"Insmuch as I advance, upheld by God, in the way that He has traced for me, that which stands for me for 'duty' becomes more and more clear to me. The great thing is not to lose oneself in unrealizable plans and projects, not to live in tomorrow, but patiently turn thought into action, goodwill into determination. "
– Elisabeth Leseur, The Secret Diary of Elisabeth Leseur
Have a most blessed Christmas from our home to yours!
We celebrated another year with our Tess in the hotel last week. She is a truly fascinating little person. Full of opinions and ideas.
We have had an unlikely, improbable in fact, convergence of challenges of late. These have accompanied by completely unforeseen blessings. So it often goes, doesn't it? At least if you look for them.
Among the highlights was the well running dry. Literally versus figuratively. No water. With radiant heat that meant none of that either. After adjusting the depth of the well pump we were back up and running but left with a dirty cistern. Allen had to siphon that out refill and sanitize. The blessing there is the smile on his face seen as he descended into the tank one cold November morning. God bless him. He set a steady, positive tone for the rest of us.
Even Asher looks game, though the little boys were the ones who truly revel in big, dirty, wet projects. They have had their fill!
One night a while back we heard a loud thud. Loud. Thud. It prompted an investigation of the inside and outside of the house which turned up a lotta nothing. Weird. It was forgotten til a ball soared too high and fixed itself on the roof. Could they get it down? Please Mom? So Asher scaled the low pitched roof to retrieve…….. a goose. Hello? Perhaps the stress of recent weeks caught up with me after all. Come again? Yes, there was a goose on the roof. Dead. Apparently it was injured or sick or gosh only knows what and fell from the sky. To my roof. (I am sparing you that picture.) Not sure what the odds of that are….
Thanksgiving morning Moira came in from chores to say the coyotes were hanging around yet. They have been exceptionally bold this fall, lingering into the daylight hours. We have been keeping Daisy inside or on a leash til noon just in case. The hens are not leashed however. You probably know where this is going. Moira chased off the pair of coyotes and came inside. We walked back out in time to see that one of them had returned to carry off a black hen. Eww. Really eww. Its a ranch. It happens. But still. Eww.
The next morning I went to a park downtown to do a photo shoot for a really lovely family.
When we returned to the lot, full of joggers and dogs, we found this:
That would be my van. That would be my van minus the passenger window. And minus my purse. Hopefully not minus my identity. : / It was actually my babybag and was down on the floor between the seats. The family I was photographing had a purse in the van next to mine. No other vehicle on the lot had been touched that we could see. Again, the odds? Probably out there.
Last week we had a freak cold snap. Sub zero temps the likes of which have not been seen here since we have been here. The water pump shorted out. The pipes froze. We are at this moment writing from a hotel suite waiting for the local repairmen to chip away at their appt's and get to ours. Patience is a virtue.
And this list is by no means exhaustive. In fact it omits some of the most pressing concerns we have at the moment. But it brought to mind a conversation I had with a genetic counselor over ten years ago while pregnant with Aidan. The hospital serving us at that base insisted upon genetic counseling before ultrasound. I sat patiently listening to the 'counselor's' litany of risk factors. My demeanor was apparently unsettling to her. She assumed I must not be understanding her correctly. She asked point blank, "Do you understand what your risks are?" To which I replied in the affirmative. "Yes. I do. The best I can figure is that if God intends for a thing to occur then the odds are about 100% in favor of it coming to pass. If not, then they are pretty close to zero." She let me have my ultrasound.
This is my feeling yet today. I don't know why these things are happening. I do know that we have been visited with singular moments of grace throughout. There is an odd peace within. My husband has his hand in mine. We are taking each day as it comes and trusting that the right things are happening. When he can't stop you, satan often sets a smoke screen in front of the blessing just ahead to muddle your thinking and convince you the journey is fruitless. We are pressing on through this fog, determined to realize God's best for our family. It is just ahead.
To read more about Christian families facing trials visit Teri Maxwell's December Mom's corner for inspiring perspective. Trial is not uncommon, but our response can and should be.
"We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body." 2 Corinthians 4:8-10
"In the world you will have trouble, but I leave you my peace,
That where I am, there you may also be."
– Rich Mullins, That Where I Am
…and some of you already do. We have some really big things in the works around here. Big challenges. Big opportunities. Some big trials. Hopefully some big blessings in the mix. It's all… really….. big stuff. I will try to continue to pop in here as I can but if there are long stretches between now and springtime where that doesn't happen just know it's all the above and the rest of the story will be told then. I am not disappearing entirely, just sporadically.
Clear as mud isn't it?
I apologize for being a bit cryptic. It's one of those things that will make sense later. : )
More Daybook entries at Peggy's
FOR TODAY…October 26th
Outside my window… sunny and cold, which I have decided is much nicer than cloudy/rainy and cold. I forgot about fall in the midwest.
I am thinking… that somewhere along the line "home" stopped being where I grew up and became where I live.
I am thankful for… my husband who says just the right things, video recording so I didn't miss piano festival, kids who rally together as a team, memories.
I am wearing… a-line denim skirt, pink floral 3/4 length sleeve blouse, burgundy leather mary janes.
