Quote of the Day

I recently read The Shaping of a Christian Family by Elisabeth Elliot. In a chapter on Work & Play I appreciated this quote:

"Ordinary work, which is what most of us do most of the time, is ordained by God every bit as much as is the extraordinary. All work done for God is spiritual work and therefore not merely a duty but a holy privilege."

I don't know about you but there is not much "extraordinary" in my day: diapers, dishes, running noses, etc. It is a good reminder for me that the work God has called me is a privilege.

Home

Heaven is “a Father’s House”- the house of that God of whom Jesus says, “I go to my Father, and your Father.” It is, in a word, home: the home of Christ and Christians. This is a sweet and touching expression. Home, as we all know, is the place where we are generally loved for our own sakes, and not for our gifts or possessions; the place where we are loved to the end, never forgotten and always welcome. This is the idea of heaven.

Heaven is a place of "many mansions." There will be room for all believers and room for all sorts, for little saints as well as great ones, for the weakest believers as well as for the strongest. The feeblest child of God need not fear there will be no place for him. None will be shut out but the impenitent sinners and obstinate unbelievers.

Heaven is a place where Christ Himself shall be present. He will not be content to dwell without His people:- "Where I am, there ye shall be also." We need not think that we shall be alone and neglected. Our Saviour,- our elder Brother,- our Redeemer, who loved us and gave Himself for us, shall be in the midst of us for ever. What we shall see, and whom we shall see in heaven, we cannot fully conceive yet, while we are in the body. But one thing is certain: we shall see Christ.

-JC Ryle commenting on John 14: 1-3

Dear little Micah Man has gone home to be with Jesus. Sweet comfort comes through Christ alone. Please pray for his Mommy & Daddy, his brother & sister, his Maw & Paw, and his Nana & G as well as his large extended family.

Our Beach Adventure- Highlights

It has been a few days since I posted on our beach adventure. Thanks for all of you who prayed for our time. Jenn, the kids & I had a great time. Jenn has posted on here and she has included a few pictures. Before going Erik & I talked about and prayed for a few goals for my time: to enjoy fellowship with Jenn, to be tender and grow in affection with my kids, and to be prayerful. All things considered I would say that God answered our prayers. As I share my highlights (in no particular order) I think you'll see how.

Highlight 1: 6 car seats in the car! This was a such a blessing as it allowed Jenn & I to talk all the way up to the beach and all the way home. I love talking with my dear friend and this time was no exception. Thanks Jenn for doing life with me.

Highlight 2: Sleeping the same bed with Karis. Karis, Mercia & I shared a bedroom and Karis and I shared the same bed. I would tug Cia into bed and then about 1 hour later Karis would go to bed. She did a great job not waking her sister up. Mercia on the other hand did not return the favor. She woke us both us 2 nights in a row and was eventually banished in the middle of night to sleep in the bathroom (I packed up her pack n play and carried her downstairs at 4 am). But really Karis was so sweet through it all, very patient and loving toward her sister (unlike her Mommy). I loved holding hands with her as we slept and feeling her hand on my face checking to make sure I was still there.

Highlight 3: Time with Jotham. My boy does not like having his picture taken. After taking a few shots of him one day on the beach as he was playing with a car I could tell he was sort of lonely for a friend (all the other kids were ocean bound). So I said, "Do you want Mommy to put the camera away?" He said, "Yes, Mommy." When I did, he said, "Thank you Mommy, play cars with me?" And we had a nice time playing cars in the sand. It is sweet to just spend time with him.

Highlight 4: Mercia's time with Grandma Susan. Girlie had some rough nights sleeping but her days were filled with lots of time with Grandma Susan. She was content as long as my Mom was hanging out with her. She even rolled over a few time for her.

Thanks again for those of you who prayed- very grateful! And thank you Mom & Dad for a wonderful time. I always love being with you.

Bike Ride

Here is a short video of Karis riding her bike. This is a big milestone in her life, especially because her Mommy didn't learn how to ride until she was in 4th grade. Sorry it isn't the best quality. :)

Micah Man

Please continue to pray for Micah and his family. The Davis Family Blog has a recent update.

Our Beach Adventure- Day 2

Thank you for those of you who are praying for "Our Beach Adventure." Jenn & I are grateful for you prayers and have already seen them answered though not in ways we expected. Neither of us got much sleep last night, sharing rooms with kids does that. Jenn was with Aubreigh & Aiden and they were coughing all night and Aubreigh was sick in Jenn's bed. I slept with Karis and Mercia, who were both talking and keeping me awake. Karis said at one point, "It is to distracting to sleep with a grown-up." Hint-hint Mom find another place to sleep!

So anyway this morning we discussed our plans for the day- a trip to Dunkin Donuts, a Sandcastle Building Contest, the Beach, etc. Not long after our discussion my Mom looked out the window and said, "You have a flat tire." Funny thing is, Aubreigh prayed we wouldn't have a flat tire because 3 years ago we took a trip together and got a flat tire that time as well!

But here is the kindness of God. My Mom has AAA, they came out to change put the spare tire on BUT his wasn't able to because Jenn has special lug nuts on her tires and you need a special key to get them off- the key happens to be in the Dabbs garage in MD (note - if your car dealer gives you something and you don't know what it is keep it in your car not your garage). So he blew the tire up and I drove it 2 miles to a local car place and they were able to patch it up in about 10 minutes! All this to say, God is so kind in not letting the tire blow out when we were driving here. Our plans were changed but we are safe and know that God protected us from a much worse possibility.

