I was listening to a John Piper message yesterday. He quoted this poem.  it's a wonderful.   I should commit it to memory.

The Thorn
I stood a mendicant of God before His royal throne
and begged Him for a priceless gift whichI could call my own
I took the gift from out His hand but as I would depart,
I cried "But Lord this is a thorn and it has pierced my heart.
This is a strange, a hurtful gift that Thou hast given me."
He said "My child, I give good gifts and give my best to thee."
I took it home and although at first the cruel thorn hurt sore;
As long years passed, I learned at last, to love it more and more.
I learned He never gives a thorn without this added grace;
He takes the thorn to pin aside the veil that hides His face.

 ----Martha Snell Nickolson

Happy New Year everyone! I pray that the thorns of 2009 will serve to reveal His face.

Posted in Family Life

My friend Shaina sent me a good knock on the head via Llyod-Jones.  He's speaking of spiritual depression, but his points can be generalized to any area that we struggle with spiritually.  And of course, it's always nice when someone says it's ok to talk to myself. ha. 

"I say we must talk to ourselves insteading of allowing "ourselves" to talk to us.  Do you know what that means? I suggest that the whole trouble of spiritual depression in a sense is this, that we allow ourselves to talk to us instead of talking to our selfs. Am I just trying to be deliberately paradoxical? Far from it.  This is the very essence of wisdom in this matter.  Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself?  Take those thoughts that come to you when you wake up in the morning.  You have not originated them but they start talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc.   Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Yourself is talking to you.   Now this man's (David in Psalm 42:5,11 ) treatment is this:  instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himslf.  "Why art thou cast down, oh my soul?" he asks.  His soul has been depressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says "Self, listen for a moment and I will speak to you."  Do you know what I mean? If not, you have had but little experience.

The whole art in spiritual living is knowing how to handle yourself.  You have to take yourself in hand, address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself. You must say "Why art thou cast down? What business do you have to be disquieted?"  You must turn on yourself, upbraid yourself, condemn yourself, exhort yourself and say to yourself  "Hope thou in God" - instead of muttering in this depressed and unhappy way.  And then you must go on to remind yourself of God, Who God is,  What God is and What God has done and What God has pledged Himself to do.  Then, having done that, end on this great note - defy yourself and defy other people and defy the devil and the whole world and say with this man, "I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance and my God."
 ~D Martin Lloyd Jones

Posted in Books, Books and More Books

My brother is getting married very very soon =)  A week from Saturday, i think.  Maybe you knew this, but I didn't know, until this year, that the typical wedding recessional is a piece by Mendelsshon from  A Midsummers Night Dream.  But even more strange than that, in my opinion, is the fact that the processional piece heard at many weddings (the ubiquitous Here Comes the Bride) is from a Wagner opera (Lohengrin).  Who knew that the "Kill the Wabbit" guy was also the "Here Comes the Bride" guy!!  (ok, different operas).  But what does all of this have to do with books??
I actually didn't go looking for wedding trivia this evening, I have been jumping around looking for confirmation of my thought that an opera alluded to in our current bedtime story was the Ride of the Valkyries (or "Kill the Wabbit" if you are a Bugs Bunny fan....) opera (the only name I know it by).  And that bit of wedding trivia came up so I thought I'd share.   We just finished reading Henty's For the Temple out loud. That went about mach 10 over the younger girls heads, but Lukas got a fair amount of it and even Eden can now say 70 A.D when I ask her when the fall of Jerusalem occurred (well, the AD one...).  So after the girls were such good sports about the boy book, I decided I should find a lighter and more entertaining book.  We are now reading The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright. It was written and set in the 1940's (New York) and is  delightful.  My kids get annoyed with me while I'm reading outloud b/c I keep stopping to admire her wonderfully rich vocubulary and descriptive language.  Here is part of the exchange this evening:

