Monday, December 6, 2010

Sigh

I've been trying for 3plus weeks to get Lucas to eat solids. We started with rice cereal. It met with the resistance of a sucked in bottom lip covered with a clamped down top lip. So, after battling with that for about a week, we moved on to vegetables, sweet potatoes to be specific. More disgusted looks and closed mouth. Today, against every desire in me, I tried pears with him. I thought, at least then I'll know if he is just being picky or if he is not ready for solids. Well, now I know.. . and just what am I supposed to do with the information that he is being picky?! He only ate about three bites, but he was opening his mouth for me. Sigh. . .

Friday, December 3, 2010

What I have been pondering

I am by no means suffering. I am only needing to persevere on little sleep. In the midst of it all, I feel like I am still enjoying my life and doing the things God has for me. I am learning to let things go a little bit. . .the floor is a lot dirtier, the piles are more numerous, I sit instead of doing the dishes. . .These excerpts from a devotional by Elizabeth Elliot have challenged me and reminded me that, in all the little things and things that sometimes feel like trials, there is a great significance in obedience.

". . .I say again, man cannot chose his duties. You may chose to forsake your duties, and chose not to have the sorrow they bring. But you will go forth, and what will you find, my daughter? Sorrow without duty--bitter herbs, and no bread with them. . .if we reject this cross, we will not find it in this world again. " Here is the opportunity offered."

And,
"For those of us who are not at the moment in pain, may we not let slip any cross Jesus may present to us, any little way of letting go of ourselves, any smallest task to do with gladness and humility, any disapointment accepted with grace and silence. These are His appointments. If we miss them here, we'll not find them again in this world or in any other."

I feel such gratitude at the duties that God has chosen for me. May I not hold them lightly.

Random things

Evelyn's new practice is to sing, "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mom. . ." over and over to the tune of London Bridges.

Ezra said to Evelyn at lunch yesterday, in all seriousness, "Evelyn, if you don't believe in Jesus, you will go to hell."

Simeon told Grandpa Clark that he had played football with Grandpa Bundt over Thanksgiving break. Grandpa Clark asked him if he played with his Uncle Josh. Simeon replied, "No, he's a real football player."

Thursday, November 18, 2010

How far I've come

We've been butchering deer this week. When we were first married, that meant that Joel did the butchering and I stayed as far away as possible. If for some terrible reason I had to come in contact with the butchering process, I held my breath, closed my eyes and scooted past. And now this week. . .I went and picked up my oldest sons who were "helping" with the butchering. I walked my daughter by a deer carcaas. I watched my husband strip the hide off a deer with a pickup truck. And I ended my evening with two hours of cleaning the meat from the deer in my own kitchen. I only gagged a couple of times. Oh how far I've come.

Simeon's response to all the deer around the house in the last few days come out after school yesterday. He walked into the house and said, "I don't like the way this house smells anymore." I think I'll go light a candle somewhere. . .

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Potty-talk

Evelyn, sitting on the toliet, asks me, "Do you know that Jesus loves you?"
Me: "Yes, he love you too!"
Evelyn: "And Ezra, and 'siah and Simeon and Daddy and baby. . .sing it."
So, then we had to sing Jesus Love the little Children.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Last night

One of our new practices this year is that Simeon and Josiah both have an opportunity to tell me about their day after we read, before bed. Last night Simeon's best thing from his day involved a football game during recess. He was on a team with two other fourth graders. They were playing against "fourteen" other kids and Logan (one of Simeon's favorite people who is in fourth grade) threw Simeon a pass, which Simeon ran in for a touchdown. After explaining in great detail the play, Simeon said to me, "That's pretty good to be able to do that against fourth graders - I'm only a kindergartener!"

Monday, November 8, 2010

What he comes up with!

Ezra: "Ooohh, my back really hurts from all my work (i.e. lite brite). . .Mom, do you have anything to help it feel better (i.e. a good tasting candy "medicine") or do I just need to handle it?"

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Still working on girly. . .

Evelyn went with me last night to pick up a birthday gift for the gal who babysits for the kids on Thursday morning during my Bible study. We picked out a cute purse-sized make-up bag and put in some nail polish, nail stickers and foot lotion. Evelyn was fascinated with the nail polish, so I asked her if she would like to have her fingernails painted. She replied, "Yes!" "Should we do that when we get home?" I asked her. She got an almost scared look in her eyes and emphatically told me that no, we should not do that. Guess we'll keep working on that. Maybe she will let her aunties paint her nails. . .

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

We're owners!

