One Day

It seems there are a few magical ages for a child. I always thought 5 was pretty big, because it seems most programs, sports and otherwise, don't let kids participate until they're 5. And, it would seem being 7 is pretty great too! Not only is Cora in 2nd grade, but she got to participate in church camp this summer! The church we attend owns/operates its own camp. It's a beautiful place that was built with the blood, sweat and tears of the people in this church. There is a lot of love and pride in this place and rightly so. The camp hosts an overnight camp for campers ages 5-7 and their parents. Cora and I made our way through the foothills of the Poconos and landed in a beautiful spot on earth. For the next 24 hours the kids are introduced to what camp life is like. We played games, sang songs, did crafts, ate in the dining hall, did a slip-n-slide, saw horses, and did the zip-line. The counselors did everything, and the parents were there more for moral support for the ...

Here is a short list of things that I am thankful for these days. Sometimes it's good to write these things out. Give it a try! You'll find you have lots to be thankful for! 1. A great home to live in. 2. A wonderfully hot summer! 3. The blessed up-coming relief of fall is coming. 4. My 2nd grader--she is a huge help around this house and is growing in maturity daily. 5. My Kindergartener--he keeps me laughing and is teaching me how to raise a man. 6. My preschooler--she has a big heart, loves people, is strong in who she is and keeps me on my        knees in prayer. 7. My husband-- see my post last week ! 8. My parents--they love me, they raised me to love Jesus, they showed me (continue to do so) how to live for God and showed me what it is to have a God-centered marriage. 9. My friends--have a friends literally all over the world. I'm thankful for each of them. They have each taught me different things along life. One of my biggest dreams would b...

I read this verse last week. Very encouraging and caused me to worship the God who created me, knows me and knows everything that's going on right now. 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, firm and steadfast.  1 Peter 5:10

At the beginning of summer David and I wrote down a bucket list of things to do/see this summer. We didn't want to waste the summer doing nothing. Plus, the kids have all hit a great age in which we don't need a stroller any longer, we almost don't need diapers/pull-ups, and they're all (mostly) old enough to remember and appreciate what we're doing! AND, we're in a new state with LOTS of places to explore. We were told about a cave not far from us and so embarked on our journey! It was a HOT and HUMID day the day we went. We almost didn't go because it was so hot, but we figured we'd be underground so it wouldn't be as bad, plus we really needed to get out of the house. I'm so glad we chose to go. The kids LOVED it!!!!! Ben especially thought it was so much fun and still talks about it! We went, paid an arm and a leg (ahem) and went below earth for a fun adventure. Our guide was a young college student who did a great job talking about the ...

I don't know about you, but I have 1 child who is super picky about what he eats. It drives us crazy. There have been many tears trying to get him to eat stuff at the table, and that's just from my husband and I! The most frustrating thing is that he will very rarely even TRY something. This is frustrating beyond belief, as you can well imagine. In any case, he doesn't get any special meals and often goes to bed having only eaten applesauce, or a slice of bread. BUT! This kid will eat pancakes! And, in fact, all 3 kids will eat them!!! That's a big score right there, amiright???? Pancakes is one of my most favorite breakfast foods to eat. I think I could easily eat pancakes every day. When I had to stop eating grains I was so discouraged. My favorite thing to eat in the mornings, or for brunch, or at a restaurant I could no longer eat. I sent myself on a mission to find pancakes I could eat. After about 5 years I do believe I have found the right recipe. The thing w...

Tuesday we had another big day at our house! Ben started Kindergarten and Bekah started preschool! Our church runs a nursery school for ages 2-5. We had enrolled Ben in one of the 4s classes to finish up last year. He loved it, we loved it, it's just great!!! Plus, having David at church during the day helps with transportation. Ben is enrolled in the 5s program. He goes 4 days a week. When he gets home we do lunch and then do our own schoolwork. We opted to keep him out of a traditional K class so that we can focus more on his speech therapy. This seems to be a good combination. We feel the program at the nursery school and then what we do at home will compliment each other, at least that's the idea! He LOVES it, of course! There are 4 kids from his class last year also with him this year so that's been great. I love watching him grow and mature. Also, as we've been working together at home I'm realizing that teaching him will be WAY different than it was with Co...

