Amy Grant sings this Christmas song called, "I need a Silent Night." It's beautiful and is about the rush of December and shopping and where is the true meaning of Christmas. So this morning at the Marysville Grace women's Christmas luncheon I sang that song (not very well I might add) and my sweet six year old daughter had a part in the song. She recited from memory a selection of verses from Luke...
There were shepherds out in the fields keeping watch over their flock by night. And the glory of the Lord shone round about them and they were sore afraid. And the angel said, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that shall be for all people, for unto you is born a savior who is Christ the king. And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace."
Kate was outstanding! She was a start performer!
Once she completed her part i was to finish with the chorus and i was so emotionally overwhelmed that i teared up and could not sing.
Seeing fruit in your children may seem rare at times, but what i have learned is to revel in it, enjoy it and completely allow your children to see the pride and confidence you have in them. Even if it means you are crying in front of 124 women instead of completing the song!
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Friday, December 9, 2011
Is it really almost Christmas
Ok, i know that time flies. and it flies even faster when you are having fun, but what is happening...? 2011 is nearly over and I feel like it went way to fast!
My middle child turns 8 today.
Ethan was the most difficult delivery out of the three I had. even the pregnancy was tough, i had gestational diabetes, testing my sugars all day, insulin shots, etc. so we decided to induce early because the sugars were out of control.
we had an amnio done to see how the lungs were developing at noon, by 3pm contractions were 7 minutes apart, by 9pm we were at the hospital walking the floors, i was even in the hot tub for part of the labor. labor was slow and steady, it took forever to gain cm in dialation.
at around 5am they broke my water. by 7am i was pushing. his heart rate dropped dramatically around 9 am and they inserted the heart monitor on the crown of his head. then he was stuck in the birth canal. dr. matt's face completely changed and he was very serious looking which terrified me. he had an intern with him and they decided to put me on all fours to see if that helped the baby drop further and get un stuck, they tried pushing him back up in, they were talking about emergency c-section. then dr. matt a decision to break my pubic bone, the intern put intense pressure on the bone and ethan's head came through!
He was blue, did not cry and was floppy...they whisked him away and dr. matt steadied me telling me he was going to be ok. He was 6 pounds 12 ounces.
About 10 minutes went by as they worked on him he had whimpered a few times and finally they brought him to me, he was pink and warm and bruised pretty badly.
we had not chosen a name yet, in fact we had not agreed on any names. dan really wanted Lars I wanted Levi or Aidan. We finally came to Ethan as our name...Ethan Grey.
Ethan's apgar score was a 3 out of 12...but he was beautiful and alive which was good enough for me.
When we brought him home I had the worst time remembering his name. I called him Evan, Ian, Isaac, and others...eventually I came out of my stupor and remembered his name.
Today he is healthy, vibrant, active, and such a sweet heart. I cannot imagine our home without him. He is a delight to have fun with, teach, and love on. He loves to snuggle up and read books, watch movies, he also loves playing games...board games, card games, ipod games, ds games, and outdoor games like football, soccer, tag, trampoline, bike racing, scooter, and plain running!
i love my little E-man and we are thrilled that he is a big 8 year old today!
My middle child turns 8 today.
Ethan was the most difficult delivery out of the three I had. even the pregnancy was tough, i had gestational diabetes, testing my sugars all day, insulin shots, etc. so we decided to induce early because the sugars were out of control.
we had an amnio done to see how the lungs were developing at noon, by 3pm contractions were 7 minutes apart, by 9pm we were at the hospital walking the floors, i was even in the hot tub for part of the labor. labor was slow and steady, it took forever to gain cm in dialation.
at around 5am they broke my water. by 7am i was pushing. his heart rate dropped dramatically around 9 am and they inserted the heart monitor on the crown of his head. then he was stuck in the birth canal. dr. matt's face completely changed and he was very serious looking which terrified me. he had an intern with him and they decided to put me on all fours to see if that helped the baby drop further and get un stuck, they tried pushing him back up in, they were talking about emergency c-section. then dr. matt a decision to break my pubic bone, the intern put intense pressure on the bone and ethan's head came through!
He was blue, did not cry and was floppy...they whisked him away and dr. matt steadied me telling me he was going to be ok. He was 6 pounds 12 ounces.
