This is my first time to hit the “Blog This!” button. This is a super piece about shopping with the kiddos.

An additional reason I’m thankful for compliments on my Blessings’ behavior is because it often gives me a needed attitude/perspective adjustment. Of course, I also like it when folks say, “Are ALLLL those kids yours????” because gives me an instant attitude fix as I beam thankfully and with joyful enthusiasm respond, “They sure are!!” Like Kim says in her article, I don’t want to be the poster family for birth control. Quite the opposite – I want our family to be an advertisement for God and the blessings He sends our way.

It used to bother me so much when people would ask “Are all those yours????” with such rudeness and obvious amazement at my lack of sanity. Well, I’m not claiming to be all that sane in general, but I can tell you one thing I’m totally sane about, and that’s welcoming the children God sends us! The question doesn’t bother me anymore. In fact, I welcome it. Because I’m sure to have my attitude adjusted (God has a way of sending these people to me when I’m ready to pull my hair out because my children are, alas, not yet perfect – surely they get that from someone besides me!), and because the Lord will hopefully be able to use us in folks’ lives to cause them to reconsider some things. Anyhoo….

Life in a shoe: the methods and madness of one mother of 8: Grocery shopping with a handful of Littles

The guys had to leave super early this morning, so I’ve been up since before 6.00 – wow. Decided it would be better for me to stay up than to go back to bed. It’s now time to make breakfast for the Blessings, but first…

While I was enjoying some quiet time on the deck, listening to the birds and such and watching Polly stalk Beren, I was reading from the first chapter of Luke. Mary’s response to the angel’s pronouncement is terrific:

And Mary said, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me
according to your word.” Luke 1.38

She’s just been told her world is going to turn upsidedown. Yes, I know, I’ve read that every Jewish girl dreamed of being the chosen one, but when you get down to brass tacks, there’s a lot of unpleasant reality that Mary has in front of her. The amazing blessing of carrying the Messiah, of being entrusted with raising the Son of God, yes. But also the months and years of “what will/do people think/say?” Those thoughts had to come into her mind, don’t you think? And yet she says to the angel, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.”

How often I balk at the the process that must precede the things the Lord has called me to do. And yet, Mary’s response is the proper one. May my heart and my will also say, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.”

Jonathan and Dad Smith did some great cabinet work yesterday and today.
Here’s the start…

Cabinets up, no crown molding…

And the difference crown molding makes – wow!

They also made friends with this cute baby squirrel, who was crawling around in the saw…

I’m wanting to try the image placement here, so …
Here’s a neat picture that J took earlier this month. We had some stuff on the burnpile, and the late afternoon sun was coming through the trees making wonderful sunbursts with the smoke.

I’ve been up later than usual the last three nights (which is saying something for a woman who finds herself grateful when she gets to bed before 12.30 am), and I didn’t pull myself out of bed until almost 10. The fact that the guys didn’t have much to do on the cabinet job they were finishing up this morning affected my mental ability to choose to sleep in – I generally don’t consider that an option unless I’m horribly sick.

Anyhoo… once I dragged my body out of bed, showered, and got Jonathan off to work, I still didn’t think I was going to manage to accomplish anything today. So I made homemade donuts. Does that have any element of sense in it? I didn’t think so. But they were yummy and the Blessings loved them.

I was still feeling realistic enough to know that school was not going to happen today, it being noon and me still not feeling up to the challenges that would likely come with trying to do school with children who were up past midnight last night.

Sooo… what do you do when you’re exhausted, your children are tired, and school is just not going to happen? … Clean the house! I realize that this is not particularly sense-making, but it works for us. So, while the girls were out at Grandma’s working on their Bible stuff, I got the boys started – Barak in the living room, Davey in the attic (boys’ room), and Josiah in the dining room. And I started in on the mountain of dishes that somehow piled up over the weekend. When the girls came in, they started on their room, which will be finished after nap. But the boys finished their assigned rooms and the dishes are drying. Go team!!

We have leftovers from last night’s dinner in the fridge awaiting suppertime, the house is fairly tidy, and we should be in a much better place for getting school done tomorrow. Praise the Lord!

Sometimes I think I must be in a contest to see just how many accounts I can set up online…

Just can’t resist…

My youngest daughter and myself, courtesy of my eldest daughter, the budding photographer.

Happened upon this meme today, and can’t resist:
The Googlely-Image-Answer-Meme

Figure out your answers for each of the below.
Put them into a Google image search.
Grab the first interesting image for each answer, and post the images (without showing the actual answer) in your journal, along with the meme rules.
Post your answers below a cut, to avoid friends-page overload.

1. The age you will be on your next birthday
2. A place to which you’d like to travel
3. Your favorite place
4. Your favorite object
5. Your favorite food
6. Your favorite animal
7. The town in which you were born
8. The name of a past pet
9. The first name of a past love
10. Your favorite color
11. Your first name
12. Your middle name
13. Your last name

Happy Birthday to my dear friend, Gwen. You bring a special joy to my life, and today, I’m celebrating you! You are a fabulous individual, you know? Your way with words takes me places with you, you have a sweet spirit, and you are **such** a great mom. Love you!

Here’s a birthday cake for the Little Man to color for you!! 🙂

I’m journalling on our own web site now, www.shammelle.com, so you’re welcome to come visit. You need to register to read the blogs (including … Berenn’s! /gasp!), but we don’t require blood or anything to do so. 🙂