Those who plant in tears will harvest SHOUTS OF JOY. They weep as they plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the HARVEST.



Psalm 126:5-6

Monday, December 31, 2007

My Dream

Yesterday at church our Pastor asked us this week to write down on paper what our dreams or dream was. He really stressed the fact to define your dream on paper so you can see it written out. He referred back to our favorite verse :

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

For most of us we say that
the expected end will be when we get to Heaven and how great it will be to be with our Lord and Saviour. I can't wait for that day but I also believe that he is showing us here to have Hope and dream. Well for our family we have had a very rough year. Through this year I have held onto this verse knowing that God only wants the best for his children. Their were many times were I had to really focus on the hope side of this but I never left my God.

I am still working on what my dream is for this year or the years to come. What comes to thought whenever I think of this it is children and more of them. We will wait but also hope and know that our Father in Heaven only wants good for his children.

My prayer for you at the end of this year and the coming of this New Year is to hold onto this verse and have hope , peace, and dreams. I would love to hear from anyone who would like to share their dream/dreams with me.


Happy New Year and I will post again next year.

Saturday, December 29, 2007

My Birthday

Well today is my birthday and it has started out to be a very eventful day. My husband had to work at his second job this morning but he will be off by 1:00 p.m. so we can spend the day together then.

My morning started with my 11 year old making me breakfast in bed and ooh was it yummy. She made me fried eggs and English muffins with orange soda to drink. She is going to be such a good mommy someday.

After breakfast I came down stairs to post about my birthday and got distracted by the smell of a burning pan. The 11 year old had forgotten to turn off the burner and the empty pan was a smoking inferno. As I was helping my daughter get the smoke out she looked at me and said mom," I think you should ground me from cooking for a while." I think she is right.


Just to let you all know that lately she has had a bad habit of smoking up the kitchen. First it was a bag of popcorn that she overcooked in the microwave, then it was a piece of toast that got stuck in the toaster, and then yesterday it was croissants that she put in the oven and turned the broiler on to get them done faster, but this just caused them to come out looking like charcoal. So I think the 11 old will be removed from the kitchen for a while and this will be torture for her since it truly is her favorite place.

Thanks my beautiful 1st born for helping me to always remember my 34th birthday. And I really do mean Thank You.
I Love you girl.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Our Lazy Day

I started this blog as an idea to help my family and friends who are far away, be able to look into our daily happenings. I also wanted to have a journal of my families life so when the kids get older it will be there for them to look back at. Well I was looking at my past posts and I have not done a very good job of making this happen. I noticed that there were months were there is only one post. I am going to try to get better at this and post about our everyday happenings even if it is as little as we did school today and prepared for Daddy to come home.

So I will start this today. My day started at 6:30 with the five year old crying and telling me that her tummy hurt. I was half asleep and took her down stairs so she wouldn't wake up the baby. About an hour later we were dealing with the dreaded episode that comes with an upset tummy. Thank God this only happened once. I told her that she needed to rest today and that we were all going to have a lazy day and watch movies.

Well that is exactly what we did. We watched "Charlotte's Web" and 8 episodes of "Little House on the Prairie." 8 episodes can you believe that. I am so sick of hearing Nellie whine that by the 8th episode I told the kids this will be the last one. I tried to say it without screaming and yelling because I wanted to pull my hair out if I heard Nellie say one more time "Laura did." I can hear it in my head just typing the words. I think we will be taking a break from this video for a while.

So this was our day.

By the way the 5 year old is now bouncing off the walls and feels great.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Our Nativity

This was an absolutely awesome Christmas for our family. As everyone knows, we were spending Christmas alone. I hate to say alone because we are never alone when we have a Lord and Savior who is with us all the time.

I wanted to make this special for my children but also special for Daddy and me. About two weeks before Christmas we started practicing a play that I found online about the birth of Jesus. We worked on it two or three times a day and really wanted to make it special for Daddy.
Well it turned out to be special for Mommy too.

About a week before Christmas we went to a fabric store and bought scraps of fabric for our costumes. I was very proud of myself for being creative on a small budget. Don't they all look the part.

The baby was supposed to be a wise man but wanted to hang out with Dad instead of do her part but that was o.k. because we still had a great time.

My oldest was Joseph and a wise man, the next in line was Mary, the next in line was the innkeepers son and a wise man, the next in line was the Angel, the next in line was the shepherd and the baby was a wise man who didn't cooperate.
That is all right because we had a great time and a great Christmas. We have also decided that we will do this every year from now on and remember that we are blessed to have such a loving God who gave us such an awesome gift that Christmas night.

Monday, December 24, 2007

Merry Christmas

Its Christmas eve and all through the house every creature was stirring even a mouse.


All the stockings were hung by the staircase with love


In hope that this household would shine with Jesus' love


To all of us that are not together this year I will just imagine you sitting right here.


Listen real carefully for a whisper in your ear


Saying have a " Very Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year"


I love you all,
Susan

Sunday, December 23, 2007

The Nativity Story

Last night we watched the movie the Nativity with our children. I t is a great movie and it really opens up your eyes about how Jesus came from a very humble group of people. I know that we all know about him being born in a lowly manager and all the rest that goes along with the story.
But when you see it played out on big screen and see how plain Mary and Joseph were it gives me a different look at Jesus.


He really came for the hurting and the sick and the poor and he came right to them. These people had nothing, but they had a faith like you would not believe.Through everything Mary and Joseph were available and continued to believe that God would provide and he did.


This Christmas I am so thankful for My Father in Heaven. He orchestrated such an awesome event and the whole time he was thinking about you and me. I pray that you will have Hope this next year to come. I think it is one of the most important elements of our Faith is to have Hope.