About 10 minutes went by as they worked on him he had whimpered a few times and finally they brought him to me, he was pink and warm and bruised pretty badly.
we had not chosen a name yet, in fact we had not agreed on any names. dan really wanted Lars I wanted Levi or Aidan. We finally came to Ethan as our name...Ethan Grey.
Ethan's apgar score was a 3 out of 12...but he was beautiful and alive which was good enough for me.
When we brought him home I had the worst time remembering his name. I called him Evan, Ian, Isaac, and others...eventually I came out of my stupor and remembered his name.
Today he is healthy, vibrant, active, and such a sweet heart. I cannot imagine our home without him. He is a delight to have fun with, teach, and love on. He loves to snuggle up and read books, watch movies, he also loves playing games...board games, card games, ipod games, ds games, and outdoor games like football, soccer, tag, trampoline, bike racing, scooter, and plain running!
i love my little E-man and we are thrilled that he is a big 8 year old today!
Monday, June 6, 2011
Baby birdie
This spring has been so exciting for my little growing birdwatchers. They have sucessfully located every nest in the neighborhood, identified it by it's shape, color of eggs, and of course the pround parents. It's been a learning experience for all of us as they explore. The first nest they found was on the corner fence post of our four foot fence, needless to say it received so much unwelcomed attention that the parents soon abandoned their eggs. I was hoping after talking about the eggs that would never hatch that the children would leave all future nests alone...ha!
So three abandoned nests later the kids are still on the hunt to destroy yet more bird families.
This morning they found a robin's egg hatching on the sidewalk. The puny, bug-eyed, sickly looking hatchling was flopping around blindly half in and half out of a little blue shell. We sat and watched in wonder as it fought desperately to escape the grip of the only home it knew. Ethan quickly spotted the nearby nest in a small sapling on the tree lawn. After grabbing a pair of gloves and a step ladder we gently removed the bird from the sidewalk that was heating up quickly in the blazing sun. Ethan carried it tenderly up the ladder and unceremoniously dumped it into the nest.
As we backed away and watched intently we saw the mother robin. She flew to the nest and away again several times and eventually settled in with her new dependent chick. We walk past he nest daily so I am sure will we soon hear the chirps of a hungry growing birdy.
My little chicks would be helpless without me, while this little bird will probably be flying by summer's end. I know God purposely designed humans to be with their parents longer than almost any other creature created. Sometimes I wonder why. There are days when helping them leave the nest and spread their wings would please my selfish nature. For some reason it takes much longer for us to learn how to walk in this world...we struggle against our true home, the kingdom of God. We balk at being aliens and try desperately to fit in and "go with the flow."
For me homeschooling was that sort of a decision. I knew it would set our family apart. I knew we would take some ridicule. When that happens in life we have a decision to make, we can hang our heads in shame, or we can count it all part of sharing in the suffering of Christ. For even though we are in this world we are not of this world and in that thinking I walk in truth and the knowledge that my chicks are in this nest 24/7/365 for a reason. A reason that will not make sense to the world at large...my children will not be left on the scalding sidewalk of the world's education system, they will be trained as kingdom warriors, as a people set apart. For His mercies are new every morning and I need to tap into those daily in order to be the early bird that gets the worm...afterall I have a nest full!
So three abandoned nests later the kids are still on the hunt to destroy yet more bird families.
This morning they found a robin's egg hatching on the sidewalk. The puny, bug-eyed, sickly looking hatchling was flopping around blindly half in and half out of a little blue shell. We sat and watched in wonder as it fought desperately to escape the grip of the only home it knew. Ethan quickly spotted the nearby nest in a small sapling on the tree lawn. After grabbing a pair of gloves and a step ladder we gently removed the bird from the sidewalk that was heating up quickly in the blazing sun. Ethan carried it tenderly up the ladder and unceremoniously dumped it into the nest.
As we backed away and watched intently we saw the mother robin. She flew to the nest and away again several times and eventually settled in with her new dependent chick. We walk past he nest daily so I am sure will we soon hear the chirps of a hungry growing birdy.
My little chicks would be helpless without me, while this little bird will probably be flying by summer's end. I know God purposely designed humans to be with their parents longer than almost any other creature created. Sometimes I wonder why. There are days when helping them leave the nest and spread their wings would please my selfish nature. For some reason it takes much longer for us to learn how to walk in this world...we struggle against our true home, the kingdom of God. We balk at being aliens and try desperately to fit in and "go with the flow."
