Stories from Around the World

This book was part of the read alouds in our P4/5 Curriculum from Sonlight. As with any story book, you will not necessarily like them all, but I did enjoy the majority of the stories in this book. It is fun to see different folk tales from around the world and compare them to each other. Lillian enjoyed reading these stories and learning a little more about the cultures we were talking about.

4 stars

Leading Little Ones To God

This book was given to us as our devotional book for Core B in our Sonlight Curriculum. It is a good basic book for introducing and explaining truths to children. The wording makes it evident that it was written awhile again and can feel awkward to read, but it was not bad. There were also times I did not agree with how they said something, so I wish I had read it ahead of time to know it was coming. These were very few and easy to correct.

As a whole I would recommend this as a devotional book for kids.

4 Stars

Lady Chatterly's Lover by D.H. Lawrence

My 10th book for my Back to the Classics Challenge, was Lady Chatterly's Lover for the category of 20th Century Classic.

I bought this book years ago, I think in high school, so I was a little leery of reading it for likely obvious reasons. But I was quite surprised by this book. It wasn't excellent, but I was intrigued by many of the passages in this book. The words and pictures painted, though very vivid and risque, were similar to the pictures painted in the Song of Songs. It was a complete admiration for one another and the way, I believe, God wants us to look at our spouses. It is frustrating that this is such a secular view of this, but much can be learned in it.

I do not condone the actions in the book at all. I will say it is also a good picture of how easy it is to become disenchanted and abandon what you know to be true and right, no matter who you are.

At times it was difficult to read as parts were written in a cockney-esc dialect. The beginning was also slow and a bit unnecessary.

I also appreciate that there is an open-ended ending with no idea as to when, if ever, they will be together.

Does that mean I recommend this book? Yes and No. If you know yourself and have good control of your mind, you may be able to read this book and enjoy it as I did. If you are single, DO NOT READ IT! And if you have problems handling romance, I would not recommend this either.

I give this book 3 stars.

The Comedy of Errors by Shakespeare

The Comedy of Errors is my 9th classic in my Back to the Classics Challenge and is the book for the "classic play" category.

Like most Shakespeare comedies, I quite enjoyed this play. It was a quick and easy read, which I greatly appreciated.

It was certainly funny, but sadly overly predictable. Act 1 Scene 1 allowed me to guess the play without having read it and without ever hearing a synopsis of the play. The ins and outs were not as predictable, which kept the humor for me.

Because I enjoy Shakespeare and this play kept well to the fashion I enjoy, I give it 4 stars, deducting 1 for the giveaway at the beginning of the play.

November Blessings

In this month of counting our blessings, I have so much to be thankful for. God has really grown our family this month and provided for us in the midst of chaos. He has given our family so much this month, mostly closer relationships with each other, but it is far more than I had expected. God truly is the giver of all good things, especially of those things that money cannot buy.

What are you thankful for this month?

1. An extra hour of sleep
2. Hearing what God says about adultery
3. Restful afternoon
4. Reuben and Gabriel playing nicely together
5. Jamey playing a board game with Jim and me
6. Planning to plan
7. God revealing more of our hearts to us
8. Learning to function steadily in a chaotic day
9. Finding consistency
10. Growing in grace
11. Seeing the Wilburn Family before they left for India
    
12. Smoothie!
13. Walking
14. Good CG time at our house
15. Leandro hanging out with the kids
16. Working through things
17. God giving me grace to help a boy having a seizure
18. Making it through the day with 4 hours of sleep
19. Jim and I really working through emotions
20. Realizing so much of God's grace before I met Jim
21. Jamey making me a card
22. Time to relax for a few minutes
23. God working in everything
24. Going to bed early
25. Going to see Jim at work
26. Smoothie
27. Getting most of the weeks school work completed
28. Time to read
29. God's continued grace
30. Time with Jim
31. Sleeping in a little
32. Productive day
33. Being together as a family
34. Working through things
35. Kids playing well together
36. Having fun
37. Learning about stealing
38. God's conviction
39. Growing with Jim
40. Yummy sandwich at Flanagan's
41. Good conversation
42. Kids' napping
43. Playing together
44. Jamey helping the middle boys with recitation
    
