Liberty

Last week Liberty crossed over into her 5th month of life and I've just been hankerin' to share this precious little gem of a girl child. I am so sad today that you aren't getting your hands on her Karin Abbott cause Lord knows you'd be droppin by to squeeze her & tell her how much Jesus loves her & what super plans He must have for her- I can hear you saying that to Jed & Abby as babies. And Kristen, baby hood just isn't as sweet without your girls ooohing & awing & holding & coddling in their precious way ...those little mama's your raising in Halle & Maia. So, although I am writing for those who do keep up with our fam through this cool blog thing, I guess tonight this ones for those Wenatchee gals that I said goodbye to 2 years ago & just haven't been quite as alive & free since & full since our parting.

Here's my Liberty. My baby woman so full of genteness, with eyes that gleam a sweet knowing, with little fingers that grasp my thumb each morning & evening as we lay in my bed & nurse, her toey's twitching against my thigh, her softness next to me speaking a language only mothers & daughters can comprehend.

And here is her big sister who glories each day in this gift of a sister God has given to her! She delights in this baby child & "reads" to her & speaks in that sweet oochie goochie voice & says the EXACT same things I say to her! Man is she learning about mothering or what!?! Lord, just please let her forget my super bad days!

Hat's off to little girls & new life & the sin that God has rescued us from in Christ- the ways he daily liberats us to be the men & women he created us to be in this world for his glory. My need for a savior is daily aparent to me. I am so thankful for Jesus. Truly, it is for FREEDOM Christ set us free, therefore, dear ones, let us STAND firm and not be bound again by a yoke of slavery.

Oh, that we would lift our hands to the moon, close our eyes and twirl basking in our Fathers undeserved unconditional LOVE for us, with us, chasing us, hunting us down every day.

Freedom to create

This past weekend our family took a big ole' road trip. My man was headed to Raleigh to see U2 and we decided to make it a family trip & see some old friends who were gracious enough to host us, let us eat their food & sleep in their beds & sleeping bags. It was sweet to see our kids bond. My man took an extra day off work so we could enjoy the Marbles mesuem in Raleigh as a family on Friday. Endless creative, imaginative play at this place if ever your in the area.

As I have returned to my own home, unpacked, done laundry & recouped from the adventure my heart has been so full after recieving the gift of being in the Morrison, Moon & Cobb households. It is rare to get to be a part of 3 different families lives within 4 days. Their was such uniqueness in each home & this week I have been reminded how I as the woman of my home have the freedom to make this place- my home- my sphere of influence- what I desire it to be through my creative touches & unique sense of beauty & style but also through my heart attitudes. I am reminded that the ones around me draw from my state of presence- pouty or peaceful presence- hurried & anxty or relaxed & gracefulness.

How thankful I am to get to share lifes journey with friends who are in a similar season of raising children. Today I am living grateful for Anna & Scott, Julian, Madelyn, Kalen & Brayden....Catherine & Steven, J.P., Luke & Anna...Angela & Jay & Ava. Your a blessing to us!

Habits

7. Never give a command that you do not intend to see carried out to the full.

"by and by, when he is old enough, take the child into confidence; let him know what a noble thinkg it is to be a ble to make himself do, ina minute, and brightly , the very thing he would rather not do. To secure this habit of obedience, the mother must exercise great self-restraint; she must never give a command which she does not intend to see carried out to the full. And she must not lay upon her children burdens, grievous to be borne, of command heaped upon command." (Vol. 1, p. 164)

Laying Down the Rails a Charlotte Mason handbook by Sonya Shafer

How often I do this! Give tooo many commands & over burden my little ones. Or I ask a child to do a simple task, "Put the crayons in the pail" and I busy myself with something else or keep prodding him or am just so caught up in something else & want to avoid conflict that I move on.

This book has been mentioned by many that I respect the past year & I finally found a sweet friend who had it & was willing to share. So here I am diving in & I just appreciate the way it is
already bringing light to some things that are frustrating me in daily life & giving some teaching & direction for my mind to mull over & implement with my children.


"As you read Charlotte's thoughts on habits, may you be encouraged and motivated anew to lay down the rails of good habits upon which your child can run well into the future!"

