Happy Birthday Robyn

Robyn turns 21 today. Where has the time gone. She is our 4th child and I so remember the very day she was born. It was a very cold, stormy, snowy Thursday and she was born in our very warm and cozy bedroom into the "gentile hands of a nurse midwife." I remember that saying well as we were given a tiny tshirt for her that said those words. I believe I still have the shirt tucked away somewhere. Robyn loves reading, (all things academic) thrives on challenges, is very organized, thoughtful and loving. She has a passion for dancing, (especially irish, lyrical, and jazz), playing the piano, (she plays the piano for our church) singing and the flute. Right now Robyn is attending college to become a Child Life Specialist and I know she will do very well at it. She is 1500 miles away right now in Colorado with her dad and sister Christie but that didn't stop our other children from having cake and ice cream anyway. We are so bad!! We love you tons Robyn and wish you the greatest Birthday ever.

Some Winter Fun

Having fun playing in the snow. We got some new sleds for Christmas and the kids had a great time trying them out. Cold or not, when there is snow you can't hold down my kids!!

Robyn and Christie trying to keep warm.

Janai smiling even after flipping on a snowbank onto her back!

Gregg my ham!!

Kenzie with her rosy cheeks.

Daddy and Mary taking a run together.

Aaron and Janai off to a good start.

Twins Emma and Kaydee about to shove off.

Aaron preparing Mary to go down the hill.

Baby Gemma's First Christmas

Here is a picture of Gemma's first Christmas. I'm thinking she is looking so much like her daddy as she gets bigger. Grandpa thinks so too, except for her smile and he says that belongs to her mama. We miss you guys. We might not have been able to spend Christmas with our 3 young grandkids but I am so thankful we have the internet to see how their Christmas's went!!

Our Christmas 2009

We had a quiet Christmas.  Christmas Eve we had a fun dinner of snacks while we camped in the living room to watch It's a Wonderful Life.  We tried to get everyone settled early last night because we knew they'd be up early.  

Juli and Kelly didn't get to join us for Christmas this year but I retrieved these photos from her blog. (Daughter in law Heather hasn't made a Christmas post as of yet or I would be over thereon her blog taking a few of her pics.)  Texas got snow this morning and I'm pretty sure by the look on Beckham's face it was all new to him.  Here he is looking out the window and later they got to go romp around outside and enjoy the few snowflakes they had!! 

Our digital camera doesn't work anymore.  Not sure when it will get replaced.  But our digital video camera takes photos, just not that well so I only got a couple shots of our Christmas because daddy likes to videotape.  And since I don't know how to upload that kind of thing I only have 2 pics to share from our Christmas morning.  I hope everyone had a great Christmas.

Mary got 4 pairs of princess shoes and she was so excited.  This is what she told me later in the morning.  "Mom, I'm gonna grow up and marry a guy, but I don't want my feet to grow big."  I have a feeling she really likes these shoes!!

2 of my princesses

Christmas Greeting

Let us pray that Love shall come as a little child to our households.   That He shall e in our hearts and shall find His expression in all that we do or say on this birthday of goodness and cheer for the world.  Then let us resolve that the spirit of the day shall be carried out through our lives, that as Christ did not come for an hour, but for a lifetime, we would fain become as little children on this day of days that we may begin a new life of good will to men.  ~Cyrus Townsend Brady

Sharing the Love of Christ

If we love God, we shall love his image.  Every one that loveth him that begat, loveth him that is begotten of him.  Our love to Christians, if genuine, must arise from the resemblance which they bear to Christ; and not from the comfort which we enjoy in their society, nor because they appear friendly to us.  This hypocrites also feel.  If we truly exercise that love, we shall be willing to make personal sacrifices for their benefit.  We are directed to love one another as Christ love us.  And how did Christ love us?  He laid down his life for us.  And the beloved apostle says, we ought, in imitation of him, to lay down our lives for the brethren; that is, if occasion require it.  Such is the strength of that love, which we are required to exercise for our Christian brethren.  But how can this exist in the heart, when we feel unwilling to make the least sacrifice of our own feelings or interests for their sakes?

In our family we have been putting an exerted effort to draw closer to Christ.  And one of the things we are doing is having a special family devotional aside from what we do in our homeschool.  I would like to share [when time permits] some of our devotionals with my readers.  This particular reading is from the book The Young Lady's Guide to the Harmonious Development of Christian Character.

