Trying to get back to blogging

I have been so thankful for all God has given us and the wonderful town we are living in now. We do miss Santa Cruz so much though and are hoping to get back to visit sometime soon. Living there for over 15 years made an impact on all of our lives.

I am currently taking a 31 Day challenge to not spend anything on non-essentials. Here is a blog entry on the topic: http://www.livingwellspendingless.com/2012/09/30/31-days-challenge-ground-rules/

God is so good to us! We have a beautiful home and our children are healthy! I am so thankful that we can homeschool. I took a position as a Supervising Teacher with Horizon Charter Schools in the Fall of 2012 and have been loving every minute. I have wonderful families and I love homeschooling my own children. Emily graduated early last year and has been working on her music. She has posted some of her songs on YouTube and sounds incredible! I am so proud of her. She is also on the Worship Team at our local church. She is awesome and the Lord has blessed her incredibly!  I am homeschooling 5 this year and feel incredibly blessed to be homeschooling!

Sarah is an avid reader and incredibly talented in music and dance. It seems she can learn any type of music and dance just by observation alone. I can't wait to see her perform in her first competition in April.

Hannah is also incredibly talented in music, drama, and dance. Her and Sarah are taking Highland Dance regularly and will compete in April for the first time. Hannah is also incredibly talented in music and has a beautiful voice.

Jonathan is very interested in science and is incredibly talented. He loves to do experiments on his own and hopes to become a scientist someday.

Sophie is also an avid dancer in Highland Dance and also plays the piano. She plays so beautifully and also sings wonderfully as well.

Joshua is still interested in insects and loves to play with them. He is in Kindergarten this year and is advancing well in reading and mathematics as well.

We can hardly believe our youngest one is 3! Eliana is such a joy to us all. We all love her so much!

We hope to have more children, but rest in the plans that God has for us.

We love you all! Please keep in touch!

Children: How many is too many?

This is a great post from a blog I read regularly. Check it out ;)
Large Family Mothering: Should we put a limit on children?: We talk big, but our actions reveal the truth. Armed and dangerous? Confident in our promise of heaven after death, we fill our minds with...

L is for the way you look tonight...

My awesome hubby and I got to go to an absolutely fabulous Valentines Banquet at our church. The entertainment was awesome ;) I'm not biased at all. Check it out here!
Emily is on the left. Let me know what you think!

Seeking His Face

I am reading Jesus Calling by Sarah Young. It is a devotional that has been on my list to get since I heard about it on Klove a few months ago. It is absolutely wonderful. God is stirring my heart to long for Him and His Presence through this little devotional and teaching me how to have a dialog and not just a monolog with Him as I seek His face every morning. For a little taste, here is the devotion from Feb. 5:

     "Seek My Face, and you will find not only My Presence but also My Peaace. To receive My Peace, you must change your grasping, controlliing stance to one of openness and trust. The only thing you can grasp without damaging your soul is My hand. Ask My Spirit within you to order your day and control your thoughts, for the mind controlled by the Spirit is Life and Peace.
     You can have as much of Me and My Peace as you want, through theousands of correct choices each day. The most persistent choice you face is whether to trust Me or to worry. You will never run out of things to worry about, but you can choose to trust Me no matter what. I am an ever-present help in trouble. Trust Me, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea."

Scripture is in Italics throughout each day and there are also verse references. God has been doing incredible things lately and I will be posting as things progress, but my prayer each day is for God to "control my thoughts and order my day" and He is faithful to do just that! I challenge you to do the same. We can all get so caught up in our busy lives, but if we just stop and take a breath and ask God to order our days in the way He wants them to go it focuses us on Him instead of the craziness of our hectic lives. He'll exchange our heavy burden for His much lighter one as we focus on Him!

90 Day Fast from Email, Phone, and Social Media

Do you ever wonder if you could take a 90 fast from all the technology in your life? What would your life be like? Would you gain hours you never knew you had? Would you increase the quality in your personal relationships because you would actually be paying full, 100% attention to the person talking to you in person? Read this enlightening article by someone who did this and let me know if you are challenged to do the same! I know I am and so is my 16 year old daughter! It would be fun to keep track of the pros and cons.

I Love My Life

Sometimes I feel sorry for myself. Do you ever do that? Do you ever start thinking thoughts like "why is my life so hard?" or "why don't I have enough time to even finish reading a good book?" But, then I have to remember my pink bracelet from Nancy Campbell. It says "I am above Self Pity" I ALWAYS wear it to remind myself to NOT have self pity! Nancy gave it to me at my last Above Rubies Retreat last Oct. and I think it was sent from God. This is a weakness of mine... to fall into self pity. And yet, I have sooooo much to be thankful for! What is wrong with me? Why do I always feel sorry for myself when the going gets rough? It is definitely a weakness that I want to overcome.

So, I am here to profess...I love my life! It is just what I have always wanted! Since I was a little girl I always dreamed of marrying a blonde surfer dude. Guess what? I got him! I always dreamed of having at least four children...guess what? I have seven! I always dreamed of living in the country just like Little House on the Prairie that I watched every Monday night at 8:00pm on NBC...guess what? I live there! I now live in a beautiful country home in the foothills and look out on the country setting just like Laura saw! I always dreamed of having a horse since I was five years old...guess what? I do! I always dreamed of having hot summers and warm summer nights...guess what? I now have that and more...a pool to swim in, rivers to play in, and much more. I always dreamed of a small country church to be a part of....guess what? We've found one and it's only 5 minutes away! Cool Coomunity Church! I always dreamed of having enough money to travel...guess what? We do and we get to travel with our kiddos to wonderful places like Palm Springs and Lake Tahoe! I am so blessed. I just forget it sometimes! Don't we all? I love my life and I am so thankful to God for planting the seeds that grew into what they are now. Thank you God for creating me and taking hold of my heart when I was still young. Thank you for sending your son Jesus.

