Our "Sacred" Time

I get asked the question a lot: "How many children do you want to have?" My response is usually a stumbling of words because my heart is a little unsure right now. I have not come to a complete understanding of what I feel God's will is for us as a family. There was a time that I felt that God was calling me to be one of the few "be fruitful and multiply" women but I have since come to the conclusion that this is not His calling on my life. When we first married I always had a quick anwser to the how many question, it was always 7. Why 7, there was not reason behind it other than it was the number of completeness and I thought a good number of children, well since then I have had 3 and struggle in motherhood as we all do for the most part. Don't misunderstand me, I LOVE being a mother!! It is an amazing privilege but one of the things that I really struggle with in having more children is spending time with them all individually. I know that it is not necessary but I long to show my children, all of them, the love and devotion that I never had. When I lay my head down at night I want to have a feeling of complete peace knowing that I have given all of my children an undivided peice of me and my time and part of it is for selfish reasons. I want that time, time to talk privately, time to connect, time enjoy a sacred moment together, time to worship, time to simply dwell in eachothers thoughts, dreams and imaginations and a time to just love them and be with them in the precious gift of time alone and uninterupted away from all of the noise and complications of life. A sacred place for us to just be us. I love all of my children equally and I just hate the thought of letting all of those possible sacred times slip away simply because I didn't make the time and then take the time for them. So I am commiting to make and take the time each and every day that God allows for us to have.

As for right now I think my plan is to dedicate 15-20 minutes a day of "Our Time" right before naptime. Today I experimented with it. Before I layed Butterfly down today I sat on the floor and just enjoyed some time playing with her, which was reading or flipping through as many books as she wanted to. Her face when she saw me sit on the floor and tell her to get some books to read was so sweet and priceless and I just knew that this was definetly something that I wanted to make a habit of doing every day. I figure I can do something of the same thing with T-Rex when I lay him down right after Butterfly and then spend some time with Superman while they are both resting.

My children are amazing and very eqaully their own person and sometimes it is hard to appreciate who they are, who God has made them to be in the midst of each day as their unique God given personalities clash together. I pray that God will bless this commitment and give me the perseverance and the desire and unselfishness to do it even on those days when all I want to do is lay them down so that I can have some "me" time.

JOYfully in Him,

V-Day Prep and Ideas

Today is going to be sorta rough. I fell ill yesterday after I thought I was over it, thank goodness Expresso was home. He is so quick to take care of me. I am going to be relying on the repulsive Day-Quil to keep my on my feet and off the couch shivering.

Valentines is just around the corner of this evening, once again it has snuck up right behind me. So today along side of our school subjects we will be preparing for Valentines day.

One project to do together today is a String of Hearts, simply and very cute. A Lesson, a coloring page and sharing thoughts about what it means to love while reflecting on many verses in the bible.

I have some ideas up my sleeves for the boys. Here is what I have planned:

Early Morning:

Trail of Kisses... I did this last year and it was a huge hit with my boys! Simply leave a trail of Hershey kisses onthe floor leading to the place of destination. I lead them to our kitchen table full of Valentines Day suprises. The loved it! I did just simply red plastic cups last year but I think I will do little red cones made out of construction paper instead decorated with their names on them.

Homemade Cards by Momma:

T-Rex... Your Dino Mite card, perfect for my little beastly boy who is obsessed with Dinosaurs.

Superman... V-alien-tine card, perfect for my little Astronomer.

Also at the table they will find these... Checks, along with these... coupons and for a breakfast some Red Heart-y pancakes topped with whipped cream and strawberries and bananas served with pink milk.

Devotional with activities: God First Loved You!

Games: Guess how much I love you! Fill a jar with little hearts and have family guess how many are in it early in the morning and then at the end of the day reveal the winner and their prize, a special candy and coupon of free time!

Lunch: We will have heart sandwiches with a pink smoothie of some kind.

Afternoon snack: Sweet Heart Crispy Treats, with hot chocolate, a good book and a Valentine coloring page.

Game: Valentine Cup Cake Walk

Dinner: Taquitos, oh so good! We all love these except T-Rex who doesn't like a whole lot other than PB and Honey :0). After dinner we reveal our winner, enjoy some family time and go out for an ice cream cone at Micky D's. End the day with lots of kisses and hugs.

Enjoying Them

I hope my children look back on today,

And see a mom who had time to play.

There will be years for cleaning and cooking,

For children grow up while we're not looking.

Leading them...