For me homeschooling was that sort of a decision. I knew it would set our family apart. I knew we would take some ridicule. When that happens in life we have a decision to make, we can hang our heads in shame, or we can count it all part of sharing in the suffering of Christ. For even though we are in this world we are not of this world and in that thinking I walk in truth and the knowledge that my chicks are in this nest 24/7/365 for a reason. A reason that will not make sense to the world at large...my children will not be left on the scalding sidewalk of the world's education system, they will be trained as kingdom warriors, as a people set apart. For His mercies are new every morning and I need to tap into those daily in order to be the early bird that gets the worm...afterall I have a nest full!
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Snappy
I turned the van around and found a driveway near the site and we scrambled out of the van and headed to see little snappy. He was not so little either, his carapace (shell) was about a foot in diameter and he had some serious claws. There was algea growing along it's back which showed it was used to living in water and was somehow displaced. I tried moving it along from the back end with my foot but it would not budge. Normally I would have felt brave enough to pick it up and move it into the grass, but its head kept lurching out trying to scare us off...it worked. I took a few pics with my phone and we hustled back across the county route and into the air conditioned van.
Ethan was sad that it was so close to the road, he was near tears as we pulled away thinking about that poor snapper getting struck along the road.
It made me think of how God must feel when we are on the brink of darkness as we think about sinning, are sinning or have sinned and are hiding from His presence. He really wants to move us to safety but he won't move us against our will. He may even nudge us in the right direction, but still we have to move as well to actually get there.
God is a gentleman and will not push us against our will. Yet how his heart must break as we sit so close to descruction for He knows the pain it will cause, He knows the recovery will be long and drawn out. God sees us along the side of the road, he stops and helps, it's up to us to walk it out.
Thank-you Lord for allowing me to see your heart through the short visit with snappy.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
As the rain falls
Here in Ohio we have a saying, "If you don't like the weather, wait ten minutes, it'll change."
However, I must say that in my 38 years of living in this state, minus a few college years in New York, this weather has gotten enough air time (get it?). We have been slogging through the rain for weeks. The kids have never worn rain boots as much as they have this year. I guess that's a positive, there have been years where the boots aren't hardly worn and they grow out of them before they have had any use.
We pass over bridges that span swollen rivers rumbling down their beds. Full of brown frothy sludge with who knows what under the swift current. I can hardly keep my eyes on the road as I watch the river pass under the bridges. Trees who are several feet under water, houses, cars, old tractors, islands covered with this water that keeps coming.
Our backyard sports a trampoline under which sports a small swamp. This swamp has been water covered since the thaw we had back in March. I have caught my children with rain boots parked by the front door wading in this swamp, backs bent under the black disc of stretchy material. Not barefooted, no! With some sort of tennis shoe or other getting completely ruined...why?
And if that isn't enough our dog, Cocoa, who hates getting a bath. In fact, we use a spray bottle full of water to squirt her into obedience..she is standing in the swamp, running through it, digging in it getting covered in muddy grime.
My body, my garden, my flowers, my seedlings, my nerves, my family, my dog, my grass (which currently is beyond mowing and now needs baled) we all need a dry spell with some sunlight! Either that or I need an escape to a beach somewhere with sunshine!
However, I must say that in my 38 years of living in this state, minus a few college years in New York, this weather has gotten enough air time (get it?). We have been slogging through the rain for weeks. The kids have never worn rain boots as much as they have this year. I guess that's a positive, there have been years where the boots aren't hardly worn and they grow out of them before they have had any use.
We pass over bridges that span swollen rivers rumbling down their beds. Full of brown frothy sludge with who knows what under the swift current. I can hardly keep my eyes on the road as I watch the river pass under the bridges. Trees who are several feet under water, houses, cars, old tractors, islands covered with this water that keeps coming.
Our backyard sports a trampoline under which sports a small swamp. This swamp has been water covered since the thaw we had back in March. I have caught my children with rain boots parked by the front door wading in this swamp, backs bent under the black disc of stretchy material. Not barefooted, no! With some sort of tennis shoe or other getting completely ruined...why?
And if that isn't enough our dog, Cocoa, who hates getting a bath. In fact, we use a spray bottle full of water to squirt her into obedience..she is standing in the swamp, running through it, digging in it getting covered in muddy grime.
My body, my garden, my flowers, my seedlings, my nerves, my family, my dog, my grass (which currently is beyond mowing and now needs baled) we all need a dry spell with some sunlight! Either that or I need an escape to a beach somewhere with sunshine!
