October Goodness

In a season of fatigue, it is helpful to stop and focus on our blessings, great and small things alike.

I will not forget your goodness.

I love apple season.

First caramel apple.

Chicka chicka boom boom afterschool snack. This idea is on Pinterest, but our kiwis were past prime, so we substituted green apple slices.

Our Latvians are very excited about their first Halloween!

 

 

When A returned home, running around town after hours looking for birthday items that Target was out of. I have been spoiled in my formerly free-er stay-at-home life. It is quite difficult to arrange surprises when you are never alone!

How strong are eggs? Walking through the scientific method.

 

We were surprised to find that we could stack 30 schoolbooks on top of our eggs.

 

 

 

37.2 pounds of pressure...more than we thought they could take....

Measuring volume. Ice cube gum is approximately 1 cubic centimeter if you are all out of math manipulatives.

The donkey in the middle of the road

When the strength of the laborers is giving out.....

Don't panic. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.

Isaiah 41:10

Like Balaam, I am beating a stubborn donkey, and it's only response is to crush my foot against the wall and lay down in the middle of the road.

(Numbers 22:25-27)

May I have eyes to see God's hand of protection over me and our family. May I trust God's heart when I receive news that I do not wish to hear.

May I not bow my back and assert what I will not do, what I have had enough of...may I walk in humility and say, "I will not fight you on this."

 

Weekend...do what you wanna do

Grandmama gave Laurel bread-making lessons. We had tea and toast for our after school snack today. Mmmm. Can I have a lesson too? Then again, that might be dangerous.

Celebrating my sweet friend's engagement and birthday while the kids celebrated another friend's birthday and A celebrated his Gamecocks

Unearth outdoor arts festival at Saluda Shoals. My man escaped this one as he had to catch a flight. The kids groaned, but later admitted that we actually had a really neat Sabbath afternoon.

Down by the river

Hiking along The Fairy Trail

Various artisans were set up along the way doing art in natural settings.

Interacting with clay...You are the potter, shaping us as seems best to You.

All those Percy Jackson books must have inspired this hydra at the pottery station....

We listened to a symphony and watched aerialists and other circus performers...this was a great venue for families as we could munch on snacks and not disrupt.

My mom was gracious to have us over for dinner and haircuts. We tumbled into bed, pooped, but satisfied from the fun day.

Better

Today was better. Sweet even. When one of the three who had already been sick woke up with another fever, it became a sick day. Someone responded to my mass of S.O.S emergency sub texts with "You're in luck. I have my CD in my car...driving there now" and covered my pilates class for me. To her it was a fortunate coincidence. To me, it was God's foreknowledge, evidence of God's care. That CD would be in her car on the day my child would be sick, and she would be willing to teach in my place. Everyone would be taken care of.

We went outside for an impromptu homeschool science lesson on at plant roots. This was sheer fabrication because we needed to weed the front flower bed. However, if you need to do a chore, you might as well learn something while you are out there. "Kids...what do roots do? What does it mean to be rooted and grounded?" And if you're out there doing work it always seems to turn into a competition. "Mom, can the kid with the most weeds get three stickers?" "Um, sure, weed to your heart's content."

Combinations in math using toys.

3 parts times 2 color choices equals 6 ways to make a creature.

 

I asked my son to cover up his mosquito bites with a bandaid so that he would not scratch them.

Hmmm....

Do you ever have piles of bandaid litter waiting for you?

We watched a DVD about how kids around the world celebrate losing teeth and decided that the ends of candy corn look something like baby teeth if you haven't been losing any of your own lately. Any reason to tie in a festive snack with some learning....

Combinations in math using toys.

The girls looking up beauty treatments from the Internet.

Walking out of the house the moment one of these bowls of oil and water spilled all over the kitchen floor. Loving our babysitting friend even more when she told us to go on and she would handle it!

My man brought me flowers in my favorite fall colors.

(It's close to our anniversary)

 

We went on a date to a restaurant we had never tried with a cool vibe that had a terrace. It was delicious. I left Old El Paso tacos from a box for my kids at home and had delicious fish tacos al fresco. Didn't feel guilty either. Kids? What kids? Hey! I remember you, love of my life.

Afterwards we turned back into an old married couple and ran errands to Hobby Lobby looking for elusive birthday party items for a daughter. Then to Home Depot for essentials like floodlight bulbs, pumpkins, and armor all. Then to CVS for value packs of bandaids and supersized kid ibuprofin. 5 kids times the family funk is a lot of over-the-counter-medication!

Then to Panera for let's plan our life quiet...except we didn't realize that they closed at 9:00...and it took four employees to figure out how to make the drinks we ordered...so that wasn't quite what we'd envisioned and we couldn't have long meaningful conversations in the 12 minutes remaining. So, our life remains unplanned. Starbucks-to-go next time.

 

 

10 Beautiful Things

I am drowning with fatigue. The seaweed is wrapped around my head, and like the Psalmist, I look up and ask for help.

These things I call to mind: 10 moments worth remembering. I pause at the end of the day to savor the good and not dwell on that which wants to consume me. I redirect my thoughts.

