Can I keep him?

Little that is. Yes it's true my sweet, loving, snuggle bug has turned 6 today. I wish I could keep him little forever, ok maybe not forever but I'm certainly not ready for him to grow up just yet! This is my very emotional child, he's sweet and loving, fierce when defending his brothers, the first to hug you when you are sad, always comforting, caring, clingy, VERY clingy, but he's also the first one to make friends, fearless when it comes to meeting people, literal in everything, and frankly having him around makes me sure God knew what he was doing giving me boys because if having a teenage girl is anything like having my 6 year old around I am certain I would not survive it!

As it was his birthday he got to choose what we did today, what we ate for supper, and pretty much be in charge of the whole day. First thing this morning he requested a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast (which I knew last night so I was prepared), then he said he wanted to go swimming...however me being the more practical person that I am suggested that we either go to the zoo and see animals and play in the water, or go to the splash pad at what USED to be Tempe Town Lake (click the link if you want to know why it used to be the lake). He chose the zoo, not surprising if you know him at all. So we packed up some water (couple of gallons), sippy cups for the baby, changes of clothing, diapers, wipes, sunscreen, and snacks and off we went!

We saw few animals today because it's still too hot for most of them to 'play' outside. However they were well pleased with the few we saw and mostly we went to enjoy Yakulla Caverns, which is a water play area with two slides, 15 or so water squirting ground spouts, a waterfall, and a cave area to explore and splash in the small puddles. They played, they splashes, they slid, they ran, they hid, and then my birthday boy fell and konked his head! He is fine, but he was none too happy with the rubber playground surface with which his head made contact. We spend about 2.5 hours at the zoo today, and then we came home for what I had thought would be a rest.

Nope, he had other ideas, he wanted to play the wii! So the older boys played wii while baby slept and I went to pick up his cake and prep for his supper. He decided that he just wanted a small cake this year and so we got him a small, but very colorful 1/8 sheet cake. For his supper he requested hot dogs, burgers (which he insisted daddy put on the grill), chips, and pickles. So we had supper and then he wanted to go swimming!

We got all dressed for the pool, put on more sunscreen (this is Arizona after all), loaded the stroller, and headed to the pool. We get to the pool only to discover that it is closed, and there is no sign of explaination so the reason will remain a mystery. He was disappointed, though he tried not to show it, the disappointment could be read across his face. I felt badly, but there was nothing I could do.

So what did we do, we had cake! And presents! Then it was off to the tub and into jammies for a date with their beds. As I write this I have three sleeping children, and two grown folks who very much wish to be sleeping!

Here are a couple photos because I love to show off my boys, and well what's a blog post with no pictures?

Yes, that is ketchup all over my oldest boy's shirt, I never once claimed they weren't messy eaters!

Birbitt is too tired to think tonight, so for this once you'll have to forgive me. :)

Family Fun Days

Life has been so busy the past few weeks, as it is summer and it seems the demands on my time increase with the heat. This past week or two I have been feeling the "blahs" and so I decided that I would not make any comittments for this week that didn't directly involve Church, my children, or my husband. It has been so nice to just relax and enjoy everyone again. We have gotten our school work done S-L-O-W-L-Y without the need to rush off somewhere, and we've spent time as a family.

Thursday we took the children swimming, and since it was an overcast day I didn't feel the need to put up the sunshade on the baby's boat. He loved it, every minute of it. The joy in his face as he threw his head sideways into the pool getting his hair wet and splashing water in his face, the shrill screams of delight as he threw his little toys into the pool and waited for them to "magically" return to his hand. The baby enjoys the water, and I am thankful for that because many babies just don't like it, and here in Arizona the pool is a necessity if we are to get any outdoor exercise from June - August (yes I am a wuss and dislike the excessive heat).

My older boys have both just recently learned to swimm, mostly because I have a very "odd" point of view when it comes to teaching a child to swim. I never learned to swim until High School and as a result I decided that I would never push my children to learn to swim if they weren't fully comfortable with it. My boys are now little fishes, the put on their goggles and nose clips and off they go, Hubby and I left to keep eyes on them and be sure they come up for air every now and again.

