1 Peter 3 for Melissa

So tonight I was writing in my journal and praying for my relationship with Robert. Specifically how I can meet Robert's needs because Robert won't ever tell me! (The jury's still out on whether he's really that laid back or just afraid to answer when I ask.) And today I've been wrestling with a whole bunch of selfish feelings and their correct opposites flying around my head... picture New York City interchange at 7 AM. It's exhausting. So I thought I'd type it all out here as that often helps me think through it all more clearly.

So after praying for a bit and confessing all sorts of fleshly yuckiness, better known as SIN, I felt led to search my Bible for scriptures specifically speaking of a wife's behavior toward her husband. The first one I thought of was 1 Peter 3: 3-4. I've had it memorized for a long time.

Your adornment must not be merely external-braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses; but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God.

That's a beautiful passage, and certainly one to remember and strive toward.

So if that wasn't enough for one evening, I decided to pull out Robert's Key Word Study Bible (love this Bible!!) and dig in a bit. After all my defining, here's what I came up with:

submissive - submit oneself unto
disobedient - disbelieving of
chaste - clean, pure
adornment - orderly arrangement
heart - thoughts, feelings
gentle - humble, meek
quiet - keeping one's seat, sedentary, still, peaceable
spirit - rational soul, mental disposition

My paraphrase of 1 Peter 3:1-4:
---you Melissa, submit yourself unto Robert, so that if he is disbelieving of the word, he may be won over without a word by your behavior as his wife, as he observes your pure and respectful behavior. Your orderly arrangement must not be merely external - braiding the hair and wearing gold jewelry and putting on dresses; but let it be the hidden person of your thoughts and feelings, with the imperishable quality of a humble, meek, sedentary, still, peaceable mental disposition, which is precious in the sight of God.

So I totally confess that my thoughts and feelings at this juncture are not sedentary or still, let alone humble and meek! ("Meek" is kind of an enigma to me anyway.) I was already trying to be a good, supportive, loving, serving wife. But boy, do I have a long way to go. I thought that by keeping it all in my head, I was doing okay. But I was way off. My thoughts swirling around like a blizzard are sin, even if they're not bad thoughts. They're a far cry from a still, sedentary (are you kidding?!?), mental disposition.

Change me, God, and make me more like You. And thank You for not leaving me in the dust.

Candy Cane, Candy Cane

Candy cane candy cane.
You have red and white
red is for the blood that Jesus had shed
white for pure like snow.
It's a candy cane poem you know.


I've been encouraging more creative writing lately and Jacob wrote a cute candy cane poem I thought I'd share. There are obviously some mechanics issues, but that's not my focus right now. We'll worry about that later.

Christmas 2008

Here are the kids all ready to go! We left Tuesday evening after Robert got home from work.


Jacob was just a little excited!


Jacob got to go shopping and buy gifts for Nate and Ali with his own $2 he got for his tooth! He was very excited to wrap and label them himself. And they both seemed to like their gifts!


Superman's muscles Christmas Eve.


Mattie taking Jacob down Christmas Eve.

So Mattie woke up around 1 AM early Christmas morning. She was pitching such a fit that she woke Jacob up. So at 5:00 Christmas morning, Jacob was still wide awake!! I said, "Jacob, you HAVE to go to sleep!!" He said, "I'm trying so hard, Mom! I just can't stop thinking about all those presents!" :) I think he finally fell asleep around 5:30.


The dinosaurs with Uncle Matt.


Are these not the cutest? She loves them!


Mom's Lego gifts was the huge hit I thought it would be! They have played for hours already.


And Mattie thoroughly enjoyed cutting open each little package they came in. Something I'm goign to remember... I can handle loading up ziploc bags full of treasure.


This was Jacob's big gift. I asked him what he wanted if he could have one thing for Christmas, and this was what he said. I found it on a great sale on Black Friday, so he got it. It's the last major Thomas and Friends piece he'll get and he was pretty stoked!


These were in the dollar bin at Target! I got several for our dress up box.

Robert enjoyed his new bathrobe and Jacob's new cap gun... and some silver teeth.


Entertainment for the early risers in the only empty room of the house!

And we enjoyed much snuggling time with Kjirstin's little guy, Logan!

Five in a Row Schedule

So here are the books that remain in Volumes 1-3 for us to "row." I've saved the ones that have deeper topics (like war, slavery, immigration, etc) on purpose, so some of the more mature ones are the ones we have left. We will not have rowed every single Five in a Row book after we complete this list, but the ones I've chosen for us to do.

