My YouTube channel

I have a YouTube channel if anyone wishes to check it out. 

So far just secular videos about cloth diapers and homeschool items. 

Check me out, channel name: Gardening God's Way

A rainbow photo is my icon. 

Organizing clothing

So recently we've made changes to help control the madness that is our laundry. 

I noticed that the kids (age 3.5 and 5) would dig through their neatly folded drawers looking for something to wear and in the process tossing some clean clothing on the floor. This was frustrating for a couple reasons. First of all, it made my efforts to fold clothes and put them away meaningless. Secondly, the clothes that were clean and ended up on the floor would accidentally be mistaken as dirty ones that would be put in the hamper... Making extra laundry that wasn't necessary. 

So now, although we still have their dressers those are mainly used for PJs, sweaters and jeans. All of their outfits are paired up and hung in the closet. To help with this, my father in law was so kind as to install a second bar in the closet so the big girls could reach their outfits and get dressed in their own still. They all share the same closet space. 

Pajamas however are in whatever room they sleep in. This way when the baby is sleeping, there is no need to disrupt her if someone needs to get dressed for bed or change in the middle of the night from an accident. 

We also organized my dear husbands drawers. I used to lay his tshirts folded and flat in a stack in the drawers. Now I fold and roll (really it's a trifold)basically so they can all be seen without having to dig. He loves how organized it looks and it doesn't require re-folding to keep it looking nice. 

Pictures to come!

Baby announcement to our children

Psalm 127 tells us what a blessing it is to have children. You can find verses elsewhere but this chapter comes to mind first when I think about children. 

My husband and I differ in our views of having children and the number of them. I think my spontaneous personality and his planned personality play a role in our views. Realizing this has given me a new respect for his views and respect for his responses to the news each time. 

So we found out in February that we are expecting baby #4. My husband's response to this possibility was "I was actually thinking recently how the two older girls are buddies and it would be nice for K3 to have a buddy too." Not that he would have planned on having one, rather that it didn't hit so hard to find out for sure that we are indeed pregnant... Again.

Tonight, we wanted to tell the children since we would be giving the announcement photo collage to his parents tomorrow. 

I think it's funny how he and I approach sharing the news differently. I wanted to record the kids reactions so I took video while the kids talked to daddy via FaceTime (video chat) since he is overseas for a couple weeks. He just said "mommy is having another baby" right off the bat. My take would have been a tad less direct... Maybe a "so girls, how do you like having a baby in the house? How would you like to have another around later this year?"

No way is right or wrong... Just different. 

Oh and add unpredictable children to it and it's bound to be a weird video to show them when they are older. From the questions they ask, to the picking their nose right in the middle of it all. Yup- that video is not getting posted unedited! 

Since our second pregnancy we have had a birthday pattern going. 

For our first pregnancy we told our families at Christmas - about 10 weeks along- via special Christmas presents with key words like grandma, grandpa, aunt, and uncle. For our second pregnancy, we waited until our first child's first birthday party- when we were 20 weeks along. She was wearing a Big Sister shirt. It was funny because we went to my dad and brother first and they held her and chatted for a minute with us but never read her shirt! Then we went to my mom and grandma... Yup mom read it right away. Then my husband's parents... They had to be led to reading the shirt... Of course at that time everyone else saw it and we're watching for their reaction so all eyes were on them. 

For our third pregnancy we did shirts again. Our second child was turning two and she and her sister wore Big Sister and Bigger Sister shirts to the party. We were about 16 weeks along. This was the pregnancy where we had an early miscarriage and later found out that there was another baby alive and well in there. We did not tell of the miscarriage until the one year anniversary of it. (This story can be found here in my blog in two posts). 

So sticking with the birthday theme, we are telling them again for a birthday. Our third is turning one year old. This time though we won't announce at the party. 

I uploaded pictures of her and her sisters into a collage card and added a poem I wrote. This is being given along with the party information to our immediate family. We will probably post the poem and pics to Facebook on her birthday to announce to the rest of our friends. 

So... How have you announced a pregnancy? Or How have you seen it done and like it? Or how would you do it, given the chance to plan something?

Comment below. Thanks for sharing. 

Parenting

It seems like my kids are becoming more and more disrespectful (disobedient and defiant). I know this means I need to change my parenting style. I need to foster a loving atmosphere and yet have boundaries and teach mutual respect. 

Getting the ball rolling will be tough but I know I need growth in the area of parenting - God has made it clear- and I am trusting Him to guide the way. I still need to do my part- research and practice. 

Praying for peace. 

Bad mom day

I know I've had different mood swings depending on my hormone levels (ie pregnant, nursing, PMSing, or "other"), amount of sleep, kids amount of sleep, how full my love tank is, how distracted I become with technology or with laziness. 

