What's in a namesake?

My children are always fascinated by where their names come from, so this morning when the angel Gabriel came up, I mentioned to Gabriella the origins of her name.

"Gabriella, did you know that YOU were named after an angel?" I said.

She grinned and nodded. "Uh-huh," she said matter-of-factly. "Grammie!"

Well, there you have it. Out of the mouths of babes comes wisdom! ;-)
(and the funny part is, she IS named after my mom - her middle name is Jayne.)

My new favorite verse

Monday is always a dreaded day in my house, not because of the return of school, but because of the mess. Despite having the better portion of the house all clean on Fridays, by Monday morning it is evident that we did not keep up with chores over the weekend. Usually we are too busy either doing house projects (and then not cleaning up from them) or running errands or going places or just sitting on the couch out of sheer exhaustion. This weekend was inlucded all of the above! Friday night my brother came over for dinner; Saturday we bought the materials to fix the shed, went shopping, and then saw my parents briefly on their way home from Austria; Sunday we went to church, drove up to Dixon's apple farm to buy apples, and took the boys to Awama. Needless to say, last night was the "exhaustion" phase!
So this morning, our house looks like this.

(oh, sorry, you couldn't see the picture? That's because my camera broke through sheer disgust when I snapped it...)
`
BUT last night I was reading in Proverbs (as a mom, I ALWAYS feel in need of wisdom!) and I came across Probers 14:4:

"Where no oxen are, the manger is clean, but much revenue comes by the strength of the ox."

Now, at face value this verse may not seem very relevent, but I will show you just how relevent it is to my life as a mom!

When someone builds a barn, they don't finish it and look back and say "wow. What a lovely barn! I think I won't put any animals in it because they will just mess it up!" That would be ridiculous. A barn is a tool - it has the important function of sheltering animals from the weather and predators so they can eat and sleep in safetly. Are barns usually spotless? Nope! Animals are pretty messy. But the farmer is concerned with how useful the animal is to him and how much wealth and food he can generate through raising them either for market or to work on his farm. Nobody wants a nice clean barn with no oxen in it!

Not to compare my children with animals, but I see the same principle can be applied in my own life. If I had no children, my house could be spotless. Robert and I used to be able to clean our entire apartment in one hour - and that was after neglecting it for a week! Having children definitely multiplies the mess by a LOT! And usually, they can mess it up faster than I can clean. They do outnumber me 4 to 1!

But the verse about the oxen made me realize that the clean house is only a means, not an end. It's not the goal. Raising my children to be godly men and women who serve the Lord with all their strength is the goal! I need to stop getting so caught up in seeing a clean house as the mark of success and be more concerned with their education, growth, and strength - both physical and spiritual. The verse says that oxen bring much "revenue" through their strength. The KJV uses the word "increase." Not that we are expecting our children to make money for us (although I do hope they take care of me in my old age!) but "increase" in a spiritual sense - that they "enlarge" the kingdom of God with their strength and their work.

Now, I am not trying to use this verse as an excuse not to clean my house! (although sometimes I wish...) I actually enjoy having a clean house, and I think it makes the home much more pleasant and relaxed when it is clean. And just as there is a health component to a farmer mucking out the oxen's stalls, there is definitely a health component of keeping your house reasonably clean too! But I have to remind myself that it is the means, not the end. It's a building to shelter and feed my children and keep them safe while raising them to do God's work. I must confesss that many times I have put them in front of a movie or send them to play in their rooms so I can get the cleaning done. At the end of the day, I have a clean house...but I have missed the most important part of spending time with my children. Yikes. So I have posted this verse on my fridge to remind myself not to resent the messiness or the children who made it, but to remember the goal.

And fortunately, despite the comparison, children are unlike oxen in that they can be trained to clean up some portion of their own mess! 

