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Events, Family News

Come Home, Beloved Children

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My world traveling children shall soon be on their way home. Poor David (age 7) is having a difficult time waiting.

Mom, I just can’t go for two weeks without my big brother, he moaned, draping himself across the arm of my chair this afternoon. It’s much, much too long. I’m desperately missing him.

Sarah refused to sleep in her room alone. I’m too scared to sleep by myself, Mommy. She spent nearly the entire portion of Joshua and Rachel’s absence in Daniel and David’s room. Lately she has taken to counting the days until their return on the calendar. She gives us frequent updates, which are vigorously analyzed by her older brothers.

You can’t count TODAY. Today is already happening and so you have to start with tomorrow.
No, I think you count today because today isn’t over.

come home soon!

Amidst all of the eager anticipation, Tim and I got the news that Air Norway was on strike. Well, isn’t that an unpleasant pickle. After much scurrying about, the travelers had a Plan B. Instead of flying out of Norway, they will take a 9 hour train ride to Oslo and then catch their flight to Frankfurt. From Frankfurt to DC and from DC to Seattle. My goodness, won’t they be a weary bunch.

we'll wait all night for your return

We are eager to hug them and have them back under our own roof. A tremendous thanks to Mark and Elizabeth, the ever gracious and beloved aunt and uncle, who hosted our intrepid explorers and provided a wonderful vacation for them. And, of course, another overwhelming thank you to Grandma and Grandpa, without whom this entire adventure would not have been possible.

We are incredibly blessed with dear, dear family!

And Thursday night our family will be whole again.

Kathy
Project 366 – Day 142

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Books, Project 366, Works for Me Wednesday

WFMW – Devotional Books for Boys

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wfmwLet’s chat about some great devotional books our family has enjoyed. I LOVE character study books. I have seen my children grow in their faith and understanding of how the scriptures apply to their lives on a real and meaningful basis through the books and stories we have read over the years.

This is one of my favorite topics and I am passionate about intentionally providing excellent devotional books for the children. I wrote about some of our choices for the younger ages in an earlier WFMW post. This evening I went through my shelves and realized I have several books that are especially appealing to boys. That said, I must note that with five children (two of whom are girls) it is imperative that our reading is accessible to both the male and female listeners. These books have been enjoyed by the girls and boys alike in our family.

Now I share them with you.

daniel displays our selections

Devotional Books for Boys

The Power of One by Ron Luce. The edition I have is a gift book. Amazon links to a new one that is being published in July.

This is a powerful book full of personal stories of teens who face real instances of peer pressure. Very inspiring. I am definitely going to look for additional books by Ron Luce. Luce is the President and Founder of Teen Mania Ministries, a Christian youth organization that reaches millions of young people worldwide.

Tiger and Tom (and other stories for boys) by J. E. White. I found this little treasure at a curriculum sale one year. The stories were originally gathered from church papers in the 1870′s and many of them powerfully illustrate the consequences of sinful life choices.

What do I do now, Lord by Chris Jones. This book was in a big box of library cast offs. Always looking to connect with my active boys, I immediately grabbed this when I saw the sub title: Devotions for Boys. Each of the individual stories feature a young boy facing real-life problems — fears, friends, bullies, getting along with parents – and end with a scripture and prayer. I read this to Joshua (age 14) years ago and recently picked it up to read to Daniel (age 11). It’s perfect for the pre-teen (or younger) boy.

read this one

Her Mother’s Bible & Hedge Fence The Golden Text Series by Isabella Alden. This is another collection that was written in the 1800′s. In each story a young boy reads a portion of scripture that has been highlighted by his grandmother. God teaches him what the verse means and how it should be applied to his life. It was moving to see how his understanding of scripture grew through out the book. A classic.

another favorite

Building of the Rock five book devotional series. Joel Beeke and Diana Kleyn have taken a selection of real life incidents and fictional narratives and developed them into a series of devotional books for children aged 7-12. We devoured all five of these books and were eager for more. The stories include a mixture of historical adventure, childhood experiences, remarkable instances of conversion and dramatic, rescues from danger. There is a question and scripture reference at the end of each story.

