But first there had to be a death.

Last night at our midweek church services, Rebecca gave her life to Christ in the waters of baptism. She died to self, and rose to walk in newness of life. We couldn’t be more thrilled. Praise the Lord for His marvelous grace!

The leadership decided to center our service around this wonderful event, and we had a time of singing, prayer, and encouragement for our new sister.

Congratulations my beloved daughter, I pray that God will ever strengthen you and that you will always walk in His wisdom and mercy, never straying from the light of His presence!

(Click on the picture to see a slide show of this wonderful moment!)

Name: Parker Jeffrey
Proud Parents: Marty (my bro) and Kristi
When: 8:05am, February 27, 2009
Where: Other end of the country, but we’re really excited anyway!
Stats: 7lbs 9oz, 19.25 inches, Blonde hair (so they say), Firstborn

Isn’t he CUTE! Congratulations Brother & Sister, we love you!

Our sweet baby girl turned a whole year old yesterday. I really don’t know when I blinked.

One year ago day before yesterday I was ordered to “take it easy” for a few days, because of some preterm labor. I followed the doctor’s orders, but on Saturday afternoon, an hour or so after my husband finished clearing a foot of snow from our driveway, I felt my water break, and he rushed everyone into the car to head to the hospital. We called some dear friends, who met us there and took our older children home with them, and about two hours later our new daughter arrived in the world.

Miriam Elizabeth was born 6 weeks early, and weighed 4lbs 13oz. We’d waited until her arrival to find out her gender, and my pregnancy had been so “easy,” that I really thought she would be a boy, since I’d had simple pregnancies with her brothers. Chris preferred the name Abigail for a daughter, Miriam was my top pick. I thought we were going to use Abigail, but when the nurse asked her name, he said “Miriam Elizabeth.” Between coming a month and a half early, welcoming a beautiful little daughter, and being surprised with the choice of name, her whole arrival felt a little surreal. I lay awake for a while that night, thinking about how wonderful and strange it was to have my little girl lying in the nursery (she needed the extra heat of the incubator) …could she really be here?

She really was, and we spent Sunday getting to know her a bit, with some good cuddles, and I began pumping milk for her. Monday morning was different, though. The nurses told me that Miriam had vomited the tiny bit of milk they’d tried to feed her, and some tests were needed. After a couple of x-rays, our family pediatrician called the nursery to tell me that we needed further expertise, and would have to transfer to a hospital in Boston. I called Chris, who had gone home to be with our children. He called our dear friends back, met me at the local hospital, and we drove together to Boston Children’s hospital, where Miriam and I would spend the next 6 weeks.

Miriam had a birth defect called duodenal atresia: her duodenum was not connected to the rest of her intestines. She had surgery when she was four days old to connect them, and spent the next several weeks healing and recovering. We were covered in prayer and thankful to God that he allowed us to hold our sweet baby girl in our arms.

Miriam has grown into a delightful baby who is the apple of our entire family’s eye. She is cuddly and kissable and gives her smiles generously. There are frequent “discussions” over whose turn it is to hold her, since she’s just so much fun.

Here are a few pictures from our year of joy with the daughter who fills in our “six pack” of children. Enjoy the cuteness!

The First Six Months (Click on picture for first slideshow):

Six Months to One Year (Click for second slideshow):

Thursday I posted some goals to motivate and track the progress on our house cleaning efforts. Here’s the results at the end of day 4:

1. Feed on God’s Word – Proverbs 31:17, 27 spoke to my heart about the diligence God wants to see in my life. Ecclesiastes 2:17-23 reminds me to keep importance on the eternal while I work on the temporal.

2. Schoolwork – On the applicable days, yes, we got it done.

3. Throw away 16 things a day – Exceeded the “limit” every day….boy we gotta lotta junk!

4. Give away minimum 16 things a day too – Over the top on this one as well so far, with 4 more bags of clothes, and some boxes of toys to take to co-op next week and/or Freecycle.

5. Do something to reorganize/repair the home – Thursday, finished sorting and labeling the “attic clothes”; Friday, pared down some toys, cleaned computer desk; Saturday, got boxes into attic, found more clothes to sort/donate, enjoyed dinner guests that evening; Sunday afternoon, sorted & consolidated 7 boxes (with Chris) from our downstairs hallway, kept 2 1/2 boxes worth

6. Post Progress – Check.

I like elephant stew.

