A Little Break

Our family enjoyed a little down time after Christmas.  Grace took some time off of work.  Matt and I went to see the new Star Wars movie (the three big kids took themselves to see it before Christmas). We liked the movie, but I'm glad we paid the matinee price for it.  It's been so long since we've gone to a movie in the theater that the matinee price was the same as our last full price movie viewing.

Two days after Christmas, the whole family went to visit the farm.  We drove  there in a snow storm in the dark with the trailer filled with sleds hitched to the back of our van.  The kids thought that was an adventure.

It was great to have a few days of R and R.  The kids had a blast sledding.  I took a little walk on the original homestead.  It's always quiet there, but it is really quiet when it is blanketed in snow. My life is so full of NOISE, I relished the silence of that walk.  We also had some good talks with my aunt and uncle, ate some good food, celebrated Uncle Keith's and Isaac's birthdays and played a couple of games.

I even read a book.  A real book--cover to cover in two days. I read Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers.  That was not the book I intended to read over the break.  I had already started Almost Amish and thought I'd finish that, but then one of the bloggers I've been reading for years posted and said that she had started to read Redeeming Love.  It came highly recommended to her by Angie Smith (wife of Todd Smith, singer in the Christian group Selah).  I'm not a fan of this genre at all, but I was intrigued by the fact that the book is based on the book of Hosea from the Bible.  I've always loved Hosea.

So I borrowed a digital copy of the book from my library and started reading at 10 p.m.  I conked out at midnight, but almost completed the book the next day.  The day after that, I finished it off in a couple of hours.  It's been a good long while since I've indulged in a reading binge. Since I finished the book, I've been mulling over the truths it presented.  God loves me.  He chose me.  Even though I have nothing to offer Him.  And even worse, though I'm the most wretched of sinners.  It's been rather overwhelming, really.

This week it's been back to the old grindstone.  Phonics lessons, cooking, laundry, chauffeur duty, picking up stuff off of the floor, kissing boo boos, reading aloud These Happy Golden Years, and laughing at the littles' antics.  All the usual stuff.  And in the midst reflecting on all He has given me in Christ.

Merry Christmas!

Therapy

Some of the people in my life are going through some really tough things.  I've spent many early morning hours praying for them, but beyond that, I'm feeling pretty helpless.  I'm not in a position to make these difficult life circumstances "all better," but I know the One who is and I appeal to His mercy daily.

I fell into bed the other night and prayed, "Lord, I just want personal peace and affluence."  He has a sense of humor, so I knew He could take it.  Something woven into my DNA, whether it be my German heritage, my position as first born child or my melancholy personality (or a combination of the three) means I end up taking on other people's stress.  It's not exactly a healthy practice.  So near the end of last week, I put myself in therapy.

First and foremost, I continued to give others' burdens to the Lord.  I'm not the best burden bearer and as as Matt keeps reminding me, "We play checkers. God plays chess."  Next, I decided to clean. Visual clutter really bothers me, but I've had to become a lot more lax about it.  Having eight kids in the house doesn't exactly lend itself to the "neat and tidy" look that is my personal preference.  But, sometimes I snap.  Something goes off in my brain and I have to get some of the clutter cleared out.

That's what has happened in the last few days.  I sorted piles of mixed up Zoobs, K'Nex and Legos and put them into their proper places.  Then I sorted the Legos by color.  When my brother gifted our boys with his Lego collection several years ago, they were all organized by color, but they didn't stay that way for long.  Now they're back to their former glory.  We'll see how long it lasts--hah!

I tackled Lydia's corner of the girls' room.  This is usually a task for which I'm unable to muster the necessary mental fortitude, but Saturday I did it.  Lydia and I went through every tub and in-progress craft project.  We sorted buttons, yarn, beads and pens.  I washed every stitch of her bedding and put on the winter sheets.

I also sorted all of the kids' books.  We have accumulated a very large library, but everything was out of order.  Golden books were all returned to their rightful place on the book shelf in the boys' room. Early readers were returned to their shelf in the school room.  I went through all the children's books in the house, including Christmas books, and picked out what was borderline twaddle (I got rid of true twaddle several years ago).  I packed two boxes of books to go to Goodwill.

I haven't mailed a single Christmas card, or baked a single Christmas cookie, but I've taken two trips to Goodwill to donate stuff, gone to the recycling center twice and filled our outside garbage can to overflowing.  That was Monday and our garbage pick up day isn't until Thursday.

