Where did the summer go?

We've come upon the end of October and it seems that I'm not nearly as ready for winter to come as I should be.  I've been cleaning out the closets that I stored all the winter stuff in and realized that I didn't do a very good job sorting out what is too small and needs mended. 

I've also been trying to decide how to handle the enormous amount of winter wear we'll have this year. Where will all the gloves, scarves, hats, boots and coats get put when not being used?  Our "not too efficient" coat closet is being used for other things and I'm pretty sure we'll be using the backs of the chairs in the dining room and throwing stuff down on the floor a little too much.

I'm going to try to create a quazi "mud room" on our back porch to put the sloppy boots when we aren't using them.  I will likely find me a big tubby to put the accessories in for the kids to "fish" for the matching set of gloves. 

Coats, though?  ugh...  Maybe I'll just make the kids take them back to their rooms...

In the life of...

2 year olds are amazing!  They are like stealth objects moving through your life.  

One minute they are sitting there being sweet, looking at a book and babbling while you are being distracted talking to another child sitting across the table...  (unfortunately, there is a vase with flowers making the perfect camouflage for her to hide her mischievous plan)... 

Then, you get up and walk to her and smile and say "oh honey, don't cut up that book, it belongs to your sister..."  you look at her sweet smile and then,

as you are about to remove the safety school scissors from her little tight fist, you notice that not only the book has been cut, but...

 "oh my" her hair! "oh my" her hair! and her shirt!!! 

What in the world has happened???  She's the most beautiful, precious little child that you've ever seen and in one swift moment of time she has cut all those precious golden locks off her fore head...  Almost like using a #1 attachment on the clippers its so close to her scalp... 

What kind of mother are you?  How could you let this happen? 

Let this happen???  She's sitting in the same room with me! She's at the same table with me!  I didn't "let" it happened...

I believe that she will grow up and be part of the C.I.A. or some other secret organization. She will be an international spy known only for her amazing acts of stealth and agility... She's grooming herself (yes, pun intended) to be like James Bond, Cody Banks, Emma Peel, Perry the Platypus... 
 

OMG...

 Sometimes kids don't understand why cursing is so bad.  Everyone does it.  Its on t.v., friends and relatives cuss,  sometimes parents or other respected adults.  Being in the foster care business, we've seen kids come from all kinds of back grounds and mixed up families.  They were not taught the right use of language by the people that they've trusted to care for them and meet their needs.

I've never been given a black and white lesson on the subject and sometimes struggle to help my own kids understand why God says its wrong. Its funny how when they get older, telling them "because I said so" just doesn't do the trick anymore. :-)

I've always known there are bible verses on this topic.  I've just never taken the time to really study the bible on this subject and record notes about it... until now.  I'm not sure what has prompted me to do this study now (except maybe the Holy Spirit working in me), but it turned out to be a pretty interesting study.

I wanted to find a way to share it.  It may be that you have already got this covered with your family.  But maybe someone out there could use the encouragement.

What the Bible says about 

Choosing our words...

In Matthew 26:74, we find Peter, a man following Christ and one of His disciples.  He cursed.
He used cursing and swearing when he denied Jesus.

I don't believe its a coincidence that this is recorded in this way.  Peter was an example to us.  Sometimes Peter was a little impatient and stubborn.  He was like many of us today.  But he made a mistake and used cursing and swearing when he denied Jesus.  He fell back into old habits as a young Christian.  Does that ever happen to you?

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Leviticus 18:21(b) states "...neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the Lord."

• Irreverently saying "OMG", "Oh my God, slang use of "Gosh Darn" or saying "goddammit", "Oh Jeez", or "Jesus Christ", or even "cheese and rice"...

    All of these examples (and more) are versions of profaning (or desecrating) the name of God.

This is expressly prohibited by God's Word!!

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Peter admonishes (or warns) Christians in 1 Peter 2:1 telling them to "lay aside" (or "stop doing") all malice, guile, hypocrisies, envies... "and all evil speakings".  He goes on to say that you should desire the Word so that you can grow spiritually.

Will you grow spiritually if being disobedient to God's word?  Sin is any disobedience to God's word.  Sin detracts from growing spiritually.  Evil speakings will detract from growing spiritually.

