A day at the park

Sisters share a laugh (gotta love Caroline's hair!)

The boys take a walk with Daddy down to the lighthouse.

Brothers catch a few winks in a hammock.  All that playing was hard work.

A whole new world at our house

In an effort to build our savings account, Scott and I are taking a good hard look at our budget, seeing where we can make cuts.  We have also seen some areas where we need to alot more money.  

But today I wanted to write about one of the more drastic spending changes we have made.  We are discontinuing our internet.  Completely.  Tomorrow.

I am still getting very nervous about that change.  We have a great alternative that I am very excited about.  We have a new coffee shop in our town that has internet access.  Scott has been encouraging me to get away regularly for a little quiet time.  But of course I never do it.  Now he's saying, "You are doing it and here's some extra motivation."  So I'll get to play on the internet, have some time to be quiet and alone, and save over $60.00 a month at the same time (minus the cost of the coffee, of course).

Now, every time I think about not having internet access at my fingertips, my heart pounds.  I'm not saying this is good, I'm just saying this is what happens.  Right now, I keep my laptop open on the desk in full view of the kitchen and within listening distance to most of the house, and I can just pop over and get online whenever I want to check out a recipe, check the weather forecast, or whatever else springs in my mind.  I can also hear the comforting bing from Outlook, telling me someone loves me, um, I mean, that I have an email.

But I can already think of some great reasons why this is a good idea.  Scott and I will no longer walk over the computer to check our inbox before we great our children or each other.  Gone will be the ability to hide behind the keyboard while countless minutes pass and this dishes don't get done.  My internet time will have to count.  This will be a good thing.  

I think this new plan will not only save us money, it will save us time.  And cause us to think about our internet time and also our time here at home.  We want to have more face to face conversations with people like our children. 

I'll still be writing on my blog, and using autopost as my friend.  I'll still be looking forward to reading your comments and writing back and forth.  I am hoping that  my posts will be better and more focused, but that may be setting my hopes too high.

So even though I am very unsure how this will work, I am so thankful Scott came up with this idea.  I am looking forward to the discipline it will bring.  It is our prayer that God will use this change to conform us more into his image and to bring himself glory as the sustaining joy of our lives.  

Summer is here

and so starts the fun.

(it's a little bright out here)

Sophie tried out the boogie board (when she says 'boogie' rhymes with 'doggie').

My three oldest join Daddy in the waves

Caroline hangs out with Mom and watches from a distance.

 We made our family list tonight of our goals this summer and eating ice cream, going to the beach at least once a week, and family movie nights ranked high.  Library time made it on there too, so all will not be lost on the academic front.

I can already feel the difference around our home.  The kids are playing more, I am cooking more and just for fun, and my short daily to-do list is not a burden.  To top it all off, Grandma will be here in less than two weeks.  

Scott and I have our nine-year anniversary to celebrate, summer reading to enjoy, and our family has a lot of sand to grind into the carpet of our van.  Sounds like it's going to be a great couple of months.

Discovering

If I do this

then I can do this

and then I can do this- Victory!

Now if I could just figure out how to get back down.

T-Ball

T-Ball season has come and gone.  We are always glad to start t-ball, and I am always glad when the last game is played.  Those few weeks of hurried afternoons, late dinners, and late bed times serve our family in many ways.  We get to meet new people, which we love.  This year this was especially great because we are so new to our community.  

T-ball also gives our boys a chance to learn a new skills.  Carter was tearing the field up this year with strong batting, fast running, and consistent cat

ching.  

Josh was tearing up the field in another way- getting thoroughly dizzy drawing  intense circles in the clay with his cleats and wrestling in the dug-out with his new buddies.  (In all fairness, not all his time was spent this way- when he was up to bat, he was focused and he ran fast around the bases.)  

Last year, when Carter was learning the game, I was always very nervous.  Would he strike out?  Would he catch the ball?  This time around, I was able to laugh and enjoy the learning curve.

Take a look:

Here's Josh throwing the ball to first, sporting his signature look- the "only the front" shirt tuck.

"Carter, look over here so I can take your picture."

Carter after hitting the ball.  He was always the last player on his team up to bat, so the coaches would have him run the bases.  He started to think that he had hit a home run every time.  I had to tell him the real story- he was just the base cleaner, so to speak.  He took it well.

