Welcome to Our New Home--C'mon In

Each day I live in our new home I feel more and more blessed at God's incredible goodness.  A year ago Alan resigned from his 17-year-employment and we wondered what would happen next.  It's been a year of change and growth with times of uncertainty even amidst total trust that He would provide as He always has in the past.  But in His goodness, He is showing us better.  Isn't that just like Him?  As the dust settles I'm seeing His abundant blessings everywhere I look from spiritual growth to financial provision to Alan's stress-free job to relationships and opportunities.

One of these incredible blessings is our new home, which we have already found great joy in sharing with friends as overnight guests and dinner guests and we look forward to hosting get togethers with friends from church, from the homeschool group, our neighborhood, and our family.  While pictures don't do it justice (at least not when *I* am in control of the camera!) I'd love to share it with you.

Starting on the northeast end of the house on the main level is the toy room.  This is working out great both as a place to store the toys and a place for the kiddos to play.

Then my sitting room/library is housed in the northwest corner.  I wish I could get better pictures because this is such a fun room!

There are five bookshelves around the room and I could just live in here all day if my family would let me.

I have two little kid rocking chairs in here as well as a large basket of kids' books and it's quite gratifying to see how often one of the little ones sits with legs over the arm of one of the chairs thoroughly engrossed in a book.

South of the sitting room/library (I can't decide what to call it!) is the dining room and between the two rooms is a set of  beautiful wooden pillars which I didn't quite capture.

As is our custom, our dining room once again serves as a place to eat as well as a schoolroom and a center for visiting and playing games.  It is also decorated with bookshelves because that's just my style!  Those patio doors you see open onto the west side of the deck which wraps around the west, south, and east sides of the house.

To the east of the dining room is our bedroom and bathroom as well as a stairway which goes upstairs to Easton, Kiana and Tyrell's bedrooms.  I somehow missed taking pictures of these rooms, but I imagine I'll work them into some other post.

Continuing south through the main level of the house you'll find the kitchen.  The view below is taken from the doorway coming into the house from the east and almost (but not quite) captures how big this room is.  To the left of the widescreen view is my computer desk and bookshelf along that wall.  There is so much counter-space and lots of cabinets plus my first-ever pantry closet!

 Then continuing still farther south is the living room.  This is a large huge room built from knotty pine with high vaulted ceilings and skylights.  This is the favorite room of most people who visit our house and it truly is a wonderfully cozy room.  It's so big I'm having a hard time figuring out how to arrange it, but my sis-in-law helped me arrange it into basically two living rooms:  one area with the sectional couch and television for lounging and another area with recliners (around, what else!, a bookshelf) for visiting or reading.  There is another set of patio doors that open out onto the deck along the south side of the house.

Next we head down the stairs to the basement. . .

At the base of the stairs we turn into Briana's room which is also made of the knotty pine and is also almost indecently roomy.  She has one side of it fixed up as her sleeping quarters. . .

and the other side provides plenty of room for her sewing, stamping, knitting, and other crafts with plenty of room to spare.

Destry's room isn't real fancy, but he has it fixed up just the way he likes it complete with his loft room and even an old easy chair.  It looks disturbingly like a dorm room.

There's also a large bathroom in the basement and this huge area, one half of which serves as a family room slash hangout room slash music and game room.

And the other half is a full kitchen which will come in quite handy for canning in the future.  I'm even imagining doing some freezer cooking down here or using it as a summer kitchen to keep the upstairs from getting too hot.

I can't believe how big this house is, but we are appreciating this blessing and looking forward to sharing it with family and friends in the years to come.

Thanks for stoppin' by.  Y'all come back, ya hear!

Our Backyard

We haven't "formally" started school yet--our first day is scheduled for the Tuesday after Labor Day.  But we've been hopping on the four-wheeler or into the pickup for the short ride through the corn field to explore the river and this is learning at its very best.

