Chasing chickens and cuddling bunnies

Before Thanksgiving our trio got to go to one of their favorite places to feed and chase chickens and cuddle bunnies.

We have friends in town who have chickens and bunnies. Our children love to visit their barnyard friends.

Fall passed quickly and now we are in the beginning of winter with light snow flurries. It will be spring when they get to visit them again.

Happiness and Blessings my friends.

xoxo, rebecca

Some of My Favorite Things

Here are some of my favorite things (in no particular order).

Friends.  "A friend loves at all times..." Proverbs 17:17a  "A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother."  Proverbs 18:24 

Embraces (both hellos and goodbyes).  "...a time to embrace and a time to refrain..."  Ecclesiastes 3:5b

Fine Art.  "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven."  Ecclesiastes 3:1

Angels.  "He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge..." Psalm 91:4  "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it."  Hebrews 13:2

Crows and birds.  "...a bird of the air may carry your words, and a bird on the wing may report what you say."  Ecclesiastes 10:20b  "Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land."  Song of Songs 2:12

My Mother. "She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy. She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children arise and call her blessed; Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.  Proverbs 31:20,25-28,30 & 31

The Sea and shells.  "Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, 'This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt'?"  Job 38:8-11  "The sea is his, for he made it and his hands formed the dry land."  Psalm 95:5

Our Children.  "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made...All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." Psalm 139:13,14,16  "Then our sons in their youth will be like well-nurtured plants, and our daughters will be like pillars carved to adorn a palace."  Psalm 144:12

Doors painted red. "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." Matthew 7:7  "Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in."  Psalm 24:7 

Dance. "Let them praise His name with dancing and make music to Him with tambourine and harp. For the Lord takes delight in His people..." Psalm 149:3-4a 

Finely illustrated children's books.  "The teacher searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true. Of making many books there is no end..."  Ecclesiastes 12:10 & 12b

Our pets (3 cats and 1 dog).  "The Lord God formed out of the ground all the animals of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name."  Genesis 2:19

Prayer. "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."  Philippians 4:6

Dark chocolate.  "He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for man to cultivate ~ bringing forth food from the earth: wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread that sustains his heart." Psalm 104:14-15  "Eat honey...for it is good; honey from the comb is sweet to your taste." Proverbs 24:13

Our Family. "Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from Him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them..." Psalm 127: 3-5a

My Beloved.  "Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this life that God has given you under the sun..." Ecclesiastes 9:9  "Thus is the man blessed who fears the Lord." Psalm 128:4

Road trips and travel. "...I hope to visit you while passing through..." Romans 15:24

Trees. "You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands." Isaiah 55:12

What are some of your favorites? Please leave a comment and while you're at it, become a follower of my blog too!

One step at a time

Sometimes we lead; sometimes we follow. I keep putting one foot in front of the other and days by days pass. It's good to follow the "narrow path" and not the broad. It's nice to choose the road less traveled (it does make all the difference).

It's good to have a different perspective.

 It's good to enjoy the skin you're in.

 And to feel festive in red or to rest and take in the sights and sounds of life.

 I've been doing all of this. Resting, observing, creating, mourning, hoping, caring for others, and myself, and tending our little nest.

 An update: Grandpa Tom had a rough go of heart surgery but, he is mending at home now and getting stronger every day. Thank you for your prayers and love for him.
My dear childhood friend Paul, lost his battle with cancer and leaves behind three young children and family and many friends. I have a Paul sized hole in my heart and look forward to seeing him again on that golden shore.
Our Charlotte got her first phone call from a boy named Sawyer wanting a play-date with her. Benjamin went along too.
Charlotte got punched in the eye by a boy, on the playground, who loves her. She is fine and she got to meet the school nurse. We got the news in a telephone call from a nervous assistant principal. It's kindergarten!
Benjamin lost his first baby tooth after Grant, Max and Charlotte had to "feel" how it wiggled. It came out after two days of being loose. He was thrilled with our Tooth Fairy, named Clepta Dente, who brought him a "Toothless" dragon (from How To Train Your Dragon).
Elijah-Max now wants to be called Maxwell. He can name any dinosaur by sight. He is learning Spanish and wants to watch DVD's in Japanese. Yes, he is certainly unique.
Grant is growing so fast. It seems like just yesterday those size 8 pants and shirts fit him. Then this morning, he put on a long sleeved shirt and said, "Mom, I don't like shirts that don't go to my wrist." I don't blame him so, I found a shirt that hadn't shrunk. Right? The shirt shrunk! Our first born isn't that tall is he?
We are still jobless (15 months). My Beloved spoke with a recruiter in Ohio today.
We love New England and our roots have gone deep here.
We will follow where He leads.
We listen for that small, still voice.
"Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path."

The Last Grandfather

We got some expected news today. My Beloved's Father has a problem in his heart. He will most likely need open heart surgery in the very near future. He is the only Grandfather our children have known. They adore him.

