My Ebenezer

 We are excited and looking forward to some fellowship with Matt and Jen, Lord willing, this coming Friday night as we celebrate Libby's 9th birthday. Libby was born on November 1, so most years they have done a dress-up/costume party to celebrate the fact that she wasn't born on Halloween! :) Eden is super excited to wear her princess dress that I bought at a yard sale a few weeks ago. My boys never have really embraced costume wearing, but Eden seems to like dressing up. I know I mentioned posting our routine, and I think I'll do that now. Not because it's the surest way to get more readers (it's not), but because it's for posterity. Here's what we're usually up to now that we're not homeschooling: 6:30am I get up, have time with the Lord 7:15 I make breakfast, Noah makes lunches for himself and Josh 7:25 Breakfast for as many of the family as are up. I make it my ambition never to wake a sleeping preschooler, if I can help it. *wink* 7:45/8:00 Tak

 In this plate-spinning life I lead (and I admit, I'm not as busy as some other moms I know) it's easy for me to let months go by without updating what is going on. Well it's time for a check-in! This (above) is how I spend most mornings after the boys have gone to school (I should post my routine sometime--that's always a scintillating read! Ha!). Eden and I have what we call Eden and Mommy Time. Original and clever, I know. This is time that is largely spent doing what Eden wants to do, whether that is building with blocks, playing with play-doh, coloring, painting with watercolors (my favorite!), baking a dessert, going to the park, or whatnot. She enjoys the undivided attention immensely.  So many things to say about the simple picture above: My kids go through phases and are into forts these days. Specifically, pillow forts. They frequently summon up all the pillows from every corner of the house and make divided forts in the living room. It's great fun for the

Though dyslexia has ushered into our household many tears and much frustration over reading and writing, I have to be honest and say that it can also be the funniest thing. I asked Seth for permission to post this story, and he said yes. So here is a chuckle brought to you by dyslexia: It was lunchtime. Seth was searching the cupboards for peanut butter. Not just any peanut butter; the smooth kind. In his opinion, crunchy peanut butter looks like something out of a sci-fi movie. Much too weird to look at and therefore unthinkable to eat. I had a small jar of crunchy peanut butter in the back of the shelf, and a very large jar of creamy peanut butter in the very front which, if it had been a snake, would have bitten him it was so close.  "Where's the peanut butter, Mom? The smooth kind?" Seth asked in agitated frustration. "It's right there, Seth." I admit, my voice was also laced with frustration. He heaved a huge sigh, tromped over to the table, and ploppe

Have you ever been to a restaurant with a menu so extensive that there are multiple pages and maybe even a table of contents? Or a buffet which offers everything from surf and turf to Chinese to pizza to Beef Stroganoff and everything in between? Do you know what is usually true about these places? They dabble in so many offerings and varieties that they don't do any of it really well. How is the steak at these places? It's ho hum. How about their pizza? Same.  You want a good burger? You probably don't order it here. No, you should go to a restaurant that specializes in burgers. And for pity's sake, don't go to a Burgers-and-Fries restaurant and order a salad; you'll be disappointed for sure!  Wilted iceberg, mealy tomatoes, and some anemic cucumber slices, anyone?  Where am I going with this?  Well, in a lot of ways I was that restaurant these last two years; specializing in so many things that I wasn't doing any of them well. Cooking, cleaning, trying to

Back in December our family had the opportunity to drive our camper down to the Florida Keys for a little vacation. If you got our Christmas card in 2019 you would have seen us pictured at our campsite in Curry Hammock State Park, which is halfway between Key Largo and Key West. We loved the Keys. It's a great place to escape from winter if that's your thing.  (Right now in August it is blistering hot outside with high humidity.)  Naturally curious about all things real estate, Josh looked into land and home values and found it to be Very Expensive in the Keys. Also very hard to build anything new (you have to tear something existing down to be allowed to build something new). One thing you have to know about Josh: he loves a challenge! Hearing someone say that something can't be done is synonymous with throwing down the gauntlet to him.  You might as well double-dog dare him! So when he heard that owning property there is expensive and restrictive and generally very exclus

  I never imagined that this hummingbird would reawaken my desire to be an artist, but it did. I drew this hummingbird in June and posted it to my Instagram account, and a friend from high school (hi, Natasha!) messaged me and asked if I'd ever consider selling my art, because she was interested in this one.   I read her message, turned off my phone, and thought about it. I closed my eyes and had an actual flashback to that dismal day in college my sophomore year when, as they did for all aspiring Studio Art majors, the art department voted on my portfolio and decided that I was welcome to "change directions and pursue a degree in Art Education, but [I] lacked the determination necessary to make it as a studio artist." That verdict became a self-fulfilling prophecy; totally squashing all my desire to be an artist. I closeted my art supplies and didn't draw another thing until my mid-twenties. Then the Lord so graciously answered my prayers for children, and I had them

