My 1st Date Night!

Tonight is a night that I have been waiting a loooong time for. It is a night that any Mother of many would (or should) desire to have. I have picked out my outfit. Childcare is arranged. The night's events are in order. As soon as my beloved gets home, I am jumping in the shower and getting ready to go. It isn't what you might be thinking. Yes, I do desire to go out with Nathan alone (& that date is set as well!!), but my date isn't with him tonight. It is with my daughter; my first born.


For some time now, I have wanted to schedule date nights with each of my children. I wanted to have regular appointments with each of them so that, if even for that time, they could each have my undivided attention. Nathan & I agreed that this would be more important for me to do now than ever. The kids are mothered by me all day-every day as a group of 5 children & they need to know how special their place in my heart is individually too. We have struggled w/ timing "& when to start this practice. Finally, we just had to pick a day of the week and just plan for that day to be my "date" night w/a child. So tonight is the 1st one & I don't know who is more excited, my daughter or myself?!?!?

I love each of my children so much and, as a Mom to many, I find myself often feeling guilty that they may feel like they are a unit and not as special to me individually. I'm so looking forward to alone time w/each of them. We won't be spending a lot of money we don't have; just a simple trip to the bookstore & a treat along the way. This idea is simply more purposed effort towards tying those heartstrings; mine to her's & her's to mine.

So, T minus 1 hour until my first date! As the years go by, I know that this will become even more precious time, but I can't imagine anything sweeter than the look on her face when I told her that she had me all to herself tonight : )

5 Things I dig about Jesus:

I was tagged by my Bro-in-law (oh...about a week ago, sorry) to give



"5 things I dig about Jesus"



Here are the rules-

1. Those Tagged will share 5 things they dig about Jesus.

2. Those tagged will tag 5 other bloggers.

3. Those tagged will provide a link in the comments section here so that others can read them.



Hmmmm....just five?



1. He endured pain that I cannot even imagine for no other reason than to be a sacrifice for my sin.



2. He loves me even when I deserve it the least.



3. He loved the people that society had cast out and he ministered to them without fear or judgement.



4. He provides for me peace, that passes any human understanding, that even the hardest of hearts in my life may one day know Him and live within this same peace.



5. He provides the knowledge that those I have lost and will lose here in the flesh, that believe, will be gone from me for only a while and that we will meet them again in glory.



Now, I tag...



Ginger

Theresa

Erin

Allison

Jennifer (feel free to post here in the comments)

HAPPY FATHERS' DAY!

Top Five Things that I love about my husband:

1. He loves the Lord. Although he "walked an aisle" soon after we were married, he later realized that it had only been just that; walking an aisle. At that point, he surrendered his life at the foot of the cross and has been serving the Lord ever since. He didn't get baptized again, but a few years later was convicted to do so in obedience to the Word of God. So, I had the pleasure of standing on the lake shore with four of our children holding hands in front of me while we watched their Daddy be submerged into the water by our pastor (photo above). I believe that this time line was God's plan for him, so that he could be a living example of obedience to our children. Six months later, our oldest daughter gave her life to Christ.



2. He loves his family. He is, truly, one of the most wonderful fathers I have ever seen. Sure, he isn't perfect, but his love for us is absolutely perfect. His priorities are in order and nothing comes before his ministry to us. If you asked my children, right now, what the top three things in their Daddy's life are, they would not hesitate to say, "God, us, his job". I know this, because I ask them from time to time just to make sure. Call it an evaluation if you will :D He takes time to just sit with our children and talk to them and those times are so precious. If he messes up, he is humble enough to admit it and ask forgiveness from them. Those are traits that I pray my children take on from him.



3. He has a heart FULL of mercy. He is a giver and that is rare these days. He is sacrificial.



4. He is a great husband. He loves me and I know it without him saying a single word to me. He has clear vision of the load I carry as a mom of five stair-step children and he goes out of his way to support me. He insists that I meet with friends and that I have a support system outside of my home too. He realizes that the pressures on me here at home during the day are different (not worse, better, or otherwise-just very different) than the ones he gets at work and he respects that. He shares the burdens here with me, because I know that even we he isn't here, he wants to be. He prays for me and our children and I know there isn't anywhere that he would rather be than with us.



