Days Recap

Well I didn't conquer the world today, but made a modest start.

At the days end I took Olivia to myself and recounted all her victories to her:

"Olivia, you sat in your chair ALL THROUGH Breakfast,
and ALL THROUGH DINNER.
Good job!"

"Olivia, you had such a great attitude
when I had you put on your shoes
and take them off
over and over... and over.
Well done!"

"Olivia, you sure stuck with that job
of sweeping up the pine needles.
THANK YOU!"

We're just getting started, and after I recuperate tonight I'll be diving in again tomorrow, but...
her smile beaming back at me this evening makes it all worth while!


Thank you for praying for us:-)

On a Practical Level:

Step 1. Hover over and make sure she follows through with every task I give.

Step 2. Lots and lots of drill, requiring her to complete a given task, undo it, and do it over again.

• Drill

1. Disciplined, repetitious exercise as a means of teaching and perfecting a skill or procedure.
2. To instruct thoroughly by repetition in a skill or procedure: drill pupils in grammar.
3. To infuse knowledge of or skill in by repetitious instruction.

For us drill is several-fold.
First it is more practice on follow-through; secondly I want her to listen for details and variances in my instructions and follow accordingly; an additional bonus I hope she may come by, is the acquisition of a new skill.

Step 3. (this step is crucial to achieving the ultimate goal) High praise for every sincere effort and success.
I have yet to know how to drive this motivation home in other ways besides words, but I'm thinking of shiny stars on an "Olivia is Amazing!" banner on the wall or fridge.


In addition to the three things above, I am attempting to keep her by my side all day.
Sweet Olivia needs my attention as well as the time required to teach her and know if she's being successful. If I get distracted and she is attached to my hip, I might keep on task better too.

We are not sailing on smooth waters yet, rather it has been a test of my endurance and ingenuity. Just how creative and persevering can I be?

The day is only half over:-)
I expect this to only be the beginning of a long voyage.

Today I'm gonna live like I love Jesus, so if He comes for me I'll be ready!

It's 6:20 AM. Much too early for a deliberate rising, but with back pain and an early morning nursing of the baby, my mind got to rolling.

Olivia...

That's who's on my mind because I noticed something missing from it's place that shouldn't have been. I don't know who's responsible, but I can guess.

A number of things lately have been shouting for my attention, telling me subtly and not so, that one of my children - an imp eyed pixie named O. - is falling through the proverbial cracks.

She's so easy-going.
So Cute.
So winsome!

So un-dependable.
She disregards my every word as though it's her privilege to pick and choose what command she wants to obey, and with nary a dispute - she just does what she wants!

Hmm... Olivia.

Once my brain set to working on a problem which I have known is mine all along, I decided to get up and make myself useful formulating a plan.
Hence the desire to "...live like I love Jesus..."
I do of course, love Jesus. It's just that I (along with much of the Jesus-loving population) do not always attempt to LIVE like it.
So today I am deliberate.
It might take a divergence from the preplanned school routine, but I have got to pick O. out of the cracks.
I've got to rally her to my team!
I've got to be Jesus to her, and I know He would take all the time in the world for her.

She's a little girl who needs a lot of training which I haven't made time to give her.
Up to this point I have spent enough time putting out fires that I may as well have put in the effort before the fire got started.

I have a few ideas, a plan, if you will.

Perhaps if I'm transparent, you'll be hearing of my venture throughout the day. If I am all-consumed (which I anticipate since this is not first and foremost a blogging experiment), you might not.

Either way, if you love Jesus too will you pray for me and O.?

Thanks a bunch.



Pressing onward!

The Boys Got Costumes...

...And I got two Knights!




















It's amazing how a little roll-playing of the virtuous sort can bring out the rugged man in the little boy.

We thought these swords might be too flimsy, but it appears to be a good weapon to "start" with - especially INSIDE the house!
They may not last long, but I imagine that Springtime and Marvel Hill will produce a hardier version, and the manliness will have to step it up a notch.

We had three princesses in the castle too (more pictures to come), and it did my mother heart good to see Zachary's desire to protect Lady Sue as he placed her hand in the crook of his arm.





















