Some Oswald Chambers This Week

"God does not ask us to do the things that are easy to us naturally; He only asks us to do the things we are perfectly fitted to do by His grace." Oswald Chambers

~Awana is a perfect example of this! It something I never dreamed I'd be doing! "not my thing" kinda sums it up. How glad I am that God had something different in mind.

I'm learning that everything does not need to be comfortable for it to be right. And I'm trying to keep it in mind when my kids are not so happy with my decisions for them.

~So often I get excited about a thing and ask God to bless it instead of asking God where He wants me to go.

And then there are the times I've refused to go, justifying it by saying "that's just not me".  The fact is, I don't want to be just me.  I want to be conformed to the likeness of Christ..... and sometimes that's not so comfortable. 

 "And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."  2 Cor 3:18

AWANA Last Night!

It was a terrific night last night.  This year I have Vincent in my 2nd grade class.  He didn't have a way to iron/sew on his patches to his vest last week so I took it home with me.  LB sewed them on for him and he was SOOOO thankful.   He was just gushing his thanks to her at dinner.  It was sweet. 

I've noticed a lot of growth in him this year.  Both he and Cole seemed to have matured quite a bit over the summer.   And when I had the opportunity to tell them how to be saved, he looked into my eyes with full attention.  I don't think I would've gotten that last year. 

Desiree is precious!!  She is just genuinely happy to be there.  When I asked her what I could pray for, she said to pray that she'll get to come back next week!  I got to meet her mom at dinner and I asked her if she needed help with her patches b/c they don't have an iron.  She told me that it might be hard to get the vest away from Desiree b/c she loves it so much!  

 

Look at these hard workers!  MJ finished his whole start zone and then helped Caleb to finish his.  Know what that means?  Next week they'll all have their shirts and books!!  Way to go boys!

Speaking of shirts.  How handsome is BigBoy in his new T&T duds?  I'm super proud of this guy. 

At the end of their start zones it says to tell what it means to trust Christ.  I felt like they could probably do this pretty well since we talked about it so much last year.   When I had Caleb tell me, we hit a bit of a snag.

He said you have a "pretty good chance" of going to heaven if you trust the work of Christ.   While it's cute, it's wrong.  So I had the great opportunity of clearing that up for him.  I'm glad they asked that question.  And we'll certainly talk about it more (as a class) next week.

Dinner was chicken nuggets, chips, and carrots.   Vincent came up to me at dinner and said his face was itching.  Well, I blew him off and told him I thought he'd be fine and it was almost time to go home anyway. 

Getting no help from me, he went to Lane who was far more sensitive to him.   She took him and washed his face all over.  Later she told me she thought his face was breaking out with something. (???)  

I hate that I was so insensitive and blew him off like that.  I certainly missed a blessing to serve him.  I'm really glad Lane was there and handled it better than I did.  

 

Happy Birthday LB!!

Yay!  Another birthday!

And this kicks off the next b-day season around here.

3 more to go before Thanksgiving, though the fall b-days are not as close together as the spring.

The excitement starts the night before with decorating after the b-day girl goes to bed.

Everybody gets in on the action.

And when morning comes its all smiles and Happy Birthday and excitement.  So sweet.

Breakfast was bread and gravy and waffles and juice.

We spent the morning at the park playing and soaking up the beautiful day.

LB's birthday always has the nicest weather!

While we were gone, I had Eldest make LB's bed with the new bedding we bought her.

SURPRISE!

Lunch at Olive Garden. 

(and btw, they are very accomodating to vegans)

TKD! 

Then dinner at home with burritos.   A big family fave.

PRESENTS!!

Um. Yeah.  We give our kids light bulbs for their b-days.  Doesn't everybody?

no?

B-day brownies which is what she almost always picks.

2+3+4+5=14.  Get it?

Good lookin party folks.

And the birthday girl!  Doing her favorite thing. 

Curled up in her bed with her new bedding, lamp, and book.

Happy Birthday Sweetie Pie!

We love you so much!

Fixed!

The washing machine was rebelling. 

The clothes were too wet and sometimes there was standing water in the bottom.

My friend Jodie told me it was the pump.  (How does she know these things??)

She told it was easy to clean out and even sent me a youtube video. 

But still I didn't know. 

Cause we're not generally the kind of ppl that just tackle such a job.

