Family project

In our "free time" our family doesn't visit museums, theme parks or watch movies. We work together. Partly out of necessity, partly out of preference. There always seems to be project to do. What's funny is the kids think it's super fun. In our preparation for getting a new truck, we realized we wouldn't be able to park it in the garage unless we knocked down a wall that divided the garage into two rooms.

When we moved here, the garage was SUCH a mess. The walls were full of ginormous holes. I don't know how many I've patched already. Anyway, we had extra yellow paint from when we painted our living room and the kids room so that's what we used for our garage. Manly isn't it? The work-bench was up against the wall we needed to knock down. We were going to move it over to where the kids are standing in the picture below.

I've done A LOT of painting since we've moved here and the kids always want to help. I tried to let them once when I was painting the exterior of the house but that was a total disaster (paint all over the pavement and clothes.) They just weren't coordinated or mature enough to handle that privilege. Now they are 61/2 and 5 so I gave them a speech first about how to do it and if they could show me that they could be responsible and careful I could trust them to help me paint when we move to Arkansas (if that happens - and if we need to paint). They were excited to prove themselves. Luckily I had saved their "paint clothes" from a while ago when I let them help.

 

I'm not going to lie. It stressed me out. They did really well considering their age but still. I wanted to get as much done as I could while keeping an eye on them too. I'll admit. I lost it once when they were both dipping at the same time and Orion wasn't paying attention and he lifted his brush right onto Omega's face. She had paint all over her cheek, neck and hair. I had to remind myself to breath. Relax. They are helping. They are doing their best. It's just a garage. It's okay.

We finished the painting part and let it dry while we ate lunch. After a good meal we went back at it, this time David leading the clan in the knocking down process.

 

They loved this part. Somehow swinging away with a hammer and watching something crash is just really fun. They helped pull all the nails out of the wood for the frame of the wall so we could re-use it. Orion felt really manly. They were awesome at this.

 

 Here's how it looks now. 

Now for our next project. Building swinging garage doors. 

What the inside looks like currently. (All those boxes are just waiting to be used for packing!) SOMEBODY BUY OUR HOUSE! j/k.
 

 Anyway, got that all done in a day. It's nice to have a sense of accomplishment as a family.

Servant's Heart

Remember how my prayer for Orion this year was that he would develop a servant's heart? That he would learn how to work hard? That prayer is already being answered. 

Our of nowhere the kids wanted to pretend they were doing foot washing (at our church, when we do a communion service, we break up into pairs and do foot washing first to follow Jesus' example).

They took turns. I just happened to take the picture when it was Omega's turn.

Then they wanted to do my feet. They like doing soap first (we don't do soap at church). And they had a thrilling surprise of very cold water (we do warm at church). 

I think it's neat that a child will incorporate into their play whatever you've taught them through precept or example. They are naturally imitators. I always pray that we give them an example worth copying.

First experience spending money

One thing I've always looked forward to is teaching my kids the value of money and wise stewardship. For Orion's birthday, "Neena" gave him $5 in his birthday card. Then Omega remembered the $15 that "Meema" gave her back in June that she never really got to spend. So I gave them their money and we went to the Family Dollar store. It was interesting watching them pick out something to buy. Orion picked out his pretty quickly. He found a tractor (shocking!). We didn't learn till later that it transformed into a robot man.  It was $3 so I knew he'd still have enough to give for tithe and a little bit left for "savings." At first Omega picked out a little plastic dollhouse with all kinds of little furniture. I knew immediately that would be a failure of a purchase. I gently reasoned with her that those parts would get lost quickly. The house would break because it was cheap plastic. "But I still want it." she said. I could tell part of her wanting it was that she didn't see anything else. Her eyes were too focused on the toys in boxes that looked appealing. I reasoned some more. "But Omega, you're going to cry when it breaks and get annoyed that you can't find all the parts in a week or so. Let's see if there's something else." So I searched around with her and we found something better. She got 4 squishy/rubbery lizards and a package of 2 scissors. What was really neat about the whole experience is that she intentionally got something that she could share with Orion. Immediately she gave him two lizards and one of the scissors. She experienced more joy when she found something that both of them could enjoy together.

