Happy Birthday Mama! January 13, 2012

A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie.
- Tenneva Jordan

It is through raising my children that I have come to some small understanding of what it may have been like for my mother to have raised me.   My Mama used to joke that she hoped I would have a child just like myself to raise so I would “get it”… Well, I had Aralyn Elizabeth.  I both laugh and cry when I hear myself come out of my sweet baby girl’s mouth but laughing or crying, I always appreciate my Mama more.  I am quite certain that I may have been THE challenge of my mother’s lifetime.  A bundle of energy and nerves wrapped in stubbornness and sprinkled with sass and ‘creativity’ and not always the good kind .  How my Mama still has no visible gray hairs is beyond me!  But I am grateful everyday that she did not give up on me.  I am hopeful everyday that I can somehow repay her efforts.  I am blessed everyday as I watch her in her now role as ‘Mimi’ to my children.  Today, on her birthday I wish her every kind of happiness and many more years of the same.  Happy Birthday Mama, I love you.

Homespun Holiday January 12, 2012

What a wonderful, blessed Christmas we had!  Here are some of the highlights:

I scored this beautiful tree on black friday- next best thing to a real one, most people couldn’t tell it was fake!

The REAL garland to give the home a piney smell.  Also scored on black friday!

Ara and James loved the tree this year.  The ornaments were never in the same place and we had quite a few bite the dust, unfortunately.

Our first fire in the fireplace

Ara and I strung cranberries to make garland and then juiced the rest.

This year we did quite a bit of holiday baking!

Peppermint Bark chilling in the fridge

Baking Maple Granola for gifts…

Along with 6 dozen cookies: 3 dozen chocolate chip and 3 dozen toffee crunch

Packaged and ready to go and one left for Paul and I to munch on…

We took the kids to see the Christmas train display

Made gifts for our family…

…started to knit the kids stockings… and then decided to let that go this year, maybe next.

What a sweet Christmas it was!  Quiet, no places to rush off to, celebrating with family and friends the birth of our Lord.

So grateful for the blessing of God’s Son sent to earth and the blessings He continues to send everyday.

I hope you and your family had a very blessed Christmas as well!

My Ugly Heart December 6, 2011

• (DISCLAIMER:  I have no idea how those bullets down the side got there or how to remove them.  SORRY!)

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  photo found at rachelgoode.blogspot.com

