S-C-O-R-E...RAISE THAT SCORE!!!

Sister has been cheering with Upward for the basketball season. Awards night was Sunday evening. Unfortunately, by the time I juggled Little Bit and my camera, her squad had finished their cheer and were done on the stage.

This has been a great experience for her and in my humble opinion, she is scary good at cheering. We just need to work on yelling, not squealing. She's made some sweet friendships through this experience and we've met girls and mamas from several different walks of life. It has been eye opening and I think has helped Sister realize just a little bit that life isn't all about self.

Her coach was awesome and way dedicated - she let us film an entire practice so Sister could keep up while we were out of town back in January.

Changing gears, yesterday I kept hearing thuds in the dryer, but could not, for the life of me find the culprit. After major sorting, I felt something hard in the pocket of a pair of Little Man's pants. Hmmm....I unzipped the pocket and reached deep. It was a screw driver, tip pointed up. I am so thankful he didn't have a debilitating accident. I returned the pants to the dryer, but the thuds continued. I pulled the same pair of pants out and realized he'd housed a small hammer in another pocket.

Little Bit has taken to all out temper tantrums. Like, clenched fists, throwing stuff, SCREAMING and when eye contact is made, shutting hers, as if you will disappear or aren't there because she chooses not to look. It's awesome, y'all.

Before bed Monday night, I found on my bedside table, a camellia and a leaf on which were written the words, "Mom, I love you." Sweetness.

We hung the stick chandelier in the guest room. I have some tweaking to do and will share once it's all good.

In other news, we took "winter break" along with a few schools in our area on Friday and Monday. Essentially, Monday felt like Saturday. And so for whatever reason, Tuesday felt like Monday. And  so yesterday, I forgot it was actually Tuesday and DIDN'T TAKE LITTLE MAN TO SCHOOL. By the time I realized my error, it was too late. I mean, seriously, what is wrong with me? I called his teacher to explain. She was gracious. So gracious.

Tonight some dear friends arrive! A sweet missionary family we can't wait to spend the rest of the week with!!! It's been several years since they've visited. In fact, the last time they were here my heart was raw from a miscarriage and tubal pregnancy and they prayed with me, beseeching God to give us another baby. Five months later we learned we were expecting our precious Little Man.

So, with that being said, I'm signing off until sometime next week. Enjoy yours, sweet friends.

Sufficiently Abounding

Well...with much prayer and great consideration, weighing out the pros and cons on both sides...we made a big decision...

and Little Man has been offering thanks to God for that decision...

Early on, when we decided to homeschool Sister, it was going to be for one year only. A sort of "transitional" year. A time to gird up her foundation in reading, writing, and math, specifically, and with a few of the gentle arts thrown in for good measure (and because I adore the gentle arts).

But as time has progressed, we've fallen in love with homeschooling. It's challenging and hard and has forced us to rearrange priorities. God's grace is sufficient, yes, even abounding. We are far from perfect and live in desperate need of His guidance and wisdom. He has taught us that where He leads, He provides.

We feel led to homeschool her next year.

I am really excited. 

But the crazy part of all of this is that the "plan" all along has been for Little Man to go to 4-p next year. It's five days a week, 8:45-noon. A few weeks prior to the application deadline the Holy Spirit began to prod my heart. I felt the call to keep him home and school him alongside Sister. But also wondered if I'd lost my mind??? I told The Engineer. We talked. We prayed together. He prayed. I prayed. He felt the call and with complete certainty. But I wavered. 

Oh the fun he will miss out on! The programs! The music! The art! The friendships!

But The Engineer stood firm. The night before the application deadline, and with a knot in the pit of my stomach, I cried out to God, pleading for wisdom and that peace that passes understanding enveloped my heart and mind. The Engineer and I prayed about our decision once more before going to sleep that night, and we both felt certain and at peace.

And so...by the grace of God and in His strength, we plan to homeschool them both!

This year, like all other years of our lives, we have seen God's faithfulness first hand. We have seen His grace poured out over and into our lives. I worried how I would school Sister - God's grace is sufficient. He has abundantly provided and more than met our every need. I am amazed when I look back at her work from the first week of school. She has come so far! 

We approach next year in humility and with thankful hearts. It is such a blessing to be home with my babies and to have this wonderful opportunity. I am thankful to God. From the bottom of my heart, I am so thankful.

Remember? We said we'd NEVER homeschool our children.

Now, in other exciting news, Sister did her very first book report! She picked The Princess and The Pea and totally rocked it! I couldn't stop smiling!