In general, I’m not a sports fan. Our family will occasionally (once or twice a year) tune in a football game, and we enjoy the once-yearly free tickets from my husband’s company to see the Celtics, but overall we have more important ways to spend our time. When I was growing up homeschooled in the 1980’s and 90’s, there weren’t a lot of options for playing organized sports available. My brother and I were on our local swim team, which was great exercise, and a shoe-in to a good job in high school as a lifeguard & swim instructor, but I will admit to some sneaking jealousy listening to my husband’s tales of his volleyball exploits.

Fast forward 20 years, and my current homeschooled children could potentially be involved in just about any sport you can imagine. I hear the pickings are a little slimmer at the high school level, but we’re still a few years from that. However, finding the balance between family time, exercise, and the family wallet is still a critical concern! One of the dads in our support group has run a soccer clinic in the late spring for the last few years;  that’s always a joy. My own manly man is planning a volleyball class for our homescchool Co-op next year, hooray! Maybe I’ll join…. Summer holds lots of time for biking and hiking, with trips to the beach and/or pool thrown in for good measure. And in the chill of winter, besides the sledding and snow-fort building,  there is Upward.

If you’ve never heard of Upward Basketball, it’s an organization dedicated to using the game of basketball to encourage children in not only learning the sport but also applying Scripture to a part of life not often thought of as “spiritual”: competition. Devotionals during each practice and game and weekly memory verses are designed to draw the participants closer to the God we serve. While any program has its quirks and flaws, we have found the Upward program run by the community church close to our home to have more benefits than drawbacks. Our children look forward to it all year, and have learned some great skills, besides burning off excess energy in the cold New England winter months. Chris has alternated years coaching Rebecca and Andrew’s teams, and now, since this is Lydia’s first year to play, he’s over at the church gym working to teach a giggling gaggle of 1st and 2nd grade girls to dribble and shoot every week. Pray for that dedicated guy!

It’s great to watch a child who could barely control the ball at the beginning of the season make their first basket in a game by the end. Brings a whole new level of interest to the game! Three months of mid-week practices and Saturday games entertaining 3 pre-schoolers on the sidelines (which are just 3 feet from the painted border of the court) is enough to give the kids a taste of organized sports and cameraderie, and to remind me why we don’t need to fill the calendar with them all year.

Go Team!

Here are a few pictures from recent games; Rebecca and Andrew were the photographers, as my hands are busy enough with Timothy & Miriam, no space for a camera!

….and holding down the sidelines….

We met with a realtor this morning regarding our plans to try and move into a house that has an in-law apartment sometime this year. She had several practical suggestions, and a few extreme ones, for things we can do to make our house more attractive in this difficult housing market.

I already knew what the biggest issue would be, but that doesn’t make it any less formidable.

We need to seriously declutter and reduce the amount of stuff in here. Gulp.

Ideally we’d like to put our house on the market the beginning of April. Double Gulp.

Precisely five weeks from today, my parents are coming to visit for a week, and we’ll be looking at various houses in the area. Our realtor recommended we not place actual bids on them until my parents’ house in Washington sells, but we will pray and work toward  what needs to happen as that comes. I would like to have our house, if not completely ready to show, very close to it by then.

So here’s my daily plan, to begin to “eat” the house prep elephant:

1. Read my Bible and pray in the morning – Today’s passage, Proverbs 26-27, favorite verse, 27:1 “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.” I commit my plans to You, O God, only You can bring them to completion!

2. Do some school work with the children.

3. Find a minimum of 16 things to throw away.

4. Find a minimum of 16 things to give away or sell (unsold items must be given away within a week.) I have five bags of clothes in the car to go to the donate bin.

5. Do one task to repair or reorganize the home. Today’s: Finish sorting and putting away the children’s clothes in the attic.

6. Post my progress here.

For the 2 or 3 of you out there who read this blog (LOL) I’ve not forgotten you, have just been busy, busy lately and haven’t taken the time to finish some of the drafts I’ve got on hold; i.e. insert the pictures and etc.