I adore him. He was born the same year my Daddy was born. 1928. My Daddy died too young of an illness that captured his life within three weeks. My Daddy never got to meet our children. We knew Grandpa Tom had some heart issues. He has for quite some time. It sounds like a valve in his heart will need to be replaced. We had to tell our children tonight that Grandpa and Grandma probably won't be here to visit on their birthday. Elijah-Max said a sweet prayer for his Grandpa Tom at bedtime and then got very quiet and rested his head on his Daddy's shoulder. I asked him how he felt and he said, "I feel sad".

I feel sad too. I won't verbalize my worst fears and yet, I know I am not the only one thinking them. I am so glad that Grandpa and Grandma told us what is going on with Grandpa's heart. They need to know that we support them in their decisions; they need to hear that we love them again; they need to feel the closeness of us even though we are separated by 3,000 miles. 
The odd thing is, I had a dream last night about hearts. Real, human hearts. As an art form on a wall. The human heart was like a container. The one I looked at was empty. I am so glad that symbolically, my heart is full. Grandpa Tom's heart is full too. Full of love, memories, longings. The human heart holds more than what can be defined. Love multiplies, it does not divide.
If you can, please say a prayer for our Grandpa Tom. He is a quirky, intelligent, lovable man and he is the only Grandfather our children have ever known.
I am grateful that Grandpa Tom knows where he is going when he passes on. His spiritual heart is healthy. His Heavenly Father is already in his tomorrows and knows each hair on his head. He will be just fine.

First Day of School

It has happened. Somehow in 5 short years our 33 week preemies are now 5 and off to school. I did cry. When that yellow bus pulled away I fell into my Beloved's arms and sobbed behind my Jackie O sunglasses. Then I went inside and washed up breakfast dishes, listened to music loud and ate all the bacon, toast and tea I wanted. Uninterrupted.

Meeting the Kindergarten Teacher

We had the "meet and greet" yesterday. Of course, Benjamin blushed when Mrs. Wholey knelt down to introduce herself to him. In that moment, I saw him fall in love with his kindergarten teacher. Do you see the look on Elijah-Max's face? It's priceless. Mrs. Wholey is that perfect blend of Mary Poppins and fashionista. She is adorable. I remember feeling this way about my kindergarten teacher Miss Douglas. She wore blue eyeshadow and powder blue suits. I always thought she had just stepped off of a Pan-Am airplane. She could balance books on her head. I don't remember her kneeling down to greet me. I do remember finger painting and standing in line to recite the numbers zero to one hundred and feeling petrified. I went to the back of the line a number of times until I got it right.

Our trio found their cubbies and coat "closets" with their own names on apples in them.
They found out that there will be a Guinea pig furry love in the classroom next week and this said furry love will live in the classroom the whole school year!

The theme for this week is "Wild, Wild West". Their bus info was laminated on cowboy boots strung on yarn. They will wear these this week to and from school so as to not end up on the wrong bus.
We had about 40 minutes to look over the classroom and find important things like the bathroom and the teacher. They are excited and talkative about tomorrow; the first real day of school. They get to ride the bus!
How can it be that in a few small moments our little preemies went from babies to big kids?!

New Blog about life with triplets plus one

I felt like I needed to start a blog about life with triplets plus one. So often people ask me, "How do you do it everyday?" and I'm not sure how we do it. We just do. It's the families who have more than four children that I admire. It's the single parents who fascinate me. How do they do it?! We just do what we need to do to get through the day. We pray, we play, we discipline and most of all, we LOVE.
So, here goes my second blog. You can find me here too.
Today was an attempted nap day for me. We drove home from Wyoming without any stops except to eat, fill the gas tank and use toilets along the way. We left Grand Teton National Park on Friday afternoon and made it back to Massachusetts last night (Sunday) right after supper. The children were dirty and hungry. The trio bathed together in our big bathtub and then their older brother Grant bathed after them. It was good to smell them so sweet and tender and warm AND clean. They were the cleanest they've been in over a week. Lake water just doesn't get kids as clean.
They were fed pasta and sent to bed way too late. It took moments to get back into the routine of songs, prayer and kisses. Then moments after I made my way down the stairs they began to run amok and had me come back up the stairs with threats for lost privileges if they didn't settle down and go to sleep.
They played hard today on Wii and with friends. They rode their bikes and got back into the routine of tormenting the cats. Elijah-Max found a fuzzy caterpillar and put that on the stray's back and then tried to keep the caterpillar inside as his "friend". Charlotte tried to convince the stray cat that it would love to live inside. Benjamin gave the stray dog food and a bowl of water out on the deck. Once our Charlie (pup) got wind of the cat, he pestered it until it lashed out with sharp claws and ran into the bog. What a smart stray cat. I don't think it'd be too happy here. I know our other three cats wouldn't like another cat! My beloved said in a loud voice, "we do NOT need another cat"!
Tonight one of us picks up the Panera bread donation for our bread ministry and tomorrow starts a new chapter in our lives. Our three five years olds start kindergarten!
I have a feeling I will cry buckets. Stay tuned, I'll let you know.

note to self: trim 40 nails tonight before they go to school tomorrow and braid Charlotte's hair so it won't get so tangled in her sleep.