"Mommy, I Almost Get A Star!"

The house is quiet.  Jacob is in the study with the doors closed doing school work.  Krista is hacking away (that cough sounds awful.  I sure hope the Mucinex kicks in soon) while doing her Bible homework and Michael is sitting beside me doing his math workbook.  Every time he completes a page, he gets a star sticker.  I love the DK (Dorling Kindersley) workbook series!

Yesterday, we were working on some pages and the instructions were to put a check mark on the object that has more beads, windows, etc.  Michael put a check mark on the right objects and then proceeded to put an "x" on the objects that had less.  Then it was time to practice drawing circles.  I showed him how he needed to trace the circle and draw two circles by himself. I pointed out how the top of the circle had to touch the line on top and the bottom of the circle had to reach the line on the bottom.  When I checked his work I saw that he decided to draw 4 circles (good for taking the initiative and drawing more but not good when it comes to following directions! I'm beginning to see a pattern here...!).  His first circle was within the perimeters and then the other circles resembled wilted peas in size and look! After working on it together, he decided he was "too exhausted" and "needed a break!" Doing Kindergarten together once he turns 5 should be very interesting! 

Yesterday, I finished Valley of Dreams and started reading The Healers's Apprentice by Melanie Dickerson (my upstairs book) and for my downstairs book, I started on  Passion to Action:  How God Uses Ordinary People in Extraordinary Ways an inspiring book written by Jay & Beth Loecken with Laura Morton (this book is something every family should get and read together!!!)! I finished reading both of these books now and will be posting my reviews soon! I'm glad October will be over soon (I'm so not a fan of Halloween) because that means Michael and I can go into a store without him getting scared of all the creepy Halloween decorations and disturbing images.  This is the stuff nightmares are made of!

I am constantly amazed by God's faithfulness! We see it in our own lives and we see it in the lives of others.  A blessing found in Jacob's unemployment season is the extra time he has now that his schedule isn't consumed by work.  Jacob and I want to purposely set aside time (now that he has an abundance of it!) to minister to our friends who are in need, hurting, lonely or just in need of some encouragement.  We want to make the most of our time investing in others so we can  Make A Difference (Go M.A.D.!!!) for the Kingdom of God.  We want to remind the people God has blessed in our life that they are not alone in their pain and in their need.

This morning, I was reminded to look up another favorite verse I used to read a lot on the air when I was doing afternoons at the radio station.  I think the NLT's version of Isaiah 43:2 is extra meaningful...
"When you go through deep waters,

I will be with you.

When you go through rivers of difficulty,

you will not drown.

When you walk through the fire of oppression,

you will not be burned up; 

the flames will not consume you."

 

This one is for you :o)

Sickness Strikes...!

Having Jacob home allows me to read more because he's taken over the kitchen and meal preparation (it was a no brainer to give it up!!!).  What a blessing Amgen has been to me personally!!! LOL!!!
[Ahem, Jacob] Just for the record, I would like to say that I don't mind cooking.  In fact, I would like it a lot better without all the distractions pulling me throughout the day :o)

I finished House of Secrets by Tracie Peterson late last night and finished Lasting Impression by Tamera Alexander (I absolutely loved the story and want to take a trip to the Belmont Mansion up close!) it this afternoon.  And now I've started on Lauraine Snelling's Valley of Dreams.  I haven't decided on my upstairs book yet...

Krista's been fighting something in her body since she came home on Friday and finally came down with a high fever yesterday.  Michael went to bed with a low grade fever and woke us up in the wee hours of the morning with a very high fever.  I gave him Tylenol and brought him over to our bed to keep watch over him in case another febrile seizure came.  But thankfully, he's been seizure free so far.

So far, Jacob and I are feeling fine.  It's great to know that if Jacob gets sick, he'll be able to rest at home instead of going into work because he's busy on a project or he has a meeting he can't miss, etc.  What a blessing he's home from Amgen!

I will say that Jacob is going through the stages of grief at this time and he's grappling with a few internal things that will take some time to sort out and process.  It's understandable.  I am praying for wisdom that God will show me when to be silent and when I need to speak up.  I'm thankful that he has great prayer support, other men who have been through this who can share their stories and some good friends from his men's group to talk with.

But we know that God is faithful and He is sovereign.

I found this very cool verse in Deuteronomy 7:9.  I love how the NLT puts it... "Understand, therefore, that the Lord your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands."

I'm definitely going to underline that one in my Bible!!!

