The Mother Load

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Pondering Passages

So this week Shay's Pondering Passages was on Hebrews 10-19-25

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

This passage was very encouraging to me this week. It is amazing to me how when I am pondering on a passage the Lord NEVER fails to use it to speak to me in a very personal way AND how throughout the week I see/experience things that remind me of the pondering.
Just this week in worship on Sunday morning we sang a song and one of the lines of the song was "Jesus tore the veil" and I immediately thought of this passage and how Christ opened the curtain. Every time I hear this phrase I have an almost physical reaction. I am so filled with joy. I LOVE that he tore the veil....WHY? As I pondered this part of the passage I realized that there are several things I love about it.

When Christ tore the veil.....it is a physical.....fairly radical.....and definitely brash show of his power. He is literally throwing out the old way....the ritual.....the law....and saying here is a new way! YOU ARE FREE! Freedom is so appealing to me. I don't want to be in bondage to rules and regulations....but to this Jesus who tore open the way with his very body and life so that I could walk in freedom....to him I will gladly be in bondage! He is also saying YOU can come to ME....without a priest....without a preacher.....without a Rabbi.....without a teacher......I can go to THE Rabbi.....directly.....personally.....whenever and WHEREVER I want! THE ruler of the the whole universe. I can't go to the President with my troubles....I can't go to the Governor with my concerns....I can't go to the Mayor with my hearts desires.....but I CAN talk to the Creator of the UNIVERSE the KiNG oF KINGS....with whatever I want....Whenever I want and HE wants to talk to me. He wants to relate to me. He wants to hear me. Not only does he want to and not only is he available....he designed the setup....he tore the veil so I could come to him. AMAZING LOVE!

Sorry....I get a bit carried away! LOVE ME SOME JESUS!

I could go on and on....but one more thing that really spoke to me is HIS Faithfulness. It is part of his character. It does not say he can be faithful. It says we can hold to him and hope in him because HE IS FAITHFUL! Hallelujah! Faithfulness is a good quality!

Hope you all have a wonderful Thursday!
Off to read Shay's blog
Kim

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

My Heart

Wow! My heart is full right now. Not perhaps with what most people would guess given our current situation. I am not worried about Randy's job loss, I am hopeful that he will find one soon. I am not stressed over finances. I am watching where we spend our nickles and dimes but I know the Lord is going to provide. However....I'm worried about my girl. Perhaps worried is not the right word. Maybe concerned would be a better choice....at least it sounds more spiritual!

My beautiful, sweet, artistic, athletic, little girl.....
She has so many gifts.....she is so very precious......I long for her to succeed.....I long for her to have an easy life.....I long to protect her....

I don't know what to do.

So.....Anyway....Last night I FINALLY got a chance to read a few articles in my summer 2011 edition of This Old Schoolhouse Magazine. Guess what the theme of the magazine is for the summer.....Learning Disabilities!
Here are the articles I read last night:
Confused by Dyslexia Jolie's Story....by Diane Hurst
Educational Remediation From the Brain Stem up an Interview with Anna Buck
To Worry or Not to Worry about Your Child's Development by Deborah Woodward
Teaching Your Right-Brain Child Plan B by Dianne Craft

To say I was blessed would be an understatement! (Thanks again Mama for the BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT EVER.....this magazine subscription has been WONDERFUL!) However.....I was also sad. Why? Because this is going to be a life long issue. There is not a quick fix.

I am an A,B,C....1,2,3.....task master. I like plans. I like systems. I like directions. I like to work the plan.
I. am. so. overwhelmed. Her needs are bigger then my wallet. They are bigger then my abilities. They are bigger then my energy.

BUT THEY ARE NOT BIGGER THEN MY GOD!!!!!

I don't have a plan. I don't know how to "fix" this.

WHERE I AM WEAK HE IS STRONG!!!!

So.....I am in the process of developing a plan. I have decided to focus on what I am doing and what I can do and stay aware and educated about things....even if I can't afford them because maybe one day I can or maybe the Lord will show me another way that is less expensive that can meet the same needs.....

I will probably be blogging about this on a fairly regular basis because it is where my heart is right now.

The number one part of my plan is this: I am going to give it to God. He is big enough. He does love her. He did create her this way and he wants what is BEST for her! So he and I do have the same agenda. If the outcome looks the same remains to be seen :). But I do trust him and I do know HE IS FAITHFUL!

