Enjoying early morning Transfiguration Sunday worship, just Gressa and me. I so cherish her warm wiggly-ness, tucked up and under my still-sweatered-in-March arm. Singing along to the hymns and proudly facing toward me while she speaks the Lord's Prayer and Apostles' Creed (intentionally nonchalantly, of course), demonstrating mastery, for her mama's benefit.
Giggling with a braces girl who is literally transforming right.before.these.eyes.of.mine. And I'm not just talking about the teeth, either... both painfully and proudly witnessing all of her growth and change, and just, well... her, becoming... her. Sigh.
And then there was that time when she looked at her Dad and me, catching a quick kitchen embrace, and the look on her face startled all 3 of us. None of the usual giggling and, "Ooohhhh Mom and Dad are LOVING!!!" type of comment from her, anymore. Now it's gross. Just like that.
Little Moments.
There have been so many Big Moments in the recent days, too.
Our family was overjoyed to share in the love of new little, Meredith Nolte, 4th-born baby girl to our good friends. Her 3rd day of life included and adventure to the ER (chauffeur/support person = moi) for concerns about her ability to maintain her body temperature. While all checked out a-ok, there were moments... Big Moments of lab draws, worries, visits with a Pediatric Hospitalist, urine cath collection, oxygen, and monitoring. There were Little Moments there, too, though. Ones of shared baby snuggles, and quiet minutes with my friend... unplanned minutes that don't otherwise come plentifully or easily, with 6 additional cherubs, between our 2 families. Gifted Little Moments of truly experiencing His grace, and overwhelming, perfect love!
Basil, the long-awaited guinea pig has also arrived in all of her mass-production of cuteness and fecal production! Blech. And... yayyy. (???) My girl does love her. Ok, she is a bit cuter than what I envisioned over the past year and half, while she's been pleading and saving for her.
Our family was overjoyed to share in the love of new little, Meredith Nolte, 4th-born baby girl to our good friends. Her 3rd day of life included and adventure to the ER (chauffeur/support person = moi) for concerns about her ability to maintain her body temperature. While all checked out a-ok, there were moments... Big Moments of lab draws, worries, visits with a Pediatric Hospitalist, urine cath collection, oxygen, and monitoring. There were Little Moments there, too, though. Ones of shared baby snuggles, and quiet minutes with my friend... unplanned minutes that don't otherwise come plentifully or easily, with 6 additional cherubs, between our 2 families. Gifted Little Moments of truly experiencing His grace, and overwhelming, perfect love!
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| A few of the pictures I took of Meredith, modeling the crocheted hat and blanket I stitched together with love and prayers, just for her. |
Basil, the long-awaited guinea pig has also arrived in all of her mass-production of cuteness and fecal production! Blech. And... yayyy. (???) My girl does love her. Ok, she is a bit cuter than what I envisioned over the past year and half, while she's been pleading and saving for her.
This week also kicked off our first WELS Homeschoolers' gathering, at FVL. So thankful for ambitious and generous friends who made this happen, and for use of the room! Pastor Ehlert has an amazing way of connecting with the kids of varied ages, and we sure did appreciate his devotional time, prior to our fun.
We learned about the poet, William Carlos Williams, and one of the work's of the artist, Charles Demuth. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748704002104575291183951560378
Our masterpieces were created in likeness to Demuth's painting, "The Figure 5 in Gold", highlighting this unique and interesting relationship between paint and poetry.
One morning this week, all 3 kids came barreling into my bed, each blurting out their personal, most-efficiently-laid-out plan for getting schoolwork done and out of the picture. Gressa, her math clipboard in hand, and Ava pleading for read-aloud first. Soren, bringing up the rear, unsuccessfully bargaining, all the while. We normally start off with a devotion, but my warm bed for a Science lesson (which can be lengthy) sounded appealing at the moment :) So I suggested we hit that right away. I quickly - before I could register too much resistance - retrieved our Apologia Science text, "Exploring Creation with Astronomy", and we dug into Neptune and Uranus. Indeed there WERE discussions on the 'best' pronunciation of Uranus, and Ava was making a big (hysterically ludicrous, laughing) case for her vote: (ur-AY-nus.) Ahhhhhh... I won't mind if I never read about Uranus again, actually. There is just no way to win with that word.
Astronomy has been especially fascinating lately, with the new information, just last week, in regards to NASA's additional planet discoveries. http://www.nasa.gov/ames/kepler/nasas-kepler-mission-announces-a-planet-bonanza/#.UxQvp_ldXeM
The new findings have really opened discussions, critical thinking and an interest to learn more.
This link has been helpful to me, in helping the kids understand and make sense of the recent discoveries, as how it relates to "life" potentially ever found on Mars (or elsewhere, for that 'matter' - pun intended), all within the contextual truth of the biblical worldview :https://www.apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=12&article=280
"Evolutionists believe that this latest discovery might help them understand how life can come from nonliving chemicals. Certainly, from their perspective, if life can arise by purely natural means once, then it can arise many times. This would suggest that there are universal principles at work. Surely these should be so obvious, and so pervasive, that we would have some experience of life’s appearing from nonlife. But this is not the case, and there is no reason to think that life on Mars will solve this most intractable problem of materialistic evolution."
