Toe-Stepping

I am reading through the book of Romans very slowly these days and Paul, the author of the book of Romans,  is stepping on my toes.  In Romans 12 Paul give a list of sorts of what behaviors typify a Christian.  I fall short in so many areas.  I am exceedingly grateful that Jesus' blood covers all my failings, aren't you?  However, that doesn't mean that we can't do better and with God's help...all things ARE possible.

Here's my checklist version:

1.  Let love be without hypocrisy.
2.  Abhor what is evil.
3.  Cling to what is good.
4.  Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love.
5.  Give preference to others.
6.  Don't lag in diligence.
7.  Be fervent in spirit and serve the Lord.
8.  Rejoice in hope.
9.  Be patient in tribulations.
10.  Be steadfast in prayer.
11.  Distribute to the needs of the saints.
12.  Practice hospitality.
13.  Bless those who persecute  you.
14.  Rejoice with those who rejoice.
15.  Weep with those who weep.
16.  Associate with the humble and do not think yourself wise.
17.  Don't repay evil for evil.
18.  Live at peace with all men as much as you can.
19.  Do not avenge yourself.
20.  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.


You all know how I love lists and love to check off the items that I accomplish.  This list, however, will take a lifetime to complete.  Again, I am so thankful that Jesus' love has covered me with His cloak of righteousness.  His love never fails...even when we do!

Thoughts to Ponder and a Giveaway Reminder

Just wanted to remind you all that the giveaway for Victoria Botkin's Curriculum Advice vol. 1 and 2 ends tonight at midnight!  Click here to sign up in the comments.

Things are a little chaotic around here with some croupy sounding coughs and little boys who need help with shoes and snacks and jackets and, well, pretty much everything!  The following quotes were posted on FB this morning and I thought I would share them very quickly for you to ponder today. 

Now I am off to take care of some kitchen duties that have been piling up all week.   I also noticed that there are a few piles of laundry that have accumulated in the hallway and lots of muffin crumbs in the dining room and, well, you can imagine what all there is to do today after having a quick dinner last night before heading out for piano recital and then home to quickly get the dishes done and then piled the little ones in the beds.  Twelve people make a little more mess than eight people...especially when three of them are three and under!  I know that the work I do in my home is not only for my benefit, but for the benefit of my family and, if done well and with a thankful attitude, brings glory to God.

"Feminism is mixed up with a muddled idea that women are free when they serve their employers but slaves when they help their husbands." ~G.K. Chesterton

You are as much serving God in looking after your own children, and training them up in God's fear, and minding the house, and making your household a church for God, as you would be if you had been called to lead an army to battle for the Lord of hosts." -Charles Spurgeon.

What Last Night Taught Me

Last night our electricity went out because of a storm.  Losing our electricity is not unusual.  Like our water system, our electric system has not kept up with the supply needed by all the new construction in our area.  Even on the sunniest of days we can lose power.

So, what did I learn last night?

1.  We need more flashlights.
2.  Said flashlights need to be put up where two little guys can't get them.
3.  We need lots of batteries for those flashlights.
4.  We need more oil lamps.  Yes, we have two.  One doesn't have a globe, so it needs a new globe.
5.  We need to store oil lamp.
6.  We need to store oil lamp wicks.
7.  When we lose electricity our phones don't work.
8.  Yes, our cell phones will work, but will eventually need to be recharged--using electricity.
9.  Our nebulizers for our asthma medications don't work without electricity.
10.  Yes, we have a nebulizer that will work in the car, but do I really want to go out in the car to take a breathing treatment in a storm with lots of rain, thunder and lightening?
11.  Our refrigerator that provides us with filtered water will not provide us with filtered water without electricity.
12.  Yes, we need filtered water.  Remember, our water system is bad....as in sometimes the water looks like mud.
13.  Yes, dear daughter.  We have water stored for just this purpose.  Check in the boys bedroom closet.
14.  I have plenty of candles.
15.  I  don't have plenty of lighters or matches.
16.  Candle light is kind of romantic, but not when several children are afraid of the storm.

Thankfully we lost electricity at bedtime and it came back on during the night.  I was actually just starting a breathing treatment for myself when the power went out.  I was able to make do with an inhaler.  However, they just don't work as well for me.  The others who needed treatments had already had them.

What if our power was out for several days?  It has happened in this area.  Thankfully, we have not experienced it, but ice and snow tend to cause lots of damage down here in the deep south and there have been areas without power for many weeks.  Have you experienced extended times without electricity?Are you prepared for times with no electricity?  How DO you prepare?

