Reuben's 3rd Birthday

It's hard to believe our middle child is 3 years old today! Time keeps on flying by as we go through life. We have been so blessed by our sweet Reuben as his rough and tumble play meets sweet snuggler. He reminds me so much of Jim in his personality and look. I love the way he is himself. He is beginning to try to do what the older 2 kids are doing, but at the same time content to be who he is.
This year, especially the last few months, Reuben has really blossomed. He is communicating more, answering questions and really desiring to learn. We officially started pre-school with him during our homeschool time and he is loving it. He is quickly picking up letter sounds, numbers and colors as well as growing his vocabulary. It is so fun to watch him grow. He loves to be outside and play. This is probably his favorite thing to do. He also loves to swing when we are at the playground. Reuben is an observer. He pays attention to everything and takes it all in. That is also fun to see. Really, he is just a fun kid. I love this little boy and I am so thankful that God gave Reuben to our family.

Happy Birthday, Reuben! You are so loved!

Prince Caspian

We have been reading through The Chronicles of Narnia with our kids for fun. This is the 4th book, and at this point the 2nd worst in my opinion. The story line was interesting, but did not seem to be as well written as some of the others. My kids did seem to enjoy it probably more than I did, so as a read aloud for kids it is really good. It is mild so not a lot of extra explanation is necessary. It is also fun to talk through and see the allegorical themes of following God even when others do not, and trusting in what you cannot see. Those two things struck me the most. The subtle themes are the redeeming qualities of this book. I give it 3 stars.

An Hour of Prayer

This last week our family began School of Missions at our church. From the start I knew it would be a huge blessing! One of the things they talked about was goals for getting in healthy rhythms for spiritual growth. One of those things was taking an hour each week to pray for the lost and the work God is doing around the world. Hosting women's prayer once a month has really helped with that, but this challenged me to be even more intentional about bringing the world before God. I need to get back into writing down specific world requests to go along with the requests I continually refer to from our workers overseas and set aside certain times each week to pray about those things in particular. I had that in my schedule at one time, but have gotten out of the practice badly with the chaos in our house the last few months.

Will you join me? If you live in Louisville, come to women's prayer once a month. What other time can you set aside to pray for the lost? Let's grow in prayer together!

Usborne Peoples of the World

This book is part of the history/geography/culture curriculum for Core B with Sonlight. Overall I enjoyed this books pictures and fun facts about different ways of living life. The down side to this book was the poor explanation of Christianity, which is definitely more cultural Christianity than an actual relationship with Christ. This is to be expected from this type of publishing, so I will still use this book again with the younger ones, changing those things I know to be inaccurate. I give it 3 stars

Meet Felicity

I believe I read this book as an elementary aged girl, and enjoyed reading it to Lillian as part of her read alouds this year. It was good to talk through what Felicity was doing and discuss what we can learn from her. It is also fun to hear how they spoke and look at the culture from that time period. There are some things that may be a little intense for some kids, but overall I found it very mild and it did not upset my sensitive 4 year old. I give it 4 stars.

August Blessings

August has been a busy month and fairly good overall. God has been blessing us in so many ways and we are so grateful to be His people.

1. Jim and I growing closer
2. Jamey reading to Samuel
3. Gabriel holding hands to pray and saying Amen
4. Reuben sleeping in his big boy bed
5. Getting through the school week with little TV during the day
6. Starting a new school year
7. All 4 kids seeking to learn
8. All 4 kids asking to go outside and play together without being asked
9. Sam rolling and becoming more interactive
10. Reuben joining Jamey and Lillian in acting out movies
11. God continually growing me
12. A wonderful church community
13. Our family getting to know Leandro better
14. Lillian learning to fold our diaper inserts
15. Taking all 5 kids to the park by myself just because they asked to
16. Jamey and Lillian learning to hand wash dishes
    
