" Let the wife make the husband glad to come home,
and let him make her sorry to see him leave."
~ Martin Luther

Happy Thanksgiving Day to all!!!

I am home with my family today for Thanksgiving. Just my dh, my children and me. The house is warm and smelling of turkey and cornbread stuffing. It is a drizzly day in the Pacific Northwest and it has made me reflect on past Thanksgiving days.
Remembering when I was a little girl and waking up to my mother already cooking and preparing for the feast to come. As I grew up, helping her and learning from her. What to prepare first, setting the table, making our home warm and welcoming. Playing games with my sister and looking forward to all of the wonderful, yummy pies set aside for after we had thoroughly stuffed ourselves with turkey and all of the trimmings. Dad saying the prayer over our meal and thanking the Lord for our blessings.
I am a little sad today as this is the first Thanksgiving that I don't have all of my children with me. My son is spending it with another family and I miss the thought of having all of my babies here. I know!! They grow up and start their lives and I am truly fine with that. It is just marking the passage of time and how quickly life changes.
This is my fourth Thanksgiving without my Mom. I have been thinking of her a lot lately and missing her greatly. Other than my dh she was my closest friend. *sigh* Seems like yesterday, I was cooking with her and we were laughing together about life, the children's antics...
However, with all of the curve balls that life throws at us, I am so thankful for all that the Lord has blessed us with, our health, our home, work for my dh and the ability to stay home and raise our children to honor God.

~ The one who offers Thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies Me; to one who orders his way rightly. I will show the salvation of God. ~

~ It is good to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; to declare Your loving-kindness in the morning, and Your faithfulness by night...for You, O Lord, have made me glad by what you done, I will sing for joy at the work of Your hands. How great are Your works, O Lord! ~

Blessings to you and yours ~ Nadine

Our Sweet Baby Boy!!

I want to present our newest blessing, Gabriel Landon. Isn't he just adorable?

He was a wonderful birth. Definitely one of my easiest. I had five hours of labor and about nine contractions. The last two contractions, when my water broke and when he arrived, were the only really painful ones that I experienced. I wish all of my labors had all been like that!!! We delivered him in a birthing tub which, if you can use it, is amazing with natural birth.

Our midwife, the amazing Megan, went out to do some paper work while we were waiting for more contractions to kick in. Little did we know, the next contraction would be delivering that sweet bundle of joy!!! We had to wait two weeks past his due date to meet him but we all know that 'due date' is a very subjective term. I am just thrilled to have him here. All of you moms out there know just how that feels, finally getting to hold that beautiful baby and smell that sweet baby smell!! That is such a wonderful smell. It has always amazed me that babies can come from where they come from and smell so incredibly sweet. God's creation is truly wonderful!! Is there a more powerful way to connect than with the sense of smell?? I wish I could bottle it so I could smell it on those days when I am having a baby craving! ;D

Much too long!!

It has been far too long since I have posted on here. Much has changed in our lives over the past year. We moved this past summer to a bigger home (Yay!!) but on a smaller piece of property ( not so yay...). We are loving the extra space in this home, especially the girls, who were all in one tiny room. It backs to green space so, that helps us to not feel so claustrophobic. We all really miss the acreage, though, and desire to get back on acreage again.
We are expecting our 10th blessing any day now. In fact, he is a week "over due" tomorrow. My babies have always been a bit on the late side, so I am not concerned, just getting a bit uncomfortable. We are excited and anxious for him to get here, though!!!
Our oldest turned 20(!!!) on the 23rd. It is so hard to believe that my first baby has grown up so quickly. When I look at mothers who are frustrated or short tempered with their littles (myself included), I really just cringe. Your time with them as littles, teaching them and helping them, is just so very short. You just don't realize it when you're in the middle of diapers, feedings and toddlers!!
I plan on utilizing my blog more to gather information that has been helpful to me as a wife, mother and homemaker. I want to build a ready resource for myself, my daughters and anyone else who needs it. I hope what I post is helpful.
Have a blessed week!!!
~Nadine

A bit about us...

