The house is quiet

Mark and the boys are camping this weekend, so it's just been me, Ella and Addie.

This is us last night:

We've had a fun girls weekend. Yesterday morning we went to a few garage sales with my mom, and Ella found a stack of books and an envelope of paper dolls. Then we headed out of town to an outlet mall to do some "school" clothes shopping. When we got home, we made some dinner, and after I put Adelia down Ella and I popped some popcorn and watched the first part of Anne of Green Gables together. (Ella's choice. She's never seen it, but asked, "Mommy, isn't that your favorite movie? That's the one I want to watch.") So we cuddled up on the couch and watched Anne squirm her way into the hearts of Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert while munching on popcorn and gummy bears. Then we crawled into my bed for a "slumber party", whereupon Ella settled her face mere inches from mine and held onto my hands with her own, and we chatted and giggled until she told me she was going to sleep.

It's been delightful to be with my girls.

And let me just say, it is quiet around here without my boys. I mean, Ella can be chatty and all, but here's the difference: she's not chatting while jumping, climbing, leaping off of the furniture, or embodied in the character of Knight, Sports Player, Cowboy or Soldier. When she has played, she's played with Addie or with her new paper dolls, in a sitting position. She has spent several minutes, head bent over a book, quietly reading. And she doesn't push or hit anyone. When we sat in church this morning, Adelia on my lap, Ella next to me, I couldn't get over the fact that our little clan was so still this morning. No wiggling, squirming or reprimands needed.

But, oh my. I am missing my boys something fierce.



Especially this one, here on the right:


And I can't help but glance out the window about every five (okay, three) minutes to see if just maybe they're home.

The way my husband is

Mark, all in the span of three days, has done the following:

*He has gotten up with Adelia in the four o'clock hour (one night, in the three o'clock hour) for her bottle feeding. [She doesn't normally wake at this time but has a cold so has woken up for an earlier feeding all week.]

*He does this even when he's gotten VERY little sleep. Last night we went to sleep at 12:30. This morning, at 4:55, Addie awoke, and Mark's feet were first on the floor to get her. I found him in the kitchen, Addie in arms, sleepily spooning formula into her bottle. "Honey, let me do that" I offered. He smiled, shook his head, and told me to go back to bed. (This from a man who's job is very physical. (He's not sitting in a chair all day, people. He needs his rest.)

*He also does these middle-of-the night wake-ups with not one complaint. The truth of it is that were I to get up, three or four nights consecutively, at that time of the day, everyone would know about it. And as I climbed back into bed beside my sleeping spouse, I might just bounce the mattress a bit harder and maybe I would sigh, just so that he was quite clear about the sacrifice I'd just made. I'm just saying. That would be me. That would NOT be Mark. He simply- and cheerfully- serves. Because he loves me. (And he loves Addie, too.)

*He has gotten home from work the past two nights (remember: long, physically exhausting days) and made dinner for our family, because I have been sick with a cold this week.

*Since I've been feeling so crummy, every day he has called our children over and asked them if they wanted to pray for mommy. And they have rested their little hands on me, and prayed.

*The other night when I asked him to run to the store for a few things, he came back with three items especially for me. (Gummy bears, black licorice, and my favorite bag of chips.) Just because.

*Today, he stopped in at home during his work day and brought me a bouquet of cheery sunflowers.

*Everyday, he reminds the kids to be good during quiet/nap times, so that "your mommy can have a nap".

*Everyday at lunchtime (he gets to come home for lunch), he holds Adelia on his lap so that I can eat without a baby in arms.

*He has cleaned the kitchen, taken out the garbage, straightened the living room, corrected our children, rubbed my neck, asked me how I'm feeling, and a million other things, I'm sure, that I have neglected to notice or mention.

Oh, I am thankful for this man.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.
So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body.
~Ephesians 5:25-30, NASB

Fair slideshow

A little belated, I realize... posting our fair pictures well over a week after we went to the fair, but that's okay, right?

Camp recap

~whew!~

It's been a busy week, what with the fair and then camp. The past couple days we've been settling back into our routine, with some tired kids (and parents!) and lots of laundry to do. (I think we were about caught up on the sleeping bit, at least, until last night, when we spent the evening- uh, until about 1:30 am- with our dear friends, learning this game.)

But on to camping matters: I initially met these families after they invited Ella and I to join their Keepers of the Faith group. Prior to meeting, we'd just been reading each others' blogs. We've now gone to a few Keepers Meetings, and have enjoyed the fellowship with these other homeschooling moms and their delightful children. Two of these moms decided to plan a camp for all the Keepers families, and we decided to go.

