I'm not dead!

I can't imagine anyone is checking in here anymore, since it has been nearly 4 years since I last posted.  FOUR YEARS!  My, how the clock ticks on!  But my girls have discovered this blog recently, and they absolutely LOVE being able to look back at this digital scrapbook of sorts.  At their behest, I'm going to try to be consistent again at blogging.

I won't try to update 4 years of life in one single post, but here are the basics:

In 2015 we moved from idyllic northern Michigan to North Carolina.  I went back to teaching after 10 years out of the classroom (!), and all 3 girls went to the Christian school where I taught... Olivia in 4th, Ellia in 2nd, and Brienna in 1st.     

Olivia, 4th  

Ellia, 2nd

Brienna, 1st

As for me, I taught 6th grade English and Bible. It was difficult, exciting, overwhelming, rewarding, exhausting, exhilarating, frustrating, and challenging.  

yours truly, 2015.  

But the Lord was good to us, as He always is.  We grew so much during those three years in NC and learned a whole lot about our family's needs and God's desires for us.  

at a friend's wedding in SC

We have so much to be thankful for after having experienced that season.  The girls grew like weeds.  I absolutely can not believe the changes in them!

2016

2017

All 3 girls played organized basketball and soccer in NC in the intramural leagues offered.  

Olivia took one year of piano, and Ellia took 2 years.  They will be continuing to learn this instrument, as they both have a gift for it!

Brienna took one year of violin and did well.  Against her wishes, we're going to try to find someone to continue teaching her.  :)  

Olivia played on the interscholastic middle school volleyball team last year in 6th grade.  She LOVES team sports and wants to continue honing her skills.

Olivia and Ellia had opportunities to compete in state academic and fine arts competitions.  Between them, they competed in choir, piano, speech, academic testing, spelling, and art.  We're very proud of their hard work!

After 3 years in NC, the Lord led us back "home" to Michigan, athough in a different area than we had lived before.  I am not teaching anymore, and the girls are in their 2nd week of their new Christian school.  

2018, just last week.  

Um... WHERE are my 3 baby girls???

And as for me, WELL!  I am in an entirely new season of life!  The girls are all away at school each day, and I am not working outside our home.  This is the first time in my adult life that I have not had a job or kids at home, or both.  I'll be honest with ya, I'm not hatin' it so far!

First Day no kids/no school.  *limited time only*

But you know us... life is never boring!  I'm hoping for some subbing opportunities in their schools, and I'll be volunteering in the elementary cafeteria once a week.  

Oh, and there's also THIS new development:

a precious gift from the Lord, a darling baby BOY!

On Christian Friendship

A big drink of cold water, that's what she was yesterday, and she's just a little thing.

A busy little mama to 5 kids 8 and under, who invited us in for 3 hours.  We kept her baby from napping and got out every single toy and toppled the tee-pee over.

We ate up her mini-muffins and I slugged her coffee and asked her one question after another about her home school, her chickens, her garden, and those precious kiddos.

She's just the kind of friend I need, and the kind you need, too.  She's the kind of friend I want to be.

It's been a long time, and many things have changed.  We do make a little small talk, but life looms large and in every corner of it is God, after all.  There is no small talk.  The Lord's been teaching her, patiently leading her to trust Him and to obey Him in all areas of life.  She says it over and over, "God, He's been so gentle with me."

There is so much I don't know, so many ways in which I need to grow.  She is gentle, too.  She must sense the hunger I have for deep fellowship and friendship, because she asks a couple of times with concerned eyes, "Do you have anyone?"  Goodness, I must seems like a woman dying of thirst.  But I know what she means.  Iron can not sharpen itself.  It is not so easy for one lone flailing mama to pick herself up and go on.

What a messy job this is, motherhood.  In all its elation, ugliness, wonder, and challenge, it is rewarding and messy work.

We agree that nothing sanctifies so intensely as this, us nervous, pecking mother hens trying to train up all these little chicks.  

She points out the window, "See that big hen there?  We think it's because of her that the others won't lay."  I learn that hens only lay eggs for about three years.  

She also tells me that chickens are big-time suckers for peer pressure.  Since this old hen has stopped laying, the others in the brood will not lay either.

