For the Love!

Wednesday, January 2, 2019

Our Shepherd, Maximus, Christmas 2018

A couple years ago now our Shepherd found us one Advent morning. He leads us to Jesus and has a lot of fun along the way. I didn't document everything this year, but these are some of the highlights.

Here is where Maximus and St. Nicholas overlapped on December 6th.

St. Nicholas left puzzle balls for everyone, a book, and magnetic robot chess.

The kids were particularly pleased with this day. We don't usually have boxed pancakes And this card was unique to this year (as you can tell).

The fruits of the spirit are always a hit as these kids love fruit. This year we had grapefruit, pomegranate, an orange, an apple, a grape, a pineapple, a banana, and a pear, just to name a few.

Patience banana.

Obedience pineapple. Self-control pomegranate.

Max had to get creative to find a new spot for his searching each day. Here he has a thankfulness chain made. He is thankful for Jesus, his flock, and the Schroeder kids. We made a chain of thankfulness, too (that I forgot to snap a picture of). Many of my children are thankful for food and presents mostly. 😊 And several were thankful for the new baby coming soon!

And the final activity on Christmas Eve was for a birthday celebration in honor of Jesus. Notice all the stuffed animals joining in with their most festive hats!! Two boxes of store bought brownies is quite a treat around here -- unfortunately they tasted terrible for some reason. (Speaking of which I need to complain to Betty Crocker about that. -- This is what happens when the shepherd cuts corners. He should have left the recipe for homemade brownies. 😊) In any case, the celebration was a success. And waking up hearing my youngest children singing happy birthday with the shepherd and stuffed animals was incredibly sweet. The brownies that tasted like dirt were quickly tossed and replaced by some of the festive sweets we had on hand for the season so all was definitely not lost.

Paul asked how old Jesus was. I told him he was 33 when he died, so we have three and three candles. Weird, but it works. Everyone but Rebekah got a candle to blow out and she helped Peter with his.

Saturday, November 10, 2018

7 Quick Takes -- Winter approaches

1) We like our cats.

About a month ago we brought home four cats that have decided to settle in. Spike and Thomas are adult orange tabby cats and Night Angel and Joanna (or Joan for short) are gray the tabby kittens.

Here are Night Angel, Thomas, and Joanna. Spike lets Gordie pet him when he's around, but he's often out on the prowl. And when he is home, he likes to sit a little ways off and watch rather than be petted.

They were living in our power shed, but we have since decided to remodel so yesterday we moved them to a different shed. Much more space at the moment (though I plan to put more stuff in with them for winter storage). We are hopeful, though, that this more comfortable location will keep them from spending all their spare time meowing at the front door, tempting our children to bring them inside (which we have vetoed at this time).

Some of the kitties in their "original" home, the power shed/wood storage and other junk. But we kept disturbing them to check the batteries and inverter. Plus they were kind of stinking up the joint.

New home in the other shed. Much more spacious. And the bench is a place the kids can sit out of the weather to pet them (so they don't have to bring them inside).

2) Our kids like baskets and buckets.

3) We switched up the "school spot" some.

Rebekah and Samuel spend much of their school day on their computers, as is typical for a virtual middle school. They were sitting with their backs to the wall for comfort, but this position gave way to too much temptation for youtube and random games. So we readjusted their area and it appears to be working much better. I can tell at a glance if they are off-topic and they know it, too.

4) Peter loves to cook!

Every time I start cooking -- or really doing anything in the "kitchen" Peter runs and grabs this stool and puts himself right up in the middle of things. He is happy as a clam to stir things and generally have his nose in it all.

5) Rebekah is studying apologetics.

For those not savvy with the term, apologetics is defending the faith. Rebekah is preparing to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation early next year (February 2019). That is where she receives an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in a special way so she can be a witness for her faith. She is so excited for this and studying her little heart out.

Although I found it entertaining as she asked me the other day, "Mom, where are those apocalypse books you borrowed?" She meant apologetics of course, but it was oddly still fitting.

6) Baby #8 is making me fat.

17 weeks

29 weeks

7) Random pictures of our life.

A Jacob and Peter butter burrito -- so say the kids.

Zipporah wearing my boots.

Grizzly Halloween

This is a scout event held at Camp Hansen. I attended Camp Hansen for years as a girl scout (even though it's a boy scout camp) and Gordie attended as a boy scout. So it's cool for us to go back with our family. We went two years ago, but skipped last year because of conflicts.

This time we were going to leave our youngest two (Zipporah and Peter) with Grandpa & Grandma Schroeder. But Grandpa just had quadruple bypass heart surgery. And Zipporah puked the day before they were supposed to go. We didn't want to risk a sick Grandpa so Gordie stayed home to watch the little ones while I went with the older kiddos. Even though it was a lot of work setting up tents and stuff, it was loads of fun.