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The Hatfield Family

LiFE in the horn of Africa . . .

 

 

       

 

 

POSTED:  May 14, 2013 – Family Handstands

 

We thought doing family handstands was a fun idea . . . until Audrey decided

to do a face plant into the concrete.  Poor Girl.

 

 

 

POSTED:  May 12, 2013 – Mother’s Day

 

What an Amazing Mother’s Day !  Andy worked hard to spoil me today.  It all started with a delicious breakfast in bed – French Toast and Bacon.  Yum !  Then, a few minutes later, all the kids paraded into the room and each one brought me a can of Dr. Pepper (that’s pretty special since Dr. Pepper is only available periodically here).  We had a wonderful morning at Church and then we spent the afternoon watching Secondhand Lions as a family.  It was fun !  I’m so blessed to be a Mother to these precious gifts!

 

 

POSTED:  May 7, 2013

 

Abby playing with some of the kids outside our gate

 

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Haley (left), Audrey and Andy at a local restaurant

 

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Audrey can even swing when she’s holding ice on her cheek after Haley bit her

 

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Over Abby’s Spring Break, we took a trip to the Lion Zoo

 

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I thought it was funny how Abby arranged our decorations

 

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Andy and I took a trip out to the Eastern part of our Country and Grandmamma

stayed home and watched the kiddos

 

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Some fun sights

 

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We enjoyed a great visit from Uncle Luke and Grandmamma in March.

 

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Uncle Luke- We’re gonna get you  - Haley (left) and Audrey

 

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Grandmamma and Audrey hanging out

 

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Easter Day – Andy was in the States for Easter

L-R – Abby, Haley, Koleta, Audrey, Nathan and our dog Molly

 

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Abby and Nathan

 

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Our Abby Grace

 

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Audrey enjoying a cup of tea and Haley eating popcorn

 

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This little guy loves his Uncle Luke

 

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POSTED:  March 16, 2013 – Abby’s Birthday

 

We had so much fun celebrating Abby this week.  She turned 7 years old on March 14th !!  We had a fun Birthday Party for her the day before her Birthday.  She invited several of her closest friends & we had a pajama party (per Abby’s request).  It’s neat looking at this picture because these kiddos are from all across the globe.  I loved listening to all their different accents !

 

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The party started off with an after-school snack of popcorn

 

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My Mom is in town & I think I might just ask her to come back for each one of my kiddos Birthday parties.  She planned the party schedule & came up with all kinds of fun games !  All I had to worry about was the cake.  It was AWESOME !!

 

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They read the story of the princess and the pea and then they had to roll across these pillows and see if they could guess which pillow the pea (which was a soft baseball) was under.

 

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They also played a game to see who knows Abby the best.  The girls loved it !

 

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Abby planned the dinner menu.  We had spaghetti and meatballs & bread with an oil dipping sauce. 

 

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Abby asked for a cake with a bed on it for her pajama party.  If you want to make a bed cake and you google to get some ideas, I recommend googlingkids bed cake” instead of “bed cake.”  It’s amazing what pictures showed up when I googled “bed cake.”  J

 

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On Abby’s actual Birthday, we celebrated as a family with a McDonald’s dinner !!  We don’t have any Western restaurants where we live, so it’s always fun to get a Western treat.  I went to Dubai a week ago and brought back McDonald’s cheeseburgers.  We put them in the freezer and pulled them out for Abby’s birthday.  They were DELICIOUS !!  We made homemade French fries to go with them.  When you put the French fries in a McDonald’s fries box (thanks Mom for getting us these) they look like the real thing ! YUM !!

 

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POSTED:  January 13, 2013 – Twin’s Birthday

 

We celebrated the Twins 2nd Birthday this weekend.  I made them Daisy Cakes and we celebrated with some of our co-workers.

 

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Audrey LOVED the cake!

