~~family updates~~

this little man is 1 year, 7.5 months...

!!!joy!!!

give a boy a shovel...

and they all have somewhere to sit!

(hi, gramma... aunty 'a', cousin 'm', cousin 'j'...)

~~name calling~~

not many of us want to call our children nasty names. when mrT and i were expecting our children, we were very careful to investigate the meanings of the names before we decided they were the names we wanted. why? because we firmly believe that, although we may be speaking their actual name, we are prophesying the characteristics of the meaning into their lives.

my challenge lately has not been changing their names, but watching my tone because sometimes my voice says a child is stupid, dumb, or less than the gift that God gave me. how terrible. what devastating effects it can have. a sunny disposition can turn thunderous very quickly.

a wonderful piece of advice my mom (i think) gave me is to listen to my words and at the end of a sentence silently add "sweetheart" or "stupid." very quickly one's tone dictates which name your words imply.

like proverbs 15:3 says, 'a soft answer turns away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger.'

i want my interactions with people to be 'sweetheart.' i'm starting at home.

~~reason to celebrate~~

rejoice with us. :)

last week missT had a follow-up appointment with her paediatrician. at her previous visit, we were finally able to start reducing the clonazepam. she was only taking 2.75mg / day but the effects were strong. with her head full of fog and all processes slowed to a dull roar, how can a kid learn? all she wanted to do was sleep! after a full night's sleep, she would start asking for a nap around 11 30 am and at 6 30 pm she would be begging to be in her pj's. how many 7 1/2-year-olds do you know like that?

the reduction begins..... and, for the first time in 2 years, she didn't ask for a nap in the afternoon. get this... we had only reduced it by .25mg. at that rate, it would take 11 months for her to be completely off the drug. (cold turkey could throw her back into seizures) a month later, after we had gone down yet another .25mg, she actually asked if she could 'please, stay up later.'

so, when we saw the Dr. last week, the first news was that the eeg missT had in july had come back with a 'significant improvement' and was 'normal.' as you can imagine, after 140 seizures in five years, most of them in the last two, i am about to burst!

i love what missT says about the eeg results: 'i am NORMAL!'

thank you, Jesus. (big sigh)

***if you wanna be great...***

in God's kingdom, learn to be the servant of all...

i remember singing my heart out to that song as a child. what i'm hoping to instill in our children is service isn't always boring! Granny needed her lawn raked and we got to have fun doing it. check this fun serving time out.

who knew you could rake a yard with a leaf blower?

it's camoflaged nicely, but there's a geyser of leaves in front of that nozzle.

almost done!!

this wonderful mound of cottonwood leaves is only about half of what we raked & blowed (is that a word?). a few years ago, we had a pile so high, landing in the middle of it hardly hurt at all!

~~you should try this at home!~~

a few days back we tried a very cool experiment. almost every day since, the children have been begging to do it again! after collecting water bottles, balloons, a funnel, vinegar (acid) and baking soda (base), we prepared by pouring the acid into the bottles to 1/2 full and 2 heaping tablespoons of the base into each balloon.

standing ready.... set....

MIX!!!

(the results were instant... perfect for eager, curious budding scientists)

the balloon expanded until some of the pressure was released through the valve at the bottle.

i think we were all amazed at how simple and fun this could be!

we found that remixing the solution encouraged the reaction.

~~experiencing the Presence of God~~

during the summer, i managed to read books one & two of a four-part series about the origins of Quakerism. two themes have stayed with me: there are 'good' and 'bad' people in any age, culture, or race, and the concept of 'going to meeting.'
that phrase has gripped me. simply put, it's stopping whatever you're doing and quieting yourself before God to meet with Him. definitely not as easy as it sounds. setting my self, thoughts, and plans aside is nothing less than complication in it highest form! anyway, i thought, why not try it? when i had a bit of time by myself...
i stopped.

it took a while for the busyness (and business) in me to stop, but finally a solid Sense of Quiet settled into me and Peace ruled. it was wonderful.
a few days later, i thought, why not lead the children into this Peace? when t4 had gone down for his nap, the other three and i met on the trampoline (so the free-ranging turkeys wouldn't hassle us). after we talked about a few things, i explained what i had been doing and that they could have the same experience with Jesus.
**i have to admit that i had my concerns! for a four-year-old to sit for very long and wait for an Unseen Presence is a lot to ask--of both the child and the Presence! :) inwardly i sent a pistol prayer asking Jesus to be quick.... please**
after we had prayed a little bit, i directed them to sit and be very quiet and wait until i said 'thank you Jesus.'

at about 40 seconds, t3 could hold the wiggles down no longer. after a quick whispered reminder (and a pistol prayer for God to remember a child's time table:) ), he sat a bit more. i only waited a few seconds more before i thanked Jesus for his faithfulness. then i explained what had happened in me during that very short instance.

as i described the deep Peace that had settled into my spirit, missT replied with awe & amazement, "mom! that's how i felt!!"

wow.

i asked t2 if he had heard/felt anything or thought of anything special during that time. no, he hadn't. then t3 provided the comic relief. "i did, mommy! Jesus told me that he loves all the people in the world and that everyone has to give me candy!"

