Happy birthday, Samuel Frederic!

Well, it’s already been a year!  It’s hard to believe.  Last year, we had all girls, and then with one moment, one announcement (“Monica, it’s a little boy!”) our world shifted from all pink to a little blue.  This last year has brought lots of changes to our family, but through it all our little man has remained mellow, content, happy, and easygoing.  He quickly gained a reputation for being “the best baby,” and–aside from getting kind of mean when he’s hungry–he still holds the title.  He’s content nearly all the time, finding ways to entertain himself if no one else is doing the job.  He gets praised everywhere we go, and he spreads joy to everyone he meets.  We’ve so far managed to protect him from too much “feminizing” from his sisters; his daddy is pretty firm that his boy will not wear pink or be dressed up.  He loves to explore now that he’s mobile (crawling, still refusing to walk) and I’ve had to rescue him from a few precarious positions–like from the top of the stepstool this morning as he was trying to pull the duster out of the vacuum cleaner.  His main fault is an unfortunate liking for dog food, and he gets dragged away from Elliot’s dish at least once a day.  He doesn’t talk much yet, just says “baa” which means various things at various times, and “bye-bye” comes out pretty clear.  But when he sees someone he likes, he grins from ear to ear and points to them, as if to say, “Hey, I know you!”  He is extremely ticklish, and loves to laugh at his sisters as well, so we find ourselves laughing at him laughing quite frequently.  We love him fiercely and the memory of our all-pink household fades a little more every day.  We have a boy now, and a fine boy he is.  Happy birthday, Samuel Frederic.  May God shed His grace upon you as you grow, and may you find His favor and grow into a strong, godly man.

Overheard at the Hall house

Just a few recent remarks from my remarkable children.  (Warning: some involve bodily functions.  Sorry for the gross-ness. It comes with having kids, you know.)

*  “I burped in the potty.”–Elisabeth.  She is really having trouble with potty terminology, and this is her current terminology for “number 2.”

*  “Mom, Elisabeth messied on the deck!”–Abigail.  Apparently Elisabeth said she needed to pee-pee while they were playing outside.  Abigail loves any chance to walk on the wild side by pottying outdoors, so she offered to help Bess “squat.”  Unfortunately, she neglected to move her off the deck onto the grass.  Also unfortunately, Elisabeth’s mixed-up potty vocabulary struck again–she didn’t need to just pee-pee.  And also unfortunately, it wasn’t nice and neat, but runny and yucky.  (Told you it would be gross.)  The good news:  they managed to keep from getting any on clothing.  The strange part:  Abigail waited until she had already re-dressed Elisabeth and gotten back on the swing to bother to shout the above-quoted phrase into the window to me.

*  “Mom, what are we doing?”–Catherine.  Bless her little heart, she uttered this question in a confused, sleepy voice as she awoke to find herself standing in the bathroom in front of the toilet while her mommy was stripping her clothes off of her and trying to put her in the shower at 3:30 am.  She had thrown up in her sleep and I was trying to talk to her and get her cleaned up, and she had no idea anything had even happened.  What a rude awakening, huh?

*  “Mommy, why you have a hiccup in your mouth?”  and “Mommy, stop talking like that!”–Elisabeth.  Trying to figure out this whole “Mommy’s lost her voice” thing.

* “Don’t wash my mouth.  Either my nose.  There’s ookies in there.  (pause, thinking) Why me take my ookies in the bathtub?”–Elisabeth.  I have no explanation for this one.

*  “Baa.”–Samuel.  This usually means ball, but can mean bite, or anything else because he says it constantly.

*  “Daddy, is it polite to take tiny sips of your drink, and then take big, deep breaths after you take a sip?”–Abigail.  Apparently she’s got good manner admonitions, and relaxtion exercises from Daddy’s art lessons all swirling around getting mixed up inside her head.

*  “Daddy, I did more work than Mommy!”–Catherine.  She was super excited to be the only kid in the grocery store with Mommy, where she got to push her own little cart and put Mommy-approved items in it all by herself.  She was especially thrilled that her cart had more items than mine did.