My craft attempt

Yesterday I went to a baby shower for my friend Arielei's forthcoming new baby girl! It was loads of fun, although it did make me feel really old! Arielei was in the very first drama class I ever taught, and she was a freshman that year. A few years later I went to her graduation, and then to her wedding, and now she is having a baby! It's crazy...but also exciting! She and her husband Nathan are having a little baby girl, and naming her Eliana which I think is so pretty! (A little like Elora...which I also think is pretty, obviously, because I named my own daughter that! ;-)

So on Saturday I was getting together a baby present for her, and I suddenly thought "Gee, I wish I'd thought of this earlier so I could make her something!" Oops. I always think of that way too late. But I had a few materials and decided to see what I could come up with at the last minute. Soo...I had this skirt which was too small, and I cut off the waistband elastic and sewed a new waistband to make the skirt fit better, but for some reason I saved the elastic waistband and the extra fabric. (yes, I'm a pack rat. It's indisputable and it drives my husband crazy...but he knew it when he married me!)

It came to me suddenly that this stretchy waistband, still covered in pretty fabric, would be a perfect baby headband! So I measured it using Elora's head, cut it, made a circle, and hot-glued it together to form the headband. When I cut it, I left a tiny amount of the skirt fabric attached to the waistband on one side to form a ruffle. Then I followed the instructions that Daniella had showed me, which she learned from this blog, for making a fabric rose out of the matching fabric, and then I hot glued it to the headband (burning my finger quite badly in the process. I am incapable of using a hot glue gun without burning myself). It came out pretty cute, kind of shabby-chic, although next time I think I'll try sewing it together because I suspect this one will fall apart pretty easily. But I was in a hurry and couldn't find a needle.

I couldn't get a very good picture because my camera is broken ;-( and I took this one with my phone, but you get the idea. (Don't ask me why there's a stick of butter in the background.) It was white fabric with little blue flowers and green leaves. I think I will try this again next time someone has a baby! All you need is an old skirt waistband and a little fabric!

Curriculum of Exhaustion

Last night all 4 kids kept Mama up with various issues: Joseph had a bad cough, Jamie's stomach hurt because he got into gluten, Gabriella's fear of the dark had her crawling in with me, and Elora was teething. You could fill a thimble with the amount of sleep I actually got. (Yes I know that metaphor doesn't make sense...it just shows how tired I am.) Thus, school today has been conducted in a rather...unorthodox fashion:

Bible: Veggie Tales
Music Appreciation: Fantasia
Science: Magic School Bus
Reading: WordWorld
Literature: Gnomeo and Juliet
Social Studies: Cinderella
er...Interpersonal Relations: Winnie the Pooh


Please don't turn me in to the Board of Education. Hopefully tonight we'll sleep and tomorrow we'll do better!

Re: your behavior today

September 13, 2011

Dear Voss Children,

Due to your recent decisions to use them as weapons of mess/destruction, the following food items are now banned substances in this household:

- cereal

- orange juice

- ice cream

These will be added to the list of all banned substances under the heading "food." For a complete list, refer to the empty containers in the garbage can or just lick the floor.

Keep this up and you will be reduced to eating nothing but brussel sprouts.

Love,

Mama

P.S. Oh yes, and thank you SO much for waking up the baby. I have no words to express how much I appreciate that.

Reason #128 to have lots of children

Today I was attempting to do dishes when Gabriella fell down and hurt herself...again. Not that I'm not sympathetic...it's just that she falls down and hurts herself (in minor ways) A LOT and she's kind of a drama queen about it, screaming and crying and acting like the world is at an end. So when it happened today, I must admit I mentally said "Oh no...no again" as she came running toward me wailing at top volume.

But then, something happened. Elora, who was standing up playing in her exosaucer toy, caught Gabriella's eye and smiled a huge smile at her. Gabriella immediately stopped crying, said "Oh. Baby," and went to play with her sister like that had been her plan all along, forgetting all about the fact that she was "gravely injured." I smiled and went back to my dishes.

See why you should have lots of children? They distract each other from remembering their injuries.