This and That

These adorable little boys are Joel's cousins kids. They live in Nigeria where they are missionaries. The conditions they live in are way below our standards and really quite unbelievable. Joel's cousin Heidi and her husband Andy are home on furlough to have their 3rd child and will be returning back to Nigeria in 6 months. Seeing their pictures and hearing their stories is really incredible. I don't know how they do it....especially with children. Leif (far right) has been having medical issues and they have now discovered a tumor in his brain. These guys are amazing though and just trust God.
They are looking for more support so if you or your church would be interested please let me know and I can get details for you.

I also have a sister who is a missionary in Sweden right now but will be going to Uganda in January. She is also in need of support.

Even though God hasn't called me onto the mission field directly. He has called me to give generously to continue his work through others he has called. It is a high calling. Please pray for both my sister and this wonderful family the Kelloggs as they follow God into places that are unstable and unsafe.

You can follow my sister on her work here: http://www.hispoetry.blogspot.com/


In other news... life is busy.... homeschooling takes up several hours and then there is always baking, cleaning, laundry, oh yeah... I also have two other kids. :-)

Me and my children. Watch out for that one in the middle... he's a handful....at that exact moment he was probably figuring out how to either lunge for the camera or his sisters hair. :-)

My 3 amazing blessings. They are all growing in knowledge and stature. Too quickly by my standards. Abby is growing into a little lady. She has such a heart for God and helping people. She is thriving in our homeschool and loves the coop. She is enrolled in science, art, music, and basketball. She has also started Awana sparkies and loves it. She is my little social butterfly.

Emily too has been thriving. She loves living up here and each days asks where we get to go for the day. She sits in on homeschool with Abby and I and is learning a lot herself. She is in the Awana cubbies this year but won't go without me so I guess I am now in the cubbies room helping too.

Kenan is 8 months already. He is a busy boy. Always has to have something occupying his hands. He loves food and loves his sisters. Lately he is becoming a bit of a mama's boy. I can't put him down for too long. He has his 2 top and 2 bottom teeth in. He is a charmer and always smiling.

Outlive your Life

Out Live Your Life by Max Lucado

Max Lucado is one of the best authors... he is so good at making the Bible come alive and relevant for today. In his new book he talks about how the ordinary person can make a big difference. He challenges the Christians of today to live our the Bible in our own lives and serve others at every opportunity we get. He inspires you to do the extraordinary.

He takes you through the book of Acts to show how bible day Christians did challenge themselves and serve and step out of their comfort zones. This book was really an encouragement to me to get going. We don't have forever... but what we do here counts. At the end of the book he has a discussion guide for group study. What a great way to get geared up and be accountable to serve God. God has a higher calling on our lives. If we simply keep to ourselves and our little circle of those we feel comfortable with how can he use us? We must step out and reach out. These are critical times and we must change the world!

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.'" Mathew 25:34-36 I received this book for free from Tommy Nelson Publishing as part of their book review program. I was not paid, and not required to write a positive review.

Children's book

One Hand, Two Hands by Max Lucado--

This book was an adorable book. I read it to my girls and right away they wanted to do things to be helpful. Max Lucado is such a wonderful writer and really is able to inspire others to live out our values.

In this latest book of his, he shows kids how they can be a help and encouragement to others by what they do with their hands. It is all written in a rhyme with cute illustrations. It is a very sweet book that every parent and grandparent will want their little ones to read.



*** I received this book for free from Tommy nelson publishing. I was not required to write a positive review

another book review

The Butterfly Effect by Andy Andrews


This book was a quick inspiring read. It took me through history and showed me how a chain of events led people to change the world. It starts off with the law of Sensitive Dependence Upon Intital Conditions. "A butterfly could flap its wings and set moleclues of air in motion, which would move other molecules of air, in turn moving more molecules of air-- eventually capable of starting a hurricane on the other side of the planet." The book then goes from Chamberlain and how he contributed all the way to George Washington Carver and then to you.

It is a thought provoking book that has encouraged me to do all that I do for the Glory of God. You just never know how your own life might change the world.