Volume 1
The Rag Coat
Who Owns the Sun? (This is my favorite book of all of the FIAR ones. It's written by a teenager and is an amazing book!)
Grandfather's Journey
The Giraffe that Walked to Paris (This wasn't one of my favorites, so we might skip it.)

Volume 2
A New Coat for Anna
Mirette on the Highwire
They were Strong and Good
Babar, to Duet or not to Duet
All those Secrets of the World
The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge
Follow the Drinking Gourd (I love this one too!)
When I was Young in the Mountains
Gramma's Walk
Wild Horses of Sweetbriar

Volume 3
Daniel's Duck
Henry the Castaway
Climbing Kansas Mountains
Little Nino's Pizzeria
Truman's Ant Farm
Salamander Room

Now I just have to research the topics a bit so I can plan my schedule. A trip to New Jersey would afford some great field trips for They were Strong and Good, The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge, and Grandfather's Journey. Ellis Island is one of my favorite places to go for some odd reason. I'd love to take Jacob there, though he'll be quite a bit older before he'll really get it. And Salamander Room, and Henry the Castaway and some of the others are good during certain seasons, so I have a bit to think about.

I look forward to having a long term plan... it helps me feel like we're getting somewhere! I know too though that things will come up and it will change. It always does!

And then once we're finished with these books, I think we'll move to the Volume 4 ones for what will be Jacob's 3rd grade year. They are more involved and encouraged to study for 2 weeks as opposed to just one. But I have some other ideas brewing as well... we'll see.

I'm back!

Man, it's been a long time since I've sat down to write anything! We were gone for Christmas, and the weeks before that were busy! Plus I've had some competition for the computer that I don't have when Robert's working out of town. :) But I'd prefer computer competition to him being gone.

I sat down the other night and mapped out the remaining Five in a Row Volumes 1-3 books that I want to row with Jacob this year. (Next year we're doing Volume 4 books.) I'm not sure exactly how I'll do them yet, but I want to get them mapped out soon.

We completed our 110th school day right before we took two weeks off for Christmas! So that leaves me 70 official days and 18 weeks or so (4-day weeks)! That worked out perfectly! I started schooling early this year in hopes of moving and/or slowing down during the springtime. When it's nice in April and May it's so hard to keep the kids inside! July 1 will be twelve months from when we started this year, so we have plenty of time to get it all in. Anyway, I'm rambling...

Things are going well with Tyler around. (Remember the little guy I'm babysitting/tutoring?) He's here 3 days each week, though we're going to 2 days soon. He plays beautifully with my kids, though he and Jacob are awfully hard to keep calm most days. I'm having to provide some structure and organized play to manage that, but it's working out. (The fact that it's been raining almost every day he's been here has not helped, nor has the fact that we've been counting down to Christmas!) Tyler requires a schedule that has been really good for Jacob and I too, so we're pretty much done with school by lunchtime each day. Then all the kids can have some quiet bedroom time. And so I can have some quiet time too! In the past we've been pretty lax and just done our school stuff whenever it fits because the kids play so nicely in the mornings, but I like having it done by lunchtime.

Then we all had a minor virus right before we left. Thankfully our calendar was empty except for Mattie's dedication. She threw up about 15 minutes before we were leaving so we scratched that! I'm just thankful it wasn't on the pastor in front of 500 people...

We had a Christmas party with all of our families in our Sunday School class one Sunday afternoon that was great! All of the parents seemed to know the children, but did not know each other. And Darlene and I don't have a real chance to visit when they're just dropping off or picking up, so it was a good opportunity for that, though I think Darlene got in on that more as she was not hosting. The families seemed to really enjoy it and the kids had a blast too. I'd like to do something like it once a quarter or so. It also gave me the idea of trying to get our families to go to Joni and Friends camp together this year (all at the same time), so that's what we're working on now. :)

We went to Maryland for Christmas and stayed at my parents' house. I have many fond memories of Christmases growing up, and I still love to be there! It's a bit crowded with 22 of use in one house (10 are children), but none of us would choose to stay anywhere else either! I'll post some pictures and more about our Christmas in a separate post.

So that's been our December! I like the deviation from our normal school routine, but I'm always so relieved to get back to Five in a Row!