blueberries

We went blueberry picking at ira cline farm last weekend. The farm is a couple of miles from the house. they have yummy strawberries in may and loads of blueberries in july.

davis doesn't really love blueberries. he prefers the flecks that resemble blueberries in muffin mix. i let lane taste a blueberry when we started picking and he spit it out. then he realized they were yummy and ate blue and purple and green blueberries off of the bushes the rest of the time we were there. luckily, he did not have a stomachache later.

it didn't take long at all to fill a box. after about 15 minutes, davis was done 'helping' and lane was steadily eating, so joel and i picked quickly. we picked 4 quarts. they were really sweet!

this past week we have enjoyed blueberry muffins (lots of blueberry muffins), blueberry pancakes and blueberry yum-yum. i must say, i am a little blueberried out. we still have plenty left over for freezing, so don't worry.

ellen went picking with us, but dozed in the stroller the whole time. here is a current picture of her after her two month dr. appt. with my little pony band-aids from her shots. she is really a big girl. very smiley and squiggly. notice the very cute cutesy cloth onesie:

life is good

ellen is two months old! time has flown. she has been such an easy baby, it is unbelievable. she is starting to be more aware of her surroundings. when the boys are around she gets excited- moving her arms and legs. a couple of times she has cried when we all leave the room. i don't think she knows what to do when it is quiet in this house. it has been fun to dress her in pretty things. girl clothes are so different. how to organize the bloomers and skirts and matching hats? not much of a dilema, but a dilema none the less.

davis is enjoying swim lessons, he already thinks that he can swim- so he mainly just shows his teacher his new "tricks" that he can do in the water. he is getting so big. i am really enjoying him being four. joel cut d's hair yesterday and it is short, but cute.

lane is really growing up. i think he is so fun. he is at the age where when he is having a good time, it is great, but when he is having a hard time- look out! he is talking a little more everyday. his two favorite things to say are "oh, yeah" and "ooh, cool."

joel's mom came to visit this past week. it was so good to have her here. my close friend, renee and her family moved to ohio last weekend. i am so very sad to see her go, but excited for what God has in store for them. i am enjoying a summer Bible study on the psalms that my friend lee is leading. i really am seeking the Lord for what He is doing around me and what He wants to do thru me- and this makes my heart excited.

honey, honey

How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Psalm 119:103

I was talking to my friend, lee about spending time in the Word, and i am not sure how, but we ended up on this subject. lee said she has known people that eat something that they really enjoy, chocolate for example, everytime they are in the Word. when they eat this treat, it causes them to desire the Word or brings to mind what they have learned from it. (lee is a lot better at articulating this, by the by.) she also knows of a family that the mom makes a sweet for family devotional times, so that the kids will associate the Word of God with a sweet, desirable thing.

one thing i remember, (the only thing i remember) from psyc. 101 my first quarter at tech- it was at 8 in the morning and i slept a majority of the time and made a D, but that is another subject for another time- is the teacher saying that if you eat doritos when you study for a test, that you would do better on the test if you eat doritos while taking it. could this apply to our study of the Word?

i heard ray vanderlaan speak about jewish children going to school in israel. he said some teachers place a piece of wax paper in front of the kids, then pour a bit of honey there. after the children are asked to taste it, they are told how much sweeter God's Word is. i love the picture, and i want to and i want my kids to desire the Word more than anything else this world can offer.

if we take the Word for what it says, we should savor it, enjoy it, endulge in it. this is my desire. i won't be disappointed, i'm sure.

do any of you do this or have any thoughts? just curious.

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Psalm 19:7-10

things i've been enjoying lately...

of course we have been enjoying ellen! she is six weeks old today. happy birthday to her!

flowers from my boys for no reason. if we were rich, i would have flowers in every room. thank goodness that we aren't rich, so i can enjoy getting them from my boys. :) thanks, joel.

these skinny cow fudge bars are so yummy. they are small, but just the right size. i think that it is funny that a serving size is two fudge bars. if you eat just one, you feel like you have some major self-discipline. and that would be true.

if i have to scrub the tub, i may as well like the cleaner, eh? i really like this, and it is safe around the kiddos, which is why i bought it. i am having mixed feelings about my renewed ability to scrub the tub- glad that i can bend and reach to do it, but then again, wait a minute, i have to clean the tub. (thanks, joel for cleaning it for me until now)

chet told me about these a long time ago. graham cracker, cool whip, graham cracker. stick them in the freezer. yummy. i could eat this whole plate full in a day. not as bad for me as a box of donettes in one sitting , which is what we call post-natal progress.

i REALLY love this body polish from crabtree & evelyn. they have it in lots of flavors. i also have the mint, fennel and ivy flavor and like it a lot. the india hicks spider lily flavor is my very favorite. i love everything they have in this line of products. very summery beachy. too bad i am not at the beach right now. (last week, after using

this stuff, davis touched my arm and said 'mom, your arm is smoove.' we should do commercials.)

joel and i are memorizing philippians 2:5-11. our pastor, ray, has challenged us to do it. i am not enjoying that joel is better at memorizing it than me.

