"A Mom Just Like You"

I am reading this book by Vickie Farris and her daughter, Jayme Farris Metzgar. I found encouragement in the second chapter by these words,

"I can think of few things more difficult for a mother than doing something she believes is not God's best for her children. If you are in this situation, be comforted that God rewards those who obey Him. I believe that home education has been successful for this very reason - it is God's way, and God's ways work. However, for mothers whose husbands have forbidden them to home school, God's way is to submit to your husband. Just as we homeschooling mothers need to obey God and trust Him with the results, so you, in obeying God by obeying your husband, can trust Him to take care of your children."

It helps to hear that God will take care of my children as they enter public school this year. I feel like I need to cry out, "Lord, help me with my unbelief." I can't put God in a box and say that the evils of public school are mightier than He is. I have such fears about what school will introduce my daughters to, based on what I was exposed to as a young woman. I blame the poor choices of my young adulthood on my parent's not sheltering me better, but I am sure there is more to it than just their decision to put me in public school.

My parents made many mistakes with me as I am sure I will make many with my own children. I just hate to make the same mistakes as were made with me. For example, I will never ever leave my husband. The legacy of divorce is on my head through no fault of my own (or my mother's). My parents didn't divorce, but they did separate several times. It rocked my young world to discover that you could count on someone for everything and they might just one day leave because they didn't "love" you anymore. This has devastated my ability to form healthy relationships, which I believe God in now in the process of healing. My relationship with my husband has been saved by my own salvation.

My mom took the girls and I shopping for school clothes today. Just the process of shopping for school clothes brought up so many fears in me. I wish my husband was a believer and understood the importance of sheltering. I will still do my best to provide a firm foundation to stand on. I know it is possible to grow into a Godly woman even going through public school. So many of the women I admire now did just that. It is just a challenge that has to be faced. I will pray both for their spiritual/emotional/physical safety and for my husband's mind to change. I will drive them to school and pick them up, no matter how convenient the bus would be. I will have lunch with them once a week at least and volunteer at the school as much as possible to be a witness to what they face. I will seek out Godly mothers with similar convictions, so that my children can find friends with similar upbringings. I will hope and trust in my Lord, and pray, "Lord, help me with my unbelief!" May He teach me that I can have faith in Him and that His will shall be done!

Tristie's a big girl now and a big snow in January!

Look who lost her first tooth:

This actually happened January 12th, but I wasn't having a very bloggy month. It was huge for her. She got a "gold" dollar under her pillow. Sister was more than a little jealous since she is "older" (by one minute) and therefore supposed to lose the first tooth (according to her).
Also in the month of January, the girls experienced their first snow. It was all of 4 hours long, then it melted but it was long enough to run around and have snowball fights and make their first snowman. Tay actually stayed in his room, expecting it to last longer and he barely got to see it before it melted.

Thad pelting me and laughing:

Tristie pelting me and laughing:
Tabby pelting me and laughing:
The only proof that I was there:
Daddy and sissies collecting snow from the cars for more snowballs:


Our backyard:

The infamous snowman (who lasted for 36 hours):

Our neighbor joined in the fun:

So did the pup in her new winter coat:

My babies are 5!!!

Here they are at their party last Saturday. I french braided their hair and it looks so sweet.
Here they are jumping with brother. He was a big help during the party (surprising since he begged not to go).
Here is Tristie with her birthday "banners" she made while sissy was sick.
Tabby enjoying her "pupcake."
Tristie enjoying hers.





It is hard to believe how the years have flown...
4 years old!

3 years old!

2 years old!

1 year old!

3 days old!

Negative 1 day old!

If I could go back in time and live the last 5 years over again, I would. I would nurse longer (we quit at 2.5) and never take a job outside the home even if I could take them with me. I would enjoy them more and photograph them more. And I would never begrudge one sleepless night or one dirty diaper. I miss my babies!

A better day...

I removed the bit about ds and I. Things are much better than I thought they were and we are closer than ever. I am learning to trust God more and worry less.

I am making costumes for our Thanksgiving play. I am making all the girls (6) Native American looking shifts to wear over their clothes and hopefully headbands if I have the time. They aren't going to be super looking because I am looking to do them on the cheap. I am also making myself a bonnet, shawl and apron to wear over a black dress while I narrate the play. It is more of a pageant than a play since all the children do is sing and I narrate in between. It is really a nice show though. Jessie (the preschool director) did a great job of putting it all together. They will sing "Give Thanks", "Jesus Loves Me", "Jesus Loves the Little Children", "God Our Father" (the blessing song), "This Little Light of Mine", "Hallelu, Hallelu" and "One Small Voice". The girls are doing a duet on One Small Voice. I think it is funny that the song is about one voice and she is having two girls sing it. I will post pictures of the pageant when we do it. I hope I don't embarrass myself with the poorly constructed costumes.