45. Getting up early
46. Getting a lot of pictures uploaded
47. Many Gospel conversations
48. "Cupcake Wars"
49. A freezer full of breast milk
50. Kids ahead in individual work
51. Jamey reading to Nehemiah
52. Productive school day
53. Productive house day
54. Learning a new game
55. Running errands alone
56. Last day of co-op for the semester
57. 
    Secret Sisters
58. Getting to co-op early with Jim at work
59. McDonald's Breakfast
60. Getting to see Jim at work for a few minutes
61. Kids letting me sleep in a little
62. Productive school and home day
63. Talking through the resurrection
64. Kids beginning to play well together
65. Getting uploads finished
66. Finishing up the school week early
67. Dinner and Display with our co-op
    
68. Good time with family
69. Kids growing
70. Evening with Jim at home
71. Writing group
72. Margaret joining us
73. Family day at home
74. Learning to work on things together
75. Sam Growing in communication
76. Learning about taking risks for God and living fully
77. Commissioning service and reception for international workers
78. Prayer
79. God continuing to expose my heart to me
    
80. Time with Gabe
81. Car not being expensive to fix for now
82. Kids playing well together
83. Week off of school
84. God working on me and helping me to grow
85. Getting over a chapter read in my book
86. Working on cleaning together
87. Talking with God
88. Hot shower
89. Jamey teaching the younger kids
90. Showing kids glow in the dark stuff
    
91. Jim talking to the kids
92. Lunch date at home with Jamey
93. Productive afternoon
94. Teaching kids to clean
95. Feeling more normal mentally
96. Very productive day
97. Jim getting called off
98. Putting kids clothes away
99. Cleaning and organizing
100. Getting most pictures uploaded 
101. Finishing Lady Chatterly's Lover
102. Productive morning
103. Nice day out
104. Talking through family and personal mission statements and goals
     
105. Really communicating
106. Neo doing well
107. Catching up with Lindsay
108. Good day out
109. Yummy Panera
110. Life planning with Jim
111. Growing together in the knowledge of God and what He has for our family in this season
112. Learning about coveting and how God wants us to view life
113. Lunch with my sisters
     
114. Hanging out as a family
115. Kids welcoming Jacob
116. Putting avocado on my eggs
117. Productive day at home
118. Growing with Jim
119. Learning as a family
120. Great encouraging time at book club
121. Neo eating and pumping 4 oz
122. Jamey reading from the Bible and taking notes
123. Kids learning the Bible
     
124. Good dialogue at CG
125. Working through emotions more calmly
126. Sam and Neo giving each other kisses
127. Kids memorizing Scripture
128. Coffee date with Jim
129. Growing in working through things together
130. Seeing my own sin
131. Sleeping until 7:40!
132. Spending the day with the McMillin family
133. Daddy's surgery going well
134. Lot's of good food
     
135. Time and a half
136. Kids being fully welcomed
137. Celebrating Gabriel's birthday
138. IHOP
139. Hanging out with Becca and Ryan
140. Pizza
141. Ice Cream Cake
142. Jamey loving Fireproof
143. Growing as a family
144. Finishing several projects
145. Gabriel turning 3!
146. Kids playing well together
147. Talking with Becca
148. God continuing to grow my heart
149. Working with God and Jim to live life
     
150. TV staying off until after dinner
151. Learning about God's mission for His people
152. Jamey asking how God redeems us
153. Lots of leftovers
154. Ryan and Becca getting us really yummy tacos
155. Taking a nap

November Evaluation

Due to circumstances this past year, I'm not really changing my goals. Some will go that are not top priority, but I'm keeping the ones that fit with the overarching goal of having a God-centered life and the things I see Him leading me to right now. So thus far this is how it goes:

