The feast

Chick #1 was confirmed on Palm Sunday. We had so many family and friends that traveled to our little neck of the woods to celebrate this wonderful occasion with us. Some of you maybe be wondering what on earth is a confirmation any way. First I will begin by explaining what it is not. It is not a graduation from church or Sunday school. It is not a turning over of one's life to Christ. My daughter did not turn her heart over to Christ or ask him to come into her heart.

A Confirmation is a confession of one's faith. A faith that was given to them by the Spirit. It is also a understanding that our learning of Christ is never ending and that we live in continued catechises for our entire lives in this world.

My daughter became a Christian by hearing the word of God. My daughter became a child of God at her baptism when she was only 11 days old. She was baptised with plain water, "from the tap" to use her words. This water was then combined with God's word and she became holy and set apart from all people.

During her questioning which was before our pastor, family and one set of friends she spoke of the faith that was given to her by God. In a very poised manner, she told us of the triune God, her sinful nature and her need of a Savior. She spoke of the Commandments, Creed, the Lord's prayer, Absolution, Baptism and Communion. She was alone and the only confirmand and she did a beautiful job.

In the Sermon our Pastor did a beautiful job of telling Chick #1 that Christ was coming and where he would be. He would be placed into her mouth under the bread and wine of communion for the forgiveness of her sins.

Chick #1 with some of our dear friends. I have known the lady in this picture since she was born.

Chick #1 always giggles when she is visiting with this lovely women. She prepared beautiful food and everyone loved it.

My sister decorated this beautiful cake for the special day. Chick #1 had a hard time coming up with an idea for the cake but we guided her to this nice design.

Here is the whole family.

Chick #1 with The Rooster's father. It was so nice having him and his sister and bothers there for the afternoon.

Here she is again with The Rooster's mother and step-father. We are very lucky to live close to them and spend a lot of time them.

My parent's were able to make the trip down and Chick #1 was very excited to have them here, so was I.

These are her Godparents one set traveled 10 hours and the other 16 hours. Thank you so much for coming and spending time with us.

Our Pastor, he who must not be named, posed for a picture with our churches only confirmand this year. I need to get a copy of this picture to our church soon, so I can be hung on the wall with the other confirmand photos.

A mother's face

A mother's face can show many different emotions. We, as mothers, go through many things with our children, who have been given to us by God our Father. These children give us joy and laughter. Most of the time our lives, as mothers, are not that bad. We have it pretty good and we do not even realize it.

My dear friend is going through something no mother should have to go through. Her son is in the hospital and he is very sick. He can open his eyes and look at her, although his eyes can not focus because of all of the medicine he is on. He does try to hold onto her hand when she places her hand in his. She looks forward to every tiny wiggle of his toes. She loves him!

Love is a feeling that you can not always see. Kicking is a verb you can see and laughing is a verb that is seen and heard. Love is little harder to see. Last night, while I was visiting the family at the hospital, I saw her look at her son. It was not a happy glance that you often see parents give their children. This was a look of determination, compassion, longing, needing and loving. I have never in my adult life seen a look like that upon a person's face.

Even though this mother loves her child so so much, her love can not save him. Our Father in heaven loves this little boy even more than his mother is able to love him. God has promised to save this child and already has. This little boy, of seven, is promised an ever lasting life in heaven. This promise was given to him when a little bit on water was sprinkled upon his forehead during his baptism. He was one day old and our Father in heaven already loved him. In all reality, God loved him at the beginning of time. God loved each one of us and that is why we were made by him. God loved us so much that his Son, Jesus Christ, shed his blood for payment of our sin. He loves us so much that he gives us His Holy Spirit that is poured out on us in our baptism. God loves us so much that he feeds us with the holy food of His Son's body and blood in Holy Communion.

