Sabbath Observance

We are a family that regularly practices keeping the sabbath holy. Some of the things that we have found helpful as we seek to set the day apart as a special day devoted to the Lord are to wake up to christian music (focusing our minds upon God) such as Steve Green's Hide Em' In Your Heart volume 1 and 2 for children. We then have our own personal worship, get dressed, eat breakfast, and go and hear dad preach. After worship service and during lunch we discuss the sermon and sometimes use this as a time for practicing hospitality. We all work together to clean up and then have family worship by reading our Bibles, praying, and reciting our memory verses and then rest time for 2 hours. At that time my husband and I will either listen to a sermon together or read individually (currently I am going through G.I. Williamson's Study Guide of the Westminster Confession of Faith) or read a book together, currently it is Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges. At that time the older children can read individually the Bible or a christian biography or listen to music or write a letter. After the children wake up we watch a Moody science video or a Creation Museum video together and then spend time talking about it together. When the weather is nice we will go on a long walk together and talk about God's wonderful creation or play a game together or just sing hymns together. Finally, we eat dinner and then have an evening time of family worship in which we will then recite catechism questions, read our Bible, and pray together. We then send the children up to bed to listen to music and read their Bibles. We make this a special day and the children look forward to the Lord's Day each week.

Today was extra special because my sweet husband performed his very first baptism on a dear lady whom we have spent the past 6 months disciplining. Her entire family got to be present and got to hear a clear presentation of the Gospel. We are praying that it will take root in their lives and that they would repent of their sins and place their trust in Christ alone for salvation. In the next few posts I will write more about her and show a picture of this special baptism.

a few of the important things a mom does

Laundry, cooking, nursing babies, changing diapers, meal planning and grocery shopping, teaching school, cleaning house and training children to do the same thing, reading books for your own growth and for the children. If you have ever been sick or away from the home you know just how much you are missed and how important your job really is.

Just the other day, I was feeling overwhelmed with the amount of responsibility I have and guilty for asking for help. My sweet husband reminded me that I should not feel guilty and that everything is ultimately his responsibility (he answers to God for how he manages the household God is giving him), he is the head of the house, I am his helpmate and he is just delegating certain responsibilities to me. So for me to ask for help from him is no problem at all.

most important job in the world

Mom- your job is the most important job in the world. Being a mom is special, crucial, life changing, wonderful, hard, and very rewarding. It is special because God gave you your children and no one else can raise them like you can. It is crucial because future generations are learning from you, so teach them well because they are watching EVERYTHING you do and don't do. It is life changing because it changes you. You are no longer focused only on your own selfish desires but now have children to focus your attention upon. It is wonderful because you get to teach your child, train your child, discipline your child, love your child and they love you back, and disciple your child in the ways of God. You get to point your children to God. You get to teach them to read, and to think, and to figure out their worldview. It is hard because it is ALL TIME CONSUMING. It requires giving of your time and not being selfish. It is very rewarding because we have the privilege of training future moms and dads who will change the world. Being a mom is the best thing in the world. It is a high calling. Even when your children leave the home, your job does not stop. Once a mom-always a mom! Personally, I don't know why any Christian would turn down the opportunity to have children and to raise them to the glory of God. I am not condemning anyone on their decisions. I am just saying that it is a wonderful gift from God to have such a high calling in life.

Christmas Eve

I finished the baking yesterday and made the platters today. We also proudly made our Christmas delivery rounds today. Pictures of the finished product will be posted soon. In the next few posts I will be including some of the delicious recipes I made. Presents are wrapped, the turkey is in a brine, Christmas eve service is over, and the children are all asleep. Now we wait anxiously for Christmas morning where we will read the story of Christ's birth, sing some Christmas hymns, pray, and then open the gifts. Later we will celebrate Christmas with a delicious turkey meal with some fellow church members.

Cookie Day

Today the kids and I had a blast making sweets for our church members. Tomorrow my husband will be delivering all the wonderful platters to our members. Here are a few pictures of our progress we made today. We made 8 different desserts and finished them all today.

recent snow storm pictures with wrong date

This morning as my husband was looking at my blog, I noticed the dates on those pictures. That is funny! Recent snow storm- January 4, 2005! I dropped my camera and forgot to reset the date. The actual date should have been December 22, 2008!

