He Is Doing It AGAIN!!!!

This is my son.

He is our first born.  The oldest, the boss of his siblings( or so he would like to think), the one who intellectually is most like his father, but like his mother in his metabolism.  (Sorry son.  :P)

He is doing it AGAIN!!!!

What is he doing again?

He is allowing me to be a mom.  

AGAIN!!!

He asked this young lady:

To marry him, and she SAID YES!!!   Can you believe it??!!??!

WOO-HOO!!

OK, fine.  Granted, she has her own mom, who may I say is a lovely woman.  

But STILL, I get to be a mom on the fringes.

And I'll take it.

Kind of like when our 2nd born:

Married him:

And I got another son.

I am making out like a bandit.  

Let me tell you!

And of course, who can complain about all this joy...

...specially when sometimes it results in the greatset joy of all:

GRANDMOTHERHOOD!!!!

Speaking of which, in just a few short weeks, Beautiful Boy will be 1.

I blinked.

Sheesh.

We will praise HIM in the storms...as well as the joys.  <3

We Have an Appointment!!!!

We have an appointment!!!  Our youngest daughter is coming home!!!!

We got the notice this morning, that we have an appointment in Kinshasa to drop off paper work on June 7, and interview of June 11! I don't know how soon after the interview we get to come home.

Of course, when I say we, I mean, hopefully our chaperone that will bring her home if they accept our request.  

I am slightly disappointed that is so long.  It used to take 2 weeks to get your appoinemt, this one is ...what...6 weeks away??!!??!  STILL, it is finally happening.


This also means that Samuel will not get to meet her until he comes home from Southern Sudan at the end of July.  

Bummer.

Speaking of S. Sudan, the boy leaves in a month.  I have to find a place that can give you a yellow fever shot.  I asked our pediatrician if she can do it.  She tried not to laugh in my face.  She failed.  I still love her anyway.

When I asked her where we can get it done, she had no idea.  I asked her where she sent others who asked her.  She said in all the years she has been a pediatrician, I was her first request.

OOOooOOKKKkkkAAaaaYYyY then.

Off to Google land.

ANYWAY.  Interesting fact:  If you think about it, 2 of our children will be in Africa at the same time!  In fact, in countries bordering each other.  Yet, in reality, worlds away.

Back to NJ.

ENOCH is around the corner.  Again, I am working at it. This is our 21st year homeschooling. Huh, let me see.. I have a 3 year old.  That means, um, at least 14 more years to go.

As exhausting as that sounds, I also enjoy seeing the new opportunities and resources that homeschooling now provides compared to 20 years ago. It will be intereseting to see what it looks like 10 years from now.

Our cars are green. We are now in the *die* season of allergies.  I have friends who are just as miserable as can be.  Everyone in this house is fine.  But how annoying is it to open my front door, and find yet another film of green on my front porch.  It almost has to be cleaned 2x a day, hosed down, swept, swept again.

But I am loving the green world again.

Farmer's markets are just around the corner.

Our garden started sprouting.

The smell of freshly cut grass.

Driving down the street and the trees green, full and lucious.

I love it.

Well, back to school.  Learning the difference between seeing the NT from a Hebraic point of view vs. a Greek point of view.  Interesting stuff.

It was only 8:30 at night.  They both passed out.  She, like her big sister, gets that talent from her father.  lol.

Grace Makes Beauty,Out of Ugly Things

Last night, while I was washing dishes and Samuel was drying, he asked me how come the only time GOD showed mercy in the OT was when Abraham asked HIM to spare Sodom and Gomorah.

Boy, was that a great conversation, because I was able to point to time and time again in the OT when HE was merciful even though they( and now we) didn't deserve it.  EVER.

Which at one point lead us to Hosea.  ( It really was a long conversation, way past the dishes)

He was shocked.  Stunned. Relieved. At peace.

This morning, I was reading this blog, which even though I have her book on my nook, I have yet to finish reading it.

