when hearts are heavy. . .

. . .it is good to "give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever." -Psalm 118:1

Our family has had a roller coaster for the past couple of months.  We had two dear girls visit us in August.  When they left we were getting all excited about visiting dear friends on the other side of the continent.  Two days before departure we found out we were expecting a baby.  WHAT!? some of you may say.  That is exactly what we were thinking.  Since it has been 10 years since we had a miscarriage and we have never been able to conceive since, I had pretty much decided that we never would.  So you can only imagine the disbelief.  We left on our trip with excitement building.  Can you imagine?  After 10 years. . .but it still seemed too soon to even believe.  I was so glad that we had plans for 10 days or so.  The midwife told me that I couldn't have an ultrasound to look for heartbeat until 8 weeks.  So after a WONDERFUL time of visiting with friends, we arrived home safe and sound.  How exciting to go to the hospital that day to see our little heartbeat.  Only there wasn't one.  Don't worry they said.  You just aren't as far along as we thought.  Only 6 weeks instead of 8.  That sounded like a stretch, but we wanted it to be true.  Oh, yeah!  You bet we did.  We prayed a lot.  They scheduled me to come back in for another ultrasound in 3 weeks.  Well I didn't make it that far.  Two weeks later, because of spotting I went in.  Still measured 6.  We were crushed.  There have been lots of whys.  LOTS of whys.  Why after 10 years did this happen?  The next day, we lost our baby.  So all of it has been so unreal.  Through it all, God has been with us.  I haven't always found it easy to say this.  I have wondered at times where He was, but He has constantly sent me signs that HE IS.  I haven't been so good and accepting as I wish I could, but healing is coming.  God is so good.  Counting my blessings now is so important.  Last Sunday we heard a message about how it is okay to ask why, but just don't get bogged down in it.  I think I had been guilty of getting bogged down in my whys.  What a good reminder.  We have SO MANY blessings. . .

...

166 - a new nephew

167 - kiddos and cousins

168 - summer sisters

169 - kiddos enjoying school lessons

170 - puppy love

171 - first visit to a cavern as a family

172 - saying good-bye to pups after finding homes for them

173 - visiting friends

174 - loosing teeth

175 - help with the dishes

176 - seeing God when my heart is breaking

how about some water

on a hot day?

That's what happens when your garden isn't level and you run the sprinkler for a long time.  :)

Kids seem to be able to find enjoyment out of even a few inches of water!

. . .

But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlastin life.

-John 4:14

little girls. . .

are so fun!

When Dad and Ethan are gone for the day, we always have fun girly days.

Elisa, "I love Ethan, but I like it when he goes with Dad."

Mom, "Why?"

Elisa, "Cuz, I can play with my babies more."

She always wants to eat at the "little table" (not really a table at all, but a footstool) when they are gone. She gets her little baby all set up in its high chair (an old dishwasher silverware basket). Then she arranges everything just so.

It is so much fun.

Ephesians 5:20. . .

. . .Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

REALLY? Do I?

. . .

156 - beatiful feet. . .Isaiah 52:7 & Romans 10:15

157 - BIG brown eyes

158 - new babies

159 - work worn hands

160 - armour. . .Ephesians 6:11

161 - messages from family in far away lands

162 - airplanes

163 - Pilgrim's Progress

164 - patience

165 - making memories with extended families

. . .

Anger, acted exhibited by me, causes someone else to sin.

baby love, puppy dog tails, & happy birthdays. . .

Ethan & Elisa love this boy!

They think that it would be SO fun to have a baby brother as sweet as him!

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While we were away for the weekend enjoying this boy and many other family members,

this happened to our dog. . .

Since it was the day before Ethan's 6th birthday, he thought it was a

PRETTY NEAT birthday present.

The only problem was that she growled constantly when any of us would get near to her or her babies. We were sad to not be able to get close to the pups, but glad that Samara was being such a good mommy.