The next couple of days are pretty crazy too, as I’m doing some major housework, but I plan to put up some new posts soon. Stuff on the kiddo’s basketball, a book review of a recent read, a fun project I completed (haven’t sewn “just for fun” in a while) and more.

For now, just a quick run-down-update (is that an oxymoron?) on the fam:

Chris: Installed coat, hat, backpack, glove etc. shelves & hooks in downstairs hall. Also made himself a loooong list of other household projects. What a guy.

Heather: Loving on & training babies, sorting & storing children’s clothes, working toward a cleaner house.

Rebecca: Teaching herself “Fur Elise” on the electronic keyboard, and doing quite well!

Andrew: Excelling in Upward basketball (full post to come) and also making a pair of slippers for his mama (isn’t he sweet?)

Lydia: Continuing to learn to read, and taking off with it. Also memorized Psalm 23 this week.

Bethany: Excited about the prospect of moving out of Mom & Dad’s room and into her “own.” (Shared with her two older sisters!)

Timothy: Enjoying the mini basketball hoop we have hooked to the door of our bedroom. That kid’s got an arm!

Miriam: Pulling up on her crib and smiling, about to turn 1 in just a few days!

All: Recovering from a medium/mild cold, and enjoying working together on home and studies.

The following conversation occured on our road trip from FL to MA in a roadside rest area:

6yo Lydia, from within the confines of her stall: “Mom, how do they make these gigantic toilet paper rolls?”

Mom: “They’re just like the ones at home, only with more paper on them.”

Lydia: “Oh.   Well, we should DEFINITELY get some of these!  That would last us a year!”

The lady 3 stalls down was laughing too.

I don’t carry my Bible to church.

There, I said it. The simple fact is that with six children, four of whom are ages 6 & under, it just doesn’t get opened much there. I have the baby on my lap almost constantly, and if she’s not there, another little sweetie takes advantage of the empty space quickly! My husband and older children all bring theirs, so I always have someone to read from if needed, and in the rare instance that I have my hands free, I use one of the Bibles from the pew.

One of the challenges of life with many young blessings is the niggling thought in the back of a mother’s mind: “If only I had another arm…” I really do think a useful heaven-sent new baby gift would be an extra limb to stir the soup pot, carry the groceries, etc. Of course, if the Lord granted us that, we’d want another, and another, until we were able to sing a line from my toddler Timothy’s favorite song: “If I were an octopus, I’d thank you Lord, for my good looks. Woo!” (not exactly deep theology, I know, but he’s only 2!) I don’t think it was any accident that Mrs. Incredible’s super power was amazing flexibility, do you? What more could a mom want than to simply reach out and snatch that errant toddler just before he gets into the…but I digress.

We have a family goal to spend time in God’s word each morning. The routine is to rise (the hard part for me!), dress, and read a portion of Scripture individually – pre-readers can play quietly nearby – then we fix & eat breakfast, and have family devotional, where each person chooses a song, and we work on whatever passage we’re memorizing as a family, (currently Philippians 2) usually adding a verse or two to the end. Then hugs all around, tooth brushing, and the rest of the day’s tasks: work, school, play, chores, etc.

My difficulty is, I have nearly as hard a time holding a Bible at home to study the Word as I do at church. Even with a table to prop my study tools, I’m usually holding a nursing baby, or even more challenging, a wiggly, grabby one! Hmm, guess I do have extra arms…

So, while the rest of the family pull their paper Bibles from their carrying cases, I go high tech. My daily Scripture reading is done on Bible Gateway. It has several translations (and not just in English!) to choose from, and you can view the text in segments ranging from one verse to multiple chapters on the screen. It has decent cross-references, and a really nice search feature for those of us who are good a remembering the content of a verse but not necessarily its context (i.e. book chapter & verse.)

My favorite feature though? The fact that it does, in fact, give me the “extra arm” that I need, keeping the Bible squarely in front of my while I snuggle my little one and start the day feeding on the Word of Life with my family.

If you’ve made a goal to spend more time in God’s word this year, maybe this tool will help, large family or not!

For more help for growing families, visit Ship Full O’ Pirates.

Or rather, power is restored to us. The kind that runs lights and refrigerators, not countries.

With the recent New England ice storm, our electricity was knocked out from Thursday around 3:00am until Monday about 8:00pm. The saying is more true than ever, “You never know how much you use something until it’s gone.” We were well provided for, actually. We ran our wood stove for heat and cooking, and our water was still working, unlike many in the area. Flushing is good. Friday night a friend even loaned us a generator, so we were able to plug in the fridge, freezer and a lamp or two.

Exciting stuff without power:

• Since it’s dark by 4pm these days, when I sent the children to bed at 8 Friday night (the usual routine) Lydia happily commented: “Mom, we got to stay up SO late since the power’s out!”
• While running an extension cord from the generator to the fridge, I lit my hair afire with a candle Friday evening, after warning children all night to be careful… No major damage, and the stuff really does smell like “burnt feathers” as they say in Little Women!
• Timothy was very confused as to why his favorite toy, the light switch, did not produce the desired effect, but he did love playing with his mini flashlight “just like Daddy’s.”
• Rebecca & Andrew had a great time cooking grilled cheese sandwiches and pancakes, respectively, on the woodstove. They did a fabulous job playing pioneer.
• Friends from church let us use their house to bathe everyone in warm water Sunday evening. Hey, we’re not THAT pioneering!
• Last but certainly not least, I stepped outside for a few minutes yesterday and chatted with our neighbors across the street, which was nice, as they are busy and we rarely see them. When I returned to the house, I found some “glory” lying on the kitchen floor. 1 Corinthians 11:15 “…but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering.” Pictures to follow.

Almost always said with a smile. Almost always said at least three times when I take our family out to run errands. I guess families with six children aren’t as common as they used to be, but I’m sure blessed to have mine! (I always smile secretly when I get this comment and I “only” have a couple of children with me. Once after several such encounters, one of my children finally asked “Mom, why do people keep saying that? Can’t they think of anything else to say?”

How to respond? Well to the person usually: “Yes, full of blessings!” “I wouldn’t have it any other way!” or “And it’s so much fun!” You see, I want to witness to others (and to my children!) that they are precious gifts from the Lord, and I don’t take them lightly. Even in those less than stellar moments when we’re grating on each other’s nerves, I’m thrilled to have them and truly wouldn’t want my life right now to be any other way.

I’m starting this blog for a few reasons. To celebrate some of the joys and struggles of our family. To share with family and friends far away if they so choose. To preserve my fragile memory – there’s lots to think about around here! To be more purposeful in family record keeping as we strive to become a family that better glorifies God.

While most of my focus will center around happenings in our home, I may also throw in some fun tips, recipes and links along the way. After all, the things we enjoy and that tickle our funny bone just might bring a smile to someone else’s face, too!

As with all my life, anything good here is from the Lord. It is only by His grace that I enjoy the abundant blessings He has given. It is a very rich, and yes, FULL life.

Introductions are always important, and since even I can’t always keep our family’s names straight…I figure a “cheat sheet” for family & friends who might read this blog could be useful.

Ages are, of course, subject to change. Names are not, though everyone’s pretty much resigned to being called by the wrong one periodically (the main reason we don’t have pets, there are already enough names in the mix!)

Chris: aka “Dad.” 30-something handsome genius who loves his God and family beyond the limit.

Heather: the Mom in the family and writer of this blog, though I do reserve the right to allow other family members “guest posts” now and then, especially when they write something really cool.

Rebecca: our firstborn, a quiet, gracious daughter, newly turned 11, who loves music, arts and crafts, and all things feminine and frilly. She is often my right arm in helping to keep our household flowing. God sure knew what he was doing when he brought her to our family 9 months and 10 days after our wedding!

Andrew: our oldest son, age 9. He is tall for his age and outgoing, and so strangers often assume he’s the oldest child or his sister’s twin. Andrew is naturally athletic, and also loves to read and make up imaginary dramas. He’s been learning to cook breakfast lately, like his Daddy. I’m very spoiled to have so many excellent chefs in the house.

Lydia: age 6. We like to say our sweet little girl learned to talk “early, and often.” No matter the subject, she has something fun to say about it. Lydia’s learning to read, and is enjoying her older sister’s braiding experiments on her long blonde hair. She always has a hug or encouraging “I love you Mama” to share.

Bethany: age 4. Our little “firecracker” girl has been opinionated about her preferences from the start. She loves to “do school” right alongside her older siblings, and her curls and dimples mean that total strangers find her requests hard to resist. She loves to snuggle up with a storybook for some cuddle time. Me too.

Timothy: age 2. After a long line of “kids that look like Mama” Timothy arrived, the spittin’ image of his father. Got his personality too, with a very strong will that we have the joyous challenge of training up in righteousness as best we can. It’s turned out well in Daddy, so I know there’s hope! He’s adding new words to his vocabulary daily. It’s fascinating to see what’s going on inside his head.

Miriam: age 8 months. A reminder to us that God’s mercies are new every morning. Miriam arrived 6 weeks premature, probably because of a birth defect we didn’t discover until after she was born. She had surgery to connect her duodenum to the rest of her intestines at 4 days old, and we are reminded every day when we look at her that life is precious, and in the hands of our gracious Father to do with as He wills.

A couple of weekends ago the children and I frequented a rummage sale at a local church. It had been a long time since I had braved such an event – my packrat tendencies coupled with great deals make them dangerous – but we had a wonderful time, and the people who worked there were so gracious. We came home with far more “loot” than we paid in dollar amount, even at rummage sale prices!

While I do try to take care about how many “sales” and “deals” I spend our family’s money on, I’ve also learned, especially in the setting of our sizable family, that many good things come in older packages!

For instance, I almost never turn down a friend’s offer of hand-me-down clothes, even if they’re not in sizes my children are currently wearing. I cull through and select things we can use, and keep a box storage system in our attic crawl space for off-season/size clothing. The rest gets passed along out of the house (just “freecycled” three bags today, in fact.) My children have received much nicer items than we could afford to buy otherwise in this manner, and the clothing budget can be mostly reserved for supplemental pieces like tights, shoes, and other fill-ins rather than spent on just a few outfits.

Our local Freecycle group is very active, and items often turn over quickly. As I declutter around our house, I can often post something online and have it picked up within hours, rather than loading it into my car and waiting until I manage the time to take it to a donation center. I’ve gotten some great items for our home from others on the list too, though at the moment I have the individual messages set to read only online, because the piles of stuff in our house need to decrease, not grow! You can even post “Wanted” messages, if you’re looking for something specific.

Favorite “vintage” find this time? Several lovely cloth napkins, some that even match the grape theme of our kitchen, and a bunch of wooden napkin rings. For the kids, it was probably some of the fun hats they picked up, and the multitude of toys the folks at the sale kept attempting to give them for free!

A plethora of ideas for posts on this blog have flitted through my brain in the past few weeks, and I nary a one of them have I recorded. “Must establish the tone first.” “Does this fit the context of my ideas for the blog?” In essence, too much perfectionism.

I want this place to be a compilation of big and little thoughts and events, kinda like my life, I guess. It’s amazing to me how the fabric of living is made up of such an array of happenings and memories. Some of the smallest interactions are remembered for a life time, and other “big” things may be forgotten.

Whatever the days hold around our home, they are rarely boring. I decided to try a pattern for a crocheted kitchen sponge this morning during the children’s independent schoolwork. Pattern here, and while I was looking at the instructions & brushing up my rusty crochet skills, my children began to cackle and I looked up to find this:

To his credit, Timothy did try to take the yarn back off while I was detangling him, and he left it alone the rest of the day! Of course, that could be because he spent an enormous amount of time fussing about his nap instead of sleeping through it… but I got some great cuddles later! And I also made 2 kitchen sponges while I was waiting for him to obey and go to sleep, so I’ll get to test and see if I like them. Oh yes, and the yarn was all free, I asked for some on our local Freecycle list and got some generous donations! We’re having fun making lots of projects around here lately.

Many moms swear by shopping alone while their husband or some other trusted sucker babysitter tends to the children. However, if you, like me, have more children than is feasible to pay the astronomic costs reasonable wage to a sitter just so you can shop; and you also like to supervise the Honey Do list cherish the family time when your husband is home, it may be most practical to learn how to grocery shop en masse.

