almost there...

We close on our house in less than two weeks! I can hardly wrap my brain around it! It feels all too good to be true! After living out of our suitcases since January 7, we will be able to settle down and start the family homestead. All this transience, though, has been so instructive for me. It always begs the question to look at how hard I rely on my "things" for my sense of happiness and well being, my sense of peace.
Now the thought that just jumped into my mind was, "You still know nothing of what it means to 'suffer.'" That's true. It's not like we've been refugees. There are those around the world who've been displaced from their homes and are living in extremely harsh conditions. Their houses and communities were permanently demolished by war. My heart goes out to them with prayer.

    But, I must say there are days when I am weary of the always-changing nature of this military lifestyle. We will have lived in five different homes since leaving our Ohio home in 2006. whew! Through these circumstances, though, God teaches me to keep an open hand. To not clutch tightly to things and places, but to Christ alone. It's interesting how God orchestrates circumstances in our lives to keep us learning and growing, not settling into passive self-indulgent living.

     Now here's a question for you: what to do with the "dining room?" Most of the other rooms in the house have their obvious uses...we'll do most of our eating, however, in the eat-in kitchen. Should I make the dining room a homeschool room with maps and chalkboard and shelves? Since we'll have a basement, should I make the home-school station be in the basement? My concern there is that it will feel too dark. But if it's in the dining room, it's the first room you see when you walk in the house, and I'd be forced to keep it tidy. I guess that would be a good thing. I don't like the idea of having a room that's sole use is decorative. I want the spaces in our home to be useful and purposeful.

Yikes! I have a golfer.

"Help, help" cried the mom, when the kid got big!  Connor James has a new passion, and he won't give it up!!  

My son has decided after two weeks staying with my parents, thanks mom and dad, that he really wants to learn golf.  Fortunately we have two sets of grandparents who enjoy golfing.  But how on earth will I work this into our life?  He's reading golf magazines, perusing golf catalogs, scanning E-bay, researching local courses and talking my ears off about woods and drivers.  Oh boy!!!  I'm in trouble.  What's wrong with basketball?  Even tropical fish?  But golf?!!   Golf is expensive and time consuming...and he doesn't even have a job or drive!  

I have to admit, though, he would look cute in a golf outfit.  

The Little Things...

Will someone set the timer for me?  I only have twenty minutes before school "starts" on our schedule.  So it's dangerous to try to sit down and post something right now at this time of morning.  But I get so sleepy at night...and my sweet husband likes to catch up on the news online after the kids are in bed, so that I can't out-wait him.  And, well, the rest of the day....you probably know how it is...chock full.

Well, I just wanted to encourage your hearts today...you mothers.  I'm reading a little Mennonite published book called, "Happiness for our Hearts and Homes."  It's a refreshing little read, a spiritual boost each time I read it.  Sometimes the weight of my daily duties, and the visions and goals I have work together to bog me down.  I care so passionately to carry the torch of knowing and loving Christ to the next generation, to see His Word and His ways embraced by my children and carried out to a needy world.  Yet transferring the laundry?  Wiping a nose for the twentieth time?  Soothing and holding a cranky toddler?  Grading the algebra?  These daily tasks just seem so....daily.  They're always there.  A little mundane at times.  But I loved this books chapter on trifles.  Little things...here's a tidbit...

"The real test of life is whether we do our little duties promptly and faithfully.  A little courtesy, a little kindness, a friendly smile, a pleasant word, the pressure of a hand in understanding, a snatched moment alone with God will set in motion vibrations that will never end.  It is so easy for any of us to do this kind of 'missionary work' that we can not afford to let the opportunity pass.  In doing the little things we will as faithfully fulfill our mission as in doing great things."   Isn't that neat?  Jesus didn't say, "Well done, you great, successful servant."  He said, "Well done, you good and faithful servant" (Matthew 25:21,22).  

In high school I went on a missions trip to the Dominican Republic.  It was a life changing event for me in so many ways.  But at the end, I told God that I'd be available for missions if He called me.  For the next few years I envisioned myself in my future calling...peering over the cockpit of my own cessna transporting Bibles to some tribe in a jungle.  Well, Josh isn't a missionary in a foreign field.  And as I've matured in my understanding of God's call on my life, I realize that God's call for me as a married woman would be the same here in my house in the U.S. as it would be in a primitive hut somewhere on the missions field.  My primary call would still be ministering to my husband and children, loving and serving them, managing the home.  Probably doing many of the "endless little tasks" that housework and home management is made up of.  

