Another Birthday girl!

Another teenager roams our home and I love it!

Today, my energetic, fun-loving, full of laughter, middle daughter turns 13!
The past year, she has gone from little girl to a very mature young lady!
Can't wait to see what God has in mind for the coming year!
She is a joy and a blessing to all of us!
How blessed we are!

A week of Birthday's

This is the week our bank account suffers!
But not our hearts!
And where your treasure is there your heart is also!
Our treasure is our children!

To start the week off, Saturday we celebrated our 15 year old's birthday!

I could not be more proud of this beautiful girl!
I cannot believe how God has developed her heart into the loving, God fearing young lady that she is!
God has already called her to the mission field and she is already getting lots of practice caring for all her little brothers!
I am thrilled to see what God is going to do in her life in the coming year.
In 1 year, she has taught herself the spanish language and can speak in fluently, in preperation for her call to be a missionary!
God is already blessing her with the funds to go on a mission trip next year as she surrenders her will to do HIS will!
It is so exciting to watch her trust in God for everything and the blessing of her seeing His ability to provide!

My sweet, full of God and full of life, daughter!
You are such a gift to our family and I love you so much!

Foto Friday~ What in the world?

I took this strange picture the other day. Can you figure out how I did it and what is going on?

 

The answer:

We have an alley right beside our dining room window and the cable company was working on someone's cable and the van was parked right by the window and our boys were very interested to say the least! 
This is how the picture turned out. I thought it was really fun and unusual!

Have a great weekend!

At the Well

I am a writer for this websight.  Today, an article I wrote is featured.  Check it out!  Just click below!

At The Well

Some things NEVER change~ some things do

Being a mother of 11 beautiful children, 8 of them boys, I am amazed at the repeated behavior I show and sometimes JUST as amazed at new things I find myself doing!  I have been jotting down somethings that I have found my self doing for years and other things that I am doing for the first time even after 11 children:

~ I have been changing diapers for 18 years continuously WITHOUT any break!  (I was a nanny right before I became a mom)  Sometimes having up to 3 in diapers at one time!
~ I used to use disposable diapers and wipes, it is a first for me to use washable with my 11th!  I sure wish I would have realized just how easy it is!  I would have saved thousands of dollars!

~ potty training was essential by the time they were 2!
~ now, I realize they will not be willing to wear a diaper on thier wedding day!  ( However, I might be by the time my last child walks down the isle!)  :)

~ preparing meals is a 3 times a day activity!  Just after I complete one meal, the next is on my mind!
~ I now have 4 other people to help me!  That is so nice!

~ teaching 7 and soon to be 8, how to read!  That is such a reward and blessing of homeschooling!
~ I now realize that just giving them an intersest in reading by encouragement is a lot less stressful than hours of sitting and batteling them!  It also gives them more of a love for reading if they are not forced into it!

~ I have always been a taxi, BUT...
~ it used to be I would go where I needed to go, now it has changed to asking where everybody else needs to go and I just fit my errands in between!

~ I take a shower daily and cannot start my day without one!  (Sometimes end my day with one also!)
~ I am also responsible for making sure many others clean themselves daily!  (Believe me, getting 8 boys to shower, change their underwear and socks daily is not an easy thing to keep up on!)

~ been searching for matching socks
~ I am catching on that buying the same kind of socks for each child and marking them with a permanent marker makes matching a snap! They can do it themselves that way!

~ raising boys and raising girls are TOTALLY different!  One IS NOT easier than another, just different!
~ I am now raising 3 teenagers and will have 6 teenage boys in the house at one time in a few years!  (Thank goodness I love the teenage years!)

~ I have found that boys eat A LOT and seems they are NEVER full!
~ but I have learned that they don't need as much as THEY think they do!

~ Girls do not wear out their clothes as quickly as boys
~ I never threw out girls clothes because they were too worn, I have had to throw out bags of clothes that were even to worn for play clothes!

~ I never realized how fun string, dirt, clothespins, and rubberbands could be! 
~ I don't spend much money on toys anymore!  They don't play with them anyway!

~ vacuuming a car used to take minutes!
~ cleaning a mini-bus is lots more time consuming! :)

~ in earlier years, I cleaned my house every other day
~ these days, I clean it hourly!

~ bars of soap used to take my husband and I a month or more to use up
~ we are either a really clean family or a really dirty one!  A new bar is out every couple of days it seems!

~ I am on my knees daily, sometimes hourly!  I realize that is where I need to be if I am to do this job of motherhood His way!
~ That is NEVER going to change!

Convicted to tell...

My hubby took a long 4 day weekend!  We really had nothing planned but yet did so much and yet seemed like nothing got done that we had planned!  :)  Except, family, family and more family!  Everyone from cousins to grandparents!  I LOVE family!  But I have many who do not know Jesus!

My aunt died last week.  She lived many, many miles away so we did not get to see her often.  She was very loved by family but that peace of me knowing that she loved Jesus is just not there!  Last October she came to visit and we visited but nothing to in depth.  I had no idea that it would be the last time we would meet face to face!  I am busy you know!  With kids, appointments, and life! HA!  I even had the thought that she might need to hear about the freedom Jesus brings but hoped deep inside she would just know that we were different and someday she would ask why.  That would be less abrasive!  Maybe pride on my part, although I really never have been that way.  I love to tell others about Him!  I really think I was just to hurried to worry about it!  And that bothers me!  Let me rephrase that: it sickens me deep in my heart!  Too busy to ask her, "Do you love Jesus with all of your heart?  Do you know there is a heaven and a hell and if you do not choose THIS day whom you will serve, it may be to late!" 

Too busy?!! *tears*

So now, I sit here with regret but there is nothing I can do but learn from it!  Did it cost a person there soul?  Is that why God had me spend time with her 7 months ago?  Was I supposed to tell her of His love but was too busy to hear the voice of my shepherd? 

I have had my heart pricked and softened!  I have woke up to the lost in this world and even just the lost in my family!  There is no better time than now!  I always teach my children 2 questions to ask themselves when making  a decision:
1.   Will I regret it if I do it?
2 .  Will I regret it if I don't?

I really am saddened that I did not stop to think of those 2 questions the last time I saw my sweet aunts face!  I thought I would see her again!  Would I regret it if I WOULD have asked her if she loved Jesus with all of her heart?  NO!  Do I regret it that I did not?  DEFINATELY!   It NEVER entered my mind that in the coming months, she would get cancer and die and there would not be another chance to tell her of God's forgiving love!  We NEVER know the time when we look at somebody's face for the last time!  Remember that as I know I will!  Whether it be your beautiful child, husband or best friend!

Do I feel guilty?  No.  Convicted?  Absolutely!  

Better late than never~Foto Friday!

We are in the process of taking care of a baby duckling.
Not sure about the chance of survival!
14 year old is getting up every 4 hours to feed it
The little ones are so enjoying it!
We will see how long it will be part of the family!

I'm back with avengence!

Why would a mother allow her 2 year old to eat a SUCKER WITH his dinner, you might ask?




How would you handle it if your baby needed stitches?
Could you take candy from a baby?

I could not!!