We enjoy swimming in the early afternoon, as very few other people use the pool at that time so we generally have it pretty much to ourselves and I don't have to worry about the boys splashing people or worry that someone else is doing something that could hurt the boys.

I am forever grateful for days like these where we can just relax and be a family enjoying the company of one another, and making memories with our children that will last forever.

Birbitt thinks memories can be made even during the most everyday events, playing in the pool to beat the summer heat, making a meal, or just being together. Memories don't have to cost a penny, and they last a lifetime. Go out and make some memories today!

Worth Saving?

I was working at our church today, helping to clean out rooms so the painters can paint, and helping to organize other rooms. Well, as we (myself and the lady whom I was helping) moved to the next room we discovered a pile of probably 5 or 6 hundred books! We had no idea what to do with them so my work buddy made a few calls and was finally told that the books were "trash". When she told me we'd be carting them out to the dumpster I nearly cried, see to me books are precious and even though some may be old and outdated to me there is nothing more relaxing (worldly thing that is) that picking up a book and getting lost in it's pages. Yes I can even get lost in a non fiction book, I get lost in my learning and it's soothing to the soul.

After speaking with her for a bit we decided to go through the books and each take what we could or would use, save some for the new library that our christian school and college will be building, and the rest were loaded up in my trunk and her trunk to be carted off and donated. I took my load to a local christian thrift store that I thought would be best suited to rehoming hundreds of Christian books, Bible Study books, Bible commentaries, Concordances, and other Christian reference type materials.

I sorted through the books and brought about 30 titles home with me, some by great preachers such as Dr. Jack Hyles, and Dr. Michael Sproul, some books are signed by their authors, some I wasn't really sure if I'd read but the titles sparked my interest and I couldn't pass them up. I even picked up an old church hymnal because I love to sing the hymns and many times I forget the words to some of my old favorites simply because I don't sing them often enough.

At the end of the day I am pleased that this stack of treasure was saved from the landfill. I understand the need to weed out books to make room for the new, but to me throwing away any book that is still readable just tears me up (no pun intended). Later in the afternoon my work partner confessed that she was glad we decided to donate them because she too loves books, and concindentally she left with more books than I.

As I sit here typing this I just thought how the state of these books reminds me of the state of our souls. Some people saw those books as junk to be discarded, but others like me saw them as precious treasure to be saved and given a new life with a new home. Much like us, you see even though many don't see us Christians as much more than another annoyance to be dealt with God saw value in us and he sent his only son to die on the cross to save us, give us a new life in Christ, and a new home in Heaven. God thought we were worth saving, and he did. Perhaps we should remember this lesson the next time we are annoyed with the unfriendly checkout clerk, or the loud person in the library, or that driver that just turned out in front of you causing you to slam on your brakes suddenly.

Birbitt thinks that, even though you or I may not see the value in a particular person or thing, someone somewhere believes that person or thing to be precious and worth saving. Just something to think about as we go through our busy lives, and maybe it will help us all, me included, to be just a little less annoyed with the disruptions that come. I am thankful that God saw value in me, and thought I was worth saving, because of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross I can live knowing there is something better for me when I am called home!

I think that in some way my ordinary day of working at the church helped me to see a shortcoming in my own life, and now I have something else to work on, something of eternal value. Thank you Lord for using a day of cleaning, and emptying to help me see an area of weakness, and give me the strength and determination that I will need to overcome this.

Growing Boys

I have learned in my years of parenting my sons that boys are different from girls, but not just in the obvious ways. I knew the moment the doctor told me I was having a boy for the first time that life would be very diffrent for me. Boys like dirt, and mess, and cars, and action figures, I thought I was prepared for this I mean I grew up on a farm and I liked playing in the dirt, and making messes, I liked playing with matchbox cars as a child and I have always enjoyed working on cars. I am not a "girly" girl but I have my girlie moments and I have always enjoyed dresses, skirts, and pretty clothes.

