grace-full.

We are not a perfect family.

 

There are times when I feel I can't do anything right.  There are times when I think my children are so much naughtier than average children that I want to run outside and scream.  All the "why can't I be more  ______" or "why can't my kids be more _______" will plague my mind if I let them.  I (we) will never be good enough to satisfy whatever it is inside me that desires to be "good" (or at least to look the part).

 

But, isn't this what I'm trying to show my children; We will never be good enough.  We need a Savior.  We all fall short.  We can sit at the throne of perfection and fall on our faces in failure, or we can kneel at the thrown of Jesus and accept his loving, accepting, overflowing grace and fall on our faces in humble adoration and praise.

 

So, because I am so perfectly accepted through Christ in my imperfect state, how much should grace and acceptance flow from me to my imperfect children.  I am blessed to be given the calling of their mother and pray that I can perform this duty in a way that is worthy.

 

That being said, I intended this to just be a brief post with a photo of my kids being cute (and looking good of course).  I do thank you God for those moments in time when I can see you working in their hearts and bringing out each of their best. 

 Here big brother Nathan is reading to his little sisters while I make dinner, a huge blessing to me.  I also love that our dirty old couch is sitting on dirty old carpet with exposed subfloor...our house is also in a state of imperfection.

 

 

Love them.

Just keep racking, racking , racking...

I thought I would do a quick update on our current house renovation: installing wood floors. 

 

When we purchased our home in October of 2012, we knew there were improvements we wanted to make, but we made the choice to wait one year to do anything (except paint).  The main driving force was financial (we don't borrow money), but secondly we wanted to live in the space and see how we would use it.  Some things that I initially didn't like, I wouldn't dream of changing now (like our brick fireplace), and some things I thought would be a big priority (like adding a full bathroom to the master bedroom) don't seem to be a big deal now. 

Anyway, we stayed true to our commitment of waiting a year. Improvements we've made in the last year include adding recessed lighting on the main level and widening a doorway between the kitchen and dining room.  The recessed lighting has made a huge difference and I love it. Before all we had was one ugly ceiling fan for overhead lighting.  The widened doorway is technically not finished yet (waiting for trim), but I'm sure I'll have pictures of that when I get an "after" of the floors.

 

For now, we work on the floors, and work on the floors.  I said right away this would be a quick post.  We are currently in the throws of installing the flooring, and I've got to get to work.  We got the kids a movie tonight and hoped to get the living room finished.  But, alas there's probably about two hours left of work to do and the kids HAD to  go to bed.

 

But, here's a progress shot from last night.  Matt started Saturday morning, and we worked Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday evenings. The type of wood is quarter-sawn white oak.  It's gorgeous and the same type of wood as we currently have in our foyer, only it's parquet.  It is unfinished, but this is  because we are going to sand and restain the foyer and make everything a uniform color.

 

 

Here's a close-up of the grain. 

 

 



 I love that it's not as "oaky" as regular oak, if oaky is a word. I don't want to over-spiritualize things, but I also see this flooring as another blessing from God. We were very patient when choosing what type of wood, where to buy it from, what width boards, what color, on and on. Then Dakota Floors in Brandon, SD had this in their warehouse and wanted to move it out. It is exactly the board widths we wanted, (both two and three inch), AND exactly the type of wood that would work best in our home.  AND but because they were moving it out we got it at contractor's price. It was far less, albeit it is unfinished, that anything else we looked at.  Our final estimate for everything (wood, supplies, and finishing), was $50 less than the modest budget we had originally set.  In the scheme of all that's going on in the world, it seems like floors schmoors.  But, I continue to find these small gifts from Him and I want to have a heart of gratitude...so, Praise God!

 

Here it is this morning. 

 

You can see that we had to move all the boards to the other side of the room and that we racked out a few more rows to be nailed. We are literally laying this floor board by board. Every board has to be just the right size. We learned a lot about seams-mainly you don't want them close or in a pattern-but I still may grab five or so boards before I find one that works. Matt is obviously better at this than me and so it may take him less time. Those rows you see that are racked (I think there are six) took us one hour.

So, progress is s.l.o.w.  However it's coming along.  It's not moving faster with me at the computer, so I better go rack it out, and if all goes well the living room will be fully installed tomorrow morning!  Woot!

Back at it & Nathan goes to school: A lesson in trust.

