The Goods

I still have a few families from last year that I wanted to share. Meet Dale’s sister and her family. We farm together, so we see each other pretty much. In fact, we lived beside each other in a double house for over 2 yrs. Our children were practically siblings. They played and fought well together 🙂 This fall they moved into a home up the road, but the meadow from the farm runs right behind their home, so that is where the pictures were taken. We didn’t get many with everyone looking, simply because my sweet children and the dog turned it into a bit of a circus 🙂

I took a few shots of the boys. They were dressed so cute! And a few of the lovely family… The family is God’s greatest masterpiece.- Unknown

Thanks for asking me to take your family photos, Randy and Diana! Next time we’ll try not to bring the wild crew along 😉

Tristan is 8!

Our boy is 8! He has grown so much lately, and it kind of makes me a little bit sad. This child has thrown us for a loop in parenting, and we still don’t always know how to handle him 🙂 He is so sweet, yet extremely stubborn, a farm boy through and through. He has incredible energy and determination, if only he uses it the right way 🙂

I remember the day he was born. I woke early in the morning, sensing something wasn’t right, and by 5:30am, I knew this was happening 🙂 I labored at home for a bit, because I never went fast before, and we arrived at the midwife around 10. Dale jokes that I’d be at 8cm, and I thought, “Ya, right!” Well, he was right. I was at 8. My contractions were not very close at that point, and not that hard, so I snacked on crackers and rocked on the rocking chair, and walked. By 1:00, nothing had changed, so they broke my water. What followed was about 2 1/2 very hard hours, but he arrived squalling at 3:25pm. He had moved his bowels a bit, and they suctioned away, so that was a bit worrisome, but all was fine. And he wouldn’t stop crying. That was maybe a sign of his temperament 🙂

He wasn’t the happiest of babies, and I remember how stressful the crying could be. When I look back, it all seems like a blur, and now here he is, 8 yrs. old. His learning difficulties were hard for me to deal with, because school always came easy for me, but he is making us so proud. He is doing so much better than we thought he would, and he really tries. He will say he doesn’t like school, and I know he misses his days at home helping his dad, and playing with the farm babies, but he can’t fool me 🙂 He definitely shows signs of enjoying school, and he talks nonstop when the school day ends.

I still didn’t get his pictures taken, but we’ll try to do that next week. So I’ll just include a few pictures of him doing what he loves 🙂

We love you so much, Tristan! And we are so thankful God gave you to us 🙂

The mommytude

I’m pretty sure the ole devil smiled at his grip on me the other day. I start every day the same way right now, but for some reason that particular morning when I drug my body off the recliner, the mess in my kitchen sent me over the edge. Now let me start off by saying my husband is great at helping out right now with the children, and I appreciate that. But I am convinced he sees no messes in the house, especially not dishes 🙂 Because my sink can be overflowing with dishes, and they just keep piling them up. The children don’t see them either I guess, because they don’t do any thing with them unless prompted. Maybe they think I wave my magic wand, and they all go away 🙂 Thankfully on that morning, the only words I said to my hubby were, “This kitchen looks like a pig sty!” Because I wanted to say more. So much more 🙂 Instead I stewed away inside myself while I cleaned out the dishwasher and loaded it, feeling so healthy and nauseous the whole time.

And thus the mommytude started, and never left me too long for the whole day. I knew I was grouchy. I sighed and moped in my spirit. Why can’t I feel better. Why can’t Jenna play nicer. Why doesn’t no one notice the messes? Why does this family have so much laundry. And on and on it went. I tried distracting myself with my phone. And it worked, somewhat. But God kept putting little eye openers in front of me. One of them being the song by the Mullets” The Wambulance”. I think God has a sense of humor 🙂 And this made me think.

But I still felt irritable. Tristan was home from school not feeling the best, but still good enough to fight his sister. So that made me happy. Not. And then big brother brought his homework home for him, with each paper nicely labeled with instructions. And he proceeded to remove all the sticky note instructions, and then had no idea what went with what paper. But of course, he had a mother. She would figure it out.

And because I didn’t feel well, we heated leftovers for supper. Which some didn’t like. And it didn’t taste good to me either. Nothing much did that day. I’d had 2 evenings this week that I felt better. Why couldn’t it stay. Why?

