Scout Sunday

Foster February 6, 2012 Leave a comment
Foster reading to Theodore from Theodore’s Bible

This was Boy Scout Sunday.  Foster wore his uniform to church.  I love how some of the older gentlemen light up when they see his uniform.  They enjoy telling him of when they or their sons were in Scouts.  Foster has really enjoyed being a part of Cub Scouts. His goal is to become an Eagle Scout.  Chris and I plan to do everything we can to help him achieve that goal!

“I think that American leadership is vital to peace and prosperity and the advancement of democracy in the world, and that requires having strong leaders. And I don’t think there’s any organization in the world, certainly not in the United States, that better prepares young men for leadership in this country than the Boy Scouts of America–in teaching leadership skills, in teaching values, in teaching importance of standing up for what’s right.”
                   Bob Gates, former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency

Thank you

blessings, favorite songs, struggles February 5, 2012 Comments: 3

It’s been a long day.  A hard day.  I know we all have them. I just feel like I have had them more often lately.  For some reason, my postpartum insanity waits until my babies are around 4 months old to hit me.  And then, there is a lack of sunshine.  So I’m writing a note to myself today.
Dear Self,
Please remember that this is just a season.  A season where your 5 children are under 8 years old and also a season of rainy, winter days.  This too shall pass…so count your blessings! Be thankful.
Sincerely,
Me

A privilege

blessings, children, Katie, priorities February 4, 2012 Comments: 2

Last night Foster, Katie and I did some research on how they could use their H.C.I.N money.  We visited the Feeding the Orphans site. We read about 9 ways their money could help and also watched 2 short videos of the orphans in Ghana.

They both made several comments about the children’s lack of housing, clothing and toys.  We discussed their lack of clean water and of healthy food.  Katie said one thing though that stuck with me.
She said “Mommy, I bet those children don’t even get to go to church.”

Our children see going to church as a privilege.  Not a duty or a burden, but something to be thankful for and something to be excited about. 

I think as parents we should try to nurture this attitude.  When Saturday rolls around and it’s time to start ironing church clothes and taking baths and packing diaper bags and all that, we try to use words like “we get to go to church tomorrow” or “tomorrow is a church day! Yay!” It may sound corny, but to very young children how you present something is huge in how they view it. 

On the flip side, we could be too lazy to go to church.  Getting our family of 7 to church at 9am on Sunday morning is no small feat.  We start on Saturday night and do the ironing, baths, clipping of nails, finding of dress socks, shoes and coats, piling up bibles, stocking diaper bags, filling sippy cups, making sure there is something quick and painless for breakfast, and tucking everyone in by 8pm so they will wake up in a decent mood.  Then Sunday morning Chris and I get up at least an hour or more before the kids, shower, wake them, feed them, clean them up, dress them (even a 6 year old girl needs help with her tights), start the van so the frost will melt off, put coats on, grab the bibles, load up and go!  Of course, in between all that is the nursing of the baby, the time-outs, disciplining, crying, laughing, lego building, car racing and lots and lots of questions.  Are you tired yet?

But why should we complain?  Wouldn’t we do all that same preparation to go somewhere like Dollywood? Don’t we hurry and rush to get to doctor appointments on time? Aren’t we faithful to attend family or friend birthday parties?  Why should taking advantage of a chance to go to God’s house be something we avoid or procrastinate on? 

Our family is thankful to have the privilege, the freedom to attend a worship service.

Mud

children, humor, priorities February 2, 2012 Comments: 2

You know that really satisfied feeling you get after getting some part of your house clean?  Maybe a room or floor that really needed a good scrubbing? Well, last night Chris held Jonah and entertained the kids so I could spend an hour or so deep cleaning the bathroom.  Then, that was so satisfying I decided to sweep and mop the kitchen and dining room floors this morning.

So when the sun came out and my kids went out to play…I had to decide to replace the feeling of satisfaction that came from a clean house with the feeling of satisfaction that comes from my children’s joy.

Lots of rain yesterday + lots of sunshine today = MUD!!!!!!