"Every single thing you do matters. You have been created as one of a kind. You have been created in order to make a difference. You have within you the power to change the world." -Andy Andrews


It would make an excellent gift book. It walks hand-in hand with the childrens book, The boy who changed the world.

****I have been given a copy to review for free from Tommy Nelson Publishing. I am not required to write a positive review.

Book Review

The Boy Who Changed the World, by Andy Andrews.

This is an endearing book that my kids and I have read again and again. It is about the choices we make and how they will affect the future. It tells the story of a man who crossed paths with other men in order to come about world change. It takes you through actual events that happened in history. It is a story to get you and your little ones thinking about how much their lives matter. The people we are around truly can influence us to greatness and we are all created for a reason.
The illustrations are beautifully done and I highly recommend this book for every child to discover.



This book was given to me for free from tommy nelson publishers and I was not required to write a positive review.

Life

Time is fleeting.... I haven't been on here in so long but I do have several good excuses.

The move went well and so has the adjusting. We all miss our home and friends there but we also love our new life. We have a huge yard with big oak trees that we have hung tire swings from. I love walking out my door and having nature all around. We have had some run-ins with rats and mice and chipmunks in our garage. Our first week here after seeing deer in our yard, Abby told us that she loves it here because of all the wildlife she can see.... she then goes on to rattle off; rats and mice and skunks and bats. I inwardly cringe because if that is what we see up here why would we want to be here? :-)

I have taken on the task of feeding the calves at my parents ranch. It is some good extra money for us and I like that I can bring my kids with me on the job. It is hard to get it accomplished each day though since I have to come in the morning and with kids sleeping schedules it seems Kenan wakes up first and is ready to go back for a nap when the girls wake up. I also come and feed again every night at dinnertime. I feel as if I now have 13 kids. :-)

My little man is growing so quickly. He has 2 bottom teeth and is now working and very close to having his two top ones. He is sitting like a champ and will roll to wherever he wants to go. He is still just such a delight.
Emily has had the toughest time with the move and it is coming out in physical health for her. She has been really tired and even runs fevers off and on. She's just not quite herself. She is starting to come out of her shell a little bit though and is even excited to go places and meet new people. (For those of you who know my Emmy, she is very, very introverted)
Abby is great. She talks about our old home a lot and says she wants to go back but then in the next breath she talks about how much she likes it here. She is a funny child! She has actually become a little more introverted. She is scared to go to Awana and Homeschool coop. My girls swapped.

Life is about to take a whole new road for us. We start homeschool next week and with that we will be participating in a coop. Abby and Emily will be going to school on Mondays. What I love about it is I can be there the whole time and participate too. Abby will be in science and art and basketball, and Emily and Abby will be in music. Each semester has different classes I can enroll them in. The older classes even have chemistry and german. The neatest thing to me about the coop is that I can train my children at home, which is the biblical mold for a family to function, and still have them participating and learning cooperation and competition ect...one day a week in a setting which I love. I have decided to teach Abby using My Father's World this year. We'll see how it goes. I feel like I have lots to do before I start next week. I'm also teaching Emily's pre-school class for the first two weeks of school at the coop.

It is funny how different seasons of mothering can be. One stage you're changing diapers and learning how to feed them solids ect... and the next you are teaching classes and moving on to way more complex things for them to grasp.

Joel and I are really looking forward to the basement getting done. We are all crammed into a two bedroom right now. We sleep in the living room so the kids could have normacly and have bedrooms. My sister-in-law Paula painted the girls bedroom purple for us and suprised us when we moved up. It is my favorite room. Life seems very busy- from digging window wells to ripping apart the basement to re-building it... there isn't a dull moment.

I don't have a computer or a home telephone at the moment. We do hope to get one eventually but for now we're just getting by. I need to get a portable memory stick one of these days so I can download some pictures on it to post. I will have lots of them.

I've also been reading lots of good books lately that I will be posting reviews about soon.

Well-- if you stuck through to the end congrats! I just wanted to sum up life and now I'm off to bed.