Life is moving fast and times are changing...

We had a couple of big events here at La Geron this month.  Things I anticipated with great excitement and dreaded with a worry that only a mama (or a daddy) could have.  The first is another daughter turning 16!  The second is a daughter dating. 

Now what you all have to know as a bit of background is this; In our family if you want to date one of our daughters you have to ask The Dad. You know, this guy:

 
This rule is not of our making. Our daughters got together a couple of years ago and made a decision that if, when they were asked out by a fella then that they would tell him to go to their dad and ask for permission to take them out on a date.  Their feeling is that if he has enough gumption to approach The Dad then they were possibly worth their attention.  Let me make it clear that we are certainly glad to enforce the rule as a family rule now.  Our son will be taught that the right thing to do is approach The Dad when asking a girl out.  I quite like it. 

All of this happened so very fast!  We went to one of our favorite places on Earth - Family Camp.  We go every year and think that possibly it must be a slice of what Heaven will be like.  Our people are there.  We love being there.  We go as early as possible and stay as long as we can!   This year - we knew it was coming...The boys are paying attention to all the teen girls in our families.  Why wouldn't they?  Look at these gorgeous girls:

So the question was asked - Can I take your daughter on a date?  The answer was "I think we can do that."  We were/are impressed with the first young man to come forward and ask my Beloved.  Did you see him?  He's scary looking! It takes courage! 
Then the attempt to actually go on said date started.  Turns out when you are 16 and everyone is watching you and your beau try to date on a campground in full view of God and the world things tend to get interesting. Their first attempt was crashed by many people with comments such as "Leave room for Jesus!" and "You Dog You!"   - Their second attempt was changed to a double date and again multiple friends popping by the gazebo to chat and comment.  Bless their hearts, no need for a chaperone - they had multitudes of them! Finally, by the end of the week, I think a semi-successful date was had and they got to talk to one another without a posse in attendance. 

We think they are cute and are looking forward to seeing what the Lord does in the midst of their friendship/relationship.  Look how adorable they are:

Notice the little chaperone in the background...

And then the next big thing happened: 

She turned 16!  We have a song we sing in our family.  The morning of her birthday she didn't let me sing it at the cabin IN PRIVATE.  So The MAMA went to the worship leader, Marcus, and I taught him the song so he could embarrass er, sing to her in the middle of worship service!  Of course, he did a much better job than The Mama ever does since thankfully he can actually sing.   I texted her when he was done and told her "Should have let me sing this morning."  She loved it.  Really she did. 

So the times they are a changing here at La Geron.  It has been a fun and interesting ride so far.  We're looking forward to seeing what and who comes next into our lives.  Loving the way the Lord is in the midst of it all. 

In Christ's Amazing Love,

Peg

Missing my people...

And not just because I have to wash the dishes! All three of my teen girls are away at camp this week. I am thankful they were able to go but I miss the noise of their chatting, singing and yes, even their arguing.

I like my people. They are articulate, intelligent, loving and beautiful girls. They each have fabulous senses of humor - all very different though. I love how they come check on me each in different ways. I love how they love on each other and their friends. To see their hearts hurting for each other and for those they love but to see them encourage each other is amazing. I am a blessed mama. And I miss my girls. I hope they are having a blast.

In Christ's Love,
Peg

Laughter with friends...

In the past week I have been blessed with several opportunities to hang out with my girlfriends and talk. And laugh! We know how to laugh! I forgot how good it is to laugh so hard that the tears are streaming.

I really think the Lord gives me these amazing friends to show me a slice of heaven here on earth. And to remind me that lives shared are so much richer with blessings.

Thank you, sweet friends far and near for laughing as well as crying with me. You know I will always chose laughter over the tears!

In Christ's Love,
Peg

My year isn't going like I wanted...

Here's why the blog has been neglected and ignored the last year: 

It's been a HARD year.  A very hard year.  One of the hardest I've been through in all my 42+ years.  It has in no way gone like I thought it would. 