So...It's been over a year since I've written here.  It's funny how a year goes by.  It's okay, I don't think anyone has missed this blog and the last thing the world needs right now is another blog.  But, I've decided that this year, I'd like to give it another try.  Perhaps I  need it.  I've had many hard times through the past year-and-a-half since my mom passed away and so many moments I don't want to relive.  However, God has been showing me His mercy and goodness.  By faith I continue to move forward.  Though the brokenness of this world and the affects of sin are more real to me now, so is the truth that Jesus is Victor and redemption wins out.

We continue to live life.  This year will be unique for us.  Nathan has entered the public school system (eeks) as a second grader while Ella will continue to do school at home as a first grader.  Addie will have a more structured school year, at home, as she will be five in October.  Ella and Addie are also doing Classical Conversations.  It's a classical Christian homeschool group that meets once per week, but will also dictate much of our school work the other days.  I will post more about that as we begin our meetings and school work in September.  But, it feels we are jumping with both feet into two pools, and I'm eager to see how this year will shape and mold decisions we make regarding education in the future.

 

We are also starting some more serious home renovations.  I want to post those too.  To remember our progress and see how we've improved our home.  Hopefully it won't be all that's improved this year.

This time, I focus on Nathan.  We decided to have him repeat second grade since he has a summer birthday.  He is also going to an accelerated school, so he will be able to work at the appropriate math and reading levels, and not just be confined to "second grade" work.  This was the main reason we felt good about holding him back.  Academically he could definitely move on, but we saw it as wise to let him grow and mature another year.  Another year at home with Nathan seemed like an advantage too.  Our kids are young yet, but I'm in no means excited to have them graduated and gone!  (Ask me again in 10 years though:)  Here he is on his first day of school.  A little nervous, but totally excited!

 (2 for second grade)

 

The first week has gone well for Nathan. He is a rock star and has mainly adjusted with no issues. The only issue Matt and I have had is with his personal choices for reading material. I would like to write that Nathan naturally gravitates towards poetry and all the classic children's literature out there...but that would be a lie. Most of his reading time was spent with Captain Underpants. I'm sure lots of kids read it and love it, but it just didn't seem like a productive way for Nathan to spend his time and fill his mind. He since is making better choices :)

 

Here he is with a couple classmates waiting for the bell to ring.

 

 

The week may have been more challenging for me. I hated giving up all that control to a lady I'd never met before. All of sudden someone else was choosing his curriculum and spending the day with him. I just wanted to tell her, "This is Nathan, and he's really special so take extra good care of him. Get to know him, he's wonderful!" But praise God for peace and a willingness to trust Him, (and self-control so I didn't look like a crazy lady).   He has led us down this path and He is good.

Look at all those kids though.  Nathan's class has 27 students!  Way too many for my comfort level (trust, breathe, it's going to be okay).  His teacher, Mrs. Ivey is at the head of the line and admittedly doing a fine job so far.

 

I've also seen lots of good things happening this week.  Matt and Nathan eat breakfast together and do a devotional every morning.  Nathan even gets to ride in the truck, something much coveted for all the kids.  We also spend more time intentionally praying for him, and the girls look forward to picking him up.  I'm sure that as the year goes on (and even now) I could make a list of negatives, but we'll deal with them as they arise and continue to humbly bring them to the Lord.  Praise God He is leading this adventure!

Project :: FarmHouse Table.

 It's done!
 

Since moving into our home last Fall, we knew that we would need a new dining room table.  Our IKEA table has been great...but, we bought it 9 years ago when it was just the two of us, and it was starting to feel small (okay, it was also starting to feel a little wobbly, and it bothered me that any of our 3 elder children could move the table without much effort).

 

I wanted something bigger.  Something heavier.  Something our children would always have fond memories of and eventually fight over when we die.

 

So, we priced tables online and at "furniture stores"...ouch.  Then we went to our favorite standby for furniture, the World Market.  We found nice, affordable tables (they were having a sale), but here we learned about Matt's expectations.  Anything with a softer wood was out of the question because it would scratch easily (we do have 4 kids), and the table we like the most and almost purchased eventually got vetoed because it had a wood veneer on the top.  I was OK with it because to me it looked like a beautiful table, but to Matt it was too much money to spend on such.

 

So, onto plan B...What do you do when you can't find something affordable of the quality you want?
 

You make it yourself!
 

My awesome husband Matt (whose wood working experience consists of  high school shop class) took over and signed up for a Community Ed class for wood working.  He also purchased some rough cut walnut from a local professional wood worker who was a friend of a friend. 
 

