T Time

Today the children and I had dental check up/cleaning appointments scheduled so I intended to accomplish that and then head to T Time. While we were there, ice formed over the roads and the news said someone on I-74 was dead. I was rethinking the whole Red-Rocket-On-Ice idea and decided since I was two streets from home that I should consider that instead. No No No That is a replica of the ark. I drive a big red van! Many think it is similar to an ark. lol Anyway, I called to see who was already at T Time since we were to meet for the Passionate Housewives study. After reliving the red-van-in-the-ditch story, I confirmed in my heart the decision to just go home. And we did.

Back At It

We are entering a new year so we are trying to get a routine down. Again. I went through our homeschool planner and reorganized the dates I had written in it. With all good intentions, I had planned to "school" until just before we moved. It took most of November to move out of our old house so THAT didn't happen. I dug out the block eraser, used a good deal of it and started the new dates from where we had left off before we moved. I began the task of planning for table time to begin again. (LIFE is learning so I don't minimize what all they do when we don't have typical books open and pencil lead flying!) I restructured our Weekly List of Service To Our Lord aka: chorelist. I did five weeks of menu planning so all I would have to do it write out the grocery list before our trip to the grocery store each week. (I had the great idea to make a standard grocery list for each menu labeled 1-5 and planned to just print it out before shopping but that hasn't happened.)

I had signed the children up for homeschool PE but after rethinking it, I withdrew them from the class. We have T Time, gymnastics and basketball on top of ice skating lessons so we cut out PE this session. Being in town now, it was tempting to try to fit it in but I am so thankful that I stuck to it! I still want to get our list of things to do complete before spring!!

Family Vacation

Holiday World Advocates! We were a military family so any leave time (civilian term: vacation) DH earned was spent traveling back "home" to visit family. We did that for twenty years. Upon retirement, we made arrangements to take our children to a theme park. We don't do "name brand" theme parks but we found one in--get this--Santa Claus, Indiana, and being Hoosiers, we set a date to travel. Their site said that Memorial Day wasn't busy so we planned to leave directly after the evening church service and stay at a hotel to be at the park when it opened. It was outstanding! Easy drive! We found an AFFORDABLE, brand new hotel with adjoining rooms and that in itself was huge. We have to have two rooms when we travel and connecting rooms are great!! The park was wonderful! First thing off, they gave all our smaller children bracelets that we wrote our cell phone numbers on incase they were separated from us. The attendants could call our phones and help us quickly reunite with our lost little ones. (Fortunately, that didn't happen but that is a Munro Law: If you are prepared, it won't be an issue!) The parking was free, the park was clean with employees with busy brooms, the drink stations were everywhere, the bathrooms had attendants in them and were fully supplied and home-like clean, smoke-free environment, they supply sunscreen-pump it right into your hand and apply, they have a dress code both inside and outside the water park, the restaurants were very reasonably priced and the food was decent but you can bring a cooler and use the Lakeside Picnic Shelter and re-enter with a stamped hand. The music was generally Christian. I was astounded as I heard it piped through the speakers. I kept laughing in amazement at how great this was turning out. The set up of the park has the entrance for the rides for older/taller people in the same area with rides for the younger riders. I could still stay with the family because the older ones could ride the faster rides and I could still take our younger children to ride right there. It was great! That being said, there is a kiddie section but a roller coaster entrance is right near it!! Lastly, they have a new ride this year!! It is in the water park. Check it out!! Buy tickets! They open in May!

Consider The Stranger

A few years after I was born, my Dad met a stranger who was new to our small town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer and soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around from then on.

As I grew up, I never questioned his place in my family. In my young mind, he had a special niche. My parents were complementary instructors: Mom taught me good from evil, and Dad taught me to obey. But the stranger...he was our storyteller. He would keep us spellbound for hours on end with adventures, mysteries and comedies.

If I wanted to know anything about politics, history or science, he always knew the answers about the past, understood the present and even seemed able to predict the future! He took my family to the first major league ball game. He made me laugh, and he made me cry. The stranger never stopped talking, but Dad didn't seem to mind.

Sometimes, Mom would get up quietly while the rest of us were shushing each other to listen to what he had to say, and she would go to the kitchen for peace and quiet. (I wonder now if she ever prayed for the stranger to leave.)

Dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions, but the stranger never felt obligated to honor them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our home... Not from us, our friends or
any visitors. Our longtime visitor, however, got away with four-letter words that burned my ears and made my dad squirm and my mother blush. My Dad didn't permit the liberal use of alcohol. But the stranger encouraged us to try it on a regular basis. He made cigarettes look cool, cigars manly and pipes distinguished. He talked freely (much too freely!) about sex. His
comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally embarrassing.

