Dear Blog,

Dear Blog,
I miss you.  Let's make time for each other soon.
Love,
Me

Handsome

My husband is great.

One thing I love about him is that he is a great dad.

Super Great.

In the words of my 4-yr-old, "Duper" Great!

Most pictures that I post are of the children...

But I was so excited to discover that some of the best shots in my most recent batch included my handsome husband loving his boys.

I feel loved when he loves our kids.

Why isn't that one of Gary Chapman's Love Languages?

It probably should be.

Summer Snapshots, Ed. 3

New Friends

We moved into a house on rural property at the beginning of the summer.  During the last 6 years living in town(s), there were never kids nearby for our kids to play with.

But, we move 10 miles out of town where we only have 6 neighbors within a mile-radius...and there are kids just 2 doors down!

There is a boy who is right between my 2 oldest boys in age.  And a girl who is  1 month older than my girl.  AND...a baby boy who is a few months younger than our latest lad.

And, if that weren't cool enough...They're NICE! :)  I'm excited for our kids to grow up together. :)

Summer Snapshots, Ed. 2

Goggles

Summer Snapshots, Ed. 1

As I've been on a blogging sabbatical, I need to do some catching up on the events that I've missed sharing with you.  

The first series:

Summer

Tree-Climbing

Mother-Son Bonding

First Braids

Baseball in a Big Back Yard

The Bug

 I'm starting to catch the blogging bug. :)  I hope this results in frequent posts....we'll see how it goes. :)

So...an update on what's been going on with us:

We started homeschooling!  We've been at it for about 4 weeks now.  We've put a lot of energy into our homeschool room, and I'm starting to love it.

My princess is getting so big!  Her sassiness is letting up a bit. :)  She's a joy to be around!  I have lot of cute stories...maybe they will be the subject of an upcoming post.

My 2nd boy turned 4 last week.  I kept asking him if he wouldn't mind staying 3 for a while longer.  He was not interested.  I'm making him think I'm overcome with sadness.  But, the truth is, I'm glad he's 4 and not 5.  4 is still a little boy...and I'm not ready for the bigness that comes with 5.

We've been trying to enjoy the outdoors a bit.  On a nice evening, we walked to a nearby pond for the sunset.  It was pleasant and memorable. :)  We hope to go back and go fishing sometime!... maybe before it snows. 

My baby's getting big.  He's really zooming around and getting where he wants to go in his walker.  It's nice having all hardwood floor, so he can have a little bit of independence.  He's happy. :)

He's also crawling.  He's 7 1/2 months old, and we didn't put him down on the floor until he was 6 months old.  As soon as we got our rug and laid him on it, he started rolling all over and trying to figure out the mechanics of crawling.  It didn't take long.  He's still my sweet, cuddly guy...just a little more of a big boy.

I do hope to post more about our homeschooling, our new home, our recent travels, and of course the kids and the funny, sweet things they do.

Reformed Church in Casper

For those of you who live in our area, we are excited to announce that our pastor from Laramie will be conducting a monthly Bible study in our home here in Casper.

As you may know, we became members of the Laramie Reformed Presbyterian Church during our short time living there.  We have grown to love the church, and we're excited to see how God intends to expand the work of the RPCNA here in Casper.

If you are interested in a Bible Study from a Reformed perspective, please contact me or check out the Reformed in Casper blog that we've set up.

Oh, What a Wonderful Day

Verse 1 & Chorus of "Heaven Came Down, and Glory Filled my Soul" :)

Our Home

I know, I know...it's been forever.

I'm sorry.

I've been trying to focus on making memories instead of documenting memories. :)

But...I miss blogging, and hope I can get right back to it.

For now, I wanted to share a picture of our new home.

I love this photo!  Thanks to Pastor Bob for capturing a snapshot of the view from the end of our dirt road.

Do you see the wind turbines on the horizon? 

Ours is the one with the open garage door and 3 vehicles parked in the driveway.