 It started with my mom being on vacation one week in April last year to not being able to walk across the room 10 days later.  Many tests, pushing and advocating for herself and arguing to get a final diagnosis of Stage IV non-small cell lung cancer in a woman who hadn't smoked.  She fought well, fought hard but it was already just everywhere and kept spreading because it was so very aggressive.  She passed away November 19, 2011.  We miss her still.

In the midst of all of the final months and days for my mother, we lost our dear friend Dawson.  He was a man of integrity, love, honor and just an amazing friend to all who knew him.  Our sweet Charlotte is named for his beloved wife Charlotte.  We never met her but the stories we heard about her spirit, her sense of humor, and her heart caused us to want to capture that joy in one of our daughters.  I'm happy to say our Charlotte's sense of humor is an entity in and of itself - just like her namesake. Our sweet Henry Thomas is named for Dawson too.  He was Thomas D. Spivey.  Someone asked us where the name came from and we said "From all three sides of the family." and got the strangest looks when we explained it was from my side, Michael's side and the Lord's side (church).  We miss Dawson still.  He loved so well.  If my Henry Thomas loves as well then I will count his a good life.

 The day we said our last goodbyes to Dawson we came home to several inches of water in our downstairs.  The water main inside the house had burst and sprayed water all over our laundry room, family room, our closet etc.  It was a huge mess. Overwhelming in it's hugeness.  Thankfully our insurance company was very good at working with us and assessing what needed to be done very quickly.  Still, it took (and is taking) some time to repair the damage done. We've had to rip out the floor again by the a/c unit because it dumped water under the floor!  So we're still fixing and repairing the damage done nearly a year later.

Then Mom died. Our relationship was complicated and while I was able to visit her just a few weeks before she died to say goodbye it didn't seem like near enough time to say what needed to be said for a lifetime. I still pick up the phone and dial her number about once a week.  To be honest, I had a very hard time dealing with the huge losses of Mom and Dawson back to back coupled with the chaos my house was in through the winter.  My kids were struggling to deal with it all and then there was their mama falling apart.  It was a very dark time in my life.  I don't think I have ever been so sad, so overwhelmed, so lonely in spite of the many people in my life.  Thankfully, I have people who love me enough to say "Honey, you have to do something.  You aren't yourself."  And I got some help.  Thank the Lord for doctors, meds and friends who care enough to say something even when it is hard to say.  

Imagine our surprise when the Lord blessed us with another pregnancy this year.  If you know me at all, you know that having another child is always considered a blessing but just because we are pregnant doesn't guarantee we bring home a babby.  It is what it is.  We had a miscarriage in June.  We had just announced three weeks earlier.  We are very sad and working through our grief.

The transparency is hard in this situation because truth of the matter is people just don't know what to do with the rawness of it.  That we would be so very sad when we know this may be the outcome of any pregnancy is hard for some people to fathom.  Of course, many people don't understand why we'd want more children - don't we have "enough" already?  We see children as a gift, a blessing and we love them - no matter how they come.  That's hard for a lot of people in our lives to understand.  So that adds another level of grief and one more thing we can't talk about to anyone.  I would like to be able to talk about it but I completely understand that people are uncomfortable with the depth of our grief.  Of their own emotions.  It is ok.  But it doesn't discount that we feel this way.  I really won't fall apart if you ask me how I'm doing.  Most days. 

My year did not go the way I thought it would. My summer isn't happening the way I thought it should/would.  Yet in the midst of it all the Lord is there.  He is there in the way my people helped us travel when Mom was sick, there when the water was everywhere and the floors needed ripping out, there when I was so sad and alone to put a hand out and say "Come out of the dark, you don't belong there."  There when we announced we were pregnant - as many people who are sceptical about the size of our family there are three times as many who think another child is a blessing and are so happy for us.  And then those same people were equally heartbroken for us when the pregnancy ended in a loss.  The Lord was there in the midst of it when friends brought dinner, came and stayed with my people while I had surgery, when friends just came to sit with me as I recovered and he was there in the room when my beloved put his arms around me and prayed for strength for me to get through it all when I said I can't do this again.  So while things have not gone the way I thought they would they have gone exactly the way the Lord knew they would and he is there every step of the way.  I sit in his lap more often than not.  I'm thankful for the option. 

