Lighthouses & Obedience

early in the morning at the boys bible quiz competition

Hannah, a little tired after her nap

waiting for the popcorn to be done

We have switched gears into our THIRD character trait this year. Going through character traits has been so much fun. Last year, we focused on Cooperation for nine months.Yet, I am hopeful that by May we should have four traits under our belts!

I had the kids sit in a circle and we discussed what obedience was: obeying immediately, cheerfully, unconditionally and thoroughly. If all those criteria are not met, than it would not constitute obedience. Some fun ways we used to demonstrate this was playing " Mother May I?", " Simon Says" - however instead of Simon we used , Daddy, Mama, Grandma, Grandpa, Pastor, Police Officer, satan, stranger, etc. to demonstrate who our authority is and who it is not.

The kids also played a fun game called "Ringmaster" where Jayden stood in the middle of a circle and would point to me and ask me to neigh like a horse and I would have to keep neighing until he told me a new animal noise, and then he would point to Austen and ask him to bray like a zebra, for Riah to hiss like a snake. Pretty soon our home sounded like a noisy circus tent and the kids thought we were all quite humorous, especially me :)

We read in the Bible about Abraham and Isaac and how God tested Abraham's obedience when he asked him to sacrifice Isaac on Mt Moriah. Yes we love that mountain. The kids will reenact this story tomorrow- I ran out of time to create a staff and some "wood" for the kids.

I picked up every book known to man on lighthouses at the library, fiction and non fiction. I love LOVE the library!!!! We read " Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie" and talked about Abbie's obedience to her father and how important her obedience was to not only her family but to the lives of the crew on ships in the Atlantic. We also read some other lighthouse books together that were super cute. One was about a boy, a dog and a bear who became friends and then lit the candles atop of the lighthouse and saved a ship from crashing into the rocks.

Finally, we talked about how following wrong authority is like walking in darkness and following the right authority is like walking in the light. If we follow the wrong authority, we will stumble. Psalms 119:105 states, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." I had the boys look into my eyes, as Riah was sleeping downstairs and warned them that there would come at time that the wrong authority or impostor leader would seek to sway them to follow him/her. Yet, when that time comes, hold strong to your faith, your commitment to God and your obedience to God and to your parents and resist the devil.

Wrapping up the day, we talked on electricity, natural and man made lights, we did some science experiments where we made electric loops and had a light bulb turn on and a motor. Discussing the sources of our electricity I showed how important it was for the circuit to be made complete. We will finish this week with a few more light activities and with our focus on obedience. I can't wait!

Popcorn and Ice cream capped off the day and now the kids are sleeping soundly, well most of them. This is the 2nd night in a row Riah has NOT gotten out of bed. Trust me, this is a big deal 'roun these parts.

Like A Thief In the Night

This past Sunday Jayden lost his brand new Awanas book. We searched high and low and could not locate it anywhere. The only places he has it is in the car and in the house. I'm sure it is around here somewhere but we have not been able to locate it.

Jayden was praying all over our home for the book and crying and it was really sad. I knew he was really worked up about missing it and part of me was a tad irritated that my reminding him, many times, to always put it back in his Awanas bag had gone unwarranted.

Ben came home from work and I was telling everyone to go get in the van but Ben wanted to look one more time so the six of us all crowded into the boys room and searched for the book. Ben was on his stomach looking under the bed and I was standing by the dresser near the boys' playmobil when a black object flew down in my peripheral vision.

I jerk my head to the side and there, in all her missing for three weeks glory was Sally Bonnie! All I could say in a shocked voice was, " OHMIGOSH BEN ITS SALLY BONNIE! ITS SALLY BONNIE" ( side note: just writing her name makes me smile :)). I could not believe that there, in the middle of a completely messy room, was Sally Bonnie. Who the heck knows where she came from or where she has been for THREE WEEKS! Yet, there she was. I ushered Austen, Moriah and Hannah out of the room, closed the door and showdown began.

Ben refers to Sally Bonnie has being "hell-bent" on getting out of her terrarium. So, to capture her when she probably was just dandy roaming free throughout the home was an oxymoron. Jayden moved slowly and cautiously towards her and missed her as she darted under the bed. Ben, shined his flashlight on Sally Bonnie and says, " Amanda, she's moving out your way, don't let her get away!". I see Sally Bonnie emerge from the depths of blankets and Thomas the Train tracks and try to hide in the playmobil castle. " Jayden! You will not hurt her, just grab her, you can do it, you can do it!!!!". Jayden moves in, more quickly this time and swoops her up by the tail.

She begins to bite him with her small teeth, which does not hurt by the way, and we maneuver her lid of the terrarium up and put her back in. She is home!!! Frisky and Sally Bonnie are reunited!!! I cannot tell you how much it did to the boys faith and the power of prayer to see their prayer answered.