She read the book aloud twice, made her diorama all by herself, and presented to us, beginning with the title and author, followed by a synopsis of the book itself, complete with the addition of her own thoughts regarding the "bad attitude" and "ungrateful heart" the princess had. She explained the diorama and answered a few of our questions.

I am SO PROUD of this girl! Y'all - she picked the book. Rocked the reading. Spent an afternoon holed up in her room creating (you should see the paper scraps on the floor - that was a LOT of mattresses!), sat before the fam and presented like she'd done it before. It is moments like this that, quite frankly, are just plain rewarding. 

I finished the tops for the girls' matching outfits. (All fabrics chosen and coordinated by Sister.) As you can see, Little Bit was thrilled to have me take her picture. (The red tights??? It was Little Bit's valentine's party so we went all festive - which cracks me up. 'Cause she totally knows what valentines day is...)

A few months ago I put that cap on Little Bit and she'd have nothing to do with it, but after I learned my niece is partial to hers, I thought I'd break it back out. Low and behold, the child loves it!

Something big happened last weekend!!! Little Bit sat happily on the sofa with the other children for OVER 30 minutes!!! Wooo hoooo! This is HUGE. Just HUGE! (Like, 30 minutes to sit and read with a cup of decaf...awesome!)

And my Little Man...he was up at 6:30 this morning. I heard him and went up to tell him it was too early to rise. He was stark naked and "gettin dressed per the day." Above you see him in his "Bible Study attire." Notice the bulge in the hat (which was knitted by grandma). That would be TWO other hats... "In case any of my priends need dem." I love that boy.

Happy Weekend, y'all!

V-Day & The Dark River

 I'm a little late posting, but alas...

Little Man had his class party last Thursday. 

Sister and I had a little time to kill before the party, so we "roughed" it in the car...donuts, coffee, and milk!

The lady at the counter gave us valentines from Krispy Kreme! (We are SO going to KK next February for valentines donuts! SCORE!)

And all this while doing a little homeschool!

Number 38 is hands down one of my very favorite catechism questions!!! I luv to hear my babies recite this one:

I'll ask, "How sinful are you by nature?"

And I smile when their sweet voices answer, "I am corrupt in every part of my being." 

Because that is truth. Truth for all of us. We are all corrupt in every part of our being. And God is gracious. And He is good. He alone saves. And we rejoice in His salvation. 

Sister, I perceived, felt a tad left out when Little Man dumped his bag of valentines. He cared only for the candy, but Sister cared for the valentines and bagged them and treasured them as her own. This made me a little sad. You know, most girls enjoy their valentines...I always did. So I asked Sister if she wanted to have a Valentine Party. Of course, she did. So we did. 

Prior to the party, The Engineer picked up on the fact that Sister was missing out on some valentines, so he bought a box, filled 'em out, and strategically hid them ALL over the house over the course of several days. How sweet is that? She felt so treasured and special. (I hope he does this every year for our girls...I love to see him love our children!)

We left our paper heart chandelier as decor. Sister planned the party: pink lemonade, french onion soup (a girl after my own heart) and grilled chicken salad. We settled on a "valentine donut cake" complete with little paper umbrellas and candles. Nice. She made favors - packed with paper umbrellas and one, yes, ONE conversation heart. The rest she left in the bag as a centerpiece, which she cut open just so, so it would "look like an advertisement with flowers in the background." (But we didn't have any flowers.)

It was chaos. I'm painting the kitchen cabinets...again...so everything in our cabinets was all over the table in the kitchen, and I'd spent the day painting the breakfast room, so that room was a wreck, and still sticky/wet in some places. And I was still in my paint clothes when our guests arrived...and I never changed. It made me thankful for sweet friends who love even when life (and houses) are a mess. And the party - it was really fun. We might need to make that a Valentine's Day tradition. It sure beat waiting in line in an over crowded restaurant and trying not to notice Groping Gary and Tina Tween - I mean, WHERE ARE their parents???

In addition to celebrating Valentine's Day, it's been a big week in many other ways...and as I read Little Pilgrim's Progress to the children today, this struck a chord in my heart...

But little Christian's eyes had grown dim with fear, and he could not see the light beyond the river. He shivered as he looked at the water and then he turned once more to the Shining Ones. "It is deep!" he said. "We shall drown if we try to cross it!"

"No," replied the Shining Ones, "you will not find it too deep. You must not look at the water - you must lift up your eyes to the light, and the King will help you."

Right now, part of life looks like a dark river. I stare down at the raging waters and fear grips my heart - "what good can possibly come of this? What is there to give thanks for in the midst of such heartache?" And I am reminded to lift my eyes to the Lord. He is my help. And He is good. Always.