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Jeremiah 29:11

Friday, December 21, 2007

My Big Sis

I had asked my sister to read my blog today because I wanted to see if she remembered her Billy Joel 8-track. O f course she did,and she also mentioned that she still cries over it.

Then she had to comment about my book Anne of Green Gables. She asked me if I had forgotten that she was the one who had gotten it for me. DUH!!! I said that was my favorite gift, I don't think I will ever forget who gave that to me. Thank you sis for that wonderful gift.

I guess I just wanted to let her know how special she is to me by blogging just about her.

So here you go Sis.

Love ya.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

I was on another ladies blog this week and found this really fun post that she had done. She called it Holiday hoopla and she had to list 12 things about herself that are relative to Christmas. I thought this would be fun to do and I hope my blogging buddies will follow. (Allison, Heather Lori,and Tanya.)

1. My mother always read the Christmas story from the book of Luke before we opened up presents.

2. My favorite Christmas present was the book Anne of Green Gables the year before I joined the Navy.

3. One year my sister and I opened up all of our gifts and rewrapped them so our parents would not know.

4. My mom always made crab for me for Christmas dinner because I did not like ham. (What a spoiled brat.)

5. My Great Grandpa Clifford came to our house every year and helped us put up our Christmas tree.

6. We were a family that opened our gifts on Christmas Eve.

7. I always got a book of lifesavers and nuts in my stocking.

8. My sister cried like a baby when she got the 8-track of Billy Joel's Glass Houses.

9. My mom thought my best friend Leanne had stolen the movie Footloose from our house, but my mom had just forgotten where she had hidden it.

10. I started a new tradition in my home with my girls and that is: I give them a keepsake ornament every year that has to do with a new mile stone that they have accomplished.

11. I like to put my tree up right after Thanksgiving and take it down right down after the new year.

12. I try to keep my mind and heart focused on Jesus because he is the reason for the season.

God bless and have a Merry CHRISTmas.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Bearing Fruit

Today was our final day of Christmas shopping. I had to go to quit a few different stores and knew it was going to be a long day. As we were driving into Omaha I just kept telling myself to be patient and remember they are kids and they are not going to be perfect.

I don't know what happened today but they all obeyed. Not just one or two but all six of them were obedient. Four different stores and one hour in the car each way, now that is a miracle.

Our final stop is every one's favorite store Zooper Wal-Mart. (Just joking.) We have nicknamed this particular store as you can see Zooper Wal-mart. It is always a madhouse and by the time we are finished I always want to pull my hair out. But not today. We had a great time shopping for Daddy and buying all the ingredients for our Christmas dinner. It was a moment to stop and Thank God for how blessed I am.

As we were checking out the cashier was a young lady who looked to be about 18-20 years old. My 7 year old pulled the empty cart around and started loading up the groceries while the older girls helped the little ones put on their jackets.
This young lady looked at me and said, "I hope I have kids like that some day."

I sit here tonight and think I did not say anything special or remarkable I just said, "I guess they just know the routine."

Well the hard work of training up your children to love the Lord, and Glorify Him in everything they do is starting to bear fruit.

Today was a great and glorious day!!!!

Monday, December 17, 2007

CHRISTmas

This Christmas season has been a very interesting one for me. I was very excited to get our tree up and all of our little decorations set in place. I was in the Christmas spirit and excited for this joyous holiday, and as the days have gone by something has happened. Last night as I was sitting down with my girls my 5 year old looked at me and said, "Mom I think we are focusing to much on presents right now." I looked at her kind of puzzeled because we weren't even talking about presents or Christmas. I said, "Yes, I think your right.
She then replied, " I think we need to focus on God more."
I replied with, " You are right honey, we will do that this week."
As I sit here writing this post I am so blessed for the gifts that God has given us. But I will be perfectly honest I am also sad. I thought this would be a great Christmas, and I know that it will be but there is something missing this year. I was on the phone today with my Mom and it hit me that we are not going to be with family this year at Christmas and that is what is missing. This is our first year without any Grandparents here and in the 12 years of our marriage we have always been with family. It has really hit me lately how much I miss all of them.
I remember as a child spending every Christmas with my Grandparents and I long for that for my children. I don't know why families are so spread apart but my prayer for this coming year is that family becomes important to people again. I am not the only one longing for that. I talk to many of my friends who do not spend the holidays with Parents or Grandparents.
I know we will have a wonderful CHRISTmas because we will keep our eyes focused on Him. My hope is that next season we will be with family.
Right now I am focusing on just "counting it all JOY..."

Thursday, December 13, 2007

ICE (I really hate it)

The winter weather here is more than what I expected. We are going on our third winter here in Iowa and I absolutely love the snow. But there is one aspect of winter that I have never experienced and it is called ICE. I absolutely hate the ICE.
I am not a very talented writer so creating a word picture for how much I despise Ice would be very challenging. I am going to make it very simple instead.

ICE STINKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The other morning I got up to go to the store to buy ingredients for our baking day, and let me tell you that was a huge mistake. It was the day after we had a storm that created freezing rain, and snow. Well I am a California girl and I have never had to deal with ice before. I continued on like I always do and went out to the van to start it up so it would have a chance to warm up. When I went out there it looked really cool like someone had sprayed it with water and then froze it. It looked cool but that was about it. This process of warming up the car took 40 minutes. Can you believe 40 minutes to just get out of the drive way. Now to me that is just ridiculous. It made me think to myself what am I doing here in Podunk, Iowa.


I had to laugh as I finally drove out of my drive way. I was thinking to myself how my life has changed over the past three years. In Phoenix it took me 40 minutes to go to the local store because of all the traffic, now it takes me 40 minutes to go to the local store because of all the ice. I really am not sure which is worse.

I do know that this season to will pass and in a few months I will be complaining about the heat and how I would love to have cold weather. But no ICE!!!!!