 Since I just love the process of transferring photos to the blog so much *rolls eyes*, I thought I'd just get it over with and compile a few random photos here with captions, paragraphs, or stories as the case may be. This is probably one of my favorite photos I'll put here! My siblings and I were all able to come celebrate my mom's 87th birthday on July 17. These are the kinds of pictures I know I will treasure for years to come. I'm so thankful for each one pictured here--they are dear to my heart! Our cat Willow had 2 kittens at the end of June. I don't know about you, but I think kittens are my favorite baby animal (although bunnies are sweet too!). The white one is a female and the gray tiger one is a male. We plan to sell them when they are 8+ weeks old, but my kids are going to be sad! Me too, if I'm honest, but we don't want to turn into the cat people.   Speaking of pets, Eden has been begging for a dog. She loves dogs of all kinds, and wants to to

 It's getting to that point where I haven't been blogging, life has been happening, and now I feel grossly incompetent to funnel all of my life events down and encapsulate them in a single blog post. It is times like these when I begin to flirt with quitting the blog altogether because, really, who reads this thing anymore?  And it's so much work to sit down at the end of the day or the week and write down what happened or who said what. Let alone the uploading of photos. (Which I just have to comment that I must be missing something because in this advanced age I cannot figure out how to do this any easier than emailing the photo from my phone to my email account, then saving the photo to my computer, then uploading it to the blog. Really? In 2020 that's the easiest way? Somebody please correct me!)   But then one of the kids asks what they were like when they were younger. And I don't remember. Can you imagine that? I don't remember. I, who have been knee deep

Eden is finally able to sit and watch a movie for a while. Usually she prefers to watch the same movie over and over until the rest of us can't stand it anymore and try to find something else for her to watch. Her current favorite is Toy Story. Well, we may have seen that one too many times, because today I caught Seth in full stealth mode, sneaking around the corner of the hallway to his bedroom. "What are you up to, Seth?" I asked. "sshhh," He whispered. "I'm..." He tiptoed some more and then, giving up, reverted back to his normal voice and said, "Oh, Whatever."  He came back into the room where I was. I didn't think he was going to tell me what he had been trying to do, but I assumed it had something to do with Eden, whom I had just laid down for her nap. Then he said, "I was trying to listen to my toys to see if they were talking."

Seth, age 7

I struggle to balance my life. The things I have to do versus the things I want to do. I have identified a very addictive streak in my personality, which becomes almost obsessive when awakened. Take this puzzle I recently completed for example:  It's a Norman Rockwell painting that was printed into a puzzle, and I just love the subject matter--it's so humorous. But it. was. hard!! So hard, in fact, that I hope I never have to take this puzzle apart. It may just have to live in our schoolroom because I can't bear the thought of all that effort going back in its box in fragments. I don't know how long it took me to do this puzzle, but I do know that for the last several days I have spent almost every spare second poring over its 1,000 pieces. My eyes ached in their sockets and I repeatedly lost track of the time--a rarity for me.  All that blue and green! All those skin tones! All that car trim! And in this puzzle, the pieces are not evenly-shaped and patterned in a

Yesterday I posted this photo on Facebook and Instagram with the caption "We serve a risen Savior!" I like that caption best, but as always, there was so much more going on than a single picture can represent. Here's some behind-the-scenes action: In light of the stark differences between celebrating Easter in years past, versus in this new Coronavirus Twilight Zone, I wanted a "normal" looking Easter picture. (They can cancel just about everything else, but not Easter! That kind of idea.) Unfortunately, when we were ready to take the photo, everyone except me had already changed out of the Easter clothes that we had worn for our Zoom church service. Josh, Noah and Seth hurriedly retrieved their shirts out of the hamper and threw them back on, and I decided to compromise and not make Eden put her dress back on. You choose your battles. I asked James, who was here, to take the photo "from the waist up" to hide the fact that the family had their casu

