Trusting

I love these pictures of Jude lovingly cherishing and protecting a little toad that his cousin Joey found for him at my sister's cottage in NB.  Although this little creature was likely frightened when he was taken from what was familiar, he was safe and protected in these sweet little hands. 

Looking back over these pictures made me think about how we're not all that different than that little toad :)  Sometimes God places us in unfamiliar situations, we're frightened and yet He gently holds us.

 

Abby's Sunday School homework this week was about how God is "Incomprehensible". 

Who has known the mind of the Lord?  Who has been his counselor?  Romans 11:34

They looked at the life of Job.  As we went over her lesson from last week, we talked about God's sovereignty. I shared with her about how even though God chose for Josh and Jonah to be with us here on earth for just a short time and it was difficult and sad when they died.... that we chose to trust God. 

I chose to believe that the One who holds the Universe in His hands...

The One who holds me in His hands....

... will never let me go and has a perfect plan for my life,

even when I can't see it,

even when His ways are incomprehensible. 

My job is to trust Him. 

Who has known the mind of the Lord?  Who has been his counselor?

Emptying

I haven't really had any recent pictures that I've wanted to post, nor any older ones for that matter.  We're settling into our fall routine of school and Sunday school, gymnastics and Little Seedlings for the boys, dance and Sparks for Abbs.  We've started using the Accountable Kids program which is seems to be going well (I'll blog more on details another time).  I'm loving being at home, mostly.  At least when I was doing my internship I felt I had an excuse for not having a clean floor or dusted shelves or folded laundry or homemade bread or delicious culinary creations with homegrown food.  Now, I feel that I should be able to keep on top of all of it and still have ambition to finish my doctorate that has just taken way too long.  I feel like I should be able to give oodles of attention to my little people while they are still little and to my amazing husband. Yet, I'm still falling behind. Then, I get frustrated at myself for falling behind...

I read something tonight that didn't just pass through my mind, but stuck.  Pam Vredevelt wrote "I used to think that raising children was more or less a task of shaping and guiding a future generation. I still do. But I also think God uses children to shape parents.  And the trials that come into our family circle aren't necessarily to make us 'better'.  They are to 'empty us out' so that God can fill us up with more of Himself."

Things are going fine here.  I wouldn't say that we're in the midst of trials, but I am feeling emptied. 

Emptied from parenting children who wake up cranky insisting that because it's still dark that it can't be morning-time, children who can't find 'anything' to wear in their full closets and drawers, children who hit each other with wooden trees from their train set, a preschooler who still choses to poop in his unders than in the toilet...

Emptied by a doctorate that I no longer have any ambition to complete...

Emptied by cleaning a house that doesn't stay clean more than a few minutes & preparing meals that are often met with complaints...

"They are to 'empty us out' so that God can fill us up with more of Himself."

Lately it seems as though I've forgotten (again), that I can't do it on my own, not even the little stuff.

Worm Relocation Project

We took the pool down yesterday. After a few grey days with no solar heating, the pool was a nippy 60 degrees Fahrenheit (about 15 degrees Celsius). The pool set-up was considerably easier and more fun than take down, although the kids did enjoy splashing in the pool when it got down to 12". After a few hours of draining, drying, sweeping and folding up the pool we removed the ground sheet. There were oodles of earthworms of various sizes that had taken residence under the pool. The kids took it upon themselves to relocate them to holes in the yard (thanks to our energetic puppy). They played for hours, trying to keep the worm families together, starting worm schools, carrying them around...

Jude's First Day of School

Update...
Jude had a great first day of school!  He played with a little boy named Austin.  He thought this was great because "now there are two Austins", including the purple kangaroo on Backyardigans :)  He still thinks his teacher is "really nice", but she still hasn't bought sand for the sand table :)

This sweet little boy started JK this morning. He was nervous and a little worried that his teacher wouldn't know where to find him or that he would not be able to find his classroom by himself. After I reassured him, he got excited again. Abby was a fabulous big sister and I have no doubt that she made sure he was with his teacher before she ran off to play on the playground after getting off the bus.

His teacher is Mrs. Krista McCarville. After meeting with her last week, he thought she was "nice" and "beautiful" :)

Jordy and I are having a home day. It's a little quiet.

Transitions.

Back to school...

