Nicknames

I'm not quite sure how it happens, this metamorphose of names. We don't ever intend to come up with these crazy nicknames! They just happen....

That being said, I'd like to introduce you to Bubba! Of course, his full name is Bubba Stinky, also known as Bubbsie-Boy or Bubbsie, for short. Occasionally, Bubba morphs into Bubbaloni which then causes us all to break out into song:

"My Bubbaloni has a first name

Its J-A-C-O-B

My Bubbaloni has a second name

Its A-A-R-O-N

We love to eat him every day

And if you ask us while we'll saaaaayyyyyy.....

Jacob Aaron is the sweetest boyyyyyyyyyyyy"

Sometimes, Bubba evolves into Bubba-Rootsie, a name born from Daddy's song that goes something like this( sung to the tune of "Allouette"):

"Bubba-Rootsie

Stinky, stinky tootsie

Bubba-Rootsie

Stinky, stinky toots"

Once in a blue moon, if he's lucky, we simply call him "Jacobeeee" or "Jakey-Poo".

Now he really isn't stinky; in fact, I think he smells delicious right down to his (stinky) little toes. And I'm sure we won't call him Bubba-Stinky when he's 18. But for now, he's our sweet Bubbsie-Boy....and that's just how it is!

A Fancy for Forts

Blankets and chairs; couch cushions and pillows; clothes pins, sleeping bags, tea sets and imaginations. That's all one really needs to transform my living room into some form of organized chaos! It will do nothing for the editors of the latest Pottery Barn catalog but it does WONDERS for the Fantastic Five!

The only time you'll ever catch Kaleb with a pink blanket over his head!

Always the hospitable one, Hannah was prepared to tend to the hungry builders.

Smiling eyes...Oh, the delight of a fort!

She was mid-sentence. A conversation with the make-believer.

You are NEVER too old to build a fort! In fact, at this point, you are engineering a masterpiece!

Little Boy Blue Eyes was busy building, too!

Chip of the Ol' Block

She's a chip off the ol' block, I guess. Does anybody recall this event? Last night for dinner I made a lovely Chicken and Biscuits Casserole, complete with biscuits made containing cream cheese! How could you go wrong? My sweet, darling little Hannah came in from outside just as I was pulling dinner from the oven. She turned up her petite little freckled nose and announced with great concern: "Mom, something smells like poo-poo!" Yes, dear Girl, that would be your dinner......

I thought it smelled rather comfort-foodish! Should have just stuck with Mac and Cheese, I guess.

Here Comes My Dad!!!

I was recently reading Psalm 18 in a snippet of time that I had between changing diapers and teaching fractions. Have you read it recently? It may have just been my mood that day, but it actually made me laugh right out loud. David is in the midst of anguish, going so far as to say that the sorrow of Hell surround him. It is obvious that his enemy (who just happens to be the same enemy that we have today) was having a hay-day with him. In verse 6 he says, "In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried out to my God". It goes on to say that God heard his voice all the way from His temple and that his cry came before Him, even to His ears. And then the fun begins! God gets MAD!!!!! He's so mad He's breathing smoke (I think I may have felt nearly that mad once or twice) and fire is coming from His mouth. But He doesn't just stay up there in His temple, steaming. Oh, no! He comes on down and takes care of business. He sends hailstones and fire and arrows. The earth shook, the hills quaked...all because God was angry! He swoops down from His temple and He rescues this one that He loves so very much. Its a beautiful, powerful, amazing Psalm.

The day I read it, I had this brief 'vision' (doesn't that sound lofty? Don't be impressed! I think it came to me in the bathroom:) ) of this little boy being tormented by the playground bully. Truly, terribly tormented. Picked on and belittled and ridiculed and tortured until finally the little boy calls out, "Daaaaddddddyyyyyy!!!!!!!! Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!". Suddenly an unsettling silence envelopes the playground followed by the distant sound of thunder growing closer at an alarming rate. The little boy looks up with a new found courage and looks straight into the scowling eyes of the bully. "You've had it now. Here comes my dad!"

Isn't that how it is with our Abba Father? Oh, that I could have the daring confidence that David did and the little boy in my vision did! Next time Satan is tormenting me, dragging me lower than low, I hope I remember this and cry out, "Daaaaadddddyyyyyy!!!! Help!!!! and then, with confidence and expectation, say to my enemy, "You better watch out NOW! Here comes my Dad!!!!!"

The Real Education

"Remember, the Word of God prepares us for every good work-

the periodic table won't help a bit"

I really love this quote by R.C. Sproul Jr. from his book, "When You Rise Up". It has reminded me again, or shall I say "convicted" me again, of where my focus really needs to be in educating my children.

You can feel the excitement in the air this time of year, whether your children compute their math at your dining room table or amongst 20 other desks in a tidy schoolroom. Brand new backpacks, pencils with erasers still intact, notebooks that have yet to be dog-eared and softened by use. Garage doors opening in unison at approximately 8:23am. A certain chill in the mornings tells us that its school time.

But what's it all about? We get excited to crack open the new textbook, or try out the new science curriculum, or meet the new teacher. Our hearts race just a bit as we introduce the new letter for the day or listen to our child recant the poem they learned or watch them do long division for the first time.