So how am I going to give it to God? Every. single. morning. in. prayer. I will pray over this sweet girl every. single. day. until. something. happens. If I do nothing else she is going to be absolutely covered in my prayers. Although I have a few other ideas too :) But that is A # 1. If you would like to pray with me here is how you can:

So please my friends pray:
1. That discouragement does not get a foothold in my heart.
2. That I will focus on the improvement I see and not the speed with which it is coming.
3. That I will not tell a particularly mean little girl to "shut up" ( I KNOW it's not right....but it's really where I am right now.....ugh!) and that I will instead extend grace and realize that she behaves the way she does because of behaviors she has learned and that it is not personal to my girl....grrr! Don't ask who it is....because I won't tell! Just pray for The Mama and The Girl because we both get our feelings hurt when hers are hurt!
4. That the Lord would grant me wisdom in choosing the best therapies.
5. Pray for me to be gentle and patient. I know your not suppose to pray for that....but seriously.....My girl needs a gentleness and patience that is not in my human nature. She needs a lot of compassion and a lot of understanding and a lot of time......so pray for the supernatural!
6. Praise that we are able to use a top of the line curriculum especially designed for children with dyslexia.
7. Praise that she is able to take gymnastics and that she loves it and is successful at it (the balancing is very helpful in children with neurological issues-which dyslexia is).

Okay....I think I'm going to make it down from the ledge now :) Thanks again to all of you for allowing me to vent! I may share the beginnings of my plan next time. And for those of you who pray for me and my girl....THANK YOU.....I am more grateful than you know!

Love,
Kim

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Weekly Update

The Twinkies both were promoted to the Kindergarten program at church on Sunday so they were really excited to have Pastor Marc present them with their very own Bibles!

Then Sunday night our sweet friends from Sunday School had us over for dinner.

The kids had soooo much fun-playing with chickens

and riding go-carts

We enjoyed a delicious meal complete with homemade ice cream and had a sweet time of fellowship!

Monday it was back to the books!

We finally finished up the Suspension Bridge....didn't turn out exactly how we had hoped....but they still enjoyed making it!

The kids loved playing a Jeopardy Game that goes along with our Roadtrip Across the USA curriculum.

Twinkie Boy has been trying to have rematch games all week. He LOVED it!

They all enjoyed making blueberry muffins

which went along with our study of Maine.

We got to choose between making Lobster or Blueberry Muffins

My kids of course chose the muffins!

I loved them!

However the kids didn't think they were sweet enough!

Geography is definitely turning out to be the favorite class this year!

Another highlight of the week was Dan The Animal Man!

The kids loved seeing all the cool animals and I loved the enthusiasm with which Dan brought truth to the kids and his passion for animals and Christ was so fun to see.

Glad my family got to share this experience.

The rest of the week was spent rearranging the house and cleaning out!

THE BOY had a buddy over last night for a sleepover and we had fun swimming this morning and are looking forward to dinner out with some good friends tonight!

JOB UPDATE....

Randy had an interview in Richmond this week. It went well and he was actually offered a position. However it payed about half what he is used to making and would require an out of state move. We would take a salary cut and job here but are not ready to take such a drastic cut and move. We have prayed and many others are praying and we do not feel like this is the direction the Lord is leading us in. HOWEVER Randy did counter and offer to accept the position and the pay IF he could telecommute....so waiting to hear if that will work. He still has a few other leads he is hoping will develop....PLEASE continue to pray.

Thanks!

Kim

Friday, August 19, 2011

MIA

Yes....I have been Missing In Action from the blog world.....but we are still alive and kicking!

We have been busy with school.....but we have also been busy with a spur of the moment home makeover!

Now before you freak out and think we went on a shopping spree....we didn't! We just went on a cleaning/rearranging spree.

We have lived in our home for just over 3 years and in the past homes we have always enjoyed hanging out/playing and spending time as a family in our den. However in this home for various reasons we have not had that same atmosphere in our den.....so I got a bee in my bonnet and decided it was high time for a change.....so this is what happened....

