Memorial day at the cabin

Fishing at the cabin is the ultimate adventure. Sometimes the fish are abundant and other times they are shy and no where to be found. The joy of sitting in a boat with the sun shining down on your shoulders, the waves gently rocking you and the silence encompassing you is priceless! and when there isn't silence it is sweet too because it means that the little ones are chattering and enjoying their time out with you. This weekend was the annual Walleye Jamboree. Matthew, Andrea, Kayla, and Alexis all entered. Matthew had a bit of trouble on the way to the cabin figuring out how he was going to get equal fishing time for all the girls. As it turned out he went out early in the morning alone, Then returned for the girls for a mid-day trip and then went back out alone in the evening. Kayla came out ahead of the other girls this year by getting the two Walleye on the far right end. She was rewarded at the dinner with a brand new fishing pole for her efforts! Andrea was able to get one nice one (3rd in starting from the right) and she chose a bag of pink bobbers as her reward at the dinner. Alexis caught a nice one the next day and she was given a new tackle box that had some odds and ends in it for fishing. Matthew...he got his limit to turn in each day and then some. He didn't place in the top ten but they gave him a nice fish magnet that is for the side of a truck but now graces the refrigerator at the cabin.

After the competition was done Matthew, Zachary and myself went to try our luck. We came back with four nice ones. I caught my very first walleye which you can see me proudly displaying. LOL! Zachary wanted to hold a fish. sort of but we didn't know which was his so we let him hold mine. He has found a new love for fishing since getting his first bluegill on the end of Grandpa Thompson's dock.


Back at the cabin during the competition the little ones and I had a good time. We hung out on the beach most of the days. Zachary became a lot braver in the water since he was dressed as spider man and really enjoyed his time floating about. Now of course I have to watch a lot closer haha. I weeded out the sand pit and the kids enjoyed making me castles and icecream cones (cute set I bought for Z's birthday) They even got to play with the neighbors grandkids for a little while which was also fun for them since other children up there are far and few between. I as normal burnt to a crisp and the kids all browned up nicely. Kendra has the brownest little head that is accented right now by her bleach blonde hair. So cute! On Monday we had friends stop in and visit for the day. Us girls sat with kids on the beach and the guys went fishing ofcourse since this time the getting was good. Our friend Joe and his dad came up for fishing and popped in as well. I love company! and since it was raining it was fun to listen to the guys play cards and banter back and forth.

Overall it was a very relaxing trip and we had a ton of fun. Kayla topped the week off by making a new friend.

Kayla is our lover of all things living. She is passing this love on to her sisters as I was given a nice bucket of leaches and crawfish on the beach several times during the week. I LOVE IT!

Abby and Alex's house part 2

So how much do you love that I didn't do part two of this until a rainy day when I finally remembered. Anyways, Now I am foggy on details but on the weekend we went to the Civil war reinactment and that was pretty neat. I can't find my camera cord so most of my pictures are on the video camera still. Here are two that were on the regular one before the batteries died.

Then we visited Abby and Alex's church on Sunday morning and the kids enjoyed their awana program in the evening while Matthew and I went on a date. Ok, a semi date (haha) since Zachary would not go to awana and Kendra was not old enough. We went to sonic for shakes and ofcourse we all liked that alot! On monday I think it was we went to the park and had a blast! What a great place. They not only had two different parks in one for the smaller and older kids but a water pad! It was so cool...here are some pics. Plus I was finally able to meet Kristie. She is Abby's best friend and I have come to know her through facebook so it was too short of a visit but very sweet to get to meet her and her boys.

A Day for Zachary

My son is three. It is a weird feeling to see him at three and know that the time has drifted so quickly by, but it has and we are here. Zachary's day was an exceptional day! He started out with his birthday breakfast. Matthew has taken our kids for birthday breakfasts since the older girls were about three. So this was Zach's first birthday breakfast. After going to McDonalds and "puking" up his eggs which apparently were gross and he spit them everywhere he and Matthew went to the fire station. Here is the pictoral of their trip.

After the visit to the fire station he came home for birthday pizza and baking with mom. We made his cake and then we had a very nice birthday dinner in the evening with the family and our friend Joe who also happened to be Matthew's coworker for the evening. Here are some more pics :)

Then last week we did an official birthday party for him with the grandparents and a couple of aunts. We also had pizza that night. It was super fun to see him love his cake (you will soon see why!) and to enjoy all his gifts. He got all types of boy stuff! Which is good since not only is he a boy but stands in need of boy things.

Now he moves on into his fourth year. We hope and pray that he will grow tender to the gospel and that he will become more obedient but not less fun ;)

When the rain of your soul threatens to drown you

Whining starts. Tempers flare. Ugliness... The gray sky screams of captivity. Captivity in my home. Captivity to my thoughts. Captivity to my temper. Lighting flashing, thunder growling, rain threatens. How do I make something beautiful out of such a mess! To restore my house to grace and dignity. To find peace. "Humility. Softly whispered to my heart...be humble. Be gentle. Be tenderhearted. DAUGHTER! be like Me...." Tears flow and I realize yet again my need for my Savior. My need for forgiveness as I raise these tender ones. As I either bring them to the sun and water their souls with that which promotes the life giving nurture of the King or I shade them in my anger, frustration, and irritation and leave them dry allowing my feelings of the day to overshadow everything as I with hold the thing that their souls so desperately need, Grace. That unmerrited favor, that life giving hope. Oh how I do not want to leave them dry and parched for love, for tenderness, for peace and joy! Tears flow like the rain and I find myself kneeling before the young and asking them for the forgiveness that I am so undeserving of but crave and earnestly seek. Then yet again, like multiple times before a child leads as restoration is given freely and lovingly and my soul is released from the ugliness of being in the wrong. Isn't this just like our Lord? To show us through relationship that we stand in need of Him? To show us that no matter how great and mighty we feel we are that there is someone else that needs to be elevated and ministered to? I am humbled as I think on this thought and the Holy Spirit gives my spirit this verse as He ministers to me... Romans 12:1 "Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. 3 For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think ; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. 4 For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith ; 7 if service, in his serving ; or he who teaches, in his teaching ; 8 or he who exhorts, in his exhortation ; he who gives, with liberality ; he who leads, with diligence ; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness." Reflection: How am I as a parent teaching my child to be part of the body of Christ? How am I showing them the humility and grace and fiathfulness of God with my actions? Their gifts and abilities are not necessarily the same as mine, so how am I encouraging them to use their specific gifts with diligence...am I showing mercy and cheerfulness in my tasks? My soul sighs deeply...the weight of responsibility feels overwhelming! and yet there is this: Psalm 31:3 "For You are my rock and my fortress ; For Your name's sake You will lead me and guide me."

