A day in review...

Yesterday morning as Noah went off to golf camp with a friend, and I walked back into my kitchen, I immediately knew what I wanted to accomplish. Top of my list: Clean my kitchen. Deep clean. I wanted to make sure everything had a place, and everything was in its place versus the "counter shuffle". You know what I am talking about, right? When you find yourself shuffling one pile from this counter to that counter but never accomplishing the act of putting it completely away in its proper place, much less cleaning the counter under it. Second on the list: Finish putting away the numerous piles of odds and ends that have been unearthed as I have been trying to unpack from pre-packing our house when we tried to sell it a little while ago.

The morning was progressing nicely. The kids played with the dogs for a long while and then were sleeping happily in their crates. The dogs, not the children. :) The children had moved upstairs and were playing peacefully. I couldn't believe the tranquility, it was almost too good to be true but I was enjoying it so much that I decided to stay ignorant and just plod along with my to do list. The morning's chores were coming along wonderfully; laundry was going, the dishwasher was unloaded and loaded, the hand wash stuff was done, half of the counters in the kitchen were cleared and cleaned. I started working on the other side of the kitchen when it happened.

I didn't hear any loud or crashing sound, but I was suddenly notified of a lamp that broke. It broke in a weird way, in that the base broke and was now being kept from crashing to the ground by Hannah standing in an odd position while calling for me to come. Heading up stairs I was welcomed by Micah and Caleb (the two children playing with the lamp) pleading their innocence. I surveyed the damage, called out to Grace and Faith what materials I would need for clean up, and began to clean up the upstairs family room.

In the process of cleaning, I had to move the couch out of the way. After I was done with the cleaning, I decided I liked it where it was and moved the recliner to where the couch, and lamp, used to be. I was getting ready to go downstairs when I happened to peek into the extra room upstairs. Why I didn't just head right back down into the kitchen, I will never know... but I didn't. I called the twins to come help me clean up the toys that weren't supposed to be in there. I had Hannah help me move the mini-ottomans into the upstairs family room, and then I put some stuff away in the closet, and looked around.

Ever since Elliott stopped being able to telecommute and we combined offices downstairs, the "extra" room has lacked a purpose. While our house was on the market it had a fake purpose, but since the girls were all reunited into the bedroom they share, all that has been in there is a huge book shelf and a black leather couch. The older kids' guitars were sitting on the couch when I got the idea. I decided to make that room the "music room". I moved the digital piano upstairs, and now children can practice in private, as well as have uninterrupted lessons. I can't wait to see what our piano and guitar teachers think!

At this point, I likely should have just gone back to the kitchen, but I had to make a pit stop... suddenly, the reason for the quiet and tranquility of the morning became apparent... Micah had been in the bathroom. Alone. For some time. Toothpaste. Water cups. Baby soap. Sigh. So, I rolled up my sleeves, and cleaned the bathroom, the whole bathroom, and nothing but the bathroom. Every little nook and cranny. It needed it. It is a happy room to go into now.

I came out of the bathroom and stood contented at all that had unexpectedly been accomplished. I likely even let out an audible sigh of relief at it all. Then I had the brilliant idea to go vacuum the kids rooms while I was upstairs with the vacuum cleaner. I find it comical how sometimes, after a wonderful feeling of accomplishment, I can just as suddenly feel overwhelmed to despairing. However, God's grace was present as I was able to walk the children through the problems in their rooms with a much calmer and loving way than I have typically been able to muster. Rooms vacuumed, everything put away. It was lovely to be upstairs.

By now, Noah had returned from golf camp, and everyone was hungry. So, I threw together some lunch, kept working on laundry, plodded along on chores and normal life resumed... no more to-do list checked off. I chuckled to myself how my day felt very much like "If You Give A Mouse a Cookie..." but I cherished the fact that every time I would start to become annoyed I would think about how my response would show my children what I thought about God. I am continually telling the children that God is Sovereign, their grandpa has brain cancer, their friend's little brother is sick, they know of other friends who are hurt, and we assure them that in each of those situations God is working for the person's good and for God's glory.

