Honor and Wisdom

A nice visit over a few hot cups of tea with good friends last night left me refreshed and encouraged: My thoughts turned towards noble ideals and the priviledge of leading our little ones along the path of wisdom and instilling in them a love for truth. There are three words that seem to define our persuit as a family: truth, wisdom and honor.
I am always speaking to my children of my desire to see them grow in wisdom. Our simple definition of wisdom: knowing what is right and doing what is right. Giving children the desire to grow in wisdom empowers them to make good and thoughtful choices.

"Who among you is wise and understanding?

Let him show by his good behavior his deeds

in the gentleness of wisdom...

The wisdom from above is first pure,

then peacable, gentle, reasonable,

full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.

And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace

by those who make peace."

James 3:13,17-18

As a mother, it is one of my highest priorities is to teach my children the virtue of honoring one another. The word honor encapsules the ideas of respecting, esteeming, cherishing, prizing one another. This is the critical foundation of family life. Children need to know that God has given them their parents to care for, protect and teach them and given them siblings to love, protect, play with, learn with, work with.

These are just a few thoughts that I've been dwelling on. Now I need to build a block fortress with my daughter who is diligently repeating, "It's taking you a long time. Please. Por favor. Please. Por favor." (thank you, Dora for the Spanish lessons.)

And her name is...

Ella Rose....lovely.

Congratulations Seth and Olivia

Joel, Gracie, and Chloe!

She is beautiful!

New Tweet Baby!

My brother, Seth, and his wife, Olivia, are thrilled to welcome a new baby girl into their family, born last night at around 9:30 p.m. She doesn't have a name yet as they are deliberating over whether she looks more like a Ruby, Rosie, Lily, or Ellie. ( : Any of those names are adorable just like her sweet little self. This will number the Tweet grandchildren at a whopping 24! I know that Joel, Gracie and Chloe are excited to have a new little sister too! I will post again as soon as she has a name!

Six hours is a long time...

Six Hours....that's how long I have to wait to see my boy after walking him to school in the morning. Some days I feel it more than others. I do have to admit, however, that the house is a bit more quiet during the day with just the girls around. A few days before school started I asked the big guy how he felt about starting school and being gone all day and this is what he said: " I have two different feelings about it. "First, I think I'm going to have a lot of fun. And second, I feel like I'm going to really miss you while I'm at school so long, " his eyes sort of tearing up. I told him that I felt exactly the same way.
Today we stopped and talked to Mrs. Krantz, his kindergarten teacher. She asked him how first grade was going and then said that she has been hearing a lot of good things about him from his new teacher, Mrs. Mckeon. My big guys response, "Awww shucks." lol.

Now you know why I miss him so much.

Something Missing?

My children have been sick, I have been sick and my husband has been working a lot trying to get an entire school district's computer systems prepared for a new year of learning. My whole house is tired. I can see it sagging, drooping, ready for a nap. But first, the dishes, the laundry, the crying little one...oh, she's really hot. Where is the Motrin?

So, here I am at 11:59 p.m. sitting at the computer writing out a post just to say, I am really weak on my own. I admit it. I am weak. I need this: "grace." Though they are miserable, we all need times like this to remind us of our frailty and the strength of a God who knows we are weak. I don't know everything about God. In fact, to be honest, I have a lot of questions. But I do know this: I need to know my Creator. My spirit yearns for my Maker, the living God.

For The Love Of An Astrodroid

The past two nights before bed my youngest daughter (22 months) has been repeating a prayer that goes like this, "Ga, d-2, amen." Yes, the Speedbuggy is interceding for R2 D2. She is absolutely intrigued by the little Star Wars astrodroid. One day while strolling through Krogers she spotted a Pepsi display that was a life-size replica of good ol' R2 filled with bottles of the cold, refreshing beverage. She ran up to it with open arms crying out, " D2! D2!" Don't you just love it when your kid does something really cute in public? It sure beats the "We're almost through the check out line and I don't want to sit in the cart a minute longer wail and cling routine." Thanks R2, you're a real hero.

Summer Pictures!

Here's a few photos of our summer. We put this swingset together just before our vacation so the kids got to swing while I packed!

And a close up of the beautiful three:

A few of my favorites from the garden:


Every Kansas girl needs some sunflowers, even when she lives in Michigan! Ours have gotten huge. The tallest must be at least nine feet tall. It is really amazing to watch something that big grow in a season from a tiny seadling pushing up through the soil to a really awe-inspiring flower. My children call them trees.

One more...I can't resist adding this breath-taking sunset captured by a good friend on a recent vacation in Charlevoix, Michigan..It's too beautiful not to share.
(Thanks, Stephanie!)

Our Weekend Project

We had a lovely and exhausting visit in Kansas with my family. After visiting my brother in Missouri, we made our way to take a ride on Thomas the Tank Engine in Baldwin, Ks. Then we went on to visit family in my hometown. It was especially great staying with my twin sister and her family in their new house. They have been really blessed with a charming old house full of character and plenty of space for a growing family. It's a beautiful home. Our kids were particularly taken with the train table my brother-in-law built for their little ones. Our little Speedbuggy, 22 months, loves Thomas and has ignited her brother and sister's interest in trains as well. All we needed was inspiration! This weekend Luke and I built our own train table for the kids. It was a fun project. It has a sturdy white laminate board for the table top and we also have a dry erase board that fits the frame. I am really pleased with the way it turned out and especially excited about all the uses a table like this can have for years to come: trains, blocks, legos, puzzles, playdoh..etc. What a great investment!

Now That's Good Soup

In response to recieving a warm bowl of chicken and rice soup for lunch today, my four-year-old daughter said, "It's a nice day today, a pleasant day indeed."

I don't want anything

This has been a very busy July. In the course of one week we had two back yard campouts celebrating July 4th, had the family over for more celebrating, made our weekly storytime outing, went to a really fun magic show, spent a day at the beach, made an evening outing to the local free concert series to hear some great folk music and let the kids dance their hearts out on the huge amphitheater lawn and made a yummy, messy icecream stop on the way home. Then a wedding and reception on Saturday rounded out our week. We've had a lot of fun and the kids have made many interesting comments about our various adventures. But one heartfelt declaration from our middle child made me stop and smile really big:

We have a princess at our house, she's four years old and like most four-year-old's she has a running list of things she wants. So we often talk about learning to be content, being thankful for what we have. I spent Saturday evening at a wedding reception watching our little princess in her favorite lilac-colored floor-length dress dancing blissfully, gracefully , ballerina-like to the music for over an hour with few breaks, and then only to come over to hear me say how beautifully she danced, then returning to the floor with a glowing , contented smile. Later that night, as I helped her get jammied and tucked into bed, she looked up at me and said in a dreamy sort of way,
"After all that dancing tonight, I don't feel like a want anything anymore."

We all know that things don't make us content. Things are just things. (I know, really profound, hey?") The Princess learned something Saturday night that I could not have taught her with words, because she felt it...the joy of just being. She has found inherent to who she is a love for music and dance, just as she has found that same joy in paint and play-dough. She is not My Little Pony or Disney Princesses, those things she wants. She is a created soul who finds joy in being the soul God created. It is my job to give her opportunities to experience that joy in the midst of cultural distractions that try to make us believe that things will make us happy.

True peace? True joy? True happiness?: Knowing the Creator and knowing what He created us for.