Sunday, December 30, 2007

Christmas Adventures





Here are some pictures from the past few days. We have had quite the adventuresome Christmas this year.

We currently have about 6 inches of snow and it is still snowing. We have had snow off and on since Christmas day. Our beautiful new baby decided to arrive at 8:30a.m. on the 26th.

Christmas saw us celebrating at Oma's house. Our oldest boy went home with family to spend the night at their house. We got home and got sort of organized with stuff. You know how sort of must be with six children's Christmas presents, left overs and snowsuits to put away. We were getting ready for bed that night when the power went out due to downed trees. We put the big girls and remaining son downstairs on the sleeper sofa because they had no night lights in their room. That Samboy did an awesome job of staying calm and helped his sisters too. We got power back around midnight.

The Ole Daddy Rabbit got up to go to work. He was informed that he needed to call our midwife and not go to work. We called the midwife once. We weren't going to go in quite yet. Then we found out we REALLY needed to go. We then lost power again. Our cell phone was down because it hadn't been plugged in. The Ole Daddy Rabbit raced to get Oma to stay with the other children. We called the midwife from the van because the car charger worked. It then took us two hours to make the trip. We passed some downed trees as well as a couple of cars that had slid off the side.

We made it there in one piece. Our midwife never lost power:) The power came back on at home. Timarie Joy arrived with one push. She has eclipsed her brother with the biggest baby status at 9lbs. 3oz. He still holds the record at 23" because she only measured 22".

Everyone is home and safe. We are snowbound right now. The Ole Daddy Rabbit built forts and had snow fights with all the kiddos (except the baby). You seem to have two choices when stuck together like this: You learn to love each other and work as a team or there is chaos. We seem to be choosing the former. All is good and we are thankful to God for that.

Friday, December 21, 2007

Blessed


Some days I get reminded that God is taking care of us even in the little things. Today we were at the store. The store manager walked up to us and handed us a 25 dollar gift certificate for groceries from someone. It was signed Santa Claus, but the children and I all know it was from God:) It was hard not to cry at that simple act of kindness towards us. We have so much to be grateful for. We have always been warm, clothed and fed. We even get some wants as well as needs met. I am always amazed when God shows us that He is real and He does indeed take care of His people.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Late Soccer Pix


This is our soccer team this year. Can you pick our beautiful princess out of the bunch? I will give you a hint: She's the only girl.

Our oldest daughter played soccer this year. This is the whole team (we did have one other girl that showed up sometimes). Even though we had a small team they were undefeated the whole season. They played hard and practiced good sportsmanship. We were very proud of the whole team. Our girl played hard enough to keep up with the boys. She also did so in her modest capri pants and her pink shin guards:) It was worth all the travel time, coaching and other inconveniences. We worked together as a family. I got a certificate for coaching. Our princess got a trophy. We all got cake and goodies. Not a bad deal.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Steamy Gossip




The Ole Daddy Rabbit has a new job! He is still going to be working at the mill, but he has a new position. It is called Fuel Tending. It is working with the Steam Boiler that fuels the kilns. He is going to be challenged with learning new things. He will also get a chance at furthering his schooling. It is a great opportunity for him. We are so proud of him.

The schedule will take some getting used to as well as the extra time he might need for school. I know some people might be surprised, but I am such a rut person. I get things in a system and I have a hard time getting out. This is a good opportunity for me to learn to be more flexible (yet again). That seems to be the big lesson in my life: flexibility. I need to rely on the Lord so much more when life is not static. Life, in general, tends to throw us curves. Since I have six, almost seven, children and live in the backwoods you can imagine how curvy my life can be. Also if you consider that we engage in many atypical activities like homeschooling and homebirthing, we are in for quite the ride. We might as well break out the refreshments and revel in it.

MR. HEATH,
We are soooo very proud of you. You are awesome. Good-on-ya!

Monday, December 17, 2007

Irony

n. a combination of circumstances or a result that is opposite of what might be expected or considered appropriate.

Not too long ago I won some books, wonderful books. The books titles are all something like "Clutter's Last Stand" and "Make Your House Do the Work." I have six children, a medium size house and not a whole lotta storage room. I am constantly recycling to the thrift store, making the children PUT THINGS WHERE THEY BELONG, and assigning various chores to be done. The irony is that these wonderful books are sitting in a pile of to-be-put-away-when-I-find-a-space. They also seem to be wandering since the boys think the cartoons in the book are hysterical.

In my defense, I do have all of my Christmas things finished, delivered or in the mail. I have made cookies with the children. We made goodies to deliver to neighbors. We have read together, played games together etc. I am also due tomorrow with our seventh baby. I am trying not to feel badly that it is 10:00a.m. and I am still in my jammies. I think it is better to observe the irony and laugh rather than compare myself to my perception of other "perfect" homeschool moms. I might have to include some of this stuff in our next poll:)

Thursday, December 13, 2007

I Finally Can Do Videos!

My friend, the awesome and wonderful Bucca, has shown me how to post a video to my blog. This one is incredible. I cried the first time I saw it. The message is great!

Friday, December 07, 2007

Well, I got that to work!

I actually got the poll thing to work. I am very exctited. Of course, this blogspot stuff does make things a little easier then some of the other ones I have seen. I am going to see what else I can do with the site. You know, in all my spare time:)

Thursday, December 06, 2007

I really don't wanna...

I think most of us don't want to suffer. I will admit that I don't want to sign up for that one. I am getting closer to our due date and it causes me to think of pain and suffering. We receive the Desiring God e-mail. Today's was about suffering. It is the second time I have seen an article about the same passage recently. I don't know what God is saying. I do know that looking back over my life that all the suffering that I have seen (in a limited scope compared to others) has drawn me closer to the Lord.

I know, just like in childbirth, that suffering is no fun while it endures. I also know that when I hold that precious child in my arms that they are worth it. So it makes me wonder why the idea of suffering makes me fear so much. I know that Jesus will hold me in His arms and it will be worth it. See what happens when I am nine months pregnant? I remember my dreams and I get very deep.