We are so excited that God has provided us with something we have prayed about for a long time -- an acreage to raise our family on! I feel like the family is abuzz with plans and anticipation for what is to come. Josiah, as we all knew, is so very excited. We closed on the property on Monday morning, and after school, Josiah gave me a huge hug and said, "I'm so excited we got the acreage, Mom!" Then, Monday night as we were praying before bed, he asked me if we would need to work all of Saturday and Sunday to get our stuff out there. I'm not sure his feet have hit the ground yet! We've already made a few trips out there, moving things out our house in town in an attempt to de-clutter a bit to show and sell it. Now we are praying for God to provide the perfect house for our family and that He would sell our house as well. We are so blessed! I posted some pictures of the acreage here.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Evelyn's choice

I just gave Evelyn the choice of what we should do together while Ezra is at storyhour. . .(after rejecting reading and a tea party) make banana bread or clean windows. . .she chose cleaning windows -- huh, and I was hoping to avoid that job!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Someone forgot to tell me. ..

Someone forgot to tell me that we were going to start eating a lot of food at supper. The past few nights I have made what I thought was a good amount of food, only to have everything disappear and the dreaded, "I'm still hungry!" announced by more than one child. We've done a lot of pb sandwiches, pb with celery, bananas. . .Okay, I get the hint. I have to think larger amounts for supper tomorrow.

On another random note, I want to remember that I think it is completely unfair that a baby (Lucas) can catch up on their sleep during the day after a night of sleeplessness, while a mama (ME!) has to pry her eyes wide open all day long, only to go through another interrupted night. . .

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

A few recent videos

Almost daily, we are entertained by this. . .keep watching because she really gets going towards the end of the video!


Lucas thinks me playing with the dog is pretty funny.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Reading


A joy and a challenge, reading to all five at once!

A weekend harvesting


The kids, minus Lucas, spent the weekend harvesting with Grandpa Bundt. I went to Omaha with Lucas to shop with Crystal. A wonderful time was had by all and Evelyn informed me that she did not miss me or Lucas!

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Sunday night

It's Sunday night. Joel is at Bible study. The kids are in bed. I'm working on planning menus for the week, listening to Evelyn sing her heart out in the bedroom. I should probably go tell her to be quiet, for the sake of the other two in the room. . .I just don't have the heart. It's too precious to hear, ". . .Bible tells me so. . ."

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Background noise: Evelyn crying
Me: Ezra, what happened?
Pause. . .
Ezra: Ummm. . .basically I pinched her
Basically, huh?!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Four Months


Hard to believe that my baby is four months today. . .

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Go Vikings!





Here's hoping a better Vikings season than today. . .

Thursday, September 16, 2010

The grocery store

What is it about a grocery store that has the ability to suck out every ounce of energy I have?! I timed everything perfectly today - kids fed, Lucas not sleepy. . .but we fell apart as soon as I put the first item in my cart. Lucas started fussing. . .Evelyn started crawling out of the cart. . .I got Evelyn back in the cart only to have her and Ezra start picking on each other and alternate which one was screaming. Lucas finally fell asleep, although, he shouldn't have needed a nap yet, and I did what any good mom would do. . .I stuck a sucker in Ezra and Evelyn's mouth. We made it home from the store. Now if only there were a fairy to put all the groceries away!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

A new stage begins


Uh oh!
I left Lucas on his back this morning
and when I returned,
this is what he looked like. . .

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Community


Sometimes I look at my life and wonder why God has chosen to bless me with so much. I don't deserve it, and often, I forget to be grateful for it. But today, I am grateful for friendship. I celebrated Lucas' birth with my Bible study ladies yesterday. We had lunch at the Habitue in LeMars, a wonderful new coffee shop. As I looked around the table, I knew that God had blessed me with this unique group of women. I can look to them as examples in life stages that I have yet to reach and they are my biggest cheerleaders as I raise my family. We are all from different stages in life, but our friendship is rich, deep, and honest. And we fight for our community and choose it among the busyness of life, because it is precious.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

The angels are rejoicing!

Josiah and Simeon both accepted Jesus as their Savior this weekend. Joel prayed with each of them and wrote down what they prayed, with the date, so they will always have a reference of this special day. Josiah's eyes positively light up when he talks about it. I want to weep when I see that. . .an answer to my prayers that my children will come to know Christ at a young age.

On another note, Ezra informed us before bed tonight that Jesus was going to wake him up when he had to go to the bathroom so he could stay dry all night. Aren't you glad Jesus is so interested in all the little details!