ANYWAY, she wrote this on her blog:

I have known this though: An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth leaves us all starving and groping in the dark.

This is a very common thought, and in all honesty, it is true.

BUT, the only thing is, when it was written in Exodus 24:17 - 23, well, it was merciful.  I know it doesn't sound like it, but in reality, as we know...we tend not to be as forgiving as we would like to think we are.  In the heat of the moment, if someone hurts us, we would very much like to hurt him back even more than they hurt us.  You broke my arm?  I will tear your arm off.  In fact, if I can get away with it, I will also tear off your son's arm.  But your arm will suffice if need be.

Harsh, but really, unless we are merciful and forgiving, it is usually our train of thought.  And shamefully, sometimes our thoughts, if not in line with HIS, turn into our actions.

So if one is going to be punished, it will be limited to the crime done, not above and beyond.

Now, JESUS went to the forgiveness part.  HE said...let it go, for your enemy's sake.  For your own. And for The Kingdom.

We have an amazing, long lineage of people ( not including Constantine and his part)  who forgave, and more often than not, the Gospel exploded to the hearts of the people around them because of it.  Such as the Auca Indians, who are now about 84% Christians. One of many situations.

GOD is ever merciful.

What do I deserve?

Hell.

Through HIS SON, what can I get?

Mercy, grace, love, peace, being a daughter of the KING.

Grace really does make beauty out of ugly things.

Allergy season

The Love of MyLife had such horrible allergies, that it was not uncommon for him to say, "  I would very much like to rip my face off."

Several times a day.

He had to take massive amounts of prescription meds so that he could breath/survive/not commit suicide.

Then, about 5 or 6 years ago, I decided that was enough.

First, how could I, in good faith, let him put that many chemicals in his body?  What were they going to do to him in the long run? Is it going to be this way for the rest of his life??!!?  I wasn't even thinking organic/holistic/natural back then.

Just common sense that it just could not be good.

I took him off all dairy.

It helped IMMENSELY.  It was a start.

Then I bought local honey.

For the past few years, he hasn't even had to take a cough drop.

But he sure has missed his milk.

Now he is drinking the raw milk and he is as happy as a clam.  It is not affecting his allergies at all.  (the farmer told us it wouldn't.  In fact, he told us it would help) He loves to come home from work, go to the refrigarator, pour a glass of milk and gulp it down.  He has missed his milk in the past years, and is so thankful to have it back.

I am thankful he is not on the medications.

I was listening to our talk radio station.  I LOVE talk radio.  Seriously, I prefer it to music more often than not.

They were talking about the fact that even though the national ratio of kids having autism is 1: 88 ( some say 1:100. Regardless, it is incredibly high, as opposed to 1:10,000 which used to be the ratio 30 years ago)  New Jersey ratio is 1:47.

It has been in the paper, it has been on most Jersey radio news, tv, and or course, like I said, talk radio.

Um....WhAt??!!??!

Why????

Researching it, it makes sense.

If you are interested, research it.  Me, telling you, makes me sound like a hippy.  If you know me, I am not a hippy.  It would be almost laughable to think I am a hippy. lol. OK FINE.  I may or may not like some James Taylor songs.  And of that makes me a hippy, so be it.

But I am tired of being cow-like, just following the crowd to the impairment of my family.  I am tired of being educated by entertainment.  I am tired of trying to talk to people who are perfectly happy being ignorant, and getting angry with me.  So if interested, look it up.

But it is crazy/scary.

It is kind of like the fact that I LOVE being a follower of Jesus.  And how I wish others would find HIS Truth.  How they could live a joyfilled life, inspite of their circumstances.  How eternal life is worth giving up some instant pleasure.  But people don't want to hear that, either.

:::sigh:::


Okay, to the next subject, I did sometimg crazy.

Again.

I got season tickets for Six Flags for the family.

