tay tay day!

Bundled up at the OR coast in November!

Is there anything better than
1 little boy + 2 rubber boots + a whole wide beach?

We love Taylor!!

Taylor + 4 in front of Haystack Rock

Mos for lunch!

first snow!

This morning the children saw this:

 ...and with great excitement sorted through the winter clothes bin...

and sat down at breakfast like this:

...and are now like this!

Good thing its our week off school!  :)

5 months!

5 gems

You can imagine how difficult it is to get 5 little ones' eyes and faces all turned one direction and looking pleasant.  I had no idea this was actually a simple feat, compared to getting your 6'8" husband to look the same direction as everyone else!  ONCE AGAIN, this shot would have been a very cute picture if it weren't for your "humor", honey!  (I never know what he's doing until I see the print, 'cause I'm focusing on looking toward the camera).  Hmph.

thanks Pam for snapping these!  :)

about every other morning and every other night,
I feel compelled to take my camera outside and snap some photos
of what we are seeing.
My husband says, "you're a romantic."
I say, "I'm sooo enjoying these amazing sunrises and sunsets God is painting just for me!"
Just can't get enough!
(Can you believe this is the view from our dining room/deck?  Only it's a 180 degree view.
Yes, I do know I am the luckiest lady on earth!!)

5 months!!

The following are a series of snapshots depicting Cubby's 5 month birthday.
When you have seen enough of a couple of blue eyes and some very fat cheeks,
you may choose to quit scrolling.
I'm only posting this many because they are D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S- to me
 (that was Ella's spelling word last week, and she has taught the middle 3 children how to spell it as well, so we are hearing it a lot lately).  And I happen to know that approximately 3 aunties and 1-2 grandmas may enjoy each of them.

This little guy doubled his birth weight by 4 months.
At 5 months, he weighed in at a whopping 18 pounds ~
reaching this milestone months before his siblings,
and a whole pound heavier than Jaci was on her 1st birthday!  :)

Can you spot the baby?!

Before this blessing of a baby was born, I wondered what his nickname would be.  Seems we have one that will stick.  During his first couple of months, he reminded us of a cute little bear cub, so we started calling him "Cub".  Of course there are daily variations spoken in adoration as he becomes chubbier by the day: Chub Cub, FAT cub, Tubby Cubby, Cube, etc.  He's our little cub, so you won't be confused when I refer to him as that.

picture this

perspective
(our big baby is really still quite small)

chub cub!

"I'm not so sure I want the kids wandering toward the bulls, with a questionable fence in between", I plead.

"Yeah, I'll keep 'em back" replies my non-chalant husband, who keeps us all balanced, if not safe.

I just walked inside from this conversation.

Two days ago....

Ahhh, back up to two days ago.  Thursday: it was the first weekday in I-can't-remember-how-long that I would have time to do something other than all the HAVE-TOs of school, cook, clean, bathe, laundry, dishes, unpack boxes, while nursing on demand and remembering to quiz the kids on their math facts.  I had settled on spending my free time mounting some pictures on these walls.  It was going to be glorious.

We were just finishing up our school day when I peered out the window and observed 2 gigantic bulls wandering around our back yard.

Upon this realization, I flew into damsel in distress mode and began dialing neighbors' numbers.  I figured they would know who the cattle belonged to, and who to call to get them rounded up.  The neighbors that are usually home were not (of course), and the one phone number I did track down... well, it was disconnected.  So I drove myself + 5 kids next door (for whom I did not have a phone number), and explained.  Within minutes, one neighbor was driving around to an adjacent property to get help, and the other neighbor sent 4 of his employees walking into my back yard to moooove the bulls on out!  So there was a rodeo of sorts in our back yard, and I was very thankful to only be a spectator!  (I did conclude that the wranglers would have been much better off on horseback).  At one point I feared that one of the young girls was going to get gored, so I did the only thing I knew to do ~ picked up the video camera ... you now, just in case I shot something that could be a youtube sensation.  Thankfully, no people or animals were harmed in the making of this story.  And not a single picture was hung, either.

"Hey Mom, look!  I have clean hands!"  Just a few minutes ago, Aaron displayed his chubby little palms and fingers for me.  He had just been playing in the dirt, so his face was covered in dust (plus some leftover lunch), his shirt had food drips and dirt on it, and his ripped jeans looked like they had just come out of the sandbox.  He had come inside, a real life Dennis the Menace, dropping crumbs of dirt as he walked.  He walked in Grandpa Aaron's cowboy boots (on the wrong feet) to the farthest bathroom from the door, pulled himself up a stepstool, and washed his hands.  He left behind all sorts of mud on the porcelain white sink.

