Feeling ready for a change....

to the look of my blog. Stay tuned.....

Reflection

I met a mom yesterday who also has four kids. We talked and she watched for 2 hours while I entertained and tended to the girls while Tim was working with a used car deal. Her kids range in age from 25-18. Her oldest is married with a child, 2nd is getting married next spring, 3rd is in college and 4th is going off to college in the fall. She was just beaming with love as she told me all about them. She is a christian and she and her husband raised their children to love the Lord. It was a very encouraging time for me as a mom. She talked about how their house used to feel crowded and now it feels empty. She talked about how her time used to be filled with little ones and activities, and now she's trying to find opportunities to be needed by them. Her desk was filled with pictures of the kids and her grandchild. She told me how her and her husband still don't go on vacations alone because it's boring. So they always find one of their kids or more to go with them. She talked about how she remembers the struggles but the quiet outweighs those memories now. She really could relate to the tiredness in my eyes, but encouraged me to really slow down and enjoy all that we are doing in the lives of our children.

When I got home last night, after the business of bath and bedtimes, I sat down at the computer. I began to look at videos of the girls. I had a good cry as I watched my babies grow through the years. I realized that there is a chunk of time that I truly don't remember. It was around the time that Vivian was born until she was about a year old. I have pictures and video of that time that help jog my memory but I think I was just in a hormonal haze. 4 babies in a row will do crazy things to your body and mind. It was probably the hardest time on record for our family. We started a business, tried to expand it and got involved in a really bad business deal, had all our our equipment stolen off of a jobsite, had a baby, had extreme supply issues with nursing her, were trying to homeschool, had two in diapers (for a month there, it was three!) were unhappy at our church and I lost my entire group of close friends due to something that I had absolutely no control over. It was a deep, deep valley in our life. I am so thankful that God gave me the piece of mind to document that time through pictures and video. I am able to look back those and see that throughout all of those terrible things that were happening, God was blessing our lives.

God's word promises trials for believers. They are for our good and His Glory. They test us, produce fruit in us, provide strength for us, perfect us, and above all show us God's love for us.

James 1:2-5

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,
knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

This is the verse for today on Bible Gateway. “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.”- Matthew 16:25

So as I reflect on the advice of a seasoned mom who has walked this road before me, I am once more humbled by God's love for me. He loves us enough to entrust these wonderful gifts to Tim and I. And He is walking through those peaks and the valleys with us.

So you know you are a momma when....

You begin your day with someone vomiting in the van! Yuck.

We were on our way to dance camp, when Vivian got sick in the van. It wasn't too bad, so I pulled over on the highway, cleaned it up and went on my merry way. About 10 min later, it happened again. Only this time, it went EVERYWHERE! Thankfully we were near Nana's by that point and she saved the day by getting Vivian cleaned up while I borrowed her van to take Madi and Leah to dance and the dogs to the groomer. Then I went back to her house and cleaned my van out. Did I mention it was already 91 degrees at 10:30 so talk about disgusting. Of course Vivian was fine after that and loved spending the day in her pjs at Nana's house. Never a dull moment.

No moving in the near future

We have decided not to sell our house. We are really happy with where we live and the market is down, so we are going to make the best of the drive by trying to get a vehicle with better gas mileage and try to grin and bear it.

Now to begin room-swap 2010. The playroom will become the master. The master will become the little girls' room. The office will become a small playroom. Kenz will have her own room. Baby Brown will have his own room and the downstairs sewing(Ha!) turned junk room will become the office.

