How to Make the Most of Long Car rides?

        I am someone who cannot stand doing sitting and doing nothing...So, I look for ways to enrich my life in any way I can, by way of...audio books!!! I take a cab into CTN everyday with  a 40 min. car ride to and from with the Paul, my driver who is an aspiring pastor( no joke) and listens to sermons the entire way.I  have discovered the Phoenix Electronic library , and I now pass the time with my headphones in  and go on many different adventures . Right now, I am listening to The Magicians Nephew, A Christmas Carol, The Tale of Desperaux, MrPopper's penguins,A Secret Garden....I am loving it with all my homework through my rehab program.. I don't have time to read classics...so I listen now
        I sit and watch people talk on their cell phones, pick their noses(when they think  no one is looking ), I smile smugly to myself at the horror they would feel if the knew that I sat silently in the next car over observing their secretive habit, hidden obscurely behind a black veil of tinted windows , with my headphones on , seemingly unengaged with the world around me. Yet, I am keenly aware of the world that surrounds me as I travel down the highway at rush hour .  After three months of traveling via cab, I have only  recently come to realize the enjoyment of an electronic library ...I finished Sign of the Beaver last week!!!!So by the time I'm done with this program next year, who knows  how many books I'll have"read", or noses I watched picked??Time will tell, it's how i keep life interesting :)

New Experiences Can Sometimes Hurt

 

Tonight,I made lunches for three of my kids for their first day of school tomorrow.My heart hurts, badly .I know they will have a  great day...my heart will be breaking  . I will miss them, like I do each and every day.Ye,t I know they will learn, flourish, make new friends  and have  great year. I love them so much.It's hard to believe the 3/5 of my kids are now in full time school age. People who don't home educate, have no clue the joy found in having your children home with you. The time is precious...I wrote them each a note with some cute little jokes on the back..I miss them already and cannot wait to hear all about their great day,but wow, life can really hurt.I pray that someday my mourning will turn into rejoicing with tears of joy at all that God has restored to our family...I know he is working!Just like the Israelites when they were stuck up against the Red Sea with no place to turn...BUT GOD...He always come through...never in a million years would I have believed you if could have told me what the past 14.5 months of our life would have consisted of. I feel like i keep getting pushed back , yet iI stand up and fight harder.. for what was stolen from me, my family.Yet, the tears never stop falling, sometimes.I feel my eyes are like windshields in a hurricane, where I can see not more the one inch in front of me, yet, I keep driving because I know home is near.I love you Jayden,Austen, and Moriah..I a, so sorryMama's recovery is taking so long...I a so blessed to be your Mama. I need nothing more in life...except to be a fully restored family.Please keep praying.

Memories From Today

*Dancing on bubble wrap with the kids in the garage and laughing
*coloring with glitter chalk in the cool of  the morning
*Eating popcorn,playing many games Jayden and Austen messing up Clue(so funny)  with the boys while we have our unsupervised time together
* watching hundreds of bubbles float out of a bubble maker, watching the kids running and screeching and smiling after each other in the driveway (Hannah's dirty, black feet)
*making a canned snowman with the boys during my speech therapy home visit
*turkey burgers on a tablecloth in the living room, watching Cinderella
*Asking Hannah how old she is
Me:" Are you three?"
Hanns: "Um, I not three anymore."

Summer Fun!

What comes to mind when you think of summer time  treats?Poppsicles, tart lemonade pie,peanut butter pie, or how about snow cones?! Ice cold goodness, sweet , flavorful and colorful. During these hot summer evenings post dinner we have been making snow cones with my pampered chef shaved ice maker. The recipe is super simple:


1c water
2csugar...we used one
 4tsp koolaid

Bring water and sugar to a boil, remove from heat , then add kool aid , cool in cute glass containers until ready for dessert,


The kids love taking turns , turning their ice into shreds..it us such a sweet refreshing dessert that is really cheap and easy   to  make.


This  summer Aunt Krista has also constructed an elaborate tape highway on the ground of our dining room. The kids imagined for hours with their barn, airport and Legos. Also, we have been busy over here in the Ippel  home this summer making homemade play dough with kids and an instant bakery was constructed. I love their active imaginations!Reading stories, watching afv together and movies, the aquatic center is a blast as well...yes, Santa we have stayed  busy this summer as the kids transition to their new school next week. I am excited or he things God will be doing in their hearts over his next year. I will miss home schooling them for  second year ,but I need to concentrate on therapy now so I can be the best wife nd Moama to them in the future. I know that this school is the tbest place for them this next year.

Take Time

 

photo credit

Take time to play, create. imagine, pretend, listen, encourage, love because life slips between our fingers like sand on a beach and you  cannot grasp it all...Your children need you present in their lives, focused, attentive. Playing barbies with them today translates to deep talks in their teens, listening to their latest victory on a star wars videos game translates to opening their heart when it is hurting.

    Being a mom is so beautiful, if we only take the time to enjoy, take in thew noise because someday it will be silent.I am thankful for my calling it is so much pressure am I good enough at setting a godly example ?answer no. Yet, through a lot of trial end error and failures I'm trying to find who God desires for me to be..hardest thing ever.

Happy Birthday Everyone!!!

Austen 7

love her shirt and expression

Jay is 9!

Riah 5

Patience Is Not For the Faint of Heart

   I have had to learn a lot about patience over the past fourteen months. Many times it's been incredibly hard to feel as  life is passing me by.Yet, God knows what he is doing and I need to trust him..his timing is better than mine ever will be. The three oldest start school in three weeks....I still can't believe it;,I  continue to pray that I can  be able to home school them again next year with the right tools to make our life more  efficient, well planned,organized. I cannot explain how terrible I feel sometimes when I leave them to go to therapy.I  miss them, their smiles, stories,laughter, screeches,jokes, everything I miss!

   I am convinced, the calling of wife and a mama is one of the  highest callings,I could have ever been given. I am so thankful for the opportunity to invest in my family .Just right now it doesn't look the same as it will.So, I wait patiently to return to being a full time stay at home mom. managing my home with ease.I want to be able to look back on my life with my family and say I gave it everything in me to be a good example ,not perfect....then,my life will have so much fulfillment .I fought hard and long for this family.I love my husband and children so very much .Thy are the best parts of my life and I am so blessed.I do not think I will ever say I wish i did more with my life..I will say with confidence, I gave it my all even when it was hard. I love listening to the boys talk about their interests...even though, I can find myself having a hard time focusing when a detail about Luke Skywalker gets brought up thirty times In one conversation, I treasure their bed time kisses even Moriah's hard  ones where I need to brace myself for  a very firm smothering of five year old love, Ezekiel's  wet slobbery kisses,who needs a puppy when I have a baby who will put his bib in his mouth as a chew toy ?.?I sure as heck do not.

   I continue to put one foot in front of the other, not knowing what the future holds.. But I trust God's plans for me are good and he will  restore the years the locusts have destroyed ."JUst keep swimming, just keep swimming,swimming,swimming.."=Dory