The solution was hard and also easy:

The big, tough one has to go.  If you want any more eggs, the bad one has to go.

Oh, how I want to be an encourager to others... to my husband, to my children, and to the rest of the Body.   I pray for continued fruitfulness that spurs others on to love and good deeds!  

I'll take a true friend's wounds over an enemy's kisses. 

Any day of the week.

"Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel."

Proverbs 27:9 ESV

Yay for the Library!

We love our local libraries.  Love them!

The girls used to run off to play with the dollhouses and toys and thingamajigs.

Now they grab an armful of books and sling them onto the closest surface they can find.

We actually have two libraries, and we love them both.  The smaller, older one has a giant cart in the children's section, with stamping supplies, coloring books, and a stack of fresh, blank paper.  GLORIOUS.

This week we found a whole slew of books by Sally Lloyd-Jones.

She authored our beloved and very popular Jesus Storybook Bible.  

Did you know she also wrote such adorable picture books as 

The Ultimate Guide to Grandmas and Grandpas?

and How to be a Baby...by Me, the Big Sister.  Adorable!

and Being a Pig is Nice:  A Child's-Eye View of Manners

also:  How to Get Married... by Me, the Bride

"No one will marry you if you don’t ever brush your hair and it looks like a bird’s nest back there.  And never get married when it’s dark, because you might not see the groom, and marry the wrong person.  When you have found your Own True Love, you must ask permission.  'Can I marry you please?' you say.  'Yes, please,' he says."

We will soon be walking into our library not with a tote bag, but with a giant Rubbermaid tub and a dolly.  These girls are voracious readers, and I couldn't be more thankful!

**Sally Lloyd-Jones doesn't know me, and she didn't pay me to promote her books.  We just love 'em!

A few thoughts on Aging

32 is not old.  I know this because 

(a) I am 32.  And 

(b) I am not old.  

Those mathematical postulates and theorems and other various Whatnot did not fall on deaf ears during 9th grade Geometry.  I'll let my solid B-minus speak for itself.  

But it is worthwhile to note the following:

#1:  I do not tolerate the cold very well anymore.

 And we haven't even had much cold weather in the past couple of winters.  This photo gives me the chills, and I'm already wearing my bathrobe and slippers.  Yes, yes I am.

#2: I fear for my personal safety while doing perfectly normal and not-dangerous activities.  Like descending the basement stairs, all 7 of them.  Or navigating a corner whilst carrying a laundry basket.  

#3:  Olivia has learned how to knit recently, and I have been begging her to let me do a few rows now and then.  It's really not that hard, and it is a nice thing to do while you listen to music in the evenings.  I might ask my friend to teach me how to cast on, so I can work on a project of my own.  (I don't even know myself anymore.) 

#4:  I often want to linger out-of-doors and breathe in the fresh air, enjoying the beauty of God's handiwork which proclaims His glory at every turn.  So maybe this means I'm merely maturing, and not OLD.  Right?

#5:  I am turning into a Homebody.  5 days out of 7, I would rather be home, puttering around the house and yard or snuggling with my punks...than out-and-about.  I never thought I'd say that.  But it's true.

#6:  I think to myself every single day, how quickly the time is passing by.  These children are such a precious loan from God, and they are sprouting up right before my eyes!

Valentine Surprise

IF YOU ARE MY PARENTS, PLEASE STOP READING NOW!

Snapfish is running a deal: get their 20-page 5x7 softcover photo book for free, using code HPREWARD at checkout.  Offer expires January 31, 2013.

Here's what we're doing:

(SERIOUSLY, MOM & DAD, LAST CHANCE!  LOOK AWAY!)

1.  Take a whole mess of photos.

2.  Put 'em in the photo book.

Okay, that's all!

Start with one of you and your sweeties.

But really, don't put more than one in there.  Grandparents get kinda testy when you "ruin" their photo gifts with shots of yourself  (personal testimony).

Then, I just told the girls which emotion I wanted to see, and I started snapping away!

"Okay, girls, let me see....  your thinking face."

"How about your super-surprised face?"

 "Okay, now your meanest face!"

