Life is full. Life is busy. Sometimes it is incredibly hard to make time for yourself. I can attest to this as a wife, mom, homeschooler and more. I have discovered one thing that makes a huge difference in how my day goes and that is personal quiet time. I rise early (before my children) so that I can get fully dressed, make a pot of coffee and have time to myself for bible study, prayer, and personal reflection. Nothing affects my mood more than this. When I oversleep or have some commitment that prevents me from doing this, my days do not go as well.
There is something special about offering the first moments of your day up to the Lord. Even Jesus did this. “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” Mark 1:35
The goal for me is to set my eyes upon the Lord and then keep them there as the day progresses. I seek His wisdom through The Word, have a little chat with Him and then think through my day – what needs to get done and envisioning how it is going to happen.
As I said, this is a goal. It doesn’t always happen quite like this. Some days I oversleep or my children rise early and I have them as distractions, making quiet time more difficult. Some days I struggle to stay focused on my bible or my prayers. I have found that even some quiet time is better than none. Even if this is a struggle it is worth forming the habit of this discipline. Perhaps, mornings are not ideal. I have know other women who find that the time during afternoon naps or in the evening after the kids are in bed is the best time of the day to carve out this quiet time. For me, it has to be the morning. Once I have jumped into my day, my mind is too full of all that is going on and needs to get done that I have trouble quieting my spirit later in the day.
Whether you are single, married, working, have children, or not, you can really benefit from having a daily, personal quiet time. It is worth the struggle to develop the habit. You will not be sorry you did.
I spent a some bits of time here and there the past few days putting this scrapbook page together. Scrapping is such a great way to feel somewhat productive without expending much energy. Energy is something that has certainly been in short supply. My "to-do" list is enormous, but I just haven't had the oomph to get much of it done. I've had a bit of running this week that has taken me out into the heat, too. Today, however, is gorgeous and I wish I felt more like taking advantage of it. Anyway, more info and credits for this page can be found here.
Today is also my 20 year wedding anniversary with my hubby. Sadly, he had to go out of town on business and desert me, but he promises to make it up to me. Happy anniversary, sweetie! Can't wait to hang out with you for another 20.
I just have to give a big shout out for hubby's cousin Sarah who just won the Fort Wayne Women's City Golf Tournament. We are all so proud of her! Keep a watch out for her. This is probably not the last you will hear about this girl.
Lately, God has been talking to me about storms - both literal and figurative. Our Indiana weather has been kinda weird lately. We have had an unusual amount of storms. Many of them fairly fast and followed by the most glorious rainbows I have ever seen. Usually we are lucky to see a couple of rainbows a year and even those are faint. These have been vivid double rainbows along with a light golden rainfall at sunset. Magical!
I've talked to several people who have commented on our strange weather. I wouldn't really give it much thought except that I have had several dreams relating to storms. Now, I am a person that rarely remembers her dreams. When I do, it is usually unusual random bits and fleeting images that drop from my conscious mind by the time I am fully awake. Recently, I have had these vivid dreams with actually story-lines that I remembered clearly after I woke up. I know it may sound strange, but I feel like God was speaking to me through these dreams about trusting Him through storms. I get the feeling that it is not just just through stormy weather, but also through the storms of life. In ways, this kind of worries me because I don't want to face storms in my life. Who does, right? But no matter what happens, I do trust that God is watching over us and will not give us more than we can handle.
Last week in the bible study I am part of, we were studying the Psalms. They are beautiful. Our leader passed out pieces of paper and asked each of us to take about 10 minutes and write our own personal psalm. At first, my mind was a blank, but as I thought about it, I knew I had to write about trusting God through the storms of life.
This is what I wrote:
"When life is joyful, I will trust you, Lord.
When life is difficult, I will trust you, Lord.
When storms approach, I will trust you, Lord.
When the winds howl, I will trust you, Lord.
When the ground shakes, I will trust you, Lord.
When everything crumbles around me, I will trust you, Lord.
When there is nothing but darkness and despair, I will trust you, Lord.
When the storm clouds pass, I will trust you, Lord.
When the sun breaks though, I will trust you, Lord.
When the blue sky reappears, I will trust you, Lord.
When the rainbow fill my vision, I will trust you, Lord.
I will trust you, Lord, in all things."
Being a scrapbooker, I felt like I needed to create and page for this. I know, its a weird obsession. If you are interested, credits for the page can be found here.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Ugh! It has been a busy week - not the fun kind of busy, either. I have had to do lots of running around every day. I manage apartments and there have been many things to deal with. This is not really how I would choose to spend my days. I would rather be at home with my kids and getting things done there.
Today, I have more errands, too. At least not all are apartment related. Next week is the county 4-H fair and my kids' projects are due this weekend. Of course, there are always last minute details to take care of to get them done. I am also planning on entering some photos in the open class division.
Between the heat, the running, and the pregnancy, I am feeling whooped. I keep starting blog posts only to get interrupted and then lose my train of thought. Hopefully I can get through this one. Ü
I leave you with another piece of worship art I created for framing (like the "Wisdom" one below). Hope you enjoy!