• The Christmas season has a way of revealing to me what a sinner I am.  Fitting, since the holiday is a celebration of my Savior’s birth, but humbling none the less.
• Every year around this time I get bit by the bug.  A bug so rampant, I’m thinking it needs to be added to the strains of illnesses included in the flu season records.  As a helpful guide, I am including a list of symptoms.  You may have the Christmas bug if:
• 1. As you are shopping through Target, every toy you pass you imagine being opened Christmas morning by your child with a huge smile on their face, accompanied by the exclamation, “I love it!  You are the best Mother in the whole world!”
• 2. The words “Honey, we bought each other a house (or insert needed appliance, car repair, or plumbing job here) for Christmas, let’s not exchange gifts this year” make your heart drop with sadness no matter how right they are.
• 3. Your store daydreams change from #1 symptom to imagining your child unwrapping the boring things like underwear that they really need but don’t want with a disappointed look on their face, accompanied by the proclamation, “This is the WORST Christmas ever!”  (you only think that’s an exaggeration- I have a very dramatic little 5 year old.)
• 4.  You start wondering how kids during the great depression didn’t break their parent’s hearts after opening their one and only gift- an orange which was a rare treat to them.
• 5.  You realize now, more than ever, you are much more materialistic then you ever imagined…
• 
• Treatment for the Christmas bug includes a hefty dosage of reality:
• 1. Your child doesn’t need every toy in the store, in fact they are undoubtedly better off without it and so are you.  Not to mention, as the years pass, their enthusiasm for gifts drastically reduces and last year we were horrified to hear the dreaded phrase, “what else did you get me?” escape our child’s lips more than once.  ”Where did we go wrong?”, we asked ourselves.  After all, we had been careful not to make Christmas about the presents…or so we thought.  We didn’t “do” Santa, we limit our gift giving to a few special items per child, we read “The Three Gifts of Christmas”  leading up to the holiday, we even tried no gifts on Christmas day one year opening them on Christmas Eve instead so all of Christmas day could be focused on Christ’s birth.  How did we end up with such greediness coming from our children? Perhaps the first dose of medicine I needed to swallow was the reality that my children get the Christmas bug too.  Whats worse?  They caught it from me.  MODEL CONTENTMENT!
• 2.The house, furnace. dishwasher, new axles for the car, toilet repair, you name it was a BLESSING!  And despite the little pang in your heart that tells you otherwise, it is enough.  Gather friends and family in that gift of a home.  Warm bodies from that furnace mean warm hearts snuggled in their beds on Christmas Eve.  Dishes covered in food being loaded in the dishwasher make me grateful when I think back on six years without one and thankful that food was on those dishes around the table where my family joins together to eat.  Whatever you may have inserted in that blank, whether a car repair which enables you to travel and see loved ones or even the fixed toilet that saves your ears from the constant sound of it running-  GIVE THANKS!
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• 3. When needs are met, whether through Christmas or any other time of the year, teach your children to praise God!  ”Kids you know you needed new underwear, don’t tell me you didn’t notice the holes in yours and no- holiness isn’t a good thing when it comes to underwear.  Praise God!  He provided you with new underwear this Christmas!”  CHOOSE JOY!
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• 4. Oranges DO make great stocking-stuffers.  Throw in a ziplock baggie of cloves and let your kids decorate them to make pomanders for your Christmas table centerpiece.  BE CREATIVE!
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• 5. Pray that the Holy Spirit would change your heart about Christmas.  Pray that He would take your greed, selfishness, and desire to please anyone but our Savior.  Pray that He would transform your family through the power of His love and that we would all be awestruck by the wonder of His glory!  PRAY WITHOUT CEASING!

Ara and James at the Christmas Tree

My dear friends, that truly is “All I Want For Christmas”…  for God to take my ugly heart and give me one washed clean by His blood.  Hallelujah, HE DID!  And that is the reason for the season!

Blog Meme? ::right now:: May 30, 2011

DISCLAIMER- I might be stealing, if I am, I am ever so sorry.  In my blog surfing, several times I have come across what I believe is a blog meme called “::right now::”  It is a simple structured blog post to give readers a peek into your day using action words to describe “right now”.  Because I am not sure what blog it originated with, I am most likely not giving adequate “hosting credit” to it and so I apologize for the lack of online etiquette.  I believe it is a Monday Meme and today I found it on SouleMama.

::right now::

My Nature Girl

right now I am…

::wondering if taking a family hike today was such a good idea at 27 weeks pregnant with twins.  (going into the trail downhill, was much easier than coming out uphill and my balance was, lets just say, not so good)

::marveling at how much older my little girl seems everyday and the paradox that is her selective gift of being aware of details.  (how is the same girl who spies a camouflaged snail under a log on the side of a hiking trail not able to find her bright magenta flowered play boots daily when they are in the same place every time?)

::feeling large

::smelling the lingering smell of turkey bacon coming from the kitchen which reminds me of Grandma H’s house.

::thanking my parents for a very generous babies gift in the form of a new dryer that won’t take three cycles to dry clothes (going to be a life saver with three little ones in cloth diapers!)

::enjoying having spent the weekend with family and friends and having my sister home for summer break.

::looking forward to celebrating 6 years of marriage with my love this week!

::wishing you a blessed Memorial day with loved ones!