The Spread of Fancy Nancy

Dear Fancy Nancy,

You have some super fancy lotion! It's pink, make that "pank." It's sparkly. It smells real good. 

In fact, your lotion smells so good and it's soooo pretty, even Super Man can't resist its fanciness.

You see, Fancy Nancy, Little Man Super Man was supposed to be napping yesterday. But instead of napping, he crawled across his bedside table and grabbed his Sister's big ol' tube of your fanciest pank lotion. I'm not sure where he started, I just know he filled the lid of Sister's tervis tumbler. He rubbed a heaping dose of your fancy pank lotion on Sister's bla bla doll- thank goodness she's pink. He smeared your fancy pank lotion all over Sister's quilt. He spread your fancy pank lotion all over his quilt. Then he made handprints on his blanket - big, fancy, pank boy handprints. Then he squeezed what was left of your fancy pank lotion on the rug. The cream colored rug.

Fancy Nancy, you are one fancy girl! And Little Man has one fancy smellin' room with a fancy pank spotted carpet. 

Fancy that.

*Blog Post title by Sister

Surprise, Surprise.

You might remember that post from last summer, the one where I gloated over how proud I was and still am of Sister for working her little tail off to buy Kaya?

She's done it again, folks! 

Only this time, her sights were set on Felicity. If you get the American Girl Doll catalog, you might know that Felicity was "retiring" after Christmas. Which meant limited quantities and one concerned six year old.

A few days after Christmas, she had the last needed dollar in hand. She worried Felicity would be gone. The Engineer told her she'd done all she could do and not to worry about what was out of her control. She had no idea we'd ordered and hidden Felicity several months earlier.

Once home from Augusta, we called her downstairs. The Engineer reminded her of the long conversation they'd had about doing what she could do and not worrying about the rest. We counted out every last dollar. And then I went for the hidden box.

The look on her face was priceless. She was breathless. So surprised. So excited. And I, well I was giddy. Straight up giddy. Couldn't wipe the smile from my face giddy! 

We've been enjoying a lot of this. Actually, Little Bit and I have been enjoying a lot of this. But we'll make oatmeal lovers out of the rest of 'em! These are steel cut oats. I accidentally bought the "ready in five minutes" quick cook version. Still, they are delicious. So much better than regular ol' instant oatmeal. I cook them according to the package directions, slice a banana very thinly, add some milk, a dash of brown sugar, and top with almonds. Divine, I say. Try it. Bet you'll like it.

Meet "old faithful." She faithfully served my MIL's friend's mother for many, many years and then she came to live with us. She has served us well and I have loved her dearly. However, the last few months she's been giving me fits. Small explosions of the flame type. The kind that, when I open the oven door, a giant flame blasts out and climbs up my arms, or most recently, that burn the loose wispies around my face and make my eye lids sting, leaving the stench of burning hair.

And so a few Saturdays ago The Engineer informed me we weren't cooking another thing on that stove. The plan? To find the cheapest replacement possible at Lowes or Home Depot. 

This pained me greatly. I hate to replace something unless I can replace it with what I really want. And what I really want isn't in the game plan right now. So I pleaded for a quick look on craigslist. Perhaps we could find something for the same price as the lowest end model at Lowes, but a smidge nicer?

God is good. All the time. And this time, He provided so much more lavishly than I'd dreamed.

Look a little closer.

That's FIVE burners!!! I've already employed all five at once. It is WONDERFUL. And, the broiler - it works!!! This is the first time in my marriage - in NINE years - that I have had a broiler that works!!! I am so thankful!

Never mind the fact that we worked out a verbal contract over the phone with a woman who had already moved out of town...whose sister was "watching the house" - let me translate - is living in the house. And is crazy,  like medicated crazy, and we had to deal with crazy sister and a SHERIFF for the transaction - crazy sister who accused me of trying to burn the house down and then turned and was sweet as sweet could be to our children and then turned back on us and um, wasn't. So. Sweet. Crazy sister whose sane sister had called earlier and told The Engineer that crazy sister really was crazy and to expect it. The Engineer forgot to tell me. Oops. Careful when you deal with craigslist, y'all.

So again, I stand in awe over the ways God provides. 

Sister has mastered her letter clusters (ue for glue, ew for new, etc.) We played "duck pond" to make sure. I got it set up and Sister said, "Guess Uncle LOML knows it's Duck Season!" Ha!

