Taking back the land...

 Below is a poor excuse for a garden, can you strain your eyes to see 3 little lighter green thumb shaped plants (bigger than some), opening in a Y? They are watermelon. We have a little tiny garden growing in our front bed as it's the only area in the sun that has soil for a garden (not good soil yet). And as you can tell, I need to weed. Between, school, watering, mowing, and raking up old sticks & leaves in spots, I forget to weed....the bigger greener weed in the middle is a wild violet (I have many), and that one needs to go! The bush lower left will stay for awhile. It's not food though. We have onions, beets, carrots, beans, cucumbers, and watermelon, but some are not coming up very well, so we'll see.

See the pretty bushes? They were here before we moved in, I just cleaned up all the gunk (lots of it) around them and planted impatiens & coleus in this shady spot. Hope they take well, and look nice in a few weeks.


  Lastly, our hosta's. We have a lot of them, all over, in the weeds, little ones, big ones, and I hope to move them all before we "remodel the land"...which Chris hopes to take a bulldozer through and do an overhaul.

We have a back patio over grown and junky, and I hope to clean it up nice, and put all the hosta's I find around the perimeter of it.

Taking back the land is hard when it's full of thistles, buck thorn, old dog bones (not from our dog), sticks, trash and all of it. Just like our lives when they are full of sin, it's hard to let God regain control of them, and weed them and fertilize our soil. But one day and rocky area at a time He can do it!

2 hockey 3on3 games, Softball tourney, Softball scrimmage, and an Academic luncheon planned for this weekend. Hope to squeeze some quiet reading time in before the week starts in again. Katya is done with school on Tue, and was saying something about working at Taco Bell. I thought she had planned on working at a nursing home. We'll see what happens.

Love from Alesia & Chris

Memorial Day...

Yesterday was a vacation day, a day to remember our veterans.... didn't know about our neighborhood parade, but hope to go next year at 9am!

Made pancakes but forgot the big container of syrup at Grandma's....so we made some...they were liked by almost all...

We moved hostas...it was fun and is looking nice! Chris chopped wood, and helped a man with his Sprinter for a few hours. I napped - yeah!

Later we headed up to the pine city to fish a little and help with an an awning, but it was "stormy" up there, inside and outside of the cabin. So, we headed back. And then we headed to softball, photo's above...Sophia & I hit home runs...it was fun.

Almost all of us joined in, and it was a lot of un for about 30 minutes until competition and bad attitudes set in so we headed home. I decided to move some more hostas.............

It was kind of one of those "off" days, and for me, it was good as I stayed joyful and calm in the storm.  I think Chris has more understanding for my hard days, after spending more time around the kids.

We are off to a new day of school today, and Jonathan got up early and did all his homework early! I think he wants to get outside....some are still in bed, and some are just eating....have a great week back at it.

Love Alesia & Chris

Good Sermon, Grateful Sons, Grandma

Had a great sermon today, on lying, up at Grandma's church. It's just a reminder to me that we have an advocate, in our Lord and Savior and that there is no need for us to retaliate, as "vindication is mine, says the Lord". He will protect and care for us and our loved ones, and we need not take on the world.

I explained to a couple children that one of the hardest things in life is when you try to do your best honestly, and truthfully, with pure motives, and the recipients deliberately (or unknowingly) try to counter with so many blows. It's the biggest injustice. I think some understood it.

I learned some disturbing news this weekend about one of my children spreading falsehood and I am wondering how to handle it. I can handle the sadness of one spreading falsehood about me, but they are representing themselves falsely.  That can lead to more and more shame and lying with time, how timely our sermon was today.

I had a nice couple days with Grandma and cried upon leaving. I have such wholesome memories of Dad & Mom, and it's so hard to just see Dad's boat, the fish house, etc. some days, even though Mom is doing great and I am so proud of her. Just last year, it was a special get away with Chris & I and Mom and Dad for our anniversary, and this year(felt like 10 to Chris & I), we bombarded her with 9 of us. I hope she is recovering.

We headed home today and finished the day with the League of Grateful Sons, by Vision Forum in honor of Memorial Day. We highly recommend it. In the day of the Wii, we forget about WII, in the day of Lego StarWars, we forget the stars of our wars, in the day of facebook, we forget the Faces in the books of history that make our every day freedoms a reality....

We learned the definition of truth today - that which pertains to reality....that pretty much sums it up. We live in a fantasy, electronic world...and forget the reality of those before us that make our lives richer today. I am enjoying my John & Abigail Adams book, and a little Jane Eyre on the side...and His word to keep me grounded in the TRUTH, and I still have a long ways to go with all the lies the enemy sends our ways each day.

May His reality seep into your heart today, touch you, heal you, and bring you closer to the truth in Him...

