Sunday, October 24, 2010
We will be forever grateful to Show Hope and Steven Curtis Chapman and his family. Show Hope was one of the organizations that gave us a grant. We also love Veggie Tales. So what could be better then- Steven Curtis Chapman partnering with Veggie Tales for a video! The video shows some Show Hope families as well as the Chapman's meeting their daughter.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
The One Factor
I have begun reading the book “The One Factor” by Doug Sauder for the second time. I don't recommend reading this book if your life is going well and you are content to not make any changes. The challenge for me is to interpret what this book is challenging me (and my family) to do.
I was sweetly reminded of Psalm 25:14 ~ “The Lord confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them.”
Tyler and Jeremy went to a Farm with a group of 3-5th graders from our Church. They both had a great time bonding together and apparently taking lots of silly pictures.
Monday, October 11, 2010
He's All Boy!
He's silly!
He's strong!
He's handsome!
He's smiley!
He's my BESTEST boy named, Jonathan!
and he LOVES to have his picture taken!
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Pictures
This is the ride we called the toilet flusher- Tyler is going down on the above picture and Amanda in the picture below.
Jonathan loves swimming!
Monday, October 4, 2010
Great Wolf Lodge
We just returned from an overnight stay at the Great Wolf Lodge. I am exhausted and will post pictures hopefully tomorrow when I am more awake. We made these reservations months ago when both Jeremy and I were feeling like we needed some family time away just the 7 of us. We had a great time.
Some things we were reminded of:
We have AWESOME kids! We had fun "playing" with them if you can call being hurled down a steep slope and splashed in the face at a high speed and almost falling out of your tube at 75 mph while your children are laughing - fun! Really, it was great just to hang with them.
We were reminded and our kids were reminded that they really do love and more importantly like each other. Amanda, Tyler and Jordan had a blast hanging and running from ride to ride with each other. It was great to see them laughing and having so much fun together. We didn't have one single fight or complaint our entire trip!
We were reminded that Jonathan and Ben have crossed to the other side. They are brothers, they love each other and they had a blast playing with each other. It was so neat to watch them interact with each other and just be brothers.
We were reminded that our family is not "normal". Yes, Jonathan got many stares and comments. Amanda heard 2 life guards talking about Jonathan in the bathroom (nothing negative, actually admiring his skill), Ben told a boy who had made a comment that "he was just born that way!" (I added the exclamation point because Ben did in fact yell it at the boy) We are all learning how to cope with people's stares and comments. One man was very concerned that Jonathan's leg was caught under the tube until Jeremy told him he didn't have that leg.
We were reminded we can do this. We can be a family of 7 and have fun and make memories. Although we are exhausted, this trip really did energize us.
Some things we were reminded of:
We have AWESOME kids! We had fun "playing" with them if you can call being hurled down a steep slope and splashed in the face at a high speed and almost falling out of your tube at 75 mph while your children are laughing - fun! Really, it was great just to hang with them.
We were reminded and our kids were reminded that they really do love and more importantly like each other. Amanda, Tyler and Jordan had a blast hanging and running from ride to ride with each other. It was great to see them laughing and having so much fun together. We didn't have one single fight or complaint our entire trip!
We were reminded that Jonathan and Ben have crossed to the other side. They are brothers, they love each other and they had a blast playing with each other. It was so neat to watch them interact with each other and just be brothers.
We were reminded that our family is not "normal". Yes, Jonathan got many stares and comments. Amanda heard 2 life guards talking about Jonathan in the bathroom (nothing negative, actually admiring his skill), Ben told a boy who had made a comment that "he was just born that way!" (I added the exclamation point because Ben did in fact yell it at the boy) We are all learning how to cope with people's stares and comments. One man was very concerned that Jonathan's leg was caught under the tube until Jeremy told him he didn't have that leg.
We were reminded we can do this. We can be a family of 7 and have fun and make memories. Although we are exhausted, this trip really did energize us.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Mr. Plumbean Returns
We have been horrible blog writers! I can narrow it down to two excuses:
1. Life is just busy! Our days are full of homeschooling and living life. At night, when everyone is in bed the only one I want to communicate with is my hubby. (Sorry, blog world.)