But what and I teaching my children about God's Sovereignty when my day doesn't go as planned and nothing goes "my way"? Sometimes is seems that it is easier to rest in God's will for my life when the "big things" happen while somehow thinking that during the mundane parts of life, God is not as concerned. However, the opposite seems true when I look back on what God has used to shape me, to change me, and conform me into the image of Christ through my decade of being a believer. I must admit that He has chosen to chisel and form and polish me through testing and trying me in the dailyness of life. Spilt coffee, broken lamps, played in toilets, dirty counters...

If you give a momma a distraction... she'll have time to ponder the wonders of the Lord...

Loving my neighbor...

I admit it. I do not know my neighbors as well as I likely ought to. And if I am really being honest, it is partially because I am a chicken. While you might likely think of me as outgoing and willing to talk to anyone, the fact is, I am great about talking to anyone who comes up and talks to me. I am generally timid about just walking up to someone, especially someone I may not know very well, like a neighbor.

And for a few months now, I have been praying for opportunities with my neighbors. There have been a few times when I have been pulling weeds in my front flower beds and a neighbor comes out, I get up from the ground and try to strike up a conversation in my dirt covered way. Other times, I have gone to the car to get something and notice a neighbor playing in the front yard with their kids and I run in and get mine all gathered up and we go out to play.

Through such opportunities, I have learned about neighbor's husbands being deployed, other neighbors having surgery, still others having trials with kids or spouses. All of these have been opportunities for us to reach out and share the love of Christ with our neighbors in tangible ways. Making coffee for a neighbor before they go to work, bringing a meal after surgery, watering a yard while neighbors are out of town (and throwing in some weed pulling too).

Recently, the news got out that Elliott is the President of our HOA. We have had a neighbor, from down the street, come over a couple of times to talk to us about how they have someone who regularly walks their dog by their house and lets the dog poop in their yard and leaves it. They don't have dogs, but they do have small kids, and the mom can't stomach the clean up. I empathize with them, that would not be a welcome "gift" to walk out to.

So, when this neighbor came by today, knowing there was very little I could do for her in regards to getting the offending dog(s) to stop their behavior, I asked myself what could I do to love this neighbor and show her we cared about her problem. It was very obvious that she was bothered by the presence of this dog's poop, so I offered to go clean it up for her. After raising six kids, two rabbits, two dogs and (formerly) two frogs and multiple toads, not to mention after two years of helping at a friend's farm with horses and cows and chickens, poop doesn't bother me.

As I walked back to my house, with some random unknown dog's present, I thanked the Lord for this opportunity to meet my neighbor. I actually don't even know their names (I am really bad about remembering to gather that information!!!), but now I can purposely seek after opportunities to share the Gospel with them.

How are you loving your neighbor? 

Planning productivity...

As this weekend begins, it seems to me that it will be the first weekend we have come to in a long time where there is nothing planned. Nothing. Strangely, nothing. It is quite tempting to think of sleeping in until noon. But with six children, two dogs and two rabbits, 8am might be a more realistic goal.

With nothing on the calendar for Saturday, I am planning to be productive. Lately, I have been struggling in my responses to my children... snapping, grumbling, sighing... I have felt overburdened with my crazy never-stops-growing-longer-and-longer to-do list. We did a great job pre-packing our house to move, but have not done nearly as well un-packing, and I really would like to be able to walk in our garage again someday without risking a twisted ankle.

So, my plans for this weekend... make a menu and grocery shop, clear the counters in the kitchen and off the washer and dryer, clear out the dining room, and unpack one box at a time from the garage so I can efficiently purge any unneeded items, as well as reduce the accumulation of clutter by making sure every item really does have a home and putting it there.

What will you do this weekend?

