Instagram Sunday

I promise this won't become the only time i post.

lovin' from the brother...she can't get enough!

learning to make hendrix guacamole.

school left waiting to do later in the day.

i was challenged by reading a friend's blog this week,
to try to get in at least one photo with your kids each week.
i'll admit i'm always behind the camera, so they don't have
a lot of pictures with me. this is of the apple pie bakers (with
the pie in the background).

our apple pie.

seeing the lion king in 3-D.

Instagram Sunday

i started using instagram on my phone to take my photos and add some spunk. my hope in using it was to capture just everyday moments. not the huge events of life, but my everyday experiences to help me remember. my hope is to share with you my ordinary moments once a week through photo. this first time, i pulled several of my favorites since i started using the program (from the 114 that i have).

apples

we went apple picking this morning up in indiana. it was a glorious day. sunny, but not hot. because of the civil war football game today (UK vs. UofL) we practically had the place to ourselves. we went with friends and the 6 kids ran through the orchards without fear of bothering someone else.


alaythia had decided that she wanted to bake an apple pie with some of our harvest. i was going to attempt it, but then was reminded of a family recipe for 'fresh apple cake'. it is in the oven as i type. i thought i would share the recipe since it was very kid friendly in terms of cooking together.

i probably still will bake a pie with the remainder of our apples. but for now, this was perfect! thanks aunt dianne for sharing the recipe!

FRESH APPLE CAKE

MIX: 4 C. DICED APPLES (DO NOT PEEL)
2 C. SUGAR

ADD: 1/2 C. VEGETABLE OIL
2 EGGS, BEATEN
2 tsp VANILLA

MIX THE FOLLOWING INGREDIENTS AND ADD TO ABOVE:
2 C. FLOUR
2 tsp BAKING SODA
2 tsp CINNAMON
1 tsp SALT

BAKE IN GREASED 9X13 PAN @ 350 DEGREES FOR 45 MINUTES. THIS CAKE IS DELICIOUS WITH OUT ANY FROSTING. YOU CAN ADD A BIT OF FRESH WHIPPED CREAM OR VANILLA ICE CREAM.

the girls enjoying the harvest a little early....

sara groves is always perfectly timed

I believe in a blessing I don’t understand.

I’ve seen rain fall on the wicked and the just

Rain is no measure of his faithfulness

He withholds no good thing from us.

No good thing from us.

I believe in a peace that flows deeper than pain.

The broken find healing and love

Pain is no measure of his faithfulness

He withholds no good thing from us.

No good thing from us.

I will open my hands will open my heart.

I will open my hands will open my heart.

I am nodding my head an emphatic yes

to all that you have for me.

I believe in a fountain that will never dry.

Though I’ve thirsted and didn’t have enough.

Thirst is no measure of his faithfulness

He withholds no good thing from us.

No good thing from us.

I will open my hands will open my heart

I will open my hand will open my heart.

I am nodding my head an emphatic

yes to all that you have for me.

my daughters

recently i have been deeply convicted that i have been failing my daughters.

i grew up in a home where i heard my father praise my mother for the job she was doing. i heard him speak to the value of all her hard work - in the home. and i know, as a result, i knew homemaking was my calling. it was what i aspired to. it's what i grew up valuing and longing for. if you've ever spent any amount of time with me i'm sure you've heard me spout off about it. i believe strongly in it's virtue and value and am quick to give my reasons.

but i've realized recently that i have been failing to pass this on to my own daughters. my own daughters! the future mothers that are living in my home at this very moment. what in the world have i been doing to instill these things that i value, into them?

it's confession time. if i'm honest, in the recent months, i have not been taking joy in my job. i have not found joy in the laundry, in picking up the playroom for the MILLIONTH time. in grocery shopping or scrubbing toilets. i do it, but i don't do it with a happy heart. i had become resentful and irritated. and naively thought that it didn't matter. that as long as it was done, i was doing my duty. duty hear it?... but i realized that my girls are watching! they see (and hear) me complain. they observe my feelings about the whole thing. and they are drawing their own conclusions.

it was shocking for me to realize this. because i DO love being home with my kids. sure it's hard and mind numbing at times. when you're in the trenches it is hard to see anything else but all the walls built up around you. but the reality is i would not do anything else! i would not! and it took stepping back out of it all for a minute (and being kicked in the butt by rachel jankovic) to be reminded of the joy. the true and real joy that comes in laying your life down JOYFULLY for someone else. there is joy there. storehouses full. but it must be a laying down of your entire life. you can't hold any piece of it back. because that one piece can build into resentment, in self entitlement. and suddenly the thing you once longed for and loved has become a burden that you try desperately to shake.