How God Used a Thunderstorm
How God Stopped the Pirates
How God Used a Snowdrift
How God Used a Drought and an Umbrella
How God Sent a Dog to Save a Family

one in the five part series

There you have it, just a few of our favorites. If you have a devotional book that your family loves, please leave a comment. Amazon is just a few clicks away and I am always eager to build our faith/life lessons library.

Stop by Rocks in My Dryer for other Works for Me Wednesday posts.

Kathy
Project 366 – Day 141

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Daily Life, Musings, Project 366

When Do We Paint?

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I have splotches of coffee splattered on my living room walls. It’s not really coffee, it’s paint. Three big, ugly messes on my wall. I can’t blame it on my toddler or sloppy husband (not implying that you are sloppy, Dear). Nope, I did it myself. I purposely painted in three different, random spots on the wall.

That color is going to be too dark for your tastes, Tim told me after I painted the hallway a fantastic Starbucks shade.

Hmmm, you may be right, I concurred. I know, I’ll just paint a few swatches on the wall so we can try it out. Then, when I paint this weekend I will know which shade I want.

Sure enough, I agreed with Tim and selected a lighter shade of the coffee/mocha tint that lines the hallway. I even found it in the Ooops Paint section and got a great deal.

That was in December.
Well, define “this weekend.”

some of my best helpers are 10 and under

See the Christmas lights along the banister? Sigh.

Now, every time I take a picture in living room, I have to be creative in my framing or I end up spending way too much time Photoshopping the blotches out.

I need to paint. The gallon jugs are sitting in my laundry room, silently accusing me of neglect each time I step over it to wash some clothes.

It’s time I don’t seem to have. Or at least not quite enough of it strung together to give me the confidence to begin painting. If you also have the same problem, visit this site and hire a professional painting contractor. I’m the queen of unfinished projects. Did I mention the five windows in my living room are arrayed with exactly one curtain? And it’s one half of a curtain at that. The other side of the window is bare and drapeless. It’s tragic, really.

sarah has talent!

Maybe Sarah will help me decorate the living room – she obviously has flare!

But I have hope. Hope that summer is approaching. Hope that we will finish school (I hear my children cheering in the distance). Hope that the older kids will grab paint brushes and rush to join me. Hope that one day the windows will be dressed.

Until then I will be content to take pictures of Sarah painting and waste time reading about other people’s great decorating exploits. It seems sad to be lacking both artistic ability AND money. Either one and you can fake the other. To be devoid of both is a cruel twist of fate.

Thankfully I have a great deal of charm (and, obviously, humility) so hopefully people overlook the splotchy, “who made that horrible mess on your wall?” paint swatches and instead sit down to enjoy a cup of coffee and a friendly chat.

Either that or they had better be prepared to pick up a brush and help paint.

Kathy
Project 366 – Day 140

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Bible Study, Daily Life, Daniel, David

Would You Buy a Plant From These Boys

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I don’t know. Aren’t kids supposed to stick to lemonade stands?

take a plant or two

Just two honest salesmen, trying to make a living.

Although, come to think of it, I haven’t seen very many lemonade stands around these days. Have we filled up our children’s time so fully that they don’t have idle afternoons available for sitting by the curb and hoping for customers?

Is it more “productive” for children to be involved in sports, classes or structured social outings? I hear my own children beg for play dates and outings at the park on Saturday afternoons and wonder when they will learn about work if they are always so busy playing? Am I actually doing them a disservice by allowing entertainment to be the main focus of their free time?

Friday was a gorgeous day here in Washington. Tim took the day off to be with the children while I sold books at a used curriculum fair. Amidst their various activities, Daniel and David spent time (a LONG time) selling their tomato plants. They were hot and bored at times. They did NOT want to continue, but they persevered and succeeded in not only selling several plants but learning some important life-lessons.

david's peddling tomatoes

David was Daniel’s faithful associate during the hot afternoon of tomato selling.

