Bunting and a birthday gift

Our little girls have their birthdays coming up, and that inspired me to sit down recently with my basket of fabric scraps and make some bunting. (I love bunting. Isn't it so cheery?) This was a quick project and reminded me all over again how much I love working with fabric.


[Quick instructions: Draw a triangle on some cardstock, pin it onto various fabric scraps, and cut out some pieces. (Mine has 14 pieces). Iron the pieces onto some fusible interfacing and cut them out again. Thread a needle with some string (I used bakers twine but you could easily use embroidery thread or regular thread) and draw your needle through the top corners of the pieces. Hang it up and you're done.]


I was up late last night working on this, for Adelia...


...which, when finished, will be her very own Pencil-and-Notebook case to take to church. I think she'll be quite pleased and feel very grown-up to have one just like her older siblings.

Happy Valentines Day!

Here's our only Valentines Day tradition: Yogurt Coffee cake for breakfast, cut into heart shapes with powdered sugar on top (the chocolates on the side were an extra treat this year!)



(I added some eggs and bacon to those plates so it was a slightly more well-balanced meal. :))

We also made these this morning, thanks to Elizabeth's recipe. She said they were "little kid-friendly", and she was right! Even Audra and Adelia were able to help with these!



And look how cute they turned out! We'll definitely be making these again. :)

Two adoption stories

Amazing.

That's all I can say about this adoption story.

And this one? I was bawling as I read the conclusion to this story I began reading a few weeks ago... don't miss it.




[HT to Ann V. for the original links]

Buddies

At the beginning of this school year, I couldn't imagine what our school time was going to look like. For the first time, I was educating three of our kids (!), and had two toddlers thrown in the mix. (!!) What on earth was I supposed to do with the little girls while the older three did schoolwork? How was I going to be available to the older three for teaching and questions when the little girls would be right there, demanding so much of my attention?

For this year, at least, we made the decision to school our boys (K and 1st grade) only three days a week. They do some school on the other two days as well-- Bible, memory work, and either picture study, classical music or poetry-- for our Circle Time at the table. But for the two days they're not doing schoolwork when we dismiss for breakfast and after they're done with their chores, they each get assigned a buddy (in the form of one of their little sisters) and they are excused to go play with them.

For instance: yesterday was Tuesday, and Isaac (7) was assigned to Audra (1) and Isaias (5) was assigned to Adelia (2). Isaac and Audra played in the playroom together for awhile, and then ended up on the living room couch, reading stories. Isaias and Adelia made a fort together, played dress-up, and did who-knows-what-else but managed to get nearly every single toy we own out in the process. :) On Thursday they will switch buddies.

When I came up with this idea in September, I thought this would buy me about 20 minutes of time, but 20 minutes has grown into nearly an hour, some days. I encourage the boys to choose separate rooms to play in with their buddies (otherwise the boys will end up playing together and the girls will get into all kinds of mischief) and often after about 30 minutes I will put a video on for all four of them to watch together. This has been a wonderful addition to our days, for various reasons:

1) It gives the boys the responsibility of taking care of their little sisters, usually doing something they might not personally prefer, but doing it out of love and honor for their little buddy.

2) It gives Ella some uninterrupted school time at the table, without the girls squeezing in next to her at the table and trying to color on her paper or just distracting her with their noise!

3) It gives me the freedom to be close to Ella~ available to teach and help and answer her questions. I stay nearby and usually clean the kitchen or do dinner prep, or I sit at the table with her and do paperwork of my own.

4) It has created a sweet rapport with the boys and their little sisters. Adelia and Audra *love* it when they get to pair up with one of their brothers-- it makes them feel very special to have such kind attention from their big brothers. And for the boys, too- they stand a little taller when they realize that it is their responsibility to take care of one of the girls for awhile. It has bonded the big boys to the little girls in ways I hadn't anticipated. They are much closer because of it, and I'm so thankful to see it.

Of course there are interruptions, and often Isaac will come upstairs to tell me a lengthy, descriptive rendition of what cute thing Audra just did and I have to gently remind him that he ought to go see what she's doing at the moment, since he is responsible for her, afterall. :) Sometimes I have to step in for correction or to remind the kids to stay in their rooms or suggest another activity for them, but all in all it has been a grand success, and I'm grateful for it.

Happy February!

"We cannot do a thousand things to the glory of God. Do a couple of things and do them with everything you've got." ~Beth Moore

I stumbled across that quote recently, and I think there is so much wisdom wrapped up in that statement. That's what I want; how I want to live: to focus my attention on a couple of things and then do them with everything I've got.

I know what- or rather, who- those "things" are: Mark and my children. I want to be a loving, affirming, supportive, honoring, prayerful, life-giving wife to my husband, and take every opportunity God provides to bless this man He's given to me.


And these precious five children God has entrusted to us... what a great privilege it is to be their mommy! I want to love and nurture them, be diligent in prayer for them, encourage them, provide fun memories and traditions for them, play games with them and delight in their imaginative play. I want to be joyful and full of grace, to give them the gift of my time and attention, and disciple them by loving Jesus passionately myself and through speaking the truths of Scripture to them throughout our days together.