I told the kids, back when we lost her, that sometimes God answers our prayers with a yes, no or not right now. I didn't know if she was coming back and I didn't want to give them false hope. However, I know that God hears the voices of his children. He seeks to grow their faith with small things so that they will see that yes,  my God is good and yes my God is faithful and yes my God hears me when I pray.

Praise God Sally Bonnie is home. She and Frisky seem so happy together and I am so thankful that she is a constant, visual reminder to the kids that God loves them! Still have not found the awana book, but out of no where, Sally Bonnie descended into the bedroom and lifted our hearts.

Life Without Facebook

photo credit: facebook.com

So here I go. I feel like I'm almost embarking on a journey. Three and a half years ago, I had nothing to do with facebook. Now, it is the first page I open in the morning, afternoon and before bed. If I total those minutes, they are probably minuscule. However, the weight of the relationships behind them are huge.

I love my family and friends. I LOVE to see how their lives are going and what is new and exciting. I am thankful for the opportunities to be apart of crisis that, honestly, had I not been on facebook that would have excluded me from the circle of friends. I am not taking a break because I feel social media is evil nor beneficial. There are many beneficial and enticing things about having hundreds of people available for opinions, experiences, and "likes".

My goal is one year. I have no idea if I will even be able to achieve this goal. There is a draw to facebook. I think for many stay at home moms because it does not require phone conversations in the midst of your day but rather a quick scroll, a few comments, a few "likes" and you feel reconnected with friends and family.

When we moved out to Arizona, I opened up a myspace page for the simple reason that my family could see my posted pictures in one swoop and I would not have to remember who did not see what pictures, etc. Well, come 1.5 later and I joined facebook, forgot about myspace and moved forward.

I could never understand, in the beginning, why people would post about what they ate, or trivial matters, yet, overtime, I started doing the same. I realized that we crave social interactions and in our society of fast moving interactions, facebook is a perfect catchall.

Will I make it to a year? Honestly, I hope I make it a week. I'm not addicted but my "social" experiment is to see if social media, that has been with us for such a short amount of time, is so apart of us now is it even possible to get rid of it from our lives? Will we miss out on friends pregnancy news, engagements, job changes, death in families, or a new puppy simply because we are not apart of facebook?

Does that mean, ultimately, that we are not really, in reality, in that friend's intimate circle of friends whom he/she would call up or visit if something of that nature would really have happened? I don't know. That is what I hope to find out. I love you guys, and you who read this can join my journey if you would like. It may be a long one, it may be short but the more coming along with me, the easier it will be. So, here's to a year without facebook.

Let's Throw This Day In the Toliet

Yesterday was a day where I pretty  much wanted to scream for sanity sake and run. I honestly thought it was going to work out perfectly. I had a very successful workout in the morning, came home and thought- " Today seems like a great day to bake homemade bread!". Austen wanted banana bread and we needed regular bread. Everything started out well. We kneaded the homemade bread, followed the directions and 2 hours later the dough was a lump of coal sitting lifeless at the bottom of the bowl. The banana muffins emerged from the warm environment of the oven only to be rock hard, as well, and completely tasteless. I still have no idea what went wrong. I even used the terrible for you flour and they still did not turn out.

Then, Hannah ate Greek yogurt for breakfast and successfully smeared it all over herself, her hair and snotty nose. So, the next logical step was to give her a bath. Filled the bathtub full of warm, sudsy water and let her play. Ben went to take her out and she was squatting with a very worried look on her face. " Amanda, what is she doing!?!?!"- " Oh, probably pooing in the tub." I say nonchalantly. Because, of course, why WOULDN'T she be pooing in the tub.

Moriah was in very rare form. She threw fits and crying stories all day long. I have tried the logical approach with her as well, " Moriah, you remember the story of the boy who cried wolf?". Instead of turning into a teachable moment she just wants me to repeat the story over and over until I want to cry wolf, have her look and me run away.

My dishwasher, at times, smells like hell- and I mean sulfuric smell. I have no clue, again, what is wrong with it but I think I will be calling the landlord. I am not sure if its the city's water or what but a mixture of a crappy dishwasher ( probably the only complaint of our great house) and the crappy city water and our dishes would be better left to the hands and not the machine. However, this poises a problem because then the dishes from breakfast, snacks, bread and muffins that turned out terrible and lunch all become backed up into the sink until I throw a ton of baking soda and vinegar into the dishwasher for a dry cycle.

The house looked like someone ran around and just tossed things to and fro and school was just not going to happen in the "traditional" sense of the word. I asked all the kids to go up and bring down some games, laid Hannah down for a nap and we played. This went pretty well for about three games and then Moriah kept having melt downs. She has a really bad cold, like Hannah, so I think that has a lot to do with her meltdowns but I can only handle so much. I had everyone, and I mean EVERYONE take a quiet time- then, Riah and I , later that day, went outside for fresh air, she rode her bike and we played a game called "whack" ( the kids had made it up the previous day). The person on the bike has to avoid getting whacked from a pool noodle. Trust me, I took way too much pleasure in this game, " No Riah, you keep riding and I'll keep whacking." I"m terrible, I know...but you know what.....much of my tension started to fade away.