Saturday, December 8, 2007

Happy Birthday

Today was my oldest daughters 11th birthday. I can't believe she is 11. I spent today just watching her and enjoying the young lady she is growing up to be.
We were blessed to have my Father-in-law in town this weekend to celebrate with us. I spent many times thinking about the day I gave birth to this beautiful little girl. I had mixed emotions today, as all of you know about our recent loss.I seemed to daydream at times about what Baby Charlie would have added to our family.
Back to the birthday. It was AWESOME. The day started out with a big breakfast fixed by Grandpa, flowers from Dad, and lots of gifts. After all of that we all just hung out as a family and had fun laughing and playing a new Wheel of Fortune game(which mommy is addicted to.)
Dinner was the birthday girls pick: Reuben's, vegetables and dip, and chips.
Of course cake and ice cream and movies to end the day.
We had a wonderful day and can't wait till next year to do it all over again.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I LOVE YOU LEMILY

Friday, December 7, 2007

New Look

The new look to my blog is not my own. I want to thank all of my friends and family who have commented on the new look, but it is not my doing.
You see I have a dear friend who lives in Texas, and I in Iowa. Even though we are thousands of miles apart she is still more than willing to help a friend who is not computer literate make her blog site look pretty.
So I just wanted to say thank you Lori for making my page look AWESOME. I love it.

Thursday, December 6, 2007

SNOW!!!!

I love the snow!!!!
I know that sounds crazy to some of you but for me I feel like a little kid again whenever I see it snowing. I think it might be because I grew up in an area where there was no snow.
This is going to be our third winter here in Iowa and I just absolutely love it when it snows. Every time it begins to snow I can still remember the first snow we got when we moved here. It was a Tuesday morning and my husband had the day off(which is rare). I had gotten up and was coming up from the basement looked out the window and saw the snow coming down. I was so excited I went and woke everybody up to let them know that it was snowing. I really did feel like a little kid on Christmas morning.
Today we were anticipating snow and it finally came. Again when it started to snow I got that giddy feeling and said to all the kids, "It's Snowing, It's Snowing!!!" Just wanted you all to know that it is snowing here and all of us kids here are giddy and happy(even the big kid

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Love and not Disrespect

Well, I am not really sure if I should be blogging about this situation that my husband and I just went through, but it is hilarious and I laugh just thinking about it. This last Saturday we as a family had a lazy day and did absolutely nothing. The weather forecasters (who know absolutely nothing) were calling for this huge ice storm. It turned out to be a little bit of freezing rain and that was it.
As the day went on I could tell something was wrong with my husband but he wouldn't tell me what it was. Towards the late afternoon he could hide it no more and he had begun to start groaning. At that point I knew he was in pain and I insisted on knowing what was wrong. He told me it felt like he had a broken rib but he couldn't figure out why the pain was not consistent. We both tried to figure out what was wrong; a broken rib, pleurisy, gas, kidney stone,etc.. I told him that it seemed like it was getting worse and we should probably go to the doctor and find out what was wrong. Reluctantly he decided that was the best thing to do.
Walking into the hospital I have to tell you all that I was embarrassed for him. Here is a grown man talking in a whisper because he doesn't want to take a breath, afraid of the pain he gets each time he breathes. I say to myself God knew what he was doing when he had women bear the children.
After the Doctor had gotten done poking and prodding and taking x-rays we found out that hubby had pulled a muscle near his rib cage.
Give me a break all that moaning and groaning for a pulled muscle. I was sitting in the ER trying my hardest to show respect and not laugh. Then you will never believe this. They gave him Valium. Can you believe that? I didn't say this but I was thinking I gave birth to six of your children and three of them completely drug free and they give you Valium for a pulled muscle. At that point I realized why God is the one in charge and not man. I truly believe there would have been an end to the world because men would never make it through the pains of pregnancy let alone childbirth.
Now let me explain myself I love my husband and he is a great and Godly man, but he is a WIMP when it comes to pain. Honey, this is said out of love and not disrespect.

Time

I have to tell you all that it is so interesting how children do not understand the concept of time. I was talking to my girls yesterday about some dear friends of ours who are going to Africa on a mission trip. I told them how God was opening all of the doors and that they were going as a family. They all said wow, cool, awesome, etc... Except my ten year old who gets this concerning look on her face (remember she is the mother hen in the house) but Mom isn't Sydney still a little young. I said "She is going to be 7!" My 10 year old looks at me and says with a surprised look, "Really I thought she was still 5."
O.K. This is the funny thing we became friends with this family right before this little girl turned 5. So I guess my daughter thinks time stands still for everybody else and she is the only one who gets older. Don't we wish.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Food Shooter

The other day we were at McDonald's (I am embarrassed to say our second home) and my oldest daughter who is almost 11 started to giggle and I couldn't get her to stop. I was getting a little bit irritated because she wouldn't tell me what was so funny.
I finally got her to quiet down so I could order. We have a large family as all of you know, so it seems like every time we go through the drive thru we have to pull forward and wait for our order. This day we had to proceed forward and wait for fries or nuggets I can't remember. As we are sitting their waiting The oldest decides to tell me what was so funny. O.K. you all know the trash cans by the drive thru have a really long extended opening so you can throw your trash away from your window well this child thought that the trash can was a food shooter and when you ordered your food they would shoot it out to you through that opening.(sorry for the run on) We all died laughing that day while sitting by the food shooter waiting for our food. Now every time you go to McDonald's I hope you chuckle when you drive by the food shooter and think of us.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving

This was our first year here in Iowa to spend Thanksgiving just the 8 of us.
I was a little nervous as to how the day would turn out and what we would do. i really wanted us to all go serve in a homeless shelter but all of the ones I called were not in need of volunteers. I was disappointed but knew we would find something to do that day. Two days before Thanksgiving a lady who I had called about a week earlier called me and told me that they could use us to help serve up at the church her in our town. I was so excited because we were going to go out and help be that hands and feet of Jesus. I went to the store and bought my Thanksgiving meal (which was going to be lasagna since we would be serving in the early part of the day).
Then our big day came, we got all the kids ready, gave them expectations of how to behave, told them this was not about us but about serving others, and helping them understand that we wanted the people we were serving to leave their happy and Thankful.
After all that was said and done we got in the van and headed to the church. When we walked in the area was beautiful, they had decorated it so nicely and we were ready to serve the hungry. We waited and waited and waited. We prayed for God to send the people and no one came. But let me tell you it was great teaching experience for our children because we explained to them that even though no one came God knew our hearts were pure and he was smiling down at us for our act of service. We explained to our children that even though we didn't feed a thousand hungry mouths in God's eyes we did.
In the end all of us volunteers sat and ate and fellowshiped together and it was a wonderful and eye opening Thanksgiving to me. My eyes were opened to see that I live in a wonderful and caring community and it was great to see us all loving and serving the same God.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Baby "Charlie"

This post is a difficult one for me but it is also a healing post at the same time.
This past week our family suffered a loss that was sad but has also focused our eyes back on the Lord. We were expecting baby number seven around the end of May 2008 but we lost the baby this past week. I want you all to know that I am doing fine physically and emotionally.
I have to say that I have been blessed with two years of growing closer to the Lord and I believe that is part of why I have been able to go through this without having a major breakdown. I know that I have been carried by my Lord and Savior. The first night I started spotting I cried out to God and told Him that I couldn't do this by myself. I told God He would have to carry me through this. Let me tell you all something He is a good God because my feet have not touched the ground since that night, He has been carrying me this whole time.
I want to also thank my husband for being my shoulder during this past week. Most of you all know that we moved here from Phoenix and I still don't have the ties that I had in Phoenix. Well I found I didn't need my friends to get me through this I had a wonderful husband who loved me and protected me. He has let me cry when I needed to cry, he held me when I needed to be held, he prayed over me when I needed it the most but couldn't do it myself, he has been my friend through all of this.
One more thing I want to say is that I have not once gotten mad at God. He is a good God and wants only good things for his children. Remember this in hard times and let him carry you it is so much easier than trying to carry yourself. We have named our baby "Charlie" and can't wait to hold our baby in heaven someday. We love you Carlie and know you are well taken care of.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

The Basement

These past two days have been nothing but chaos. My husband and I decided a few months ago to move our children to the basement. Now when I say this I know it sounds morbid to put the kids in the basement, but you have to understand that the basement is one of the nicest rooms in the house. They have their own bathroom and closet and plenty of room to run around.
The first day we started this my husband and I were so excited about how easy it was going to be and then reality hit. I don't know about everyone else but when you haven't moved a bed or dresser for over two years there is some major cleaning that needs to be done. Whoever cleans under or behind their beds on a regular basis I would really like to know because it doesn't get done in this house. After cleaning all the mess we could finally move furniture. That was a chore in itself. We moved our bedroom to the main floor first and then started moving kids beds down to the basement. After moving two bunk beds and two twin beds we still had three dressers to move down and a whole master bedroom to move up. Plus a big couch and T.V. that we were moving up stairs to make a T.V. / reading room. By the time we were done moving all the furniture I was exhausted and we still had clothes, toys, and bathrooms to move. O.K. you are probably thinking to yourself that really isn't a big deal. Well let me add what happened during all of this Mommy had to try to keep the little ones out of the way and our two movers that helped Daddy were a 10 year old girl and my dad who is 62 we really couldn't be in a hurry. Don't get me wrong I am grateful for their help but you did have to move a little slower. Then you add lunch to the day and clean up from that it took all day just to get furniture moved.
The next day we started on all the little stuff, that was worse than the day before. We have to much JUNK. I threw out at least 7 bags of JUNK that we haven't used since we moved here. And you will never believe this one, today we still have to move the bathrooms. A one day project (I thought) has now turned into a three day project. Isn't that how it always seems to happen.
Well at least the kids are happy and Mom And Dad are happy too. I do know that from now on big projects will only get done when the kids are someplace else.

Saturday, September 29, 2007

I Love My Girls

This is a blog that is basically just a reminder to myself how blessed I am to have six beautiful little girls in my life. As I sit here and think about what we did today it is pretty said to say, we did absolutely nothing. There were no chores to do and the lawn mower is broken right now so no lawn to mow either. We all just sat around and were lazy. The best part of it was I got to just sit back and watch the kids be kids. I also took a nap with the three year old who doesn't do that very often anymore. The older children hung out with the little ones and everyone had a fun and relaxing day. Later in the evening we all took a walk in absolutely beautiful weather and it was so much fun to see the two older ones laughing and getting along. When we got home everyone got ready for bed and again the older children were right there taking care of the little ones without being asked. One was reading books to some of them the other was helping with the brushing of teeth.
Tonight as I sit and reflect on the day we had I would have to say I saw the work of Jesus Christ in our lives today and I Thank you Lord for blessing me the way you have.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Our Trip to the Dentist