5. He is wiser than he thinks. Although he is a very humble person, I really think that he doesn't realize how wise he is. I trust him to lead our family, because I know that He listens to what the Lord tells him. he makes decisions based on our love for the Lord and our desire to follow him; NOT based on what the world would say is right.



Nathan,

Okay, so I gush a little, but anyone that knows you would agree with me. You are a kind, loving, and sweet man. I just wanted to love on you a little here. HAPPY FATHER'S DAY MY LOVE~



love,
Your An

My "Little Bubba" turns FOUR today!!!

At 5 pounds 4 oz, he was a little guy when we brought him home (after 8 days in NICU) on Fathers' Day 2003. Everyone was scared to touch him for fear he would break. Now he is my Prince among the Princesses. He has his Daddy's blonde, curly, hair and his gorgeous sky blue eyes. He pretends to despise being the only boy, but he doesn't know how many times I catch him giving "Good Morning Kisses" to his sisters or just holding the baby's hand while he watches a DvD. He will grow into this lofty position he has been given. Although he is stubborn, he is a sweet little boy and he loves to make friends of new acquaintances. He eyes laugh when he giggles.

Like most little boys, I think, he is reaching a point in his life where he wants to be a big boy and run and do things that big boys do, but his heart still wants to climb into bed and snuggle under the covers every morning. I know that sweet time will soon pass, but I am going to enjoy it while I can and hold on tight to my little Bubba as long as he lets me. He doesn't yet try to be too brave when he gets a booboo and I now that he believes my kisses heal him instantly; well, that and a nice big band aid!

Today when he goes outside to play, I am going to purpose to go out with him and get a little dirty too. As much as I can hardly believe that four years have past, I am fearful of how quickly the next four will fly by...and the four beyond that...and the four beyond that... But for today, I will enjoy my snuggles and giving him kisses to make things better.

Happy Birthday Cooper, my little Bubba! You are a Super, superhero!

HOUSE RULES

This morning, we sat at the table and ironed out some house rules. Nathan was on speaker phone and the kids and I made a poster to reflect our rules. We wanted them to help "make" the rules, so that they would feel ownership in them and MAYBE feel more inclined to follow them. SO, here our the House Rules the kids came up with:

1. No running
2. No Yelling.
3. No biting, kicking, or hurting anyone in any way.
4. No scaring people.
5. No going outside without an adult.
6. N0 opening doors to the outside for anyone without permission.
7. No talking back.
8. No Interrupting.
9. No putting fingers in noses.
10. No touching things that don't belong to you without permission.
11. No playing with matches or fire.
12. Put things back where you got them when you are done.
13. No playing with light switches.
14. HONOR THE LORD!

They came up with MOST of these on their own. I especially like the one about the noses. With the ages of our kids, I am not sure that one is realistic at all. Graycen wanted to add a bunch, but I had to reel her back in. At 6 1/2, she is VERY good at making rules and not so good at following them : )

We'll see how it goes...

WHISPERING IS RUDE!

I want to go on the record here that WHISPERING IS RUDE!! In any social situation, unless there is someone speaking (or otherwise performing) or you have laryngitis, it is rude to look at someone, whisper to another, and then laugh together at your private little joke!!!!

Granted, I am little punchy these days with the move and all, but it never ceases to amaze me how easily grown adults can act like preschoolers. I am used to getting stares, comments, and even the people that I watch silently count and recount my children and then roll their eyes. I can handle that. Usually, those are immediate reactions and then I get a kinder, gentler comment after they MEET my personable crew. What I CANNOT and WILL NOT ever get used to are the people that feel the need to comment on my family to others and they don't have the gumption to either address their "concerns" with me or to wait until they get into the privacy of their own car. It AMAZES & INFURIATES me!!! Most of the time, the whisper isn't soft enough to be private and the looks that accompany them spell out what they are saying anyway, so why not take the bull by the horns and just SAY IT!!!