Making mommy surprise soup. Yum yum.
Sharing one pair of long rubber gloves.
Parker and Katie shared the other yellow pair.
After awhile it turned into a mud war…

Homemaking with the Grubb Worms

homemaking, marriage February 1, 2012 Leave a comment

I am linking up with Passionate and Creative Homemaking today to talk about what homemaking looks like at our house. 

I’ll start off by saying that when I was growing up, my mom worked outside the home, yet it seemed almost all of the homemaking was HER responsibility.  Well, hers and mine.  From my perspective, my dad would work (sometimes late hours in retail) and then would come home, plant himself in front of the t.v. in his favorite brown recliner and still be there when I went to bed hours later.  Going back one more generation, my Mamaw (maternal grandmother), waited hand and foot on my Papaw.  I will always be able to hear him yelling “Mary Bell!” (pronounced Murr-bell), as he beckoned her from another room to hand him something that was less than 3 feet away. 

When my husband and I were engaged we went to pre-marital counseling with a Christian counselor.  She had us fill in workbooks that had a lot to do with our expectations and then we would calmly discuss scream and cry in her office until we came to some compromise.  It was really helpful.  But not because we worked all that out and had a plan as to who would do the dishes, who would wash the laundry, etc.  It was helpful because it showed us that he had one set of ideas about how things should go and I had a COMPLETELY different idea. Which really sort-of prepared us for the first few ten years of our marriage.

We will be celebrating our tenth year of marriage on March 22nd this year.  And at this point in our lives, this is what homemaking looks like.

  • We both cook. I cook breakfast and lunch for the kids while he is gone.  I cook most of our dinners but that is because he doesn’t get home until after 5pm and by then the natives are getting restless.  When Chris is home though, he enjoys cooking.  He really likes trying new recipes for meals and desserts.  I feel like if he had more time at home he would take a bigger role in this area.
  • We both clean.  Again, I do the majority of this because I am home but Chris and the kids do a lot of laundry and dishes and general picking up. Chris will scrub the tub for me because that is a chore I detest.  Most of the deep cleaning chores are done by me, but as long as I have a little time to do them I actually enjoy this.
  • We both make a menu, grocery list and do the shopping.  I really struggle in this area.  I hate making a menu for the week, I don’t enjoy cutting coupons or finding bargains (like some people I know).  I don’t mind the cooking, but it’s still a learning process for me!
  • We both take care of the kids.  Except for Jonah who is still exclusively breast-fed, Chris and I split the care of the kids.  We both give baths, help with getting people dressed, fed, cleaned-up, medicine or band-aids delivered and tucked into bed.  The one thing I do that Chris hasn’t ever done because he has no desire and I don’t mind it is cut fingernails and toenails.  That may seem like such a small thing but we have 5 children who need that done at least once a week. You do the math. (Dirty, long fingernails are a pet peeve of mine.) 
  • We both discipline.  We have our own tool bag of consequences from which to pull ranging from time-out to spankings to loss of privileges.  We try to respect and stay out of a disciplinary action as it is taking place. For example, if Parker hits Theodore and Chris is in the room, he will tell Parker to go take Parker to time-out.  When the timer beeps Parker is sent to speak with Chris, not me.  He will talk with him and Theodore and have Parker apologize.  It is extremely disrespectful of one parent to interrupt, defend or change the discipline of another parent in front of the child.  We are a team and try to present a united front.  That said, we both mess this up from time to time.  Either I think Chris is being too lenient or he thinks I am being too harsh, somehow we end up arguing with each other when we let our opinions come out at the moment in front of the kids. Better to wait and discuss it after bedtime.

It has taken us all of our marriage to get to this point. As our family has grown, as we have matured and our relationship and love has grown deeper, the way homemaking looks in our family has changed many times.  Thankfully, God loves us and continues to honor our desire to have a stable, Christian home.  The most consistent aspect to our homemaking is that it is always changing!

Favorite girl, favorite song

favorite songs, Katie, priorities February 1, 2012 Leave a comment
Katie before her AHG meeting

That smile lights up my life.  The best part of my day today was playing “Guess Who” with my little girl.  Sometimes I get too busy with chores or the younger boys to take time for Katie.  She doesn’t ask for too much from me, she wanted to help me in the kitchen tonight and then play a game.  I cherish the years where she looks at me with admiration and doesn’t think I’m a big dork (even when I am acting like one).  We have a favorite song right now that we love to sing.  Even when my little Grubb worms are screaming and crying and fussing and fighting and whining…we can turn this song up and it turns our mood around!