Anyone want to help move furniture? :)

Cleaning out the van

We have a 15 passenger van. We have taken the back row out for more room in the back. It doesn't have many luxuries like pockets on the back of seats or other storage things like that. The floor is open all the way back, so it's not uncommon for me to brake quickly and things come flying to the front. During the school year, I had a great plan of cleaning it out. Every day Tuesday, during my 3 hours of alone time, I went to the carwash. I was motivated by the fact that at carpool things wouldn't fall out and hit the poor soul who was bringing the kids to the van. I actually got a couple of compliments throughout the year about clean it was. hahahahaha

Now that school is out, I am not on that schedule, and it's 900 degrees, so it hasn't been cleaned out in about three weeks. I decided to add it to the chore list for Madi and Leah this summer so that I could get some assistance. So Mon was the day. Armed with 27 Target bags, we got out all of the things that need not be in the van. Shoes, purses, books, papers, coloring books, markers, stickers, etc. Then there was the trash. Oh the trash. Quick trip cups, church bulletins, wrappers from water bottles, whole granola bars that had one bite missing, wadded up gum, gum wrappers that were not used for used gum, etc. And one for the record books...

***************21 WATER BOTTLES ****************

Punch buggy

...is one of the ways that the girls deal with being in the car so much. I am not quite sure who came up with the idea to punch someone else when you see a car, but I am know it's been around for a very long time. It's hilarious to hear what is said in the course of the game....

Punch buggy Blue!!
Nuh uh, I didn't see it!!!
Well, I did and that's 5 punches.
No, it's 1 punch!!
No, when you saw one last time you said it was 5 punches!!!
That's not fair!!
Yes, it is!
No it's not!
Mama!!! She said it's too many punches.
Never mind, I just punched myself.

Punch buggy red!!
No Vivian, that's not a punch buggy.
Yes it is a punch buggy!!
No, it's not!!!
WHAAHHHHHH!!!
(Mama)It's ok Vivian. Here, punch mommy.

Punch buggy yellow!
That's 2 punches.
(Mom) Wait, a min, why do different colors have different number of punches?
I don't like the color yellow, don't punch me.
Ok, I'll punch Vivian.
Wahhhhh, I don't want to get punched!!

Punch buggy convertible!!
That's 5 punches.
Punch me!!
No, I punched you last time.
Wahhhhh, mama!!! I wanted her to punch me!!

An overdue update on life

Lots of happenings at our house.

In March our business was so slow that we questioned if we should continue or not. We prayed that God would make it clear to us and show us what we needed to do. In the weeks that followed, we got back on Dave Ramsey's plan of using cash only and have been watching every dime. We are tying to be better stewards of what God has provided. God has answered our prayer quickly by bringing more extra work in the last few weeks than we had all last year!! It is clear that this business is where we should be for now.

We have also decided to try to sell our house. We love where we live and we LOVE our neighbors but the reality is that the driving is affecting our joy as a family. We don't want our kids to miss out on things or feel like they are burdening us because everything is so far away. We also want to be more involved in our church. So the house is going on the market!

We are wrapping up the school year in the next two weeks. This is such a bittersweet time for me. This year has been such a change and next year will continue to be as well. Our girls all have their own interests and we are being pulled in different directions for activities and fun. Mackenzie has done phenomenal in school this year as well as really enjoying chorus and volleyball. Madison is finishing up Kindergarten and learning karate. Leah will be coninuing in dance and heading to school for the first time. In the fall, Vivian will be at home with mommy alone for the first time in her life. Where did the time go?

As I am reflecting on this school year, I am humbled by what God has done for us. He made it possible for us to send our children to a wonderful school whose focus is our Lord. This is the first year that I have looked back and been truly happy with what we have accomplished as a family in regards to schooling. We are blessed beyond measure.

Which leads into my next update. We have decided to actively pursue adoption. We have been praying through this for years and have never seen exactly how we could begin. Our heart has always been to adopt internationally from a hispanic country. But God has another plan for now. We have recently been made aware of a great need right here in our own country. Due to many factors, we have decided to pursue domestic African American adoption. Our paperwork is in the mail, so we are expecting to have a baby boy in about 6 months or so! God has placed a desire in us to open our family to a child who doesn't have one and may never hear the Gospel. We know that this will not be easy. But few things that are eternally rewarding are easy. There will be things that we must learn in adopting interracially and we are praparing for that. We are coveting your prayers through this journey.