Thursday, December 25, 2008
Christmas 2008
Our Christmas celebration has been lovely. I haven't seen our children so excited for Christmas to come as they were this year. I'm not quite sure why. I know that I had a hard time getting myself in the right spirit for the season. We only baked 1 kind of cookie this year and didn't get to many of our regular traditions. I was feeling like I hadn't done a very good job giving them a nice Christmas. That didn't matter to them, I guess. They were happy with the tree, gingerbread cookies to decorate, gifts under the tree and time together. I'm pretty happy with that too. (And I'll keep it in mind for next year. ;)
We attended church on Christmas Eve with David's parents, Ron and Renee and his sister, Manon. After church, we went to Ron and Renee's for dinner and to open gifts. It was a nice evening together, though we did get home pretty late. I was thankful some of the children had taken naps that day!
Christmas morning is always very special to us. Once everyone is awake, we all hunt for Baby Jesus to put in the creche. This is an "accidental" tradition that started when Elizabeth was very young. (Baby Jesus really was lost and needed to be found before we could open gifts.) Now someone hides him for the rest of the family to find. (except this year...he really was lost again. )
Once the hunt is finished and breakfast and coffee are rollin' the gift opening fun begins! I love to watch everyone open their gifts. After searching and stashing the entire year, it's so rewarding to see their faces light up. I'm also thankful that they are still delighted with simple gifts like a bundle of books and photo collages of them with their siblings. This was Verity-Grace's first Christmas and she enjoyed every bit of the festivities.
The rest of the day we spent relaxing, eating and enjoying our new treasures. It's easy to say that Christmas Day is our favorite day of the year. Simple, quiet and filled with precious memories. I am thankful for such a special time to focus our hearts on each other and on Jesus. Keeping Him foremost every day is what we strive for. Enjoying Him today while the world joins us is truly a gift.
Monday, December 22, 2008
The Deep Freeze
Joshua - age 9
Yes, we enjoyed yet another grand adventure in the history of our frozen state. The largest power outage in NH history found us in the dark for 4 days. We were thankful for the woodstove David put in this fall. It kept us and our pipes nice and warm while the world outside looked like it was encased in glass.
Elizabeth was delighted to be forced back to the pioneer days. She had buckets lined up all around the house collecting water as the ice melted and then warming it on the stove for washing and such. All the children loved living by candlelight. Ruth was praying the "'letricitee" would never come back because she loves "sleeping by candles." ;)
Monday night we got our power back on and started the all week marathon of laundry. It takes a while to catch up. I think we also turned on every light in the house that first night...just 'cause we could. :)
Somehow we didn't loose power on the next big storm. But oh, what a lot of snow we have now!! Since winter just officially began a day ago, I'm confident we haven't seen the last of power outages and snow days for a long while.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Another year gone by
Okay, so a year later and I'm still pretty clueless with this. Eventually I will catch on, so in the meantime here's an update on life in our lil' world.
David is enjoying a bit of a slow-down with work after a very busy year. We are so thankful to have had another year showing profit. The Lord has blessed us beyond our prayers and we praise Him greatly. It's possible that the winter season may allow for him to try some new endeavors. We will have to see how the Lord works those things out.
I have been spending most of my time trying to find that "new normal" that is supposed to happen after a new baby arrives. Since Verity Grace was born in May our life stayed pretty active, so it's been a bit of a challenge. The cold winter months are giving me hope that we will settle in to a quieter routine. I am attempting to make some pretty big changes in our home. With me, any type of change is a challenge, so doing more than one at the same time requires more brain power than I am often able to muster. The Lord is good and patient, though. I'll get there bit by bit.
Elizabeth's seizures returned for a week in October. That gave us a scare and put us into research mode again. We continue to adjust our diets and nutrition choices and are awaiting a consult with a local Osteopathic doctor. We're praying for some guidance in this area.
Joshua just finished building me a great bird feeder. He has grown in his love for the outdoors. He loves to fish and hunt and still struggles with sitting still for long. His reading improves more and more and he starting to like bits and pieces of school work...little tiny bits and pieces.
Benjy is officially a first grader this year. He's doing well. He follows his brother closely and has such a quick and clever mind.
Ruth is growing but still a petite little thing. She talks a mile a minute and wants to "do school" every hour of the day. She a true little princess through and through. Dresses, shoes, hair...everything pink.
Susannah is a combination of dollies and dirt. She loves all things girly as long as she can bring them along on her outdoor adventures with her brothers. She rarely falls behind the others and also stays busy with her "school books". I'd love to report that she is a potty-training champ...sigh...that will be another post. (and hopefully not another year from now!!)