In one short evening visit we identified the tracks of deer (both adult and fawn), raccoons, opossums, turkeys, and a mink.  Alan was especially excited to discover a coon slide down a bank which was evidence of them bringing their corn and other food to wash in the river before eating (trapping season is getting closer and closer!).  We also found some scat but weren't able to identify it for sure--I guess we'll have to bring the field guides next time.

Briana has always been fascinated by Great Blue Herons so she was thrilled to spot two of them, and Kiana caught a frog which she had to bring closer for momma's approval.  And Destry and Easton tried to catch a turtle, but it got away from them.

 "There is no kind of knowledge to be had in these early years so valuable to children as that which they get for themselves, of the world they live in.  Let them at once get into touch with nature, and a habit is formed which will be a source of delight through life.  We are all meant to be naturalists, each to his own degree, and it is inexcusable to live in a world so full of marvels of plant and animal life and to care for none of these things." 

--Charlotte Mason

Easton is getting a dwarf hamster tomorrow so we've been reading about hamsters, and our order of butterfly larvae has been shipped so they should be arriving early next week.  Learning is always in session!

Packing, Painting, and Preview

I've decided one of my least favorite jobs is packing.  If we ever move again, I am sorely tempted to sell the place with the contents and just start over.  Then again, I might just be tired of it right now.

Boxes, boxes everywhere

The old house looked like a "ghost house" with everything packed up.  Isn't an empty bookshelf a sad and lonely sight?

I'm really kicking myself for not taking before and after pictures of our new house.  We painted seven rooms, pulled up carpet in five rooms, completely remodeled a bathroom, and refinished hardwood floors.  The change is amazing.

the toyroom

We've had lots of help in this move, which has been such a blessing.  My brother and sister and their spouses have been incredible with painting assistance as well as moving stuff and helping with remodeling projects (we wouldn't be moved in yet if not for their help!!!).  We also had help from three new families of friends with watching little kiddos, cleaning the new house, and packing/unpacking the kitchen the day before we moved, not to mention our church family which moved all our stuff on Saturday.  We're so richly blessed with helpers.

I'm nothing if not predictable.  We painted the master bedroom a delectable (in my opinion--some people don't like it but I love it!) shade of green, the kitchen yellow, and the dining room is once again a fun shade of red (disregard the ugly carpet, it's actually hardwood there now which looks much better with the red).

Hardwood floors before sanding, staining, and varnishing.

We pulled up ugly blue-with-yellow-flowers carpet to find beautiful hardwood floors in the dining room and sitting room.  There was one spot that was plywood where they had added on to the house, so my dear brother filled that section in with new hardwood and Alan and Destry sanded off the old stain, then restained and varnished both rooms.  Those three men worked their heads off  and I so appreciate them.

Here is a bonus little preview of my library/sitting room.  Giggle, giggle, tee, hee, hee.  I'm just a tiny bit excited--five matching bookshelves along the walls just waiting to be filled with books.  (Of course, right this minute there are many books on those shelves and piles of boxes of books still waiting to find a home). 

Doesn't it look inviting?  My dear sis-in-law and I had a blast furniture shopping for this room.  I can't wait to finish unpacking and settle in there with a good book.  What should I read first?

New Toy

Daddy said we needed a 4-wheeler.  It couldn't wait until we got moved.

It must be nice for daddies to have children to give them excuses to buy toys they also enjoy.  chuckle  When we go out to work on the house, we always have to make time for rides on the 4-wheeler.  Destry has discovered a great jumping ditch and has even put the 4-wheeler to work in hauling off old carpets we're removing from the hardwood floors.

Alan's justification for the 4-wheeler:  The kids are going to need it to ride down the dirt road to the river so they can explore, catch frogs and turtles, and go fishing. 

My interpretation?  Daddy is looking forward to trapping season!

Regardless of the motive, I'm seeing big grins all the way around.

Anticipation

I'm getting excited to move to our new place.  We've started painting a couple of rooms with the help of wonderful family/friends and hope to move in about three weeks.

