The Happy Couple!  :-)

Sweetness.

The girl set up her office, on one of our bedside tables, so the boy....

... set up his too.  The "office" is great... but the boy himself cracks me up!  :-)

 And a cute one of the little man!


Well, it's a busy day around here!  Packing, tidying, and last minute this and that.  Lord willing, tomorrow morning, dark and early, Grandma F., three kiddos and myself will be climbing onto a train, headed out west for a good long visit!  It'll be an adventure!  And my Mom is here to help with the travels... and she's been a big help with final preparations too!

Abiding Radio

When I walked into my friend's house a few days back I noticed the lovely music she had playing.  She told me it was "Abiding Radio" and you listen online.

Since then, I've been blessed with the beautiful, God-honoring music in my own house!  When you go to listen you can pick Sacred, Instrumental, Seasonal, or Kids.  Check it out!   Abiding Radio

A Step Back In Time

 I mentioned a while back that my brother and sister, Josh and Amy, and a couple friends of theirs had come by for a visit.  That was about TWO months ago now... and I'm finally posting some pictures!  Enjoy!

And a cute one at the end of a girl and her brother!

A Huge Blessing!

After a while of our computer being out of commission ... it is now up and running again, thanks to the efforts of multiple people!  What a blessing!  We were also blessed to be able to use Ravi's laptop in the mean time.  Now that our's is up and going again, here are some of the most recent snaps from around here.  Enjoy!

This picture was snapped by big brother!  :-)

Last night we had a "one-day-early" celebration of my handsome man's "Happy Day".  We had dinner with Grandpa, Grandma, Win, and Ravi.  It was an enjoyable evening!  And what a joy and privilege to get to celebrate another birthday with my Love!

A Look Into Our Day: For Monday, January 21

"Ism" of the Day: Today it's a Hilkiah - ism and it's a conversation we had on our walk back from the playground:

H "Why that kid ride the bike?"

Me "I don't know"

H "Why that kid ride the bike?"

Me "It's not a kid it's a lady" (Looked like a Grandma)

H "Why that kid ride a bike?"

Me "I don't know.  It wasn't a kid it's a lady."

H  " Why that lady ride a bike?"

Me "I don't know.  Maybe she wanted to go somewhere."

H "Why she want to go somewhere?"

Me  " I don't know.  Maybe she wanted to go to the store or something."

H "Why go to store?"

Yep.  We've reached THAT stage!  Our hearts, brains and patience may have a new way to be stretched in the next few months!

A Blessing from the Lord:  Sunshine after a cloudy morning.

Challenge:  A particular one of my kidos seeming to fuss and cry today, just about every time I turn around.

I Was Encouraged By:  The book "The Normal Christian Life" by Watchman Nee.  There were parts that really jumped out to me!

Clara Enjoyed:  Going to the playground... after we turned around, went back to the house and got her more thoroughly bundled up for the freezing weather.

Hil Enjoyed:  Playground!

Food For Thought:  "'In thy light shall we see light" (Psalm 36:9): we shall know something; we shall be clear about something; we shall see.  No turning within, no introspective self-examination will ever bring us to that clear place.  No, it is when there is light coming from God that we see.

I think it is so simple.  If we want to satisfy ourselves that our face is clean, what do we do?  Do we feel it carefully all over with our hands?  No, of course not.  We find a mirror and we bring it to the light.  In that light everything becomes clear.  No sight ever came by feeling or analyzing   Sight only comes by the light of God coming in; and when once it has come, there is no longer need to ask if a thing is right or wrong.  We know.....

"'The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple' (Psalm 119.130 A.V.)"

Watchman Nee  "The Normal Christian Life"

I need to be reminded constantly to fix my eyes on Christ.  I'm one who is so tempted to fix my eyes on myself.... analyzing my thoughts, feelings, motives.  Way too much introspection!!!  Lord, help me fix my eyes on You and may Your light shine into every part of my life and chase away all the sin and darkness!

Recent cuteness

Hilkiah, decked out in his Daddy's hard hat and proclaiming with spirit "I ah Fiah, Fiah, Fiah."  I think "Fire Fighter" may have been the idea!

Mom M. popped by today.  We live in the home that had been Mom and Dad's since Stephen was a boy... so a long time!  Apparently, Clara doesn't understand that, because she invited her Grandma to come out back with "You want to see our back yard?  It's huge."  :-)

Our hearts were blessed by this song...

A Special Day

My dear husband and I celebrated six years of marriage this last weekend.  What a privilege, joy, and truly a treat it has been to be Stephen's wife.

Our anniversary plans came about rather last minute... but turned out to be a very lovely time.  Stephen took me out to lunch while Mom and Dad M. watched the kids for us.  Later on in the afternoon, Mom and Dad dropped off the kidos and we took them to a local motel where we had booked a room and we enjoyed a wonderful evening of relaxing, spending time in the pool and hot tub, watching some TV, playing some games with the kidos, reading and chatting.  The next morning we even enjoyed a room service breakfast.... a truly unusual treat for us!