ARGH!! Can you tell I am frustrated?!?!?! I watched (and listened) tonight as a fellow Tball Mom (that I have spoken friendly too on many occasions) shared the details of my children (ages mainly) out loud with her visiting parents and then immediately leaned over and shared a whisper and a good laugh about SOMETHING regarding us. Then the visiting Grandma said something along the lines of well, "Better them than ME!". To which I said, "By the Grace of GOD!" Did she really think that I couldn't tell what was going on?!?!?!?! Did she think that, because I have five kids, I am deaf all of a sudden or without a thought process?!?!?!?! It just burns me up faster than almost anything else. I really think that people get so wrapped up in their own little worlds that they forget to be polite. I want to be gracious in these situations and I want to let it roll of my back, but I fail. People think that, because I had all of these children, I am someone to whom they have a right to comment on the state of my family. Sure, her comment could have been a compliment, but (See my "on the record" statement at the top of this post) why be so sneaky and shady about it. I am sure it was something that wouldn't have made me feel all warm inside.

As happened tonight, often times people see the number of my children and attach it to whatever normal, family issue we may be having. Nobody would have thought twice about a two year old throwing a fit at the ball field when they were disciplined. However, they see MY two year old throwing a fit and then they add in the fact that she has 4 siblings and then they whisper about it; as if the size of our family is the reason she is throwing herself into the dirt. Actually, she is 2 and 2 yr olds throw fits on occasion; plain and simple. I guess maybe if I had less children and more time, I could teach her more diligently to NOT react like a two year old, but honestly, I know only children that act that way well into their 40's , so there aren't any guarantees there either!

This is a VERY COMMON mistake people make and something that I wish EVERYONE would take into consideration. My children are children. They aren't robots. They aren't little clones of each other OR us (thank GOD!). They go through the same developmental stages that only-children do. They go through the same developmental struggles that only-children do. They shouldn't be expected to act differently because they have a lot of siblings ANYMORE than I should be expected to be Martha Stewart, because I have so many.

I guess the moral of this story is, be careful what you say about other people. Unless someone hands you a comment card or otherwise asks for your comment, it is probably better kept to yourself. I am certain that this other Mom was just involved in her time with her parents, trying to have an interesting conversation, and didn't intend to be so blatant about it. None the less, I was left feeling like the kids and I were in a glass case at a freak show for the rest of the night.


Now, I am going to get off of my soapbox and spend the next 30 minutes before bed peaking in on all of my sweet, sleeping blessings and thanking God for each one of them, tantrums and all : )

Moving Day

Saturday was moving day. We had several willing hearts there to help us and, again, I was humbled by the experience. Several of the men from our care group came, along with our faithful neighbors, of course. Another wonderful neighbor took great care of our oldest four children all day. Also, a couple of the wives from the care group came and helped me clean rooms after they were cleared of furniture and belongings.

When the furniture was all cleared from the townhouse, I walked in a got very emotional. It just dawned on me how much the Lord has stretched/grown us in the last two and a half years since we moved there. We came here SURE that we were done having children, for one. Now we have Annagail and ,with her, the knowledge that God in His mercy blessed us despite ourselves yet again. We met some great friends there that we will have forever I am sure; friends that stick beside you when times get tough. Those kind of friends are genuine blessings from God. We are grateful. We have been through a lot in those, sometimes (often times) cramped, living quarters and it feels really weird to leave them. I am truly going to miss that place.

So now, here we are. This is a sweet, little, old house with lots of old charm and some quirky character too (like no electrical outlets in the bathrooms.) There are boxes everywhere!!! Nathan and I just walked around making sure that the box stacks were all stable and not too high, so my 2 yr old wouldn't cause an avalanche tomorrow. The only thing unpacked yet are the sheets for the beds! We haven't had time today, with church and a special play there tonight, to do much more. That fun will begin tomorrow. The thought of getting ALL these boxes unpacked ........zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz........... SORRY!

It is going to be and adventurous week!!