The recovery ward continues...

The boys had their Tonsils and Adenoids removed on Tuesday. What in the world was I thinking doing them both at the same time? Actually, it's been bad but this way we can get this all over with at once. I really would not want to repeat this. I'm so glad David and I are the only ones with tonsils and adenoids in this household! What's the likelihood of the two of us needing them to be removed? The good thing is that they are all (Andrew, Caleb and Karis) mostly laid up so they do not even feel like wrestling. It has been tough to see them so lethargic and not feeling well. I should take advantage and use this precious quiet time to read but Karis is lonely for a playmate...gotta go!

The recovery ward

Recuperation

We are on the road to recovery. One down and two more to go.

Tonsillectomy Time

Kissing tonsils no more! In a matter of hours we should be done. Of course, we are at the hospital so nothing is as it should be.

Shameless Plug

I have a sweet christian friend who is a gifted photographer whom the Lord has given a great ability to design some really cool art photography. I have seen her products and they are amazing. Her new note cards are my favorite and hopefully I will be getting mine soon! Please stop by her Etsy shop: AmyLDesign and take a look around!

Books, books, and more books!

I am so very excited! My order for books just came in and I cannot wait to delve into these books. As Mikaela excitedly looked through my pile, she noticed one and said "Mom, I'm not an angry, unmotivated teen!". I had to remind her that just because I ordered a book to read does not mean I was struggling with that specific area. Being armed with scripture and encouragement prepares me for future possible battles! Hope you all have good books to read over the summer that can encourage your heart, be a balm to your soul and shape your thoughts to be more like your Savior.

Goals Update

Well, it's time for my 6 month goals evaluation. Back in January I listed goals that I have set for myself and it is hard to believe that this 2009 year is halfway gone. I can be optimistic and say I still have 6 months to accomplish my goals! So let's see how I am doing:

• Read through the Bible in 4 months. I'm reading through and almost done but have had to modify the 4 month goal.
  

• Read a biography/autobiography every other week. A steep goal I set for myself, but I am succeeding in reading one every three weeks and sometimes two in one month.
  

• Read at least one book a month on apologetics. Well...I have flunked this one. I have read through two and am starting my third.
  

• Play a board game with my kids at least once a week. I have tried! The kids do not always want to play a board game so we do something else.
  

• Teach Karis how to read. F.L.U.N.K.E.D. Good thing none of my kids were homeschooled for Kinder. I did try though! Now that we are into the summer, she is expressing interest.
  

• Send a birthday card to each of our family members-ugghhh, I am SO bad at this. I have failed this twice this year.
  

• Disciple a newly born-again Christian. Praise the Lord He answered my prayer! I spend several hours twice a week doing this and it has strengthened my love for my Savior.
  

• Continue to look for opportunities to witness every day (not only look but PURSUE!) Continuing to ask the Lord for grace in this area! He has brought me so very far!
  

• Read-aloud through some classic literature with the kids five nights a week. I was faithful for a few months but since the summer I have been L-A-Z-Y! No excuses.
  

• Sew more More than I have been!
  

• Spend less Praise the Lord I am doing better! Not where I want to be though. The solution: stay home and avoid stores unless I NEED something.
  

• Be more spontaneous-like in my younger days. Still working on this. David is trying to help me with this-F.L.E.X.I.B.I.L.I.T.Y is the key.
  

• Fold and put away the laundry immediately! Accomplishing! Yipee
  

• Continue to strive for Christ-likeness Daily seeking the Lord's grace in this area and am encouraged to see what the Lord continues to do in my life daily! Praise Him for His goodness to ME!
  

Chick-flicks and Chick-lit

Our 14 year old is at an age where she is wanting to devour books. Some of these books are ones that I have read but not necessarily ones that I would want her to read. The Lord convicted me some time ago about some of the "mindless" books I had been reading on occasion and over the last year I have radically altered my reading diet. I was able to express my choice changing to Mikaela, who did not quite understand what I meant or what I was talking about. As others have asked me recently about certain books, they stare at me like a martian when I share with them my thoughts. I decided I must not be explaining myself very well~it all made perfect sense to me! This is an article by Beth Spraul that brings up some food for thought as we contemplate what we fill our minds and hearts with.

Regarding Entertainment

Tim Challies has written two articles regarding entertainment and I thought I would just insert an excerpt here. I hear this expressed often and more than being expressed, I see this thought in action in those around me without seeing a desire to break the hold of entertainment.

Somebody wrote to John Piper and asked “I believe I do love Jesus, but most of the time I’d rather spend time being entertained than spend time in God’s word. How do I break this hold that entertainment has on my heart?”

Here is Piper’s reply:

1. Recognizing it is a huge step in the right direction. 2. Seek the Lord earnestly about it. Pray like crazy that God would open your eyes to see wondrous things out of his law. 3. Immerse yourself in the Bible, even when you don’t feel like it, pleading with God to open your eyes to see what’s really there. 4. Get in a group where you talk about serious things. 5. Begin to share your faith. One of the reasons we are not as moved by our own faith as we are is because we almost never talk about it to any unbeliever. It starts to feel like a kind of hothouse thing, and then it starts to have a feeling of unreality about it. And then the powers of entertainment have more sway in our life.

