Spuratic Blogging

So apparently I'm incapable of blogging regularly ehhe! I guess I sometimes wonder what to blog about. I don't know if there is anything spectacular going on. I have started doing the occasional special in church. I LOVE singing. I spend a good chunk of my day singing. My daughter calls the hymnal a bible and now brings it to me open to a random page begging me to "sing song?" Its been really wonderful to be singing praises to my God about just what a wonderful change he has done in my life! I'm never nervous either, I used to get nervous when I'd sing in my parents' church as a kid/teen but now whenever I'm sitting there waiting to go up I'm just praying that God will bless my singing and that His light can shine through me! I'm just so lucky that God gave me a voice to sing with and a new heart to sing about! I'm looking for the sheet music for a particular hymn "The Holy City" Creepy as it may sound my dad asked me a LONG time ago (back when I was a teen I'm pretty sure) to sing this song for him at his funeral. Not that I'm expecting his funeral any time soon but I think I'd like to find the music and sing it a few times so that I get it sunk in really well, I can't imagine how hard it will be to sing at my father's funeral but I'm not really going to spend any time thinking about it. Anyways, I'm going to get it rehearsed and then sing it in church and invite him!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dif2lKHOIQA

The Holy City

Last night I lay asleeping
There came a dream so fair,
I stood in old Jerusalem
Beside the temple there
I heard the children singing
And ever as they sang,
Methought the voice of Angels
From Heaven in answer rang
"Jerusalem, Jerusalem!
Lift up you gates and sing,
Hosanna in the highest.
Hosanna to your King!"

And then methought my dream was chang'd
The streets no longer rang
Hush'd were the glad Hosannas
The little children sang
The sun grew dark with mystery,
The morn was cold and chill
As the shadow of a cross arose
Upon a lonely hill
"Jerusalem, Jerusalem!
Hark! How the Angels sing,
Hosanna in the highest,
Hosanna to your King!"

And once again the scene was chang'd
New earth there seem'd to be,
I saw the Holy City
Beside the tideless sea
The light of god was on its streets
The gates were open wide,
And all who would might enter
And no one was denied.
No need of moon or stars by night,
Or sun to shine by day,
It was the new Jerusalem
That would not pass away
"Jerusalem! Jerusalem
Sing for the night is o'er
Hosanna in the highest
Hosanna for evermore!"

Don't pray for patience.

I'm sure I've heard the statement "don't pray for patience, or God will test yours" plenty of times in my life but I don't think I've ever needed patience like I've needed it since having children. I would definately say that we are still a much happier bunch around here since I stopped talking on the phone so much. Of course being the humans that we are, some days are more trying than others.

Every child has their own way of "throwing fits" some children do it all kick, scream, cry etc. Others just pick their favorite and stick to it. Danielle cries. Its sort of a whining, grating, angry cry. I hate the sound of it. It makes my shoulders tense up and my teeth clench. I love my daughter immeasurably more than I ever thought I could... but when she starts that crying, I feel so frustrated. Today, I tried to just keep praying. While she was crying at me, I prayed. I didn't pray for patience I just prayed that God would help me to handle her crying appropriately and I really feel that it helped. I was able to calmly explain to her how inappropriate her behavior was and that she needed to stop. Usually, that works once but then I lose my patience and often will shout at her - that doesn't help.

Then there is Jack. I stopped scheduling him again... that was WRONG! He was so predictable. 7am wake up, 9am - 10:30am nap, 1pm-3pm nap and 7pm bedtime. I got lazy. When he would get up at 7am I started bringing him to my bed to nurse him, this part isn't new, but usually after he'd finished I'd bring him out here and plop him with some toys while I made tea and read emails etc. The lazy part is that I started just dozing off and letting him doze too. The results were not concerning at first, he would just sleep till 9am and then take one afternoon nap and still go to bed around 7pm. But now this week has been HORRIBLE! He sleeps till 9:30 or 10am and then gets really tired and grump by 11 or 12 to the point where I figure "fine, go to sleep then" and then he only naps for about an hour, wakes up miserable then is tired again by about 2 or 3pm and again naps for an hour waking up miserable. By 6pm he's losing it and so I try putting him to bed only to have him wake up in 30mins freaking out! Jack NEEDS his schedule back. Its now 9pm and he's awake again... so I have to go. I will be busy putting Jack back on his schedule next week.