Sometimes I think of Mary, Jesus' mother.  I just try to picture her life.  She wasn't called to go out and go off somewhere establishing churches like Paul was.  Her calling was to feed her children, bless her husband Joseph, and raise the (at least) seven other siblings that came after Jesus.  She probably did many mundane things such as carrying water from the well, building the fire, and more.  She was a mother.  A calling very great...a calling full of servant work.  

In Luke 17:10 Jesus says, "So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.'" 

Timer's up!  

Life in Southern Maryland

Just thought I'd give a little photo update, since it's been a while.  I posted some of these on Facebook, but I'll add them here anyway.  The Navy adventure has us in Maryland.  We're really hoping that this might wind up to be a long term thing.  We have met some people here who love it, and we know some who hate it.  I'm hoping I'll wind up in the former category!  

I spent many sweet days on the waters of the Potomac and Chesapeake boating as a child with my father at the wheel of the little Boston Whaler boat.  Lots of those days were fishing days...not so exciting if you're not a fisher-person, but pleasantly memorable nonetheless.  I spent nine years of my childhood in Virginia.  Josh and I met in Annapolis, Maryland, and honeymooned along the Chesapeake.  So the mid-Atlantic has some ties and just sort of feels like home.  

Southern Maryland itself doesn't have many draws.  It's sort of rural (which part I like.)  And rednecky. Not that there's anything wrong with that (if you happen to be one.)   Rural Ohio was mostly tidy, but this isn't as much.  You drive along the country roads and see a trailer-home with four boats in the yard--as in on the ground-- and a dilapidated bus with no wheels in the backyard and everything that doesn't fit inside also in the yard.  There are some pretty farms.  An amish area is just 15 miles up the road, and I was startled one night driving to come upon three horse-drawn buggies on one road in the dark.  It's just one of those places that has folks who've lived here forever and all know each other or are interrelated.  Families who got off the Ark and the Dove to settle here for religious freedom all intermarried and still have descendents here.  But now there's a huge chunk of us nomadic Navy types whose offices got transferred here from DC.  The result of this influx of people caused some bigger businesses to open like Target, Panera, and Starbucks and Lowe's. Otherwise it remains very small town.  Just outside the base there is definitely a rougher, not-so-good part of town that is known locally as "the hood." And apparently that's not an affectionate exaggeration.  

 One up-side to this area is that it is relatively close to the National Capitol, so we'll get to do some history and educational trips without having to live with all that traffic.  Another upside is that there's lots of seafood to be had, if I can convince my non-seafood-loving-husband to indulge me.  Anyway, there are lots of positives, and I figure if I keep focused on those, I can overlook the downsides.

Suza, Jamie, Charis, Micah and Sophie at the convergence of the Potomac and Chesapeake.

Connor with Auntie Joy's dog, Gracie.

The kids at the replica of The Dove in Old St. Mary's City.

Recipe Swap...Gimme a cheap one!

We're trying to save every penny at the moment, knowing we're closing on our house next month.  Every nickel and dime I can scrape I'm slapping in savings towards the down payment.  So...with that in mind, I'm trying to find the cheapest dinners possible to serve my gang.  So I'm panning the crowd here and seeing if you can post a good one for me.  I figure since the economy is the way it is, I might not be the only one looking for frugal menu options.  So if you care to share one, comment with a link to your blog and bless me with a fresh idea!  If you don't have a blog, just post it there in the comments!  Much obliged, my dears...

Here's one of our cheapest.  And the crazy thing is that the whole family likes it...

Black Beans and Rice

I just either soak dry beans & cook according to package or buy a couple cans of black beans.

I sautee cut up Hillshire Farms sausage (whatever variety...turkey, polska kielbasa...) and add that to the beans warming on the stove.  

Fix up some rice...

Then make all the fixin's:  Diced tomatoes, chopped onions, shredded cheddar, sour cream, salsa.  Ladle the beans & sausage over steaming rice and top with the favorites.  

mother musings...

Life has been rather quiet of late.  At the moment, the baby is napping, bread's baking in the breadmaker, the littler two are playing quietly and the bigger two are doing their spelling.  Connor is spending a week at WSS with my mom and dad having nice grandparent time and hopefully being helpful.  It's been good for him to have a visit away while we're awaiting our home to finish being built.  And I've enjoyed the break from parenting a restless adolescent boy!!  

