Tomorrow is May 1!

It occurred to me this morning that tomorrow has taken the audacity of being May the 1st! Perhaps that's not the best way to describe how shocked I was but, I can hardly believe it. I strive as a mother, wife, daughter to number my days, to live them out wisely and realize how short this life is. I may be called home tomorrow to enter into eternity, my forever home. Time is like a fixed place a place we just pass through. Eternity is this other place that knows no bounds, that can't escape you. It surpasses my fleshly understanding of what I imagine forever to be. Truly, am I able to grasp it? It is an immeasurable measure, though not to be measured, a place without walls, without limits, wonderfully with God! No shadows, no tears, no stress, yet worship. Oh to be there and not here. That should be my audacious hearts' cry. Instead of fixating my thoughts on what happened to the last two weeks, where did they go? It should be how long oh Lord, until I see you. When will this mirror of life be put away?

While I learn to enjoy time and the quick measure of it, may I also be striving for the great promise. Eternity with Christ. Lord help me to not be shocked at the speed of time. May I not be given to worthless pursuits, but rather may I enjoy each beautiful instance you give me.

Our Children:

Jackie is a little lady. She is becoming so grown up and loves to be lovely .

Here are a few of my dears in a clamshell.

Libby and the sea turtle, an unlikely pair.

My cinnamon roll and my young man.

Boys at play. Samuel's favorite place to hang is in the tupperware cabinet.

12,045 Days old!

You'd think I'd be a wise woman by looking at the number of days old I turned yesterday! Ha!

However, I am truly a blessed woman! My children rose up early and blessed me yesterday. Jackie arose at 6 and made apple muffins, from scratch, for breakfast. They were delicious too. The picture above is of Samuel waiting for his muffin. Clearly, he'd rather be eating it than posing for a picture.

The kids were all so excited. When the day started Libby had 2 cards for me. By 8:45 a.m. the cards had multiplied and she had 9 very special "emails" just for me. Somehow as they day dithered away we were back to the original 2. When I opened them up I was intrigued by what I saw. A white sheet of paper with circles drawn all over them. "What is this Libby?" I mused. "They are cakes, mommy!" Of course.

There were sweet cards, a coffee mug, the Velveteen Rabbit which Libby had removed from the bookshelf earlier in the week, Re-gifted jewelry boxes, paper crafts, and a beautiful sewing table with chair from my dear husband.

In sum, the day went far too fast and I was blessed far more than I merit! Thank you dear, precious family!

I Sew wish it were still Spring Break!

I had droves of fun sewing over Spring Break. We made 3 oil cloth aprons, appliqued a shirt we bought from Target.. it was a bargain at $1.64, sewed ribbons on pillowcases to jazz them up a bit, made a few bibs for the little man, and a waste apron, though I have affectionately coined it as my homeschool holster.

My holster.

Pockets for everything...

Lou's shirt.

Libby is shy.

We also did a lot of cooking. One of the special cooking items of interest was the $400 batch of cookies. It started off like any other batch. The proverb, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it," is one that is constantly in action around here. We spend every day training and during one of our training excercises my Kitchenaid suffered a fatal error. The kind that is not repairable... thus the $400 batch of cookies because that's how much a new Kitchenaid costs. It was good training and the error won't be repeated I can guarantee! By the way, the cookies were delish.

Flashy red, because we need more spice around here.

The children also went to see a 3-D movie Saturday morning with their dad. A typical Saturday involves kids sleeping in while Jake and I read through a Psalm and pray together. Instead of the usual Jake woke them early at 9 (not too early..) and surprised them with a movie. Something about training dragons. They had a blast.

Cool Boys!

We also had a very special visitor. John, Jake's father, came out for a weekend visit. Samuel was a little concerned, but the rest of the crew was thrilled!

It's okay Sam the Man!

Wrong Again.

I spend a lot of time as a wife, mother, daughter realizing how ignorant I really am. It can be embarrassing, but mostly it's an opportunity to worship God because He's Wisdom!

The kids don't have bronchiolitis they have a nasty cold. Samuel and Silas seem to be on the mend, but it's Libby who isn't well and she needs your earnest prayers. She woke up at 11 pm last night and was struggling to catch her breath. Her very bad state turned to worse in a hurry. We tried all the tricks moms and dads at home learn to do with tight chested babies; steamy showers, cold air, chest clapping. None of these methods worked. I was holding my baby girl in my arms realizing we would need to make a trip to the Emergency Room ASAP. Before I knew it her eyes started rolling in the back of her head and her body started shaking. We got to the ER and she vomited all over the Registrar's Office. Within an hour we learned she was having a severe Asthma Attack. We are now home with all the meds and a very sick little girl. She's as white as a sheet and very jittery as her little heart is working overtime. She'll be fine, but it will take some time.

As it turns out she never fully recovered from the bronchiolitis she had two weeks ago. When she caught the cold her little bronchial tubes began to spasm and produced far too much mucous/liquid for her body to process. Thus, the swelling and inability to breath without help. How frail we really are. I love to see our weaknesses as it spurs me on to trust our Lord more. However, it is hard to see the weakness in a little child, particularly your own, because it's a very human thing to desire to control every part of your child's life. To save them from every harm, from every little thing that might pain them.

Jake and I praise God for his mercies to us. Libby is his child, we are only her faithful stewards here on earth. Her body, mind, soul is His. We trust him to do as he pleases and he has given us the awesome responsibility of shepherding her fully. How glorious our Lord is.

You'll never guess.

Bronchiolitis take II. This time Libby and Silas. Please pray that Samuel doesn't succumb.

When the going gets tough..

The tough are only tough if they have their faith sandwiched in with scriptures.

If you are sorrowful and your life is seemingly impossible, than take heart. Even our Lord Jesus wept, he had to go off to quiet places and pray. Sometimes praying all night. Yes, his soul was sorrowful even to the point of death. For his task was the greatest of all. To give himself, laying his very life down, so that we would all have our fill of his blood to cleanse us from our dreadful, wicked sins.

So I say again, when the going gets tough, go to the scriptures. Remember this dear gift of faith the Lord has given to his people. Look and see that there is nothing new under the sun. There is hope for us and rest for our weary souls. We have the most glorious hope of all and our God is not a man. He is not restricted by the things of the flesh and He will never die. No, in fact his Son is risen from the dead! So glory and praise be to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost from now and forevermore!