October Blessings

As October comes to a close I can't figure out where it went. But I do know that even in the blur that was this month, God has been very gracious to us and blessed us far more than we deserve. Here is a picture of the blessings we have experienced this month.

1. Productive school day
2. Malachi attempting to nurse and doing OK with it
3. Spending time with the middle boys
4. Singing with the kids
5. Evening with Jim before a long week
6. Ryan and Becca coming to help for the day
7. Hearing about work in Asia
8. Catching up with Brian and Karine
9. "Blue Bloods"
10. Jim enjoying class
11. Jim being home at dinner time
12. Jamey and Lillian working on science together
13. Working on business
14. Encouragement to reach out
15. Time with the younger boys
16. Everyone at CG and the kids doing well
17. Meeting Jim for lunch at school
18. Running errands
19. Good milk production
20. Getting work going again
21. Talking future with Jim and hearing his thoughts
22. Good nutrition visit
23. Uploading pictures
24. Ordering pictures to change the wall
25. A little time to write
26. Getting into co-op with the kids helping
27. Talking with Tara
28. Free spaghetti for dinner
29. Jim coming home early
30. Playing "LOTR Trivial Pursuit"
31. Cleaning and organizing the entire living room
32. Jim cleaning the kitchen
33. Getting most of to-do list done for the week
34. Great sermon on how we're all messed up
35. Sunday class encouragement
36. Time to really talk with Jim
37. Watching a movie together
38. Having a good day with the kids
39. Working on Box Tops
40. Getting addresses
41. Kids working well
42. Neo singing Noah
43. Good postpartum appt
44. Being encouraged in my knowledge of birth
45. Getting groceries with the baby
46. Catalogs
47. Free Starbucks
48. Good CG discussion on vulnerability
49. Getting party set up
50. God opening my eyes more and open wrestling with Him
51. Jamey asking to take a nap and to do housework
52. Learning more balance
53. Fun Norwex party
54. New customer
55. Catching up with Candice
56. New Pizza place
57. Jim planning date night
58. Good writing group
59. Catching up with Sisters
60. First time to a pumpkin patch
61. Time with our community
62. Fun pictures
63. Getting to bed early
64. Good sermon on growing in Spiritual maturity
65. Jim seeing to make the best decision for all
66. Restful afternoon
67. "The Chase:
68. Good Dentist appt
69. Neo taking steps!
70. Cleaning the majority of the kitchen
71. Getting packed
72. Haircuts for all the boys
73. Having a calm spirit
74. Productivity for being home without Jim
75. Good intense discussion at CG
76. Challenging each other
77. Kids doing well all day
78. Going to eat lunch with Jim at work
79. Time with Gage
80. Being available to help
81. Unexpected blessings
82. Comfy Cow with Sara
83. Finishing a couple of projects
84. Lillian having time with Jim
85. Learning to let go of perfection
86. Being reminded what's important
87. Getting to co-op early
88. Being in Karate
89. Jim being able to help in the afternoon
90. Getting on the road by 3 pm
91. Kids sleeping in the car
92. Caravaning with Becca and Ryan
93. Chick-fil-A Breakfast with Max
94. Relaxing afternoon
95. Time with cousins
96. Seeing FBC Smyrna Family
97. Seeing Noemi
98. Unexpected gift
99. Great sermon on giving our whole life to God
100. Shower for Rachel and Becca
101. Time with Brit
102. Jim having breakfast with Jeff
103. Getting on the road early
104. Talking with Jim while driving
105. Encouragement
106. Making good time
107. McDonald's with good inside playground
108. Nehemiah saying "amen", singing, dancing and walking
109. Meal night at CG
110. Catching up with Meagan
111. Surprise big Norwex order
112. Closing out 1 party
113. Jim working an extra 4 hours
114. Getting through a really busy day without too much incident
115. God protecting our teeth
116. Being able to be honest without losing it
117. Playdate with Shannon & Gage, Courtney & Asher
118. Doing some much needed work
119. Talking with the kids
120. Nursery 4th hour at co-op
121. Working on clearer scheduling
122. Aldi's pizza for dinner
123. Sleep
124. Helping out Will and Abby and getting to know them more
125. Relaxing afternoon
126. Talking with Alicia
127. God providing
128. Good sermon on abundance
129. Learning about worshiping as a couple
130. Advocate training- learning more about encouraging workers
131. Solutions to issues in the house
132. Jim getting to work on school
133. Time to work together in the office
134. Good OT
135. Family movie night

