It’s like passing by a window in a dark hallway.

The vivid colors beckoning outside.

Only a view.

But enough to catch you.

Enough to grasp you.

And make you not want to return.

Ever.

No you don’t know what all is out there.

There could be scary things.

Hard things.

So many unknowns.

But suddenly the hallway is not enough.

You have to readjust your eyes to look back into the room.

And you can’t wait to go outside.

Please, Lord, send us outside …of ourselves, of our “deserves”, of our comforts.

All for Your glory.

We said goodbye to Ms. Jan. She went home to be with Jesus, leaving an incredible legacy of faithfulness, trust and servitude to our Lord. I hadn’t gotten a chance to visit with her for a while. But she was on my heart through Matt’s visits. Such a dear woman. Such a wonderful example of the faith. I took the girls to the funeral service yesterday. They did pretty well at staying quiet so I could actually participate in the celebration of Jan’s life. I’m grateful. I hope to leave such a legacy. Just a quiet, humble life. Daily serving. Daily surrendering. Daily worshiping.  I hope to leave this world with such a legacy of missions trips in my senior adult life. She never lost sight of the world’s need for the Gospel. And she was willing to be the feet. Her funeral left me in a place of urgency and gratitude.

We’ve been working on our family covenant renewal for this year. Nope, the renewal can happen any day, not just January 1. =) Matt and I have walked through the fleshing out of all the categories; our family’s relationship to God, one another, the Local church, and our Neighbors. There’s a part in it for everyone. All the way down to the smallest of smalls. It’s about intentionality. How are we being Christ’s feet? The covenant has left me in a place of urgency and gratitude.

Another posting on my Facebook page. 18 more lives rescued from human trafficking. We should all be celebrating these things. This is freedom from modern-day slavery!!! The post has left me in a place of urgency and gratitude.

I’ve been going through the girls’ clothes again. It’s that time. Time for the best hand-me-downs to go the Women’s center. Because we, as a family, want people to fall in love with their babies. Their babies that they would otherwise abort. Because every life matters. Even the smallest. We all have specific purposes. And if a pair of baby sandals can remind a Mommy or a Daddy that their ultrasound is a real person, then please, please(!) take all the shoes we can possibly give, even the ones off my baby’s feet. I’m not tooting my horn here, friends. I’m trying to be an encouragement. I mean if we, hand-me-down abusers, can possibly find something nice to donate then surely ANYONE can. Let’s ban together and flood their gracious distribution shelves. The value of life has left me in a place of urgency and gratitude.

Urgency to be His feet to the lost and dying world. Gratitude at the chance to even be used to further His Kingdom.

We feel His poking. His prodding. His changing, His opening and His awakening of the very depth of the hearts He has grown in us. We are in an active waiting phase of our lives. Waiting with urgency and gratitude. We want to be used. And we trust His timing. He is preparing us. He is preparing others. All in His perfect way. With urgency. To our knees we go in gratitude.

 are so excitingly fun

when you’re 8 months old. 

– We adore our happy little Eden Rose.

We’ve been temporarily displaced due to our heater being useless during a few cold winter nights. We’ve found our happy refuge among good friends. And it’s in these quiet moments that God is teaching my soul how flexible we really are as a family. We’ve been sleeping on the floor. Not a mattress, dear ones, the floor with a blanket buffer. And honestly, we’re all just so thankful for a warm house and wonderfully warm friends. The kids have slept great and God has been opening my eyes to the beauty of flexibility that He has been growing in our hearts and in our lives. It’s this flexibility that He is nurturing for His Kingdom. And I’m just so thankful to even be a tool. 

So as we roll over, a little achy in moments for us adult people, my heart has been praying for the thousands upon thousands around the world that find themselves sleeping on the floor every night. And yet they still raise their arms in thankfulness and praise to Jehovah Jira- God, our Provider.

 I don’t know if we’ll always have a bed to sleep on in this world, but what I do know is that our Lord has blessed us BEYOND measure no matter where we lay our heads. And His provision will ALWAYS be more than enough for our souls.



Thank you, Jesus, for Your abundant provision. 

– Stay warm, dear ones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy9QeosTh7w

A Wallace and Gromit quote favorite. And while it is in a ridiculous scene, Wallace sure does have a point.

I’ve taken the opportunity for this past week during our Christmas break to reorganize our homeschool world. We had fallen into a rut in school and I wanted to freshen things up and be more intentional in some of our studies and my planning.

I’m not sure if any of you have faced this, but I’ve found that this year we have hit the “no, we can’t do that” phase of homeschooling. Let me explain. Now that Rachael is biting off more substantial curriculum in first grade and there are more children than I have hands, our schedule can no longer be flexed around play dates, errands and field trips. Oh don’t get me wrong, we still have flexibility, but I’ve found the reality of a set schedule as being both grounding and helpful in our pursuit of well-balanced education. I feel like I’ve grown a lot this year in homeschooling and mommying. I’m not as stressed as I’ve been in the past and yet, in many way more stressed in the larger workload. So it was time to focus in on some areas of stress in our daily world and clean them up.

Since I’m a visual person, I made a glorified wall-mounted filer from my existing material stash (most of which is donated from my Mother’s overflow – thanks, Mom). It took me a day and a half, but I busted out a functional pocket organizer to display our core subjects and a modified “workbox” idea for our family. What I’ve discovered is that I need more advanced planning than the traditional workbox system. I need to see and stock for more than the system’s “one day at a time” method, hence my addition of subjects into the workbox idea. I also really enjoy collaborative learning amongst ages, so it’s helpful to have a subject heading for those subjects I group teach. It’s a blessing to do things together as a family from my first grader all the way on down to Ms. Six Months. I really love seeing them all together, enjoying life.

But beyond the sheer functionality of the space, I have found myself grasping a greater organization of our purpose. Beyond the Math manipulative and the workbook pages, I have revamped our day, keeping what has worked and discarding the rest.

So cheers to new beginnings. Cheers to greater intentionality in school, chores and play. Cheers to more laughter during homeschool and more light in all our eyes. And cheers to a six year old, four year old, two year old and six month old learning, growing and sharing, that Christ would be realized in our home and overflowed outside.

I’m excited. And I’m ready. This has been and will continue to be a GREAT school year. =)

Merry CHRISTmas to you and to yours.

May this new year bring the Lord more glory than last year

in all our hearts, minds and souls.

And thank you to the readers who’ve stuck with me

through many months of quiet as we settled into our new.

It’s a blessing to my heart to share in our lives.

I hope that it is as much of an encouragement to your heart as it is to mine.

Love,

our little slice of wonderful.