Creek Explorers May 27, 2011

Big Sugar Creek, Cuivre River State Park

Today we took the kids to the creek at Cuivre River State Park.  What a blessing to watch the delight on my children’s faces as they discovered sparkly rocks, the grainy texture of mud and sand between their toes and the blissful child-like ability they have to forge right into freezing creek waters giggling and squealing with joy as their not so child-like parents gingerly dip one toe in and recoil at the icy temperature.  My husband was all consumed by the fossils he was finding, mostly plant fossils.  Aralyn was “watering the rock bank with liquid gold” which she dispensed from her pink flowered watering can, red cowboy hat placed jauntily on top of her head to protect it from ticks and James was content to sit right on a pile of rocks putting one after another into a big yellow sand pail, announcing each time, “here-go!”.  After quite some time was spent pouring gold over the rocks, Ara and I hunted for smooth ones that would make good rock pets to paint and a few for our nature scape centerpiece (which probably means I should clear off the kitchen table to properly display it ) We ended our adventure by exploring a fallen, hollowed out tree trunk as wide as the play tubes at McDonald’s but with much less ugly bright plastic and absolutely no static electricity!  It was exciting to come across the rock nest some other explorer’s had left behind inside the trunk for us to find!

As for now, we are all back home, stripped of wet muddy clothes and cuddled into fresh dry ones.  Exhausted, happy and carrying the faint scent of outdoors mixed with sunscreen as we crash into beds for naps.  I may just take one too- the sun has a way of making me happily tired like Thanksgiving turkey.

*NOTE- a quick house update: I hadn’t posted in a while as thing have been a little crazy here navigating the loss of a house we were under contract and supposed to close on, finding a new house we are currently under contract for and living out of boxes.  I’ll try to keep you posted!

*NOTE- a quick twin update:  The girls are 27 weeks along and doing great!   We had an ultrasound last week and they are growing right on target and kicking me up (and each other) in the process.

And The Twins Make Four :) April 25, 2011

I admit, I haven’t kept up too well since the littlest McKinney made his appearance in January 2010 and we moved to a rental home with no internet.  And yet, faithful readers, you still visit my page and I love you for it.  So, now that new adventures have popped up in our crazy lives, I thought I would take the opportunity to update you with our latest happenings which come in the form of an ultrasound we had a little over a week ago revealing that I am, indeed, carrying little girl twins!  Add closing on our very first home this week and you get a snapshot into the craziness that is my household right now.  Later this week, I will post pictures of the first home adventure but for now, I am off to pack and keep laundry going!  Thanks to all my subscribers for sticking with me through the dry spell, life needed to happen, it did and will continue to but hopefully now, I’m back for a while!  Have a wonderful week!

Visit Show and Tell Friday May 15, 2009

AH! Sorry, I’m slackin’ again with the posts.  I do have a reason- you can read it here.  As for the giveaway the winner was: Miss Jocelyn!  I will need your contact info ASAP to get the giveaway DVD on its way to you.  So, be looking for an email.

Jen

My Adorable Nephew February 24, 2009

Charles Preston born 2/21/2009

7 lbs. 12 oz. 21 inches long

This Weekend in Pictures:

Mimi and Ara hiding in the closet at the hotel.

Ara had a hard time staying awake during the wait for cousin Charlie.

He’s here! Right after birth with his excited parents.

Grandad with Baby Charles

Aunt Jenny (that would be me) needs LOTS of Baby Charlie time!

Ara meets her little cousin.

Ara loves holding Charles (with help of course).

With Mommy and Daddy.

Daddy’s tiny son.

Mimi love!

Is he not just the cutest thing?!

He’s a very deep thinker. You can tell.

Because who doesn’t love baby sneakers?!

COUSINS!

It’s Baby Time! February 19, 2009

Baby Ara (admittedly the cutest baby ever!)

IT’S BABY TIME!  Today I am traveling out to be with my brother and sister in law as they deliver my 1st nephew!  I will be there until Tuesday next week so posts will stop other than the possible quick update.  I will try to jump on at some point and post pictures.  Please pray for travels and my sister in law as God brings an amazing life into this world through her.