"Mommy, Don't You Just Love That?", "Mommy! What's Your Battery Power?", "Mommy! There's Only 58 minutes until Magic School Bus is on!" And Other Questions & Comments From a 4.5 Year Old Child

I've been catching up on emails and tuned in to what Krista was doing.  She was playing something out loud on her computer and after listening instead of tuning it out, I realized she was having my blogs read out loud (right click, highlight passage to be read out loud band voile! Apple computer products are crazy amazing!!!)!  I told her she should find a voice that reads my blogs with an English accent! How fun!!!

Michael has been delighted with the "talking" function on Krista's laptop! He gave me a big grin and asked, "Mommy, don't you just love that?" He is patiently waiting for 1pm because that means he'll get to watch The Magic School Bus with Krista.  I love that show, too!

Lately, he's been the Battery Power Patrol whenever I sit at my laptop.  He loves hearing the percent that's available on my battery.  He is so fascinated by numbers.  It's frightening! I'm thankful that Jacob is now home and can be empowered to take over teaching Michael mathematics!

Yesterday I started and finished Nobody's Child by Austin Boyd (what a fascinating read!) and this morning I started Tamera Alexander's A Lasting Impression.  My upstairs book is House of Secrets by Tracie Peterson.  I can't wait to get started on it!

This is day 4 since we received and sent news that Jacob got laid off at Amgen.  With the aid of email, Twitter and Facebook, we're amazed by the response of all our friends and family. We are so blessed and thankful for the support, encouragement and prayers!!!

Now that Jacob is home (which means the iPad is within Michael's radar vision and hearing) this is what I'm hearing all day, "Mommy! I heard something from my Smurf Village! I think something is ready with my horse, too!!! Can I check it? Please? Please? Please?!?" Either his crops are ready to be harvested or something! Right now, he is planting Brussel Sprouts to "placate some angry spider"  and then he'll be taking care of his horse, Flufee.  Oookkkay, now!

Already at age 4.5, he's being affected by the tyranny of the urgent! This morning I decided to use up the apples and make Apple Bundles (this is such a simple recipe! It only requires refrigerated Crescent Rolls, diced up apples mixed with cinnamon, brown sugar and OJ or lemon juice).  Michael was dying to be my taste tester but the Apple Bundles were still baking.  But, I had lots of extra diced up apples left so I scooped them out in bowls for all of us.  Suddenly, he was concerned about his little cook's apron.

Michael:  Mommy! I need my Thomas apron!

Me:  Why?  You don't need it for eating the apples.

Michael:  But I need it for baking!

Me:  I'm not really baking right now.  See, everything is finished already.  If you want your apron, why don't you go and look for it in the playroom?  You know where it is.  Right after he ran out to the playroom, I remembered that I had replaced the coat tree it used to be on to our big oak one and there was no way he could reach it without help!
[He dashes in the playroom and is back in :30]

Michael:  I can't find it! Now I'll never be able to bake with you again! Such dramatics!

But once I reminded him about the apples, he quickly forgot about finding his apron and ate his apples happily! I loved what he said as he ate his apples, "Mommy, I love how you put lots of cinnamon in this! It makes everything taste so good!"

It's the little things in life, right?!?  Children are great at reminding us to be thankful for those little things, aren't they?!?  I'm so thankful we live in a land where so many things are accessible by car or by the touch of a button thanks to the wonders of online shopping.

In the NLT, Psalm 100:4 says, "Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise.  Give thanks to him and praise his name.:"

Amen!!!

A New Adventure

We've been waking up to the most misty mornings---perfect for staying in bed and reading...I wish!!! I love how the fog settles on the mountains and seeing the silhouettes of the trees shrouded in heavy fog is one of the most beautiful sights ever!

I've been keeping Michael in his jammies as we make the carpool run.  It saves us time in the morning (literally a grab and go kind of system!) and he's very comfy in them anyway.  This morning we were building a lego train garage and a "castle" for Michael's king person.  It was fun!

I keep forgetting to tell you what I'm reading!  My downstairs book is Reclaiming Lily by Patti Lacy (I'm loving this story!) and I just finished my upstairs book, Maid to Match by Deeanne Gist which was very entertaining! In the past two weeks I finished reading Francine Rivers (I love her!) Marta's Legacy:  Her Mother's Hope and Her Daughter's Dream, Paper Angels by Billy Coffey, His Steadfast Love by Golden Keyes Parsons,  The River Queen  by Gilbert Morris and The Measure of Katie Calloway by Serena Miller! Whew! As you can see, I'm not spending much time cleaning the house, cooking or blogging! But now, I'll have to read at a slower pace (and it's killing me to say that!!!) because the bathrooms need to be cleaned, the laundry needs to be done, I need to go grocery shopping and I need to cook something more than noodles, egg omelets and grilled cheese sandwiches!  I'll have reviews of all these books and more in my next edition of my newsletter, Five Star Books & More by the Reading Mom which will be posted on the first Monday in November.

