Our Growing Family

2001

I can barely remember life with only two children.

2002

In this picture (above), Jeffrey is about 28 months old, and Emma is double that.  He's almost caught up to her in height.  

Except for the Nuk in his mouth, you might think he and Emma are twins.

2003

I think Dave is taking this picture, which explains why he's not in it.

2004

I'm pregnant with Lydia in this one.

2005

Here's Lydia!  She's about six months old in this shot.  She was so chubby!

2006

Dave officiated our friends' wedding.  We clean up pretty good!

2007 Summer

This was taken about three months before Samuel was born.  

Jeffrey and Lydia could grow Kool-Aid mustaches like rock stars!  

Camp's theme was "Growing in the Son"--a farm theme.  (I love this one.)

2007 Winter

I think Sam is about nine (?) weeks old here.  I lost the pregnancy weight quickly this time because I went lap swimming a few times a week.  Then, stupid Daylight Savings Time switched back and messed up our feeding schedule, so I ended up letting my swim pass expire.  DST is a pet peeve of mine, but that could be an entirely different blog post.  Grrrrrrr....

2008

We had a pirate theme at camp this summer, hence the ship's wheel.  This is the first summer that Emma had her own wheels (motorized scooter).  

It was also her first year of MDA camp.

2009

My Mom has joined us for this picture.  She comes to one of our family camp weeks every summer.  She also volunteers as camp nurse each year for a youth week.  You can count on her yummy camp-made cinnamon rolls while she's here!  I don't know what we'd do without her.  

2010

"Girls on this side, boys on that side."

It's funny how Sam is a little carbon copy of Jeffrey, 

while the girls couldn't be more different--inside and out.

2011

We took 70 shots to get this picture for our prayer card.  *rolls eyes*

2012

It only took about 45 shots this year.

2013

This photo was taken about nine months after the 2012 picture.  

Look how much Jeffrey has grown in such short time!  (Compare his height to mine.)  That explains all of those weeks of sleeping in!

My thoughts as I look through these pictures:

• Dave really likes the tan polo shirt with the navy camp logo.  He's wearing it in four photos.
• No make-up with my all of my hair pulled back is not the best look for me--especially when I'm pregnant.
• I am truly blessed!  What a wonderful family the Lord has given me!
• Time is fleeting.  I would love to go back and relive some of those days when the kids were little.  So, I resolve to enjoy Today while it's here!  Time marches on, and ten years from now I may do another post like this, wishing I could come back to 2013.

"What I Did for Summer Vacation"

Summer isn't quite over, but the busy-ness of a new school year is rapidly descending.  I think we'll start homeschooling on September 2nd or 3rd, but I might wait one more week.  Our women's retreat is from the 6th-8th, and I end up cleaning quite a bit for that.  It's still not going to pass a white glove test (it is camp, after all), but I clean more deeply for women's retreat than anything else.  It usually takes me about 20 hours.  I was able to deep clean four of the cabins a couple of weeks ago though, so those will only need a "regular" cleaning.  That will help.  In any case, we might not start school until Sept. 9th.  Or maybe we'll just do half-days during my super-duper cleaning week.

Re-reading that paragraph makes me thankful for the flexibility of homeschooling.  (And yes, I do realize that if all of the kids were in school, I'd have more time to clean.  But that's not the point.)

Okay, so here's what I did this summer:

Decluttered ~ I'm still working on this--and will be for the rest of my life, it seems--but I was able to pare down and sell a bunch of things on our town's classifieds page on Facebook.  I probably made about $120.  It was putzy, though.  I also went through all of my homeschool curriculum.  There were lots of things that I knew we wouldn't use anymore.  It was all good stuff--just not the best fit for our family.  And since Sam is starting kindergarten, I sold several of the pre-school things.  So far, I'm up to $325 on Amazon (minus shipping costs).  Over the last couple of days, I reorganized the Secret Room.  It looks very much like the photos in the link, but with a few more bins.  The basement still needs a lot of work.  I'll take some before and after pic's.  It's going to be dramatic, since it's such a disastrophe down there.

Deleted ~  I deleted my Facebook account.  That was a big deal for me, which is why I keep bringing it up, I guess.  (Sorry.)

Taught ~ We did a few weeks of school over the summer, but not quite as much as I'd planned.  Story of my life.

Played! ~  Living at a summer Bible camp is still a lot of fun, even though all I can mostly see is the work that needs to be done.  Lydia and Samuel help to remind me that life isn't all about work, though.  We had many, many fun times together down at the lake.  I also enjoy watching the campers enjoy camp.  And the Family Camps are always a treat for me.

Ran ~ Okay, I only ran a handful of times, but I got up to running a mile straight without dying walking.  For me, that's an accomplishment.

How was your summer?

Now Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Program

Camp is done.  Aaaaaahhhhhh....