Why we’re not on WIC

We’re on the receiving end of probing questions nearly every time we go out in public.  “Are they all yours?”  “So you finally got your boy?”  “Are you done now?”  Most of the time the questions follow along those lines.  But every now and then, just a handful of times over the years, we get this one:  “Are you all on WIC?”  When I say no, I get an earful of how wonderful it would be for us if we would just go down to the office and sign up.  With our family size, we’d definitely qualify.  They would pay for so much of our grocery bill.  It’s designed for families like us.  Why would anyone turn down free food?

Well, we are not on WIC.  We will not be on WIC.  And I’m going to do my best to humbly explain why, using biblical reasons as well as political reasons.

Biblical reasons:

“Give us this day our daily bread.”  Who promises to provide for our daily bread?  Well, it depends on your income, apparently.  God promises this to everyone, and the government promises it to those under a certain income line.  We’ve decided to put our trust in God’s provision, not Washington’s.  Scripture is full of exhortations to trust God for our needs.  Some would argue that WIC is one way He provides.  I can’t speak for them, but that just doesn’t sit well on our consciences.  The Bible never speaks to governments providing food for their citizens.  It is implied and clearly spelled out that husbands, then extended families, then churches should provide for their own.

Just this week, after hearing this question again, I happened to find in my regular Bible reading these verses in 2 Thessalonians:  “For even when we were with you, we would give you this command:  If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat…we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good.”  (3:10-13)  So we see here that each man is to work to provide for his own family, to earn his own living.

But what about families who are working hard to provide, but there still doesn’t seem to be enough money to pay the bills?  We’ve been there, quite recently as well as farther back in the past.  It would seem that they have no other option but to turn to the government programs for help.  But again, Scripture doesn’t point us to the government in this situation.  We personally are blessed with families who graciously help us out when need arises.  Our parents have helped us with necessities like gas and groceries and car payments and clothing, as well as luxuries like toys and vacations and outings and treats.  There have been times of real financial need in our house, and our parents have been the first to step up and help us out, and this is as it should be, according to Scripture.  “But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”  (1 Timothy 5:8)  Families should help families.

Those in need should also be able to turn to the church.  The very first deacons were appointed for the specific purpose of distributing food to the widows.  The widows could not provide for themselves, and the church filled that role.  And in James, we are reminded that “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father, is this:  to visit orphans and widows in their affliction.”  Christians are to be about helping the poor.  Whether individually or through the church corporate, Christians are to be instruments of provision for those in need.  Just as we have been blessed by the generosity of those in our families, we have also been blessed by the gifts of those in our spiritual family.  The one memory that we cling to in times when we’re tempted to worry about our finances or lack thereof is a day in January 2008.  We were in about the worst shape financially that we had ever seen, a result of unemployment and underemployment, and had gone several months putting basics on credit cards, showing a lack of faith in God to provide any other way.  We had finally been convicted of the lack of wisdom of this habit, and had committed to put the credit cards away.  A week or two into this commitment, we had paid bills, but had cleaned out the pantry and the refrigerator and had no money  left for groceries.  We finished the last hodge-podge meal one Saturday for lunch, knowing there was nothing left to eat for supper.  We prayed with our girls before we ate that lunch, asking God to give us supper.  Around 2:00, the mail came, bringing us a large check from a couple in our home church.  The note said they just figured we could use the money.  Let me tell you, there was weeping for joy in our house that afternoon.  God used His church to provide for His children.  And from that day on, we finished out the year putting not a dime on credit card and He provided every single month.  Christians should be looking out for ways to provide for those in need.  God provides through His church.

Unfortunately, because of the abundance of government programs out there, the church has gotten lazy in this responsibility of providing for the poor.  There are many struggling families trying to live with this kind of trust, and no Christian brother is stepping up to provide for that need.  This is a sad spiral:  because of the programs, the church isn’t providing, and because the church isn’t providing, struggling Christian families are turning to the government programs.  Maybe it started with the laziness of the church.  Either way, the church is seriously falling down on the job.

So, we will trust God to provide for our family.  He may use Clay’s income.  He may use gifts from our parents.  He may use unexpected checks in the mail from other generous relatives or church members.  But we will trust Him to use the avenues He has dictated in Scripture, and we won’t be joining the queue at the WIC office each month.