Well, those are my deep thoughts for today. Maybe I should see about embedding a poll on my sidebar. I could see what we should name our new baby. I know some one rooting for Tebecca. Weird!

Monday, December 03, 2007

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

I am so excited about my Christmas craft projects. I downloaded a free e-book awhile ago. The home made gift ideas all started out with supplies I have laying around my house. We are trying to live within a budget and get ready for Christmas. I made seven presents last night that used left over socks and mittens, ribbon, wood and some paint. I was quite pleased with the results. Unfortunately, I am not able to post pictures or brag too much because some recipients of said gifts are my only avid readers. More importantly my huband was impressed with the results. I think he was doubtful of the end product when looking at my raw materials.

I have pretty much all my Christmas stuff done. I am trying to be cheerful and thankful. I have a great husband. I have Christmas things done. I have indoor plumbing. If anyone thinks the last one is strange talk to our pastor that just spent two weeks in Botswana. I have only 2 weeks left until our due date and I am extremely uncomfortable. I am trying to not grumble and complain. Unfortunately, on this issue as well, I am uncomfortable enough to not try very hard. That is one reason I haven't blogged as much recently. I am usually tired and crabby. So I am either resting or not in the mood to post anything witty. I hope one day soon that we will be posting about our beautiful baby soon. I know I will be feeling better then. That and my family won't laugh at me while I try to tie my shoes!

Friday, November 30, 2007

We will see...


I am still having trouble loading pictures from our camera to anything useful for me. The Ole Daddy Rabbit has gotten it to work. I need to sit down with him and have him show me some things.

This is our little bug baby. She to a glow worm for Christmas last year. It became her lovey toy. It even made it into our friends' wedding pictures! Over the garage sale months we picked up another one. We some how ended up with three. Then we lost one shopping. Now we have two again. She calls them "buggies." She sleeps with both of them. I actually got a good picture of all of them to upload on the web:)

We are getting ready for Christmas. We are going to make our craft projects this Sat. Then we should be about ready for Christmas. That is a good thing because some day soon we SHOULD have a baby. They never check with your schedule though. I remember being sooooo excited with our first born. I had everything washed and stacked and all three weeks before his due date. When that came and went I had to rewash everything and put it back away. Still we need to be prepared.

We now have new glass in our woodstove. I broke it yesterday. We have snow so number two son and I raced to town to get it replaced. We are so thankful for the good weather and Oma's wonderful babysitting.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

And I saw her face...

There are so many wonderful things that come with technology. One is the beauty of ultrasound. Our wonderful midwife, Laura, has an ultrasound machine at her office. We get to take a peak at the amazing work going on in my womb every month or so. With five weeks left until our due date there is quite a bit of clarity. We got to see our precious one's little face yesterday. It makes the backaches and the physical discomforts so worth it. After our appointment last night the Ole Daddy Rabbit and I got to go out to eat all by our lonesomes! The beauty of having an easily-bribable babysitter nearby! The Country Cousin has an all-you-can-eat buffet of ribs, fried chicken and the trimmings. Unfortunately, all I can eat is one serving, but it is good stuff.

Another wonderful blessing is having children getting big enough to really be helpful. The older ones rotate duties concerning the dining room. All the children have regular chores to do. I am starting to drag with the last month of pregnancy. This morning my boys started a fire and got the house warm. The oldest daughter made hot chocolate for everyone. I eventually got up to a warm house and minimal breakfast duty. It was such a blessing. It is also a big blessing to have a peaceful, joyous home. It has not always been thus. I have learned that happily ever after is a myth. With diligent commitment, prayer and the Lord's Grace peace that passes all understanding is attainable. I will take that any day over living in Neverland (because Neverland is always a promise of tomorrow and tomorrow never gets here).

Thursday, November 01, 2007

I don't know why I live in Afghanistan.

I have confessed before that I am not very computer literate. My family and friends think I have many talents, but would probably agree with me about my computer ability. Here is yet another example of why I am not on Bill Gates' payroll. My good friend, Bucca, asked why our profile lists us as living in Afghanistan. I don't know. I am going to try to change that. Nothing against that country. I have never even visited there so it would be incorrect to claim to be residing there.

We live in the good ole U.S. of A. We have so many blessings here, yet often times I think those things blind us to reality. We have some basic needs right now as an expanding family that I am praying diligently about. I feel so humbled though when I find out about one third world country's church that we support. They have so little yet they are endevoring to finance so much for the gospel. It brings up all kinds of questions about my selfishness and other character flaws that go deeper than how well I can use a computer. John Piper makes the point about riches not being evil. It is just that God might be blessing you financially in order for you to give more rather than for you to have more stuff. Mr. Letournou, that made big equipment, got to the point that he was giving away 95% of his income. Wouldn't that be awesome? I know that it started out that he was faithful in the little. Well, food for thought. Maybe a little do deep for the morning, but it will give me something to think and pray about on our walk that I hope to get in this morning. It is just a question of how far can I waddle?

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Is my glass half-full or half-empty?

I think that so many times it is a matter of how you look at your life. There are a few things that hinder us from gratefullness. We forget what God has done for us in the past, we don't look to Him for the future and give in to fear and doubt, and we don't have an understanding of what blessing truly is. Our pastor has been preaching out of Micah, Jude and 3rd John about trusting God now (He is the God of the living). He is really right on. We need to practice the things I mentioned in order to trust God today.

What has that got to do with the Vision Forum contest that Kim from Life in a Shoe is offering? Well, I will tell you:

Now I know that my next statement will appall and/or incense some of our family members, but I am going to forge ahead anyway. My husband and I are a part of the first generation in either of our families to have a godly home. We are not alone in this generation. My husband's sister and brother-in-law are also with us in the striving to have a godly home and raise up godly children, for example. We also have been blessed with family members that are christian now and are a tremendous encouragement to us.