Me:  "He went tiptoe down the iron cellar steps into the great warm subterranean room where the furnace crouched glaring amid its coiled tentacles of pipe like the minotaur in the labryinth."  Oo, isn't that a great picture?  What a great way to say that! She could have said "he went downstairs to the furnace room." Instead she said "The furnace crouched"  What a great strong verb!  And who remembers anything about the Minotaur in the labryinth??"
Them: Moooooommmmm, can you Please just READ?
(Can you tell we are in the middle of IEW writing assignments?)
She uses alot of similies, too, that are very picturesque.  Another thing I love about this book is that she throws in references like "the minotaur in the labrynth", assuming that her readers will know what she means.  One of her characters CHOOSES to spend an afternoon at the opera, part of tonights chapter described it and his thoughts about it (and his attempt to tell the story to the household handyman...).  Which is what inspired me to go online and figure out which one it was so maybe we'll listed to a few snippets of some of the music tomorrow.  Learning is so fun! 
Anyway.  This is a strange post for one who's not posted in Months!  I really do mean to be better about blogging.
Someone asked me last night about how hold Christopher is and I had to stop and count.  Oh dear, he's 6 months old in 2 weeks, that means I really should think about starting him on solid food at some point!

Posted in Train Up A Child Thursday

When I was a child, I  had this beautifully illustrated book of nursery rhymes . I loved it very much.  A few years ago, my very thoughtful brother found out which book it was from my mom and bought one on Ebay and gave it to one of my girls as a Christmas gift.  While reading through the book with them, we came across this short and pointed poem  "Here's Sulky Sue. What shall we do? Turn her face to the wall until she comes to!"  I had to laugh because that's what we do with our own little sulky sues (and joes...).  Kids with attitude get to go stand in the corner until they have a happy heart for the under 6 set) or a good attitude (for the over 6 set).   Sometimes a child will wail from the corner "I'm happpppyyyyyy now!"  I will hold them up in front of the mirror and say "is that a cheerful face???!  Sometimes they are there for quite a long time....
The idea is that obedience with a bad attitude or angry heart is not acceptable.  So I try very hard to stop their world and give them time to get their own attitudes straight before allowing them to do whatever it was that they were originally not happy to do.  And then I usually give them a second job to test them =)  If they come out of the corner and give me attitude again, it's lather, rinse, repeat. Back to the corner!
(thanks to Carla Link for corner time guidance...)

I really had intended to post a specific birth announcement last night but ran out of steam!  So here are the specifics (well, I won't give TOO many...)

Christopher Thomas arrived Friday at 1:08 pm.  He weighed in at 7 pounds, 10 oz, the biggest of our babies yet.  He has dark fuzzy down hair (just a little) and dark eyes like most of the other kids and he's is so cute! 

We got to the hospital around 7:30 in the morning, the dr. broke my water at noon, and he was born about an hour later =)  I was bound and determined to forgo the epidural this time b/c although it's a beautiful thing in the middle of hard labor, I never like the annoyance of the recovery (which for me is dull achy pain around the needle site for a couple of weeks).  So I managed to go drug free. And let me just say that it was the worst 15 or 20 minutes of pain, but now that I'm home I'm feeling better at this stage of the game than I usually am.    And I'm really  happy not to be pregnant!  Except I can't find anything to fit (I hate the idea of wearing maternity clothes after the baby arrives ).  So I'm living in sweats and looking oh so unattractive, but people make allowances for the first month or two

Posted in Family Life

10)  Insurance companies must be the ones who pick out and supply the hospital with their beds.  They are so incredibly uncomfortable in any position that no one wants to stay longer than absolutely necessary. (I checked in at 7:30 on Friday morning and checked out at 6:30 pm on Saturday night)

9) I'm supposed to call my insurance company before I leave for the hospital for their permission.  Whoops.  I truly did forget this small detail.  Why I need their permission, I'm not sure....

8).  Hospital floors are gross.  After an hour and a half of walking the halls to encourage... progress...., my white socks were black on the bottom. I threw them out before I left the hospital.

7)  Televison only gets worse.  I do more TV watching while in the hospital than any other time.  It's depressing to see how much further it's degenerated in the past 2 years.  Especially what passes for kid shows.

6)  Nurses don't always get that IV needle put in right the first time.  Ouch

5)  When the dr. says "Just one more push and then it will be all over" it usually means another 2 or 3.

4) Nursing a brand new baby causes contractions all over again.  You would think I would remember that much, but it always is an unpleasant twist.  I think contractions should be finished once the baby pops out!

