Waiting for Labor

I didn't write this, but wish I had... enjoy :)

Waiting

Dear Baby, here beneath my heart,
I thought that you might come today;
The timing seemed just right.

But the stars are out
And the moon is high
And sheepishly I wonder why
I try to arrange the plans
Of God.

For now I know
You will not come
Until the One who holds eternity
Rustles your soft cocoon
And whispers in tones that I will not hear,
"It's time, precious gift."

"Now it's time."

-by Robin Jones Gunn

Boredom Buster!

It was a boring Saturday night. We've been home a lot lately, and we'd already played, painted, and goofed around all day. We watched a movie at rest time and were at a loss as to what to do after dinner.

Lee and I stared blankly at each other, knowing that if we didn't think of something, the kids might destroy the house... or each other.

So I came up with an idea to fill a good hour. We played a "10 Minute Game." Here are the rules:

1. Put the names of all family members in a hat.
2. When someone has their name drawn, they get to choose what the family does for 10 minutes.
3. Set a timer, and go at it! Everyone must participate in some way. They then draw who goes next.

So an hour later, we had gone through everyone, and we had a lot of fun! What did we choose to do?

Abby: Color
Katie: Pretend to be dogs (which included puppy wrestling piles)
Nathan: Wrestle
Daddy: Marco Polo
Mommy: Eat Ice Cream :)

So, we'll probably pull that idea out again... hope it helps the next time you're at home and wondering how to fill the time, without just throwing in a movie.

41 Weeks

What else do you do when 41 weeks pregnant to pass the time? You play in Photoshop! At least I do...



This is for you, Jenna! You can see more on FB.

A Time To Be Born...

I am 41 weeks pregnant today, and so I’m caught in yet another round of waiting. I started blogging about waiting a couple of years ago, and since then, I’ve realized that it’s just a normal part of life. The good news is that I’m getting better at it! It’s not always easy, especially if I have to find something that fits to wear to church one more time… and I can’t help but feel a little like a watched pot by all the people I know and love… but God is faithful and I’ve been really encouraged by praise songs such as “In the Waiting” and “Everlasting God.”

“There is a time for everything… a time to be born.” Ecclesiastes 3:2.

So while I wait, I play with my kids, get together with friends, organize my home, go on extra dates with Lee, get small projects done I wouldn’t make time for ordinarily, and enjoy the feeling of a baby growing inside of me. It really is a miracle, and I’m so thankful to be blessed to be a part of it.

“Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him.” Ps 37:7a

Baby Names

We are having a really tough time with a boy's name. I know he'll be here soon, and usually we have a short list we're working off of by now, but we keep shooting down every name we sort of like. We like it for a few days, and then instead of growing on us, it becomes worse and worse in our minds.

Of course I'm hearing a lot of names of girls that I really like, and I could have a really long list of options, but perhaps because it's not a girl I'm more open to the girl names... since I know I won't really need one.

This is the first time we've found out if it's a boy or girl, and it's been the hardest name discussion ever. I wonder if that's connected somehow? Or it could be that it's the 4th child. Or that we're just being really picky.

We went to a baby name genie online (a cute app) and it kept spitting out the "perfect" name. It was funny, because every time we pushed "try again" it would say something funny like, "That was a good one. You are incredibly hard to please!"

We either don't like the way the name sounds w/ our last name, or it isn't strong enough, or you can't make a nick name out of it, or we don't like the potential nick name, or we've known too many people with that name, or it doesn't match the other kids' names... on and on it goes.

I feel bad, because when friends and family suggest possible names, my immediate reaction is almost always to scrunch up my nose and say "Nah...." Everything from classic strong names like Michael and William to more trendy ones like Parker and Harrison... names always on my short list in the past that I really like.

So... we might have a baby named "boy" for awhile. I didn't think of Abby's until the day I went into labor. My devotions that morning were about Abigail in the story of David and I thought, "Abby! That's cute!" So maybe we'll see what my Bible Reading brings me that day.

Time will tell! :)

Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't...

Sometimes I have great ideas w/ my kids that work magically. And other times, not so much...

A success story: My girls argued endlessly about who sat next to me during meal times. I created a plan... a long-term plan. It started with us drawing numbers for our seats at every meal. Yes, it was tedious, but we worked on being content and thankful for where they were. (Didn't always work though...) We then progressed to phase two, where they each got to rotate who sat next to me at each meal. Then, we switched to where they'd switch daily. Now, after months, we're where I was hoping to get - we switch weekly. This week, Abby sits next to me. Next week, it's Katie's turn. There are no complaints, they just understand. It's beautiful.

(In case you're wondering, Nate, being the youngest, always gets this place of honor. Now when the baby comes... we'll have to start over.)

But here's a not so successful story: We had a chipped bowl, and the girls didn't want to eat with it, so I explained that it was special, like Chip in Beauty and the Beast, and should be treated special so it wasn't left out. My point? To get them to use the silly bowl and stop complaining.

How it backfired? They started arguing over who got to use the chipped bowl.

So... back to the "learn to be content in every circumstance" lesson...

A Second Chance

I just love homeschooling my kids. There are so many reasons, I can't even begin to list them in this blog, but I came up with a new one last week - it's a second chance for me!

I had a great time in school, made a lot of friends, was in activities I loved, and overall had a lot of fun. However, beyond the 3 R's, how much did I retain?

Homeschooling is a way for me to relearn what I didn't retain the first time! I get to experience things that I might have missed the first time around.

Here are some silly examples: I was horrible at clay in elementary school. My animal looked like a foot. My pot cracked in the kiln and I wasn't able to decorate it. Everything I tried was a disaster. Last week, the girls and I were making clay polar animals from studying the North and South Poles, and I was having a blast forming little polar bears, seals, and arctic foxes. And guess what - they look really cute! I'm really proud of them! I'm glad I get the chance to re-do clay! :)

We're studying geography this year, using "Galloping the Globe" unit studies, and I never knew that Polar Bears were in the north pole and Penguins were in the south. Did you know that Polar Bears have clear hair that only looks white, like snow? And when they eat seals, they don't eat the meat, just the blubber and skin. The meat gets eaten by other animals such as foxes.

The read-aloud books have been a lot of fun too. We fly through them, and I can't believe how many great books are out there. (There are a lot that I find boring that we don't finish as well, but as the teacher, I can choose to not finish them...)

With phonics, did you know that there's a rule "it's K but not C with an I or an E?" So the words Cat, Con, and Cute start with a C, but Kid and Ken start with K - because of the rule. Maybe I did learn that at some point, but it was really fun to find out that there was some sort of logic to the spelling madness.

There are oodles of things like that every day that I get to re-learn, and it is so much more interesting to me now as an adult, and I imagine will only continue to peak my interest as the subject matter gets more interesting.

So I guess you could say I'm really enjoying being in second grade again!

(I did take a "true age test" on facebook and it said I was nine years old, so I guess it shouldn't come as a big surprise.)

Does anyone want to play double dutch jump rope or make friendship bracelets with me?