Pictures from recent 2 snow storms and more snow still to come

My two oldest children went out to play today and had a blast making snow tunnels, so I took pictures of their work. Joshua laid on the floor in front of the wood stove all day sick with the flu. The day before it was Aaron. It makes me wonder who will be next. My turn was first, last week. Hopefully, by Christmas everyone will be well. Enjoy the pictures!

The Land of Nod

The Land of Nod

by Robert Louis Stevenson

From breakfast on through all the day

At home among my friends I stay:

But every night I go abroad

Afar into the land of Nod

All by myself I have to go,

With none to tell me what to do-

All alone beside the streams

And up the mountainsides of dreams.

The strangest things are there for me,

Both things to eat and things to see,

And many frightening sights abroad

Till morning in the land of Nod.

Try as I like to find the way,

I never can get back by day,

Nor can remember plain and clear

The curious music that I hear.

Memorization work

One of the joys we have in school is memorization work. Our family is currently memorizing scripture, catechism, hymns, and poems. The poems come from their grammar book, First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind by Jesse Wise. The poems are just wonderful and I wanted to share one with you today.

"Hearts are Like Doors"

Anonymous

Hearts, like doors, will open with ease,

to very, very little keys,

And don't forget that two of these

Are "Thank you, sir" and "if you please!"

This poem teaches us that when people like you their "hearts will open with ease". When you are polite and grateful for what they do for you, they "open their hearts" to you.

This is a poem from the first grade book. Tomorrow, I will be sharing a poem from the 3rd grade book. I just love these books because they are written by a former home-schooler and are a lot more "home school friendly" when you are teaching multiple children at the same time. Everyone gets to participate and no one feels left out. In fact, because we put the poems on the walls, the children help one another and are eager to recite them anytime of the day.

the long lost blogger returns!

The busyness of motherhood and the flu has taken me away from the computer! I am back now to post a few things in life we have discovered, and love, and hope that someone else will too. Here is my list:

1. Signing Time videos- wonderful for teaching children to sign using ASL sign.
2. Charlie's Soap- laundry detergent recommended by Kim over at www.inashoe.com . Kim has 11 children and recommended this very economical laundry detergent. It thoroughly cleans clothes (even poop) and leaves them smelling clean and looking bright.
3. Vision Forum- Yes, for those of you out there who hate them, I am sorry. I think that they teach men how to lead their families, women how to train their daughters to be feminine, and children to honor and obey their parents. Don has been listening to Scott Brown on Reforming the Family and I have been listening to the 200 year Plan. Even though we may not agree with everything the basic principles are there. Men should get a vision, lead their families, teach their boys to be men and their daughters to be ladies, and disciple their wives.
4. Family worship- This is one in which I cannot stress enough and need to devote an entire post to this one which I will next time. Basically for now: Read the Bible, pray, and sing hymns as a family. We also include catechism. We use Truth and Grace memory books available through www.truthandgracebookstore.com . We started this all when our youngest was 2 and now he is 8. We are seeing the beauty of hiding God's Word in our hearts.
5. Time alone with my husband reading. After the children go to bed each night we make it a priority to read together. So far we have read: The Family Driven Faith, Hospitality Commands, and Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography, and are getting ready to start Respectable Sins. The areas in which we are reading include: family, piety, practical theology, and systematic theology or biblical theology, and biography. This is a time in which my husband gets to personally disciple me and I LOVE it!

Talk

This morning I woke up thinking about how amazing is the gift of talk. We come into this world as a baby not knowing anything about language other than hearing it inside the womb. Then over time we watch others, listen to others, and then try it out for ourselves. Toddlers and preschoolers talk non-stop. Elementary age children are inquisitive and ask many questions. So far on my journey in motherhood I have not reached the middle school or high school years yet with my children. Then as adults we continue to talk a lot. Our brains get tired at night and we think that we have said everything that we know by the time we got to bed. Then amazingly, morning comes and our minds are filled with lots of new words and thoughts. Talk really is an amazing gift. We need to thank God for our minds and for our mouths. However, we need to put a careful watch on our mouths so that we do not tear others down. The Bible teaches us that we should build one another up and not tear one another apart. The book of James speaks all kinds of things about the tongue. May we continually be in prayer that we do not misuse this wonderful gift of talk that God gives to us. Also, we need to learn to listen more and talk less. The Lord gave us two ears and one mouth. Maybe so that we would listen more.

family pictures

Instilling Godly Character in Your Children

My study has recently been on how to instill godly character in my children. I have been reading, mediating, and praying through Proverbs. I want more than anything for my children to leave the home one day and to say, "my mom and my dad showed me with their lives and with their words how to glorify God". I also pray daily for their salvation. Recently, I purchased, Gleanings From Proverbs by Robert Jones. I found this particular devotion very helpful.