Today...

I am thankful.
I am choosing to give thanks instead of grumble.
My heart leans toward the later these days as I feel homesick for souls out of my reach.
So, today I am bundling the hurt and letting Jesus lead my eyes to rest on gifts which I can give thanks.

I am thankful

for my husband who brought me coffee in the bedroom this morning.
for disposable diapers cause I can't imagine doing cloth this go round.
for a sister who has great taste & passes on her kids cute clothes.
for a trampoline some killer friends gave us because my sons jumped like mad & laughed their hearts out after a full morning of books & art.
for my God who listened as I whispered, "I can't" this morning & he ushered in with, "No, but I can."
for a homemade granola recipe that is simple to make & just filled my hungry nursing body.
for Susan Wise Bauer using her gifts to write an excellent language arts book because today I learned just what a helping verb really is.
for Sam who exuberates with life & love & beauty & loves my kids too & enjoys being with them when James & I want to go out on a date- tonight!
for a Mama who calls to tell me she loves me in her busy days.
for this happy alert baby woman by my side who squels at me & laughs & has the most beautiful blue eyes I've ever seen.

Raising Readers

I read The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease this summer and highly recomend it. Not only is there a huge list of good books with a descriptions & age range & number of pages but his research is well done. Here is a bit from the book...

In 1985, the Commission issued its report, Becoming a Nation of Readers. It is, in my opinion, the most important and commonsense education document in twenty-five years. Among its primary findings, two simple declarations rang loud and clear:

"The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children.

The Commission found conclusive evidence to support the use of reading aloud not only in the home but also in the classroom: "It is a practice that should continue throughout the grades."

What the experts were saying was that reading aloud was more important than worksheets, homework, assessments, book reports, and flash cards.

One reason my husband and I have chosen this home schooling lifestyle is to nurture our childrens natural love of learning things and this is best done with plenty of time and space to explore BOOKS- places, people, soccer, yes star wars too!, animals, why we only see the stars at night, keeping a bee hive. EmilyDickinson said it so well...

# 1263

There is no frigate like a Book

To take us Lands away

Nor any Coursers like a Page

Of prancing Poetry-

This Traverse may the poorest take

Without oppress of Toll-

How frugal is the Chariot

That bears the Human soul.

Emily Dickenson c.1873

With a 7, 4, 3 & 3 month old I am still in the throws myself of some hard squirmy days while reading or fusses about who gets to sit beside Mom or "she took my..." so do not for a second begin to picture me peacefully reading to my kids all day & wonder why it is so hard for you. I'm learning & messing up & keepin' on going just like most of you are in different areas of your life.

But, I must say that I am seeing progress. Today after reading a chapter of Henry Huggins- a chapter book about a boy and his dog while I thought Jed was in his own world with his lego man beside me, he protested adimantly when I closed the book at the end of that chapter & was moving on to read History with Joshua. And Abby, she is totally in love with Clara in the Nutcracker. We have a shortened version- still about 20 pages with beautiful illustrations- and when I tell her to pick any book and I will read it- well, I better be ready to really read cause that is what she chooses & buddy she knows if I skip the littlest part!

Charlotte Mason has taught me a lot about learning to choose what she called living books. She taught me how we 'dumb down' stuff for kids & called this twaddle. I urge you to take a look at your books & see if they have real sentences with thoughts and ideas.

This school year I am working through Rebecca Manor's Teaching Character through Literature.

You can find this at http://www.bfbooks.com/. There is a reading list with discussion questions- short- but helps you bring the meat out of it.

Other resources that I've gleaned from in this area.

Honey for a Child's Heart by Gladys Hunt

Who should We Then Read? by Jan Bloom

The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease

This is us at night. Each child has a good reading light and a book basket at the end of their bed. They get to look at books, read, make up stories about the pictures they see-what ever you want to call it, but THEY are in direct contact with books by themselves. It helps to wind them down at the end of the day. Just sharing some of what I've learned & am learning. Be blessed today, curl up & enjoy some good books with someone you love.

Rock a Bye Time

Jane came to drink hot tea & eat dessert & chat with us young women several years ago.

