Women's retreat

This week I was able to go to a women's retreat about an hour away. I went with a group of ladies from my church. We had 18 women from our church. There were 6 churches that came together for this retreat. It was a time of refreshment and renewal. The fellowship was so sweet. This is the second time I've attended and I was so blessed to see and catch up with some of the ladies I met last year. We are all from within about a 50 mile radius but I don't run into them during the year. The villa I stayed in had 4 rooms, each with private bathrooms, and a main gathering room in the center. We had 10 ladies in total staying there, ranging in age between 26 and upper 70's! Let me tell you, these ladies were a hoot! We stayed up late laughing until we were crying. I couldn't imagine a better group of gals to room with, each of them were so genuine and enjoyable to be around. I can truly say I learned something from each of them. The worship service on Thursday night was amazing. We sang songs from back in my youth group days! At one point in " Alive, Alive, Alive forevermore " I closed my eyes and I could just imagine what it will sound like in heaven, all of our voices blended together singing praises to our God. Brought tears to my eyes and overwhelming joy to my heart. Friday morning we enjoyed listening to a speaker share about "Casa David".(you can Google it to find information about it) It was the mission project that was being sponsored. It is a lot like our Ronald McDonald houses. Our goal was to raise $1000.00 for them through a silent auction. We each brought jewelry or "girl stuff" from home to donate. I got a "new to me" purse! I love it! We ended up raising $2000.00! Isn't that wonderful!?! We then broke out into smaller groups, learning different topics. I attended a class on parenting, one on marriage, and one on sowing seeds. Those classes were offered on Friday and Saturday morning. Friday afternoon we went into a small neighboring town and had a great pumpkin race. The ladies in charge hid 10 pumpkins around town and a few on the grounds of the retreat and each pumpkin had a value that you could apply to the cost of next year's retreat! I didn't find any, but a few ladies from our group did! We finished on Saturday afternoon, and left the grounds after lunch. My crew was ready for me to be home, although they did have a good time with dad. They got to go to McDonald's for dinner one night and had doughnuts for breakfast one morning and practiced a litle baseball! He spoils them when I'm gone. 😆 I'm feeling ready for the week, how bout you?

Wordless Wednesday (current situation )

Did I just say that?

As a mother there are times I find myself saying things that are so bizare, all that i can do is step back for a minute and laugh. These are a few of the things (and the reasons) I laugh. ~Please get the horse out of my kitchen! *daughter #2 woke me up from a nap to show me the awesome "trick" she taught her mini-horse. She had led the horse up the stairs and into the kitchen. Apparently it's pretty impressive to get a horse to walk up stairs. ~why is there a chicken under the Christmas tree? *daughter #1 thought she'd bring one of our chickens inside and put her in the Christmas tree so she could be reminded of her natural habitat... hmm, put her back out in her natural habitat! ~where are your shoes? *while getting out of the car at wal-mart son #2 doesn't have shoes! Followed by frantically serching the van for any sort of shoes that would fit...no luck, hopefully they won't notice?? ~we don't drink puddle water! *son #1 drank puddle water on a dare...hmm, guess we have to talk about peer pressure. ~peas are not for throwing! *son #2 (2years old at the time) thought that the peas on his plate would be better to throw than eat, he still probably thinks that but thankfully has more self-control! ~what did you put in your nose? *to daughter #2 (3 years old at the time) after she told me something was stuck in her nose, it was a soft foam purple craft heart. Took an hour and a half to get it out. We actually decided to take her to the ER, when I thought let's try one more time. And it worked! ~where are your shoes? To son #2 as we're getting out at CHURCH! ~can someone please tell me why there are no underwear in the boys' dirty laundry this week? *still waiting on an answer to that one! ~who put worms in my refrigerator? *sons 2,3,and 4 informed me that they live longer that way, so they stay happily beside the milk until they end up on a hook... Those are just a few of the funny things I've found coming out of my mouth since becoming a parent.

too much of a good thing?

I try to teach my little ones that most things can be good if used or done in moderation. This lesson applies to SO many areas of our lives. From food to leisurly activities to the people we surround ourselves with. Most of my children love to read! People are always saying to me "that's wonderful, I wish my kids wanted to read like that. I'd let them read as much as they wanted!" I agree it is a wonderful thing, and I'm thankful that they do enjoy it, BUT I do not think that it would be OK for them to read as much as they wanted. We might not see them for days on end :) We've set limits for them, to try and keep a healthy balance. Reading is just one example in our home that we try to teach using moderation (which btw is also using self control) Food is another big one. With 8 munchkins around the table, its easy to try and out do each other or think someone else might get more. Instead of controlling how much goes onto the plate I try to stress, its ok to get more IF your still hungry. MOre than once someone has left the table a little irratated because they still wanted to eat but weren't hungry :) I enjoy seeing them use that self control! I also believe people is another area that we should use self control/moderation. We have quite a few neighbor kids that like to come over and hang out. Some of them stay for a little while and some of them stay for a long while. I've had to set some bounderies so that our family can still have time to ourselves. I didn't have too many happy campers when the bounderies were set but I hope that someday they'll be able to see I did it for the well~being of our family. I guess thats what been weighing on my this week.
What do ya know 2 post in one week!