 

They even had the lizards climbing around in their crumbled up cornbread. Cute huh? I look forward to more teaching opportunities regarding money. Thanks grandparents for helping this valuable character development!

Family Portraits

Why does taking a family portrait have to be so frustrating? I wrote an end-of-the-year Newsletter for people we haven't seen in a while (particularly David's side of the family who we haven't seen in 3 years and some of which are not on facebook). So at the end of the letter I wanted to include a family picture. Like, one where ALL of us are in it. Um.....the last family picture was taken in February at a family reunion. I felt like we needed something a little more recent to accurately reflect our family. So, this morning I got the tripod out. I got our prop set out (a wheelbarrow). And I found a sweet spot with nice lighting and background view.

Practice pose. Decent right?

I knew it would be a challenge to get my husband to take a picture. He hates posing. We've gone through this many times. I know how he is. So I tried to make everything as painless as possible. Everything was cropped just right. All he had to do was stand behind it and walla! Done.

So, my plan was to feed him a good meal. Make sure he was in a good mood, and then pop the question. And then try to get him to change into a brown t-shirt so that we'd all match. I got it all picked out. But then during lunch I realized the lighting had changed. It wasn't overcast anymore. The sun had come out and now there would be awful shadows where I had everything set up. No problem. I moved locations and had the kids test-drive it for me.

 Ugh. The sun was too much in their eyes and they were all squinting and wanting to put their hand over their eyes. So I knew I had to switch locations again into a shady spot. Only now, they were cold and wanted to wear a jacket. Okay, so they could wear their jacket and then right before we would take them off. No problem.

 

 So we got it all set up again. All we needed was the husband. He was on the phone. So we ran around and caught some chickens to put in the picture. That would be cute. But husband was taking a long time and Orion had to let his loose.

Finally husband comes. I begin to tell the kids to take their jackets off and he says, "Just let them keep them on. I wish I had a jacket too. We gotta hurry. I need to get to work." Ugh. Okay. Whatever. Let's just take the picture.So I got to take three shots. All of which had flaws. Eyes closed. Sun spots on forehead. One person looking away. Cheesy smile. Half of Orion's chin is covered by his jacket. Oh well. I'll take what I can get.

 

Wishing you all a LOAD of God's blessings this Christmas and New Year! 

(Get it? Load? Wheelbarrow?)

Orion's 5th birthday

 Dear Orion,
You were born a little before midnight on December 2, exactly on your due date. Had you tarried any longer my midwife would have had to take me to the hospital because she's only allowed 24 hours from the time when the mommy's water breaks. 


We named you Orion because many believe that Jesus will come through the constellation of Orion. We wanted your name to remind people that Jesus is coming soon.

Since you were born you've been a best friend to Omega and a treasure to me. You gave me more challenges than I expected but I wouldn't trade those for anything. I love who you are and who you are becoming. I've learned that boys are a whole different experience than girls and I praise God for the opportunity to bring up a man in the truest sense of the word. 

A man who will not be bought or sold. A man who in his inmost soul is true and honest. A man who will not fear to call sin by it's right name. A man whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle is to the pole. A man who will stand for the right though the heavens fall.

This is you at maybe a month old.

 

 

 

This is you at  8 months or so. You always had a thing with sticking your tongue out. 

I loved squishing my cheeks against your cheeks. 

 They were irresistibly cute.

 This is you at two. That's when a lot of prayers went up for you. You tested the boundaries longer and stronger than I was used to with your sister.

It was also a stressful time of transition for us in moving to Willcox and fixing up a house. That with learning to handle two young people at once was a real challenge.

