A City Life For Me

What we’ve been up to lately… This is the blizzard of 2015 – all 6 inches of it, piled into one spot so we could “play” in the snow Lots and lots of dressing up! Liberty is all about her baby doll – here “baby Clip” is getting a Cheerios breakfast… Painting.  Daddy took on an enormous task.  The twins have never painted before, and being a klutz myself, I hate the thought of paint.  It is a great potential for a very big mess!  But we had been indoors for a while, and needed a new activity.  Good thing about Daddy being “unemployed”?  Lots of work paint shirts available! Nehemiah was the water spiller.  And then he drank the water.  Twice.  It was classic.  And secretly I was glad to see Daddy confused by the commotion and needs of four kids all at once .  Just secretly, so don’t tell! Liberty seemed to enjoy the process, but she also was caught sucking on her paint brush.  I don’t have the packaging anymore, but I’m...

A couple of weeks ago we had a tea party – and everyone was invited.  Even the twins.  The bigs kids drank two cups of tea each – English style with milk and sugar, of course!  The littles got water in the toy tea set and they thought it was fantastic! Nehemiah says “cheeeeese!” for pictures now! He’s gonna make a good husband one day! Good to the last drop, right Nehemiah? Elaine…and somehow I didn’t get one of Nolan?!?!

We needed to update our family picture on our prayer card.  It’s over a year old, and the kids grow so fast.  However, now that it is winter, we can’t just go shoot a few pics outside in the nice natural light.  Everything I have tried indoors brings shadows. I knew there wasn’t a lot of money in the budget for pictures, especially considering that I needed the digital images so that I could insert the picture into our prayer card.  Usually the image CDs start around $150.  I was praying about it, and then one day I got onto Groupon.  I was just looking for any good Christmas ideas.  What popped up?  A coupon for JC Penney Portrait Studios (and we have a new one in Brooklyn so I didn’t have to pay a toll).  I spend $19.99 to get any three images on a CD, and no sitting fees. Another blessing in this process – everyone had coordinating clothes that fit right now, so I didn’t have to purchase anything! We booked the appointment for yesterday...

Ben was a four year old boy leaning over a peanut butter & jelly sandwich when his mom led him to Jesus and he got saved. I was a seven year old girl kneeling by my bed with both of my parents when I asked Jesus into my heart. That decision, made as children, was the first step in a journey of faith that has landed us as church-planting missionaries to New York City. It’s something beyond my wildest dreams, and it is all the Lord, and His work in our lives as we surrendered to Him – first in salvation, then to His call to service, then to Bible College and ministry preparation, and now to His call to the City. That little boy and little girl were on my mind today, because we are now parents of four little people. Little people who need to ask Jesus into their lives as well. Everyday situations provide the opportunity to infuse the Gospel message into their lives. Disobedience shows them their sin. Discipline shows them a little bit of sin’s consequence. And daily we have the opport...

Yesterday and today were pretty rough days in Mommyland.  We are training the twins in regular beds.  Some days they get it.  Some days they don’t.  It means no rest for Mommy right now.  But it can be kind of humorous too. Matching “shawls” for Christmas I had two blessed weeks of consistency.  Elaine learned digital numbers in Math, so we gave her an alarm clock.  She wasn’t allowed out of bed until 8:00 a.m., and 4:00 from naptime.  When Elaine got up, the other kids got up.  It did wonders for my schedule, my devotions, my planning.  I knew what to expect.  Even if they woke up early, they wouldn’t come out until a certain time. Cutest fireman ever. But then the second bunk bed arrived, and with it the crib bar’s restraint went away.  Now I have to teach two toddlers – at the same time – to control themselves and obey Mommy’s directives to “stay in bed!” Bath time is the cure-all.  New finger puppets make it even...

We took a little tour of New York City with our friend Jon Buker this weekend.  One of the things on Elaine’s bucket list was to walk the Brooklyn Bridge, so we started at Jane’s Carousel, walked the Bridge, and then went to the 9/11 Memorial.  Nehemiah was apprehensive at first… Liberty was a natural! The serious look… Nehemiah apparently hit his “wall” and took quite the nap on the Bridge.  This is what he looked like… Yes – he is asleep.  Yes – he was bumping people.  Yes – we did lay him down once we figured out he was really asleep! I think the Brooklyn Bridge is my favorite NYC icon.  It never disappoints – I’m always amazed at it’ The Freedom Tower.  It was nice visiting now that the Memorial is an open public square, and we didn’t have to stand in line or go through security!  One of these days I will make it to the Museum!