well, others have out done me, for sure, but I just don’t feel one bit good. So I s’pect that over the next couple or more months, my blog posting will be sparse…on an as I feel like it basis. Just because I know you want the rest of the story–I’m due the middle of July. That’s so far away.

A few of you sent me emails and left comments saying that you were praying for my brother (31 year old) who was hospitalized for internal bleeding a month ago. I just thought I’d say how much I appreciated all those comments. I’d like to also ask that you keep praying. He hasn’t got well. He’s in a very precarious situation. He needs the healing that only the Great Physician can give.

Thanks and God bless.