Daughter Sings...Mother Cries

I don't think it's any secret that in this family music is a good friend. Quiet is not. The girls and I love to play music and sing, in the house, in the car, in the shower (oops, sorry...too much information). The girls will even take the music outside and play while singing. Even my beloved, who has a strict "no-clapping" to music policy, will do work around the yard with music playing on his PDA.

Well, I'm telling you all this because one of Rachel's classes this year has been choir. Imagine this music-loving momma's surprise and delight...choir...at school!

Anyway, one of the highlights for the kids is that all the 5th grade choirs from their school district join together (about 250 kids this year!) and perform in an annual Choir Festival held locally which draws choirs from around the state. What is amazing is that they are the only elementary aged choir; all the others are middle and high school aged kids. The other interesting fact is that they are by far the largest choir that participates.

The venue is amazing...I have sung on this stage, and it is spectacular, the sound is beautiful, and to be able to see my daughter up there...well, they sang three songs, but I've posted video of the last one...I was in tears by then.

We must have watched 6-8 more choirs after them, and while the experience was good, you can't convince me one of those was better than this choir!

Have a beautiful day...and don't forget to sing today. It doesn't matter if you are off-key, or the greatest singer on the planet. Who are you really singing for, anyway?!? =)

Worship the Lord with gladness;
Come before Him with joyful songs.
-Psalm 100:2

Thank you, Lord, for putting a song in my heart. Help me to use it for Your glory!

Cutting the Cord!

Well, I guess we are going to be seeing a lot more of this around our house

If you get the idea that the tv is turned "off" then you are with me so far. We have made the (sucking in air sounds here) decision to cancel our satellite service.

That means no more

(sorry girls!) and no more

(sorry again, girls!)...okay, I am a little sad about that, too.

And, alas, no more

Now I'm really feeling it since we've been in our house less than a year and I can use all the free advice I can get. Not to mention that all my dreams, yes big dreams, of ever having one of my rooms made over by their designers will probably never come true. How can I be on their show if they know I don't watch their show. Am I getting any sympathy yet? No? It's okay...I'm not feeling very sorry for myself, either.

I'm actually looking forward to:

Sleeping more...I love to sleep!
Reading more...magazines don't really count, do they?
More music...life is just happier when you're singing!
Actually finishing the projects I've started and all the ones I've wanted to start...whoa, let's not get too lofty in our goals - hee hee hee!
Cleaning...wait, I didn't just write that. What I meant to say was teaching the girls proper cleaning techniques...they'll be wives and mothers someday, after all. =)
Spending more time with the girls. While they demonstrate said cleaning techniques. =)
You know I'm kidding...sort of.

Speaking of the girls...I can only imagine what the first couple of weeks will be like until they "adjust" to "LWOTV" (Life With Out TV). Rachel has already asked me what she's going to do all summer, and it's only March. We still have the box for a few more weeks, so I will have to blog on a future date and let you know how we survived, but until then, I'll be thinking up responses to the inevitable, "There's nothing to do," the dreaded, "I'm bored," and, "When can we have our tv back?"

Honestly, I know it will be a struggle for all of us, at first, as we all seem a little too stuck on those 200+ channels of whatever. But I think it is a good thing we are doing, for our family and our finances, and I am encouraged to discover how our family responds to getting rid of the tv and what we will find to do instead.

If you have gotten rid of your "box" or are thinking of it, let me know. I would like to know how you are surviving it and what has taken the place of it in your family's lives.

2 Fabulous 4-Eyes...1 Fantastic Friend

So what do you get when you combine beauty, brains, and eight beautiful eyes? (the modesty is a bonus tee hee!)



Scroll down.....................

My darling Rachel got glasses for reading and studying recently and I couldn't resist showing you how great she looks in them. Since she is soooo photogenic, I thought I would be brave and jump in the picture with her with my own 4-eyes.

*****************************************

I also have to shout out a big "thank you" to my friend, Christine, for thinking green in my honor. I have just a "slight" (read:huge) obsession with the color green and when she saw a green top at the thrift store today, she just had to buy it for me. What a keen surprise for this green bean! ha

All in all...it was a good Monday. Sunshine, library time with the girls, "new" green top, husband home early...I think I'll go have some Mint Chip ice cream and call it a lovely day!

Spring Blooms

And the prettiest Spring Bloomers of all...

Thank you, Father, for Your gifts of Spring

New life You create , and to what You give wing

For sun and for rain that bring blooms from dry seeds

We revel, O Father, in Your Glorious deeds!

This Got My Attention

So, I admit, not only do I struggle with motivation these days, but I am also a frustrated perfectionist. Can you guess how hard it is for me to actually accomplish things in my life and how much I must drive my poor family crazy?!?

Anyway, I saw this quote in a magazine recently and it really got my attention. Maybe I'll put it on a plaque and hang it in my house.

A very large plaque.

"Better to do something

imperfectly

than to do nothing

flawlessly."

