Eucharisteo Moment: new reader

Eucharisteo - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember as thanks to the Lord.

a tiny little miracle

Standing in the shower, letting the hot water pour over my head, knowing the older kids were quietly reading and the younger ones down for their naps, the words kept echoing in my head "You're pregnant!" "With your sixth child???" " Six kids, under the age of eight???"and I look up and sigh "how are we going to do this Lord?". And the memories come flooding back: of being in the store with five kids and all the un-lovely and un-gracious comments I hear. Of the relatives who just couldn't understand why you had your fifth child and the comments "I hope your done!" to follow. Of all those sleepless nights, the millions of diapers, and getting up not only for that brand new baby but the other babies waking up from bad dreams or needing cuddles. I remember how hard the labors have gotten, the last one was 24 hours of intense labor before Soeren came. I remember the anguish of such a heavy baby in my womb, labored breathing, waddling, cankles, being sick during the first trimester and how was I going to homeschool all these kids while spending half the time sick in the bathroom? You think of the finances, the grocery bill, laundry for one more person, one more person to fight over a toy, and get into an argument. You think of those times when you have to keep the perfect image with your brood of children. "If I don't keep them clean and acting perfect or if I complain about having a rough day someone will remind me that I chose this life and it's my own fault".

But then...

The Lord brings His words into my heart. "happy is the man who has his quiver full of them." "like olive plants thy children compassing thy table round". And I think of Thanksgiving and Christmas and all those shouts of glee, and of making special treats together and reading lovely books by candle light snuggled under blankets. And of Mother's day when those trembling hands carefully give me my tray of specially prepared breakfast, a handmade card, a vase of little flowers. Of playing at the park and all those lovely faces, shiny hair, happy giggles are your responsibility and if you were any prouder, you just might pop. When they're coloring and humming hymns to themselves. I think about how wonderful family worship is, all those readers, reading back and recalling the word of God... and those prayers!!! My how those little warriors pray! I think about the future, when they are all teenagers and we sit around the table to discuss theology, or my sons helping their father with the yardwork; getting my nails done with my girls. Of the grandbabies to come, the legacy that our family has built and it puts to shame all of the stupid words people said when my children were little while we were all out and about. And I say "thank you Lord, this is going to be awesome". 

And I get out of the shower and hear my daughter pounding on my door "Soeren woke up and took his diaper off and he's spread poop everywhere!!!".

"Wow Lord, help!" and He puts an extra dose of peace in my heart and I know it's only one of many crazy days to come, but the rewards are bountiful and His mercies are new every morning!

a little vacation...

Sorry, I've been unfaithful for a bit to the blogging world. So much going on lately, and trying to catch my breath. I was in a car accident, luckily I'm fine, but my poor car was not and after a month, I'm just getting it back from the shop. Also, we've discovered an allergy that we didn't realize was making the children worse and worse. Poor Gennevieve was so miserable, I would find her on the floor, rolling around and screaming "I itch!!!" So it's no more gluten and no more seafood. Both of those things cause a reaction, although the seafood is way more severe. We're trying to be a "gluten-free" family as it's helping all sorts of problems we didn't realize were linked. Although Jake and I find ourselves cheating sometimes... 

We recently had the joy of having a mini-vacation: The Grand Canyon and camping at Oak Creek Canyon. It was magical, it was perfect, we didn't want it to end. Here are some pictures to share.

 I think I had 10 mini heart attacks that day. So many places with no railings, which is so scary having five adventurous kids!!

This little guy was in train heaven!!!

Our view from our tent at Oak Creek Canyon. It was so beautiful!

Me and the fall leaves. Oh how I love fall!

Hair pretties

Here is something fun I've been working on.  They are SO MUCH fun to make! My girls feel so feminine wearing them and it's nice knowing I'm saving money making them versus buying the expensive ones in the store. There are so many different ways to make flowers, hair pretties, etc. Here are a few of mine.

 I curled this little one's hair with pink spongy curlers the night before. Oh and.... recognize this dress mom??? It's the dress I wore when I was her age. It fits her perfect and stayed in nice shape. Oh how I love...vintage :)

busy season

We are in a busy season in our lives right now. It feels like a circus constantly in motion: some scary, some joyous, some crazy. But we're here, we have our eyes on the Lord and His faithfulness is good!

We had our first ever garage sale. Man was it a doozy, we plan on doing that again this weekend. It felt so good to purge our "stuff". With five kids, it is absolutely incredible how much stuff you acquire in a short amount of time. I couldn't believe we have moved with some of this junk from place to place...and why didn't I notice it was junk until now? Better late than never I suppose.
We decided to let the kids get in on the action and said it could be a garage sale and lemonade stand together. We had so much fun as a family!

The "crazy" and "scary" part of our lives happened last night. A certain little baby boy decided to run full speed into a table with a gash in his eyebrow to follow. Luckily urgent care was around the corner and he was "glued" back together instead of  having to get stitches.

In the mean time, I'm in enjoying this...

Russian Tea. One of my favorite things about fall. It is delicious, easy to make and so very comforting.

1 c. instant tea
1 c. Tang
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cloves

Mix. Store in airtight container in a dry place. To serve, place 2 heaping teaspoonfuls in a cup. Fill with hot water! 

Happy Fall to all of you and may your circus of life keep your eyes on the Lord.

Eucharisteo Moment: Devotions

Eucharisteo - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember as thanks to the Lord.

Fall in the desert

Well, I decided to put up the fall decorations today.. you see, I love fall!! Everything about Fall just leaves me excited and joyful and kind of like a kid. Pumpkins, cinnamon and cloves, candles, leaves, crisp air... I love it! Well, we don't exactly get an Autumn here in Phoenix, but you make do! So here are my "fall leaves" and my "pumpkins" and for us, it works!

(Abigail helped me cut out all of these leaves!)

as I change what goes on the "gather" branches, I also change the birdies. Owlies are perfect for fall.

What special things do you like to do for fall? What are your favorite things about fall? I'd love to hear it.

Eucharisteo Moment: recess

Eucharisteo - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember as thanks to the Lord.

Labor Day lovelies!

Well, I hope y'all enjoyed your Labor day. We had a marvelous time at a friend's BBQ. I made this only substituted a couple things. Instead of cooking chicken, I did bacon, then took out the bacon, in the juices I cooked the onion and garlic and then instead of Whiskey and Peach Jam, I used Rum and Apple Butter, then chopped up the bacon finely and added it back to the sauce. This went on Ribs....oh my word it was good!
I also made this for the first time and loved it. Here is my version to which I added Agave Nectar and Cinnamon

I highly recommend this recipe (and thanks friend for giving me the link!!).
Our labor day was relaxing, it was awesome. I love stay cations where nothing happens. I worked on a special fun project of which I will show you soon, my sweet girls were having fun...

The boy and I enjoying our time

Jake and I were blessed to get a date in. Here we are at a friend's house. I love this man!

we even got a chance to take care of this little lass. The kids named her "Autumn" and we took care of her until she suddenly flew away to join her family.

Today, I am back to eating healthier (fell off the wagon there for a bit, ribs will do that to ya!) the kids are enjoying school, reading Pinocchio out loud, practicing their cursive, excelling at Math. All so lovely!

Eucharisteo Moment