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Solomon tells us in Proverbs 15:4 that "a wholesome tongue is a tree of life".  Look at these references to the "tree of life":

• Gen. 3:22 tells us that one who eats of the tree will live forever.
• Gen. 3:24 tells us how valuable the tree is to God and how He protects it.
• Revelation 22:14 tells us who has the right to eat from the tree... "those that do his commandments."  

Again, the importance of being obedient to God!

Also, in Proverbs 15:4, Solomon concludes that "perverseness therein (in the tongue) is a breach in the Spirit".  The Holy Spirit is given to us when we become a child of God by accepting Jesus Christ as our savior.  We then have so much available to us:

•  The Holy Spirit is God - Matthew3:16
• The Spirit is willing, but... Matthew 26:41
• Our comforter - John 15:26
• The Truth - John 16:13, 1 John 5:6
• Life - Romans 8:10
• sons of God - Romans 8:14
• Our prayer partner - Romans 8:26
• Dwells in us - 1 Corinthians 3:16

Using foul language will put "a breach in the Spirit".  A breach is the act of breaking, a rupture, a gap, a separation.  We should not let any corrupt communication (evil words) proceed out of our mouth according to Ephesians 4:29.  Doing so will "grieve" the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30).

1 Thessalonians 5:19 warns us to "quench not" the Holy Spirit.  To quench means to extinguish, to quiet, to destroy or to stifle.

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Its not easy...

James 3:6,8 describe the tongue:

• a fire
• a world of iniquity (sin)
• defileth the whole body
• setteth on fire
• is set on fire of hell
• no man can tame
• an unruly evil
• full of deadly poison

wow.  not a pretty picture, is it?
Verse 9 of chapter 3 says that we "bless" God and "curse" man with the same tongue... 
Verse 10 says that "these things ought not so to be"!!!
1 Thes. 5:22 tells us to "abstain from all appearance of evil"

So, if no man can tame the tongue, then how can we be obedient to God and please him with our speech?

• Only God can help us with our choice of words through his wisdom that he gives liberally!!
• If this is a problem for you, pray to God to help you with this problem just as you do when you need help in other areas of your life.

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We will be judged by our words we choose to say.

Matthew 12:36 says "...every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account..."
Verse 37 says that by your words will you be justified or condemned.

It is very important to our life everlasting to choose our words wisely today.

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2012... what happened to the past 3 years anyway?  well I guess facebook happened.



Family is well.  We're in the process of adopting two beautiful little girls and that will make our "forever family" 8 in number.

School is going well.  One in 7th grade, one in 2nd grade, one in preschool...  All are enrolled in public school for now.

Hey! Happy Valentine's Day!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!! (don't worry, I'll try to add a Happy New Year soon!! haha)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!

Looks like I might be on the road to recovery now... I called my doc and had him call me in a zpack for this crazy "whatever it is" that I have. I've not been this sick in years! The cough late at night is enough to make me insane. I think I've pulled a muscle in my stomach and broken a rib from coughing so much! eek...

I got my new glasses in the mail yesterday too... I got a pair of those progressive lens bifocals and wow! how long does it take to get used to these things???? I'm not sure if they're not prescribed right or if I just have to retrain my eyes to see through them. I can read print better, but its like I have to really focus my eyes on the print or its blurry. hmmm.... well I'll give it a few days to see what happens.

Short school week. Yeah!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Why do I always manage to get sick this time of year? Went to the doctor today and he says it's just that time of year when everyone comes down with something. Of course, no meds were prescribed... hmpf. I was really hoping for a z pack or something to help it go away faster :-) All I got was a recommendation for mucinex.

On the bright side, we talked about the prescription he gave me a month ago for the fibromyalgia. It has really seemed to help. Soooo... he was kind enough to give me a 3 month supply and then I'll go back and see if things are still working well with it.

anyway, I stand here looking out the window watching the snow blow sideways. I don't like that direction. It's ok if the snow has really big flakes that fall gently on the ground and then melt immediately. But when you have snow flying sideways, that means there's wind too, and cold, and well, I've had enough of it already. I just know it's going to be a looonnnggg winter :-(

*stay warm*

For those of you that make coffee at home...

Acme's ad has a Proctor Silex 12 cup coffee maker for only $7.99 (save $7.00 with your Acme card). Good through Friday Nov 21st. You just never know when the coffee maker you have on your kitchen counter will decide to just up and quit (like my $99.99 coffee maker did after a year). Makes sense to get one just to have on hand in case you go through caffeine withdrawal :-)

Also makes a good gift for someone who needs one!!