Our sweet little Pretty Bit, Verity Grace will be 7mos. old soon. She is sitting up and hands out smiles that light your world. I cannot imagine making it through the day sometimes without her beautiful smile and sparkling eyes shining at me.
Today a few of us are down with colds so we are hanging out with our chicken soup and movies hoping to feel better soon. I'll try to play around a bit more and see if I can make this blog something that looks official.
David is enjoying a bit of a slow-down with work after a very busy year. We are so thankful to have had another year showing profit. The Lord has blessed us beyond our prayers and we praise Him greatly. It's possible that the winter season may allow for him to try some new endeavors. We will have to see how the Lord works those things out.
I have been spending most of my time trying to find that "new normal" that is supposed to happen after a new baby arrives. Since Verity Grace was born in May our life stayed pretty active, so it's been a bit of a challenge. The cold winter months are giving me hope that we will settle in to a quieter routine. I am attempting to make some pretty big changes in our home. With me, any type of change is a challenge, so doing more than one at the same time requires more brain power than I am often able to muster. The Lord is good and patient, though. I'll get there bit by bit.
Elizabeth's seizures returned for a week in October. That gave us a scare and put us into research mode again. We continue to adjust our diets and nutrition choices and are awaiting a consult with a local Osteopathic doctor. We're praying for some guidance in this area.
Joshua just finished building me a great bird feeder. He has grown in his love for the outdoors. He loves to fish and hunt and still struggles with sitting still for long. His reading improves more and more and he starting to like bits and pieces of school work...little tiny bits and pieces.
Benjy is officially a first grader this year. He's doing well. He follows his brother closely and has such a quick and clever mind.
Ruth is growing but still a petite little thing. She talks a mile a minute and wants to "do school" every hour of the day. She a true little princess through and through. Dresses, shoes, hair...everything pink.
Susannah is a combination of dollies and dirt. She loves all things girly as long as she can bring them along on her outdoor adventures with her brothers. She rarely falls behind the others and also stays busy with her "school books". I'd love to report that she is a potty-training champ...sigh...that will be another post. (and hopefully not another year from now!!)
Our sweet little Pretty Bit, Verity Grace will be 7mos. old soon. She is sitting up and hands out smiles that light your world. I cannot imagine making it through the day sometimes without her beautiful smile and sparkling eyes shining at me.
Today a few of us are down with colds so we are hanging out with our chicken soup and movies hoping to feel better soon. I'll try to play around a bit more and see if I can make this blog something that looks official.
Friday, September 14, 2007
An intro to us...
We are just getting started in the world of blogging. It's quite an experiment and we hope it will be a blessing to our family and friends and others as well as ourselves. I'm hoping to become a little more "tech savvy" and learn how to post photos and such.
We are a family in progress. Every day is filled with challenges..some new and some that continue to repeat. (Like the never ending pile of laundry!) I have been a little "couch bound" in this early stage of pregnancy, so life has already seen some twists and turns. I am amazed, though, at the wonderful way the children have all worked together to help out and do their part to "grow this baby strong".
We recently implemented a MOTH (Managers of Their Homes) schedule that has been a tremendous help these past couple of weeks. We all know what to do and when...now we just have to work on the "want" to do it!
This weekend David and Joshua are going to a weekend hunting class. They are both very excited to go away together and learn some fun things. David hopes to get a deer this year...we shall see!!
We have embarked on a new adventure at our church. We have just begun leading a Family Sunday School Class before service each week. It is a very new concept to us and everyone else! We had six families join last week and it was a wonderful experience. We are together as families studying the book of Proverbs and learning to disciple our children in God's word. We hope this is just the beginning of great new things as we continue our quest towards a more family integrated approach to worship and learning.
David owns his own painting company and continues to wear many hats each day. Being a business owner is a huge blessing filled with great challenges. He is working in the field more and more and has moved his office home for some late nights, early mornings and Saturday work. I am trying a little at a time to learn the ropes in the office, but I am afraid I am a very slow learner when it comes to accounting and numbers. I am convinced that my almost 1o year old, Elizabeth, will surpass me very soon in my role.
I continue to enjoy my role in leading the "Mom's Mentorship Meeting" in our local homeschool support group. We meet monthly and will be learning from the lives of mothers in the Bible. I have much to learn and am grateful to be doing it alongside these other great ladies in our group!