Calendar

I am a planner by nature.  I like to have everything planned out, if possible, before the school year starts.  I don't do well with last minute spontaneous events.  I have to prepare myself ahead of time to be away from home even for the evening.  I don't know if  it's a "getting older" thing or not, but it is what it is.

The other day I was filling in the calendar with our known activities for the year and had a brief moment of panic as I began to think about all the unknowns.  There are many things that I can plan for----what we will study in school, piano lesson times, field trips, vacations, birthdays, work days, etc, but it's the UNKNOWN events that can unravel me.  With a large family there is always a time of sickness--doctor's visits, time that a child just needs to be in the bed, and interrupted sleep because of needed breathing treatments.  We have had our share of broken bones (only Kaelan, but she has managed to break both arms and is still seeing the orthopedic surgeon bi-annually from her last break 3 years ago), emergency room visits, out-patient surgeries and even an ambulance ride and critical care stay.  It seems that God grants me more grace to get through the more major unknowns as I can remember not being panicked when my child wasn't breathing or when faced with Kaelan's obviously broken bones.  It's the little unknowns that get me frazzled;  that cause me to be irritated and annoyed.  I am a control-freak.

There, I said it.  Some of you probably already knew that. ; )  I am the oldest of four and had a good bit of responsibility put on me as a child.  I am a mom to many who homeschools as well.  I must have control over most things.   It's hard to step back and let others be in control.  It can even be hard to remember that ultimately God is in control.  No matter how many unknowns may be lurking to "shake me up", I need to rest assured that the all-knowing and all-seeing God is not surprised and He will not become unglued;  He will and does reign over all.  So Lord, here I am in the first few weeks of our school year, realizing that I cannot do it all;  I cannot see all that is coming up;  I cannot rest in my own strength;  so I give it all to you.  Your plans are much better than I can ever write;  You know what  each of my children needs to learn for this year;  You know what lessons I need to learn this year;  You have plans for our family that we cannot comprehend.  Please help me to step back and rest in Your plans.

Even now as I am typing here, I receive a phone call that sets me in panic and changes my morning plans.  Lord, calm my heart and set my path to just do the next thing that You have given to us to do.

Proverbs 16:  9  A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.

On Waiting Rooms

I have had the privilege of spending a good bit of time in doctors' offices this year.  I say privilege, because I can call the office and set up an appointment and see a family doctor later in the day or a specialized doctor within a couple of weeks.  I fear that may change in the near future.  However, my observation is entirely of a different nature.  In our home we do not watch television.  Don't feel sorry for us.  This is a personal decision.  There is so much filth and garbage on television these days that we just don't watch it.  We do watch movies each week that we CHOSE to bring in to our home, but just watching something for the sake of watching it....doesn't happen.

Over the last few years I have noticed that just like restaurants, doctors' waiting rooms are being equipped with televisions.  I ALWAYS take a book to read for myself or if my children are with me, books for them to read.  However the TV is a magnet and it is so difficult to keep eyes from straying.  One day at our family doctor a talk show was discussing the v**pire series phenomenon and how grown women were attracted to the teenaged young men in the movies.   Words used were pretty graphic as were the pictures.  I tried to engage my children in conversation and talked loud so they couldn't hear what was being said, but it was extremely difficult.

This week it was another doctor's office with another TV show.  Dr. Phil was on interviewing young men who do dangerously stupid stunts like playing with fire on their private areas, jumping from high places while on fire, skateboarding while holding on to a moving vehicle, etc.  Dr. Phil was trying to find out why they did this and kept showing the utube clips that are making these poor souls money!  My eyes kept wandering from the Jane Austin book I was reading back to the tv.  Every eye in the place was glued to the screen.  I kept wondering where the fathers of these young men were.  No mention of them did I hear.  I wish we could go to the doctor without having the TV to deal with.  Can't we just spread a few books and magazines around for those who don't come prepared for a wait?

Another observation I had:  I was filling out a new patient form and was asked to check one:  employed, retired, disabled, active military or XXXX (I am sure the letters stood for something, but I suppose you must have been that to have known what it meant?)  I didn't check anything.  I felt slightly discriminated against.  LOL!  Jeff says I should have just checked EMPLOYED, but that would make it seem that I am employed and earn a paycheck.  Puzzling!

I Want To...

blog that is, but as usual we have been BUSY around here.  What have we been doing?