Love Alesia & Chris

Katya's 16th Birthday

Today is Katya's birthday, and her science class is going to Valleyfair so I think that worked out pretty nicely. She had her hair cut at the salon yesterday, and sang in her school choir. She'll have cheese cake for supper, and lunch out with Grandma on Sat. So not much else planned and don't really have her wish list yet. She hopes to spend some time with a friend some weekend. Hope to update with more photos after the weekend.

Here are a couple more photos from Jaclyn's wish list...ice cream at Nelson's before a violin concert.
Have a good Memorial Day weekend, Alesia & Chris

Diligence & Laziness

The kids are writing 5 pages on diligence or laziness, whether it be copying or from their heads. Yesterday I had 1 hour of work for them to do and all were lazy at one time or another...it was just picking up sticks and rocks in our yard, and you'd think they had to write 5 pages or something!!! Anyway, I challenged them to think on their own for awhile if they are not too lazy. This is the best our 10 year old can come up with so far..he's still working but at lunch,

It is bad to be lazy, because then you learn to be lazy and you'll be lazy when you grow up. It is good to be diligent because then you learn good habits, then when you grow up you will be diligent. When you are diligent and you work hard, and you will do better in life. When you are lazy you will not work hard and you will lose out on jobs. People will not like to be around you. You will not do good in life.

Some verses from the Bible:

Because of laziness, the building decays, and through idleness of hands, the house leaks. Ecc 10:18
The hand of the diligent will rule, but the lazy man will be put to forced labor. Prov 12:24
But his Lord answered and said to him, you wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. Matthew 25:26
He who gathers in summer is a wise man; He who sleeps in the harvest is a son who causes shame. Prov 10:5

Go to the ant....you sluggard......

In case you struggle with laziness in your home, or family..it's going to be a long day around here today...

Love Alesia & Chris

Happy Birthday Jaclyn

It's Jaclyn's14th birthday and she just had a few little requests...Lego Star Wars computer game (which happens to over heat my lap top!), shopping with Mom in the morning for fabric & the computer game, and ice cream at Nelson's. We had an early start so even when we were ready for ice cream, we were too early, but we'll take her tonight after her little violin stint with a choir. We baked a cake too.

Katya is busy organizing and delivering her fund raisers, and getting good grades. Sophia is playing softball and loving it. Natasha is also playing softball and loving it, and is doing well. Jonathan is in baseball, some hockey, and having fun with his brothers. Andre & James are playing baseball and having fun with that. All are doing well, and plugging away at school.

Chris had walking pneumonia or some virus/lung bug this week and even fainted at one point from dehydration! It was a 911 call - stop - we're ok moment...I dialed and talked, but we decided to wait as he came-to, and crawled to the couch, drank, sweated, and slept a lot. He is at about 80%, but tires easily after exertion.

I am starting to get my 2nd wind in the summer, mowing a bit, watching our seeds grow, watering and keeping up with the kids. It's almost like I'm getting geared up for school this summer...so might as well go with it. It was HOT today, so I did a few things outside after shopping/lunch, and now we're watching hockey and playing computer in the basement while Chris rested from taking the kids to ball this morning and playing with the boys.

It's cool down here and we don't have our air on yet. It's a pretty relaxed day despite loads of laundry, and misc. chores we need to do...we don't usually use the computer much, so it does really keep the kids busy. I think it's been 2-3 months since we've had "computer time"...so GO NY RANGERS! And we'll keep you "posted" in the future!

Love from Alesia & Chris

Garden, Clean home, Softball, School ?

We had 3 goals today (that's something that has been missing from our day - goals!):
     1) plant a garden/seeds, 2) Clean our home, 3) Cook for company tonight...and we did it! We planted a little garden all around our front porch, I hope they seeds take and we get carrots, beans, cucumbers, beets, watermelon, & onions!!! And we planted some seeds in cups for peppers, roses, and daisies. It will be a small but fun harvest. The kids helped clean the screened in porch & laundry room (YEAH!), and we cooked. But I was crabby at points and that is the hard part for me.

We had company over and heard some really encouraging stories of how they are sharing Christ and descipling young ones in criminal detention centers for youth, and how they are sharing the Lord with their whole families. It's always such a blessing to hear them talk about their lives with us. They are such an encouragement. The kids were a bit crazy running around playing tag and being loud, but were having fun together.

Sophia had softball today, and loves it. I am really happy for her, as I remember how much fun it was when I played. Her team is really casual and fun, so that is real blessing for her.  Katya made borsch! Num.

I just sent in a question to our homeschool group, "when if ever should you send your child to school", and then I went to Dorothy's (Urban Servant) blog, and saw pictures of her children at the Mall of America's MN's aquarium, and thought, I bet she doesn't even go there to that question. If I read her blog more, I might feel homeschooling encouragement (she has 11, and many of them have multiple disorders - wow!).

