God's Grace

Dear Blogger,
Have you given up on me?  March was forever ago wasn't it?  I know I'm constantly saying this but we were just so busy.  And now we're super busy!  Two kids + a newborn leaves you very little time to do anything but the basics...like dishes, laundry, cleaning the toilet, bathing sweet little squirmy bodies, nursing, etc.

I did want to take a minute and share that our Heavenly Father is so faithful and gracious!  In the months leading up to the birth of Amos, I prayed that the Lord would prepare me physically and emotionally for those first few difficult months with a newborn.  With Hannah and then again with Samuel, I was an emotional wreck due to a combination of hormones going haywire and a severe lack of sleep.  I clearly remember my reactions to situations being crazy and irrational.  And I knew I was acting like a crazy person but I didn't seem to be able to help it.  When Samuel was born I remember yelling at Hannah over missing coasters...yes, missing coasters that you put drinks on!

 I so desperately didn't want that to happen this time.  I didn't want my six year old daughter seeing that having a sweet little baby makes you become a crying, yelling, slob of a mess.  And I certainly didn't want to be yelling at my four year old son over something as dumb as coasters.  So, as I said, I began praying that the Lord would prepare me.  His ear is not to dull to hear and His arm is not to short to reach us...He has most certainly answered my prayers.  I have felt so much better this time.  Amos is most definitely a laid back easy going baby who sleeps better than my other two.  But even on the nights that I've gotten little to no sleep, I haven't come unglued.  My heavenly Father has given me the grace and energy to make it through each day as they come.

This is such a beautiful testimony to me that I serve and love a God who loves me and provides all that I need on a daily basis! It's comforting to know that we can turn to our Father for all of our needs and know that He is faithful to help us.

Just thought I'd share!  I also have a marvelous husband who has taken care of me, the kids, the chores and everything in between.  He's been such a blessing to me and I love him all the more for everything he's done the past two weeks.

Now here's some pictures of all of my cuties!

Love,
Heather

Proud big sister...

Amos has a shadow...a cute little shadow with long blond hair :-)

Samuel loves his little brother but isn't as hands on as Hannah.

Amos James at two weeks old.

February in Our Home - 2012

(The pictures in this post are not recent.  They were taken last May in Indiana at Bobby's cousin's wedding.  My family is just so beautiful that I wanted to share my favorite pictures with you!)

February was such a peaceful month in the Clark household.  It was certainly a blessing after the craziness of January!  Hannah & Samuel's birthday's are both in January so I was busy planning parties for both of them.  Then we were plagued with a cold that was honestly never ending.  I was out of commission one whole weekend and I'm most thankful for a wonderful husband who stepped in to entertain the kids and cook our meals.  When the kids had the cold they also ended up with secondary (ear) infections.  If they didn't know us at the pediatricians office before, they do now!!

In mid January (maybe a little earlier) Mr. Clark and I started family fun night with the kids.  Every Friday after supper we sit together for scripture reading.  I read Bible stories & devotions with the kids throughout the day but it's always fun to sit and listen to Daddy.  When Bobby is done reading we ask the kids one thing they want to pray about during the coming week.  Before we would just tell them prayer requests (like Granny's foot hurting, etc) but now we let them think of their own.  

For an entire month Samuel prayed that he would have dry pull-ups.  His hearts desire has been to wear underpants to bed like his big sister but I wouldn't let him until he could go a week with a dry pull-up.  This was his prayer request for an entire month.  Every night before bed he would pray for the Lord to keep him dry.  Sammy finally made it an entire week and so he started praising the Lord as well as asking Him to help Sam have dry underpants.  He's been in underpants for about two weeks now and has only had two incidents.  You know, the Lord doesn't care one bit about dry pull-ups in the grand scheme of things.  But He does care about Sam's heart.  He cares that Sammy is learning to turn to Him, trust in Him and hand every little thing over to Him.  I feel like crying as I type this.  My son has learned to trust in His heavenly Father through the simple act of prayer!!  

Hannah prayed for almost a month (sometimes her prayer requests varied) that we would all stay healthy.  She was just as sick of sick as we were!  Since she's started praying we've stayed healthy and been cold free!  I love that she & Samuel are learning to sit at the feet of the Savior and present their requests to Him with such complete trust and love.  