3)  I'm not going to have the desire or energy or even presence of mind to work on the baby book or thank you cards or anything else after delivery.  It's too easy to click through the remote 47 times an hour instead.

2)  How fun it is to pick up the phone and ask someone to bring you food to your room and then take away the dirty dishes later

1)  How amazingly tiny and perfect and precious a newborn is, a complete gift from a loving and faithful God!

Posted in Train Up A Child Thursday

I have this nice little thin book (more like long pamphlet) called "Classical Education and the Homeschool" by Douglas Wilson et al (Mr. Wilson's sort of retraction of his unfortunate comments regarding the ability of homeschoolers to do a proper job of a classical education in his otherwise excellent book "Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning" from 20 years ago) which I pull out and read  through periodically.  Here is a passage that always hits me where it hurts every time I read it.  So I'll share it with you and hope that you can say "That's not a problem in our house!"

So it's 5 days until my due date. I've never made it this close to my due date before!  Although it's working out well, I have lots to do and some 'extra' time to get it done.  I am feeling rather uncomfortable at this point, but ah well.  Just think how uncomfortable labor and delivery will be!  I'm so hoping to go drug free this time.  Although I wouldn't object to being knocked over the head and rendered unconscious toward the end

My big goal was to be able to get through the end of our Classical Conversations year, and that I did, very thankfully! 

I've fallen rather behind in my bible reading!  I should be in the middle of Psalms by June and I'm still in 1 Kings.  so I just need to pick up the pace a little.  I did find it interesting that David's wife Michal lost the ability to have children with him b/c of her snarky attitude toward him, and then David chose her 5 sons from her other husband to be among the 7 delivered up to die for the sins of Saul against the...what's their names.  I forget.  Somehow that doesn't seem quite fair. But who said life is fair. 

Anyway. I'm still too busy to pay proper attention this blog, but I'm hoping at least to be better about checking on how everyone else is doing!  

More later...
jennifer

Posted in Family Life

Well here it is the end of March, another month whizzing by.  I'm still pregnant   I am actually feeling that way lately!  I find myself telling my kids to pick stuff up off the floor more often since I just don't want to exert the effort necessary to get that far down.   Only a few more weeks left, though. I'm hoping to get the last 2 weeks of CC done before the baby gets here.  The women from church threw me a baby shower this past Saturday and I've realized I have to go through Daniel's closet and start moving stuff out of there that doesn't need to be there to make room!  People have been so kind and generous to bless us.

My brother is doing really well, thank you for your prayers! He's planning to return to work mid April and seems to be back to normal. Well, that's a relative term.   

I'm sooo thankful that it's spring.  We still have chilly mornings but there are lots of trees blooming and green shoots poking up through the mulch beds (now if my kids would just remember not to run through them...)  Daniel emerged from his winter of being shut in the house with the lately perfected skill of walking, he's loving the outdoors.  My Grandparents are making their annual spring trip back to Ma after wintering in Tx, they're planning to stop by on their way through this Tuesday.  My grandparents are amazing.  Fit as fiddles and wonderfully fun.  I'm so pleased that my kids get to have a relationship with them.  And my parents are planning to come down from Me at the beginning of May.  Such fun!  Mom broke her foot after returning home from a trip here to help my brother so I'm praying her foot will heal quickly and well. 

Ok, that's all for now, not very interesting...! 


 

Posted in Family Life

So how is everyone doing on their bible reading these days??  I've fallen behind, need to reorder my priorities and get up earlier!  (and go to bed earlier..) I just finished Joshua today, now on to Judges! 