I now know that my early concepts about relationships were influenced strongly by the stranger. Time after time, he opposed the values of my parents, yet he was seldom rebuked... And NEVER asked to leave.

More than fifty years have passed since the stranger moved in with our family. He has blended right in and is not nearly as fascinating as he was at first. Still, if you could walk into my parents' den today, you would still find him sitting over in his corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures.

His name? We just call him 'TV.' He has a wife now....We call her 'Computer.'

To-Do

The new bedding for the girls arrived today--finally! It has been on back-order since November. I am washing their sheets that match--part of the set--to put on their beds and they already have the bed skirt and the pillow shams on. E is ironing the new curtains! New things can be so fun! They have had their old bedding before AG was born so this is so fun for the girls...okay, me too!

Once we:

• paint the trim around the closet in the boys room
• paint the trim on T's bulletin board
• paint the rest of the trim in the dining room under the fireplace
  
• paint the trim in the family room
  

we can go get the paint for the girls room.

Once we can do all the above AND...
-get the garage straightened
-nicely arrange the lawn furniture piled on the patio
-put the Christmas things away

I will feel ALMOST moved in.

Happy New Year!

I saw the year displayed on our telephone: 2009 Plain as day! I guess seeing helps more for believing but Jesus said greater is he who believes and has not seen. I was aware a new year was coming but doubtless, it is here. I will write '08 on a few more checks before I get it down but it will come.

My list of resolutions is still being worked over but it is taking form. I added a few things I didn't manage to do last year (okay, OR the year before) and am prayerful about what God has for me this year. I want it to be His list for me to accomplish.

Growing

Saw the midwife yesterday and Baby sounds great and both of us have good growth. It is funny to me when I see someone I haven't seen in a week or so, they exclaim that I am getting bigger. This is the only time in a lady's life that she doesn't mind hearing that. lol I need to post a belly picture so that those who won't "run into me" here locally can see Baby!

Hearts At Home

This coming March is a "local" event aimed at stay-at-home mom's. This conference is a time to charge your batteries and regain focus on the main purpose for our existence...glorifying God. I am encouraged to glorify Him in my marriage, parenting and each aspect of my life as I sit through self-chosen classes that are geared toward the wonderful blessing of me being able to stay at home each day for and with my family! Check it out!

New Year Resolution Idea

Before asking yourself these questions, be certain that you belong to Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God. Then, if you are a Believer, are you daily reading the Word of God? If your answer to either is no, you might consider not asking the next two questions...you could be led astray!

1. What is God telling you to do?
2. What are you going to do about it?

Praise Service

God must be working on me...
tonight at church we had a Praise Service and we sang the song that the children sang two weeks ago:

Stop and think
Don't be so fast
If you want to be first, you must be last
It's upside-down and hard to do
But you must put others first before you
If you want to be great
If you want to be tall
You must be a servant to all
If you want to be great
If you want to be tall
You must be a servant to all

The world would have us believe that we are to be served but the King of Kings made Himself a little lower than the angels and came to earth as a man to serve! What an Example!

Merry Christmas

Today is the time our family spends celebrating the birth of Jesus! What if your family only remembered you one time each year? May every day be a celebration of the birth of the King!

Christmas Eve

Our church choir works for weeks on a cantata for the Christmas Eve service. This year was called Goodwill To Men and was presented tonight. Our second oldest son played one of the parts and brought laughter with his first line. He was right at home! He makes us laugh here as well!! Our oldest son and all three daughters are in the choir with me and DH keeps the pew warm with our two youngest children. Important job!!

Prior to the cantata, the children of the church did a presentation with music and recitation. It was done well and brought in parents of the children to watch their darlings.

Christmas Party

This morning was our homeschool group's Christmas party. We planned to have each family bring their own table service and finger foods to share. We had a GRAND surprise of the Green Family being with us again. They had moved away but her DH was able to come back on work-related business so "the family" was able to come with him. She was refreshing to my dry, weary spirit! How I miss you, Nicole!! It was sweet as well to meet again with all my Sisters and my soul was encouraged and blessed. We have so many, many families that truly live for Jesus and not just talk the talk. It was a cherished event for me and my heart is so full of fond memories of that gathering!

Thank you Lord for these ladies that You have joined together with a common bond: first, You and also home educating our children for Your glory!

