Hannah

 Continuing slowly but surely on our poems.  Here's Miss Hannah...

Happy
Amazing
Nurturing
Nice
Adorable
Horses

  Horses?  Yup, horses.  Hannah LOVES horses.  Her favorite stuffed animal is Patriot the horse along with a million other horses!  She is ALWAYS happy which is Amazing!!  Adorable is pretty self explanatory and Nurturing is the best word for this girl.  She loves to help take care of people and serve them.  Today she made her brothers a "mix" of nuts and raisins and brought them down to their room so they could keep playing Legos and have a snack.  When Daddy was sick a month ago and throwing up, she went in the bathroom and rubbed his back while he hung over the toilet! ( Daddy told her thank you but she didn't have to stay.)  She is really that sweet and loving.  As a big sister she is starting to realize how much she can manipulate teach her baby sister and that is pretty funny to watch!  This little girl can have anyone wrapped around her finger in less than 10 minutes flat!  She's pretty awesome!  Hannah in pictures...

Always up for an adventure with her brothers!

Like any girl... she loves the camera!

This is one of her favorite people she has wrapped around her finger!  Hee Hee!

Hannah was my first girl after three boys and I can remember my second day home with her, I walked into our living room and saw a pink blanket and thought- huh, who left their blanket here??  I was not use to seeing any pink in my house!  Well, that has surely changed!  She is all girl, pink is everywhere and I love it!  She told me the other day, "Mama, it won't be long and I'll be grown up and gone."  I bout cried :0(  I told her I certainly hoped not and she reassured me she would be just down the street and she would come help me cook everyday because, as she will tell you and any stranger she meets, "I never let my Mama cook alone." She very much wants to understand God and His love and has asked some pretty funny and amazing questions at times. I can't wait to see where the Lord leads her as she grows.  As much as she talks, we'll all know every detail about it when He does. And as fast and as giggly as she talks, you'll be lucky to understand her!

 Love you Hannie Max :0)

Mommy Tip

  Waiting at the doctor's office is never fun but when they call you back to the room and then you have no books or magazines the wait can seem like forever for Mom and kids!  I know you could plan ahead and bring toys and books but lets face it, generally you're going because you have a pretty sick kid and you're half out of you mind anyways!

  Here's my little trick I came up with years ago.  Pull a pen or pencil out of your purse and let the kids have a ball drawing all over the exam table paper.  They have to roll out new for every patient so they're going to throw it away anyways, might as well make it pretty while you wait.  We've practiced letters and drew pretty pictures but what always makes me smile is when they choose to trace their hand.  When they are really little, too little to draw themselves but are starting to lose it from waiting, I would trace their hands to entertain them.  My children hardly ever trace their hands when coloring at home but almost every time they draw at the doctor, a hand print shows up!  Cute.

Next time you're waiting give it a try... but once you've done it once, don't EVER forget to have a pen in your purse, you'll be sorry!

Wandering Toddlers

  Every mom knows the scare of silence.  When you have a 20 month old and they are happily wandering around your house and then it is quiet... if you are wise, a deep sense of terror should run down your spine as your feet RUN to go find out what kind of trouble they have gotten into!

  On this lovely day I was enjoying conversation with my girlfriend on the phone when I told her I better go because I suddenly couldn't find my toddler.  As I was getting ready to hang up I found her and let out a gasp and then a laugh saying, "Addison!  Oh, Addie!  No no no no no!"  After telling my girlfriend what I found she insisted I take pictures because it was definitely blogging material!  So this is how I found Miss Addie...

What is it you ask?  Why it is my MASCARA that she was trying to put on like lipstick!!

I asked her if she was so pretty and she shakes her little head and says, "yeah!"  How can they be so cute even when they cause such trouble?  I'm not sure, but I am sure either the bathroom door now stays closed or the make-up finds a new home ;0)

No Sugar No Caffeine

   I'm waiting for final talks with my heart doctor but he's leaning towards thinking I have some issues with my nervous system, something called Dysautonomia.  We're not 100% there yet but I do seem to fall under that umbrella and most of the things to help it are lifestyle changes that are good for us but not always fun or easy.  One thing is lots of water and fluids (good for all), extra salt (not good for all but quite yummy for me), daily aerobic exercise (not so fun but doable) no caffeine (including decaf products-WHAT!) and no sugar (are you CRAZY?).

  So I completely freaked out and refused to give up my treats calmly decided to tackle these things and see if I noticed a difference.  The water and salt I was already told to do and all the rest can't hurt anything.  Before you decide this shouldn't be too big of a deal I have to tell you even my 5yo knows my "happy place" is at Biggby Coffee.  My favorite Christmas gift was my gift card there.  AND one of my favorite hobbies is baking... and eating the sweets I baked!