October Evaluation

Spiritual

• Spend at least 10 minutes praying daily- At the beginning of the month this was a struggle, but as the month went on this grew and I believe I have been doing this, though I really want to be more intentional in my prayer times
• Spend at least 10 minutes reading and reflecting on the Bible daily- By the end of the month I have been able to do this. Really working to maximize my pumping time in the morning
• Memorize verses with the kids - working on this during school time
• Have extended prayer times 4 times during the year- Jim has had 3 and I have had 3
• Read Christian books (Jim- 1 (not school related), Emmie- 3)- 1 for me so far and started "Mission of Motherhood" 

Marriage

• Pray together daily- YES! 
• Go out for a date once a week- By God's grace I believe we actually managed this this month
• Go on a night away once this year- Yes! We were able to get away for 2 whole days for our Anniversary! Big thanks to Becca, Shannon, Julianne, Victor and Ariana who made this possible for us! It was wonderful
• Read 3 books together this year (read one day a week)- Crossing this off because it's not going to happen. Maybe next year when we're forced to for School of Missions
• Discuss plan weekly on Saturday afternoon- Did not happen 

Kids

• Spend 15 minutes of one on one time with each child every week- This is still a struggle, really working on scheduling the next month
• Special Outing Alone twice during the year with each child- No outings this month. It's been a struggle to plan extra outside activities
• Family fun activity once a month- We went to Mulberry Farms to play, do a corn maze and pick pumpkins with some friends from church. It was a great time!
• Write in individual journals at least 3 times this year- Got caught up on 4 journals! Huge blessing!
• Finish Jamey's 1st year Scrapbook- Got things moved around and organized a little better so I might actually get some work done on this before the end of the year!

Homemaking

• Keep up with cleaning schedule- Honestly we need to make a NEW schedule, talking through the best way to do this
• Keep up with my calendar- Still struggling to use it well
• Being fully present when with my family- Still struggling, but getting better as we get more normalized
• Try 12 new recipes this year- (10) We tried mini meatloaves
• No TV 2 days a week (watching)- Still using the TV a lot. Working on finding a better rhythm to prevent just turning it on because
• Begin gardening in the spring- Another that just did not happen and isn't going to, but that's OK!

Ministry

• Continue sending out Prayer List- Yes

Personal

• Read a book a month for myself- Still working on "Don Quixote" hoping I can finish my classics challenge this year but doesn't look like it
• Jim read one fiction book- Yes! He finished "Eragon", Eldest", and "Brisingr"
• Journal 5 days a week- I got close
• Jim Journal 3 days a week- Yes
• Edit novel to prepare for publishing- No work on this
• Book Club once a month- We didn't meet this month :( 
• Continue to meet once a month with writing group- Yes! It was a short meeting but so thankful for time to meet with these Sisters
• Blog 1-2 days a week- Yes! 

Health

• Mild Exercise twice a week- Nope, really need to work on schedule/routine/rhythms
• Maintain weight until birth- This did not happen, so I have extra work to do now
• Lose weight after giving birth- I'm basically stagnant at the moment. Hoping to get cracking on this soon. I need it and I need the energy!

Good-bye October! Where did you go? This month has been very crazy, busy and I'm not even sure why. Maybe it's like time and the more months behind the faster the year goes? All I know is it is at an end and I'm not sure where it went. Except for a quick weekend trip to GA we have been doing school, co-op, Jim has been working. It's basically been "normal life". But right now it is still a struggle. We are still settling in to being a family of 9. This transition has shown us how intentional we really need to be. We need structure and self-discipline so that the days don't just drift by unchecked. So here's to November that will, by God's grace, be more productive for us all, and most of all be what God wants it to be!

How was your October? What is God teaching you?

The Merchant of Venice

This Shakespeare play is my 9th classic in my Back to the Classics Challenge for 2016. This play is for the category A classic which includes the name of a place in the title.