I was going through some older photos and found some I love, but had not scrapped. This one should look refreshing on these hot July days. Here is Rachel back in February. This was really one of her first time to ever play in the snow. I usually just sent the older ones outside and kept her inside. On this day, we bundled her up and took her outside to play. She totally loved it. She was especially into eating the snow and icicles (as you can see here). I love seeing her in this snowsuit because it is the same one that all three of her older sister wore as babies. (Patrick had his own that had NO pink on it.) This page uses all Cottage Arts goodies and credits for the page can be found here.
This other page is also from last winter - December 26th to be exact. I love this shot that shows Abi's excitement playing our new Wii. She had been Wii boxing against her big sister, Anna, and knocked her out. The best was watching Patrick (6 years) and Abi (4 years) box against each other. They both get really into it, flailing their arms and kicking their legs. We tried to explain that moving your legs has no effect, but they couldn't help themselves. This page uses ScrapbookGraphics Impressions of Laughter collaborative kit.
Well, I did it. I started my menu plan. Of course, it is only the second day and I have already digressed from it. I'm hopeless. I was grocery shopping and got home kinda late and didn't have time to bake the meatloaf that I had taken out of the freezer for dinner. So, I made something extra I had bought at Aldi's. I also wasn't able to get the bulk ground beef I wanted from my favorite local butcher shop so I won't be able to make a big batch of meatballs to freeze on Saturday. Bummer! Oh well, we will improvise. I am just happy that I have a start on the menu planning thing.
**EDITED** I didn't realize that I had to set my google menu planning calendar to "publc" for you all to be able to see this. Sorry about that. Let me know if you can't see the menu plan above.
It's something I need to do but really struggle with. I will be very organized about this for a while and then just go back to my natural inclination which is to be more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kinda girl. When you are trying to feed a family of 7, that really isn't practical though. I tend to go to the store and buy what sounds good and is on sale as far as main dish meats. Then I add in a bunch of staples for sides and my shopping is done. I usually have to get creative each day with what is on hand. Because of this, we eat a nice variety of meals and most are pretty good.
I was inspired by this post at the Simple Mom site to get back to menu planning. I like how she has it all online with links to her recipes and set to send her daily reminders. Very clever! So I started making a list of our tried and true dinner favorites. Now, I have been married and cooking for 20 years. I should have a really big list by now, but I was struggling to think of things. What do we eat? We eat a whole bunch of stuff, but a lot of our meals are one time deals using up what is in the pantry/fridge. These are hard to remember and repeat.
So, next I resorted to asking the kids for their opinions.
Some of their suggestions were:
fishsticks
fries
bread
pancakes
[sigh] I had to explain that I was looking for healthy, homemade, economical meals. Then I got the blank stares. You know, there are gonna be times when fish sticks and fries will be served around here (usually when I am gonna be gone ;-). The goal, however, is to eat healthy and cheap. That generally means cooking most everything from scratch instead of buying stuff to heat up.
Here are some of the ideas we have come up with so far:
MEXICAN Enchiladas-Beef Enchiladas-Chicken Enchilada Casserole Tacos Taco Salad Store-bought burritos with enchilada sauce and cheese added Fajitas
ITALIAN Spaghetti Lasagna Creamy Pasta (Alfredo) Creamy Tomato Pasta Chicken Parm Eggplant Parm Pizza Calzones
ORIENTAL Sushi Fried Rice Eggrolls Stir Fry Orange Chicken General Tso's Chicken Chicken Lo Mein
(some of these I need to come up with good recipes for making these from scratch)
BEEF Shepherd Pie Sloppy Joes Meatloaf Italian Beef Grilled Steaks Hamburgers Beef and Noodles Chili Meatballs Steak Kabobs Beef Burgundy Beef Stroganoff Onion Steaks
PORK Grilled chops Pork Chops a la Jenni Creamy Tomato Pasta with sausage Ribs Ham tetrazini
TUNA Creamed Tuna over Toast Tuna Croquettes Tuna Noodle Casserole
SOUP Clam Chowder Potato Vegetable Chicken Noodle
BREAKFAST TYPE Pancakes Omelets Biscuits and Gravy Quiche Egg Casserole Baked French Toast
MISC. Baked Potatoes Hot Dog Pie
SIDES Mashed Cauliflower Crash Potatoes
I will continually adding to this as I think of more things. Several of these items (especially those in the Oriental category) are things that I usually buy premade in the freezer section of Sam's Club. Ideally, I need to learn to make them from scratch. I would also like to add in more fish to our diets. Lately, what fish we have been having is frozen from Sam's. We especially love their blackened salmon, but it barely stretches to feed us all and it gets expensive.
I'll have to keep you all updated on how this goes. Maybe I can share my menu plans and some recipes.
This is so cool. The Classical Astronomy website has put together this great video showing what we can see this month in the night sky. It is so wonderful to observe the majesty of God's creation this way. Check it out!
