Mudpie Kitchen

Those who follow me on Instagram may have noticed our creation of a mudpie kitchen outdoors this last week.

I first saw the concept of a "mudpie kitchen" from my friend, Ginny.  I love it when my kids play in dirt.  There's something unexplainable about having them pour their sweat into the earth and sparks the most basic, the most wonderful imagination within them.  The desire for this kind of space was amplified when we started reading as a family over and over again Roxaboxen which is a delightful picture book about kids who create a whole imaginary village in a rock field.

The small building just outside our house is called "the summer kitchen" because the original owners of the house used it to cook and can during the hot summer months so it wouldn't warm the house.  Most of the outbuildings on the farm are full of old things that have never been gone through.  They're junk piles, really, but if you go digging you can find some treasures.  Treasures are in the eyes of the beholders in most of these cases.  The old large stove is still in the summer kitchen, as well as a rusty old cabinet, and bits and end pieces of original trim for the house.  We've added to it storing all of a garden stuff, as well as the bikes and sleds and any outside toys.

(This is a birthday cake, for those wondering.)

On one side of the summer kitchen there's a pretty antique rose bush, and a piece of dirt that is mostly shaded and I have managed to kill years worth of flowers that I can't seem to get to take root with it's rocky foundation.  As I was debating which kind of flower would meet a slow death in this spot this year, I had an epiphany.  Nothing is ever here but dirt.  Therefore, it would be an ideal spot for a mudpie kitchen.

I executed this plan very sloppily as I was working in the garden and the 2 little girls were getting underfoot.  I asked Silje to set up some "furniture" using some old wooden boxes and drawers inside the summer kitchen for some kitchen furniture.  She brought out the old metal bowls and pots.  I could tell she didn't know what I meant by furniture.

So I brought out a couple of boxes to choose from, and soon I could see all 3 of the girls started to see what I was planning.  They started to "get to work" arranging their pots and pans and filling them with dirt.  I climbed the latter to the attic of the summer kitchen to see if I could find anymore things to bring the mudpie kitchen to life.  We have a total of 3 bathroom sinks up there.  (I have no idea why.  We don't even have 3 bathrooms.)  I was at first thinking that we could have one of the sinks down there in the kitchen, but they were much to heavy for me to attempt moving.  I did see this little charcoal stove, with charcoal still in it.  The glass is long gone, and there's some sort of plastic cover that replaced the original.  I put the charcoal out, and set the stove up in their new mudpie kitchen.

The front on it opened beautifully.  It requires that you turn the heavy, smooth metal knobs at the top. I was able to get it down the ladder, with some help from the big kids.  The little girls were delighted at a "real" oven to be added to their kitchen.  The girls played in it for hours as I got to work in the garden, and I could see everything they were doing from that side of the summer kitchen so that was pretty fun for me too.

This has quickly become the favorite spot of Ingrid, Solveig, and even Elias sometimes when he gets off his bike.  I've been adding an old broom, an old rusty muffin pan, and whatever else I can find.

(They were making soup this time, and then it got hauled away in a dump truck to bring to all of the construction workers.)

Silje is having just as much fun as the little girls there when she has time, and she has the knack of getting dirtier faster than any of my other kids.  She's showing the little girls how it is done.  I missed taking pictures of Silje up to her elbows in thick, black mud.

So far, they've baked some meatballs, and some cupcakes and a few loaves of mud bread.  This is very serious business for these kids.

Ginny highly recommended to me this mudpie recipe book, which has the girls scouring the lawn for particular flowers, acorn, pine needle or blades of grass to mix in for a particular recipe.  It somehow turns into a scavenger hunt that way.  Silje will read them the recipe while I'm in the garden, and they each contribute something to it.  They are keeping very, very busy.

Delightful Quiet

Sickness hit our house again, as Silje and David were up sick early, early Sunday morning.  It continued into the late morning.  So once again, I stayed home from church.

Normally I feel trapped when I miss my time there, but the last few weeks I have been running everywhere with the kids.  A day at home with just the 2 oldest kids was...

quiet.

It was delightfully quiet.  I actually sat and folded laundry, (and I rarely do chores on Sunday) just because I was so delighted to do it.  It was just fun to sit and put a big pile of chaos into order.

I went for a walk.  The silence of the house made the noise of the outdoors stand out.  The songbirds have returned from winter, and there were birds on the still-bare branches everywhere.