Friday, August 27, 2010

Ezra

Ezra: Today reading the story of Noah, "How did God shut the door Mom?" I gave him a few possibilities. He seemed to like the idea of an angel doing it the best. Then, his added thoughts, "Angels cover our house Mom. They're pretty strong. . .but not as strong as Jesus."

I find Ezra makes random spiritual statements frequently. It was my joy to pray with him this week to ask Jesus to be his Savior. Joel has been talking with the three boys about what that means, but each time we have had that discussion, none of them is ready yet. Ezra went to the store with Joel last weekend and they discussed it again. Ezra said he was ready to do that, but wanted to pray with Mommy. Then he brought it up again with me, so we prayed. He seems to understand what it means and commented afterwards, "Now I get to go to heaven!" Of course, he followed that with, "I won't do any more bad things," so we had to talk that through, but I am excited to see God work in his life as he grows to understand more and more about following after Christ.

First day of school

 
Simeon ready for Kindergarten!
 
Josiah ready for 1st grade!
 


It has been a busy summer with a eventful new addition to the family, baby Lucas, who decided he didn't really like to sleep very much. . .but more about all that later. Today, I want to share about the first day of school. Josiah started first grade and Simeon started kindergarten yesterday.

On Wednesday night, I sat down with each of them individually and asked them how they were feeling about going to school the next day. Josiah said he was a little nervous, but mostly nervous about Simeon having problems with other kids being mean and not being able to find Josiah to help him. I told him that Simeon could always talk to a teacher if he couldn't find Josiah. Very sweet that Josiah was protective of his brother that way.

Simeon said he was really nervous. When I asked him if there was anything he was especially nervous about, he told me recess, started crying and told me, "I'm going to miss you Mommy!" Oh my breaking heart! Later that night, as I tucked them into bed, Simeon again started crying and said he was really scared for school. It is such a big, new thing and my heart wishes I could make it easier for him.

We had them pick out their clothes the night before and, it was so interesting. They wanted to wear matching outfits! No influence from me on that one.

I was pretty nervous the next morning, that it would be really hard for Simeon to say goodbye. My mom came and watched the other kids so I could take the older boys, which was so nice. Simeon didn't cry, so that made it easier on me. He was still really nervous. Josiah was confident that he could go to his classroom on his own, but changed his tune once we got into the school, so I dropped him off as well. He was fine giving me a hug in the hallway, and bounced into the room. I peeked in on Simeon on my way out of the building and he seemed to be doing well. Whew! It's hard to say goodbye. . .and let go. I came home and told Lucas he was not allowed to go to kindergarten ever!

The younger two have been doing fine. I asked Ezra how he felt being here without his brothers and he said, "Good!" However, when he learned that Josiah and Simeon would not be home for lunch, he burst into tears!

The report from the first day was pretty limited. They both seemed to have a fun time. Josiah is thrilled that his teacher has a pet lizard in their classroom and a treasure box with books in it. He said that she reads them a lot of stories. Simeon was excited about free choice time, being able to use his "special" markers (dry erase ones) on a white board and picking out books at the library.

It was interesting that Simeon and Josiah had two recesses together and chose to play together. I don't know if that will continue or not! Simeon said the best part of the day was the last recess, because Josiah wasn't there. I said, "Oh, so you feel like you could do recess without him and be okay?" Josiah replied, "Oh no, he's not ready for that yet!" I figured out that it was because their were less kids out for that recess, so he felt more secure. I think the bigger kids make him nervous because they are a little rougher and can run over the little ones in their play.

Anyway, I am grateful for a fun summer. I enjoyed having my kids around and miss them. However, I am also excited for what this new stage in our family life will bring.
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Thursday, May 20, 2010

What I did today

What did I do today?
- a load of laundry
- 3 meals, 2 snacks
- vacummed rugs
- prayed for my husband's safety
- played Legos
- prayed for wisdom to train kids
- colored

What did I do today? Feels like nothing. Yet, I feel content that it is what I am supposed to be doing. . .

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Today's Musings

- I'm so ready to be able to sleep on my stomach.

- I love reaching out my hand and having my little girl grab it and keep holding it.

- I will miss baby hiccuping for 20 minutes inside of me every day.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Happy Mother's Day

What a wonderful day my husband and children gave me!
It started out with a sweet, affirming card from my hubby and a schoolmade gift from Josiah including a bag with lots of XO's on it and "i love mom this much - twenty", a flower, and a note:
My mom is "Loveing"
She likes to "fed"
She always "kars for me"
Sometimes she "giv me a iskrmen" - translation 'icecream cone'
The best thing about my mom is "cars for me and love me owase" - translation 'always'

Then Simeon brought home a note from Sunday school which included you teach me "to be quiet" ;-)

Then Joel took us all out for lunch after church.
My kids were also very lovely to me all day and I felt very appreciated!