We're more like...We'll never figure that out. We better call a guy.

And Honey had a LOT on his plate.  So I thought it would be nice if I could figure this one out myself.  And then I reasoned, that if we really messed it up we'd call a guy like we were planning on anyway.  Nothing to lose, right?

So I called my son and told him that I thought we he could do it.  He watched a couple of youtubes and then just tore into it like he's done it a million times!  Fearlessly. 

And it works!!!  He did it!  

And we were all impressed.

(Did you notice his little apprentice looking over his shoulder?)

UPDATE:  It's back to it's old ways. :-(
Now what??  Jodie?  Anybody?

The Morning After

He thought the stitches were cool but not the swelling.
He cried when he saw himself this morning!

Battle Scar

I'm making breakfast this morning listening to the early risers wrestle in the living room.  Then I hear it. 

Crying that lasts a little longer than it should from someone like Jes.   

Seconds later he was in the kitchen and (oh God NOOO!!)  he's holding his eye and there's blood everywhere!  You know how the head bleeds.  I was scared to see what was under his hand. 

But when I moved it I was relieved to find that it was a little gash in his eyelid.  (Thank you Jesus!) The stupid dog stepped on his face. 

Not too bad once it was cleaned up but would be hard to butterfly w/o taping his eye closed.   Besides his momma didn't want much of a scar on that handsome face.   So I called Honey and told him I was bringing Jes up to his office so we could look at it together.  We took him up to one of the nurses he works with and she thought it would need a couple of stitches. 

This took the entire morning.  We waited.  And played cards.  And waited.  And took pictures of ourselves.  And waited.  And played more cards.  And waited. And he texted his sister. And waited some more. 

A loooooong time later....

Jes was quite thrilled with the whole thing.  I mean how cool are stitches to an 8yo boy! The only disappointment was that they didn't have any good colors.  Only black.  

 He got 2 stitches to show off to G'ma and Aunt Mich and Mason, and all his siblings, and his soccer team. 

Honey and I took him to lunch since we had him all to ourselves. 

This goes down as one of his favorite days ever!

A Super Special Birthday Celebration!

These are the birthday girls!  My sister-in-law and mother-in-law.  Not Mally...she's just a ham.

My MIL was turning 70 and in Korea there is a big celebration for that birthday.  We wanted to something special for her and we tried our best to re-create some of the tradition.  Part of the surprise was Mich and Mason flying in from AZ.  Ethan drove us all morning back and forth to Tulsa to pick them up. 

You should've seen the look on her face when she saw them! 

Those of us who had them, dressed up in Korean clothes.  Lots of kids had outgrown them but we pieced together and did the best we could.  The little ones LOVED it b/c they have never done this before.

We all practiced the proper bow and took turns bowing to her in birth order.  ZBoy was adorable and had the bow down perfectly.

My boys are THRILLED that my nephew is here.  This kid is a joy and we don't get to see him nearly enough.

This is my FIL making some traditional Korean food.  It's really cute b/c he has NO idea what he's doing! 

None of us did.  But it was fun trying. 

And the tears in my FIL's eyes were the sweetest thing.  

My Azure Standard Order

Did you know that Azure Standard is expanding?  So if you live in a place where there wasn't a drop point, there may be one now!  I love ordering from AS and saving so much money over health stores...and sometimes even Walmart. 

Here's what my cart looks like this month....

1 gal raw honey
5# pumpkin seeds
1 case of coconut milk (15% off)
popcorn
salt
hard and soft wheat (25# each)
20# organic pears ($.99/lb)
5# organic carrots ($1/lb)
sucanat
5# great northern beans

Some Of My Phone Faves

Mally with special permission to climb up to LB's top bunk.  I love to see them up there reading together.

Josh and his puppet friend.  This guy is surprising me with his recent creativity.

This is hilarious!  Know what she's sleeping with?  One of those micro fiber dusters!  I bought each of the younger kids their very own for house cleaning day.  She was SOOOO proud of it. 

Gotta love the army surplus store.

Isn't she adorable is Caesar's hat?  I have no idea what Jes is doing.

An Early Word

I was looking in my nightstand last night for my copy of Life Is A Vapor by John Piper.  Where'd it go?  Do you have it?  Did I loan it to you??  Anyway, in order to look around I had to pull out my old Bible...the precious. 