Well, the "everyday" camp season is over.  We still have retreats through the end of October.  Since our next retreat isn't until September 6th, our family has a nice breather.  We moved back to our house in town on Saturday evening, and I've been trying to get reorganized around here.  The laundry baskets are empty; the cupboards & fridge are full, but I've still got books to put away.  I had brought boxes of books to camp because we tried to do some homeschooling during the four youth weeks of camp.  It was more challenging than I thought it'd be.  We only get so many warm weeks here in WI, so we probably got more P.E. done than anything else (i.e. swimming, outdoor games, canoeing).  It's hard doing bookwork when the temps are in the upper-70's and it's gorgeous outside--especially when you're on a lake with a nice, sandy beach.  Yep, we're suffering for Jesus.

This will likely be my most challenging year of homeschooling, regarding demands on my time.  I've got a kindergartener, a 3rd grader, an 8th grader, and a high school sophomore.  Since Samuel (K) can't read yet, I'll need to be hands-on with him for most of his--albeit short--school day.  Emma (10th) works independently on many things, but she's got a heavy literature year ahead of her (she wants to be a writer), so it would be ideal if I could read her books in order to discuss them with her.  She'll also be writing lots of papers and stories--which I will have to grade.  Those are more involved than simply checking a multiple-choice test.  It'll all work out.  I just need a plan.

Part of my plan involves identifying time-wasters and getting rid of them--or at least diminishing them.  Facebook was definitely a time-waster for me.  I assume that my timeline is completely gone now.  I deleted my account on July 28th.  Facebook sent me an email saying that they would keep it at a "deactivated" status for two weeks before deleting it completely, in case I changed my mind.  I didn't.  I miss FB some, but not as much as I'd thought I would.  I mean, I miss the people, of course, and I do feel a little out of the loop, but I don't regret my decision at all.

Other time-wasters...?  Does cooking count?  *wink*

Sleepover

Samuel (5yo) is sleeping over in the Lodge tonight with Grandma.  My Mom is the nurse this week at camp, and she's staying in Room 2.  Lydia (8yo) slept over there last night.

I got to thinking, and one of my very first camp memories is from Room 2 in the Lodge.  It was July, 1976, and I was a few days shy of five years old.  My Mom was volunteering as the nurse that week, too.  I remember waking up in that room in the middle of the night.  My younger brother and I were sleeping on one double bed, while my Mom slept on the other one.  She was very pregnant with my sister.

"Mom...where are we?"

"We're at camp, honey.  Go back to sleep."

"Oh...okay."

The End.

It's weird the things we remember.  Anyway, Samuel thought it was pretty neat that I had slept in that very same room when I was five years old.

So Long, Facebook

Whew!  It's done.  I've copied and pasted four years' worth of status updates to my computer.  (It's over 35 pages altogether!)  Now, I didn't copy everything from those four years, but based on the number of pages, you might think I did.  That just goes to show how extensively I used Facebook--or rather, how much Facebook had a hold on me.  But I'm grateful, in a way, because I don't think I would have such a great record of the past four years had I not been on Facebook.  That fact tempts me to stay.  However, it won't take any longer to add things to a Word document than it would be to post them on Facebook.  Actually, it'll be faster.  I won't be waiting for acknowledgments from dozens of friends.  Clearly, it won't be as fun, but it'll be better for my family in the long run.  And think how much more you'll all look forward to receiving our family Christmas letter!

Even though it took me forever to go through all of those posts, it was so much fun.  At two o'clock in the morning, I would find myself laughing silently until tears came.  My kids make the funniest connections!  It was a joyful walk down Memory Lane.  I also marveled at how God answered prayers through all of that time, and was reminded to count my blessings more than once. When camp is over, I'll go through those 35 pages and put some of my very favorite things in a post for you.

I still need to go through pictures in which people have tagged me.  I know of some that I'll want to save to my computer.  After that... it's, "Buh-bye."  So, if you're not on our Christmas letter list yet, and would like to be, let me know.  And if you'd like to keep in touch more than that, just check back here once or twice a week...or month.  Whatever you like.  I'll be here.

Funny Boy

My youngest has been pretty amusing lately.

Friday night, a camper had asked him, "So Sam, how's life?"

"It's a long story."  Long story?  He wasn't having a glum day.  He must've taken that question literally.  How is your life?  I guess that sharing one's oral autobiography--even for a life of just five-and-a-half years--would take a while!  What a goof.
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Yesterday morning, the kids and I were in the mini-van for a short trip to town.  While listening to our local Christian music station, these lyrics played: "I'm not the man I used to be."  Samuel asked, "Did he just sing 'I'm not a man, but I used to be'?"

I laughed so hard.  I had tears in my eyes. I could hardly catch my breath. 

We all know that commas save lives:

Let's eat Grandma!    vs.   Let's eat, Grandma!