As much as I wish it wasn't a factor I think the main factor contributing to us not hanging out together in the den was that we didn't have a functioning TV in our den. Our house came wired with a complicated and expensive sound/cable system....and we never could afford to get someone to come out and get it working/wired. So we just put our TV, which was small and above our fireplace,up and hooked up a DVD and thought we would use it to watch movies, but we rarely did....the seating didn't work well for where the TV was....
So we had our big den TV in our Master Bedroom and it REALLY overwhelmed the room and Randy and I would just use that to watch TV or we would let the kids use it to watch TV or play video games......well this worked okay except we weren't together much and my bedroom became an extended den and didn't feel very private or like much of a sanctuary.....Then when THE BOY would have friends over we didn't want his friends in our bedroom playing video games and so when my parents got rid of an old TV we took it and hooked up his game system and just didn't hook up the cable so he could play games and watch movies but didn't have cable in his bedroom so I convinced myself this was okay.....except again....he started to be MIA too.....
AND THEN the GIRL decided it "wasn't fair" that THE BOY got to have movies in his room when he had a friend over so she needed it too.....So we had an old TV in the attic and pulled it out and now she had one too! I never liked the idea...but I had just slowly let my convictions errode.....that is a whole other blog!

Then....yesterday.....I was like "Why is everyone off in different corners of the house and "entertaining" themselves?" and I began to wake up....and so me and my hubby had a little chat and we were finally both on the same page and we enacted our plan....

The idea......
We would get rid of the piano we inherited......we would move the monster TV from our bedroom to the Den, we would forget about trying to use the expensive sound system and pay $40 to have a new cable outlet installed on the wall that previously held the piano.....and then we would move the small TV to our bedroom...move the TV's out of the kids rooms....and put one in the upstairs loft but not hook up cable wo when they had friends over they could all use that one and it is still more open to the rest of the house. Guess what not only does it look so much better.....my kids are all downstairs playing Wii together and it is so cute! I also have my bedroom back! Yippee! Randy, who was reluctant to say the least, asked me last night with a grin on his face why it had taken me 3 years to come up with this!

Now all this TV moving inspired us....and we ended up getting our old bed out and setting it up in THE BOYS room and it looks so much more teenager then his old bunk bed....and he loves it. Then we moved the Baby into a twin bed we inherited from Randy's sister...THANK YOU....and so now she has a lot more floor space to play!

This all led to a bunch of rearranging, cleaning, dusting.....and my den looks so much more inviting and homey and I am really enjoying it!

I also have a bunch of ideas....a rug for under the recliner.....a lamp for the boys room......a lamp for the twinkie boys room......paint for The Baby's room and Twinkie boys room.....hang curtains in Twinkie Boy and the Baby's room....Paint and recover Sophie's vanity stool.....paint the extra dresser in Twinkie Girls room to match the Baby's furniture so she will have a dresser (she currently uses rubber made crates for her dresser)......recover the kitchen stools.....repair kitchen chair that has broken slates.....get one more kitchen chair so we will have one for everyone that matches......
That is the problem with redecorating it gives me all these ideas and desires and THINGS I want! Which nothing is WRONG with....except I can't do them right now.....so I am trying to focus on all we did do....not all I can't do.....and trying to enjoy the fresh changes and how much better it is looking!

So that is what we have been up to and boy oh boy am I enjoying it!

Monday, August 15, 2011

What a Day!

So today had the makings of a great day at school......

I had a lot of "fun" type stuff planned....

We were finishing up our Delaware Memorial Suspension Bridge. We were going to play a Jeopardy game testing our new knowledge of Connecticut and Delaware. We were going to continue with our reading of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, We were finishing up planning for a brochure we are making to entice European settlers to come and settle in the New World.....fun stuff....creative stuff....hands on stuff. We did have all the regular "boring" stuff too: a Math Test, some worksheets, Phonics lessons, tutoring, spelling, vocabulary lessons, math lessons.....and of course reading etc.

Our day was going along so well....and then it happened. What happened. Life.

One of my younger children, who shall remain nameless, went CrAzY! I must say absolutely crazy! And our school came to a screeching halt. I spent ONE ENTIRE HOUR dealing with defiance. Yes....ONE HOUR! I'm not talking a little defiant....I'm talking RUDE, THROWING, SPITTING, YELLING-defiance! Really??? Are we STILL dealing with this? Unfortunately....yes.

I try to be patient. I try to be calm. However, I will not tolerate disrespect and defiance. I was boldly challenged this morning and everything in me wanted to cave. Everything in me wanted to do what was easy and pacify and distract and placate.....but I knew this was a defining moment. My child was clearly saying who is the boss? And so I needed to answer them clearly. Thus ensued a battle of epic proportions....ugh!

Oh...my children may be the death of me :)

I have no idea how I birthed such strong willed, hard hearted sinners! My mom may have a few ideas.....but boy oh boy......they are bringing up the dross and the ugly in my heart! Stuff I didn't even know was there!

Parenting is hard.