*smile*

well... before the month of November slips away from me, I'd better write something on this blog. I can't believe how little I've been able to keep up on this. I was doing so well before!

...Before two more household members, anyway! I used to feel sorry for moms that had 6 kids. I used to think "wow! they must be insane to want that many kids today!" well, here I find myself in that very same situation (well, actually if you count the ones that don't live here, we're up to 8!).

I must be insane, too! But, I'm finding it's a good insane. I'm so busy that most days I don't even get to sit down for 5 minutes at a time. I straighten up one room and three others get messed up (and that's usually from just Makayla!!) Then, the babies need to eat, or get changed, or lay down for nap, or want to play :-). Not to mention the multitude of appointments I have to take the kids to; like doctors, dentists, visitation, wic appointments, counseling, etc. Why were there only 24 hours put in a day?! I could use just a few more.

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I do have a praise to share. About two weeks before we got the new placement from CSB, I had finally made a doctor appointment for myself. I was soooooo tired of not feeling good and hurting all over and not sleeping at night. I wasn't very happy with the doc that I'd been seeing for the past, um, lot of years. So, I looked up a new guy on our insurance plan. He diagnosed me with fibromyalgia and prescribed a medicine for me.

I had been taking that medicine for almost two weeks when we got the new placement and believe it or not, I've not felt so good in a very long time. I believe that God's hand was in my finally deciding to see the doctor and in which doctor I went to see. I believe that God can heal this problem, but if he chooses not to, I believe that he provides us with comfort through the wisdom he gives to doctors.

Well, it's going to be another busy day. So I'll just leave on this note: "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." I am so thankful for the strength he gives each day.

Enjoy!

I've been busy and haven't had much time to write. School's been busy, the kids have been on the sick side and I also took a mini trip to West Virginia to let mom take care of some much needed business.

As far as sick kids goes... The baby had tonsillitis and Brendan has a virus that looks a lot like measles, but the doc says its a viral infection that has a rash accompany it... Symptoms were pretty much the same as measles (high fever, aches, sore throat, red pin head dots in cluster on his body)... Of course, there's no medicine to give him, he just has to wait it out... Poor thing is getting sores inside his mouth and that is painful! Sam's had the infamous "changing of the weather" sore throat and blah feeling. The only one that hasn't been complaining is Maki. Hopefully that blessing will last :-)

Let's see, aside from all that, the trip to WV was pretty. It was good driving weather and we didn't get any rain while away. The trees were just starting to change colors, so the majority of the scenery was still green. I bet it's just beautiful now.

This week I'm supposed to go to lunch with a couple of friends of mine that I worked with at Little Tikes. It will be good to see old friends.

My mom's birthday is also this week. She's gonna be 77. I hope I'm as beautiful as she is when I'm 77. While in WV in the recent past, I've heard many of the relatives and friends that had stopped by comment on how mom's kids are all such nice kids and have such nice families... What a nice reflection that is on mom. I'm proud of her for all that she did for us kids. I'm also glad that we can be noticed for what a great mom she was and is.

Well... its getting late. I gotta go get some sleep. Hope to chat again soon.

Ahhhh... Friday

Well after a really busy week, it's good to have Brendan done with school a little early today. 2:15. Might be a record. He's been pretty discouraged most of the week having trouble just concentrating. (Isn't hard to get distracted around here :-)

Makayla doesn't have school on Fridays so she's home all day making all kinds of ruckus.

I did treat the kids to Little Caesar's pizza on my way back from picking up the baby from his visit with his mom. I think their pizza is really good for $5.

Looks like we are gonna try to close up the pool this weekend. Sad. It's been a lot of fun for the kids. I hate to see the colder weather blowing in.

Well, I'll get back to work. Since I'm not "needed" as teacher at the moment, I need to put on my "house cleaner" hat!

Have a great day!

Oh my, its been busy in Mama's House!

Well we've been extremely busy with Brendan beginning ecot at home.

Wow.

Why didn't I expect it to be this time consuming?

We are finally getting into a rhythm, but it's still taking him from sun up to sun down to get everything completed each day. Yesterday was his first day getting all his assignments complete before 5:00 (and he started around 8 in the morning).

I get to teach basic skills of keeping on task and completing things in a timely manner. If not, I'll be bald before Thanksgiving!

