2 Months Old

It seems as though our sweet Dabney has been a part of our family forever, we can't imagine our lives without her
 . . . and yet it feels like she arrived just yesterday - she's still so new!

Dabney Hazel is 2-months-old!

Dabney is such a sweet girl, and growing so well - she's gaining chubbs!  Despite arriving 5 weeks early, she is now 10 pounds, 12 ounces, a perfectly average weight.

.  lots of hiccups  .  nurses on demand  .  sleeps swaddled  .  

.  spends a lot of time in a carrier/pouch/sling .  likes to be held  .  

.  spitter - needs to be upright for a while after feedings  .

.  has naturally spaced her feedings, nursing 7-8x per day  .  

.  sleeps most of the day  .  
.  coos  .  starting to smile  .  

.  fussy and wide awake each evening  .  sleeping 5-7 hours at night (!)  .

.  crosses her  eyes . . . a lot (we're hoping she will outgrow this)  .

Our little girl is amazing.  
We feel so fortunate to be blessed with this sweet baby - what a joy! 

Pumpkins

9 pumpkins at the pumpkin patch :)

Dancers

Once each semester, parents get a chance to come and watch their little dancers at work.  Each week, our excited girls give us a full class report, and practice everyday at home. . . but it's such a treat to actually see the class in action. 

Maegli and Hiwot are both taking a Preschool III class - along with 15 other 5- and 6-year-old girls.  It's a wild class!  We have really enjoyed the Preschool Class series at their studio, where these young girls learn basics and are introduced to a variety of beginner dance: ballet, tap, and tumbling.  This year the 45-minute class focus is tap and tumbling.  Next year, they will have to choose which area of dance they wish to pursue.

Miss Kim, their teacher, laid out 3 tumbling mats at the beginning of class.  Utilizing all three mats as a time, the girls waited their turn and then were able to demonstrate their forward straight-legged split rolls, two-handed cartwheels (one-handed for the more advanced girls), back-bridges (while placing one hand on belly), back-bridge crab walks, and assisted hand stands.  Very impressive!

Next, the mats were put away, and the girls slipped on their tap shoes.  In a line stretching from one end of the room to the other, they demonstrated their shuffle-steps, heel-toes, and leaps from one foot to the other.  

Overall it's a wild class, keeping Miss Kim on her toes.  Hiwot has always demonstrated such poise and control in class - she is a beautiful dancer and definitely a leader in class.  Maegli, always an enthusiastic dancer, really impressed us.  She has matured so much this year and was (surprisingly!) one of the stronger and and more disciplined dancers in class - despite having her tap shoes backwards.  Both did a great job listening and following instruction, were eager to volunteer, and expertly demonstrated their tricks.  Their at-home practicing was evident.  These girlies have been encouraging each other to practice their back bends and cartwheels everyday at home!

 

 

We couldn't be more proud of our tiny dancers, who have grown and matured so much in their 3rd year of classes.  But most importantly, they LOVE dancing, and LOVE dancing together!

What a joy it was to watch them in action. 

Adventure

Mike and the two oldest recently set out on a big-guy-only adventure trip with two other father-son combos.  As much as two introverted parents would like it to be so (sometimes), children are not meant to be raised in solitude.  Scripture is clear that the church is supposed to share life together, and part of this is having our sons around other like-minded men. Mike is blessed with believing friends who also have sons the same age as ours, who happen to be our kids' best friends.

Mike, Hendrick, Tesfaye and four others camped for a chilly evening at Natchez Trace State Park, just 30 minutes down the interstate.  After a wet morning, they hit the Buffalo River for a 5-mile canoe float and a 30-minute rock-skipping challenge.  Mike enjoyed fellowship time with other believing dads and the boys of course couldn't get enough of running wild in the woods.  We are so thankful for the friends God has placed around us.

Proverbs 12:26
The righteous choose their friends carefully

Proverbs 27:17
As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.  

Helpers

"Oh, you must be a supermom to keep a house like this."
"I could never do it with nine kids."
"My house is a mess with only one kid, I don't understand how you do this."

How on earth do we manage with nine children?

We are far from super-parents.
And we hardly do everything ourselves.

We have helpers - in the forms of big brothers and big sisters!!!

But it's more than that . . . much more.