**sigh** isn't that beautiful? i can't wait until i remember to do that again!

~~introducing.....~~

**the third picture will make some squeamish**

mr T3... now 4 years old.....

mr T2... now 6 years old...

(get ready for this one.....)

missT... now 7 1/2 years old...

and number last....

mr T4... now 15 months old!

~girl time~

recently missT and i had the awesome blessing of girl time. we had to travel to vancouver for a medical appointment. when we were done, uncleG joined us and helped us navigate the transit system. it's been more than 10 years since i lived in the city and used transit on a regular basis. besides that, there's been some significant changes since the olympics rocked beautiful bc.

i love this picture. one of the things i noticed after we had arrived home was the symmetry. it's almost a perfectly balanced picture. okay, the tall building on the right doesn't help much.

i love it when an adult freely gives a child their undivided attention.

the following pictures were taken by missT. we had stopped at a 'green space' to wait for auntyN. of course, boredom is never far from reach for a child. missT took the camera around the little park and these are some of the results.

can you spot the monkey? uncleG is a pretty special guy.

great picture, eh?

this is one of my favorites

the not-so-last straw

i love the unbridled creativity children have! after we had finished the little clothes pin cars, each one had to have a straw to play with. it's just a plain old straw, one of those that stretch and bend and here's what my babes came up with:

t2: hey, mom, i can burp in my own ear!

 t3 had to have his picture taken because everyone else was. :)

 missT: mom, can i have a string and a pompom?

i want to make a microphone (headset) for when i sing.

these straws also became cannons attached to the cars and wings for planes when pinched in the clothes pin. when all the play was finished, the straws were used for their purpose... and the children guzzled 2-3 cups of water! good, healthy fun. my kind of life.

~nerf wars and counting the cost~

yes, i'm one of those mom's who allow their children to shoot at each other. no, they haven't become more violent in their play or talk because of it. we have rules. for example, if someone doesn't have a nerf gun, they are not fair game and if someone is smaller/shorter/slower than you, they are not prey! they need to be protected.


about a month ago, before the grass in a fenced play area had grown too deep, two cousins came for a sleepover. of course, the request was for the nerf stuff to be taken outside. very reluctantly, i agreed. i mean, would YOU want to search out about 50 nerf bullets in six inches of grass? after making sure the children understood that they, not me, would be finding each and every bullet, they counted out equal numbers of bullets.


out they went.


soon, in they came....


sans bullets.


not so good. the conversation went something like this: (me) did you find them all? (them) no. (me) out you go. (them) but..... (me--mercy is diminishing) go.


they went... then they came.... with a few bullets.


yes, i was exasperated.


after we found all but four, i had to preach a little. "...so, if you guys had known how hard it would be to find all the bullets, would you have asked if you could play nerf wars?"


i got a resounding "NO!"


to which i replied, "so, this makes me think of when the Bible talks about counting the cost of following Jesus. if you knew how hard it would be sometimes to make the right choices and obey Him, would you still have made that decision?"


i'm thankful to have received a decisive 'yes!' from those who had already made the commitment to follow Him. even though they're children, life isn't without its challenges.


i've thought a lot about it. finding nerf bullets was relatively easy compared to the fiery darts the enemy throws at us. i'm sure glad i have a Savior (who) is able to save forever those who draw near to God through him, because he always lives to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25). he's covered the cost.

starting in the mouth of babes...

as i was planting our garden last week, i called in the troops to help with various tasks like getting the shovel, taking weeds to the compost and planting potatoes are just a few of the tastes of work the children experienced.

i'm so thankful for our generous neighbor allowing me to use her seeder. does it ever make planting fast! during one of the reloads of the seeder, one of the budding geniuses asked, "mom, why do you have to put seeds in the dirt?"

"because they have to die before they can live."

w.o.w

********

I tell you the truth, unless

a kernel of wheat falls to the ground

and dies,

it remains only a single seed.

But if it dies,

it produces many seeds.

(John 12:24)

********

Jesus said to her,

     “I am the resurrection and the life.

          Whoever believes in me,

               though he die,

                    yet shall he live...

                         John 11:25

so often our darkest, worst times are when the seeds God has placed in us are germinating and getting ready to produce fruit. *sigh* i wish i could remember that when life is tough.