After we've finished with scripture reading and prayers we have our family movie night.  We put on comfy pajamas, pop popcorn, and cuddle on our bed (mine & Bobby's) and watch a movie of their choice.  They look forward to this time each week which is so sweet to me.

This past month I finally bought the Jesus Storybook Bible for the kids.  I had heard such great things about it but for some reason I never purchased it.  I'm so glad I did.  The stories are simple enough for Hannah & Sam to understand without being too watered down.  And the illustrations are beautiful and captivating.  Each story follows scripture and at the end there are little explanations that show how every story in the Bible points to Jesus. 

My goal is two posts a week on Pioneering so we will see how that works out!  Keep me accountable ladies!!  And let me know if you'd like to be a guest writer (I can use all the help I can get!!) or if there's a topic you'd like for me to discuss.  I do want to share my thoughts on the Bible & Fertility as well as Hannah & Samuel's daily chores.

Contact me at clark.ha@gmail.com with any questions or ideas!!!

M.I.A - for FOUR months!!

October was the last time I posted?!  Seriously?!  So many times  I would think...'I'm going to at least let my readers (or reader?) know that I'm still alive.'  Then I would never sit down and follow through.

As many of you know, we found out in November that we're expecting Clark Baby #3 this coming July!!  For the most part, this has been the cause of my hiatus.  I was just so tired and sick that all I could manage was the basics...caring for and feeding my family.  We are so excited and blessed with this wonderful news!! We will find out in about two weeks if it's a girl or boy.  Hannah wants a sister and Sammy wants a "brudder."

I've also been busy working one to two days a week at Tots & Teens Consignment.  I tag and put out clothes in exchange for store credit.  I work any days and any hours I chose and the best part is that I can bring Hannah & Samuel with me to work.  It's the perfect job and has been a blessing.  I love the lady I work for and I've been able to get all of the kids winter clothes without stressing our budget.

Sometimes I babysit for a friend that has two kids -a boy & girl- that are close in age to Sam & Hannah.  I do this one to three days a week.

Throw in homeschooling and basic household chores and I barely have time for anything else!! 

* * * * * * * *

HANNAH HAS BECOME INTERESTED IN PHOTOGRAPHY.  ELLIE IS ONE OF HER MANY SUBJECTS.

In January Hannah turned six years old!  She is such a big girl now.  It makes me sad & excited at the same time that she's six.  She is enjoying home school and loves learning in a familiar environment with her family.  She can read, count to 100, and has moved from basic addition/subtraction to learning to money (her personal favorite!)  We've been working on the human body for science and she & Sammy spend 30 to 40 minutes a day looking at their flip-flap body book.  

SAMMY'S 4TH BIRTHDAY!!

Sammy also turned a year older in January - four years old!!  He is such a sweetheart and is a big help around the house.  He loves to help with dishes and vacuum.  I never have to remind him to do his chores.  He's been working on learning his numbers and letters.  He is getting really good at writing his letters and wants to practice any time we sit down for school work.

* * * * * * * *

I have some ideas for blog posts:

• chores for children
• infertility and the Bible
• parenting tips from God :-)
• how the Lord has answered our prayers over the past few months

Check back soon...I promise I won't take so long to write again!  Email me and harass me until I do!!

Menu Planning

Let's be honest...I am a slacker when it comes to maintaining a blog and I apologize.  I have grand ideas for this blog but lack the energy and desire to share them on a regular basis.  Forgive me.

So, my friend Amanda asked me to share my menu plan.  This plan is a little time consuming in the beginning but makes your life so much easier in the long run.  I basically sat down and made a list of all of the meals that we like to eat.  I broke them up by categories:  ground turkey, chicken, pasta, ground beef, pork, fish, soups/misc and meals to try.  You could also get creative and come up with fun categories:  meatless, crock pot, ethnic, etc. 

Here is just a sample of mine (and does not include all categories/meals):

Pasta

• spaghetti with meatballs
• lasagna roll-ups
• penne pasta

Ground Turkey

• taco salad
• turkey burgers
• turkey burger steaks

Chicken

• shredded BBQ chicken
• Rosemary chicken
• chicken nuggets
• salsa chicken
• Chicken 'n Dumplings

Soups/Misc.

