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It's a rainy, cold Monday afternoon and I've only a little while before picking up Scott from school but I thought I'd journal a little before heading out. . .
Three little girls are asleep just now. Morgan is sitting across from me doing homework. Shelton is playing away on the guitar. Christian says he is bored. A word I don't typically hear from my children because there really should never be such a thing as bored around here. . . but really, this afternoon, I can see how he would be bored - his school is done, the house is clean, all games have been played and the great outdoors where he is usually off and away in is pretty miserable just now.
Bub is eating a frozen slush he made in the blender. He loves to use the blender.
It's been a good December thus far. Good as in no ER visits/accidents, happy children, Robert and I are still in love. . . and God has been faithful to see us through the normal difficulties with more grace then we deserve. It's been a cold, wet month. I suppose most of the states are like that in the winter time, but it's unusual weather for our part of the country and we're not use to it.
People drive slow - as if there was snow and ice on the roads. We call it "freezing" because we put on jackets and even then still don't want to go outdoors. Scott often says, "If it's going to be this cold, it should just snow so we could have some fun in it."
The kids do still venture out in the cold no matter what they say about it. Yesterday afternoon and way past dark the boys make an amazing fort in the back yard out of old scrap lumber and branches pulled from the burn pile. They told me I was "too big" to fit inside and see it. So I had to go in to prove them otherwise. I fit fine, just fine. It was cozy and fun and I like forts in the cold too.
School has gone well for Scott this past fall. He is looking forward to Christmas break as we all are. We all can't wait to have him home everyday for two weeks. He has done outstanding in his classes - his grades very high and nominated as student of the month for his county one month too.
He loves the social aspects, he likes his teachers, coaches, even tests (I know, funny kid!). He doesn't like being at school from 6:30am until 3:55 -- but he is learning to use his time wisely, often coming home with no homework at all.
He was thrilled to find out last Thursday he made the basketball team after three days of try-outs and cuts. I knew he had made the team that afternoon I picked him up without even asking - Scott's smile was bigger than the carpool lane.
We are growing together. Learning what it means to trust God at a whole new level. Learning what it means to disciple through situations we've not faced together before. More prayer. Lots more communication. It's been really neat. Easy, no. Suffering free, no. As bad as different people said, no. As good as we'd like it to be, no. Where God has Scott this year, yes.
My faith has grown as I have seen God work.
Speaking of boys, Christian has started practice once again in football. Oh! The practices have been cold! Christian doesn't seem to mind onc tiny bit. He still wears shorts... and his blue shirt that says, "The season never ends." He loves his coach and his team.
Shelton plays guitar several times during the day - any chance he gets, breaks between school work, at night before bed time. He doesn't want to play the guitar normal. He wants to play it, um, well, I'm not sure how to describe it. He likes to create his own chords, tune all the strings to a certain chord, or use the surface for a drum while strumming with the other hand. He occasionally remind me of his desire for a bass guitar and drums as well.
I mentioned his desire to Robert. Robert says maybe when we get a house with a garage. I'm with him.
Caedman is loving school this year, thanks to my mom who is his school teacher. He is an eager learner. He loves to play the game "Set" and the game "Risk" and beats me in Chess every single time. That's kind of what it's like being a 5th born - you learn things way before your time. He spends a lot of time playing on the trampoline, occasionally building legos, and is signed up to play basketball next month.
More than anything though he loves to run. He can run for long distances at a very steady pace. He ran with me quite a number of times this past fall as I prepared to run a 5K.
I think what I am enjoying most about the boys at these ages is listening to them talk to each other. They communicate more now with one another more than they ever did at younger ages. They stay up late into the night talking every night. They joke and laugh a lot, but now they also talk more seriously about life. Once or twice I even heard them talking about girls.
Even though they don't have to, all four boys still prefer to all sleep on the same queen size bed together. I go in at night to say goodnight and there will be an entire empty bed to my right. . . and I look to my left and there they all are.
I love their closeness. They are best friends. They have their times - like just now Shelton came in to tell me that Christian threw Caedman across the trampoline to which then Caed in turn bit Christian's knee. . .
But now they are all buddies again and having a blast. They always end each day all there together in that little room. They are tight. They bond. Shelton calls it "The Brotherhood."
I do what I can to encourage it to stay that way. I pray it will.
~
Sunday afternoon entertainment: the Baby.
Robert discovered that if he rubs her head a certain way Haven raises her eyebrows. 
Robert was working for a lady who wanted him to haul off and trash a lot of things she'd cleaned out of her attic. In one of the bags there was a whole bunch of vintage baby clothing. Robert knows my love for anything old so he brought it home instead of trashing it. . .
Inside there were several treasures, including a baby Christmas suit from who knows when. In the bag were several baby congrats cards from 1960 so maybe it was about that time frame. I washed it up really good and just had to try it on Baby.
It was cold that day, I played Christmas music, Baby wore her Christmas suit.
She was completely content with making me smile.
I haven't ever been good at being motivated to decorate a rental house at Christmas - especially if things are still in storage, or there isn't space, or things are already hard to keep organized. Robert helped me begin to get in the mood last week without saying a word - he had strung a string of bells from one post to the other on our bed.
 
Up from her nap. When she smiles I think she looks just like her daddy.
This past weekend. . .
 
Friday night we had an awesome dress-up-wintery-fun date night.
Then Saturday morning came way too soon - as we were up very early loading everyone into the car and heading off to a 5K race. Here I am getting hugs from two of my little cheerleaders just after coming through the finish line. When I finished I thought I was dead, but getting hugs and surrounded by my cheering section of children was awesome.
Robert took these shots of Shelton coming up on the finish line among men and highschool boys. He ran an incredible race, beating me by several minutes. He has been my work-out buddy and running partner for a month now and is a great motivator and encourager to me. Funny, I think it use to be the other way around? 
Shelton and I are neither early morning people nor cold weather people! This race was a good challenge for us both! Here we are right after cooling down. . . which didn't take long because it was SO cold (high 30's and low 40's is cold for us!) the morning of the race. It was quite miserable. I couldn't feel my toes much after the first mile. We wrapped up in a blanket and drank hot coco not long after our finish!
My personal trainer and best friend. Thanks, Robert, for getting behind my crazy idea to run a race this soon after Baby. It's been worth the challenge. Like the times before, this race was a reminder to me of life. Fighting the urge to stop, to give up - and going to God for strength to complete and finish strong for His glory.
A. Ann |
| | Posted 12/12/2011 3:56 PM - 1382 Views
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