Last night I bought two waffle irons.  They were on sale at Farm & Fleet, for only $30 each instead of their usual $50 each.  I had admired this model before, but hesitated at the price.  So it didn’t take much to convince me to snatch them up.

This morning I made waffles.  And I have to say, I’m very pleased with my new toys!  The waffles are large and filling.  I don’t think any of the children were able to eat more than one whole waffle, so I have lots of leftovers, which is fine with me.  I want to experiment with freezing them and see how they are reheated later.

Yum, yum!

Any time we get a chance, I invite our neighbor girl, Aaliyah (age 9), to stay at our house.  Things are a little unstable at her house, so it seems like it’s the least we can do to give her a refuge.

Tonight after a few of the younger children were in bed, I was sitting at the kitchen island with Aaliyah.  I was sewing some buttons on her pajama top, and she was playing with my button collection.  I couldn’t help but wonder how this scene differed from her home.  I wondered what her impressions are of our family.  And yes, I was fishing for a compliment when I asked her, “So, Aaliyah… how is our house different from your house?”

She gave it some thought.  I figured she’d share some touching insights.  And this is what she said.

“Well… you have an artist here.”  (referring to Laura.)

“Yes, you’re right!”, I replied.

“And, you have a dog.”

“True again.”, I answered, smiling at her insights.

After another pause she said confidently,  “And there’s more kids here!”

I had to laugh out loud.  She has us pegged.

Auntie Joyce and Fair Maiden Lillian

My sister is an amazing auntie.  She has made so many cloaks for my children.  Today Joyce stopped by with her latest creation… a little cape for Baby Lilly, made from the last pieces of fleece she had used for Judah’s cloak and Miguel’s cloak.

The Four Girls

This afternoon Amelia and Lilly posed for a photograph with two of our neighbor girls, Aaliyah and Kaylee.  They were all wearing cloaks made by Joyce.  What a fun sight it was to see the girls playing in the back yard and wearing fun cloaks.  When Judah and Miguel came ouside, they didn’t seem to care that their cloaks had been commandeered by the girls.  I was glad they were willing to share.

Today was quite a full day, which I’ll share in another post.  For now I just wanted to show off my sister’s work.  I really admire her handiwork and her generosity.

“Thank you, Joyce!”

Tonight I went to a cooking class with my parents.  We learned a little about Thai food, and we really enjoyed it.  My folks have been to Thailand, so they were able to compare the food with their experiences there.  I’ve only been to the local Thai restaurant, so my comparisons were limited.  But I came home with recipes and enthusiasm, which I hope will translate into some fun cooking times.

As relates to debt…

1.  Last night Isaac was able to pay off the last of his debt for the window he broke.  We adjusted his debt down from $100, which is half the cost of a whole new replacement window, to only $40, which is the cost of replacing only the glass in the existing window.  He has worked hard and endured his restriction with patience.  Now he is feeling quite free and happy to be done with his debt to society.

2.  Michael is doing great heading up our church’s second time through Financial Peace University.  They meet on Tuesday nights.  This time our whole family is not attending.  Michael just takes the two oldest children if they want to go.  I am so happy that Michael is constantly being encouraged to be faithful with our finances.  We are hoping to be debt free (except for the house) before the end of 2009.

3.  Part of our new financial lifestyle is to budget our money using an envelope system.  It’s been hard to figure out the right amounts of money to allot for each catagory, but we’re slowly getting it worked out.  It’s such an odd feeling to pay cash for almost everything.  No more worries about whether or not the money is in the bank account.  I am liking this new way of life.  My biggest encouragement to you, if you’re thinking about doing the envelope budget system, is to give it time.  It’s not going to work perfectly the first month.  You need to adjust and tweak and figure out what works best.

Michael likes to keep his hair very short, but at least he still has hair.

Now he’s saying he’s thinking about just shaving his head. 

Yikes!

What should I do?

Maybe I’ll go get my hair done.  That might make it easier to stomach a bald husband. 

Our church is going back to Guatemala in June of this year, and we have decided to join them.  We’ve also decided to take Laura and Isaac with us.  They’ve been wanting to go since last time, so they’re very excited that it’s finally going to happen.

We’ve been working on getting passports for them, and just a few days ago we submitted everything to the folks at the post office.

We’re studying Spanish, making lists of things we’ll need, arranging child and pet care, and all in all getting excited about our trip.  Top on Isaac’s list is making sure he’ll be allowed to buy a machete while we’re there.  We’ll probably regret it, but most likely we’ll let him buy one.

Ok, here’s a weird thought for you:

Some people treat their pets like children.

Today I wondered if it’s ok to treat your children like pets?

As I watched my children enjoying the beautiful weather, and as they wished for interesting things to do, I felt like I was overcome with the same nurturing feelings I often feel toward my pets.

Children and pets are not the same.  But sometimes they evoke similar emotions in a person.

Our family has been sick this week.  Actually, being the considerate folks that we are, we’re taking turns being sick.  First, on Sunday, Luke and Miguel were sick.  Monday was our day off of being sick.  Tuesday was Isaac’s and my turn to be sick.  Today (Wednesday) is Laura’s turn and Michael’s turn.  So that leaves Judah, Lilly and Amelia who still are waiting for their turns.

The best part about this is that each person only stays sick for about 12 hours.  It’s a miserable 12 hours, but at least it’s over fast.

Usually I don’t have a clue about what the public schools are doing.  But this school year is different.  Every day that the public schools are off on holiday, at least one neighbor girl comes over for the day.  Sometimes we have two extra kids.  Today is one of these days.  Thing is, I didn’t know it was a school holiday, so I planned school work for our kids.  And I’m just obstinate enough to insist that my kids do school even with neighbor kids here.

Thing is, I’m not really much of a “kid person”.  I’ve never been drawn to children, and didn’t really want kids of my own.  God has been working on my heart ever since my college days, and showing me His plan for my life, which these days includes a LOT of kids!  The more children I have, and the more neighbor kids who show up, the more I have grown to enjoy children…most of the time.  Today my level of enjoyment is wearing a bit thin.  There have been a few squabbles, the baby has insisted on finding mischief, and it seems like someone is always hungry.  And a few times I have looked around and thought, “What am I doing here?????”  It just doesn’t seem like I fit in this picture.

Alas, I am not able to embelish on these thoughts further.  Lilly is scattering her granola as widely as possible from her high chair.  Hot dogs are simmering on the stove.  And I’m being interrupted on an average of once every 0.8 seconds.  Gotta run!