Creating the Beaten Path

When we moved into our house in November of 2013, we had a talk with our back yard neighbor. There was a chain link fence across our property in the backyard and if there was no way through that fence, the kids who went to the elementary school (K-2) would have to walk about three extra blocks out of their way to get to school.

She was very nice to say the kids could walk through her yard when they were going to school. I asked her if she minded if we put in a gate so they wouldn't have to climb the fence and ruin it. She was more concerned about their safety which was so sweet. I put out word on Facebook that I was looking for a chain link fence gate and got two people respond that we could have one that they wouldn't be using.

Well, it went well for a few years. Zachary walked it for a half a year until he started 3rd grade at the intermediate school a mile away and Matthew started kindergarten. Fast forward another couple of years and Matthew is at intermediate school and not longer attending the elementary.

BUT...First year of high school for three means that three freshmen are walking through the back yard to the high school which is located on the next block past the elementary school. Not only are they all walking to and from school before and after, but to evening practices and meetings and everything else that high schoolers have on their schedule.

It was just the other day before the kids helped David pull in the patio furniture for the winter did I realize that we may need to have another talk with the neighbor and promise to reseed her lawn. Talk about a beaten path! I guess they will have to start zig zagging a bit to keep from killing all of the grass!

High School Concert Band and Choir

We have two in the high school concert band. They had their first concert now a couple weeks ago. I had pictures uploaded to my computer to write about this then, but this month has been a whirlwind with all of the activities before Christmas.

I very much enjoyed the music as I worried about Ryan and how he was going to do having just gotten his two bottom wisdom teeth pulled 3 days earlier. It certainly wasn't comfortable for him but he never complained. He rarely does. He is in the back there with the euphoniums.

Dawn sits right on the end of the clarinet section so that is nice, I can always find her, beautiful in her concert dress. I know that I sometimes get lost in the busy-ness of our home, but I really do love listening to the music as they have grown older. I love who they are becoming.

It amazes me what happens each year as they keep playing and singing. They learn so many things when they are not with me. I love that, and I also find myself feeling like they come home with sides I don't even really know. That will happen more and more as they lead more of their own life. I am grateful that they are talkers and they share a lot of what happens when they are not home. I treasure those moments.

The choir sang too and I have three members of choir this year. Ryan made his way through the songs again with a painful jaw. He is pictured in the row second to the top, the third one from the left in the left picture below. Dawn and Stacey are both in the picture on the right. I love seeing them all up there singing. My very favorite thing is that they sing around the house more too.

I hear melodies and harmonies and it makes my music heart happy. It was fun too to jump up into the choir when the MHS choir alumni were invited to sing "Sing We Now of Christmas" with the choir. Dawn motioned me big to come join them so I did. It was fun. Then the community was invited to join them for the Hallelujah Chorus and so I stayed and sang with my girls and some other friends who also jumped up to sing along. "For the Lord God Omnipotent Reigns...Hallelujah!

Christmas Day Highlights

This year Baby Jesus was found in the Clue game. After ten clues, some of which were a little harder than previous years. Christmas morning starts the same every year at the Sloan house. Dad gets up to make the omelettes that he very meticulously prepared for on Christmas Eve. As we finish breakfast we open the last Jesus Tree gift and after reading the verses, we hang the "presents" on the tree.

"Envelope! It is an envelope! Where does Mom
keep the envelopes?"

By then, every kid of course has peeked under the tree at the nativity to see if Jesus is there. He isn't on Christmas morning and from the first clue, they are lead all over the house answering riddles, looking up Bible verses or just trying to figure out where Mom may be sending them.

This year, the big kids sat around on their rear ends and sent their little brothers around the house. David is always saying I am too easy so he helped and together I think we got a good mix of easy/hard. This year Jesus was in the game of Clue. As I was writing the last clue to send them to Baby Jesus in the game, David said "Roman soldiers / At the Cross / with the nails" in "Clue" fashion. It really was all for us that He came, He walked this earth and he died. We have so much to be thankful for.

I have a few Christmas Day memories of 2017 that I would just LOVE to share!

Merry Christmas from all of us!

Us old people in our jammies too!

Zach's turn

Tool guy!

Only a sister knows how much you love
Nutella!

Merry Christmas...how about a head lock?

