Leaf Sledding

Some favorite memories of my childhood include sledding in the snow on Grandpa & Grandma's hill. It was and still is a riot. It was only two years ago that my kids discovered "leaf sledding." My parents invited us to go out there this week to enjoy the wonderful 70 degree - November weather in Michigan...and another fun time of "leaf sledding." (Thanks mom & dad...the kids had a riot!!) Hey - not everyone can say they have done this. Here are some highlights.

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Happy Birthday Jenna

Happy 4th Birthday, Jenna! Our sweet, expressive and funny girl! Yesterday (on her birthday) I said to her "Jenna, my three year old is gone & I'll never have one again - you're four now!" She replied, "Mom! I'm still the same girl and I'm still little!" She always makes me smile! We love you, sweetheart!

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Fall

It was a beautiful day today in Michigan...a great day for the last soccer game of the fall season and a great day to jump in the leaves! Last night was fun for all of us too. The kids dressed up and we made our annual trip to Great-Grandma T's house where everyone ends up on Halloween to eat some of her YUMMY homemade donuts. (Our family says that Krispy Kreme donuts taste like hers!) We ended up at my parents house for a bon fire where the kids ran all around the yard and beach with glo-sticks from Aunt Rebekah & Uncle Adam. Fun memories! (FYI...Abbi was a princess/bridesmaid - she kept switching, Jessi was a Red Cross nurse, Emily was a cheerleader, Michael was Mr. Incredible, Allison was Raggedy Ann, Jenna was Strawberry Shortcake and Scott borrowed our nephew Alex's Speed Racer helmet...only for the picture of course.)

Sweet Jenna

Okay...now I know it is a good day. I was teaching Abbi & Emily History and Jenna taps me on the arm and says "mommy, I just asked Jesus to take my sins away and come live in my heart." WHAT?? I told the girls to keep working and I went to talk to Jenna. I have been talking to her quite a bit over the last few months about how we are all sinners and are in need of a Savior and how God sent His only Son to take the punishment for OUR sins. She apparently wasn't seeing her need...because she always said "maybe tomorrow." Well apparently "tomorrow" has come. She said "I'm a sinner, I guess" as she shrugged her shoulders. It was cute. Then she prayed again (not that you need to ask twice...it was just nice to hear it for myself.) It was so "out of the blue" because the other kids were watching their Heritage Studies and she was just playing by herself. Anyway...it is a good day.

You know it's going to be one of those days when...

You know it's going to be one of those days when you open a BRAND NEW gallon of milk for breakfast and even before you pour any milk out...your youngest daughter puts her finger in her nose and then immediately dips it into the gallon of milk. Need I say more?

Challenge

This is one of those nights that I'm tossing and turning (it is 4:30 am), so I had to get my thoughts "out of my head" so to speak. So here goes...

Last time I posted, I mentioned the Ladies Retreat. I had a blast! I met some new friends and got to know some other friends better. It was the perfect mix of having fun, relaxing (not so much during the game of "spoons" but it sure was a lot of fun!) and being challenged too. One of the people/things that our speaker Jodi talked about was Corrie ten Boom and the book "The Hiding Place." Jodi mentioned that when Corrie was a child she was grounded in God's word. She was taught from a young age to hide God's word in her heart. (Jodi said much more than that...but that is one of the areas I was challenged.) It really got me thinking about how much I focus on that with my own children. Why do we take time for other things...but with something so important, we don't intentionally make it a priority?

Fast forward to this past weekend...we were supposed to go down to Indiana (Scott had Friday and Monday off from work) but it didn't end up working out. We still wanted to so something fun with the kids, so we took them to Binder Park Zoo. It was a beautiful day and we had a lot of fun. At the entrance, I took two maps. When you have six children - two maps are not enough (we'll leave the sharing lesson for another time) so I asked if I could have one for each of the kids. They were generous and gave me four more and we had six happy kids. It was very cute to see Jenna trying to "read" her map as she walked. She was so serious about it...but obviously not able to read it! (Video clip)

Yesterday, my friend Jen mentioned on her blog that she went to the Selah concert on Sunday. I love Selah's music and listen to them often, but I pulled out one of the CD's I hadn't heard in a while. One of the songs on it is called "You Are My Hiding Place" (on my playlist below) and it says:

You are my hiding place

You always fill my heart

With songs of deliverance

Whenever I am afraid

I will trust in You

I will trust in You

Let the weak say

I am strong

In the strength of the Lord

The words kept going through my mind during the night. I think that as a parent, sometimes I underestimate or do not emphasize enough the importance of my children's OWN relationship with the Lord. Yes, we pray with them at meals and before bedtime, read the Bible with them (not often enough), and work on AWANA sections. But do we intentionally (make it a priority) to teach them to hide God's word in their heart so that God is their "hiding place." I'm sure when Corrie ten Booms parents grounded her in God's word they didn't know just how important that would be for Corrie in the awful days she had ahead. I obviously don't know what lies ahead for my kids future...but it will be just as important that they have God's word hidden in their hearts. Just like the map at the zoo, Jenna can't read it on her own...but she is not too young to learn! All that to say...I have been challenged to work on hiding God's word in our hearts!

Ladies Retreat

Had a really fun weekend at the Chapel Pointe Ladies Retreat! It was nice to have a break from "normal" and come back refreshed. It is now Tuesday morning and I could do it all over again! I'm sure all of you moms can relate! I came home to a "belated birthday party." The kids made me cards, went shopping with daddy and bought a gift and, most importantly, had a chocolate Costco cake! I'm not sure what prompted it - but it was sweet of them (considering my birthday was in August.) Here are some pictures from the weekend: