Our weekend

We had a really good weekend. Busy, and the kids were a little high strung from all the excitement, but it was great.

Saturday they had 2 parties to go to, back to back! It was really nice for me though because I didn't need to stay at either of them, AND even better than that, was that they actually slept in until after 7am today!! Owen even made it to 8! This is a MAJOR accomplishment for my kids and therefore, it is blog-worthy :)

Troy still has yet to get a deer....sigh. Oh well, eventually, they can't hide forever...oh wait, maybe they can! But there is still at least 6 more weeks of hunting season left so with any luck, he will get something to fill our freezer with.

Happy Hallowe'en

It's About Grace and Striving for Joy

Today, we pull out the paints.
I will let them make messes, explore, learn, grow, have fun.
It's a learning process.
This living of life.
It's about trusting His grace and striving for His joy.
Joy that He will bring to fullness in us.
It's about not making it about me, but oh how easy it is to make it about me some days (most days).

Today, we laugh and love and forgive.
For that is what families do.
They support and encourage each other.
It's a learning process.
This melding of lives.
It's about trusting that God brought us here and that He is enough to see us through to the end.
It's Him making us Holy, through this life we live.
The choices we make, the ways we fall and the mercy that lifts us up after the 100th time of stumbling over the same rock in the path.

Today we rest in Him, knowing that He is more than enough for all we need.
That His love will endure through everything that falls into our lives.
That God is sovereign and He is in it all.
Working good in lives that long to follow Him, that long to worship from the heart, that long to live as he is calling them to live.

When You're Just Plain Done

• You send your oldest son to a birthday party you told him 2 days prior he couldn't go to (he was biting his sister) because the thought of entertaining 3 children causes you to break down in tears.

• You sign up children for numerous Halloween parties next weekend because it means you don't have to deal with them.

• You're house looks and sounds like world war 3 because consistency is not in your vocabulary right now, and neither is the desire to clean or tidy.

• Finding clothes that actually fit (as in, will stay on when being pulled at by children) is a challenge so pyjamas  is your choice of clothing (and you wonder why your youngest refuses to wear anything else but p.j's!)

• You want to hide and just let someone else deal with it all.

• You find your children playing in the bathroom with a couch, blankets, pillows and your first thought is to just leave them and then you realize that you don't remember the last time the floor got washed and maybe, that's not such a good idea. So you threaten to throw the couch out if they ever EVER play in the bathroom again (because they know better, they are told on a weekly basis that they bathroom is ONLY for brushing teeth, having a bath or going potty)

• You let your youngest sleep in bed with you because they thought of morning starting at 5:20am is too much to comprehend!

• You do your share of apologizing to everyone who comes in contact with you, but especially your kids and husband.

• You whine and complain in blog-land because you just don't care what you sound like any more!

Yup, I'm done. Completely.  Was looking forward to a weekend away, but it's not going to be able to happen.

This week, not my finest mothering week. At. All!

It gets easier right?? Right?? Or does it just get different??

Splish, Splash

With  Owen being the only one home on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I find that I am looking for ways to pass the time. Because I do not always feel like being out of the house. 

 He loves the bath, and bubbles are a favourite. It's super nice for him to be able to enjoy a bath without his brother and sister around to get in his way.

This past week alone, we have literally spent hours in the tub! 

(it's a great time for me to clean the bathroom too!)

Grandparents and Fall

My parents came up for Thanksgiving weekend. It was so much fun. The kids had a blast and it was a great little break for me.

Their visit included swimming at the hotel pool, food and family on Thanksgiving Sunday and a trip to the pumpkin farm on the Monday.

All the wonders of fall crammed into a *short* 5 days!

For the Love of Diggers

Owen has a mild obsession with diggers. He's a boy, he's supposed to. Today I was looking for something to occupy him for more than 10 minutes! 

And this:

Worked wonderfully!

Now I know what to do to keep him busy when I need to accomplish something that little boys just shouldn't be helping with!

Yup...

They really do love each other!

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend. My parents were up for 5 days and they stayed at a hotel this time so the kids and I were at the pool everyday. I definately have a couple of little fish on my hands. Alexandra is at a dangerous stage right now though because she thinks that she is a better swimmer than she actually is and will jump in before anyone even knows she has made it to the pool!

We spent a lot of Monday out at Belluz Farm. They have fall activities going on for the kids and we had a blast. There was a 3 acre corn maze, a pie pumpkin hunt through corn (the kids found some great ones!) and a tractor ride. It was a wonderful way to spend the last full day of their visit.

This week has been busy. We are learning what it means to trust God to provide for us, to lean on Him when we aren't sure what the future holds.

All I need to know though is that God ALWAYS knows what He is doing and that is enough for me.

It's early when the alarm goes off, and I use that term *alarm* in the loose sense of the word. My alarm these days consists of the pitter-patter of little feet, sudden quiet and then a loud giggle and sharp elbows as 1 to 3 children come flying into bed.

It's at that point that I have a choice, do I roll over, grumpy like, pushing these warm, giggling bodies out of bed or do I welcome them in, tickling them in return and pulling pillow over head for them to pry off to choruses of "But Mommy, it's MORNING time" and a response of "Only if you can get the pillow off...."

Eventually they win, or I surrender, and am dragged into the kitchen to the voices chanting for breakfast and oatmeal and cer'al and toast with plain butter and.....

The day continues in a wild frenzy of lunch making, clothes finding, hats, jackets, backpacks and the mad scramble out the door as the bus turns the corner into view...do they miss it? Not once thus far, which is a feat in and of itself some mornings!!

These days, I wouldn't trade for the world. I truly would not.

These busiest moments in life, where it's about the little ones clustering around my feet, teaching them the joy of the Lord and the lessons of Love and Mercy and Grace in a world that just lacks it.

These moments of kissing boo-boos, being a walking kleenex, wiping bums and brushing teeth, snuggles and stories and the infectious laughter and shrieks of delight.

I was made for this.

By a God Who knew me even before He created me. Who knew who I was going to be, what I was going to do and the places I would end up in life. It's incredible, isn't?

I was asked a few days ago, if I wanted to be at home. I responded with a questioning look, not fully sure of the askers meaning. It was rephrased to do I want to be out of the house working.

Nope. I am so incredibly thankful, even on the hardest of hard days, that our family has the choice of me being at home.

I cannot begin to imagine the struggle of working moms, to go to work all day and come home and be everything to their kids in the few short hours before bed.

I am thankful to be at home, thankful to have that opportunity.

This Thanksgiving weekend, I am thankful for so much. There has been much going on lately, and the sermon at church today was a good reminder, that we need to be thankful in ALL circumstances, not just the ones that are known for causing our thanks to overflow.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Impacted by Words

 "Because it’s keeping secrets that keep us from being real. From being fully alive.

It is true: I am terrified to be real. But I am far more afraid to be false. Which would mean I cease to be."

* * * * 

Head Here to read Ann Voskamps words. She is a gifted writer and I find that her words speak across screen to my heart, laying Truth bare. 

Can you hear Him?

in the whisper in the wind, in the rustle of leaves falling to earth?

Do you see Him?

in the damp earth alive with life, in colours vibrant painting the ground?

"If you seek Me you will find Me, if you search for me with all your heart" Jeremiah 29:13

Words of Truth

Your lovingkindness, O Lord, extends to the heavens,

 Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

 Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;

 Your judgments are like a great deep.

 O LORD, You preserve man and beast.

 How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God!

 And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.

 They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house;

 And You give them to drink of the river of Your delights.

 For with You is the fountain of life;

 In Your light we see light.

O continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You,

 And Your righteousness to the upright in heart.

 Psalm 36: 5 - 10

Siblings

A bond like no other.

Seeking Joy

Lately, I have been intentional about seeking joy, finding it in the midst of a life that is hectic and busy and sometimes seems void of joy. 

It's not, but it can feel it sometimes (although we all know that feelings lie).

 I am thankful for my camera, and the ability that God has given me to find *joy* through the lens of a camera.

Even on the days that are long and busy if I have the time to pick up my camera, I can capture joy in the lives of my kids, I can find beauty in the creation that surrounds me.

 It is not a joy based on things, it is a joy the settles, a joy that I can see is filled with God.

 Where do you find your joy in the midst of daily life?