Today was a new day, a good day, a productive day...my oatmeal pancake batter spilled everywhere this morning but I refused to let that set precedent. We ended the day with a great movie, " Johnny Tremain" by Disney- I highly recommend this movie and pizza. So thankful yesterday is done and today my sanity returned in the morning..." His mercies are new every morning" and so are mine :)

Crossing the Icy Deleware

I have not updated the blog in what seems like awhile. We wrapped up our Courage unit study today and it feels so good to move on. The kids really enjoyed it and I feel, for their ages, that they will take so much away from what our founding fathers did for us! Some of my favorite activities that we accomplished were within the past week.

The kids and I crossed the icy Delaware River on "Christmas" night. We filled our bathtub with ice cubes and placed toy boats heading north and south along the river in search of the Germans and British. Riah also stripped down to her skivvy's and stood in the frigid waters. So, I touched on the sleet and freezing temperatures the soldiers had to endure. I do NOT think the kids will forget that lesson- sometimes, things worth fighting for come at a huge sacrifice. Finally, we talked about how Washington was courageous and asked God for wisdom in his decisions.

We baked hasty pudding over a "hot" fire. The kids actually enjoyed it- I thought it was terrible. It was a mixture of corn meal and water- "Yumm". We also reenacted some of the battles and watched our famous Liberty Kids.

Today, we did so much in our wrap up. The kids and I lit our lanterns and went into the bathroom where it was pitch black. By the light of candle, we discussed all the fun facts we learned about our country and its founding. We talked about famous men and their sacrifices for the freedom we now enjoy. Also, we named off five people we learned about these past 10 weeks who were courageous. I am so thankful for the retention that I see in their answers. Since I do not do tests right now, these review and evaluations are so important to me.

We then blew out our amazing lanterns and started our review of the 13 colonies. We sang it to the tune of Yankee Doodle. Also, we used an acronym to try and remember all the colonies as well. The kids reenacted, AGAIN, the Patriots and the British fighting. They LOVE doing this and Riah especially loves being the "Redcoats". Jay dressed her from head to toe in  red, boys clothing and she fought her brothers to " the finish".

To help understand better how large our country is and how small the 13 colonies were, the kids and I dyed rice and created a map of the colonies. The blue is water, the yellow is the colonies and some included areas around, ie: Maine, Florida and Georgia and the green is the neighboring land and the red is the rest of the present United States. This turned out pretty well and I think we were all quite pleased with the result. Yeah for creativity! 

Finally, we read some books on Patrick Henry, watched Liberty kids and then the kids played outside. Today was a huge day of school and it went so well and so smoothly. I got my shower in at 3:30pm and was pretty pleased with that :)

Regrets

Life is life and it will always be busy. That is something we cannot escape. I can take the occasional vacation to move away from the hecticness of life...but that is the exception not the rule. How can I create an environment free of regrets in my day to day life? Here are some examples:

I will never regret leaving an unswept floor to read to my three year old.
I will regret sweeping my floor and telling my three year old "later"
I will never regret cuddling with my children in the morning.
I will regret packing our days so jam full that morning cuddles are prohibited from happening.
I will never regret baking and teaching my children how to bake cookies, even if the mess is unavoidable
I will regret baking alone, to avoid a mess, and stare at a perfectly clean kitchen while my kids watch tv in the other room.
I will never regret pulling games out of the closet even if it means that there is no organization in there, EVER
I will regret opening up a perfectly organized game closet and know we never had the time to play them.
I will never regret sitting in the sun to eat our ice cream cones first
I will regret making my child sit at the table to finish every last pea for two hours because, " I said so"
I will never regret watching my children dump legos all over their hiding place and never quite being finished
I will regret constantly having them clean it up so that it feel "neat" to me while their creations break apart
I will never regret a fridge covered in drawings and paintings and reminders
I will regret a shiny fridge with all the drawings tucked away in their "special" folders

I will never regret the days that I spend reading, playing, holding, kissing, laughing, correcting, teaching and watching my children. I will never regret not quite having the house perfect so that I could spend more time with my children. I will regret if my choices reflect a lifestyle that is not for this season. Organization is important, trust me, I am organized. Yet, I am praying that God will continue to show me this year, what does organization, in this season, look like to me. My time with my children is too precious- I hate regrets, therefore, I will make choices now so that I can look back with beautiful memories- my mind will not remember a messy kitchen, cluttered closets, unmade beds or poopy diapers. My mind, will remember the clamor of children running through the halls, the crashing of legos being dumped everywhere, Winnie the Pooh bellowing over the cd player every morning, babbling from baby Hanns and memories, oh the memories. Breathe, mamas, life is to be experienced, not to be rushed. Just breathe.

Merry Christmas - Belate