How I still thank the Lord each day for this little guy!
I told Daniel tonight that I think I need to schedule in a time to answer questions about our schedule :) Really, I am looking forward to sharing with you all and answering/addressing the things you have asked. Look for a post (or two or three) on that this week.
We were suppose to go to La Paz tomorrow to work on renewing my visa, but we've had a slight change of plans...ALL of our washing machines broke this past week. We've had problems with them all off and on for months, but 2 aren't doing anything and one is torn apart on the back patio as it was flooding the laundry room each time I ran it. Daniel is hoping (and I'm praying!!) that he'll be able to get the part to fix the one tomorrow. But since it's been a few days since I've been able to wash for the 14 (oh and Uncle Samuel...15) people who live here, we need to do something. So I told the children tomorrow we get to wash by feet...fill the back yard water tank with water, throw in the clothes, add some soap and MARCH! STOMP! JUMP! RUN! WALK! Anything to get those clothes clean :) I think I've convinced them that it's going to be really fun!
Well, Daniel just got home and it's late. I'll close with a few pictures from the weekend...
Elijah helping Josiah with his worksheets.
You know when it rains it pours...2 flat tires on the truck, van broken down, and lego flushed down the toilet. It took Daniel and Samuel 2 hours or more to get it out...it was SO hot in the bathroom that Samuel turned the shower on himself while they were working :)
Buying fruit from a man who drove by our house. Pardon Nehemiah's outfit...he's potty training right now...thus the fascination with the toilet and the flushed lego.
Saturday afternoons, the children and I get home from the church around 5 pm and we always prepare lunch for Sunday. Many hands make light work...and I treasure the time we spend together working, talking, and laughing.
I never tire of the children showing me something they've made...I love their creativity!
Nice to see Samuel's chubby cheeks - praying he continues to get better. I wrote you a very long email the other day, and realized I Still had more questions! =) Was wondering what age your children actually start helping with *hot* things in the kitchen? Also, don't know how far Tucson, AZ is from you (it's about 4-5 hrs for us from Hermosillo, MX) - but the Maxwell family is having some south-western bible conferences in the new year. I'm hoping our family will be able to one, and wasn't sure if you knew they would be "close". =)
ReplyDeleteLove in our Lord,
Steph
PS (I started at the beginning, and have made it to Oct 2008 on your blog. I'm enjoying getting to "know" you better! You've already been such an encouragement to me - thank you!)
Wow and he is a good little artist!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the little snippets of your daily life and also look forward to the Q and A post...especially to the answers to my questions:):):):)
Your itchen full of children on counters looks like my kitchen...I don't know if you've been to my blog but I recently put up a few video clips and it's messy but we got some yummy things out of it:) Some of the littles help eating the ingredients rather than making them right?...they have so much fun doing that:) I see Susannah on the counter munching on something.
Well gotta go!
Aa-a-w-w-, look at little Samuel! What adorable dimples!! I can't believe it's already been 5 months.I so enjoy watching your family from afar, and look forward to schedule answers!:-)
ReplyDelete~Christal
PPS - Another question: What do you do (if anything) to keep your younger children occupied during church?
ReplyDeleteGracias otra vez, y abrazos a todos!! =)
Buenos Dias desde España!
ReplyDeleteI love how everyone is helping. YOu must be a master delegator.
I feel very much a whimp when I look at you and your family. My body gave out on me after three and I had always wanted a large family. I had to have both my ears operated on after my third pregnancy. I lost most of my hearing due to the pregnancies.
I only have three and I barely manange my own home the way I aught to.
I think to myself.."9 boys!" "If she can do it with 9 Boys, surely I can get my three under control."
Don´t get me wrong, they have learned to obey and they work hard but not like I see your children workning in these pictures. I have goofing around, yelling and craziness if I am not stern. How do you have any semblance of sanity? I am sure they just know this is how it´s done out of necessity, training and love, and I am sure your schedule helps immensely.
Well, I say all this to say, I love to see your family working together. It´s so beautiful.
Something I was noticing about the schedule is that everything is in half hour blocks. what if something takes longer than this half hour and throws your whole schedule off? Especially with school? I then would feel like I was constantly playing catch up. this gets me with my scheduling. I just find myself playing catch up and that gets me discouraged about scheduling. I love to write it out and get it out in a form on the computer but then like I said we only stick to it faithfully for about a couple of months.
ReplyDeleteI am very interested in hearing all about this and your life in Mexico. It is so diffent than our materialistic Spain. I thought the Lord was calling me to Central America when I was in College. I had been on several missions trips and had been learning Spanish, but the Lord brought us to Spain, the least reach Spanish speaking country. The hardest to reach in our post modern society.