I am so blessed to have been granted to priviledge to be a mother and challenged to be a better mom each and every day.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Evelyn's favorite activity these days: puzzles. . .over and over and over again!
Her constant phrases: "No. . no. . .no" even when she means yes and "Me-me" which means Mommy. It becomes "Me-maw" when she gets frustrated that I'm not paying attention to her!

Friday, April 23, 2010

Thoughts on baby

Last night as he was getting out of the shower, Josiah wanted to know what kind of baby I had in my tummy. "You mean like boy or girl?" I asked. "Yes. Teygen's mommy is having a boy and the kids in my class want to know what you're having." When I told him that I didn't know, it was going to be a surprise, he was quite upset b/c the kids in his class really wanted to know. He asked if I could call the nurse and find out so he could tell them. . .when I persisted in telling him that I wanted to be surprised, he wasn't so happy with me!!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Nesting. . .who knew it could last 3 months??

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Neighborhood Entertainment = Bundt boys

So, I'm on the phone with Crystal a few days ago. Simeon, Ezra, & Evelyn are outside playing. I'm keeping an eye on them from the front windows. Suddenly, I see Ezra pull down his pants and start peeing. I dash out the front door, get Ezra to pull up his pants and come inside. Simeon and Evelyn follow to see what all the commotion is about. "Ezra, we don't go to the bathroom outside! You may only go outside when you are at the farm."

Crystal is laughing hysterically on the other end of the phone. Then I turn to Simeon and say, "Simeon, you haven't been going outside have you?" Simeon looks a little bit sheepish and says, "Well, not very often." What??!!

When I recover, Crystal tells me this story that my Dad shared with her. Dad got a phone call from his pastor, Jon, maybe a week ago. Pastor Jon was laughing so hard that Dad could hardly understand him. Finally, he says that he was driving by the Bundt house and witnessed one of the boys "watering the plants."

Oh my. What have a been missing. . .

Farm Musings. . .

Josiah spent the past weekend at the farm with Grandpa and Grandma Bundt. They spent a morning cutting down trees at Joel's aunt's home. Apparently, Josiah was asking Grandpa Bundt a lot of questions. Grandpa said, at one point, "Josiah, you sure ask a lot of good questions." Josiah replied, "Well, when you have a Grandpa who is a farmer, you have to take advantage of every opportunity!" Uhhh, is he only seven?

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Life is like a box of chocolates. . .

Friday's motto: Life is like a box of chocolates. . .you never know what you're gonna get!

I took Josiah and Simeon to the doctor Friday afternoon for followups on pneumonia and burst eardrum. . .Josiah is doing great, a little perturbed to be missing out at school. Simeon still complaining that his ear is plugged. The doctor checked Simeon and said there was still a lot of wax in there. So, they tried to wash it out. Finally moved the "wax" enough that the doctor thought she could grab it with a little tweezer thing. "Hmmmm. . .this is really hard. . .it almost looks like some sort of foreign object. . .I think we'd better send you to a specialist to get this thing out." So, we took a trip to Sioux Center (just 15min away) to see the specialist between surgeries. Simeon was quite a trooper. The specialist said lots of kids have to be sedated in order for him to dig in the ear enough. Well, he pulled out a little air bb ball that Simeon had put in his ear at some point. (Simeon says, "maybe when I was three?. . ." ) Judging by the amount of wax behind the ball, it had been in there for a month or more! I can't believe that he just started complaining last week that his ear was plugged. The specialist said that it might have just moved a bit and really plugged up the ear. Anyway, cleared out a lot of wax. . .have to go back on Monday to try and get the rest, after a weekend of eardrops/hydrogenperoxide. And 2plus hours later, we return home with a little bb wrapped in a paper towel for Simeon to show off! I just hope it's a trickle around lesson for all to learn from!!