WFMW: catechizing our children

Catechizing is simply a form of learning in questions answer format.  For instance, the first question in our catechism is, "Tell me, child, who made you?"  And our children answer, "The great God who made heaven and earth."

I have to admit that I would not have chosen to do this myself, but this was very important to my husband and so I added it onto our morning Bible time.  After we read the Bible and pray, I go right into asking the questions.

Catechizing sounded hard to me, and I wasn't sure how to start- none of my friends were doing this (to my knowledge), so I just started out reading the questions and the answers, one at a time, to our kids.  I use a sing-song kind of voice to help them learn.

Each day I start back with the first question and add additional questions when it seems they have the gist of the previous questions.  (When we got to a certain point with our oldest I would just review the first questions every week or so.)  We spend at the most five minutes a day on this.  It just doesn't take long for young children to memorize vast amounts of information.

I was surprised last week to realize that Sophie (age 3) knew almost every question Josh (age 5) knows.  I haven't worked with her past the first five questions or so, but she is present for Josh and Carter's questions, and has learned them just by being around. 

No need to wait until the kids can understand what they are learning.  This is memorization tool that serves to build theology into their little minds while they can memorize anything you put before them.  I'm sure we all have songs we memorized as children before we understood the words and now as adults we are a bit shocked (ok, ashamed) that we knew the lyrics to "Like a Virgin" memorized way before we knew what we were singing along to.  Even if you didn't know that particular song, you know what I am talking about.

We have been shocked at how much theology our kids have learned this way. The catechism gives them a framework in which to view the lense of Scripture.  I do not believe this knowledge saves them or changes their hearts- only God's Spirit can do that and we beg God for the salvation of our children.  But it is our prayer that God will use this knowledge like a well of water that they will draw from for the rest of their lives. 

Still dubious to the benefits of catechizing your children?  Here is an article (from a presbyterian perspective) you may find helpful.  

Our family uses the Tract Primer which is full of other great learning tools.  There several other good catechisms available, like this and this and this.  This definitely works for me.

Here's some Ellisons

During our recent trip to Florida, we stopped through to see Scott's parents and grandparents on our way to my hometown. We didn't have long to visit and really missed out on being able to see all of our family and friends, but we tried to make the most of our short time.

Here are some highlights:

Caroline meets Papa, Scott's dad.

Caroline was named after Grandma's family, so we were so glad for Caroline to finally meet her!

Scott with his grandparents. 

Aunt Erica with Cousin Cody

Josh and Carter with Cody- the boys had so much fun with their cousin!

Happy Birthday Sophie

Sophie turned three while we were in Florida. It's hard to believe she is already three, although most of the time she acts like she is 13. This little girl is such a blessing to us. She fills our home with a lot of laughter! Happy Birthday, sweet Sophie! You are God's gift to us.

Sophie with Grandma

With Mommy and Daddy

With her big brothers. Please notice the princess crown from Aunt Trish. Quite fitting.

I have never seen one of my children be so appreciative of gifts. Every time she opened a gift, Sophie would yell, "Thank you! I love it!" So much fun.

In our new house

Well, we are settling into our new, old house. Scott's job moved us a couple of hours east, and we bought an old farm house. Scott's new job will allow him more time for school, which he hopes to continue online as well as driving back to campus.

The house is proving to be interesting, but we are not surprised given it is almost (we think) 80 years old. The kids are loving having a lot of space, and it is fun to go outside and play with them. We liked our apartment on campus, but we were very quickly running out of room (we had 1000 square feet), especially after Caroline was born. Now we have more space inside and out, which we really needed. Of course, because our home is so old, we lost some closet and storage space but I am trying to be creative with where to put things!

I hope to write more as we get settled, and to post more pictures of the kids. Check back soon!

Prayer time at our house

Sophie has now joined us for family prayer time every night. She is temporarily sleeping in the same room as the boys while Caroline is still getting up through the night. The boys love having her in with them, and she seems pretty keen on the idea as well. We have been enjoying having her join us for prayers. Here is what tonight's prayer time sounded like:

Sophie: "God is good, God is good, thank you for baby Caroline, who we got at the hospital. Amen."

Josh: "Dear God, help us to really do something. And help Uncle Ben to work hard. And help us Lord to do something, help Mama and Dad and me and Carter and Sophie and Caroline to do something. Amen."