Today I'm going to give a shout-out to my husband. I am thankful for him . We have been through a lot (haven't we all?). Our marriage hasn't always been sunshine and roses (is anybody's?). We've had our fair share of fights, disagreements and arguments (yes, I think those are all different). But, we're still together. It's been over 10 years of married life together. I have not always been a peach to live with or do life with. I can be cutting in my words, lazy, selfish and just not nice. I haven't always put his needs before mine, and there have been times I've just not wanted to put the sometimes HARD work into it. I'm thankful for David for not giving up on me. Through all 3 of my pregnancies I was a mess physically. He took up the slack and not only did his job but did mine as well. He goes to work, works hard and provides for our physical needs as a family. He prays for us, for our children, for our family, for our future. He leads us spir...

The Lord is great, is he not? It doesn't take much to look around and see the GREATNESS of the Lord. A sunset, a baby, a perfectly red apple. There are so many things that show us that God is God, he's great and he has created many things for our enjoyment. Probably one of my favorite things God created is the ocean. I have always loved the ocean. I don't care how many times I've been, I am always in awe of God and his greatness when I see an ocean. I mean, think about it. A ginormous body of water, whose tide is controlled by the moon. It can lull you to sleep and bring giant ships to ruin. And, thing that gets me is it seems mankind hasn't even begun to know all there is to know about oceans. There are often articles about some new creature being discovered in the depths of the sea. It's fascinating. This greatness causes me to fall to my knees and worship. If this God created something so great as an ocean, with creatures still unknown to us, don't yo...

I  mentioned last week  there has been some wonkiness with my sleeping and health. After having an appointment with a sleep specialist we have a plan of action! The gist of my appointment is that I most likely (as in the doctor would be surprised if I didn't) have sleep apnea and he's guessing I also have narcolepsy. We totally expected the sleep apnea, the narcolepsy was a surprise. However, after talking with him extensively about it all we see his point. I'll be doing an at-home sleep study next week for 2 nights. This will determine the sleep apnea, which the doctor figures I'll "show in spades." The idea is that being in your own bed for 2 nights a person is more relaxed, the results are probably more accurate. If this test does show sleep apnea then the office will loan me an automated  CPAP  machine to use until we can determine if narcolepsy is also a factor. In October I'll have an extensive sleep study (almost 24 hrs) at the sleep clinic. The...

Today is Labor Day in the US of A! Being away from any and all family we weren't entirely sure how we would celebrate. However, a family from church (who we've become friends) are going to join us at our house today for a picnic, although I'm guessing we'll eat inside as we have nothing to eat on outside! My husband is going to marinade and grill a roast, we'll have French fries, baked beans, a salad and dessert. I wanted to share my baked beans recipe with you. I LOVE baked beans. It's something I have always loved to eat, however, when my eating had to change I found that all canned baked beans come full of ingredients like high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, soy, cornstarch, wheat, etc. Folks, baked beans are NOT hard to make, and there is not reason to have all these crazy ingredients in them! In reality, these are simply fillers anyway. I was on the search for a baked bean recipe that I could make from scratch. A friend of mine passed one to me. I hav...

Tuesday was Cora's first day of 2nd grade! I honestly don't know how we have a 2nd grader, kindergartener and preschooler. David and I looked at each other the other day and both said, "we must have blinked!" It's true--they grow up so fast. When we lived in Ohio we homeschooled Cora. When we moved we finished out the year homeschooling but knew we would be doing something different for 2nd grade. We looked at 3 private schools close to us. I think we were fully believing God was wanting us to do the private school thing, and we were surprised after looking at these 3 we had ZERO peace about any of them. We went to visit the grade school which is closest to our house and the moment we walked in David and I felt washed over with peace. To top it off, Cora's face lit up, and you could see how excited she was. After applying for open enrollment (yes, it's closest to our house, but since it's not our home school we had to be accepted into open enrollment...

Friends. They come in all shapes, sizes, and ages. I can look back on my life and see the different key friends the Lord has blessed me with over the years. Being a missionary kid one tends to move a lot. And, if you don't move chances are the people around you are moving. You can become best friends with someone and after 2 years her family moves and doesn't come back. I learned early in life to make friends quickly, and not to waste time with surface, fluff stuff, but to get to the heart of a person quickly. I learned you just never know how long you have with a person before they go. As an adult, I'm finding that not everyone sees life this way. I'm learning not everyone wants to share their heart of hearts with you right away. And, that's OK! I'm seeing it's one of the quirks left over from being an MK. During my childhood my mom always prayed for my sister and I to have a good friend when we would move to a new place. The Lord always answered those ...