I'm Glad I'm Not a Goat (and you're glad you're not me)

Since it is the season of giving thanks, here are some (not exhaustive) reasons I'm glad I'm not a goat:
1. Goats regularly have twins or more, often once a year.
2. Goats have to chew what comes up when they burp.
3. Goats lick birth-goo off of their babies. And lick. And lick. And lick...
4. And then bite the umbilical cord off.
5. A goats' idea of flirting involves pee.
6. When a pregnant, female goat is around another female in heat, the prego one acts like a buck (see #5)
7. I'm sure there are many more, but these are what come to mind. :)  Go and enjoy your day not being a goat.

Life (and death)

The fog is slowly wearing off from a practical all-nighter with Tribble...the amazing Andy and Grace have the kids at the park and I got a nap! I think I'll make my way back to the couch when I'm done, but I'm too excited to show the pictures... But first things first. Halloween- C. took the 3 older kids to a church harvest festival while the twins and I stayed home and watched Sweet Pea Beauty and had a marshmallow hunt (our new version of 'hot and cold')...

 Queen Anne

 Vader, dressed down

One of the smartest things I ever did- I paid Peter to teach Elijah how to tie his shoes-it was GREAT!

Silly monkey

 R and J have been coming over so R can bulk up a little...

Certifiable proof that Judah can smile at my house.

And nooow... meet Nick and Nora (we like The Thin Man series)

Nick is trying to nap after a long night! The kids were born sometime between 1 and 2 and I crawled back into bed sometime after 3 (half frozen), before getting up at 5:30. Poor Anne went out to see the babies before I did and she discovered that Tribble had a 3rd baby after I had left her that was either still born or died shortly after birth- another buckling. :( Nothing quite like burying a sweet little critter that I might have been able to save. And then having to go milk Nellie. Oy. What a start. But we still have these two sweet babies to love on!

And here's Nora getting yet another lick-down from mama Tribble! I think they both have blue eyes! Anyhoo, sorry if my ramblings don't make sense and stay tuned for some more cute pictures!

The Wine Cellar

Maybe in the Spring when his clients come back from the winter, Christian will get to take some better pictures of his latest project. In the meantime, these from his client's phone will have to suffice. Yes, that is a rolling ladder to reach the upper bottles... Nice "little" project for a basement, eh?

Un-Fall

Well, the season around here is definitely Fall. The leaves are changing and falling, the wind is officially here. With it come the colds and E's occasionally asthma has picked up. Longer nights, less desire to play outside... can get kind of dreary. 

But INside our house we are working on putting leaves ON to a tree! Laura gave me this idea awhile ago and I was too lazy/stressed to act on it. But yesterday Elijah started making leaves and said, "Well, now what do I do with them?" So I cut up an old cardboard box and we have a Thank You Jesus tree to count our blessings (writing them on the leaves)! This way, when Thanksgiving comes, we won't be scrambling for things to say we're thankful for- we will have been actively thinking about it for the last month! Someone Christian knows sent some beautiful maple leaves straight from Boston- they embellish our tree very well, I think. :)

My new life verse (ok for this Season in my life, at least) is Hosea 10:12: 

"Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the LORD, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you."

Just for fun...

 I'm enjoying the diversity of colors (and size!) in the eggs our hens give us.

 Tirzah, the girl who loves cameras.

 Berea, the girl who hates cameras and loves short hair. After she cut it herself, Mama had to rescue it and turn it into a cute layered "do". It brings out her curl at least. :)

 Peter's looking forward to getting the metal out of his mouth in a couple months. :)

 Elijah's turning into an artist and is learning to read!

Our Tribble-girl is due in just 2 weeks!

At Grace's baby shower Anne and I got some hair bling- too much fun! :)

Reading

I'm afraid I haven't been taking pictures and not much has been happening around here. Except our DVD/VHS player died, so I've completely given up exercise until our replacement comes in. Going on a walk with the twins just isn't much exercise and I can't really do it before the kids get up, as I'm milking the goat. Any number of excuses. :) I have been reading, though!
The first book I read was Tim Keller's "The Meaning of Marriage"- I really enjoyed it! He has a really great chapter in there specifically for singles as well. His church in Manhattan has about 6,000 regular attenders, I think he said 4,000 of them are singles. The book is taken mostly from a sermon series he did at his church. My favorite excerpt from the book: "In my own life, I must confess that I had never felt "manly" until I got married. I was a nerd before it was fashionable, playing trumpet in the marching band and staying in the Boy Scouts through high school. Good things, no doubt, but not cool or macho. I was often mocked and excluded, especially during high school, for my uncoolness. But Kathy looked at me like her knight in shining armor. She has always told me, and continues to tell me, that though all the world may look at me and see Clark Kent, she knows that underneath I have on blue underwear. She has always been very quick to point out and celebrate anything I have done that is courageous. Over the years, bit by bit, it has sunk in. To my wife, I'm Superman, and it makes me feel life a man in a way nothing else could." Highly recommended book to just about anyone.
The second book I read was "Idol Lies" by Dee Brestin. I guess I started with high hopes that this book would transform my life, reveal idols in my life and tell me concretely how to get over them, and by the time I was done with the book I would feel victorious. Well, bad expectations, first of all. The things that kind of annoyed me were: she kept talking about having amazing, spiritual friends come visit her at her lakeside cabin to encourage one another and eat pear salad with feta cheese, and in general just being able to "get away" to focus on God...rather unrealistic for this not-monetarily-wealthy mom of 5 in the trenches. As I type, the twins are WWF wrestling and crying on the floor over a pair of mittens. Every chapter seemed to basically say the same thing, that I pretty much struggle in some way with every single idol she talked about: Control, Approval, etc. etc. BUT one common thread between these two books (and our Sunday school class as well, actually) is that the GOSPEL is central. Dee says that our idols will not go away until they are replaced with something else- the Gospel. I can not be effectively used by God if I am not immersing myself in his word and meditating on his grace throughout every day. Which honestly is not something that will happen on my own. I will continue to struggle with these idols for the rest of my life, but I need to get in the habit of repenting and moving on in faith instead of just resigning myself to my struggles. At our Sunday school class I came away with the desire/need to spend time in the Bible whether I feel like I have time or not, whether I feel like God's speaking to me or not.
Third book is by John Frame- Christian's going through this book with a couple teens from our church and because it's at our house I'm going to try to keep up with it: "Worship in Spirit and Truth". Very intellectual and makes my brain feel very stretched. Not sure what to say about it yet, but I think it'll be good.
Anyway. So, I'm processing. I'm trying to love my kids how Christ loved me- While I was still his enemy, he loved me. And continues to love me even though I'm often so ugly in my heart, words, actions. So that's what's going on around here these days. :)