Tagged!

My sister tagged me to do this a few days ago so I thought I better get it done!

8 Things I Am Passionate About

1. God and His Word

2. Living life according to His Word, even in little things (with His strength, of course!)

3. homeschooling my kids and protecting our right to continue to do that

4. teaching my children about God and life and how to apply God's Word to every circumstance they face

5. my family and staying close to them, even across the miles

6. trying to stay organized, spend wisely and keep my house generally clean, trying to make a nice home for my family

7. church involvement, doing my part in building the body of Christ

8. rubber stamping

8 Things I Say Often

1. "Good morning" to my kids as they come out of their rooms

2. "Get to the table for school!"

3. "Put your laundry away, please."

4. "Have you done your chores?"

5. "Hush, Piper!" (to the dog when she barks unnecessarily)

6. "What are you doing, little girl?" (to Dresden)

7. "Gosh!"

8. "I love you so much, too." (to Dresden after she tells me she loves me "too much")

I'm sure you can tell I spend most of my time talking to kids!

8 Things I've Read Recently

1. The Preacher's Daughter by Beverly Lewis

2. The Englisher by Beverly Lewis

3. The Brethren by Beverly Lewis

4. hand-me-down Reader's Digest from my grandma

5. Sunrise and Summer, both by Karen Kingsbury

6. Sunday Clothes by Thom Lemmons

7. Bible and various Bible Study books

8. blogs!

8 Things I Want to Do Before I Die

1. See my children grow up and have their own families

2. Go back to Europe and take Dresden to Dresden, Germany

3. Go on a cruise

4. Celebrate lots of anniversaries and birthdays!

5. Continue in sanctification

6. Buy a house with a yard and a garage and hopefully a basement

7. Travel to places in the US I have never been

8. Save more money

8 Songs I Can Listen to Over and Over

1. Dresden singing "Jesus Loves Me"

2. Be Thou My Vision

3. Since I can't think of many individual songs, I will just mention a few cds, singers or groups I like: Indelible Grace

4. Nathan Clark George

5. Steve Green kids cds...they help me memorize Scripture too!

6. Patmos

7. Mannheim Steamroller Christmas

8. Other good Christmas cds

8 Things That Attract Me to My Friends

1. Their faith and love for God

2. Similar interests/beliefs

3. Similar life situations and perspectives

4. Sense of humor

5. encouragement

6. loving, trustworthy

7. easy to talk to

8. humility, self-sacrificing

8 Things I have Learned in the Last Year

1. I CAN live in a 3rd floor apartment with 3 kids!

2. God provides what you need when you need it, usually better than you could have done yourself

3. I enjoy living in Kansas City again when there was a time that I thought I would prefer other places

4. I CAN drive confidently on the highways of a big city!

5. Kids are always learning things!

6. History is more interesting the second time around!

7. It is possible to completely rearrange and reorganize 2 kids bedrooms in about 48 hours, including setting up new beds!

8. God's timing is always right.

I am not tagging anyone because I think everyone who reads my blog has already been tagged!

Dresden-isms

Dresden is talking more and more every day. It is always so much fun to watch them attempt to communicate all that they have been taking in during their first two years of life. She is still in the stage where she needs some interpreting when she is talking to people who are not around her 24 hours/day but it is getting clearer to all very quickly!

(WARNING: this post might be a little boring to those who do not know and love her but it is mostly to help me to keep track of some of the things she is saying now before she moves on and I forget them!)

She LOVES animals of all kinds and has thoroughly enjoyed our trips to the zoo this year. The elephants are one of her favorites and she calls them "eths". She has just started adding another syllable to it, making it "ethen". She also says "hip-poo", "jaff", and "pea-ca-cock".

She has just recently started telling us all that she loves us. She will say, "I la Mommy, I la Daddy, I la "Addey" , I la "Neem". (She calls Alley "Addey" and Liam "Neem".) Sometimes she says, "I la so much!"

She knows there is a new baby in my tummy and she calls it "the tummy baby". The other day she said, "Yisten, Yisten!.... tummy baby come out, I hold dat one!"

She calls herself "Dezzen" and last night I called her a sweet girl and she said, "No, I Dezzen!"

She tries to count but it usually comes out "for, fi, six, go!" She has been adding "I like..." to the beginning of lots of her words. She is just generally communicating more and more and we are all enjoying talking to her.

The other day, Liam got his feelings hurt over something and he was crying a little bit. She went in the bedroom where he was and said, "Stop a-cyin NOW!" (Stop crying now!) He couldn't help but laugh as he came to tell us what she said!

Being Thankful

I am sure I have mentioned before how much I enjoy fall and especially Thanksgiving. Part of the reason for this is the family tradition that my parents started in our family about 15 years ago. Each year we each individually write a list of ALL the things we can possibly think of that we are thankful for, big or small, important or seemingly insignificant. I haven't yet put pen to paper this year but several things have been running through my mind over the last few days as I have begun to ponder this. The kids and I discussed in our Bible time during school one day recently that we are to "put off" complaining and grumbling and we are to "put on" thankfulness, gratitude and contentment. We talked about how we should practice doing this and "train" ourselves to be thankful in all circumstances as we are told to do in the Bible, since this does not usually come naturally to us! A Thanksgiving list is one of the best ways to practice this! Together, we have been praying that God will bring to our minds things that we should be thankful for, even if they are not obvious to us.

Last night I attended a meeting for homeschool moms in our church. We get together once a month to share ideas and encourage each other. Last night several women were telling about the tension that results as they try to balance both sides of their families and their expectations during the holidays. Because of my husband having only a "guardian" family from his teenage years to consider as his family, we really don't have that pressure. Even though I am sure there are some "in-law" blessings that I am missing out on, I am thankful to not have that particular stress at the holidays.

In the kitchen after our time of discussion, I was talking with two ladies about children with special needs and the specific challenges and concerns of these little ones and their parents. I don't know what the future holds but I am thankful that so far that has not been my lot.

I got in the van to head home and turned on the Christian radio station. I'm not sure what program it was but it was an interview with a couple who had struggled with infertility issues for years and then ended up adopting three children. I know adoption is a wonderful thing but it just reminded me to be thankful that infertility was not something we have had to walk through and that we have the blessing of having natural children.

I got home and got out of the van and headed to the stairs up to our third floor apartment. I saw a woman walking her dog in the grass. She was walking with the aid of a brace of some kind. I realized that she probably would be glad to live on the third floor if it meant she had the legs to get her there. I realized as I came into my home, where my husband and children were waiting for me, that God was answering my prayer...He was showing me lots of things for which I should be thankful.

It is easy to grumble and complain and notice all the things that others have when we don't. And rest assured, there will always be SOMEBODY with more than us but the opposite is also true...there will always be someone with LESS than us. We need to remember, and encourage each other to remember, that God's will for us is to be thankful. (I Thess. 5:18)

I read something this week that was a good reminder: Thanksgiving is when we celebrate what we already have.

(And we get to eat pumpkin pie!!!!!)