So while I don't like it when anyone in my house is sick, and I don't like missing the fellowship and worship of Sunday services, there was a silver lining to yesterday.

Everyone felt great yesterday, and we are actually having our best week of school in months.  I've been busy taking in lots of new curriculum for next year, and subsequently have about 3 different posts on homeschooling lined up.  I think the fresh books gave us all some fresh wind, even though we aren't using them yet.  It was just a reboot to remembering what we are doing and why we are doing it.  I'll try to spread them out a bit so those who have no interest in homeschooling don't get overly bored.  I get pretty excited about it, though.  I can get pretty nerdy like that.

Along those lines, I'm starting to wonder if Elias will have some reading issues like David.  He's still too young to be evaluated.  He's over 6, but you have to be 7 before you are diagnosed with anything.  I'm not certain, but I'm keeping my eyes open.  While David had attention and visual issues, I'm wondering if Elias has visual and auditory issues.  He's struggling but in a very unique way to how David did.  Reading up on it, I found out that if one child is diagnosed with a learning issue under the umbrella term of "dyslexia" which covers a wide range of learning issues, siblings have a 40% chance of being diagnosed as well.

I must say, the idea of addressing this makes me feel very tired.  Like I said, I'm not sure, I just have suspicions.  He still has time to develop a bit more.  I'm spending a lot of extra school time with him lately just to watch him a little more intentionally while he's trying to learn.

Also, I should remind you that the giveaway for the free e-book on teaching from rest is done tonight at midnight, and I'll announce the winner tomorrow.  Don't miss out!

Sappy Days

So, you may have noticed that Knut likes to cross country ski.  The owners of the local ski gaard have become good friends, and as the snow is gone, they've been collecting sap in their woods for the year.  We brought the kids out there once before in a non-snowy season, not for sap collecting, but for hot pancakes and fresh syrup cooking over a fire in the woods.  That was a couple of years ago.  

Well, they were wondering if our kids would like to help them collect sap one day.  This is by no means their "sap collecting day" as they collect sap daily over quite a period.  It was just a good day on the weekend for the kids to come.  Another ski family who are our friends were coming out, and we thought we'd roast some hot dogs over a fire when we were done.

The kids loved seeing all of their favorite trails without snow.  It was strange to them to see their favorite woods naked like that, but the ski trails made for a wide path for us to follow, and the kids knew where they were, only everything looked very different.

Ingrid kept asking Daddy to "open the tree" so she could get the syrup.

I had remembered from a trip to the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center that some insects lay their eggs on the back of leaves in the fall, and I started searching around the dried leaves to find some to show to the kids as the collection took place.

I didn't find any insect eggs, but I did lift up a leaf and see some green.  It's the first green I've seen growing out of the ground this year, and I called all the kids over and they all jumped up and down.  Green.  Spring is indeed here.

The sap will be boiled for about 40 hours they said.  Our day's collection as seen above will boil down to 1 gallon of maple syrup.  We each got to taste the sap, and it was lightly sweet and surprisingly refreshing.

A good time was had by all.

I'm Blessed...A Victory

Sorry I've been so busy, friends.  I'm catching up around here, though I'm still behind on about 1,000 more things.  Somedays I feel like I'll never catch up.  In fact, I know I won't.  I suppose God says he prepares good works for us to do, and there's never an end to that.

The picture above is from this last weekend.  We were asked by some friends to help them collect sap from their sugar Maples.  Knut and the kids are riding in the back of the pickup with the sap.  David is walking alongside.  It's a fun picture.  I'll hopefully get to show you some more this week...along with the chick pictures I promised.

I'm still surrounded by laundry, and a pile of paperwork to attend to.  We had a victory, yesterday.  I know it may seem trivial, but to me...to Knut and me...and David, it was so good.

I have written so many times about my son David, and haven't published so much of it, that can't remember exactly what I have told you all.  I think we've alluded to the fact he's our strong willed child.  I have probably mentioned that he's had a tracking problem with reading that we have worked through.  I've probably mentioned we put him on a fish oil supplement that has helped him concentrate the last few years.  The last few months we found out that he has trouble sleeping and staying asleep as well, and our doctor pointed us to a magnesium supplement that has helped him greatly.  (His body was not making sufficient melatonin.)  We've also learned that red dyes, and perhaps other processed foods triggers tantrums and confusion for him, and we have removed them from his diet.

