A Time For Every Season....

Obviously blogging more is not on my renewed habit list. But, that is OK. The month of June was so relaxing and fun for all of us. My kids spent the summer month at home jumping on our new (free!) trampoline that John found on the side of the road, then inside the house reading books and building forts. I actually read 3 books, since I  was getting rid of the evening television habit, and enjoyed lots of down time enjoying my husband who is home for the summer! I wandered up to Oklahoma for a few days awaiting my newest nephew, but he was very cozy and waited to come out almost a week late. This happens to be the only picture of Drew I captured, he is so busy and I  can't catch him on camera! June ramped up with a visit from Grandma Patti from China! She returned the hero and charmed the kids with toys and fun and forts! She even watched the kids all weekend and John and I went out to a hotel for the night. It was delightful! Drew loved Camp Invention this last week ...

Much of life revolves around habits. Habits reveal those things that are important in life and those that are not. I have a habit of brushing my teeth, reading my Bible, praying, going to work , dressing for work ,  working from home,  and waking up around the same time. When I look at my life choices those that are important became a habit, those that weren't faded away. We are defined by life's choices and for the month of June I'm determined to remove a bad habit from my day. Every night, after the kids were in bed and the work had been completed I'd sit down with my husband, or maybe by myself, and vegetate on television and tea. Now the nightly hot tea ritual isn't bad, but my drive for evening to hurry so I could relax was not a pattern I really wanted in my life. So I've taken away television for the month of June. Instead I've been setting aside various times during the day to teach the kids a new game, or read a book for 10-15 minutes, or enjoy so...

“We learned that orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names. They are easier to ignore before you see their faces. It is easier to pretend they’re not real before you hold them in your arms. But once you do, everything changes.” – David Platt I've been doing a lot of thinking, praying and meditating today about what it means for me today to be a Christian, what plans God may or may not have for our family regarding adopting, the unknown, the mysterious and the plane hard.  David Platt radically changed his entire life, location, family DNA to conform to a more radical Christian lifestyle. He didn't act our of religion but relationship. Shouldn't my life look different, dare I say radical to this dying world? When I worry about the unknowns of adoption like how old will they be, what needs will they have, will they hurt my 3 kids, and on and one, I get trapped by the unknown. David Platt reminds me in this quote above why we're praying about ado...

Gabers - you are a boy on a mission these  days. Always wanting to keep up with Drew. You do know he is 3 years older - right? You want to read like him, do school like him, listen to the disc-man like him, and follow in Drew's shadows. You are such a delight and joy. This past school year you blossomed into a boy with great passions for laughter, Lego's and tent forts. You finished up Pre-School a few weeks ago --  you sang hard so I could hear you from the third row! I love hearing you sing "Bullfrogs and Butterflies" around the house, preparing for the concert. You have such a disciplined heart at such a young age. Your love for music makes my heart sing! I had to laugh when I looked at the book the school sent home showing how much  you had grown. You grew so much in knowledge and 2 1/2 inches in height, but didn't gain any weight all year - your still at 34.5 pounds!  You lost all your baby fat and sprouted up this year.  I love it that God made you uniqu...

It has been a long time since I've blogged about life. Our lives have been moving and moving. We've been battling a monster called the  terrible 2's and teething. I believe we're finally over the hump - (crossing my finger and praying hard...). Abby had a rough few month, she got into everything, whined all day long and was just unhappy. Then we discovered 4 eye teeth emerging and a few days later, that happy, smiley, chatty, big haired 2 year old returned as quickly as she had disappeared. It was a long few months! This is just an example of the terror she practiced every day at home. Every morning and after every nap I would go into her room to find every item of clothing, and wipe and diaper shewn about her room. I even forgot to take out the homemade eczema cream and to my shock, when I entered I discovered she had covered herself and hair in shea butter and essential oils. What a mess!!!! We love our baby girl - moods and terrible 2's and all. I'm ju...

It has been quiet on this here blog space, it isn't for lack of things in our lives, but the opposite. We finished up homeschool year 2 with a  bang! Drew finished up his Math U See, Explode the Code book, unit on European Artists and a whole lot more! We've been relaxing the last week, reading new books, practicing some math facts and encouraging my boys to read, read, read and swim, swim, swim! I was discouraged to look at all the things I had not accomplished this year, but then I decided to look back at the work we did last September. Now that was an encouragement, to see struggles with simple math facts, penmanship that was not legible and simple words misspelled. I then realized that a lot of learning took places - somehow! My life with Christ is like that, I struggle with consistency and  discipline, but look back over past years journals and realize that there was growth - it happens when we're practicing the art of disciplines and is almost unseen to the naked ...