It took him a loooong time, working from January through July. The class was 9 weeks and he come home with the top put together minus the bread boards, and everything else planed, sanded, and measured and cut...but not put together.  So, he had to find time at home to work on it.  It was an hour here and an hour there working in the unfinished basement.  4 months later it was complete.
 

Here it is:

 

 

The design is simple, but I am very pleased with how it turned out.  Matt is fairly pleased as well, but being a perfectionist about his work, he still gets bothered by little flaws (that only he notices).

 

The photos don't do it justice, but you get the general idea of the character of the wood.

(and this will look so much better when we don't have our dirty old carpet anymore)



 

Here is a leg to show more of the deliciousness of the wood.  It's not stained, we really just wanted the natural beauty of the wood to shine.

 



 

This photo makes it look a little lighter than it is, but you can see the variations in the wood.



 

I'm sure Matt could write a manual about what to do/ what not to do.  This was his baby.  I however did not have much involvement in the workings, except through encouragement and sometimes keeping my mouth shut! 
 

Matt did look at some designs online, and then just made up his own plan(which is how Matt does most projects, all successfully so far).  He also got advice from the same woodworker he bought the wood from.  He was a great resource (His name is Matt Zimbelman, but they recently moved out of the area, so I can't even plug his business anymore).  Matt also knows the exact dimensions; I know that it comfortably seats 8.
 

  I don't know the exact cost anymore, but the class was around $120, and the wood and supplies were around $400.  So, it turned out not to be cheaper than a World Market table (on sale), but the quality of the wood is better and the literal blood, sweat, and tears that went into this table make it priceless!

Now for some chairs...

7.

Calling all Super Heroes!

We've had one more birthday in the house! 

It wasn't really planned, but somehow we were blessed with a Winter baby (Ella), a Spring baby (Evelyn), a Summer baby (Nathan), and a Fall baby (Addie).  So, 'tis the season to celebrate Nathan's birthday!

Nathan just turned the  big 7.  This fall he will be starting 2nd grade...yikes!

His original party theme was Avengers.  Upon going to Target, he changed it to Justice League, and then later that night decided it would be both Justice League and Avengers.  I believe his actual words that night were, "Mom, I hate to tell you this, but I've changed my mind..."  Oh well, this was a good chance for me to actually learn who was an Avenger or Justice League member...valuable information I'm sure!

 

We did a simple, yet multiple tiered cake featuring Justice League members.  When it comes to cake I do all the baking, designing, making of frosting, frosting the cake...and then it's midnight and I can't make the Superman symbol to save my life.  Thus enters Matt.  Matt's super power is doing anything he puts his mind to.  In this case it was making a Superman and a Batman symbol.  I did the Green Lantern.

 

 

For Nathan's birthday we've always grilled.  So simple and fun for hot July days.  This year we tried to do a little bit of a theme, but the food doesn't change much year to year (hamburgers, hot dogs, watermelon, chips, veggies, etc.).

 

These were a big hit with the kids:  Thor's hammers.

 



 

We also had a lot of "Super" foods! 

(mainly in the form of berries & carrots)

 

 

Here's the spread:



 

This is what you get when you ask a 7 year old to stand by his cake for a picture.  Super Hero pose of course.

 

 

I can't believe how grown-up looking Nathan is getting.  I look at him and it makes me want to stop time for a little bit...can't he just stay little!  At the same time I am amazed at the person he is becoming.  Nathan is kind, brilliant, and still ever so passionate.  I'm so excited to see what God has in store for him!

 



 

 

Lunch time!  It was extra special this year because the Klein cousins made it!

 

The kids were put to task in the morning to decorate.  Well done.

 

Following lunch we of course sang and then devoured the cake.

 



 

Then present time!

Nathan really loves to receive gifts, like any time anywhere.  So, his birthday is especially exciting.  He talks for months about what he wants for his birthday.  He had a few Lego requests this year.  Here he is with a Lone Ranger set from Grammy (Matt's mom).  He also got some "cool" clothes (like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles t-shirt), a disc golf set, Darth Vader slippers, Target $, Star Wars water bottle, and other things I'm forgetting about.

 

We love you Nathan, our first born.  You are still our baby boy, and yet we see you ever-changing before our eyes.  You often say and do things that simply amaze us-we know you are special, and God has great things planned for you.  We are thankful for the privilege we have to call you our son!



Evelyn Jane Lucille

Another milestone birthday in the house!  Today marks the 3 month anniversary of Evelyn's first birthday and also her Daddy's 33rd birthday...cause for celebration right?

 

Here are some highlights of the big day!