So I say all this to say I haven't posted because to be honest the filter is gone and I would not have wanted to alienate any more people than I already do just by being me.  I want you to want to read because - well, truth of the matter - I'm vain like that.  I want to share my heart and my life but have you walking away thinking and laughing more times than not.  Bear with me.  I have no idea where I go from here but the Lord does and I most want to be used by Him in all things.  So my year isn't going like I wanted but it is going somewhere. 

In Clear View and In His Love,
Peg

Another year down...

Not that we ever really stop school but we are testing this week so I do count this as the end of our year for practical purposes. It is so funny to test because truth be told testing really isn't, in my opinion, a true way to gauge how much my kids have learned in a year. We do it because we need to for the state we live in - really no other reason.

What we do use for checking progress is varied and based on LIFE. Yes, LIFE! So this year here is what we've learned in no particular order:

How to read aloud and nurse a wee babe at the same time,
How to change a diaper and read simultaneously,
How to schedule the day so that everyone gets a nap (and by everyone I mean mama - lol)
That my girls know how to run the household when I need/want them to do it. Having a newborn last year this time was a blessing in many ways but one of the most treasured is having my girls take really good care of me and the rest of the house while I just loved on Henry. I didn't need any extra hands to come in to help because not only did I have them but they were more than willing and able to manage meals, laundry, etc. We realized that we'd raised them very well when friends brought meals and my girls invited them in, accepted their gifts graciously and then praised the Lord after they left for the provision.
That boys are very different than girls. Really, really different. In every way. I love that.
I'm sure there are many other things but those are the ones that come to mind right off.


Now I'm sure along about now you are wondering about the book learning and whether or not any of that actually took place. Why yes it did, now that you asked. And we have many a paid library fine to show for it.

I have to say I really appreciate the local librarians not blinking an eye when we come in and check out forty to fifty books at a shot. The thing that brings me the most joy is seeing and hearing my kids discussing books they've read and sharing books amongst each other. Nothing like hearing "You have GOT to read this book Mom!" from your kids. Such a cool thing to hear. And to see them dig out books and research materials to learn more about a period of time or a place they've read about makes my heart just sing.

The discussions to be had here at La Geron are as varied as the people who live here. I love hearing their different perspectives on situations and things we are learning about. These kids constantly amaze me at the way they love to learn. I'm especially proud of my one dd who is the first to admit math is not her gig but still continued to persevere through three different types of Algebra programs til she finally feels she conquered it and her fear of it. I love seeing that determination in her. It will carry her far in life. Sometimes the lesson to be learned isn't really about math. It is about sucking it up and doing the hard thing because it needs to be done. And doing it with a heart, while not exactly cheerful, that is obedient.

What we've seen this year is that work, even when it is hard, is the best way to get to the goal. And being persistent while being consistent is a great combination. So, to sum it all up, we grew a lot this year and sure learned a ton. A successful year finished again.

ICL,
Peg

I have to add a note to this - I haven't been blogging at all the last year plus - this is actually the post I wrote last year at this time and didn't post for some reason or another. It seemed to fit today as I just got those tests scores back for all my people.

 I want to say the year since has been a time of many ups and many more downs but in all of it the life we've chosen to live - a life for the Lord, for each other - has shown me more times than I care to say that we have chosen well. My people love each other, love the Lord and love others very well. One cannot ask for more. I am blessed beyond measure. We've lived life, loved well and done some school in the midst of it all. Another successful year down.  May the Lord be with you always. 

In Christ's Abundant Love,
Peg

Happy Birthday Mom...

We miss you today.

Time flies ....

When you add a new wee babe to the mix. And now he's not such a wee one at 11 months old this week. Yes you read that right Henry is 11 months old. How on earth did the year fly by so fast?

We've been blessed to see him change and grow in amazing ways. He is walking now - standing up from the middle of the floor and just walking. And he knows the word Uh-Oh. He uses it all the time when he throws stuff onto the floor and then laughs and says "Uh-OH". He is so happy with himself. Totally cracks us all up.

