I have seven children who love to eat. We eat by day, and we would eat by night if we were allowed to. Keeping up with the appetites makes me feel not unlike the man on the old coal-powered train whose job it was to never stop shoveling coal. Some of my children are the fire that runs extra hot. Blaire, for instance, is a major breakfast eater, and cereal is a special thrill around here. I don’t know if it was just the knowledge of the Cheerios in the house that caused it, but the other week she got up so early it was still dark out, and while we were in bed, she ate two bowls of cheerios in the dark, went back to bed, and woke up at the normal time thinking she had only dreamed of Cheerios. Two bowls of the precious Cheerios, shot down in the dark and forgotten completely. Read More
Author: lizziejank
Come Down!
Let me tell you a little something about myself as a way of breaking the rather prolonged silence on my part. Life has been so wildly busy! We are getting deeper and deeper into what feels like the splits of parenting. A nursing baby but also junior high track meets. Moses is a darling, wonderful, lively and cheerful 6 month old. So far, his spiritual gifts have not included napping. He dabbles in them at best. I am not complaining, because really he is so happy and thriving – but he certainly makes sure that even though he is number 7, he gets his full share of our attention. He has initiative, that one.
The other day, it took me about 3 hours to do 15 minutes’worth of dishes. Because every two or three minutes I had to go nurse, or go change the venue of play, or put the baby in the ergo on my back, or take a shower, or whatever. Read More
Catching the Joy
The other day I posted the following on my Facebook page and it got quite a response. (This photo was taken while I was nursing Moses on the stairs and realizing that I very much needed this message to myself.)
“I can’t imagine that in 20 years when my kids get together they will look back in joy on the year Mom finally figured out a way to keep the snow clothes tidy. A bunch of adults sitting around, “Remember that year when everything was clean before Christmas? That was the best! I hope we can do that for our kids this year!” Somehow doesn’t ring true, does it?
The Receiving Department
(Photo of my son, Shadrach – now a hearty three-year-old. Our #anotherboy is not due for another 8 weeks or so.)
Once upon a time, more than three years ago, I found out I was pregnant from our website. I had been pregnant before of course, (and I am pregnant now too), but I remember this time as being particularly hard. I had five busy children all over the house, and this pregnancy thing is no little commitment. We love babies in this house, but we are forced to greet their arrival with a lot of realism. The hopeful mist of sweetness is very quickly dispelled by a period of really serious darkness. Because when our babies are the size of a poppy seed they upset the entire freight train of our household flow. I get sick. So sick. I can’t walk in the kitchen, think about food, hear about food, or eat food. I try to eat it of course, and I lose most of it right after. For my husband it means a few months of constantly trying to find things to feed me, feed the children, trying to handle the other essentials of life, picking up my part of carpool, etc. etc. Read More
Dear Girls
This is a new little project – writing things to my daughters to have them read so we can discuss it. I thought I would share a few of them.
Dear Girls,
Have you ever been walking along the sidewalk and for some reason – you almost don’t know how you did it – you almost wipe out? Maybe you don’t fall down all the way, but you can end up staggering around or looking crazy for a minute. Everyone has done this at some time or another, and people have many different ways of handling it when it happens to them. Read More
Washed in the Blood
I am sure that most of you are well acquainted with the Planned Parenthood sting videos by now. And while there are so many things that I keep meaning to write about, this subject is just so heavy right now that it seems silly to write about anything else.
So here I am again, wanting to express how deeply grateful I am for this opportunity. So thankful for the heaviness. For the angry responses we see from friends who don’t agree with us. So thankful for the mercy of this opportunity. Thankful to see other Christians emboldened to speak out. To name this wickedness for what it is , an offense against a Holy God. Read More