These are the only gifts that matter. Who cares about the wii or ipods. The new clothes and jewelry are all junk. When it comes down to desperate times, sorrowful times and fear times, the gifts that our Father in heaven has given us are able to put a safety net under our feet. There is something outside of ourselves that has promised us life. The object of this faith is solid and will hold us safe even though the world is tumbling around us. God, our heavenly Father, looks down on us with love in his eyes and he shows mercy upon our sinful nature.

Kyrie Eleison

All that I need

What is the fourth petition of the Lord's Prayer?

Give us this day our daily bread.

What does the mean?

God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people, but we pray in this petition that God would lead us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.

What is meant by daily bread?

Daily bread includes everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body. Such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors and the like. (Luther's small catechism)

The Lord's prayer, the perfect prayer, given to us by God's only Son Jesus Christ. It is a prayer that rolls off of our tongues with ease. We do not have to think about it. It is comfort.
Mommies set food on the table before their children to enjoy and eat. Daily Bread.
Daddies go to work and provide for their families. Daily Bread.
Clothing is received for birthday presents or from friends that have out grown them. Daily Bread.
I have a husband that loves me. Daily Bread.
We live in a country that provides us with freedom to work and learn. Daily Bread.

What if a family is struggling to receive their daily bread? Who provides these meals, housing, clothing..... God our Heavenly Father.

It is a wonder to behold this work done by God the Father through his Son Jesus Christ through people here is a sinful word. That is the church, caring and providing for the sheep and making sure their trough is full. These little sheep need a roof over their head. These little sheep need a place to lay their weary heads.

When there is a crisis with a member of the church, Christ in us provides for these people whether it be food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home. . . . . .

God gave us one prayer and it is perfect. He provides for his sheep.

Reformation Day

I want to do a few reformation day activities with the children with week since we will be celebrating this church day on Sunday. Today I will be reading to the children out of Paul L. Maier's book Martin Luther A Man Who Changed The World. I found a nice picture of Martin Luther here and hopefully it will busy them so that I am able to read without to many interruptions. Here is a word search that the older children can work on. This week we have also enjoyed singing A Might Fortress Is Our God. Chick #4 almost has the first verse memorized and is working hard on remembering some of the words. Maybe I will find a few other fun to share with you but for now I think this is good.

Climbing

Chick #5 is climbing onto everything. She scoots chairs all over the kitchen getting into whatever she wants. For other parts of the house, she will grab the step stool from the down stairs bathroom and haul it into the living room to try to reach her hearts desire. I have now came upon a new part of parenting. My job is to keep this little two year old girl safe and sounds. It is really a lot harder than it seems.

Everyday

Here I sit in the kitchen listening to a child plunk at the piano. Hamburger is trying to cook from a frozen state upon my stove. I am hoping that children have their math books open and that Chick #5 is not attacking lipstick. This stuff happens every day. Every day I sit in my home and everyday it is the same. Our home may seem busy and happy and funny and interesting, but to me, it is the same old same old everyday. I get bored in my home and I mess up a lot. The laundry is not done, the meals are not planned out, I am not always nice to my children or my dog. Poor dog, he get the worse of it. I fail at loosing the weight I gained right after chick #5 was born. Plus, I do not always love my spouse or my God.

My God, my Father in heaven, saves me from all of me. My sinful nature is in every single cell of my body. My sinful nature come out in my words, thoughts and deeds. But my heavenly Father has saved me. His Son, Jesus Christ, died for all sin. Sin from Adam and Eve until He comes again. God does not see me or my sin, He sees His perfect holy Son. Through baptism I died with Christ and rose from the dead with him. Christ is alive in me and He loves my spouse, cooks the meals, loves and cares for the children and pets the dogs head.

I try to be thankful for this but I always fall short because of sin. So for the moment I am happy that Christ in me can make this a safe and happy home for my husband and children and goofy dog.