"My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck". Proverbs 1:8,9

Wise King Solomon, after laying the foundation that all true knowledge begins with the fear of the Lord, proceeds to give fatherly counsel to his son. A person possessing proper reverence for God and for the authority of His Word will also demonstrate respect and submission to human authorities placed by God in his life.
Parents entrusted by God with the raising of children cannot begin too early to instill godly character in their lives. EVERY baby enters the world with the fallen, sinful nature of Adam that will NOT love and choose what is right, a nature that knows how to become evil and selfish, but is IGNORANT of how to do good.
Though only the grace of God in Christ can impart a holy nature into the soul of a child, parental instruction and discipline can greatly suppress the manifestation of its evil nature, develop its common graces, and be a blessed means of leading the young person to saving repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.
A father is to be the instructor of his own children. To be an effective teacher, he himself must apply and delight in the knowledge he is communicating. It is not sufficient that he say to his son or daughter, "Do as I say!" when he himself does not do as he says. A mother is to be a lawgiver to her children as she guides the house. This necessitates moral courage, for children will strongly test the boundaries set for them. She must display both firmness and compassion, ruling and acting consistently with the instruction of the father.
Solomon may well have been addressing at this time a son who had arrived at or was near adulthood. Even at this age the young person's responsibility is to hear his father's instruction, not with the secret intention of finding a way to rebel against what is spoken, but that of devoting his growing intellectual powers to understanding and obeying the counsel given. He is not to forsake the law of his mother, not to regard her rules of conduct as meaningless scruples when away from her direct supervision, but continue to often confide in her in life's situations. If parents will pattern their instruction after God's law, The Ten Commandments, they need never fear the usefulness of their instruction to their children will come to an end.
Obedience to parental authority will beautify the life of a young person with a beauty that cannot be purchased with any amount of wealth, neither is dependant upon natural gifts and graces. It is like that spoken of in I Peter 3:4 : "But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price." As an ornament adorning one's head cannot be hid, an obedient spirit will make the whole life winsome and comely. In Scripture, chains about the neck are emblems of royal favor. A young person who learns to render heartfelt obedience to his parents will have the gold chain of a good conscience about his neck. He will be spared much sorrow, and have much cause of thanking God.

Book Recommendation

On a recent trip to the library I discovered The M&M's Counting Book by Barbara Barbieri McGrath. It is a great way to teach your preschooler about addition, counting, colors, and shapes. It is bright and colorful and the children LOVED it.

Children- Blessing or Burden?

Voddie Baucham in Family Driven Faith writes, "we are anti-abortion, not pro-life". Children in this culture are viewed as a curse or a burden and not a blessing. We say that we are against abortion, but do we applaud the family who decides that children are a blessing and decides to have more children or do we just roll our eyes and say they must be out of their minds. Many people are just indifferent and stand in judgement of larger families. Larger families experience contempt from the world and from other well meaning Christians and family members who have had their views of children shaped by the worlds' views. Pregnancy should be joyfully embraced because ALL children are a blessing from the Lord! Motherhood is an awesome job and we should embrace it with a thankful heart.

preparing children for adulthood

When children leave the house they should be ready for adulthood. They should be able to manage finances, know how to clean a house, wash laundry, cook, lead a family or be a submissive wife, maintain personal devotional life, be hospitable, and serve others. They should know how to train and discipline their children if God should bless them with children. They should know the word of God well so that when trials in life come they will know where to turn. How many of us can say that we were fully prepared for adulthood when we entered it? Our goal as parents is to do the very best job that we can do to prepare our sons and daughters for this world. It is my prayer that when all is said and done the Lord will say that I did my job to the best of my ability. We are to give God glory by doing our best for Him.
Last night my husband and I watched an amazing testimony of faithful parents who did the very best job they could do in preparing their children for adulthood. Their son was 18 and more of an adult than a 27 year old man I know. He even owned his own business, was engaged, and was preparing to purchase his first home for the marriage. What a testimony of faithful parents! Lord, let my children not call me lazy but blessed of the Lord when they enter adulthood. May they say thank you mom and dad for preparing me for adulthood. I am ready to face this world.
For now if all you can do is wash laundry and cook to God be the glory. Train your children well, teach them (boys too) to love laundry and cooking and all the other skills will come in time as they move into the next stage of childhood.

