November, 2007
They had way more fun setting a fancy table than I would have on that night. Aren't these places cute??
And they probably enjoyed the pizza just as much as they would have my fancy meal. So that was Valentine's Day, and even in our imperfection, we all loved each other very much that night. 
In this picture the kids are doing a little game to split up into teams for relays. Just look at the teams...that's what I love. See all the ages mixed together? These kids are such a blessing to be around! At one point, Erin was playing with some girls when she fell and hit her head on the floor. I saw it happen, but before I could even get to her, one of the teens had swooped her up and was comforting her. Wonderful! The kids played lots of games, then one of the moms led devotions (and that part was so well done the kids even remembered it that night at supper).
Our plan was to be enjoying an indoor water park at a reduced rate through my mom's school conference. The Lord's will for us, however, was to be laid low by some flu virus for the better part of a week. (Just be thankful you can't pick up our germs over the internet!) We're not complaining because we know we can trust His timing in all things, and fortunately, we could reschedule the water park for the second week of March. This has been a very big week, with all the birthday and valentine happenings plus all of us very sick. I'm going to blog it in rewind over the next few days. Not tonight....just looking at this bright screen makes my head hurt.
She named him Rainbow, and I would say she loves him about as much as a fish can be loved. She got to wear a special outfit of her own choosing, choose all our meals for the day, have a little extra video time and an extra long story time, got a couple more gifts through the day (including her first two-wheeler), and basically, just got made much of! Ellie took on the role of "professional" (as she called herself) and made a checklist of all the birthday activities, which was very sweet. 
Today's book, Goodnight Moon, is one of my absolute favorites to read aloud to my babies. I really think Margaret Wise Brown was something of a genius with words. She could take the most simple text and make it flow so perfectly! I have many a happy memory of rocking and reading this one at bedtime. As a game the kids would sometimes fill in the blanks with the next word, especially the "...quiet old lady who was whispering _______" (hush). That "hush" was always one of their first recognizable words. The pictures are also fun because they alternate from color to black and white. On each of the color pages we'd have to pause and look for the "young mouse". Just thinking of this book makes me feel content and drowsy. What am I going to do when I run out of babies to read it to?
Do you know what happens when you live all your life in a small town, making the most of your singleness? You get A LOT of friends! I think about 550 guests were expected yesterday. It was a whopper of a wedding! The ceremony was beautiful with numerous musical performances. (It seemed almost like a concert.) There was even a kids' choir, which Joe and Ellie participated in. 
The reception was great fun, with games done as only Miss Donna Lou could have. What a blessing! It was dubbed "The Wedding of the Century", and we are so thankful to have been a part.
He's been cooped up too long, and has many "tiggers" to get out! I think our reprieve from winter will only last a few days, but that's fine. We still have one more snow day we need to use yet.
We've taken up the hobby of birding this winter. Did you know that it's no longer called birdwatching? I guess that's politically incorrect or something. What we've really done is set up our birdfeeder and kept seed in it since the cold weather started. Since the bird feeder is conveniently located just outside our schoolroom window, and the birds are, apparently, more interesting than phonics, the kids have gotten really well-acquainted with our neighborhood flock. They've actually given titles to the birds. The male and female cardinal are the king and queen of "Feederville", and whenever they are spied, the kids call out, "Hail, King/Queen Cardinal! Hail!" (Did I mention our kids are weird?) The tufted titmouses (titmice?) are the prince and princess, while the bluejay is the knight. The juncos are the duke (pronounced "doo-yuke") and duchess, and the mourning doves are the pastor and his wife. The Bewick's Wren is the nurse/teacher and the plethera of sparrows? The commoners, of course. There's also a red-tailed hawk (the evil villain) who flies in and stirs up the kingdom every now and then. Our occasional squirrel is also on his side.
I'm going with a book written for grown-ups this week. The Attributes of God by Arthur W. Pink, is a collection of newspaper articles he wrote many years ago. (I used to have a page in my book that told about the original publication, but it's fallen out, ne'er to return.) From the language of the book I would guess that the articles were written sometime in the 1800's. So it's not an easy read, but well worth the effort! Each chapter deals with a different perfection of God, written by an author who can make complex things simple and cause me to look at truths with new eyes.
Matt, 1987 
Tonight I'm very thankful to be sharing a house with a toddler! I tell you, if babies started out at the stage Daniel is in right now, I'd be like the Old Woman Who Lived in the Shoe! He just trots around here, getting into everything, and passing out belly laughs for nothing more than a quick tickle. I also love all his cute little words right now: "beeshot" for basement, "mishak" for music, "bee-ah" for bear, etc. Now, he does have his moments (a couple weeks ago he "discovered" his scream!)...he's a natural-born sinner, after all, but he brings far more joy than grief. How I love my baby boy! And he's the one that we weren't even going to have. We had always thought maybe four kids, but after three in 3-1/2 years, we felt like we were pretty good to go. Then God worked on both of our hearts and here we are today. And what a blessing Daniel is to our family! "Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are
just a vapor that appears for a little while and vanishes away." James
4:14"Lord You have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were born or You gave birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God." Psalm 90:1-2
This book, In Grandma's Attic, by Arleta Richardson, is one of my favorite new finds as a read-aloud for my girls. Ellie and I read it last year when she was in Kindergarten, and we thoroughly enjoyed every chapter! The premise is a young girl whose grandmother tells her stories based on items she finds around her grandma's house (and in her attic). The author is old enough to be a grandmother herself, and these are stories that her grandmother really told about her girlhood, which makes the stories date back to the 1800's. Besides being really humorous stories, each one has a moral lesson to be learned. For example, in the chapter called "Pride Goes Before the Fall", Grandma and her friend learn what trouble vanity can lead to when they sneak into church wearing some forbidden hoops under their skirts. There are lots of good lessons for girls about honesty, hard work, humility, and the like...and it's still really entertaining. This book was around when I was a girl, but I never read it. I wish I had, but I guess it's better late than never! If you like it, there are eight other books in the Grandma's Attic Collection. We are now reading the second one, More Stories from Grandma's Attic, and it's every bit as good as the first. Like I said, we use these as a read-aloud, but I would guess that they are written at about a 4th or 5th grade reading level.