Political reasons:

Basically, the system is completely messed up.  Honestly, just the fact that Clay earns a living wage and we would still qualify shows that the system is messed up.  Yeah, things are tight at the Hall house.  But that’s not because Clay doesn’t earn enough to provide for our current needs.  It’s because we were so foolish financially in the past that we are still paying for past luxuries along with our current needs, and it wouldn’t be right for us to ask the government to bail us out of that.  Once our credit card bills are paid off (and praise God, we’re paying them off and not adding them up)  his income will be more than sufficient for our daily bread.  No, we won’t have a lot of extras, like beach vacations every year or name brand clothes (unless Nanny goes on a shopping spree ) or extravagant Christmas presents every year.  But we will have a roof and clean clothes and full bellies, and even money left over each month for some wants.

If the government is going to provide for the poor, they should provide for the poor.  We are not poor.  We can afford our own groceries.  There are families out there that would not have groceries if they did not have WIC.  They may not all have families and churches to fill the gap.  Those are the people the government should be helping, if the government is going to try to help the poor.  But there are so many families on WIC who could pay for their own groceries.  Being on WIC enables them to spend that money on luxuries instead, things that they don’t need, things that they could survive and be happy without.  If we were on WIC, we could pay our credit card debt off faster and then have lots more extra cash each month.  With six people, our grocery bill is pretty high, and yeah, it would be nice to have some of that knocked off every month.  Sometimes I really struggle with envy of people who have most of that bill taken care of through WIC and are able to then spend much more on their kids’ (or their own) wants and activities than we are.

But here’s the thing:  it goes completely against our politics.  I don’t agree one bit with Obama’s spreading the wealth, taxing the rich to give more money to the “poor.”  I don’t agree one bit with the fact that my family qualifies as poor.  I don’t agree with big government, I don’t agree with government handing out money right and left to families who could get along without it.  I don’t agree with running down to sign up to take taxpayer money for milk so that we can save more money for vacations or college.  When a family can be on WIC and still have money to spend a week on a cruise ship or pay for name brand clothes for their kids or have their kids in multiple extracurricular activities, there is something wrong.  I could not speak out against Obama’s socialist-leaning fiscal policies if my family were on WIC.  That would be completely inconsistent.

So, there it is.  No, we’re not on WIC.  Yes, I know we could get lots of free food for our big family.  But we will continue whipping out our debit card at the grocery store.  We will continue saying no to lots of extras that our kids beg for, because we pay for all our own groceries.  And we will continue to be consistent and true to our own convictions.  And please let me emphasize our gratitude for our parents and other family and friends who have administered God’s provision to us:  we never want you to feel like we take you for granted or expect that generosity from you as a given.  We can never thank you enough for what you’ve done for us.  Our kids, especially, have known luxuries through your generosity that they never would have known on our paycheck alone.  Most of our financial difficulties have been a direct or indirect result of our own lack of wisdom, and you have never held that against us.  We do not receive your gifts lightly, but are burdened with humility and gratefulness with everything you do for us, and I know we don’t express that enough.  We are confident that God will reward you richly for being faithful to His admonitions to provide faithfully for those in need, and while we can never repay you for what you have given to us, we promise to be faithful to provide for others we see in similar situations, as God gives us the freedom to do so.  Now your generosity will multiply as we share with others.  Thank you for obeying Scripture and doing your part to keep us out of the WIC office.

Homeschool, ‘09-’10

School started at the Hall house today!!  I am so relieved to be back on a routine again.  I function so much better that way.  Summer’s nice for awhile, but I need structure or everything just falls apart.  The girls, Catherine especially, were so excited to start school.  Elisabeth was excited for school to start so she could play with her new toys we bought to entertain her, since we now do school in the  mornings while she’s awake, as well as in the afternoons during naptime.  So what are we doing this year?  Glad you asked.  Here’s a brief look at our plans for the year:

Catherine, Preschool

Catherine is doing the same things Abigail did her first year, so this is my first time to repeat a year.  She’s doing Bible, Phonics, and “Literature”.  For Bible we’re reading through the Child’s Story Bible and coloring the pictures of the Bible Story Timeline, which will actually take us two years to finish.  She’s also doing something different from Abigail’s preschool year, by sitting in on Abigail’s Bible lesson.  We’re going through John MacArthur’s A Faith to Grow On, which is actually a little simple for Abigail and easy for Catherine to follow.  We’ll finish that one in a few months, and finish out the year with Sinclair Ferguson’s Big Book of Questions and Answers, and Big Book of Questions and Answers about Jesus.  We’ll also work on her Scripture memory for Kids 4 Truth, her Wednesday night class at church, as our school Scripture memory plan.