Last night we had the funeral service for my father in law, it was really nice.  Mike managed to get through the whole service and did a great job.  My brother in law provided for some comic relief with a light hearted story about my father in law and my mother in law did a great job of holding it all together.  We had a reception afterward at the home of one of our church friends who lives nearby, lots of people and food.  The kids got to play with their cousins and stay up way too late.  Today was not so pretty in the Nevarr household.  Yesterday we went to the library, so Lukas and Eden spent most of the day reading after I gave up trying to get some school done in the morning. I should have known better! My mom is still here, so she took the kids to the park across the street (if you can call 3 swings and a slide a park!) and kept them busy and entertained.   Mike took the older 3 to my mother in laws so they could spend a little more time with their cousins before they go back to W.V, so it will be another late night for them since it's 9:30 and they're still not home.  My brother is finally able to be here at the house, it's nice to have him here and he's doing really well. He shares his cookies with me that people bake him as get well gifts   My brother, who isn't very heavy to begin with, lost weight while he was in the hospital so now we're all trying to fatten him up again. Of course, it would help if he didn't have so much help eating those cookies!  People have been so very incredibly kind and supportive and helpful these past few weeks.  It makes me appreciate even more how the body of Christ is supposed to work, when I see it being worked out on such a personal level. And i so apprecite those of you who are praying for my family, I know that the Lord is working through those prayers.

Just as a side note, the font has been small the past few posts b/c I was using a mac which doesn't let me change the font size for some reason.  Mike got me this beautiful new computer  - the mac, which I really like, but I still use my trusty laptop to do most of my "work"  All my files are saved on this computer, and I've not figured out how to switch them over yet.

So! That's all for now. 

Posted in Family Life

My brother's out of the hospital and doing very well. He's staying with some friends from church while we wait for our antibiotics to cure us! The Bryans are taking excellent care of him and hosting my mother as well while she is here. Although we get to have her here for the weekend since Leslie is staying there with Tim =) On another note, my Father in law died early Thursday morning at his home. While not completely unexpected, it came as a shock. He's been not well for years and has been battling the flu. The kids are taking it pretty well (mine, that is). They've not had to deal with death in the family before. 2 weeks ago my mother and father in law came out to visit, they wanted to bring birthday gifts for Trinity and Aria. My MIL had bought matching shirts for Lukas and his Grandad, gray t-shirts with a wolf on the front. They wore them together that day, it KILLS me that I didn't take a picture. Didn't even think of it. I don't know why I didn't. I really regret that. I don't know that he was a believer when he died, although anything is possible. Mike had shared the gospel with his parents often enough, perhaps the Lord was gracious and granted him a repentant heart before he died. I hope so.

Posted in Family Life

They released my brother from the hospital for a few days until his surgery, which was scheduled to happen this Wednesday. He's on prescription pain killers, which seems to be doing the trick to control his headaches. Mike was the only representative of the Nevarr family at church today, but he said Tim and Leslie were there =) On the way to church, the hospital called Tim and said they had moved his surgery up to Monday instead of Wed. Please pray for him when you think of it =) Mom is coming down on Tuesday for about 10 days. That will be a huge blessing! Anyway. That's the latest! This afternoon I was reading in Joshua, and noticed that as the Israelites were preparing to move into the Promise Land (totally uncharted territory for them), God admonished them several different times to be "strong and courageous" And so it is with us as we all have periods in our lives where we face the unknown with fear and trepidation. What a blessings to be able to cling to the great and soverign God who controls all things. I have no doubt that He knows what is best and will cause all things to work together for our good and His glory.

Posted in Family Life

So I don't even want to look and see what the last date was that I posted.  I've somehow gotten buried under a bunch of CC related emails and phone calls and am now just able to come up for air!  I do love helping other people get up and running with classical conversations, but since I'm not so very organized it tends to eat up more of my time than it should.

 And then we've all been sick, Daniel's had a rotten headcold that is finally almost done, but he's been waking up at about 4:30 am every morning. I felt sorry for him the first time b/c his eyes were all yucked up with goop, so after I cleaned him up, I let him come into bed with me. He's a rare kid (in our house) who will just lie there with his head on my chest and go to sleep. sooo cute. For about 15 minutes. And then i realize that I can't l sleep. so I put him back to bed and he cries for what seems to be an hour before he goes back to sleep.

 And Then, my brother is in the hospital, so that also has taken up more of my brain space!  I would appreciate your prayers for my brother, if the Lord lays it on your heart.  His name is Tim, he's 27 and was admitted to the ER last Sunday with severe headaches after a week of the flu. Well, turns out it wasn't the flu, it was a brain bleed. So to make a long story short, he is slated to have surgery on Wednesday to remove the blood clot that they found in his head.  I have complete confidence that the Lord is working through all of this and I'm not overly anxious or worried, but I covet the prayers of the righteous (that'd be you!).  He'll have a 6-8 week recovery period after the surgery, and hopefully he can come here and stay with us.  I'm sooo very thankful that he's back in Va and not still living out in Colorado!   His fiancee Leslie has been a tremendous blessing, she's been able to go see him every day, I've not been to the hospital yet.  I'm afraid I'm going to make him sick!