Seth is hilarious. His strong point is definitely not school work of the worksheet variety, but he is always thinking on a creative track. For example, check out his mad fort-making skills:   Oh that we could find a way to harness that creativity and still accomplish the worksheets' objectives! Today during math class (online with BJU Press), his teacher Mrs. Lawson was trying to teach the concept of counting coins for correct change. They were pretending that they were trying to buy a baseball for $0.28 (by the way, on what planet could you buy a baseball for that price? I know, suspend your disbelief!). Mrs. Lawson told the students to pick up two dimes, then said:  "Okay, you have twenty cents in your hand. Is that enough to buy the baseball? Remember the baseball costs twenty-eight cents..." *long pause* "Noo-o! That's not enough to buy that baseball; how much will you need to pick up to have enough money?"  *another pause* At wh

"Donkey drinks a lot of tea" -Eden Deep in concentration.  We are 20-something days into the strangest period of time I've ever lived through, social distancing. I don't share my opinion much about this, largely because I have a dissenting opinion to what I believe is the popular one, and also because I'm not sure I'm right. (But I think I am)  But the other day, my brother posted the following on Facebook, and I just couldn't agree more. " Social distancing is not the answer to this crisis, friends. We can't stay distant long enough to wait for a medical cure, without destroying ourselves in the process. Further, we were designed to be social beings. Isolation will kill us in more ways than one. Human solutions will not work. The answer, my friends, is prayer. If you are not a believer, then you may find this answer irrelevant or offensive. That doesn't change the truth of it. God has the power to deliver us. M iracles neve

This morning the Lord worked on my behalf in a big way, and I need to write it down so that Future Me can be encouraged. I wish I could change the names and circumstances to avoid embarrassment, but I can't. Instead, I asked Noah if I could write about it, and he said "Yes. Just don't post it on Facebook." Roger that. It was 9:47am, and I had just called Noah in from outside to give him some further instructions with Eden, so I could give Seth a Reading lesson without interruption. As Noah was standing at the door, he began what I call "man-handling" Eden, which means he was trying to forcibly get her to do what he thought she should be doing, which was to stay on the mat and not get the floor muddy. A good goal, but man-handling never goes well. It doesn't leave the one being forced feeling all rosy and teachable. It usually backfires and causes even more of a fight. Not only does it NOT work, it is also sinful. Plus, I was standing right there. I'

This is Day #20 since our lives were noticeably altered by COVID-19. I think we're all counting! For the most part these days, we just stay at home all the time. Eden is my "Can I go?" child. It doesn't matter where you're going, she just wants to go too, which is the exact opposite of me! It doesn't matter where you're going, I just want to stay home! This "safer-at-home" mandate Florida is under would be much easier if it were just me at home. Lonelier, yes, but oh the things I could do! The puzzles, the artwork, the cleaning, the organizing, the card-making, the baking/cooking... Another season perhaps!  For now, I'm trying to keep three kids out of mischief. Succeeding for the most part, thank the Lord, but sometimes things fall through the gaps.  Exhibit A: That is green sharpie on my dining room walls, folks, scrawled there by miss E herself. Don't ask me how or when she did this, but there it is. Kind of resembles the stoc

Earlier in the week Josh, the kids, and I were itching to get out. The lockdowns here in Jacksonville are getting a little... well, the first word that comes to mind is "ridiculous." Oppressive is a close second. Maybe not quite that strong, but when you tell people to keep exercising and stay active, and then you shut down literally ALL the outdoor venues like playgrounds, fields, hiking trails, state parks, and beaches...  Anyway, we found out that the state parks with campgrounds in Georgia are still open, and there were vacancies, so we booked a couple of nights at Crooked River State Park in St. Mary's, Georgia. What a treat it was to escape, for just over 24 hours, the twilight zone that we are currently living through! Here are some pics from our time away: Our first meal at the campsite: hamburgers and hot dogs. Food tastes better when you're camping, in my opinion. It was bright down by the dock and fishing pier! Pep brought his cast net. He

You know when the electricity goes out suddenly and unexpectedly, and it's kind of cool for the first hour or so? You light candles, you might pull out a card game, you imagine what it must have been like for people before electricity was a given.  And then, along about hour three of the power outage, it starts to get Really. Old.  That is how the current worldwide quarantine feels to me. I'm not even going to explain about the Coronavirus since I can't imagine you not knowing about that already. A couple of weeks ago the government began clamping down one freedom, and then another, until what we're left with is the order to just stay at home.  Social Distancing. The whole world, it seems, has been ordered by the powers that be to stay at home except for absolute necessities like food, medicine, or doctor visits.  And just like that, everything from the way the world learns, worships, shops, works, eats, and lives has been freedom-restricted. I'm not saying whether