2. We are going through a period of "trying to figure out life". Generally, this is not a time we are feeling completely comfortable sharing our lives with the whole world.
Funny how two true statements that can seem to conflict with each other- "We are busy" and "We want to do something more with our lives." Maybe we're just a little crazy.
Or not.
We have been feeling challenged lately that God is not done with our family. I was reminded this morning of the post Jeremy did last July where he referenced Mr. Plumbean and his neat street. You can read about it here.
I guess you could say our house is feeling a little too neat these days. I find myself falling into the trap of telling God- "I am doing my best raising my kids, I spend time with You, I even volunteer in the nursery ... and don't forget we did adopt Jonathan!" But God seems to respond with "When did I say life would be easy and comfortable? When did I say that there is a limit to how far I want you to go? When did I say you could be done seeking My Will for your lives?"
I have even seen my attitude spill over into the lives of my children. They think they deserve the world ... and more! Even Jonathan (with just one short year in America) feels entitled to a new toy if you enter the toy section of any store. How do I as a parent combat this feeling of entitlement that they have?
Now, to be fair to my kids, when asked about how they would feel if we adopted again- everyone was enthusiastic! Even Ben!! He basically stated he could use someone else to boss around. :-)
No, we are not adopting again. (At least not till God gives us the green light.)
Lately we have been throwing around what some would consider "radical" ideas at our house. Some ideas that might not make our house look even less "neat" than ever before.
In the Bible, we are told to be in this world, but not of it. Jesus told fishermen to leave their nets and follow Him. If we are to take the commands of the Bible literally, if we are to assume that what was written thousand of years ago is still true for us today, then how can we live comfortably in our "neat" house and block the rest of the world out? This is the sort of thing we are wrestling with.
So, what does this mean for us? Quite frankly, we don't know! Not yet any way. Not for sure. Not in detail. Right now we're just dealing in faint hints and inclinations. We are wrestling with this idea that God has a bigger plan for the life of our family; that He doesn't want our house to be "neat". Our challenge now is to ask: What does God want our house to look like?
1. Life is just busy! Our days are full of homeschooling and living life. At night, when everyone is in bed the only one I want to communicate with is my hubby. (Sorry, blog world.)
2. We are going through a period of "trying to figure out life". Generally, this is not a time we are feeling completely comfortable sharing our lives with the whole world.
Funny how two true statements that can seem to conflict with each other- "We are busy" and "We want to do something more with our lives." Maybe we're just a little crazy.
Or not.
We have been feeling challenged lately that God is not done with our family. I was reminded this morning of the post Jeremy did last July where he referenced Mr. Plumbean and his neat street. You can read about it here.
I guess you could say our house is feeling a little too neat these days. I find myself falling into the trap of telling God- "I am doing my best raising my kids, I spend time with You, I even volunteer in the nursery ... and don't forget we did adopt Jonathan!" But God seems to respond with "When did I say life would be easy and comfortable? When did I say that there is a limit to how far I want you to go? When did I say you could be done seeking My Will for your lives?"
I have even seen my attitude spill over into the lives of my children. They think they deserve the world ... and more! Even Jonathan (with just one short year in America) feels entitled to a new toy if you enter the toy section of any store. How do I as a parent combat this feeling of entitlement that they have?
Now, to be fair to my kids, when asked about how they would feel if we adopted again- everyone was enthusiastic! Even Ben!! He basically stated he could use someone else to boss around. :-)
No, we are not adopting again. (At least not till God gives us the green light.)
Lately we have been throwing around what some would consider "radical" ideas at our house. Some ideas that might not make our house look even less "neat" than ever before.
In the Bible, we are told to be in this world, but not of it. Jesus told fishermen to leave their nets and follow Him. If we are to take the commands of the Bible literally, if we are to assume that what was written thousand of years ago is still true for us today, then how can we live comfortably in our "neat" house and block the rest of the world out? This is the sort of thing we are wrestling with.
So, what does this mean for us? Quite frankly, we don't know! Not yet any way. Not for sure. Not in detail. Right now we're just dealing in faint hints and inclinations. We are wrestling with this idea that God has a bigger plan for the life of our family; that He doesn't want our house to be "neat". Our challenge now is to ask: What does God want our house to look like?
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Happy 7th Birthday, Jordan!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