And this morning it was on top of my nightstand still.  So I used it.  And ohhhh, it's so comfy.  Like it just falls open so easily.  It's marked up just right.  It is silent and soft.  Why did it have to start falling apart when it was getting so perfect?  And to top it off the translation is so familiar.  Sigh......

But my new one is gorgeous.  Calf skin.  Gold pages.  Colorful maps even.  I've had it several months and it's still stiff.  The pages still creak.  Will I ever break it in just right? 

"But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere."  2 Cor 2:14

I love the verbs in this passage =  leads and spreads.

And notice the subject noun?  God.  God is doing the work.  The leading, the spreading.  For it is God who works in you to will and to do according to His good purpose.  Phil 2:13

(I went to look up that reference in my newbie but don't ya know it wasn't marked yet.  Crazy that.)

Yesterday was full of striving.  And yes, there was work to do.  But there was no peace as I was constantly feeling behind and trying to save the day.  Striving.  Today I'm hoping to rest and spread peace. 

Honey's gone fishing with 3 kids.  Eldest will be at school and I will be left with a skeleton crew of 4.  Home all day with nowhere to go,  I'm thinking a park run is a great idea.

A Bunch Of Stuff About What We Did Today

I woke up this morning and realized that I had done NO planning at all for this week.  No school planning, no menuing, no nothing.  AT ALL!!  And it's Monday for crying out loud!  Already.  The school stuff isn't such a big deal b/c most of it is done in advance but food??  That's another story.  I just can't easily feed 11+ people 3+ meals a day w/o some forethought.  Sigh......  So I quickly prayed for the Lord to tell me what we could fix for supper tonight. 

Fried rice!  I have everything for fried rice. 

Honey's off to work, a girly is in my bed, and I'm trying to read my Bible.  But she keeps chatting so I send her off after a couple of unheeded warnings. 

2 kids start science classes this morning and need to leave the house at 7:15.  I'm finally out of bed and give them some last minute reminders....sit in the front, be nice, etc.  Eldest is also on the way out the door to school. 

The whole house is up at this point and several kids have already eaten breakfast. Cereal that Jes made last night.  I close the kitchen and get everyone started on chores, teeth, and vitamins.    Brushing Mally's teeth and I remember that this kid seriously needs a bath!  I get her started in my tub and wash her hair.  She can finish the rest.  Off to start laundry. 

Josh is working on kitchen work, the boys are cleaning their room, Lane is working on school, Mally's in the tub, Z is following Momma.  Oh yeah, it's trash day .....BOYS!!! 

10 minutes later the trash is still not out and I have seen them both in the house.  Why???  Because there is some sort of squabble about working together to get it done.  Hmmmm.... and I'm not sure how to handle it right now.  We've had so many talks about faithfulness and diligence and working as for the Lord.  What else can I say?  What other consequence can I give?  So I wait a few minutes and pray and think and check over other kids' chores and Josh's kitchen work.  And then it hit me.  I don't hafta say anything new.  The message is the same, never changing.  I just have to be consistant with the repetition and the reproof that brings wisdom.  We talk again, the same conversation.  But I don't really mind.

 They lose their snack now....
"The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat."  2 Thes 3:10

They hate this!  Losing their lunch is not such a big deal, but snacks??  Gasp!

~13yo daughter is our bread maker.  She's in chemistry class and the job falls to me.  How I wish I had planned ahead!!  We don't even have bread in the freezer to pull out.  So I get it started while kids have started on school at the table.  Except the boys.  I had to send them back to their room b/c it was *not* clean. 

~I feel behind.  I haven't even done Bible with the kids yet and this is usually done at breakfast.  But it's ok.
My 7yo comes to me to show off his math.  He's almost done (!) which is amazing for him, especially for a Monday.  Happy momma. 

~Bread is rising and I call everyone to the living room with their Bibles.  We're starting a study on Matthew today and I think we're all going to learn so much from this.  I teach them how to make a list for Jesus, Holy Spirit, and Angels.  I'm excited about this one. 

~I leave them to finish their lists and roll out bread and switch laundry.  And while I'm at it, it's almost snack time so I might as well make some popcorn.  This draws a crowd with the littles and ZBoy helps me by getting out the coffee filters and stirring in the coconut oil and salt.  But ya know what?  I made way too much!  Since the boys lost their snack today, Meg's at school, and 2 others are in science it leaves me with a small bunch.  Oh well, I'll send some to work with Honey. 