I strive to follow the Way set out for me through the Word of God and teach it to our children.
I adore my husband....my Sweetman.... He is my best friend and I can't imagine life without him. He is a wonderful father to our kids and I am so thankful for him. He takes such good care of us. He is an adventurous fella and full of passion and drive. I run to keep up with him.
Our children have been such an adventure. I have loved the task of raising them. Our oldest, Joshua, turned 18 this year and will be graduating this summer from our humble homeschool. It really is so hard to believe that my sweet, little boy is almost done. I miss him being little though I have really enjoyed him so much. I was always a bit intimidated by the "teen years" because of what others have said but, I have found these years with him alot of fun. He is on the path to be a fine man, much like his father.
Now, we are surrounded by teen girls!!! Our daughters are Danielle, who is 16. Kaitlin, who is 15, and Emily is 13. We will soon be adding Olivia to that roster also. She is 12 and can hardly wait for the seemingly magical number of 13.
Then we get back to the boys...one anyway. Jacob is 9 and a very good big brother. He is a real help with the younger ones. He loves to catch snakes and lizards around our place. Last summer he and Olivia caught 23(!!!) in one afternoon. Janae is next at 6 and she adores her big brothers and sisters, most of the time. She is a very amusing child with an amazing imagination. She is such a funny bird. She loves to follow Jacob around on adventures in the 'jungle' (the forest behind our home).
Our last two are more boys...yeah!!!! Nothing against girls, we adore our girls. We are just enjoying having boys again after a gaggle of girls. This is the first time we have had two boys together. Caleb is 3 and as busy as that age suggests. He keeps us all very amused so, either he is a very bright boy or we are easily amused....I am going with the former. My unbiased opinion, of course!! ;) Next is Gideon...he is a very quizzical 13 month old. Always watching and looking so serious at everything. He is a buster at 27 lbs.!!!!! He didn't stay in the cute, little baby clothes for long. So sad...he is already in 12-18 month sizes. It won't be long and he will be as big as Caleb.
We have homeschooled our brood from the get go minus a 6 month stint in first grade for Joshua. Not a good experience for him or us. We are a bit eclectic in our homeschool though I do lean heavily towards Charlotte Mason and a mix of Classical and Principle approaches. It took me awhile to get it figured out. It dawned on me that I kept choosing books or curriculum with those ideas. So, I became more focused (finally!!!) but still flexible.
The flexibility really came into play when my mom was diagnosed with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). My siblings and I helped my dad care for her for almost 4 years. So, obviously, we had to be flexible with our schedule. Sadly, my mom passed away two years ago. We all miss her horribly. It was difficult having Gideon after her passing. She always came over and took care of us after a birth. It was very strange without her.
Well, I just wanted to post a bit about us. Kids are sounding busy so, I had better go make sure nothing is on fire!!!

Changing me...

Changing me...
After 19 years of having beautiful blessings and giving up too many times on getting myself healthy, I have decided to persevere and actually do it. My Sweetman loves to be outside, i.e. hiking, fishing, camping, rock climbing..., and he wants me to go with him. I am not horribly out of shape but enough that it is more taxing on myself than I would like. So....healthy here I come. I also want to be a good example to my daughters of getting myself in better shape to be active and not just skinny. I keep telling myself that it took me 19 years to get here so to be patient with myself which, is very difficult to do.
I have been walking 2 miles every other day except for Monday when I walked about 8 behind our lawn mower mowing our 'field'...not the most fun but at least the yard looks like a yard again. :D I actually enjoy mowing the lawn. It is meditative for me. The blaring mower drowns out all other noise and I can actually think!!!! It is wonderful when that happens.
We have been having the 'debate' again. Are we allowed to control how many children we have or just have however many we are blessed with? Is being a good steward limiting our family to what we can afford or trust(which we do) that God will provide? We trust He will provide for us but, again, how does it fall under being a good steward? I have read all of the applicable books, Nancy Campbell, the Hess'..., but it is still a quandary. We love having our brood and would be happy with more but we also have things we want to do with the children we have and with each other. We started out very young...18...and would like to enjoy our retirement and grandchildren with each other. Sounds so selfish, I know...but I am human!!! Opinions? Advice? Anyone???
Pray for me.....

Kids say the funniest things!!!

Kids say the funniest things!!!
I thought I was done blogging but our youngest girl, Janae, just cracks me up!!! We live on almost 8 acres. The kids all love it here. I would have to say it has been our favorite home. Anyway, we have been trying to get the purchase on this place closed so we can build our new (and bigger) home so, we haven't done a whole bunch as far as outside stuff goes for the kids yet...i.e. swingset, tree fort etc... Janae was swinging on a rope swing we had on a big old tree in the front yard. She was being so thoughtful, really trying to put her words together. So, she says to me, "Mom, it would be really nice if I could actually have a real swing set while I am still five." STILL FIVE!!! Because when she turns six, she just won't be able to use a swing set...So I am looking at her with, I am sure, an absolutely incredulous look on my face, when she continues. " And when I grow up and I get to be a mom, my kids will have a swing set before they turn five years old. It will have a nice fort too." I was having such a hard time containing my laughter. She was so cute and very sure of what should be going on....even after nine children, their creative little minds never cease to amaze me. Still five....too funny!!