Grateful Acres

You never know who might be impacted by what you say. Tonight I had an incredible conversation with my 3 yr old. We brought some Birthday cake to one of the Jr. highers at Daddy's youth group, and stayed through the worship time. Our pastor, Jack, shared something with the group about Jesus really being there, and encouraged them to close their eyes and really think about that during the worship time. ...and my wiggly 3 yr. old heard him. My boys have been waking up at night crying (which I think they are a little old now, for that to be a regular thing), and I've been praying and brainstorming about how to help them sleep more peacefully. In fact, I just had a conversation with my mom about it this afternoon. She suggested praying with them before bed, which I haven't been super consistent about. Sometimes, when I suspect that they will have a rough night, I will kneel at their door, with my arms spread toward each bed, and ask that God send an angel to spread it's w...

Most of these pictures are unrelated, just fall-ish :) The boys helped me bake today: Bits-n-pieces of upcoming Birthday baking: ...I love mini-pumpkins! half the height of the sunflowers! (the short one farthest to the left is the one that Henry planted in previous posts) A moment in which time seemed to stand still... the boys sat quietly together on their leggo suitcase, looking out the window and listening to music: A bouquet of the sunflowers I learned from :) Yup. Today, I learned from my sunflowers. I was feeling weary after a day of calm, consistent discipline (...for the most part?), so after dinner I excused myself to go gather some of the last crop from my garden. After gathering a handful of cherry tomatoes, peeking at my pumpkins, and plucking a few zuccini, my sunflowers greeted me rather wearily themselves. Some of them leaned wilted and tired looking against the fence, and others were face-down in the dirt. Sunflowers are interesting plants. These ar...

Tonight the boys grabbed their blankies and snuggled up next to me on the floor, in our empty room upstairs. The room was going to be Evelyn's room, but now it has morphed into a quiet, soothing place to be: we have some of our favorite antique furniture in it, and on evenings like tonight, beautiful scarlet sunsets come gently through the white sheer curtains. Jonathan laid on my left, next to the window, and Henry snuggled up on my right. In my heart I felt so blessed, so at peace, and I thought briefly of the little pink bundle that was not next to me, tucked under my arms with my other children. The thought was going to be only brief and fleeting, but Josh was sitting on our little yellow couch playing some music through his laptop for us, and he picked a song that jerked my heart a different direction. The song began talking about grief and loss, tears... and then went on, "Nothing is wasted... in the hands of our redeemer, nothing is wasted..." The song went on t...

J, having SUCH a great attitude: sick... so sweet, Henry picked this little spot next to Daddy :) watchin' a show I've been feeling this post brewing for a little while. Sometimes I feel myself taking things in, learning, processing, and I can tell when the need to write is drawing closer... I've been having attitude issues of late :( Some dear friends of mine, and my sweet husband (my closest friend!) have had some wise words for me, and God and I are working on sorting me out! My wrong-attudes have been revealed through the wave of sickness that has knocked most of our little family flat on the couch this week. Henry got it first, and though I needed to cancel EVERYTHING on my agenda (notice that phrase, "my agenda") for the next few days, it was sweet caring for him. Henry and I spent 3 whole days snuggled up on the couch together, and a handful of nights with him in his pack-n-play pushed right up against my side of the bed, with him often asking for "up...

Just a few little stories and pictures as Fall begins: Today, September 1st, the air outside had that cool, crisp feeling! The cool in the air reminded me of back-to-school shopping, and a whole lot of smells... the smell of school supplies at Kmart, the smell of cedar bark chips on the play ground, and my favorite, the smell of farmers burning their fields at the end of the crop season. All smells from fall after fall of my childhood. Now I'm watching as my kids gather little things that will be "fall" to them! Our first year canning our own pickles! I climbed up into the apple trees in my parents yard and picked a bag full of apples to turn into apple chips! (So far the boys love them even MORE than I did as a kid!) ...I love dressing my kids. And now that fall is arriving, it's time to break out the striped long-john shirts, the vests, socks and shoes in place of sandals. Henry is busting out of his vest in the picture below, and Jonathan did his ...