Today is a combo but I think lack of sleep is top rank. Sometimes my husband has to work late and I mean really late. I don't even know what time of the morning he came home maybe 1 or 2? My baby was up at 7 I think, and crying so I was up and moving them. Add in a couple bathroom breaks or waking up because I hear one of the kids and it doesn't add up to much sleep. It's one of those days where I know I'm ready to snap and I'm just trying to make it through the day. 

It's hard. I know the wrong behaviors and yet I do them. I'm not perfect and I'll never be, this side of heaven. But it's days like these that make me feel like a "bad mom". I am struggling to keep my sanity, how can I expect to take valuable moments to train my children. 

Ever had moments where just playful kid behavior gets under your skin... As if you expect them to act like mature adults? Yup that day is today. 

2 Corinthians 12:9King James Version (KJV)

9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Psalm 3, proverbs 3 and March 3

I've been a Christian awhile but I will admit that I am far from being who God intends for me to be.
I have struggled in following his commands to pray, study, and serve.
So today I was working yet again on study. I'll take it one day at a time but for today it was good. Since today is March 3, I decided to read psalm 3 and proverbs 3. I've heard many times the tip to take one chapter of proverbs each day of any given month- whatever the date in the month, read that chapter. So that's what I decided to do today... And add psalm 3 to it.
So with proverbs 3 I began to notice a pattern... One or more commands are given and then the promises followed. So I used colored pencils to underline the commands (Crimson-red) and promises(purple). for example: do not forget/store my commands in your heart (command), and your life will be satisfying (promise).
It was neat to see this pattern. I had not noticed it before, though I knew the bible was full of both commands and promises and didn't really link the two until now.
Then in psalm 3, I took the psalm and rewrote it to be my own psalm- the cry of my own heart. sometimes we have enemies that are quite close to us, for some it's a neighbor, others a family member or spouse. Here is my prayer concerning someone in my life. Perhaps you too could rewrite this psalm too. Read the scripture and see if God places something on your heart. I read it from the new living translation. My own psalm is below.

Psalm 3 rewritten as a psalm of autumn sparrow:
O Lord, I have a close enemy,
One who is much against me.
He is saying,
"There is no hope for you."
But you O Lord, are my hope and my shield around me, you are my glory, the one who holds my head high.
I cry out to you O Lord and you hear me from your holy mountain.
I go to sleep with a broken heart and injured spirit, yet I wake in the safety of your peace, for you are watching over me.
I am not afraid when my enemy offends me from every side.
Arise, O Lord!
Rescue me, my God!
Slap my enemy in the face with your truth.
Shatter his hardened heart that you may piece it back together in a new way.
Victory comes from you, O Lord.
May you bless your people.
And may my enemy, like Paul who was an oppressor, become one of your blessed people too.

Reading, writing and reality

March 2015:

I recently went to a parent forum for parents to find out about kindergarten- what the students may know before entering, and what they will learn during the year. Our kindergartener to be is pretty much set for the things she should be able to do (and they test them in May to see where they are academically). I have slowly been working with my two older girls in phonics (sing spell read write program) and math (math u see primer). We have discussed if we want to keep them home to homeschool or send them to public school. No verdict reached yet. Partly because I am unemployed and if I can find a decent paying job similar to my part time job I lost, we will likely send them to school to lower the cost of childcare. But if I am still unemployed this summer we then have to decide for ourselves rather than the situation deciding for us.
One of the things I was reminded of at the parent forum that I had swept under the rug, was the importance of reading to children daily. That very night when I returned from the meeting and the kids had just finished daddy time (watching videos of how things are made) I grabbed some books and read to them. Lately I've invited them to curl up in my bed to read. I love reading to them now. I love starting the sentence and pausing to give them a chance to finish it. Most of our books are just basic children's books. But we have some gems- books about the Bible and character building. The girls like Dave Ramsey's children's books- teaching integrity, giving, consequences of debt, etc. they also like The very hungry caterpillar and some dr Seuss books.
K2 loves doing schoolwork but K1 is not thrilled about it. She doesn't want to practice writing whatever letter she is practicing that day, yet I notice that when I ask if she wants to make a card or note for someone we are praying for she enjoys writing it. It is amazing how, even with a a masters degree in education with a concentration in differentiated instruction, I am having a hard time letting go of the structure of the SSRW book in order to let her practice in her own joyous way! It's almost as if I am afraid of her "missing something" by not sticking to the pattern of the book. Yet, the repetition in the book has me a bit bored too. God is teaching me to let go. Children need some space for expression.

June 2015: 

I get so wrapped up sometimes I don't make time to read. One f my weaknesses is that I find something I love and start with it but fail to be consistent in doing it. It is not much different when it comes to doing things with the kids.  I am inconsistent with our schooling, inconsistent in my quiet time with God, inconsistent in cleaning. It's awful! I get all hyped up about something and it fades out of my life. This is something I really need to work on and pray that God works on in me!