So, that's my life in a nutshell for the past week.  I finally pulled out my bible tonight and blew off the week of accumulated dust and finished the book of Deuteronomy.  That book is such a blessing and encouragement.  Here is a verse that spoke to my heart tonight that I shall share with my brother: Moses spoke these words to the Israelites who were preparing to go face the "giants" in the land, they ring true for us today with all of our own personal giants.
Deut. 31:8  The Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.

Posted in Train Up A Child Thursday

Yikes , it's Saturday already! How did that happen?  We had a busy week. Thursday was open house for our Classical Conversations group.  Which is always fun but a little hectic!  Especially since I was mixing paint with flour or sand or salt or glitter for our art project right up until it was time to start. Must learn to delegate!  Actually, must learn to be better prepared and organized!  Thursday evening we had a tutor meeting with all the tutors and I have to admit I tend to steal their time a little because I so enjoy the chance to get together with these wonderful women and talk.  We did get alot accomplished, but I kept them late.  I haven't even Been on my blog much at all this week to visit my blogging friends , I miss that.  

Anyway.  I even had an idea of what I wanted to post about for Thursdays "train up a child.'  I could just wait until next Thursday, so maybe I"ll just pretend I'm really early this week with this post instead of really late (although technically the new week doesn't start until tomorrow!)

Posted in Family Life

So we're having a boy.  Yay!  I'm really happy that the Lord has seen fit to make us "even", 3 boys and 3 girls (Lord willing).  We've been tossing around names and have settled on Christopher.  That day that we were at the OB, waiting for the dr. to come in, I entertained the kids by trying to decide what his middle name should be. We were being silly, suggesting middle names like "Columbus" or "Robin"  Aria, in her 3 year old mind (almost 4!) latched onto that conversation, unbeknownst to me.  A few days later, we went to the library.  I had to drop an audio tape at the counter that somehow missed being put back into its case along with the others when I returned it some weeks earlier (oops).  As I was digging around in my bag, Aria decided to make conversation with the librarian behind the counter.  She smiled really big and said "Guess What????" The librarian good naturedly said "what"  Aria replied (very loudly) "My mommy has a baby in her belly and him name is Cwisotpher Wobin!"    I laughed and said "um, I think that one is already taken"  The librarian assured me there was room in the world for another. Since then, Aria has told many Other people about her new baby brother and his name, and I've given up trying to explain. 

Posted in SOAP Notes

Still behind, but moving along, I finished Leviticus and started Numbers today. 

S:  Numbers 3:7  "They shall perform the duties for him (Aaron) and for the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, to do the service of the tabernacle."

O:  God is a God of order. He gave clear instructions as to the construction of the tabernacle in Exodus, now He appoints those who would work in and care for it.  He assigned specific duties to specific families of Levites so that everyone would understand their role and purpose.

A:  Life is easier when we have clearly defined roles.  A lack of clarity in our purpose and responsibilities leads to confusion, anxiety, depression and chaos.  Trying to assume roles and responsibilities that God hasn't given to us also causes stress and worry. 

P:  Lord, help me to clearly understand my roles and purpose as a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend etc.  Help me to not overstep my bounds in any of these areas and let me learn to serve without complaint in the duties that you have outlined for me.   Thank you for your Word which teaches me to know what you require of me.

Posted in Train Up A Child Thursday

It's almost Saturday!   I'm falling behind........

