Baby Steps

I am not a big Lent fan. I know many people who look forward to Lent as a time of spiritual growth and internal cleansing or whatnot, but I approach it with apprehension. I am faithful and dutiful, and simply, well resigned. 

{http://cartoonsbyjim.com/?sid=76}

Lee is almost gleeful about it. He is so much more generous in spirit about most things than I. He just loves a grand big gesture. More and more I am recognizing the Gollum in me and it seems that every sacrifice and surrender to God's will is just.so.hard. 

Thankfully most Lenten seasons since we returned to the Church have been joyful and incredibly rewarding despite my persistent grumpiness about the whole thing. 

This year I set my mind to have a Productive Lent. I made printouts for all of us, encouraged us to add prayers and so on and not just have sacrifices. The kids blew me away with their big plans. I'm talking big sacrifices and detailed prayer commitments. I mentally shrugged and let them write their promises down in their own folders. Who am I to say well it's a little much don't you think? 

My cynicism was not rewarded because they all followed through for the most part, and I witnessed the struggle they had to maintain their commitments. Very, very humbling is the faith and love of my dear children. 

I guess I could say that I kept my commitments too, but honestly it's not that big of a deal. I always make the slightest of promises and commitments, ones that are challenging enough so that I can keep my head up when I happen to be asked, "what did you give up?"  But not so challenging that I might actually, um, fail. 

One of the things I committed to was a certain amount of spiritual reading. First up on the docket was Happy Are You Poor by Fr. Thomas Dubay.

I was able to get it for my Kindle. So Lent starts on Ash Wednesday, you know? Well, I finished that little book before First Sunday of Lent. It was that absorbing to me. Then, I got Lee to read it and he also finished quickly.  By the time he finished, Lent had barely begun and all of my gentle, staid little Lenten commitments had been turned upside down. 

The Holy Spirit just swooped in and gave me a big shake (and then a big hug too I must add). This read has been an answer to our prayers and a wonderful guide of that infernal question we have had in our family for the last few years, "what next? where is God leading our family?" 

We have been praying this intermittently since just before I became pregnant with Josephine. Does this question lurk and linger in every household? Is it just ours? 

There have been times of clear purpose and direction for us, but also times of fog and deep restlessness and while the gift of Josephine has illuminated the path for a time, it was beginning to get dim again. 

And then we read this book!

I hope to elaborate more but for now, our baby step has been to put the house for sale and to begin saving for the purpose of buying a new home, with some land and buying it outright and not having a mortgage at all. 

I must also share that I found the awesome blog House Unseen not too long after we made this decision and we feel that the Borobia's example has been a real sign to us of God's direction for our family. 

{PHFR}

Whew the last two weeks have been busy. Once we made the decision to try and sell the house it was action time to pack and clean and paint etc...We pretty much have taken an extended Spring Break to get the house in order. The weather has been warm and lovely and the kids have helped me by staying out of the way and playing outside...

{pretty}

The girls have been playing dress up too. Sara loves dress up more than any other so far and I have just said WTH, wear whatever you want just let me finish this X,Y,Z...And you know I am glad to have had this opportunity to just let it go because I have realized you can only get away with the princess tu-tu and hello kitty rain boots football cheerleader look for a few years before people call in the men with the white coats.

{funny}

I'm also trying to finish up this darn lovely afghan for my dad. I am so lucky to have a little helper. Nina loves the yarn balls! She is like a kitty and plays with them and yes, tries to eat it. The afghan will have a bit of Nina sweetness crocheted right in, literaly. Ahem.

{real}

We were able to get out Tuesday evening and walk down to the neighborhood playground. Some of my kids are just so coordinated and naturally athletic.

{fun}

Luke can actually run down the balance beam and he's fast!  

{fun}

I typically hat pushing kids on the swing. I don't know why, it's just one of those mommy duties I dislike. I'm always hoping to get them to be self-pumpers ASAP. I actually enjoyed it the other evening though. I think maybe because they were so into it. Lots of giggling and smiles!

{happy}

 I love this action shot of my sweet snaggle tooth girl!

{happy}

My two oldest boys are away this week at a farm camp. They are learning new skills and having fun. I was so surprised to see this on FB! That's my Jake on a tractor! It's a crazy sight for this suburban mom.