1. Being able to share the company and hope of other Christ-believing women as we discussed Nehemiah this morning.

2. Laughing at my friend's slightly irreverent yet truthful t-shirt.

 

3. Watching my son pull the herbie-curbie out next to the pile of recycling...on his ripstick. Noticing a zinnia that hadn't been there the day before. For 30 seconds taking in a rosy evening sky.

4. Knowing that my husband took care of the van's brakes and ordered a new rear-windshield wiper. His love language is acts of service, so I can now translate this into a gesture of love. I never would have gotten around to attending to replacing that part. Couldn't muster up the energy or brain-power to look after that too.

5. Knowing that God placed me in a certain Bible Study to cross paths with several neat blogging women with similar hearts. Being able to begin to share our adoption journey with someone just beginning the paper trail. Being able to pray for two women in this morning's study who have hearts for adoption and knowing that God will honor their desire to honor Him in His time.

6. Seeing the neighbor kids perfectly content to hang out at our house, sit on our couch, and play wildly with our kids. Having to send everybody home in the evenings as they would be happy to stay. Reminding myself that we prayed for this as the noise level reaches all-time heights.

7. Sitting on the back porch with my preteen after school and hearing how awful her day was...just being able to listen, and that she would want to tell me about it.

8. Asking the same daughter for forgiveness later when I went off on her for going off on a sister. Nothing makes me crazier than my kids being mean to one another. Knowing that forgiveness was granted and that there is room for grace for parents too when my mom-crazy attacks like a bear.

9. Discovering that we still had pancakes in the freezer when the Williams Sonoma peanut soup that the girls started was actually a 7 hour crockpot recipe and wouldn't be finished until tomorrow.

10. Receiving a bag of boy clothes handed down from a friend. Marveling at the concrete ways God loves me when I feel so far from happy days of long restful conversations with Jesus. A pumpkin bread. A bag of clothes. A single zinnia in the yard.

I long for the days of silence and solitude, where being in God's presence and feeling joyful are easy. Today is busy love. Today is loving the one in front of my nose instead of being able to go or give or volunteer or help. Today is walking in humility wishing I were more on top of things and had more to give. Today is resting in grace for all that I cannot give.

I found this quote from Jen Hatmaker's blog so helpful for this stage.

"This is not the time for feelings" by Melissa Fay Greene on the first year of adoption.


"Put Feelings on a back-burner. This is not the time for Feelings. If you could express your feelings right now, you’d be saying things like, “Oh my God, I must have lost my mind to think that I can handle this, to think that I wanted a child like this. I’ll never manage to raise this child; I’m way way way way over my head. I’ll never spend time with my spouse or friends again; my older children are going to waste away in profound neglect; my career is finished. I am completely and utterly trapped.” You see? What’s the point of expressing all that right now? Put Feelings in the deep freeze. Live a material life instead: wake, dress, eat, walk. Let your hands and words mother the new child, don’t pause to look back, to reflect, or to experience emotions. “Shut up, Emotions,” you’ll say. “I’ll check back with you in six months to see if you’ve pulled yourselves together. But no whining meanwhile!”

Two by two

Recently, life has happened in twos.

Two of our kids came down with the throw-up once bug.

Two of our kids lost a tooth. (The T.F. slept in on the second occasion and had to make an emergency fly by in the a.m.....Don't tell me this has never happened at your house!)

We scheduled a date in between Andy's trip to Orlando and his conference in Kentucky.

We made plans for two children's choir performances and began to recruit two sets of dancing angels for this year's Singing Christmas Tree.

We had two baseball games (and washed the uniform two times).

We made arrangements for the girls to have two piano lessons a month to get their feet wet and see how the interest goes.

We made two batches of pumpkin breads to tell our teachers that we appreciate them.

We were surprised and blessed to receive a pumpkin bread (and a banana bread) from one of my Pilates class members. As we enjoyed this for our after school snack, we were able to talk about how God always takes care of us when we are trying to love others. Bread sent from heaven!

We wash about two loads of laundry every day. We load and unload the dishwasher every day.

We make the carpool route two times a day. I've inquired about joining two other carpools and been told there's no room in the inn (van) both times. I'm taking this as a sign that God has a purpose for time spent in close quarters.

We go to the grocery store at least twice a week for four gallons of milk.

We went to this store twice yesterday to return a busted Halloween costume (after 2 minutes of use).

The girls made two recipes for dinner....Latvian salad (How about that mayonnaise?) This is much tastier than it looks.

 

and corn casserole a la Paula Deen (add a stick of butter). I love their eagerness to help which seems to be fueled partially by a sistlerly cook-off competition.

2 x 2

Skip counting by twos....whisper the odd numbers, shout the evens

Comparing children's versions of Noah's ark with the Biblical one

Homeschool plurals....how do you explain why "geese" is not gooses?

Two...there were exactly two kids sitting on the office bench at 3:16 waiting to be picked up after school. Mine. I had attempted to make a run for the border across from our middle school carpool pick up, but there was no hurrying tacos. Not my best multi-tasking Mom moment.

There's always two-morrow to try again. I think God keeps parenting perfection out of reach so that we understand loud and clear how much we need Him.

 

Disturb Us Lord