Tuesday was our 6 month check up at our local dentist. I know you are probably thinking well that really isn't a big deal. But it is when all 5 of them are being seen in an hour an forty-five minutes. I don't feel sorry for myself, I feel sorry for the dentist. As she sits down with her little sticky note, she begins to tell mom all the news. She apologizes for looking unprofessional but doesn't want to forget anything so she had to take notes as she was looking at each girl.(Believe me I am no high-class lady and I was not offended by her notes.)
So here is the news from the dentist. Only one needs to see the orthodontist in the next six months and only one had cavities( two very little ones.) I can handle that type of news because I know it's not going to cost mommy and daddy an arm and a leg this visit. Last visit one had to have three teeth pulled because of too much crowding. So this really was a good trip. In all of my excitement about all the good news I grabbed all the kids and said all right kids lets go home. The girls were all showing me their new toothbrushes, and we were all excited that no one had duplicating colors. That can be a real disaster. As I am half way to the van I look around and see that I only have five children and not six. I run back in and ask if one of the girls is still getting worked on. Now let me tell you something that is pretty embarrassing because you know they think you have too many kids, and now you can't keep track of all of them. And yes my sweet little seven year old was sitting back in the dentist chair like a good little girl waiting for the hygienist to be finished with her. Next time we visit the dentist I will make sure to do my head count before walking out the door. This way I don't look like a total loser and unfit mother. Other than that little incident the trip to the dentist was not so bad.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Our Newest Little Mommy

It is so much fun to watch children interact and play with each other. As I watch my 16 month old I am amazed at how she is already picking up mothering skills. She plays with her babies and pats them on the back, gives them kisses, carries them around like a real baby, and is now even trying to change their diapers. We like to tease her and pretend her baby is crying,and it is so cute to see how concerned she is. I can see her little mind spinning trying to figure out how to comfort her sweet little baby doll. I definitely have been blessed with another little Mommy.
I love how the Lord molds and shapes our children at such a young age. It is truly a God given desire for a woman to want to be nurturing and mothering. I see it every day with all my six little mommies that I have in this house. I hope all of you other moms out there remember that this is what God has designed us for and when we embrace this, we are so blessed.
Now how can I not "Count this all JOY."

Friday, August 24, 2007

Bats and Frogs

Well I know you are now thinking that I have truly lost it and have started doing witchcraft or something of that nature. That is not the case at all. These are too little creatures that we have had to share living quarters with this summer.
I know some of you are probably thinking that it is better than mice, or snakes but for me to know that bats are sharing my attic with us just gives me the creeps.
I guess you are also probably wondering how we know that we have these little flying visitors. Well I will tell you.
One night about two A.M. my ten year old came down to our room and calmly told me that we had a bird in our house. I said I think you were just sleep walking. When she took me upstairs and said that it was flying in circles around the ceiling fan I knew right away that the bird she thought she saw was no bird at all, but that we had BATS. I took the children next door to the guest house where my parents were staying and they slept there for the rest of the night for a fun little sleepover. I Figured they didn't need to know that their newest house guest was a bat.
On top of all this craziness at 2:00 A.M. my cellphone is ringing and it is my husband telling me that his car is broke down on the side of the road about 30 miles away. Thank God my parents were here or I would have been loading 6 little girls into the van for a late night drive to rescue Daddy.
Well back to the BATS after that side note. It is now morning and my children are awake and I have convinced them and myself that my oldest was just seeing things. We all head next door to start our day. I send all the girls upstairs to get dressed and I start breakfast. About 30 seconds later I hear them screaming and crying "Mommy it"s real !!!! The bat is in the little girl's room."
Let me tell you all something, I am a big WIMP. I go half way up the stairs and ask them what is going on. They are all hiding in the bathroom telling me that it was flying over their heads while they were playing. During all of this chaos my one year old has been left in the room with the bat and I am yelling at the older ones to get the baby because I am too chicken to go save my poor little girl. One of the big girls finally gets the baby and throws her in the bathroom with everyone else. I run down the stairs and get my Dad to save us and leave the children upstairs all alone with the BAT. Know that is what you call a WIMP.
My dad comes next door gets the kids out of the bathroom and looks for the bat which cannot be found anywhere.(Of course I look like the crazy lady with six kids)
We close all the doors and proceed on with the day as normal as we could. We all know that bats sleep during the day and are awake at night so my dad says we will catch it when it gets dark. Night comes and the bat gets caught and my dad and husband think it will be great to let the kids see it so they won't be scared. I just think that is gross(remember I have girls). Not only do my girls think this bat was cute they decide to pet the little creature and can't get over how soft it was. No Thank you.
Well a couple of weeks later I am walking down the basement stairs and I see a baby frog hopping down the stairs. I am finished with outside creatures thinking they can be inside. I put a plastic box over the frog and let my husband deal with that little guy when he got home. I remember in Genesis when God says that we will have dominion over the creatures of the earth. I am having a real problem with that. I can't even catch a baby frog.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

A Vessel From God

I am back. I have not blogged in a few months and really don't have a reason why. Life was happening and I was letting it get the best of me. I was talking to a dear friend of mine who lives in Phoenix the other day and I must have really been doing a lot of complaining. She said very sweetly to me why don't you start blogging again so that you can see all the little things that bring you JOY.
I started this blog and really wanted to focus on "remembering to count it all JOY."
Well at some point during this summer I guess I quit counting it all joy and started looking at circumstances and feelings. I know better than that. My God tells us that we will have "Love, Joy, Peace,..." I am child of the living God and I am going to start living by the spirit and not by my flesh anymore.
I know that I will still have circumstances that will still happen in my life but now I am going to try to remember to find Joy and Peace in everything, and not let the Devil steal that time away from me again.
I just want to say thank you to my dear friend in Phoenix, and thank you to God for using her as a vessel that day.
One more thing, here are some of the little things that have brought me joy lately....
A God who is truly merciful.
A husband who has to be a saint to put up with me.
Six little girls who love me all the time no matter what I say or do.
A truly blessed life.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Best Actress Nominee

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!
We have been blessed with a child actress.
No not really, but one who I think could win the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Our 8 year old got three teeth pulled yesterday so we told her that she had to take it easy and that she wouldn't be helping with the chores for the next couple of days. When she first got home from the dentist she was a little tired and I told her to lay down for a while.
Well at dinner I think the "Laughing gas" had not worn off yet because she was being really silly. It was time to set the table and get drinks and we told her to sit down and let her sisters serve her. At that time she starts telling us how it is so terrible to not be able to help. Daddy and I try not to laugh and tell her that is wonderful that she enjoys helping around the house.
O.K her comes the award for Best Actress. She proceeds to tell us that the best thing about being in a big family is that everyone has to do chores and work to keep things running. All right she is 8 and she is the one after five minutes of starting her chores is complaining about how all she ever has to do is clean. Now you understand why we say we have been blessed with a child actress.
I am hoping that it was just the "Laughing Gas" that had her in such an altered state. I am not to sure that Hollywood is the road I want her traveling.

