A Miracle and A Curse

 On September 27th I had the joy of becoming a great aunt to a beautiful little baby girl. I'm a 40 year old GREAT AUNT! But what made this day even more spectacular was the amount of prayer that was offered up and the tears that were shed when month after month there remained an empty womb. 

    This little lady's arrival felt like a miracle. A gift given that felt like it might be impossible. And so when we learned of her conception we covered her in prayers of thankfulness and joy until the day we had the honour to hold her in our arms and see her precious face and feel her little breaths against our skin.   

    On the 28th (our 17th wedding anniversary and this lovely ladies second day) I got to hold her close and marvel at Gods amazing grace in forming her in her mothers womb until the right time.

    Yet as the title suggests, this wasn't where my day ended. What began as a day of celebration and joy ended with a reminder of the curse. What curse? you may ask. The curse of death. The 28th was when God called for the delivery of another baby. One that we were all eagerly anticipating. A fifth daughter to join her older 4 sisters. Then the message arrived that something was wrong and to pray for life. I knelt, I cried, I pleaded, I prostrated for this little lady's life. Then news arrived. God had called this little one to himself. She was not to remain here on this earth with her family.

    I held my one day old great niece in the afternoon and in the evening of the same day I learned of another life, just a day behind, that was called to an end on the day of her birth.

    It can be a whip lash of sorts to hold a miracle in your arms one minute and then to hear of another miracle that you will never get to hold because she has been taken to her real and eternal home. Death remains a curse to us here on earth until Christ returns. Because of the first Bad Day in the garden when Adam and Eve chose to take control and stop trusting God, we will forever be plagued by this curse. Each one of us will be touched by it - we will likely all taste it ourselves.  

    Death is a  curse but it isn't the end. After the curse came, a promise arrived swiftly on its heels. This curse would not have the victory. Instead Jesus, the Saviour, would come and take the curse upon himself. He would carry the weight of all our sin on his perfect self and triumph over it. He rose victorious over death for us. We no longer have to look at death with fear and trembling but instead with confidence that death is only the beginning of our eternal life with God.  

Jesus told her, "I am the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die." John 11:25

Although we live in a broken world where we suffer and feel so much pain, we also live with so much hope if we trust in God. We have a Saviour who has promised us eternal life with him. An eternity without any pain, suffering or tears. All he asks is that we set our eyes on Him.    

"Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him." 1 Thess. 4:13

    A precious baby girl was taken home to her Heavenly Father before her first breath. My heart is broken and the tears just wont stop falling. The curse is felt in my whole being. Yet I can still rejoice in the God who called her home. There is no better place for her to be but in an eternity without pain and suffering with ABBA. Until we get to join her, we will miss her and we will mourn her loss under this curse.   

Its Been a While

 

Picture: Sept. 2023

Well, hello again! 

It has been years and there have been many changes and a lot of growth- both in the family as well as individually.

I have been toying with starting a new blog.  I had a new title picked out and was trying to get it off the press, so to speak, but was getting overwhelmed. Then I realized this blog is already the perfect place to settle back into.

So, in the future I hope to pop in here to share numerous things. Being me, its hard to pick just one area. thus, you will see new topics such as homeschooling, journal projects, book reviews as well as bible study reflections and learning. That is just skimming the surface of the topics I may visit but its an introduction just the same.

I hope to hear from you in the comments and hope you enjoy my ramblings.

Everything Has a Home

I'd never had a hard time keeping my house neat, tidy and clean until I had three kids and lived in an unfinished house. Something radically changed in my ability and motivation. Now, I find I am struggling to simply keep on top of the kitchen island, let alone the rest of the house.

My mom came by yesterday to give me a hand. She reminded me to give everything a home. And once it has a home, any time it is out, it is to be put back into its home immediately. I am sure this is the secret to success, and I have known it and not practiced it very well.

Here is what my house looks like ( the downstairs) after my mom came:

 Here is the hutch in our dining/ kitchen area. So much less dumpy.

 Our living room, with specific cubby holes for certain things.

 Our other living area. Clean and neat.

 My desk! The dumping ground for everything in Dave's pockets and anything I don't have a home for.

Here is the office that has become somewhat of a play room.

I am very motivated to keep up with it. The boys even saw some of the work and commented that the house looked beautiful. Matthew and Levi even tried telling Declan off for spilling lego all over the floor. "The house is beautiful Declan. Stop messing it up."

Keeping a house is far from easy but I know that keeping the rule of giving everything a home and always putting things away is the solution.

For Mandie

Our beautiful baby niece is finally leaving us to her adoptive parents. It's tragic yet beautiful. It was the plan all along but she takes a piece of all our hearts with her. I don't think any of us will miss that part of our hearts the way we will miss her.

For each of my foster nieces (and nephews, although we have yet to have any) I like to have something to give them. I made a teddy for our last princess, and for this one, a blanket:

When I prayed for her at dinner tonight, and for my sister and her family, Matthew turned and ask me why we had to give her away. I explained to him the situation. How is was a very special thing that she was going from one loving family to a permanent home. He seemed to understand. Ewan, however, was perplexed:

You mean, we will have to do that with Declan too?