-Robert Schuller

Motivation

I was highly motivated when I started this blog way back in November. I had spent a great deal of time reading (okay, borderline obsessing over) others' blogs before I made the decision to create my own, and I had such high aspirations for it. It's not like I thought there was some "blog Fairy" that was going to write it for me...or did I? hmmm

I admit, motivation feels like a dying gene in my DNA. My intention is willing, but my body has a hard time getting there and it is starting to have a costly effect on my life and those around me.

Mornings are the worst. I am definitely not a morning person. It is not that I am really grumpy in the morning...I am just not, well, motivated. And my kids start school far too early in the morning for me to be slacking off. We are usually racing out the door, racing down the dirt road (we live in the country) and I'm telling the girls to make a run for their classes when we get to school (this week alone I had to get them tardy slips twice)! I guess I'm out of the running for mother of the year already and it's only February.

One act of motivation I have achieved (so far), is that in the last couple of months, I have begun to read my Bible in the mornings, and I am so blessed by that time spent with the Lord first thing. I admit some days I read just out of obedience, and since I'm going through a Read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year plan, sometimes I'm just not sure what I'm supposed to be getting out of those long lists in Chronicles of who was guarding what in which month. I continue to stick with it, though, because I know it is through this time spent with Him and His Word that I have the best chance of realizing the source of my motivation - my relationship with my Savior.

I've been looking for a couple of verses from Proverbs that I can put to memory to help "motivate" me when I want to just have intentions without actions (which is still much of the time, I have to admit). I have been reading through "The Message," a more plain-spoken translation of the Bible and here is what I've found:

A lazy life is an empty life

but "early to rise" gets the job done.

-Prov. 12:26

The path of lazy people is overgrown with briers;

the diligent walk down a smooth road.

-Prov. 15:19

Put God in charge of your work,

then what you've planned will take place.

-Prov. 16:3

I enjoy Proverbs so much because it contains practical words for every area of our life, whether child, adult, parent; in gaining wisdom, dealing with our money or relationships, or seeking motivation.

So, I am trying to give myself a "Motivation Make-Over." I know it will not happen overnight, not even in a week or maybe a month. But for the sake of my family and my own sanity, I am committing myself to be less "good intentions" and more "intentional," less "idea-oriented" and more "action-oriented." This is a tall order for me and I am a little scared that now that I've put this in print I really have to do this! =)

I'll keep you "posted" on my progress....

Early Morning Surprise & Christmas Candles!

Many of you know that we have chickens. Thirteen, to be exact. Some of you don't know that we added two more to our original "family" of eleven not long ago:

Henny and...

Penny

These two lovlies are at least a month older than the rest of our brood and obviously larger. Unfortunately for them, they have also been subjected to frequent pecks and feather pulls by their merciless coop-mates.

Anyway, this morning, Craig went to let them out from the henhouse to the enclosed run, and check on their food and water, and when he came back inside, he was holding this:

The most perfect little brown egg I ever did see!

We think it must have come from Henny or Penny, because our other chickens aren't supposed to start laying until February. But let me tell you, as a newbie "crazy chicken farmer," I am giddy! After chasing chickens around the henhouse, chasing a hawk out of the henhouse, stepping in more chicken poop than I care to say, let me just say I am loving every minute of this. Go ahead, laugh at me, but besides fresh eggs, great chicken noises, and all the bugs they eat for us, they are providing our family lessons in responsibility and caring for something else and a way to spend time doing something together that is not limited by age or gender. Yep, I've gone chicken crazy!

Sweetie Pie

These two don't have names
(we only name the ones we can tell apart!)

Beaker

I am thankful for this early morning gift...I am glad my husband found the first one - he's put in the most work and this seems a just reward. Who knows when another one will appear, but what a fun surprise this early December morn.

I also started making Christmas Candles! So at my house, not only is it beginning to look a lot like Christmas, it's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas. Would you like your house to smell like Christmas, too, or give some candles as gifts? I will be updating my candle website (check the link to the right, Gingerbread Candle) with new scents and candles this week. I am afraid I am still very old school, so you will have to contact me if you actually want to buy anything, but I might do a cartwheel for you if you do or thank you about a gazillion times.

It seems a sad thing to me that we only listen to Christmas music for about a month out of the year. I think some really important songs have been written that are only heard this time of year. Here is one:

Mary did you know that your baby boy will one day
walk on water?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will save our
sons and daughters?
Did you know that your baby boy has come to
make you new?
This child that you delivered will soon deliver you.

Mary did you know that your baby boy will give sight
to a blind man?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will calm a storm
with His hand?
Did you know that your baby boy has walked
where angels trod?
When you kiss your little baby, you've kissed the
face of God.

The blind will see, the deaf will hear
The dead will live again
The lame will leap, the dumb will speak
The praises of the Lamb.

Mary did you know that your baby boy is
Lord of all creation?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will one day
rule the nations?
Did you know that your baby boy is
Heaven's perfect Lamb?
This sleeping child you're holding is The Great I Am.