New Glasses and Learning Lessons…

It has been almost a month since I’ve blogged. I have a lot of catching up to do. Since I’ve last written Joshua and Ruth both have new glasses.
Joshua does not have to wear his all the time but Ruth does. Of course Joshua has to put them on, when I insist that he gets his glasses instead of guessing at the writing on the white board or the T.V. screen.
Ruth has astigmatism, which the optometrist said she will need to wear her glasses all the time. She doesn’t seem to mind though, especially since we made sure she picked a pair of glasses that she likes and look nice on her. She really wanted her glasses to be pink like mine.
Their lessons have actually shown some improvement since we’ve gotten their glasses. Whenever I see Joshua staring at something funny, I just send him to get his glasses and he seems to not have such a problem. It has helped him with the tired look that he often would get in his eyes.
Of course we “had” to get Hannah a pair of sun glasses as well. She went with us to Ruth’s eye appointment. She felt like she needed her eyes checked also. So after Ruth picked out her glasses, we took Hannah over to the sunglasses section of Wal-mart and found her a pair of lightly tinted glasses. They look like sunglasses but they are not as dark as real sunglasses would be. They just have a pink tint to them. She was real proud of them. Jonathan just seems happy that he has so many people to pull glasses off of now. Whenever he gets a hold of Hannah’s sunglasses he tries to put them on his head. He loves to copy.
Jonathan is getting big. He is almost walking. He will stand up in the middle of the floor without holding on to anything. We haven’t been able to get him to take a first step, but I just know he will soon. I took a wonderful video of him playing with the his older siblings. Hannah was throwing a soft toy around the room and all of us would tell him, “Go get it!” He crawled across the floor grab the toy that she threw and then threw it for her to catch. Whenever he didn’t see where she threw it, we would point to it and tell him, “It’s over there.” He learned a new word. As soon as she would throw it, he pointed and said “Tha” for “There.” It’s hard to believe that he is growing so fast. He will be a year old soon. It doesn’t seem like a year has had time to pass. So much has happened this past year. I guess we’ve been so busy.
Hannah has been learning lessons as well. Her biggest lesson which I think she has finally begun to learn is to not lie. One of her incidences where we caught her in a lie, involved a chair that she obviously wrote on. I asked her “Hannah did you write on this chair?” She said “No.” When I asked her “Who did?” She said, “Them in France did it.” Hmmm… Her cousins sure would have
had to travel an awful long way to write on one of our chairs.
That is one of the lessons we try to teach our children at an early age. They get in far worse trouble for lying about a deed than they would have if they had told the truth. Hannah has figured that out and almost always tells the truth instantly now. Of course, now she tells the truth almost as if she were proud of the fact that she did it. But she gets into far less trouble that way.
He that speaketh truth sheweth forth righteousness: but a false witness deceit. There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health. The lip of truth shall be established for ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment. Deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil: but to the counsellors of peace is joy. There shall no evil happen to the just: but the wicked shall be filled with mischief. Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly are his delight.
(Proverbs 12:17-22)
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Two more weeks!

Well, only 2 more weeks, before we move. We have been in our present location for about 5 years or so. However we are looking for to living closer to family and friends. Thankfully my father and brother will be coming down to help us. We will have to move our travel trailer and a trailer with a car on it. I was really dreading that long drive with 3 kids in the back and having to tow a vehicle on the back of our 15 passenger van. But my brother is used to hauling trailers so I really am appreciating his taking time out of his busy schedule to drive all the way down here to help us. Isn’t family a wonderful thing?

We have been getting ready. We plan to take our kids to visit some of the sites around here and kind of get to say “good-bye” to the places we will not be able to visit again. They are looking forward to the move though. Since we homeschool, they will not have to change their routines too much. I’m sure I’ll give them some slack at first, but I’ve already made arrangements for them to start in the Library’s reading program in our new hometown. So they’ll be having fun learning again.

Today, we bought a “fancy” lawnmower. I was tired of our other lawnmower stalling all the time, so I talked to my husband about it and he agreed with my idea of a new lawn mower. We now have a lawnmower that doesn’t require gasoline, no motor, no oil. All we have to do to start it is push it. My son is the most excited, since at almost 9, he is actually able to start this one. All he has to do is push. After plenty of warnings about being careful for the blades, he was able to mow one side of our yard by himself. He was so proud! I’m amazed at how big he’s getting.