 

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Haley was a little more serious about eating her cake

 

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POSTED: January 13, 2013 – Our little Pirates

 

Abby and Nathan were invited to a friends’ Pirate Birthday Party on Saturday.  They had to dress up with pirates, so we got a little creative with our washable markers.

 

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POSTED:  January 9, 2013

 

Audrey and Haley are 2 years old !!  So exciting !!  We haven’t had a chance to have a party for them, but we’re hoping to celebrate with them this weekend.  Here are some of their 2 year pictures with their bears.

 

  Haley (left) and Audrey

 

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We actually got a picture of both of them smiling at the same time!  Awesome!  It took Andy taking the picture & me pretending like I was tickling Andy to get them to both look at the camera and smile. 

 

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 Some 2 year photo outtakes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

POSTED:  January 8, 2013 – Breakfast in Bed

 

Nathan and Andy surprised me with breakfast in bed.  It was AWESOME !!

 

 

 

POSTED:  January 7, 2013

 

Abby asked me to read through her baby book with her today.  It was fun to look through it with her and to reminisce her baby years.  I enjoyed reading the letter my Dad wrote to Abby on her 1st Birthday.  It actually even made me cry. We looked through some of the gifts she got when she was a baby.  One gift she got was this monkey that she got from our cousins Debi and Ed.  Abby was so attached to this monkey today that she decided she had to take it with her to a sleepover at her friend’s house.

 

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Audrey was up a bit late one night, so I laid her in Abby’s bed for a little bit.  She LOVED it!

 

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Our little man with his train hat

 

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Nathan had his first real play date this week.  He’s had lots of play dates where we went over to somebody’s house & all the Mom’s visit while the kids play, but he’s never invited a friend over just to play all by himself before.  Nathan was sooooo excited about his first play date & he set up all of his Thomas the Train sets up in the living room so they could play.

 

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This picture cracked me up.  Nathan walked into his room & found Audrey playing with his fire truck.  He didn’t get mad & he didn’t say a word, but he looked right at her and pushed his fire truck back farther on the bed so Audrey couldn’t reach it.  Nathan’s face says it all . . . “Audrey,

I really don’t want you to play with my fire truck.”

 

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The other night Nathan asked me if he could sleep under his tent on his bed.  We let him do it & this is how I found him before I went to bed . . .

 

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I bought some clothes pins at the grocery store the other day.  When I looked down at my receipt, I thought it was funny that they called the clothes pins clothes hangers, but I thought their spelling was even more funny!

 

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POSTED:  January 7, 2013 - Budget

 

One of the things that I love about my husband is that he works really hard to keep our family on a budget.  It’s one of the best things we’ve done in the past few years.  We started living on a pretty strict budget back in 2010.  We read Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover book & it transformed our lives.  We didn’t have any debt, but we didn’t have much savings either.  We worked really hard to come up with an emergency fund & it felt so good when we met our goal.  Now we are working hard to save towards retirement.  If you don’t already live on a budget, I highly recommend getting Dave Ramsey’s book and work on getting debt free !!  One of Dave Ramsey’s principles is, “Live like no other now, so you can live like no other later.”  I love that!!  Anybody can do this, no matter what your salary. We do not have a huge salary, but we’ve been able to work hard to save and meet our financial goals.

 

POSTED:  January 7, 2013 – Adoring my Husband

 

I LOVE Andy more than anyone else in the world !  I am so thankful that he is my husband.  God definitely blessed me with my husband!  I want Andy to feel loved & I try hard to do that, but I’m not perfect & I know I don’t always succeed.  Some of my marriage goals for 2013 are to:

 

1.)     Adore Andy.  I love him & I want him to know that I adore him.

 

2.)     Respect Andy.  I want him to know that I respect him as the Head of our House, as a Father and as a husband.  I want him to know that I respect his work & I want to respect his needs and wants in life.  I want to be Andy’s biggest fan & cheerleader.  I want him to know that I have his back & I’ll support him and cheer him on no matter what!