Proverbs 16:9 The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.

Our Beach Adventure- Day 1

We made it. Jenn arrived at my house around 7:30 am. We feed the kiddos and packed them up- all 6 in the back!! The great news- no one threw up and the babies even took short naps. We only had to make one short stop for an emergency - "Mom, I have to pee- RIGHT NOW." All I can say is DVD players are wonderful.

After arriving around noon, we feed the kids, napped a few of them and then took off for the beach. It seems like 3 of the 6 kids love the beach and 2 are not sure and 1 only liked the sand. Here are few pictures from our day so far. I have lots of highlights so far but I really enjoyed watching Aiden get knocked over by a wave and then going back for more.

I tried to upload some pictures but blogger is having problems. So maybe another day.

Saturday

My favorite friend posted some pictures of recent outing we took this past Saturday and the details of our upcoming Beach Adventure. Please keep us in prayer. As she mentions in her post 2 Mom and 6 kids under 5. Jenner is faithful in being proactive. I'm just keeping my expectations low!

See you tomorrow Mom & Dad.

Great Thoughts- from Others

I thought I'd post with some links to some blog entries that I've read recently that encouraged my soul. Some of these people I know, some of them I don't. I can say I find it very encouraging to read blogs of other moms. It is hard in here- in our homes- so it helps to know that others are walking the same path with you.

Here are two from Preschoolers & Peace:
So you thought...
Changing

Three from Raising Five:
Set Your Course
Setting My Course-beginning
Setting My Course-desire

From Domestic Life:
Stronghold

From Castro Clan:
Motherhood
What Really Matters

There are more but breakfast is calling.

Girlie Update

It has been awhile since I recorded any data on our little wee one. So I have some evidence to give her when she is 20 and tells me I didn't do anything to preserve her childhood here goes-

On 6/18/07 she had her 6 month visit. She weighed 15 lbs 5 oz and was 25 1/2 inches tall. We both agree she is chunkier than other two were but everyone who sees her says she is small.

She now has two teeth. They both came in over the past week. She is enjoying several solids foods- green beans, peas, prunes, apples, oatmeal, rice, avocado, zucchini and her favorite, broccoli.

She is a real sweetheart and we adore her. She is much more laid back and content than Jotham and Karis were and if it weren't for her ear infections she would be a very easy baby. But even with those she is still very pleasant to be around most days.

As for her ears- she got another infection while we were away, went on antibiotics which did nothing for her, we took her back to the doctor they day we got back and she still had a pretty bad infection and a lot of fluid in her ears. She went on another antibiotic. At this point the doctor is leaning towards recommending tubes. We have an appointment to take her to an allergist, since I read some interesting articles about ear infections and allergies. If you think of her please pray for healing. We can tell when she has fluid in her ears because she stops babbling and cooing and only cries. But when the fluid is gone she says, mamamama & babababa- it is so sweet.

July 4th

We were so blessed to have some of our closest friends over to celebrate the Fourth of July. It wasn't much of picnic due to the weather (it actually hailed) but we had a great time regardless. Not long ago when we got together with these folks there were only 3 or 4 children there. Now there were at 15 kids present. The Lord has truly blessed us all.

Thank you to everyone who came- we love you all dearly and are so thankful that God has placed you in our lives.

I tried to post some pictures but blogger was having a problem- perhaps I'll add some later.

Vacation Part 2- Sea Isle City

After leaving Williamsburg we drove up to the Jersey shore and stayed with Grammer & PPaw for a few days. It was wonderful being in Sea Isle City with them again this year. They always go out of their way to serve us. Last year Jotham wanted nothing to do with the sand and would only stay on the island of mom but this year he enjoyed running around and digging in it. BUT he wanted nothing to do with the ocean and he was very upset if you brought him near it OR if you went in by yourself. I think he was worried we'd get swept out to sea. Karis on the other hand loved both the sand and the ocean. She had a great time running around in it.

We also went to the Cape May Zoo and to Wildwood. It downpoured while we were at the zoo but we had seen most of the animals by then anyway. In Wildwood the kids enjoyed more rides and we all enjoyed pizza at Romeo's.

Here are few pictures.

Vacation Part 1- Williamsburg

We just returned from vacation and I wanted to post a few pictures and highlights from our time away. This year my family decided to go to Williamsburg and we had a great time. It was wonderful being with my Mom & Dad, my brother Josh & sister in law Linda, and my nieces & nephew Ashley, Hannah, & Jude. We went to Busch Gardens, Water Country, Colonial Williamsburg & Jamestown. We stayed at a great resort. The kids had a blast at Busch Gardens, Karis loved the rides. Jotham "loved" the rides - as long as they weren't moving. He so wanted to get on all of them but as soon as it started to move he would start crying- "No More, I don't like it, All Done." He was pulling out all his phrases- actually by the end of our time he started to enjoy them even when they were moving. Water Country has this river, the Hubba Hubba Highway, that you wear life jackets in and float around in. When Karis finally got over her fear and let go of us she doggie paddled around it over and over and just loved it- we did too. I loved Colonial Williamsburg but it was sweltering hot the day we went and I also really appreciated Jamestown Settlement- it amazing to think that everything I experience today in America came from that only 400 years ago.

Thank you Mom & Dad for a wonderful vacation. We had a such an enjoyable time and are so grateful you planned this trip. We made memories we'll never forget.

I took a ton of pictures with our new camera (thanks again Hubby for my early Birthday Present). Here are just a few.