The problem with not having come from generations of godly forefathers is that we don't have experience to draw upon. The blessing of not having godly forefathers is not having experience to draw upon. I know you think I am repeating myself. No, that is the point. I do like Doug Phillips' desert island idea. It is basically the idea that if you were trapped on a desert island with only the Bible, what kind of society or home would you make? If we come from a godly heritage our tendency is to just do things because that is how it was done in our family. Now there are many good things that are perpetuated because of a godly heritage. If, however, your children ask why you do something a particular way and your answer is because my dad did it that way, you have missed the mark. We should have a Biblical reason for what we are doing or maybe it really isn't valid.

Now not coming from a godly heritage, it is my propensity to think that God blessed those with a godly heritage more than me. That is nonsense and a lie from the pit o' hell. This is my glass is half-full/empty tie in. We have the opportunity to start from scratch with the Bible as our foundation for our home. We also have the blessing of folks, like VF, that share their wisdom. We also have the opportunity to speak the gospel into other folks' lives that might not darken a church's doorstep. My husband has had many people tell him how the church might cave-in on them if they crossed the threshold. He can honestly say that it hasn't done so on him so they have nothing to fear. My husband attracts those kind of brawlers.

We live in a tough area. There are lots of tough people here. Most folk here think dressed up is a clean pair of Carharts. I think maybe, just maybe God has made us for just such a time and place as this. We could also use these wonderful resources from Vision Forum...

So here is our list:
Jonathan Park (all five CD series)

2 boys Jonathan Park baseball hats

The Elsie Dinsmore Audio Collection

The Centrality of the Home in Evangelism and Discipleship CD
by Voddie Bauchum

Teach Them to your Children by Sarah Wean

Destination Moon by James Irwin

How to Avoid the Destructiveness of a Wrong Self-Image
by S.M. Davis

And last, but not least:
Passionate Housewives by Jennie Chancey and Stacey McDonald

How was that for a lengthy blog with heavy thoughts and a plug for Christmas stuff for us-ins?

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Survival.

We survived! "What?" you may well ask. My mom and I took all six kids grocery shopping to Costco. and Walmart yesterday. Now I am on a budgeting kick. I figured that it would be pointless to try to spend less and then take 6 children plus myself out for fast food. So we packed a picnic lunch. We took off early in the morning to make it to Costco. My mom has one of those nifty handicapped placards so we got a front row handicapped spot (my mom says crip card and crip spot, but only those bearing the card may use such lingo). What a blessing. My mom took the older children and checked out Christmas decorations and snack options down the aisles. I took the two youngest in the shopping cart and the third one was (gasp, are you ready for this?) on the harness. Then we shopped. I had already made out menus for the month and made concise lists. I stuck to my list and I cut my bill by over half of what I had been spending at Costco. in recent months. I was so pleased.

We made it to a really nice park where we ate our picnic lunch and the children played. I changed all the small fry into the last diapers I had on hand (this is an important detail). We loaded up to get going to the Health Food Store and Walmart. This was the time that all the girls needed to empty their bowels. The oldest is a potty user, but the rest are still challenged in that area. I did the best I could for them, made it to Walmart and bought diapers. My mom sat in the van with the stinkers (is she a saint or what?). I then changed all bottoms and we shopped Walmart.

I again stuck to my list and we made it out with plenty of groceries and within budget. I counted at least 5 older ladies that complimented on the harness. They said that they did that to their children and got a lot of flack for it. I just figure that my children are too precious to risk them wandering off in the middle of a store out in the "big city." I know there are quite a few people that think it is a training/discipline issue. All I can say is: You go ahead and shop in Walmart with 6 children 10 and under with no harness. You may not yell at them, lose your temper or lose any of them. If you think you can do it, I would ride a really good pizza dinner on that one.

We then found a place for all the children (legally restrained), the groceries and ourselves in my 8 passenger Astro. I think we deserved a Starbucks treat. My mom and I each got a Starbuck's Pumpkin Spice Frappacino. Yum, yum. The children all got a juice and chocolate cookies (the juice was purchased at Walmart and the cookies came from Oma's house:)

We even made it home in one piece. We survived and saved money and learned patience. I guess it is a good thing that we are working on memorizing scripture passages that have to do with endurance and perserverance:)

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Our new family vehicle.




The Ole Daddy Rabbit was browsing the internet for new vehicles for our growing family. Come December we won't be able to squish everyone in our 8 passenger van so we are going to have to upgrade. He found this neat 4x4, diesel, expanded cab truck on e-bay. The asking price was what we paid for our house. Do you think we should go for it?

Monday, October 08, 2007

Double-digit Birthday Boy.


Our BusyBeeBoy has finally seen double digits! Our boy chose Grandma's Special Chicken, French Fries, Coleslaw and Homegrown Corn on the Cob for his birthday dinner. He received a machete, military helmet and a new camouflage jacket from the family. Oma made him an astronaut outfit. Pretty cool!

He wanted to go shooting for his special treat. The "Golden Adonis", a.k.a. Mr. Steve, is a friend of ours that has his own clay launcher. He graciously brought it out to another friend's property and the we got to shoot clays. Our birthday boy shot quite a few clays with my 410 shotgun. Everyone was really impressed. I don't know how many he shot, but it was definately more than his mama's two:) We all had fun. We are so blessed to have this boy in our lives. May God make his next ten years wonderful.

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Yeehaw!


The Ole Daddy Rabbit got us up and running so here are the Fireball's birthday pix!

She wanted "chips" for her third birthday dinner. So we went with nachos. They're chips, right? She got some "clipper-clopper" shoes, which is her name for those plastic dress-up shoes. She also got a toy cell-phone with its own purse. She got a special stuffed bunny with a handmade backpack from Oma. She was thrilled with her gifts. She enjoyed the cake and ice cream, but she was more interested in her toys.

