All posts by KME

Daily Life

A burdened heart

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I had a long talk this evening with a beloved one and my heart is burdened. After I got off the phone I immediately went to find Tim. He was on his knees praying.

Praying for this precious child of God. Interceding on their behalf.

Despair creeps in like the icy fingers of a winter night. The problems are too big, the troubles real, and the struggle overwhelming. I’m too far away to help. I don’t have any answers. Hopelessness sidles alongside despair to wrap me in a chilling embrace.

I fall to my knees. “Lord, surround this dear one with Your comfort and love. Awaken others to pray. Do not allow the lies of failure and desperation to speak louder than Your grace and power.”

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. (Isaiah 43:2)

I can do so little to help, it seems, but I can pray, I can exhort, I can speak God’s truth and words of comfort and LIFE. I KNOW that the Lord is with us. He promises it in His Word. He can drive away the despair and misery and fill us with His joy and hope.

If the Lord places my loved one on your heart, please PRAY!

In my distress I called to the LORD; I called out to my God. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came to his ears.

Kathy

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Holidays, Works for Me Wednesday

WFMW – Christmas Names

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wfmwChristmas is almost here!

Do you hear the panic in my voice? I am not ready, not ready, not ready for Christmas!! I think there should be two full weeks left until it’s actually Christmas.

Anyone else agree?

Can we vote on it?

Panic aside, I am thoroughly enjoying the season. We have Christmas lights up on the house. My Advent Calendars have been an overwhelming success. We hosted a Christmas brunch, had a huge birthday slumber party, attended a mother/daughter craft gala, and tomorrow we’re decorating cookies with friends.

So really, the only area in which I am unprepared for Christmas, is in terms of actual presents.

Now it’s my children who are panicking!

Don’t fret little ones, Amazon.com ships in two days. They might make it here by Christmas.

In spite of my lack of credentials in this area, my Works for Me Wednesday tip relates entirely to Christmas presents. It’s one of my ‘bestest’ ideas ever. You will love this. It truly is an awesome way of handling gifts. If you have a family with more than one child, this tip will quickly become a favorite.

Reindeer Names

At the beginning of the season (or in my case, the week before Christmas when I’m finally ready to wrap presents) in the cover of darkness and in total secrecy, I assign each member of the family a secret reindeer name.

All of the presents are labeled to follow this code. The kids know (on pain of death or, even worse, the loss of all their presents) not to sneak a peak at my Reindeer Code List.

It works something like this, suppose that Joshua is Dasher, Rachel Dancer, Daniel is Rudolph, etc, any present for Joshua that goes under the tree is thus labeled, To: Dasher.

This practice has transformed the way the kids view the presents under the tree. They no longer compare and contrast their “piles” or root around, looking for their own gifts. Instead they plot and scheme, trying to decipher which child corresponds to which reindeer.

On Christmas morning the names are revealed. It’s quite the celebration as the anticipation and eagerness have been building throughout the season.

julee's tree

This is not my tree.

In the last two years, we’ve had to expand our collection of names. There are only so many reindeer, after all, and with five children (plus Mom and Dad) you run through the list pretty fast (even counting Olive). We’ve recruited various Christmas movie characters – Frosty, Snowden, Elf; Mr. Incredible even made an appearance.

For some reason the silliness of using aliases got to us one year. Or maybe it was the fact that we were wrapping presents at 2 in the morning, either way, one of us got the notion to sign the gift tag, From: Cinderella.

At that point a new tradition was born! From then on all the presents were given from characters from movies, books, or songs.

To: Prancer
Love: The High King Peter

To: Donner
From: Ariel

The Pevensey kids from the Chronicles of Narnia have shown considerable generosity to our family. The entire Peanuts crew has also made an appearance. The boys routinely receive presents from various Disney Princesses and the little ones have been known to accept gifts from the Redwall characters. I try to be sneaky (don’t read this, kids) and throw them off the trail this way.

I’d love to hear any other tips you have for keeping the joy and wonder alive for children during the holidays. Share some of your favorite memories or creative suggestions!

Head over to Rocks in My Dryer for additional ideas.

Kathy

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Events, Project 365, Rachel

Rachel’s Birthday Extravaganza

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To celebrate Rachel’s 12th birthday party, we decided to host a Sleepover Extraordinaire. First Rachel invited all over her friends (most of them from large homeschooling families), next I begged the moms to come along (“to keep me sane company”), then we convinced Rachel to let us bring the little sisters as well (that added 3 five year olds to the party), finally we made sure to grab some girls from the old neighborhood.

Yes, all of that meant we needed two vehicles (packed to the ceiling) to take everyone off for the sleepover.

How else do you have a Birthday Extravaganza?

girls with attitude

A few of Rachel’s nearest and dearest friends – Hannah, Emily, Sarah, Alivia, Bethany, Jenny, Brigette, Katie, Elizabeth and Abby. Leanne had to go home early so she missed all the photo shoots.

We had quite the assortment of entertainment for the party.

Some friends loaned us their karaoke machine (Thanks, Casey!!). It was a huge hit, playing cds at full volume (or so it seemed) while the girls sang along.

can we sing too?
The little girls were very intrigued by the Singing Machine.

For her birthday, Rachel received Dance Praise 2 which plays contemporary Christian music and includes dance steps to go along. Thankfully the girls didn’t ask me to demonstrate for them.

I’d hate to blow them away with my stunning dancing abilities.

Or scare them.

Or give them nightmares.

rachel's present

Tim’s mom gave Rachel an incredible gift for her birthday party. She made nine (yes, I said NINE!!) gingerbread houses, assembled them, and had them all ready and waiting for us upon our arrival.