It has been years of trying out various discipline methods, just to humble ourselves as parents and move beyond books to actual people to help us.  Besides his small learning disabilities, we are realizing he has some sensory issues, and we are in the midst of figuring out what they are, and what we can do to help him.  These processes are slow, and tedious, and involve offices and therapists with busy schedules.

For school, David has been thriving.  He likes to work early in the morning, and prefers to stand up or move while doing school.  He takes lots of breaks, every 30 minutes at least, though now that we've got his sleep issued figured out, I've been able to stretch him to 40 minutes sometimes.  He thrives on work, and we give him lots to do outside.  He's happiest when he's working.  He's bright...crazy bright like his big sister.  Though it shows up in very different ways.

He has a big heart.  Last week I had some mom friends over, and without me asking, he brought in a couple of trays to us, with a teapot full of hot water, sugar, cream, and an assortment of teas.  He just does stuff like that.  Through all his tantrums, and fighting, he loves big too.

Honestly, we've climbed so many mountains here at home, with our David.  The biggest change was when we stopped treating it exclusively as a behavior issue, and started dealing with it from a spiritual standpoint, and addressing the real, biological struggle he was wrestling with.  Behavior is what all the books are about, but the soul and the body are pretty important too.  When we switched gears, he started spilling more information, and as he is learning we are on his side, we are making big progress.

So it seems kind of silly to say that the hardest thing we still struggle with is church.  We have come so far that instead of occasional good days like years ago, we have 5-6 excellent days a week with him, leaving Sunday as the big mountain.  We go to a small church, but one that's like family.  Families usually sit together.  We only divide up for Sunday school, and we have about enough kids in our church to divide the kids into a big kids group and little kids group.  David's teachers are super understanding, one is a father with a child who deals with similar issues.  The other is a longtime friend of mine with kids of her own as well, and a third is Knut's cousin.

And yet, he gets so disruptive he has to be removed from class weekly.  Sitting in church for a full hour is nearly impossible for him.  It takes every ounce of his strength to do it.  We're a family church, and it is relaxed, and he isn't that disruptive to other people, but it's terribly disruptive to Knut and I, and it's hard on the other kids too when David gets all the attention.  This piece of the puzzle has been a tough one.  We have been experimenting with ways to make church work for a few years now.

Yesterday, we came up for some air.

It all started with the first tap on our shoulder during adult Sunday school, with a usual motion of the head that either Knut or I needed to come.  It was my turn this week to deal with David at church.  Well sometimes we tag team in on an hourly basis, when daily isn't working.

It happens every Sunday, and I've asked David if he just wants to hang out with me during Sunday school instead of go to class.  We sat outside of class one week, and he missed it.  I could see on his face he wanted to be in there.  He's determined to make it work.  Honestly, he's a stubborn kid, because I would have given up sending him to Sunday School months ago.  The last 2 years I was his Sunday school teacher, but I needed a rest from that.  This year has been difficult for him in that way.

Honestly, when we first started homeschooling David, there were concerns voiced in our circle that he would never learn to sit.  It is good to know how to sit.  I won't deny it.  I'm just not sure it's more valuable than all other knowledge.  If I had to choose between knowledge of history, math, stories and writing, and the ability to sit, I'd say all those other things are more important.  David told me once when we were having a reading lesson at home that when he sits, all he can think about is, "sit still, keep the legs still, don't move" and then it's hard to read his assignment.  When he is standing, his mind is free to focus on his lesson.

And yet, we force him to sit in church, knowing that he can't sit and learn at the same time.  Honestly, if I have to choose between him learning about God, and learning to sit, I'm going to want him to learn about God.  It's not that learning to sit is useless, it's just not as high in priority for me.

When I got to David in the hallway yesterday morning, he started to tell me what happened, and was irritable and defensive like always.  He is usually kicked out for kicking or pestering another student, (usually his sister) and for generally being out of control.  Saturday I had to pull him out of his sister's choir concert, another hour+ long sitting activity.  He was so worked up I couldn't settle him then, and only Knut was able to do that when we got home.  Team effort, people.  Team effort.  A week ago we kept him home from church completely.  I saw on his face and in his attitude we were on a road for trouble.  He snapped out of it about 10 minutes after the rest of the family left and he realized that he and I actually weren't going to church.  He was shocked.  He was remorseful.  We never skip church.