What I see is a little fella who's spent the last 3 grades wiggling, complaining, whining and not concentrating on what he's doing. I am so sad for him.

His grades were not terrible from 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade, but homework time was always excruciating. It would take hours and he was so needy and clingy to me for help to understand what I'm sure the teacher had explained throughout the days, but he just never grasped it.

One thing I can say is that this decision to school him from home was the right decision. I can't see how a teacher with 30+ kids, each wiggling, complaining, and whining can possibly succeed with them all.

So we will forge ahead and by the end of the year my hope is that he'll just turn on his computer, read his assignments and complete his work with minimal help from me :-) *am I assuming too much?*

Okay, so my advice to mom's with really young kids is... teach them to pay attention and work independently as soon as you can! I am already scared to think how Makayla will be able to pay attention and work independently as she gets older... but then, she's a whole different ball game altogether so we'll pray that she gets better at it too!!

Oh yeah... while I was at a meeting last night at CSB, I was told that we are being considered for another infant placement. Woo hoo! more babies, yeah!! Soooo if that happens, it'll get even more crazy around here :-)

Happy Labor Day

Although we probably won't get to enjoy the picnic planned today at church, I wanted to tell you all that I hope you have an enjoyable day with your families and friends.

Our day will be action packed with cleaning out and organizing the garage (a much needed task to complete), shoveling through the "mountain" of laundry we've ignored this week, raging war against the dust bunnies, and applying a little color to our upright structures (painting) if there's any time left :-)

*sigh*

I will need tomorrow to rest.

School starts this week

Well, its that time of year again where we get all excited about school starting up again! Samantha's a senior (duh, can tell that from the senior pics, right?), Brendan's a 4th grader and Makayla's making her way through her 2nd year of preschool.

Samantha and Brendan are both going to attend eCOT this year (you know, the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow... online public school, basically.) Sammie has come along really well with it and I enjoy the fact that I get to observe what she learns much closer than with the traditional public schools.

Brendan is new to eCOT this year. We decided that he really needs the additional supervision that being at home can give him. For some reason, he has really had a difficult time abiding by the rules that the school has set up. He's also had a difficult time attracting a satisfactory group of children to be friends with and generally would find himself getting into trouble at the result of another child's prompting. We are praying that being schooled at home will be a VERY positive thing happening in his little life. I think our toughest challenge will be helping him be a social butterfly. He'll need some good influences to help him forget the bad ones he was exposed to at the elementary school he went to. Thankfully, he's starting to branch out at church and get to know the kids his age. I'm sure that will be a perfect place to learn how to be a good friend. :-)

Makayla's preschool experience has been an extremely positive presence in her life. Maki has some emotional and behavioral issues that are a result of her bio-mom's use of drugs and alcohol when she was pregnant with Maki. The preschool she goes to is actually through the school system and she's already on an I.E.P. which is why she's eligible for the preschool program. They've given her speech therapy and worked with her on things like her "lack of" attention, defiant behaviors, interrupting others, etc... She's not been officially diagnosed with any acronyms (thankfully), but we're hoping that the early intervention will alleviate the need for excessive intervention later in life.

Sorry for the long update today... It's pretty out of character for me to go on and on... but since I actually had a few minutes of semi-quiet today I thought I'd go all out!

Have a gracious day!

Portrait Innovations...

Just a moment to update the blog...

• Brendan had his birthday on the 18th! He's nine now and oh my! how they grow so fast.
  

• I got my hair cut today. Shocker for me too... it's still shoulder length, but layered. I think I'm gonna like it. Time will tell. At least, for now, it feels much lighter. Maybe the headaches will go away :-)

• Brendan and I got to spend some quality time out together on Wed. We hit the library for a while, shopped at Marcs (had to get some Pepsi on sale 5/$10 ha ha), and then went to A&W for lunch. Brendan had a foot long doggy and I got the popcorn chicken... it was quite a relaxing time for us and we really enjoyed it!

• School starts in less than a week. Makayla is going to be in an afternoon class this year. Yikes! that will be a big transition for her. But I'm actually looking forward to it for some reason. Brendan is joining Samantha in eCOT this year. He's excited and frightened to do something different, but I think it will do him a world of good to be at home for school.
  

Welcome "Haley Paige Miller"!!!!

Haley Paige Miller was born at 9:47 a.m., she weighs 6 lb. 12 oz. and is 20 inches long. Mom and baby are both doing great!!!