Philippians 2
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

the spacing on this post is driving me crazy, but my brain is to frizzled to fix it. sorry to any ocd readers out there.

new normal

i love ellen being here with us! our time together has been so sweet. i love summer and laid back evenings and eating dinner outside on the deck. having ellen here really causes me to slow down and enjoy life.

i have been doing well- so thankful to be feeling like myself again. i am amazed at the abundance of life i see in my kids everyday. God is so good to us. He has been teaching me a couple of things and i will share them, because i don't want to forget them.

first, to parent well. i really feel like i have a right to MY time- where do i get this idea? (now, i know we have to have time to take care of ourselves, etc. but that is not what i am talking about) i feel frustrated when the kids want me to do things with them or when they interrupt me when i am on the computer. i have mastered the art of parenting from the couch, never really engaging my kids and not being fully present. this is so wrong! jesus' example spurs me on to give myself fully to my family and give up my "rights".

second, to REALLY pray for joel and my kids. my friend vicki has challenged me in the past by saying "If you aren't praying for joel and your kids, who is?" God has given them to me- it is my responsibility to lift them up to Him. (a quick shout out to our praying parents, yo. we are thankful for you!) i have neglected to fight spiritual battles for joel and my boys in prayer. this has to change.

davis is doing well. he is such a funny guy.

-he makes up words all of the time. when challenged as to whether or not they are real words, he tells me they ARE real - in spanish.

-when i was wearing joel's shirt last night to tuck the boys in, davis said i looked like daddy, only with long hair and a different head.

-he is really into star wars. i get to play princess lea on a daily basis. lane is always yoda.

-he is constantly telling a "story" about him being a grown up with made up characters and situations. if he tells a 'tall tale' about something that has happened, and i say that it isn't true, he says, oh, mom- it is true in my story.

lane is getting so big. i used to think that davis was strong-willed. then lane turned 1 1/2. (hello, james dobson, if you are reading this, we could use your help. thank you.)

-he has turned into a big boy since ellen has come. he is bigger and smarter. i can't get over it.

-he doesn't say much at all, but he knows a lot. he is a lot more aware of things than we give him credit for. he likes to use this to manipulate us, in a sweet almost-2 year old way.

-he loves to play water guns outside and spray himself right in the face and then laugh and laugh.

-his favorite things are lightning mcqueen and diego. (or a - go, as he is known here at the parker house)

ellen is so sweet!

-she likes to eat! she is a good nurser, for which i am very thankful.

-she has slept for 7 hour stretches a couple of nights. we are hoping that this is the trend.

-she loves her brothers. they are at her beck and call- constantly bringing her passeys and toys to play with.

-she has been wearing lots of her cousin stahley's clothes. i tell you, that stahley has great taste!

-she has started giving the sweetest smiles, exactly when i need them. she is already an encourager. (she is really spiritual that way- even at one month old)

wow, this is long. thanks for tuning in.

four years

our davis turned four last week. now, finally, he is a grown up. (according to him, anyway). for the longest time he has talked about all of the things that would be different when he turned 4. a sampling: he would like green beans and other healthy things when he turned four (this is my child that stated that cool ranch doritos were the vegetable kind of chips), he would be a grown up like daddy when he turned four. the morning of his birthday he let joel know that he had rethought the green bean thing.

our sweet friends threw him a party on sunday night. he had the best time. they bought him lots o' guns, water guns, primarily. he told julia that he wanted a gun party, and he got it! he really needed the guns, because he only had 3 and clearly that is not enough. WE HEART THE GRUVERS!

then on monday davis and joel spent the morning together in the great outdoors. they had a ball fishing and throwing rocks in the water and various other adventures. i love that both joel and davis are adventurous!

that night, we went to chuck e cheese. not my first choice, but i just couldn't do a party less than two weeks after the csection. davis is not a huge fan of chuck e., but he and lane, eef and gab had a great time. we love our sweet friends, the greenes. we wish that they would live here forever and ever, but for some reason, God wants them in ohio. we have had some disscusions about this, God and i.

i enjoy davis so much. i really never thought that i would love being with my kids as much as i do. he constantly makes me laugh, he is so thoughtful of others, he is a leader, and a real loon, just like his mom and dad. i am confident that the Lord has big plans for him. these past four years have not been easy, but they sure have been wonderful. thanks, Lord, for my sweet boy.

party of five

just a quick update. we are doing well- ellen is so sweet. she is such a good baby, eating well, sleeping pretty well and she stays busy sleeping and making me give her millions of kisses. joel is so good to me, such a help and support. i love watching him with his sweet girl. she really has him smitten, even from day one.

the boys are so good with her. they have been great- definitely an answer to prayer. i am over my emotional new baby craziness and back to my normal craziness. i am blessed to have had joel's mom here to help in the early days, and now my mom and dad here to help with getting adjusted to normal, whatever that is. i am so thankful for them!!

thanks for your prayers and sweet comments. i so appreciate them!