This play was definitely in the comedy section of my Shakespeare Anthology, however I did not find it very comedic. I suppose for the time period it probably was, but I didn't get it. In fact it was in this weird realm between comedy and tragedy. I don't think anyone actually died if I remember correctly, but there was a lot of sinister plotting to kill people, in particular the merchant of Venice for whom the play is named.

There was certainly some witty banter in the play and a level of cleverness in the end to help resolve a horrible predicament, which I believe is what put it in the comedy genre. But a lot of the situations throughout the play were minor tragedies in a sense. It was interesting to see how the characters weaved together. I also appreciated the riddle given to the suitors of Portia to solve in order to marry her. So there were elements that I liked, but this was not my favorite play of Shakespeare's. Maybe I will read it again and appreciate it more, but it will likely be awhile.

3 Stars for this Shakespeare play.

The Purloined Letter

This classic by Edgar Allan Poe was my 8th in the Back to the Classics Challenge I'm participating in this year. This was my 19th Century Classic.

I normally really enjoy Poe, even though he is a dark writer. However this was so tame for him that I found myself not enjoying it. In fact I'm not really sure what the point of the story was aside from a small game of cat and mouse. The other point may be that an average person is better at detective work than detectives. I really don't know.

The positive notes are that it was well written and did have some interesting arguments about psychology and life that were thought provoking.

I really don't have much else to say about this short story because it was bland on the whole, at least to me.

Maybe 2.5 stars for this one.

Product Spotlight #10

The Cleaning Paste (p. 18) from Norwex is the magic eraser that lasts forever. It comes in a solid block and it only takes a little bit to do the job. Used with the Scrubby Corner Cloth (p.7), tough stains and stuck on grime become easy to remove! My stove had a LOT of burnt on debris. Cleaning Paste, Scrubby Corner Cloth and a couple minutes of elbow grease cleaned it off and made it look almost new!

Cleaning Paste is also excellent at using to polish and protect many types of surfaces, such as chrome, porcelain and stainless steel. (Should not be used on Brushed stainless steel.) With the holidays near by you may be bringing out your silver to use for parties and events. Use Cleaning Paste to shine it right up, ready to serve with confidence that there is nothing toxic on your serving pieces.

Shown here with an Envirocloth and Window Cloth, the difference is evident.

We love the Cleaning Paste in our house as it has removed spots from all kinds of surfaces, and when you have 7 kids that's very important! Since you only need a little to get a good clean, it is much more cost effective than similar products to do the same job. This is also extremely important when you have a big family. It's a win all around!

How could you use cleaning paste in your house?

Please Contact me with any questions
Emmie Manor Independent Norwex Consultant
Emmie.reducingchemicals@gmail.com
www.emmiemanor.norwex.biz
Catalog (p. 7 & 18)

The Old Man and The Sea

This book was my 7th for the Back to the Classics Challenge I'm doing this year. The Old Man and The Sea is for the 20th Century Classic category. (I am going to tell an overview of the story so if you don't what to know how the story turns out don't read the middle paragraph.)

I'm not really sure how I feel about this book. It was an easy read and I was able to read it in one day, but it was very odd. There are so many angles I could look at for evaluating this book. The writing was clear.

The story was an interesting look at the fishing culture in Cuba as it followed a man who had had a long run of "bad luck" and unable to catch any fish. He was determined that today would be his day to break his bad run and he would catch a fish. He ends up catching a huge marlin but cannot get the fish into is small boat. It takes him on a long 2 day ride out to sea until he is finally able to catch it and latch it to his boat. On the way home the fish ends up eaten by sharks and so he has nothing but a skeleton to show for his effort.

On the one hand it was a good look at determination and hard work. On the other it seems ridiculous for the man to hold on for so long to this fish instead of attempting to catch another, especially since he caught something small to eat during this adventure. I just don't know what to think about it.

I can't say I'd recommend it but can't say I wouldn't either. I'd like someone else to read it just to talk it through with me because it was so weird.

I don't even know how to rate it. I'll say 2 stars, but really I just don't know.

A Murder Is Announced

I read A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie for my 6th book in the Back to the Classics Challenge this year. This one is for the category, a classic by a woman author.

