Castleberry Tractor Pull

Yup, we're a little bit country 'round here.

And that's just fine by us. ;)

Multitudes on Mondays

387. our nephew who was brave while getting stitches

388. that Landon did NOT have bleeding on his brain from a terrible fall

389. compassionate and worried sisters

390. praying friends

391. praying family

392. apple juice at the hospital

393. calm doctors

394. doctors who say, "If he were my son, I would do _______." That's when you fully trust what they have to say.

395. simply looking forward to another school week b/c it has to be less stressful than this Sunday has been

396. a familiar bed and pillow that call my name after a stressful day

397. that God loves my babies even more than I do

398. that God can take care of my babies even when I am one second too late

399. hospital bracelets to be placed in scrapbooks along side a story of bravery

400. tucking my babies into their own beds tonight, and not a cold, hard, sterile hospital bed

(Yes, I realize that all of my thankfulness is directed at the health and safety of my children. And, I am extremely thankful for both right now.

Yesterday, we were at our nephew, Hayden's, 3rd birthday party. He slipped and fell and his eyebrow hit the corner of the diving board. He had to be taken to Children's Healthcare for stitches. He was so brave.

Well, we cleaned up from the party for my sister-in-law while she was with Hayden and then came home. We literally had not been home 5 minutes before Landon took a horrible fall on our hardwood floors and hit the right side of his head completely - meaning, he fell in such a way that he was not able to brace his fall with his arms, and his head took the entire blow. He was knocked "silly" immediately; he never lost complete consciousness, but his eyes kept rolling back into his head, he couldn't talk for a while, and then we could do NOTHING to keep him awake. We rushed him to the hospital, but after a couple hours of observation, we were sent home. We could have had a CT scan, but the doctor said, "If he were my son, I would not do it b/c of the amount of radiation that his brain would be subjected to." So we came home relieved to have been released, but also wary of watching him closely for any signs of serious damage. But as I tucked my children in and prayed sweet thanks over them, I was reminded that they are first God's children. But, oh, am I thankful that He has given them to me...and that He helps me take care of them.)

Psalm 9:1 "I will give thanks to you, LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds."

Weary

Weary: adjective, -ri·er, -ri·est, verb, -ried, -ry·ing.

–adjective

1. physically or mentally exhausted by hard work, exertion, strain, etc.; fatigued; tired: weary eyes; a weary brain.

2. characterized by or causing fatigue: a weary journey.

3. impatient or dissatisfied with something (often followed by of ): weary of excuses.

4. characterized by or causing impatience or dissatisfaction; tedious; irksome: a weary wait.

I am weary. 

I have felt this weariness setting in for a few weeks now. I am sure many most all moms feel weary at different points. 

I am weary of vacuuming at least once a day and then to have Scott move a piece of large furniture and complain that "the house we live in (the one I keep up day to day) is disgusting." I look at that 300 lb piece of furniture and I know I would have cleaned back there.....if only I could have moved it. 

I am weary of disciplining my children. There are days I feel like all I do from morning to bed time is nag, nag, nag. I understand Proverbs 29:7, "Discipline your children, and they will give you peace; they will bring you the delights you desire." Most days I am just waiting for that peace to come, and I grow weary in my waiting.

I am weary of being at home all of the time. I know that these are the most important days of my life - being with my children day in and day out, spending time with them, loving on them, guiding them. But some days, it requires so much; and sometimes I have so little.

On August 12 in Jesus Calling, I was brought to tears by what I read:

"Come to me when you are weak and weary. Rest snugly in My everlasting arms. I do not despise your weakness, My child. Actually, it draws Me closer to you, because weakness stirs up My compassion - My yearning to help. Accept yourself in your weakness, knowing that I understand how difficult your journey has been...I have gifted you with fragility, providing opportunities for your spirit to blossom in My presence. Accept this gift as a sacred treasure: delicate, yet glowing with brilliant Light. Rather than struggling to disguise or deny your weakness, allow Me to bless you richly through it."

Again I am reminded that we are called to give that hard thanks. To be thankful for the hard days, because even the most weary of days are still a gift. They are a gift of one more day to spend here on earth with loved ones; they are a gift of one more day to learn to live in the presence of Jesus. 

I am weary, yes. But I am also snugly wrapped in my Savior's compassionate, loving arms. 

"For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:10

Taking School Outside

Earlier this week, I was a little antsy about staying indoors. The weather has cooled off just a touch, and I was itching to get outside. So were my two students.

So we headed out. I decided to take on a Charlotte Mason approach and just see where our "nature walk" took us. The kiddos were well prepared with their nature notebooks for drawing what they see, pencils, crayons, a ruler, sandwich bags for collecting things. Oh, and their binoculars. :)

We had not been on our walk for three minutes before Landon took two tumbles over tree roots. Ella Beth asked, "Why are all of these tree roots sticking out of the ground?"

And that's where our nature walk took us.

We talked about how trees search for water through their roots, and when trees get bigger they get very thirsty. As their roots stretch to find water, they get bigger and bigger and can eventually stick out of the ground.

Then the kiddos started looking very intensely at the leaves that had fallen. They started asking questions about the "lines" all over them, so our tree lesson continued very naturally.

We talked about how trees drink water through their roots and carry that water all the way up to the tallest branches. We were in the middle of the woods with tall trees everywhere, so the kiddos were absolutely fascinated that water could travel so far! I told them that the water travels up the tree to its branches and then it's carried to the leaves. The leaves drink the water through their stems, and then the water is dispersed by the tiny veins. And what better activity to do than leaf presses. :)

We also used that handy ruler to measure our leaves.

Ella Beth was very into drawing her surroundings. It made me smile by how seriously she took her work.