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Meanwhile back in the suburbs... Today we've been working on our little Lenten family project. The Missionaries of the Poor are in town for some fundraiser concerts and we've been helping in small ways stuffing pamphlets and making display boards. Do you know of this wonderful group? We are so happy to help them and I encourage you to check out their website and learn about their ministries. Talk about real....

{real}

Thanks for stopping by!

Chicken talk

 I am so happy we did it. Just going ahead and doing the backyard chicken thing has been so good for us.

{Tiffany-Black Cochin)

I told the kids we'd do it, ordered the coop kit, bought the Idiots Guide to Chickens...and then we just did it. We just went and got chickens! Crazy!

I tend too overplan for stuff like this. Research and plan, plan and research and then, maybe, maybe actually do something. This time I started in that same old mode, but the kids kept on pestering me and finally I just threw my hands up, cause sometimes you just have to jump in the pool and not ease in. I mean how hard could a few chickens be?

{Amy-Buff Brahma)

Turns out I was right-not hard at all. Really they are not much trouble at all and they are just the silliest things.

{Isabelle-Barred Rock}

Also, having chickens turned us into neighborhood celebrities. Well, we kind of already were what with the homeschooling and seven kids and all. Not to mention the small black dog who thinks he's a greyhound and continues to escape and chase the Fed Ex man all around the block despite both the regular fence and the invisible fence ... Yes, I would wager everyone in the subdivision knows us pretty much. I would guess we are more like notorious celebs than the idolized ones though.

And so we learned about the origins of the phrases 'hen-pecked', and  'pecking order'  and  what a 'broody hen' is like. We learned some about fertilization and where baby chicks come from and what a rooster is for. Heck MaryClare ran up to me breathless and wide-eyed and described, hands waving,how she just watched an egg come right out of Isabelle!

It's been amazing to be able to witness the cycle from chicken feed, table and garden scraps to the delicious little egg on your plate in the morning.

{dirt bath}

Did you know chickens love to bathe in the dirt? They will just roll in it like a dog and they fluff out their feathers and throw it all around, just luxuriating in it. Fascinating and hilarious to watch.

{Ryan and Nina making me smile}

Sadly we will be saying goodbye to our 3 sweet hens this weekend. And you know what? Now that I think about it it's kind of their fault! 

We have decided to try and sell this house (again) and move to a bit more rural place. I honestly don't know where or what we'll end up with, how far out of town or how large a homestead, but we do know we want to try for something. We have an itch and desire to do some more of this chicken stuff and maybe some other small farm-y things. There's more to it than just that of course, but having these three girls around has given us suburban folks a boost of confidence to jump. 

Homecoming

Lee is coming home tonight after being gone for nearly two weeks straight. He has been in Houston for some sales thing. I didn't want to post about his travel because, well, this is the internet. He actually travels pretty regularly. He is gone, on average, about 2 nights a week.

There are times I do not mind the travel. This has been our life ever since we were married, so I am used to it. I like having some evenings of alone time after the kids are in bed. I also think that the away time keeps us on our toes and we have learned to appreciate each other so much because of these seperations.

Two weeks at a time? Not so great though. He will be home tonight and I am so excited! The kids will probably be in bed, but I have a bottle of wine and two glasses waiting for us to settle on the couch and catch up.

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Please keep our home sale in your prayers. We are still waiting..............

For sale

The house is officially "For Sale". Lee put the sign up Saturday morning.

Two years ago we moved closer into the city to be more convenient for Lee's commute. He was commuting almost 2 hrs and he also travelled quite a bit. We left a suburban McMansion neighborhood to move to a more urban suburban neighborhood so that we could spend more time together as a family.

I really love this home and the neighborhood. We are on a small cul-de-sac with a giant magnolia tree in the middle. The kids have made some wonderful friends and I love having our church down the street and being close to the grocery store. We are also closer to our parents as well.

So why the move? Well there are several reasons and when we listed "move" and "stay" reasons the moves won out by a slight margin. About 6 months after we moved her, Lee took a job with a small company working from home, no more commute. Over the last 18 months the business has been doing well and Lee has been travelling less.

Homeschooling is wonderful and I hope to continue it for several years, but we want the opportunity to send them to a great private Catholic school if and when they are ready. That school is near where we used to live.