-went to the zoo
-went to a Civil War re-enactment
-had a birthday to celebrate
-spending too much time in the doctor's office, orthodontist's office and eye doctor's office
-taking lots of steroids and breathing treatments
-had another visit from Lauren and the boys
-sent two of the middle children off to grandma's house for a few days
-picked blueberries at the u-pick farm
-made blueberry jam, strawberry jam and mint jelly
-made homemade chocolate ice cream with raw milk
-cleaning out Kaelan's closet and chest of drawers
-preparing for a HUGE yard sale this fall
-dreaming of a home business
-dreaming of having a vehicle big enough for all of to ride in again
-dreaming of remodeling bathrooms
-dreaming about becoming organized
-planning on making plans for the upcoming school year
-and we have been cooking up a storm in preparation of the Independence Day weekend that we will be spending with my parents and siblings

Hoping to have my resident photographer upload pictures so I can post about the above activities before more time elapses.

I'm Counting!

Many years ago my mother was given a gift of a little glass trinket dish with a moma hen and four little chicks, a symbol, I suppose, of my single mom and her four children. A caption was also painted on the little dish with the following words, "Count your blessings!" I have felt like that moma hen many times in my 25 years of motherhood and have counted my blessing many times as well. Nowadays, I struggle as we gather at the table to figure out exactly how many chicks I have and how many will be at the table. I have 7 children with one married and I have one little one still at the breast and not at the table so we generally have to set the table for seven people, except when married daughter comes home for a visit. And then I have to do the math again and add three more unless we also have grandparents visiting which means two more than that! Which gets to be more math than I can handle! All I know is...I need a bigger dining room!

But, back to counting.

1. I have an almost 5 week grandson stretched across my lap as I type this.
2. My 6 month old baby boy is asleep in his bed.
3. My 4 year old son, 9 year old daughter, 12 year old son and my 21 month old grandson are running in and out of the house playing.
4. My 16 year old son is at work...across the street from his dad's office and we actually got a good algebra lesson done and lots of other school work done before he left for work.
5. My 20 year old daughter is safely in Memphis and will be safely back home again this evening, Lord willing.
6. My 25 year old (next week) daughter is visiting with her two sons...she was here last week as well...I am thankful she likes to come home and can...and I am thankful for her nifty new van.
7. I am thankful my husband has not one, not two, but three jobs that keep him busy and provide him with an income to support our growing brood.
8. The laundry for the day is done. I washed 6 or 7 loads, but only put two in the dryer. The rest were/are drying on the clothesline or indoors on hangars.
9. Dinner is thawing on the countertop.
10. In the midst of all of our busyness of this day, WE ACTUALLY GOT OUR SCHOOL WORK DONE.

Are you counting your blessings today? Try it. All your cares will somehow disappear!

Dis-com-bob-u-late

Discombobulate-to throw into a state of confusion.

I think I live in a perpetual state of discombobulation. Every couple of weeks or so I try my hardest to get our lives in order...make lesson plans, cook for the freezer, make menu plans, stock up on groceries, assign chores, keep the laundry mountain from erupting...all the steps that one would think of to keep life orderly, even for a large family.

But it doesn't work out that way. No. It. Doesn't. We have interruptions. Most are good, but get us sidetracked. Last fall, it was the birth of my seventh child. In the late winter of last year it was the surprise pregnancy. This spring, it seems to be anything and everything. We have had precious friends move away...and we joyfully helped pack and load (ok, just the guys and baby girl) and had a going away dinner. We had two weeks of stomach virus. We had visitors. We had our second grandson. Jordan started a job that takes him away from home half the day....and I had only a 16 hour warning. What about my lesson plans? He still has to do school, but now he starts earlier and does homework at night. But you see...I had made a SCHEDULE out for Devin, Jordan, Aaron and Kaelan for each hour of the day just a few weeks ago. This was not on MY schedule or in MY plans. But God's plans seem to be different. God is working on us.

Jeff's work away from home has greatly increased the last year. Now, it seems there are some exciting developments with his work that will require more time, more creativity and probably, more stress. His home business keeps him very busy...at least 2 hours a day...sometimes more. He also has other activities as well such as the symphony and tons of home and homesteading projects that are awaiting time and funds.

But I will count it all joy. At least we are busy. Our family is growing. We have friends. The stomach virus is gone. My husband has several jobs that he enjoys. My son now has a job where he is learning things that he can use in his own business one day...and he is getting paid well for it. These two baby boys born to us within the last six months are healthy. And beautiful...as are the rest of my children. God is faithful. I will chose to be like Paul. "Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever STATE I am, to be content." Philippians 4: 11

Even if it's in a state of discombobulation.

P.S. Please remember to pray for Stellan and the whole MckMama family.