For the longest time ever, we've been praying for my husband as he juggles working full time and going to school.  He's been so stressed as you can imagine! But in the past couple of months, he's also gotten more active in church.  He's been coming to our small group on Monday nights and recently, he started attending a men's discipleship group that meets on Wednesday nights at our church.  And although he's losing some nights of studying, it's been really good for him and he's committed to going every week!  I find it interesting that although he's not studying as much as he would like because he's getting more plugged into church things, he's still able to keep his grades up.  God is faithful!

This morning, Jacob got the "official" notice that he was being downsized along with about 600 others from his company.  So here we've been praying for Jacob as he's so stressed with school AND work and now, God has allowed the elimination of his job so he no longer has two stressful things going on at the same time! Does God have a sense of humor or what?!?  I feel like we're beginning an adventure of absolute faith and dependency on God's faithfulness since we don't have a Plan B in place and it's exciting!!! I'm thankful He's in control and most of all, He has a plan.

I love how The Message version puts Ephesians 3:20-21! It goes like this, ^20-21"God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us."

I also like they way they worded my favorite verse in Jeremiah 29:11, "I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for."

I used red lettering because this is what the Lord is saying in Jeremiah.  I'm grateful that God is with us in these uncertain days ahead of us!!! He is in control and will never leave us or forsake us (Heb 13:5b)!!!

"Mommy, Will You Please Give Me Grace and Let Me Play the iPad?"

Michael is hopelessly addicted to all things electronic.  He loves spending all his berries on things for his Smurf Village game on the iPad (I imagine it's like Farmville).  It's funny how Jacob will earn thousands of berries and in the span of five minutes, Michael will spend it all on two things like a snail and a caterpillar!

Oh, it drives Jacob crazy!!! He's concerned that Michael loves spending money too much while his sister is more into hoarding her money! Two very different personalities!!! Michael loves powering up his warriors (who resemble potato heads because they're so short and squat!) in Chicken Battle (The nicer version of Plants vs Zombies).  In between playing multiple games in one sitting, he takes care of his pet horse, Flufee (I thought is was pronounced floo-fee but found it was supposed to be Fluffy).  Virtual pets are great for kids with animal allergy issues! 

Michael's eczema has spread to his face and for the past few weeks, he has woken up with scratches and blotches all over his little face.  Unlike my eczema, the kids seem to go in phases with their eczema issues.  The worse things you can say to someone itchy from eczema are "Don't scratch" or "Stop scratching!" You might as well say, "Stop Breathing!" because it's just not going to happen!

I remember my mom crying and praying over me as she put the three different creams on my arms, legs, etc.  There probably weren't too many spots on my body that didn't have raw and open sores because of my eczema.  I was always so miserable!

As a child, I always wondered why she was the one crying and praying over my skin when it was my skin that was bothering me! But now I understand.  As mothers, we hate to see our children in pain or discomfort.  If we were able to take their pain, we would do it in a heartbeat, right?!?  Well, duh!  It took me having my own children to understand what my mother felt when she cried and prayed over my skin issues.  In fact, when I'm putting on creme on Michael (and on Krista when she was younger), I find myself praying over them out loud as I apply it to the itches and sores.

I'm actually thankful I have eczema issues because I have first hand experience knowing what my children are feeling and going through when their eczema flares up.  I understand the unrelenting itching bouts (because I still get them and they drive me crazy!!!) and I encourage them to itch but to be careful about itching to the point of making their skin raw and open. Thankfully, neither of them have eczema as badly as I did.

In my Hebrews Precepts Bible Study class, I'm reminded over and over that Jesus understands our pain, hurts and temptations because He went through them, too.  He knows and understands what it feels like to be rejected, to feel unloved, to be tempted, to be hungry, to feel lonely, etc.  I'm thankful we have a great high priest who understands what we go through and is on the right hand of the Father interceding for us!

I love how the New Living Translation (NLT) puts Hebrews 4:14-16..."¹⁴ So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. ¹⁵ This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. ¹⁶ So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most."

You're NOT alone in your pain.  He's been there before and Jesus is with you this very moment...of every single day.  The best news is that there isn't anything you can do to separate you from His love!!! Read Romans 8:35-39 for some crystal clear clarity!

Five Star Books & More by The Reading Mom newsletter is updated!!!

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