Hard for little ones to make sense of it all. However, we have all been so blessed to have her in our lives. God has used us for her and her for us.

We will be praying for my sister and brother in law and all my nieces and nephews as they part with their baby sister this coming week.  God's love has filled them all to do this amazing work and he will heal their wounds and make them strong again.

Should I Be Worried?

His matching needs work.

Valentines For All

Love: Ewan

Love: Matthew

Love: Levi

Every year I am a bit too ambitious with our plans for homemade Valentines. I find really lovely ideas but when it comes to making them, I usually end up doing most of the work. This year wasnt too different, although I did have more help than previous years.

Since we don't see so many of you, here is your digital picture of a Valentine for you all. 

Happy Valentines Day!

Box Car

Who needs anything else when there is a big box lying around???

Special Surprise

I don't know too many of my neighbours very well. I know some names and a rough schedule of their day since I see them coming and going, but I've really only built a relationship with one family.

This Christmas, a beautiful offering was made to our family. When my mom was heading out the door on Christmas Eve, there on our stoop was a package of gifts. 4 precious gifts. One per little man. A card on it said: "Wishing you a Merry Christmas, from Ho ho ho!"

Who could it be? Who would come all this way to leave an anonymous gift for the boys? I figured it had to be a neighbour and I made a guess as to who it was. 

Each boy was given their own towel and the gifter had sewn each of their names on it which different fabric. Love and thoughtfulness went in to this gift. For our boys.

About a week later my neighbour across the way came by and asked if we had received the gift from Alice. I had been right. She was who I had suspected. An older woman and her daughter had thought of our family and brought a special Christmas gift.

I don't know if she will ever know just how much it meant to me. Not the gifts but knowing she thought of our boys during a very busy holiday. God sure uses people to bless others. We sure felt it this year.

Guntrons

I dont know how many of you out there are parenting boys but of those of you who are, are any of them obsessed with transformers? 

To be completely honest, I think if I were a little boy I would think they were pretty awesome.

Well my boys are, needless to say, very interested in these toys. It doesnt stop with the toys though. They spend there free time playing transformers. Not with the toys, but as the transformers themselves! You will hear them yelling through the house and "transforming" by making this funny little noise- "kee- koo-kee". One might also here, " Role out" or " bot mode". It really is a very time consuming game.

Well, cue Max Steel. Yet another strange hero show where the alien and man fight monsters. I really do not like this show and the kids know they will only get to watch it when Daddy is in charge. This Alien can make all kids of strange modes that helps fight evil. These Modes are no longer just for Max Steel. No way. They now belong to:

GUNTRONS!

That is right! my boys have now created their own new creatures. Thankfully it is by using Lego. I love Lego. it keeps my boys so busy and so creative. The house is a mess, but the boys are busy using their imaginations.

The boys have even worked it so that when you move certain parts of the Guntron, they become something new. So, we have rescue hero, mode changing transformers.

The things we come up with!!!

Needle Madness

Another Christmas has come and gone. How sad is it that I have NO pictures of it? I guess when you are hosting an event you have other things on your mind!

That's right! Dave and I hosted my family this year for Christmas. Counting 12 children, 1 teenager and 8 adults, it was quite the party... although I guess that is what most Sunday afternoons look like also. 

We decided to do something very untraditional. To keep stress low, lasagne, garlic bread and salad for Christmas dinner. I was able to make the lasagne several days ahead and freeze it, leaving the majority of the work in the past.

I believe a good time was had by all and the food seemed to go over well also. Always good when that happens.

Boxing day, however, means, "get this tree out of my house"! Christmas is over, now lets clean up.

A good sign of a neglected tree is if it looks like this:

Where are all the needles you ask? Scroll down.

 Yup! there they are.

Several factors contributed to this mess. First being that I didn't water it. That's a big one. Initially I had it in a huge bucket of sweet water and I just never added more. Second factor was the bucket. We don't use a stand, simply a bucket with the tree tied to something. So the tree branches are actually resting on the lip of the buckets making it quite the task to try and get more water into it. Third factor, it is in the same room as our wood burning fireplace. It gets quite hot and very dry in the house, let alone that room alone. Over all, the tree and I didnt really stand a chance. Even if I had been a bit more diligent.

What did that get me?

This!!!!

I had to empty my vacuum three times just to clean up the needles in the house. Lets not even mention the needles on our porch and out the back door! Dave actually got out the blower and blew the needles out of the porch so we would stop tracking them in on our boots every time we went out.

I love real trees. Ill deal with the mess. No big deal. I am thankful for Christmas and I am also thankful that it is over for another year.

Tonight is New Years Eve. May you all have a wonderful new year. We plan on staying in and keeping it low key. This year has been strange. We plan on finishing it the same way. Doing nothing!