We're enjoying our home.  I'm excited to share more with you about all that's been going on....mostly about how God blesses us each day much more than we deserve.

Another Dreams Post

Oh, man...I've got to get this down before I forget.

This morning I had my funniest conversation to date with my 2nd oldest.

Me: Hey, buddy...did you have any dreams last night?
Him: Yeah.
Me:  What was it about?
Him: Lost.
Me:  What?!?!?  
Him:  Yeah, and I was in a blog.
Me: {Laughing hysterically}
Him:  Hey, don't laugh about it.
Me: {Trying to stay composed...feeling kind of bad for laughing at him} Ok, tell me about your dream.  What happened in Lost and on the blog?
Him:  {Long pause} Hmmm...hard question.
Me:  {Can't control the laughter}

For those of you who haven't been following my blog for long, I'm addicted to ABC's Lost, and I often have dreams about Lost on Tuesday nights after the newest episode has just aired. :)

Music

I was a teacher for 3 years before I had my first baby.  I taught middle school, and discipline/classroom management was a big issue.

An older cousin of mine who also taught middle school once gave me the best advice: "Put a big sign in the front of your room that reads 'No Arguing'".  If a student starts to argue with you, just point at the sign.  I followed her advice and found that it was very helpful in keeping myself sane. :)

Though my occupation has changed, I still employ the "No Arguing" policy with my "pupils". :)

My 3-yr-old has a hard time in this area.

Here's a typical conversation:

Me: Sweety, I need you to put your toys away.
Him: Because I don't want to.
Me: Just say, "Ok, Mom."
Him: Ok, Mom.


Me: Honey, I want you to go get your pajamas on.
Him: Because I want to be naked.
Me: Just say, "Ok, Mom."
Him: Ok, Mom.

THEN...one day last week, we had a conversation like this:

Me:  It's time to turn off the Wii.
Him: Ok, Mom.
Me: What???  I LOVE YOU!!!!  Come give me a hug!  What a sweet boy you are!!

"Ok, Mom." = Music to my ears

Somber

I recently read this book:

If you can't read the caption at the top, it's the theme of the book:

"A Mom's Look at Heart-Oriented Discipline"

The idea behind the book is that we shouldn't discipline to simply change our children's behavior, but we should be working to train their hearts.

We are born with sinful hearts, and it's our job as moms to help our children understand their sinful natures and their need for a Savior.

It makes sense to me.

Tonight, at the beginning of our nightly "Family Time", we were going through catechism questions.  We've learned a lot about the sin of Adam and Eve and how that sin condemned us all.  Now, we're just starting to cover questions regarding the Covenant of Grace.

These are the questions we covered tonight:


Q: Why can't anyone be saved through the covenant of works?
A: Because all have broken it and are condemned by it.


Q: How did you break the covenant of works?
A: Adam represented all people, and so I fell with Adam in his first sin.


Q: How, then, can you be saved?
A: By the Lord Jesus Christ through the covenant of grace.


Q: How did Christ fulfill the covenant of grace?
A: Christ obeyed the whole law for his people, and then suffered the punishment due for their sins.


Q: Did Jesus ever sin?
A: No. He lived a sinless life.

Since these were relatively new questions, we talked a little bit about what they mean.

My oldest said that Jesus suffered by dying on the cross.  He said that he saw the holes in Jesus' hands and feet. (a picture in a book perhaps?)  He knew that the holes were made by nails that kept Jesus on the cross.  We talked about how Jesus was sinless but died for our sins.  My boy looked...sad.

I quickly transitioned to the singing segment of Family Time.  My boy did not sing along with the first song.

I asked him, "What's wrong?"

He said, "You told me Jesus died on the cross for my sins," and he started to cry.  A very genuine,  heart-aching cry.  I was touched.  It was so sad to see him, but it was so encouraging to see how personally he views the death of Christ.

We talked after that about how joyful it is that Jesus came back to life.

Oh, Lord...give me the heart of a child.