Mother's Day

I am not a fan of Mother's Day, I hate the touchy feeling emotions of it. I do not want the praise or the thanks. Most of all, I do not want hear the pastor preach about mothers on Mother's Day. Mother's Day reminds me of all of the faults that I have had, the failures I have encountered, the hard times of being a mother. The cards from the stores are silly and none of them cover the topic well. This past Sunday, on Mother's Day, the best thing that happened to me was receiving Christ forgiveness of all sin and receiving Christ's body and blood for the forgiveness of sins. This radio show talks about mothers with truth and it is a nice change.


http://issuesetc.org/2010/05/07/4852/

http://issuesetc.org/2010/05/10/4872/

sun and dirt

We had a very nice weekend at the hen house. Saturday morning was lazy, and we enjoyed a lovely breakfast made by the Rooster. He had weekend of painting and I had a weekend of laundry. We needed a couple of chairs to place on our front porch and found some on sale at a local hardware big box store. How hard could it be to paint a couple of chairs? Well, as it turns out, the Rooster worked on them all weekend and only one it finished. The other is primed but is still in need of a final coat of paint. When you take into account how much my husband gets paid for an hour of his time at work, these turned out to be pricey chairs. If we have to do this again, I think we will just buy the finished product.

I was on baby chick duty and Chick #1 also helped with this. She loves to toddle about the yard but we must keep a close eye on her so someone must be her shadow. I was able to go on a nice jog while Chick #3 had softball practice. The sun was shining beautifully so I sat and watched her practice in order to soak up some vitamin D. I may have gotten a little to much because my legs are a slight shade of pink but the sunlight does wonders for my Mommy brain.

Sunday we were able to help my Mother in law and her husband put in their vegetable garden. They have a great location for a garden with plenty of sunlight. We helped buy some of the plants so we might be able to enjoy some of the harvest. Many tomato plants were placed into the ground, so I will be canning tomatoes and salsa this summer. I guess that I should begin hunting for free canning jars.

Dressing Up Standards, Dumbing Down Schools

Dressing Up Standards, Dumbing Down Schools

I am often asked if I give my children tests. My answer is always "no". I know everything that my children know. Every now and then we play the board game Smarter than a Fifth Grader. My husband will read a question and I know that Chick #2 does not know that yet but, Chick #1 read about that in such and such book. My children can read as much as they want, and there is no time limit put on it. If they want to get lost in their books until noon, I let them. They will get to their math and other subjects later. I have never made them right out a book reports because they are constantly telling me about every story they read. I do not have to test their comprehension skill because I see them being used every single day. They have a love of learning that is very beautiful. My children will spend hours looking at maps, reading in encyclopedias, listening to books on tape and discussing books with one another. They are developing a strong sense of family and a understanding about caring for one another.

This job of home educating my children is a difficult one. They are always under foot and I have to be able to answer many many questions. I have fears of messing up and not doing a proper job, but I don't think that will happen. Even though we have bad days and fighting does go on in the house. Grace is given to us. Our sins our forgiven and Christ in me will take proper care of these children.

Pass the salt please

Sometimes I love the weekends, they are lazy, calm, uninterrupted and just plain nice. Then there are other times when I do not like them because of them being lazy, calm, uninterrupted and nice. My personality and the children's change, the day to day things are just to much and we need a break. Isn't that such a strange thing? I fear that our next weekend maybe a bad one. My dear husband has to work next Saturday and none of us are looking forward to it. I fear that it may feel just like a Thursday when it should not. Saturdays are referred to as Daddy day. The Rooster wakes up and makes a big breakfast for the family and we just hangout together all day.




The Rooster does so many things for me and I am so thankful for him. He saves me from things I can not handle a pile of laundry, to many dishes on my counter, my racing my mind, the children. God intended for families to work this way. A husband and wife are placed in the family to help each other and work together. He, my husband, provides for us by working every weekday so we can have a comfortable home, food, and things we need for this life. I stay home caring for children. Everyday he is free to leave our home and work. He can do this with peace, knowing that things are being taken care of at home. His children are safe and their needs are being meet by his wife.




