Joy in the Journey

This song has been resonating with me this week

2011-07-21T11:39:00.002-05:00

(Pause the music below so you can hear the music in this video)

The story behind this song is just as powerful, you can see it on youtube here.

This week is sweet and sorrowful...

2011-07-20T13:55:00.005-05:00

We're super excited to welcome home two new friends and cousins this week! Joshua will be arriving tonight and we can't wait to meet him :). Then on Friday, we welcome sweet Lily Liu. We have been praying so much for these families - trying our best to love them home from afar. So, we are SOOOOO excited that we will actually be able to meet them this week.

Saturday morning we'll get up early, drive to Glen Carbon (near St. Louis) and attend the funeral of my two little nieces. Andrew's brother Nathan and his wife Michelle were 30 weeks along, expecting twins. Michelle was in the hospital so they could keep a closer eye on the twins (one was a bit bigger than the other). Saturday night they did a sonogram and everything was fine. Sunday at 3pm they did another sonogram and couldn't find a heartbeat...not one. Nathan and Michelle are not new to this awful pain - they lost their first blessing 2 years ago April. The twins, Brooklyn & Amelia will be buried near big sister Cassandra.

4 children, 4 blessings from the Lord. 2 redeemed, coming home, 2 at HOME to stay. The thing is, it's easy to see how Jesus has worked to bring Joshua and Lily home, but to recognize that He is no less at work with Brooklyn and Amelia....it's just hard. Yet we know that even though our hearts break and their deaths seem so wrong, this Truth is no less true. God is still on the throne.
the LORD gave , and the LORD hath taken away ; blessed be the name of the LORD. Job 1:21b

Operation Laundry room - completed!

2011-03-18T15:15:00.007-05:00

It's been a crazy few weeks, but the new laundry room/mudroom is finished and I LOVE it!! Here are a few pics (look here for before and during pics):

First, the new Living room/Library:
I never liked our front "living room," I just felt like it was 12x17 of wasted space - half living room/half schoolroom, constant mess because the kids took it over to do stuff in and that drove me nuts!!! Now it's 12x11.5 - perfect for a more cozy library space. Andrew and I moved all our bookcases in and I just really love how it turned out. So far kids have done a pretty good job putting away books when they're done with them and since only books are in there, I think it's easier for them to keep it pretty clean.

Finally...drum roll please...the new laundry/mudroom:Love, love, love this space. We have an awesome place for our shoes/coats/backpacks to land, I have more cabinets (and since I have a small kitchen, that's huge) and of course laundry is now down on the main floor :) !! Here are a couple closer views - First, walking in further, I love how I can fit my laundry hampers (we use tall hampers) under the counter on laundry day, I've got a spot to hang shirts, and everything (at least now) fits in nice neat spaces so nothing has to be left sitting out. When I walk in further, turn around and shut the door, you see the pic on the right. A place for everything and everything in its place (happy sigh).

Remodeling :)

2011-02-21T17:21:00.010-06:00

The last week has been a whirlwind of activity around here. Besides our regular activities, we went to Springfield & our big remodeling project got started :). About 5 years ago, I first drew up some plans for creating a main floor laundry/mudroom, but there were other things we wanted to do around the house, etc, so the plans got put away. A month+ ago, I pulled the drawings back out and after Andrew and I talked it over, we contacted a realtor (thanks Andrea :) ) and contractor (thanks Chad :) ), and we decided to go for it! I'm so excited!!...and I'm not the only one - our kids keep telling everyone we see that our house is under construction :). The project won't be done for another 2 weeks or so, but I've been asked for pics, so without further adieu, here are some before pics and mid construction pics.
First, the back entry by the kitchen:

This area has bugged me for quite some time. During the winter we knock the coats off the walls when we go downstairs. And of course, since we take our shoes off when we walk in the door, all 6 of us trying to take our shoes off in this 3x3 space is a bit like a clown car scene, only with the added of challenge of making sure no one ends up getting knocked down the stairs.

The back entry now:

Eventually, after the currently gray wall is plastered and painted, lockers will line the first 4 ft, then the washer and dryer with cabinets above, then an L shaped countertop along the back wall with more cabinets above.

Now, of course, the space for this new laundry/mudroom had to come from somewhere, and that somewhere was the front living room. A room that I have always felt was mostly wasted space (since we also have a family room). So here is the living room before & after:

Yep, definitely smaller - can you tell the bay window was moved over...1 1/2 ft!

So, there you have it. Noah Herman and Sons is doing the work for us and thus far I've been extremely pleased with their professionalism and how they have worked so hard to contain the messes that have been made. The plaster guys come tomorrow and then I get to paint (I actually enjoy painting - it's a job around the house that actually stays done once I do it :) ). It's getting awfully exciting around here!