~10am.  Snack time and reading with Mally and Z.  I'm very happy at how well their reading is coming along!  And they LOVE to do it which makes it a breeze.  Lane takes the boys and teaches them history.  Everyone left all their Bibles on the couch and coffee table so I call them back in for a clean up and get Nate started on his piano practice. 

~When the littles are finished reading I send them outside.  It's a beautiful day!  Nate and I work on his school and I find that he's almost finished with everything!  Big surprise for me.  I'm sooo proud of his hard work today (especially after the trash incident).  He gets a COW present! 

~11:10am.  Spelling.  2 less kids makes this go a little faster today.  Nate finishes school and goes outside with his siblings.  I gather the bigger boys for science.  And I can't decide...experiment (which would only take a minute) or the next lesson?  Both, since I saved some time on spelling.

Finishing up science and here's where things start falling apart.  Mally's crying in the backyard.  Not uncommon for her.  I bring her in and tell her to sit on the fireplace b/c I have some loose ends to tie up with the boys and can't talk to her now.  Then all at the same time everybody comes home.  Honey's home for lunch, the science kids come in with our friend, and Meg's home.  I am NOT ready for lunch yet.  Our friend stays for awhile and visits while I'm trying to put something together quickly.  Honey's looking through the fridge and my little kitchen is crowded.  I pull out 6 cans of tuna and mix together some tuna sandwiches.  Not enough for everybody but it's a start.  Next I slice 1/2 a loaf of bread and make some cheese toast.  Add some peaches and call it lunch.  Birdy's still on the fireplace.  

Not our best morning.

~But now it's over.  The afternoon should be better since most ppl are done with school, Honey's back at work, and the kitchen is clean from lunch.  Eldest takes Lane to work for me giving me an unexpected afternoon at home.  Thank you Love!

~I get serious about a menu since I don't want tomorrow to look like today.  But I can't think of much.  I'm blank.  I come up with 5 dinner ideas and it will have to do for now.  Made a grocery list and put together our tea snack. 

~3:15pm.  Tea Time!  Milk and toaster strudels my MIL bought the kids.  Yay for something quick and easy today.  We're reading Little House In The Big Woods right now.  I love these books.  I love tea time. 

Pick up the house, 3:00 dishes, and fold 4 loads of laundry.   And I still have a son working on school.  He's crying when I tell him he's missing soccer practice if school's isn't done.  We talk about diligence.  Didn't we just have this conversation??

And there ya have it.  A whole day at our house on a Monday.  Thank you if you have hung in here til the end!

Squeeeeal!!

Our new bed from a garage sale this week!

I never ever ever buy such a big ticket item so this was a BIG deal.  Plus we've never had bed furniture before...just mattress and frame.  So it was a double big deal. 

I love it. 

A Little Bit Of Lately

It seems like the school year has started for everybody now.  The parks are not crowded and story time is back to the usual little bunch.  Piano starts back for us this week, chemistry and micro biology classes next week.  Then we'll be able to settle into a new normal routine. 

This week is full of company and running kids to their various jobs and errands.  I am hopelessly behind in just about everything and trying really hard for it not to make me crazy.  It'll get done eventually, right? 

How are you doing on your Sept challenge?  Are you getting up on time?  I'm hit and miss.  I'm actually missing a bit on purpose though b/c I'm walking some mornings depending on my schedule that day. 

Speaking of walking, guess what?!  I took Joey today.  The poor dog almost had a heat stroke one night this summer so he's been grounded.  This morning was nice and cool and I invited him along.  But that's not all.  It was easy to take him.  I could handle the leash with both hands since I'm a permissive walker Joey likes to change sides.  Ahhhh the freedom of pain free mobility!  (Are you tired of hearing that yet?)

Wanna see some goodness from the Savers 50% off sale? 

This is our new bag.  I hafta say "our" b/c LB and I are sharing it.  Isn't it hilarious?  It was brand new.

Here's the bottom.

And LOOK at the fall clothes!  It was so much fun.  And I've never had so many new clothes all at the same time.  It turned out that each piece cost around $3.  THAT is a bargain folks.  And several things were brand new. 

I had have so much laundry I had to buy more laundry soap!