Jonah – 4 months

baby, Jonah January 31, 2012 Leave a comment

My last baby is growing too fast!

"Shema"

faith January 30, 2012 Leave a comment

In Sunday school this morning one of the key passages was from Deuteronomy 6:4-9.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

The word “Hear” at the beginning of this passage is from the Hebrew word, shema.  Our Sunday school books says this, “The expression was meant to evoke a sense of urgency in hearers and impress on them the need for action.”

I feel like it is so easy to just take in the word of God, to listen at church, or when I’m teaching the kids their memory verse.  It is much harder to actually do something about what I am hearing.

I use the phrase “listen and obey” with my children all the time.  It was an “aha” moment for me this morning when we went over the word “shema”.

God wants me to “listen and obey” when I read His word.  He wants me to make the decision to serve Him, to apply His word in a way that allows Him to transform me.

Old church, new church

choices, faith January 28, 2012 1 Comment

My husband and I started out as newlyweds trying to find a church that we could worship in as a couple.  One that wasn’t “his” and wasn’t “mine” but that would be “ours”. 

It took us a little over a year but we did indeed find a great church.  We were expecting our first baby and were filled with excitement as we began to make new friends, build relationships, serve, learn more about scripture from our pastor, worship and grow spiritually. 

We were at our old church for 8 and half years.  We had 4 of our 5 children dedicated there.  Foster was baptized there.  I had a best friend there.  My kids had best friends there.  Chris and I taught Sunday school classes, I sung in the choir for awhile.  We held all kinds of babies and toddlers in the nursery, along with our own.  It was home. 

And then, it wasn’t.  It first happened spiritually, then relationally.

I would love to be able to say the decision and the circumstances that led up to it were organized and sterile. “First A happened, then B happened, then C happened, then we prayed and God said A+B+C= time to find a new church home.”

But, that’s not life.  And it’s certainly hasn’t been easy.  It’s been painful.  It has felt like a divorce in a lot of ways.  It has been hard to explain to our young children.  We have told them that they just have to trust us, and God. 

One thing that I have come to realize during the whole process is that my relationship with God – my day-to-day talks with Him (prayer) and my spiritual education (reading my bible) does not hinge on my church attendance. 

A church home is wonderful. It helps to encourage and support you and your family.  A church family offers great opportunities for you to minister to others.  A church full of fellow believers worshipping together can be a beautiful experience. 

But, the personal relationship is up to you.  The spiritual education of your children is up to you and your spouse.

It’s kind of like a banana split.  (Hear me out here.) God is the banana and you are the ice cream.  That alone is delicious.  Church, though, is the hot fudge sauce, the nuts, the whip cream and cherry.  A church family, a church home, where you feel a part can add all that extra yummy to your relationship to God. 

Thankfully, it seems that we have found a new place to belong.

My husband grew up in a wonderful church here in town.  Many of the people that nurtured and loved him when he was young are still there.  We have been attending that church and we have felt a peace each Sunday that neither of us can explain. 

Date Night

marriage, priorities January 28, 2012 Leave a comment

Uh-oh, it’s 11:30 and I haven’t blogged today! I have a good reason though. I had a date tonight. 

My hubby and I don’t go out very often, but tonight we took Jonah and went for dinner and some shopping.  The date tonight was even better because of the past 24 hours.

Last night Chris came home from work and got the kids and took them for haircuts. I stayed home and was able to have a complete uninterrupted conversation with a girlfriend of mine.  Today he took Theodore and Parker with him to see his Grandfather, which meant more productive school time for Foster, Katie and I. Then he let me lay down and take a nap with the baby.  All this special attention and he’s been leaving me little notes this week in different places that tell me why he loves me. 

I’ll have to share those in a different post. Some of them are really funny.

I am thankful that I have a husband who isn’t perfect but who’s willing to try, who forgives me and tries to see past my temper tantrums to find out what I am really needing.