Birthday Chaos!

Our baby has turned 4. I suppose I will always call her the baby, even though our days of diapers and pack-n-plays are gone. Our outside planned party turned to the inside as we began counting days of rain prior to and on her party day. Parenthood is all about being flexible!

As we reflect on the gift that she is, I stand in awe of His plan and goodness. She is a blessing. She is spirited. She is joy. She loves to learn and to lead. She draws us to our knees as we ask the Lord to soften her heart and bring her into a relationship with himself. She is a covenant child. God planned her to be in our family from the foundation of the earth. Utterly amazing!

Sweet Teaching Moment

The boys have been memorizing Psalm 8 for school:

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

While I was reading aloud about the solar system to our youngest son, he asked me how the moon got there and stays in place. A smile spread over my face as we said Psalm 8 aloud together and he was able to draw the TRUTH from the Word. What could be more beautiful?

Learning Curve

Whew! It has been a crazy few weeks. We are learning about having homework for the first time, time management and how to eeek out a few spare moments of quiet into a continually hectic day. Our oldest child LOVES her new school and we are just as crazy about it, although we thought we had lost her to the books for good, until we decided on teaching some organizational tools. We are learning to find a balance between school, family, fun/free time and alone time. Personally, I have never had this challenge quite to this level and am learning to trust the Lord to meet me in those little spare moments. I had a friend once tell me to sing songs that are appropriate for moments of repetitive chores like, "What can wash away my sins, nothing but the blood of Jesus", when I am doing the dishes. That is just beautiful! The other 4 children are homeschooling and cruising right along. The first 2 weeks, they have done so well and fell right back into their routine of getting their work done.