Carter: "Dear Lord, please help the children of Uganda. Help our family to all get together and be really happy. Grandma Carter and Grandpa Carter and Uncle Ben and Aunt Erica and Cody and Uncle Richard and Aunt Amanda and Zachary and Granny and Papa and Grandma and Uncle Tommy and my whole family. Help them all to come to our house and get together.

Help my dad to find us a house. And help us to give the children in Uganda toys instead of weapons. And thank you Lord, and Amen."

Then Daddy prays and we all finish with the Lord's prayer. I love this time of day. Gathering around together as a family to beseach the Lord is such a gift. I am grateful for a husband who leads us to God. It also gives us the chance to see what is on the kid's hearts and minds. Sometimes I am brought to laughter, and sometimes I am brought to tears. But I am always blessed.

Day one, down

OK, I've made it through my first day and a half completely alone with all my kids! Scott ended up being home most of Monday and Tuesday, so Wednesday was my first trial run and it went great! I told Scott that Wednesday was the day I've been wondering about for a long time: four kids, one being a newborn who has to be fed at least every three hours, after a night of getting up multiple times.

We managed to do a little baking together, as well as some reading out loud, Bible story/memory work, and basic chores. This morning we actually did school and visited a friend.

Of course, this is what my kids would prefer to do all day:

My older kids are baby-magnets! They can't seem to get enough of Baby Caroline.

Settling in

We have been home for four days now. I guess I should say four nights, because life with a newborn revolves around how the nights are going. And our nights are going very well. We are so blessed by this baby.

Carter, Josh and Sophie are loving Caroline. One of the greatest blessings of having a larger family is watching your children interact with each other. Caroline's older siblings are constantly hugging, kissing, and asking to see her.

Mama is recovering well. I am continually thanking God for a safe delivery of this beautiful, 9lb 6oz baby. We have been blessed by lots of help from our families and lots of meals from our church family.

Once again, God has visited us with one of his greatest blessings, and we are abundantly thankful.

Family Wrestle Mania

The children and I were enjoying some quiet couch time this evening while Scott went for a walk. It was peaceful, and I enjoyed sitting with all three kids- even Josh, our little wiggler, was quietly sitting in my lap. We talked about their day, how much they enjoyed 'playing tennis' with Daddy earlier at the park, among other things.

After Scott got home, I took Sophie back to get her ready for bed and within 30 seconds heard what I would refer to as chaos coming from the living room. It took no time at all for the peace and quiet to disappear to be replaced with screaming, wrestling, and the sounds of general bedlam.

This is a normal occurrence with Scott and the boys. All three of them seem unable to resist such scenes when they are all together and I am not in the room. If it happens to start when I am still around, I make my exit as quickly as possible, due to the fact that my mothering insticnt does not take such scenes well.

It is almost like a magnetic force- as soon as they see each other, a sly smile will spread across one of their faces, soon to be followed by some sort of aggravating behavior- flicking, elbowing, or smacking and running. All this action is done to the background of a lot of screaming and very loud laughter.

It is true that these sessions often end with someone crying. Such is the cost of Family Wrestle Mania, and the cost is apparently not high enough to deter a new round at the next available opportunity.

Such is life with boys and their dad. I love it. And I also love that Sophie and I get to go back to her room to rock in the rocking chair and quietly sing good night songs.

A great Fourth

Slip and Slide fun. Carter called his moves, "Slip and surf". Josh's momentum would leave him about 10 feet shy of the end of the slide. The big boys were able to annialiate the entire slide, ending up in the grass.

We spent the Fourth at my brother and sister-in-law's house. It was a day full of eating, playing, splashing, slip-and-sliding, and just relaxing. So much fun! We went to see fireworks the night before, so we just stayed at Tommy and Melannie's last night until after dark and lit sparklers and a few 'fireworks' Scott had bought for the kids.

No reason the dads couldn't cool off in the pool. 'Cool off' would be an understatement, though. The water was freezing!

Melannie, Bobby, and I spent most of the time watching all the action, which was immensely enjoyable. I highly recommend this method of celebrating.


The adults all had a big laugh as we discovered that every firework in the pack was exactly the same. The packaging was varied, but as soon as they were lit, the fireworks each revealed the same brightly dancing white-ish stars. So much for judging a firework by its cover...
Josh loves bugs, so the day did not disappoint him as we found this enormous, shiny beetle climbing up a tree. He quickly declared it 'a dinasour beetle.'