It goes without saying-- at least in my mind and heart-- that more important than even those things is my relationship with God~ time spent in His word and in prayer and worship.

Add to those things the job of educating our children, and all the books I want to read aloud to them that I've got to find a way to squeeze into the next several years while they're still home! :)... and my role of keeping our home, the laundry and tidying and cleaning and planning and shopping. And I want to cook healthy, delicious food and eat meals around our table and have rousing discussions and lots of laughter. Add to that our extended family and the friends God has blessed me with... and my "plate" is gloriously full!

In a culture of many, many opportunities and things that vie for our time~ many of them truly good things, even: I want to choose the best things, and glorify my God in my attention to those few significant things.

I just wanted to say those things "out loud" :)

Blessings to each and every one of you today as you pursue the things God has given you!

~Stacy

Plans for a New Year

{from the archives: Ella and I, waiting at the window for daddy to come home for lunch}

I usually take the month of December off from the blog. This year I didn't, but only because I had plans to take January off instead.

I'm looking forward to a month of no internet- with the exception of checking email. I truly am excited about it, and the timing of it feels perfect as I head into the new year.

I have plans to pull out a blank journal, update and print out a new prayer list, adhere it to the front page of that new journal, and get back into the habit of referring to that prayer list.

I'm still mulling over whether or not I should try-- again-- to do a read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year plan. If I do, I want to print that out, too, laminate it (which, in my world, means cover it with clear contact paper), and attach it to my journal.

And then I want to spend time praying and writing in that journal. I plan to do some reflecting on each of our kids~ on their strengths and weaknesses and how I can intentionally encourage them in this next season. I want to be purposeful about entering into this new year: What are the areas of my life that God would like to see growth in? How can I best love God, Mark, and the kids? Family and friends? I don't ever formally make New Years resolutions, but I do usually make a list in my journal of things I'd like to do in the coming year, more like reminders to myself. (Not as in "go here and do this" types of things, but things like: laugh more... play more games with the kids... listen. really pay attention, when the kids speak to me... be faithful to put down what you're doing and greet Mark when he comes home from work... things like that.)

Oh! I'm also intrigued by these recent posts about prayerfully choosing a theme for the year. I love that idea.

I also really like this idea of a perpetual calendar (you'll have to read the description to get the idea), and clearly I would make my own with index cards and a box or basket, but- the idea would be to record things the kids have said that day or add snippets of what we've done during our days... but I don't know that I'll ever actually do it. (Hmm... I'm now thinking that maybe I could somehow incorporate that idea into my existing journal~ I could just have scraps of a certain color paper at the ready-- or, easier yet!-- a certain colored pen handy, and when I sit down to journal I could jot down a snippet from our day, something one of the kids did or said... Then, when I look back through my journal, everything in that color would represent my "perpetual calendar". Why, thank you for letting me "think out loud", there. :))

Seems like all of the above-listed things may take more than a month to accomplish (!), but we'll see.

Many blessings to each of *you* as you enter into this new year God has given! If you want to reach me, I'll still be checking email and would be happy to hear from you.

~Stacy

Grateful: Monday, December 27

~ that Mark had the whole week before Christmas off!

~ aunties and uncles and cousins galore!

~ celebrating my grandpa's 90th birthday, and being surrounded by that extended family I love so much

~ Ella's happy sigh one evening, coming home from a Christmas event: "I just love having cousins!"

~ homemade cinnamon rolls, two days in a row

~ homemade pizzas on Christmas Eve, and making them with my dear sisters-in-law

~ Isaac's nativity scene for our Christmas cards this year, colored in by all our kids

~ Christmas morning breakfast, lovingly prepared by my parents

~ a traditional Christmas dinner, with ham, potatoes and rolls- made by mom

~ siblings, and all the days we've lived together and the inside jokes that are so abundant at these gatherings

~ gifts given that were loved

~ grandparents who love my children well

~ our kids' exuberance over giving gifts to children across the world: baby chicks! fruit trees! blankets! meals! clean water! mosquito nets! sports equipment!

~ skyping with Michelle, days before Christmas

~ singing Happy Birthday to Jesus; blowing out the candles on our coffee cake that morning

~ our slumber party by the tree

~ playing Settlers and Ticket to Ride with Mark, doing a wintry puzzle, and playing LEGO Creationary with Isaac

~ the kids all tumbled onto our bed on Christmas morning with their stockings

~ all the gifts Ella so carefully made this year: a sewn pillow for Audra's baby, a mobile for me with colored ornaments hanging from it, an ornament in my stocking that said "JOY", pictures for the boys, a phone for Adelia, a drum for Audra

~ Isaac's question to me a few days before Christmas: "Mommy? What is the thing you love most in all the world?" [My response was 'daddy' until he clarified: "No. Something I could wrap and put in your stocking!"] So I said 'chocolate', and then opened my stocking to find that he'd tucked all sorts of chocolates into it

~ Audra's any-time-of-the-day cuddles, the way she wraps her arms tight around me and says "I yuv you so mush!" What a joy she is!

(counting up His lavish gifts, #s 1326-1346)