 

3.)     Andy and I have always had a date night once a month, but this year we are going to try to have a date night once a week.  We can’t afford to have a babysitter every Thursday night.  Maybe one of these days we can find another family who has several kids that would like to trade free babysitting nights with us so that both of our families can have date nights.  But, for the time being, Andy and I have decided that every Thursday night we will have a date night after the kids go to bed. 

 

4.)     At the end of 2012, I found this blog:  http://www.staciewood.blogspot.com/. I don’t know Stacie Wood personally, but I started reading her blog and I ended up reading it from start to finish.  She encouraged me in so many ways in my marriage, motherhood and ministry.  One thing I learned from her was the “Yes, let’s” principal.  I’ve been trying hard to apply this to my own marriage.  I’ve found that often times, if Andy wants to do something, I’ll often turn him down because I’ve already got a plan.  Stacie Wood said that we should try and encourage our husbands by saying, “Yes, lets!” anytime our husband offers something.  For example:

 

·         He wants to go out to eat & I have dinner almost done?  Yes, Let’s !!  I’ll put this food in the fridge and we’ll have it tomorrow.

·         He wants to take the kids to the park & I just want to hang out around the house.  Yes, Let’s!!  Let’s go to the park and really have some quality time as a family

·         I’m tired and ready for bed & he wants some intimate time?  Yes, Let’s !! 

 

You get the idea.  I’m going to try and be a “Yes, Let’s!” wife in 2013. God has blessed me with an amazing husband & I want him to bless Andy in 2013 by being an encouragement to him !

 

POSTED:  January 6, 2012

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HALEY & AUDREY!!  It’s hard to believe that they are two years old today! We will celebrate their Birthday a little later this week.  How exciting ! (Top- Haley / Bottom – Audrey)

 

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Audrey climbed up on the curb to try and push Haley in the swing the other day.  She totally missed pushing the swing & instead did a perfect 10 nose dive off the curb onto the concrete drive way.

 

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POSTED: January 6, 2013 - Ministry

 

I’ve spent a LOT of time the past few years feeling guilty because I’m not spending a lot of time in hands on ministry with Nationals.  I haven’t led hundreds of people to the Lord like some of my friends have.  I can’t tell you how much this was eating and eating at me.  Honestly, I’m not sure when I thought I was going to have the time to do this, being a mother of 4 little ones.  Our job isn’t really in hands on work with Nationals.  We work more behind the scenes.  I love our job & wouldn’t trade it for the world, but this was one aspect that always bothered me.  I’ve prayed and prayed and prayed about it, I’ve spent hours talking with Andy about it, but I never felt at peace.  I never felt like I was obeying the Great Commission.  I started working in a hands on ministry at the end of last year & it was neat.  People came to the Lord & it was awesome, but it has always been a struggle for our family for me to be involved in this because it meets on Sunday.  Sunday is usually our family day & Abby is off school.  It’s the one day a week we can usually relax.  Andy was 100% supportive of me going and helping with this ministry, but even after I started working with it, I did not feel at peace.  It was like I was being pulled in two different directions.  I couldn’t understand it.

 

I started studying Experiencing God back in December and I have gained so much peace from that Study.  One of the things I’m learning is that I need to look around and see where God is working and join Him.  All the way through the Bible, God takes the initiative when He wants someone to join him.  Think about Abraham, Moses, the Disciples, Paul.  God came to them in a very real way & he invited them to join Him in his work. 

 

This aspect takes all the pressure off of me trying to “do” things in order to be involved in Ministry.  I need to sit back, relax and take a good look around and see where God is working and join him.  When I started doing this, it was amazing.  The very next day Abby came into my room and started asking me questions about Salvation.  God was at work right under my very nose, all I had to do was pay attention to where he was working and join Him.  While Abby hasn’t made a personal decision to follow the Lord just yet, I feel like she’s on the road to doing that. Andy is working on a really amazing ministry project right now.  I realized that if I didn’t stay at home with our kids, then Andy would not have the time he needed to be able to invest in that ministry.  While I’m not spending time hands on in that project, I know I’m enabling Andy to be able to do that & once the project is finished, it can be used to minister to thousands of people. 