• Chili
• Chicken noodle soup
• potato soup
• Lentil Soup
• Fried Rice
• Pintos

Sides include: mashed potatoes, crock pot mac and a large variety of veggies.

Mr. Clark gets paid every other week so I buy groceries for two weeks.  I sit down before each payday and make a two week menu.  I use the list above to select my meals.  I try to use one meal from each category, that way we're getting a variety of foods and we're not getting bored by eating the same meals over and over.  

It is seriously so easy.  I pretty much remember the ingredients needed for our favorite dishes so making my shopping list is a snap.  You could make a master shopping list for your meals to make it even easier on yourself.

For printable menu planners go here and here.  Have fun ladies - and share some of your favorite recipes so we can shake up our own menu plans!!

September in Our Home

September was a great month in our home.  There was a few days in there that were rough but we leaned on the Lord and made it through.

My sweet Hannah officially started her home schooling this month and she is loving it.  We spend an average of thirty to forty-five minutes each day on her work.  I've broken her schedule up into one lesson a day - math on Monday's, science on Tuesday's, etc.  We basically read books or complete worksheets.  I didn't buy a curriculum for her this year so I'm just using the kindergarten requirements to work out a "lesson plan" each week. 

Hannah was already working on learning to read before we started and we're still continuing with that.  She's doing really good and has completed all of the vowel phonic books and has moved on to the numbers and colors book.  Hannah used to love working on reading, now she is more interested in math.  She sped through recognizing her numbers and has advanced to basic addition because she likes math so much.  She's so much like her Daddy!

Just a side note:  the Dollar Tree has a lot of great workbooks for preschoolers and kindergartners.  They include letter recognition, spelling, math and more.  They include a variety of characters as well that makes the work fun (Spider Man, Winnie the Pooh, Disney Princesses, etc).  They also sell a variety of flash cards and teaching supplies.

I also like to use the following websites for worksheets and ideas:  1+1+1+1 and education.com.  

We were blessed with the opportunity to visit with many of our out of town friends this month as well.  The Job's (Beresford, Belinda, and Bethany) are a wonderful family and were visiting from England.  They visit and travel all over the U.S. twice a year for Beresford's house church ministry.  Sadly, we didn't see them in the spring so we made sure to meet up with them for their fall visit.  One Monday afternoon we drove to Helen, GA where they were staying for a few days to rest and relax.  We spent the evening with them at a little Mexican restaurant, just chatting and catching up.  I love to hear all about their travels and the interesting people they meet along the way.  I could have spent all night talking to them.  We were all sad to part but at least we will be seeing them again in the spring. 

We were also excited to that our sweet friends, Sam & Christine, have moved back to our area after living in New York for three years.  We only visited with them once in the three years they were gone so we are thrilled that they're back!  Plus, they have the cutest eight month old son name Joshua.  While they were gone they stored some of their things in our little storage cabin.  We spent the last two Sunday's of the month with them while they were retrieving their belongings.  It's been so exciting see all of these sweet and amazing people!!

I didn't read a lot of books this month but I did start I Love Being a Woman by Patsy Clairmont.  In her book, Clairmont addresses the wide range of emotions that women experience on a daily basis.  All of these emotions are a gift from God that we can either use to minister to people or drive them crazy!  She takes you through several different women in the Bible (Abigail, Ruth, the Proverbs 31 woman, etc) and shows how they controlled their emotions and were able to be a blessing to the people they came in contact with.  I haven't finished this book yet but so far it has really encouraged me and challenged me to consider how my emotional reactions can hurt or bless someone. 

I want to take a moment to point out the new links on my sidebar.  I have become an affiliate for the Bulk Herb Store and Graham Family Ministries.  The Bulk Herb Store is a wonderful online shop that provides a large variety of organic herbs, teas, seeds, books, videos and accessories.  Graham Family Ministries provides homemaking and homeschooling ebooks as well as some planners.  If you have extra time make sure to stop by these two stores and check them out!  ------->

October is going to be a busy month for our family.  Some of Mr. Clark's family will be visiting with us for a few days.  Then we'll part ways as Mr. Clark returns to Florida for a scuba trip and the kids & I return to North Carolina to visit our twin nieces (cousins!).  Throw in Oktoberfest and a day trip with my parents and we're going to be pretty busy.  Oh, and I almost forgot that I'll be working a day or two a week at Tots & Teens Consignment Store (and the best part is the kids can come with me!)  I'm excited!!

