My Personal Pledge

  As I reflected on the election results, I was saddened by the media coverage, Facebook posts and general outrage. It made me really think about how I wanted to live out my days on this earth. I came up with my own "personal pledge", but it is a work in progress. I'm sure I could add a lot more pledges to it as God directs.

So here goes...

•  I pledge to look to God's Word daily for wisdom and discernment.
• I pledge to pray for our nation, leaders and citizens daily.
• I pledge to ask God to daily help me practice the freedom of speech by using self-control, by "keeping my tongue from evil and speaking lies" (Psalm 34:13), by listening before speaking.
• I pledge to limit social media in my life, to be real with people, to communicate face-to-face and over the phone more than through texting and Facebook.
• I pledge to listen to our leaders speak, then turn off the commentary so I can form my own opinion.
• I pledge to do my best to get the news from an unbiased source and focus more on the good God is doing in the world. I will pray for those facing trouble, but not fear.
• I pledge to point people to Christ as our King, God's goodness and mercy, his faithfulness and salvation rather than looking to our leaders as heroes or saviors.
• I pledge to turn off the TV and devices and cut out distractions, so I can read good books to my children, be a better listener, snuggle with my family more, play more, admire God's world around me and eat better meals. 

Well, this is a good start. :)

Why I Love Homeschooling

It's nearly 9 o'clock and all my girls are together in the kitchen and dining room. Nora and Karina together made their own homemade pancakes and even cracked the eggs. :) Leona is enjoying pancakes, peas and corn in her high chair and cutely swaying to Scripture songs by Seeds Family Worship. Adela is helping Karina learn how to flip pancakes on the griddle. Karina's job is to put the chocolate chips on each pancake. Nora is happily doing some artwork. The Bible is open on the table as we are reading John 6 for our Bible study. It is true it is sometimes easy to lose perspective. When I was Adela's age, I would have already been at school over an hour and been sitting at a desk in a classroom. I'm learning that this is "school" too. Life school. And we get to do it all together. We learn how to get along, take turns, practice patience a lot, and work out a thousand other character traits. God is good and faithful and I am blessed to have four girls to raise to love and follow him. Oh, and yes, we will do some "schoolwork" after breakfast. :)
(I would post a picture, but I am technologically challenged as all the pictures are on Leo's smart phone and I can't get to them!)

Life With a Newborn

 


Having a newborn makes you slow down and enjoy life. It's a beautiful thing just to hold Leona while she sleeps on my chest peacefully. It took some walking and bouncing to get her settled peacefully, but it was worth it! I thank God for this precious gift He has given us and I am determined to enjoy every minute of it.

A Glorious Mess

That's what my days feel like lately...a glorious mess. Now that I have cleaned up tiny rubber bands from Adela's bracelet loom that were scattered all over the floor by sweet Karina, oatmeal spilled on the floor, breakfast dishes and a pile of books, I decided to take a few minutes to blog. This is for my faithful friend, Andrea, who was happy to see I wrote a post finally! Karina is napping and my father graciously took Adela and Nora out for lunch. As you can see a review of 2013 probably won't happen, but maybe there will be a monthly post at least!

It's been a long week and it's only Wednesday. Karina and I came down with colds on Friday and that always feels like a set back. It's cold and dreary these days and trying to get my girls to settle down to do a little "schoolwork" seems impossible. I love the blessing of homeschooling and knowing that I am able to teach my children about living for Christ everyday, choose the curriculum that I feel is best for their education, train them to love each other and treat each other respectfully and giving them time to just enjoy being kids through play. That all sounds grand, doesn't it? Honestly, I am finding that applying what I have read and learned through Scripture to our daily lives is a real challenge. Why doesn't Scripture just burst from my heart and mouth when I am teaching the girls how to resolve a conflict?  My biggest prayer these days is, "Lord, please help me to be calm and not
respond in anger or frustration."

Steven Curtis Chapman's newest cd, The Glorious Unfolding, has been a huge encouragement to me these last few days. When I hold on and cling to the truth that God has a plan and purpose in my life exactly where I am now, I can get through the day to day "mess." I want to be His servant. When I show love to my girls, I am investing in their future. When I train them to love the Lord and each other, they will one day understand fully what it means to serve God and others. The devil tells me daily that I am a failure, but I am choosing to listen to my heavenly Father who promises to "pour out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Romans 5:5

Karina just woke up, so let the "glorious mess" continue! :)

It's been awhile...

Okay, I'll admit it. Having 3 young children has just a wee bit overwhelmed me. I am definitely outnumbered. So, that has meant taking a step back and letting go - of. a. lot. of. things. As you can see, blogging had to go. BUT, a new year is about to begin and Karina is slowly getting out of the "has to be watched every second" phase of her life, so I thought it's time to write again. So, stay tuned for our review of 2013!

Back in the Czech Republic

First night in Czech with cousin Ester and a dinner of "parky v rohliku" hot dogs and bread

Three little monkeys getting a bath!


The angel (Olga from Prague) my dad had prayed would come along to help us :)
She entertained Adela the whole flight, kept her from falling asleep at landing and then helped us get our luggage and to the arrival hall! What a blessing she was to us.

Nora's first flight

We have been in Czech Republic for a week now! Time is flying and everyday brings a new adventure. We spent our first four days in Lipová u Prostějova where Leo's mom and brother and family live. It was great to eat Babička's great cooking and spend time with everyone. We even got to see Ester at her preschool final dance program and a competition with firefighters and junior firefighters. It's something like Olympics for firefighters! Everyone from the villlage comes out and they have stands with cotton candy, hot dogs/sausages, slushies, etc. We arrived in Brno on Sunday and have been visiting with friends everyday! Tonight I took the girls downtown to meet a dear friend, Hana. She has an apartment directly downtown (I've always thought it would be neat to live downtown!) so we got to see that and had dinner at an outdoor restaurant. The girls couldn't sit still but we finally did get them to eat something! We had spent the whole afternoon with friends and visiting a nearby park, so the girls were pretty tuckered out by the time I got them to bed at 9:30! We are looking forward to Leo joining us on Sunday!

The biggest "Hav Hap" of the day was when the girls crawled under a new modern "monument" which was supposed to look like 3 lightbulbs (okay, so it wasn't a good idea and I wasn't thinking when they did this). Well, there was a something like a square glass light fixture in the cement under the monument and the girls were on top of this when it fell in! You can imagine the shock and reaction. Nora cried for a good 5 minutes "Boken, boken (broken)." It had just fallen in and had not broken the glass, which I was very thankful for. Now I've have to be a lot more careful and no more climbing on or under anything! :)

I added pictures in the slideshow to the right. I hope to add more pictures later.

Praise the Lord, Nora has a beautiful hip!

The best present I could receive on my birthday was to hear these words, "She has a beautiful hip!" We have prayed over Nora's hip nearly every night since her last visit to the pediatric orthopedic a year ago. God has answered our prayers and we give Him the glory! Nora happily cooperated to have her "picture taken" as her hip was x-rayed. Dr. Frino doesn't need to see her again until she is 5! What a huge burden lifted off our shoulders. God is faithful to answer our prayers and we are very thankful He chose to answer them this way. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for our precious Nora. Your prayers are much appreciated.

Nora's healthy hip. See the white line above the "ball" - that's what we've been waiting to see. It's finally looking normal with a slight curve.

The wonderful nurse that has seen us at every visit.

A happy girl in Daddy's arms