Like Murder on the Orient Express, this book was an excellent read! I loved this book and did not want to put it down. I loved the writing style that was easy to read but still stretched  me in learning new words. The story line was so intricate and involved but was still easy to follow in the end and so interesting. At the end I had myself thinking wow, did I even see that coming? The answer was just a little, but I still wouldn't have guessed that it was that involved. I was shocked when it all came out, and I love mysteries like that! I also appreciated that it wasn't too creepy even though there was good suspense.

I highly recommend this book, just like the other I read. I am very much looking forward to reading more of Agatha Christie's books.

5 Star for this great classic!

September Blessings

September was a full and busy month with many blessing even in the chaos. Here is a glimpse of the blessings for our family this month.

1. Feeling more normal
2. Enjoying time with the kids
3. Sholtes bringing dinner
4. Reading
5. Making a plan for getting Malachi's weight back up
6. Lunch date with Jim
7. Having a pump
8. Fun girls night painting with Becca, Dee Dee and Angie
9. Roger fixing several of our electrical issues
10. Creative side coming out
11. Working fans and lights
12. "American Bible Challenge"
13. Lots of hugs and kisses
14. Ifeoma bringing snacks
15. Making a big to-do list
16. Great sermon on ministry and prayer
17. Taking family pictures
18. Pizza from Kate
19. Enjoying family time
20. Getting more milk out
21. Singing with the kids
22. Kids wanting to learn more about the Bible
23. Extra sleep
24. Time to read and pray
25. Malachi gaining weight
26. Parents getting here safely
27. Yummy lunch date with Jim
28. Good cg discussion
29. Writing blog posts
30. Reuben turning 5!
31. Blueberry pound cake with blueberry drizzle
32. Reuben enjoying his light sword
33. IHOP with the family
34. Kids playing well together
35. Getting new contacts
36. Meeting Riley
37. Girls afternoon
38. Panera
39. Manicure and Pedicure
40. Getting my hair done
41. Seeing Courtney
42. Seeing family
43. Fun rehearsal and rehearsal dinner
44. Older boys helping my parents
45. Malachi sleeping 7 hours!
46. Celebrating Ryan and Becca's marriage
47. Kids doing well in the ceremony
48. Good family pictures
49. Sara helping us at the wedding
50. Dancing
51. Good food 
52. Cookies
53. Berry Twist Banana Split
54. Snuggling with Malachi
55. Starting the school year with the kids
56. Mom working with Nehemiah and Sam
57. Getting almost everything done with housework by myself
58. Courtney bringing food
59. Kids singing and working hard
60. Family treat at Comfy Cow
61. 2 days without TV!
62. Kids excited about CG
63. Chick-fil-A
64. Making it through a VERY HARD DAY
65. Nehemiah standing up on his own
66. Member meeting
67. Alison and Althea helping with the kids
68. How God is growing Sojourn and our neighborhood
69. Nehemiah and Malachi growing a lot
70. Good OT and nutrition visits
71. Bakes Ziti
72. 3 days without TV!
73. First day of co-op going well and Jim able to go with us
74. Free dinner
75. Nehemiah helping Malachi with his pacifier
76. Making organization plans
77. Ordering announcements
78. Ordering baby calendar
79. Great sermon on reconciliation
80. Hearing from Daniel and Jamaal
81. Playing the dance game
82. Connecting with Jim
83. Costco
84. Jim meeting with Nathan
85. Encouragement
86. Tackling the online world after 3 weeks away
87. Errands as a family
88. Gifted a weekend in Chicago in March!
89. Reevaluating life
90. Sam saying Bible verses
91. Feeling more peace
92. Grace with deal with a bad situation
93. Ryan and Becca watching the kids
94. Plans for including kids in CG
95. Catching up with Shannon
96. Errands with Gabriel
97. Seeing Ryan and Becca's wedding pictures!
98. Surviving
99. Uploading pictures
100. Stealing moments with Malachi
101. Malachi turning 1 month!
102. Posting birth story
103. Eating lunch with Tara
104. Meeting new people
105. Lots of free food
106. Getting upstairs rearranged and beginning to clean
107. Kids helping
108. A week with almost no TV!
109. Good sermon on the miraculous
110. Book Club continuing
111. Getting announcements
112. Fellowship
113. Jim meeting with Paul
114. Curry on the stove
115. Getting a prescription with out an appointment!
116. Doing well with school time
117. Dinner at CG
118. Sam feeding Malachi
119. Catching up with friends
120. Washing my hair
121. Gyros
122. Working on plans for next 2 months
123. Cleaning out email
124. Talking to Britney
125. Lunchables
126. Getting to know people
127. Arby's
128. Really talking and working through something with Jim
129. Seeing God moving and working
130. Salvation