Eye doctor

About a month ago during safety class at our lighthouse homeschool group Andrea's class had an eye doctor come and give a talk and show the kids what an eye appointment was like and why they were important. It was brought to our attention that Andrea had a hard time seeing far away. She had never mentioned anything so I was sort of taken aback today when the eye doctor that we saw said that she was very near sighted. I actually cried because I felt that she had missed out on so much beauty in life. After the doctor comforted me by telling me that there was no harm done and that her world would now become so much more detailed and exciting to her, we went through the fun task of finding frames! There was so much laughter that I am not sure if we were appreciated much but we made something that could have been a bummer into an adventure. I really hope that she loves her new glasses and that she has fun showing them off to her friends. Kids can be cruel so I made sure that they were pretty and made her feel pretty. I remember being about her age and a daughter of one of my mom's best friends had glasses and braces. I was SOOOO jealous and wanted both super bad. Looking back I know now that it was not those items that made Katie cool it was the fact that she was confident in the fact that she was loved. As and adult with kids that need braces and glasses I see now the benefit in teaching the girls same confidence. To teach them that they are loved and that they are fearfully and wonderfully made. Just as my mother taught me over and over and over again. Today could have been very difficult but hopefully we have been able to bring an anticipation to Andrea, not only for her to see better but to also know that she is loved...always loved.

Vacation to Abby and Alex' house, part 1

On the morning of March 19th we planned to leave bright and early for our trip. I had packed all the bags and gotten everything set out that I could think of. We had three sick kids at the time and I was wondering whether we should be going at all. Matthew ended up having a very rough night at work and had to sleep so by the time he woke and we had things ready to go we were pretty worried about Kayla and Zachary's health. They both had high fevers and seemed to be coughing really bady. Our plans changed as plans often do. We took the kids to the Prompt care on West main only to be told that the wait was a minimum of 2.5 hours if no one else came in with a worse problem and to try the other urgent care in our network. So we called them and while it was twice the copay to go the time for being seen was considerably less. We were in and out of the building in about an hour and a half. Not bad in my opinion. The kids lungs were fine and they gave them some more tylenol and motrin and called it good. Feeling relieved for the children but discouraged about the day that was quickly closing we left for our trip and drove as long as we could before we were overtaken by sleepiness. We stopped about 4am at a little motel and all piled into one room. Poor Z slept on the floor in a sleeping bag (I know it grossed me out too!) and the girls all piled into one bed while Matthew and I and the baby slept in the other. It worked out well enough because we woke later that morning, felt much better and got back on our way about 9am. We arrived to Abby and Alex's house just before dinner. We thought we would be later but forgot that they live in a different time zone haha! It was wonderful to see her and the boys and to finally see her home and just get aquainted with her life as an adult woman. We really enjoyed seeing how established and comfortable she was in her space. After having a nice dinner and enjoying a good visit we headed off to bed. It was a sweet set up too! We had our own half bath and the room was large enough that with a little creativity everyone had somewhere soft to sleep. The next day was stormy and yet we didn't mind after so many hours in the van. It was nice to just sleep in (atleast we felt like we were sleeping in really well with that hour difference lol) and lounge about visiting and drinking coffee...ok I drank coffee and we all visited. Their church was cancelled that evening because of the storms and so we ended up hanging out. Zachary had a fever for the first few days of the trip and alot of cough syrup was given at night. I ended up sick but thankfully I was not nearly as bad off as the kids when they were at their worst.

On Thursday, I believe it was, we went to the Zoo. It was a very nice one! We were able to see so many animals that we had never seen before at the many different places we have been through the years. We all had our favorites mine was the bird that looked like it had a giant candycorn on it's head! hahaha!

Friday, we went to the USS KIDD and walked through the ship and enjoyed the bits of history in the museum. I didn't get a chance to look as much as I would have liked because at that point I was miserable with head congestion and Z was being wild (shocker haha!) anyways, Zachary enjoyed the ship and the big guns and the cots in the sleeping quarters. It was pretty neat but tight and all I could think of was how miserable it must be to be on there with a bunch of other people for months on end...some more pics? :)

It is probably a little wrong to take pics of babies with guns but I did...they were very excited about them. Mostly I think because they don't think about guns shooting people and don't really understand...for me it was a sad and bittersweet type of experience to walk through and see all the deadly weapons. The favorite parts by far were the cots and the kitchens and bathrooms for some reason LOL! We loved being able to explore those areas.

Somehow I missed Matthew and Kayla getting in to try them out. I did have to laugh when Matthew said he could sleep in one easy. That man can sleep just about anywhere if he needs to. LOL! I on the other hand do not sleep well normally if I am not in my own element.

OK the rest of the trip will have to be written about in the next post...