Book Update and Family Goals February 3, 2009

So, the book update with a few reviews and our Family Spiritual Goals:

UPDATE:

Already Read in 2009:

*Mother by Kathleen Norris

*The 15 Minute Organizer by Emilie Barnes

*Simply Organized by Emilie Barnes

*Real-Life Homeschooling by Rhonda Barfield

*The Home Schooling Father by Michael Farris (I know I am not a father but it was still an interesting read)

*Parenting from the Heart by Marilyn Boyer

*The Family Worship Book by Teri Johnson

*The Fruit of Her Hands by Nancy Wilson

In the Process of Reading:

*Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem ( I may be crazy for adding a 1167 page book to my 2009 reading list but I started out using it for reference as I was reading the book of Isaiah and was so interested that I started reading straight through it. I am currently reading through Part 6 on The Doctrine of the Church. Interesting stuff.)

*Keeping Our Children’s Hearts by Steven and Teri Maxwell

Books Supposedly in the Mail on Their Way to Me:

*An Excellent Wife by Martha Peace. Nancy- I am looking forward to working through this one with you.

Still on the List to Read this Year:

*Becoming a Woman of Discretion: Cultivating a Pure Heart in a Sensual World by Nancy Leigh DeMoss

*Dumbing Down our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves but Can’t Read, Write or Add by Charles Sykes

*Faithful Women and Their Extraordinary God by Noel Piper

*Family Integrated Church by J. Mark Fox

*Marriage to a Difficult Man: The Uncommon Union of Jonathan and Sarah Edwards by Elizabeth Dodds

*Proverbs for Parenting: A Topical Guide for Child Raising from the Book of Proverbs by Barbara Decker

*Raising Maidens of Virtue by Stacy McDonald

*Teach them Diligently: How to Use Scriptures in Child Training by Louis Paul Priolo

*The Ever-Loving Truth: Can Faith Thrive in a Post-Christian Culture by Voddie Bauchaum Jr.

*The Marketing of Evil: How Radicals, Elitists, and Pseudo-Experts Sell Us Corruption Disguised as Freedom by David Kupelian

*The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan

*The Voice of Matthew by Lauren F. Winner

*When You Rise Up: A Covenantal Approach to Homeschooling by RC Sproul

I highly recommend the latest books I have read. I wish that I owned many of them for reference instead of just borrowing them from the library but lest you think that I am complaining- I AM SO HAPPY TO HAVE A CHRISTIAN LENDING LIBRARY from which to borrow them!

In the last week I have worked my way through Parenting from the Heart (wonderful!), Mother (a wonderfully surprising read seeing as I didn’t realize it was a piece of fiction until I started in on it. It was a quick read and delightful), The Family Worship Book (amazing, wish I had it at home as a reference), The Fruit of her Hands (I highly recommend this book both for its scriptural basis and practicality), and now am in the process of working through Keeping our Children’s Hearts. Reading in Keeping our Children’s Hearts the chapter about setting Family Spiritual Goals, Paul and I have come up with our list stealing some from the examples given in the book because we felt they were solid scriptural goals and adding a few of our own.

Family Goals

That each member of the family would have a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and serve Him (John 3:16, Hebrews 9:14) and:

1. Be obedient to parents and the prompting of the Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 6:1-2, John 14:15)

2. Joyfully serve others. (Galatians 5:13, Colossians 3:17, Romans 12:1)

3. Be self disciplined. (Galatians 5:23)

4. Pursue holiness (Romans 12:1, Titus 1:8, 1 Peter 1:15)

5. Seek God’s will in everything. (James 4:15, Psalm 40:8)

6. Live as ambassadors for Christ, including:

a.speaking, writing, and dressing appropriately. (Colossians 3:17)

b.learning to edify rather than criticize. (Romans 14:19)

c.being content. (Philippians 4:11)

d.giving Him glory in all things. (Psalm 86:12)

7. Love God’s Word, have a good understanding of the Bible and its doctrine. (2 Timothy 2:15)

8. Love others and Christ loved us. (John 15:12-13)

Side Note: Send some prayers up for my little girl today who has the nasty stomach flu. She is peacefully sleeping as I type this and I am praying the worst of this virus has left us.