Kevin Swanson (http://www.generationswithvision.com/) says that if our children know Saxon Math better than they do Proverbs, they are not being properly educated. Ouch! He's so very right, though! Regardless of where our children receive their education, discipling our children MUST be our very top priority, above all other things! Voddie Baucham (http://www.voddiebaucham.org/vbm/home.html), a pastor whom we have learned much from, and respect greatly, made one of the most convicting statements I have ever heard regarding my goal as a parent. He says that he is not preparing his children for college. He's preparing them for Eternity!

In educating our children, we cannot be short-sighted. We cannot forget that a high school diploma and a college education are not the goal. They aren't! If that's what we're striving for in our hearts, with our time and with our pocket books, we are failing our children and the God who entrusted them to us. Even in their education, we must be so careful to not get wrapped around the axle storing up treasures that moth and rust (or a down turn of the economy) can destroy at the expense of storing up eternal treasures that are INDESTRUCTIBLE (Matt. 6:19).

Littlest Love

The Endless Pursuit

An unsatisfied pursuit. It always starts there, this break down. Every story that shares the same ending starts there. A chasing after that which can never be caught. It becomes a relentless, addictive chase. The further one runs, the more distorted the past becomes until finally, the runner is convinced that..... "I never loved you". The chasing after "me". One cannot serve two masters. One cannot serve self and others. The burden of service becomes too heavy in the shadow of "me". The grass becomes greener. In the pursuit of happiness and satisfaction, one turns their back on all that could ever quench such a thirst. A child's smile, a husband's safe embrace, a wife's tender touch, the peaceful routine, it ceases to become enough. It IS enough but "me" casts a shadow once more, distorts the joy and tranquility and security and delight. Eyes begin to search beyond the Home's walls for something to satisfy "me". The unsatisfied pursuit. "Me" is greedy, a hunger that can never be made full. An empty belly that only becomes emptier in the pursuit. It will never be enough. The pursuit becomes desperate, unreasonable even. One sheds anything, maybe everything, to chase satisfaction. Leaves them broken, shattered, along the way........in this unsatisfied, Endless Pursuit.

His Word says it 5 times. His life lived it innumerably. "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it...". He knew. He knew that His Way offered freedom and joy everlasting. And yet still, we choose the endless pursuit. We let the pursuit break our hearts and break our homes. We chase after it until we have run so far from everything we ever knew that we loose our way back. Our enemy throws his wicked head back and laughs.

Fold the laundry one more time. Pick up the toys one more time. Pack his lunch one more time. Lift your chin up and smile one more time. Wipe the fevered brow, tickle the tender belly, rise out of bed in the mid of the night, chop the onion, play the game, read the story, listen to the days' events with keen interest, and on and on the list goes. Each time, deliberately and with passion, do it. Turn your back on the Endless Pursuit.

Don't shed them.........

Shed YOU.

If you have run so far from everything you knew that you've lost your way back, there is a Way. He loves you, He longs to lead you home. He has already poured His blood out for this Endless Pursuit. Let His blood cover your chasing after that which will never satisfy. Let His blood wash you and make you clean.

Hannah Joy...

First she did this...

Hannah turns five on a warm summer day,

The day her long awaited sunflower burst open to face the sun,

Full of joy,

Like our Hannah Joy...

Then she did this...

After much anticipation

And waiting for the mail to bring her books;

After gathering her supplies and tucking them neatly in their box;

After a few years of watching The Brothers

Read and Write and Compute....

Its HER turn.

At 6:30 this morning, her little sleepy body was perched on the couch

Greeting me as I stumbled for the shower.

"Can we start school now, Momma?"

I held her off until chores were complete

And breakfast was fed

And Baby was napping.

Then we dove in....

With delight!

What Its Like...

Would you like to know what its like to be three months pregnant and nearly 6 months postpartum all at the same time? Well, in a nutshell, its wonderful!!! I'm not making that up, either!!!!!

One of my biggest 'concerns' about being pregnant so soon after being pregnant was how I would handle feeling crummy while mothering an infant. I was so sick with Jacob, as in lay-in-bed-for-a-few-months sick with 24 hour nausea, every.single.day. The thought of having a baby to care for while feeling that way was overwhelming, to say the least. I went before the throne of the One who loves me so and I presented a request for an easy pregnancy to Him. I knew full well that He could have very well said "No" for reasons I may not have understood but could trust in, nonetheless. I hope with all my heart that I would, indeed, have trusted Him fully had He said no. But He said yes, and I am so grateful!!!!

I have even been without some of my very usual early pregnancy complaints! Heartburn seems to be my nemesis almost from conception. Not an ounce of it! Sciatic pain also seems to announce its presence from early on. Not even a mention of it, so far! And as for the nausea? Oh, its been there but its been so much more manageable, visiting me only in the mornings (as morning sickness should!) and behaving itself if I'm sure to eat often and eat enough. I am now 12 weeks and the nausea is making its departure, unlike my past two pregnancies where it lingered well into my 4th month.

I have discovered something else in the midst of this pregnancy. I have found a lovely, wonderfully sweet, perfectly effective therapy for morning sickness and first trimester blahs. Its this:

How in the world could I feel too miserable when THIS is the sweet face I have to look at? Even the nausea relents a bit when I have THIS constant reminder, not too far from the womb himself, of what its all for? I'm not making this stuff up! Of all the herbs, teas, homeopathics, vitamins, etc. that I've taken over the course of 6 pregnancies, THIS sweet face has proven to be the most effective!

So, that's what its like to be 3 months pregnant while mothering a 5 1/2 month old! God is so very good!