Family Musings

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 ...