Joshua continues to improve little by little with his reading and does very well with math. He loves drawing and impresses us all with his sketches. Mostly, he prefers to be on the move riding his bike, climbing, building or swimming in the pool.
Elizabeth is very independent with her learning. She loves to play the piano still and thinks it is supercool that she is beginning to learn latin this year. Go figure!! She is also hoping to get in some riding lessons this fall, as we have been graciously offered 4 free lessons!!
Benjamin loves reading and working with numbers, but still struggles with writing. It'll come eventually, but it's very fun to work with him as he loves to learn. He taught himself to ride a two-wheeler this summer and is very proud. Now we are just working on teaching him about brakes!! (Before he learns about "breaks"!)
Ruth has grown in her love for books. Just this week she has taken to "reading" books to me. She either "reads" the pictures or from what she remembers from the story. She's as petite as always and truly loves her baby sister. I am a little surprised by how much she adores her.
Susannah is finally picking up a few words! She now clearly calls, "Mom!" when she wakes in the morning, "dat!" and was firmly telling her big sis to "top!" (stop!) Of course, she's as cute as can be! She's constantly on the move and keeps everyone hopping.
We also have a new-to-us dog named Zipper. He's a black and white rat terrier and sweet as can be. He is a total lap dog, so the kids have a little trouble getting him to play, but we couldn't ask for a more easy-going family pet.
I guess that's us in a nutshell. Of course every short story has a long one to go with it. That's the reason you blog more than once, right?? (heeeheee!)
Blessings to you!!
We are a family in progress. Every day is filled with challenges..some new and some that continue to repeat. (Like the never ending pile of laundry!) I have been a little "couch bound" in this early stage of pregnancy, so life has already seen some twists and turns. I am amazed, though, at the wonderful way the children have all worked together to help out and do their part to "grow this baby strong".
We recently implemented a MOTH (Managers of Their Homes) schedule that has been a tremendous help these past couple of weeks. We all know what to do and when...now we just have to work on the "want" to do it!
This weekend David and Joshua are going to a weekend hunting class. They are both very excited to go away together and learn some fun things. David hopes to get a deer this year...we shall see!!
We have embarked on a new adventure at our church. We have just begun leading a Family Sunday School Class before service each week. It is a very new concept to us and everyone else! We had six families join last week and it was a wonderful experience. We are together as families studying the book of Proverbs and learning to disciple our children in God's word. We hope this is just the beginning of great new things as we continue our quest towards a more family integrated approach to worship and learning.
David owns his own painting company and continues to wear many hats each day. Being a business owner is a huge blessing filled with great challenges. He is working in the field more and more and has moved his office home for some late nights, early mornings and Saturday work. I am trying a little at a time to learn the ropes in the office, but I am afraid I am a very slow learner when it comes to accounting and numbers. I am convinced that my almost 1o year old, Elizabeth, will surpass me very soon in my role.
I continue to enjoy my role in leading the "Mom's Mentorship Meeting" in our local homeschool support group. We meet monthly and will be learning from the lives of mothers in the Bible. I have much to learn and am grateful to be doing it alongside these other great ladies in our group!
Joshua continues to improve little by little with his reading and does very well with math. He loves drawing and impresses us all with his sketches. Mostly, he prefers to be on the move riding his bike, climbing, building or swimming in the pool.
Elizabeth is very independent with her learning. She loves to play the piano still and thinks it is supercool that she is beginning to learn latin this year. Go figure!! She is also hoping to get in some riding lessons this fall, as we have been graciously offered 4 free lessons!!
Benjamin loves reading and working with numbers, but still struggles with writing. It'll come eventually, but it's very fun to work with him as he loves to learn. He taught himself to ride a two-wheeler this summer and is very proud. Now we are just working on teaching him about brakes!! (Before he learns about "breaks"!)
Ruth has grown in her love for books. Just this week she has taken to "reading" books to me. She either "reads" the pictures or from what she remembers from the story. She's as petite as always and truly loves her baby sister. I am a little surprised by how much she adores her.
Susannah is finally picking up a few words! She now clearly calls, "Mom!" when she wakes in the morning, "dat!" and was firmly telling her big sis to "top!" (stop!) Of course, she's as cute as can be! She's constantly on the move and keeps everyone hopping.
We also have a new-to-us dog named Zipper. He's a black and white rat terrier and sweet as can be. He is a total lap dog, so the kids have a little trouble getting him to play, but we couldn't ask for a more easy-going family pet.
I guess that's us in a nutshell. Of course every short story has a long one to go with it. That's the reason you blog more than once, right?? (heeeheee!)
Blessings to you!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)