At first it was easy adjusting to parenting boys, when they were young it was as simple as shopping in the "boy" isles for toys, and buying boy clothes. As they have gotten older however I have learned that there are some considerable differences between boys and girls. For one thing boys just aren't capable of sitting still as long as girls can, I can remember as a child sitting in my room quietly playing with my baby dolls, or barbies (when I was a girl they were much more modest), or even just reading a book. My boys however are hard pressed to sit still for a mere 20 minutes while listening to a story or watching a video. The older my boys get the more diffrences I notice, the energy level for me though is the biggest challenge. Simply taking them to the park for an hour to run out the wiggles just won't do! So I have been forced to actively seek an outlet for them because I can no longer manage their energy alone.

After locating(and rejecting) every sport team, gym class, and organized physical activity in a 15 mile radius of our home I had just about given up on ever finding anything that would a)fit in our schedule, b)provide a POSITIVE outlet for my children, c)not give me a panic attack thinking about all the potential injuries they could get during the activity, and d)not give daddy a panic attack thinking of the expense, until a friend invited the boys to his daughter's birthday party.

She has been enrolled in martial arts training for some time and had her birthday party at the school she attends classes at. Well, my boys were there and had a GREAT time! The instructor was so very patient and he didn't just teach them to punch and kick, he also taught them to have self-control and he did it in a positive way. I left with mixed feelings of the whole thing, on one hand I was happy they enjoyed it and that it wasn't just about punching and kicking each other, but on the other hand I was disappointed that this school was so far away from our home. It was a good 35 minute drive and having to make that drive 4 times a week was not feasable (2 classes per week times 2 children).

I came home and began searching for martial arts training in the areas around our home and I found one less than 5 miles from our home! I called them up and they set us up with a free trial lesson (to gauge their abilities) and a HUGE discount on the enrollment. Now I present to you my future black belts in the art of Songham Taekwondo.



They have gone to several classes at this point and they are doing well, obviously they are just starting but they are learning and this particular school incorperates their behaviour at home into the class and if they do well they are rewarded with a star for their Victory Patch, if they do poorly at home they must stay after and speak with their instructor. I am told that if they try hard and come to class regularly they will advance to orange belt by July, and possibly have their yellow belt by September. After that their advancement will depend much more on their focus, practice, and ability to memorize and replicate moves.

Birbitt thinks that this will be a good thing for the boys, and hopefully me as well.

The Car

I believe it's Murphy's Law that says "anything that can go wrong, will" well it's especially true when dealing with 14 year old cars. Hubby took our 1996 Pontiac to the mechanic yesterday to have an oil and coolant leak repaired. We were given a cost estimate and told that if the car was there by 8 am it would be ready by 2pm. I'm sure you know where this is going...

First the car wasn't ready at 2, and then at 3 we get a call that the car needs another part and so the cost goes up and we are told that the car should be ready by closing time at 6pm. Nope, wasn't ready at 6.

This meant that I had to miss little Boy's baby signs class (and this week was one he would surely enjoy), I was unable to go to the grocery store last night as well, so dinner plans had to be changed. This morning I was supposed to take little Boy to the pediatrician which also had to be cancelled. I am thankful that hubby was able to get a ride to work with co-workers otherwise it would have been a very LONG bus ride to get somewhere that only takes about 20 minutes by car.

Hubby is now at work and I get another call from the mechanic, and you guessed it another part is now needed, this one even more expensive than the last one. Thankfully there is money in the bank to cover it, but I don't think we can afford any more additions to the original estimate. Mr. Mechanic tells me the car should be done by 5pm and ready for pick up today, I guess we'll see what happens there.

At this point I'm just hoping to get the car back in time for Church Sunday, and that it will be driveable! This is one reason I much prefer to do my own mechanical work, but without having the proper tools, and a safe place to work on it I have to settle for paying an arm and a leg for someone else to do the work. When I fianlly get my dream home it will have a garage large enough for working on my vehicles, and I will have the tools to do it!

Birbitt thinks that Mr. Murphy should have kept his law to himself!