i want my girls (and my son) to know that i love what i do. i don't want to try to fake it so that they think i do. i want them to see and know and experience that i truly do love it - because i do. sure i wish they'd pick up their toys and hit the toilet more often than not... but the reality is, it's my job. it's what i've given my life to. it's what i want to do. and i hope with all my heart that one day my girls will too.

second, i realized that they are reaching an age where i need to start inviting them into my joy of homemaking. the love of taking care of others. it's already there in them. i don't have to muster it up or force it on them. i just need to take the time to encourage what is naturally manifesting itself in their hearts.

alaythia LOVES to cook, but i hate to let her do it. it takes twice the amount of time and makes double the mess. but she wants to do it. she wants to cook and set it on the table and tell everyone that she made it for them - that she is caring for them. she wants to fold the laundry and mop the floor. and i need to let her - and show her - how to do it. invite her into the homemaking that she already desires to do. the things she chooses to do, the things she finds joy in.

sophia loves her baby dolls. she feeds them, pushes them around, sings to them and sleeps with them. she's a little mini mama. just the other day i found her in the play room alone wrapping a baby up in a blanket and putting it gently in the bassinet. i want and need to do all i can to encourage this in her. and never, never squelch that desire in her.

i've talked and spouted my opinions long enough. now it is my turn, my chance. to form and grow up two future mothers. serve them joyfully, teach them patiently, love them fully and lay my life down for them. all in hopes that one day, they in turn will do the same.

shift

i stopped by a friend's house on sophia's birthday. all my kids were in the van strapped in as we chatted for a second. at the end of the conversation she said, 'i remember when my kids were 2, 4 and 6. i felt a significant shift.' i immediately thought, 'yeah, not me. not yet.'

but i have to admit in the last week i have felt that shift.

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on monday, our last day of summer, we headed to the science center. i had promised isaiah we would go this summer, and i had to keep my word. it was a fantastic day. it had been over a year since we had been and the kids LOVED it. each of them kept busy for 4 hours. exploring, playing, building. no one was in a stroller, no one was just sitting and watching. i enjoyed interacting - and just standing back and watching each of them discover.


as if it wasn't amazing enough, they had a special temporary exhibit on narnia. isaiah lives and breathes narnia. we read him the books, and then bought the books on CD. everyday that i would let him this summer, he would listen to an entire book on CD. sitting for hours building his world with bionicals, knights, dinosaurs, and listening to the books.

so the exhibit held a special interest for all of us. we walked in to find a huge wardrobe...that you had to walk through to enter the exhibit. you could see (through the fur coat and pine trees) the lampost on the other side. there was quite a bit of apprehension because it was so real and i think they thought if they walked through they would really enter narnia.


we saw peter's armor, lifted swords, sat in the white witches throne... isaiah was quiet and took it all in. his world was coming to life. such an amazing and unexpected opportunity for all the kids.

there was a shift - new understanding, new depth of understanding - for everyone.

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school started and that means that the boys are gone all day tuesday and thursday. we had a girly day of tea parties, baby doll play and our own school on tuesday. alaythia is more than ready for school, and after 2 days, it's amazing how she just can't get enough. on tuesday when sophia went down for her nap, we had our own preschool. she worked hard and focused for several hours.



we also baked bread, picked carrots from the garden, mopped the kitchen floor together...and at some point in the day i thought 'surely this must be someone else's life.' it all seemed like something i would hear someone else say they did. not me and my crazy life.

but there was a shift - life seeming more manageable, more space, time to do things together.

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the first day of school is an emotional one. but then once you get through the emotion of it all you realize the real work comes the next day when you have to teach. it's a strange dynamic. but this year i was more ready. felt a little more confidence having one year under my belt. we switched to our classroom being in the playroom, where we can all be together.


but this year, instead of the girls just playing as isaiah and i do school, they both want to be involved. they have their table, they want activities too and they did a great job.


last year sophia was taking a nap during school, this year she work on things with us.


last year alaythia couldn't focus, this year she is asking for more worksheets to do.


isaiah sits at his desk (thanks uncle jake) and works hard.


and suddenly i have a classroom of students. and as i watch each of them do their own things at their own pace, a new deep love and gratefulness rises in me. they are all growing, changing, learning - and i get to witness it all.

and there it was again - a realization of the shift.

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we've had an exceptional week. God has given us some fantastic days. i'm grateful. feeling full with the richness of life and the new adventures that are waiting for us as the kids continue to grow.