Carried Through Grief/Beyond Words Designs

My sweet friends, Steve and Stephanie have been on a journey that no parent wants to go on. They were both excited to be having their fourth child. A little over half way through the pregnancy, they learned that their precious daughter had a condition that would not allow her to survive out of utero. In fact, the doctors did not expect Stephanie to carry her to term. Miraculously, Stephanie carried 40 weeks. Some would think of this as a curse, but Steve and Stephanie embraced this time as a gift. During the second half of the pregnancy, they bonded with their baby, Amelia, in precious ways. The children sang, prayed for, and talked to her. Stephanie was able to cherish every single move that Amelia made. In addition to this, God's beauty and love was experienced through all the friends that prayed for them and served them in many tangible ways. Still, there are no words for the pain and grief experienced on March 11, 2010, when sweet Amelia Rose was born quiet and still into the waiting arms of Steve who was able to catch her. They had a few days with her before they said their final goodbyes. Stephanie is sharing her story in a blog called Carried Through Grief. In her blog, you can read her whole story and well as see ways to help children who are grieving.

Stephanie was impressed by God to serve other families experiencing a loss similar to theirs. A constant motivation throughout Amelia's pregnancy, was how to preserve her memory. Stephanie never wanted her forgotten or for others to be afraid to say her name. So, Beyond Words Designs was born. It is actually still under construction since this couple's grief is still so fresh. Stephanie is a very talented artist, who is capturing memories of lost ones by hand painting meaningful words on a canvas. These works of art are not only beautiful, they express the family's love for the one they are missing as well as keeping their name present. If you have lost someone or know someone who has, visit her business site and her blog. God is using their pain in many beautiful and wonderful ways.

If you look to the right of my page, there is a button to both blogs.

The House That Cleans Itself

On my parent's last visit, my mom gave me a new book and a notebook to go with it. The book is, The House That Cleans Itself, by Mindy Starns Clark.

The first part of the book was kind of fun. It told me to plan. I love planning! I got to draw up a floor plan of our house and number the rooms in the order I was going to attack them. Then I got to chapter 4. It said that I should have steps 1-3 completed to go any further. Bummer. You mean I am going to have to DO something!?!

Just kidding. I am all geared up and ready for the work. I am still in the new baby phase, and so I don't have much focused time. I have many goals and dreams, but it can get overwhelming trying to get them to pan out when I am stopped so much. Nevertheless, I am going to attempt to go room by room and follow the plan in this book. Wish me luck!

Journaling is supposed to help and be a good thing, so I will add entries in here to let you know my progress as I am able to do things. I expect this to be a very LONG process given the amount of time I have to give to this project. I just know it is a necessity that I do this. Our house is frustrating, cluttered, disorganized, and in a nutshell inefficient. This makes for a lot of needless frustration every day.

Noah 3 months...

The girls put Noah in their baby cradle that my grandpa made for them.

This was Noah's first time in the exersaucer. He didn't know what to think about it.

Noah's face lights up if you talk to him. He LOVES interaction, which is so much fun for us. He might even be starting to fuss, and then he'll stop if you get in his vision and start smiling and talking to him. He will forget his woes for a while and smile and talk with you.

Update on "The System"...

Well, things are actually going pretty well, considering. I have done some tweaking. The girls work great with their chart, but the boys who are non-readers don't. So, I pulled out an older system and gave them chore packs. These are nifty little plastic pockets that clip onto them. Inside are picture to depict the job they have to do next. When it is completed, they move it to the back. This works GREAT for Kevin. He loves chore packs. I have ordered a more hands on and hefty visual for Kaiden, who found the chore packs hard to handle. So, we may have three different visuals going on depending on the age. In the end, it is the same system. They must complete their jobs in the time given, do a good job of them, and do them with a happy heart to earn a bean.

I have found that I am the problem in any system. The kids actually do great when I am on board and get them going in the morning. Unfortunately, if I have a hard night or what ever and don't head up the plan for the day, they completely forget the charts, etc. and do nothing. I guess I am living in La-La Land for hoping that they would still wake up and go get their charts. So, once again, I am learning the very hard lesson of self discipline that I so want my children to have. So, on the days that we DO the system, our house runs well. Every other day, though, the house falls apart and I don't even remember the charts until mid-afternoon. Hopefully, we are all growing in this area, and we will start having more on days than off in our week.

