old road motorcycle ride.

each year matt and i try to go on the old road motorcycle ride.

old road is the church i grew up going to as a child,

and each year someone organizes a ride that leaves after church,

and returns late afternoon or early evening.

wasn't sure if i could swing it this year,

with nursing karolina, who was 8 wks old yesterday...

but my parents graciously said they could watch ALL 5 kids...

which meant trying karolina with a bottle, if need be.
(we now know she is not crazy about a bottle...
but did fine.)

thanks mom and dad.

we had a great time.

it was a beautiful day for a motorcycle ride.



i have no idea where we were when we took this picture...

somewhere near elizabethtown i think?

try not to be alarmed.

i ~always~ wear a helmet...

but somewhere between me getting 5 kids up and ready for church

this morning...i forgot about a helmet... :(

solanco parade.

we usually go to the solanco parade.

just for fun.

but this year we got to walk with the beiler campbell trailer.

yee-haa.

the kids were very excited.

they did a great job.

kaden walked the whole time.

kaycee walked almost the whole time.

campbell walked most of the time, and then she bailed out with matt's mom.

and calli, well...she walked and rode, and walked and rode.

all the while tossing candy.

sorry if you didn't get any. we did run out towards the end. :(

i was a little disappointed we couldn't be "together".

matt and kaden were on one side, and the girls and i on the other.

(well...calli kept changing sides.)

but...he saw most of the people we knew...

and while i saw some, i am sure i missed a bunch,

i kept trying to make sure my babies weren't going to get run over. :)

this was waiting, and waiting, and waiting to get started.

and this was me and all our garb...

filling the time chatting. :)

wish i knew what she was telling me at the time...quite a face,

wouldn't ya say?



and. well. that's all i got for ya.

i am tired. and getting ready to host a Buckwalter dessert party

for my family that is "in" from out of town.

should be fun.

guess i should drink some caffeine. :)

happy weekending.

campbell's 1st day of preschool.

sigh. i can't believe it again.

you people are going to get sick of me saying that.

time just keeps flying by.

today was campbell's 1st day of preschool.

she couldn't have been more excited.

for real.

she said her teacher kept calling her kaycee.

love it.

(please excuse kaden's empty bb container on the chair...great background. :( )

it was a bit challenging to get out the door on time this morning.

got the 2 oldest delivered to school, and i got home again,

just in time to nurse little peanut, and head to preschool and bible study.

whew.

i was ready for some coffee by the time i blew in. :)

and it's not like i even slept in.

i just gotta keep moving to get out the door on time.

******************

and i was up until 11:30 pm last night folding laundry and

just cleaning up in general...putting toys where they *really* belong.

things like that.

and then i went to the basement this afternoon and found this.

this is what they were playing with *this morning* after breakfast,

but before heading off to school.

 (i love how they have little bunny tucked in first baby's arms.)

and this next picture, is the tornado of a desk i have to tackle

tomorrow.

it's scary. i know.

you should see the kids rooms right now.

eeekkkk.

*******************

and now...i am off to bed.

our family walked with the beiler campbell trailer tonight

at the solanco parade.

lots of fun.

ran out of candy. like 70 lbs of candy. gone.

our kids did well.

and we are b.e.a.t.

sleep well. :)

quote of the day.

"Karolina, don't cry. Jesus is with you."

~ Campbell. age 4.

shaken.

i am still listening to speakers reflect on 9/11.

i think back to where i was on that morning.

i was pushing a patient of mine back thru the hallways

of Ware Presbyterian Village.

a retirement home in Oxford, PA

 where i worked as a

Physical Therapist Assistant.

we walked thru the common area.

the t.v. was on.

and i saw a re-play of a plane flying into the world trade center.

i stopped.

and i listened.

in the middle of the hallway.

i heard the news anchor say that it was believed

 that this was a terroist attack.

stunned.

i shuddered.

we left early that day.

you know.

i believe that God sifts all things thru his fingers. all things.

sometimes i wonder why God allows things like this to happen.

but i listen to the stories.

i look at the pictures.

and well. i was shaken to tears when i visited

ground zero ~over~ a year ago.

my eyes filled with tears, watching images on the tv last night.

trying to explain to kaden, this little piece of history.

i cannot imagine.