My point is this. God gives you the desires of your heart. I used to think that that meant that whatever WE desired, God would give us. But NO...it means that God plants HIS desires in your heart and then we either allow them to grow or we don't. When we allow them to grow we can then finally see those desires fulfilled because we are living our lives in God's plan and purpose for us. That is when we can feel His peace...and oh what a wondeful feeling to live a life for God and not for us! To be a part of HIS plan. To surrender ALL. When I am fully surrendered is when I can fully be thankful and Love my life. How about you? Are you loving your life?

Don't be afraid to go to the Doctor!

Well...it has been quite a while since I've had the energy and time to write. Even now, I'm struggling with wanting to get to bed. But, my desire is to keep this blog as an encouragement to my children and to log memories for us to look back on. So...I wanted to bring you up to date.

First the sad news...We had our third miscarriage just before Christmas. It was so sudden and very surprising that it is still hard to believe. We were all very sad. We know that we will see all three babies in Heaven one day and that they are in the arms of Jesus right now. We will miss not getting to watch them grow and hear them laugh and just be a part of our everyday lives though and wonder what it would have been like to have them here with us. We pray that we will be blessed with more children to add to our family, but if not, we are content with the wonderful seven that are here in our home right now. How precious they all are and how wonderful it is to enjoy each moment that we have to spend together. I love you all!

Now, the good news...After miscarrying I was talking with a friend who shared with me that she had two healthy babies and then miscarried 4 babies. Her doctor ran a bunch of blood tests on her and one came back with the news that she had a blood clotting problem that kept nutrients from reaching the fetus. So, with the help of medicine to thin her blood she was able to have two more healthy pregnancies and babies. This news encouraged me to see a new doctor who suggested some blood tests which led to me finding out that I have a very similar disorder! It's called MTHFR DNA mutation. Crazy name, huh? I was shocked, but also elated to find out that I could do something about it. I was so worried I would lose more babies and then find out years down the road that I could have done something. So, my "treatment" is to take baby aspirin and also a high dose of folic acid and B vitamins. The mutation doesn't let my body assimilate folic acid and B vitamins and also causes my blood to clot. So, the newly formed embryo then does not receive vital nutrients it needs to develop properly and grow. There are also other things I need to learn and try not to worry about like the fact that this might increase my risk of heart disease and stroke. But, that all could be preventable and treatable by taking the baby aspirin and other medicine for the rest of my life...at least I found out now!!! So, I am praising the Lord that he directed my path to my friend sharing and leading me to the right doctor who ordered the right tests. Thank you Lord!

The moral of this story is...Don't be afraid to go to the doctor :)

Enthusiastically Expecting

We found out a week and a half ago that we are expecting another blessing from the Lord. We are so excited and feel so blessed and thankful that the Lord would choose us to be parents again. We are praying that this baby grows to full term and is born healthy and happy and strong. I have an incredible peace about this baby (or babies) with the affirmation that this life was planned since the beginning of time and whatever happens is in the Lord's hands. The due date is July 26, the day before Emily's birthday ;). 


Probably the biggest challenge that Wes and I have been facing right now is the lack of enthusiasm and excitement over conception that we see within our Christian community. We have some old friends that rejoice with us, but many look at us like we are crazy. 


Yet, when we look at the Bible we see so many examples from Hannah, Mary, Sarah, Elizabeth, and more where women and men look at having children as an incredible blessing and honor. We see women and married couples in the Bible looking at barrenness as a curse from the Lord and that the lack of children is as horrible as death. 


Psalm 127:3-6 says:  


Children are a heritage from the LORD,
offspring a reward from him.
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are children born in one’s youth.
Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their opponents in court.


And in Psalm 128:3-4 it says: 


Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your house;
your children will be like olive shoots
around your table.
Yes, this will be the blessing
for the man who fears the LORD.


We see so many verses that prove children are a blessing (which is more meaningful than just a gift) from the Lord. The Bible is the same yesterday and today! If you believe the Bible, then you would believe that children are a blessing. Yet, in our world today, in homes where Christ is the center of the home, countless married couples look at children as a curse (or a problem)...the opposite of how God sees. The OPPOSITE of how God sees. 


It can be obvious when married couples view children as a "curse" when they choose to hold off children with birth control or not to have any at all. But, I believe the subtle attitude is just as dangerous. This is where Satan works hardest and we see this most in how parents talk about their children or their attitude towards children in general. Instead of speaking positively about their children to others, they speak down about their children or having children. Lately I have been noticing this more often and my heart breaks when I hear the critical, negative, gossipy type talk that I hear parents say about their blessings. I hear it when they say things like..."oh it's so nice to be out without the hassle of the kids!" or "I can't wait to get the kids to bed so I can do what I want" or "I wish they would hurry up and grow up" or when they talk about how they can't afford any more kids because they cost too much, or it's too much energy to deal with the problems of having children, and more. The list goes on. When we talk disrespectively about a blessing that God has given us, it is sin. Plain and simple. We are talking disrespectively to God when we talk about our children that way - or even think it! 


What can we do when we feel negatively towards our children? We all face struggles. Life is definitely more full and more challenging with children. What does God want us to do when we face any kind of hardship or struggle? He wants us to get on our knees and turn to Him. We must learn to cry out to God instead of trying to solve our "problem" on our own. He has the answers even to the smallest issues like when to potty train your two year old or when to teach your 5 year old to read. We must go to the Lord.


I can testify with my whole heart that because I have surrendered my life to Jesus and especially this area of having as many children as God wants to give us, it has deepened my relationship with the Lord more than I could have ever imagined. It has caused me to understand Him more, rely on Him more, trust Him more, love Him more, and want Him more than ever and I am so thankful for that sweet surrender. I am by no means perfect and I fail often and in many ways, but I am continually learning to be the Mommy God wants me to be...thanks to Jesus. I have to go to the Lord daily and pray for his guidance and wisdom. But, I am changed and have learned this only because of learning to surrender to Him. 


So, it has been a struggle for Wes and I to find friends who can rejoice in our news and understand fully what we understand in how God sees children. We are praying for more friends who can rejoice with us. 


Until then, we are rejoicing together and our children are so excited at the thought of another Carpenter baby. Thank you Lord Jesus!

