This week in blessings

It's been another full, fun, frantic and fantastic week. So many ups and downs all crammed into a few short days. As I was looking back on this week,I couldn't decide what to write about. There are many prayer requests. There are many praises. There are many hurts. There are many joys. Following the Biblical example of thinking on praiseworthy things, here are my blessings!

This week my father-in-law and husband talked through the hard decision to put in a breathing devise for my mother-in-law. None of us knew if we made the right decision. None of us knew what the outcome would be. But praise God, we got to see her beautiful smile again. Doug came home from a visit and said she was laughing 'til it hurt. And HUGE praise, today, she didn't even need the ventilator to help her breath!

This week we got a foot of snow. Praise, my kids got to finally go play in some deep, fun, wet snow. The dogs can go run and play and not track nasty muddy paw prints into my house!

This week we were able to take the kids sledding.









Hope's first time down a hill. Snow blasting her face!



Oh my, the snow melting, the shivers. (Although we never captured it, there were smiles!)







Becca went down just as a princess would. Except she ended up going down backwards each time. She must have inherited that from her mother :)



Doug still has a wonderful job for which we daily praise the Lord.

We are praying for my brother-in-law Jim who is fighting cancer. The praise, he has a wonderful doctor who is doing an incredible job balancing quality of life with fighting this horrendous disease. We continue to praise God that Jim is now a believer.

I praise God that we still live in a country where I can write my lists of praises to him. I praise God for our family's health. I praise God for my family, my friends, my church, my home.

I praise God because He is who He says He is. I praise God because I am His. I praise God because He is good. I praise Him because He has forgiven me. I praise Him because His love endures. I praise God because I can trust Him. I praise Him because He allows me to call Him Daddy. I praise Him because He is worthy.

In praise of the Father!
Bethany

This week in photos

Here are my favorite pictures from this week. I hope you enjoy

Okay, so this was not last week. But in case you haven't seen the girl walk....




Tyler and Becca were happy to oblige when Grandma B. asked for some pictures. They happily went to work making Grandma rainbows with lots of color.




Hope shut her finger in the drawer and required her first band-aid. (Look at her right thumb.) While she shed a few tears over the smashed thumb, it was the bandage that really did her in. She just couldn't get the darn thing off!






Over twelve inches of snow this week. The kids were in heaven using their beloved John Deere tractor to move it. This was taken after about 4 inches of snow. After all the snow had fallen they were unable to even move the tractor.

Thoughts on my mother-in-law

Doug and I were talking about his mom the other night. She has been in the hospital for over two weeks now fighting a life threatening infection. Many complications have come up, many decisions no one wants to make have been made. As we were talking Doug said, "I always hated it when people told me I was like my mom." And then he just shook his head at the lack of perspective he had as a child. It's funny how being a parent changes our views.

I'm so glad Doug is like his mom. Strong and tenacious. Loyal and caring. Full of life and fun. Doug and his mom laugh alike. Have the same beautiful eyes. Have the same attention to details. They make friends easily and keep them for a lifetime. They love to cook and love good food. They know what they want and don't stop until they get it. And they are both stubborn as they come! I'm so grateful to have them in my life.

What a week!

Wow! First week on the blog and only two posts. I'm going to have to come up with some sort of schedule for myself. Right now blogging kind of feels like I'm talking to myself :) I think I need to insist that a few people leave comments just so I don't feel like I'm losing my mind. Any lurkers? (Megan...not that I'm naming names!)


For anyone who is happening across this blog, I'm a home school mom. I grew up in the denim jumper era, so those are officially banned from my house. Other than that, I'm pretty traditional. I don't believe in school at home. I believe in home school. I really love that the kids and I get to learn about all sorts of things. Today we were talking about water tables. Tyler wanted to know how water gets under the ground. Who knows what will come up next week? Of course we still do the basics (reading, writing, and math), but there is so much flexibility on what we study, when we study and how we study. So much fun! (And at times so much work!)