I watched a TV show a while back where they were doing man on the street interviews and asking people this question. There was many who didn't even know that July 4th is INDEPENDENCE DAY let alone what that meant. They should have been made to watch this:
Uh huh! The Declaration of Independence, In Seventeen Hundred Seventy-Six The Continental Congress said that "We were FREE!" Said we had the right of life and liberty, And the pursuit of happiness.
And to continue the lesson:
and
This may seem like ancient history, but I think it is important that we remember as a nation how we got here. We have only been around 232 years which is a long time in terms of our personal lives, but only a drop in the bucket when you look at the big picture. In this period of time we have changed radically. Do you think people today would make the same sacrifices that our founding fathers did for freedom? I think society as a whole has become self-centered and we no longer have faith in God to drive us. We have been riding a wave of good fortune but I don't think it will be long before that wave will come crashing down around us. There are changes coming and I don't think they will be good. Ok, I'll step down off my soapbox now...[wink]
A little more history:
Ok, ok, I'll stop. Ya' gotta love Schoolhouse Rock and YouTube!
If you are interested, here is an interesting article with a brief summary of the Declaration of Independence.
And in case you don't really know what it says...
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, —That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it,
and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
—Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.
The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers. He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offencesFor abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury.
A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us.
We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence.
They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved;
and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
I've done a bit more scrapping recently. It is something I can sit and do when I am feeling tired, so I have gotten two pages done.
This one uses a picture I have shown off here on the blog on two other occasions. Can you tell that I really love it? When I saw this fun background by Julie Mead (Cottage Arts), I knew this would be a great photo to use. Extracting Abi on the swing out of the photo was a bit time consuming because of the chain and her wispy hair, but it was worth it. I am really pleased with how this came out. Credits for the page can be found here.
This other page a did a few days ago. It captures my littlest bringing me a flower which is a new thing that she has learned. It is just so sweet. Credits for this page can be found here.
I want to thank you all for the kind words and well wishes in response to my announcement. It is wonderful to have others excited with us about this new baby! My sister-in-law even wrote the sweetest entry on her blog. Not many people understand our conviction to leave our family planning up to God. I figure that I am only human and not always real smart, but HE is the creator of the entire universe, all-powerful, and all-knowing. I think He just might have a better idea of what is best for our family. ;-)
Several people have asked me about my due date. I haven't seen the doctor yet to get her official date, but according to an online due date calculator, we are looking at January 25th. I am in my 11th week. I'm experiencing the typical nausea and tiredness, but everything seems normal so far. Thanks for all your sweet words of encouragement!
I think most of my "real life" friends already know this, but I thought it was time I spilled the beans and told my online buddies. I'm expecting!
So if I seem quiet, it's not that I am away, I'm probably just napping [wink]. I get pretty wiped carrying babies. I am in my 11th week and I am hoping once I am officially in my 2nd trimester, some of my energy will return. I am tired of craving a nap everyday because it is not often realistic to take one.
The whole family is getting excited and my son has already informed me that he wants a BOY and has begun to pick out names. For his sake, I hope he gets a little brother because he is woefully outnumbered with 4 sisters, but I hate for him to be disapointed if we have baby girl. I keep telling him that God knows best who should be a part of our family and that may end up being a girl.
I created this scrapbook page to journal about some of my thoughts and emotions. Credits for it can be found here.
Here is what I wrote:
The Faint Pink Line
There is was, staring me in the face…the faint pink line on the pregnancy test telling me that I was carrying a brand new life. Wow! It is hard to explain the abundance of emotions welling up inside of me: joy, excitement, fear, thankfulness, insecurity, and more. A new baby – what a blessing! I think about holding a sweet little newborn in my arms again and get so excited. Then other thoughts crowd into my mind. I am 39 years old and I already have 5 precious children. I wonder, “Am I physically and emotionally strong enough to do this?” Each of my pregnancies has been successively more difficult for me. Having a baby at 24 is quite different that at 39. But, I am comforted to know that God is in control. He would not have given me this precious life to carry without also giving me the strength to do so. A peace washes over me.
I relax and relish is the joy of the knowledge of this new little life. That is, until I think about sharing this news with others. I don’t feel ready to face the reactions I will receive. When you announce a first or even second pregnancy, everyone is overjoyed for you. By the third pregnancy, the excitement of others has waned. By he fifth, the reactions can be quite different: “Are you crazy?” “Don’t you know what causes that?” “Don’t you know how to prevent that?” “Glad it’s you and not me!” “And you’re happy about this?!?” These are actual responses I have received on more than one occasion. I want to cry out, “No, I am NOT crazy!” Every one of my children is a precious gift. There is not one that I would choose to give up. A child’s value is not dependent upon their birth order. My fifth child is just as special and important to me as my first. I know that God created even this sixth child I carry for a special purpose.
Feeling unready to face the reactions of others, I keep my news to myself. It is nearly a month before I reveal this to anyone, even my husband. It is a little secret that only God and I share and I can take joy in the knowledge of this new child untainted by the words of others.
Now, as we slowly announce our news to the world, I steel myself for the comments that I will inevitably receive. I pray that God gives me wise words to use in response. I have to choose not to let others steal my joy away and continue to cherish this new little blessing of life I carry.