This princess was one of the most easy, memorable births. When we got to our midwife's about 1:00a.m. She was ready to come out. She was born twenty minutes later. Her labor and delivery was relatively easy. She was the only one of my babies that I remember crying for any sustained amount of time. I was kind of worried when she cried so much. I wondered what we had gotten ourselves into. She is quite a whirlwind, but so full of life that we wouldn't trade her for anything in the world. She is a most precious gift.

Friday, September 28, 2007

The Curse of Technology.

I love some of the things technology provides. Answering machines and microwaves and some items that make life easier. I enjoy the contact I have with friends far and wide on the internet. I am stymied, however, by the fact that I am technically challenged. I have run into some trouble with loading pictures from our digital camera to our computer. I need to see if our neighbor and friend has time this weekend to show me how to get around the problem. She said she was willing. So until then our Fireball's birthday pictures are sitting irretrievably on my technological torturer. We dearly love her and she is very special, but she is going to have to wait for her birthday post.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

The Ole Daddy Rabbit's Blog

Okay, I think I can insert this link to The Ole Daddy Rabbit's Blog. Well, here goes...

Boys, bugs and things.

I have been reading Where the Red Fern Grows to the boys. We are almost on the last chapter. They also like to listen to stories as they go to sleep. It is hard to find books that have heros boys can look up to or identify with. It is also hard to find books I would WANT them to identify with the main character:) So I looked up our local library for some new reading/listening material. I am so glad that I looked up the classics for all ages first. There was some really good stuff to choose from. Authors like Robert Louis Stevenson and Mark Twain. I requested quite of few books and audio books. I then looked up the top children's book list from 2005. Yeesh, nothing looked remotely decent. I didn't even want to waste my time "previewing" such stuff. Well, C.S. Lewis held that if we are to be well read that 2 out of 3 books we read should be from a different century than ours. That makes it easy because Lewis wrote some great things and he wrote in the last century:) I find that I enjoy the classics myself. Some authors are just too morose for me. I know they are very good writers and my children will have to read some of their works in high school (ugh, which means I will have to read them again). They might actually like them.

Today is the Fireball's birthday. I will take pictures tonight and post pictures tomorrow or Monday about her. We have some fun things planned for her so we need to go get on them.

Friday, September 21, 2007

Colds and patience.

I sure seem to have an abundance of one and not the other! I used to think I was a patient person and then I had chldren. I read some where that each child we have helps us be conformed to the image of Christ. When I have a cold I find that I am more short tempered than usual. I need to be praying. I don't want my children to grow up and remember how grumpy mom was. I hope they grow up remembering they were allowed to shoot BB guns and dig holes and get dirty. I want them to remember listening to the Bible with their daddy. It helps me to gain perspective when I think about the fact that one day they will all be grown and gone. I will have clean cabinets (that are shut) and no ring of dirt in the tub. I might be able to harvest fruit from the vine because it wasn't picked before its time. I won't be peppered with requests to help find the nasty bug that got loose in the house or have to wonder what Fireball is doing. I am sure I will look at my small pile of put away laundry and call the kids to beg them to bring the grandkids over.

The Ole Daddy Rabbit has started his own blog. I am not too sure how to link to it. I know I can get there from here, but I don't know about the rest of our vast reading audience. It is pretty neat though. He is especially smarmy about his wife. When we were first courting (or whatever you want to call it) he was memorizing the Gospel of John. We would drive in his truck and he would quote all he had memorized. He is now working on it again. It sure takes me back to those days. Of course, we have windows in the van and quite a few more kids. I think we need to remember those times as couples. It is so easy to dwell on the negative and we can get stuck there. The Bible says to think on things beautiful, lovely and noble. I need to do that with my children and also with my husband. The more I think about the good things the more handsome he looks and the more I believe in him for good things for the future. Most of all I need to trust the Lord. I can do nothing, my husband can do nothing etc., etc., etc. without the Lord. We only have good intentions. My friend and I have gone through the Excellent Wife book. Martha Peace suggests a list of good things to do for our husbands. The top of the list is pray for him. I think that is an elementary one, but I know I don't do it enough. He has such a hard job-not the one at the mill. He is to lead his family, love his wife and train his children. That is a heavy responsibility. I need to uphold him in prayer first and foremost. The others on the list are important. I know some which would really energize him:) I am challenged anew to pray for my family and do some nice things for them despite my cold and crabbiness.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

I wash them in hot, but they don't shrink!


Whenever I clear out the laundry from the dryer the smallest fry climbs in. Here I have a couple of cuties in there. They look like they are just emerging from a lunar module or something.

I wish washing them in "hot" would keep them from growing up too soon. Alas time flies by so quickly. Carmon is right. She has been posting about making memories with your children. They sure don't stay little long.

I am made thoughtful by friends that just had their son get married and leave their house. He is a great young man. I want to be like them when it comes to our children leaving the nest. They are very excited for him and his wife. They feel a big hole in their home that only he could fill. It is bittersweet. So many people can't wait for their children to get out so they can live life. Why aren't we living life with our children? How else will they learn to live it? If we are doing so many things that are not child-friendly, why are we doing them? I don't think our whole world should revolve around our children. R.C. Sproul Jr. points out that the Bible does teach "date night." (That was a joke:) It brings up questions though. Why did we have children if we don't want them around? Seriously, little dogs can be loving and demanding. You can also put them in a kennel and go on a trip. You can leave them home all day and they are still happy to see you. I guess that is why so many in our culture are leaning towards dogs instead of children. I know the number of children I have is demanding. I am pushed to my limits most times. It forces me to be less selfish and more prayerful. I would miss so much if I didn't have them. Oh how worthwhile they are. Granted dogs will not grow up and be in a twelve stelp program blaming their parents for everything wrong in their lives. They also will not grow up to be part of a treasured legacy.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Draggin'

AAAAAAAA! We have gotten hit by colds. Yuck. I have been trying to think of something fun and/or amusing to post about. I am stuck. My brain has frozen and I need to spend all my brain power on getting life going here. I am soooooooo thankful that the Mister washed dishes last night and I made banana bread last night for breakfast this morning. The former makes me feel so taken care of and treasured. The latter makes me feel frugal and that I have foresight (probably neither of which are completely true:)

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

I just don't belong.

