Blondes Have all the Fun

Christian had a photo shoot with Tim and Patricia, so he snuck in these fun shots...

The 3 Amigas...usually

 Oh, Berea. You make me laugh.

 This is about how Uncle Tim looks 75% of the time he visits- surrounded by the kids.

 I love being able to hold my girls again!

 But only one at a time- don't do it!!!

Bad mama- only two at a time if you're sitting! 

Some lessons are just too hard to learn...

Kids' View

Here are some pictures from the kids' camera...

Uncle Tim and Aunt Patricia stopped through town and took Peter and Anne hiking at the Canyon!

Riding the shuttle...so excited.

 It was a super foggy day, just before the big storm came that night!

Looking at the Colorado River- oh so much further away than it looks!

 Sillies.

 We were blessed to get Tucker and Grace to visit while we had family over on Sunday- they are missionaries who are working in Canada with the natives to get them excited about going out as missionaries themselves- they are a lot more effective in many countries than us white people! It was neat for our kids to get to meet and talk with the people we pray for on a regular basis!

 The end of Anne's bed is (mostly) clean and tidy!

Wild thing, you make my heart sing!

I'm No Superwoman (it's official)

Ok, besides the obvious physical deficiencies differences, I have discovered that there's really not even any point in trying to be Superwoman. A couple weeks ago I thought I could. Wanting to "lighten the load" of my hardworking husband, and maybe feeling a little bit of the ol' "I can do anything he can do" spirit, I spent a few days of really kind of overdoing things... You know, scrubbing bathtubs, splitting wood, carrying and pouring out 50lbs of chicken feed... I was feeling pretty good about how productive I was being. Feeling like I was finally starting to pull some of my own weight around the house. Oh, the lesson I was about to learn that I didn't know I needed to learn! I thought I needed to be more independent and less needy of my husband.

Well.

Wednesday morning is trash day, and wanting to do something else for Christian, I decided to at least get the trash bags ready to take out and put new bags in the cans. Not a big deal, but one less thing for him to do. As I was tightening the knot in the 2nd bag, I felt an amazingly painful something in my lower back and I was stuck. Christian rushed over helped me onto the floor and eventually somehow into bed, where I stayed for 2 days until I could make it to the couch. 

But I became immediately completely dependent on God through Christian in every. single. way. My pride was crushed. While both Christian and I thought life was finally starting to roll again, after a rough season of sickness, God had different plans. His ways are (really) not our ways. I'm grateful for the opportunity to learn to lean wholly on Him. I'm grateful for the sweet cards my kids made me when they thought I was dying. I'm grateful that I'm getting so much more mobility (I even exercised today!). I'm grateful that I have a husband I can depend on, and he doesn't hold it against me (though he is grateful he doesn't have to milk the goat anymore!). 

I'm very grateful, but I'm no Superwoman. 

(P.S. Follow-up on my 31 Day Cleaning thing- I've been on Day 6 for over 2 weeks now- might still be for a couple more!) :)

Artwork

Anne's

 The color went weird while uploading...

Berea's

Elijah's

Peter's

Tirzah's

Strictly Decaf

Mom, this video's for you...

3

I'm being daily reminded of how funny 3 year olds can be! With my three older kids, when they were 3, I always had a little baby (or two) to take care of, so I didn't necessarily appreciate the age as much as I could have. So now that my youngest are 3, I'm having some cob-webby recollections of a very interesting age! But I've never gone through this age with twins- the next couple of years should be...fun! Here are some examples just from today...
Berea, upon waking up this morning decided she wanted to see a picture on our fridge of her and Tirzah when they were newborns. She immediately identified which one was her, even though I can't remember ever telling her. (Later, Tirzah also correctly identified herself) Here's our conversation after looking at the pictures...
Me: Did you have good dreams?
B: Yeah. I dreamed about crocodiles.
Me: Oh! Were they nice crocodiles?
B: No. They bited me and bited me and bited me. And then I was all gone. And then I had holes in my jammies.

Just a couple minutes ago she came up to me with a knock-knock joke:
B: Knock, knock!
Me: Who's there?
B: Turkey.
Me: Turkey who?
B: Crayon.

Ah, three. Hopefully I'll be able to cherish these memories better this time around!

Weekend

This weekend Peter attended leadership camp for 4-6 graders- teaching them young how to be servant-leaders. He had a great time, learned some things, and came home tired! Next weekend he will have a work day, helping clean out stalls at the Deer Farm. When he and the other kids get paid at the end of their work, they're going to take their earnings, buy some things for needy families, and then deliver them! 

Meanwhile, as he was gone, we took the rest of our crazies off to the park!

 I think he was trying to fall down- he seemed to be enjoying it...

Also this weekend I started going through a "book" (I still don't think of it as a real book, if I'm not physically flipping through pages) called 31 Days to Clean: Having a Martha House the Mary Way, by Sara Mae. It's not so much a book on how to keep your house clean, but more of how to keep your attitude and motivations in the right place as you do the work (and maybe to inspire you to do things you normally might not...). For example, the first day for the Mary challenge, she had me write out why I even want a clean house- my purpose or vision- and then write it out as a poem or official statement; something I would hang on a wall as a reminder. Here's my attempt at a poem...

A Meaning for Cleaning

My home, a place of learning will be
Clean or messy, that's up to me!

A haven of rest
My family likes best...

So let's all work together
Like birds of a feather! (Ok, I know this is lame, but bear with me!)

Sweeping and cleaning,
But what's the real meaning?

With a cheerful heart
We'll each do our part

To serve one another,
Sister and brother!

"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." -Jesus in John 15:12

If you're interested in joining me in going through this, here's the link: http://31daystoclean.com/  It's only $4.99 and a 70 page book. Let me know if/how you like it!