Family Musings

Apparently, I  have a thing for taking pictures of Mary sleeping! These are all from just this year!

In 1832, James and Amelia Taylor prayed, “Dear God, if you should give us a son, grant that he may work for you in China.” With that simple prayer, the story of Hudson Taylor began. And although his parents did not tell Hudson about that prayer until decades later, God put China into Hudson’s heart and gave Hudson the faith to believe that God answers prayer. Hudson Taylor was raised in a Christian home, but faith was a struggle for many years. Hudson wanted to be a Christian ; he tried to be a Christian. Time and again, however, he felt he failed in Christianity. He failed so much he eventually gave up, believing he was simply incapable of faith. Then, one day, Hudson found himself so bored he decided to read a gospel tract he found lying around. He knew it would contain a short story, which would help him pass the time, and he planned to ignore the spiritual aspects. But, when he read Jesus’ words, “It is finished,” said on the cross, Hudson paused and pondered. He later wr...

Banner courtesy of  Dearie Designs I'm not much of a party person. I'm awful at planning menus and creating awesome decorations. Just ask the last friend who was on the receiving end of my baby shower planning. She was a good sport about it, but really, she deserved better. Now, I have a chance to redeem myself. But without the need for cute Pinterest inspired decorations and gourmet food. Which is totally my style! Photo Courtesy of Emily Rose Portraits My friends, Craig and Karissa, are in the process of adding two children to their family through adoption. In fact, they just found out today that they finally have a date to go and pick up the two little boys who have been in their hearts for nearly a year. You can catch up with their adoption journey at this link from Karissa's blog, The Acting Mom . Photo Courtesy of  Emily Rose Portraits Since it is an international adoption of two boys who are not newborns, the traditional baby shower is not really an o...

I'm afraid that, if I don't tell someone what my plan is for today that it might not happen. So, random Family Musings readers, here's my list of 6 things I need to accomplish today: 1) Clean out refrigerator/freezer 2) Re-organize pantry 3) Create menu plan/grocery list for the week 4) Update coupon filing system 5) Find a local, reliable pest control company 6) Go grocery shopping This is not an unreasonable to do list at all, but I've got a cold and am experiencing third trimester exhaustion. No amount of sleep seems to be enough these days.

I've been trying to motivate myself to do more fun things specifically for Mary each day after we drop Charlotte off at school. So today, we went to the park at 7:40 AM. I wasn't even sure it would be open that early, but thankfully it was! Despite the sand pit being closed, Mary still had a good time. I tried to discourage her from taking the sand toys out of the bag, but she insisted and said, "dat's otay. me can petend!" This is her using her sand toys to make us some breakfast. In this case, it might have turned out better that the sand pit was closed. Later she called out to me, "de eggs are almo done honey!" For some reason she calls me her honey, which I don't mind at all. I have all sorts of nick names for her too. My favorite though is May-May, which comes from how she normally says her own name. Recently though, she's been trying to say it more like Mare-a, which sounds much more like her actual name. Because the ground was wet, M...

I am so glad that, as a follower of Christ, I am called to think differently. Were it not for Christlike thinking, I'd find myself stuck in sorrow, fear, and dread far more often. I am human of course and do deal with these issues, but faith in Christ gives me a place to go with my fear and my dread and my sorrow. In my life, this hasn't just been a theoretical idea either. Recently, two situations in my life tested how much I really believed what I wrote about thinking differently. To understand where I am coming from, you may recall a post I wrote last Spring called " Motherhood and God's Sovereignty ." About 2 weeks after I wrote that post, I had my 20-week ultrasound. In it, the ultrasound tech thought she noticed a club foot. Her findings were inconclusive, so we eventually had another ultrasound. As it turns out, our son does have a right club foot. At the time of my post on God's sovereignty I wondered if my thoughts were the natural progression o...

The adjustment to taking a child to school every day has gone fairly well. We've developed a few morning and evening routines that certainly make getting out the door much easier. I've tested them by waking up late or neglecting the routines in the evening... without them, things start to unravel quickly. And rushing to get out the door is no fun for any of us! One thing that I thought about this morning, and surprised myself with, is that I'm kind of back to being lonely as a SAHM. Sure, I may have complained about Charlotte's constant chatter, but now that she had gotten old enough to have actual conversations, I did enjoy her company more. Mary plays wonderfully by herself. Which is great in so many ways. I can be more productive if I choose to be since she can occupy herself making up great stories with her Littlest Pet Shops or coloring several pages. In fact, I think she prefers playing alone to playing with me. I looked back over my schedule for the last mo...

