~ 1 ~
Last Friday afternoon, I took the kids bowling since they were entitled to a free game of bowling through our library's summer reading program. All we had to pay for was shoe rental, so spending $8 and gaining a very fun afternoon was a great bargain! :)
While there, we saw lots of people we knew (including the state trooper who was injured in this accident and who has made an amazing recovery!); and we even happened to walk into the bowling alley at the same time as Zac, one of the boys' friends from church, so Zac joined our group and my four boys and Zac bowled together.
Josiah had a terrific day, getting 109--which is quite good for anyone in the Fisher family. :) Shav, surprisingly, was on fire, too, ending up with a score of 90; he even got a strike and several spares which made us all laugh because his wind-up before he lets go of the bowling ball is somewhat akin to a baseball pitcher, and we all worry about where the ball will end up until we see it safely rolling down the lane. ;-) Plus, his ball rolls so slowly that we're often afraid it will stop before it gets to the end; but despite his rather unconventional methods, he scored the highest he ever has. :)
Tobin and David, on the other hand, didn't do so well, ending up with David at 74, I think, and Tobin at 73. I knew they were disappointed, and David was clearly a very mellow version of his normal cheery, energetic self; but I was SO, SO PROUD of them both. Neither one acted grumpy, neither one complained, both continued to encourage their brothers and Zac, both gave high-fives and showed genuine excitement at how well Josiah and Shav were doing. That's not always an easy thing to do!
Later, I took the time to tell them both how impressed I was by their conduct; as a matter of fact, I was even more proud of their character than I was of Josiah and Shav's good scores, which seemed to kind of surprise them. ;-) A bowling score quickly fades away, but Christ-like character lasts into eternity and is the only thing that really matters. What a joy to see examples of it shining through in the lives of my sons!! :)
Two more things about the bowling day: the bumpers were up on our lane (as well as many other lanes that day with so many families with young children bowling!), so the lack of gutter balls significantly improved the boys' scores. ;-) And Moriah was the cutest little cheerleader, running up to her brothers each time they bowled and giving them big hugs. :)
~ 2 ~
Sunday evening was historic for Tobin: his first piano lesson!! :)
Jeff was studying the Bible with Josiah and David in the kitchen, Shav was upstairs playing with LEGO, and Moriah was sitting on my lap as I taught Tobin his first lesson. He is an enthusiastic student, and I'm thrilled that he wants to learn. I just hope I can keep up with him and have lessons often enough to suit him! :)
~ 3 ~
David has been EAGER to feel his littlest brother kick; but for a long time, it seemed like every time David put his hand on my tummy, our baby quieted down and didn't really move much.
But yesterday morning, I carried Moriah downstairs and sat down on the couch to snuggle with her at her request; and then I noticed our little guy was being very active in my womb. I called David over to feel it, and he did, much to his delight. :) He also got to see my tummy moving and rippling with our baby's motions which is so funny, even to me who has gone through this six times.
Starting Monday morning by snuggling on the couch with Moriah while David sat on the other side and felt his baby brother's movements was a perfect way to begin a new week! :)
~ 4 ~
Since Josiah returned from his choir tour, I've been reminded of something about him: he is so quick to express gratitude! He routinely thanks me for fixing lunch and fixing supper; and many other times a day, he can be found saying "thank you" for something. I'm not quite sure how the seed of gratitude found such fertile soil in him; but wow, do I ever appreciate it!! :)
I also have noticed in the past couple of days that he has grown in his ability to see his own faults and apologize humbly for them. He's way past the stage of me needing to say, "What did you do wrong in this situation?" and "What do you need to say to your brother?" Instead, if he does something like speak in a frustrated voice with Tobin or "steal" the computer from David when David was expecting to get to play on it, he takes a little time to withdraw; then when he comes back, he's ready to gently say, "I'm sorry I snapped at you," or whatever the case may be.
Watching the fruits of the Spirit growing in him is amazing to me!
~ 5 ~
I've been reading a fantastic book about homeschooling; it's called When You Rise Up: a Covenantal Approach to Homeschooling by R.C. Sproul, Jr., and it powerfully answers the question, "Why do we homeschool anyway?" Every time my understanding of the spiritual foundation of homeschooling begins to waver, I think I'll need to read this book again! :)
Something I read today as I ate my lunch of pecans and an apple with peanut butter made me smile. R.C. wrote, "Too often we are guilty of an unhealthy sheltering. (Clearly, there is an appropriate kind of sheltering. When those who are opposed to homechooling accuse me of sheltering my children, my reply is always, 'What are you going to accuse me of next, feeding and clothing them?")" :)
~ 6 ~
Some of the Bible verses that mean a great deal to me these days come from an unlikely book: Lamentations. In the middle of the overwhelming mourning come these wonderful truths: "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness."
Last evening was like a number of other evenings in which I got to the end of the day and thought, "I AM EMPTY. DEPLETED. TOTALLY POURED OUT." I felt like I had nothing left, after a day of doing all the normal things that a mom does, like...
~ making sure my family had food to eat at each meal,
~ discussing with my two oldest sons four theological fallacies I discovered in a gospel tract someone gave Josiah on a street in New Orleans,
~ reminding Tobin which hand his piano piece started with,
~ refereeing my sons as they helped me prepare green beans for canning and determining that it would be OK if Shav and Tobin had more frequent breaks than Josiah and David,
~ waiting (somewhat) patiently as my three-year-old, trying-so-hard-to-be-independent daughter struggled to put on her shorts by herself--but only succeeded in putting them on upside down,
~ taking my prenatal vitamin and denying myself the cup of iced coffee I really could have used in the afternoon to perk myself up, so that I could be healthy for my unborn baby (note: I do consume some caffeine during pregnancy, but limit it to less than what I would really like) ;-),
~ calmly sitting and listening to my beginning reader laboriously read a Bob Book (while thinking, "When will he EVER increase his speed with these words???"),
~ answering a common bedtime complaint, "You didn't give me a goodnight hug!" with a gentle "Yes, I actually did; but here's another one if you would like,"
~ getting caught up with the dishes, then watching dirty dishes oh-so-quickly accumulate again,
~ talking to my rising eighth grader about which writing curriculum he would most like to use this coming year,
~ wishing I had more time and energy to ______________ (fill in the blank with any household task, like clean the bathroom, organize the linen closet, move the couches to get the accumulated dirt underneath vacuumed up, mop the kitchen floor, etc.).
I.was.so.done.
But God brought Lamentations 3:22-23 to mind and gave me hope that, when today dawned, I would be filled again and ready to give of myself for my family once more. Sure enough, that's exactly what happened. :)
I'm so grateful for God's mercies that are new every morning. Because of that, I too can be renewed!
~ 7 ~
The scene from my kitchen window a short while ago... As the boys ran by, I managed to grab a quick shot before they zoomed past. :)
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