Have you ever sat in a crowd of people and known that you were peculiar? That happened to me last night when I took our oldest daughter to soccer practice. The parents sitting around got off into the troubles their children and children of their acquintance are having in public schools. I did add some comments when I just couldn't take any more. The comments had to do with the "process" of math as compared to getting the right answers. I finally piped up that I wanted my car mechanic to get the right answer to the problem and I really didn't care about the process he uses to get there. My car mechanic was in the crowd and seemed to get a big kick out of that. Now we have our reasons for homeschooling and some people might agree or be agin them. That is all fine. This whole conversation bothered me extremely because the teacher in the group made the point that since they switched to the new math they didn't have any discipline problems anymore. As a disclaimer, I am all for switching curriculum if it doesn't work for students. We have done that three times now with spelling. The underlying thing seemed to be that answers don't matter as long as we are all happy on the way. What if we applied that to our medical professionals, car mechanics or law enforcement? What if the dr. couldn't diagnose your cancer or do anything about it, but you both enjoyed the process and felt good about it? What if your car mechanic fixed the wrong part of your car and you and your family were in a horrible accident because of it? What if the police came and arrested you because they thought you were a horrible criminal, but if they had made the right connections it would have been your neighbor? I mean seriously, we don't apply this logic to real events. Why do we apply it to classroom logic. We have a whole generation of children we are just raising to be another brick in the wall. Days like that and I am so aware that we are not bricks in that wall. We are strange and peculiar. That is okay because we are being built into the temple in which God will dwell.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Well, I tried.

I did try to upload a video on our blog. I don't know what I did wrong, but it didn't work. It is a really cute clip of the Ole Daddy Rabbit rockin' out with one of his little groupy babes:) I wanted to post it for his birthday entry. Oh well. Maybe I'll get it figured out one of these days.

Anyway...

The Ole Daddy Rabbit celebrated his birthday on the 11th again this year. The family got him the Ligonier Regional Conference. He and his brother-in-law are there right now. He called me last night from the book store. I could hear the saliva hitting the phone as he drooled over the clearance rack. They even had John Piper stuff there! I know the menfolk will have to return home when they finally close the doors:) I am sure they will be energized by the great teaching and the wonderful stuff they bring home. I know both families will benefit. What a blessing that my sil and I have men that get more excited than little boys with their first set of army men about John Piper and R.C. Sproul. I don't think they will ever recover. I can live with that:)

We also got to see a wonderful wedding this past Sunday. Two of the young people in our church committed to becoming one flesh during our church service. One of the most beautiful things was their first kiss. That was sweet, but I think even more beautiful was when Ole Daddy Rabbit turned to me and said, "Our kids could have that too." That was so wonderful to me. What a thought! We have been through so much, but God willing, our children can be the benefactors of us struggling through sanctification. I do pray that one day we can witness our beloved children savoring their first kiss like we witnessed this couples'. We also had a lot of fun. It was potluck. Lots of good food-I was stuffed when I got home. The Ole Daddy Rabbit was pretty funny. He is quite witty. He made me laugh a lot that day. They even played a worship song that we played in our wedding. Ah nostalgia!

We also have dear friends hit with a tragic providence. Those of you that know-lift them up in prayer. I don't know what is harder; enduring personal tragedy or watching a beloved endure it.

This past week or so has brought much to celebrate, congratulate, and mourn for. All of it to be brought before the Sovereign Lord of the Universe's throne in prayer. The longer I live the more I find that life is so bittersweet. I also see how much I depend on the Lord for everything. I heard of one believer accused that he just used God as a crutch. He replied that God was not his crutch, but his wheelchair and oxygen tank. How true!

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Happy Birthday!

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Back to School

It is that time of year again. The time when the school bus rumbles down the street.
Every morning at 7:30a.m. or so I remember how thankful I am that I don't have to have my kids dressed and ready to get on that bus. There are so many reasons that I am thankful to homeschool. Most of them are not so shallow. We did officially start the book education part of homeschooling this Monday. In the wider scheme of things we never quite homeschooling. We also don't have an age that we "begin" with either. We have six children and we homeschool them all. From the moment they are born they are learning from us. The challenge is for us, their parents, to be learning from God the lessons He has for us. The biggest thing we can teach our children is a relationship with Jesus. One day our children will graduate from "school" just as we did. Hopefully, they will learn that there is always further and deeper to go with the Lord. That lesson begins at birth and extends on into eternity. So Happy Homeschooling to all of us that are on that path.

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Our First Princess



On September 4, 2001 we were blessed with our first girl. We try to make each child special and do something personal for their day. Our Butterfly Princess and I went shopping and out to lunch. She picked where we ate. She got to pick out a comforter for her bed in her new room. We made a pit stop on our way out at our midwife's house. She has the cleanest bathroom in the county, I think:) Our midwife, Laura, gave the birthday girl ten dollars. She also let her make a necklace and bracelet. Butterfly Princess picked out a new Barbie (we do the "princess" Barbies, but the short-skirted, red-light district ones are out). She wants to take it to our appointment tonight to show Laura what she purchased with the money.

Last night our birthday girl picked chicken, potatoes, corn and carrots for dinner. Each child gets to pick the menu (within reason) for dinner on their birthdays. Our girl got an air-soft pistol. She also got a beautiful wedding dress from Oma. The top photo she is sporting both. The Ole Daddy Rabbit had to remind her that she doesn't get married unless he says so:) The poor man has four daughters (so far). I don't know how he will survive their courtships and weddings. I bet Steve Martin won't have anything on him.

What a special day. What a special girl.

Monday, September 03, 2007

The Sunrise Princess


Four years ago on the second of September we had a baby daughter born just as the rose. She looked like a china doll. She has added to our lives so much. For her birthday she got to pick a movie(The Twelve Dancing Princesses) from the video store. She picked hot dogs and fruit salad for her special birthday dinner. She wanted cheesecake instead of regular cupcakes. She got a new quilt and heart-shaped pillow from Oma. The family got her a little view master with Charlotte's web and some princessy one slides. She also got a bunch of girly-colored play-do. She was ecstatic. We managed to video tape a good deal.