A marriage is more than just helping one another, there must also be a respect for each other. My husband still thanks me for cooking meals, and cleaning up things. This is something that happens daily. If he needs me to help him he still always includes please in his sentience. I try to do the same with him. If I need him to help with a sick child or a very messy diaper, I try to ask nicely. Sometimes I think that this respect for one another in a marriage is disappearing in the world.




Husbands, in the world, think of their wives as nags. They blindly follow what their wives order and develop hard feels about the situation. Wives, in the world, think of their husbands as another child that they must keep under their thumb. Dealing with their husbands is a chore and never thought of as a joy. I find this has also become a standard in this era. We can find this scenario playing out in TV sitcoms and in movies. It happens in reality TV shows and right under our own noses. Once something starts to touch every aspect of our lives, it is hard to think of this as being incorrect.



As a stay at home mother I rely upon my husband for everything. There is a lot of guilt involved with this. During times when money is tight, I wish that there was some way that I could help out. I really do not have any skills that I would be able to use to make money. If I were to help, it would be in a very plain way such as working in a retail shop. We would then have to add in the cost of gas for driving to town. There would be added stress placed upon the family caused by me not being here. I do not think that the pros out weigh the cons on this issues. Right now the vocation that God, our Heavenly Father, has given me is the vocation of wife and mother. I am pretty sure that it is a full time job and for now my plate is full.


In order to help next Saturday go smoothly, we will be taking a trip to the big zoo that is close to us. The kids will love the change of pace, the exercise, and the picnic lunch. This will also be the first time that Baby Chick will be involved with the whole zoo experience. I am sure that her excitement and the change of pace will be just what we need to make it through the day without the Rooster.

Papa's lap

I stole the title from our pastor. Yeah, I admit it, but you will see why.

When we pray Our Father who are in heaven what are we saying? Another Lutheran way to say this is what does this mean?

With these words God tenderly invites us to believe that He is our true Father and that we are His true children, so that with all boldness and confidence we may ask Him and dear children ask their dear father. (Luther's Small Catechism)

A small child will confidently run up to their father and call out, "Daddy, Daddy". The father will then sweep up the child into his safe arms and comfort the child. Once when I was a teen we experienced a earth quake. At the time we were living in Germany and the quake was very tiny, but something that I had never experienced before. The quake woke up me and my sister and we were both frightened. In that moment of fright we did not call out for our mother, but for our father. I remember looking back thinking how funny it was that we called out to him without any thought, both of us at the same time. At our moment of fear we went to our father.

We have the confidence to call out to our Father in heaven the same way. In our fear, despair, joy, happiness and all other emotions we can call on God, our Father Heaven. He is our daddy in heaven, our Papa who's lap we can crawl into and find peace. He loves us, cares for us, provides for us, and forgives us. We pray to our Father because he has promised to hear us. Psalm 65:2
He has given us this perfect prayer, The Lord's Prayer, for us to pray. In this prayer we call on him, and ask him for all things. In this Lord's prayer he gives us forgiveness of our sins, and reminds us of how he provides for us.

We are poor sinful beings and have been forgiven for all of our sins, the ones we know of, the ones we are unaware of and the ones we have yet to commit. Our Father in Heaven gave us his Son to die for our sins. We have been washed clean and do not need to fear our Father. Jesus Christ, His only Son, has made it possible to approach our Father and confidently pray to him.

Light hearted

This has been a heavy week. I won't lie and act like my life is perfect because there are many things that are not. Yes, I do stay home with me children, I educate them, cook for them, clean, and care for husband. Life is stressful and difficult even though it may not seem so on the outside. This week I have been missing family and friends that are far away. I have questions things about myself but I have not been shaken. I look forward to receiving the grace given to me by my Father in Heaven, his own Son's body and blood poured out on me for the forgiveness of my sins.