 "Your very saddest face."

 "Now, your silliest face!"

 "Now do a dance!"

 Okay, this CRACKS ME STRAIGHT UP.  Ellia's hair makes her look like a cocker spaniel, and Olivia's face is just wild!  

"Now, pretend you all are the best friends EVER."

If they're really into it, have them do all the classic poses.

Be ready for some giggling when you do the pile-up pose.

If it's nice out, take them for a walk.  

"How much you you love Grandma & Grandpa?"

 THIIIIIIIS MUCH!

This next series makes me laugh, too.  

So I told the kids, "We're going to say, 'I love you' with our hands!  We'll point to our EYES for 'I,' and then make the motion for LOVE, and then point at the camera for 'YOU!'  Ready?"  

I.....

(That was actually our second attempt.  This was our first.)

 WOW, scary.

 love...

YOU!!!

I'm no photographer, but you don't need to be!  The photo books look great!  Snapfish's site is easy to use; I'm all about the dragging and the dropping.*

No grandparent would be disappointed in a sweet Valentine photo book...

...so long as YOUR face appears only once!
Right, Mom?


*NOTE:  Snapfish did not pay me to advertise for them; I just like their stuff.  That'd be cool, though! 

Yeah, the family photos are going to be bad for awhile...

My baby defies me by continuing to insist on growing up.

I tell her all the time to quit eating her vegetables and to stop drinking her milk and reading so much.  

It isn't working!

Homegirl lost her first tooth last week!

(Whoa.  Sister's got a weird eye thing goin' on here!)

And then she lost her second one today!  I think it was just out of spite.

For now, she's proud to show off the gaping hole in her smile.  I hope the rest of her teeth wait a little while.

We had Olivia's dear friend over today.  K was her classmate in Kindergarten last year.  They did foot baths and manicures and played dress-up and dolls.  And they had an exquisite luncheon together:  a bride, two princesses, and a ballerina.  It was fun to see them having such a good time and playing so wonderfully together!  

These little people continue to grow (SLOWLY!) in their relationships with each other, becoming better and better friends each week!  

It was a happy, happy Friday.

Following an inconclusive and frustrating doctor appointment yesterday, this text from my dad:

"God is not on vacation this week."

It's true, it's true!

I'm terrible about transferring my own stress and aggravation onto my poor kids.
A low-key day was in order!

We stayed out of the schoolroom and the textbooks and the worktexts.

Olivia worked on her Kids4Truth book for our church's Wednesday night Bible club.  She filled in the verse blanks and I was blessed. 

"...He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness."  Psalm 107:9

We snuggled on the couch and I taught her about the fun Japanese poetry form, haiku.  We giggled at the funny poems as we clapped through the syllables and guessed the riddles.  She dove right in and wrote a couple of her own.

I am white and black.
I eat grass and I say moooo.
Uh-oh!  What am I?

                                                           ~Olivia Adams

She played several math games online, now dragging slices of pizza for fraction practice, now "coloring" pictures to correspond with correct answers.  Why are kids so adaptable and resilient and I am decidedly... not?

We started a new book, enjoyed a leisurely lunch, finished a homemade coloring book for a grandma having a birthday soon (SHH!),  listened to lots of great Christmas music throughout all of it.

Tonight, we're enjoying dinner brought to us by a compassionate friend who stuck around for a visit.  So grateful.

After that, we'll go downtown to our local library's tree lighting, where we'll sing Christmas carols and enjoy cookies & cocoa.  Delightful!

Topping it all off:  movie night with the besties.

Yes, they sat like this the whole time.

I needed a day like this.  We all did!  What a novelty to enter the weekend feeling refreshed and relaxed!

Sisterhood

I didn't grow up with sisters.  Just one brother, five years my junior.  This raising girls stuff is a learning experience, people!

I'm so enjoying watching these three little people grow into good friends.  What a gift are sisters!  

 **putting on a concert.  by candlelight!**

 **enjoying the fruits of a baking endeavor**

 **playing wedding.**

 **writing love notes to one another**

 **enjoying some special hot cocoa**

**reading together **

I hope my girls will always be great friends!