moving the blog

Hey all.....I am moving my blog over here..... www.aninheritanceofdelight.blogspot.com  join us over there! And stay tuned over there for some big news!

Blessings!

Only God have scripted these wonderful women into my life:
Seriously, when I look at this picture, all I can do is marvel.

On the far left is one of David's sisters, Greta. To think that when God granted me the desires of my heart in giving me David as my husband, He ALSO granted me Greta is a gift upon a gift! Greta is a kindred spirit. I love love love watching our kids play together. Jack and Isaiah were overheard playing behind the shed while in Oregon, making farting sounds and laughing uproariously each time. Later, Isaiah informed Uncle Mark that he had a best friend, Jack, who spits well. (Great. So glad my 6 year old has a reputation of being a good spitter. Ha!)

Next is Sara, on the other side of me. Ironically, I have known Sara most of my life. Her younger sister and I were good chums growing up. Sara married David's step-brother, which I think sounds really strange, so let's just say that she married David's brother, ok? If there was ever a family that I looked up to growing up, it was Sara's family. And now I am related to them. Wow.

Then Kathleen. I guess technically she is my step-sister-in-law, but we will just say she is my sister. Another kindred spirit with whom I share so many common interests! Former teachers, homeschooling, natural food loving mamas. Kathleen is a rare find. (And she makes a mean salsa too!)

In yellow is Janelle, another "sister". There are two super really important things about Janelle. First, she has four kids. That makes her pretty cool right there, right? I think so! She is a good mama and truly enjoys her kids...and it shows. I love that about her. And I love that she is Spencer's mommy. Spencer is going into 4th grade and Jack ADORES him. Follows him and copies him and generally hero-worships him. And Spencer takes it all in stride and includes and loves Jack. And I know that it takes a good mama to teach an older boy to endure that kind of affection. =) Here is Jack sitting with Spencer...literally sitting WITH Spencer:


Karyn wraps it up. I hope to share more about Karyn soon and all that we have in common. That will be a post for another day. But suffice it to say that the Lord provided an over-the-top blessing in this "sister". One of those gifts from Him where you can't help but laugh and know that God just wanted to bless your socks off through it. That's Karyn.

Between those mamas, we have 17 kids, spanning 6 months to 4th grade. 17 cousins whom are being raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. 17 cousins to run and play "boys chase girls" with:

17 cousins to have birthday parties on Grandma's patio with:
8 girl cousins to paint toes with:

17 cousins to have an impromptu worship time with:


We are blessed beyond measure with our family and they way the Lord has so graciously written our lives together.

Oregon Fun!

We are slowly recovering from 2 full days in the car. Everyone is glad to be home, though we had a wonderful time visiting with family and friends.

After arriving in Oregon, we had one day to relax before we headed up to Portland for the morning. We met our good friend, the Pecks in Washington Park where we enjoyed playing and walking around the Rose Garden.

Molly took some time to smell the roses:

And Pete wanted to sniff them too. Have you ever tried to let a 35 lb. toddler sniff roses from your shoulder? It's not easy!

Leave it to the kids to find water to play in. Jack informed us that he wanted a fountain like this for our yard:

The whole gang:
This family is such a blessing in our lives. We only get to see them once a year, but the fellowship is sweet when we do. Their kids are growing up to be caring, gentle, loving followers of Christ. And we always walk away from our time with them encouraged.


Pete got bored...and wanted to take pictures. I love his cute face!

More Coast Fun!

This was my favorite place to be when we lived on the coast:


It's gotten alot bigger, but it still a cool place to hang out....and still free! (Though they do have a suggested donation listed now.) The current octopus they have on display cannot be touched as she is a bit "spunky", I guess. That was a bummer, as I had talked to the kids about how the octopus wraps around your arm and starts to squeeze until they realize you are warm-blooded. Oh well.

We went to Nye Beach today. David decided to get a "real" kite to take with us, though the day was so absolutely amazing again, there really wasn't enough wind to keep it up. It was funny watching David, though!


Jack and I watched a gull pull in a crab and start eating. We chased off the sea gull, because Jack had been wanting to hold a crab. WE didn't save it in time....2 legs and a good amount of the insides had already been eaten, but Jack held it up, quite proud.