Along similar lines, little words can make a big difference.  Pay attention to your articles and coordinating conjunctions, folks!

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Then, last night at tuck-in time,  Sam was explaining to me how he liked old people, but not their skin. 

"Why not?"  I asked.

"Because it's rough and wrinkly."

"Ohhhh...well, that's why I use a lot of sunscreen on you, and your siblings, and me.  That way, our skin can stay soft and smooth for as long as possible."

"Let me check."  Sam stroked my cheek with the palm of his hand.  "Pretty good!  Nice job, Mom."

Watch out, ladies.  He's a charmer!

Number My Days

15,342...since I was born (including today).

Yesterday was my birthday, and the last few July 17ths have found me more pensive than ready to party.

In the past, I attributed that to being weary of having my birthday during the middle of our busy camp season.  I can rarely celebrate my birthday with my camp director hubby.  Honestly though, I don't mind waiting for the weekend.  And he does a good job of remembering--despite the fact that he's super busy.  (He bought a ukulele for me this year!  Fun!)  Besides, having 100 people sing the birthday song to me at breakfast is a cheerful start to the day.

So...am I lamenting growing older?  Being in my 40's?  Not directly.  I'm settling in to this decade fairly nicely.  I don't look like I'm in my 40's--so others tell me.  I don't feel like I'm in my 40's--for the most part.  Yet, I have the wisdom of being in my 40's (insert hysterical laughter here _______).

I figured it out last night.  Every year on my birthday, I can't help but reflect on the past 12 months.  While I'm thankful for my innumerable blessings (faith, family, friends, everything we need and lots of things we want), I'm always dissatisfied with some parts of my life which have remained unchanged.  Let me tell you what I mean.

~ I still haven't written that book.
~ This is the third summer of painting the porch.  I'll never finish!
~ Those ten pounds are still found (as opposed to "lost").
~ "E" is weaker than a year ago.  I need to work with her more on PT--even
       if I'm a nag!
~ So many good books, so little time.
~ Clutter, clutter everywhere (but not a kitchen sink).
~ The kids' chore schedule?  It worked well--for a month.
~ I'm still in the same place in my piano lesson books.

A lack of self-discipline. That's it!  That's what's been causing my melancholy feelings these last few birthdays.  Everything in that list reflects this personal flaw.  I can't seem to get on top of things.  Either I allow myself to get distracted, or I'm just plain lazy.

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."  ~ Albert Einstein

I need to make some changes.  One of my biggest distractions--no, addictions--is Facebook.  I go on there "just for a minute" to check my notifications, and it easily turns into an hour, on a daily basis.  Yeah.  I'm pathetic.  I've tried different things to try to gain mastery over FB, but none of them have worked, and it's (*gulp*) time to go cold turkey.  Believe me, I've left this option as a last resort.  I've felt convicted about this for some time.  A couple of months ago, I started copying & pasting my status updates in preparation for deleting my account.  Not all of them.  Just the funny ones and the milestones.  It's taking me forever.  My kids are consistently hilarious!  Plus, I put everything on FB.  Well, most everything.

That brings me to the next point.  I know some of you will truly miss my updates.  If so, I'll be keeping track of the funny things the kids say, and I'll write them into our annual Christmas letter.  If you don't already receive that, send me your address, and I'll make sure you get it.  (I still have about a year's worth of status updates to copy, so you can let me know in a private message on FB.  It'll be about a week before I actually delete my account.)

One of the things I'd like to do with my extra hour each day is blog once per week.  I think I promised that some time ago.  (Yet another thing I could add to the list above.)  So, you could bookmark my blog, or simply make a mental note of my blog's name.  I'm sure I'll have some funny or interesting things to put here.

Now, please don't think that I'm trying to convince you that you should get off of FB.  This is a personal decision that I have prayed over for several months.  Facebook is a snare for me, but I know many people who use it well and with moderation.  I'm not blaming FB, either.  I love it for how it connects family and friends all over the world.  It's been a blessing to keep up with the people I love in all sorts of places.  However, too many times it's been at the neglect of those who live right under my nose.  With FB as my "default mode", I also haven't been investing time in the things I would really rather be doing (writing, music practice, reading, exercising) if I stopped long enough to think about it.

Of course, Facebook isn't my only distraction or snare, but it's the most obvious one.  It's the simplest, though not necessarily the easiest, to eliminate.  I know that I'll miss it, but I'm confident it's the right thing for me to do.  So, pray for me, friends.  This week, I'll be finishing up copying & pasting things I don't want to forget, but after that...well...that'll be tough.

I'll leave you with a verse that has been rolling around in my head quite a bit lately.  I may have 15,342 days left, and I'd like to invest them wisely.

"So, teach us to number our days,
That we may gain a heart of wisdom." Psalm 90:12