Refrigerator Muffins

These muffins are versitile and delicious!

2 cups old fashioned oatmeal
2 cups all-bran cereal
2 cups shredded wheat, crushed
2 cups boiling water
1 1/2 cups crisco
4 beaten eggs
3 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
5 teaspoons baking soda
5 cups flour
1 quart buttermilk
(nuts, dates, cranberries, spices, etc.)

Use a huge bowl with a lid. Serves 65. BUT you will keep the dough in the refrigerator to use each morning for a delightful surprise at breakfast. Dough will keep up to 3 months.
Put oatmeal, all-bran, shredded wheat, water, and crisco in a bowl. Soak. Add eggs and sugar. Mix. Sift together salt, soda, and flour. Add to cereal mixture alternating with buttermilk and mixing. Store in a covered container. Add nuts, dates, whatever in small amount of batter each morning to keep them guessing. Bake at 450 degrees about 18 minutes.

Prayer

I have recently been reading Walking With God by J.C. Ryle. It was recommended by a friend and I would highly recommend it to anyone! The chapter I read this morning was so timely as it was about prayer. It was so encouraging to me that I want to quote some of it to you.

"The first act when we have genuine faith will be to speak to God. Prayer is to faith what breath is to life. Just as we cannot live without breathing, so we cannot believe in Christ without praying." pg.32

"For those who do pray. Let nothing at all discourage you. Remember the importance of reverence and humility in prayer. Remember the need of the Holy Spirit's help in prayer. Remember to pray regularly. Remember to persevere in prayer. Be earnest in prayer. Pray with faith. Pray with boldness. Ask God for much. Be specific in prayer. Pray for others. Be thankful in prayer. Be watchful in prayer." pgs. 39-40

discouragement and the grace of God

This morning I woke up discouraged and felt as if I had lost purpose. Motherhood can be tiring always thinking for someone else, planning everyone else's schedule, refereeing behavior, training, being consistent, potty training, homeschooling, encouraging others, keeping up with household duties, being a Godly wife and mother, and maintaining my own spiritual life. I get lonely living in a place where there are no other like minded people and the spiritual oppression is great. Gray days are many during these months (November-April). So I pray. The Lord is Good! He gently reminds me of a Bible verse and a hymn.

"But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good." I Thessalonians 3:13

"So amid the conflict, whether great or small, Do not be discouraged; God is over all. Count your many blessings; angels will attend, Help and comfort give you to your journey's end. Count your blessings, name them one by one; count your blessings, see what God has done. Count your blessings, name them one by one; count your many blessings, see what God hath done."

My many blessings this morning include: Bread that is rising in the oven getting ready to be baked, a washing machine that is washing our laundry, school that is being taught already this morning, obedient children, family worship, a motivated husband who is a great encourager, and a daughter who is patiently holding her baby sister.

He's Still Working on Me

I woke up this morning singing, He's Still Working on Me. Here it is:

There really ought to be a sign upon my heart, "don't judge me yet,
there's an unfinished part." But I'll be perfect just according to His plan
fashioned by the master's loving hand. He's still working on me. He's still
working on me. It took Him just a week to make the moon and the stars,
the sun and the Earth, and Jupiter and Mars. How loving and patient He
must be. He's still working on me.

So many times I get frustrated at myself with my own inconsistencies. I start something and don't follow through to completion or I get distracted. But one thing I know for sure is that The Lord always follows through and does not get distracted or interrupted. He's still working on me to conform me to the image of His son, Jesus Christ. That should bring great comfort to anyone who is repenting of their sins and trusting in Christ alone for their salvation!

family picture

October is the month we usually have our family picture taken. This one was taken just across the street on one of our favorite trails we like to hike with large rocks that the children love to climb on or under.

two more phone calls

Not only do I get these two phone calls from people in the community, but I also receive two phone calls from family. The first is from my mom telling me that she will be having gall bladder and hernia surgery this Friday. The second is from my dad telling me that he just had another pace maker put in and is going in for surgery this week because they found a mass on his kidneys and think it is cancerous. Please also pray for Jerry and Loretta.

death or breaking up?