Here are my personal best strategies for enjoying – yes, I said enjoying! – your family togetherness while running errands:

1. Pray. Seriously. God hears and answers. Big stuff and small stuff. He wants you to ask him to shape your character and your children’s character while you work together, but he also delights to answer prayers for a parking space. I know. Upon occasion, when I’ve really needed it, he’s given me prime asphalt in a crowded lot. Pray with your children before you go inside, and as you walk through the aisles.
2. Have a plan. Yes, I know it’s an amazingly simple concept, but you can’t flutter from aisle to aisle randomly grabbing stuff and then run back to the first row with a group of 7 like you can with 1 person. Not sayin’ I’ve never done it, just sayin’ it works better with a list.
3. Try to shop at less busy times. Less busy in the stores and in your family routine.  If the kids are flexible nappers, great. If not, try to avoid going during naptime. If the energy level buzzes in your house at 5:30 every day, you’ll probably pay at the store big time long before the checkout line.
4. Dress up. We’re not talking heels and pearls, but combed hair, washed faces, and matching shoes on the correct feet, at least yours, will help you feel more pulled together and ready to face all the friendly “You sure have your hands full” people with a grin. However, when they ask if they’re all yours, cheerfully reply “Nope! I roam the neighborhoods collecting children to bring shopping with me!”
5. Feed the crew. If it’s risky for adults to shop hungry, it becomes downright treacherous when it’s the whole thundering herd. At our warehouse store I can feed 6 of us (the 7th still drinks mama juice) a hot dog & drink for under $10. We eat more nutritiously at home, but it’s something to enjoy occasionally. If you bring drinks in the car, the dollar menu sandwiches at the drive thru can also be an economical meal.
6. Line ‘em up. I don’t formally use the “buddy system,” but I do assign bigger children to a younger one as we walk through the parking lot, doctor up the hot dogs, or make a potty run. There is a specified order to our walking as we shop, too: baby in carrier or arms, 2yo in cart seat, 4yo and 6yo holding sides of cart, 9 & 11yo’s help to push cart, or select items. Good behavior allows some relaxing of these positions; using the freezer doors as a personal jungle gym misbehavior leads to restriction of privileges.
7. Know the rules. In our family, children do not touch any items for sale without permission, nor do they ask to touch each thing on the aisle. They do pick up items when asked to select them, and they are allowed to unload the whole cart at the checkout stand. We do not buy or request the snack stuff at the checkout. Exception: Displays of watermelons, which instantly turn all of my offspring into crazy bongo drummers as they simultaneously inform me that they’ve “found the best one!”
8. Practice makes perfect passable. This is probably my best tip. It’s not original, but since I don’t remember where I got it, no extra credit will be given. If your children are young and/or unused to shopping with you, a “dry run” is invaluable. Go at a time when you are not (a) not in a hurry (b) not doing major shopping and (c) preferably have your husband or another responsible adult with you. Tell the children your behavior expectations in advance, practice them as you go through the store, and reward them with your excitement and praise for a job well done. I need to refresh this one in our family, we’ve “forgotten” a few things.
9. Have a discipline plan. Besides reducing roaming ability, I’ve been known to put a child into a “corner” with their nose neatly balanced against the closest cereal display. This only works because “corner time” is also a standard restriction at home. If things have escalated beyond redemption, you need to:
10. Know when to cut your losses. I have yet to leave a cart full of groceries in the store and take a child out for misbehavior, but if that day comes, I will. Character and obedience are much more important than getting the shopping done today.
11. Keep a joyous perspective. If you have a few stores to hit in a row, make sure everyone knows the plan, and is still having fun. We’ve been known to sing Jingle Bells in July while walking the aisle of the fabric store – not so loudly as to annoy other customers, of course, but hey, it is a public place, and if they can chat on a cell phone…. In other words, remember that you’re shopping with children, and stop to smell the roses in the floral display case, even if you don’t take any home, and sometimes let them wipe out an entire tray taste one of the samples of smoked salmon. The sample ladies are usually gracious, and always thrilled when the children pipe back a “Thank you!”
12. Feed ‘em again. Despite strategy #3, everyone seems to be starving by the time we arrive home. Knowing what’s for dinner and that it’s a simple plan makes a large impact on my everyone’s attitude. In our house, I bring babies inside and supervise the stowing of items while the minions children carry in most of the loot groceries. If we don’t have a crockpot meal or leftovers to reheat, I usually let the older children make something simple like cheese sandwiches, burritos or even scrambled eggs. On return from a long afternoon of errands, it works best for me to tend the tired young ones, we seem to have fewer fatigue induced spats that way. Worst case? There’s always a short stint of brain-frying video time to fall back on.