I think Alan is most excited about the large garage/shop.  He's looking forward to working on one of his many projects, and I'm tickled that the doors are tall enough to accommodate our high top conversion van (especially when the ice and snow arrive).

It's so quiet and peaceful.  Wouldn't you know Alan wants to move a rooster in even before we get moved!

Ready to Move

I hit a garage sale last weekend and picked up some cute decorations for a little bit of nothing.  This first one looks perfect for our family with the cow, sheep, pig, and rooster.  It also has apples and sunflowers in smaller details, so I'm imagining all sorts of fun themes around this picture.

I'm going to need more "stuff" for Marcy to decorate our new house with because it is significantly larger than any house I've ever lived in!

I'm picturing this set of four pictures arranged somehow in the sitting room/library.  (Whatcha think, Marcy?? tee, hee)

Oh, I'm sorry, am I getting ahead of myself here?  I am happy to share that I have thrown away the stacks and stacks of sheets depicting homes for sale by realtor and by owner because we have found a delightful little acreage that we can't wait to move into.

I don't have pictures yet as everything isn't final--the property is in an estate and they will be selling the 80-years-worth of occupancy the first weekend in August.  We hope to be moved in by September 1.  Just know that we are excited for the 4 bedroom (6 BR potential!), large kitchen (with lots of cupboards and countertop), beautiful dining room, gorgeous living room, sitting room/library (oooh, I can't wait!!), etc.  This house has tons of living space which  is perfect for the way our family interacts and also quite well-suited for practicing hospitality.  I'm looking forward to fall get-togethers, especially imagining cookouts on the deck that spans three sides of the house, and Alan can't wait for a "project" to fill the large garage/shed.  I'm trying to decide if I'll still have time for a fall garden, and Alan is sure we can raise chickens to butcher before winter arrives.  We aren't going to worry about any other animals until next spring, but Alan loves his birds strutting around (and eggs and a freezer full of meat!) so chickens may get to move in before we do!

It's going to be so grand to actually unpack all those boxes piled in the basement and not have to make trips down to do a mad search for an item I've decided I need right now.

Metaphorically Speaking

Deuteronomy chapter 8 has been standing out to me the last several days. 

remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. (from verse 2)

 <sup>Moses was talking to the children of Israel at this time about their literal sojourn in the wilderness, but I think there are still principles from their experience that apply to my life.  It hasn't been a literal wilderness, but it's been a time of both wondering and wandering.  It hasn't been forty years, but it's been long enough to get the lesson across.


God has used these last several months to humble us, to remind us (yet again) that we are not in control.  He has tested us to know what was in our hearts.  Do we choose to serve him, or ourselves?  Do we choose to serve him or mammon (money, materialism, earthly pursuits and possessions)?</sup> 

³ And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. ⁴  Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. ⁵ Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you.  

<sup>He has provided.  Over and over and over again.  He let us hunger, let us get to a place where we knew our need for him, and then he provided in ways we never would have even known to expect.  He has provided our needs both physically and spiritually.  Manna indeed.  All his provisions ultimately underline the fact that we do not live by material needs alone, but by the Word of God.

I am so thankful for God's testing and for His discipline/teaching/correction/instruction.  It is evidence of His love for me--that He has adopted me--that I am His child and thus a recipient of His discipline toward holiness.  I look forward to the "peaceable fruit of righteousness" this teaching will work in my life (Hebrews 12).</sup>

⁶ So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him.⁷ For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, ⁸ a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, ⁹ a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. ¹⁰ And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.

We are starting to get a glimpse of this new land and the Lord's purpose for us here.  In just two short months He has provided us with multiple opportunities to share what He has done in our lives.  We have been blessed to minister to and pray for a couple beginning the adoption journey.  We have fielded questions from three different christian families who are looking into homeschooling their children as they seek to raise them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.  Five books on these topics are loaned off of my bookshelves where they can benefit others and our story and experiences are being used to God's glory to encourage others that God will provide as we step out in faith and obedience.  We are learning more about the pregnancy crisis center in our new town and of its great need for support as the Planned Parenthood also in this town continually increases business and "services" and considering what our role might be.