I hope on your wedding day you're not sticking your tongue out in all the pictures...                                                                      You are just over 3 in this picture to the left.

Now you're five. Here are some of the quirky things that characterized you as a four year old.

• Favorites:
• Food = "dessert." 
• Song = "Jesus Loves Me"
• Linguistic quirks. You often like to begin your sentences with “Do you not know what this is?” or “Do you not know what I saw?” I’m not sure where you got the “Do you not know” thing. You still don't pronounce your “R”s all the time. You can say words that have R in them like “Church” or “Work” or “Tractor” but if you say “dark” it sounds more like “doke”. "Guitar" sounds like “guitow” or “car” sound like “cowe.” “Four” sounds like “foe.” “Fork” sounds like “foke”. “Hard” sounds like “hode.” 
• You and Omega have funny bath time rituals. When you get out of the bathtub you put the towel around you and run down the hall saying "angel, angel" - only it sounds more like "ango, ango". Sometimes you twirl around with the towel pretending you are a car wash too.
• Bedtime fun - Now one of your favorite things to do is pretend you are a dolly. You pull your shirt up so I can push your belly button to turn you on. Then you open your eyes. Then I squeeze your hand and you start making noises. Sometimes I’ll suggest things like, “I wonder if this dolly knows how to say ‘I love you’” or “I wonder if this dolly knows how to sing songs.” Otherwise I get random mumbo jumbo yucky static noises so then I have to say, “Ewe…I think this dolly is broken. Let me replace the batteries” and I do stuff to your back and flip you over and push you belly button again to turn you on and see if I fixed the problem. One thing that’s nice is you let me “turn you off” too so that little game doesn’t last forever. 
• Repetitive sayings - When we drive by a train you like to say in unison with Omega “Train-train-chook-a-chook, train-train-chook-a-chook” And you both say that over, and over, and over, and over, and over…At least you are practicing rhythm. (Later it morphed into June-June-chook-a-chook).When we drive to church we pass by a lot of farmer’s fields and for a while there were cranes everywhere eating grain because this is a layover for their winter flight. So for whatever reason you and Omega would say, “Look at all those mosquitoes…Look at all those mosquitoes” over and over and over and over. You knew they weren’t mosquitoes but they were so innumerable that they reminded you of a swarm of mosquitoes.
• Eating habits - It is not uncommon for you to suddenly get inspired to be an animal and put you food on you chair and get on you hands and knees and eat it with you mouth. Or, if I haven’t shut the curtains yet, yoiu will stand up and start dancing or doing funny things in the reflection of the window. You also love bananas. I think you could eat toast and fruit for every meal and be as happy as monkeys in the rainforest.  

You are now 5. You can't read yet, but you pretend to read your bible and study on your "computer"

Orion, since you were two I have prayed consistently and earnestly that you would have control over your passions, that you would learn to yield your will graciously even when it conflicts with your desires. "To subdue self and bring the passions under the control of the will is the greatest conquest that men and women can achieve." (Counsels on Health, 350) I am so thrilled to see that prayer answered in your life. You have become so much more self controlled and you are a happier boy. When you are tempted to throw a fit or get upset over something, now you ask for help and communicate calmly. Did you know that you stand higher in the sight of God and the heavenly angels than the most renowned general that ever led an army to battle and to victory? I am SO proud of you and the victories you've gained in your character. 

Orion, right now you are really into tractors. They fascinate you tremendously. They get important jobs done. The tractor behind you in this picture was digging up the earth in order to replace a pipe in the ground. My prayer for you this next year is for you to develop a servant's heart. A tractor is very much like a servant. I pray that you would learn to work hard because you want to serve the Lord and make the load of others lighter. This next year, this will be your key verse: "With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men:" Ephesians 6:7

That's why for your birthday I wanted to get you these pajamas. They will remind me to keep praying this verse for you and giving you opportunities to develop the heart of a servant. Happy Birthday Orion!