Please pray for baby Vance

This little guy really needs prayers.  And so does his mama Heather.  If you all wouldn't mind offering prayers we would GREATLY appreciate it.  She is in need of a blood transfusion because of so much loss at the birth.  Vance Gabriel was born Friday, May 28th.  As of today, Sunday, the doctors are finding out the depth of medical needs he has.  He is at this time being transported to a University Hospital in Tucson for heart surgery.  He will need 2 surgeries soon and there is concern over his intestines not working properly.  He inhaled amniotic fluid during delivery and the fluid is not leaving his lungs and he is in a sense drowning from it.  This is another concern that needs looked at.  I want to thank you all for praying and hope to be able to update as soon as I can access the internet again.  I'm not sure when that will be since we are out in the woods and back and forth here and there.  Please pray that Heather will recover quickly and will get to be with baby soon.  They are in 2 separate hospitals and my son is trying to balance out the two.  I am hoping to see if I can go down to AZ since I am halfway there in Colorado.  

Comparing Road Trips to Labor and Delivery?

This is what I have decided. That road trips are comparable to labor and delivery!! Like labor, you forget shortly after it's over the intensity of the pain. Then you do it again and are quickly reminded. And the same with road trips. You forget the pain they cause you until you do it again. Then in a flash it all comes back once you hit the road.

Pain is a sign that weakness is leaving the body!!

Monday Madness-Road Trip

The word madness hardly explains my thoughts today!! We are preparing to leave for our annual trip to Colorado to have dental work done. Yes, dental work!! My hubby has 3 brothers who are a dentist and every year they are so gracious in housing us, feeding us, and doing all of our dental needs. And when you have as many teeth as we do it pays to drive over 12oo miles to the dentist. We are so very thankful for our wonderful extended family for their generosity to our family each and every year. This year though, we have decided to 'rough' it a bit go camping instead. My brother in law David and his wife Ashley are who we normally bunk with but she is expecting baby #6 and I just don't feel good about "barging in" on her space even though she and everyone else have offered time and again. Wish me luck!!

Bread dough has been baked

Car seats washed and ready and so are the coolers. And especially the one Mary was using for the kittens. That's why the coolers were out in the first place!

essentials packed~well, almost, and yes, around here a road trip means junk food!

A Sad, Hard Lesson for Mary

Mary was being very thoughtful when she made a cozy bed for the 4 baby kittens, (pictured in the blog post just under this one) BUT, it's not a good idea to do it in a cooler on a hot summer day with the lid closed for hours. As you can see by her sad little face; they ended up in kitty heaven. Poor thing.

More comfort from big brother hits the spot.

Kid's Blog Fridays~Child's Play

This is NOT Mary playing dress up. It's how she chooses to dress everyday. (sometimes she gets away with it but not always!) Doesn't matter either if the clothes match or the shoes fit. She's dressing like a queen she says. Don't you agree that our kitty's have a great taste in books?

Loving Life at Home

We are fast moving on through this world. Soon all that will remain of us will be the memories of our lives. No part of our work will then afford such a true test or our living as the memorials we leave behind us in our homes. No other work that God gives any of us to do is so important, so sacred, so far-reaching in its influence, so delicate and easily marred as our home-making.~J.R.Miller~Home-Making

I love being home. In fact, I am home pretty much ALL the time! And I'm not complaining. I complain if I have to leave!! I hit our local library a couple times a week and church on Sunday. Usually about once or twice a month I will make a major grocery shopping trip but hubby normally stops after work for anything I may need since he works in the city. I think living in a small country town is a plus in keeping me home. Plus the business of home itself with many children is another reason. I find that when life pulls me away from home often, the kids get cranky, meals don't happen, and house cleaning doesn't get kept up. You know, I think that when "the kids ain't happy, ain't nobody happy." I know for my own children that keeping up a stable and consistent home routine really helps them in being happy and feeling secure.

Wordless Wednesday-For You Mom

Russian Tea Cakes for Breakfast

Delicious!