For you see, a "good land", a land with great fruitfulness and fullness and without lack, doesn't necessarily mean of land of great physical richness in my mind.  A good land is a place where WE will be fruitful.  A place where we can be used and God can be glorified.  A place where God fills us with purpose, with the good works he has prepared in advance for us to do.

¹¹ “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, ¹²  lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, ¹³ and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, ¹⁴  then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, ¹⁵ who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, ¹⁶ who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. ¹⁷ Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ ¹⁸ You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. ¹⁹ And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. ²⁰ Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.

 May we ever remember who we are, that we are dust, and never be overtaken by pride thinking *we* are the source of our fruitfulness or our blessings.  Unlike the Israelites, may we never forget the Lord and what He has done but rather, choose to obey Him.  May we never be distracted from pursuing His glory wherever we are.

Count it All Joy

I've got my joy back. 

The last few months have not been easy or comfortable.  I was thinking the other night that I would compare this season of my life to rock climbing, or at least how I imagine rock climbing to be.

A cliff has been before me and I set upward in obedience.  The way is rocky, filled with obstacles to climb over and weak ledges to avoid.  Yet I know I am safe, for my Father has me in a harness and is the One on the other end of the rope.  He has gone before me and provided each foothold.  All I have to do is trust Him and continue on.  So I've continued, learning trust, perseverance and endurance.  One step at a time, seeing the footholds He just keeps providing and trustingly placing my foot here, then there.

Yet something has been lacking.  It's one thing to continue on in obedience and perseverance; it's quite another to consider it a joy.  Last week the sun broke out around me.  I was still on that cliff, that rock face, but I felt the sunshine on my back and on my face.  In my heart.  Or had it been there all along and my eyes were closed, my focus closed to its warmth as I concentrated on just getting through?

This week I rest inside a little cavern within that Rock.  He spread a table before me and anointed my head with oil.  My cup overflows.

My study of James reminded me that joy is a choice.  God is its source, obedience provides opportunity, but it is left up to me to consider it joy--to count it all JOY.

Farewell Friends

Leaving friends and forming new friendships is one of the hardest parts of moving.  It's sad to leave people who already know and love me, with whom I have years of treasured memories, and who have helped me in so many ways over the years (including helping with the move itself). 

The process of making new friends isn't fun.  It's starting all over again.  It involves figuring out who can be trusted with an open heart, learning who has similar interests, and sharing parts of yourself over and over again.  And let's face it, by this stage of life, people tend to already have well-established friendships.  In a culture that has more commitments than hours in the day and prefers the quick, shallow acquaintances of social networks to deep, time-consuming connection, it becomes even more difficult to develop real relationships when moving to a new town.

I was blessed with some wise counsel from an older friend the week that we moved.  She has moved several times throughout her seventy-plus years, and cautioned me that I can't continue every relationship.  Instead, she advised me to "choose the relationships you want to maintain and then be intentional about it."   For a long-distance friendship to last, both parties must make the effort to stay in touch with emails, phone calls, blogs or visits.  She said if I try to just make a blanket effort to stay friends with everyone, I will soon find none of the relationships to have stood the test of time.  As I'm not good at maintaining long-distance friendships anyway, I really appreciated her sharing her experience.

She also advised me not to TRY to make friends.  What an interesting thought!  She reminded me that our human tendancy is to look at the outward appearance and choose to be friends with certain people based on our perceptions but those friendships "just don't seem to work."  In contrast, she claims God puts people in our lives, and He "ties heartstrings."  She summarized her advice with "He loves you, trust him to provide friendships to His glory."

Such wise counsel!  I don't want to forget it.  So while I'm trusting the Lord to tie heartstrings in my new home, I think I'll make an intentional effort to keep this wise friend in my life and send her a card tonight.