My second best friend

I was soooo happy to be able to go out to coffee with my (second) best friend, Jenn. We've known each other for 37 years and have never lost touch. Even though we live hundreds of miles apart it only takes a few hours to reconnect and catch up. It's so great to have a friend like that. I'm so thankful for her. Her boys are adorable and my wonderful hubby watched all 7 of our children and her two boys swim while we got to go out and chat. What a great guy!!! Love ya babe!

Making history

Woo-hoo...I must be making history for myself in how many blog posts I've done this week! I guess I needed something extra to do while on vacation. I'm having fun, fun, fun posting pics though and hope you are enjoying seeing the memories we are making. Here are some pics from our day at the beach where I spent many days of my childhood...Newport Beach. It was such an incredibly beautiful fall day. It was about 70 degrees, and we had a gorgeous sunset and then a full moon rising above the palm trees. Just incredible! The kids had so much fun playing in the sand and collecting sand crabs. Wes and I had some fun with Emily taking pictures of us! It was a nice day to hang out and take a break from the business of Disneyland. We're off to the parks tomorrow though and well rested for two more full days.

Wes and I swinging Eliana as the sun sets...

I absolutely LOVE this pic of the Balboa Pier with Ruby's in the background where we ate lunch

Look at my adorable Josh just absolutely enjoying himself and the INCREDIBLE sky! God is so good!

Congratulations Jim Bob and Michelle

The Duggar's have been such an incredible inspiration to our family in how to parent by depending on God for strength and wisdom. We often will apply some of the tools we have learned from the Duggars to our family such as how to teach them to put others first and focusing on character qualities shown in the Bible. We were so blessed to watch the Duggar's make their recent announcement since we have cable in our hotel! It brought tears to my eyes! Wes guessed it and Emily thought they were just announcing their recent trip to Europe and Asia. We were all surprised that Daddy knew before any of us especially Emily since she is always up to date with Duggar news. Here is the announcement

Disneyland!

After leaving Tahoe last week, we headed for Southern Cali and Disneyland! Woo-hoo! We are staying in Newport and as I write this I'm sitting on our lanai (Hawaiian for outdoor porch) looking out at the Pacific Ocean with Catalina Island on the horizon. The sun is glistening on the ocean water and I can see sail boats and palm trees in the distance. The air is crisp and clear...feels like a gorgeous fall day. Here is the view we woke up to this morning from our lanai...so picturesque!

We are going to Disney's California Adventure today and can't wait to see the changes since the last time we went. They've added new rides and are completely changing the park. We are so excited! Wes' sister and hubby, Stephanie and Greg, are coming to spend the day with us on Friday. Hopefully it won't rain!

Yesterday was awesome. Disneyland was really uncrowded because it rained in the morning. We got to go on tons of rides and meet lots of characters. It was so cute seeing Eliana's surprised face!

We got this fun shot yesterday. Eliana was soooo excited to meet Mickey Mouse! 

Here's Wes and Joshua...Joshua LOVES Goofy!

SNOW!

This week we were so blessed to hang out in Tahoe! My parents were able to join us for the beginning of the week and we had a blast with them traveling to Virginia City one day and learning about the Gold Rush era. Besides a history lesson, we also got a little science lesson too and went to see the salmon spawning! It was awesome!

On the last day, it snowed! We had such a blast playing in the snow and watching it come down. It was so beautiful! What a wonderful time we had. It was in the 60's in the beginning of the week and then dropped down to the 20's and 30's! Amazing!

Here's Sarah and Hannah enjoying playing in the snow

Here's our hotel during the snow storm...

Happy 2nd Birthday Eliana! We love you! 

Above Rubies Retreat 2011

I was so blessed to be able to attend the Above Rubies Retreat a week ago in Zephyr Cove, Lake Tahoe! My wonderful hubby more than encouraged me to go and I also was doubly blessed to go with my new very dear friend, Laura! Laura is from Santa Cruz originally and we never met when we were both living there. However, we both have 7 children and embrace the Lord's blessings with open arms. We have all the same friends from Santa Cruz, but never crossed paths in the 10+ years we lived their at the same time! Anyway, we had such a great time together listening to Nancy's message on motherhood and our roles as godly wives.


Nancy spoke about "The Overflowing Land" - in other words our homes are to be overflowing. 


First, God made our homes to be "A Good Land" (Numbers 14:7) that is to be overflowing with hospitality to others and healthy foods and meals. 


Second, our homes are to be "A Delightful Land" (Psalm 106:24-25) that brings God glory. Nancy says "Motherhood is the glory of the nation!" But, many mothers do not have that revelation of motherhood being glorious. Instead they despise their land only wanting their children to grow up quick or even to go to work to escape "their land" instead of delighting in it each new day. They are like the Israelites, despising their land that God brought them in to. 


Third, our homes are "A large Land" (Exodus 3:8). Do you realize that when couples say no to just one child because they feel they are too tired, it would be inconvenient, too expensive, or whatever other excuse they have that is self driven, they are actually effecting thousands, even millions of people for God? One child can be a future dynasty for God! I couldn't imagine if we had said no after having just three children, we wouldn't have Jonathan, Sophie, Joshua, or Eliana! 


Satan wants to minimize Israel and in the same way he wants to minimize godly families that can be Nation Changers - World Changers! He wants to minimize our land and when godly Christians use excuses to stop God's blessings upon their lives they are giving in to Satan and selfishness. There are so many verses in the Bible about children being a blessing and a gift from God. God commanded Adam and Eve to "be fruitful and multiply" and that command hasn't gone away. God's desire is to have more children in Heaven with Him! How can that be if Christians continue to say no to God's blessings for children? How can anyone refuse God and especially take part in "birth control" contraceptives when they are so clearly not from Him? Many contraceptives are actually abortificants and many babies have died through naive use of the Pill and other types of contraceptives and even Christians that are pro-Life have no idea that this happens! It breaks my heart! Read about it here.


Fourth, our land is to be "A Flowing Land." Twenty times in the Bible it talks about the land being flowing with milk and honey. Are you "flowing" in your land or are you doing your motherhood or fatherhood role "out of duty?" Are you being creative and joyful with your children each day? Are you abounding in the work of the Lord? Are you reaching out to the needy, loving your children, and loving your husband or wife? We have to constantly remind ourselves to ABOUND in order to have our land be flowing with God's love and fruitfulness! 


