Multitude Mondays

However many blessings we expect from God,

 His infinite liberality will always exceed 

all our wishes and our thoughts. 

-John Calvin

 531.  how God can transform my day by a walk in the woods

532.  goofy pictures....my sister is famous for catching me in goofy expression and it looks like Ben is going to be just like me (check him out on the far left.....I giggle every time I look at it!)

533.  Nate contentedly playing by himself climbing in Aunt Charissa's tree

534. puppy who can't resist licking our visual "Lent Forgiveness Flour"...she must have quite a few unvoiced people she needs to forgive
535. pot o' gold caramels....thoughtful husband
536.  piles of folded laundry spread out and lovingly done by husband
537.  crisis moments....where thoughts, hearts struggle to the surface to be heard in a desperate way...the Holy Spirit who helps wife and husband to truly hear, love and serve
538.  make Lenten Garden with Maddie and Nater
539.  Elisabeth Elliot's speaking on Sulking....Holy Spirit making my heart tender to be molded into seeing my sin, seeking forgiveness, feeling unspeakable joy
540.  homeschooling....I can never say enough how thankful I am that our family does it
541.  whoopie cushion that ripped apart from all the use....all's quiet now in the house (except for the real ones!)
542.  strawberry frozen slush drinks from Speedway
543. loving husband who delivers slush drinks from Speedway 
544.  Mom & Dad O. getting home safely from Florida
545.  card games....the kids and I are going thru a game spurt...quite often you'll find us playing a few quick hands of James Bond, Pounce or Golf in between school and work
546.  talking to Allie on the phone
547.  Holy Spirit speaking to me on Sunday about where I find my identity....this has been a real struggle for me lately....and even since Sunday I'm still stuck in negative thinking....makes it all the more maddening - one knows what one needs to do, but instead does nothing
548.  hugging and kissing on Ben....I don't think my older two boys would let me love on them like Benny does
549.  kids teasing me....during any read aloud time, invariably I'll become sleepy and struggle so hard to read aloud and hold it together, but apparently I begin to jumble my words and make mistakes and the kids get after me, "Mom - you're falling asleep again!"  Do they make a pill to keep you awake when you read?  I need one too for long-distance driving.
550.  husband who mopped my floors without being asked
551.  feeling of drowning and lack of control in our lives....I'm thankful because it eventually drives me even deeper into resting in Him, sometimes it just takes me awhile to get there...no one else can rescue me...
552.  playing my guitar...I love learning new songs....currently playing I Need Thee by Jars of Clay, Your Hands by JJ Heiller, What Do I Know of Holy by Addison Road, Forgiven by Sanctus Real...I may not be gifted, but I "feel" it when I can figure out a song and play it
553.  fitting in time to connect with friends, even if it's only half an hour, I wish it was more

Creating Traditions to Celebrate Christ's Sacrifice

One of the things I enjoy doing for my children, is building meaningful traditions into our lives, and especially around holidays!  Over the years, our seasonal table has often been the focal point for moving us from winter to spring - from Christmas to Easter.  I've used a few books to give me a springboard of ideas such as All Year Round  by Anne Druitt... and Celebrating the Christian Year by Martha Zimmerman.  I have fond memories of previous years and dying strips of cloth and weaving baskets, felting eggs and lambs, knitting chicks & bunnies, making wet-on-wet painted crosses, trying to make a clay tomb for a beeswax caterpillar to change into a butterfly, and attempting in different years to grow grass in a basket to represent the new life we have in Christ. 

But this year, we changed our seasonal table a little to include some ideas taken from Holy Experience.  The first idea we added was about forgiveness.  On the cross, Jesus does the unimaginable....He asks God to forgive those that were mocking Him and hurting Him, even though He was innocent of everything.  It has been heavy on my heart this Lent season, how much I don't forgive others.  Every time my gaze has been caught by the bowl and steps of forgiveness, I've been reminded and convicted to change things.  In the bowl of dust, we've written the names of those we harbor anger towards and then wiped it smooth, from the dust and our hearts remembering the One who forgave us and continues to forgive us when we desire our will before His.

The second idea naturally built on the my previous attempts to create some kind of garden where the miracle of life over death could be represented.  I hunted through the house to find something in which to create our Resurrection Garden because I just couldn't bring myself to buy a new basket or planter for $20. After searching through our house, I found a container I thought would do and lined it with a kitty litter liner, filled it with soil and Maddie and Nate began eagerly arranging the garden!    They used one of the terra cotta containers as the tomb,

excitedly went scavaging in our woods for moss and helped me lay it down, then laid a path of stones leading to the tomb with tea lights lining it. 

Beginning on Palm Sunday we'll light one candle a day during our devotion times to represent Christ's light in our world,

then on Good Friday we'll blow them out one by one to represent how the light of world seemed to have been snuffed out on that day. 

Also on that day, we'll close up a beeswax caterpillar in the tomb and close the entrance with a rock. 

Darkness will reign over the garden until the morning of His resurrection - when the stone will be rolled away to reveal a beautiful butterfly!

Our seasonal table also has a crown of thorns created by the kids from the thorny bushes we have in our woods, felted eggs, and anything from nature that the kids bring in....right now there is an old oak leaf, a big stone Nate liked and some little stones Maddie liked, a piece of birch bark w/ moss, and the "brain" from a skunk cabbage..muhahaha!!!!

