Growth

So often we ask for God to work through us. We ask for His will, not ours to be done. We ask for patience, understanding, wisdom... We call out to Him, "Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief!" Then, things start to happen. Kids start acting up, jobs are lost, we face difficult relationship problems, sickness strikes... the list goes on and on. Life gets HARD and then we question God, "WHY?!" Did you ever think that God is giving you opportunities? Those crazy kids are giving you a chance to practice patience. That lost job is allowing you to open your mind up and understand things that you normally wouldn't even try to understand because you were so wrapped up in your career. That relationship that is causing so many sleepless nights is giving you a foundation of wisdom for helping others in the future. Yes, those times are difficult, but God's working in you and giving you an opportunity to grow to be more like Him. 

Romans 8:28-29 (ESV)

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

Be encouraged! With each trial, you are becoming more like the image of Jesus... and that is a GREAT thing!

Wait, what?!

    I was looking through some of my friend's blogs and I decided to stop on by my own blog and I realized that it has been OVER a year since I have blogged! I was SHOCKED! I mean, I knew it had been awhile, but I guess this last year has been so busy that I never realized that I stopped sharing all the things going on in my life. This is really the only record I keep of "memorable" things and now I'm not even doing that! I've missed Micah's birthday, our decision to move to Florida, Caitlyn, Paul and Anna's birthday, our actual move to Florida, the decision to home school... the list goes on and on. There's so much to share and now at this point I am so behind that I don't think I will bother going back and trying to catch up, unless something sticks out in my mind as something that needs to be shared. 
   
    As of right now I am not feeling overly inspired to write about anything, but I knew I needed to jot something down so I would have it fresh in my mind to share in the future! 


   

SEVEN years old!

A is seven. I am not sure why, but SEVEN seems like it's SO old (at least for my kids to be). She is done with first grade and is now in second. This is a HUGE jump for me! Is she really old enough to be a second grader?! The answer is a resounding YES. This little (or should I say, "big"?) girl is pretty mature and very smart.  Too often are my expectations for her set a little too high and I do have to remind myself that despite how bright she is and despite how mature she can act, she still is just seven.

She is an amazing reader. I love to read, and even as a child I could be found in bedroom reading for hours, but I don't remember doing that at her age. I can always tell when she is starting to feel a little overwhelmed by her siblings because she will go into her room, lay on her bed and read. Even at night time, she will be up for an hour past going to bed, reading. I love seeing her passion for it.... now it's just a problem of keeping up with her book demands! We will be making LOTS of trips to the library!! :)

She has such a caring heart. She is always suggesting praying for people, or doing something for others. She loves planning things. Just this past weekend she attempted to plan a surprise party for our family for when we got home from a trip. She even created a guest list, decorations and menu. Unfortunately, she wrote all this down in a note to her grandma and the note was never delivered. You could tell that she FULLY expected her instructions to be carried out, though! :)

A is still very much the oldest child. She is constantly trying to take care of her sister and brothers. One minute she may be telling on them for doing something bad, and then the next minute, when her sibling is getting in trouble, she will try to defend them so their punishment isn't so severe. 

Right now we are trying to figure out some sort of fun after school activity for her. She works so hard on her school work and is starting to act as though it might be stressful for her. No seven year old should feel stressed about their school work, so I'm hoping that if she has something fun to focus on as well, then she won't focus and stress so much on the school work. We will test it out and see how it goes. I also don't want to put too much on her plate, so we will have to find something with a good balance. 

I am sad about my baby girl growing up so quickly, but at the same time I am enjoying the relationship that we are forming. I can't wait to see how it grows this next year!

Big 3 Year Old

  Where do I even start with this little guy?? He is SUCH a character! Him and C are two peas in a pod. Those two always keep us smiling for some reason or another. :)
   For him, health is always a huge priority... so health-wise he's doing pretty good. We're struggling with his weight right now, as he's not gaining any or growing taller (and hasn't really for the last year). Lung development is very closely related to weight, so in order for his lung development to be the best it can be, we want his weight to be the best IT can be. So trying to find "healthy" high calorie food for him to eat is the real challenge right now. I don't want to just dump a lot of junk in him, but figuring out a high calorie diet that doesn't involve that kind of stuff takes more time than I have on my hands, so it's something I'm working on... Anyways, besides that he has been pretty healthy and we are SO happy with that!!
   His speech has been an area that we have been trying to work on with him. After having two TALKATIVE girls, we had a hard time with a boy who up until 6 months ago wasn't saying a whole lot. Now that he is talking, he's really taking off. He's still probably behind where he should be, but it seems like every day we are understanding him more and he's attempting to say more! :)
   P is one of the most crazy kids I know... wait... I think he IS the craziest kid I know!! He is constantly doing things that practically give me a heart attack, he hardly EVER slows down and he tries to get away with everything by giving you a sly little smile. (Which I will admit, it usually makes his consequence a little less than what is deserved... something I need to work on..) For all that craziness, he can also be a VERY big snuggle bug. He comes up to me at least ten times a day saying, "Mommy, hug!" Just yesterday, we were driving in the van and he started blowing me kisses and was adamant about me "catching" them. Especially at night, he LOVES cuddling up next to either me or D. I warned D while I was pregnant with P that I fully intended to raise him to be a mama's boy... and for the most part, I've succeeded... except for the fact that he's a totally daddy's boy at the same time. That little guy has SO much love in him!
   He has such a passion for so many things! He LOVES sports, but especially baseball. (His mommy probably plays a small part in that one). He also loves cars (not just the movie), trains, super heroes and riding his bike. 
   I am AMAZED at how well he rides his bike! This is great for a few reasons... It means that it's a lot easier to go on bike rides as a family... well, everyone but M and myself ride bikes. I jog with M in a jogging stroller (which was SO generously given to us by a friend). C tends to fall off her bike pretty frequently because she doesn't have training wheels anymore, so it's my job to get her back going after she falls. :) It's also great because we've learned that exercise is a HUGE part of CF patient's lives. The more they exercise, the healthier it is for their lungs. So we want to make sure that the boys grow up having exercise part of their daily routine. So the bike thing is pretty cool for many different reasons. :)
   We are still attempting the whole potty training thing. We were getting pretty successful with the pee pee, but the other one just wasn't happening in the potty. Then M was born and we haven't really started trying again, but I want to soon because there's a lot of things going on this summer that he could do (VBS, swimming lessons, etc) if only he was potty trained!
  I guess that's it for his update! Our next big celebration is going to be in the beginning of June when we will have a seven year old on our hands!! :)