We must strive to have a land flowing with milk. What does it mean to flow with milk? Milk in the Bible represents nourishing and nurturing. Are you nourishing and nurturing your children? Do you plan and prepare nourishing meals for your family? Do you take the time to think about what God would want you to feed your family? Or do you just quickly grab a meal full of preservatives and junk for their bodies because you are too busy running around from here to there and not being purposeful in your day? 


I have to admit, I am guilty of this. I need to spend more time planning and preparing nourishing meals and am making a commitment to ask God to help me with this. It takes self-discipline to plan and also say "no" to things that have become a habit in your diet and that are unhealthy. God will bless your efforts! 


God wants us to nourish and nurture our families. Are you nurturing your family? Are you comforting your children and taking the time to just be quiet and let them talk? Or are you running around commanding them and telling them what to do and what not to do all day because of your business? Stop and smell the roses with them or watch a sunset. Take time to just sit and be still and enjoy them. Read to them, play games with them, or relax with them. There is always time to do one more thing or go one more place, but we must stop and just "be" with our family to bond and make memories. Along this same subject of nurturing is lovingly managing our homes. There is something within us that wants to manage our homes each day. Do you manage well or in a "crazy state?" Are you calm? Do you bring peace and harmony to your daily activities? Or do you cause chaos with your words and attitude? The mother creates the atmosphere in her home. Do you use "sweet words" in your home management? We must manage the home with both gentleness and efficiency and seek the Lord to find out what that looks like for our family. 


Fifth, our land is a "Dependent Land." Deuteronomy 11 talks about how Israel had to completely depend on God for water and God supplied it for them. In the same way, we need to completely depend on God in our homes. We need to go to God for wisdom, help, and understanding and completely depend on him for taking care of our children, home, and husband EVERY day. When we choose not to pray for God's help and wisdom, it is only showing that we think we can accomplish what WE want by ourself and that we don't need God. We need to have a continual conversation going on with God throughout each day asking for help and wisdom in every decision. 


Sixth, our land is a "Fruitful Land." When the Israelites were captive in Babylon God told them what to do...we can follow that same commands today. This is what God said: 
1. Build houses and dwell in them.
2. Plant gardens and eat.
3. Take wives and have children. 
4. Have grandchildren.
5. Increase (do not be diminished)
6. Seek peace, pray for the city 
7. Don't be deceived! 


Isn't it so simple? God's ways are so simple and yet we still choose not to follow them. We cannot pick and choose what verses or commands from the Bible we want to choose and not follow all of them based on what we think or want. For example, we cannot say well, I will follow #1 because I do want a house and #2 because I agree it's good to have a garden and eat organic. And, #3, yes I'll get married, but I'm not ready to have children yet, so I'll wait on that. #4, grandchildren, sure that will come later. But, #5, no I don't want to increase yet, that must not apply to my situation today since God wanted the Israelites to increase back then, but surely that doesn't apply today...and so on. It is a sin to pick and choose only part of what God wants. We are not being humble if we decide what God wants by only following some of his Word an not all! We need to follow the Word 100% even if it is scary. But, it is only scary if we aren't truly putting our complete faith in Him. He IS in control! 


Finally, our land is a "Life Giving Land." God is a God of LIFE. We have to be pro-life in everything we do. We must strive to eat life-giving foods, not dead junky foods, and feed ourselves and our families well. We must strive to have life-giving attitudes towards our children and family and speak life giving words into them by blessing them and telling them what a blessing they are to our family and to the world! We must strive to think life-giving thoughts, not destructive thoughts that will only break and tear down ourselves and our families, taking every thought captive. And, finally we should be open to Life from God. He is the life giver and He has the power to open and close the woman's womb. He is in control of that and we should never pretend that we should be in control of life! 

Here's Nancy, Eliana, and I on our last day at the retreat! 

God is AMAZING!

Ya know...God is AMAZING! I am so amazed at how amazing God is! I have recently been going through some really, REALLY hard times. God blessed us with the wonderful news that we were expecting our 8th baby, but then I lost the baby a few weeks ago. I was so confused and I began to question why God would take my baby. After all, he is the one who placed the desire for children in my heart. I spent hours crying and questioning God and feeling so lost and separated from him.


Well...then just yesterday, after weeks of uncertainty and doubts, on my birthday...a very special song came on the radio. Can you guess? Blessings, by Laura Story. The very song my beautiful daughter sang in church. I was in the car driving by myself and just started crying. The song touched my heart and answered all my questions. It was like hearing the song for the first time. I had never heard it or understood it like I do now...now that I have lost something so very dear to my heart. I realized without a doubt that everything that happens is in God's hands. After I lost the baby, I knew that in my head, but not in my heart. I instantly began thanking the Lord for the blessings that he has given me. I realized I was looking at things the opposite of how I should...with bitterness for what was missing instead of gratefulness for what was existing! 


Then, it happened again! I changed radio stations and the song came on again not ten minutes later. I realized God was trying to tell me something. It was then it hit me like a ton of bricks! NOTHING is an accident. God planned all along for Emily to learn and sing that song in July because he knew what I'd be going through now. That very weekend would have been the very weekend that our baby would have been conceived. I hadn't heard the song since the miscarriage and then, on my birthday to have it played on the radio two times just was such a confirmation of God's sovereignty to me. He knows EVERY detail of our lives to the very moment and it was not a coincidence. I do not know why I lost the baby, but I know I am so thankful that my life is in God's hands and that I can trust him for everything. Wow! What a blessing!

Wow! I can't believe it's been almost 4 months since I last posted...I guess I've been busy! A lot has happened since July, but most important is what is happening this weekend! I get the privilege of attending the Above Rubies Retreat in Zephyr Cove! I'm so thankful that I am able to go and with my new friend too! I can't wait to hear what Nancy has to say to us ladies! If you want to find out more about the Above Rubies ministry go here: Above Rubies

Santa Cruz here we come!

