Nephew Wisdom

"Man, you are lucky you guys have a sliding door. We had an open in and out one and whenever I was getting my shoes on I always got bonked in the butt."

It is about to get a tad more crazy here...

If one can imagine more crazy, that is.

My sister, her hubby and her four children are moving into a house in the village this weekend, (as I type, in fact).

I am excited, anxious, happy, nervous, delighted and exhausted.

Truth be told. I don't know what life will be like.

Yet, I can't wait to find out and I am sure YOU will be the first to hear all about it.

I have already learned one extremely simple yet invaluable lesson.

When there are only three strawberries left, do not offer them to one child. For she will inevitably run outside and scream at the top of her lungs, "Strawberries". To which I am forced to explain myself, no less than 5 times to no less than 5 children, that the strawberries are all gone, no more, nada.

Sigh... this is going to be a very interesting ride and, no doubt, the kids are going to have some awesome memories in the making :)

Love you, sis! Welcome to the village:)

A little behind

Yes, I am still reading the Twilight series.

I am stuck in #3 and can't get past it. It's not really my genre, but I am trying.

Yes, I have new recipes to share, but first I have to take care of the 5468 cucumbers, 752 peppers and a handful of tomatoes, broccoli and zucchini that my garden insists on producing. I absolutely cannot stand veggie abortions.

Ryan's birthday is Saturday, I have to find a sitter so I can take him out for some seafood.

I have THREE birthdays to plan for in October, plus one niece one best friend and college roomie and one sister in law. Gavin is 6 on the 8th, Nora will be 1 on the 15th and Addi is 2 on the 25th.

I am trying to keep up the pace, but I feel one step or actually about a hundred steps behind.

Hope you are keeping up!

I am stuffed now.

It's been a good harvest.

I made spaghetti with my homemade tomato sauce tonight. It's more of a veggie sauce really. Carrots, tomatoes, green peppers, onions, garlic, fresh basil, olive oil, and red wine all simmered together. I canned two batches earlier this summer. Tonight we were all ravenous and I browned three different meat and added them in. I don't know what I was thinking. I had so much I fed two of my neighbors as well as our whole family and STILL had enough for lunch for me and the girls tomorrow.

I couldn't help thinking how wonderful it feels to be full.

I mean yes, my belly was full. My pantry is full. Goodness, my house is full of so much it could likely explode. By the grace of God I have been ridiculously blessed. The fullness I am thinking of is not physical fullness at all.

that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.(Ephesians 3:16-19)

That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory...to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner manthat Christ may dwell in your heart through faith that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height — to know the love of Christ which passes knowledgethat you may be filled with all the fullness of God.(Ephesians 3:16-19)

So,I felt compelled to act on my feelings and my desire for 'fullness' and I googled this...

If you are wondering HOW to be filled with the Spirit, the prayer in Ephesians 3
offers excellent insight. The precise relevance of this passage is obvious, when
the concluding purpose of the prayer is noted: "that you may be filled with all
the fullness of God."

The opening phrases use the language of grace:
"That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory."

Grace
is about God at work, giving you blessings you cannot deserve.
These
blessings are in proportion to His glorious spiritual riches.
This
perspective fits your studies on the Spirit perfectly, because when the Holy
Spirit is at work, He pours out God's grace.
The initial request pertains to
an inner working of the Spirit: "to be strengthened with might through His
Spirit in the inner man." Note that this request is made on behalf of those who
ALREADY have the Spirit residing in their heart. The specific issue is about
receiving new measures of spiritual power at the core of your being.

The
desired result of this work of the Spirit is "that Christ may dwell in your
heart through faith."

Jesus is present in the heart of every believer.
Here, He is being asked to settle down fully and make Himself at home.
Jesus
is being given free rein to rearrange your innermost being to fit His good
pleasure.
Allowing Jesus to rule your heart requires the empowering work of
the Holy Spirit to break past spiritual obstacles such as apathy, fear,
self-focus, and temptations.
To allow Jesus to lead you in His way, you need
the Holy Spirit enabling you to stay in God's word, to pray without ceasing, to
worship daily, and to fellowship regularly.
Then, as Jesus rearranges your
inner life, He wants to anchor every aspect of your life in God's love: "that
you, being rooted and grounded in love." With this, He wants to you to
experience the dimensions of His love, which are beyond mere head knowledge: "to
comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height
— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge."

This Holy Spirit
process is always leading to more spiritual fullness: "that you may be filled
with all the fullness of God."

Yeah, that's the fullness I was thinking about.

Amen.