More on this later...

I read the following on facebook the other day:


I was reminded again today that you're not promised any amount of time. A friend then gently corrected me. "Except for eternal life." Praise Jesus for that promise.


I just wanted to write it down so I wouldn't forget it. When I have more time I wil expand on why this has had such an impact on my life lately.

Our 5 year old

   We had quite the week this week celebrating birthdays!! C turned FIVE this week!! She is such a spunky and fun-loving girl! It's still hard for me to believe that she will be starting kindergarten in just a few months! She still seems so little that I want to keep her at home even longer. I SHORTLY entertained the thought of holding her back one more year, but that thought quickly vanished because I know she's ready.  I guess I'M just not totally ready! I guess I will just have to get myself prepared over the next few months. 

  
 C is so much fun. She constantly keeps us giggling and I never get over how much of a morning person she is! Just the other day she woke up around 6 am and she was uncontrollably laughing. It was SO enjoyable waking up to a giggly little girl! Everything we would say to her, her response would be laughter. That's how it often is with her. Don't get me wrong, she has her whiney times, but those quickly dissipate by just getting her to laugh. She can change her attitude around very easily. I wish I could be the same way! 
   I'm so proud of her because she's already riding her bike without training wheels! She loves playing outside (as with all of our kids) and she's VERY good at sharing. Well, with a friendly reminder she's really good at it. :) It doesn't take much to get her to share any toy she has. She's also SO loving towards M! She is constantly wanting to take care of him, whether it's playing with him while he is on the floor, or talking to him in the car, she loves interacting with him. She's such an awesome big sister!
   C has had to make one big change since turning 5. She has her "stinky b." (It's my childhood blanket that she grew attached to and drags around EVERYWHERE.) We've been preparing her for months that once she turned 5, her stinky b would have to stay in her room. She's doing pretty good so far. It has stayed in her room and she's only asked once to take it out of her room, but she quickly remembered the new rule and asked to bring her "new b" (a replica of the stinky one that grandma made her so she could have a back up b). Even when I told her "no," she was fine with it. I shouldn't be surprised that she's starting to act like such a big girl now. She is so very bright and is so excited to be starting school! We gave her a digital watch for her birthday and she's constantly telling us what time it is. She even shocked me when she started reading numbers like "43."She's growing up right before my eyes and I can't stop her! 
   I suppose once I catch up on life I will post some pictures too. :) In the meantime, be thankful I even write! :)

Priorities

Since having M and D going back to work, our lives have been a little more crazy than usual. The kids have been having a hard time adjusting to D being gone so much and we've had to start a new baby on breathing treatments, which causes a lot of additional craziness as well. Through this all I have been feeling very overwhelmed by the amount of things that need to get done in a day. I feel like I am constantly playing catch up and nothing is ever clean enough. I've long ago given up the hope of having a spotless house, but I do like having my house clean enough so I'm not disgusted by how dirty it is, or frustrated when I'm having to walk around piles of laundry, etc. Everyone constantly tells me, "You've just had a baby...  D just went back to work... give yourself time!" The thing is, I would LOVE to just give myself time, but when I can't even make lunch or dinner because there's too much clutter on the countertops, that's not helping me relax... it's stressing me out more. So what I've finally come to the conclusion is that I need to sit down and write down my priorities for my day to day life. What things would I like to accomplish every day? What things can be done every other day? What things can I put off doing once a week and not get stressed about them not being done every day? With four kids I think organization is key... but I feel as though I don't even have time to do the organizing! So if I can give myself maybe one organizing project a week, I will feel like I will get it done and slowly, things will get more organized. I just need to stop having the expectations of getting EVERYTHING organized RIGHT NOW. Of course, the things that are on the top of my priority list are things that can't be seen. For example, making sure that I spend time exclusively with each child every day. A lot of days go by where I will spend time with the kids, but not individually. I think that they need that time with mom to connect and talk with me... so whether it's playing with them, or reading to them, I need to have that time with them every day. I need to stop putting a clean house in front of quality time with the kiddos. In the long run, the kids will look back on their younger years and not remember a clean house, but remember a loving home where they always had access to their mommy when they needed her. THAT'S important. So that would be on my UNSEEN priority list. There's other things on that list too, like singing to the kids every night, doing our nightly devotionals, and having prayer time. Then there's the list of SEEN priorities. The seen priorities are the ones that you can see... cleaning, organizing, dinners... Dishes, dinner and laundry... those are things that need to be done every day at our house. Then of course there's other boring stuff that I'm sure no one is interested in reading about. :) So now that I have my lists started, what's on your seen and unseen lists? Do you have any pointers in organizing that have been a life saver to you?