The first night, we ate at Mo's Annex....which overlooks the bay. Lovely! David "splurged" and had some gluten.....in the form of clam chowder. Jack liked it, the other kids tolerated it.


More to follow.....

Oregon Coast

We had the opportunity to slip away to Newport for a couple of days. The kids loved seeing the ocean, watching the sea lions and all the boats, and it was fun for me to see old favorite haunts!

Took the kids to my favorite place to get salt water taffy....I was glad to see it was there 20 years later!

Kenzie, Molly and Jack at Yaquina Beach....on an amazing day. Sunny, warm, but not too warm, slight breeze....


The kids building castles....of sorts.

Sibling love...

Rough life....

Friday's Ramblings

It has been a good week. A very good week. David and I committed some time back to using Tapestry of Grace as our spine curriculum going forward. Lord willing, we will use it all the way through. To say that I am excited would be a gross understatement. And I know David is excited too, because he has been playing with the book lists, organizing, prioritizing, sorting by what our library system has, and highlighting in various ways within Excel. And we have been on a book buying binge the last couple of months.

But this week in particular has been good. Sunday, a dear friend informed me that not ONLY had they officially decided to homeschool their two boys next year, but she purchased Tapestry too! Yeah! Thursday morning, my other dear homeschooling mom friend told me that she and her husband, after a lot of prayer, talking, and reading ALSO have purchased Tapestry! The support will be wonderful and fun!

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This week has been refreshing in many ways. It's always nice to feel a renewed sense of community with people. Not only my fellow homeschoolers, though I need that too! But I also got a chance to get away last weekend with 3 other friends - friends that from the exteriors, you would say, "really? You four?" Our interests, hobbies, life walks, etc have all been so different. And yet, we had deep fellowship because we had the most important thing in common - our faith in the Lord and our desire to see His Bride, the church, truly beautiful. It is such a blessing when God opens your eyes to see, again, the gift of fellow saints.

And yet, with true community comes greater pain. One of our dearest friends here lost his father yesterday. It was sudden and unexpected. And because we love our friends, we hurt for them. When a fellow saint is struggling with how to help their teen, you feel it more personally. True community hurts more, doesn't it? And perhaps that is why we are seeing less and less of true community. Especially in the church. It takes time, which we often have parceled out to too many places. And it hurts. Hurts to see others hurt. Hard to hold each other accountable. And yet, there is deep joy in knowing that you have THAT kind of community.

Ummm, there's a hole in my wall!

The Great Chimney Demolition of 2010-2011 (and Lord willing, it WILL end in 2011 and not extend to 2012!) made great strides this weekend. In December, when David's brother, Migl ( Jack's new spelling for Michael) was here, they managed to knock the chimney below the roof line so that a new patio roof could be put in. This is about where they got it:

This past weekend, David and buddy Todd, got the rest of it out. This involved:

* 9 hours of jackhammering
* dust. dust. more dust.
* that's really about it

You know you have good friends when they will give up a Saturday to literally have their body jerked around by a jackhammer. Todd has new appreciation for "Shaken, not stirred." And then, his darling wife, Wendi, brought the men a nice big lunch from Pei Wei, because she knew I was a little tied up with the kiddos. And she knew that David could not have gluten OR grains. And she knew what he could have from Pei Wei that would meet his needs. We are blessed with good friends. Which I may lose by posting this picture....

And if I am totally honest, I have to say I was LAUGHING when I took this picture. How cruel am I that I laugh in the face of such misery and pain? But oh....those poor tired faces....and they still had about 4 hours left after this picture was taken!

So at the end of the day, I had this:
Yes, that is my living room you can see THROUGH THE WALL. But the chimney is out and we are nearly ready to reclaim the lost wall space that was wasted in the fireplace that we never once used.

Next on the list, besides the obvious fixing the wall is scraping the popcorn ceilings in this room. Messy, but nearly as messy as the re-texturing is after....I find that stuff they spray up there in the strangest places for months afterward. Ah well. As Jack puts it, "We keep working and working on this house. And pretty soon, it's going to be the best house ever!"