For this weekend I plan on enjoying this beautiful weather. The dog needs to be taken for a long walk and so do I. Some spring cleaning will hopefully get finished up around here. It is not really spring clean in the sense that I am washing curtains, I am simply trying to declutter things. I would like to clean out some flower gardens and find the new little plants growing under the old dead leaves. The baby chick needs to spend some time outside in the sun that will put me on shadow duty, following her around watching her discover her world is a treat.

On Monday I plan on doing some serious blogging and will stretch out my writing wings. I hope to do a little reading and I might even pick up my knitting needles. Have a great weekend.

Water washes me

I have been thinking about baptism lately. For a few years I have wanted to blog about it but time is always short and other things would distract me. I am a fan of the Duggar's TV show and chick #1 and were watching the episode when their little preemie baby was born. The tiny little infant looked so small and weak. The Family were rejoicing that the little babe was born and alive but many of the Duggar kids were also crying as they looked at the weak infant. Chick #1 looked at me and said "That baby is baptised, isn't it mom?" My heart broke when I told her no. The Duggars are Baptist and they make this very well know during their TV show. They are Christians and know that Christ's forgives them but they do not baptise little babies. That is just how the doctrine of the baptist church is. I could tell that this fact upset chick #1.

Baptism is such an amazing and beautiful thing. Very simple water is combined with God's word and you have a baptism. This simple act brings faith to a tiny baby. A faith that is stronger than any human, a faith that can persevere through many things, a faith that is not of human making. The faith is Jesus Christ's perfect faith. Our sinful lives can not trust in Christ blood to forgive our sins but His own faith, in us, can trust in him. When our heavenly Father looks at us he does not see our sins, our faults, or our ugliness. Our Heavenly Father gazes upon his perfect Son when he looks at us. We are sinless beings in God the Father's eyes.


This hymn has been playing in my head lately and I thought I would share it with you.



Baptismal waters cover me

As I approach on bended knee;

My Father's mercy here I plead,

For grievous sins of thought and deed.



I look to Christ upon the tree,

His body broken there for me;

I lay before Him all my sin,

My darkest secrets from within.



Lord, may your wounded hand impart

Your healing to my broken heart;

Your love alone can form in me

A heart that serves You joyfully.



Baptismal waters cover me;

Christ's wounded hand has set me free.

Held in my Father's strong embrace,

With joy I praise Him for His grace.



Lutheran Service Book #616



Here is a link to a Internet radio show talking about baptism.



Or if you want to read something you can go here.



If you like to buy a book about it you can go here.



Now let us all rejoice in the gift of baptism that has freely been given to us.

Love and honor each other

Teens and young adults think that they have a right. For some reason they think that they can do things that mess with other peoples lives and families. I do not care if they are being "careful", there are still sins being commented against future husband and wives. In this world a kid gets in more trouble for steeling then from committing adultery. Teen should not be having this "romance" with each other. If young men and women are not ready for the responsibility of being a Daddy or a Mommy they should not play Daddy or Mommy. They have no idea of the commitment that is need to raise a child. These young children, the teens, have no idea how many people are effecting by this behavior.

God has given husbands and wives a very special gift. This gift is to be loved and enjoyed inside of marriage. We are meant to have a sexual relationship with only one person. Only that person should know you in that way. I don't care what teens or young adults say. They do not know that type of love. They should not act like they do or love another person in a married way until they are married. God has given teens parents to guild teens through those horrid years. Parents need to have the strength to do their job and realize that they are still the parents. Should a teen be sleeping with his girlfriend under his parents roof? No! There, that is the answer and I said it and everyone knows that I know that it is wrong. The parent is sinning against the child by not being a parent, the child is sinning against it's parent, against their future spouse and against their girl or boyfriends future spouse. They are sinning against God and living outside of the union that he intended for husbands and wives.

Boys need to learn that they are boys unless they have the means to provide for a family. I do not know of any 16 or 17 year old that could provide housing and food for a wife and child. If you can not do that then you should not be sleeping around.