Spiritual

• Spend at least 10 minutes praying daily- Yes, I'm working more directed prayer into my day
• Spend at least 10 minutes reading and reflecting on the Bible daily- Yes! 
• Memorize verses with the kids - We have memorized 10 verses together
• Memorize Scripture- Doing this with the kids in school time

Marriage

• Go out for a date once a week- Yes
• Go on a night away once this year- Yes we went away for our anniversary!
• Read 3 books together this year- Did not read any this month, this goal will not be met
• Discuss plan weekly on Sunday Saturday afternoon- We are discussing plans but still need improvement on consistency and sticking to our plans as much as it depends on us

Kids

• Spend 30 minutes of one on one time with each child every week- Getting better at this, still have a lot of growing, but at least we are progressing :)
• Go to playgroup each Tuesday- Did not really happen this month and this one will likely be going away
• Write in individual journals at least 3 times this year- A little behind in this but will be done soon
• Finish Jamey's 1st year Scrapbook- Need to go through pictures with Jim so this is on hold currently

Homemaking

• Keep up with cleaning schedule- Did some cleaning later in the month, but still not consistent hoping to grow in this next year
• Keep up with my calendar- Status quo, still need improvement here
• Being fully present when with my family- Getting better at this but always room for improvement

Ministry

• Continue sending out Prayer List- Yes

Personal

• Read a book a month for myself- This month I read "Lady Chatterly's Lover" (review to come, I'm behind on my other review as well. Hopefully I'll get some blog posts written soon)
• Journal 5 days a week- Yes! God has really been giving me opportunity to do this in the morning
• Write (books) 3 days a week- I have written down some ideas for my nonfiction book I'm working on, and worked on the introduction with my writing group
• Edit novel to prepare for publishing and research publishing options- No additional work on this during the month
• Finish Rosetta Stone Russian level 1 - Have not worked on this
• Continue to meet once a month with writing group- YES! So thankful to have a new Sister in the group
• Blog 3 days a week- Not at all

Health

• Go to water aerobics once a week- Started back to find out that our instructor was moving and they are going to begin charging for classes so only did this half the month and this will be no more
• Maintain weight until birth- Did well with this, still gained some but far better than other pregnancies
• Lose weight after giving birth- Just maintained this month, need a plan for this, but other things are taking priority

It's hard to believe November is at an end. This month involved a lot of ups and downs. We took a week off of school to teach cleaning and do major planning. Thanksgiving week was completely thrown off. But through it all, God has been faithful and is growing Jim and me together, giving us vision for our family and what we believe He wants it to look like. We are still struggling with execution, but hopefully during December we will get plans settled and 2016 will be a year of great growth for our family.

What was November like for you?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GABRIEL!

Today my fourth child is 3 years old! How quickly the time has gone. Gabriel surprised us by coming a week before he was due, and he has continued to be a go-getter ever since then.

Gabriel is such a fun spirit. His name, we later found out, means mighty man of God, and is he ever strong willed. Though not extreme, he still seeks to please, but Gabriel is a determined little boy. He is rough and tumble and full of energy. His smile and laugh are contagious. He loves to learn and thinks he can do everything the older ones can.

I love to hear Gabriel talk. He is so excited about life and want to tell you about everything. He talks to his siblings and loves on them. Gabriel loves to dance and sing. He is just about anything you would expect a 3 year old boy to be.

As rough and tumble as he is, Gabriel is still sensitive and easily gets his feelings hurt. He loves hugs and kisses, but only when he wants them.

Giraffes are Gabriel's favorite animals. He also loves cars and puzzles. I am so thankful to see a love for reading in him already.

We started him with a preschool program this year and he gets so excited about learning. He loves to write and gets out his writing board for fun to practice writing.

I am so thankful God has given this precious boy to us. He is such a blessing to our family. God has used his life so much already.

Father, thank You for our precious Gabriel! Please make him into a mighty man of You and a man after Your own heart.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GABRIEL!!!

 
Photo shoot by Becca Camp