What a special time we all had.

A Matter Of The Heart...

A little girl was having a good time looking at my lovely new artisan bread book.  She was pointing out breads that looked good to her. Along the way we had a little talk, part of which went something like this.

Clara: "Punkin...Punmpkin..."

Me: "Pumpkin."

Clara: "Pumpkin bread. You can mix cranberries in it"

Me: "Yes. That's right. Did someone tell you that?"

Clara: "It was just in my heart."

News and Blessings

Another quick update on us and what's been happening around here.  Still don't have our computer problem dealt with, so I'll wait to share pictures... I've got some good ones!!!!

  We've been so blessed to get to spend Christmas and New Years Eve with Stephen's folks, and what a lovely  time we've had.  Christmas Eve we did a pie bake off, had lunch and supper together, and did gifts in the evening.  Christmas day we had a lovely Mediterranean meal and spent more time visiting and relaxing.

Today, New Years Eve, we got a lovely white blanket of snow... about six inches or so of it.  Beautiful.  Clara had lots of fun out there playing and getting pulled around in the sled by Ravi, the young guy who is staying with us.

Mom, Dad, Heather, and Grandma Deemer were here for supper.  The meal was a joint venture.  Heather and Mom did DELICIOUS quiches.  We did toasted bread with an artichoke spread, tomato, capers and a little bit of salmon.  Berry crisp was dessert.  All was followed by tea around the wood stove... and thanks to the wood stove no body was cold... quite the opposite!  :-)

And Lord willing, the kids and I will be getting to spend a whole month catching up with most of my family in  Feb. / Mar.!  What a treat!!!

2012 has been another year full of challenges and blessings.  One of the most obvious blessings was our move here to Kansas.  Stephen GREATLY enjoys working with Dad M. and being near his parents has been such a treat for all of us!  August 15 was a big day of blessing... when our little Ittai was born quickly and, thanks to the Lord's protection, safely into the outside world.  We also got visits from friends and quite a few of my wonderful family members!

The Lord Jesus has been so good to us.  We don't deserve it.  One of my prayers for this coming year will be that I grow in faith and learn to have my eyes and heart fixed on Him!

Unless He returns before, have a blessed New Year!

Well, it's been too long since the last post. So, for a quick update and some pieces of news from these parts.

Last week we were so blessed to have two groups of wonderful company, as I mentioned in the last post.  Hopefully, we'll have our computer difficulties fixed soon and I'll share some pictures.  Thank you to each one for making the effort to stop and see us on your trips home.  You were a blessing!  Look for pictures soon!

We got snow a couple nights ago which, as you can probably imagine, was a rather positive event in this household.  :-)

Ittai rolled over earlier this week for the first time!  He continues to be a joy.  His smiles and squeals  are so fun.  And that way he smiles and looks at you like he just likes you a lot could just melt your heart. He enjoys it when Clara and Hil play with him... and they enjoy it too!  You should hear him squealing.  When both baby and big sibling are having fun, it's hard for Mommy to know when to say something or calm things down and protect the little guy. They're both having a great time and you don't want to stop them from playing with little brother, but......

Ok, now for a Hilkiah line.  When it's getting to be meal time, but things aren't yet ready, Hil will often eagerly jump the gun and start calling people to the table with "Suppee Time!"  And lunch can be "suppee time" too!

Dressed Up and a Full Week

This is what our fine little gentleman was looking like today!  :-)

If all goes as planned, this will be a busy week... in a very good way!  My brother and sister are scheduled to arrive here tomorrow morning, along with a couple frineds.  They are traveling home from a one semester school and we are one of a couple stops along the way!  Yay!  They should be here until Thursday!  Then Friday evening we have some friends stopping by, who are also traveling home!  They should be here for part of the weekend!  What a treat of a week!

A Habit Put Into Words, Upset Tummies and Moments

Above are a few moments to share from the last couple weeks. 

This last week has made me thankful for washers, dryers, and tubs with warm running water.  Two kidos with tummy troubles will do that to you!  :-)  I thought they were pretty much over it... but last night and this morning they proved otherwise.  Though we've had some messes to clean up, it hasn't been super serious, which is a blessing!

Also, have to share a great quote from this week.  Clara is a thumb sucker, and like the good Daddy he is, Stephen has been trying to encourage her to stop the habit.  Well several nights back he had been telling her not to put the thumb in her mouth.  After he left the room Clara complained to me "My tummy keeps telling me to."  After repeating a couple times that her tummy keeps telling her to suck her thumb she changed it with "actually my mouth".   So there you have it.  A thumb sucking habit put into words.  :-)

Thanksgiving

Seven cousins!  For the first time ever, this Thanksgiving, we had all seven cousins together!  What a treat it was to have Daniel and Sarah and their four precious kidos in town for the long weekend!!!  We got to spend a lot of time together over at Dad and Mom's place, chatting and eating yummy food and enjoying being together. 