So anyway, yesterday at church:
"Come on, bud.  Let's find a quiet space.  We'll reset there."  I put my arm around him and he put his defenses down.  We spent years disciplining him for this behavior.  Years.  I still see the fear in his eyes from it.  I've come to realize, that he needs equipping more than punishments.  Equipping is another form of discipline.  It's a Biblical one, even.

He followed me to an empty classroom.  I looked him square in the eyes.
"I love you, you know." I said.
"I love you too, Mommy." He says.
"Remember this is a battle." I say.

David thinks a lot in 3D.  I'm learning to apply this a lot to his schooling.  He loves the battle image for times like this.  It came to me a few months ago during a church service, and he and I have been talking about it since.  We talk about how we go to church to worship God, be encouraged, and encourage other believers.  We study the Bible.  All those things make Satan mad.  He will whisper promises that if we do wrong, we will be happy, but it always leaves us feeling frustrated and angry.  So Satan will set traps... try to rob us of joy.  The battle is for joy.  The battle is for worship.  We have to fight distractions like we are in a battle.  We have to fight for joy, because something will always happen, as any parent who has ever attempted to take a child to church Sunday morning knows.  My mom always said that Satan works extra hard Sunday mornings.

"I want to go back."  He says.  "But I'm afraid that I'm going to get kicked out again."  I feel the fatigue in him.
"You don't have to go back." I say.  "I'll stay with you again.  I don't mind."
"I want to go back." He says again.  "But I'm scared of messing up again."  Where on earth did this kid get so determined?

"Well, there's 3 things we need to do.  You know them?"
He nods.
"First, we pray." I say.
He steps closer to me, and puts his hands in mine.  We bow our heads together, and we pray.  We pray for wisdom and strength.  We pray for joy, and for clarity to always see the truth.  We pray for victory over the battle.
Amen.

"Step 2" I say.
"Putting on the armor." He says.  He knows this one by heart.  He told me a few weeks ago, that sometimes he puts on the armor even before he comes down to breakfast, just to help make sure he has a good day.

Together we quote Ephesians 6:10-18 (we actually shorten it to verses 14-18 for this exercise), and pretend to put armor on our bodies:
-the belt of truth buckled around your waist.
-the breastplate of righteousness
-feet fitted with the readiness of the gospel of peace
-shield of faith
-helmet of salvation
-the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God

Once we are outfitted with our invisible armor, I look at him and say: "Step 3."

"Obey the rules" he says firmly.
"Can you do it soldier?" I ask?
He nods, but not with as much certainty.
"Don't let evil win." I say.  "Don't let anything steal joy that comes from God.  There is blessing for you in there.  God intends you to be a blessing too.  You cannot be bugging other people.  Be a blessing to them.  Don't hurt them.  Don't fall into any traps."
"Can you come and sit in the back?" He asks.
"If you want me to." I say.

I walked him back into his classroom.  He joined the rest of the kids and I took a seat out of the way.

He did beautifully.

After Sunday School, and a little snack during the "fellowship time" the church service started.  David was so excited he didn't get kicked out of Sunday School again he was riding a high and felt he could do anything.  We pick our seats carefully, and loud sounds bother him, and we've realized that a seat too close to a speaker could mess up the whole morning.  We don't have loud and crazy music at our church.  We do a fair number of hymns, and mix it with praise music.

Knut and I spent years taking David out of church for being disruptive.  It happened pretty much every Sunday with very few exceptions.  We started realizing that he wanted to leave, though not the church...just the sanctuary.  He liked sitting in the back fellowship hall, where he could still hear, but it wasn't too loud.  We've talked about getting him earplugs, but David says he just doesn't like the crowds of people.  Like I mentioned, it's not a large church, but I suppose we can fill up the seats that are there from time to time.

So the last few months we have been training him to try to stay with us as long as he can, but if he needs a break, to just excuse himself to the fellowship hall for a few minutes, and come back when he's ready.  It doesn't always work.  Sometimes he gets into trouble out there too.