Apologia also does a fantastic job of illustrating the unlikeliness of ever finding life (specifically 'intelligent' life) anywhere other than on Earth. Or, if found there, explaining that it would not be "life" as originated from its own source. I love that it's worded in terms that the kids can all understand:
"It is likely that there are also pieces of the earth on Mars. If a giant meteorite hit the earth, the force would be strong enough to send pieces of the earth up into our atmosphere and out into space. Since there are also craters on the earth, we know this has happened before. Now remember, there are not many craters on earth because earth's atmosphere protects us from most space rocks. However, some space rocks are so large that the atmosphere cannot destroy them, and they land on the earth, making a huge crater. Creation scientists believe that if anyone ever finds signs of life on Mars, it will not be Martian life they find, but earth life that made it to Mars. After all, if a piece of earth left our atmosphere, it would take with it many cells and bacteria, which are living things. If we do find life on Mars, then, it will most likely be life that traveled to Mars on space rocks." Exploring Creation with Astronomy, p81
A few minutes' worth of review, and all 3 realize, once again, that life did not just appear from a single-cell. It did not come from, poof!, nothing. There are so many factors that God wove together to create the earth so that it supports life. If one of those things were missing, life could not exist: Perfect distance from the sun for cold/warmth... perfect mass so that we can walk around on this blessed earth... perfect rotation and tilt to keep the temperature and weather in balance, for our survival... perfect atmosphere, with OXYGEN for us to breathe...NO other planets have an atmosphere that would keep us alive.
Science is amazing. New discoveries in space are thrilling. But, the solar system's design was not by chance; the bible clearly tells us this.
"He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited." Isaiah 45:18.
And the kids know this truth in their heart of hearts, which makes mine overflow with thankfulness for the Little Moments which continue to be graced upon on their learning and ever-strengthening inquisitiveness.
The kids have Astronomy notebooking activities, which coordinate with the chapters, and they include review questions, copywork, projects, etc. About half way through the reading in my cozy bed that morning, I noticed an excruciating look on my son's face.
"What is going on? " I say.
"I just can't," he barely whispers. And then, "I'm stuck in a room of SCIENCE NERDS!... and animals."
Two rodents were apparently also retrieved, when I made a dash for the Science text...
Enter hysterics and laughter x3. Heck, x4.
Little Moments.
Typically, our morning routine goes like this: The kids are up around 6-6:30. They mosey around and eat breakfast. Maybe. Some days they claim amnesia, and wait until I arrive downstairs for me to report what is available for the eating. There may be a few mini-bonding sessions around Minecraft, Rainbow Loom, or painting nails. I get up around 7:30 and shower. Sometimes. At 8am, the tv (if it's been on), and all electronics, go off and get put away. I use the 8, to 9am hour to get the laundry going, make/prep a dinner plan, unload or load the dishwasher, and make COFFEEEEEE. Between 8 and 9am, the kids are responsible for cleaning up their bedroom floors and making their beds, eating breakfast, and taking care of their pets. We're up to 6, now. Pets, that is. More pets than people, here. Tony joked tonight, that he had a brilliant idea... we will have a "Pet Release" Day... one warm and sunny day this Spring, we will venture out to a field and 'release' the mouse... guinea pig... cat... fish... well, you get the idea. The kids seemed a bit resistant to this!? They did laugh, though. It was likely out of sheer terror. Still...
Little Moments.
Last week, I noticed that the Riverview Book Club was holding book club on Thursday. I told myself that if the book up for discussion, "The Glass Castle" (which came highly recommended), was available for checkout at the library, I'd try to get it read, and go join the group for fellowship and rich conversation. In fact, there was one copy; I picked it up on Monday night. I had yet another reason to stay up too late.
I finished on Wednesday night, all the while placing sticky notes in the interesting places...
And then, about an hour prior to my leaving, Gressa
announced a belly ache.
"But Mama... you NEVER leave me when I'm sick... you are always here when I need you..."
"You're right, Gressa. If you are telling me that you are feeling so badly, that you want and need the comfort of Mama, I will stay here. But, you need to think about this, in your heart... is it that you just 'want' and 'prefer' me to stay? Or are you really feeling yucky?"
No book club for Mama.
Extra hugs, containing a content, relieved, and comforted sigh
of a 7 year old.
The genuine expression of feeling truly loved, starin' right at me.
Little Moments.
Quite frankly, I had suspected constipation rather than any illness. And, the proof of that was delivered about 20 minutes later.
Days like these, it seems I feel Jesus' very presence right behind me all the while, saying,
"Just keep going Mama. Keep on going, and I will keep giving you these Little Moments."
Keep on going... even when it's been such a long winter, that I'm a sucker for giving these growing bodies a Nutella lunch? Yep, even then. Especially then.
Deal.
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