End of the month photos!

Emptying my phone of February pics.

Also my first time blogging from my new iphone…

Happy Leap Day! :)

Week 8

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1. Jeddy and I, having fun after school one day.

2. Lily, sleeping with Daddy. This is rare. She is not a cuddler. Lily, likes her crib and her quiet when she wants to sleep. Which is fine with me! Just not such a good thing when we’re out and about.

3. Our street on a snowy day.

4. On Family Day, we woke up to the news that the Cretzmans (a missionary family that we went to church with) were in a car accident, and they were asking for prayer because they didn’t know if their little girl was going to make it. Sadly, three year old Azlynn, didn’t make it- but praise God that she has a home in heaven. We spent alot of time that day praying for their family and really just reflecting. I don’t know about you, but I always put myself in the situation over and over again. Which I know you can’t really do… but that’s where my mind goes. Anyhow, they have been such an amazing testimony of faith through their trial. Pray for Matt, Lana, and Maddi (their younger girl) as they recover, grieve, and heal.

If you want to do something to support them- “Avery’s Big Bows” is donating 100% of the profits from this month, to the Cretzman family. The bows are ADORABLE and I’ve already ordered mine!

Week 7

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1. Lily in the adorable headband we got from “TopKnots 4 Tots”

2. My Cherry, out in the snow. The very little snow that we got… It’s funny to see my kids get all excited over 3 or 4 inches. They are in shock when I tell them about going out in the snow and it being up to my knees as a kid.

3. Our Valentine’s Day date. We were going to buy an electric fireplace for our master bedroom after getting our January gas bill… Unfortunately, I wasn’t all that fond of any of the ones on sale. So instead, we bought a heater and a new bookshelf at Walmart with a gift card. :)

4. Ella, playing outside. She kept calling her brothers and sisters “Dummy!” over the past week or so and I was getting frustrated with it. (Though secretly, the way she says it is kinda hilarious!) I thought she had picked it up from one of the boys… Until I was joking around with Scott and said, “You dummy!” And the girls pointed out that she was actually copying me… Oops.

 

We aren’t big on commercial holidays. Though, I did make all of the kids “coupons” this year. The girls are smart, they all saved their “get out of chore free” card for after a big messy dinner, and handed them to me at the same time. Then they went and played games while I cleaned up!

Fight

 

There’s a growl from the brush, the sound of the predator creeping towards us. The sound is dampened, as the rush of fear takes hold. An invisible power holds my feet to the ground in place, as I turn slowly to view the inevitable lunge I expect. I hold my breath, barely moving my lungs, as if this would hide me. Courage has left my heart, and terror has taken its grasp. Slowly I step back from the bushes, as I shake, watching them with my eyes wide, and my fist clinched, hoping to escaped the doom. I have avoided him this time, but eventually, I fear that I must face this one who hunts me.

(This is not the one that hunts me… though she looks like she could be :P )

Across the horizon I see him. My enemy has returned. He who has vowed to destroy me, he who has prophesied my end, is standing in my path. Even at this distance, I can hear the sound of his sword as it leaves the sheath, shrieking out like an evil spirit in rage. I stop and stare as my enemy slowly paces towards me. For a moment I stand frozen in decision. Do I flee? Could I out run him? Should I run, or should I stand? Could this be that defining moment of victory? The one I would tell my grandchildren about as they prepare to face the challenges of life? Or could this be the moment people would remember, the instance I should have turned and run, the time when I lost it all? To flight, or to fight: is there really a choice at all? He approaches.

We know it will come soon enough. Peace in life is only peace because we can compare it to times of trouble. The valleys prove us, define us, and inspire others. Who cares about the one who lived a lavish, pleasure filled life, without struggle or trial? The ones remembered from history, the ones we look to for example, the heroes, they had to fight. They faced insurmountable odds, and massive forces of opposition. If not, you would never know their name, or care to. Kings have conquered nations, the names of which we will never know, but those who braved the face of death to map our continent, their names we know. Rich men have moved politics and decided the fate of millions of lives, but they can be lost in the past while surfacing to the top is the poor one who stood up and defied tyranny, though it cost him his life.