I'll be posting photos as soon as our camera makes its way back from Scott's office. We had three sleeping kiddos when we pulled into home late last night, so all of our belongings didn't make it into the house until this morning, and some apparently not even then. I was thankful to have made it home safely after such a long, full day.

Note: There is a little redhead missing from the photos, I sadly realized after I finished downloading them this afternoon. Sophie was napping through a good bit of the afternoon, although she did get in the pool with Daddy and Uncle Tommy after she woke up.

Baseball fun

Our little man had his first baseball game tonight. On the way home, Scott said, "Can you believe we are already going to t-ball games?" It is hard to believe that this little boy, who we were just bringing home from the hospital and worrying about when he was going to sleep through the night, is already reading, playing on a ball team, and learning to tell time.


Here are some photo highlights of our evening (click on the picture to enlarge):



Carter played shortstop. Try to ignore the fence!

Carter's team, the Wildcats, is a coach pitch team. The players get three pitches from their coach and then they can use the tee. Carter used the tee once and hit off the coach his other two times up to bat. (These details are for Carter's Papa and Uncle Richard. Everyone else, if they are like me, are mainly interested in the photos. I am learning a lot about baseball, but still have a long way to go. You'll pick up on that whenever I try and describe any aspect of the game...)

Little brother Josh has his own fun playing on the bleachers. During practices, he has made up the game of See How Many Catepillars I Can Catch and Put in a Hole. Tonight there were a lot more people in attendance, so he pretty much just stayed close to Mom and Dad. I had been concerned about Josh's reaction to Carter's playing ball while he sat out, but he is content right now to let Carter be a baseball player and he will be a 'baseball fan'.
Last, but not least, Sophie hung out with Daddy during the whole game. Daddy is much more fun than Mommy, who asks Sophie to sit in her stroller or on the bleachers. Daddy is more involved at the games, so he is walking around, encouraging Carter while he is in the dugout, and talking to other dads.

Sophie asks most days if we are going to 'baseball practice', and as soon as we get to the ball park begins asking for crackers, pretzels, bananas, 'bink' (drink), and 'nak' (snack). We have survived each practice by keeping a steady stream of refreshments coming her way. She is content to sit in the stroller as long as the food keeps coming. After we run out, she likes to follow Josh around, sqealing at the catepillars and yelling, "I saw a lalapillar!!!!" Tonight, due to the large crowd, she mostly hung on Scott's legs or asked to be held.

I am from

I am from plaid school uniforms, from wheat germ in my cereal every morning, and woody-sided station wagons .

I am from muggy Florida evenings and my mom seeking relief at the beach where she would watch the sunset while all four of us kids made giant sandcastles, from swatting mosquitoes while watching fourth-of-July fireworks and being stuck in traffic for hours trying to get home afterwards.

I am from the yellow stucco house with too many add-ons, a long driveway perfect for learning to ride a bike, and a perfectly pink upstairs bedroom that my mom decorated special just for me.

I am from the two oak trees in the front yard that my mom planted and dreamed of watching grow taller as she grew old with my father, from the rows of green onions they planted in our suburban garden, perfect for dipping in salt while we waited for dinner.

I am from a broken-hearted summer when my father moved out of our house and in with another family, from a strong-as-steel mother who lost the love of her life but not her faith in God and showed us that He never leaves us, fails, or makes mistakes.

I am from summertime revivals and candlelight Christmas Eve services, from four Ruths and a Zula and three Josephines.

I am from absolute truthfulness even when it doesn't seem to matter and giving in instead of fighting when sometimes a fight would have been better.

I am from "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" and "my daughters don't call boys".

From getting grounded for calling a boy behind my mother's back, from a mother who found out everything, and was gracious and strict at the same time.

I am from Methodists- then Baptists, from church three times a week, from listening to my mother play old hymns on the piano and listening to Charles Stanley on tv when someone was sick and we had to stay home.

I'm from an unknown ancestry due to a closed adoption, from never feeling adoption was negative but instead that it was the greatest blessing, and from never understanding what my friends meant when they asked me if I ever wondered about my 'real' parents.