Dear Charlotte, Just a little over an hour ago, I waved good bye as you blew me one last kiss on your way to Ms. Rhoade's kindergarten class. It wasn't easy, but I tried to give you the biggest smile I could. I really want to write something super elegant that bring a small tear to your eye when you read it many years from now. Instead, every time I start to wax poetic, I get all teary-eyed. And, as you know by now, I'm not one of those "pretty criers" like you see in movies. It's a good thing that just Mary is home right now. This morning, you showed so much enthusiasm for learning and experiencing new things. You even told me how you were going to greet your teacher, "Good morning Ms. Rhoades! I'm excited to learn something new today!" I hope you maintain your love of knowledge for the rest of your life. It will serve you well as you grow in both mind and spirit. When I helped you put your uniform on this morning, I was ...

As I watch my children grow up, I want them to learn to love. I don't want to squash their questioning and wondering about the world around them. Admittedly, after the 4,537,136th question of the day, I wish Charlotte would give it a rest, but I am still glad that she continues to ask questions. Sometimes though, when it comes to trying to do new things, like learn sight words or some other new skill, she seems to get frustrated easily. I try to encourage her to try, even though it might be hard. this works in varying degrees depending on the circumstances. Related to this, I saw a great pin today and wanted to print it as a reminder in our home. But, unfortunately, the link trail didn't lead me to one that was printable, so, I made my own. And since I know lots of home schooling moms and teachers, I thought you might want to print this for class rooms, either at home or at school. You can click on the image to download a 8.5x11 PDF version from Google Docs. Leave a ...

My husband just brought home my newest project! I had only seen a fuzzy cell phone picture of it so I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but it was free for the taking and I had just enough info to know it would fit my space in size, if not color. We are in the process of trying to make our dining room a functional space for both homeschooling and dining and the Ikea dressers we had been using for storage the last four years are falling apart from continued use. This redo has to be done on a frugal budget, so I really couldn't see myself passing up a free dresser! It easily offers enough storage to replace the two plain white, Ikea dressers that are going to either be repurposed, donated, or tossed. Now, we have to figure out what to do with this piece to make it my own. It really is gorgeous and I am thrilled that it has "feet." The rest of our furniture (mostly also from Ikea) all sits flush to the ground, so I am really counting on this piece to break things ...

My best plans to teach Charlotte about taking pictures never really happened. But she does know how to turn the camera on, zoom in, and take a picture... here are some of her better ones. The  first sunrise Charlotte has ever seen. This was taken from the bus on our way to Miami. Hanging out on the front porch of our hotel. I guess when you are short you are more likely to cut people's heads off in photos. There were several like this. This is Mary Ruth, a very good sport for letting Charlotte take so many pictures of her. Our trip leaders, Steve & Angela. This is the couple who bought the farm.  This is Carlos. He is the main, native interpreter for our trip. Today, he is interpreting for Bruce's seminarios with the local pastor's alliance.

Monday included two visits to a local school called Dream of Louisa. While public education is free in Nicaragua, uniforms, books, and supplies are not, so many children are shut out from educational opportunities. This school exists to fill that gap.  For some reason, my photos from our morning visit uploaded in a random order... This first one is Mary modeling for the camera in the older student's classroom. Charlotte finally had a chance to ride in the back of a truck. And to take a picture of mommy taking a picture of her. :) Our family is grateful for Stepanie and the other teenage girls on our team. They are willing to help out and keep the girls occupied when we need a rest or have something else to do. Here, Charlotte is encouraging the students to dance during the Chicken Dance song. And here she is working on the fishing game. During the morning session she quickly bored of her job, but towards the end of the afternoon session, she was practically runnin...

Before we left for our trip, my friend Bethany brought her artistic skills to my house and painted a Noah's Ark background that we are using as a fishing game.

They say mission trips can change lives. Apparently, that is true even if you are 4 years old! We've seen Charlotte take risks she never would have taken in the states. Some of it is just fun to watch and are things we already knew she could do, but other things are really surprising to us. She freely walked all over a farm we visited today. Even going so far as to venture off the beaten path to find her "walking stick." There was a big hill to tackle and she did it cheerfully too. While she normally freaks out at the sight of most unleashed dogs, it didn't take long for her to get up close to this one. Her love of the bixi ride has far outweighed any fear of strangers she might have had. Fortunately, this is one of our trusted drivers and Bruce was following close behind while she and Antonio (about 3 years old) rode on his daddy's bixi. Maybe it's just me... but I had to include this picture because she looks so darn grown up in it! I...