Saturday, June 9, 2007

Peter Potty

Last night our children all seemed to have an extra amount of energy. This makes it difficult when it is time to sit down and have family devotion. As we try to get the children to settle down to listen they just seemed to get more and more giggly. Remember a house full of girls can get pretty loud sometimes. Especially when all 6 of them have the giggles.
Once we got them quiet my husband opened up his bible and said tonight we are going to look at I Peter. Our 3 year old has a special blanket she has to hold all the time and last night she couldn't find it so before we had started my husband said go up and get it out of your room. As she was walking up the stairs she yelled down to him,"Just like the Peter Potty."
Daddy and I both looked at each other and said,"What is she talking about?"
The girls proceeded to tell us that she calls those white Porto potties a Peter Potty. Then we all were laughing and couldn't quit. I am not sure that our family devotion was to successful last night but it sure was fun!!! I am remembering to Count it all Joy!
Here are some other cute words that our three year old has created.
De De.....................................Blanket
Peter Potty...............................Porto Potty
Butter Chips..............................Cheese Quisidilla
Fat Hot Dog...............................Polish Sausage
I know there are more but Mommies brain has gone blank for the time being. I will return another time with her silly words.

Friday, June 8, 2007

Obedience

My 4 year old and I have been talking a lot lately about obedience. She is the child in the house who seems to always fly under the radar. Everyone could be busily doing their chores and she is no where to be found. Daddy and I have caught on to her tricks lately and she has been receiving great amounts of discipline.
Yesterday Peanut and I had a serious talk about her behavior. I told her that I could not continue with her school unless she started obeying Mommy better than she had been. She is not the typical child who says yes Maam. She says yes Maam but needs an explanation for everything. We are also working on her obeying without asking why? Well back to her always wanting an explanation, she proceeded yesterday to want to know why she needed to obey while Mommy was teaching her Phonics. I told her because This was going to help her to learn how to read.
Then she said,"If I don't obey then I will have to do pre-school my whole life."
I said, "Yes and you won't be able to read to your children someday."
She said, "Mommy I will just read my pre-school books to them."
These are the times when I just have to laugh inside and wait to see the fruit of our labor.

Thursday, June 7, 2007

I have some exciting news for everyone!!!!(No I'm not pregnant.) My little peanut(#4) started school yesterday. This is big because she has been bugging me about this since September when her bog sisters started their new school year. It was a very interesting day to say the least.
At breakfast I told her it was her big day to start her Hooked on Phonics. She thinks that is the funniest name and giggles every time. We talked about how she had to obey and listen to mommy or she would never learn how to read. She said she would obey and really wanted to learn how to read like her big sisters. Then all of a sudden with a very serious look on her face she said to me, "Mommy I don't think I can start school yet." I was thinking to myself she has wanted this for so long and now she is getting scared. I said, "but why honey?" She said with her thumb in her mouth, "I haven't stopped sucking my thumb."
She was right she hadn't stopped sucking her thumb and we had told her that I wouldn't start doing school with her until she had stopped sucking her thumb. Well her and I had a talk about it and she was going to continue to work real hard on getting rid of that bad habit.
Now we were off to start our first lesson in Phonics. I got everything ready and then pushed play on the tape player and it didn't work. If you could have seen the look on my child's face you would have thought her favorite pet had died(and we don't even have pets.) She was devastated. Mommy to the rescue, like always.
I move everything and get it all set up again and hit the play button on the tape player and we had started. Yeah!!!!!! we have officially started school and she is happy as a kid in a candy store.
Oh yeah, let me mention that our classroom yesterday was in the front seat of our fifteen passenger van. It was a sight to see but that was our only working tape player and it also shows how creative homeschooling moms can be.
So that was our first day of school and it was FUN!

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

The Flood

In the morning I try to sit down and read the bible to the girls while eating breakfast. Just recently we got finished with the story of Noah and the flood. I explained more in depth since the older ones couldn't believe that there was water that covered the whole earth. we spent a whole morning just talking about how the water was so high it was over the mountains. They thought that was just amazing. Now I know that you are thinking that every kid knows the story of Noah and what is the big deal.
Well you see for the past month we have been getting rain and rain and rain and then some more rain. So the other day we were driving some place and it had just rained and they saw a rainbow. I said there is God's promise to us that he won't ever flood the world again.
My oldest one says "Mom how can God make a promise to not flood the world again and it keeps raining here." So I then explained to her again that he would not wipe out civilization with a flood. She still had a little worried look on her face, but said o.k. I understand. I told her God's promises are true and she doesn't need to worry. O.K God you can stop the rain now anytime.... Well I guess I should be happy she is worried about the rain and not the latest boy who she will like. The innocence of children is so much fun to watch.

Saturday, June 2, 2007

Infomercials

O.K. You are probably thinking what is this going to be all about. Well it is pretty funny. The other day I am talking to my girls about cooking and they start telling me about all these different meals that they can make with some gadget that is like a blender. I am thinking to myself what are they talking about?
Well you see we only get basic cable which is only channels 3 through 22 and there are very few programs that are appropriate so I find out that my 10 year old and 8 year old have started watching infomercials. All right I know what you are thinking that they are being aloud to watch T.V. without supervision but there are times when mom needs to take a shower so I tell them to put it on PBS. Well they like the infomercials better. I have learned a lot about products that are being sold on T.V. and I think that they are all junk. It is still fun to hear them tell me about all these little gadgets they are learning about(and it is also nice to know that they have great comprehension skills.)

