one day

{whew, what a fun week party hopping to various blogs! :: welcome to any new readers}

one day...
our home will welcome this little one, still forming :: growing
before then current room arrangements will be shifted, cradle will be located and set up, blankets washed, tiny clothing made ready.

one day...
the endless guessing in our home will end as we finally know the gender of this newest member
love saved up will be poured out with many kisses for the babe and long hours of staring & marveling at the wonder of it all

one day...
will come. though the final weeks {still a ways off} may get long and the before-the-baby-comes TO-DO list may not have each item crossed off, the time will come.


dear little one, we eagerly anticipate that day.

one day

blog party 2009

Welcome to the party!~the annual 5 Minutes for Mom's Ultimate Blog Party that is. And welcome to this blog space, thanks for stopping by.

Here is just a spot on the web for journaling about home life & homeschooling, devotional thoughts or insights, life with four, soon to be five! children and a bit of what I'm up to with crafting & hobbies. I enjoy photography, reading, cooking and paper crafting mostly, but will try my hand at anything that seems interesting. But, this blog is simply a little window into my life, not the total picture~you're welcome to come visit often!

Hmmm, there are so many great prizes this year it's difficult to choose. My top choices would be:

#58 A Kitchen Aid Mixer in RED from MomsWhoThink {swoon, swoon...I've been wanting this forever it seems}

#7 An Ergo Baby Carrier from A Giveaway Addicted Mommy or any of the Amazon gift credits!

Leave a comment and come again!

blog party 2009

home life thoughts

Not sure if second trimester energy has kicked in {which I really believe is taking forever to appear!} or the arrival of 70 degree weather earlier this week, but the past several days have been full of cleaning, sorting, decluttering and the like. Home life for me lately has been centered on moving our belongings around in order to gain more space. And it's working.

It's amazing how much peace can come from knowing where things are and from simplifying. Our shelves, cabinets and closets are not necessarily empty, that's not my goal--with 6, soon to be 7 individuals of varying ages sharing space, homeschooling books and supplies, craft items and room for creativity, and all of the kitchen paraphernalia, clothing, etc.---well, it gets full!

But it also gets used. The vision here is that we keep the items we use on a regular or seasonal basis and to get rid of the rest. Ahhh, home organization!

Happy 1st day of Spring & if you're up to a bit of cleaning and sorting yourself, enjoy the fruit of your efforts!

home life thoughts

sing unto the Lord

For our devotionals before schooling begins, the children and I have been enjoying a new addition to our bookshelves, Hymns for a Kid's Heart. Great songs of our faith sung by children with a short background story on the history of the author and the reason for writing the words and/or music. Also is a devotional thought, scripture, and prayer included for each hymn. Accompaniment tracks and other ideas for use can be found here.

We've talked about how Scripture strongly encourages singing and making music unto the Lord, and in some passages the encouragement to sing is in command form. Our voice is an instrument given to us by our Creator! Well, this was readily taken to heart and they haven't stopped singing hymns or any other song in loud, boisterous tones as a part of their praise {the Itsy Bitsy Spider is not really a song of adoration unto our Lord, but I was not about to interrupt my 3 yr old's worship!}.

The other volumes in this series have been added to our wish list as I'm sure we'll soon exhaust the songs in our first book!


photo credit

sing unto the Lord

around the web

I like links and collect them in my favorites section; my dear spouse often jokes that a search engine is needed to look through this list of bookmarked sites. Hmmm...he may be on to something there.

Random sites of current interest~

:: delay whatever you have planned and get to making these cinnamon rolls! They are so good and our family has decided that all other recipes for breakfast rolls are abolished. Thanks to a dear friend for sending them our way!

:: design beautiful word clouds here, which can then be printed out. I'm thinking of making some for gifts--maybe Mother's & Father's Day

:: my younger girls will be seeing a version of this packing list for our next trip, very innovative!

:: many family recipes, tea party ideas along with crafts & recipes, and so much more old fashioned goodness found here

:: seven questions to ask oneself to evaluate if there is a proper understanding of suffering & the Christian life

:: thoughtful devotionals as you prepare for the Easter season

:: safe email for kids, our 10yr old loves it! Several unique parental controls that can be adjusted to your preferences

:: skirts, and dresses, and smockets...oh my! A list of sewing tutorials for making a bit of something for the little girl in your life


Though there is not always time to sit and really enjoy a site {or my list of bookmarked places to look at later}, I like to receive or hear about them so feel free to share.

around the web