an abundant life

Having an ordinary, average life is such a gift.
It's really been on Jeremy & I lately that we need to teach our children to be grateful. If nothing else, it is a clear commandment of God. And then when I start to look into reasons why we should be thankful, it's so plain that our lives will be so much richer when we value all that we've been given and thank the Lord for it.
And about my three blessings: I love my children. I love the life and activity and joy that they bring to my life and our house. I love to watch them learn and play and interact.
They also wear me out sometimes. As I may have mentioned before.
Sunday, for example. We were on a bus trip to another church, probably about halfway there in the morning when Mad puked all over me. I spent an hour in soggy, smelly clothes and then had to borrow someone else's when we got to church. It was quite the deal.
Monday my children were running on fumes. I heard Finn gagging and saw that Madeira had him in a choke hold. When I barked at her to let him go, she dropped him like a hot potato, and he smacked his face on the edge of the coffee table. Finn was shrieking and dripping blood, Madeira was shrieking because she was in trouble, and River was crying because Finn was hurt. The older two grouches refused to nap. By the time supper rolled around, River was beyond help. I sent him up to his room and thank the good Lord, he fell asleep. By 6:30. Needless to say, my brain was like a bag of pudding by the end of the day.
I started reading a book in bed that night and this verse jumped out at me:
"I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." St. John 10:10
The idea of living an abundant life is what I want. In the midst of the chaos and sometimes drudgery of mothering, I want to remember that I have the Lord. My life is abundant with His grace. Everything I have is from His hand and with His thought of me.
This is the thing that I'm most thankful for right now. An abundant life. 
What are you thankful for this season?

Our thankful tree from several years ago

let them be little

Let's talk in cliches for a moment. How many times have you heard that "this is the time of your lives" or "your children grow so fast, enjoy every minute of it", etc?
So thinking about those pithy sayings, I still on occasion have a hard time letting my kids be little. (As if I have a choice.) The spills. The tantrums. The whining. The poop. The barf. The littleness.
Occasionally I dream blissfully of the days of quiet mornings, nursing a cup of coffee, reading my Bible, cleaning a house that stays clean for more than 15 minutes, spending less time trying to get stains out of little laundry. Some days I just want my kids to grow up. And I know they will. They are.

Still...
One day Madeira managed to fall out of the van when I was in a hurry to leave, of course. (The van was parked, FYI.) She was taking a bath one day. I went in to check on her and found a turd on the bathroom rug. Even she can't handle her own fecal matter. Another time she pooped on the carpet and told me she put the goods in the toilet. After I got done cleaning up the smears, River stepped on the poo that she'd hid under some doll clothes. She likes to empty her pee into the toilet herself. Commendable but there is often spillage on the floor... OK, I may be tired of the potty training process. Also she's two.
But then she redeems herself. Like the time she was accosting Finn in his walker and informed me, before I intervened, that "the poor kid is fine." She is a first rate snuggler. She LOVES to take showers (I can't even remember the last time I took a shower alone. Sniff.); she sits on the shower floor, folding and petting a washcloth. She will try just about any food. She doesn't like pop. My girl.
Thanks to the terrible twos, the boys actually seem like a cake walk right now. River tends to not take a nap, but he keeps himself pretty well entertained while the others are sleeping. I actually love his age. He sleeps by himself, pees by himself, does lots by himself and yet, he is still a gentle, kind hearted little guy. I love to watch his imagination at work - his jawbones, plus plus toys, army men, legos, playmobil, etc keep his attention for hours. Awesome.
However, when it comes to learning, he has the attention span of a gnat. And I'm going to blame this on his dad, but he's tends to fall to pieces when he thinks something is too hard. Even Jeremy admits he was probably like that... One of these days, I'll be a good cheerleader.
Finn is just a fat, sweet little chub. He doesn't sleep all night and probably won't until he's one or close to it, like the other two. I have made peace with that. A long time ago actually. However, he does not seem to have the necessary skills to suck on a bottle. He needs to learn as his bottle feeding days are swiftly approaching...
As a tween or thereabouts, I thought my mom was well on her way to insanity. This post might explain why I'm well on my way to insanity. A thousand times a day, your mind says, I love being a mom. I should have like 5 more kids. The next minute, you realize that motherhood has kicked you in the pants, and you have no idea what you're doing. This happens about 100 times a day.
The kids are good. They are bad. The kids listen. They are stubborn weasels. The kids play like angels. They fight like demons. See? God must be giving us just enough to take heart and just enough to remain humble.