Love

This week has been a challenging one to say the least. I am reminded that I should put others before myself. Show the people that God brings into my life HIS love. I must admit I'm not always succesful in this area. I can be kind and show love to the people that I like and that are nice to me, but what about the people that aren't? How do I treat them? Do I walk passed these individuals without so much as a glance or thought? Unfortunately sometimes I do. Christ came to this earth for not just me, but for EVERYONE. It is not my place to decide who should hear the good news. Just deliver it to the ones God directs in my path. Anyways thats what been on my heart this week.

Try Again?

Once again it has been a LONG time since I've updated and I sit here wondering do I try again or just let it go altogether? Well I'm sitting here typing, might as well give it a go!
Alot has happened/changed since my last update. We're in the full swing of homeschooling and loving it! We are finally able to be a part of a homeschooling group. This is the first time since we've been homeschooling. Obadiah does still suffer from a cold EVERY TIME we get together, but he is able to kick the cold with out any doctor intervention. So we're trying it, and quite honestly loving it! I really missed having Godly, like minded women to talk to. The group is such a blessing in my life.
Josiah is 15 now! He is doing extremely well in school. He is also such a help to me. I often say he is like my left arm, I couldn't do much without him. He is waiting patiently on getting his permit, we're hoping to be able to get it next month. Josiah enjoys reading in his spare time, can't complain about that!
Olivia is also growing up too quickly. She is in sixth grade. School is not her favorite thing to do, but she does apply herself fully to her studies. You can always find her outside with an animal. She is very gifted with any type of animal. She does enjoy reading after it gets dark. :)
Kayla is in fifth grade this year. She loves school, and is a very easy child to teach. I think God knew I'd need an easy learner somewhere in our line up :) She also enjoys spending time outside with animals. She spends much of her extra time reading.
Elijah is in third grade. School isn't his favorite thing in the world, but he is a great student! Elijah has reached a BIG milestone this year, he now loves to read. In the past it has been very difficult to get him engaged in reading, he simply did it because he had to. This year I picked up a book at Goodwill one afternoon, and thought "hmm, I wonder if anyone at home would like this?" When I brought it home Elijah looked at it and asked if he could read it. I of course said yes. About an hour later he says to me, "I like to read!" When I ask him later what the difference was, he said," I don't know, I just like this book". His first choice would still be to be getting dirty, but I'll take what I can get!
My little Jedidiah is in second grade. He enjoys everything so far. He's a very easy going kid. Goes with the flow kinda kid. He helps out by keeping his younger brothers entertained. He is our "class clown" He brings much joy to our home.
Nehemiah is doing pre-K. He loves to do his "homework". He is also one of my morning kids. He gets up and has no problem getting started with a smile on his face. That is going to be a good habit to have as he gets older. He is learning to read! and very excited about it. But his biggest accomplishment (according to him)this year is rhyming words. He enjoys this very much!
Obadiah and Hezekiah are keeping me very busy. Obadiah is almost three. He is a very busy three year old, and I am constantly reminding myself of the words that I spoke almost three years ago. " I will be thankful for the messes, temper tantrums, and disobedient times this child brings me" because he is here to bring them! God is really making sure I meant those words :) Hezekiah is also very busy. What Hezekiah doesn't think to get into, Obadiah helps him out by showing him. They play very well together, and sometimes fight well together. I do love to see the bond growing between them. Obadiah does a really good job looking out for Hezekiah.
Well that about sums it up around here. The mister is working when he has work, and I'm doing what I do. Schooling, loving, cleaning, laundry-ing, and on and on:)
Lets see how soon I get back here to post again!

computer crash!

It's been a while since my last post, I just haven't been able to get into a good groove with all of my things since Hezekiah's been born :( I'm in a funk... But I'm sure this too shall pass. On a positive note I have to say "I have the best baby!" He is so content and satisfied all the time. He's also sleeping a good solid 7 hours at night for me! Hard to believe he's already 11 weeks old. Next week I have to take him to the urologist to check a hernia but the pediatrician seems to think it's nothing to worry about at this point. We're back full swing in school and the kids are doing good with that. I'm trying to figure out what curriculum I want next year, I'm not happy with all that we have this year. So we'll see what I can figure out with that. Oh and about the title to this post, computer crash, that's exactly what happened to our laptop so now I'm trying to use an ancient desk top that is SO slow :( Trying to be thankful that I at least have this one....speaking of being thankful I am very thankful for my family, I have the BEST kids! This has been a little bit of everything and probably nothing all at the same time...:)and no new pictures but that will have to wait until I figure out how to do that on this dinosaur.