So Happy Birthday Precious Girl.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

The New Kiddo Picture


Heath Kids

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Thank Heaven for Little Girls





It is finally finished! Okay, there is a little bit more to do like add some trim and such. The girls' room is finally finished though. It is done enough for the potty trained ones to go up there. We are hoping that it will also act as a carrot for the one that is dilly-dallying about the potty training thing. The room is all pinks and purples and whites. Sigh. We are thankful because most of the room furniture was free or picked up at a yard sale. It is definately "princessy" and the girls are so pleased.

Friday, August 17, 2007

The Absolutely Cool Zip Line.




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And they are off! The Ole Daddy Rabbit put up the zip line a little bit ago. Here are some of the first slides down that thing. It is quite popular. Even adults up to 250lbs. can ride on this thing. It gets low at the bottom so you have to pull your feet up at the end:) Everyone tried it except the pregnant mama. I just looked on with envy. I will go down it in a couple of months.

Recovering...

We have been hither and thither and now we are home again (jiggety, jig).

The best news is that 6 weeks today the Ole Daddy Rabbit kicked the chew habit. So very awesome. He does seem to be eating a bit more recently. I wonder if the two things are related. HMMMMMMM? He is still more handsome than on the day I married him and he was pretty fine that day!

We were blessed with being able to attend a Love and Respect conference the last weekend in July. We received great teaching (good enough that the Ole Daddy Rabbit bought the series to share with our church too). We got to know new friends. We also got to make friends out of computer acquintances. The Engstroms put on the conference and made us very welcome. We knew they had to be great people because they like John Piper:) Unfortunately the head of their house was called away to work so we didn't get the pleasure of his company. Our kids played with their kids and had a wonderful time. We came home feeling very blessed by the Lord.


We turned around and went camping at the beach. The kids had a blast. I am finally able to clean the lint trap on my dryer without sand flying everywhere. I am beginning to think that I am not a camping person. I think I am with my mom and roughing it is slow room service. I think I will send the kids and such, but I think I am going to stay home close to indoor plumbing. We also got to implement some our Love and Respect stuff. Always good to practice.

We had a great anniversary. Twelve years on the twelfth. He got me a wedding ring that fits (six and a half kids later the old one was pretty tight). He also took me out to Applebee's. I wrote him a letter that I read to him in church. It was great-we were both embarrassed:) He got an air compressor from me. We then got a new computer for us. Wow! We are not usually big time spenders and shoppers like that. I feel so overwhelmed with new stuff. Oh and I bought some new curtains for the dining room. With the center piece decorations that I made and the beautiful, hand-quilted wall hanging my mom made our dining room looks pretty cheerful and classy (at least I think so).

Next week we need to start looking at school stuff so I am familiar with the new material. We also need to start getting on a good schedule. We seem to do so much better with a schedule.

There I think I am caught up.

Friday, July 20, 2007

Two Weeks and Counting.

The Ole Daddy Rabbit has had a nicotine addiction for twenty-five years. Today marks two weeks that he quit! We are so proud of him. We put up streamers and drew pictures so when he comes home he will see how proud we are of him. Now he can see on our blog too!

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Following the trail of smoke...

Our good friend, Steve, once said that if we wanted to know where Fireball was then just follow the trail of smoke. That is what happened today. Days like today makes one wonder how many times you can call the Poison Control hotline without being reported to CPS. In a quick amount of time our Fireball got a hold of her daddy's gun-cleaning kit. I found it strewn all over our bed along with the silica gel packet from it. The nice poison control lady said that the beads are not poisonous, it is like eating sand. So if she did ingest any she will be all right. We cleaned it all up and our bedroom door now has one of those nifty safety locks on the doorknob. You know...the kind adults even have problems opening.

As if that wasn't enough...
I called to check about soccer camp for our oldest daughter. While I was on the phone for maybe five minutes Fireball struck again. She came running in the kitchen and I couldn't figure out why she was wet. When I entered the bathroom, I found out. She had gotten her brother's canteen and shoved it underneath the faucet in the sink. She probably couldn't get it off. After it filled to the brim it then made a huge geyser, shooting water all over the walls and the floor. It only took every dry towel in the house to clean up.

I am in need of some time off and some chocolate, I tell you!

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Birthdays and Things

It has been an exciting couple of weeks. I celebrated my 34th birthday. The Ole Daddy Rabbit gave me a great birthday BBQ. He also got me a gun. Not just any gun...it is a double-barrell,side-by-side, 410 Stoeger shotgun with two triggers. It is a beauty! I have shredded a Wendy's cup and quite a few leaves so far. I am itchin' to use it on some clays. They deserve to die, you know:) I do like knowing how to load it and do everything on it myself. I need to learn how to clean it, but I will. It beats the heck out of fireworks for my birthday.

My mom had a surgical procedure done recently. The last time I was in that hospital, I was on the surgical side and not on the waiting side. It is still amazing to me what can be done these days with medical science. The staff is also very nice at St. Peter's. They have a place called the Sunshine House right next to the hospital that friends and family of patients can stay for a nominal fee. They have a lending library and videos. They even have a kitchen that is supplied with coffee and various edibles. I was extremely impressed.

While we were gone the kids went to stay with relatives. The boys caught fish. Our SamBoy caught his first! It was a nice-sized trout. Since last night was cool enough to cook, I was honor bound to cook up their fish for them. I don't particularly care for fish. The rule is that if you catch it, you eat it though. So I vailiantly cut off the heads and tails and cooked 'em. The kids were thrilled. Thankfully there weren't enough for all so I ate a hot dog:)

Now until the beginning of Aug. we can breathe a bit easier. Then we have a bridal shower, camping, the company BBQ or family camp (I am not too sure which yet), and a plethora of birthdays, anniversaries and weddings. Yeehaw!