17. Laura Brandt
18. Shannon Robinette
19. Ashley Matthews
20. God moving and changing our hearts
21. Becoming more cohesive as a family
22. Desiring to want to be together
23. God's grace and mercy
24. Lillian asking to wear skirts more
25. Getting up around 6 am most days
26. Sam using the Exersaucer
    

August Evaluation

Spiritual

• Spend at least 10 minutes praying daily- Yes
• Spend at least 10 minutes reading and reflecting on the Bible daily- Yes! God is still giving me a passion to devour the Word!
• Memorize verses with the kids - Started Psalm 1 review with the school year
• Memorize Proverbs 31:10-31 and Romans 1 (I hope to add more to it, but this is where I want to start)- I have made Proverbs 31:10-31 part of Lillian's school curriculum for this year and have  most of it memorized generally still need to get it in solidly. Also working on Ephesians 1 with our church

Marriage

• Go out for a date once a month- Still going on 1 a week and I think this is our new goal
• Go on a night away once this year- Yes, went overnight to Lexington for our 10th anniversary
• Read 3 books together this year- We finished "A Praying Life" and are working on books for School of Missions together and plan to start "Proof" soon
• Discuss plan weekly on Sunday afternoon- Still improving, but mostly

Kids

• Spend 30 minutes of one on one time with each child every week- Some, but not a lot. Right now Jim and I are working on making our marriage 1st priority, so this will come later
• Go to playgroup each Tuesday- Yes
• Take kids to Science Center or Zoo at least once a month- Nope
• Write in individual journals at least 3 times this year- Wrote in Sam's and Jamey's this month
• Finish Jamey's 1st year Scrapbook- Did nothing with this during Auust, not sure this one will happen, currently not at the top of the priority list, though I hope to get it accomplished sooner rather than later

Homemaking

• Keep up with cleaning schedule- Started thinking about this more and seeking how to improve this for our family
• Keep up with my calendar- Did fairly well with this overall, still room for improvement
• Being fully present when with my family- Getting better at this. God has been really working on me and helping me to do better in this area

Ministry

• Continue to host Women's Prayer once a month- Yes
• Have at least 4 Childbirth Conversation classes this year- This may have been too, lofty of a goal. As of right now I might get 1 more in this year
• Start Childbirth Conversation blog- Yes! It is finally launched. You can check it out here

Personal

• Read a book a month aside from Class material- I'm reading a lot between reading with Jim, school with the kids and by myself, though I only completed "A Praying Life" with Jim this month.
• Journal 5 days a week- Yes! By God's grace I have written at least this if not more
• Write (books) 3 days a week- I got in an average of 1 day a week I think, maybe a little more
• Edit novel to prepare for publishing and research publishing options- Did a little editing one day
• Complete Childbirth Conversation book- Did not work on this at all
• Plan for next novel and write in November- Did not get any planning done this month
• Finish Rosetta Stone Russian level 1 and begin Level 2- Have not worked on this
• Continue to meet once a month with writing group- After changing meeting time, we were able to meet in August! So thankful for this group
• Blog 3 days a week- Not at all. I've wanted to, but still working on how to prioritize our time better. Lots of prayer for this would be appreciated.

Health

• Go to water aerobics once a week- Still not getting this in. Would love to, but still working on family priorities
• Maintain weight until birth- 
• Lose weight after giving birth- I joined Weight Watchers this month and am already losing! I think I've lost 4-5 lbs already! 

August was super busy! We started school with the kids, Jim started school, and this weekend we started School of Missions at Sojourn as a family. It has been wonderful getting back into a semi-normal routine and finding new rhythms. Jim and I are still seeking what this really needs to look like as a family so that our walk with God stays first, our marriage comes second, our children third and everything else after (hence why some of my goals have not been met or even worked on). We desire for our family to walk with the Lord first and foremost, and we are really being challenged by this as we have struggled to do this the past few years. God is moving and it is a blessing, but still quite a challenge. Please pray for our family as the Spirit leads so that we will be exactly what God wants us to be.

What was your August like?