Bitter Cold

This morning as we prepared to leave for church, my DH sent our oldest son to start the van for it to warm up before we got into it. It proceeded to start but spew antifreeze so we quickly moved to plan B. Okay, we didn't have a plan B until we needed one but we changed plans from the red van to the trucks. We all made it to church with a minute to spare. Today was Nursing Home Ministry after our morning church service. Our family headed to the Covered Bridge Restaurant to eat before we met to serve the residents at Hawthorne Inn. When we left the restaurant, one of the trucks didn't start. After working on the truck for as long as they could stand the bitter cold, we all loaded in the remaining two vehicles and headed for town. Leaving M's truck there, we were late but arrived safely at the nursing home. We elected to stay home from church due to the decline in the number of working vehicles we had in the cold, cold weather. M will just need to get his truck to the shop and DH will need to work on the red van when the weather warms up some.

Caroling

Our church family gathered together aboard the "church bus" last night and traveled around the local area to bring Christmas cheer to others through caroling...and gift baskets. After the rounds were made singing, we gathered at our new home for food and fellowship. We usually bring soups and finger foods and this year was no exception! It was wonderful! My children look forward to this time of year and so do I! We enjoy having others in our home and this was especially exciting since we are in a new home. We took a pause in the moving and decorated for Christmas. We had a wonderful time and have fond memories of another church family gathering!

We are so thankful during this time of cold, cold weather that we have a nice warm home in which to live and to be able to share it with others.

Christmas Card Pictures

What are your Christmas traditions? I try to keep my family focused on the Reason for the Season and our society works hard to distract them from the lessons. Jesus wasn't even born on December 25th so for us it is a season of celebration of the Birth of the King and not the big, jolly guy in the red suit. I want our season to be filled with family traditions that point us to the Babe in a manger long ago in Bethlehem who grew to be the God-Man that died upon the cross for the remission of sin upon Calvary. Whosoever will...

One of my individual favorite things to do at Christmas is send Christmas cards. Our nomadic life has led us and many, many others we have met along the way to various places. A great way to connect again is through the message of a Christmas card. I enjoy putting a scene together in my mind and gathering my family for a picture taking event to include in the card.

Side note: T was taking a picture on a cell phone of him and another person and he worked and worked until he got a good picture! I am sure our occasions of picture-taking have been a huge influence in his perseverence!

These episodes have taken place at such significant markers as the fireplace, outside in the snow, in front of the Christmas tree--time and again--and even the portrait studio. You get the idea. Then there is the attire we wear...no easy feat to match this growing family with Type A Personality Mom. But I enjoy the final outcome and my mind races for another Christmas picture scene.

I have given into the address label naming each child and their age in brightly colored ink stuck on the back of each picture. With a new baby in the spring, I am most certain I will resort to the portrait studio to let someone else take the picture next year!

I guess the snow has provided an opportunity for another outdoor event. Maybe sleds at Harrison Park this year. We shall see!

Romance!

This is a picture of a fantastic little secret! It is one of two cabins set in the middle of nowhere very near Crawfordsville, Indiana. The name of the business is Cabins and Candlelight and we highly recommend it! Get away and enjoy! Please tell them that the Munro's sent you!

UPWARD

We are into the basketball season. We have our first Munro basketball player on a team. (The two older boys played street ball and that counts in a different league for men!) He started the sport last year and went from No Clue to a pretty good little player. Of course, his mom would say that though, right? It really was fun to go watch him play. Did I mention the popcorn was $.25? lol I took him to most every practice and game last year as DH was still working swing shift. (A whole other story!) This year, God has blessed Daddy with the opportunity to take him to every practice since he was promoted this summer AND went to straight first shift. [Oh how I still thank the Lord for this huge blessing!] Anyway, I am so glad that his dad can invest this time in his young life and influence him greatly for the Kingdom of God! Deposit away!!!

Sunday Singers

Stop and think-don't be so fast.
If you want to be first, you must be last.
It's upside-down and hard to do but you must put others first before you.

If you want to be great
If you want to be tall
You must be a servant to all.

If you want to be great
If you want to be tall
You must be a servant to all.

Two of our daughters were part of the group of youngsters that sang this song for our congregation today. I was reminded yet again that God's design is not what my flesh longs for and that I have to take my every thought into obedience of Christ! Lord, help me serve!

