Freckles

 If you've ever met me, you likely noticed that I'm covered, quite literally, in freckles.  For much of my life I have pretty much despised my pale, freckly skin.  For one thing, if you put me out in the sun for very long at all, I burn!  This is frustrating to me because I love the outdoors!  I hope my cozy home in heaven has endless gardens for me to dink in when I arrive.  Maybe there will be a sandy beach I can enjoy out from under a pile of sunscreen and an umbrella.  There I won't have to worry about skin cancer, right?  My millions of freckles also draw unwanted attention.  I have always struggled with shyness, and I tend to like to hover in the shadows.  My freckles have always had this way of putting me in the spotlight in ways I don't enjoy.  I remember when I was a kid older folks leaning close to my face and telling me that the sun sure must have kissed me.  I know now that they weren't insulting me, but I didn't get it then.  I remember working a polling place for my father-in-law a few years ago, and a gentleman came up, staring of course, stopped and said, "wow...wow...that is a lot of freckles!"  I have plenty more stories, but you get the picture.  I like to blend in and freckles don't let me do that very well.  Before we had kids I hoped that none of my kids would get my skin.  I hoped they would get dad's brown, even, beautiful skin.  Then, I had Marcus.  I think it took me having a ginger, freckled, sweetheart of a son to help me finally accept me.  Marcus has my freckles.  His skin is also somewhat pale and does burn pretty easily.  But, you know what?  I think he's perfect, and I don't care!  He's got dreamy blue eyes, an all American little boy smile, and the best hugs and kisses a mommy could ask for!  He is a unique individual who was created in God's image, and I wouldn't change a thing about him.  Having him helped me to realize that my spotty look is also beautiful because it's the way God intended me to look.
As I've embraced the skin I'm in, pale, easily burnt, freckly stuff that it is, I've also been embracing the following idea:  As a follower of Christ, I am going to stand out from much of the world around me, and it will not always be wanted attention.  I don't think that God wants me to stay in my comfortable, wall flower spot.  He has called me to follow Him with abandon, and boldness.  I am not this way in myself, but in His strength I am growing.  God can use anything to teach us, and in my case, He used my freckles!  God is good, and today I'm grateful that He continues to gently teach me.

Learning to chill.

Yesterday, my boys decided that an empty of the tupperware cupboard was called for, and this is the scene that greeted me as I walked into my kitchen.  In times past I would have likely felt annoyed at the mess and the necessary cleanup to follow, but yesterday I found this surprisingly adorable.  Motherhood is teaching me to relax and accept the mess; notice I didn't say enjoy.  I can't say that I enjoy the mess that is my house so much of the time, but I am slowly learning the accept where I am - this season, let my kids be kids, and go with the flow more. 

 As we started to clean up and organize, the boys found our rocket popsicle holders, and we were able to enjoy some yummy, juice pops on the sunny, hot day that it was.  

Boo Boo Master

This guy!  He is the best at acquiring boo boos in our family so far.  This one happened when he fell off of a tree trunk.  Thankfully he's a tough little guy, and doesn't let these boo boos get to him much. 

So, how goes that brain exercise?

Last night, as winter tried to come back once again, we found ourselves inside playing a family game of Sorry.  Isaac and I managed to get one piece around the board in the time it took Sam to win and the others to make real progress.  We just kept getting lousy cards, and had to deal with the magic of "sorrying" mommy.  I was reflecting during that game that my life right now is kind of like that.  Slow and steady.  That is the mindset I have had to adopt when it comes to pretty much any project.  Whether it's laundry and dishes or reading, studying and learning for my own brain.  Much of the time it does feel like 4 or 5 steps back to each slow step forward, but I'm coming to accept this reality more and more.  It's a slow pace, but, it's movement...forward!

This lion of a book is one of those slow and steadies in my life right now.  I was intimidated by the nearly 1000 page book, but now at halfway through, I have to say that it is a fun read!  Some of the antics and stories are laugh-out-loud funny.  Once suggestion should you try to read it; go for this version.  The Old English version had me frustrated after a page.

I've also been making more of an effort to sit down at my piano and play, work in my garden, and I've been in a class at church digging into healthy and good Bible study habits.  We've got the Greek alphabet down, and now we are learning to do Greek word studies.  It's tedious, but it has already been rewarding.  I am realizing more and more the importance of this verse:  "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth."  2 Timothy 2:15  I hope that I spend the rest of my time on this earth becoming a true workman as I study God's word.  Happy Monday!  

Homeschooling boys is such an adventure!

That is an understatement.  A rough generalization puts us at 30 parts noise, 30 parts flexibility (hands-on learning, discovery, imagination and exploration fit in here somewhere), 30 parts chaos, and the last 10 parts are split between "normal sit in your seat school instruction" and what I like to call, "learning while on the move."  Despite this, my kids are really thriving academically, and the ability to learn while doing is a big reason that I am a huge fan of homeschooling...especially with boys, but really with any kids.  So much of what we do is hands on and reading aloud.  I do limit textbook learning because it really does frustrate them.  We use math texts and English texts, and that's generally the limit right now.