One Month Later

• We have moved into the house, settled in, unpacked most needed boxes, and immediately resumed our studies
• been welcomed by our church family
• three families from church have invited us into their homes for a meal and fellowship
• one family from church has come to our house for a meal and fellowship (we invited another family as well, but they had to cancel as a work emergency interfered)
• We've had my brother and his family over for an evening of fun, a distant cousin and his family over, and a birthday party with grandparents from both sides and two siblings with their families.
• Spent the afternoon in the home of a homeschooling family
• Went skating with the homeschool group

• went to a Valentine's party with my hubby where we had a blast writing our love story using names of candy bars and losing the Newlywed game
• Briana started attending the local chapter of Bright Lights and loved the lesson on learning to serve others
• I found a group of ladies beginning a study of the book of James
• attended a local Blues performance night

• I attended a prayer group evening and was richly blessed by the study and time focused on prayer
• The whole family attended a homeschool family fun and game night (dodgeball was the game of choice!)
• Briana and Destry attended a teen game night

• found a piano teacher for Briana and Destry (she's really challenging them--she retired from Simpson University as a piano professor there and they are already learning a great deal)
• attended a 4H meeting (to join or not to join. . .)
• found a violin instructor for Destry
• Destry spent a day snow tubing with some friends

• Spent a day at my sister's house
• Destry became a member of a youth symphony
• survived Alan's "bout with gout"  (and learned one should eat cherries, drink a horrid apple cider vinegar and honey mixture, drink lime water, and avoid nuts, rich meats, and high fat foods in order to avoid flare ups)

I think it's funny that he was reading Dr. Seuss's Foot Book to the kids
while soaking his poor, aching foot!

• Two families of friends from Missouri have each come up to spend a day and make sure we are getting happily settled
• set up a Bible study with a woman who is seeking knowledge of the Truth (pray for Kim that her heart would be open to the Word)

I would say it's been a busy but productive month since we moved!

Moving. . .With Children, Part Two

A friend's questions have inspired a short series about moving with children.  In regards to moving with young children, my advice would be

DON'T DO IT!

But sometimes a person just has to.  And Laura "would love to hear about the things we did to make the move with the kiddos."  Unfortunately, I have no good advice to offer.  We neglected routine, implored the children to "go play" while we packed, and temporarily assumed the "putting out fires" method of parenting.

I've been paying for it these last couple weeks as we've been getting settled and are trying to re-establish routine.  The little ones are whiny, clingy, disobedient, and won't get along with one another.  It's exhausting!  So while we're getting settled, I've been trying to focus on training.  My little ones are being tomato staked, staying close to mama so I can address attitudes immediately.  We're dealing with selfishness, arguing, whining, unkindness, and all sorts of unacceptable attitudes.  I don't know if this is a result of the upheaval of moving to a different house, different town, different church away from friends or if it's a result of our neglect of training during the busyness of moving or just what.

I've been trying to focus on character training in specific, and am using some resources from The Learning Parent that I really appreciate.   The above book has short stories illustrating character traits including obedience, patience, honesty, kindness, responsibility, gratefulness, contentment and so on.  They use lots of nice photos of the children (who are all cousins and since my own children love, LOVE their cousins, it's even more enjoyable to them) and are applicable to young children.  One of my favorite things about this book is that they teach the character traits in a *positive* way, rather than negative--the children are praised for obeying by staying away from the horse while waiting for Grandpa, for example, rather than punished for disobeying.  I think it's good for our children to see other children modeling positive behaviors

The flashcards below each have a copy of a photo from the corresponding story in the book with the definition of a character trait on the front and a Bible verse on the back.  We are working on memorizing the definitions of the character traits and use these flashcards to briefly review the traits we have focused on previously.

These resources seem to be helping, or maybe it's as much due to the fact that I am being intentional in patiently training them in these areas rather than focusing on *correcting* them in these areas.  It is much more pleasurable to sit down each day and read a story (or three or four--they beg me to read more) to the children and praise them for finishing my leading sentence "obedience means. . ." with "doing what is expected of you cheerfully, immediately, and thoroughly" than to deliver consequences for disobedience.