Potential Lessons of the Day

  1. An engaging, friendly attitude provides a good connection with customers and generally improves business.
  2. Being fired is a real and serious threat. It’s also a motivation to stick to the job and keep working.
  3. The extent to which you invest in a project has a direct correlation to the effort others are willing to assist you.
  4. Location matters – a quiet section of a street does not yield a high amount of traffic which means the customers are few.

Our sermon today was on the topic of work. The pastor is taking the congregation through a study of Proverbs. Daniel sat in church with us, as he does each week, and took notes. As I listened to the pastor speak and watched Daniel fill in the outline, I wondered if he processed the sermon in conjunction with his experience selling tomatoes. Did he remember any of those life-lessons? Did he understand that the Lord wants him to be a diligent, hard worker, not because He is a cruel master but because He loves Daniel?

instructions for your tomato plant

Tim and Daniel created a Tomato Hand-Out full of instructions.

I want my children to view work from a godly perspective – to work with honesty and integrity, to value hard work and diligence, to avoid get rich schemes and workaholism, and above all to honor God with their work. I appreciate the opportunity to study the scriptures and then discuss the ideas with the kids.

In our Small Group this evening we talked about teaching our children Biblical principles so they have the moral reasons and understanding to govern their lives in a godly manner. A proper attitude toward work is a significant aspect of our parental training.

Now to model that same honesty, integrity and discipline in my own work.

How come no one ever told me parenting was such hard work? I was a really fun babysitter. I didn’t realize parenting was going to be layered with some much complexity and significance. The responsibility is tremendous.

tomatoes will be growing soon!

Anybody want a tomato plant?

Kathy

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Daily Life, Project 366, Recipes/Food

Summer Flirts with Washington

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It is not summer. I know this. It’s spring, and spring is often cold and disappointing in Washington. I remember the first year we moved here. Everything was green and blooming furiously, but it was COLD and GRAY. Day after day. It was well into June, and I finally turned to Tim and asked him when summer was going to arrive.

reporting for duty, sir!

These children are ready and willing to hunt down the sunshine.

Nearly every day the children and I would bundle (yes, bundle) up and set off in search of some sunshine. There were streaks of golden light off in the distance and I was determined to find them. It was our own treasure hunt, however, instead of searching for the pot at the end of the rainbow, we were looking for a sunny day.

Today was mild and overcast in the morning. By mid-afternoon summer had peaked around the corner and blown its warm kiss. Cheeks and shoulders gained a rosy cast. Sunscreen resurfaced from its long winter sleep and popsicles were cheerfully passed around, dripping over little fingers. Windows were pried open and flip flops dragged out from under winter boots.

it's a tight pack but we can fit

Really, it’s a comfortable fit. Three rascals in a tub.

It’s not summer. Not yet. This weekend, however, like a beautiful flower unfolding in the light, we humble Washingtonians were treated to a rare sliver of summer in the midst of a dreary spring. It was truly glorious.

Nothing like some chocolate to celebrate the end of a lovely day.

chocolate cake

Decadent Chocolate Bundt Cake (from Cake Mix Magic)

1 pkg devil’s food cake mix
1 pkg (4 oz) chocolate instant pudding mix
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup water
1 cup milk chocolate chips

Cake – combine cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, sour cream and water. Beat on medium for 2 minutes. Stir in chocolate chips. Spread batter evenly in greased, floured bundt pan. Bake 50 to 60 minutes @ 350. Cool in pan on wire rack then remove cake.

Frost with prepared frosting.

Note: We used vanilla pudding mix (out of chocolate) and semi-sweet chocolate chips. Topping was gently heated canned frosting. Served with old fashioned vanilla ice cream. Rave reviews!

Tomorrow summer promises to come again. What a tease! I intend to savor its warmth and drink up any bit of sunshine that trickles by.

Kathy
Project 366 – Day 137

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