And when bedtime came, I knew apologies were in order. And then we prayed together, and I prayed that I would be a good mom, and not get so discouraged. Because they needed to hear me say that. And my heart filled to the brim as I heard each of my children, pray that I would feel better, and that I could go to the Christmas dinner we had the next day.

I dislike myself when I have bad attitudes. And it all comes from focusing on all the wrong things. It’s a weakness I need to work at.

How about you? What are some things you do to help you stay focused on what really matters?

I hope you have a restful Lord’s Day, and a great week ahead of you!

The good ,the bad, & life in general

If you came to read deep thoughts, you won’t find them in this post. I am worn down and a bit discouraged with this morning sickness, but on the other hand, I am grateful to God for this babe growing inside me. I muddle through each day, mostly on my recliner. Some days are better than others, and for those I am so thankful. I am going to whip this house into shape when I feel like working again 😉 It makes a huge difference having older children to help out, and we have been doing ok. We were blessed with so many meals, gift cards, casseroles, and some of you even help fold my wash, wink,wink 🙂 It humbles me a bit to be on the receiving end of all this kindness, and I can’t wait to pay it forward.

The children say our life is boring right now, but we were able to spend Christmas with family and friends, and that was a blessing.

I do feel like I fail my children right now. I snap at them too easily, and when I have to see someone doing something that I usually do, and not at all the way I think it should be done, it just really tries me. That sounds like I am a control freak. Maybe I am a little 😦 If I’m feeling too bad, I don’t even care, and that’s probably, sadly, better.

I clicked on a website that said “10 signs you have a strong willed child.” I think all of our children qualify, with 1 or 2 scoring 10 out of 10. Yup, we have our work cut out. I was also getting some tips on how to raise a strong willed child, because I need all the tips. I was greatly encouraged by the fact that a strong willed child is often a good leader, isn’t swayed by the crowd, and can go on to do wonderful things, if they are taught well. I can only pray we get some things right.

This week I went for an ultrasound to check some things, and I got to see baby moving around in there. What a miracle! I have an app on my phone that tracks each day of pregnancy, and shows a video each week how baby develops. I always thought of a child as a miracle, but looking at these videos, and seeing how each part, each organ, is formed, it amazes me all over again. Life happens, only because of a God who ordains it.

I don’t know about you, but I’ll be ready for Christmas vacation to be over. The kiddos need to have something else to concentrate on, other than the way their sibling annoys them. I honestly hope someday they get along better. The tension exists more between the 2 oldest, and they act like they despise each other, but there’s still hope for a bond to form 🙂 Every once in awhile it surfaces 🙂

We are home this evening. I told Kirsten if I feel better, maybe we can go to Longhorn for her birthday supper. They get to pick a restaurant to eat at for their birthday, and that was her pick. Her birthday was in November. Yes, that’s us, so on top of everything 😉 But alas, I didn’t feel up to it, so I’m sitting here listening to the girls play doctor, typing this up. Dale picked up food for supper. He said he’ll get whatever sounds good to me. I said,”I don’t know :)” That’s me right now. I start the day with a ritz cracker and toast. Then we eat fruit, and I always eat Campbell’s chicken noodle soup, because it’s what I can stomach. I never want to see a can of that again when I feel good 🙂 And I’ve been eating a tuna sandwich almost every day. I sip on gingerale all the time, and eat pretzels when I’m gagging. And for supper, I usually eat what they do, just small amounts. I seriously have to eat almost every 1/2 hr. or the gagging gets worse. Anybody have a food that tasted good to you when pregnant? I’m up for trying. I did start taking Unisom and B6 at night, and I do think it takes some of the nausea away. If you are one that throws up all the time when pregnant, I feel so bad for you. I absolutely HATE throwing up, and I haven’t thrown up once, even though I’ve come close. It’s so weird how everyone is affected differently.

This post wasn’t supposed to be so much about morning sickness, but I guess that is our life right now. I know from experience that when that sweet baby is in your arms, all that you suffered seems small, and so worth every bit. It’s why we mothers keep having more 🙂

If you are going through something hard like cancer, a death, depression, financial stress, a hospital stay, whatever it may be, I want you to be encouraged. Encouraged that God sees each and every one of our stories. In fact, He is the Author of our story. And He has put us there for such a time as this. Hold tight to His love, and rest in His strength.

2nd Corinthians12:9&10 But he said to me,” My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

I’m excited for the new year, and all it holds. I hope 2016 holds so many blessings for you. Thanks for reading!