Last night I laid awake for 2 hours after going to bed. Part of me was excited for Abbs to be entering Grade 1. Part of me grieved that she is now entering Grade 1. My little girl is not so little anymore. She'll spend nearly 40 hours/week in school and on her way to and from school on the bus. We had such a fun, relaxing summer. I'm not ready for Abby to be in school, let alone for 5 days a week. I really missed having her around today. I missed cuddling together and reading her Little House books together. I missed watching her play. I missed watching her pretend that she was breaking horses, galloping around the yard saying, "gaddup", "gee", "haw" and "whoa"...

Jude meets his teacher tomorrow. He'll find out when he gets to start school. I'm not sure I'm ready to see my not so little boy climbing the stairs to get on the bus and be away from home for 8 hours a day, even if it is only 2 or 3 days a week. Jordy will miss him. I'll miss him.

Transitions.

Abby had a great first day of school.  So far, she loves Grade 1.  On a scale from 1 - 10, she gave it a 10 :)

Papa's Surprise

When we arrived at my parents' country home, my dad announced that he had a surprise for the kids. Although it was drizzling, we all made our way to one of his gardens where he had carved each of the kids' names into different pumpkins. As the pumpkins grew, the etched names looked like they had just grown that way.

Jude was impressed that "his" pumpkin had grown the biggest! Jude is very much into comparisons these days, especially in relation to God. He'll often say that something is big or cool, but quickly add, "but GOD's the biggest!" Apparently he is "cooler" than God though :)

Sundress, Braids & a New Bonnet

While we were in NB, we visited Kings Landing Historical Settlement which depicts life in the central Saint John River Valley in the 1800s.  The Little House book (On the Shores of Silver Lake) that we just finished spans 1879-1880.  The wagon driver dropped us off at the General Store where we bought Abby a bonnet and a slate.  Auntie Win came with us, which was a treat for all of us!

We ate lunch on a little hill overlooking the river behind a house that had this swing.  After lunch, the kids picked acorns while they took turns on the swing.  Two very friendly little squirrels came from the riverbank, playing and heading for the acorns.  All the sudden, one of the squirrels flew at Abby's dress! As we all looked at her, still quite shocked that a squirrel had just flown at her, she explained that the squirrel had taken an acorn out of her hand!

Any thoughts on what this bench is called or its use?  It's brilliant!The bench the boys are sitting on was in one of my favourite houses.  It was just a small cottage where six children had been raised.  The cottage was one room.  A couple children slept with their parents, a couple slept on the trundle bed (that went under their parents' bed during the day, and a couple slept on a straw mattress that fit inside this bench when it flipped down. 

Sundresses, Braids and Little House

I love Little House on the Prairie when I was a young girl. I loved pretending that I was Laura Ingalls. It didn't hurt that I lived in the country and my mum did my hair every morning in 2 braids, on a chair in the middle of the kitchen.

Abby and I have been reading the Little House series this summer. We're finished the first four books in the series . We've followed Laura and her family from the Big Woods to Indian Territory, then to the Banks of Plum Creek in their covered wagon. We're now in the middle of By the Shores of Silver Lake where Laura and her family move west from Plum Creek for Pa to work as a bookkeeper for the railroad and file a claim for land.

I love that Abby wants her hair in 2 braids and wants to go barefoot and wear sundresses. She's even asked where we can get a bonnet for her :) Any ideas?

Captains Kitty Bones, Diego and Lightning and the Tall Ship

The HMS Bounty arrived at Thunder Bay's harbour yesterday so we walked down with friends around suppertime for a closer look...

We could have toured the ship, but because the line was already 2-3 hours wait, they had closed the line. The kids were a little disappointed, but Jude said, "It was still cool to just see the ship".   This morning when we talked about the possibility of getting on the ship, Jude was concerned about how far we would have to sail away from home.  Such a sweet little guy... 

Before we left home, Jude decided that he was "Captain Diego". Abby chose to be "Captain Kitty Bones" and Jordy was "Captain Lightning".

We stopped at "Pirate Cove", a children's festival designed to complement the arrival of the Bounty.  The kids bounced in the bouncers, watched a local dance studio perform, played in the inflatable boat ball pit, and checked out Science North's exhibits. 

Because we walked down from our house, we had to walk back.  As we were leaving the marina the really dark clouds broke...with thunder and lightning... Abby and I got drenched, but had so much fun singing and splashing, running to the cover of building doorways when the rain fell in sheets, and "arguing" over who was the wettest.  I was so proud of her for not only walking all the way there and back (after being at cheerleading camp all afternoon), but also for not complaining about walking in the rain!