I know as they grow older that I must teach them the disciple of sitting still, and text learning will also be a way that they are taught down the road.  But, right now, as they are in this season of youthful vigor, endless energy, and the wiggles, we try and keep learning as fun and interesting as possible.

Yesterday, Samuel randomly decided that he wanted to teach Marcus about contractions, something he's been learning about in his somewhat boring textbook.  Not the baby-having kind, but the "word squishing kind" as they have been so-named here.  The boys went on to create this elaborate machine on the whiteboard that is pictured below.  It was inspired by Leap Frog.  On the left you can see the word "cannot" going into the machine.  The machine takes the "o's" and "n's" (they were pictured later) out and sends them away, and on the other side of the belt we have the new word, "can't."  It is so rewarding to see my kids being creative while they are learning.

Mother's Day 2016

For Mother's Day this year we hung out with some family at a local arboretum.  As is usual, I didn't get many pictures because I was busy doing that mothering thing I do, but I am glad I snagged these.  This is Isaac with his cousin, Savannah.  They found a pile of leaves and got the biggest kick out of throwing them in the air.  Then, they found this horse-shaped rock, and pretended they were out riding.  It's so fun to have cousins!!

My sister-in-law snapped this one of me and my littlest man.  He made me a mom for the 4th time, and it's been such a delight to get to know him.  He's crawling all over the place, and he'd like to be walking.  He has the most kissable cheeks ever!

This last photo is also funny to me.  This is our attempt at a family snapshot!  Good times were had by all.  Sleeping baby, distracted 3 year old, uncooperative 5-year-old, and so on.  This is the stuff that life is made of!

We have another birthday boy!

 


It's the season of birthdays at our house, and Marcus finishes up the group of spring, kid birthdays.  He's 5 today!  Marcus is our fun, happy-go-lucky kid.  The pictures above are so true of his personality.  Most every picture I have of him is blurry.  He doesn't like to pose for pictures, and if there's a rule to be broken, he's about breaking it.  It's funny to compare that to Sam in the photos.  Sam, stops and poses; Marcus looks away or does a goofy dance.
We started Marcus on some school work last fall, and amazingly he learned to read!  I say amazingly because we spend only 10 to 15 minutes at a time.  He has a very hard time sitting still.  I'm amazed at how much he absorbs academically despite his busy, constantly moving self.
He's such a sweet boy and he has been such a good big brother to baby Conrad.  He also loves to be where mom is.  When the others are absorbed in a movie and I slip away to try and work on some tasks, Marcus always comes to find me after about 15 to 20 minutes.  He'll just say he's checking on me or saying hi.  He doesn't demand much attention from Peter or I, and so I fear we sometime neglect him.  But when we do love on him and give him is favorite - a back scratch, he's always very happy.
He loves the outdoors, and he enjoys puttering around with me in the garden.  He likes animals and regularly begs for a puppy.  He also likes to create...food, paintings, projects that involve cutting paper.  He's also a pro at bringing me pretty flowers for my hair.

This is Marcus!  Loves life, loves to play, loves to make people laugh, loves to laugh, and knows how to have a good time.

Happy Birthday, my second baby boy!

Monster Trucks!

While in Illinois a few weeks ago, my bigger boys got to join the other guys in the wedding party at a monster truck show.  Before the show they went to a steak house and experienced ribs...yum!  Brett, the groom, regularly photographs monster truck events, and so all the guys were able to enjoy the show!  Apparently the noise got to Samuel at first, (even with the ear plugs!)  But, once he calmed down, Peter said, fun was had by all.  I amazed that the younger two weren't fazed by the noise!  They were pretty excited to get to wear earplugs.

Isaac really liked the Scooby-Doo driver.  Apparently she lost the show to "Gravedigger" but she was still his favorite!

I love the excitement on Isaac's face here.  He could not stop talking about the show the next day.  I'm so glad they were able to have this opportunity!  

I noticed last night...

We've just about outgrown the tub.

Doing life together

It can be difficult to do life together as a couple when you add in 4 crazy boys, and just the general stress that comes from work and life.  We have been trying to make more time to do things together.  On Saturday we ran a 10k!  Peter has never really taken an interest in running until recently.  He started running a few months ago and has been enjoying it.  When I realized just how easy running came to him, (a lot of things come pretty easily to him, I'll be honest here), I was intimidated when I thought about running a race with him.  He runs a lot faster than I do, and we never had a chance for any practice runs together.  Race day dawned.  I urged him to run however fast he wanted and not to be held back by my podding pace.  But, he stuck with me.  I had to run faster than I'm used to running, but it was super fun to make my casual, mental goal of running the race in 60 minutes...we actually finished a little faster than 60 minutes!  We didn't get any photos of us post race, but here are our bibs!

The day after the race the sun FINALLY came out and we went to the local apple blossom fun day at the park.  I snapped this shot of Peter hanging with baby boy, and fell in love all over again.  He truly is my best friend, and I love doing life with him!