Many are near to us. Those we love, those who love us, those who need us and those who watch. The masses horde together, like the cattle funnelled towards the slaughter. Their eyes glazed over with false hope and no concern. They follow the ones in front, like the ones in front follow the ones in front. The world is a stream of fluid folly, falling towards the flame, just enjoying the ride. It is not nations that destroy the souls of men. It is not the slaughterhouse of the end of sin that kills for profit. The masses live a lifeless grey existence of hopeless search because the ones who have been raised and groomed and called to be heroes have stared across the valley at their enemy, sheathed their swords, and left their people to die. You know what you are. You know what you could be. You have a responsibility to them to use what you have been given to give them hope.

“Give me a man!” says evil’s champion. I say, give him too many to handle. I say, face his challenge with fight! I say rise up! No longer hide in the shadows, while your people face evil’s attack without resistance or hope. You must fight, not with violence, but with the power and strength to move the hearts of men from demise to determination. Strength of body may win a scuffle, but wars for freedom, and right of the soul are won by strength of spirit and determination of heart.

 

Show us a hero, and we will follow you to victory. Accept the challenge to fight for right, and our honour will drive us to follow you to battle. Be a fighter, not for the pride of the fight, but for love of the ones that you will save. This fight, the fight of today, is not unlike other times. The question is, will you dare to stand and fight?

“And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised (foreign enemies): it may be that the LORD will work for us: for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few. And his armourbearer said unto him, Do all that is in thine heart: turn thee; behold, I am with thee according to thy heart... And Jonathan climbed up upon his hands and upon his feet, and his armourbearer after him: and they fell before Jonathan; and his armourbearer slew after him. And that first slaughter, which Jonathan and his armourbearer made, was about twenty men, within as it were an half acre of land, which a yoke of oxen might plow... And there was trembling in the host (of the enemy), in the field, and among all the people: the garrison, and the spoilers, they also trembled, and the earth quaked: so it was a very great trembling. And the watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked; and, behold, the multitude melted away, and they went on beating down one another... And Saul (the King of Israel) and all the people that were with him assembled themselves, and they came to the battle: and, behold, every man's sword was against his fellow, and there was a very great discomfiture. Moreover the Hebrews that were with the Philistines before that time, which went up with them into the camp from the country round about, even they also turned to be with the Israelites that were with Saul and Jonathan. Likewise all the men of Israel which had hid themselves in mount Ephraim, when they heard that the Philistines fled, even they also followed hard after them in the battle. So the LORD saved Israel that day:”(portions of 1 Samuel 14:6-23)

Week 6

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1. A daddy-daughter moment. Though, she now recognizes me and often cries when someone takes her away (unless it’s Eve) She gives her Daddy the biggest smiles. From my arms… :)

2. Chubby little baby leg! Something I don’t want to forget…

3. Yes, we now have pink PS3 remotes. Scott thinks that buying a pink remote will entice me to play NHL ‘11…

4. Her face here made me laugh. Plus, you can sorta see her dimples…

Next week- some pics of my older kids. And possibly a group shot? We shall see… :) Family Day is coming up! This is what we did last year…

1 step forward 2 steps back

Pulmonary function tests, respirologists, paediatricians, allergists, cortisol levels, steroids, side effects, prednisone…

These are the things consuming my brain lately. My life. Our life…

We found out today, that Elijah’s medications are doing a really good job at suppressing the symptoms.

Without a big, long, detailed explanation- his PFT’s showed that his lungs are not functioning as they should be. Basically, he is living a very short step away from another serious asthma attack.

The respirologist, who sees hundreds of kids with asthma, says that what’s going on with Elijah “isn’t normal.”

Atleast he is sending us for some tests. Finally, someone willing to run some tests and actually try to figure out what’s going on… Or atleast rule some more serious things out hopefully.

In the meantime, we have a naturopath telling us that it’s probably dairy- which seems to fit, and seems to be helping. We have a paediatrician telling us that there is no scientific basis for a food allergy to cause asthma. And we have a respirologist admitting that he doesn’t have an answer yet- but it could possibly be a viral infection. So basically, we’ve gotten nowhere.

I am trying really hard to be thankful; thankful for the doctors and medications, that we don’t have to worry about selling our house to pay for treatments, that my son is sleeping peacefully in his bed tonight…

But if I’m being honest, I’m tired. I’m overwhelmed and confused by all of the what-if’s, and feeling pretty helpless as a mother… and I’m tired.