 

I could probably say this for every child's birthday, "Oh, I can't believe_______is already ________years old!  But it still holds true!  I can't believe my baby is 1 year old!

 

Here she is the morning of of party day!

 

 

The theme:  Rainbow!

How did I ever decide on such an amazing theme you wonder?  Well, it went down like this:  We went to Target and they had a bunch of rainbow party accessories and I said "Let's do a rainbow party.",  and the kids said something along the lines of "Yes, what a great idea...". 

I know, the creativity in this house is mind-blowing!

Here's the rainbow cake:

 



 

Before mentioned rainbow accessories:

 

 

Eat your rainbow:

 

 

Fun times!

 

 

Cake and candle time!

 

 

Evelyn had been denied any and all sweets the entire first year of her life.  But, by the way she responded to them and wanted them when they were around, I knew she was going to be all about the cake.

She did not disappoint.  Evelyn  loves cake! 

 

She didn't have to be showed what to do or encouraged along, but sat there happily and contently eating away at her cake.

 

 

She at the whole thing... even the scoop of ice-cream!

When she was finished she picked up the plate and started to lick it.

 

 

It's worth saying again, Evelyn loves cake!

She is also our only child who required a bath at her first birthday party.

 

 

Moving along to present time!

She was not as into this, but not to worry because she had a lot of help!

 



The traditional first birthday gift from my parents is a riding toy.  Papa did not disappoint.  We now have a truck, rocket car, giraffe, and a pink scooter.  (confession: we actually sold the giraffe to Once Upon a Child, it was my personal fave but the one the children voted to get rid of.  We still do have 3 riding toys in the house however).
 



 

 

We love you Evelyn Jane Lucille! 

 I can't imagine our family without you in it.  It' been an emotional year as I experience many "last firsts" as a mother, and many firsts without my own mother, but we have been richly blessed by God, and I pray I never take it for granted. 

 

Ella Grace.

So, last time I blogged it was about our April snow.  If I wanted to give a weather update now, it would be about hot and muggy July.  Oops, I guess the blog fell by the wayside, though not for lack of things going on.  We have been occupied by birthdays (3 out of 6 of us with another next week), finishing up school, summer activities, removing wall paper, and putting up paint. 

My reasons for beginning this blog was to archive our lives as a resource for myself, (and maybe it can be a blessing to someone else as well). So, time to carry on...

 

Since it's a milestone event, I'll share some events from Ella's 5th  birthday...and next post I'll catch up on Evie's first.  (The 3rd birthday in our family was my own, which this year I decided to ignore so no post necessary :)

 

Here is sweet Ella Grace!

 

 

Big 5 year old!

 

Since she could talk, or maybe since she has had a little sister, Ella has been our peace-maker. Ella is our gentle, thoughtful, sweet little girl.  Don't get me wrong she can wine with the best of them, but if there is someone else who wants a toy, a piece of candy, the last piece of pizza (you get the idea), Ella will give up what she has so the other person will be happy.  It is amazing to see how God has blessed her and works through her.

 



 

Ella loves to sing and dance, though never for a crowd, would love to do gymnastics, and has consistently stated for the past year that she would like to be a dentist when she grows up.  Overall, she is our laid back, goofy girl.

 

Sadly Ella's birthday fell the same week that my mom passed away.  Everyone was still in a state of shock, and it was difficult to get out of bed let alone plan a birthday party.  But, we didn't want her to feel forgotten, so the day of her birthday, Mar 13, we celebrated with dinner at McDonalds and cupcakes.

 

 

We waited a week and celebrated again with a pizza and pool party at a local hotel.  It honestly was what Ella requested and it meant I didn't have to cook, clean my house, or plan activities.

 

Ella's chosen theme was princesses! 

 The guess list included uncles, aunties, cousins, Papa, and Grandpa and Grandpa Thompson.

 



So cliche' but it's hard to believe our baby girl is 5!

(Ella's trademark since birth has been her dimple on her left cheek, you can see it a little in this picture...still makes my heart melt.)

 

It was a crazy time, keeping everyone corralled.  For me personally the party was a little emotional, but Ella had a blast.  I remember Matt and I were trying to serve cake and ice cream and kids were running around (were were just in the lobby).  Matt looked at me and said, "Why is no one helping us?"  My first thought was because Mom's not here.  Mom is the one who takes charge, finds what needs to be done, and does it.

 



 

But, all in all it was a successful party, and I think Ella will remember the fun stuff.

 

We're so thankful to God for our  Ella Grace. We love you baby girl!