the sheer terror. the nightmare of it all.

but i do know that God worked in a mighty way in that city.

he worked in a mighty way around the world

all. thru. that. event.

that horrific tragic taking of life.

i think of all the people who died.

but then i think of all the people who lived.

all the people who were saved.

saved from those buildings.

and saved spiritually. thru that attack.

i wonder. just wonder.

how many people God drew to his heart that day?

so. i continue to value life.

the sheer blessing it is to live. here.

to watch my kids.

even when they are fighting. and not sharing.

and don't put their cereal bowls in the sink.

or clean their rooms.

i don't know how God chose me to be so blessed.

to be a wife.

and mom to 5 healthy kids.

to be a daughter.

and sister.

and the list goes on and on.

 i really do try to be thankful for each day that i have.
and not take my life for granted.
hope you have a reflective day, filled with peace.

daniel study.

this is the Bible Study that just started at my church...

i find that if i am not intentional in participating in a study like this,

well...

i just don't get in the word, like hardly at all...on a daily basis.

we just had our first week,

and i am so excited...i am fired up ready to see how God is going to

use this material to impact my life and my family.

check it out.



(if you want to come,

it's not too late.

books are $15. we meet on wednesday mornings

at Maple Grove...and a huge part...

child care is provided.

yay!)

this is what got me from this past week:

we have an abundance of overindulgent choices...it's time we get extremely intentional and deliberate in making our choices.

• we are surrounded/living amidst a Babylon of our own...much more than some other cultures in the world.
• we are overwhelmed in a sea of self absorption. how do we know what's over the top and too much?
• we, too, will lose our identity and integrity without resolve. (resolve= to be puposed and determined in your heart)
• how can we live in the midst of "babylon" and not become corrupted and defiled by it? are we being carried away by it?
• few could resist Babylon's charms. few had a firm enough hold on reality not to fall for her pretense. our primary goal during part 1 of our series is to join daniel as individuals who can live in an extravagant, excessive culture without being poisoned by it. we're going to develop alarms for Babylon's charms...

and a challenge Beth Moore threw out to us all...is to deny ourselves something over the time of this study. her words, " do not make this a diet...
women will have a tendency to make this a diet, but that is not what i am after." ha.ha. :)
but...in my words, this just might come in handy, at a good time for me. :)

she encouraged us to not eat of the worlds table. to exercise a little restraint.

"i can, but i am not going too."

deny your flesh, and rebel against the worlds overindulgence.

so. that is what i am going to do.

i am not a fast and pray girl.

i have gotton out of the fasting part, because,

well, mainly, i have been pregnant or nursing for most of the past 8 years. :)

but it is time.

i am resolving in big, big way.

i am giving up desserts to fulfill this challenge.

i am a dessert kind of girl.

this is ~extremely~ hard.

i have given them up for, um, this is only my 2nd day,

and i have been tempted numerous times already.

and well...i am taking a meal to a friend tonight,

and what am i making for dessert?

what i have been ~craving~ for the past 2 days...

chocolate chip cookie whoopie pies.

i am writing this down so you can keep me accountable.

help me people. :)

more of a mommy letting go.

i have said this before,

and i will say it again...

one of my jobs as a mother, is not to hold so tightly onto my children,

but to let go.

i had to do that again this week.

i had a new experience.

i took calli, who will turn 3 next month,

 for a speech evalution,

 at the chester county intermediate unit.

the instructions for campbell and i, 

were to sit there and be quiet, to not help calli answer any questions. 

i think it was harder for campbell, but it was hard for me too...

not to "re-phrase" some questions,

to help her understand what they were asking her to do.

i realized this is what i have been doing.

i re-phrase things, or ask questions to her in different ways,

so she understands me.

i ask her to show me things, or point to things, if i cannot

understand her speech.

these things all being helpful for me, but not for her learning to speak.

these are all things i have done with my 3 prior children...

but i need to do things a little differently for calli.

it was a sad time of reflection for me to sit there and watch.

while calli is very advanced, on the 3 year old spectrum, in a lot of areas,

she is a little bit behind in her speech.

and it was so hard to see her "thinking"

trying to put together what this woman was asking her to do.

she really did great...

but did start to cry at the end, with 3 words to go.