Gotta go do devotional with ds and put the girls to bed (they fell asleep on the couch again...) then it is off to bed for me. I am trying to get into the habit of going to bed early so I can rise early to do my quiet time before everyone gets up.

A future project...

http://fortytworoads.blogspot.com/2007/10/toy-kitchen-is-finished.html

A bad day...

I couldn't find the yarn I needed after going to 4 different stores! So frustrating. So I just ordered it from LBY. We didn't make it to the thrift store since it took me so long to look for the yarn. I did get a few cool things: a pumpkin muffin pan for all the pumpkin bread I make this time of year, some capri tights that actually fit and don't pull my undies down (2 pair - all they had in my size) and some fabric drawers to put the girls toys in on the bookshelves. We also ate at Panera bread and everyone had the broccoli cheddar soup with bread for dipping. I also had a half of a harvest orchard salad. That has to be my favorite restaurant.

I removed the personal info here about ds's and my discussion. Typical mom and teen stuff that is better now.

Halloween pics

Now you may not even realized that they were dressed up. They are Nancy Drew, Girl Detective. I had planned to make their outfit, but decided not to stress myself out. I found the tshirt, socks and skirt at Target. I had bought the Nancy Drew necklaces and purses at the bookstore (they came with books). The headband I finally found at Claire's. People kept asking them what they were going to dress up as. I had to step in and say, "They are dressed up." We did the church festival and trick or treated in a friend's neighborhood.

I know many Christians do not celebrate Halloween. However, it is dh's decision that we do. I educate my children on All Saint's Day (All Hallowed's Day) and that this is the eve'n before. It is clearly be a princess or make your own outfit if you don't want your daughter to look immodest.

Today's skirt, a black eye, and prayer thoughts...

My beautiful girls today in their thrift store jumpers. I love love love the thrift store. I am planning a trip there Friday (I have to head that way to deposit my paycheck and go by the teacher store for some laminating I need done). I love to find jumpers for the girls, books for any of us, and skirts for me.



Don't they have the sweetest faces? I love it when they hug.

If you click this pic you can see her black eye. Taba ran into the counter yesterday and immediately it turned purple. It is fainter today though.
Today's outfit. Skirt and sweater from the Jaclyn Smith collection at Kmart, I think. I bought it 8-9 years ago and haven't been able to wear it for a long time since. Dh liked it today. I taught preschool and now just have to clean and cook.

I got a present today. Okay, it was from myself, but it is still exciting. I had to order some things from Amazon for dh and ds, so I ordered myself this book: Sew What Skirts! I have to resist the urge to go buy some fabric to start sewing them now.

When it is too dark to read or crochet, I pray when I am bored. Recently I started praying the alphabet, meaning I pray for someone whose name starts with A, then B, etc. I am stuck. I need a Q and a U. If anyone is out there with a name starting with those two letters, feel free to leave your name and prayer requests in the comments section. Any other letters also, because I do start over when I get to the end. I only have one Y and one X, and just two Z's. I shared this today with the Y I pray for and she told me she is having health problems, so I feel like it can really help people I wouldn't ordinarily think to pray for.

I also wanted to share some of my tricks for motivating myself to do housework. I am by nature a lazy person. I have to play games with myself. My favorite game is "do 5 things in each room". I do exactly 5 things in each room, going from room to room, then I start over until the whole house is done. It always ends up with my room and the girls rooms taking the longest to finish. I don't know why it helps with the monotony, but it does. I also have in my head that my primary jobs are trash, dishes, and laundry, so I check those at least 5 times a day- moving those along so they don't pile up. Trash used to be ds's chore, but I need the trash taken out when it is ready to go out and can't wait on him to get home from school.



Now I must get off the computer and get to work on my "5 things in each room". I suspect I will end up in the girls room for awhile, since I have been cleaning out the attic and their room has become a repository for all overflow.

Today's dress and yesterday's follies

From yesterday...

When you procrastinate in your duties (putting away clothes dh has lost too much weight to wear),...

the dog will take a nap on your neglected chore to remind you.
The girls making a game out of stuffed animals and empty shoe boxes ($8!! mary janes from Target - 1 black and 1brown for each girl):

From today:

My dress today is 10 years old! This is the first time I have been able to fit in it in at least 6 years. I'm wearing the same old brown flats (I am a creature of habit). Today I taught preschool and am just cleaning the house the rest of the day.
The girls looking oh so cute in their denim jumpers:

Dh wants the girls to go to public school next year. I don't know if I can handle it. I homeschooled my son until 7th grade and of course I made mistakes. I don't think I would make the same mistakes this time. I am just not ready for them to go off into the world without me there to supervise. In preschool I am right across the hall and my class does recess with their class, so I am able to see what they are doing at all times. I really have to pray about this. I don't know that I could change dh's mind, but I am torn about trying.