All this cleaning has been therapeutic in that it keeps my brain from hamster wheeling and going into "impossible problem" solving mode, which it tends to do when not completely focused on a task--a task like sorting Legos by color.  I told Matt "it's cheaper than real therapy, plus all the Legos got sorted."

It's a comfort to know that while I sort Legos and find ten pairs of dirty socks under the beds, the Master Chess Player is making His next move.

  for I am God, and there is no other; 
 I am God, and there is none like me,

10 

declaring the end from the beginning

    and from ancient times things not yet done,

saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,

    and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ 
Isaiah 46:9-10

The Kids: Paul

Paul  turned fourteen at the end of September.  He's been working with a local knife maker to make a knife, which he completed a little over a month ago.  This, too, was a story of God's provision.

I had been praying for a year that the Lord would find Paul a knife-making mentor.  We had taken Paul to visit a well-established knife maker this past summer.  While seeing this man's set-up for knife making was a dream come true for Paul, a mentoring opportunity didn't present itself.  So, I continued to pray.


Not long after that, an article ran in the local newspaper about a man who makes knives. He had competed on a television show on the History Channel called Forged in Fire.  I e-mailed him.  He was very excited to meet Paul.  Matt and Paul went to the man's house and saw his knife making set-up. Then he offered to help Paul make a knife.

All told, the man donated about 15 hours of his time to Paul in the making of his knife.  (He refused payment for his time).  He is a man who loves to teach, which is exactly what I was praying for.  This man has offered to continue to mentor Paul as he learns the knife making trade.  God is good. We are working on getting Paul the proper equipment so that he can begin making knives on his own. Finances have been the biggest hurdle to overcome, as it's not cheap to even get started with some basic tools.  However, the knife maker gave us some good tips to get the best deals possible.  We hope to get some forward movement on this venture by the first of the year.

Paul continues to be Joseph's favorite, favorite, favorite.  Paul spends a good part of every day tending to that rascally little two year old boy.  He even changes Joseph's poopy diapers with narry a complaint.  Paul also gets Joseph ready for bed and settles him to get him to sleep every night.  It's pretty cool to see that kind of selfless service in a kid Paul's age.

Paul has a great sense of humor and keeps me from taking life too seriously when his dad isn't around to do that job.  He serves as acolyte at the late service every Sunday at church, but he never complains. He also continues to make progress in his studies, reading Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet Spy by Eric Metaxas (Paul's choice) and a biography of Martin Luther.  He's still plugging along in math, overcoming a motivation issue that he has had the last few years.  Yay for progress!

Boy Scouts continues to be a of great interest to Paul.  He made First Class this past summer, was patrol leader for a session, is currently the chaplain's aid and continues to work on merit badges and pack meticulously for every possible contingency for all the camp outs.

Paul also has put his new hunting license to use.  He passed his hunter training course last spring.  A couple of weekends ago, he and Matt went pheasant hunting.  Just yesterday, Paul went on his first duck hunt as an actual participant. He, my dad and Matt shot 19 ducks.  My dad, who has hunted all his life, said that he'd never been on a better duck hunt.  There were scads of birds and the weather was cold but calm.  Paul was thrilled.  Unfortunately, all future hunts may pale in comparison.

Paul is a joy.  He's a hard worker and does all the jobs I ask him to do without complaint. He's got a soft heart.  God continues to amaze me with His plans for our kids, despite our feeble efforts as parents.  

Paul's First Hunt circa 2006 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
    for his steadfast love endures forever!
                        Psalm 107:1

The Kids: Elizabeth

Elizabeth  is sixteen and has her driver's permit.  She had a bit of a scare while driving Grandpa's car this past summer, which slowed the driver's ed process down a bit.  She'll get there.  

The Lord has put it on Elizabeth's heart to travel to Uganda next summer on a three week mission trip. This is something I never would have planned for Elizabeth, but God had different plans for her. Our church is associated with a church and school in Uganda.  A pastor friend of ours and his wife will be heading up the trip, which they have done numerous times before.  Elizabeth will help at the school and be a part of food deliveries to the needy in outlying communities.  We are still working through the many details associated with such an undertaking.  God has already opened many doors and provided a good part of the funding for Elizabeth to go to Uganda, so we have confirmation that this is His will for her.

Liz's braces were removed a few weeks ago.  Two years were worth the beautiful smile the braces produced.  Liz continues to take sewing lessons and has now moved into dress design.   She recently remade a formal thrifted dress by adding sleeves which she fashioned out of our old dining room curtains. She wore that dress for our family's annual Reformation party.

