Leaves

Can I just do a random thoughts post tonight??

Have you ever felt so in-demand, so needed, so pulled from every direction, yet so alone, so insignificant, so small and unheard?

Tonight I've put words to my feelings.  While feeding Lucie, I suddenly just knew how I have been feeling.  I haven't been able to articulate the feelings swirling around in my heart.....but here it is for you to see.

To have words for what is going on in the depths of my "reins" as the Bible calls the deepest parts of us, made me cry! I suddenly found tears coursing down my cheeks.  Ever have that happen, for seemingly no reason?

Do you ever feel the sameness of your days? Do you ever feel old because of the day-in-day-outness of your days?

Today I feel spread paper thin, alone, yelling at the top of my voice yet nobody hears me.  Today I feel like a dry maple leaf, just fallen off a tree in the Fall, scuttling loudly along in the wind, only to get crunched underfoot by an unsuspecting passerby.

Heavy thoughts, I know.

And yet......

And yet.....

That still small Voice......that quiet whisper......I can still hear it.

And it's the only thing that keeps me sane.  I don't have to understand myself, because He does.

Happiness

Ha!!!

I said I'd be back the next day, didn't I??? I guess I wasn't, but here I am!

I titled this post "Happiness" for a number of reasons.......

I'm happy when I walk into my house and see the things we have been blessed with...

I'm happy when I hear the phone ring and pick it up to hear my husband's voice on the other end.

I'm happy that God has blessed me with health.

I'm happy that my firstborn child was a son to carry on the noble and proud Gilchrist name.

I'm happy when I think about my true friends.

I'm happy when I taste delicious food.

I'm happy when I see the gorgeous pictures of my kids.

I'm happy that my mom and I have a great relationship after some years of struggle and angst.

I'm happy that I grasped the hope of Heaven.

I'm happy that my babies that are there never knew any pain and get to sit at the feet of Jesus all day.

I'm happy that Lucie is sitting right beside me gnawing on her fist and smiling at me.

I'm happy to listen to my husband's music floating on the air in our home daily.

I'm happy for the smell of the gigantic bouquet of lilacs that we got from dear friends.

All of these things make me happy, joyful really. I could go on and on, but I want to ask you:

What are you most happy for?

Hello, everyone!


I just popped in to let you all know that I'm thinking about returning full time to the blog-0-sphere, but not tonight. Tonight I have several things I have GOT to get done, such as:

• Do dishes, clean kitchen, so that I can.....
• make and freeze breakfast burritos (easy-squeezy) for Dave's breakfasts
• surf Amazon and see if they have some stuff we need in bulk
• make my bottled salsa better by embellishment
• make Thank You cards for people who blessed us with gifts after Lucie was born, which I have been procrastinating about for 3 months!

I'm sure there will be a dozen more things to do before bed, but I'll be back tomorrow, so hang in there! I've got tons of post topics brewing in my head, so stay tuned!

Until tomorrow....

Au Revoir, mes amies!

Hi again, all two of you who still read my blog!!

This is Lucie, my booger woman, at three months old. The top pic was created by Emily, and I want all of you to go over to her blog and tell her how much you love her work and how talented she is, because you can't help but realize that already if you have eyes in your head! I'm so privileged to call Emily my friend, and I'm exceedingly, abundantly blessed to have children that people want to photograph. I have so much to be thankful for, and believe me, I am, in the most intense, deepest way possible. Thank You, my Father, for the loan of this family!

It's a beautiful day here in Washington! The sky is robin's egg blue, the grass is vibrantly green, and the sun is warmly shining on our faces as we play outside. The sunshine is such a welcome friend after being so fickle for so long this spring. My kids are really enjoying themselves outside today while I do some stuff inside. The front door is open, so I can see outside and the sparkling air really feels like a cool, sweet drink of water to my parched soul.

One of my biggest struggles is consistency, in anything, but most of all, in schooling the kids every day. I know this is my struggle, and I have set out to remedy it. I've asked God to help me, and I've put my mind and my strength to "doing school" every day. Today I got online on Dave's computer and googled worksheets that I can print out for each of the girls' grade levels. Boy, did my search yield a veritable gold mine of goodies! So I printed each of the four older girls out a packet. One of my favorite sites I found was SchoolFamily.com. I couldn't make copies fast enough! Of course, that was just one of several sites I found, and I had to limit myself so that the trusty copy machine didn't run out of ink!!! But I'm so proud of myself for "doing school" today, with worksheets and the whole bit! We've even had recess, and my kids are so much happier when we stick to a good, tight schedule. That makes me happy too, and Dave will be so proud of me when he gets home and sees what we have accomplished today!