I also can't help but wonder why this move seems to have been so difficult and disruptive for them.  As an adoptive parent, I wonder if the drastic change subconsciously reminded them of losing their first parents and having to adapt to an entirely new situation:  the new sounds and smells of a new family, new parents.  Children are very adaptable, yes, but there are aftershocks as a result of change.  I am recognizing a heightened sense of neediness, perhaps even some insecurity, as my younger children just seem to need me in sight, to need reassurance that I am there, even to the point of acting out to make sure they have my attention.  I don't want to take this too far, to the point of making excuses for misbehavior, but I also want to be perceptive and aware of needs, so this is something I'm trying to discern in the midst of everything else.

I'm afraid the whole situation isn't helped by the way we removed them from their old home.  I asked a good friend to watch the three little ones on the day we loaded the UHaul, then we met them that night at my older son's violin recital and drove to the new house to camp out on the floor.  The next day the little ones went with Alan's parents for the day while we unloaded everything.  So, they weren't actually present for the moving process.  They left a house (their home) full of their stuff and never went back to it. . .then were brought to a different house "miraculously" filled with their stuff.  This was effective to keep them out of the way so they wouldn't trip anyone or get stepped on, but I wonder if it contributed to the behavior afterward.  In hindsight, I wouldn't recommend moving this way with little ones.  I'm not sure how we'll do it next time, but I'm pretty sure it won't be the same.  Meanwhile, I'm spending lots of time on the floor, playing with little ones, reassuring them of my love and presence, and reminding them of proper attitudes and behaviors.

Town Dog, Country Dog

Maggie May is handling the move quite well.  When Alan got her for me about eight years ago, she started out in the house and she looooooves her mommy (me).  After we brought Easton home, she spent more time outside than in. And once Kiana came home, I got tired of cleaning Maggie up from rolling in donkey poop every other day so she could come inside and she became an outdoor farm dog.  She filled this role quite admirably running around the farm, barking at intruders (both real and imaginary), and even chasing passing trucks and tractors (sigh).

Now that we're renting a house in town, she's back inside.  She acts like she's never rolled in donkey poop!  I took her to a groomer and got her all cleaned up (I was embarrassed, but they said she wasn't really in that bad of shape) and she's daintily stepped her way back into Princess Pomeranian mode.

She follows me around the house all day long and looks at me--like this.  Her eyes beg "Pay attention to me mommy, please pet me, please play with me, please rub my belly, please sit down for a minute so I can sit on your lap."  (Because I don't have enough people wanting a piece of me!  Do you see why the addition of more babies pushed her outside?)  She brings her toy, a braided rope, and lays it before me.  When I don't cooperate, she pounces on it, then settles back on her haunches with one commanding bark and a wag of her tail.  "C'mon!  Let's play!"

I'm not really a "dog person", but I do love *my* dog.  There's just something about a creature who loves you unconditionally, who gratefully accepts whatever scrap of attention you give them, who follows you around adoringly, licking your hand.  I think there's a lot we can learn from this relationship as well.  In one sense, Maggie's adoration is a picture of how we should worship God.  One Greek word which is translated as worship is proskuneo (Strong's 4352).  It means "to kiss like a dog licking his master's hand, to fawn or crouch, prostrate oneself in homage, do reverence to, adore, worship".

Matthew 4:10--You shall worship the Lord your God and him only you shall serve.
John 4:24--God is a spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.
Revelation 15:4--Who shall not fear you, O Lord, and glorify your name?  For you alone are holy, for all nations shall come and worship before you, for your judgments have been manifested.

 I wonder if I am accurately reflecting this meaning of worship.  Maggie's day centers around me and what I'm doing.  Where I go, she goes.  She longs for me.  When she has the choice of anyone or anything else, she will *always* turn from the other option and run straight for me.

Is this the way we adore *our* Master?