I am from real stuffing in the turkey at Thanksgiving, and hidden liver in the hamburgers because my mom heard liver was good for us and she knew we could never eat it without a disguise, from Aunt Zula's chicken and dumplings and from my grandma's baked ziti. I am from Gran's homemade Mexican brownies and chicken divan and from-scratch lasagne.

From Aunt Mildred showing me how to make homemade paper dolls from the Sears catalogue after I complained that I was bored, from my grandma buying me a Trapper Keeper every year before school started and being admonished because I would write on all the paper in my Trapper Keeper before the first day of school.

I am from a new dress every Easter, from Hello Kitty and the original Cabbage Patch Kids and waiting and waiting for my first pair of real Keds. From roller skating parties, using a full can of Aqua Net hairspray every week while I was in middle school, and knowing every word of the first Paula Abdul album.

I am from formal family portraits and paintings lining the living room walls, my grandmother's sewing machine in the den, and never getting rid of anything that had once belonged to a close family member.

I am from blinding movie camera lights on Christmas morning, from watching the squinty-eyed children in the film on a reel machine on the living room wall while the sound of the film rhythmically click-clicked and my dad narrated the silent movies.

I am from kisses and "I love you" and more kisses every night before bed, from "sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite" and "Mom, will you come check me before you go to bed?", from fresh sheets that spoke of care and a mother who always gave the best to her kids and taught them to do the same for their kids.

Family altar, conclusion

Ok, last post on family worship. If your family is just beginning to think about implementing family worship into your days, I think the most important thing to remember is that it will take time for this to become habit. Relax. Start slowly. We are not able to practice family worship every day. We aim for most days.

Being free from rigidity on this has been a key factor in our family's ability to make family worship a regular part of our life. This has been difficult for me. I love a rule. But the problem with rule-loving is that when you can't perfectly obey your self-imposed rule, you tend to throw the principle out altogether.

I know I'll have some people disagree with me on this. In my first post, I mentioned that Elisabeth Elliott's father led their family in worship twice a day. Before I was married, I thought without a doubt my future family would adopt the same practice. Of course, I didn't factor in my husband's background, leadership style, and preferences. I also didn't factor in my own personality and our unique situation.

Fast forward several years, and here we are, far from ideal but striving to gather our family as often as possible to sing, read, and pray together. (Actually, maybe that is the ideal!)

Christmas photo fun

Before I begin describing our recent Christmas photo fun, I have to quickly say the semester just ended and my husband took his last final on Wednesday! Of course, there will be, Lord willing, many more semesters to follow, but we are so thankful for God's goodness and faithfulness to us as a family.

Now for more Ellison family fun:

We try and send out Christmas photo cards each December. Granted, I don't usually get them mailed until the week before Christmas, but I am really just thrilled to send them out at all. I am not a go get 'em type girl, as my friends and family can truthfully verify. Actually, when doing on of those personality profiles, I was described by some friends who know me quite well as the why stand when you can sit? personality. Very accurate description of me.

Anyway, I thought I would be very brave the other day during a Kindergarten break between math and reading lessons and try to take the Christmas photo of the kids. By myself. Those of you who know me probably know where this is going. Honestly, though, I thought this was a good idea. My kids love having their pictures taken. If they even see the camera, they will ask for me to take their picture.

I got all three littles' good clothes on, their hair combed, and even got their shoes on. I positioned them all in front of the tree. Carter here. Josh there. Sophie in front. So far, so good.

Here we go. As I say, "Smile everyone!", the fun stops cold and Sophie starts making faces like this:

and this:

The fun just kept up on coming! Soon, Sophie's pouty faces turned into outright bawling:

Here's a fun shot of Sophie after I had to take her dress off due to her excessive sobbing which led to gagging:

After several Mommy/Sophie meetings, I got her all cleaned up and the Lord helped her to have a more cheerful heart. We ended up with some really sweet moments. Here is one I was able to capture with my camera:

Of course, at this point, poor Carter's mouth was cramping! Josh just goes with the flow- it's all good with Josh. One more, just for fun:

Every time I think about this experience, I laugh out loud. Of course, I do not laugh at my daughter's poor attitude. But I laugh at motherhood and all its challenges, at the work required for even the most seemingly simple tasks, and at the joy that comes from raising our children for the glory of God. Worthy work, indeed!