Happy shopping to all! I promise, pledge, might consider using less strikethrough next time I post, but for now, bear with me, I’m new to blogging, and it’s addictive too much fun. For more Help for Growing Families tips, visit Ship Full O Pirates.

That’s right, our sweet little Miriam is sitting up all on her own! She doesn’t get there by herself, but once up, she stays that way for quite a while before she gets tired and flops back over.

She and I had a nice little photo session this evening, me with my arm holding the camera draped over the folding crib, and Miriam giving me all the sweet smiles any mama could ask for.

As I type, we’re playing “Fetch” with her favorite rattle. She’s dropping, I’m fetching….I don’t usually play this game more than once with my children, but it is preferable to “Who Can Touch the Spacebar the Fastest.” Especially since Miriam often wins that one!

Note to Grandmas: Can you squint and see the two adorable teeth on the bottom? Aren’t they precious? My baby girl is growing up so fast!

I’m beginning to suspect she will have dark, smooth hair like Andrew, rather than the curls some of our other children have had as babies. Her eyes are definitely turning quite hazel, which puts the children’s eye color stats at 2 blue, 3 hazel and 1 brown. God is so creative!

Isn’t she nearly too cute for words? Not that I’m biased or anything….

I know the context of this verse is not babies, but it seems to fit here:

So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 1 Corinthians 3:7

We are so abundantly blessed to be entrusted with these precious souls for a season, however long it is.

I don’t keep Sunday School papers. Or announcements from Awana. Or even (gasp) most of the doodles that my children make in their spare time. Oh, a select few are put into a notebook to avoid terrorizing by the toddlers, but most are enjoyed for a time and passed to the recycle bin or trash. My children know this. They are ok with it.

What I do strive for is to make sure that my children know their creations and gifts are special to me, because they are. However, I’m blessed with six creative children, and we’d be drowned in paper very shortly if we kept every piece!

So I try to make special spaces. Yes, some things go on the refrigerator, and others on the wall, but we enjoy them for a season, and then it’s time for them to retire.

I have a decorative pot on top of my microwave where we keep a select few rocks from outdoor adventures. Overflow gets stored in special rock piles outside.

The vase you see pictured in front of my speckled kitchen window is a great space for mama love bouquets that are brought in from playing. It’s probably about to stand empty for a while, as the cold weather has set in, but I did receive this lovely clover head from Lydia the other day. Perfect company for dish washing.

And since I photographed the vase, that leads to another method of clutterless preservation. Snap a picture of the artwork, preferably with the creative genius who made it. I have a special category in the computer picture files for such displays of creativity.

My household is far from clutter-free, an issue I continue to work on, but this system is working pretty well. Perhaps you will find something to share the joy with all as you love your little ones and their creations.

For more Help for Growing families visit Ship Full O’ Pirates.

Yes, I looked up those words so I could title my post more creatively. I’m weird that way. Here’s their definitions, so you don’t have to google them. My children would be required to look them up, but I’m in charge of their schooling, not yours

A`be`ce´da`ry
A primer; the first principle or rudiment of anything.

Or·thog·ra·phy
The art or study of correct spelling according to established usage.
The aspect of language study concerned with letters and their sequences in words.
A method of representing a language or the sounds of language by written symbols; spelling.

Our family rented Akeelah and the Bee a couple of weeks ago. While it was fairly common practice around our house to spell out info we might not want younger ears to hear, the system has jumped to an entirely new L-E-V-E-L. Rebecca and Andrew want to spell out just about e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g, and it’s sparked some fun conversations.