We invited her to come, us young pups in the throws of dirty diapers & new marriages, all

humbled enough to know we could use to glean some insight from an older lady who had been

around the block a few times.

I can still see the room, see her sitting peaceful & glowing, calm & contented like sharing her story with us. In a nut shell, after 2 kids & living the good ole' American life- with great jobs & a big house & mula for stuff & fun each month she & her husband started asking the question...What are we doing? ...Is this suppost to be the 'good' life cause were not really happy? After lots of searching their own hearts & asking hard questions they ended up adopting several children- over the course of several years.

Some of the children had suffered from neglect and came to them first as foster parents. I had never heard true stories of this & my little safe bubble was horrified to learn of her child who screamed at the sight of flies. Why? Because locked in a bedroom for a long, long time, she was starving & to live she ate flies. She was only a child and haunted by the memories.

From a nice, happy life with 2 healthy kids, lots of evenings out with her man & time for herself to a bustling home with lots of children & choosing to school some of them at home.

We asked the question...something like this- What advice do you wish an older woman would of given you in these exhausting days we are in of raising little children? What words are on your heart concerning young mothers?

She then told lots of stories of what she came to call "Rock a Bye Time." Whether it was a toddler or a young school kid or one of her teenagers she spoke about how time sitting down in her rocking chair close to her children effected them...and her. About how it effected the tone of her home, how it built bridges, how it softened hearts, how it soothed anger and put a dab of ointment on wounds she probably didn't even know about.

Lately, I have been thankful for how feeding a baby slows one down. As I sit in my own rocking chair these days, I am rarely alone. Not just one on my lap but yes, today all three big kids were sitting with me in the chair. The music was turned on to dance after our full morning of books & table time & cleaning up a bit & reciting our verse for the week in front of the wipey board we turned on the music to dance but my feet were tired & my eyes were too so I slumped in my rocking chair and my son put on one of their favorite dance tunes....only instead of dancing little feet scampered over & climbed up on the arms of the rocking chair. I felt soft cheeks resting on my arms. Then even my almost 8 year old boy stood in front of me with a little soft grin, "Is there room for me?"

Dear mother, where do you find your self today? Overwhelmed by _____, stressed out from ______, discouraged by______. A baby that is fussy, a toddler that has more energy than you can handle, the thot of feeding everyone something healthy tonight? We all have something to fill in that blank. Don't let the enemy fool you that SHE has it all together. Whatever IT may be can I challenge you or better yet us to linger more in the rocking chair than in the grumy slumps of "I have soooo much to do" martyr mode. Yes, I have been there too lately. Somehow, rock a bye time has had a way of letting priorities come more into focus for me and my cup is fuller during these demanding days rather than empty. It is a process, sure.

But for today, there is a song in my heart & a slight grin on my face & a thankful attitude for the way the Holy Spirit has reminded me of Janes story recently & her words from over 4 years ago.

Who could use a little rock a bye time in your home today?

Raising the Cowboy

Little boys...who understands them? I am entering new phases with my little man cubs & I'm not really sure if I'm raising them well some days. John Eldridge's book The Way of the Wild Heart is giving insight & courage & understanding these days.

Here is a bit from the chapter about raising the cowboy...which is what I have two of!
cowboy stage is through age 13...

You have a strength, and it is needed. When a man feels that to be true of him, he rises up and engages like a man. As a boy begins to become a young man, there are some key issues at stake. He needs to know he possesses a genuine strength, and he needs to know that strength is ultimately for others. There is a bravery that must be cultivated in him, for it will be called upon in every other stage of his life. Adventure comes into play to develop the masculine soul, because adventure calls us out, requires us to be something we want to be but aren't sure we are. Adventure nourishes and strengthens a man's heart in ways that cannot be fully articulated, must be experienced.

As I explained in Wild at Heart, adventure is a spiritual longing set in the heart of every man. Notice that in the tales told in Scripture, whenever God gets hold of a man he takes that man into an adventure of the first order. Abraham, called out of Ur, to follow this God to a land he has never seen, never to return. Jacob, wrestling with God in the wilderness in the dead of night. Peter, called out of the boat to Christ in a raging storm.