In Phonics, we’re doing the kindergarten level of the Phonics Museum by Veritas Press.  Catherine isn’t quite up to where Abigail was when we started school, but this is such a thorough program that I’m confident she’ll have no problems keeping up, even doing it a year ahead.  The Phonics Museum is an excellent program that spans two years; the first year focusing on learning all the letters and just a few blends at the end of the year, and the second year learning all those special phonics rules that make the English language so complicated. 

For “Literature”, using the term loosely, we doing Evan Moor’s Literature Pockets.  We’ve started with Nursery Rhymes, and will do both volumes of Folk Tales/Fairytales by the end of the year.  The Literature Pockets introduce a piece of literature, like a nursery rhyme, and then has about a week’s worth of crafts and activities to go along with it.  They’re very fun for the kids to do, honestly, that’s the main reason we’re doing them.

Catherine’s part of the school day will take 45 minutes to an hour, and we’re doing hers in the morning so that 1) Abigail can entertain Elisabeth, and 2) Catherine will be free to nap in the afternoons since she still needs one most days.

Abigail, First Grade

Here’s the part that really feels like we’re finally doing school for real.  Abigail is tackling Bible, Math, Literature, Grammar, Spelling, and Geography this year.  We have tests, grades, folders, paper, and all that fun stuff.  We’re in the big leagues now!

For Bible, she’s doing the MacArthur and Ferguson books I mentioned above, and she will also be working on her Kids 4 Truth verses.

In Math, we’re doing Saxon Math, Grade 2.  Veritas Press uses Saxon Math, and they recommend going a year ahead, and we’re very glad we’ve followed that recommendation.  I think it would have been way too easy for her had we just started Grade 1 this year.  The first few weeks are review, as is the case for every math class I ever had, then we’ll forge on ahead, going as far as multiplication and some division this year.  Her facts worksheets this year will be timed as well, seeing how many facts she can solve in one minute.  There are lots of fun activities as well, but the cornerstone of this great program is the repetition and drill of the math facts, which is so necessary and beneficial at this age.

For Literature we’re following the scripted lesson plans available from Veritas, reading the books they recommend and using their curriculum guides.  We’re doing second grade literature–we’ve been working a year ahead in reading simply because she is such a good reader.  She’s starting the year off with The Boxcar Children, and will read such classics as Little House on the Prairie, Pinnocchio, and Encyclopedia Brown this year.  Each book has comprehension guides and activities to go along with them.

For Grammar, we’re using Shurley English curriculum.  She’ll learn jingles to help her memorize and master parts of speech and sentence structure.  She has a workbook and practice book with activities, assignments, and tests.  This is the one that prompted Clay to say, “Wow.  That’s a real textbook.  We’re really doing school now.”  She’ll use Shurley English throughout the grade school years.

In spelling, we actually deviated from the main recommendations of Veritas, using their “second-place” recommendation instead of the “first-place” one.  Their first spelling recommendation was a program that was all on cd’s for her to listen to, and we’ve committed to stay away from audio/visual driven curriculums as long as possible, so we went for the number two recommendation in Veritas’ catalog, which was the spelling curriculum published by Logos Press, another favorite of ours.  It’s very basic, very similar to the way I was taught spelling:  a word list on Monday, worksheets and activities using those words throughout the week, pretest on Thursday, and test on Friday, unless you aced Thursday’s.  Very straightforward.

Finally, for Geography, we’re using Veritas’ own curriculum, a book and workbook called Legends and Leagues.  It’s a storybook about a man and his escapades, as he receives geographical advice and wisdom from two helpers.  It teaches concepts like reading maps, compasses, and directions, with an activity every week to reinforce these concepts.  We’re also learning states and capitals simply by learning the songs on the States and Capitals Songs cd, by Audio Memory Publishing, and geography around the world from the Geography Songs, Sing Around the World cd from the same publishers.  She’ll learn the songs and color in the giant US and world maps that are now hanging in my hallway.