September Evaluation

Spiritual

• Spend at least 10 minutes praying daily- Definitely a lot of praying this month!
• Spend at least 10 minutes reading and reflecting on the Bible daily- working on getting back into this
• Memorize verses with the kids - working on this during school time
• Have extended prayer times 4 times during the year- Jim has had 3 and I have had 3
• Read Christian books (Jim- 1 (not school related), Emmie- 3)- 1 for me so far and started "Mission of Motherhood" 

Marriage

• Pray together daily- YES! 
• Go out for a date once a week- Due to a LOT of family activity this did not happen, but we did get 2 and some good time at home
• Go on a night away once this year- Yes! We were able to get away for 2 whole days for our Anniversary! Big thanks to Becca, Shannon, Julianne, Victor and Ariana who made this possible for us! It was wonderful
• Read 3 books together this year (read one day a week)- Crossing this off because it's not going to happen. Maybe next year when we're forced to for School of Missions
• Discuss plan weekly on Saturday afternoon- Did not happen 

Kids

• Spend 15 minutes of one on one time with each child every week- Got closer to that at the end of the month, still working on good time management with kids
• Special Outing Alone twice during the year with each child- Reuben got a date with Daddy!
• Family fun activity once a month- Playing the Dance Game as a family.We had a lot of fun!
• Write in individual journals at least 3 times this year- No writing this month, but I am mostly caught up
• Finish Jamey's 1st year Scrapbook- Got things moved around and organized a little better so I might actually get some work done on this before the end of the year!

Homemaking

• Keep up with cleaning schedule- Honestly we need to make a NEW schedule
• Keep up with my calendar- A little better this month, but have a long way to go
• Being fully present when with my family- Still struggling, but getting better as we get more normalized
• Try 12 new recipes this year- (9) Jim made a delicious blueberry pound cake with blueberry drizzle for Reuben's birthday! So GOOD! I have a great cook and baker for a hubby!
• No TV 2 days a week (watching)- We actually accomplished this a couple times this month! With school work to do we're getting back into a good reading and activity routine. Still have work to do in this area but it's getting easier.
• Begin gardening in the spring- Another that just did not happen and isn't going to, but that's OK!

Ministry

• Continue sending out Prayer List- Yes

Personal

• Read a book a month for myself- I finished "The Purloined Letter" this month and made a significant dint in "Don Quixote"
• Jim read one fiction book- Yes! He finished "Eragon", Eldest", and "Brisingr"
• Journal 5 days a week- Not this month, but slowly getting there again
• Jim Journal 3 days a week- Yes
• Edit novel to prepare for publishing- No work on this
• Book Club once a month- Yes! Thankful I was able to attend the last at Bre's house
• Continue to meet once a month with writing group- I fell down on  meeting this month again! Sad that it happened, but hopefully in October
• Blog 1-2 days a week- Yes! 

Health

• Mild Exercise twice a week- Nope, hope to get back into this this month
• Maintain weight until birth- This did not happen, so I have extra work to do now
• Lose weight after giving birth- Have lost a little, but stagnated right now. Hopefully with getting to 6 weeks postpartum I can start to exercise and it will help

September was a blur! Adjusting to a new baby, celebrating Reuben's birthday, Becca getting married and moving out, Jim starting back to work, starting school with the kids and trying to find the new normal for our family has kept us busy. It's been nice finding time to read more and watching TV less as well as learning to talk more with Jim and the kids. I feel like we have grown a lot this month as a family. There is still a lot to figure out and we'll never stop learning, but in the last couple of days it seems like there might be a light for this season. The next couple of months are going to be very busy as well, but hopefully we'll find peace in Jesus and a hint of stability as we seek to do those things God has called us to at this time.

How was your September?