We are all very excited to be going to Santa Cruz this week! We are going to go to the beach every day if we can...the Boardwalk, hiking in the Redwoods and all the other things we have been missing. Emily will be celebrating her 16th bday this week too! Wow, I can't believe it's been 16 years since she was born...where did the time go? I'll post some pics when we get them. The weather is supposed to be in the 70's. Wooohooo!

God is full of blessings!

I just had to share. My oldest received the privilege of singing in Worship in church on Sunday. They asked her to also sing a solo of Laura Story's beautiful song "Blessings." She did such an incredible job and am so thankful that God is providing a way for her to use her wonderful gift of singing for Him. So many people at church were blessed. The recording isn't so great...I had to use my phone, but I think she still sounds wonderful. Hope you enjoy! 

What a crazy week!

My poor little adventurous three year old guy has had quite a week! 


Sunday morning I got him dressed and noticed a rash. Upon further investigation I determined it looked like Lyme Disease! With all of the ticks we've been finding, I guess it was just a matter of time. After going to the doctor yesterday, she confirmed that it is indeed Lyme Disease! So, he is now on 4 weeks of Amoxicillin! Whew! At least there is an easy solution!


Now today...I'm in the office talking to Wes and hear "BOOM!" then crying. It isn't uncommon to hear these sounds in our house throughout the day, but Momma's know the difference in cries in their children and I knew I better go and investigate this one. I found my little guy on the floor holding his foot and whimpering. This is unusual for him. He has a very high pain tolerance and never stays in one position for long. I asked him what happened and he said he jumped from the railing like his big brother did. What?! The railing is about 10 feet from the ground in our multi-level house. He landed about 10 feet from the railing in the middle of the room, which means he had about 20 feet of air time! Wow! No wonder his foot was hurting! After about an hour it had swollen to about twice the usual size and he would not walk on it at all. He was scooting around on his behind everywhere. I felt so bad for him. 


We got into the Doctor and after x-rays, determined that he has a subluxation on the third and fourth metatarsals which is indicative of a Salter 1 fracture - ha! How do you like my medical jargon? Basically he probably broke his third and fourth longer bones in his foot. But, because he's so little and his foot is so swollen it's hard to be sure. So...we have to wait until the swelling goes down a little more (Friday?) and re-x-ray. For now, we are immobilizing it in an ace bandage and icing it. He's a little trooper though. He is so sweet and I'm just loving my one-on-one time I've had with him the last couple of days. He just makes me laugh with his inquisitiveness and sense of humor. "What's this, what's that?" all the time. But, I have a feeling this is just the beginning of life adventures with this little guy. We are in trouble. 

BUGS and other stuff

Okay...so I've had to make a big adjustment in my thinking the past few weeks regarding insects. I don't like them at all! I can DEAL with them if they are far away from me, but I can't kill them and I definitely can't live with them in my house! But, I have realized for some reason our new house has them INSIDE as well as outside! I don't know if my three year old bug loving boy is bringing them in, our dog is bringing them in on her fur, or if they are already here!

First my three year old regularly finds these and plays with them all the time...ugh! At least they are outside ;)



Then about two weeks ago I was sitting on the couch and noticed our dog trying to sniff something on the carpet. I went over to investigate and found this!!! A centipede!!!



The day before Mother's Day my 7 year old boy came up to me asking if he could have a band aid because his hand was hurting him. Upon further investigation I noticed it was twice the size as his other hand. Looking closer I noticed two very distinct puncture holes where a spider had probably bit him. He didn't have a fever and there were no red streaks so we decided to wait. It has been a few days now and his hand is almost back to normal, thank the Lord.

A few nights ago my poor daughter woke me up in the middle of night to tell me something big and black fell on her nose in bed! My hubby went to investigate and found this in her covers!!!







It's called a House Centipede and is apparently harmless...except when they cause a heart attack from falling on you in the middle of the night!


The next morning while brushing my 6 year old daughter's hair she screamed "Ahhh, there's a tick in my hair!" It couldn't be...could it? I looked down on the floor to investigate and sure enough found this!!!!

Then...last night it was MY turn! I had just gone to bed and put my head on my pillow when my hair was tickling my neck. That's weird, how can my hair be moving and tickling my neck when I'm laying still? I immediately got my phone and turned the light on and flashed it on the bed to find this crawling inches away from me!!!





Finally...one last notation. I needed to edit this entry because of this! 


Just after writing this blog entry, my 7 year old boy was reading it and looking at the pictures. I turned around to see what he thought and noticed a small black speck in his ear! I thought it was a piece of dirt or something...but, it wasn't! It was a baby tick! Ugh! 

Please help me! Who is next???

Reaffirming our Family Vision through God’s Encouragement!

God is amazing and such an Encourager! 

We were in Santa Cruz over the weekend to visit friends and also to do meetings for my work. We got to go to our old church and listened to a message on Trusting God. God provided four separate events to give Wes and I encouragement to continue trusting Him that day!! 

First event: 

It was so awesome because after church a lady came up to me and asked if she could talk to me! She wanted to know how we came to the decision to have seven children! She even said she had read my blog! Wow! What an encouragement! I was so excited to share with her our testimony of how we came to allowing God to be in control of our family I didn’t know where to begin. So, I started at the beginning of how God slowly showed us the truth of how He feels about life, creation, and children. It was such an encouragement to talk to her and hear how God is working in her life to and how He has been speaking to her heart about children. I shared with her about what a wonderful and incredible journey it has been and how I would never change a minute of it for the world. How contrary to what the world or even well-meaning other Christians would tell us, letting go and giving God control really does bring PEACE beyond all understanding. You would think it would bring fear and worry, but it actually brings the opposite...incredible peace that dissolves fear and worry as you learn to put everything in God’s hands and become ready for each new day’s adventures! It is always so wonderful to be given the opportunity to share our testimony with others and I see it as a gift to do so. It always reaffirms our conviction of trusting God in all ways. It’s so amazing, because as I already said the message for that morning at church was about trusting God! If only others could see that everyone needs to trust God in the area of family planning too and not listen to the lies of the world telling you otherwise! 