Just this week we received two important phone calls. The first was one to tell us that a very dear man in the community died of cancer. The second was from a friend about their breakup. Both callers were devastated. One was expected and the other was completely unexpected. They were both very sad. It sure makes one think of eternity.
After getting off the phone with both of them my husband and I prayed for them and we had a conversation about them. We concluded that although it is extremely difficult to lose a loved one it seems as if it would be harder breaking up with a loved one. One is permanent and the other is still around and you keep hoping that maybe things will work out again only to get your heart broke again and each time getting worse. Please pray for both of these individuals as they are both going through significant grief (Barbara and Shelly). My heart aches for these ladies. My prayer is that they would both become Christians.

I Need Advice

Does anyone have any advice to give on putting an end to bedwetting and cats urinating. I am up to my eyeballs in laundry already and can't afford to buy more pull-ups. As for cat urination-- I am fed up with it and have done EVERYTHING I know to stop it. HELP ME, PLEASE!

routines and daily planners

Kendra from www.preschoolersandpeace.com recommended a daily planner at www.motivatedmoms.com that has been very helpful to our family. This is a planner that is designed to help you to stay on top of your chores and to keep a clean and organized home while still homeschooling. It is not overwhelming! The daily schedule is broken down in bite size amounts which makes it possible to stay on top of all the chores. I have also found that if I do not have time to accomplish everything on my list for that day, then I work on it on Saturdays.

curriculum changes

Life has been busy with homeschooling, nursing, cleaning, cooking, and hospitality. When I finally got a chance to sit down today and review our new spelling curriculum I fell asleep (for a mere 20 minutes).

With the newest change in our lives (sweet baby Emily) we decided it was time to re-evaluate the time consuming curriculum that we were using. I love to read to our children and was struggling to find the time to even read one book. My wonderful husband helped me to come up with a plan so that I would have more time, get to read to the little ones, and have fun doing it all. Isn't is school suppose to be enjoyable anyway?

Our plan of action: read books to the children while nursing, change the math curriculum, change the grammar curriculum, and change the spelling curriculum. Results: Beautiful! Everyone is enjoying school and I get to read to the children once again (every time I nurse).

If you care to know we switched from Saxon Math to Math-u-see, from Shurley Grammar to First Language Lessons, and from Spelling Workout to Spelling Power. All of these tend to be written for and by homeschoolers therefore making them more user friendly for the whole family. We are homeschooling using the classical approach and thought that we had to stick to one particular curriculum and that school had to be intense and rigorous. That is not true! It is okay to vary your curriculum and to make school enjoyable. The other thing that we learned was to teach for mastery. If your child is not understanding something, the beauty of homeschooling is that you have plenty of time to slow down and re-teach until mastery has occurred.

more family pictures

Breastfeeding

It has taken 5 children to finally have a wonderful nursing experience from the very beginning. Without fail every time I had a baby, the first two weeks of nursing was VERY painful no matter what I did. With my first child, nursing was difficult until he was 2 months and then periodically throughout the entire year. This time, however, it was different. I had heard from someone to use Lansinoh everytime before nursing to prevent drying, cracking, and bleeding. It worked!!!! Now I only use it once a day. I am loving nursing this time around!

Hospitality

I mentioned that I would write a post about hospitality and here it is. Alexander Strauch wrote an excellant book on hospitality entitled, The Hospitality Commands. I highly recommend it! In it he speaks about how that hospitality is missing from our culture and how that the church is a family and as a family we are showing love for one another when we practice hospitality. In addition by practicing hospitality we can use these times to further the message of the gospel and to encourage pastors in their ministry. He explains six commands given in scripture to practice hospitality and he also gives some helpful hints in practicing hospitality.

Many of you may be saying, "I am too busy to practice hospitality". I say to that just give it a try and see how the Lord blesses you. Pray for more time. Keep it simple. If you plan on having someone over you don't have to serve an elegant meal. The most simple meals are usually the best anyway. Then this allows you the time to relax and enjoy one anothers company. As you continue to have people over you slowly get to know one another and then you know how to pray for them.

Be Patient With Me Please

I have somemore blogs to post but just have not had the time to post them. Just 3 weeks ago I gave birth to our little Emily and since then life has remained busy. Last week we had company on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and then we traveled to a friend's home so that Don could preach for him and we stayed with some friends. We then drove home on Monday and began our homeschool year yesterday. Don is now gone this morning to a pastor's fellowship 2 hours away. I am by no means complaining. In fact, I have LOVED every moment of the time we have spent in fellowship with other believers! My post that I am wanting to write about is about hospitality. When I have a free moment I will post it.