Andre pulled an all boy trick today and relieved himself in plain view of the girls..."We didn't see anything Mom"..."I would have wet my pants"...."I told him not to" (from the 10 yr old boy)...girls didn't say anything...UGHHH double UGGH, gross, things like this drive me crazy, and well, he was disciplined with with solidarity for awhile, and we'll be revisiting appropriate behavior for awhile. And we played cards tonight, and he stacked the deck and lied about it too. I have suspected FAS with him, but we haven't had him tested. He knows the difference between right and wrong, but doesn't care at the time. He will show remorse.

I feel as while some are going to grow in Christ, some are going to push all my buttons and try to disprove my faith! Sophia gave me a ring with "Faith" on it. I hope to wear it more, but I'm too chubby right now....triple UGHH...

Chris gets home from a 2 night stint in Alabama...YEAH!

Love from Alesia & Chris

Skating Show, Gardening,

Sophia & Natasha had their skating show! Yeah! It was great and Peter the man behind them, did 2 numbers one of which was a duo with Rita that was amazing! The girls had a great time.

The rest of us have been doing yard work, enjoying a somewhat quiet weekend with 2 skating shows & 2 hockey games, and 1 baseball practice. We just love it when it all works out so we can go to church and then to Sam's club after.

Andre & I planted some beautiful flowers in our yard - impatiens & coleus, and amidst all the weeds were about 5 beautiful perennials. I did push the mower a bit and need to do that a few times tomorrow & Tue. I like being outside after being a winter slug butt.

Tomorrow is our last day of phy-ed. We will have our last day of praise dance on Tue, and piano is coming to an end. That means that there will be more time for school, which we have needed. I have decided to give high scorers on tests the summer off, but those who "need improvement" will get extra time and lessons in the summer. We just need to keep the routine and steady growth in math & reading.

Sophia starts softball tomorrow.

Todays message at church was on our words..."death or life" is in them, what will we choose?

Prov 18: 21 "Death & life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat it's fruit."

Choose Life! Love Alesia & Chris

After the show, we had dessert and the kids had fun playing with these sticky ball things...that even stuck to the ceiling. It was a fun night, but, Friday, I was pretty tired out!  I always feel refreshed by Sunday night/Monday though! Thank- God for those small favors that keep us going.

PS..hope you were able to see the baby blue herons! Check out the link on my page. Fun to watch how they parent! The kids are getting a kick out of it.

 

Twice Adopted...

Recently Sophia shared that she gave her heart to our Lord, and today after our evangelism tour at a friend's church, Natasha said she wanted to know Jesus that way too. She has read her little tract that they gave her about 3 times and hugged me (fiercely), and is "so excited", to tears...all very geniune. I am really grateful for God's people being there at all the right places and times when we need them most! I am grateful that my friends invited me to their church just down the road, and hope I can go some Wed night for a "refresher course"!  Even with the ups and downs after our girls coming to the Lord, I am looking forward to some more peaceful days ahead!! Thank-you Lord.

Twice Adopted, and Hurt Children/Healing Homes are two books I would like to read.

The boys are just chitter chattering about Star Wars in their bedrooms, the girls are quiet, and Chris and I quietly eating pistachios. The ban lifted on our fires, so I tried to burn a pile of brush today, and for whatever reason, it just wouldn't go (even with paint thinner!), so I'll leave it for a couple of weeks and try again later. Maybe too wet from the rain last night.

The girls did some baking today, which was a blessing to them, and all of us as we ate their dessert for supper.

I did have a hard day today..not sure why, as I was outside a lot, etc. Sometimes I'm just painfully aware of heart issues in my children, and I just want to scream it out of them! Today, I tried to explain it to Andre, it's like someone is about to eat poison and I need to stop them...some times I react just like that..and then anxiety takes over...

Evangelicals going to church every day???? I know some faiths go to church every day....and lately, I could really get used to that. Listen to some great preaching, sing some awesome worship songs and rest in His presence...it would be just what the doctor ordered, but we don't have that "official" place to go.  No reason we can't go there at home. We do read Bible every day, and I need to change it up a bit so I'm reading a lot, and then we're reading it together...and I do put Pandora Hymns on and sing along, but sometimes I wish it was just a bit more...

Hope that as hearts learn to settle and rest in the Lord, we'll invite His presence at home more....some days it's definitely the opposite around here!

Our neighbor had a tragedy at her home this week, and our hearts go out to her, and we are looking forward to seeing her when all the dust settles. Life can be so fragile, explosive, hard, and even evil at times. May His grace abound to them at this difficult time.

1st Cor 13: 4 "Love suffers long and is kind.", Eph 4: 22 "radically amputate the sin in your life"..paraphrased from the pastor at our talks this week!

Love from Alesia & Chris