Later that day while driving home to Cool we had another encouraging time while eating dinner on the road! God used complete strangers to encourage us and again reaffirm our mission and ministry as a family in three ways! We stopped at our favorite taqueria, Adalberto’s, in Stockton for yummy carne asada burritos and taquitos. We were busy being the “loud family” and enjoying our Mexican food when a lady nearby asked me “are these all your children?” I of course replied with a smile “yes.” She thought we had only five since two were in the bathroom, but I corrected her and told her we had seven. The other two children then walked in and she said with a smile that they were all very adorable - how sweet! Doesn’t it encourage you when people call your children adorable? 

The second form of encouragement came from a man who was alone eating dinner next to us and had apparently been watching us while he was eating. He came up to us after he was done and said “hi, I just want to say something...I am a licensed marriage and family therapist and if every family acted like you did I would be out of business.” Wow! what a nice thing to say. We are always telling the children that others are watching ;) - sometimes we can be quite entertaining!

The final comment came from a guy as we were leaving. He said to me “Are all of these children yours?” Funny how that is the common question...After I told him yes, he said...”Wow! That’s awesome and such a great witness!” I couldn’t believe that he could actually be talking about being a witness to God through the number of children we had. I couldn’t believe it so much that I had to ask him to repeat himself. He then proceeded to tell me that he just had his second child and that he and his wife don’t practice any contraception, but are leaving their family planning up to God!” Wow! I was sooooo encouraged and he looked to be only in his early 20’s! I told him that is such a blessing to hear and then told him that God will bless him for his trust! 

God is so good and what an Encourager He is! Thank you Lord for showing us early enough in our lives to trust you fully. Thank you for revealing yourself to us through encouraging verses in your Word and through the encouragement of complete strangers! You are a wonderful and loving Father who loves to encourage. I pray that I will remember that encouragement each day and also that I can become a better encourager to my own wonderful blessings. 

Good Ole Fashioned Hard Work

That's what living in the country provides...oh, but what a blessing:
1. To see my 7 year old son mowing the mega grass yard for the first time.
2. To hear my 3 year old son say over and over "I want to help Dad"
3. To have my 13 year old daughter offer to help me with my ES duties when I'm overwhelmed.
4. To have my 10 year old daughter make dessert from scratch and write out the recipe for others.
5. To have my 15 year old daughter learning guitar by herself and playing worship songs throughout the house for the entire family to enjoy.
6. To have my 5 year old daughter offer to help watch the baby while I cook dinner.
7. To see my 7 year old son clean 5 toilets without complaining.
8. To see my 10 year old daughter mentor her younger siblings on how to wash windows and mirrors.
9. To see the joy in my little guy's dirt ridden face (3) when he got to help his Daddy outside all day.
10. To see the happiness our little baby girl brings to everyone when she wants to help too and brings you your shoes or a toy to put away.
11. To see the joy in my husband's face after borrowing the neighbor's riding lawn mower to mow our property instead of having to use the weed wacker to mow all the newly grown grass.
12. To watch my 13 year old be so efficient in everything she puts her mind to and clean the kitchen faster than me!
13. To see my 15 year old watch all of the children without complaining to bless Wes and I so we can go to Bible Study at our new Pastor's house.
14. To hear my 5 year old daughter comfort Josh when he wakes up from a bad dream in the middle of the night and help him go back to sleep.
15. And to see my husband working sun up to sun down on the yard in order to make our place safe and beautiful.

I feel so blessed to live in the country now AND to live in the part of the Country that we live in. It is ABSOLUTELY beautiful here and living here has made character qualities be refined and surface in my family that I've never seen before. Or maybe I never had the opportunity to notice and appreciate them? At our old house we had housecleaners that came each week and gardeners who took care of our little 6000 sq. ft. yard, but we don't have any of that here. You'd think we wouldn't be able to handle the extra work being that our house here is twice as big and our property is 16 times the size as well. But, all six of the older children have stepped up to the plate and we can "Deep Clean" our new house in about an hour. We do this on "Freaky Deep Clean Friday" We have a plan for each day of the week thanks to Large Family Logistics, a book I bought from Vision Forum. I tried to come up with a creative name to match the day of the week...
Monday, Meet with Mom/Office Day (Clean and organize office area, meet with Mom for school planning)
Tuesday, Town Day (We run all of our errands. I make my todo lists on Monday Office Day along with our menu plan for the week.
Wednesday, Wash Day (We do all of our laundry on this day including sheets and towels)
Thursday, Thankful Day (We are thankful for our food and we work in the kitchen this day. We deep clean fridge and cabinets and also make meals for the week)
Friday, Freaky Deep Clean Day (We clean bathrooms, vaccum/mop floors, walls, and rooms, etc.)
Saturday, Stay Outside Day (We do our outside chores - yardwork, clean cars, garage cleaning)
Sunday, Service and Worship Day (We go to church for worship and spend the rest of the day as a family serving/blessing another in some way usually by practicing hospitality and having someone over for fellowship)

Things aren't always perfect, but this is the plan. We have been doing it this way since we moved 5 weeks ago and so far so good. I am just so proud of my crew for doing such a great job and for the character traits that are being strengthened. Many hands make light work. Thank you Lord for our new life...each and every day is a BLESSING from YOU!

Kindness

Wow, I was so blessed by my children tonight. We had been looking forward all week to dinner at some new friends' house tonight, but sadly we couldn't make it because it started snowing at their house and they have a very steep driveway! Since our van doesn't have 4 wheel drive, we were afraid we wouldn't make it up or down the drive. The kids were soooo bummed. So, I quickly put some Carmelized Ginger Pork to cook in the oven (ya gotta love Costco's frozen section!) and some rice on the cooktop. Dinner was ready in 20 minutes and we were ready to eat...except...I all of a sudden didn't feel so hot. I rarely ever feel sick, but I had to go lay down for a minute. Everyone sat down and were totally at a loss as to what to do with me...it was kind of cute. They kept asking me from the dining room..."do you want us to go ahead and pray?" "Should we start eating without you?" I kept saying "it's fine, I just don't feel so great" and so on. 