But yesterday, during the sermon, he whispered in my ear that he was having trouble sitting still and needed a moment outside the sanctuary.  I nodded.  I should have been listening to the sermon, but I was straining my ears to see if he was fine out there.  Nothing terribly loud happened, and about 10 minutes later, he slipped back into the service without us having to check on him.  He had a smile on my face and squeezed my hand.  I heard later it wasn't all perfect out there and another adult asked him to stop doing something, but he stopped immediately.  So even in that, there's victory.

Both Knut and I got to stay in the whole service at our church.  I'm not sure how many years that has been.  I know it may seem like a small victory, but it was big to me.  I love our church and it's family atmosphere.  I love how everyone pitches in to help.  I love how the distinction between family and friends fades there.

Sometimes training takes years, not weeks.  Not hours.  Years.  I've grown tired of all of the obedience-quick parenting books out there.  I suppose that's why I've latched onto the Clarkson books.  They're actually have experience with out-of-the-box...no-system-works-kid.  They remind me I'm blessed to have one of those.  They are the future leaders, movers and shakers.  They remind me what we are striving for as parents when we finally get to the realization that perfectionistic obedience is unattainable.  What is attainable is grace.  What is attainable is life when we feel dead, and strength when we feel weakness.  If I can't teach totalitarian obedience, I can teach those things.  And really?  Those things are so much better anyway.

Hibernation Beauties

The amaryllis is in full bloom now.  It's extravagance is distracting in the most wonderful way.  Knut is still working on the farm, but the hours are less, and he usually fills his winter days with a big house project.  As we spent this year's "home improvement money" that we saved, to reside our barn that desperately needed it last summer, he doesn't have a big home project to do this winter.  I think he's loving that, because I think it's the first year out of the 6 years that we've lived here that he doesn't have a huge project on his hands.

The good husband that he is, he pulled out my old dollhouse, again, and started going  through the 90 or so step process of putting it together.  My birthday is in March, and he has the goal of giving it to me as a gift.  I've had this unassembled dollhouse since my dad gave it to my sister in I when I was 8 or so.  When my sister was dividing up some of our stuff at my mom's house during a move, I ended up with the treasure, as she wanted our old vanity.  (And the vanity was harder to ship cross-country.)

So I've had it for several years now.  I've bugged Knut about it for the last few years, but hopefully not enough to completely annoy him.  Last year, or the year before, he looked for the missing instruction booklet online, and found it.  To his dismay, the project was completely more work than he imagined, and put it away as there was no way he had time for a project of this magnitude at the time.

So this year, he pulled out the box, with lots of sighing and head scratching.  I'm not sure he's looking forward to it, but I think he's excited to have it done and off of his mind.  He spent a whole evening taking inventory of all the pieces, and saw that through the various moves, some pieces were missing.  I told him that a Hobby Lobby about an hour for us has a whole dollhouse section where you can get all sorts of parts.  So he made a detailed list of things that he needed, and now we just wait until we can get up there, which will likely be sometime this week.  The next section he's on is the windows, and about half the window panes are missing.  I may pick up some more dollhouse furniture there while I'm there.  I've been picking up something for the dollhouse every time I'm there for the last few years, and have quite the "hope chest" for it built up.

In other news, Elias lost his first tooth, which he is pretty excited about.  The kids were astonished that the tooth fairy actually left a dollar on the first night.  Very often it can take weeks for the tooth fairy to visit, and she leaves notes, saying that she's sorry, she was on vacation in Fiji, or some other exotic destination that the kids run to look up.  The tooth fairy is lazy AND educational like that.  Quite the world traveler.  Knut tells the kids that the tooth fairy was much more prompt when he was a kid, before she unionized with the Easter Bunny and Santa.

There has not been much outside playing, as the temperatures have been crazy low, with very little snow to comfort us with.  We've still been running around doing our regular activities in town.  I've been doing a lot of cleaning around the house, though I haven't brought myself to take down the Christmas decorations yet.  I making myself do it next weekend, though.

I found a great App for my phone that one of my friends told me about.  I started doing the FlyLady cleaning system this year to help me stay on top of household things.  It's REALLY working for me.  Actually, I think it's working because of the app, and the fact that I can customize it in a way that makes sense for my homeschooling life.  It's called "HomeRoutines" by Wunderbear.  It was the first app I ever paid money for, but it might be the best money I have ever spent.  I can't remember a time when my house has ever been this clean, and I haven't been stressed out about it.