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

She is ONE

My baby is now one. I can't believe how fast her first year of life went. She has been such a blessing to our family and her first year has been very exciting. I am looking forward to her second year. I am praying that this second year of life she will learn how to sleep through the night. I have heard parents say once you have kids you never get a full night of sleep until they are about five and I am beginning to believe that with this one.
Well enough complaining about my little blessing from God. Know I am going to brag about her accomplishments of her first year.

She can say Dada and Mama
She claps her hands and waves
Starting to play peek-a-boo
Loves playing with her sisters
Wants to walk really bad but not quiet ready
Loves climbing up the stairs to find all the action
And a joy to be around!

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Quick and Cute

This is quick and cute. The baby was playing on the floor today and number three was sitting on the couch watching her. In the most grown up and mature attitude she said " I can't wait for her to be one, It is going to be so EXCITING." It wasn't what she said it is how she said it. Her tone of her voice and her body posture looked exactly like a miniature adult. I asked her well what is going to be so exciting about her being one?
She said," Well, she'll be able to walk."
I looked at her and said,"Do you think as soon as she turns one she will be walking?"
The look on her face was priceless and she said like a little adult again, "Well of course."
I sure do hope she walks on her first birthday or number three is going to be little disappointed.

Dinner Without Number 2

Last night as we were sitting down to eat dinner it was a very sad dinner for the siblings. Their sister was not here with us and they were all missing her immensely. Funny thing is she had only been gone for about five hours. Now don't worry nothing has happened to her she just went on a little trip with her grandparents for a couple of days. This child is very cuddly and wears her heart on her sleeve at all times. So when she was leaving she was trying to hug all of her sisters and they could have cared less. I had to laugh to myself because just a few hours earlier they could care less that she was leaving and then at dinner they were all depressed that she was gone. Funny thing is she is the one with the servant heart and is willing to be the drink gopher every night if no one else will do it. Which is not the purpose of the drink gopher. The purpose is to have everyone learn to have a servant's heart. I am just wondering if they were missing her, or missing her serving them.(She is going to be an awesome wife and mother someday.)

Monday, May 14, 2007

A Day at Work with Dad

Saturday my oldest daughter went to help her Dad with our new little business that we purchased. We had her start learning how to take orders and count change back to customers.(Something that I think very few people know how to do) I went down there for awhile with the other children and let them play while I helped Dad and big sis. At one time a man came to place an order for himself and his two boys. I asked him very nicely if he had ordered two smalls and one large. He looked at me with that look like well didn't you hear me the first time. I was asking so I could help my daughter add up the order the right way. We proceeded to count back his change and he proceeded to be not very kind. I didn't say anything to my daughter but thought how said it is to see someone who is so unhappy. His boys were trying to talk to him and all he could do was grumble back. As he was walking away with his order a big gust of wind came up and knocked it over. (I thought serves him right) which is not very Christ like. But of course my husband being the kind hearted man he is made him a new order without even thinking twice. This is exactly why I stay home and do not work in the world. I believe that women are to emotional to deal with the unkind people of the world.
This blog went a totally different way than I had planned. Sorry

Bless You

This is going to be a very short blog but it is very cute. My husband had to do some running around this weekend and he took the three year old and the baby with him. While he was in the hardware store the baby sneezed and the three year old said "Daddy sissy just blessed you and there were no boogers." I thought that was so cute that she thought sneezing was called a bless you. I got a laugh out of it and I hope you all do too.

Sunday, May 6, 2007

Small Town Folk

All right all my friends and family who live int he city we have definitely turned into "small Town folk." I am pretty embarrassed to even be blogging about this but it is pretty funny.
Well last night we had a pretty long night of thunderstorms and received almost 5 inches in our area. So this morning we get up, go to church, come home, and all we talk about is all the flooding. That's not the best of it. Today was our cleaning day so after lunch we all worked really hard to get everything done that needed to get done.
At about 7:00 P.M. we were finally finished. Mommy got all excited and I said "Let's go dive around town and look at all the flooding and then go to the store and get some ice cream." Yuck I just want to throw up now thinking about how hickish I have become. Two years ago I never would have thought my entertainment would be driving around a small town looking at the river whose banks have overflowed.(This Is really sad.)
The funniest thing is that as we are driving around I make the comment " Should we go back and get our camera and take pictures like everyone else is?" My husband just looked at me at that time and said we really have turned into "small town folk."

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Heavenly Father

Today was one of our days of running errands in the city. These days normally tend to be a little hectic and tiring for Mom and the children. This one was different. We started our day by leaving the house at 8:30A.M. to get to the orthodontist by 9:40. AS I am driving on the interstate listening to a song on K-Love I really am focusing on what the words were saying. This song was talking about people who are weary and lonely and don't have Jesus. At that moment I look in the rear view mirror and see my 8 year old trying to get a trucker to honk for her. I all of a sudden felt so extremely blessed at everything that God has given me. I know I just blogged about this the other day but I am so thankful that my eyes have been opened to how lucky I am to have such a wonderful Heavenly Father who at the strangest times says "I Love You Susan"
Just wanted to share with all of you that life is wonderful and when we turn our focus to the good it is even better
God Bless and Remember Jesus will carry your burdens for you (he carries mine everyday)

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

The Bus Ride

The other day I am loading all the children into the van and one of them says' "Mom we are going on a bus ride today." I went along with it and half listened because there are many times that they turn our van into the Jensen School bus.
This time was definitely different. The four older ones proceed to tell me that they are all pregnant and what number this is for them. Just like it is no big deal. Then I begin asking questions like, " Are you married?"
They all say well of course like I am the dumb one.
My ten year old says, "I have no kids Mom but I am married to a Godly man so I stay home all day."
I said, "that is great, but what do you do all day."
She said "Well I sew dresses and blog all day."