I also made banana butterscotch muffins this morning. I've been using the same recipe for years, and it never fails. Maybe some day I'll give it to you two readers!!

I've been feeling impressed with helping my girls to excel in the arts of homemaking, including sewing, knitting, crocheting, baking, and pie making. So, the other day I went online to Youtube and looked up Paula Deen (one of our faves), and I found her helping a gal, step by step, to make an apple pie. I watched it first, then had my Hannah (almost 12) watch it next and, without any help at all from me, she proceeded to make her very-most-firstest apple pie ever!! I didn't tell Dave I was going to do that, and we just made it a part of her school day, and he was so excited when he got home and saw it, complete with lattice top and all! The family had it for dessert that night, and even the ones who don't usually like pie ate it up and declared it scrumptious. Of course, we had to share it with Hannah's Grandma, who is a pie expert, and she said she couldn't have done it better. Hannah was super proud and the lesson went really far to boost her confidence level!

As for Lucie, well, she's having a fussy day today. Her schedule is all wonky, and you know how tiny babies get when their schedule wonks out! She will celebrate three months on Sunday, and she's already sitting herself up and she sleeps from 10:30 pm to 4 am almost every single night!! Can I hear a big cheer for Lucie??!!

I'll finish out this post by asking you guys to go over to Dave's facebook and look at all the absolutely gorgeous pics that Emily took of our kids. Gorgeous isn't even the right or adequate word for her work with my kids. In fact, I don't think there's a word in the English language to describe her work. Go on over and look, then go on over to her site and leave her an encouraging comment, would ya??

Have a great day!!

Surprise!

It's me!

I've decided to update my blog, wow, big time neat, huh??

It's true that I haven't updated my blog in 7 months. That's a loooong time!

Let me tell you what I've been doing the past over-half-a-year:

I've actually still been reading all of my favorite blogs.

Kinda weird, huh? I said I was going to step away from the blog-o-sphere.....but I didn't. I think I lied! I have a love-hate relationship with the blog world. Sometimes I love reading your blogs, but most times, I feel surprisingly, oh, guilty...or maybe sort of well, voyeuristic, or maybe like I'm just not using my time wisely...or like, why do I feel like I need to read about other people's lives?

Yeah, I haven't figured that one out yet.....

But I have struck a balance, in that I have really trimmed down the list of blogs on my bookmarks, and I only spend about an hour on the computer now-a-days.

Good for me!!

In a nutshell, the past half-a-year, I've cooked a baby girl to yummy, soft, glorious perfection......

I've gotten a new washer-and-dryer......

I've cut my grocery bill almost in half each month, thanks to Gayle's grocery blog......

I've lost about 35 lbs in the past two months, thank God for nursing......now I only have about 35 more pounds to lose, wow!!

I've started a new homeschooling schedule and routine......

I've seen my son mature and watched him walk closer and closer to turning 14 in a mere 20 days......

Whew! I'm exhausted!

By the way, you can read about Lucie and her birth story on my husband's facebook account......or you can wait, and wait, and wait until I decide to post it on here.

She's 9 weeks old today, and believe me when I say she's the most perfect, most delicious, most gorgeous, most wonderful, most cuddly baby ever known.

She's sleeping on Daddy's chest right now, and her teensie feet are bare and sticking out, and Daddy's hand is resting on her back, oh, it's pure bliss to watch them.

Who ever thought I could love my seventh child as much as my first, or my third, or my fifth?? It's a miracle and a marvel to me, every day, to have that much love to go around, for all seven of my treasures......

I've learned a lot the last 6 months. Some of that learning has been great and fun, but most of it has been well, downright tough and ugly and hard stuff.

So now, I am going to take my baby and go into my bed, where I should be anyway, and nurse her and I to sleep.

That's what life is all about, and that's what makes my world go around.

Talk to you all soon!

Drum Roll........

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!!!!

Thank You!

Wow.

I appreciate all of your supportive comments on my decision to leave the bloggy world behind.

I want to respond to those comments in one post here.

After talking with my dear, wise counselors that I trust and venerate, I have decided to step away from my blog for a non-specified time period.

I realized that I didn't want to lose the things I've written on my blog. I couldn't just delete all of the things that I've written here.....that would be like deleting my heart!

So, for all of you who have been wondering about me since I made my decision, there it is.

I will be keeping in touch with all of you who want to through email. I already have the following email:

Marsha
Chickadee
Angel
Emily
Gayle Westie
Gayle B
Duckygirl
Heather
Christine
and hmmmm.....

If there's any other gals out there who have read my blog in the past or present and would like to still keep in touch, please feel free to email me through my profile page.

I can tell you that in the week that I have made this decision, I feel so free and that I have so much more constructive time on my hands.....

I'll be back.......