 

All it took was sitting back and looking around to see where God was working & then I had the opportunity to join him.  I must say, I have so much more peace in this area of my life as I head into 2013!

 

POSTED:  January 5, 2013 – Be there for my kids

 

I love being a stay at home Mommy !  I love that I can be there for my kids.  One thing I realized last Fall was that even though I am home all the time with my kids, I wasn’t really “there” for my kids.  Sure, I structured their day and provided them with activities throughout the day, but I was spending my day cleaning the house, preparing meals, putting away laundry, playing on the computer, etc.  I wasn’t actually spending a lot of time playing or having face to face time with my kids.  Once I realized this, I really starting trying to “be there for my kids.”  I spend time now playing with Haley and Audrey periodically throughout the day.  It was easier for me to spend time with Nathan because he loves to help me do whatever I’m doing.  If I’m cooking, he loves to pull a stool up next to me and cook alongside me, but it was much harder to get this time with the twins.  I try to make it a point each day to spend a little time reading to them, playing dolls with them, playing outside with them in the playhouse or pushing them in the swing outside.  I’ve found that this time is really fun for both me and the kids!  I encourage you to make sure you are not just spending your time alongside your kids, but you are actually spending time with your kids.

 

POSTED:  January 4, 2013 – Menu Planning

 

I’ve always planned a grocery list & a menu.  Not really because I wanted to, but it was a necessity.  When we lived out in the Countryside, we would go to the Capital once a month and do our grocery shopping.  We couldn’t get many groceries out where we lived, so I really had to plan in advance to make sure we had everything we needed to eat for the month.  Once we moved to the Capital, I started shopping once every two weeks.  I used to plan out our dinners and then I just winged it for breakfast and lunch, but early in December I decided to start planning out all our meals and snacks.  I didn’t feel like we were getting well rounded meals, so I wanted to make sure we were getting enough fruit, veggies, milk, etc. in our diet. 

 

Every Monday night we have Monday night movie night at our house.  We lay a tablecloth out on the floor in front of the TV & we eat pizza and watch a family friendly movie.  Andy and I make sure we watch the movie with the kids (no computer, etc. during that time).  On Friday nights, I make something that I know will make leftovers.  We eat the leftovers on Sunday night.  Saturday night is usually an “eat out” night for us, but if we eat out some other time in the week, I just substitute that meal for our Saturday night dinner.  I try to always have veggies with our dinner.  I don’t plan this on the menu because I never know what’s going to be available at the grocery store. 

 

Overall, this has worked really well for our family!

 

Here’s the menu we are working off of right now:

 

WEEK 1

BREAKFAST

LUNCH

SNACK

DINNER

THURSDAY

Eggs and Toast

Leftover Burgers

Carrots & Peanut Butter

 

Drink: Milk

Chicken in a Crock Pot & Salad

FRIDAY

Toast & Bacon

 

 

Drink:  Juice

Strawberry & Banana Smoothies, popcorn, carrots with PB and raisins

Apple and Peanut Butter

 

Drink: Milk

Cucumber-Dill Pasta Salad / leftover salad & garlic bread

SATURDAY

Cereal

 

Drink:  Juice

Apple sandwiches with peanut butter, raisins & smoothie

Popcorn & Banana

 

Drink: Milk

Dinner Out

SUNDAY

Cereal

 

Drink:  Juice

Tuna Salad & Carrots

Popcorn & sliced cheese

 

Drink: Milk

Leftovers

 

DAY

BREAKFAST

LUNCH

SNACK

DINNER

MONDAY

Toast & sliced cheese

 

Drink:  Juice

Popcorn, Raisins, Carrots & Fruit Smoothie

 

