Our Van Is Full

Today I am 24 weeks pregnant with our tenth blessing! 

Twenty-four weeks is when the big happy dance takes place in my heart and soul. I'm always thrilled at the knowledge of another blessing joining our family, but when I hit the week that my baby will normally do well if they are born early, everything changes.

I'm ready now for another little one. I relax. My heart and mind are in the fully engaged in preparing for the labor and birth of another child. I'm sharing the baby's movement with Jim and the other children because they can now feel it too. It all becomes so real.

And I'm grateful!

It's such a blessing to reach the 24th week. It's such a blessing to carry an image bearer. It's a blessing to welcome new life.

I reflect on the Psalms, especially 127, 128 and 139.

But also Psalm 23 as there are still trying days that come from growing a new life inside my body as well as teaching, training and schooling 9 other children. It also prepares me for the labor to come.

When we found out we were expecting our first child nearly 12 years ago, I never knew what God had in store for our family.

Who would have thought that we would have a 12-passenger van filled with children?

Not Me!!!

But I'm so grateful for this life with a large family that God has given to us. I'm thankful for the different life we have. I'm thankful for the grace that God gives us to learn and grow as He grows our family. It's such a beautiful thing.

It is challenging. It is non-stop work. But is is so good.

Thank You, Father, for filling our van!

Our One-Year-Old Timothy

How can it be a year since giving birth to our precious Timothy?

Much has happened since he was born. We were so blessed with his little life and he has helped all of us grow in many ways. The kids have grown in responsibility, Jim and I have grown in trusting God in all circumstances and our family has grown together in working as a unit. How could so much happen in just one year!

Timothy started out as a small little boy, and though a champion nurser, he didn't want to grow. By God's grace, that has changed and now he loves his bottle, loves to eat real food and is growing like a champ. He is so active and loves playing with his siblings. He is a super fast crawler and can pull to standing on anything. He's thinking about walking, but taking his sweet time. (That's OK by me.)

Timothy's smile can light up a room! He is so friendly and loves to be around person. Already he is showing those extroverted tendencies. He is so loved by his siblings who do such an amazing job of helping with him. Timothy has the best laugh and finds everything James does quite amusing!

Recently, Timothy has started waving and saying "Hi" when you see him or just to get your attention. He loves to jabber and his getting a few words. He is also starting to enjoy playing and books. He definitely loves to learn. With nice weather earlier this week, Timothy was able to explore outside, and while apprehensive, he still enjoyed the new experience and explored his new surroundings.

We are so thankful for Timothy and so blessed to have him in our family. We are so thankful God has healed his growth issues and that Timothy is thriving today. He is starting to show his personality, and we are excited to see the man that he will be.

Father, thank You for Timothy and his precious life! Thank You for giving him to us to love and care for and train in Your ways. I pray even now that You will work in Timothy's heart as he hears the truth of Your Word preached and the Gospel spoken over his life so that he will receive the gift of Your grace with gladness and be fully Your child. Thank You that we get to be a part of this amazing work. Grow him into a man after Your own heart that loves You with all of his heart, soul, mind and strength and loves his neighbor as himself. I pray this in Jesus Name. Amen!

Emmie's Day with a 11, 9, 8, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2, and (Almost) 1 Year Old

Every year, Simple Homeschool hosts a series and link up for homeschool families to share their days with each other for encouragement. I've linked up a couple of times and thought I'd take a minute to share our current homeschool day.

Since November, our schedule has been a little elusive from dealing with a struggling baby and morning (all day) sickness. Even in the lack of schedule, we have still sought to maintain basic rhythms to helps with the smoothness of our day.

Most days we are all up and eating breakfast by 6:45 am. We eat together, read and discuss a Bible passage, pray over our day and sing. Daddy leaves for work around 7:20.

After breakfast we have kitchen and room chores and get ready for the day. Everyone pitches in with their job for common spaces and makes their bed.

After breakfast is a little more up in the air. With toddlers running a muck full of morning energy we may go outside first if weather allows. If the weather does not cooperate (as has been the case much of the winter) typically one or more of the older kids will play and read with the toddlers while I work with the middle kids who need help.

Mid-morning we have a snack and then move back to more learning time or outside time if we were unable to get out in the morning.

Right around noon we have lunch. If we're eating something with more prep, our Lillian will start making lunch around 11 and owns it! Lunch time we enjoy read aloud books, history, poetry, art, etc. It's a great time to enjoy learning all together in a laid back environment.