There are a few more reasons to move and several to stay, but once we had it on paper, both of us came to the decision to move. It wasn't an easy one and we are grateful for the last two years we have spent in this home....and with the way the market is, it may be several more before it sells! Hardy har har.I sincerely hope not though

Ironically, our old home is for sale again too. When I saw this I felt like it was a message from God. When we moved here people thought we were sorta nuts for leaving our beautiful new home with the high ceilings and tricked out basement for this older and smaller home. I think people undertsood the motivation though, more family time. Myy assurance that we did the right thing slipped a few times over the last two years, I admit. Now that the old/new home is for sale again, it is like we have a chance to go back and just move right back in, as if the last two years were just a hiccup.

I discussed this with Lee and we both agreed, we wouldn't buy that house again anyway! Living here the past two years has helped us define what we really desire in a home. The last house as fancy as it was, had a rotten yard. It was very large and honestly not very 'homey' if you know what I mean. A great house objectively, just not for us.

Now as we are checking out what is available in that area, we are remembering what we have loved about this home. The level cul-de-sac, the big yard, mature trees and the smallness of the subdivision that leads to a very friendly neighborly atmosphere. I am sure that we can find that again, no matter where we live, now that we know what we are looking for.

I am trying very hard not to obsess over selling this home, but it is hard I tell ya! I just want it over. I am sure you can imagine that trying to keep a home in show mode with 5 kiddos is not a very relaxing way to spend the summer. However, I remember God has a plan and me worrying about stuff will not make anything actually happen (darn!). I know only with prayer and patience will this be played out in the least stressful way. So we have begun praying for our home to sell in a timely manner and also praying for the family that will live here one day. Please join us in this prayer request if you can!

Catch Up

Hello! I am back froma self imposed blogging hiatus.

We are finishing up with school here and we also just got back from a wonderful, much needed 10 day vacation.

Yes, I have some fabulous pictures!

Now we are getting the house ready to sell. We are moving.

I am sad to be leaving this fabulous house on this special magnolia cul-de-sac. (I will decide about the whole blog name thing later)

There are several reasons we decided to make this move and on the whole I am happy about it.

Today I have been packing up boxes of clutter and also removing and re applying caulk in our shower. Pretty gross.

I also set up the tent outside for the kids to play in and they want to sleep in it tonight. Any guesses on who and how many will make it out there throught the whole night?

My Summer Vacation

Well not really a vacation actually. About the only thing vacation-like about this summer was the way it flew by. Big changes this summer for The Fam. We sold our 3 yr. old suburban McMansion (the first time I heard that term I was slightly offended, but well, it really fits) and moved closer to the Big City.

We are technically still in the 'burbs but we are so much closer to L's office and the grands. By closer I mean around the corner! It used to take him about 2 hrs of drive time every day on average to get to and home from work. Now, he calls me and says "hon there is traffic and instead of being home in 7 min. , I will be home in 13. Sorry, please don't beat me. " L travels quite a bit too so between the commute and the travel we were not seeing so much of each other. The kids missed him, I missed him, he missed the kids and he missed me (so he says.....)

Thus we packed up our stuff and moved. Our new home was built in 77 and has been sort of updated. It is smaller, mostly because we do not have a sweet basement with a movie theater and wet bar anymore. But now we have an incredible flat cul-de-sac and a nice sized playroom. I really love our new/old house and I told L that after living here 3 weeks it feels more like home than our old/new home felt after three. The layout is perfect and of course the location could not really be better.

The boys all have one room with awesome IKEA bunkbeds that L and I put together. I also got some cool torch looking wall lamps that have a 'flickering' option to make it look all flamelike. IKEA again. Only 15 bucks for those lamps!

Laine will share a room with her new sister, but for now she has her own 'space' where she can meditate and just get away from it all. Her own private oasis in this mess of boyness. Mostly she just jumps on the bed though. Not that she is allowed to jump on the bed mind you, but she is one persistant little lady.

Lee and I share a room too. We have a lovely queen for now and have no plans to move up to a king. Although, come to think of it, many people have lobbyed for us to get a king. I wonder why? Are they getting a stipend or finder's fee from Haverty's? Why do these folks care about the size of our our bed? Is there a King Bed Cult? Are they trying to recruit us?

Anyway lots of sharing going on here which is just normal for a family of 6 soon to be seven!

So anyway with the move and all this summer went by so fast. Faster than any summer since I was in grade school I believe. A hyper-speed summer is actually a good thing this year because it has helped to pass the Big Wait until our referral. I am still hoping for a November referral. So hurry on up Labor Day, Columbus Day, Arbor Day and Halloween!