My first post of October will be my menu/meal plan (per Amanda's request).  Then I'll take you through our herbal medicine chest so you can get an idea of what we use and what you might like to have on hand for the winter months ahead. 

Attitude of Gratitude:

#127 - cool fall weather moving in and being able to open the windows

#128 -  seeing Sam & Christine and their sweet baby, Joshua

#129 - holding baby Joshua until he fell asleep

#130 - encouragement through a good book

#132 - enjoying the company of close friends over sushi

#133 - celebrating Becky's 30th birthday

#136 - playing with sweet baby puppies at a neighbor's house

#139 - buying Hannah the cutest winter coat for only $3 at the Consignment Sale

#140 - my sister thoughtfully buying Sammy new sheets and clothes for winter (what a sweet surprise and blessing!!)

#142 - seeing Sammy's excitement over his new Darth Vader costume

#143 - Hannah's sweet attitude and excitement over all of Sam's new things (sheets, clothes, costume) and never whining that she didn't get anything

Handbags for FREE

There's a great deal going on at handbags.com that I wanted to share with you lovely ladies.  If you sign up on their website you get a $10 coupon.  Furthermore, you'll get a $25 coupon for every three ladies you refer to their sight if they sign up as well.  

I've already signed up for my $10 coupon.  If any of you are interested, follow this link to sign up as well (you'll get a $10 coupon and I will be on my way to getting the $25 coupon).  This is a great plan if you're looking for a new handbag for fall and don't have a lot of moo-lah to spare. 

I've got my eye on this one:

And did I mention that shipping and handling is FREE - always free!  

Hurry ladies, this deal ends October 31st. 

check back soon for my 'Sept in our Home' post

So Long, Farewell!

Bear with me...more rambling thoughts on friendship!  Keep in mind I'm talking about close friendships, not acquaintances. 

The question on my mind this week is: When do you prune the friendships in your life?  As I mentioned in my earlier post, I've been evaluating my relationships lately and there are some that need to be pruned for one reason or another.  Most friends drift apart naturally and, for the most part, that's what has happened to most of mine. There are a few however that I've had to say farewell to.

There are the odd few relationships that I've had to really think and pray about.  One lady commented on my last post that she had backed off on several relationships because she was always the one giving.  I know exactly how she feels, as I'm sure you do too.  What do you do in these cases?  For me and the lady who commented, we simply backed off.  When you come to the realization that you're not getting anything in return it's time to let go.  Don't let hurt and anger ruin a friendship, especially if the other person doesn't realize that they're being too selfish or too needy.  Retreat before it gets to this point.  In these cases I've prayed for the Lord to provide someone else to bear patiently with that person and to meet their needs in a way that I obviously couldn't.

Another time to prune relationships is when you're clinging to someone in hopes that the person needs/wants you as much as you need/want them.  I've also had one of these friendships.  I was the one clinging to a drowning relationship.  I had high expectations for this person that they either didn't want to or simply couldn't meet.  I then became hurt when they didn't meet my needs.  Then I became angry.  

Do you see the pattern here?  Hurt and anger when a "friend" does all of the taking and never gives in return.  Hurt and anger when a "friend" doesn't meet your expectations.  If that's how you've been feeling lately then maybe you should step back and pray that the Lord will give you guidance on how to continue.  If you're not being encouraged and edified by the friendship then maybe it is time to move on.  Obviously you would still keep in touch with those ladies (or gentlemen) and would most certainly be available if they truly needed you.  But we all need friends in our lives who are going to encourage us in our roles as wife, mother, sister, daughter, daughter of Christ.  As I mentioned before, we need friends who seek our fellowship, advice and encouragement as much as we seek theirs.  

I understand that we're called to be a light to the world and to love our neighbors.  When I think about these things it's hard not to feel guilty when you're stepping away from relationships.  Again, pray to the Lord for guidance and trust that He will meet that person's needs (with or without you!) and He will meet your needs (without or without them!)

What to you think?  Am I right?  Am I wrong?  I truly believe the key is taking everything before the Lord.