As I was closing my eyes to take a quick rest, each of my little ones came over to check on me. Sophie came to give me two blankets and a pillow. Joshua came over to give me another pillow and to lay next to me. Eliana wanted to give me kisses (she just learned how!). Jonathan stayed around me to make sure all was well and just chatted (his way of showing me he cares). Sophie made me a picture that said MOM and had her and I holding hands with hearts. Hannah kept coming in asking if there was anything she could do for me and brought me something to eat. Sophie brought me some water (which Eliana later spilled on her foot and carpet ;)). The list goes on. I was soon feeling better and was able to get up. 


But, as I thought about the kindness that was being shown to me the most important thing I realized is that I rarely, if ever, STOP moving. I am constantly in motion. I am always doing something and most of the time I'm doing more than a couple of things at once. This little bout of "sickness" was a gift that I am thankful for. It made me stop and think about how I never stop but because I had no choice tonight, I was given a gift and my children were able to show me kindness that I rarely experience towards me because I'm tooo busy! I realized I need to stop more often and just sit and watch and observe them. Let them play around me as I laugh and just enjoy them IN THE MOMENT! That is my hearts desire and why I named this blog "Making Moment's Matter!"

If I could think of one person whom I have known who knew how to make moments matter, it would be my grandma who passed away two years ago. The most beautiful memories I have of my grandma (Meemaw) are the ones where we just "hung out" and enjoyed each other's company. She really knew how to enjoy each and every moment with her family. She was a wonderful housekeeper, cook, seemstress, volunteer, everything! But, when she was around family, especially her grandchildren, she would sit in her recliner and read to us, laugh, watch, chat, listen, smile, giggle, and just enjoy us. It was wonderful. The world stopped when we were in her presence. It's so hard to describe the unconditional love and joy that radiated from her, but her presence was so loving. I still miss her so much!


I want to purpose to make more moments matter from now on. We have been soooo busy with this move for the past 6 months that we haven't stopped to enjoy each other in the moment. 


Thank you Lord for giving me the gift tonight of having to stop and accept the kindness shown to me by the wonderful little gifts (my children) you have given me. Thank you for the privilege to take care of these little people (and not so little) each and every day. They are such blessings to me and oh how I want to make each moment count all the time. I want to give them the gift of kindness and the gift of joy and unconditional love that my grandma gave me. I want their memories of their childhood to be ones of joy and laughter, security and love, kindness and thoughtfulness, and most of all of you Lord being present in our home and in our lives. Teach me to teach them your ways and to teach them the way you want me to teach each and every day. I give each and every day to you. I love you Lord and am so grateful for my wonderful life! 

Our first field trip!

We were so blessed the other day to get to go on a tour of K-Love Radio Station! They are in Rocklin which is about 35 minutes from our new house. We have always supported their ministry and feel that having their radio station as a choice for our family has been a huge blessing. We were contacted by one of our friends who works there and asked to take a tour. We got to meet Mike Novak, Larry Wayne, Scott and Kelli, and many more. It was very exciting. The kids got to try on headphones in the studio with Scott and Kelli and pretend to be D.J.'s. We learned all about the ministry and how the radio station works. It was awesome! Emily is thinking she might like to volunteer there when she turns 16 next summer.

Meeting Larry Wayne

Meeting Mike Novak

K-Love D.J. Emily Carpenter ;) in the studio!

K-Love D.J.'s Josh and Sophie on the air!

Wes listening to AMAZING stories from Scott!

Hangin' with Ashton on Air1

All of us get to meet D.J.'s Scott and Kelli!

Our First Snow

The front of our house

Jonathan enjoying the snow!

Our cars covered with the white stuff!

Our front drive

Our barn in the snow!

The house and barn

Wow! We had an incredible blessing yesterday afternoon...SNOW! Our new place is at about 1500 feet above sea level so it doesn't snow very often, but this year it has snowed 3 or 4 times already. We have missed all of those times while we were in Santa Cruz waiting for the remodel, but not this time! We were ready with snow clothes and the kids actually got to make a snowman they called "Sam". It was soooo cute! I'll have to stock up on some hot cocoa just in case it happens again! God is so good. Everyday brings another event to make us love living here. Enjoy the pics...

More Blessings

Well, we are still waiting for a buyer for our home and we are still waiting to move into our new home. But, I will NOT complain! I will focus on the blessings and give glory to God. I was reminded how easy it is to fall into the trap to complain last night while reading in Exodus. I read once again how the Israelites complained and complained to God and to Moses about their predicaments in the desert after leaving Egypt. They actually begged to go back to Egypt as slaves! How foolish! It reminded me of how easy it is to fall into the trap of complaining because of our various inconveniences or because of not seeing things how God sees them. I could easily fall into that trap right now and forget how many blessings God has bestowed on us. We don't have a buyer for our home in Santa Cruz yet and I could start thinking we made the wrong decision in moving or that God isn't in control, but He IS!! He IS in control and I will focus on the blessings God has given us. I will not start to think negatively and start to worry. God is so good and I will rest in His blessings and know that He has a plan for us!

Incredible Blessings

Wow! We were blessed so incredible the other week. A good friend found out we were moving and asked her daughter to take some pictures of us so we could have some memories of Santa Cruz. Little did I know that this daughter is soooo talented and her and her mom are incredible together! We ended up having so much fun and it was so incredible!

We have not been able to afford professional pictures for about five years and so have just relied on our own silly photos that we get. So, we were so excited about this opportunity! We met at the beach and it was absolutely beautiful! The weather was about 70 degrees and clear. We met at 4:00 and took photos until sunset. I can't wait to see them all. She also took some of my hubby and I alone! We felt like it was our wedding day again! She has posted some on her website. I hope you have time to check them out! Here they are: http://joyphotography.zenfolio.com/p744084027 Thank you so much Melanie and Meredith!

The Lord has answered our prayers!

WE ARE MOVING! After house hunting for 2 1/2 years we are finally moving to Cool! The Lord has blessed us with our dream home. It is the first home we found 2 1/2 years ago when we began this journey, but the house was too expensive and it never sold. It went to foreclosure and finally dropped to a price we could afford!

