The Merry Band of Fife

Friday, February 8, 2013

Bed Sharing

When I started my parenting journey, I was adamantly opposed to kids sharing bedrooms. That changed rather quickly as it become obvious that our children were going to outnumber our bedrooms. And bedroom-sharing is still pretty common, so people generally don't look at you like you're crazy. But we've ventured into brand-new territory this year - bed-sharing. Elle's crib canopy broke in January so we knew it was time to take it down and move her into a big girl bed. We'd planned, originally, on buying a small twin bed to add to the room, but looking at Cecily in her huge full bed (we have full size bunk beds - Allegra's on the top bunk), it just seemed silly to cram another bed in there and take away the generous floor space they have to play dolls and Build-A-Bears. So, Cecily and Elinor bed-share. I don't know how long it will last, but it's pretty darn cute right now. They have very particular sides of the bed and there's an invisible but clear dividing that the other girl's blankets and toys must not cross. I hope this works out well for a few years, because they are just so sweet!

I had to include this picture because it makes me smile. In Sunday School one day Cecily made a puppet (paper on a popsicle stick) of David and decided that she LOVED him. She took care of him for several days, and this particular night she wanted him to sleep by her, so she tipped over her hamper, but him on the bed that goes in her dollhouse, layed him under the blanket and put her shoe on top of the blanket to make sure he didn't fall out. It's little things like these that I want to remember a decade from now...

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Modest Mon...Oh Shoot, it's Thursday

E for Effort, please! It's been a busy week, with working out our monthly budget, realizing that said budget requires me to double my efforts at listing stuff for sale in my ebay store, celebrating my firstborn son's 9th birthday, and dealing with emergency pet surgery. So, this post will come a little late, but que sera.

Sunday Best
Head Covering: Mocha Stretch Lace by Garlands of Grace ($18)
Ivory Burnout Floral Cross Front Top: Coldwater Creek (free from Mom)
Tan Tank with Beaded Lace Neckline: Croft & Barrow (free from Mom)
Tiered Chiffon & Velvet Boho Skirt: Coldwater Creek (free from Mom)
White Leggings: from Walmart (about $8)
Brown Tall Leather Boots: from ebay ($28 - for brand new, genuine leather, I'm not kidding)

I don't wear bracelets often, but this seemed the perfect occasion as the neckline of my tops were so fussy. This beaded bracelet was store-bought (most of my jewelry is handmade - it was a perk of having a jewelry designer in the family) in shades of browns, so it went with the skirt perfectly. It was a hand-me-down from my Gramma.

Reading List 2013

I love to read. It's probably my favorite thing to do (can I trade reading for running? (((sigh))) not seriously, but I do wish that activities that stimulate the mind were as culturally lauded as straight-up physical activity). My reading has been cut down drastically in this season of my life, but when considering what to do with a stolen moment of peace and quiet reading still tops the list. I inherited that love from my mother, who was a voracious reader as well. As money was tight here, she would often mail me boxes of books or pack them into her suitcases when she flew out for a visit. Those were packages of joy and delight! I brought the rest of her books (and her bookshelves) home with me last summer and have three large boxes stuffed full of books awaiting my reading pleasure - it's like Christmas waiting in the garage year-round! I've never really kept track of the books I read, until last year. An author (like a real, honest-to-goodness, published one) who is a member of our church organized a Million Page reading challenge for our church in 2012. We had to record the books we read and turn them in. I kept up as much as I could, and turned the sheets in to be counted, but I didn't actually keep track of my reading list myself. I've decided that I'm going to do that in 2013. It's almost like a runner keeping track of her miles. I think reading is an exceptional habit to develop. I'm proud of my reading and my devotion to brain fitness (okay, some of the books would apply as that more than others, I'll admit LOL). It'll be fun to update the list and see how many titles I've accumulated by the end of the year.

This first list will be of multiple books, since I've completed several already - here goes:

1. Gideon's Call ~ Peter Leavell (this is the one by the author at our church - I've had it for months, but it took me a while to get to it)

2. The Merchant's Daughter - Melanie Dickerson (I won this signed copy by having my name drawn as a result of our Million Page church reading challenge)

3. Twelve Extraordinary Women - John MacArthur (I also try to pick up the doorbuster books at my local Christian store whenever the budget allows and this was one of them)

4. The Magician's Assistant - Ann Patchett (I loved Bel Canto by the same author and try to make it a point to read her books, if I come across one, although this one was just okay, in my opinion)

So, I guess I'm at four books down thus far. I'll keep adding to the list as I finish, and I'd love to hear suggestions of your favorite books. I'm an equal-opportunity reader. I'll read just about anything-except for the 30 Shades books (((shudder))).

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Faith Like a Child

We're reading through Matthew right now as a part of our Bible Reading Challenge, and earlier in the week we hit Matthew 17 and especially Jesus' words in verses 20-21 struck us:

He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth,
if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain,
'Move from here to there' and it will move.
Nothing will be impossible for you."

We discussed what that meant, and what an indictment it was of the strength of our faith and how positively insidious and destructive doubt can be. But all of our deep, adult discussions meant nothing, we realized that night, as our 4 year old daughter illuminated the meaning of that Scripture for us as casually as if she was telling us that the sky was blue or that she had cereal for breakfast. As we were wrapping up the 30 minute long bedtime process, after singing, dancing, and prayers, Cecily quietly and authoritatively told us that Grandma was sitting next to Jesus. There was no doubt. No hesitation. These were not just trite words, oft-repeated without thought. It was an expression of complete and total belief. The knowledge was as real and certain to her as her knowledge that her dad and I were standing next to her bed. That, we realized, is the faith that can move mountains.

Monday, January 28, 2013

Irish Twins

I occasionally think God knew that having six children was going to be difficult for me, so he purposely blessed me with my little (almost) Irish twins. It's not that they, as individual children, are any more special than any of my other children (yes, I love them all equally, and I'm not just saying that because I'm "supposed" to), but there's something special about how close in age they are and watching that bond develop as they get older is really fun. It's especially interesting because they typify our two "stains" of children that we seem to consistently produce. The delicate, fine-boned (although, let me tell you, looks can be deceiving) brown-haired version, and the sturdy, bubbly blond-haired version. They wear the same size clothes for the first time ever, and I'm stressing about how I'm going to manage that this summer. But mostly it's just a great joy and pleasure to look back in the car and see them side by side in their identical carseats, or snuggled up together in the full-size bed they share, or to listen to their hilarious conversations. I would have never chosen this on my own, but somehow God does manage to give you exactly what you need, doesn't He?

Modest Monday

If you chose to do this type of a "what do you wear" journalling post (and I really think you should, because it's kind of fun, once you get over the initial shyness), you'll have some outfits that just come together nicely. And then you'll have outfits that are just serviceable. You know those pieces hanging in your closet that you just skip over until finally you finally feel guilted into working it into your wardrobe? Or maybe I'm alone in having such a complicated relationship with inanimate objects ;-) Anyways, this is the result of one of those pieces. I'm not a huge fan of the shirt on me, but I can't bring myself to get rid of it because I like the "idea" of it (the romantic touch of eyelet at the center of the neckline). I predict about one or two more wearings before it ends up in the ebay/garage sale pile. I considered not posting this "episode", but in the interest of keeping it real, I guess I will, because we all have days where dressing is perfunctory rather than enjoyable. Also, if you take away the leggings and boots from the outfit (which I pretty much wear 75% of the winter anyways) and look at just the outfit itself, I literally paid a quarter for the entire thing (plus tax, I suppose). Pretty cool, eh?