After lunch we have post lunch chores to get the kitchen and dining area cleaned up. This is typically a quick clean and then move into quiet time. This looks different everyday but usually entails finishing up any needed book work, playing with LEGOs or other building toys, reading, writing, drawing, naps and the occasional movie. This is also time for me to do a little work or learning.

After quiet time we get ready for dinner. Our kids love the kitchen, so they work together to get dinner ready and I help when needed. It's fun watching them learn and work together.

Dinner time is Catechism and Scripture memory time along with everyone sharing what they're thankful for that day and praying.

After dinner we have evening chores and get ready for bed.

With a large family we have rhythm, but specific scheduling is a challenge. We are so blessed to have the flexibility of homeschooling so that we can learn together and as individuals while growing in the knowledge of the LORD.

Our 11-Year-Old James

The child that first made us parents is 11-years-old today.

I'm not quite sure how that can be possible and yet at the same time it feels as if James has always been here. James is such a huge blessing to our family as he is quick to help in any way he can. He loves taking care of the babies and is pretty good at changing diapers. He plays with them, reads to them and carries them on his shoulders. H absolutely loves being a big brother and, by God's grace, be an amazing father one day. God is giving him a lot of prep! He also is wonderful at doing the dishes, taking care of trash and recycles and mopping the floor.  I am so thankful for this and I know his wife will be grateful as well.

James also enjoys learning. Within that he enjoys learning almost anything, however he has to be convinced sometimes he needs to learn it. Bible, Birds and Latin are his current favorites to study. God continues to grow James in knowing God and His Word. He blew us away the other day by telling us that the first beast in Revelation is a combination of the four beasts in Daniel's vision which I had just learned myself studying Revelation. The Holy Spirit is working deeply in James to teach him even when we fail to and that is such a blessing to know that we serve a mighty God who is faithful to teach us as we learn. Right now James is greatly enjoying the study of birds that is part of his science this year. He walks around with his books and studies the birds hanging around our yard. He tells us the names and what they sound like to the best of his ability. It's a lot of fun watching him teach his siblings. He continues to excel in Latin and teaches all of us what he can and tells us English words that have a Latin root.

Recently James has been seeking what he wants to do for work when he becomes an adult. It has been a blessing hearing his thoughts, helping him see how God has made him, where his strengths are and showing him where he needs to put his efforts to learn what he wants to learn. Right now he is leaning toward architecture and inventing. We will see how God continues to work in him in these areas as James grows into manhood. It is so much fun to watch him grow.

James also continues to work on his book and drawings. His imagination is so fun to listen to. For fun he is reading The Lord of the Rings currently reading the first book, The Fellowship of the Ring. He compares what he's reading to the movies and corrects all of the mistakes the movie made. James has also been learning to play the drums with a friend at our local Body and is getting very good at it! He is learning to hear the rhythms and follow the beat well and knows which drum needs to be hit at what time. It's so fun watching him grow in this.

God has made James a natural leader, which is fun to see. By God's grace, James will be a Godly leader in his home, work, church and community. At this age he is learning how much he still has to learn, but James is learning that to be a good leader, you have to be a good follower of Jesus. I'm so excited at how God will use this.

Father, I thank You for our precious James that You have entrusted us with. You have given him such a zeal for life, for learning and it's amazing to watch him grow. I pray as he moves into a young man that James will grow in wisdom and grow in love with You, Your Word and Your way, hiding Your Word in his heart that he may not sin against You. Give him a deep love for others and a beautiful humility that comes from knowing who he is before You and a great strength from knowing who he is in You. Grow him in Christ-likeness and make James a man after Your own heart. Thank You for all You have done and are going to do. In the mighty Name of Jesus I pray these things. Amen!

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the second book in the Harry Potter series again. I remember I enjoyed these books the first time I read them, but I have enjoyed it even more reading it as an older adult and knowing the full story line. 

As Harry prepares for his second year at Hogwarts, he meets a strange creature warning him not to return. After a bumpy ride getting there, strange things begin happening causing the whole school fear. Harry, Ron and Hermione are on the case, but many in the school fear Harry is behind it all. Will they uncover the truth before a murder takes place?

As with the first book, the story is compelling and extremely interesting. The plot is full of twists and turns and even more than are displayed in the movie. The writing is clear and easy to understand so that you can follow the intricate plot as they search for the truth. The tension of good and evil is clearly present which adds to the enjoyment.

There are great discussion points in here for older kids including bravery and courage, jumping to conclusions, is it ever appropriate to break the rules and thinking before acting. Everyone of these themes is prevalent and I'm sure you can find more if you're wanting to read this with your kids. This is also a great way to discuss that battle of good vs evil as you cannot escape this theme. 