 

Cheese and Crackers

 

Drink:  Milk

Pizza

TUESDAY

Toast & sliced cheese

Zucchini muffins, carrots, raisins & smoothie (freeze rest of muffins for Saturday)

Fruit Kabob

 

Drink:  Milk

Chicken Noodle Soup & Veggies

WEDNESDAY

Toast & Jam

 

 

Drink:  Juice

Habasha Lunch

 

(Make Fir Fir for Abby’s school lunch)

Smoothie & Cheese

 

Drink:  Milk

Split Pea Soup & Vegetable Pancakes

THURSDAY

PB & Banana Smoothie & toast with sliced cheese

 

Drink:  Juice

Egg Salad & Carrots

Fruit Kabob

 

Drink:  Milk

Peanut-Thai Pasta & Veggies

FRIDAY

Toast & Jam

 

Drink:  Juice

Popcorn, Raisins, Carrots & Fruit Smoothie

Jello

 

 

Drink:  Milk

Roast Chicken & Cobb Salad

SATURDAY

Cereal

 

Drink:  Juice

Zucchini muffins with carrots, raisins and smoothie

Popcorn & Banana

 

Drink:  Milk

DINNER OUT

SUNDAY

Cereal

 

Drink:  Juice

PB & Banana Sandwich with raisins and carrots

Fruit Kabob

 

Drink:  Milk

Leftovers

 

DAY

BREAKFAST

LUNCH

SNACK

DINNER

MONDAY

PB & Banana Smoothie & toast with sliced cheese

 

Drink:  Juice

Zucchini muffins with cheese, banana and orange

Carrots & sliced cheese

 

Drink:  Milk

Pizza

TUESDAY

Bacon & Eggs

 

 

 

Drink:  Juice

Strawberry & Banana Smoothies, popcorn, celery with PB and raisins

Crackers & Cheese

 

Drink:  Milk

Broccoli w/ Beef

 

DESSERT / EXTRA ITEMS:  Apple Enchiladas

 

 

POSTED:  January 3, 2013 – Quiet Time

 

I’d like to encourage all busy Mom’s to spend time in the Word daily !!  Since becoming a Mommy, I can’t say I’ve always been good at this, but I believe it is the most important thing we can do for our family.  Having a quiet time has to be something that you make a priority or else it won’t happen.  Life is busy and there is always something to do, so if you don’t plan time to have a quiet time, you won’t have one.  Set a goal that is reasonable for you.  I know that in this phase of life, I can’t finish an entire days worth of a Beth Moore Study in one day.  So, I might split one day into 2 days.  Right now I am working my way through Experiencing God.  It is a 13 week study & it takes me 2-3 days to work my way through 1 full day.  I figure it will take me 6 months or so to finish the study.  I just don’t have over an hour to do a quiet time (especially with interruptions).  So, I spend 20 minutes or so in study and then 15 minutes in prayer.  With 10 minutes of interruptions, I can usually finish my quiet time in 45 minutes.

 

I work hard to have my quiet time in the morning.  The twins play in their room and Nathan picks out a few toys and plays on the rug & I spend time reading my Bible and praying.  I’m interrupted several times during my quiet time, but it is important to me to make it a priority.  It’s important to me that my kids see me having a quiet time.  There are some days when we have to go out and do something and on those days I can’t have my quiet time in the morning & I must say, I honestly miss that time I have with the Lord.  On those busy days, I work hard to make sure that I have a short quiet time before I go to bed.

 

It’s difficult to find time as a busy Mommy to make time each day to have a Quiet time, but once you make it a priority, it’s hard to imagine not making time each day to spend time with the Lord!