We're praying through some big decisions about school for next year. As we talk and pray and offer to the Lord what is on our hearts, seeking His guidance, I can't help but look to the heavens, from where my help comes, and thank Him for a sweet and peaceful morning with three wonderful children. 

And "Miss Spoonful," thanks for the inspiration!!! I believe The Engineer's words were, "Oh. Nice."

Happy Monday!

Rockin' It, Baby!!!

Ok, first of all, this might be one of my all time favorite photos! I can't help but smile every time I see it. That is love. Pure and simple...love.

Meet the "pink pan." He is not the same as the Pink Panther, lest you get the two mixed up. He does, however, prowl about and make terrible "grrrrr" sounds and, he is pink.

Last night completely rocked!

While I prepped dinner (if you haven't tried this recipe, you are seriously missing out!), Sister got all dolled up!

And then we retired to the library. As we walked in, Little Man walked out, only, it took me a few minutes to realize he hadn't returned, and by that time, well, this is what I found. He was rockin' some lipgloss from Sister's caboodle.

Little Bit is still on meds for her ears, but the breathing treatments are down to every six hours. She is so much more her beautiful little self and I am so thankful for a wonderful pediatrician and for modern medicine. Thank You, Lord!!!

Little Man seemed to rally at dinner. I thought for sure the worst was behind us.

And dinner, dinner was so much fun! Normally we don't allow toys at dinner, but somehow, someone snuck that little rodent onto the table...and we all had a good laugh!

Post dinner we had an impromptu rock out/jam/dance session in the kitchen. First to Stevie Wonder (for the benefit of The Engineer's ego - this was my pick), and then to the Red Hot Chili Peppers. And then while we all pitched in to clear the table, Little Bit escaped to the purple caboodle and promptly applied some hot pank (yes, PANK) lipstick.

And now let me update you on our exciting life of meds, thermometers, lysol, and lots of tears and laundry...as of last night, I thought for sure we were on the upward swing.

Alas, not so fast. Little Man came down crying in the wee hours this morning. This time...his ear hurt. He was writhing in pain and running fever. A little tylenol and some ear numbing drops (thanks Little Bit!) and about 42 stories and one mama hanging off the edge of the queen size bed later, and he was asleep. And slept until 8:30 this morning, at which time he awoke in tears. I'd already scheduled a visit with the doc.

We broke out the homeschool around nine. I thought I was being so clever. I packed a basket with books from the playroom for Little Man and pulled out a basket of toys for Little Bit and had all of Sister's written work clipped to her clip board. I was so organized...but it all fell apart fast. Little Man was fussy and teary saying he didn't "feel too good" and then more tears because he only wanted to find Waldo and couldn't and "needed" my immediate help! And Little Bit only wanted me to read to her and every time I put her down from my lap, she came right back with the same book and more signing "please" and stomping excitedly. 

Sister kept trying to tell Little Man where Waldo was...and finally, I couldn't take it anymore. I was determined to have a break during rest time today, rather than homeschooling, for the sake of my sanity. And Sister is on a roll and I didn't want to miss a day!

So I filled Little Bit's bed with babies and books and thank the Lord, she was content for over an hour. Literally, PRAISE THE LORD!!! Thank you God!!! You knew I needed that!!!

And I put Little Man in front of a movie.

And Sister and I rocked some homeschool...AND she read the first paragraph of 100 Pounds of Popcorn...a book her Bobo (my mom) read when she was a little girl...

And at 1:20 this afternoon we went to hang with the pediatrician and his awesome nurses...again.

One peek in his right ear and Dr. B confirmed it. Little Man has a bad ear infection. Sister asked him what an ear infection looks like and he broke out the illustrations of the inner ear and explained what was going on with Little Man's ear infection and he even let me and Sister peek inside Little Man's ear. I said "Oh wow. That is amazing." Sister said she felt like she might throw up.

And then as Dr. B explained further, he glanced at his computer screen and said, "Oh. The results are in. His flu test came back POSITIVE."

So we're rockin' it over here! Rockin' some antibiotics! Rockin' some popsicles! Rockin' some movie watchin'! And rockin' some serious cuddling!

And in the midst of it all, Warrior is limping, again. So he also had a doctor's appointment this afternoon and got a shot of cortisone. 

And I am SO thankful The Engineer is home for the weekend! God's timing is perfect! It's rainy here tonight and we're tucked in and cozy and thankful, thankful, thankful for our pediatrician and his staff and for modern meds! And for left-overs for the children and cracked pepper and olive oil triscuits, light creamy swiss cheese, and cabernet for the grown-ups!

Now go rock your weekend!!!