It is going to be one of those days, those days that are full of high expectations and long to do lists, one of those days that the littles are going to smell their mothers weakness as she stresses out. We are all getting ready to head out to Butterfly's doctor appointment this morning... I am anxious to see how big she has gotten. Today I prayed that I would be given the eyes to see His blessings and the heart to feel their presence. I know that they are not going to just stand out to me through out this day. I am going to have a lot of moments that are on the surface going to be difficult... Superman and T-Rex are going to test me and their sins are going to irritate me even more than usual because it is just going to be one of those days. I pray that in each of these challenges, I will beable to view them as wonderful opportunities to train them in His righteousness and not fall under my own sin. These are blessings in disguise these opportunities to train them... to lead them closer to the cross.

1. Today I am grateful for the opportunities that I am given to train my children not in my own stupidity wisdom but in His true wisdom and righteousness.

May this day bring you great blessings and may you beable to capture them and store them in your heart producing in you a truly grateful heart.

The Pumpkin Patch Tradition

Every year, since we have been here in Dallas which is 3 years now we have taken a trip to this enchanting little Lutheran church to visit all of their plump happy little orange friends. This morning we took our annual visit....

What an awesome time we all had! The boys hopped along all of the bright shining pumpkins and pointed and laughed at the ugly ones and mourned a little for the deceased and decayed. Little Butterfly enjoyed herself... gazing at all of the bright colors and beautiful big objects surrounding her. It is such a blast to see your Littles frolock around gleefully and just truly enjoying themselves and God's creation...

Soccer Boys

T-Rex ready to "play" some soccer!

Quick pic before we walk out the door.

T-Rex holding on to his precious ball that no one else can touch or even look at!

Superman, #7 out on the field.

Superman and T-Rex relaxing with a snack.

I am so amazed at the transformation of my little Superman. When he first started playing soccer he was afraid of the ball and would run around the ball, pretend not to see it when it found itself right under his feet and his enthusiasm for the game was pitifully weak. Expresso and I grew frustrated with his attitude but really tried to be his little cheerleaders on the sidelines encouraging him each step of the way even when he was whining that he was to hot and was it almost over. I decided that he needed a little motivation so I came up with a reward system if he gave it his all out there. It wasn't an instant improvement but it slowy over the course of 2 games and 3 practices he has become a soccer player who loves the game. Honestly, not being bias and all he is one of the best players on his team, now, and the fact that he has no experience with the game at all we are just so proud. How amazing to watch this little boy fight through his fears and his insecurities. What is truly amazing is that he is doing this on a daily baisis in this world as he struggles to find his place and to understand and serve an invisible God while being a boy. I am just so elated with joy this morning as I realize that I get to be once again his cheerleader, encourager as he makes this journey.

Little T-Rex is just enjoying watching his big brother and "playing" his own soccer each Saturday. It is so cute to watch his enthusiasm as he kicks his little black and white ball around. He wearies out pretty quick out there on the field as they teach him the fundamentals of the game and I try not to push him to much not to suck the fun out of it but what he loves is to just kick it around with momma or daddy, now that is his idea of soccer!

My Sweet and Silly Littles

My little T-Rex and Superman chilling in the backyard on a hot summer day.

A precious smile of Butterfly all dressed up before church on a glorious Sunday morning.


A rare moment of them all together smiling and looking at the camera.

I am one proud momma!! Enjoy your littles today!!

My Littles

Superman, T-Rex, Butterfly and me

My sweet T-Rex and Superman

Butterfly peacefully sleeping while sucking her sweet thumb

Butterfly looking gorgeous as usual

What's going on...

Superman and Expresso left this afternoon to go on a strictly 6 yr and older male camping trip. We have been preparing for it all day. Little T-Rex was a little hurt that he could not go but not to worry I have lots planned for us!! I am so enjoying and looking forward to spending some GOOD one on one time with him. It is amazing how different he is when it is just him. He just beams and I am able to see him more clearly. He doesn’t have to fight for attention. We are both sitting under a fort we made watching Dinosaur (his pick) and eating brownies. Little Butterfly just laid down for the night. I am a little nervous to be home alone with out Expresso… it is the first night in a long long time.

I hope to continue my preperations for our new homeschooling year begining Tuesday after T-Rex falls asleep. I am almost done. If you want to read more about my preperations check out my homeschool blog, Growing Minds of Wisdom. I am going to try to keep these two blogs seperate from eachother as much as possible. But as homeschooling is a BIG part of my life and journey I know that their paths will cross at times.

Well, I am typing on our new laptop!! Our other one sadly passed away but don’t cry though it will be missed we have been blessed with another to fit our needs. One of our needs is to beable to unload our camera and of course share them with friends and family. So there will be pictures coming soon.