New blog

I cannot remember my password in xanga and since we changed email accounts, I am locked out. So here I am, some place new...

I hadn't blogged in a while because I had emergency surgery and we moved from the apartment to our new house. The house has needed so much work, it has stifled my creative energies. I haven't finished one crochet piece or sewing piece since the move. I have made some bows and paintings, but only for sale under immense pressure of deadlines.

I read about this in today's paper. http://thomaswhite.wordpress.com/2007/06/29/southwesterns-degree-in-homemaking-discussed-on-crosstalk/

I am excited to see homemaking skills being taught on the college level. I am a self taught cook, but I was lucky to have done work study in the costume shop of the theatre department my first two years of college. I learned so much even though we didn't follow patterns for the most part. We even made clothes for ourselves under Ms. Patti's direction when there wasn't a production to prepare for.

I also read on Anna's blog (of Lullabies and Lace Crochet) that there is a knit-a-long for Anne of Green Gables. I don't know how to knit, but that might be worth learning. I haven't read the books since college (slightly less than 20 years ago), so I am due for a reread. The girls and I have been reading Rebecca of Sunnybrooke Farm (the Great Illustrated Classics edition) and when we are done we need a new book to read together. They might be up for it. I love to read with them, especially when it is a book I actually enjoy. The link: http://anneknits.blogspot.com/

I am going to pick up the books today or tomorrow, and I'll start checking Crochetville for a CAL. If not, I may have to learn to knit. I keep meaning to, but I always have other projects that seem more pressing.

I saw these skirts today. http://madewithlovebyhannah.com/skirts1.html Aren't they beautiful? I especially love the schwarzwalder, the distlefink, the winter woods, and the tea towel. If only I had tons of extra money to toss around... I wish I could make something like that, but I don't think I could find fabric anything like that locally.

The girls' choir, Taylor's youth activities, and a women's Bible study on the Power of the Praying Wife starts tomorrow. I have to work nursery, but if no babies show up for the BS, I get to go. I started reading it today. I pray about hubby all the time (thanking God for him) and ask for him to have a good day or for his health to improve (new diabetic), but I need more direction on how to really pray for him.

The girls had their first Upward Soccer game today. They did great! They had a few meltdowns from being knocked down, but mostly I was impressed at their efforts. I had worried that they wouldn't have the skills that the other kids had (since every child I meet goes to soccer class regularly at Soccer Blast), but they seemed to be on the same level. I think this will be a positive activity for them.

I never did sports. I liked dance. I do want the girls to learn dance, because I think it teaches you grace, but I read that girls that do team sports are more likely to resist pressure to drink, smoke, use drugs and have premarital sex. That was enough to sell me on a team sport. Soccer seems the best choice for them. When soccer is over, I do want to try a dance class. I have been thinking about Irish dance because of our heritage, and also because it is supposed to be a very modest form of dance (moving only the legs, not the upper body). They aren't old enough for piano (not having broad enough hand width), but eventually they will take that along with Taylor. He has never been much into sports, but we decided he will try out for track this winter. We ran every night for most of the summer, but we have slacked off during the heat wave. We desperately need to get back into the routine. Maybe it will help me get past this plateau with my weight.

I recently lost almost 25 pounds, but I have hit a plateau. I cut back my exercising due to the heat and so much going on. I have such self-control issues when it comes to food. I know I could do better with that. I thought buying a scale would help, but I actually think it hinders me. I get depressed when I don't lose a pound every day when I have worked hard, so I slack off. I would like to lose 20 more pounds before I buy/make any new clothes. My clothes are loose now, but not falling off. I hate wasting money on clothes that fit if I am going to lose more weight soon. I would ideally like to lose 50 pounds more. I would be thrilled to lose just 40 pounds more (that was my lowest weight in the last 10 years). My doctor says my asthma and reflux should become asymptomatic if I lose enough weight.

Well, I hope to not forget the password to this blog and maybe I'll have some new FO to show off soon! The girls and I are sewing them snack sacks that I found here: http://www.sewnews.com/resources/library/0807lunch/ Of course, they picked princess fabric and they want dresses to match their sacks, so maybe I will have those done by next week. Time to dust off the old sewing machine...