However....my hope is that it will be worth it.....after AN HOUR of Very Consistent and VERY firm discipline and after this unnamed child cleaned up the mess they made (think dog water and dog food thrown throughout the kitchen and you will get a glimpse of my morning) and after they had re-fed the dog.....and finally sat to listen to the story (yes the fit was over not wanting to sit quietly and listen to a story I was going to read....they thought they should be able to play upstairs instead-they are still adjusting to being in kindergarten) this child did sit and listen quietly. When we finished the story I asked him to stay and talk to me while the other kids went upstairs and he climb on my lap and hugged me, unprompted by me he said he was sorry for not obeying and thanked me for disciplining him. ?????? Really! I couldn't believe it. The same child who was an absolute terror 15 minutes before and screaming how terrible I was and how much he hated me just thanked me? He is one sweet mess!
But there is hope!
And today that hope is enough to keep me going.

I am glad I am here to see and to deal with this ugly sin.....not just theirs but mine! It is so not fun! It is so disappointing! This is such a journey!!!

Thanks for letting me vent! Roomtime is almost over and I'm hoping this half of the day goes better then the first half.

Better run....I'm an hour behind :)
Kim

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Weekly Update

Last Saturday we had a family reunion for my Mom's side of the family.

It was at the Rougemont Ruritan Club.

I didn't know a lot of the people there, but we had fun getting to know some of our family that we had never spent much time with.

I do know these folks! I think Granny and Papa had a GREAT time!

Sunday I got to take the kids to a baby shower for Jason and Charity!

It was a neat experience. It was also really fun to "see" Jason and Charity!

I bet Elton never thought he would go to a baby shower.....much less an international skype shower!

So cute!

We have also been busy with school this week:

In Geography we are learning about Delaware....so we are making a Popsicle suspension bridge as a family...

THE BOY was able to share his personal experience of the bridge with us, from his trip up to Boston, so that was cool!

Not as easy as it may sound....hopefully we will finally finish on Monday! It takes a lot longer to dry then we realized!

The little ones are still busy playing a lot!

Wednesday THE BABY decided to take out the trash....and push it to the road!

So funny!

Stacy thank you for the cute pink trashcan....they have had more fun with that thing!

Our big fun for the week came on Friday!

We got to spend the day at the lake with Randy's parents.

THE TWINKIE BOY LOVED EVERY MOMENT....

from the moment he arrived and found a "gun" until we tucked him into the camper last night he was so happy! That boy loves to be outside, moving, and playing!

The girl started out a little hesitant. Didn't like not being able to see the bottom of the lake. She was convinced she was swimming with snakes! However....as you will see she got over her fear pretty quickly and had a good day.

The boy....went straight for the water!

The BABY had fun....but would not get in the water. She liked the beach, the camper, the boat, and the jet ski....but NO WATER....except she did love the pool.

Twinkie Girl.....LOVED IT ALL!

We spent most of the day out on the lake.

Pepaw let all the kids drive the boat!

All the kids jumped in and swam, except THE BABY, she was the gate keeper and would open and close the gate as the kids climbed up the ladder.

She did like riding on the jet ski with Pepaw....but not Daddy. Daddy was too fast!

However the big girls had fun with their CrAzY Daddy!

Twinkie Boys favorite part was driving the boat. He drove the boat most of the day and he LOVED it!

Everyone was worn out by the end of the day.

Except Daddy was still hyper?! and making strange animal sounds to the very end???

It was nice to get away for the day and unplug!

The 3 youngest stayed the night and camped out with Grammy and Peepaw and 2 oldest headed back home with us around 8:00 last night.

It was a good week!

Other highlights from the week:

The Twinkie Boy had a cavity filled on Tuesday and was very brave!

Randy and I got to go out on a lunch date on Wednesday to lunch and a movie, THE HELP (sooooo good!) to celebrate our 15th anniversary! That was a lot of fun! Mom kept the kiddos and they had a great time.

Randy's Job Hunt: Still going! He did get referred for a job with the Fed. Government. The job would be a great fit for him. He REALLY wants this job. So please pray! So what does "he has been refered" mean? It means that 354 people applied for one position. He was chosen by a computer data base as being one of the top qualified for the position. So the person doing the hiring entered the criteria he/she wanted in the candidate and it spit out Randy's application along with however many more he wanted to read. So he may have said top 3, top 10, top 50....we don't know. Now his application is in the hands of a real person who will look at it. So we are praying this will work out. He also has 2 good leads. Hoping, Praying, Trusting.....and Knowing God has a plan! Anxious to see what it is!

Love you guys!

Kim