Day 2

Well today is day 2 of no phone, no internet while the kids are awake. Its going surprisingly well! I can't believe how enjoyable it is! Danielle is super happy to have my full attention. This morning we colored pictures, made rice krispy squares and folded laundry together! I thought I would really miss the "adult" time on the phone... but its truly amazing what a lovely little girl I have when I'm actually really here for her. She listens to me better and is less whiny and is just happier overall! I think I'll need a little bit of "adult" time sometimes though so I think I'll head off to playgroup tomorrow, that way she can get some play time with other kids too.

The other thing I've been working on is drinking water. I always thought you were supposed to drink 8 cups of water a day to be healthy. WELLLLLLL, recently someone told me that you're supposed to take your weight (in lbs), divide it by 2 and thats how many ounces of water you should drink each day. I won't tell you how much water I have to drink, but lets just say its more than 8 cups. Surprisingly, I'm doing rather well at that also... and the days that I've succeeded are the days that I feel better! Well anyways, off to drink a glass of water a call a friend while the kids nap!

What a fantastic weekend!

Here are some much better pictures taken by my mother in law!

What a fantastic weekend! My brother, his wife and their 3 boys got here Saturday evening about 5pm. We had sushi for supper (except Aaron and the kids, they had hot dogs). After supper we put the littlest kids to bed, called a babysitter and then took the older 3 kids to the hotel and we all went swimming - loads of fun! Sunday morning came and I was only a little bit (dripping with sarcasm) nervous about giving my testimony... I just tried not to think about it and whenever I did, I just said a little prayer that God would give me the words to speak and that I wouldn't cry to hard, or talk too long! The message was really great and got me thinking hard about my first responsibility aside from serving God. Being a keeper at home. Titus 2:4-5 "That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed." I just got thinking about this not long ago after reading someone else's blog entry about it but yesterday's message really convicted me. God has a plan for everyone and His plan for women is to care for their home and their children. I always felt that I was already doing this and was happily patting myself on the back for being within God's will. What struck me was whether or not I'm doing an adequate job of it. Sometimes we just get so busy doing things that we forget that we are not just babysitters of our children, we are here to teach them how to love God. We get caught up with what we'll feed them, if the house is clean, the laundry done, changing diapers, wiping noses etc that we ignore them. (for me it was putting my 2 yr old in front of the TV and then when I got rid of the TV I just spent all day talking on the phone or playing on the computer) I've decided I need to be much more present as a mother and so this morning I shut the ringer off on my phone, called no one and have only just sat down at my computer because both kids are napping. Danielle and I had a lovely morning! This isn't just about getting along better with my children either. The bible shows us that the consequences of not adequately training (lots of ppl hate that word in reference to children so I'll also add 'teaching' as a suitable alternate) our children are serious. Look what the bible says about it....

1 Sam 3:13 "For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not."

Its our responsibility to restrain our children, this verse doesn't talk about the children being judged for being vile, but their FATHER for not restraining them!

Prov 29:15 "The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame."

This makes me think of all the times that I've said to myself "how embarrassing".

Prov 29:17 "Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul."

I want my children to be a delight unto my soul! I am going to try to memorize these verses so that whenever I think "my child is just terrible!" I can remind myself that it is MY responsibility to keep my children from making themselves vile... they won't turn out to be nice people all on their own!

Ok now on to the fun part. After the service I was called up to give my testimony. I think I basically said everything that I said in my first blog entry. It wasn't as hard as I thought and I only cried a few times. After I was done Aaron got up and asked to have his church membership reinstated. (if you want to know why his membership had been removed, read this lengthy article and it will make sense http://www.baptistpillar.com/bd0626.htm ) The parts of his testimony that really struck me was how he said that it all started with just not reading his bible everyday. Then he stopped listening in church and stopped seeking God first in his life. Quickly sin crept into his life as he started just doing what HE wanted to do. It makes me realize how we need to guard ourselves that we don't compromise what we believe. After he gave his testimony I went down and got changed into an old skirt and t-shirt to get baptized. I was last. The water was warm and I could see Aaron, holding Danielle, while standing next to his Dad, who was holding Jack. Aaron pointed me out to Danielle who looked at me and then proclaimed "Mommy!" with a big smile across her face. My brother came to the front of the church and started taking pictures. Pastor Reaves asked me a few questions to assure that I understood why I was being baptized and confirm that I knew this made me a member of the church. I voiced my understanding and agreed to becoming a church member and then he said those words "I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost" and down I went... And up I came! What a wonderful reminder of Jesus' death and resurrection... I know I'll never fully comprehend the depth of His love for us.