Andrew, for instance, is very proud of his ability to spell “xanthosis.” “It’s so easy Mom, I don’t know how they ever missed it!” Of course, another word from the movie which is mentioned but not spelled in the show: “psoriasis” gave the children a little more trouble. Ironic, since it happens to be a disease that runs in the family on his daddy’s side (otherwise I probably wouldn’t know how to spell it!)

While I was tending the wood stove the other day, Lydia, my beginning reader, stood next to me to make a request for her favorite winter beverage. She spelt out H-O-T  perfectly, then forgot her phonics and resorted to Greek: “Chi…” she said for the next letter, and then muddled through the rest of “chocolate” with a very respectable effort, so of course I gave her permission, which T-H-R-I-L-L-E-D the whole family!

Not to be left out, Bethany asserts several times a day that she can spell (insert random word here), at which point she proudly rattles off P-T-S-Y-Z. I had no idea how many words were spelled ptsyz. Quite a few.

Guess Chris and I will have to resort to ig-Pay atin-Lay in order to eep-kay any ecrets-say around here!

A hilarious tongue-in-cheek melody “praising” all the stereotypes about homeschoolers. Made all the funnier by the fact that I was wearing my favorite denim skirt the first time I watched it.

I saw this over at Life in a Shoe, where the author is, like me, a graduated homeschooler who is now teaching her own children. She claims that no less than THREE of the members of her family were wearing flowing denim garments at the time. Hmm, maybe there is something to this stereotype thing!

In other news, I was posting a paper “Giving Tree” on our church bulletin board just outside the nursery door a couple Sundays ago, and one of our members joked that my 2yo’s cutting skills were very good, as I kept coming in & out the door where he was playing with new pieces for the tree. “Well, he is homeschooled,” was my casual reply.

Oh yes, one more thing. For those of you who may not be familiar with YouTube (Hi Mom!) I don’t control any of the links that pop up at the end of the video, those are YouTube generated, so click at your own discretion!

You see, one of his favorite things is gone. My beloved husband adores lengthy tresses on his wife and daughters. Far beyond preference, he’s needed to consider long and hard the couple of times I’ve donated some hair to Locks of Love, and is always thrilled when it’s grown back out. His favorite haircut for me is a minimal trim off the ends, in the hope that it will be completely unnoticable. I love that he enjoys my hair, and am happy to wear it the way he likes.

However, it does make certain childhood mistakes rather hard on him. Specifically the one that seems to affect most children at some point. Experimentation with scissors.

Nearly seven years ago, our first family mishap occured. Rebecca (age 4) trimmed off both sides of her hair at chin length, and her bangs at scalp level. She was quite upset after I informed her that no, she would not be able to “tape it back on.” Daddy was too. But it grew, and even with a Locks of Love donation four years ago, is down to her waist these days. She’s learning to braid it herself, and is having lots of fun experimenting on her hair and Lydia’s.

Lydia’s blonde waves appear to have made it past the danger zone. She heeded the many warnings that “scissors are only for paper” and has only had her bangs and split ends trimmed over the course of her six years.

We thought we’d kept the message going strong with our younger children. It must not have been ingrained quite deeply enough, though, because yesterday, I came in the room to find that a twisty brown 5 inch tuft of hair was sitting on the kitchen floor. Bethany (age 4) had succumbed to the desire to see what scissors could do to her curly locks. I called Daddy at work so he could begin the grieving process before coming home to a shock, and went to get the haircut kit from the bathroom.

Thankfully, Bethany’s adventures with scissors were not quite as aggressive as those of her older sister a few years ago. She only cut it about chin length on her right side, so I was able to even it out all the way around without too much trouble. I pulled out my Curly Girl book and carefully followed the advice on getting an attractive cut on my own curly girl.
There were a few tears as she realized the magnitude of her “crime,” because she likes her long hair too, but then we got down to business.


I snipped “with the curl,” making sure to follow the natural curve of her hair, so that she would wind up with an even look overall.
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And the final results: I think she looks like she did a couple of years ago, rather like Shirley Temple. She’s happy with it too, and it will be easy to care for, fewer snarls with shorter hair. But Daddy is sad for the curls that were, even though he knows that they will eventually come back.
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P.S. For those who look at the pictures in full screen, the little scrape next to her eye is leftover from a run-in with Timothy & some K’Nex a few days ago, not from scissors, thankfully!