Changes are all around!

Things have not gone according to plan lately, and it seemed that nothing was going just right around here. There have been some issues with my oldest and his school this year, making me question if I really made the right choice to send him out to school this year. As the year went on things just got worse, Hubby and I have tried time after time to work things out with the teacher and finally hubby just decided enough was enough and it was time to take him out of school.

Well, it seems the school wasn't the only part of our church having "issues", the same time we pulled our boy from school we also made the difficult decision to leave the church. It was hard to walk away from our church, as we had many emotional ties there, as well as several friends. For the most part I've maintained contact with the friends, but sometimes part of me really wants to go back there it's the emotional side of me of course because the logical side of me says "your family needs more than they have to offer, and your family needs to be nurtured with the word of God" and eventually I come to my senses and realize that it's all for the best and that we are following God's will for our lives.

As we were debating if we should leave the church or not I was speaking with a very wise friend of mine, someone I would trust with my innermost thoughts and feelings, and she said to me "Sometimes when we are too comfortable in a place the Lord will have to make things uncomfortable to get our attention and to get us to do as he is directing". Thank you, good friend I needed that kick in the pants! As we began the church search I was getting discouraged that we would never find a church! It seemed everywhere we went the people were wonderful, but there weren't many children's programs and being a young family with young children that's something that is important for our children's spiritual growth.

Out of the blue this week someone from the old church came by to visit, and she invited us to go to church with her at a church she was going to try out. Hubby and I talked about it and decided to go on Wednesday night, and then we'd go again on Sunday with our friend. I enjoyed that Wednesday night service and the children even had a class to go to, we all left the service feeling like we had really been in God's House and that we had just spent the evening with believers! Sunday morning I attended with the children, while hubby was at work. The children had their Sunday School classes, and Junior Church classes while I attended a Couples class for Sunday School and went to the main service where Children were welcomed if they didn't wish to attend the Children's service. Again I left feeling comforted and blessed by the Word.

We are still much in prayer about this, but I feel that the Lord may be calling us to this church, we'll give it a few more weeks before we decide and maybe visit another church or three...but I and the Children are hoping to be called to this church as it seems to be just what we need.

Along with the change of churches I am still dealing with the change of being back to homeschooling my son. I ordered curriculum that I felt would best address the needs of my family and so far (after looking through to books and fleshing out some basic plans for the year) it seems that it will work nicely.

we are still trying to adjust to having a now mobile baby, and I am still finding areas that need to be "baby-proofed", and I am wishing there was a way to keep the baby from mouthing dog food and playing in the water bowl! Oh well, if that's the worst thing that ever goes in his mouth I guess I'm doing pretty good he is a boy after all.

Change is almost always a scary thing because it takes us from our comfort zone, and for now I can honestly say I'm a bit unnerved at the whole process. I have faith however that my Lord will not lead me astray and that at the end of the road our family will be better off than ever before!

Birbitt thinks that while change is unsettling, and somtimes a bit frightening, these changes will work out for the better, and we'll be thankful for them. Lord be with us, and lead us as we walk the tightrope of change, and the Glory and Praise be yours and yours alone!

New Beginnings

Yesterday began a new week. A week that I will never forget, and one that hopefully my eldest son will never forget either. Yesterday was the first day of our church Revival, we have brought in a great evangelist to preach for us and hopefully bring New life into our church. Many of us, myself included, have begun to get too comfortable with the way things are and we all need to change that, we need to have a heart for our Lord and our church, we need revival in our church and we need it now.

There's more to this story than just revival though, along with the beginning of our revival last night was also a baptismal service, so after our evangelist spoke we saw four young men baptized (no we do not exclude the ladies it just worked out that we only had young men this time), my eldest son being one of them. While the baptism takes less than a minute it's significance is far greater than that. We believe in baptism by full immersion and it is an outward symbol of an inward change, it is the picture of the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Here is a little video I took of his baptism (I hope this works, I've never done video before):


Birbitt thinks it is a wonderful day to watch a child surrender fully to the Lord.