my little heart broke.

my baby.

stressed out and overwhelmed. at 3.

ugh.

i learned she does not put "ing" on the ends of words.

and that she does not use plurals. at all.

these are things i could not tell you,

i just knew she was not speaking clearly.
was i too busy to notice?
i question...

it was hard because i sat there and thought about my time with her.

and realized again, that i can not do it all.

i cannot "be" it "all".

how can i?

i guess i did not read as much to calli, as i have to my other kids.

i do not sit down with her, and go over pictures in a book.

i have not specifically paid attention to her speech, until now,

and she's already behind.
and i question again...what am i busy with?
how can i make sure my children get what they need from me?

i am going to try to be more intentional
with helping her in this area,
(just as i was more intentional
with helping kaden learn to read last year...)

all this to say,

she will be getting speech therapy at the elementary school,

twice a week, come november.

so...i pray for her. and i pray for me. :)

that it wouldn't be overwhelming for her.

that she can still be a kid.

and play. and have fun.

and learn to talk more clearly. :)

thanks for hearing me get this out.

it's all a little overwhelming for me too. :)

now...to move onto this mess of a house.

i am a bit behind, on all in my life.

how does that happen so quickly?

:)

p.s. these songs are appropriate for my life right now...

but were chosen specifically for their "rain" theme...

how about this rain?

dear aunt nik...

this is for you aunt nik...

(our good missionary friend in the dominican)

karolina grace at 6 weeks old.

learning to coo and smile.

so very tolerant of the many pokes, prods, squeezes

and abundant hugs and kisses she gets daily...

 

happy labor day.

don't work too hard. :)

campout. an annual tradition?

because kaden's birthdy fell the day after karolina was born,

we didn't celebrate in our usual fashion this year.

i usually host "family" birthday parties thru their 6 th birthdays.

then, when they turn 7 years old, they can chose to have a friend over

to do something special with, or continue to have a family party.

kaden loves family.

he loves his cousins most of all,

so for both his 7th and 8th birthdays, he has continued
to chose a "family" party.

this  year, since we re-vamped our pond, he was wondering if we could have a

campout for is party.

absolutely.

so. this was the winning weekend.

not all could come, but we sure did have fun with those that did...
which included: mam-maw and pap-paw buckwalter (did not spend the night),
cousins: judah, noah and zion buckwalter,
uncle chris and cousin jaiden burkholder,
great uncle stanley and great aunt sue king,
emiley and gemma rodak (did not spend the night)
and friends james and donna graybill stopped in for some cake. :)

take a look.

these were taken as the campers were walking up for breakfast,

hence it looking a little bit deserted.

karolina, calli and i held down the fort up at the house.

that way we had breakfast ready for them at 8 a.m. :)

we had hot dogs and smores over the campfire fri. night,

along with root beer floats, and cake and ice cream.

and even some whoopie pies and watermelon.

millie getting instruction in fetching in the water.

she loves to swim.

it's kinda fun to play with her in the water.

canoeing.

happy birthday around the camp fire.

matt's uncle stanley and aunt sue came.

they had a mattress they slept on in the back of their truck.

had to get them on video.

they are a riot. a good, fun riot. :)

 

and we ended the time together with some baseball...

the crew.



couldn't find kaycee...
she decided she wanted to take a nap on the truck bed. :)
guess i need to do some cleaning up now...
what do ya think?

until next Labor Day weekend. :)

a gift.

friends from church had twins this week.

number 6 and 7 boys in their family.

i can't wait to meet them.

i made them onesies with their initials on, and a matching burp cloth...

just in case people can't tell them apart. :)

d is for darren.

j is for judd.



hope they like them. :)

so. then i had to make one for my little peanut too.
k for karolina...
isn't she growing?  :)

happy 37th babe...

happy 37 years birthday to my man.

the man who picked me.

don't know why? but i am sure glad he did. :)

(most of the time, anyway. :) )

(from motorcycle trip last summer, 2010)

won't be too special of a day, as we get 24,000 chickens today,

and more tomorrow, and well...we already have 24,000 here as of monday.

farming continues, as does life...

but maybe we can squeeze in some partying later tonight.

dinner, perhaps?

we'll see.

happy birthday matt.

love you.

xoxo. ~mk.