1/2 lb butter

2 C. sugar

4 eggs

1 C. chopped almonds

1 teas. almond or vanilla flavoring

4 C. flour

1 teas. baking powder

1/2 teas. salt

Preheat oven to 350. Combine all ingredients and press into a shallow pan. Bake for about 30 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. Let sit 5 minutes then slice into pieces and return to oven for 5 minutes, flip pieces over for another 5 minutes. Then enjoy. We served them with chocolate milk.

Hooray for Kelly

Our son-in-law Kelly just graduated with his 2 year true blue MBA. Finished, I might add a full semester early, working full time, and filling his role as husband and father. Kelly, we are so proud of you and love you tons and tons. Congratulations!

Bring It On!! 2010-2011 School Year

Why? you ask, do I post my completed 2010 school plans? Because I am a seriously challenged schedule creator!! So, I am a bit proud of myself having finished up my final draft for the 2010 school year. Normally I just jot down on a piece of paper what I would like accomplished for the year but it ends up getting written on or lost or ate by the dog or something like that. (I don't have a dog but you get my drift) This way it is IN my computer and should be more difficult to lose. I was so proud of it I even put it on my travel drive just in case. This literally took me hours and losing it would not make me very happy. Now that I actually have a functioning and workable layout I plan on hanging onto it for years to come and only changing the titles of the resources I use.

I will be schooling 4 out of my 5 youngest together for the next year using the resources above. Of course though math, latin, grammar, and independent reading will be done individually.

My book lists for each child I keep in sheet protectors and they mark off the books as they read them. We have used it for years and it's a wonderful thing to have with many children because then you don't have to think about whether or not they've read a particular book or not. I've decided on Sonlight for my older kiddos and that's why they aren't listed on the schedule. They are pretty much on auto pilot and can use the Sonlight schedule alone.

HERE is the blog I "store" my links for online resources being used.

I choose titles for our book lists from various resources. All of the following links offer wonderful titles for literature. And best of all, nearly all of our choices we find at our public library.

Sonlight

Veritas Press

1000 Good Books

Old Fashioned Education

Living Books Curriculum

Robinson Curriculum

Ambleside

A2

Let's Dress Froggy

This definitely is a favorite for Mary. Another library kit we checked out. She played with it all evening last night and as soon as she got up this morning she jumped back into playing. The girls have been using the outfits in it to dress their dolls too. Not only is the "dress up" game for little girls but they're for froggy's too!

Daddy the Barber

Ever since our family hair stylist Aunt Mary moved to Colorado daddy has stepped up and taken over. I have to say after almost 3 years of practice he is doing quite well!

Before

After

Before

After

Our Copy Work Notebook

This is a work in progress but nearing the end. My children do copy work everyday. What they copy is what they memorize weekly. Depending on the age and ability of the child is what determines the length of the work. Normally, as in the case of a poem or hymn they do it in sections. So it may take a few weeks to memorize one poem, passage, or hymn. Then every few weeks we go through the copy work book and review. Just to make sure!!

I like to keep them in sheet protectors since there are so many children using it. I have about 50 sheets in this notebook housing all the work we've done in the past and the ones we will do in the future. My next project is to organize the pages into sections of hymns, poems, scripture passages, quotes, etc. Or, maybe that could be a job for a child!! The pretty paper gives it an extra special touch I think.

Kid's Blog Fridays~This is what happens when your brain gets "blogged" down

That's one clingy kitty!

Searching for Little Wonders

I'm pretty sure the tiny bug won't escape while she waits for the magnifying glass. Better to be safe than sorry though!

Wordless Wednesday-Out My Backdoor

I Have Set My Rainbow In The Clouds....

Mother's Day Highlights

Beautiful cards from my kids, phone calls, and a special book from my daughter, and my boys and husband bringing me flowers and candy. I love my family! (I tried twice to get my boys to look at the camera but failed both times!!!)