 I need to better disciplined about getting up early in the morning. But at the risk of sounding like a whiny heinie, it's kind of hard after a night of interrupted sleep.

 He is all about taking an umbrella when it rains. But we live in the prairie. Rain is most frequently accompanied by violent winds. Thus the destruction of the umbrella...

And for the truly insane thought - when I look at the last two pictures, I realize I would have more kids. After all, when it's good, it's so good, I forgive and forget all the bad.

where we live

Sometimes when we travel, we pass through podunk towns and I just have to wonder about the unfortunate souls who live in that dump. What do these poor people do?!?
Then, of course, I realize that other people must wonder that when they drive through our local towns. There is a dump to welcome you into town in one place. The other one has about 3 businesses to its name - and the drive through town isn't going to wow anyone. Assuming you notice you've even passed through a "town".
But somehow we've made a good life here. We have a little house on the top of a hill in the middle of nowhere but it's a special place.
It was gutted when we got engaged so the house has grown with us. I see Jeremy's handiwork everywhere - over 100 trees planted, sheds torn down and rebuilt, the swing set built, the garden put in... I love it that the house has grown with us and shifted and changed just like our family.
We've filled the house with memories and kids. The house has given up its newness for busted light fixtures and dinged up walls and stained carpet. (None of that really gives me a thrill, to be honest.)
Here in the Midwest prairie, I found a spot that has a few gently rolling hills (if you're feeling generous anyway). I have a "view" unlike the county's northern "plain" sister.
This has been a long time in coming. I felt rudely uprooted when we left Ohio. Frankly, I never thought we would leave. Frankly, living out here never occurred to me. Frankly, it was not my choice and I hated it here - it was too flat and windy and the whole state smelled like pig poop.
It was quite an epiphany one dreary and dismal November day when I was driving down a flat country road, looking at the gray early winter landscape, to realize that this place was finally home to me. No matter how ugly and boring it was, it was where I belonged. (Transplants, take heart. I only lived here for 15 years before that happened!)

Just like me and my attitude...the house from what she was to what she is...

 Are you scared yet? The house was left vacant for about a year, I think, before Jeremy bought it and gutted it. Then it sat for a little while longer while he helped his brother build his house. The sad face of neglect here...

I love the little poser in this picture...much more than the transformation. And I love that a lot.

Hello, home.

The sign of promise - the Lord has blessed us here.

warren dunes

This year we acquired a camper. Jeremy was adamant that we actually USE it so we planned a little trip up to Warren Dunes with Matthew & Jodi & kids.
The last time we were up there was 5 years ago, in the middle of a roasting July. (Disclaimer: it was still a great trip.) Going in September made for perfect camping weather - cold enough for coffee in the morning and evening and warm enough for beach and outdoor time during the day.

 Surprise! Found a flat tire when we pulled into our campsite.

 Jeremy's craigslist camping table. Yes, he is proud of it.

 Our site was right beside the campground and the bathrooms. :)

 Making Mountain Man's Breakfast one morning. It was a hit!

 She was digging this trike. She needed a push every now and then but did pretty well riding herself.

 That girl in the pink pants? She's Miss Bossy. I believe she's telling the boys they shouldn't throw sand...notice the sand throwing in the background?

 Teacher Jodi having the kids girls make people and animals from found nature objects.

 The beach was empty (yes!), and the water was cold but the kids didn't seem to mind. To be fair, the water was cold at nearly all the places I took the kids swimming this summer, so they were probably used to it.

 River's collection of "shells".

 Sand, sand everywhere...

It should come as a surprise to no one that when Mr. Social hits up the beach, he finds someone to talk to. So he met a man who was sand boarding on the dunes, and he let Jeremy and the kids use his board.

 Trying to fly kites at the beach. It was not really windy enough.

 Finally got it up in the air.

 Finally. A nap after a busy day on the beach.

 Poor little guy. Some lady went by our site and said that "her" seat was so cute! Does he look even a little bit like a girl?!?! No, he does not.

 This fence made a handy clothesline.

 Prepping hobo dinners.

 Ingenius or lazy? Using a roasting stick to propel the lady when needed...

 I don't believe I mentioned that spare also needed fixed...

I did not stem from a family of campers. I recall camping the year Wes was a baby (89!) at Mohican with another family. We tent camped and he must not have liked his bed made from a box because it seemed like he cried all night. Then we went to Turkey Run years later (94?) and it rained. A lot. We didn't go after that.
So I wasn't really sure how this whole camping this was going to work out, me being a novice and all. But we had so much fun, I'm planning trips for next year. :) Wanna come?