 

“Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you.”

- I Peter 5:7

Week 5

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1. Jed, in our new “ginormous” bath tub! ;)

2. My boys. They drive me insane on the average day, but I love them to pieces. For instance- Elijah does that nostril flaring thing in pictures, just to bug me. Then, he laughs hysterically when I notice it…

3. My S.S. kids! Actually, it isn’t Sunday school… but it is a Sunday morning class that I get to teach while choir is practicing. I love these kids. :)

4. Her new favourite past time. She insists that she wants a bath all by herself! Until she gets in… then she realizes that it’s no fun by herself and asks if Jed can join her. They spent an hour in there playing with “Little People” the other night. I have never seen such wrinkled fingers before in my life!

I got my new iphone (Yes, I went with apple…) and haven’t picked up my camera since… I’m planning to go back to using my camera for project 52 and thinking that maybe I’ll just do a weekly or monthly camera phone post? I dunno yet…

Just for fun… We were studying poisonous animals in science the last two weeks. Elijah requested it… Did you know that there are poisonous birds??? Apparently, they have found 6 species in Papua New Guinea. The toxin is in their feathers, and can cause paralysis.

Why do we say “moose” when we say “geese”? Elijah, asked why we don’t say “meese” this past week- and I thought, “Yeah… why not?” Ha!

I must be tired.

Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike arrogant doctors? Yes? I shall save that for another post…

Sleeping, Falling, and Other Fun Stuff…

Today, I took Keona to the dentist. She only had 2 very minor cavities BUT she is in need of an appointment with an orthodontist. No guarantee to braces, but there is some crowding going on in the molar department.

We didn’t have the best day in school. (That may be an understatement) Let’s just say that diagramming sentences- is no fun to teach. We made up for it but searching for answers to the kids’ science questions before dinner. The most deadly insect: mosquito. Who knew?

We had a dairy-free dinner, at which my kids greatly lacked table manners. We made fun of Eve’s eating habits, Jed poured black pepper all over his spinach salad and then voluntarily ate it, Charity stole food from her sister, Keona went bowling with the salt shaker and sent stuff flying off the table, and the triplets imitated the seagulls from Nemo, “Mine! Mine! Mine!” It’s kinda freaky when they say things in unison… It was hilarious and ended with Eve hugging me and saying, “You’re the best, Mom.” More than made up for all of the sentence diagramming drama…

 

This past weekend, I painted a picture with Prayer. She has always been my artsy one- and has wanted to do a canvas painting for a long time. We’ll have to do it again soon. We played a family game of NHL ‘11. Elijah wanted to be on my team cause I don’t care if they go offside etc. until we were losing- then he wanted to be on Scott’s team. Ha! My team lost both times… but Eve and Prayer did score two really nice goals! We watched the skills competition with the kids on Saturday night and even texted in our votes for the breakaway challenge. Then we watched the first bit of the all-star game on Sunday afternoon between church services.

Tonight, Jeddy fell off the couch and smacked his head on the fireplace. He jumped back up right away and buried his face in the cushions. He didn’t cry at all so I figured that he was fine… A few minutes later, he got up and I saw a bruise on his cheek. When I asked him if it hurt- he touched his head and said, “Yeah, right here where I bumped it…” When he pulled his hand away, it was covered in blood. So were my couch cushions… Thankfully, the cut wasn’t that deep. It just bled alot cause it was his head. Not like when Jeddy was a toddler and he hit Charity in the head with the hockey stick and I could see her skull…

We hung up some quotes in the kids’ bathroom… (another Pinterest inspired decoration)

I may be able to stomach the pink for a few more months after all…

And we cleaned out our linen closet! Now, it looks “as organized as Grandma’s!” according to the girls…

Lastly, I put Lily in her crib at 11pm last night, and I poked her at 8am this morning to make sure she was ok... My baby slept 9 hours!

In her crib!!!!

I am savouring the moment… as she’ll probably be up every 3 hours tonight. :)

She smiles and “goo’s” at us alot now- but she isn’t a fan of the camera.

The flash makes her cry instantly…

Love my baby girl. :)