The Modern Challenge to Motherhood is the Eternal Challenge

In 1950 Peter Marshall, a great Scottish American preacher stood

before the US Senate and explained it this way:

The modern challenge to motherhood is the eternal challenge-that of being a godly woman. The very phrase sounds strange in our ears. We never hear it now. We hear about every other kind of women-beautiful women, smart women, sophisticated women, career woman, talented women, divorced women, but so seldom do we hear of a godly woman-or of a godly mean either, for that matter.

I believe women com nearer fulfilling their God-given function in the home than anywhere else. It is a much nobler thing to be a good wife than to be Miss America. It is a greater achievement to establish a Christian home than it is to produce a second-rate novel filled with filth. It is a far, far better thing in the realm of morals to be old-fashioned than to be ultramodern. The world has enough women who know how to hold their cocktails, who have lost all their illusions and their faith. The world has enough women who know how to be smart.

It needs women who are willing to be simple. the world has enough women who know how to be brilliant. It needs some who will be brave. the world has enough women who are popular. It needs more who are pure. We need women, and men, too, who would rather be morally right than socially correct.

Beckham's Birthday

Our grandson Beckham just turned the big 3. He is as precious as the day is long. During our regular ichat visits this boy entertains his grammy, gramps, aunts and uncles with the many songs he is learning to sing. I had the wonderful privilege of attending his birth and let me tell you...there is nothing like witnessing the birth of someone you love as much as you love your kids and grandkids. Happy birthday Beckham, we all love you tons.

For more great photos of this little guy and his lovely family click HERE

Kid's Blog Fridays~What our days look like

This is me Emma, doing my favorite thing. Reading. I would like to share with you what a typical day may look like around here and what we do with ourselves. Here is just a little bite!!

We build forts, and we love to read

We love music and math

We focus on our task at hand

We learn fire arm use and safety from our brother and daddy

We build tables, shoot a bow, catch frogs, and doctor our family

Looking at Motherhood Together...

This was found on Rebecca's blog and I thought it would be fun to do it and pass it along seeing as Mother's Day is right around the corner. Time to celebrate this blessed calling.

What is the one thing you wish someone had told you about being a mom?

That love can go so deep and be so full and at the same time you can and will experience pain as deep and as full as the love.

What is the most embarrassing thing you've experienced as a mother?

Being spoiled with "live in baby sitters" and finding yourself suddenly without them one day and needing to run errands. Being in the store with 6 children under 8, the day they all chose to be on their worst behavior, people in the store telling me I have my hands full and at the same time admitting the fact that I had at least this many more children besides who weren't with me!

What's been your lowest point?

My lowest point-s- are when my children are struggling and I can't change things for them. That horrible, helpless feeling.

What's been the most rewarding?

Each time a new baby was placed in my arms.

Describe a mommy moment that transformed you so much so, you will never forget it nor are the the same since?

Holding my first baby in my arms after her birth.

Are you more relaxed or paranoid since becoming a mother?

Both...depends on the situation.

Did you plan on becoming a mother or were you taken by surprise?

Both

Were (or are) you close with your mom?

No

What family tradition do you want to pass down?

Family prayer

If you could start over, what would you do differently?

Relax more

Fret less

Be less materialistic

Laugh more

Cry more

Snuggle more

Hug and hold more

Be more organized from the get go

or in other words

Don't allow clutter and things to get in the way of LIFE

Wordless Wednesday~Watching the Storm

We Would Love to Have Your Prayers

Our unborn grandson could really use some prayers. Along with his mama and papa. Here is what Heather posted on her blog concerning Lil' V. (Vance the 5th)

Baby Vance has Ventrical Septal Defect, or in other words, a hole in his heart and a double outlet in his right ventricle. His septem, or wall didn't finish closing the gap between the right and left ventricle hence the hole. The double outlet means that his aorta needs to be repositioned so that it's above the left ventricle and not the right. He will have open heart surgery shortly after he is born. Most likely sometime within the first and second month of being born.

The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. Psalms 34:17-19