Girls need to understand what it is to take a care of a child. To care for a baby does not mean that you drop it off at the daycare center in your HS. It does not mean that you have your parents care for this child. It means that you care for this child 24/7 and it is hard. It is the hardest job that there is in the whole world and if you can't do, don't sleep around with boys.

Parents of teens toss up their hands and declare, "we can't tell them no." Really? I think parents could if they are willing to wear their parent's pants. Do these children need cell phone, games consoles, and cars? NO. We are not here to be our children's friend. It is hard to make your children mad but God gave us children to teach them to be responsible adults. Our job is to protect them, tell them no and give them rules.

Is someone being responsible by letting the govt. provide food or housing for them? NO! So many problems of this world could be fixed if people would just learn how to keep their legs together. If you do not have the means to pay for a baby to be born in a hospital then don't participate in the practice of making babies.

I have been tossing a lot of law out in this post. I know that I have made many people mad and upset over this. To be honest, I have not said anything that you did not already know. Everyone that knows me knows that this is how I feel. I am not going to apologize for saying any of this.

Is there hope after teens having fallen into this behavior? Yes. Does our Father in Heaven still care for them? Yes. Has our Father in heaven poured out forgiveness to all sinners? Yes.

A sinner must first realize his sin and then repent of it. To learn of your sin is a hard thing. It breaks you down and makes you feel like crap. It causes sorrow to run through your body but it does not last. God loves us. God loves us more than his own Son. We sin and we deserve death. That is the bill handed to us. God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to pay that bill. We have done nothing to earn this but God have freely given it to us. We can rejoice in this forgiveness of sins.

If you desire to read any further on this topic I urge to read about the sixth commandment here.

thoughts

I sit here thinking. I do this alot and often and all of the time. Women always think and it is something that we never shut off. Why is it that if I am always thinking I can never think of anything to write? I have often tryed to think of blog posts but then I worry and can not sleep. Maybe blogging is not my cup of tea?

Lately I have been getting more thing done around the house. Laundry has been folded and put away and the living room floor cleaned. The kids did some good work on their bedrooms over the past week.

We had a really wonderful unschooled day. I picked one topic as our jumping off of point. It was telephones. We all have them and we carry them around everywhere. We are also studding that time period of history when the telephone was invented so, it fit in with our normal school studies. The kids learned about Alexander Graham Bell, Scarlet fever, sound waves, and Greek root words. Wyatt has a reading lesson and Constence did her writing. Then I read from our novel we reading out loud and the older kids practiced composing compound sentences. We did out bible reading and they practiced piano and played outside. I was able to wash bedding, cook, and workout. I really do like homeschooling.

another morning meal

This morning we all woke up just a little bit earlier so I was able to make one of the kids favorite morning meals, waffles. A waffle iron can only make one waffle at a time so it takes about an hour to make these. That reason makes this meal happen a little less often in this house. I cooked the left over bacon from earlier in the week to go with the waffles.


Tomorrow it might be another egg morning in our house. I have not planned that far in my head yet. The Rooster takes over breakfast duties on the weekends. He makes a huge meal on Saturday mornings. I remember when he first decided to start that job in the house. He said, " I want to do something that the kids will always remember". So he picked making Saturday morning breakfast. Sometimes other things get in the way, like baseball games or hunting, but as a rule, it is his job. The kids always look forward to Daddy breakfast. Every now and then I will help to make biscuits or mix up pancake batter. Usually it is a morning that I can enjoy a little quite and drink my coffee.

More hen house breakfasts

My pictures got flipped around but we can live with that. This morning I made muffins for the little chicks. This is the recipe that I used this morning. I can not find my favorite recipe for muffins because my little chicks like to look at my cookbooks. I wish they were a little nicer to my books so the pages would not wear out. The page out of my Better Homes and Garden cook had the same demise as the cover, destroyed. So I am hunting for a good substitute. This one is close but the texture is a little crumbly. The chicks loved them so they will work for now. We also had grapefruit which is a favorite of all the chicks. My blue coffee cup was a Mother's Day from the fourth chick that he picked out all be himself.