WhAt WaS i ThInKiNg??!!??!!??!

Ressurection!

HE IS RISEN!!

And that fact has changed to world.

Thankfully. 

So, our Easter was quite...quiet.

My parents bailed on us.

Okay, fine they did not bail, they just went to see my sister who lives far away.  Like 5+ hours away.  And truly, I am glad they went.  It is good.

My daughter is in VA Beach with her family.

My son went with his girlfriend's family.  ( they did come later and helped out with the coop and tried to have a late dinner, which was difficult for them, bless their hearts, as they had just had an enormous dinner just not too long before).

So it was just the 4 of us.

Weird.

But ok.

It really did not feel like Easter at all.  We didn't do a hunt.  I didn't even make dessert.  The children just ate some Easter candy.

After church, we went to the cemetary to visit someone, at my 13 year old's request.  It also, was good.

Then we came home, and John & Samuel worked on the coop.

 I cleaned up the yard some, Elena slept. Then woke up and watched a movie.

Yup.

That is it.

On a nice note, the chickens got their first taste of 'FREEDOM'.  I put that in quotation marks because I know they are not really free, they are in a run.  But compared to their brooder, they are free.

But note:  They don't know what to do, so they just kept squashing themselves together, even though they had loads of room.

Dumb chickens.

Don't get me wrong, I am glad we have them and we are all enjoying them, but that doesn't stop them from being...dumb.

Today, I woke up to an email box full of FB messages.

So I popped in there are I happen to see something that went along the lines of this:

If you enjoy celebrating the holidays, thank a pagan.

Which I know is 100% true.

It annoys the daylight out of me.  It is something I have been struggling with for a few years now.  Why do we not celebrate Biblical holidays?  The ones commanded?  Jesus never said anything about getting rid of them.  In fact, HE said quite the opposite.  Having spent the last 18 months researching Christian/church history, I am disturbed at what I have learned.

But alas, I will move on for now.

Our fast is over!!

We fasted movies for 40 days. Whether in the theaters or on the tv or dvd.  We actually fasted from every thing except documentaries for school. 

So to celebrate, John & I will go out to the movies tonight.  Well, I say this without even knowing if there is anything out there to watch!!  LOL.

We may just stay home and rent something from redbox.  I don't even know what is on DVD.  Amazing what 40 days of being intentional does to you.  

If you are the praying to GOD type, please pray that our Congonese daughter get here already.  I thought I was fine with all the delays, and the things that are getting in the way.  After all, it has happened before.  I prepared myself to have that awful wait.  To not get to attached and frustrated.

All my preparation has gone out the window.

Now I am just angry.  Again.

Just like right before we got Elena.

Pray she gets here soon.

Or at least pray for me to keep my head on straight.  Not that it ever was on straight, but straight for me.

Final pic of my boys.  <3

Hoops, the oldest went to church with us this morning.  It was funny how many people had to do double takes becausse Samuel really does look like him.  My twins.  13 years apart.

10 minutes to What Happened??!!??

We, and when I say we I mean everybody but me, worked tirelessly on the chicken coop this weekend.

Oldest son and father came over for the...work party.

Samuel ( in the black sweatshirt) is always at his happiest with tools in his hands.

And if it happend to be that he can have tools in his hands and at a higher elevation than normal...when then...life is really good.

Speaking fo the good life, our oldest's son's girlfriend bought this headband thingy for the St Pdaay's Day Run.  Elena has worn them...probably everyday.

Doing school on the couch.  With a gun. Every so often, homeschooling has its advantages.

Hello... Why are you so darn cute??!!??!

Reilly is wondering why Fiver gets held ALL the time and how come she doesn't hold him like that??

It may have something to do with the fact the he is a 54 POUND BEAGLE.  Which is about 14 pounds, give or take, heavier than she is.  lol. 

Chickens will be 5 weeks tomorrow.  Can you believe it??!!? 

