These Kind of Moments Make it All Worthwhile

I love this picture of my precious children. Earlier today I looked out the window and saw the children taking two year old Abbie Joy on a wagon ride. They were marching in front of her heralding the way as princess Abbie Joy rode in her wagon. It made me so happy to see them all having fun together and taking good care of their younger sister.

Quite honestly homeschooling, taking care of a very busy two year old, and feeding a nursing baby is a full time job that can be very wearying. It is these moments, like in the above picture, that I am reminded that it is all so worth it!!! I love that they are creating memories together and learning from one another. I love it that we are all together and I get to see these special times take place. I have to say this moment of play was one of the highlights of our day. It was a normal day with training in progress and lots of hard work, but I thank the Lord for these special moments of encouragement.

Seven Quick Takes

1. This past week I tried making baked oatmeal, and the children gobbled it down. One batch lasted us for two mornings. This is saying a lot that ALL my children liked it. I have some picky eaters, and finding things that make everyone happy is a real mission accomplished.

2. Matt was able to download a ton of Nancy Leigh DeMoss podcasts onto my phone. I try to redeem my time in the car by listening to things that point me to the Lord.

3. Today was beautiful. The kiddos enjoyed getting in the mud in our back property. Daddy was filling in a big hole, and the kiddos helped him by playing in the mud surrounding the project.

4. We finished Volume One of the Mystery of History and began Volume Two. I absolutely LOVE this chronological, Biblically based history curriculum. It shows God's hand working through all the events of history from the beginning in Genesis to the present day.

5. This week we are going to try having a Prayer Focus chart for the week. I have written the days of the week on our chalk board door in the kitchen. Each day we are going to focus on one area of prayer such as praying for family, country, church, etc.

6. I recently purchased a small trash can with a flip lid. I put it in our van, and it has been soooo incredibly helpful. I now have a place to put trash in the vehicle. The can has a canister that you pull out and empty. Then the canister goes back inside the trash can. It is about the size of a paint can and has helped so much. It is amazing how one little investment can impact family functionality in such a huge way. I LOVE my trash can. :)

7. I am currently reading the book "Large Family Logistics" for the second time. This book is fabulous. There are many practical ideas for organizing, structuring, and living out daily life in a large family. Although it is created to help large families I think any family could glean from it. In fact I wish I had been learning these things when I was starting out as a new bride. This book is one of the most practical books I have ever read on managing home and family.

Seven Quick Takes for This Week

• This has been a busy week! We had the great joy of becoming Uncle and Aunt to my brother and sister in law's first baby. Emma Kate was born on Tuesday, and I have to say she is just a doll. We are already in love with her.

• Lilly Faith is now the proud new owner of a Wubbanub. I had never seen these precious paci holders. Thank you, Uncle John, for this precious gift to Lilly Faith. :)

• Annagrace was taking care of her baby sister. You can see she made sure she had plenty of blankets and toys. :)

• I cannot believe my baby brother is a Daddy! The children and I went to Build A Bear and made this pink bear for Emma Kate. They all helped with the process. John has brought most of my children Build A Bears when they were born. It was special to be the one to take his little angel a Build A Bear.
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• As you can see Lilly Faith is definitely thinking about crawling. She rolls around and pushes up on her arms but has not yet gotten up on her legs. See those cute shoes she is wearing? We went in a store yesterday, and she lost one. ): Socks and shoes are such a challenge in our household. Someone is always losing or outgrowing them.
• The children and I are studying Rome to the Reformation in school this year. Last week we finished up our study of Rome and are about to move towards the Middle Ages.
• Yesterday I saw a plaque I liked. It said, "Never confuse the opinion of the majority for the will of God." How careful we must be to seek God in everything and not just go with the flow around us.

Growing Up

This little girl is growing up so fast. She is now six months old and starting to really branch out with much curiosity about this world. She is transitioning from little baby content to lay around to very busy little baby who wants everything within her reach.

We bought a new high chair after four babies used our first one. The new chair has a plastic tray with an eating tray that fits onto the main tray. This way we can clean the pull off tray and not have to take the main tray off the chair every time. Is that clear as mud? Anyway, she is doing well in her new chair and has decided she really loves rice cereal. She is screaming for more, so we are trying to teach her the baby signs for more.

We are trying something new in our family. Every night before dinner we are going to try to sing a hymn. We will sing the same hymn for the whole month and hopefully have it memorized by the end of the month. Anyway, we sang "Blessed Assurance" tonight, and Lilly Faith seemed to enjoy the singing.

We are very excited that we have a new cousin being born tomorrow. Lilly Faith will have a girl cousin just six months younger than her. My brother and his wife are having their first baby. We are excited!

Six Months

This is Lilly Faith's six month picture. It is not the best as we were running out the door and in a hurry. She is now six months and precious in every way! We did not give her any food until she turned six months. That is different from what we did with some of the others. Maybe we were just too busy to think about it. Nonetheless she is now eating cheerios and some rice cereal. We will be adding more new delicacies by and by. She is not crawling but is pushing up on her arms. She definitely gets around by rolling on the floor. She is very observant and loves for people to talk to her. She has two bottom teeth that I think are just adorable. :) One reason I think she may not be crawling yet is because our whole downstairs is tile flooring. She has not had as much tummy time because of that. She does have floor time when we are upstairs though. We have a shaggy sort of carpet, and she likes to feel the texture. It is so fun to watch her grow and discover things. Well, that is the Lilly Faith six month update. Come back later for the seventh month report. :)

Getting Ready

Lilly Faith is six months old. As you can see she is thinking about crawling, but she has not figured out how to use her legs yet. She gets around by rolling around on the floor, and I know she will be up on those legs before we know it.

2010

It is hard to believe another year has passed. 2010 flew by at lightening speed for the Adams household. We experienced a very busy year with many transitions. To list a few we sold a house, bought a house, moved to the country, had our fifth baby, changed Matt's vehicle, Matt started a new job, adopted a kitty, joined a new church, and to keep things interesting we traded in our suburban in December for a twelve passenger van. Yes, our year can pretty much be described as one big transition or change after another. The Lord answered many prayers for us this past year, and we are amazed at His faithfulness to our family. Here are a few pictures from our Christmas 2010 in our new home.

Stockings!

Kit Kittridge

Legos

Bitty Baby

Baby Doll

Here we are in January and already into our second week of school. Christmas already seems so far removed as we have been working very hard at getting back into the swing of our school routine. God is good, and His mercies are "New every morning." My hearts desire is that our family will love God more, serve God more, and obey God more faithfully in the year to come. I realize more than ever how very much we need Him. He is our faithful Lord and to Him we owe our all.