One more tradition I hope to start next year is having our own family Seder meal.  I never understood the connection between Christ the Lamb of God to the events in Egypt when I was a girl and I am so excited that my kids understand that so much better than I ever did!  This year we've been invited to join a small group of families in a joint Seder meal, so next year I should be comfortable to do it here and may even invite close friends from our community.  I will definately take my camera and blog about the experience!

The Hand of the LORD Has Done This

This afternoon, fighting against the mental list of things to do, I ventured outside with camera to see what had captured my children's attention today.   It wasn't Algebra, Latin, or Spelling....it was building a tree fort (even though we have a pretty nice one their dad built for them), playing pretend knights on a fallen tree, tromping through underbrush and waterholes to explore with Nate.   

Nate and I tromped off in mud boots to explore the creek....He showed me skunk cabbages just coming up and preceded to tell me he always destroys them, but first he "takes their brains out."  I told him he could check for their brains, but to please not destroy them. 

"But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;

the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;

or the bushes of the earth,and they will teach you;

and the fish of the sea will declare to you.

Who among all these does not know

that the hand of the LORD has done this?

In His hand is the life of every living thing

and the breath of all mankind."

Job 12:7-10

Private Prayer

“My failure to be true even to my own accepted standards,

My self-deception in face of temptation,

My choosing of the worse when I know the better,

O Lord, forgive.

My failure to apply to myself the standard of conduct I demand of others,

My complacence towards wrongs that do not touch my own case 

and my over-sensitiveness to those that do,

My slowness to see the good in my fellows and the see the evil in myself,

My hardness of heart towards my neighbors faults and my readiness to make allowance for my own… 

O Lord, forgive.”

What Tomorrow Brings

"It is tomorrow that fills men with dread.
God is there already.
All the tomorrows of our life have to pass by Him
before they can get to us."
{F.B. Meyer}

This quote was timely....I seem to be struggling with what our tomorrows will hold....and God has been reminding me again and again that His plans are perfect.....

Forsaking the World for Christ

True Christians must make up their minds to trouble in this world. Whether we are ministers or hearers, whether we teach or are taught, it makes little difference. We must carry “a cross.” We must be content to lose even life itself for Christ’s sake. We must submit to the loss of man’s favor, we must endure hardships, we must deny ourselves in many things, or we shall never reach heaven at last. So long as the world, the devil, and our own hearts, are what they are, these things must be so.

~ J.C. Ryle

Multitude Mondays

“God is near at hand when you do approach Him in prayer. Oh, comforting truth! A God at hand to hear the softest breath of prayer–to listen to every confession of sin–to every cry of need–to every utterance of sorrow–to every wail of woe–to every appeal for counsel, strength, and support. Arise, O my soul! and give yourself to prayer; for God is near at hand to hear and answer you.”

- Octavius Winslow

513.  a new day will come....this past week, we've all struggled with having a bad day...as the week went on we all got better and better about stopping, praying, and asking God to change our outlooks and attitudes and circumstances may not have changed, but our attitudes did
514.  glimpse of a fox running across Crocus Trail
515.  spending the night up at my sister's....catching up, a "place" to be truly honest about our struggles and insecurities, trusting that it will not affect the opinion held by sisters, knowing that in the end we'll spur one another on to be better reflections of Christ....the love the cousins have for one another
516.  beautiful weather...our first picnic outside

517.  preparing our hearts for Resurrection Day
518.  things kids do in the warm weather....play basketball, whittle a new weapon, ride bikes, play baseball with neighbors

519.  first signs of spring

520.  playing fetch with the dogs....Annie has been in 7th heaven with kids outside and tennis balls no longer buried in snow!
521.  the determination by 5 children to catch the Leprechaun this year.....they spent over an hour brainstorming how best to trick him, but to no avail!

522.  watching Allie....it's been a long time since we've had a full day together...so sweet to see Jake playing with her

523.  homeschooling fun....Nate hammering out an N with nails and Ben creating a treehouse from the idea of Swiss Family Robinson with Madeline's help

524.  homemade jam on tortillas....Nate's idea of a great lunch

525.  bedhead

526.  homemade jam with cheese sandwich...another of Nate's ideas of a great lunch

527.  the "normalcy" of a dog wearing underwear

 528.  since we're talking about undergarments, I'll add another undergarment thankfulness....new bras....I know this is a little private, but I have to include it on my list....I wore nursing bras for sooooo many years and would just "get by" with bras from pre-children time, so I'm grateful a friend who does enjoy shopping asked me to go along with her and then encouraged me to find something I needed at Younkers because she had awesome coupons!  (no pictures posted!)
529. Jake & Isaiah and their friends, Jonathon & Harrison,  qualifying and being asked to go compete in the Regional World Quiz Meet this summer!  They have all worked so hard, and yet have had so much fun hiding God's Word in their hearts.
530.  as if there's not enough farting in our home, the boys bought a whoopie cushion and since then it's like non-stop noise with giggles....I looked at them this morning and asked, "How long can you find that funny?"  and they couldn't answer because of their giggles