On Monday morning, she came over with containers of frosting/glue, bags of decorating candy, and instructions on how to create our very own Stunning Gingerbread Homes.

Each family went home with their own gingerbread house, which had the added benefit of encouraging sisters to work together in peace and harmony.

Or at least covered in sugar.

There was even a house for the littlest girls to decorate. And, since I’m a firm believer in more is better, I made sure the last group of younger sisters came over to join Sarah’s posse.

cute girlsmore cute girls

It was so kind of Rachel to allow the little sisters to join the party. Sarah had a wonderful time with Ava, Tarah, Abby, Avery, and Elise.

I’m trying not to kick myself for missing the opportunity to take pictures of all the gingerbread houses lined up in a sugary display of yummy confection. It’s hard work being the mother, hostess, party organizer, chef, AND photographer.

I did manage to get this picture.

gingerbread goodness

Some creative gingerbread ideas:

  • A snowman made out of white gumdrops with red scarf.
  • A pond designed with blue M&M’s with a gold fish (M&M) swimming in the middle.
  • An igloo fashioned out of non-pareils.
  • A candy cane cross at the top of chimney.
  • A stone covered chimney made out of chocolate rocks.

And much, much more sugary, gumdrop, chocolate creativity.

I’m not sure the girls slept very much. You can see they look a bit blurry here.

outside girls

Oh wait, maybe that’s the photographer who was a bit blurry. I’m not sure I slept very much either.

A wonderful time was had by all.

1 Birthday Girl
11 Party Girls
6 Little Girls
3 Moms (old girls?)

Thanks to everyone who made it an AWESOME birthday party!!

Kathy
Project 365 – Day 351

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Blogs & Websites, Daily Life

Linky Love

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I thought I would share some fun links I discovered this week:

BooMama is offering a $100 Gift Card from Lands’ End. All you have to do is pop by BooMama’s site and leave a comment. I’m torn between shopping for the children and getting myself a new winter jacket.

I’m sure the children would want me to be snug and warm in a new coat. They’re always putting my needs first.

Rocks in My Dryer (where you can find me most Wednesdays, hanging out, reading tips and becoming a better person) has a Bloggy Giveaway Site. There are several giveaways going on right now. Stop by and enter for a clothing certificate, a blogging design package, and a chance to win a scripture bag.

Michelle over at Scribbit is hosting a photo collage giveaway. Fill out her giveaway form and your name is entered into the drawing. Super easy.

Michelle also has a great collection of Winter Activities to do with the children over the holidays. Of course, the snow suggestions make my kids sigh with envy.

“Go out and play in the rain, kids.” Just doesn’t have the same ring to it as sending them out in the snow.

I end this blog with a link to a hysterical story that literally made me laugh out loud. Bathroom Emergency My kids love to hear stories about Jacqui and her unique approach to life. Michelle at In Life of a Child is a wonderful writer who captures the antics of her children (down to the pitch and lisp of their language) perfectly. Spend some time with Jacqui and you can’t help but smile.

Have a lovely Sunday!
Kathy

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Daily Life, Musings

Because I Bribe My Children

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A messy house is so discouraging, not to mention overwhelming. Yesterday I was determined to get the house ready for our Christmas brunch/craft party. I announced to the children that we were going to clean.

They love it when I do that.

“MOM, I don’t know where to start.”
“It looks fine to me, Mom.”
“What do you want me to do, I’ve already picked up 30 things.”
“You’re kidding me, can’t I do school instead?”

As I looked around at piles of assorted mess – everything from socks to papers – I wondered what was so difficult to comprehend.

“Anything that is out of place needs to go BACK into it’s place. We’re done when the entire downstairs is picked up and cleaned,” I explained patiently.

“Oh,” they all intoned in voices full of gloomy understanding. And then they stood there motionless, no doubt ‘moved’ by my brilliant leadership. Finally I realized I needed a different approach.

I went to the beloved whiteboard (our full size, floor to ceiling white board) and began listing specific jobs with corresponding monetary values.

1. Sweep kitchen floor $0.50
2. Clean red bathroom $1.00
3. Vacuum stairs $0.75
4. Take out recycling $0.25
5. Pick up and organize garage $3.00

And so on. My list nearly filed the board. The kids scrambled to pick jobs, signing their initials next to the numbers. And, this is key, then they ran off to do their jobs. I tackled the areas that needed a mother’s touch (filing papers, clearing off the table, etc). It worked beautifully.

sarah cleans

Sarah is ready to tackle those mirrors!

The children were diligent workers, needing only a little bit of supervision and encouragement. By the end of the day I was blessed with a clean house at a fairly minor expense.

Of course, I could have revised the pay structure to something like this:

1. Sweep kitchen floor – allowed to eat dinner
2. Clean red bathroom – toilet paper provided for your bathroom visits
3. Vacuum stairs – free shuttle service to youth group
4. Take out recycling – clean socks and underwear will mysteriously appear in your drawers

It takes too much time to write all of that down plus I’m not sure they would sense the urgency of my housecleaning needs. Candy also works as a motivating force (check out Sarah’s blue teeth) but there’s only so much sugar they can eat and my house gets awfully messy. There are a LOT of jobs.

I have dreams of becoming an organized mother with a rotation of chores for the children that helps maintain a clean and tidy home.

Until then, I’m content to shell out quarters for laundry and vacuuming.

What about your home? How do you get ready for a party? Is your house spic and span and company-ready all the time? Do you send your kids outside and do the work yourself (at least it’s peaceful and not getting messier every minute)? Do you have a system for powering through the house cleaning?

I’d love to hear more ideas.

Kathy

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