   I got some advice from a friend who has done no sugar and I again freaked out and told her no way  decided I could do this one day at a time.  I can promise nothing but today.  As I write this I'm on day four and I even enjoyed survived a trip to a coffee house without coffee or sweets.  I do feel pretty good but I am realizing I was really addicted to sugar!  I never knew that but wow!  I ate sugar often, more than I ever realized. And after every evening meal my mouth was not happy without something sweet.  Stopping wasn't as hard as I thought.  Actually eating a small amount of sugar for me is harder than none.  I will at times splurge I'm sure but because of how gross I felt the first few days I will think long and hard before I dig in.

   The coffee I thought would be really hard but I knew even the decaf affected me so I should try.  Then a lovely mom from basketball told me about this coffee substitute called Roma.  You can get it at some grocery stores and most health food stores.  It's actually a roasted grain and you use it like instant coffee.  I was desperate and tried and it is REALLY good!  It tastes like a weak coffee and if I add it right to warm milk it tastes just like a latte!  If you put them side by side you could probably tell but honest you'd have to really thing about it.  I'M SO HAPPY!  It has almost no calories and instead of subtracting my fluid because of the caffeine it's adding to my intake!  So I may not be able to have my cake and eat it too but I can have my "coffee" and drink it too!

  Now I must say I am not overweight but who wouldn't love to drop a few pounds?  If I don't and I gave up all my yummy stuff I will be so flipping mad will still be glad I made some new healthy lifestyle changes.

Suffering and Guilt

I am part of an online support group and we often have some deep discussions.  One friend was sharing her frustration with some homeschool mommy guilt and struggling to understand the suffering her family was dealing with over the last year.  I responded back and then thought it might be nice to share with all of you.  So here was my mini "sermon" for her.  Hope it blesses you somehow today :0)


--Leslie, this may be sporadic here, I need to go grab the baby who slept blessedly late today! I wanted to share a couple quick thoughts. I was VERY ill for 3 months last year and at times unable to care for my children in any way. I too questioned what we were suppose to be learning and prayed we'd learn it fast so we could move out of the chaos. It wasn't fast. We are still tying up loose ends to my physical issues. It was really hard. BUT we learned a LOT. When you said you're trying to see the purpose, trying to understand... here's what we learned. 

As someone is sick and others serve them, your children learn the meaning of being the hands and feet of Christ in a way they normally never would. 

1 Peter 1:6-7 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come SO THAT your faith, OF GREATER WORTH THAN GOLD (and greater worth than math and history I might add), which perishes even though refined by fire- may be proved genuine and may result in praise , glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 

1 Peter 5:10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong and firm and steadfast. 

2 Corinthians 1:4-5  He comforts us in all our troubles SO THAT we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. 

Galatians 6:4 Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get satisfaction of a job well done, and you won't need to compare yourself to anyone else. 

Hosea 6:6 I want you to show love not offer sacrifices, I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings. 

I was listening to Diana Waring last night and she shared that we homeschool and do the things we do, not because we are so clever and smart but because God revealed this way to us. He showed us. This way of leading and teaching our children may often look foolish to man but to a person who knows the Creator mans "wisdom" is nothing.  Most Christian homeschoolers do what they do because of a calling they received from God.  That was true for us, even though we didn't fully understand why, we knew He was clearly calling us to this journey. It's hard to remember that sometimes.
One last thing and I'll end my sermon. When I was sick my mom got me a wonderful DVD by Louie Giglio. It was about suffering and something he shared was so true and really helped me through the time of testing that was at hand. He said that when we suffer it is like God has handed us a megaphone to speak to the world. When you suffer, your actions and words speak very loud. For example I could preach to you forgiveness and what you should do blah blah, BUT, if I shared about forgiveness and then told you (this is a story not real so don't freak) if I told you my 4yo daughter was killed in front of me in my own front yard by a drunk driver and not only did I forgive him, I love him and want to help him and I walk the young man out on stage and we cry together... that is a megaphone!  Suffering sucks. There is not a pretty word to put on it. I didn't like my suffering. I never want to do it EVER again, but as always, God's words are true. My compassion for others is much bigger, I was shown God in ways I never knew. Mainly he taught me to take His Word seriously- all His words but in particular these... 

-LOVE the Lord your God with ALL your heart and soul and strength and LOVE your neighbor as yourself 
-I want you to show LOVE not offer sacrifices 

I did and still do sometimes slip back into doing things "for God" and knocking myself out and every once in awhile He whispers, "Hey you, remember... I want your LOVE! I want you to show LOVE. What your stressing over now is not important to me! How are you showing MY LOVE??" 

And guess what, love is so simple! It's also quite fun! If your kids learn to love God most and then love others, it doesn't matter what they do they will be successful. 

K, I'm done with my sermon now...