Dad's Response to a Classic Liberal Comment

Apparently someone named 'anonymous' was offended by one of the Obama posts on this blog and left a completely "classic" comment that only a liberal would make. (comment can be found here)  So instead of opening a huge can of worms and starting a debate which I do not intend to waste my time on let me simply pass along a bit of truths that will sum it all up in one pretty little package.  However completely "politically incorrect"  it may be.  But then, most truths are politically incorrect and I will not apologize for making them.  And for the record, I have no intent on moving out of this great country and leaving it to the dogs to continue trampling it under foot and seeking to destroy every good thing that has been brought about by the loving hand of a Great God in Heaven.  (who is not only loving but obviously very patient and abundant in grace)

Politically Incorrect but true statements!!!

 

1.  If a conservative doesn't like guns, he doesn`t buy one.

  If a liberal doesn't like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.

2.  If a conservative is a vegetarian, he doesn`t eat meat.

  If a liberal is a vegetarian, he wants all meat products banned for everyone.

3.  If a conservative sees a foreign threat, he thinks about how to defeat his enemy.   A liberal wonders how to surrender gracefully and still look good.

4.  If a conservative is homosexual, he quietly leads his life.

  If a liberal is homosexual, he demands legislated respect.

5.  If a black man or Hispanic are conservative, they see themselves as independently successful.  Their liberal counterparts see themselves as victims in need of government protection.

6.  If a conservative is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation.   A liberal wonders who is going to take care of him.

7.  If a conservative doesn't like a talk show host, he switches channels.

Liberals demand that those they don't like be shut down. 

8.  If a conservative is a non-believer, he doesn't go to church.

A liberal non-believer wants any mention of God and religion silenced. (Unless it's a foreign religion, of course!)

9.  If a conservative decides he needs health care, he goes about shopping for it, or may choose a job that provides it.

A liberal demands that the rest of us pay for his.

10.  If a conservative slips and falls in a store, he gets up, laughs and is embarrassed.

If a liberal slips and falls, he grabs his neck, moans like he's in labor and then sues.

11.  If a conservative is offended by a blog post they simply click the exit button and move on with their life.

If a liberal doesn't like what they read on a blog they will ask them to move out of the country.  

If a conservative reads this, he'll forward it so his friends can have a good laugh.

A liberal will delete it because he's "offended".

Could This Be Called "Unschooling?"

I told the kids that we would take off school this week until after Christmas and they hooped and hollered all weekend long. However, by the time Tuesday rolled around, (which is today) their minds were turning to jello. I knew they couldn't take it for long without hitting the books which is just what they did. They grabbed their favorite board game and the dictionaries. Oh yes, one cannot expect to win scrabble without a dictionary. Especially when a younger child is playing with a much older child. I am amazed at how quickly a word can be looked up when it comes between winning or losing a game!!

Another Birthday and a Birth Story

My baby is having another birthday today and she comes to us with a great story. Well I think so anyway but my husband still gets chills when he thinks of that birth-day!! Obviously she was born in winter and winter in Wisconsin isn't always pretty. Here is how it all began. We were planning to homebirth again as have done in the past. The baby before Mary was extremely quick and nearly painless leaving my midwife a bit nervous with this one. She told me to call at the FIRST sign of any labor so she can be here on time. (barely arrived 20 minutes before our last one) And being winter and all we did just that. She arrived around 2pm as I thought I "felt" something. After all I was 15 days over due so any sign of labor is most likely just that. Around 3pm my water broke and there was meconium in it. Not tons, but enough to give things a thought. But no problem, my babies have always come quickly just after my water breaks so we knew we had time. However, this baby had other ideas. Over 2 hours later, pushing, walking, leaning, standing, anything and everything we could think of left us with no baby yet. At this point hubby and midwife are getting concerned. 2 hours of pushing isn't in and of itself a big deal but since we had meconium earlier we thought we should rethink our plans. Our midwife left the decision to transport 100% up to my hubby as he is the head of the home and my head as well. (This is how she works and that is one of the things we loved most about her, is she would not interfere at all. Of course though she gives us her 'medical' opinion but leaves it all up to the father) He laid his hands on my head for a blessing and prayer and then after we all said a prayer he decided to make a transport. This is where the fun begins. Hang on to your seats. Our 17 year old was told to gather the children into the school room and get them to coloring or reading or anything. Then she called the hospital to alert them of our plans. Hospital is 42 miles away. I am fully dilated and water broke. We had 2 feet of snow on the ground and daddy flies our 15 passenger van so fast up to the front door that the kids thought he was going to come right on in the house. I grab a robe, and put on some flipflops and off I go. My midwife grabs her things and into the van we go. My midwife was praying out loud the whole way which brought me much comfort as I was trying to focus on her words rather than my circumstances. If that's possible. I am dying by now, the baby just was not in position but that doesn't stop the major pressure or the contractions. Finally, about half way to town she moved into position. Okay, now I dying. I've never huffed and puffed in all my life. Hindsight, WHY didn't we just pull over, give birth and go home. We haven't figured that out yet. So I get to the hospital, they race me upstairs and I don't quite make it onto the bed and she was born. Now look at the time of departure and the time of birth as recorded in my midwife's notebook. We left home at 3:40pm, delivered at 4:02. You do the math. It was a 40 mile trip. Okay, baby's in my arms, everything is fine and the nurse looks at us and says, "so do you want to go home now? You might as well, you were going to be there anyway!" You bet I do. Then it hit me now that I had my bearings back. I came here in a tshirt, a bathrobe, and flipflops!! Baby had nothing, no car seat, clothes, nothing. I looked at my hubby and said what am I going to do, I have no clothes fully expecting him to go back out into the storm and snow to drive back home and get me some clothes. I should have known better. He just said, "well, you managed to make it here in what you had, I'm sure you can make it home!" So we did. The nurse gathered some clothes and a carseat for Mary and we were home before anyone even knew we left!! What a blessing and a joy she has been since.