Monday, June 25, 2007

It was the best of times and it was the worst...


Watch Out! It's Bug-girl!


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Our Lil' Firecracker checkin' out the tent.


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The Menace Twins when it was still fun camping.

Okay, I have weird markings after my comments on the pictures that I can't get rid of. Oh well. I guess we will just have to deal with them:)

We went camping this weekend to celebrate our son's birthday. We live in the sticks so where did we go camping? That's right! Right outside of Olympia! The day we got there was really nice. We picked up groceries on the way there. We got to the park. We set up camp and the other family members that were camping with us showed up. The weather was just right. The kids played with rope and swung from the trees in our camp site. The guys took the kids on a walk and I sat and read my Bible and relaxed in an "easy-chair." It was quite lovely. We had hamburgers and enjoyed camp food. We had friends come visit us over from their camp site. We ate S'mores. We finally all went to bed. Then the trouble started. The baby didn't sleep well, we had some constant trips to the bathroom and about 2:00 a.m. it downpoured. It didn't just sprinkle, it actually puddled in our tent. It didn't let up the rest of the morning. We finally packed our sodden stuff up and took our rumpled selves (in body and in spirit) home. It was one of those trips that you learn a lot from. Either that or you allow it make you bitter and you never want to go camping again. We are going with the former. Our tent and camp chairs are sitting in our front yard, drying out. I put all of our pillows in the dryer yesterday when we got home so everyone would have dry ones to sleep on.
I learned that next time we will take some tarps, the port-a-crib and the port-a-potty!

Birthday Boy


Here he is! Our SamBoy is now eight years old! We had a good party at Oma's house. Friends and family came for cupcakes, some incredible homemade ice cream and to play in an extremely cold pool. The kids played in the pool while the adults watched from the sidelines. We remember wanting to swim badly enough as children to risk hypothermia, but these days it doesn't look as inviting. Our birthday boy received some nice things that day. He got a handmade quilt from Oma, a CD/MP3 player from the fam. and birthday money from the extended fam.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAMBOY, WE LOVE YOU!!!!!

Sunday, June 17, 2007

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

Just wanted to put a quick post on here for Father's Day. Happy Father's Day to the Ole Daddy Rabbit. He got a new shirt. Unfortunately, I have been running a little behind and didn't get all the kids to hand print it like I have in years past. We will have to rectify that soon enough. It has started to be a tradition to get a new shirt with all the current children's names and handprints on it. Each year we seem to be running out of room. I am going to try my hand at ironing on a picture this time. At least he has a cool shirt to wear today. It says,"DAD, a boy's first hero and a girl's first love." It will be even cooler when I get the picture on there:)

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads in our life as well!

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Funny Kids



I took some pictures so I could send one to my dad for Father's Day. This is the one we thought was the best. It is definately a good view into their personalities. I think they look pretty cute.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Keeping it up

I need to post something so I remember to keep our blog spot up. So here goes:

Fri. night the boys had a baseball game. They went out early for batting practice. The other team never showed up. They went to the wrong place (even though our coach gave them his cell phone number and directions). I feel badly for those parents. They drove an hour for their kids to not play. I am not sure if we are rescheduling or if they just forfeited. We will have to see. If they forfeited then we have a tournament this weekend and baseball is done.

Mon. the boys also had a piano recital. They both did very well. The oldest really surprised us. Their teacher is really amazing. She gets children to really learn to play. She is worth so much more than we pay her. I am glad to have her for such reasonable rates though. So they are done with piano for the summer.

I ordered school books and such for next year. I love getting new books. We ordered from the Timberdoodle company. They had it here in three days. I was so impressed. They also include a free book with every order. We received Boyhood and Beyond. It looks like a wonderful book. I think all of our boys will get a lot out of it.

I had a wonderful English teacher in high school. He had a sign posted in his classroom. The sign had the word "alot" on it with one of those red circles with a slash through it. I always remember that a lot is two words and not one because of that sign. That was half my life time ago. It is funny how some things stick with you. That could be another post; sayings that stick with us. If I had a bigger readership I might take a poll:)

The Ole Daddy Rabbit shot our problem raccoon early this morning. He took no pleasure in killing it. Unfortunately, the animal had gotten to be a problem. It had taken to appearing at all times of the day and night. It was getting bold enough to take on our cat, rabbit or maybe even one of the small fry. It got taken out with one shot (pretty impressive really) so it didn't suffer. Thus ends the chapter of raccoon watching at our house.

Next time I will think up funny sayings.

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

IN PRAISE OF BUCCA

I have a really good friend that my children affectionately call "BUCCA." When she comes over my children can sound like a bunch of chickens,"Bucca, bucca, bucca!" She did leave me high and dry for a week to camping with her family. During that time while she was enjoying the outdoors and valiantly protecting people from dastardly varmints, I had to soldier on with school and the loneliness that comes with husbands involved in household projects. How did I ever survive? Some how I managed and she is now back. I did get to talk to her on Monday as well as winning a contest. She is a good listener, smart and witty, has hair that I have paid way to much money to try to have, but never got and for at least 6 weeks I had more children than she:) She loves her husband and family, is a good example when it comes to hospitality in her home and against any sane reason seems to like me. She also has commented on our family blog, some of which has inspired this post. Happy Wed. Bucca!

Monday, June 04, 2007

Cookies and Other Excuses

I had started blogging again with every intention of keeping up with it. I was doing well until I hit a problem with our cookies on our webspace. Since I don't even know what a cookie really is I used the old stand by my mother taught me. She used it with appliances. When something was on the fritz she believes in praying over and leaving it alone. If you leave it alone the appliance will usually heal itself. (That is a joke for the humorily impaired) It seems to work with blog stuff as well. I didn't even attempt to follow the instructions from Blogger in order to fix the problems. Lo and behold! My husband tried to log-in today and it came up with no problems what so ever. Guess my mom was right.