Abigail’s schoolday will consist of Bible in the morning, then reading her chapter and playing with Elisabeth while Catherine does school, then doing Math.  During afternoon naptime she’ll do her spelling, literature and grammar, with geography activities three days a week.  On Friday she won’t have math or grammar, but she and Catherine will do art with their daddy, which he’s really excited about.

So there is our plan.  I really hope that this year is not as interrupted as last year was, but who knows what the Lord may have in mind.  I just make the plans the best I can, and He brings His plan to fruition.  Lord, pour out your grace on our school year.  May my children learn to love you with all their mind.

Vacation memories

We began our vacation by sending the girls to Somerset with Nanny and Papa, and hanging out with the students and their parents (and Eric and Kelly and Austin) at Camp Loucon in Leitchfield for our Purity Retreat. We had an excellent weekend there, then headed to Somerset Sunday night. Our time in and around Somerset included a trip to Cumberland Falls; a massive family photo shoot; birthday parties for Samuel; visiting the farm, visiting with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins; hiking and swimming at Laurel Lake’s Holly Bay. We headed out on Thursday, stopping first in Lexington for an afternoon at the Explorium. On to Louisville for dinner at Chuck E. Cheese, and staying with Mrs. Linda, a friend from Beechmont. Friday saw us at the zoo, then meeting other Beechmont friends for a picnic at Iroquois Park. Saturday sent us to Six Flags, where we had an absolutely wonderful day courtesy of Linda. Met Nanny and Papa in Bowling Green to get Elliot and headed home that night. We crammed lots of things into our week, but we had such a great time. It was exactly what we needed!

Some memories that stand out:

* Watching ‘fraidy cats triumph over their fears on the zipline at the purity retreat

* Seeing Chelsey’s face when she realized what the topic was for the weekend

* Seeing parents who cared enough about their kids to spend a weekend talking with them

* Playing spoons until 1:00 am.

* Abigail at Cumberland Falls: “I thought you said it would be big.”

* Abigail at Cumberland Falls: “The waterfall looks like caramel.”

* Getting 31 people from four generations all together in one place at one time for family pictures.

* Watching Samuel enjoy his first birthday cake

* Getting to eat the fish Clay caught and filleted at Grandma and Grandpa’s.

* Riding the Gator to see the animals

* Watching Samuel enjoy his second first birthday cake with Grandmama, Poppaw, Ken, and Stephanie

* Watching Clay drive off to park the van (which had the diapers and wipes in it) at the end of the hiking trail, then hearing Elisabeth say, “I messied in my diaper.” Then hearing the lady in the office say they didn’t have a bathroom.

* Bringing up the rear of the hike with Elisabeth, who took her sweet time eating her raisins while she was walking. Hearing her say at one point, “Where my sissuhs go?” because we were so far behind.

* Watching their excitement at something small like climbing the rocks to the picnic area instead of taking the steps.

* Getting from the parking lot to the beach with two grownups, four children, four floats, three pairs of arm floats, six towels, one quilt, and one beach bag.

* Watching Samuel “walk” around in the shallow water

* Listening to Abigail acting out and singing “She waded in the water and she got her ankles wet.”

* Hearing Elisabeth yell, “Mom, watch this!” and then running full speed into the water.

* The excitement when they realized there were fish and ducks swimming with us, and the slight awkwardness when they wanted to know why the fish always followed close behind the ducks.

* Watching Abigail swim straight out to the rope with no hesitation.

* The sweet quiet in the van on the way home from the beach.

* Dinner at Bob Evans with Nanny and Papa, Aunt Gertie and Savannah, and Eric and Kelly, and Catherine saying on the way out, “Mom, who paid the money for that food ’cause I need to say thank you?”

* Actually leaving at our desired time to head to Lexington

* Lunch at Culvers. Reese’s Cup Sundae. Need I say more?

* Elisabeth loving the water tables at the Explorium.

* Samuel loving the trains at the Explorium.

* Abigail loving the map at the Explorium.

* Catherine loving everything at the Explorium.

* Mommy not loving chaperoning about eight trips to the potty at the Explorium.

* Leaving at our desired time to head to Louisville, and enjoying the sleepy van on the way.