::Here we go again::

Sunday night as we headed to a local deli after church, alarms started sounding and several warning lights came on in the van. Mikaela and I then noticed that the temperature for the engine was all the way to the HOT alert. I really thought the van was going to blow up with us driving it! We pulled into a parking area, David pulled in with us and after smelling something burning, he checked all the fluids in the van. It was ALL just fine. This is problem #1. On Monday I came home after working 13 hours at the hospital to find Andrew nursing an injured arm/shoulder. He was doing some kind of stunt on his scooter and landed incorrectly. You can only guess what happened next. After taking him to the Bone and Joint Clinic today, the xray was inconclusive. It looks like a coracoid fracture and a growth plate fracture but we will not know for sure until after the MRI on Saturday. This is problem #2. The very good thing about Andrew is that he would not need a cast. Just a sling to keep him supported for several weeks. Praise the Lord it was not his clavicle! I have seen two friends break this and it was terrible.
Later that evening I noticed the lawn looked like it was in the middle of being mowed when Andrew had his accident. The lawn mower was parked out back by the playset. I then noticed why the abrupt ending to the lawn mowing - an oil explosion had occurred. There was oil in the grass, on the swing set, on the slide and all over the lawn mower! Last night I would have said this was problem #3. Today the lawn mower is put away and all is cleaned up-until the next explosion!
I have to look at these things and just laugh. Andrew's accident could have been much worse. The lawn mower is still running (we aren't sure why or how-no explanation for what happened) and at least we have another vehicle to drive. Funny thing is that there are 6 individuals in our family and literally only 4 seats in the car. At least we have a vehicle we can pile in to! We have tried to keep our van in running condition but it did fail emissions testing a few weeks ago. We were so bummed. Our mechanic thought he fixed the problem but then I would be driving the van at 35 miles an hour and it would just die in the middle of the road! Ugghhh! I thought I would try to see if I could possible get it to pass emissions testing on Monday but now we cannot drive it one mile before it starts having issues and we have learned that it will take more money to fix it than it is worth. Praise the Lord it has carried us to just a few miles shy of 180,000. Pretty good for an american made van!
I was talking to someone this morning and I Cor 10:13 came up. What a reminder to me that adversity (in my case, very minor) that comes to me is alsowhat other people face! Trials, difficulties, adversity NEVER come at a convenient time, do they? It can be incredibly frustrating and discouraging for a variety of reasons; for us it is the realization that the vacation we so badly wanted to take is just not going to happen this summer because that money will go towards a replacement vehicle! As I look at various plans David and I have thought through and anticipated over the last many months, I see God's providential hand in closing door, after door to those plans. He very well knew that our van was going to meet its demise and that we needed to keep every penny. Something little but the plans I had for my week disappeared within 24 hours-I certainly did not anticipate spending several days this week in and out of the doctor's office or trying to figure out who could take the car and when. Andrew's thoughts and ideas of how he was going to spend the next 4 weeks disintegrated in the doctor's office as a list of dont's were given. The kids expectation of spending 4 hours a day at the pool every day this week has yet to happen. If we see the pool for an hour this week, I will be glad for them!
The challenge for our family through all this has been to respond in a way that pleases God. It has been a challenge because ALL six of us have had our own thoughts, ideas, plans, and expectations-and they are all selfishly motivated. Praise God He gives us His Word, His promises and the reminder that He is faithful! Praise God He does make a way to escape and equips us so that we can bear the tough times.

Little Pleasures

Just got a surprise treat from some friends of ours, the Huffman's
Can't wait to sit and have a wonderful cup of coffee!

::Lessons in Biology::

The boys discovered a Milkweed patch behind their school a few weeks ago and as Caleb browsed through the field, he found an abundance of caterpillars. We went home with seven caterpillars and an abundance of milkweed. Thus began our 14 day science lesson. What fun we had! Of the seven, we gave away two and released five beautiful Monarch butterflies.

One of our hungry buddies. WOW, I had no idea how these little guys could pack in the milkweed leaves!

The kids and I were not the only curious learners...David was able to see 4 of the caterpillars "shed" their skin and form a chrysalis.

In position...ready and waiting

{New Projects}

Being inspired by crafty friends, I decided to go a different route for gifts this year. These coasters are FUN to make and look great too!

Disappointments

The Lord has recently allowed allowed people and circumstances to alter plans that David and I have made. For our fifteen year wedding anniversary last year, we had planned a cruise with our closest friends. Just a few days before the cruise, Rich's dad passed away unexpectedly which prevented the four of us from celebrating our anniversary together~something we had planned for several years. So last May we went ahead and began making plans to spend our sixteenth anniversary together, on a cruise as dreamed about for years. A year in advance planning and preparation-what could go wrong with such organization? Quite a bit.

I must admit that I have not responded correctly to the circumstances. Now, there has been quite a bit going on in our family over the last several months and being away from the kids was not top priority. However, this trip was important and very special. Our friends had spent their anniversary last year mourning the unexpected loss and heavenly homegoing of a father. They could not wait for this trip! Despite my hesitancy, I was looking forward to this trip and having to call our friends (just this past week) to solidify the "No, I am sorry we cannot go" was really difficult. My heart struggled with a bad attitude and I was sad for them.

The bottom line was that I was sinning. God knew a year ago that we would be in the situation we are in. It is so tough though to be all things to all people and make choices that please all. Impossible really. It is wonderful to know that "..He is..." and God enables me to do right despite how my flesh often wrestles with doing right and acting right.

A friend said this in Sunday School today: " Good plans become wrong plans when Christ asks us to do something different from those good plans."