Violin lessons are going well for Joshua and Ruth. Our goal is to get them able to hold their violins up without groaning and moaning at their lessons and during practice. Hannah is doing pretty well copying her brother and sister with her little violin. She can groan and moan just like them. They’re getting stronger though. These lessons have been good for them. Our next trick will be to find them a new teacher, once we’ve moved. By the end of this month they should be able to play “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”. That would really make them feel good.

Well, the baby hasn’t kicked yet, despite my coaxing. But who knows any day now maybe I’ll feel something. It still a little early I guess.

We’ve picked names! If we have a boy we plan to name him Jonathan Paul, and if we have a girl we plan to name her Joanna Lynn. So now to wait and see which it will be.

James 1:3-4 “Knowing [this], that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have [her] perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”

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Things My Mother Taught Me

I have learned a lot of valuable lessons from my mother during my childhood. In fact, I’m still learning from those subtle lessons that are now more important than ever to me as I work to raise my children. I just want to share some of those wonderful things I learned as a child from my mother, and now as an adult trying to teach my own children.

When I was a child my mother taught many lessons of what is right and what is wrong. I remember my mom switching the TV channels and explaining how to know the sound of a Soap Opera verses another movie. She made sure we knew at a young age that Soap Opera’s were not good for us and to switch from a station that sounded like that. (If anyone wants to know why Soap Operas are not good, let me know and I’ll be willing to talk with you about it.)
She also taught us not to watch certain cartoons. She didn’t just simply forbid us from watching something, she always explained why we shouldn’t watch it and what the problems were with the cartoon or show.

My mother was also the one who taught me not to say “bad” words. I didn’t get in trouble the first time I came home from off the school bus and asked my mother what a word meant. She simply asked me where I heard it from and explained that there were certain words that were considered bad words and that if I didn’t know a meaning of a word that I shouldn’t say it unless I look it up. So then she had me go to the bookshelf and look it up in the dictionary. That day I knew what to do with words I didn’t know.

I learned so many other things from my mother. I learned to be quiet in church. I learned to be respectful. I remember several times my mother taking me aside and adjusting my attitude problem. Even though I may not liked it, I knew she was right. She always explained why I was being disciplined.

She taught me to be generous and giving. My mother would give of her time and money to many good endeavors. I knew she loved people by how much she did for them. She showed her love to us kids by giving us things we needed and quite often the things we wanted. I realize now that we may not have needed everything that she gave to us children, but that it was her love that made her want to give it. I don’t remember very many things she bought for herself. She always wanted to spend her money on her children and now she enjoys spending her money on her grandchildren as well.

She taught us, how bad divorce was. We may not have known exactly why divorce was such a horrible thing at the time, but we knew that it was a cause of a lot of problems. Now as an adult I realize why divorce is so bad and am greatful to my mother for teaching me how to be committed to my husband and to talk over problems that we may have. My mom was always committed to my Dad and I knew she loved him and would back his decisions whenever they had to be made. She would give her opinion on a matter but always let him decide. He was always good about listening to her opinions on those matters and between the two of them, they would make the best decision possible. I learned a lot from her on how to be submissive but always willing to give advice in a loving way to my husband when it was needed. I am so glad that I have been able to learn from her great example. My husband and I are the best of friends, because of my parents’ example.

Probably one of the most important lessons I learned from my mother, was the value of prayer. I learned that God wants to hear from us and no prayer is too small to be important to Him. I can even pray for a bad hair day and He listens. Although that doesn’t mean he will always answer the way we want, but many times He will. For me prayer is quite a comfort when I am having a problem that I cannot solve on my own. I know he will listen and help me with whatever the situation may be.

Now that I am grown, I’m still gleaning from those and many other lessons I’ve learned from my mother. As I get older I find myself asking her for advice on life and how she handled the situations that I may be facing now. She has always been a patient ear ready to listen to my questions. I love my mother, and hope that I am able to pass on these valuable lessons to my children as well.

Proverbs 31:28 Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband [also], and he praiseth her.

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