Thoughtful things to remember

This morning we were discussing dreams.  Mine were nightmares about purple praying mantis' and Melia trying to eat one and having it bite her tongue- you can see why I needed to talk that out...  But Melia began to tell me about hers:

Melia: "Mommy, remember that girl... oh wait.  I'll need my photo book for this one."  (runs and gets photo album and shows me a picture from preschool)  "Remember this girl?  I just don't understand why she liked all the other kids but not me.  Everyday I'd ask her to play with me, and everyone else would, but she always said no." 

I found this fascinating that she was putting into words what she wouldn't talk about three years ago.  We knew this was a problem because the teacher told us about it, but Melia never would really articulate that her feelings were being hurt by this snubbing and bossing (she was also bossy about who could play with who).  Interesting.  So just because they don't mention it at the time doesn't mean they don't feel it inside.

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Saturday, the girls were instructed to clean up their room because it had been a disaster for days.  And I really mean it by disaster.  Long story short, things did not go well because of arguing, tattling, etc... So finding myself nearly in tears, Gabe and I entered the room with two garbage bags and a storage bin, and cleaned up for them.  Half a bag of trash, one bag of "donate" items, and one bin later, we'd removed all but the very minimum of their toys. 

What was astounding was the lack of tears!  They even continued to bring us toys that they found hiding!  At one point I just said to Melia, "Why don't you just keep that one?" because I was tired of digging out the bin over and over.  But she says, "But I can't have it until I show you that I can keep my clothes picked up.  Then I can play with it again."  Well, ok then.  I'll just drag that bin out again.  How can I argue with my own logic?  :-)

Carving Fun

Kiera's Butterfly... That Daddy carved :-)

I guess raw pumpkin isn't so bad... At least for an almost one year old :-)

Oh Alden- you will enjoy these pictures someday, I promise!  :-)

 

Melia's Dolphin jumping out of the water.  She worked very diligently on this, and it turned out great!

Hunting Pics

Daddy's deer :-)

 When we arrived, the kids were thrilled to have the freedom to run and play!  Kiera quickly returned yelling, "Look what I found!!!"  She was THRILLED.  As the story goes, Gabe and Shaun had been shooting at squirrels/chipmunks a few hours before we arrived, and Gabe had pegged this one... and forgot about it.  We all couldn't believe how Kiera fell in LOVE with her dead little chipmunk!

Melia, examining the specimen..

But, as you would probably guess, we could NOT keep a dead chipmunk!  This absolutely broke her heart- I cannot even begin to explain how she SOBBED for a good 20-30 minutes, and then again every time she looked at it's little tail (which was cut off thinking it would ease her pain...)  SOBBED, people.  No exaggeration needed.

Melia, later at home, watching as Daddy cuts up his deer.  She received a pretty one-of-a-kind anatomy lesson for a 7 year old, and fully loved every minute of it.  Not sure what God's got up His sleeve for this one, but boy, she's gonna be quite the little "lady!"

I know.  Gross, right?  Totally.  Gabe's.  Idea.  OK?  OK.

Pumpkin Craft- Can YOU Guess Who?

Today at Co-op in my math class we did a craft- creating a pumpkin out of triangles.  While Gabe and I were preparing last night (isn't he great!) we were discussing what kind of results the kids would come up with.  I so enjoyed watching the kids and their little brains working that when we got home I had the girls sit down with the leftover pieces... and I had to join... and then Gabe too :-)

Can you guess who made each pumpkin?  It was great fun!

 A.

B.

 C.

D.

Funny Animal Pics

Fire Station Fun

Saturday I took the kids to the Open House at one of the local fire stations (#2 I believe...).  Gabe took Melia and Kiera last year while I stayed home with Isaac, and the girls (Kiera especially) has been asking to go back ever since!  I hadn't seen the sign, but my friend (Thanks Brooke!) told me about it this week and thankfully we were free to go!

What a great time!  They had several stations set up- I don't think we even hit them all!  But we did build a bird house together (Thanks to Home Depot), the girls practiced calling 911 and answering the questions, we discussed our "emergency exit" plan, I picked up a magnetic 911 board that I can leave on the fridge which has all our information on it, all the kids' faces were painted (I don't think I've ever seen Isaac sit so still!!), we rode on a mini-pumper, climbed in a police car, talked to a K9 officer and met his dog, ate hot dogs, bought a brownie at the bake sale, and spoke with someone about carseats.  WHEW! 

And, to top it all off, Melia won the $25 gift certificate to Fred Meyer drawing!  Wow! 

Opening Day Buck!

A Healthy Reminder

This was in my recent Pioneers update:

" (talking about heading out to the mission field again...) But, we do it again and again because we really do believe there are things worth fighting for. And there are times when giving up or quitting isn’t the thing to do. But what makes this hard is that sometimes the exact same action that is right for one person can actually be wrong for another. Obviously, I’m not talking about moral or sin issues, but about life choices that can only be determined by walking in the light (Eph. 5:8-10) and listening to the still small voice (1 Kings 19:12)."

I found encouragement from this paragraph.  I often find myself comparing my life and experiences to others, and measuring myself against some imagined yard stick.  The wrong part is, I am measuring against a stick of my own creation, not the one God is measuring me by.  And just because God has called others to do certain things does not mean He has called me to.  I need to remember that I should make my goals what He has put before me, and not what He has put before others.  His best for their life is not His best for my life, and vice versa, even when it is all "good!"  I feel so tempted to get involved in all sorts of "good" things, but constantly must remember to measure things by what He has called my family to and if He is saying "yes" to that activity.  

Hope this encourages you today :-)

Hairdryer... or?

Isaac brought me a Polly Pocket hairdryer this morning, saying, "Boom Boom Gun!  Boom Boom Boom!  Boom Boom Gun!"

I tried to reason with him, but he knows nothing of hairdryers, so there was no convincing him of it's true identity.  Maybe it's a undercover gun...

Another Homeschool Encourager

I love running into veteran homeschoolers!  People in general are pretty nice when they ask (and they always do!) "What grade are you in? Where do you go to school?"  Some are even sweet, saying "bless your heart momma!"  or "good for you, I could never do that!" (like it's not overwhelming for me! Ha!)
But homeschoolers who have been there and done that are SO encouraging!  I met one today while waiting for my bountiful basket.  She said something that brought me to the verge of tears right there in line..  "You will never regret homeschooling your kids.  No matter how much they learn, or how hard it is to teach each one individually, or how endless the days may seem..  You will never regret that YOU were the one to spend that time with them, and that you were there to see the light bulbs turn on.  No one can take that from you." 

Wow!  (Sob!)   It was like she had a message sent especially for me, here as we struggle to "find our groove."  Thank You Lord, for Your encouragement :-)