I am hearing… kids preparing for lunch and planning a football break, the baby's tap-tapping as she crawls with a toy in one hand, piano practice. This past week we have listened to everything from Ella Fitzgerald to Guns and Roses to Marie Bellet as we trekked across the country.
I am remembering… Gramma. Oh I am remembering. I have done little more than remember. Warm pie, sleeping in the summer porch, racing over country hills so your stomach leaps a bit and roaring when it does, knitting needles clicking, Saltine crackers with margarine. I miss you. I wasn't ready.
I am going… to catch up around the house and prepare for All Saints Day
I am reading… Nothing but snippets of magazines this past week. I want to track down this book after being fascinated by an excerpt I saw. Photo-journalism rocks.
From the learning rooms… doing our best to stay on track.
I am creating…. a special project with Colin's help. Thank you!
Pondering these words… "Kim Marie, YES you can!"
…last words from Gram. Pondered amid much internal protest right now. I am taking it on faith.
From the kitchen… lots of hamburgers and easy food this past week. Sitting down to make a shopping list. It will include fancy birthday cake for Aidan. Oh and cheese curds. You don't leave Wisconsin without cheese curds for your husband. It would just be wrong. <g>
Around the house… The kids who stayed home were well cared for while I was gone. That's all I'm gonna say LOL.
One of my favorite things. Baby Abbie who bounces high on her knees and tries to stretch upright. Very soon baby girl, very soon
From my picture journal…
"…in every moment there's a
reason to carry on." Kenny Loggins
More Daybook entries at Peggy's
FOR TODAY…October 12th
Outside my window… bright sun spilling over snow-dusted fields. Cold.
I am thinking… that sometimes less is also more with words
I am thankful for… a three day weekend. The nice Fed Ex man who just happened to be called into work last night when I had slid off the road in the middle of just about nowhere with no cell coverage and just happened to have a brand new-still-in-the-package tow cable in his car. thankyouthankyouthankyou (note to self: never go wandering around the prairie to take pics without telling your husband which direction you are headed. Very scary.)
I am wearing… pink 3/4 sleeve striped blouse, jeans, brown clogs, diamond stud earrings
(fake ; ))
I am remembering… how much I love music. I have no ipod or whatnot and it sorta slipped out of my life til the boys and I began assembling a playlist on Pandora.
I am going… to begin a major fall cleaning project. Fall decor isnt really happening. Going to aim for being really ready for Advent.
I am reading…Teri Maxwell Mom's Corner articles, particularly this one on textbook learning. I have reread it a couple times this week nodding in agreement. (note this disclaimer which applies here too:
"It is not our desire to put down other homeschooling methods, but to see families successful"
I am hoping… God makes a way for a big family intention which we can't quite figure out
On my mind… foul language. We have watched several movies this weekend that would otherwise have been outstanding. The crude language is off putting however and makes me sad that this is so pervasive.
From the learning rooms… Confirmation prep, polishing piano festival pieces and binder page updating for Brendan. Dh and the boys learning to make cord rosaries for their guy club meeting.
Noticing that… our girls speak much sooner and much more articulately than our little boys.
Pondering these words… "We were also told that our children would be bored with textbooks, and that they would dislike learning if we used texts. We were encouraged to try out other methods of homeschooling—ones that would entice our children to learn, be more fun, and be more exciting…
(the children) had become accustomed to learning only if Mom made it entertaining, exciting, appealing, and enticing. The reality of that type of homeschooling is that it is quite exhausting for Mom. You would think children would be sad about leaving that fun style of homeschooling. However, after one year of using textbooks, these children themselves didn't want to return to their old method. They were happy with the change and have requested to continue homeschooling as they have been the past year." – Teri Maxwell
…what she said. Someone should have told me how much fun we would be having, how proud the kids would be, and how darned much we would accomplish. Maybe someone did. Maybe those voices were so scorned and discredited I ignored them. Who knows. Semi-homemade is plenty good enough here these days. There is room for lots of real life. Which is good. There certainly is lots of it in a family of 12! : )
From the kitchen… coffee for a husband who is home today. Groceries the big kids are bringing home. Gluten free baking. Abbie likes gf muffins and bananas and learned to take tylenol off a spoon last week versus spitting it with gusto raspberry style. Progress <g>
Around the house… bit of catch up since the kids were sick last week. Kitchen cabinets to be fixed with dh. Moved bedrooms around last week. Need more clothes storage.
One of my favorite things~ photoshop. Even more favorite thing – learning something new and 'getting' it.
From my picture journal…
"We should not wish for anything but what comes to us from moment to moment exercising ourselves none the less for good. For he who would not thus exercise himself, and await what God sends, would tempt God.
When we have done what good we can, let us accept all that happens to us by Our Lord's ordinance, and let us unite ourselves to it by our will.
Who tastes what it is to rest in union with God will seem to himself to have won to Paradise even in this life."
- St Catherine of Genoa
September is only half through but already has been full of travel and adventures in semi-homemade curriculum. School has started and while it keeps us quite busy it has been absolutely satisfying in every way. Could not be happier with it. : ) When not cracking the books we have been out in the big, big world:
Starry Sky Journal 