I miscarried two weeks ago...I was 12 weeks into a pregnancy.  But it turns out it was a blighted ovum...or in other words, no fetus ever developed.  The doctor shed some interesting light on that whole mystery for me.  How the egg can actually be empty of DNA material, so when it's fertilized and starts to divide, there is insufficient DNA to continue, but the body somehow kept on producing pregnancy hormones and creating the proper environment.  Such a strange phenomenon.  But, dealing emotionally with the disappointment somehow is easier after thinking it through that way.  In light of that information, I also felt irritated and grumpy that I'd had to endure the 12 weeks of nausea and excessive eating to keep me feeling better...and the tiredness.  For me, that's the foggiest and least pleasant time of pregnancy.  

The other side of the miscarriage story is that I have a history the last three pregnancies of hemorrhaging.  Anyone who's followed my blog since our Ohio days knows the scary story I lived through of being in Starbucks when I started to pass out and bleed all over their floor, get taken by ambulance to the hospital, have a blood transfusion and emergency surgery.  So walking around with a pending miscarriage was truly scary for me.  I also bled excessively at Charis's birth.  To make matters worse, I hadn't yet met my new doctor here.  So that left me banging on the office doors (not literally) via phone to get seen and schedule a D&C before things happened on their own.  Before things turned into a potential emergency.   After dealing with a couple of none-too-helpful secretaries, my new doc took me in at the end of her day and got me in to surgery the next morning.  I was so relieved, and I think Josh was too.  

A lot of people ask me about our family plans.  Family planning and the Lordship of Christ is a realm of thought I've waded through a lot spiritually.  We've mainly wanted to embrace children as the richest of earthly blessings and receive what God gives in faith that he will give us his grace to manage the load.  We love them, welcome them and are so thankful we are in a position to provide for them.  But, to put it bluntly... I want to be around to be the mom! I always used to wish I'd gotten to live a century or two ago to enjoy the more feminine mode of dress and such.  But now I realize that given my weird rh negative blood that creates antibodies against future pregnancies and my propensity to hemorrhage, I probably wouldn't have gotten to have a big family or if I did...probably wouldn't have gotten to live past the last couple births.  So, I guess it's safe to say I'm grateful I live in the era of modern medicine!   And I'm also content with the size of our brood.  It's enough to keep me challenged anyway!  

One friend recently told me she has the gift of administration.  Wow.  I didn't know that was a spiritual gift.  I wish I had that one!  That's a handy gift to have as a mom.  I personally have to work at it.  I'm a dreamer, creative artsy type who would more easily sit and paint than plan something.  But as to my gifting??  Hmm...maybe hospitality? and teaching...(do drinking coffee and eating chocolate count??)

Well, the bread just beeped...time to go.  What are your spiritual gifts??

Return to Blogland!

Blogging took a major back seat to major events over the last several months starting with Josh's arrival back from Iraq in December, vacation, Christmas, moving from Hawaii to Maryland with several weeks of visiting family interspersed.  Then came house hunting in January, which was rather fruitless for a while.  Just not much on the market this time of year.

So we ventured into new territory and decided to build.  Given all the economic turmoil and national upheaval, it's a rather scary time to be making any major moves financially, which leaves us feeling a little unsettled.  We hear "it's a great time to buy" every time we listen to talk radio or economists on TV.  But who really knows?  The neighborhood we've chosen to build in is very pretty; somewhat spread out with many lots being 1 or 2 acres.  I had my heart set on living more rurally on acreage akin to our Ohio home or greater with no HOA's, but there isn't anything like that available right now.  And to start from scratch with buying just land would require all sorts of more work like putting in a well, septic and all the preliminary land tests just to do those things.   Just working with a builder on a semi-custom home plan has required a myriad of decisions I wasn't ready to make.  It's easy to walk in a house and say, "This looks great!"  But it's quite another thing (not to mention time consuming) to pick all the right things!   Siding colors, cabinet colors, flooring choices, door styles, faucets, fireplace options...it would be easy to get carried away if money were no object!  But alas, it is.   For example, front loading garage is standard, but a side load garage is $4,000 extra.  Three car garage is $10,000 extra etc.   A gas fireplace with a mantle was standard, but to put in a real wood burning chimney or the option for a wood stove added $5,000.  Hey, a sunroom?  add on $20K.  It's been a great test of our ability to say "no" to some of our "wants" and figure out what really is a priority.  Fortunately, builders are desperate for work right, now, so they offered the finished basement with extra bedroom for free.  That was huge.  Well, it will be fun to share the progress.  We went out to the site a few days ago and found they'd already poured the concrete walls of the basement.  Pretty exciting!  

And sadly, we're out of the land of aloha.  Missing island easy life.  But on to new things.  The spring and summer will have us out on the waters of the Chesapeake Bay and Patuxent River nearby.  Good times to come...