Knut's big race in Wisconsin is coming up, so he's doing a lot of training.  My trip to Colorado is a short 10 days, 10 hours, and 3 minutes away.  I'm trying to load of the freezer with meals for Knut and the kids while I'm gone.  I'm just so excited for this little getaway, and feel completely spoiled by it.  (Thank you to anyone who buys my patterns!  You deliver sanity to this mother.)  Speaking of knitting patterns, I finally have time this week to get back to work.  The holiday season is over, my house is in order, and I have about 4 patterns that just need some technical writing time poured into them.  Watch out for a flood of patterns in the next month or so.

The Season

It's still Fall, but we are a few inches deep in snow already.  I'm fighting the kids to keep the autumnal decorations up at least through Thanksgiving, because according to them, Christmas is just a few days away.  At any rate, we have started the season I lovingly refer to as "Hibernation Season."  Of course, we never hibernate as much as I wish.  Lately it seems like we are constantly in town for some reason or another.

This is Solveig stuffing her mouth like the rest of us with some store-bought lefse.  Buying lefse at the store is sacrilege in this family, but I couldn't help myself.  I'm too busy to make some now, and there's something about snow on the ground that makes me crave it like nothing else.  (For those of non-Norwegian descent, lefse is much like a potato crepe that you butter and sugar and hoard from all other family members.  Most of the stories of stealing and hiding in my family all have the common theme of lefse.)  Lefse is essential to hibernating.

The kids are really into board games right now.  Sorry, Monopoly, Ticket to Ride, Sequence are constantly out.  They're finally at the age where they don't lose the pieces all the time...at least not as often.

I didn't bring in my geraniums for the winter hibernation, but I did bring in the begonias before they froze.  I have a tendency to kill house plants by the dozen.  I did this quiz once a few years ago to find out how many plants we needed in our house for proper air purification during the closed in winter months.  Our magic number for our square footage was 18 plants.  At the time we had 0 because I had killed them all, so I went out and bought 2, which I killed after a few months as well.  I love my begonias next to the bird feeder outside our kitchen window every summer, and I wanted to hold onto them this winter.

I think Knut discovered my house plant problem.  He noticed I was watering them with water from the sink, which is soft (yet still extraordinarily rusty...we'll say "mineral rich") well water.  He told me to start using our filtered water that we use from the fridge.   So far, the 2 plants that we have inside haven't died using this water.  In fact, they're looking pretty healthy.  He may be onto something...  I may even buy one or two more this month.

The fire in the fireplace in our living room is now running around the clock again, as Knut has been in to get the chimneys swept and wood brought in.  The gas furnace was turned off, and we're back to just burning wood in the fireplace and corn in the basement corn stove on the other side of the house.

So the living room is now the place to be, and the kids wander out of the t.v. space in the den and climb in a chair to read a book, or gather up for a board game often.  There's something about the fireplace that just draws us all away from technology and into reflection and study mode.  This is the time of year we get the most schoolwork done.  Wool socks are hanging out to dry all over the house pretty much all the time, after the kids cross country ski and snowboard or sled in the ditches during their frequent recess times outside.  This is the time of year when we consume an extraordinary amount of hot chocolate.   It has started early this year, but to be honest?  That's just fine by me.

I'm Blessed

Elias at the sling shot range.

I asked David to take a picture of me doing the slingshot.  He got my elbow, which is pretty close.

We just got back last night from a long family weekend away.  We returned to a place very special to me.  I worked out at this camp 16 years ago.  It can't be that long, but I did the math twice, and that's what the calculator says.  I just had a service job.  I cleaned dishes and toilets, and helped out in a number of jobs.  It still holds my heart as my favorite job ever, besides the one I have now.  My "bosses" back then still work there now.  Really, they were more like mentors with high expectations than bosses.

In the last 16 years, the camp has continued to grow, and has had a chance in recent history to expand their property on the lake, and take on new campers.  Silje and David have had a chance to go multiple times, and next summer will be Elias' first chance to go by himself.  I have been able to attend their quilting retreats in the spring twice, though it doesn't always work out for me to go.  This place is a sanctuary for me, and I hope will be for my kids as well.

