Thursday, August 31, 2006

Down at the Carwash

One of the latest projects we are working on is a carwash. It is to raise money for the Blacks in their ministry to the Ethiopian churches. We have been privileged to send eyeglasses with them on one of their trips. That was a "hands-on" need that we could do. The kids got to help pick out eyeglasses at the dollar store. Then we packaged them up and sent them to Virginia to our friends that distributed them. It was great to get the pictures and updates from that trip. It is a great way for our children to be involved with our brothers and sisters in a different nation. Hopefully, it will stir their hearts to be compassionate and giving. It is also great to let the churches in Ethiopia know that we remember them in prayer and in tangible ways. It is so personal and we are thankful for this opportunity. So for a "hands-on" way to earn some money we are washing cars two Saturdays from now. I will take pictures to send and also to post. We are praying for good weather since it is prone to rain here anytime.

Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. I Cor. 9: 1-11 Amen.

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

September Flurries

It actually starts tomorrow...
The birthday flurry of the Heath household. My sister-in-law will kick it off and it will end with a birthday leaking over into October. Does it count if his due date was September? The oldest three girls' birthdays are all in September. The big daddy-O has the dubious honor of turning forty on the 11th. We have a couple of nephews and one dear friend's son also in September. Our oldest son is the one that slid into October.

We do try to make each child's birthday a special treat. We have stolen some ideas from the Friedrichs, who have more children than we do at this point. So instead of big parties or expensive trips to Chuck E. Cheese's we do some personal things for them. I think that through out the years those are the things that they will remember. I plan on taking some pictures and posting the birthdays as they happen. Hopefully, I will make up for my lack of blogging this month.

Sunday, August 27, 2006

For Rebazooka!!!!

I have not blogged lately because of the lack of anecdotal material. I want this blog to be a funny little window into our family. We have had some hard kind of things hit us recently that take precedence over blogging. I had a request to keep up some entertainment so here goes:

The word is famulus. I had never heard of this word before. It means an attendant or assistant, especially of a medieval sorcerer or scholar. Now how would you use that in every day conversation, hmmmmm?

I will blog some more when I have more energy. Hope this satiates my audiences thirst for new vocabulary words.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Seven Happy Years

My husband and I attended a couples' Bible study. One of the first meetings the couples introduced themselves. We were to say our names and how long we had been married. One very funny gentleman introduced himself and his wife. He then said they had been married for 19 happy years...and that isn't too bad out of 25. This Saturday my husband and I have been married for 11 years. Now you can figure out how that is related to the title.
We have had some hard times and some good times. We both have more mileage on us than we had at the altar. We also have six children that adds quite a bit to the equation. I sure am glad that we have each other. He is the best friend that I have. There was a teacher I had back in YWAM that said after 10 years of marriage he and his wife really loved each other. Then after 20 they really knew what love was. Then after 30 they really knew. I think he might really have know what he was talking about:) I love my husband more now than I did then. I am looking forward to the next decade in our marriage.
Happy Anniversary to you Mr. Heath.

For Five Minutes

I have achieved a clean house. Yes, I know it is hard to believe, but I have done it. It only took shipping out the oldest three to relatives and about a week of scrubbing. If I can avoid feeding the Menace twins in the house then I could actually keep it clean for more than the foreseeable five minutes.

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Full hands/ full heart.


Our latest model is displayed here with one of her very (overly at times) loving sisters. I snapped a shot and had to re-snap this shot to censor the in-need-of-cleaning counter in the original shot's background. I know that one day my house will be in order, clean and with everything in its place. I am sure those will be the days when I long for the sounds of laughter and childhood delight that accompany all the dirt and smudges. I think it is all about learning contentment. I still took a different picture minus the smudges.

We do have lots and lots of love at our house. We also have lots and lots of kids to love. I am thankful that the big problem we have with our Latest Model is that we have to protect her from too much affection foisted on her by her siblings. The most dangerous, of course, being the Menace Twins. When we go out in public with all six of the kids we get many different types of responses. They range from downright rude to smiles of congratulations. I think the most heard one is, "Wow, you have your hands full!" I am guessing that because I took all six to the pharmacy this morning. We picked up some medicine and a couple of presents. After I paid and we were leaving, our oldest son beat the cashiers to the punch. He told them, "Yes, we do have our hands full!" I read a response from someone else that has a large family that I have used several time because it is perfect. "Yes, my hands are full, but so is my heart."

I have fingerprints continuously on my sliding glass door, no matter how often I clean it. I also have a sweet toddler that loves to give hugs and "eskimo" kisses. I have more dandelion bouquets than space for them. I have boys telling me how beautiful I am on a regular basis. I have hands to hold and people to go with me for walks. I have lots of people to dance with and they never say I look silly when we do. Yes, our hands are full, but so are our hearts.

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

A rose by any other name...

We have nicknames for all the kids, but we are sadly lacking for nicknames in the grown-up department. I have been thinking of changing Menace #2 to Monster. Then we can have the Monster Report. It might even be more entertaining than ETC's Chicken Report. If I comment on Monster's antics then it keeps things in perspective too. Toothpaste does come off of bathroom cabinets. She is also washable. Now if we can convince her to stay out of the DVDs and keep the water IN the bathtub instead of on the floor we will really be ahead of the game. Anyway, before I digress too much, our vast reading audience is welcome to suggest nicknames for the adult Heaths.