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Grumbling skies
The weather over the last 5 weeks has proven that Ohio skies can change and temperatures can plummet in a matter of moments. The old addage "March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb" ...yeah, well not this year. The first week of March brought hail, torrents of rain, floods, and tornadoes. Our basement filled with water as our 12 year old sump pump retired peacefully in the night. The rest of March proved equally angry, thunderstorms, rain, tornado warnings, and finally high wind advisories! With gusts up to 100 miles per hour!
Yesterday ferocious thunderheads shook the house so hard the dishes in my cupboards threatened to smash forth. That brought on my daughter's comment, "Mom, the sky is so grumbly today."
We have days of grumbling, even the scriptures warn against grumbling and complaining. I would like to grumble about our unique spring weather and the difficulty it has caused our family. It's April, today started out in the 50s, by lunch had dropped into the 30s and snow was falling as we drove to our choir location. As we traveled along route 36 heading east the rivers we crossed had swelled their banks and filled yards and fields with brown rushing liquid. My tulips are a good six inches above the ground and probably wondering why. "AH! Retreat, return underground and wait until this season of spring gives us some more dependable precipitation and friendlier temperatures!"
Alas, the lamb of March has lost her way. It is now April and the only lamb I will be thinking about is the Lamb who was slain and His ultimate sacrifice for us. Jesus, thank-you. I will stop my grumbling now...
Yesterday ferocious thunderheads shook the house so hard the dishes in my cupboards threatened to smash forth. That brought on my daughter's comment, "Mom, the sky is so grumbly today."
We have days of grumbling, even the scriptures warn against grumbling and complaining. I would like to grumble about our unique spring weather and the difficulty it has caused our family. It's April, today started out in the 50s, by lunch had dropped into the 30s and snow was falling as we drove to our choir location. As we traveled along route 36 heading east the rivers we crossed had swelled their banks and filled yards and fields with brown rushing liquid. My tulips are a good six inches above the ground and probably wondering why. "AH! Retreat, return underground and wait until this season of spring gives us some more dependable precipitation and friendlier temperatures!"
Alas, the lamb of March has lost her way. It is now April and the only lamb I will be thinking about is the Lamb who was slain and His ultimate sacrifice for us. Jesus, thank-you. I will stop my grumbling now...
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Bring Your Own
Our piano has temperament. Every third week a key drops flat for no apparent reason, sometimes without being touched. As the number of flat keys build the level of difficulty to practice increases for my three prodigy pianists.
Mr. Stanford, our paino expert, travels from Bellefountaine to repair and occassionally tune the instrument. In January of this year was one such occassion. He arrived cheerfully and set to dismantling the patient needing attention. Kathryn and Ethan hung over his shoulders asking questions during the process. As he worked and removed the broken plastic elbows that had crumbled to pieces he asked for a paper towel to catch the mess.
Ethan popped up from his side and ran to fetch a towel. On his return he whispered in Mr. Stanford's ear, "Next time bring your own."
I had no knowledge of this exchange.
So this March when seven more keys fell flat as well as the sound of our dear old friend we called on Mr. Stanford. He again arrived cheerfully but this time he called for Ethan as he started his task. He drew out of his tackle-tool kit a paper towel which he promptly handed to Ethan saying, "This is to pay you back for the one I used the last time I was here, and I brought my own for today's mess!" With a smile he set to his work of repairing and then tuning with Ethan and Kathryn watching his every move.
Mr. Stanford, our paino expert, travels from Bellefountaine to repair and occassionally tune the instrument. In January of this year was one such occassion. He arrived cheerfully and set to dismantling the patient needing attention. Kathryn and Ethan hung over his shoulders asking questions during the process. As he worked and removed the broken plastic elbows that had crumbled to pieces he asked for a paper towel to catch the mess.
Ethan popped up from his side and ran to fetch a towel. On his return he whispered in Mr. Stanford's ear, "Next time bring your own."
I had no knowledge of this exchange.
So this March when seven more keys fell flat as well as the sound of our dear old friend we called on Mr. Stanford. He again arrived cheerfully but this time he called for Ethan as he started his task. He drew out of his tackle-tool kit a paper towel which he promptly handed to Ethan saying, "This is to pay you back for the one I used the last time I was here, and I brought my own for today's mess!" With a smile he set to his work of repairing and then tuning with Ethan and Kathryn watching his every move.
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