My favorite thing about Henry? Well, other than I think everything the boy does is amazingly awesome and so very different than the girls? The boy loves music. I mean LOVES it. We went to our Lay retreat in March and the second night he went right up to the stage while the worship team was singing and stood there dancing and lifting his hands up waving and praising the Lord. How cool is that? He was 9 months old! I pray that he continues to Praise the Lord in all his ways for all his life.

And Charlotte - well that child has been sleeping in Miracle Grow because she has grown several inches in the last year. She was so mad at me in October when she had to change her pants four times in one morning. A little background - we swapped out all her clothes in September and only put the things she could wear right then back in her drawers. Flash forward 4 weeks and those same pants were all too short. She told me as she stomped back to her room the fourth time "If these pants are too short I'm still wearing them because I am done changing today!" Praise the Lord the 4th pair fit! And mama had to empty out her drawers again. And then go shopping because there was some mighty slim pickins left that actually wasn't too small for her! Miracle Grow I tell you!

I love to see her working at her school work. She is amazing at Math and is working hard on her reading and writing. She is smart as a whip and is constantly asking me what a word means. I often have to ask for the context in which she heard it in order to clarify to her the different meanings. My favorite exchange with her and new words was one Sunday afternoon. We'd gotten ready for church and as we left the house I realized that she had written her name on Henry's infant car seat. Now she denied to the last that SHE had actually been the one to write it. Even to the point of giving me a handwriting sample!

As she is sitting on the Kitchen floor scrubbing the writing off with a Magic Eraser and lamenting her fate to all who would listen one of the girls came into the kitchen and said "What is up with Charlotte?" And I replied "Well she is simply STUNNED that I, her MOTHER, who taught her HOW to write her NAME, recognize her handwriting." Total quiet for a few minutes and then Charlotte says "What does stunned mean, Mama?" When I explained it meant surprised or amazed she said "Oh" and kept on scrubbing. A couple of minutes later she AGAIN brought me her handwriting sample to show that indeed it was NOT her handwriting. (NOW you all know that matched the car seat graffiti to a tee, right?) And I was so exasperated with her I made the worst mistake a mother can make: I said "Do I LOOK stupid? Do you think I am STUPID?" And she said - wait for it...."No I don't think you are stupid. I think you are STUNNED!" Yes that chica came back not five minutes later and used that new word in complete context. Oh my stinking word you know we were laughing hysterically at that girl. She is the laughter in my life always. It is her gift.

And my sweet Emma - my how she's grown this year too. She has a heart for helping others and it shows most days in that she is glad to make sure her dad has a clean shirt for work or that the meal is planned out for dinner in time for us to actually eat before 10 p.m. She's going to be 13 in about a month. I can't believe it. She is my heart in so many ways.

McGinley is growing too. She's using the leftover Miracle Grow Charlotte didn't use. She is actually taller than I am now. I don't know that I like that. I do continue to remind myself I can still jerk a knot when I need to...And she knows it too. She is the light of my heart in that she loves to help with the littles at church and Henry loves her so much. She is his "Gee". Many times she can quiet him faster than everyone but mama. I rely on that help more than you know.

Then there is my Sophia. She is growing into an amazing young woman with a heart for the Lord that I love to see play out in her life. She is a hard worker and is self motivated when it comes to school and all areas of her life. She and McGinley are getting ready to go to NYC (Nazarene Youth Conference) this summer in Louisville, KY to do some ministry work and some stretching of their faith. I'm excited to see how they come back changed from that trip.

Did I mention we're starting to discuss colleges? I'm so NOT ready for my sweet girl to leave home already. She is my right arm in so many ways and I love her heart. I'm very blessed.

And speaking of blessed, my beloved and I have been making an effort to take time for us this year. We have been going on a date every couple of weeks. I'm enjoying that time together. Of course, Henry gets to come along for a while longer...

So while I haven't been here in a while life goes on as it flies by...We are focused on serving the Lord where he leads in whatever way he asks us to serve. We're here - doing the next thing.

In Christ's Abundant and Amazing love,
Peg