My Ebenezer

Three cute/funny things we've heard around here lately: Dropping off Eden at her class the other day, it was overcast. The preschool teacher in the adjoining room quizzed her class "What is the weather outside today?" Someone piped up "Cloudy!" The teacher asked, "And so where is the sun today?" Another child exclaimed, "The clouds are holding it!" Too cute! Seth was gluing something on his worksheet, and kept fiddling with his elbow. "What's wrong with your arm?" I asked. "I got glue on it by my elbow and it's sticking my fur down!" On the way home from church Wednesday night, Eden said she was "hunny." (hungry). After announcing that she wanted ice cream, Josh said, "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream." Suddenly Eden screamed as loudly as she could. Josh reprimanded her, until I pointed out that she was just doing what his little rhyme said to do!

I was sinking again yesterday.  I began the day with every intention of leaning on the Lord for His grace and strength, but by the end of the day was weary and facing discouragement again. I could describe many of my days as one drawn-out game of whack-a-mole. Kids fight. Eden fusses. Kids provoke one another to anything but love and good works. Someone whines. A drink spills. Too many questions. A failed attempt to point a kid to Christ. Bad attitudes. Someone tracks in mud. Another fight. Whack, whack, smack; trying to keep up with it all. I fell asleep wondering where God's grace was, and how I had missed it. God's grace is real, isn't it? Yes. I awoke this morning, as I usually do, to the insistent beeping of my alarm clock at 6:04, and after shutting it off, my first cognizant thought as I came into consciousness was precisely this: "God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should change His mind. Has he said, and will He not do it

There have been a lot of things that have happened in the last several months that I have either not had time to write about, or that I didn't want to write about for whatever reason. I figured I'd cover a few of those in this post. It may be long and rather disjointed, kind of like the 7 o'clock news where you may hear--in no particular order--about anything from an elephant escaping from the zoo, to a political faux pas, to a major catastrophe. Thankfully, I don't have any of those to report about. This year has been interesting health-wise. (I dislike the word "interesting", probably because my 11th grade Creative Writing teacher frowned upon it so heavily.) At the beginning of the year, Josh and I were concerned that something might seriously be wrong with me. I was exhausted all the time, was experiencing daily abdominal pain/bloating/indigestion, and some other things as well. After multiple visits to the doctor, a colonoscopy in May (all clear, pra

Seth, my under-the-radar child. Bless him, I often wonder what it is like for someone with his personality to be sandwiched between two siblings who so frequently steal the show. Just this morning on the way to the zoo, Eden was singing the A-B-C song at the top of her lungs (A B C D ah, ah, G! H I J K emeneno P!). Seth, poor guy, was trying to say something, but couldn't hold his train of thought long enough to get it out. And when it's not Eden singing, it's Noah editorializing.  And exhibit B is that I almost forgot to post about him for his birthday! Yesterday was Thanksgiving, but a few days ago (on Monday), our Seth turned six! Here's what we know about him: 1. Seth is the feeler of our family. He is very aware of how things make people feel. He is also the most tender-hearted of our three kids. 2. He is unusually perceptive (this might go along with the first item above), and can shock us with his insight. Of course at the moment, I can't come up with

Josh went to work today with Noah, and I had planned to be off of school today, so I took Seth and Eden to the zoo. I have zero interest in shopping today, as is true for me every year on Black Friday. I much prefer a quiet day of reflection to beating crowds and trying to find deals on the day after Thanksgiving. When we arrived at the zoo, there were hardly any people there, but by the time we left at 11:30, the parking lot was almost full. It was a beautiful day for it; sunny and 70 degrees!

Eden Annelise turns two years old tomorrow! Just for fun, I went back and looked at my post about Noah's 2nd birthday and Seth's as well. There are a lot of similarities between her and the boys, though she is her own person for sure! Here are some fun facts about Eden. 1. She's a big girl! She's wearing 4T size clothes, and size 7-8 shoes. Her hair is really long and thick for a two-year-old, too, and people often think she's 3. 2.  She talks almost non-stop (like Noah did), and we can understand most of what she says. She speaks in simple full sentences. On a recent Wednesday night we were singing in church, and after the song was over, she looked up at me and said, "I like that song!" She'll also say, "I love you too!" if you say "I love you" to her. She can repeat anything you ask her to say. 3. She's starting to report on what her brothers are doing, much to Noah's chagrin. :) He says, "I can'