So here is a short one


God hates lies.  God is truth, lies are firmly in the realm of the wicked one who is the father of lies.  The OT is full of God's condemnation of false hood, of negative consequences that come from false hoods, of how lies impact not only the liar but also everyone around him.  So in our home we train our children from an early age that lies get the very worst consequences.  A child who disobeys but tells the truth or readily admits his wrong doing receives the consequences of that disobedience, but one who disobeys and then lies about it receives many times more consequences.  I think it was John MacArthur who made the point that a child who thinks he can lie and get away with it will be much more prone to sneaky, disobedient and rebellious behavior because they think they have a pretty good chance of lying their way out of trouble.  I also don't want my children to get a  taste for lying, the more you lie, the easier it becomes.  Of course, I don't have eyes in the back of my head, so I do miss lies sometimes, but God is faithful to have the truth come out one way or another. And I often pray that the Lord would help me to see those little signs that my kids exhibit (each one has different signs) on the rare occassions when they do lie to me or to their dad. 

At the same time, I try not to tempt them to lie. Here's a good example from this morning!   I knew my 4 year old had got hold of the tube of decorating gel that I used on the birthday cake I bought Trinity yesterday  (alas, gone are the days of my crafting beautiful homemade birthday cakes in the shape of giraffes or gumball machines!), I didn't say to Aria "Did you eat the gel from this tube?"  I mean, I can see the evidence all over her face!  I know very well she did, why give her the chance to think "Hmm, mom doesn't know...maybe I say no...") So in this case, I picked her up, took her to the bathroom and said "You ate Mommy's cake gel after I told you not to, you need a consequence."  And then go through Repentence, Fogiveness, Restoration

Posted in Family Life

           We meet for church services in an elementary school.  In which are vending machines.  Oh, the wonder of it all.  That's why my kids Really like going to church  Last Sunday, their Uncle Tim gave them each some money to buy something out of the machine.  (That's what uncles are for, right?)  Lukas bought a rice crispy treat and ate about half of it before deciding he didn't want to finish it.  He sighed and said "I used to love these things!  Oh , the law of diminishing returns."    Now why is it that he can remember a one time discussion we had on the only thing I remember from my Micro economics class (or was it Marco?) but he can't remember to clear off the dinner table without being reminded???

Posted in Train Up A Child Thursday

             Hitting back is human nature.  Our fallen, sin cursed nature.  The life of a Christian is supposed to be radically different than that of the lives of everyone else around us.  The bible reminds us over and over that, while we are children of God, fellow heirs with Christ and rich in all spiritual blessings, we are also not our own. We have been bought with a price and have no rights.  James asks "What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you?" And then he answers his own question "Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?" He goes on to list what flows out of that source (our quest for pleasure).  The list is not pretty!  Lust, envy, wrong motives. And the root of all of that is pride.  99 out of 100 times (and probably all 100) when I get upset with someone, or offended, or insulted it's because I feel like I deserve better treatment than what I'm getting. Every time my children get upset with each other, or me, it's because they think they deserve better, too.  So this is one of my favorite verses to have my children recite back to me at the necessary time (and there are LOTS of them every day) "Do not return evil for evil, but overcome evil with good.' 
             I want my children to grow to understand that there is NEVER a good reason to retaliate, in any form, for the wrongs committed against them. I want them to grow to understand that "Vengeance is Mine, and recompense"   (Deut.  32:35) I want them to grow to trust that even if they don't see justice being done right away, that God sees all and will make sure everything comes out right in the end. 
          So, in our house, the one who returns evil for evil gets the worst consequence.  I also point out that a child who returns evil for evil is taking the law into his or her own hands and acting like the mother or father.  I remind the child that God has given everyone in the family special roles, only Mom and Dad have been given the authority (in the family) to decide what constitutes a good consequence for any given behavior.  There are times when I will refuse to give consequences to the primary offender because the retaliating child has already done that and "is it fair to punish twice?"
          And of course, it's not enough to just stop the bad behavior, we are to be "putting off" sin and "putting on" virtue.  So ideally, we work out something that the retaliator can do to show love and "overcome evil with good." 

It's COLD!  I think I need to move further south.  I'm thinking the Bahamas (well, except they have that hurricane season thing, that's not so fun).

In spite of all my good intentions to read my bible first thing in the morning so I can meditate on God's word all day, I am still finding myself reading at 10 pm most nights!  Here is my thought for meditation all day tomorrow!

It struck me for the first time that the Israelites constructed the tabernacle out of donated loot that they plundered from the Egyptians. God took all that worldy materialistic STUFF and made it into something holy and beautiful. Interesting. There must be an application in there somewhere!