Activities and Guests

Family is very important to me. I get tired, I get grumpy and I get overwhelmed but I can very rarely turn down the opportunity to be with family. It has been build right into my being. Through the loving parenting and teaching we had as kids, family (both blood related and not) has become one of our essentials. A support and network that is there in thick and thin. 

Sunday afternoon, my niece asked if she could spend time with us this week. As talk of this ensued, a nephew also made the request.  As an Aunty who didn't wish to leave anyone sad, I told them both to come on over and visit. 

Until Wednesday evening I am the mother or 6! I love it. Its loud and messy (wait, thats no different than normal) but at times easier than normal. New distractions and all.

Monday, I took them all with me to get some gingerbread houses so we could have a fun Christmas project to do together. It was an adventure with an extra two but they were so well behaved. Once we waited for Mr. Declan to nap, we got started on the building.

The finished projects next to the poinsettia that Dave bought me.

Ewan got to do his house solo (with a bit of help from mom).

Matthew and Isaiah worked away, compromising with each other about the placement of each candy.

Norah busily worked on the house while Levi snuck candy after candy into his mouth.

Messy and loud!

WORTH IT!!!

Trimming the Tree

We usually try to get our Christmas tree around December 5th since it is Sinterklaas. My sister in law, Vanessa, gave me that fun idea. Our husbands, who are brothers, are Dutch and as a way to do St. Nicks in our own way, we try to get our tree and decorate it.

This year it was the 6th. So we failed a bit but no one seemed to really care or even notice. Daniel and Amanda ( my brother and his wife) along with the kids, and Connor (my other brother) came with us this year to Thomas Tree Farm to chop down our tree. We hop on a wagon pulled by some horses out to the trees and come back on a tractor ride with our freshly cut tree.

Its expensive but an enjoyable tradition ( at least the boys and I think so).

The boys decorated vigorously and within 5 minutes they were done. I managed to catch Matthew adding a few ornaments but it lost its appeal after a handful or ornaments were placed.

From this picture, you can clearly tell they were the ones decorating. I think there are 5 ornaments on one branch. Pretty! I told myself I would go back later and move things around but it appears not to bother me. I think I just like the warm lights. I dont actually pay attention to the decorations once they are on the tree.

Along with the fresh cut tree I added some other trees (just not real).

This is usually the tree that the kids are able to decorate and undecorate all month long. They never really got to it though. So, it remains mostly plain which is still warm and cozy.

Are you wondering how the tree is standing up to Declan? Its a good question. I think one of the reasons I haven't noticed the crowded ornaments is that Declan removes them quickly and in great number. I have found them all over the house. Once I find them, I find a place for them on the tree in a slightly higher location. By Christmas all the ornaments will be at the top of the tree.

Meh! Its what we do :)

Hope you are all having a wonderful time getting set for Christmas.

Counting Down

Growing up, December first was exciting because we got to start opening our daily chocolates from our advent calendars. Counting down the days until Christmas morning.

I decided to continue the tradition, as so many do, with our boys. However, it hasn't gone as smoothly as I remember. One of the kids would go to open their chocolate only to find the treat missing. I guess their moving it down from its shelf proved too rough and the chocolate would slip down to the bottom. So we would have to rip open the cardboard to find the culprit and in so doing cause others to fall out.

This year I decided to try something new. 

These are my home made calendars. Each boy has a different colour and each pocket contains its treat. Yummier than the store bought cardboard calendars (though I am sure the kids really don't care).

I folded origami pockets, and stamped each one with the date. Some are all mixed up. It lets the older boys hunt for the number and the younger ones are in order so I can quickly grab their treat and hand it to them.

This is also not going as smoothly as I would have liked. Mostly because Declan is a climber. He brings a chair up to the calendars when I am out of the room and steals envelopes off of whichever is closest. Thankfully I have extra treats to replace the stolen ones.

Another tradition that we started several years ago is opening a book a day. They are all Christmas books and they are put away all year long so they aren't boring. 

                 

Each child takes a turn opening a book until Christmas eve. They love it.

That's how we count down to Christmas. How about you?

Solar System

This year I tried teaching science to the boys but the topic they chose was the human body. It took us way too long just to get through the intro and some of the first chapter thus I quit. It actually caused Matthew to become a germ-a-phobe.

After some thought, however, I realized it wasn't science but the topic that was making learning hard so I decided on a new topic without the boys input and I chose space.

What a great choice, if I do say so myself. I chose Exploring Creation with Astronomy from Apologia as well as their Junior Notebooking Journal and it is so much fun. We do little bits at a time and we have only finished two chapters; the intro and the Sun. The model above was after the introduction. We learned the name of the planets and also learned to use a mnemonic device to remember their names.

Here is the one we created together:

Matthew Vacuums Every Monday Joyfully, Sometimes Under New Plants

We have included Pluto for now because as we study each of the planets, we can decide what we think about its Planet-tude (invented this word).

Just thought I would share a little snap-shot of our schooling thus far.

Lipstick Anyone?

No, Don't Worry!!! I didn't let him play with my makeup...

He sucked on a marker!

First Snow