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

A week of sickness


Whew! What a week it has been! It started Thursday night with Josiah writhing on the bathroom floor in pain. At one point, he cried out, "Jesus, please take the pain away!" It broke my heart and I was ready to take him to the ER,, but the pain seemed to subside and he finally slept. It returned again in the morning, along with a temp. When Josiah said the pain was so bad he wanted to go see the doctor, I took him to the ER. (He, of all my kids, is the most terrified of doctors/hospitals/pain.) I was pretty sure he had a ruptured appendix. However, we found out he had pneumonia. Apparently, in children, pneumonia symptoms often present themselves in the stomach area. Josiah was quite bad, looking toxic, and was admitted to the hospital. He had to have three vials of blood drawn, and an IV put in. I was so proud of how courageous he was! He kept saying, "This isn't very fun." The people in the ER were especially wonderful with him, answering all his questions about the procedures of drawing blood and putting in the IV, and being honest with him about pain and what was going to happen next. His fever finally broke Friday night and he more "normal" by Saturday. He was ready to go home and very teary when the doctor told him he would need to stay one more night. "My eyes just get watery because I miss Zeke(our dog) so much," was his comment.

As I sat in the hospital room, watching him so sick and then recover quite quickly, I was reminded how quickly life can change. There are so many people I know right now with significant health issues and long hospital stays which are so tiring. I don't know God chose to bless us with a quick recovery for Josiah, but I am grateful. I am also grateful for the special time with Josiah "wanting Mom," while he was sick. Once he felt better, he kept his Dad and Grandpa Clark quite occupied playing video games with him. The two things he reported to his teacher when he returned to school on Tuesday were that he had to have an IV and he got to play video games! It is so nice to have him back to himself.

Of course, with Josiah home from the hospital, the other two boys decided they needed to get sick too! I was so much more nervous watching them in what any other time I would have considered a normal virus because of what Josiah had just gone through. Simeon was the worst, having a 103plus temp at one point. The weird thing was that he was acting so normal. Not really eating, but wanting to color, read books, and chatting with us normally. I finally took Simeon into the clinic on Tuesday and found that he had a burst eardrum. I was so surprised as he never seemed to be in very much pain. The doctor also gave me nebulizer treatments for Ezra who was so stuffed up he could hardly breathe. Today they are both acting more normal, and I enjoyed vaccumming, doing laundry and generally cleaning the house this morning - the little routine things that make life seem under control!

I am so grateful for medicine, good doctors, and kind nurses as well as many friends and family who are concerned for us when we are dealing with things such as these.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Musings from the boys

Simeon to Joel this past Saturday: "Dad, when Mommy drinks water, the baby gets a shower. . .and when she drinks juice, the baby gets a juice shower."


Heard this afternoon from boys in full football helmet gear -
Simeon: Mom, I'm Brett Farve.
Ezra: I'm. . .I'm. . .
Simeon: Do you want to be Cindy (Sidney) Rice? Or, Adrian Peterson?
Ezra: Is Adrian Peterson better?
Simeon: No, Cindy Rice is better than Adrian Peterson.
Ezra: Okay. I'm Cindy Rice.

Friday, January 15, 2010

King Simeon


We're on the letter "k" with Simeon this week. Here he is proudly wearing the king's crown he made.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

2010

It's hard to believe that a new year has begun. We had a wonderful, blessed time with both sides of our families during the Christmas season. It was a joy for me to see the growth in each of my children - it amazes me that they can change so much in one year.

As the new year begins, I am starting two new Bible studies with the groups I have been a part of. One is Seeking Him by Nancy Leigh DeMoss and the other is a book study on Linda Dillow's book Calm my Anxious Heart. I think they are both going to be wonderful and it is amazing how God seems to bring topics into these studies that hit me right where I am at. One assignment from the Calm my Anxious Heart for this week, in dealing with contentment is to write out the blessings and frustrations in your life in the aim to focus on the right things. So, I am posting my blessings so I might continue to challenge myself to think on those things and not focus on the minor frustrations.

- Supportive husband who is a partner in faith and raising our family.
- Josiah, Simeon, Ezra, Evelyn
- Healthy pregnancy
- Ability to stay at home with my children
- Christian families on both my side and Joel's
- A Christian community to raise our family
- Wonderful, wise women with whom to walk through life and grow in faith (in two different Bible study groups)
- A kindred spirit in my twin sister
- A safe home with many material comforts
- A husband who provides financially
- A husband who leads our home spiritually


I have been so blessed, beyond what I possibly deserve and so often I fail to focus on those blessings and appreciate them.

My other prayer for this year comes from Ps 51:6 "Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart." My prayer is for God to really work truth into my inward being and wisdom into my secret heart because there is so much that comes out of me that won't truly change with "behavior modification", but needs a real truth and wisdom change deep in my heart.

And so, I start this year looking back at a wonderful, blessed year and looking forward to whatever God has in store for this year, whether it be hardships or blessings, knowing that He is good and I don't want to do either hardships or blessings without Him.