3 times a summer, they hold a family camp, where whole families can rent cabins and stay out there.  Since we normally go down to Arizona to visit my family for vacations, we haven't done this, as we can't exactly do 2 vacations a year.  But Elias and Solveig really struggle with carsickness, and we decided to let them get a big older before we take the big road trip again.  I hope next year.  We need to figure that out because my sister and her family are moving from Phoenix to San Diego, and so now our family will be split.  So it's very likely our next family vacation will be in San Diego.  We just haven't even gotten to the point of discussing it, so we'll see.  My brother lives in California too, and has just flown to meet us at my parents in Phoenix when we go.  But now with 2 siblings in California, that may be our new meeting place. Then again, I'm longing to go to South Carolina these days too…but that's another long story.  We also have plans for a trip down to Florida, as we have family dotted the whole way down there, and the same out to Oregon.  Not enough time…not enough time.

At any rate, we decided to spend our vacation differently this year, and we spent a long weekend out at Bible camp, for the first time as a whole family.

--I was blessed that the little ones actually slept well, in beds that were not their own, in a strange place.  Well, Ingrid woke up early most days, but overall, we slept.  That was my main concern.

--I was so blessed to sit and eat full meals prepared for me.  With the food prep and dealing with the garden produce this time of year I was longing to leave the kitchen and just not look at it for a few days.  

--I was so blessed by sunsets on the lake, hearing loon calls, sipping tea, talking with old friends.

--I was so blessed with humility.  Yes, humility.  I had gone to one of the sessions on parenting, and afterward, went to go pick up the little ones from the nursery.  Knut would have gone with me but was dying to go on the adventure course.  I didn't think my back could handle it, so I picked the parenting class.  Anyway, I went to pick up the little ones since my class was done first.  We started back to our cabin so we could get a diaper change for Ingrid, and put the other kids' crafts there while we were eating.  Elias didn't want to put his craft there, and Ingrid wanted food, not a clean diaper, and Solveig was along, but not crying.  She was too delighted with her craft.

I passed Silje on her way to the dining hall where we were all supposed to meet, and told her that if she saw Daddy, to tell him I'm at the cabin, and he needed to come help me.  Ingrid had flung her body in such a way in my arms that my neck just hurt and I needed him to help.

She told him I was at the cabin, but forgot to mention I needed help.  So Knut and Silje and David just got in line for lunch.

I got the diaper changed, through the screams, my head began to pound as I felt a serious headache coming on, and tears started to warm my eyes.  I was more scared of how bad it could get then hurt.  Elias was overtired, and I walked with the 3 little ones, slowly, slowly back to the dining hall.  Knut didn't come.  As we got close, I was hurting so badly I just sat down and let Elias and Solveig run the rest of the way as they could see Daddy in the food line in the distance.  (It was a picnic that day.)  Ingrid was just screaming at me, and I just couldn't will myself to go up to the line with so many tears in my eyes, and feeling so weak.  I didn't want anyone seeing me like this.

Thankfully, one of the amazing staff people saw me, and asked if she could help.  Ingrid went straight to her, and she carried her over to Knut, and told Knut I needed some help.  More staff jumped in to help Knut with the kids who all needed a cup or their food cut, etc.

My old mentor/boss came over to hug me for awhile, as I told her how much I struggled being weak in front of my kids, and other people.  I told her how I just hated being limited physically like this, and I didn't like having to constantly admit to people my weakness.  I hate picking out which activities I think my neck can handle, and saying no to activities I love.  She just spoke so much Scripture into my heart.  She talked about how when we are weak, God is strong.  She talked about God's grace covering all, and how God is using my weakness to teach my kids the things they need to learn.  He is equipping them through my weakness.

--I'm blessed that I have weaknesses, because my kids need to see that.  They will be blessed through it.

--I'm blessed with the special moments I got with each of our kids while we were at camp.  Knut got to take some canoeing, I got to take some to the slingshot range, David won the carpet ball tournament.  The little girls spent hours at the playground and enjoyed some parachute games as well.   I had a special moment with David when he just needed some prayer, and I got to point him to our great God.  The same opportunity happened with Silje during sunset overlooking the lake, when she needed reminding to bring her cares to God, and I just got to sit and pray with her about the things weighing on her heart.  I was so blessed to be there.  I already see in both of them that they get frustrated with their weaknesses and limitations as well.  It's a human condition.

--I'm so blessed to come home to our animals, raspberries, flowers, work, and just this life I love so much.  As always, as much fun as vacations are, coming home and sleeping in my own bed is one of my favorite parts.

How has God blessed you this last week?