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Since Ethan couldn't play with pups on his birthday, we did this. . .

Happy 6th!!!!

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Now today was the best of all! The pups are 3 days old now and Ethan finally convinced Samara to let him and Elisa do this. . .

As you can see, they are BOTH very well pleased and agree that it was worth the wait!

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A couple of comments from Ethan:

-I guess if I can't have a baby brother, at least I can have baby puppies.

-I hate holding those pups. (with much surprise I ask, "WHY?") He replied, "Cuz it makes me want to hold them all day!

Elisa as always is quite the mother! Holding, rocking, patting, singing, etc. I love to watch her being a GIRL!!!

project simplify week five: whatever i want!

First off, I have a confession to make.  After the paper clutter week and my embarrassment at sharing that mess with every one, I did something that my dear husband said was cheating.  I knew that my sewing and craft area was in such bad shape, that I whipped it into shape in case that would be one of the five categories.  Since it never was, I breathed a sigh of relief. :)  Then when this week's spot was whatever I wanted to choose, I wished that I had taken before and after pictures of that project.  I guess it is fine, because the bottom line is that it needed cleaning and it got done!  There confession over!  On with this weeks simplifying.

When the assignment was left up to me to choose the project . . . my mind was racing! There were so many things that I could have cleaned or organized. I settled on two things.

The first thing that I did was figure out our school lessons for next year. I have wanted to take the time, so this was my opportunity. Our home school convention is the second weekend in May and I have wanted to figure out exactly what things we have and what things we still need for next year. I know that we haven’t finished this school year yet, but we have progressed far enough to know what I do and don’t want to do next year. (at least until next year at this time!) This was a load off my mind. Now I don’t have to think about it anymore until lesson planning time. Yay!

The second thing had to do with the cooking area of my life. In case you are wondering if I need to simplify this area of my life. . . .

This is NOT the picture of simplicity in my estimation! When our dear friend, Ena, was visiting from Honduras, I sat down with her one day to find out what she cooks regularly at home. We love Central American food, and I was excited about learning more menus. Well, all she could think of for breakfast was one 3x5 index card full of things. Lunch, same story. Supper, same story. I can’t tell you how many times I have looked at those 3 index cards since she went home. I am jealous of her every time. WHY does everything she cooks fit on 3 index cards and I have a whole cabinet full of recipe books? The more I think about it, the more it bugs me. The more I think about it the more ridiculous it seems. The only problem is that it looks like a RATHER large job to tackle. But the bottom line is that SOMETHING has to be done. I think that if I fixed a different recipe every single day I still would never use all the recipes in that cabinet in my lifetime.

So to simplify, I guess that I have to start purging books. I have thought and thought and thought. I have come up with idea after idea after idea about how to go about it. This week I think I finally came up with something workable. I divided up what we eat into categories. I am going to just choose our favorite recipes and cut down in a major way. This may take some time, but this week I am satisfied that I put some real thinking time into it and got a plan made.

It seems a little hard to post before and after pictures of these two things. It was mostly brain work, but I can guarantee that it freed up some space in my mind.

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I have loved this project. It has been so fun to have a little extra PUSH to make six :) areas of my life a little more simple.

project simplify week four: pantry & fridge

. . .make that just fridge for me.  I don't really have a "pantry", just a canned food storage area and I don't usually throw too much out of there unless a jar comes unsealed.  I had company last weekend, so this worked out really good for me.  It seems like when we have people around for a whole weekend, the fridge gets TRASHED.  Leftovers from this meal, snacks from this moment, food someone brought from home, etc. etc.  I always love cleaning out the fridge and getting it a little emptier.  We ate some leftovers, threw out some things that had hibernated in the back corner under everything, and wiped the whole thing out.  What a good feeling!

Before                                                                                             After

YAY!  Looking forward to one more week of this cleaning business.  I feel like a load has been taken off!  These are all little jobs that are easy to ignore.