The Cookie Exchange

Today I gathered with my wonderful mom, her beautiful sister, their brother's fantastic wife, one of their first cousins that I hadn't seen in so long and all but one of my first cousins. The "missing one" lives in northern Indiana so not adding her that would be three more -- if you are counting. We meet annually for a cookie exchange and this year was for Christmas! One of my cousins opened her home, sent her children with her husband and ordered MONICAL'S PIZZA just for the adults! WOW She even had two coupons that made it oh-so affordable for me to splurge on myself! Yummy!! We had such a fun time catching up with each other and laughing at antics only cousins would think were funny. We bring our annual cache of cookies and share them amongst ourselves. It has grown into fudge and peppermint bark as well! My girls beg for the latter. How I pray that this will continue as we make family memories together and grow traditions for our children that will honor the institution of family that God designed.

Christmas Caroling!

Many times throughout the year, we get together as homeschooling families to have special opportunites of service to others. Recently, several families gathered to rake leaves at the home of a homeschooling family that moved away but still own a home locally. Some gather to Walk for Life and some send cards to the military members overseas.

Today, several families met at a local nursing home to sing Christmas carols to the residents. They are so welcoming and enjoy the music. If they aren't sitting in the social hall before we begin, they hear the singing and it draws them to the room. It is so fun to see them singing along with us without songbooks or words except those written in their hearts.
My mom set time aside in her day to join us and play the piano for the carolers and we even had several young men sing God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen! They all did a super job! What a blessing the voices were to my heart and others. We even sang Happy Birthday to those with December birthdays for their cake and ice cream celebration.

It was also a sad day for me as one of my very special friends was spending their family's last day in town there caroling, too. I am so thankful to God for her in my life and I will miss her and her family very much! Being military for twenty years might make one think that I had gotten used to saying good-bye but I didn't. I miss her already!

We are going to plan for a spring reunion of singers to reach out to the widows and widowers with music for the celebration of the resurrection of our King! You are welcome to join us!

Food, Fun & Fellowship

Our pastor's wife opened their home after church decorating for a sweet time of fellowship, great food and a cookie exchange! We had soups, sandwiches, a yummy lettuce salad and cookies! We had a great devotion and I was so encouraged by it! It was a wonderful time together with many of the ladies from church.

One special friend granted me possession of her jingle-jangle bracelet and I love it! It reminds me of her...and I love her, too!!

Girlie Luncheon

My mom hosts an annual luncheon for the gals on my dad's side of the family. This year was a Christmas Luncheon! The menu was Loaded Baked Potato Soup topped with bacon, shredded cheese and oyster crackers, High Roller Sandwiches, Jell-O with applesauce mixed into it, juicy green grapes and for dessert, Red Velvet Cake.

My dad's sister (second from the end) attended with all three of her daughters...the three in the center. One is home on furlough from Thailand! One of my aunt's granddaughters was also able to attend but missed picture-taking time. My dad's brother's wife was able to be there (first) and so was my sister-in-law (at the end.) It was great fun, as always, to be with them and so I lined them up for a Female Family Photo. The Fantastic Cook is my mom...second from the front!

Gymnastics

We are watching our gymnast-born daughter learn how to put her God-given talent to use. She attends a gymnastics class with Fit 4 Fun in Covington. When this child was in the womb, she would wear me out. She tossed and turned and somehow never rested...or at least not for long. When we had ultrasound pictures taken of her, she had her leg clear over her head. I should have known. Once she was walking, she was all over. We found her dismounting off the furniture. I should have known. When she nursed, she climbed all over me. I would draw her back down to a comfortable position (apparently only for ME) in my arms for her to begin the process all over again. I should have known.

Thirteen

We have three teenagers in our home as of today! T is 19, E is 15 and R is 13 today! I wanted today to be so special for her since the typical Munro Family Big Birthday is usually done when they turn Double Digits. For her 10th birthday, my cousins' mom was killed in a tragic car accident so we were sharing in their grief along side them. With respect for them, we chose not to celebrate largely. The following year, she chose not to have a large party. The year after that she still didn't want to have a big party; I asked right after she turned 12 to see if she wanted to celebrate 13. She said yes. I have planned all year with several ideas and since we celebrate on the child's actual birthday, the ideas we had wouldn't work. The zoo was too cold and we weren't sure Moms would let their children travel that far with us if it was open, Holiday World was closed and the travel issue still, ice skating wouldn't accommodate our specific day, bowling was the same thing and I wasn't sure what else to do. I spoke with Sharon at Illini Skateland and she was INCREDIBLE! Call them!! I highly recommend them! Sharon was so wonderful with our family and she was excellent with the girls gathering together to celebrate God's gift of R to us.