Mary is our 12th child and 9th daughter. She is a joy to all of us. She gets the best of so many people. So much more than the other baby's got since there hasn't been a baby since she's been born leaving her to get ALL the attention and not having to share it with anyone.

My little drama queen pretending to be sad. Truth is she had a great time.

Emma gave her a kit kat bar and she said it was her favorite present and that she wanted a picture of it!! So here it is. All mixed in with her pink frosting.

Happy Birthday Miss Mary. Love you tons and tons.

My Kids in New York

Juli and Kelly treated Robyn to a trip to New York City last week and what better place than the Big Apple to hone in on your photography skills. And that is exactly what Juli did. Photography is one of her favorite things to do and she is developing quite the talent for it!! They had a great time during their visit but did admit that NY is a place where if you only go there once than that would be enough!!

Juli and Kelly

Robyn

One of Beckham's many serious face shots!! They all did a lot of walking around the city in stead of doing taxi rides all the time. They were both costly and the rough taxi rides tended to make Juli and Robyn sick. But the cold air was NOT one of Beckhams favorite things and he wanted mom to keep getting taxi's. He said, "mom, I need a taxi, I need a taxi." Juli said "no Beckham, we are not getting a taxi." Okay he said, I need a bus then!!

Aubryn and Juli skating at Rockefeller Center

Kelly, Juli, Beckham, and Aubryn

Juli

Robyn

Blog Posts That Never Happened-Until Now!!

I had all these random pictures scattered all over my computer

desk top. They've been there anywhere from a couple days all the

way up to a full 12 months. So I can call this my "End of the Year

Wrap it all up in one Blog Post!" The pictures represent some of my

favorite photos and events of the past year that I never got around

to blogging about but wanted to!!

Daughter in law Heather with baby Gemma

Robyn and Kim enjoying some time together in Utah

Daughter Juli with grandkids Aubryn and Beckham

Robyn's smiling big during a road trip!! A rare moment considering she

frequently gets car sick!

Granddaughter Aubryn smiling brightly.

Daddy and Robyn

A great reflection of granddaughter Gemma

Christie, daddy, and Kenzie enjoying a campfire.

Robyn and Christie

Mary and Janai catching a movie together

Nothing beats dirty hands and feet!

Kaydee playing cop with big brother's cap!!

Baby Gemma enjoying a great story!

We went to a work picnic on the day I took these pictures. A guy asked

me if I homeschooled the kids. I was like, why do you ask, because I have so many children?

(We had 8 of the children with us.) He said NO, because of their long hair!!

Oh, okay, that's a new one. Never heard that one before!!

Someone mixed together the carob chips with the "normal" chocolate

chips and that did not go over well. So Aaron is sorting them to make some

cookies. NO WAY they all said, we are not eating carob cookies!

A fun family night of showing off what the kids learned. They

like to have "show and tells" once in a while.

Vance Jr. enjoying a movie with sister Mary.

Keeping Mary busy on our last road trip. She doesn't travel

well so we have to use our imagination!!

Mary encountered some static on the slide.

Twins Emma and Kaydee during our last trip to Laura Ingall's Wilder

Days in Pepin Wisconsin

Oh the poor kids. When we went to Texas to visit Juli many

of the kids got so sick. Here is Emma sitting outside watching

everyone playing without her. I think she had it the worse.

Peeking over the foot bridge on one of our many wood walks.

Careful crossing that road!!

Kenzie seeing how high she can jump on the trampoline.

Our trip to Texas to see Juli. Most everyone is here.

Grandson Beckham enjoying some playtime with his "Aunt Mary"

Our 5 youngest holding granddaughter on the trampoline in Texas.

Granddaughter Aubryn being held by her 5 Aunties

Yes, Gregg. You can eat it!!

Mary giving daddy lovings!!