I took the kids out to camp, which was held at one of the families' homes- on Wednesday morning. (Mark joined us that evening after work and stayed the full second day). The kids officially "registered" for camp, checking in at the registration table, finding out their "dorm" number, and getting bandanas. Each dorm member had matching bandanas. The dorms, or teams, as our kids kept calling them, consisted of an older child (in the 12-16 age range), a middle-aged child or two, and then a little one (or two).

Ella's dorm, "Children in Action"


Ella's dorm clears the ground for their tent.


All the kids lined up for The Shoe Toss.

One of the first things expressed to all of the kids was that the purpose of camp was to have lots of fun and glorify God. (How much do you love that?)

From the beginning, the teams emphasis was not about winning the games, but rather having fun and working alongside one another. The older children were encouraged to help the younger children, and they all did an amazing job throughout camp.

In fact, my favorite part was watching the older children take a hand of one of the littler ones (many times one of my boys), and guide them through a game, or help them get their tray of food at mealtime, or invite them to come and sit with them. I cannot say enough about the character of these older kids.

Boaz helps Isaias during one of the relay games

My (personal) other favorite part was that each time we gathered as a large group, one of our wonderful camp leaders went around to each of the adults, asking if they'd seen any kind acts that day. It gave us the opportunity, as parents, to praise the deeds we had witnessed, and the heart behind those deeds. I loved that.

I'm pretty sure my kids would tell you their favorite parts were the Snack Shack (after each lunch, and after the kids had each scraped, washed, and dried their own trays, they were given three tickets to spend at the Snack Shack). Or their "teams", or the water balloon fight they had the final day, or sleeping in the tent. Or the scavenger hunts, the songs, games, or the food. But for the past few days I've also heard them playing together, and pretending they are some of these older kids, so I know they made quite the impression on these particular little hearts.

The game where Mark got to chase down each kid and tag them. He tagged all but two very fast kids.

These two moms did an *amazing* job creating and planning this first-ever Solid Rock Family Camp. Everything was well-thought out, our days were packed full with back-to-back activities, things from "gather with your teams, use the items in this bag, and build your own invention. Then tell us why we want to buy it", to game where they had to get every member of their team over a rope (being held by two adults), without any member of your team touching the rope.


I am so impressed with all of the thought and detail that went into putting this on, and the HUGE success that it was. Great job, Hilary and Renee!!!

The boys' dorm, "The Courageous Crusaders"


Some of those Baker's Dozen boys

We feel so incredibly blessed to be able to be interacting with such wonderful (not to mention creative!) families!

Where we've been

The past two days our kids have been at camp with these kids. (Amongst others. Some of the little ones didn't make it into the picture.)


First year of family camp. Six families, nearly 30 children, two full days.... HUGE success!

I'll share more about it later when I've done a bit of laundry and we've had some time to get back into our home routine.

Today

I only have a few minutes but things will likely be quiet around the blog this week (busy week ahead!) so I wanted to get something written.

We are headed out in a little bit to go blueberry picking. My mom will join us, so that will be nice. I'm not planning on doing much with them, just have some on hand to eat fresh for the next few days, maybe make some blueberry muffins, too- and any extras we can toss in the freezer.

When Mark gets off from work late this afternoon we'll head out to the Fair for the evening. Can't wait.

13 quarts of beans are canned, and I'll need to go out to the garden today to pick some more. They were probably ready for a second picking two days ago but I couldn't bear to go out and check. We're getting the hang of the pressure canner, though, and the second canner-full went much faster than the first. I'm thankful to have a handy assistant in Mark.

Adelia is sitting up! (Isn't she perfectly adorable?)


Okay, time to go...
Tell me what you're up to today!

I wish I were sleeping

But, alas, it's 11:36pm and this is what I'm doing instead:


There's more, too.


And more in the garden.

And another thing: I've come to the rapid conclusion that my regular old canner is much, much easier than a pressure canner. Easier, but not safe for the beans. But, sheesh. And it's no wonder it's called a pressure canner. Watching that gauge to ensure it stays right at "11" for 25 minutes straight is enough to stress anyone out. But that would be Mark's job. Mine is here, snipping beans. ~sigh~

I'll appreciate this come wintertime, I know, when pulling those canned beans off the shelf.

And I did have wonderful little helpers this morning at the crack of dawn.



And those same two were my wonderful little pickers yesterday afternoon.



So that's nice and all. But I am tired.