Where were you on Tuesday?

2011-02-18T15:18:00.018-06:00

The e-mails were coming fast and furious...a homeschool bill had been proposed to add regulations to Illinois homeschoolers (SB 136). People were full of questions - What did the bill say? What could we do? Write e-mails to senators? Check. Call offices of senators on the education committee? Check. Rumors the bill had been dropped...no, it's still moving forward. When is the bill going before committee? Tuesday the 15th?!? But we just heard about it on the 10th!!!

Finally I got this e-mail: We are encouraging all homeschooling families who can come, to gather in Springfield next Tuesday to stand for freedom.

I prayed...I talked to Andrew...should we go? Driving to Springfield with my 4 young children, trying to find a parking place (ha!) and making our way to the Capitol building while Andrew was at work was no small deal in my mind. But it just felt important. Our kids needed to see first hand that freedom is worth fighting for. On Monday we decided to go. I put the address into our TomTom (thanks M&B!), downloaded a couple Springfield maps onto my IPod, talked to/prepared our kids, set out clothes and we were ready.

We were not expecting what we found in Springfield:

4000 Homeschoolers were there!!!! Obviously we weren't the only ones who thought this was a big deal :)! The security guards told us that there had never been a group this large show up for a hearing of anything before. We stood outside for more than an hour waiting to get in. Once we finally got through the metal detectors and made our way upstairs, we were greeted by this:

Amazing! Eventually, we made our way to the room where the hearing was being held. The room could only hold 100 people, so there was no way we could all fit inside, but it was requested that the doors to the meeting room be kept open so there could be a chance people outside the room could hear. The word quickly got passed to be quiet and I never could have imagined that 4000 people (including children of all ages) could get quiet so quickly...and STAY quiet for 2 1/2 hours, but we did it, and the capital security guards told us how impressed they were with the quiet respectful behavior of our group :). Unless you were there, you just can't accurately picture how inspiring it was to walk the halls and see 1000's of people, all with one goal, to educate their children to the best of their ability. Some people were whispering, some were praying, some children were quietly playing games, some were curled up with books, or doing homework, and some little ones were sleeping.

As the hearing was taking place, I tried to lean forward and hear, but it was just impossible, the hearing room was long and narrow and the doors were at the back, so I had to be happy to hear little bits of info (I happened to be standing by a husband whose wife was in the room and they were texting each other) that got passed along occasionally like, "One of the senators just said she couldn't imagine why anyone would want to spend that much time with their children." (I'm being serious) At the end of the day, the senators decided not to vote and we all left a little disheartened that it seemed like they weren't listening to us, but at the same time I was incredibly encouraged by the sheer number of people who took the time to be in Springfield to stand with us that day.

Yesterday we got word that the bill was tabled (essentially it's dead for the time being) and we are praising God for this good news! Unfortunately, we also heard that Senator Maloney has not given up on the idea, he basically wants some time to package it differently. So, I'll stay ready for more emails and trips to Springfield, if that's what it takes. In the mean time, I'll leave you with a video - before the hearing started there was no chanting, no yelling, no rally cries, or demands for our rights, instead, the Capitol building was treated to this: (make sure you pause my music at the bottom so you can hear it :) )

A HUGE shout out to fellow homeschooler Rosie Siebenthal who was awesome enough to email me the pics!!!

Serving God in the every day...

2011-01-14T12:13:00.004-06:00

I don't know about you, but I all too often think that in order to being doing something for God that counts, it needs to be a BIG thing. God has tried to teach me that He wants me in the every day, but I have kind of a thick skull. Thankfully God is patient with me and gives me gentle reminders every once in a while. Today He gave me another beautiful glimpse of the joy in following and serving in all those small ways that no one sees but Him.

Every other week, my kids and I go to Restmor with a few other homeschooling families and walk back to the dementia wing. What we're doing sure doesn't look or feel earth shattering - we play games, talk, do crafts, laugh, bake.

Today while we were playing and doing crafts, I looked over at the activities director - she had a tear in her eye. When she saw me watching her, she came over and said, "Do you see the lady over there? She has spent the last couple weeks in her room, crying. She wouldn't interact with anyone. Her quality of life has not been good and yet look at her! Today, she is playing with your daughter and she is smiling & even laughing!"

She looked around and turned my attention to another older lady, "Lately, we haven't been able to convince her to leave her room for more than 5 minutes at a time, and then she would just get agitated and upset. Today she has been playing with your son for 45 minutes. 45 minutes!"

She looked at me and with a heart that was obviously filled with gratitude said, "It's just so good that you guys are here."

God is so awesome! I am so thankful that He takes pleasure in my service right where He has me...in my imperfection...in my weakness...in the every day.