Family Worship

One of the things that we have found helpful as a family is to have a regular time of family worship in which we spend time reading the Bible, praying, singing a hymn, memorizing catechism, and memorizing Bible verses.

Our children are 8, 5, 4, 20 months, and 12 days. The Bible that we read from is Catherine Vos's Story Bible and it is the most complete children's story Bible that we have ever read. For Bible memory and catechism we use Truth and Grace memory books published by Founders Press. It is designed for age 2 through 12th grade. These booklets are amazing! They have a format all set up for you with age appropriate verse memory, catechism, and hymns. As for the hymns, we use the Celebration Hymnal (since it is the hymn book used by our church). We memorize the hymns (not the choruses). We focus on singing one hymn a week.

On a later post I will also share some doctrine books that have been helpful to us that we have read to our children on Sundays.

Loving baby sister

The Importance of a Routine

If I have learned anything in life it is the importance of having a routine. Without a routine chaos reigns in the family. This is a lesson I have learned the hard way but also through examples of seeing peaceful homes with established routines. In fact, a dear friend of mine who has 11 children has taught me much about routine and having a peaceful home. I am very grateful for our friendship!
When I say routine it does not mean that one routine fits everyone. Many times it is a matter of trial and error. You must keep trying until you find a routine that fits your lifestyle and your family. Every family is different. Also for the different seasons of life your routine will change. Since the birth of Emily, we have had to change our routine. Our plan now is to work together when we get up out of bed and clean the upstairs before we eat breakfast or have family worship. Then after dinner, we work together and clean the downstairs before we have family worship. Another thing that we do is to keep all the toys upstairs and have a school room upstairs. Now when someone comes over our house is clean!
Laundry is a whole other topic that I will spend more time discussing in the future. But for now, I wash an average of about 3 loads a day and have a table set up in my kitchen where I fold the clothes and the kids help to put away their own clothes.
The biggest thing that I would say is to have the kids help early! If you teach them early in life then latter in life they will be able to do these things on their own and teach their own children. You also learn patience in teaching them. It takes a lot of training and a lot of patience but any mom will tell you that it is well worth the effort!

tips I have learned on my journey in motherhood

Over the next few days I will be posting some helpful tips that I have learned either from others or the hard way by trial and error on my journey in motherhood.

First and foremost I have learned to follow the advice given in scripture that says the husband is to be the head of the house. When I try to lead our family it does not always work out. God has blessed me with a husband who leads and I just need to trust him enough to follow him everytime. This does not mean that I have no imput and can say nothing when I question his leadership abilities. In fact, we do discuss decisions often. He may not always no how to lead in certain situations and that is okay. We spend much time in prayer. Our heavenly Father knows what is right for us. What is right for me is to trust that God knew what He was doing when He placed Don into my life and to trust His command for the husband to be the leader in the family and to joyfully submit to his leadership. When I do this I know that I am in the will of God. It is all a matter of trust. Will you trust that the Lord knows what He is doing?

latest family pictures

Emily Lynn Speedy made her presence into this world on Wednesday, September 3, 2008 at 10:31 a.m.. She weighed 7lb. 7 oz. and was 20 and 3/4 in. long. On Thursday, September 4th we went home and was happily greeted by 3 brothers (Matthew, Joshua, and Aaron) and 1 sister (Kara). Her presence into our home has not brought sibling rilvary but LOVE and LOTS of it! The kids can not seem to give her enough kisses, especially Aaron (who is 20 months).

Welcome

The purpose of this blog is to share helpful insights from my journey in motherhood. It has truly been a journey. Motherhood is not always easy. When I first became a mom I did not know how to do it and was not always content with life. I thought that I would find contentment in being at a friend's house and not my own. Over the years the Lord has so graciously taught me that true contentment is found in Him alone. I also can gratefully say that the Lord has taught me to be content with my own family at my own house. I now LOVE staying at home and being a wife and a mother of 5 blessings. It took the Lord moving me to the "wilderness" where there are no other homeschoolers and where we truly have no friends to teach me to depend upon him and to develop a deep and meaningful relationship with my husband and children. I hope that I can be an encouragement to someone else out there who is also on the journey of motherhood.