Day 2

I woke up this morning and my digital thermometer said -11! This was quite shocking as I didn't feel cold in the least! Then I remembered my read-out display had gone buggy and actually part of the four was cut off, so it was actually 41 degrees. Much better. After a so-so night's sleep (Tirzah kept me company at various points throughout the night and woke up early, so I didn't have much chance to feel too lonely), our day started out great. Then by late morning I was having anger issues with certain boys complaining and not working and bothering other siblings... Sigh. So after sucking up the pride, apologizing and getting things back on the right track, things started going better again. Peter even got out of taking a Science test, since I hadn't realized the test was for 2 chapters instead of one (new curriculum to me), so we just got to start the next chapter instead! Tirzah actually sat still long enough for me to put to little pony tail/bun thingies in her hair for the first time! Berea didn't have quite the patience. I wish there were barrettes that REALLY didn't fall out. I found some that work fairly well, but when you're fighting against the twins taking out each other's barrettes, and not just their own, it tends to be a losing battle. Then we got to go visit the Vaughans and the Fitts since the Fitts are taking off tomorrow for another 10 months or so in the middle east. More good-byes. :( So we focus on something else- playground at the mall tomorrow with cousin Ransom, Grandma and Grandpa (Young) coming back soon, getting to see Marmie (Vaughan) in four months! Lots of things to look forward to! And I get to watch as much Psych as I want to in the evenings! We don't normally watch anything, we don't get any channels- occasionally we'll put on a Jeeves and Wooster or Sherlock Holmes, or if C's feeling particularly generous maybe a Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers. :) So I'll get in a few things that he doesn't care for while he's gone and get it out of my system. Here are a few pictures from today and here's to a good night's sleep!

Day 1

C is on a 12-day tour of the Southwest as an assistant tour guide, so the kids and I are holding down the fort here at home. I'm going to attempt to journal every day not only to log our events and cute kid-isms for C to check out when he gets internet, but also to log God's faithfulness to us to help me remember it.
So day one. Woke up at 5:30- normally would've rolled over and gone back to sleep, but I knew C was up and leaving at 7:30, so I wanted to spend some time with him (especially since amazingly none of the kids were up yet!)
Breakfast time: I was crying, feeding the babies, kids were eating breakfast, teary-eyed themselves. C hadn't even left yet! Peter says, "But Mama! You can still be happy! God is still with us!" Excellent thought. C leaves, and as I knew, things got a lot less emotional. The kids and I went for a walk/bike ride around the block to start our day, had a snack, and got started on school. Anne finished first (as usual- she has a lot less work than Peter) and immediately started drawing. She drew a picture of a big storm with a tornado. The tornado had picked up a house. In the house was a little girl praying. At the top of the picture she wrote the words, "God loves me." And she informed me that everything turned out all right. :) Another excellent reminder that through life's storms, even when things look terribly bleak (which they don't to me at this particular moment) God still loves me and I can trust Him.

 

Peter finished school by 11:00, so they got to watch "The Doom Funnel Rescue"- a short 3-2-1 Penguins movie about helping others- their special treat for finishing school early. Peter informed me at one point, "Hey, this is just like any other day that Daddy's gone to work- he's not normally here during the day!" Well, yeah, but he normally comes home at night, or if he's gone it's normally not for 12 days! I know, I'm pathetic. One thing that's keeping me a little more strong is thinking about my friends who are military wives and know that this is NOTHING compared to what they go through. So we'll keep plugging away and do what we've got to do!

The Impossible Dream

My impossible dream is that the twins will both stay together, look at me and smile for just long enough for me to capture it on the camera! The best I got today I had to use Cheerios to bribe them to stay remotely still. And then they wouldn't look at me. Oh well. I'm uploading some shots of the other kids too, and a little video at the end of how the twins play together (they had been pushing each other around on the ride-on toy, but of course it didn't last long enough to get a video of it!).

 

Sleepover at Grandma's house- all three big kids in one bed; twins were in pack n' plays in the same room.

 

Kids playing on the currently unused wattles

 

Our scraggly little petunias LOVE the front yard! And aren't so scraggly anymore!

Sometimes I wonder...

...what is God thinking? The topic of "pets" has been a major issue with C and I even before we ever got married. I'm very much a pet person, C is VERY much not. Like, not even fish. I go through phases of trying to convince him otherwise and phases of myself not wanting pets (twins in and of themselves are very much like pets these days...). I'm in the "not wanting pets" phase right now fortunately. Saturday morning we discovered two adorable little rottweiler-looking puppies in our backyard. Probably not even a month old. So cute. No one in our neighborhood knows where they came from, so we assume they were abandoned. The funny thing is, a few weeks ago, thinking into the future about "Pets", I informed God that if we were to ever have pets He would have to arrange it for them to be dropped off in our back yard. Hmm. Well, fortunately He says in the Word that I am to submit to my particular "Head" who still says "No pets." So I don't feel too badly that we've found a couple new homes for them. It has been kinda fun to see the kids take some responsibility in feeding them and cleaning up after them. But it's also nice knowing that I don't have to be responsible for their health and training! Anyway, that's what's been going on with us over the last few days, along with the daily grind. :)

Frustrated Mamas

School has begun! Having a 3rd grader, 1st grader, pre-schooler and toddling, teething twins who have been taking early naps- waking up right when school starts- has really been testing my patience levels, never known to be terribly stable. The other day I was looking for alternative ideas for girls to play with besides princess-y dolls and fashionista-type stuff, so I decided to check out and see if Nogreaterjoy.org had any good ideas. It was started up by Michael and Debi Pearl- they wrote To Train Up a Child and Created to be His Helpmeet- they tend to be no-nonsense people who have some good thoughts, as well as some I don't agree with. At any rate, I didn't find what I was looking for, but I did find this article written by Michael Pearl back in 1996. Here is an excerpt and I'll put the link for it at the bottom in case you're interested in reading the rest! It is terribly convicting (at least for me!) and still very encouraging...

"Are you a frustrated parent? Is your brow drawn tight as if pulled by draw strings? If parenting is not enjoyable, be assured, you have a bad attitude. When your children look into your face what do they see? They are not fooled. They know what you feel toward them. Your face is a graph of approval or rejection. Verbal "positive affirmation" is not enough; in fact, it is worse than nothing if there is not genuine delight in your heart. Children can see through a parent who is made of muddy water. If they see disappointment and criticism they will answer in kind. Discontented parents breed discontented children. Your attitude is the root of the family attitude tree. A bitter root cannot produce sweet fruit."...
http://www.nogreaterjoy.org/articles/general-view/archive/1996/january/01/bad-attitude/