The Lord is so good and is taking care of all the details. It is a big job buying a house these days and it's scary how much extra it costs for everything. Things were costing a lot more than we planned and I was getting scared a few weeks ago, but Wes had faith and we continued to trust. Then the Lord gave us three days of blessings and encouraged us that we were making the right choices! The first day one of the pastors from our church called to tell us that he wants to buy our house! The second day we found out it wasn't going to cost $5000 dollars to truck our stuff to Cool, but only $200 if we rented a truck ourselves and that includes unlimited mileage! The third day we were floored to learn that our lender made a mistake and accidentally "locked" our interest rate in two weeks ago! This mistake was the best news we could have had since the rate was a 1/2 a percentage point lower than the current rate and rates have continued to rise! This is a savings of about $18,000 after 30  years! Only God could have done it! Thank you God! There have been many more examples of God taking over the details and we have such peace. Yes, we will miss Santa Cruz immensely. We LOVE our church family and friends so much! But, we feel this move will be such a blessing for our family. Our children are so excited too! We will have 2 acres, a barn, and lots more space! Here is a picture of Sophie on the front steps of our new home:

And Hannah coming out of the barn...

Thank you Lord for answering our prayers!

Waiting on the Lord

I wrote the following post in October of this year and saved it to finish later. I wanted to post it now before posting an update since the Lord has so generously answered our prayers...

Oct, 2010: Strength will rise when we wait upon the Lord...I often sing this song by Lincoln Brewster in the shower ;). I love it! It is so true! I think there are so many things that we don't wait on the Lord for, but instead we try to take over because we are sick of waiting and attempt to make things happen how we want them to happen. When we do this we rob ourselves of a blessing! If we can only learn to listen to God and wait on His perfect timing our lives would be so much more fulfilled! Oftentimes waiting goes against every natural instinct in our body and how we are made which makes it even more difficult. But that is what is required and that is what having faith is all about!

Our family has been house hunting for about 3 years. I have longed to be done with this chapter in our lives for a very long time, but we are still on it. God blessed us so incredibly with our current house almost 10 years ago. We owned a mobile home that was 1000 sq. ft and my hubby worked for a small company. The mobile home was great, but the mobile home park had a rule that you couldn't have more than 5 people in a two bedroom. We had just had our 3rd baby so we weren't sure what to do. We knew we wanted to trust the Lord with our family planning, but weren't sure what was going to happen. Then, the Lord provided an opportunity. Wes acquired a new job and doubled his salary, I started working for a charter school, and our mobile home doubled in value! All of these meant we could afford a bigger home and we were able to move into our current 2000 sq. ft. home. Then baby number 4, 5, and 6 came along and space got increasingly smaller again. Wes also works from home most of the time and space is so tight he has to work in the garage. So, there are 9 bodies in our home 24/7 and we started to feel like we needed to search for a new home. We have now been on the hunt for three years! God is so good and we know all will work out in His perfect timing!

God is so good!

We were so blessed to be able to attend the Above Rubies Family Camp in San Diego for the second time this year! We weren't sure if we were going to be able to go because of last minute details, but the Lord came through and worked out all of the necessary arrangements financially and with Wes needing the time off and we found out we could go 12 hours before we needed to leave! But, again the Lord was so great even in areas that could have been stressful! We were able to pack quickly, get a good night's sleep, and get on the road in time to get to the camp for dinner! It took us about 9 1/2 hours to get there and the children did amazingly well in the car!

What a blessed time we had! Nancy and Colin were on fire for God! Nancy spoke to us ladies about the tactics Satan uses to distract us in our roles as wives and mothers. Colin spoke to the men about having a vision for their families and not letting the world distract you! What amazing wisdom and insight the Campbells have! We were so encouraged and challenged. If you want to find out more about the Above Rubies Ministry go here: aboverubies.org

Our Above Rubies Testimony:
Wes and I went to our first Family Camp in 2002 and the Lord changed our hearts through the message Colin and Nancy presented to us and the revelation of scripture. We had three beautiful little girls at that point and were contemplating what to do next and how many kids "we should have." Well, the Lord showed us that it is in His control to create children and it is NOT our job to take control of how many children to have. He also showed us that He opens and closes the womb. God can decide if your womb will be opened to children or closed (for a season or indefinitely). It is up to Him, not us! He has the plan for our lives and if we truly believe God is in control, we should believe this as well.

Genesis 20:18
For the LORD had closed up every womb in Abimelech's household because of Abraham's wife Sarah.


Genesis 29:31
When the LORD saw that Leah was not loved, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.


Genesis 30:22
Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and opened her womb.


1 Samuel 1:5
But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the LORD had closed her womb.


There are many more verses describing God opening and closing the womb, you can do a search on Bible Gateway

The Lord also showed us that children are a BLESSING! He gives us children as a way to bless us. We started to ask ourselves why would we refuse a gift or a blessing from God? Only a crazy person would refuse a blessing from the Lord Almighty! If we truly wanted to trust God and believe that God is in control of all things how could we try to take control of the number of children God gave us? We realized that it is only man and the world that convinces us to use birth control because of worldly and selfish reasons such as not having enough money, not having a large enough house, not having enough free time, and more. We began to realize that if we finally trusted God with every area of our lives that He would provide for everything for those blessings He gave us. We also realized God wants our all and for us to learn to serve like Jesus and how better can we learn to serve than by having children for God? We also realized God wants us to be fruitful and multiply so that we can futher His Kingdom! We needed to step away from the world's view of children and be transformed by God's view of children as blessings to us and to further His Kingdom!

Romans 12:2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.


What an amazing journey it has been. It's not always easy, but what peace we have because we are following God's perfect will. I would never trade that peace for anything such as more free time or more money! My time is precious and my little ones are even more precious to me! God has given me the desire of my heart! 


Psalm 37:4
Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.


It was not always my desire to have more children and less time for myself (ha!), but as I sought after His will for my life and not my own will, He placed that desire in my heart. I am so grateful for His plan for our lives and that we have been blessed with seven wonderful children so far! I pray the Lord will bless us with more! I also pray that we can be the parents he wants us to be in order to train them in His ways. 


I can't say thank you enough to the Above Rubies Ministry for their diligence in preaching the truth of God's desire for families! Thank you so much Colin and Nancy!