Me either.

SO, you want to hear something just...crazy?

I agree to co-direct VBS at our church this year.  I am still trying to figure out how that happened.

Because it is so not me.

My co-director is pretty darn cool though.  She is everything I am not, and it so happens that everything I am good at and like, she hates to do, and everything she is good at and enjoys, doggone it PLEASE don't make me do it.

So it works out pretty well.

But still, it will take HIS goodness and grace to pull it off successfully.  So we will pray more than anything.

I think it is time to go to the community garden plot and start the project of feeding my family good foods  from 'our' little plot of land. It is warming up, and my hands are ready to play in the dirt.

I am on the fundraising committee for the gardens, ( everyone has to be in something) and I am wondering why I thought that was a good idea.

And speaking of ideas, I have some good ones to raise money.  BUT if I say them, they may like them and I may be encouraged until I feel guilty if I don't  to make them happen.  

Because I have all the time in the world. 

So, maybe I will keep them to myself.  

Baby Girl... And Can I stay focused??!!?

Elly-Bug has a cold.

It sneaked up on me and my poor baby girl.

Last night, Samuel and I felt sick and gross, muscles weak and knew a bad cold was on its way; so naturally, I made us some Thieves capsules and we took them before going to bed.

We woke up fine.

How much do I love our oils?!?!?

Anyway, Elena woke up with a fever, sneezing, runny nose, the whole thing.  I felt bad that it did not occur to me to medicate her last night.  Granted she was sleeping when we took out meds, and she didn't look sick in the least when she went to bed.

She took 3 naps today!! WhOa.

I medicated her and hopefully tomorrow she will be better.  I put the diffuser in her room with Thieves for the night.  It works wonders.

After her bath, I put Lanvender on her upper lip where it looked raw from blowing, R.C on her chest, and peppermint on her feet.  She smells delightful. lol.

ANYWAY, focus #2, as I popped in here, my son looked over and said..." Hey, mom, how come you are still stuck in the Christmas mode with your blog?"  Of course he was right.

So I popped over to see what good backgrounds were available and tickled my fancy. ( weird, forgive me)  I found this background and decided it was the one for me.

SOLELY on the name of the background.  It is called...Come To The Table.

I reminded me of a song sung by Michael Card.

And how HE invites us to HIS table and blesses us despite ourselves.

It wasn't until my daughter put the background on for me ( I am a computer ignoramus) that I noticed the chickens.  LOL.

I am not that obsessed with my chickens.  In fact, I think obsession would not be a word one could use when it comes to the chickens in this house.  They are fun, though.  Funny, too. They are 4 weeks tomorrow, and they look as crazy as all get out.  I think they are in their pre-adolescent stage, all weird and gawky, 1/2 feathered 1/2 fluffy, tall, scrawny even though they eat like I am going to take their food and eat it myself.


As if.

SO focus #3, tomorrow is Monumental, the Movie.  I have been looking forward to seeing this movie for a few months.  We decided to break our lenten fast of not watching any movies to go see this one-night-movie. Alas, I got tickets today for John & Samuel. I will stay home with our baby girl, and will wait to hear all about it when they get home.

But if you have the opportunity to go see it...you should!

K.  Off to bed.

OH! And do you remember our other child?  The one coming from Africa?  SoOn... HoPeFuLlY?!?!?

We finally decided on her name.  It feels odd even saying that because we were not looking for another name.  It was going to be Audrey.  It is no longer that.  Which is again, odd, because we have been referring to her as such for months.  Probably for about a year.

But alas, that is not her name.

As lovely as it is, that is not it.  But her name, it is hers.  It is good.  And it is right.  For so many reasons.  Reasons I can't even understand.  Or explain.

I can't wait to hold this precious child of mine in my arms.

That, too, will be good.  Glorious, a miracle even.  GOD is good.  All the time.

PS...Focus #5.  I signed up for a 10k.  duh.