...Even if her feminine skills could use some polish:-)





















It didn't take long for littlest brother to commandeer a turn at sword play!




















Cutest little Page boy I ever saw - yellow duckies and all!

Beat THAT!

"Mom,

I played a one person game...

...and I won!"


Olivia Honor, age "almost 4"

Stylin' In Sisters Shades

High Standards

Olivia:

"Momma, do you know who my favorite girls are, and my favorite boys?"



Me:

"Who Olivia?"



Olivia:

"Auntie Emma, Auntie Molly, God, and Uncle Nick"




All I have to say is:

"Bless you Uncle Nick" ;-)

Genesis, Over and Out...

I made it through Genesis in four days.
Four days could possibly be all I am able to keep on track for. It seems like an accomplishment to manage ten chapters in a stretch without serious interruption!

I want to say though, that as many times as I have read Genesis before, I was amazingly humbled and blessed this time around.

I couldn't believe how much of a difference it made to read in one gulp like this, for not chopping all the "stories" into tiny segments.

I mean, I knew that Sarah was barren.
I knew that Rebekah was barren.
I knew that Rachel was barren.
Did I ever really see the pattern like that?
Coincidence maybe? (tongue in cheek here) ;-)

I was also more heavy-hearted than usual for Jacobs wife Leah.
I was impressed with a full heart how the Lord God ended that story with Jacob desiring to be buried next to his wife Leah in the place of his fathers. It gave me pause for thought.

You know, I bet this will sound silly, but we have intentionally avoided cartoonish Bible illustrations for our children. Largely because we want them to have a picture that the Bible is stories recounted of real people. Much of what is recorded there is larger than life. Why confuse it with fairy tales?

This said, I have my own flannel graph pictures of Josephs brothers before him in Egypt.

In my mind they are all between seventeen and forty-five (don't ask me where this came from - I blame the illustrations) ;-D

What I really enjoyed this time was realizing that the Judah and Tamar "incident" took place before Judah went before Joseph in Egypt. Judah was an OLD guy! I didn't do the math, but 80's maybe? Anyway, I love how Benjamin is referred to by his brothers as a "little one" (inferring fewer years of age); how they protected him as a "daddy's boy" and yet we discover the fella had ten sons already. TEN!!

Just too fun! I really enjoyed myself. I love Exodus too, so ten chapters a day shouldn't pain me much - especially after the refreshing read of the last four days.

So how is YOUR reading going?
What has popped out at you most?
I'd love to hear, even if you leave me a comment telling me to come read your blog!

Onnn--- to Exodus!

Winter and Spit Accessorized

Rolling over frequently from tummy to back.

Scooting - scooting! Enough that I graduated him from co-sleeper to crib. I was truly concerned that he'd get wedged in a tight spot or work himself off my bed.

I know you're dying to see that round fuzzy blond head (which is covered in this pic.) and it's coming...

Bryce is 13 pounds now, and while I haven't measured him, he's getting longer by the day too.
Average, average, average.
I DO like average!
Average is good :-)

Everything else about him is above and beyond average. Pretty much exceptional I'd say.

You don't think I'm biased, do you?

Wheels for Bugs; Thoughts About a First Time Roller Skating

In the words of Susanna:

"First I went in. Daddy helped me. Then I started rolling against the wall. Then I felt excited! Somebody took a picture of me. When I first put on my skating shoes they were feeling uncomfortable. After I skated for a while they felt better. Then I started having a great time, and when Daddy said "It's time to stop" I wanted to keep skating!"

In the words of Zack:

"When I first put my skates on I felt weird because it's not normal for me to have a big crowd of people around when I have rolling shoes on. It wasn't like I expected. I basically thought I'd be rolling, until I got out there and found out how tricky it was!"



In the words of Olivia:

When I put my skates on I wanted a little snack..."













In the words of Clayton:

At first it was a bit awkward and I was just walking around. And then Daddy took us out on the big tile place and I was holding on to the wall. There were people passing me up. Once I got really good, I was able to pass a lot of people up. But... most the people who I passed were Sue and Zack!"

In the words of Momma:

"Whew!
That wore me out - and I didn't even skate!!"