And then we continued our walk. With walking sticks, of course. ;)

I let Ella Beth and Landon decide where to stop and explore (aka - dig in the dirt).

Landon found an acorn to take home to Daddy.

All in all, it was a great opportunity for learning, and I know we will be doing "nature walks" regularly. We covered math, science, handwriting, and PE all while having a really good time. It is so nice to get outside and away from the structure of our normal day, and the kiddos had a blast learning without even realizing it. Success!

Multitudes on Mondays

370. family time

371. celebrating a friend's upcoming baby-addition

372. newborn clothes

373. diaper cakes

374. buttons as decoration

375. Buttercup's affectionate greeting every morning

376. Landon's morning breath - still as sweet as ever

377. good movies

378. great company

379. movie theater popcorn refills to bring home for my kiddos

380. Ella Beth moving up to UpStreet

381. worshiping on stage and looking out to see children worshiping

382. Ella Beth's joy to see her mama on stage

383. hearing Ella Beth's small group leaders tell me how proud she was of me

384. how sweet my babies smell after their bath

385. looking in on my babies before I head to bed

386. kissing them while they sleep

Hebrews 12:28-29 "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire."

Never Once are we alone

There are days when I feel like I'm doing it all alone. And I'm alone in my failure.

Today was a particularly rough day of homeschool. Ella Beth reached her "point" of being done before school was actually over. She needed to write her spelling words on a sheet of paper for practice. All of the words she knows how to spell. She knows them. But, she wanted to act like she didn't. And it made me so frustrated. I tried encouraging her telling her, "I know you can do this!" Didn't work. I tried reminding her that as soon as she was through writing, school would be over. Didn't work. I tried threatening her, "If you don't finish your work, you will not get the ice cream that you just picked out from Publix today for dessert." Didn't work.

I wanted to scream. I thought seriously about it.

But some where from deep within my being, self-control came. And I looked at Ella Beth as I have never looked at her before.

I felt alone, but my heart told me that I wasn't.

And I looked at Ella Beth - and I realized that she also wasn't alone. God was with us both. Granting me self-control in my most frustrated state. Granting Ella Beth love that she wasn't necessarily feeling from me at that moment.

For some reason, that exact moment has stuck with me. We are not alone. Never Once.

I've had moments where I have yelled at God - screamed at Him for unexplained illness. I've also had moments where my heart has sung His highest praise.

From all of our highs, through our lowest pits, Never Once Do We Ever Walk Alone. We are all children to our Heavenly Father. In moments where I am not reflecting His love, I am so thankful that He is faithful. That He never once leaves His children - whether they be 32, or just-turned-5.

Close your eyes and let this song minister to your heart - where ever you are, He is, too.

Little Chefs

Ella Beth is OBSESSED with the Food Network. She loves to watch her favorite "cookers" (mostly Paula Deed, the Neeleys, and Giada DeL...). For her birthday, she received three sets of bake ware and cooking utensils. She wanted to put them to use immediately! So I scrounged up all the ingredients I could and we made banana bread. Yum!

Both kiddos were all smiles and ready to get started!

First, we measured and placed all of our dry ingredients into one bowl.

Ella Beth loved using her whisk because she felt just like a "real cooker."

Landon got to mash the banana.

And then it was time to add our wet ingredients to another bowl. Ella Beth loves to crack eggs!

Look, the whole egg made it into the bowl!!! ;)

Landon's turn...

I thoroughly *heart* my Kitchenaid mixer, and Ella Beth loves when I use it. It wasn't necessarily needed for this recipe, but we think it makes everything taste better. :)

And, to give you an idea of what size banana bread loaf we were making, here's a little comparison. Normal loaf pan on the left, and Ella Beth's little chef pan on the right.

Yup, it was a lot of work to make one TINY loaf of banana bread. But it was totally worth it. We all had fun!

Of course, there was the waiting.....

And the invasion of a pirate.....

Look how cute that tiny loaf is!

Now, this recipe was obviously NOT written by a parent. Because.....it said, "after your bread has cooled, wrap it in tightly in plastic wrap and let it sit over night." SERIOUSLY????? All of that work for a children's recipe - intended for kids to make - and they can't eat it right away??? Sheesh! Just try to imagine the sighs and moans and questions that all started with "WHY" when I told Ella Beth and Landon we couldn't eat it.

So guess what we all had for breakfast this morning?!? Yum-o!

Happy Birthday, Ella Beth!

What a wonderful time we had celebrating our sweet girl! It's still hard to believe that she is FIVE years old, but she's definitely growing up. Ella Beth has been obsessed with dinosaurs for a year now, and she has wanted a dinosaur party since last September. I kept thinking she would change her mind in the past 11 months, but she never wavered. When we picked up her cake at Publix, the lady in the bakery said they have never made a dino cake for a GIRL! Well, our little girl has never quite followed the rules of what it means to be "normal" - so why start now?!?!

I'll let the pictures do most of the story-telling:

Pin the Horn on the Triceratops

Dino Drop

Ella Beth's loot. She's one blessed little girl!

The kiddos sat so nicely and watched Ella Beth open her presents. She loved being the center of attention. :)

Our little chef received LOTS of bake ware and utensils!

Her very own Paula Deen cookbook. She adores Paula Deen and is just smitten with this cookbook!

Disney World is in our future (next year). It's never too early to get excited about it though!

 Her favorite present was her Twinkle Toes shoes. They are TOO CUTE!

Our cousin Bentley (almost 8 years old) is a GREAT gift giver. He made a plane for Ella Beth all by himself. It was a huge hit at the party. And it just goes to show that it's the thought behind a gift that matters most. :)

And, of course, every birthday is best spent with friends. :)

We loved celebrating our special girl, and we are beyond blessed by family and friends to join with us! Happy Birthday, Ella Beth!