After the service I was welcomed into my new family with loving arms! My brother and his wife joined us at my in-laws for a nice big roast beef lunch and loads of fun and visiting. While we were there Aaron's sister presented their mom with the gift we'd all chipped in for - a porch swing to go on the deck that my FIL is building for her. My MIL presented me with a surprise, a plaster mold of my kids hands! She had snuck them off to do it while I was sewing over there the other day... it was a lovely surprise! All the kids had a blast jumping on the trampoline, swinging and sliding.

Here's a picture of my mother's day gift!



Thats it I think.

Getting Baptized today!

Well I'm up pretty early, just about to sit down and do my devotions and thought I'd post on here. People have been asking me lately if I'm excited about today and the answer is most definately yes. Really nervous about giving my testimony though. I'm an outgoing, talkative kinda person... however, getting up in front of the entire church is going to be a little frightening. I have been praying that God will give me the words to speak so that I can tell the important things and not babble too long or cry to hard. I'm just so happy that God is working in my life and that I am continuing to grow spiritually. This is just the first step in obedience to God and I am enthusiatic to take it!!!

I'm sure it would make sense to post a picture of me so I will post these two in honour of mother's day.

A picture of the day I met my daughter.

And the day I met my son.

I'm a clothing designer!

Well I was just not happy with the clothing options available for my little girl. In order to get the appropriate length of skirt I had to put her in dresses/skirts that were either too big or the same style I wore as a child. Neither option was very appealing to me and since I don't consider myself to be a very good seemstress the idea of making my own was a little overwhelming for me. SOoooo here's what I came up with....

This little brown skirt was a sundress. I cut off the ties and sewed down the flap and voila a skirt! (it already had elastic across the back so I just kept that) I also made a little slip since the brown fabric was a little see through. This was EASY!
These 2 skirts were little denim mini skirts. I came up with the idea to add one chunk of denim in the middle and then a ruffle to the bottom. I think they look great! (I didn't actually do the sewing of these, my MIL did while I sewed all the other stuff that I'm putting up, but I did come up with the idea)


These skirts started off as corduroy pants. I chopped off the legs and then added the additional fabric. I did the blue one first but decided that I didn't like it being so straight so on the purple/pink one I flared the fabric out... at first I was going to use the same fabric for the ruffle but then I messed up and had to cut a chunk off because I was too lazy to stitch rip so I decided it might be fun and different to add a different colored fabric to the bottom for the ruffle - I LOVE it!
Aside from all my skirt sewing for Danielle I also fixed up a skirt I pick up at VV to be a maternity skirt for my SIL by cutting off the top and then re-sewing it with some button hole elastic so that its adjustable. I works great! I hope she likes it!

I got tagged

http://bloominlife.blogspot.com/2008/05/tag-youre-it.html

1. Write your own six word memoir

2.Post it on your blog, and include a visual illustration if you like.

3.Link to the person who tagged you in your post

4.Tag five more blogs with links

5.Remember to leave a comment on the tagged blogs inviting them to play.


I'm so sorry I haven't been on here in a while! I go at it in fits and spurts I suppose. I was really hoping that I wouldn't get tagged on this thing when I saw it on Aunt Debbie's blog!

6 word memoir? Now that just baffles me. I try not to think too hard about myself but have had such a wonderful productive day that I actually feel positive about myself today!

I'm creative, outgoing, naive, compassionate, open and passionate (that was the nice word I thought of to describe that I'm a little quick to anger sometimes..... hehe)

Is this what I'm supposed to do? Maybe I should actually spend some time reading blogs so that I'll know whats going on!