Well, I have written a post of my own here. Sorry to take up so much time. I will write you an e mail sometime. LOL
Un abrazo, Daniela
Happy 5 months old to your little guy!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the washers, i hope they are up and running for you soon.
praying for your washing machines to be fixed. I can't imagine!
ReplyDeleteTake pictures of washing the clothes with your feet!
God Bless,
Kim in NC
Samuel looks great!! What a blessing it is to see those chubby cheeks.
ReplyDeleteCindy
More great pictures! I just have to ask what you are cooking up for lunch - it looks so good! We may need to make it here! - Sonya
ReplyDeleteSonya, Yesterday we had Cottage Pie (commonly known as Shepherd's Pie...but my binlaw told me once that Shepherd's pie is technically made with lamb...cottage pie with beef :) ). We brown ground beef with chopped onions, garlic, carrots, and add some corn. Then we add salt, pepper, and some flour...mix it all together...add water and simmer until veggies are tender.
ReplyDeletePut it into a pan and cover with mashed potatos (we peel, cut, boil, and mash the potatos while making the meat mixture). We cover with foil and put into the fridge. Then when we leave for church in the morning, I put it into th oven to heat up. We eat it often with green salad (easily put together when we get home) and homemade bread.
We also put together a large fruit salad Saturday. The children eat fruit topped with yogurt and granola for breakfast Sunday morning and then we can eat the extra fruit for dessert after lunch :)
Oh how wonderful to see Samuel! What an answer to prayer he is. I love all your pics. I hope to see some pics of your kids stomping on, oh, I mean washing their clothes. That sounds fun!
ReplyDeleteLittle Samuel looks adorable. Five months? Seems like he'd be almost one by now :-)
ReplyDeleteWhat a blessing to see everyone working together with smiling faces. Love it!
Ugh....John felt Uncle Samuel and Daniel's pain there working in the hot bathroom. Praise the Lord they know how to get the Legos out and didn't have to call a repair man. Of course I'm sure they would have loved to call a repair man with all that heat.
I'm looking forward to hearing about your schedule this week or next :-)
Love~ Cinnamon
My apologies not only for the Third comment on this post, but also for our ignorance in where you are geographically located!! =) Our family got out our Mexico map today to see how far apart we actually are from each other! Have you ever crossed by ferry to inland at Santa Rosalia? We were actually wondering (depending how long the ferry actually takes to get across, and how expensive it is) if it maybe would be quicker for you to get up to CA that way. The highway from AZ down to Puerta Vallarta is mostly very good roads, and we wondered if that would speed up your trip at all? Also, we were looking for the pueblo Jesus Maria, but couldn't see it on the map - which direction is it from Insurgentes?
ReplyDeleteWe'd also enjoy seeing pic's of the great clothing mash! =) Have a great day!
Steph
Hi Jaynee - Thank you so much! We will try it out here this coming weekend! I know I've written before about the delicious food in your house, but Mexican and great American dishes that work for a large family with little ones are recipes that we treasure...I'm seeing a new homeschool project for the girls this fall that works in cooking and writing skills - "The Lockwood Family Cookbook!":) We would be be the first to purchase one!:) Thank you again for sending the recipe up from the Baja! - The Wilsons
ReplyDeletePS - We hope that the washing goes as well as possible- That reminds me that I need to head down and do some myself!:)
ReplyDeleteSamuel looks fantastic and the children are all getting so big. I have a question for you, how much do you spend each month on just food?? With so many children to feed I would think the bill is HUGE...
ReplyDeleteLisa~ I don't know exactly how much we spend (although I know Daniel does because he keeps track of all that including all the converting of pesos to dollars). I try to keep everything simple, homemade and tasty :) and try to keep the children away from candy, cookies, chips (other than tortilla chips) soda and the like saving them for special occasions. We can get lots of fresh fruits and veggies here often free or very inexpensive. I like to bake (bread, cookies, cakes) and we eat a lot of beans, rice, chicken, potatos, ect...
ReplyDeleteIf I were to guess, I would say we spend in the ball park of $200 a week for food and toiletries (laundry soap, diapers etc...).
Woodfords~
ReplyDeleteJust saw your question about Jesus Maria :)....it's north of us up highway one about 30 minutes and then you turn and go east into the desert another 45 minutes or so...I don't know the actual distance in kilometers...just how long it takes for us to drive.
It's officially called Villa Jesus Maria.