Elizabeth has become a very dependable sous chef and even makes dinner for the family entirely on her own a few times a week. For the second year in a row, she is helping Grandpa Bob do pre-Thanksgiving food prep.  Liz rocks the low carb pizza and makes a mean no sugar peanut butter cup, too.  She's got an excellent ability to tweak recipes to make them tastier, which is a talent I don't have.

Always a willing shopping partner, Liz accompanies me on many a couponing adventure.  She helps me think through menus, points out good buys in the store and keeps track of my Ibotta rebate app on my phone.  Elizabeth is also the chief laundress at our house and continues to make good progress in her studies.

Elizabeth is a natural with animals.  She's the only one who can get Rachel back inside when she escapes out the front door.  Well, Matt can do it, but Rachel almost never escapes when he's home. Elizabeth is currently taking care of the neighbor's horses after their recent return to this neighborhood.  She understands the horses' personalities and works around their idiosyncrasies.

Matt and I are in awe of all the Lord has done in Elizabeth's life.  She had some big shoes to fill when Grace started school and was no longer home during the day, but she has done a great job of filling those shoes.

The Kids: Grace

Within one 24 hour period last week, I had two different people ask me for an update on each of the kids.  I had another person ask me this week.  Life gets crazy and I haven't posted here as much as I would have liked.  So here goes--an update on the kids--kid by kid--from the eldest, down to the youngest.  I'll give each kid his or her own post.

Grace turned twenty at the beginning of September.  She graduated from cosmetology school in the middle of September and passed the state tests, both the written and the practical.  We had to travel to the big town in order for Grace to take her practical exam.  After the three hour exam, Matt and I picked Grace up from the testing site.  She turned on her phone and found a text from the co-owner of the beauty salon where I get my hair cut.  This woman wanted to talk to Grace.  Previously, she had told Grace that although she would love to hire her upon her graduation, she didn't have room for her. Turns out, one of the cosmetologists at the shop decided to move back to her home town.  There was now room for Grace.

Grace would first have to pass a test given to her by the owners. (I talked about that here.)  At the end of that day, Grace was offered a job. We can now see how God was working through the terrible situation of Grace's cosmetology school closing.  Near the end of her time at that school, Grace had A LOT of clients since no new students were enrolling there.  She got a ton of experience that she would not have gotten otherwise.  This ended up serving her well and I believe it's one of the major reasons why she was offered the job at the salon were she now works.

One of the gals who works at the salon told Grace that she is very blessed to be working there.  She told Grace that people frequently come to the salon asking for a job, but are turned down. So the fact that Grace was asked to work there is a great honor. Again, all the credit goes to God here.  The salon is not far from our house, which is another bonus.  All the woman who work there are very nice and Grace is enjoying the experience as she works to build her clientele.  She works at that salon four days per week.

Now, for another God thing.  Before Grace even started cosmetology school, she told me that it was her dream to work exclusively with curly-haired women.  I'll be honest, when she told me this, I had to keep myself from laughing.  Outside of those cosmetologists who specialize in working with African American hair, I was sure that no such thing existed.  How could one make a living doing just curly hair?  Mid-way through Grace's year of cosmetology school, my friend Cathy texted me about the great hair cut she had just gotten from a woman who specializes in curly hair. As in, she has international clients and charges bookoo bucks for her curly hair haircuts.  Who knew there was such a thing?  She wanted to meet Grace.  Grace did meet her, and this woman offered Grace the chance to help her by shampooing clients.  Before Grace even graduated, this woman wanted Grace to work for her.  So Grace is working at least one day a week for the woman who specializes in curly hair. Grace has learned a ton from this woman and she loves getting to work with curly hair!

The entire year that Grace was in cosmetology school, people kept telling her that she would have to work at a place like Great Clips her first year out of school.  No one would even consider hiring her until after that, they said.  Don't get me wrong, Matt and the kids have frequented Great Clips for years and we like them.  However, we didn't want Grace to have to work there if it could be avoided. I kept telling Grace, "Listen, we just do things differently in our family.  We break the mold and we're not about to stop doing that now.  God will work something out."  And boy did He.    

Besides working, Grace is also trying to keep her little photography business going, she is attending Bible Study Fellowship and a book club, gardening, baking,  playing piano occasionally at church and helping around the house when her schedule allows.  She's one busy girl.  Matt and I are blessed to have her as our daughter.