Growing up

A couple weeks ago during school, I asked some of the children to write a short paragraph about what they wanted to be when they grow up.  Benjamin's read as follows:

"When I grow up, I want to be a man of God.  I want to be a pastor, a farmer and an Indian.  I want to preach and sneak and plant."

Loves to be like his Daddy, always caring for our plants or out in his garden, and has the ability to disappear without a trace." :)

Yep, that's our Benjamin!

He's Home :)

Late last night, I paced excitedly around the house.  And around 2:30 am, Daniel got home!  About and hour and a half later, we went to bed. :)  We both really enjoy talking to each other.  And it was wonderful to have my best friend and most wonderful man home again!

About 8 pm last night, Daniel gave me a call to say he was about 5 hours from home!  Then, about 5 minutes later, he called back to say a friend of his (who'd given him a ride up north) had broken down somewhere in the middle on the desert about 4 hours north of where Daniel currently was and needed help.  So he said, "Honey, I'm going the wrong direction."  We laughed, but we know that while  we make our plans, it is the Lord that directs our steps and there is no wrong direction with our God!  

I just prayed a lot knowing that Daniel was very tired having already driven 12 hours that day and it was dark and the road here is not the best.  So thankful for the verse that the children and I read that morning..."Lo, I am with you always".  What a precious promise!

Well, it turns out about an hour later, Daniel's friend called him back and said his car was running again and he no longer needed assistance.  So while a bit later than planned, after 19 hours of driving, my husband was home sweet home!  

School got started late today, but with Daddy being home, we enjoyed a good breakfast together visiting and then Daddy had a few surprises he brought home for his children.  I knew he'd be so busy with all he had to do up north that I didn't bother to ask him to bring anything home except for chocolate chips if he happened to see any.  

And while he didn't bring chocolate chips, he brought home fun cereal, granola bars, licorice, pop tarts, pickles, brownie mix, good laundry soap!!, microwave popcorn, good and plenty, and a few other treats that pretty much kept us all grinning ear to ear all morning and made us a bit hungry :)

He picked out the most sweet Valentine's gift for me too.  But the very best gift of all BY FAR is to have my hubby home safe and sound.  Thank you, Lord, for watching over him!

 Daddy picked out the best gifts!  He knows his children well!

 Samuel got VERY excited over the puzzle glue :)

We were very tired, but VERY happy!

One of the reasons for Daniels trip north!   A shuttle bus donated for our work in the ministry here!

Missing my Valentine

Twenty-four feet,

One hundred and twenty toes,

Two hearts in love so long ago,

And that love just grows and grows.

We've all missed Daddy the past week.  A church up north is giving us a bus to use in the ministry here, so Daniel went to go pick it up, get it imported, and bring it back here.  Lord willing, he should be home soon.  We're ready!  I was telling Daniel on the phone today that there are about 2 benefits to him being gone:

1. I get to bed earlier (because after the children go to bed, there's nobody to talk to...unless, of course, I stay up to tend to our poor neglected blog).

2.  We tend to keep more on schedule (because there's no certain someone to visit with or help during the day or do some spontaneous fun thing with)

But there's a whole lot more disadvantages!  Don't worry; I won't list them all! :)

We pray often for Daddy throughout the day that the Lord will bless him in all he has to do and bring him home safely to us soon.

Every time Daniel has to leave somewhere, he normally comes home to a rearranged house :)  Keeping busy helps me not miss him as much. :) 

So we started with the girls room which Daddy finished painting just before he left.  Our big project in there...

We took down the crib.

Samuel was very happy.  I was happy for him yet sad too.  It was a bitter-sweet moment.

He still tends to roll off the bed sometimes, so he's just on his crib mattress on the floor for now.  

I do love how he now gets up in the morning or from his nap holding his rabbit and dragging his blankie and comes to find me. 

I remember years ago when Daniel had to leave, one blessing would be our grocery bill would go way down for the week as he ate about as much as the rest of us combined.

Well, now that he's a bit older (yet just as handsome) and eating less,

and our children are more in number and older too and eating wwaaayyy more,

it doesn't affect our grocery bill in the least.

Actually, it made it go up a bit because I bought a few treats and fun meals that I normally wouldn't buy just to  do something special for the children.

This is Nehemiah's "getting caught making himself another sandwich" face while the rest of the family was busy watching a Duggar Family episode. :) 

And this is how Samuel eats a sandwich.  Food is like art to him.

Saturday morning breakfast with the little ones who all got up early. 

 Every morning, no matter what's for breakfast, I always make Daniel an egg with toast to go along with it. 

I actually have a little frying pan just for that purpose. 

Every pot and pan I have is big, except for Daddy's egg pan. 

 Timothy humbly offered to take Daddy's place in that regard while he's away. 

Yes, we have done more than just eat the past week...although that does seem to take up a good portion of every day.  :)

 We played a lot.  LOVE the trampoline hair! :)

 The children have been reading through the New Testament this year. 

Each of the oldest 6 have a younger sibling to which they read  out loud each day.

 Beka did some mending for me.  Now that's a blessing!! :)

This morning, I surprised the children with their own new mug for Valentines day.  

Each morning, it's always a bit of work to get them all up and going because they are so cold.  We love to sip on hot tea with breakfast to warm up.

But then, by the afternoon, sometimes it hits 90!  

Like today.

And since it was a special day, and they were sooooo hot (I was told that about 100 times), I let them "swim". :)

Nehemiah helped me make a cake.

 And the girls helped me set the table for a special Valentine's day supper...pizza, soda, and cake.  Definitely a special treat!

A dear family sent us a special Valentine's Day package in the mail last week.  The heart straws were a huge hit!

And according to the boys, it was the perfect end to the evening when they checked the mouse trap they'd set   *under my bed* (ewwww) and found this...

When Daniel's not here, I'll let a child or two sleep in my room...not a mouse.

So thankful that the Lord is watching over Daniel, watching over us, and cares so much for each and every one of you too.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Quick bits from last week :)

Just wanted to share a few pictures from this past week.  

I just finished figuring and recording grades for 2nd quarter.    What a joy not only to teach these children and learn together each day, but to look back and see the progress made!  

Josiah and Noah's Radish garden has grown quite a bit since I took this shot last week.  In a week or two, Lord willing, we'll have some yummy, red radishes with our taco dinner!

We got the children a few puzzles for Christmas and Samuel loves this one! 

"Watch, Mommy!  I can even do it with my eyes closed!"

Rebekah and Benjamin were taking turns standing up and reading out loud to me, and I noticed Beka was barefoot, I was in my socks and Ben was in shoes :)  

I was in the kitchen working on supper when I heard the front door close.  I turn around to see Beka kind of hiding something trying to act very casual and trying not to smile as our eyes met.
What was she doing?
She was giggling so much, I never did quite understand...something about teaching school in her room...with a rock???  Rebekah got to stay in the house...the rock did not.

Bath time!  One of my favorite times each night!  We don't have a tub...only showers...so I miss them when they get too big for the sink.  My kitchen window is forever spotted with water spots! :)

Sunday morning, the older children went on the bus with Daddy and so I just had these two.  I put them up front with my purse, loaded the rest of my things into the back of the truck, came around to close Eliseo's door, and saw this...

These two are quick!

Hope you are all having a good week in the Lord!