This scene immediately reminded me of Isaiah 64.6:

"All of us have become like one who is unclean, 

and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; 

we all shrivel up like a leaf, 

and like the wind our sins sweep us away."

All my righteousness (anything I think I'm doing for God), like Aaron washing his hands, is just the same as the dusty, dirty, muddy clothes he was wearing.  My good deeds are just dirty clothes.  No, not just dirty ~ filthy.  The kind of grease, stains that oxy-clean can't remove.  We can't for a minute clean up our hands (what we do) and expect God not to notice our mud covered clothes.  He would much rather hear us admit our need for a bath ~ a plunge in the blood of Jesus ~ than to hear, "well, my hands are clean!"  What can wash away my sin?  Nothing, no nothing, but the blood of Jesus...

I adore the many ways God talks to me through experiences with my kids...

sometimes when i'm overwhelmed
and can't imagine finishing,
i pick up the camera.
this was the
"catch up on laundry + summer to winter and new sizes for the boys"
clothing project

Ella, who has an eye for true beauty, took this

PRECIOUS to me:
this might just be the sweetest thing
I've ever stepped out of the shower to see
(and just when i snapped the photo, he smiled in his sleep)

kids teachin' me

I'm so glad the children were listening when we were at worship several weeks ago.  

They have repeated (more than once) one of the pastor's points:

"If you ever wonder what's going to happen, read the back of the book (Revelation)!  It's all there:

Jesus gets what he deserves, Satan gets what he deserves, and we get what we DON'T deserve!"  

Ahhh, I love how the simple message of God's story sinks into our hearts, no matter our level of education!  

*

The beauty of the gospel message is vibrant in those with simple lives.  

*

The most beautiful people are those who are not trying to be anybody but themselves.

little boy-isms

     Right now i'm finding it hard to take my camera places ... because I feel I'm doing good if I just keep track of all my kids , their coats, sunglasses, diaper bag, snacks & drinks etc etc when we go places...  I think later I will wish I had snapshots of these moments.  

     Like last night, Aaron's first rodeo (that he'll remember).  He was completely in awe of the cowboys pulling off their different events.  He made everybody in a 10' radius smile when he announced very loudly,

"Look Daddy!  That cowboy fell off!"

eating a hot dog like corn on the cob

Aaron is such an aware little buddy.  He is especially sensitive to sounds, and I forget all that he is observing when I'm going about my business.  When we were wandering through the fair looking for Adrian and Tessa, Aaron saw the cage-on-a-pendulum type of carnival ride, Aaron was holding my hand and trying to keep up with my steps.  He said, "Hey Mommy, are those people stuck in there?"  I explained that no, that was a ride that they wanted to get on!  He thought for a few seconds and then said, "Are they screaming for help?"  I assured him that no, they were screaming because they were having fun ~ kind of like the way he screams when he gets to go on his bounce house!  :)  What a compassionate little heart!!

Last night when we were laying together in bed, ready for sleep, Aaron was thinking of the bull riders when he said, "Mommy, why don't those cowboys ride horses?"

Yeah, I couldn't agree more, little buddy!  Why would you ride a huge wild bull, when there are perfectly trained horses to be ridden?  :)  Just love his blossoming mind!

Dear little Aaron, 

I want you to become whatever God wants you to be... follow your dreams, use your talents, and be absolutely ANYTHING you want*!

Love, Mom

*(except a bull rider)

honoring God

So how do we honor our Creator?  If we love him and stand in awe of what he has done, we are naturally compelled to reflect his glory. I've been taking note of nature lately.  We are told that every snowflake is different.  When we drive through a forest, we see that every tree is unique.  It wouldn't be nearly as pretty if they were all identical.  And there are so many facets of creation ~ the mountains, the canyons, the active rivers and the still rocks.  There are parts of creation that change with every season, and some things that take thousands of years to change.  

Sometimes we scurry around trying to "do" something noble, admirable, something FOR God.  But have you noticed, nature never does?  The deer just graze and wag their tails because that's what they were created to do.  The mountains stand firm day after day, century after century.  Babies eat, sleep, and play.  

Do you SOAR like the eagle (Isaiah 41), or are you SORE from flapping ... trying ... doing?  It was such a relief when I got this picture a few days ago, and heard God graciously telling me (again) that I don't need to DO anything... speak in a certain way, worship in a certain way, pray in a certain way, spend my time in a certain way, to honor him.  I honor Him by loving Him while I go about doing what I enjoy, and what comes natural...

...and so do you! 

A definition of "Fear God": 

living with the awareness

that God sees

everything I do.