Noah pics

Noah is 2 months. He LOVES to sleep in his new swaddle blanket. This is the only type that works. It is WONDERFUL!!! My cousin, Laurie, introduced them to me and gave us the one Noah is in just above. His hands are in the blanket and he still can move. It works perfectly. It also signals him that it is time to go to sleep. When he gets super cranky because he is sleepy, I lay him on this blanket and start wrapping him up. As soon as I do, he calms down. Noah is also a sucker!! He nurses A LOT, sometimes takes a pacifier, and loves to suck his hands. Every once in a while he actually finds his thumb. We are having so much fun with him. He is now smiling at us and cooing which is the most precious thing you have ever seen!

New systems...

I am a planner. Anyone who knows me knows that I take great delight in the planning stage. I have lists and plans everywhere! I even got fronted out by one of my daughters (guess who!) that she couldn't possibly keep up with her chores the way I change things up so often. (The reality of that is that her jobs haven't changed hardly at all. I am just always trying to "tweak" things and find a more effective, more efficient way.)

Well, I am now busy planning again. It is difficult to home school, run a home, try to be thrifty, meal plan, shop responsibly, cook, train your children to have great character, and care for an infant. The baby is WONDERFUL, but has really thrown me for a loop! I was able to schedule everyone else in the household. Now, there is this sweet little person who completely does his own thing. The difficult part is that his own thing completely involves me, which I absolutely love!!! I am having so much fun cooing at him and kissing those fat little cheeks! He is so sweet right now that I never want to look away. He is finally tracking me and smiling and cooing back!!! I am having so much fun just loving on him and enjoying this sweet new life in our family!

The result of all that baby love, is a crazy home. Oh how I wish I was diligent earlier in training my kids! Why won't anyone take initiative? Am I the only one who realizes that we now have dirty dishes since we had a meal? Does anyone else see those clothes building up that need to be washed? Am I the only one who finds it hard to walk through the living room without tripping? I had dreams of my older children taking these things over while I was in this new baby phase. I must sit and nurse 8 or more hours a day! So, how are these things supposed to get done without THEM doing them, right?

So, here we go on yet another "system" to make another attempt at teaching family responsibility. This time each child has a list of jobs that they have to "complete before lunch", "complete before dinner", and "complete before bed." They will get rewarded with a bean for each job done well, within the time given, and with a good attitude. Their schoolwork as well as their chores are included in their jobs. Then, they can redeem their beans for privileges and small things. 10 beans for a piece of gum (3 back if I SEE them throw it away!), 20 beans for a piece of candy, 25 beans for 20 min of educational computer time, 75 beans to get dessert on a weeknight, 150 for a dinner date with Mom or Dad, and many others. They, of course, can lose beans by not doing their jobs well, on time, or with a poor attitude.

I will have to wait until Monday, now, to begin since we won't be around this weekend. Hopefully this will be the answer, at least for this week! I am sure we will begin and I will start "tweaking" again as some components work and others don't. We will see.....

Happy birthday, Noah Christopher!!!

On November 30th, at 12:24pm, our baby boy arrived!!! We named him Noah Christopher. He weighed 9 pounds and 4 ounces and was 21 3/4 in long. He is absolutely perfect and we can't help but just stare and snuggle. I am totally in love!

For the first week, Noah and I didn't sleep much. Well, actually, I didn't sleep much. Noah seemed to sleep all the time if he was nursing or being held by someone (mainly me). He is now, at 2 weeks, stretching out his awake and sleep time. FINALLY he will sleep laying in his bassinet. His awake times are brief, but precious. I love his sweet little wide eye look. They don't last long though. He will either fall asleep or start crying within just a few minutes. I also know to anticipate a cranky time in the evening already. It is funny how much of caring for him seems brand new. You would think I was a first time mom instead of a mom of 5! How quickly I forgot!

We are loving this new life with Noah. This is an adventure we are excited to begin!!! (Now, I just need to figure out how to take showers, brush my teeth, and get dishes done. My minutes are so few, I never know which way to run.)