Lou Lou meets Mr. Frog in the sand

Mr. Toad

Nora Lou Lou

Late night sandbox party, Little Lou's first time in the sand.

Hi Grandma!

Seven loves...

I'm in. Tagged by my lovely blog girlfriend Karen...

Seven things I love;

1) surprises - yep I am all for not knowing what the sex of the baby is, surprise parties, surprise get out of the house days, surprise naps...if you want to visit just stop on by and surprise me - I get too stressed out trying to plan the perfect time

2)shoes - I have too many, but I love them all, slippers, boots, flip-flops, heels- I am an equal opportunity shoe buyer and that probably goes for purses, too and books and earrings and...

3)singing - I love to sing. I am always making up songs for the kiddos or humming an old tune, I have a really good poopy song I'll share with you all someday, I know you just can't wait for it

4)reading/learning - I read everything, the cereal box, the shampoo bottle, the school calendar, the paper, blogs, books, and the Bible - I should say I love vocabulary, it's the words that get me and learning - I could go back to school in minute, I love learning new things, I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up

5)cooking/baking/canning - I really think it takes my stress away to work in the kitchen I love it more than I ever thought I would. I don't know what I like better, hearing the kids say,"mmmmmm" after I throw together a new recipe or looking at my cabinets full of beautiful jars... now the mess/clean up is a totally different story

6)chocolate - milk, dark, semisweet it don't matter I wuv it all

7)my awesome God - singing and praising and praying and thanking Him for his grace and mercy on my poor, miserable, sinful, life - AMEN

I need whatever the generic brand of Calgon is...

This whole mobile baby thing is too much.

So far today she;

• spilled my coffee
• tossed apples around (we picked at mom's yesterday and I had them in a bucket)
• ate cucumbers (another bucket by the door)
• opened a bottle of sunscreen and squeezed it out (her sister helped with this one)
• emptied my purse and unwrapped all the Trident pieces (those orbit containers are the only way to go, babies can't open them...)
• smooshed her face into the screen door several times
• pulled her sisters hair and bit my toe
• pushed open the doors to her siblings' rooms and wreaked havoc

Now tell me, how am I ever going to get the pickles done and the apples peeled?

I want to tie them both up.

Just called dad to vent and he is flying to Ann Arbor today. Wish it was me...I need a bubble bath.

Gotta go, niether of them is in view, which means T.R.O.U.B.L.E.

the writing on the wall...

Gavin: "Mom, when am I going to get glasses!"

Mom: "Hopefully never."

Gavin: "I can't read a thing."

Fresh eyes

I met a family today. They moved into the neighborhood two weeks ago. She walks past my house everyday to go and get her kids from school. I said hello to her today, for the first time. We chatted a bit. She caught me off guard, as she looked at my toy laden back yard, and asked if I did daycare. "No, I used to, well...it's a long story..." I didn't get into it. I asked her where she worked. She is looking for a job. She use to be a lunch lady in Brandon. We chit chatted about school, small towns and how to get bed upstairs in tiny old homes. It was nice.

It exhausts me to think about filling a new person in on the events of my life in the past few years. I. just. don't. want. to. do. it. Maybe I will sometime. Or maybe, I will let our little town tell the story itself. We'll see.

Gabby Addi

Other perfectly acceptable titles for this post definitely include:

• Chip off the ol' block
• Like mother like daughter
• Say it, sister
• She keeps going and going like the energizer bunny.

Last night, at the dinner table we were all trying to get a word in when we noticed Addi babbling away. She went on and on and on before I even thought to grab the camera and record it. She was so cute with her hand gestures and her 'know it all' voice. She just kept going. Forgive the giggles, we could hardly contain ourselves. I know what you are thinking. Yes, I am sure my mother would agree this is just about how I started out, too. I love how she hardly stops to shove a french fry in her mouth...just like me. What have I created? Poor thing.

Counting my blessings...

I came across this challenge about blessings at a wonderful blog called Holy Experience that is all about seeing beauty in your blessings.  I am thinking about joining her gratitude community and counting my 1000+ blessings. She starts her week out with a post entitled Multitude Monday. Each one of her posts reads like a chapter in a book, it's heart warming. My kids love swaying to the music on her blog. Nora is dancing right now to it as I have her site open in another window just to listen :)

I know it's not Monday, but my blessings are many everyday. Today, I am especially thankful for 4 healthy and wonderful children and a husband who loves me and my children more than I can describe in words. Sunday he spent hours constructing a tree house for them and they were so thankful, they kept calling him the "best dad in the whole world" and you know what? They are absolutely correct!