I absolutely recommend this book for adults who enjoy fantasy! I recommend it with caution/parental guidance starting at middle school ages.

5 stars for this fun book that I'm sure will become a classic.

Reading Challenges:

I'm using this book for book two in three books by the same author in the Modern Mrs. Darcy 2020 Reading Challenge.

I'm also using this book as a book of 240 pages or more in Tim Challies 2020 reading challenge found under the committed section. 

Year 36

36 years on planet Earth. 36 years of growing and learning. 36 years to grow in wisdom and knowledge. 36 years. 

It's funny. As I think about 36 years here, I wonder how it could be so long and so short at the same time. Sometimes it seems like I was young yesterday. I wonder how I could be married for 15.5 years, mother of ten children, walked with the Lord for 30 years. Other times I feel like I've already lived a lifetime. And yet, by God's grace, I still have a lifetime to live. 

I'm not sure how to even describe year 36 in my life. In some ways it has been a pivotal year as our family has been stable for the first time in about three years as far as house, job and church are concerned, which encompasses most of our everyday lives. With that stability, however, came a level of discontent that I wasn't expecting. In many ways everything was "back to normal" while, at the same time, everything was completely different. 

We were back to Jim working in a hospital 4 days a week, back to homeschooling with all of our books at the ready, back to cooking, cleaning and every day homemaking. But we are now 11 (less than a month after my last birthday) instead of 9, and everyone was older and still adjusting, we are in Mableton, GA instead of Louisville, KY. We went from a shot-gun house with a camel back to a ranch style with a basement and exchanged carpets for hardwoods.  Jim's at Piedmont in the PACU instead of Norton in the NICU working four tens instead of three twelves. We are at Smyrna First Baptist and not Sojourn Community. We changed the family we were near. We moved back to old friends and made new ones, while saying good-bye to the friends we'd made in Louisville. 

The same, but totally different. 

While all of this was lurking in the back of my mind, my body was also transitioning with the birth of our 9th baby and also to simply getting older causing physical needs to change and need to be figured out again. 

These two things have led to a perfect storm in the depths of my flesh, which Satan also used to whisper his lies. 

But God in His amazing grace has not left me as I wrestle with discontentment, believing the whispers that something should be different, we should be somewhere else or I should not focus on the things he has told me. He draws me to Himself reminding me who He is and who I am with Him while also letting me see glimpses of who I would be without Him. I open His Word and I see the depths of my evil heart and God reminds me Jesus has healed and changed it. 

Because of the death of Christ my sin is covered and has no hold on me. Because of the resurrection of Christ I can live and live life to the fullest where He has me. Because of the Holy Spirit living inside of me I can do all God has called me to and say no to the things He has not. 

The battle still rages while I'm still in my flesh and many days my flesh still wins. This year, God has shown me how easy it is to let my wants, my desires, my thoughts, my understanding to rule me or give my pride a stroke. But at the end of the day, none of those things mean anything if I'm not humbly living out God's Word and His desires for me to bring glory to His Name. 

And that is hard. 

The more I give into God the easier it becomes to do what I ought. So that is my prayer for the year (and years) to come: that I would die to my flesh and let the Holy Spirit flow out of me. That I would be content in following God even when it's uncomfortable, scary or not what I wanted or expected. 

No matter what the future holds here on Earth, I know I can trust God to lead me in the place where He will receive all the glory and that after this life my future is secure in Christ. 

A Grain of Rice

A Grain of Rice by Helena Clare Pittman is a part of our Sonlight Curriculum in Core A.

I remember liking this book the first time we read it together, but reading it with my kids today reminded me why I enjoyed it so much! This book is clever, easy to read and understand for young kids, and teaches wonderful life lessons.

Pong Lo wants to marry the princess, but is a peasant and therefore refused by her father, the Emperor of China. The Emperor threatens Pong Lo's life, but the Princess steps in and saves his life. Now he must work to prove his worth. Can Pong Lo become worthy of the princess?

This book teaches working hard but working with joy and a smile on your face even with menial tasks. It teaches that it's worth working hard even with no promise of what you want. I really appreciate it showing the purpose of knowledge and using it to do your best work. It also shows using wisdom and cunning to answer difficult questions and remaining humble. This book teaches so much humility.

I really enjoyed talking about the lessons this book teaches with my kids and showing them how Pong Lo was living out mandates God has given us in Scripture. I absolutely recommend this book as a family read. We were able to read it fairly quickly over lunch but you can space it out if you would like.

I would give this read 4.5 stars.

This book does not really fall into any of my reading challenges very well, so it's a bonus book for me!