* Elisabeth finally arriving at Chuck E. Cheese–her mind couldn’t grasp the abstract-ness of “not until vacation” and then “not until we get to Louisville”, and she had been saying “But you thought you was going to Chuck E. Cheese!” every time we pulled up to a restaurant for about two months. She was very happy to finally get there.

* Dividing up their tokens, seeing their pride at putting them in their pockets, then watching them share with each other when they ran out.

* Helping the poor kid pick up the fifty billion tokens he poured down the slide, then getting rewarded by his mom with their pick of some of said tokens.

* Having enough left on the gift card to buy the girls each a Chuck E. Cheese lunch box and Samuel a Chuck E. Cheese ball.

* Their enormous pride in aforementioned lunch boxes.

* Finding Samuel an incredibly stylin’ birthday outfit at Babies R Us, which rates right up there with Target in my book

* The wonderful kindness of Linda, our Louisville hostess, in making our stay and our zoo/Six Flags trips absolutely awesome.

* Clay’s bird that he just loved in the Islands exhibit at the zoo.

* The horrible geese (awful, nasty creatures) that tormented us while we were eating lunch. I was extremely proud of my hubby for kicking one over, even if the other diners were appalled.

* Hitting four geese in the head as I threw food to the ones who stayed in the pond where they were supposed to be.

* Seeing the sheer delight our girls had at getting soaked in their clothes at the splash park in the zoo.

* Taking a break for a snack, asking them their favorite so far, and hearing Elisabeth say the elephants when we hadn’t even seen the elephants yet.

* The fun of walking through the mist-ers.

* Going back to Linda’s, changing into dry clothes, and going to Iroquois Park to get soaked again in the splash park there.

* Hanging out with Louisville friends, just like old times.

* Being attacked by bees the whole time we were eating.

* Seeing Catherine’s face, just giddy at the fun of running through the water fully dressed for the second time that day.

* Hearing Samuel crack up laughing as soon as I started pushing him on the swing.

* Watching Elisabeth’s wet denim shorts get heavier and heavier until they finally fell off, watching her run around trying to hold them up while she played, then watching her run around in a shirt and diaper when I finally relieved her of her shorts.

* Heading to Six Flags, the part of the trip I had been talking up for weeks.

* Riding the water coaster, just me and Abigail. She was nervous, but liked it enough to volunteer to take Daddy for a turn on it with her.

* Floating down the lazy river with Catherine

* Playing in the wave pool with Catherine and Elisabeth while Daddy and Abigail rode the water coaster–they loved it until the waves came and then I’ve never seen a little kid run through water so fast to get out of those waves!

* Meeting up with TN cousins for lunch; they just happened to be there the same day

* Understanding from the map that we could all ride Blizzard River, and waiting in line close to an hour, only to have Elisabeth turned away at the front of the line, then seeing her crying as Clay carried her away. I was close to begging them to let her ride, and almost cried myself.

* Hearing Abigail laughing and laughing as she got soaked on the ride.

* Having a bucket of water dumped on my head as part of the audience for the Warner Brothers Kids’ Club show.

* Abigail and Catherine getting chosen to go on stage and participate. Abigail coming back wailing because she was wet and cold, and Catherine coming back laughing for the same reasons.

* Standing in line for the Ferris Wheel, and hearing Elisabeth say tiredly, “Mommy, please don’t let it leave without me.” Seeing her smile when she got to get on.

* The rest that the Ferris Wheel ride gave us

* Riding the Tin Lizzies with Abigail, who refused to steer because she thought it was fun to let it bang into the track.

* Finally getting their treats: cotton candy and Dippin’ Dots.

* Elisabeth saying her favorite part of the day was the cotton candy.

* Taking the long way home to get Elliot in Bowling Green, and no one falling asleep for the first 2 1/2 hours.

* Coming home to a clean, cool house, thanks to my frenzied cleaning before we left and Mark’s kindness in turning our air conditioner on.

* Being greeted by Lucy, who was going crazy at having people in the house again. She didn’t stop meowing and snuggling us until the wee hours of the morning, which was very annoying for us tired people, but sweet in her own way.

We had the best time. It was everything we ever wanted it to be, and that is in large part thanks to our parents, and Linda. Thank you all for helping us to have such a great vacation!!