A Time For Every Season....

The moments on this hard Tuesday ticked by - the day seemed to never end. There was much chaos as my sweet little girl pulled the dresser on top of herself during nap time. My Dyson vacuum was beheaded in the cleanup process - accidentally dropped down the stairs by the helpful child who was bringing it upstairs to suck up broken lamp glass. That vacuum was older than my children and for some reason it was hard to say good-bye.  This evening Abby stabbed a toothbrush down her throat and scratched the inside of her mouth and has been upset about it all evening - whining, whimpering and trying to make herself vomit. I've now put her back into bed 5 times and counting. It has been a rough day! I am also on day 2 of no coffee - which in general makes me hard to live with! The last time I gave up caffeine John begged me never to try it again.... I think in light of his comment, I'm actually doing much better this time! Last night I went away to a women's dinner and laughed unt...

I am so encouraged! I think we made it though Fall & Winter without any sickness - no flu, no RSV not even a severe cold. The kids asthma symptoms scaled way back and I think we only had one little bout of asthma related issues after Christmas. The chiropractor has been a huge help in that area! This cold/flu season was so different than the last 2 since Abby's birth - it was a huge encouragement that our organic foods and healthy eating and vitamin routines are working. I spent the last few weeks working on Abby's eczema that has been really bad since birth. She is finally all nice and smooth for the fist time ever! I cleaned out her system with a few high doses of Raw Garden of Life Probiotics which I'm fairly confident she needed because she has had the grossest stools for about 3 days! Then we took away milk two weeks ago and noticed a huge improvement. So, now Abby is off dairy and eggs - but she is enjoying her raw goat milk from Homestead farms.All the kids ar...

 One year ago I took these pictures of my kids, I can't believe the difference a year makes. My how they have grown! I love my kids - my boys are becoming such wise men, they love to protect their little sister and help me keep her out of trouble and mischief!  Abby -you have grown so much in a year! Look at your short hair. Now you have long curly hair that I can't keep track of - it loves to get all tangled up and you hate me to brush those tangles out. I remember this picture. You had finally been well for about 1 month and I took you to a friends birthday party. This was the beginning of your health journey - you had just been taken off all medications and were breathing so well! I am so glad that I can say a year later your healthier and happier - so healthy that you get into everything and keep me on my toes!  My boys still love each other deeply - just this last week  some  boys were being mean to Drew and timid Gabe rushed over and told them to s...

My oldest baby is 7! He is growing up so much and it is becoming obvious by his questions that he is wrestling with new topics of interest. Today out of the nowhere, during casual conversation, Drew asked me " Why does my friend "so and so" have two mommies?" Wow, I wasn't expecting that one. Our conversation went something like this: Me: So Drew, where do you know  "so and so" from? Drew: You know, church. Me: Ok, Our church or school church? Drew: Our Sunday church, she says her mommy doesn't believe in Jesus. Does that mean her mommy is going to hell? Wow, when Drew ask questions, he really asks some doosies - hell and homosexuality all in one day! Me: I see Drew, we certainly have some great things to talk about. Lets first talk about your friends mommies. Is it weird that she has 2 mommies? Drew: Well, God says that we are to marry, you know , a boy or a girl, but not together. I mean, a boy and girl can marry, that is how Adam an...

My children have the capacity to bring out my very best and very worst! John spent the week of Spring Break in Oregon visiting family and  friends while I enjoyed the week with my children. We had a wonderful time! As I sat one evening reflecting on the day, I was reminded why children are such a blessing from the Lord. Each one of my children work on different aspects of my fleshly self. Abby (2) - needs a lot of patience, she requires a lot of time, observation, and training. She is into everything and has no fear. I can loose patience with this girl by 10 am if I'm not walking in the Spirit! Drew (7) - needs a lot of encouragement and smiles, he needs physical touch and lots of back rubs. If I'm not careful I can damage him with my words or lack of hugs and kisses and encouraging smiles. Gabe (4) - teaches me to plan my  day and stick to it, because if I don't he  gets missed. Gabe is happy to play with his siblings or alone, he doesn't demand time or hugs li...

Over the last weeks I've been working on detoxing. It is an interesting experiencing watching your body's method of shedding toxins, waste, chemicals, and disease. This last week I've broken out in pimples, had the worst body odor, smelled like yeast, itched, spent some time in the bathroom, and had lots of sneezing fits. I've been  tired and run the gamete of emotions - both highs and lows. I spent some time today relating this to my spiritual life. I go through phases of highs and lows. I rid my sinful body of toxins through prayer and fasting and developing disciplines that carry me through the hard times. I have been going through a weary few months, thought in looking back on my journals, I see that God sends me to this place every year about this time. I have begun to expect and even appreciate this time of detoxing. I spend time with the Lord in different way, I pray more, dream more, sit in silence more, meditate on short verses instead of larger ones. I res...

My sweet husband took are darling daughter to her first dance! Though, she didn't do much dancing she did enjoy the eating! Sweet girly of mine is a bundle of joy and energy! Abby loves posing! The boys and I made popcorn and watched a movie. I had icecream and almost threw up - oops. When you haven't eaten many sweets, ice cream isn't a good place to break the fast!

This blog post should be different, I should be writing it from a hospital room or goodness, from the prospective of a grieving mother? I have a hard time writing these words today, still in shock from the events of yesterday evening. All I can keep repeating in my mind is "God performed a miracle." I would prefer not to write this post at all - seeing as my pride says I should have known better, my mischievous little girls is way more daring than my two boys put together! So, yesterday was a beautifully warm day, it felt like I should do some Spring cleaning. So I opened all the windows upstairs, clean out the air filters, re-arranged Abby's room so she could move to a big full size bed and cleaned all the sheets. It was a great day and I loved the cool breeze throughout the house. Daddy came home at 5:30 as usual and we all sat down for dinner. We had a neighbor over so we were all chatting after dinner. John moved to take the crib from the entry way into the van ...