The big girls!  You probably couldn't tell they were cousins.... could you?  :-)

Gigi and Grandma having a moment together.

Hilkiah and Cici

The little guys!   Bea and Ty are about 3 weeks apart.

Special times!  Thanks guys for making the trip here!  Let's get together again soon!

A Couple Smiles and Blessings

Blessings of late:

Kanamak Thanksgiving Dinner

Family Retreat with our church

Sweet smiles from a THREE month old

A lunch date with my Stephen

Thanksgiving coming up this week and getting to see Daniel and Sarah and have all the M. cousins together!

Smiles and a quote...

 

 

And here is a quote to share, some of which had impacted me before, and it touched me again today! 

"What then of our attitude to Satan?  This is important, for he accuses us not only before God but in our own conscience also. 'You have sinned, and you keep on sinning.  You are weak, and God can have nothing more to do with you.'  This is his argument.  And our temptation is to look within and in self-defence to try to find in ourselves, in our feelings or our behaviour, some ground for believing that Satan is wrong.  Alternatively we are tempted to admit our helplessness and, going to the other extreme, to yield to depression and despair.  Thus accusation becomes one of the greatest and most effective of Satan's weapons.  He points to our sins and seeks to charge us with them before God, and if we accept his accusations we go down immediately.
Now the reason why we so readily accept his accusations is that we are still hoping to have some righteousness of our own.  The ground of our expectation is wrong.  Satan has succeeded in making us look in he wrong direction.  Thereby he wins his point, rendering us ineffective.  But if we have learned to put no confidence in the flesh we shall not wonder if we sin, for the very nature of the flesh is to sin.  Do you understand what I mean?  It is because we have not come to appreciate our true nature and to see how helpless we are that we still have some expectation in ourselves, with the result that, when Satan comes along and accuses us, we go down under it.
God is well able to deal with our sins; but He cannot deal with a man under accusation, because such a man is not trusting in the Blood.  The Blood speaks in his favour, but he is listening instead to Satan....

Our salvation lies in looking away to the Lord Jesus and in seeing that the Blood of the Lamb has met the whole situation created by our sins and has answered it."

~ Watchman Nee  

So, time for some news from this home front.

This past weekend we had a very nice visit from some friends we had met several years back.  It was so good of them to stop by on their family trip.  Much had changed in both of our families since the last time we saw each other.

And there was a surprise result of their visit.  Stephen had mentioned that he had been doing some thinking about trying to start an internship program at work.  Well, the things he was describing sounded exactly like Ravi, one of sons in this family.  So after a tour of work, some talking and considering, we now have a new "addition" to the family.  Ravi is staying with us and becoming the inaugural intern! 

Our little "homestead" is coming along.  Our friends helped Stephen put finishing touches on up the chicken coop and the layers have been moved into the new yard and coop.

My kidos keep growing and changing.  Clara makes us smile with the cute things that pop out of her mouth at times.  Here's a fun line from her praying at meal time: "Bless it for our hands and help our bodies to like it."  :-)  Sometimes, when Hil is being put down for a nap, she complains "I won't have any friends."  Too precious.  She enjoys getting down next to baby and playing with him.

Hilkiah loves going to the zoo to see "Giraffe, elephant, rhino, monkeys" and he also likes the "pauk" (park).  And agree to play ball with him and you'll have a happy boy.

Our littlest guy is such a sweet dumlin'.  He's smiling and cooing.... though at this precise moment he's complaining.  :-) 

We're blessed!

A few of today's cute moments

Aaaaahhhhhh....

Aaaaahhhhhh... what a lovely morning I had! Grandma M. watched all three kidos for me and I went to a local "mom and pop" coffee house, got a large Salted Carmel Latte and enjoyed two hours of reading and writing. The cheery shop was bustling and buzzing and for a while snowflakes where falling outside, but the sun also came out. I soooooo enjoyed myself! Thank you grandma and thank You, Lord for your many blessings!




Here are a couple shots from bath time several nights back.  Clara has helped out with little brother's bath twice now!  It seems like Ittai looks more grown up in pictures then in real life! 

And here is my "Mr. 100-watt-smile-man".

And no, my life is not all coffee shops and sweet bath times.  Just a bit ago one kido stumbled over backwards and sent milk splattering about.  And yesterday, we left an outing early, due to another kido that was misbehaving so much!  And that kind of stuff is just "icing on the cake" of mommy's own struggles and hang-ups!  But what a blessed lady I am to have a faithful, patient, forgiving God, three precious growing blessings from Him, a dear hubby, very helpful and caring parents-in-love, and a lovely morning outing!

Cuteness From This Morning!