I had to laugh because I don't sew at all and I am just beginning to blog. So wherever that idea came from it is one of her own.

Monday, April 30, 2007

A Typical Day

I have not been very good about blogging lately, but sometimes I feel like I have nothing to write about. Now I know that probably sounds weird to all of you because I am sure that you are thinking 6 kids, homeschooling, toddlers, and a baby there has to be something happening all the time. Well that's not always true.
So here is a typical day in our house. Get up, get the kids dressed, have breakfast and clean up the kitchen. DO some school fix lunch, eat lunch, clean up the kitchen. Quiet time, start dinner, have dinner, clean up from dinner.
So that is our typical day sounds pretty boring right.
Well what I forgot to add was.

"
Mom I need to go to the bathroom."


"Mom so and so hit me."


"Mom I can't spell Picture."

"Mom how do I do long division ."

"Mom,Mom,Mom,......

That is the fun part, having that go on all day while you are trying not to lose your mind.

At the end of the day when you are tucking all of your sweethearts in and they all look at you with those adoring eyes and say "Mom you are the best." That makes all the craziness of the day just vanish. I sit and write this tonight and realize how truly blessed I am. I have 6 healthy little girls who love the Lord, and think their parents are the best thing ever.
God is Good!!!!!!

Thursday, April 26, 2007

My Houseful of Not So Many Maidens

Everyday I try as a mother to train my children to be children who love the Lord. Along with manners, school, life skills,etc...
Today I am finding that the area of manners is lacking. A wonderful family whom the Lord has put in our life for about a year now had us over for lunch on Sunday. The children were playing all day and everything was going great. The dads took the kids for a walk and the moms stayed at the house and got some quiet time which is very rare. This family that we visited they have 8 children and we have 6 so you can understand that it is not very often that this happens.
Well today I am ready her blog and she is talking about how one of her boys thinks he is a superhero because he can make himself burp!!!!! How heroic.

Well guess who he learned it from?

You guessed it . My sweet little 8 year old daughter.

I guess I have a houseful of superheros now instead of a houseful of maidens.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Pictures,Bowling,and Thunderstorms

Yesterday was a day of wonderful Spring showers. Thunder and lightning and lots of rain. Mommy loves those kinds of days, but the children don't seem to think they are that great.
It was fun to just sit back and listen as they try to comfort the three year old whose eyes keep getting bigger and bigger as the storm gets louder and louder. One child tells her that it is just the Angels taking pictures up in heaven, another one tells her that Jesus is bowling, one says it is a big church clapping and praising God. All of these answers were very cute and sweet and I know that they were just trying to comfort her, but instead of comforting her we ended up having our own little thunderstorm inside.
All the girls got so excited about what they thought God was doing to cause the thunder and lightning that we had our own little debate about who was wrong and who was right.
Momma had to finally step in and say "Alright you are all correct know quit fighting and stop scaring your little sister." I am finding that I have 6 little mommies and they all want to solve the problem at the same time just with a different solution.
Well as I look at this situation I thank God for them being so sensitive and caring towards each other, now I just need to help them learn to understand that there way is not the only way. I know that will take a lifetime of learning( which mommy is still trying to master)

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

This Little Light of Mine

Well this Saturday night was a typical one for our family. Dinner, baths, getting church clothes ready,and then to bed. Everything went smoothly even the baby going to bed. Daddy and I were excited that we were going to get to bed early and not be tired for a Sunday morning. Well the baby woke up for her last feeding which was no big deal. I got up and feed her but when she was done she decided to show me her new trick. Well guess what that trick was? You guessed it, she holds her pointer finger up for me and shows me how she can do this "little light of mine," then she gets excited and claps her hands. Believe me Mommy was very excited and thought it was cute the first two or three times but after about two or three hundred times mommy doesn't think it is cute anymore. I am exaggerating just a little but I was watching the clock and after an hour and a half I was exhausted. Remember this is baby number 6 for us and we should not be having these types of things happen at night. We should know what we are doing and the baby should comply. Wrong!!! Well at 1:48 A. M. the light finally went out and boy was I happy. These are the times when I remember "to count it all joy..."

Monday, April 23, 2007

Dad's Special Night

The other day my husband came home from work and he was emotionally tired and of course I wasn't being very helpful. I had that selfish attitude that my job is harder than his and he shouldn't be tired because all he does is sit in an office all day. Needless to say that did not go over to well with him.
That night as I am reading my bible and feeling sorry for myself I pick up my book "Created to be His Helpmeet" and begin to read. Well that didn't help because as I read I realize how truly selfish I had been acting. I also realized that I was teaching my daughters by my actions to treat their husbands excatly the same way I was treating their Daddy.
The next day I decide that we are going to have a special night for Daddy and we are going to treat him like a king instead of a slave. The girls and I fix him taco salad and get his favorite desert "Skinny Cows". (That is his favorite desert when he is watching his weight) The girls practice their piano and the little ones get a song ready to sing and everything is going great. Until the phone rings and my husband says," I am on my way home early tonight." Now I want you to understand he has only left work on time maybe five times, so this was a shock for mommy who still had to get the menu made, program made, hair fixed, and girls looking pretty for Daddy.
Well to get to the point everything got finished in time and when Daddy got home the girls were standing on the steps looking pretty and ready to have a Special night for Dad. The piano recitals went smoothly and my two little ones sang so sweetly. It was a night that Daddy will remember for a long time(and mommy too.)