On the same subject, for the last couple years I have been praying about finding community in the home school arena. I've been part of a couple groups that haven't taken off and am now trying to build on the remnants of those groups. One other homeschool mom and I have been working together to plan some activities. We've had some Mom's Nights, some kids craft days, some library days. So we decided it was time for all the families to get together. It was a blast. The kids played, the adults talked...and ate! What I was hoping and praying would last a couple hours turned into a four hour get together. I am so excited about the opportunities God is opening. One of those is getting to serve and be served by these other women and families in practical everyday ways. I'm excited to see what else God has in store for this group. What else I am to learn from it.

It's amazing to me how sometimes the world seems so huge. I feel like I know so few people in my neighborhood. I pass people at church every week and have never learned their names (In my defense, it is a large church!). Even going back to the small town I used to live in is like visiting a new place. And at other times the world seems so small. One of the husbands at the meeting tonight grew up going to church with Doug's grandparents. My mentor from church also grew up knowing my husband's side of the family (decades before God put us together). I have friends all over the US and some around the world. All that said, I'm excited to make the city I live in a little smaller. It always makes me feel like things are manageable if I can just reach out and hold the hand of someone. Especially a sister in Christ. Especially when we have common goals. So for these wonderful new families, I am thankful.

Not Me Monday

If you're not reading MckMama's blog, you should be. Especially if you're a mom. Especially on Mondays. It is free therapy day. Not Me Monday is all about the things you most definitely did NOT do and if you had, you never would dream of blogging about it. Ahem, things I did not do...

There was never a day last week the kids and I stayed in our pajamas until 3pm. No way would I ever let them do that. Who cares if it's cold and the kids want to stay in their footy 'jamas. No decent mother would serve lunch to children still in the pajamas.

I also did not, out of desperation, turn on PBS and let my two older children watch it for an hour while I got a much needed nap. This mom knows that careful supervision is a must and wouldn't dream of doing such a thing...even if the baby has been getting up at 5:45 every morning and laying down for a nap just as the 'big' kids wake up.

I certainly would never take my kids to the hospital to visit my sick MIL at dinner time, with no snacks, no games, no defenses. And I certainly wouldn't stay there three hours if I had. Nope, not me!

And last but not least, I did not feed my kids cereal and ice cream for dinner last night. In this house, no matter who or how many members of the family are sick, I always have good food on the table at appropriate times.

So that's what I didn't do last week! How about you? Play along with all of us at www.mycharmingkids.net Besides,it's a great way to find other cool blogs!

Here's to blogging!

So, if you know me well, you know I've been tossing the idea of starting a blog for a few months. If you don't know me, you now know I procrastinate a little...or a lot! I'm fairly certain most of you reading this know me well and don't need an intro, but it didn't seem right to start a blog without some background. Here it goes...

In my previous life, I could spend hours reading, cooking, gardening, and crocheting. Now, I still love all those things, but being a mom of three obviously leaves less time for those things. Now laundry, cleaning, teaching the kids and spending time with my man take up most my time. But lest I sound like I have it all together, keep reading....

While I would like to be the mom who has it all together with schedules and a clean house it just isn't so. I'm the other one. I'm the one who forgets to give the kids a snack, who doesn't put dinner on the table until 8 or later in the spring because I can't leave the garden. I'm also the one who leaves the house without checking to make sure the kids coats are zipped or shoes are on the right feet. I always carry wipes (except when I forget the diaper bag) because there is sure to be faces that need the toothpaste chiseled off when we get where we're going(ten minutes late).

And there is the matter of the house. We bought a fixer- upper. And we're doing it all ourselves. Downside...there's always something to be done. Upside...I have a great excuse for the house never looking quite clean! Seriously though, Doug and I love our project. It brings out the creative side in us. It's also great marriage therapy. Stick two people in a room that you want done and you've got to talk, got to agree (eventually), got to just get it done!

Speaking of my other half, he's amazing. He's a fabulous daddy, a great husband, wonderful handyman, hard worker and very selfless. I thank God for giving him to me everyday!

And that's the short story of me and mine!