How Google saved my iPhone...

As an update to my previous post about how my iPhone back-up was corrupt and I thought I had lost everything on my old phone... After repeated attempts at restoring my data, things looked pretty bleak. Thankfully, I had copied all my photos over two weeks ago, so the only thing "lost" was a few photos of the garden and the puppies.

After deciding to be brave about the disappointment of losing all my contacts and calendar events (what would being upset about it actually accomplish anyhow?!?!), Elliott began setting up my newly replaced iPhone. A funny thing happened as soon as he linked my Google account... My contacts all appeared... And after a little more digging, my calendar was restored.

Elliott thought it was ironic how Google saved the day when my Apple device failed me. I guess it is rather comical. I am just glad to have not lost everything. And I am thankful for a persistent husband who enjoys technological mysteries. :)

iPhone woes...

My beloved iPhone has been acting up lately. When my "hunting sound" text alert sounds, it sometimes shorts out mid-trumpeting. Occasionally, my phone chooses not to ring when it is set to ring. Little annoyances which prompted a trip to the Apple store this evening on a date with my husband.

While we waited for our appointment at the "Genius Bar" we visited over our lattes from Starbucks. I looked at cool phone covers (mine had become pretty grungy). We watched the TV above the Genius Bar show us all sorts of cool stuff we never knew we needed to know how to do on our various Apple products.

The folks at the Apple Store were super cool. They totally took my word for it that my phone has been acting crazy and just gave me a new one. I wasn't expecting that! I was completely prepared to have to be phone-less for a week or something nutty like that. The genius guy helping us asked when I had backed up last. I said it was within the last two weeks and I hadn't really done much since then.

So, they swapped out phones, completely wiping all data and everything from my old phone and set my new one to auto-update as soon as I plugged it into my laptop. After the completion of our date and giving kids baths, Elliott plugged everything in and I waited. And waited. And waited while it looked like my new iPhone was being restored from my last back-up.

But then I got an error message. Something was wrong with the backup. Or the version on my new phone was different from my old phone. Or something like that. Whatever it was it meant that my new iPhone is absolutely dumb, absent of all helpful info like phone numbers, emails, photos.

Sigh.

Deep breath.

Cross my fingers and try again.

In the garden...

We have already harvested over ten yellow squash. Jalapeños and sweet peppers are growing. Tiny strawberries come in onesie, twosies (today there were five). Heirloom tomatoes are growing bigger and bigger. Carrot tops are getting leafy and bright green. Lemons and limes are filling the branches of the trees. Two peaches are plumping up under the cover of their droopy leaves. And we have one pumpkin growing, from seed no less. We have a lot of flowers for cucumber and cantaloupe but so far no fruit.

No matter the harvest, our little green garden is a daily reminder of our Creator God who made all these things on the third day of creation. Awesome.

Have I mentioned...

... my Mother's Day present yet? Life has been blazing past in a relative blur the last few weeks that I might have neglected to mention it. Well, here it is... I got two puppies. Both a little under 3mo at the time, a little red poodle which I named Cinnamon, and a little black mini-schnauzer I named Mocha. Yes, I named my dogs after my two favorite coffee additives. :)

One is a girl (Mocha) and the other is a boy (Cinnamon), so in case you might be wondering, we are hoping that in the future they will have a litter. Do you know what you get when you mix a schnauzer and a poodle? Well, since you asked, you get a Schnoodle. Cool, huh?

At full grown, neither should exceed 10 lbs, though they currently don't weigh that combined. They will be perfect "RV dogs" and so far, we have seen success in training them not to be "yippie dogs" (Gotta love water guns...). I am learning a lot about dogs, especially since I have never really liked dogs, or paid them much attention to them. But I love these two little snuggly buddies, even when they wake me up at 4am to go potty.

Here is a photo of how they hang out with me when all the kids go to sleep. :) Who wouldn't love these two little friends.