Our weekend started out with a baseball game. The boys won! That is the first game they have won this season. It was a bittersweet victory since the opposing team has never won a game at all. We sure were glad for our boys. It is still hard to see those little guys on the opposing team trying with all their might to be good little sportsmen. They all did a good job.

Sat. The Ole Daddy Rabbit had to go help his buddy break in his new shotgun. They both killed a good number of clays! That'll learn 'em. We also tried to put up one of those Easy Set pools up at Oma's house. It claims to be ready for water in 15 min. Whatever! Maybe for the super gifted, but it took us a bit longer. Then we had technical difficulties that had to be smoothed out with brute strength. Ah well! It is up now. We BBQed on Sunday after church and the kids got blue lips trying out the pool. It is quite funny that they can be shaking all over, quivering lips and all, and claim to not be cold so they don't have to get out. We remember doing the same thing, though.

Mon. the oldest boy went off to do his testing, as required by homescool law here. I jumped on the computer to check e-mail and a couple of my favorite blogs. I got a lovely surprise: I won some books from one of my favorite bloggers of all time. Carmon at Buried Treasure usually has something thought-provoking to say. Her blog is often subject for conversation at our house. She usually stands on the same side of the fence we do on many important subjects. She has a great way of addressing controversial issues. She does that so well, I figure to leave that all in her domain. We mostly post our family news and such here. Carmon just celebrated 6 years of faithful blogging. In celebration of this event she was giving away books to some one that left a comment for that post. Mondays aren't always bad:)

Friday, May 18, 2007

BIRTHDAY GIRL

This is our Lil' Firecracker enjoying her first cupcake.

This is our Lil' Firecracker with the outfit Oma made for her birthday.


It is hard to believe, but she is a whole year old now. She has decided to leave crawling behind and walk every where she goes. She feeds herself and doesn't want any help. Her new sun bonnet will be great because she loves the out of doors.
Happy Birthday from your family!

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Baseball pictures.


Our Fireball enjoying a hotdog after the game.

Here is the SamBoy up to bat.

Here is the BusyBee on first base!

The best looking umpire we have.

This is BusyBee or as much as you can see through the chain link.

Here is our little Firecracker helping keep the baseballs in the bucket. You have to watch them or jump out, you know.

We had friends and family show up to cheer our boys on. We had a lot of fun and the boys all played well. We didn't win, but that is okay. We like winning just like anyone else. We think playing your best and learning sportsmanship is the point though. The Ole Daddy Rabbit got talked into umping again. I am sure he got picked on account of his looks.

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Mother's Day

I am so very thankful for my mom. I am thankful for the friends that I have that are moms. I am glad to be a mom. HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO US ALL. I think that about covers that:)

I do have some lovely pictures of the boys' baseball game last night. They all played well and that is the important part. I even got some good snaps of the really handsome umpire they had. I will post them soon as I have a quiet house right now and I am going to do the ultimate mom thing-take a nap.

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Underway

The girls' new room is underway. Yippee! When we moved into our house over 5 years ago it came with an almost finished room. It had the insulation and wiring done. The Man of the House took off work to complete it this week. It now has flooring down. As soon as that gets screwed in the drywall will be going up. We have three girls that will be moving upstairs when that room is done. We already have the pink, purple and white paint that will delight the princess in all of them. I don't have to live in it and they do so they can have pink walls if they like. I already painted their dresser. It is white with pink and purple drawers. We have all the furniture to go in the room including the pink, lacey bedspreads and curtains. Most of it was given to us or picked up at a garage sale. So the cost to us was minimal. It is amazing the wonderful kid things you can find at garage sales or thrift stores. I will have to remember to take some pictures when it is all finished.

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Morning Glories.


We planted Morning Glories on Tues. or Wed. I know I bought the Jiffy-pellets on Mon. The seedlings are already sprouting, as you can see for yourself. Truly amazing! We numbered each one. I mixed four different seed packets together. Then the children each got a grid sheet. They got to guess what colors will come up in each of the 63 little pots we planted. I plan to plant them along the fence so we have some beauties climbing the fence.

We have had a little gardening incident so far. We planted two cauliflower and one broccoli plant out in a little spot in the yard. We also have a rabbit that is appropriately named Peter. He ate them! I had hoped the deer would leave them alone and they did. It was Peter Rabbit neatly clipping them down to the nubbins. I have one broccoli plant up in a planter that should be safe. Ah well. The deer seem to think that our strawberry plants and roses are here simply for their luncheon delights. Last year I shot a couple with the BB gun while they were sampling my blueberries. They were cheeky enough to return though. It is the price we pay for living in such a beautiful place, I guess.

Unbelievable.


Our neighbor gave us this outfit for the Firecracker when she was born. I thought,"It will never fit her." Yet here she is able to wear it almost a year later. It is unbelievable how time flies. She is learning to walk too. Pretty soon she will be toddling after her brothers and sisters. They are so amazing!

After all this time!

I know that our vast reading audience has wondered what happened to our blog. Life pretty much! We have priorities and the internet isn't one of the top ones:) Now I again have the desire to put some stuff on our blog. I might even find some time to do it.

We are getting to the end of our school year. The boys are playing baseball and we have Friday night games for the next six weeks. I hope I can post some pictures from that. I also need to update our profile since some nicknames and most ages have undergone some changes. The kids sure enjoy seeing pictures of themselves so that is a lot of fun. Well, we shall see if I get it together for a little bit, hmmm?

After all this time!

I know that our vast reading audience has wondered what happened to our blog. Life pretty much! We have priorities and the internet isn't one of the top ones:) Now I again have the desire to put some stuff on our blog. I might even find some time to do it.

We are getting to the end of our school year. The boys are playing baseball and we have Friday night games for the next six weeks. I hope I can post some pictures from that. I also need to update our profile since some nicknames and most ages have undergone some changes. The kids sure enjoy seeing pictures of themselves so that is a lot of fun. Well, we shall see if I get it together for a little bit, hmmm?