God is so Good - Month in Review - April

The days are getting warmer; and it feels wonderful in the morning to be awakened to the sounds of birds singing outside.    We have spied several different types of birds coming to the feeders.  We have a flock of blue jays that regularly feed, several woodpeckers, pigeons and of course a lot of sparrows.  It is fun to watch the difference in the temperaments of so many of the different birds. The humming birds have found their nectar also; and regularly hum in to take a drink.     Anna, Zak and I will often take time before we start our school day to sit on the porch and watch the birds coming and going.

My husband brought me home a new bird feeder the other night.  I had wanted to place one in the back yard so I could watch the birds from the kitchen table.  It has been fun to watch the birds find the new feeder and we have even seen some new ones coming and going.  I about gave the entire family a heart attack the other night when we were eating dinner as a family – and I spotted a beautiful yellow bird sitting at the feeder.  I was so excited.  The whole family got a good laugh at my excitement when they were able to catch their breath from being so surprised by my outburst.  I love watching birds!

The tomato garden has been planted.  I had been told by my teenage son the hand tilling the garden would be a job that would be too hard for me.  ( I took his statement as a challenge and set out the other morning to prove him wrong.)  It was difficult; but not really too bad.  I had the small plot hand dug and tilled in about two hours time.  It was so much easier to do it this year.  Last year Rob had done the tilling.  He had worked so hard out there for an entire evening one night.  The next night he had awoken and we had found the tumor on his thyroid. (There had been no garden last year).    While I was out there digging, I was thanking the Lord for all of Rob’s work last year – because it had made the job this year so much easier.  I was also meditating on how good God has been to us.  We have seen Him do some miraculous things in our lives.  I just kept digging and thanking the Lord that He had allowed us to still be together as a family.  God is good – and the tomatoes are in.

The Amish neighbors have visited a few times and we have been able to talk with them a bit more.  I have sold some of the eggs to them; and it seems they are interested in making that a regular transaction.  I still cannot believe that our nearest neighbors are Amish.  I love hearing the horse and buggy go past the house.  They have been working with their horse to get her familiar with the roads here.  Thor always puts up quite a racket when they go by and I am always so fearful that he will cause a catastrophe with the wagon; but they tell me to please let him be – as they are using him to help train their horse for how to respond when dogs bark as they go by.  It must have worked; because this morning they took the horse out further and when they returned - there was a line of four different dogs barking and following their wagon.  It looked so funny!  I enjoy so much living in the country!  

Zak has had a tough month with his meds; but we look like we are getting to a little more stable ground with that.  Several years ago, we had been warned that puberty can be a very difficult time for a child with brain injuries and issues.  This has proven to be very true.  We are taking it one step at a time.  His Tourettes symptoms seem to be much worse than we have seen before.  At this time, that seems to be the biggest issue and hardest for him to get used to.  We are so thankful for a wonderful doctor that works with us in regards to his care.  God has given wisdom and we are trusting that He will continue to do that in the future.  God has surely used Zak’s health issues to be an opportunity for us to depend upon God more; and for us to be able to teach Zak that He can run to God when he is having a difficult day.  We are so blessed to have Zak in our family.  

The bridge Zak built over a hole in the woods.  He rides his bike on it. 

Because of the setbacks we have had with Zak we have had to revamp some of his school.  We took several steps back (it seems); but we seem to be making strides getting the things that it appeared we had lost back again.  Rob and I started praying about how to work with him with his school.  We decided to do school with Zak and Anna  together.  This way, he is hearing what Anna is doing - and getting the review through that.  He is also challenged with having her close by; not so much competing against her; but in having someone to do his flashcards and his phonics reviews with him.  It has been good for Anna; because she is hearing things for the next grade up while Zak reviews his things too.  Overall, this has been very successful.  Because of the setbacks; and also with Zak's brain issues we have decided to continue to do school through the summer - albeit on a smaller scale than a full school day.  Both Anna and Zak are excited that we do not have to stop doing school for the summer.  Go figure. 

Anna asked me the other day to tell her more stories from the Bible that talk about obedience.  She said as seriously as she could, “I need you to keep telling me those stories, Mom.  I’m just having trouble getting obedience down.”    I laughed.  We also have been reading from the Little House series.  One evening Anna and I sat by the camp fire and read about Laura and Mary and their house on the prairie.  It was fun reading by the fire and watching the sun set and the moon come out over the trees.   Anna has also enjoyed having James read to her in the evenings.  Rob required James to read to his sister each evening as a part of his speech requirements.  It was fun to watch them enjoy an old book of Rob’s from when he was a boy.  It seems that our Anna is quite captivated with the “Three Investigators.”  

Abbey ran another 5K this month.  She had her best time yet; and was able to run with her friend.  Sarah surprised her and signed up for the race.  It was fun to watch the two of them run together. Abbey finished first place in her division and Sarah finished second!  They had a fun morning.  It still shocks me that Abbey loves to run; but indeed she does.  As soon as she gets home from work, she comes in and gets ready for her run.  Thor loves it when he sees her get her shoes on and pleads with her to hurry up so he can go with her.  It is fun to watch.

Rachel has had her violin out more; and I have been thrilled to hear the music filling the house.  She seldom has time to practice and play; however, she is planning on taking lessons while she is in college.  She figured she better find the time to practice and get brushed up on her playing.  She also has been teaching Anna violin.  The other night, she and Anna took their lessons outside on the front porch.  It was fun to listen to them play.  

James has been busy working at different farms in the area.  His calf is doing well; and he has not had really any issues with it like we did the last calf he had.  Every evening he goes up to do his farm chores.  The other night Abbey took him up to the farm.  They were late in getting home for dinner; and when they finally arrived James walked in carrying a bag of glass.  I will let the following pictures tell the rest of the story - or at least how the story was told to Rob.  Life has a way of teaching valuable lessons; and it seems there is never a dull moment with teenagers in the house. 

We enjoyed a family fun day.  We had planned on going bowling; but we were not able to go.  The kids enjoyed playing some of the video games there and we had a fun lunch at a nearby hamburger restaurant.  It was fun to be together as a family.  We are realizing that these days are coming to an end when we will have all the kids here to do stuff all together as a family.  It is exciting as we watch the older kids’ lives open up and branch out; but we are planning on taking just a few more opportunities than we normally do to enjoy some family outings before Rachel leaves for college this fall.  We have several things on the calendar for this summer. 

Our church hosted a ladies tea this month.  It was fun finally being able to go to the ladies tea.  Each year something has come up last minute that has prevented me from being able to attend.  This year – I was there!  It was a fun morning and Anna and I enjoyed being able to sit together.  I was extremely blessed by the devotional that was given and have meditated upon the goodness of God to me.  Truly I am loved and cherished by my Heavenly Father.  He has been so good to me.   

We are looking for a very busy month of May as our calendar is very full.  God has been so good to us.  We are looking for Him to provide for some very important things that we need; and find ourselves excited to see how He does it. 

 Thanks for stopping by – I am so glad you did.

Blessings,

~Martie