 

POSTED:  January 2, 2013 - Schedule

 

I think that all mothers of preschoolers are probably a bit overwhelmed.  When I noticed that I was getting overwhelmed near the end of 2012, one of the first things I did was write out a schedule for our family.  It was amazing how much just being on a set schedule really helped out!!  I posted this schedule to the fridge and lived by it for a week or two.  I don’t have to look at the schedule anymore & we might be a bit more relaxed with the schedule, but as a general rule this is what a typical day looks like around the Hatfield house:

 

6:20 AM – Koleta gets up exercises (I’m still working on this because I LOVE sleep.  I did order some new Jillian Michaels DVD’s, so as soon as they get here I’m going to make this a priority)

7:00-7:45 AM – Abby and Nathan wake up.  Get dressed and eat breakfast.  Abby catches bus for school.

7:45 AM – 8:45 AM - Koleta checks e-mail, showers & gets dressed.  Nathan plays the Wi’i

8:45 AM – 10 AM – I am fortunate that the twins sleep till 8-8:15 and then they play contentedly in their beds until 8:45.  Twins – dressed, breakfast, shower/play time with Mommy

10:00 AM – 11:30 AM – Twins Play in Room & Nathan has rug play time.  When I finish my quiet time, the kids have movie time while I work around the house

·         Koleta’s Quiet Time & then work around the house time

 

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11:30 AM – 12:15 PM – Twins and Nathan play outside.  Koleta makes lunch.

12:15 PM – clean up and eat

1:30ish to 3:45PM – Twins Nap

·         1:30 – 2:30 – Nathan Quiet Rest time in his room

·         2:30 – 3:00 PM – Nathan Random play time

·         3:00 – 3:30 PM - Nathan’s school time with Mommy

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3:45 PM – Snack Time & Abby gets home

4:00 PM – 4:30 PM – Twins color / play dough / Book time, etc. with Nathan. Abby and Mommy do homework

4:30- 6:00 PM – Mommy works on dinner

·         4:30 – 5:00 PM – Twins play outside / Abby and Nathan play outside or watch 30 minutes of cartoons

·         5:00 – Andy takes over while I finish dinner

 

6:00 PM – Dinner and then everyone cleans us dishes / Little bit of Family time

  • Everyone takes dishes to sink
  • Daddy puts leftovers in fridge & cleans the twins up (twins wait in pack n play until family time)
  • Abby rinses dishes
  • Nathan sweeps floor

 

6:50 PM – 7:30 PM – Bible Story and Kids bed time

 

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7:30PM – 10:00 PM – Andy and Koleta free time

10:00 PM – get ready for bed

10:20 PM – Go to bed

 

 

POSTED:  January 1, 2013 - Gentleness

 

This verse really spoke to me in 2012:  Proverbs 15:1- “A gentle answer turns away wrath but a harsh word stirs up anger.”  My NIV Life Application Study Bible has this note for that verse, “Have you ever tried to argue in a whisper?  It is equally hard to argue with someone who insists on answering gently.  On the other hand, a rising voice & harsh words almost always trigger an angry response.  To turn away wrath and seek peace, choose gentle words.” 

 

This is something I fail at over and over, but it is something I’m working on.  I read a book by Michelle Duggar and she said that when she is frustrated or angry she speaks to her kids in a whisper.  She said that the more frustrated or angry she is, the quieter she speaks to her kids.

 

I can’t say I’ve mastered this, but it is something I’m working on.  I want my children to hear a gentle voice from me, even if I’m angry or frustrated.

 

POSTED:  January 1, 2013

 

I feel like 2012 was a learning experience for me.  In the fall, I felt like I got totally overwhelmed with the 3 main things in my life: marriage, motherhood and ministry.  It took God taking me to that totally overwhelmed point in life so that I would be teachable again.  I’d like to remember some of the things God taught me in 2012, so I thought I’d post them here in several different posts over the next few days.

 

POSTED:  January 1, 2013

 

We celebrated New Years Day with a family cookout.  We splurged and bought some cheddar cheese (about $10 a pound) and had some GREAT burgers!!  Here are a couple of pictures from our cookout.

 

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