God is the One who has given us these precious children.  He is the One who has given us the mighty task of training them for His glory.  Because this mandate comes from Him, He will help us carry it out.  We are not on our own.  He is our strength.  We know that with God, we can do things that are bigger and mightier than ourselves.

We concretely feel God's call on our lives to be parents to many, many children.  All of us are given gifts and are suited to certain work.  For us, that's parenting and homeschooling.  The Bible is rife with teaching about how God expects His people to use their gifts to expand the Kingdom (see: parable of the talents), and we know that we must use our gifts to instill a hard-working spirit into our children.

Proverbs 21
25 The craving of a sluggard will be the death of him, because his hands refuse to work.

We see our children as blessings and gifts (Psalm 127:3) and understand that we are to raise them to grow in love for our Lord (Deuteronomy 6:6-9). 

Psalm 127
³ Children are a heritage from the Lord,
    offspring a reward from him.
⁴ Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
    are children born in one’s youth.
⁵ Blessed is the man
    whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
    when they contend with their opponents in court.

We tangibly feel God's blessing with all of our children.  More children means more housework, but more children also means more opportunities to train little hands for a life of working hard to glorify their Creator.

1 Corinthians 9
²⁴ Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.  
²⁵ Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.
²⁶ Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.  
²⁷ No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

Children are not natural helpers.  With God's unending grace, we are training them to be so.  The larger goal (outside of dishes or laundry) is to mold our children into disciplined young adults who, not needing to learn work ethic in their 20's, can make a more immediate impact for the Kingdom and not be pulled down to disqualification (1 Cor 9:27).

How do we do it?  We have helpers!!!  And our helpers are really just learning a lesson that will come to fruition a decade or more from now.

Mud

The boys latest favorite activity:  neighborhood bike riding . . .
. . . especially when big splashy mud puddles are involved. 

(This is perfect motivation for them to get their school work done!)

Bathing Beauty

 8 weeks old :)

Resident Herpetologist

Herpetology:  the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and gymnophiona) and reptiles (including snakes, lizards, amphisbaenids, turtles, terrapins, tortoises, crocodilians, and the tuataras). 

. . . and Hendrick's current future dream career.

This boy LOVES critters!  God has definitely blessed this child with a love of all things that hop, slither, swim, creep, and crawl - and an amazing ability to retain knowledge about them.   He's been studying lots and has an impressive wealth of knowledge.  These critters consume most of his thoughts and dominate the majority of his conversations.  

He is currently caretaker to two Fire Belly Toads, two Tree Frogs, and two Ground Toads . . . all residing inside our home in a collection of aquariums.  He is educating himself on how to care for his "pets," collects food for them and cleans their habitats frequently.  

"Awww, aren't they adorable?!?"

Two Gone

Maegli is proud to have TWO teeth gone :)

Back at It

After a new baby and a six week break from school . . .

we're back at it   :)


I am so thankful we gave ourselves a six-week-post-baby-break.  We all needed this time to adjust (especially this happy but sleep deprived mama) and bond with our newest bundle. 

The kids have loved there free time: sleeping in, roaming outdoors, building forts, playing with Legos, riding bikes, and getting together with friends.  It's important for kids to enjoy unstructured time to play and explore each day.  Free time is so good for kids, but too much free time isn't necessarily better.

The past two weeks of our six-week-break, the kids have started to show signs of a need for more structure.  Certainly some children require more structure and regularity than others . . . we have a few of those in our clan.  The kids who need more structure are starting to fall apart - manifested in their behavior and ability to focus.
For the most part, all kids thrive with structure - it's predictable and safe. 

So, after six weeks . . . it's back to a more scheduled, structured day for us and a return to schooling. 
(which means,  I need to I need to be more disciplined - no more sleeping-in and 10am breakfasts!)
We're up on time and working to complete four hours of schooling each day - juggling school with the needs of our new baby.

While jumping right in has had its share of ups and downs (we're all out of practice), for the most part, it's been a huge success.  The kids were excited to return to school!
 
We were clearly ready.

I am so thankful for the six weeks of break we've enjoyed after the arrival of sweet Dabney - it's been a blessing . . . but I'm thankful to be back, finding our new normal as a home-schooling family of eleven :)

One week down . . . many many many more to go.

As a added motivation, when the schooling is complete, I get to collapse on the sofa with a precious bundle :)