Yesterday we had french toast. I fried half a pound of sausage and made 13 pieces of french toast. Two chicks had a banana to fill up their tummies. The batter that I dipped the bread in had 6 eggs, about a cup of milk, vanilla, and cinnamon in it. We top our toast with little butter (if wanted) and a drizzle of syrup. For while I tried using real maple syrup but the price started to go up. Now we use regular high fructose, maple flavored, corn syrup. When there are 5 children in the house and 1 income, corners have be cut.

Homeschooling makes it so much easier for me to make homemade meals for my family. We are not in hurry to get out of the door in the morning so they can read and do studies while I busy myself in the kitchen. They look forward to our time sitting around the table and enjoy each others company. I hope that this will stay true as the older one get closer to their teenage years. I am sure that many people will tell me that this will change but I can always hope.

Hen house breakfast

Many people are surprised to find out that my children do not, as a rule, eat cereal or processed food for breakfast. Every now and then The Rooster will buy the boxes of sugar (cereal) when they are on sale. It is not the most practical thing for me to feed my little brood of chicks because they would empty a box everyday. Yesterday this was our breakfast. I cooked 1/2 pound of bacon, 6 eggs, one green onion, 1 oz. of cheese, 7 pieces of toast and banana. Chick #1 is not fond of eggs so she has toast with peanut butter and a banana. The children do not drink coffee, that is my cute little cup. They either have raw milk or water, every now and then we will have juice served at breakfast.

On a good day we are eating a little before 9am. The children have become better about starting a few of the subjects before we eat so our school day does not last so long. What am I cooking this morning? Sausage and french toast.

Library day

Today we traveled to the Library in the big city where we live. Our little country town library does not offer much in the way of children's nonfiction, so we pay to go to the library in a larger town. The oldest chick informed me today that she has read 13 books since the new year. Can you believe that? She loves library day and always begs to go back before I am ready. We can keep books for six weeks so we usually only go there about once a month. I thought that I would give you a list of what everyone in the family is reading so here it is.

The Rooster The Lonely Way by Hermann Sasse
The Hen (me) Emma by Jane Austin or Winter Solstice by Rosemunde Pilcher
Chick 1 (12 yr) The Lord of the Ring series
Chick 2 (10yr) the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series
Chick 3 (7yr) the Little House in the Parie series

Another day

Today was piano day. Everyone that has children that take piano lessons knows what I mean. Even more, homeschooling mothers who have to change the day to get the kids to lessons. I thought I would have it a little easy. Three children had lessons today so I could drop them off and then head back home. If I was lucky, little chick 5 would fall asleep in the car and get in a good nap after I carried her back into the house. Those are the key words here. Back into the house. This little lady is a very light sleeper. Of course she woke up while I was trying to bring her into the house and to her room. Maybe the house was just too quiet. I mean really, how many times is the house just down to two children. So then I spent the next hour and ten minutes trying to have a nice story time with chick 4 and a fussy crying baby. Not the lovely moment I had in mind.

Our mind always play those tricks on us. We think that the world will be lovely. Our children will listen to us, I will get things done, my boys will not start wrestling in the middle of the store. You get my drift. Everything is always tainted. It does not sparkle and it is not nice. There is grime every where, dust, tears, pain, sadness, lack of sun......

This will only last for a little while. Our days in this life are short and we must think of what has been promised to us. In our baptised lives, we are promised a life without tears, without pain, without hunger, and all of the other discomforts of this life. Christ blood given for our sins is the love that our Father in Heaven has given us. We are only in this world for a little while but we are not of this world. The moment will come when we are taken to our Heavenly home and then we will have all the mysteries revealed to us.