A thankful girl...for every book in the box...and such an interesting combination of
books in Dawn's box this year!

Matchy matchy!

Three boys...more head locks! 

"As Seen On TV" comes through with an awesome gift
that Matthew really loves! Who knew!

It is another year to put in the memory book as we paused today to enjoy each other and the traditions that we love as a family. God has blessed this couple when 20 years ago we celebrated our first Christmas together. We had not celebrated Christmas as children and have funny memories of that first year when we bought white corded lights for our Christmas tree! Every year after that we remembered that the lights with white cords go outside or inside to decorate and we want to get the lights with a green cord to string on the tree.

SO much has been celebrated and experienced in those 20 years. A lot of worshiping of the God of the universe who came to this earth to be with us. I was listening to a sermon by Warren Wiersbe the other day as I was getting ready for Christmas. He was preaching from Romans 8. He had five points from the text. 

• v.31 God is for us
• v. 32 Jesus Christ died for us
• v. 33 God has justified us
• v.34 Jesus makes intercession for us
• v. 35-39 God loves us and nothing can separate us from His love

I have learned a lot over these years about these very things. How God does this and what that all means for us. I have come from a place that Warren Wiersbe explained this way "If you are 'keeping' yourself saved, you might not be saved at all." I believed for awhile in my life that I had to keep myself saved. It is done, it is the finished work that Jesus came to this earth to accomplish.

He ended by saying "Do you have the witness of the Spirit of God in your heart?" I have tasted and seen the truth of this baby arriving in Bethlehem and what His footsteps on this earth mean to every single person who believes that all of the things the prophets foretold has come true in Him. It is finished because He came.

It is a story for the ages. John MacArthur, in one of his sermons leading up to Christmas this year was reading the story of Jesus' birth "'There has been born for you a Savior' and isn't that what we still should be telling people?"

Merry Christmas!

Christmas 2017

It has been hard to write these past few months. But today, the Christmas lasagna is in the oven and I have time to reflect. It has been a very different Christmas season this year for a variety of reasons. Different from last year for sure because I have hair and I have more energy to keep up with the activities and the plans. A year ago I was looking forward to 2017, a year of marking the end of cancer treatments and a year of healing and strength.

Somehow along the way, that got derailed. 2017 went by way too fast. And, I spent too much time focusing on the wrong things. Philippians 3:13 "...But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on to the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." It was one morning that David was sharing in Genesis with the children about Lot and his wife. She turned back to look, God told her not to. She became a pillar of salt. God's Word is living and active. Thankful that the punishment for looking back is not a pillar of salt for everyone, it pierced my heart.

There has been more stress than we have had as a family for a long time but also, there has been a lot of trusting in God for things we couldn't see that had nothing to do with cancer. In fact a couple times I remember crying and telling God that I was good at being sick, trusting Him, leaning on His faithfulness for this life and whatever He had planned for the next. But what do I do with THIS?!

I would not have imagined this time last year that we would find ourselves at Thanksgiving time without a church home. To have a place to worship with the body of Christ has always been a priority in our family. David and mine growing up, and now in our own family. Trusting His leading to where He would have us be has left me a little out of sorts this year. It has also in a good way reminded me that when the ground below me is shaky, His hands are catching me, holding me, steadying me, reminding me that He is my foundation, my unshakable Rock.

Substitute teaching has taken over much of my stay-at-home-mom week. I set out each week saying I will work only three days in a classroom and two days at home and then I get a call to see if I can work and have a hard time saying no. The problem is, I have not done a very good job of delegating some of the things around the house to those who are here when I am not.

There has always been, or I have always found the time to ponder, as I have always loved the verse in the Christmas story, in Luke 2:19 "But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart." I love to ponder my Lord at Christmas as he condescended to the earth in the limited body of an infant. This year, I pondered a lot during the "specials" after taking the class to PE or music. It certainly was different.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow...I pray that I will feel like writing again, and sharing now and then. It truly has been a whirlwind this 2017 and with the kids out of school and David off of work, I am glad that we can be together to enjoy the rest of the year!

2017 Fun Gift #2

When I picked Zach's name for the "Open one present on Christmas Eve drawing" at our house I was not thinking of anything in particular as I stashed his name in my nightstand waiting to attach it to the gift I would eventually be giving him.

It was only when I went downstairs to work on something in my sewing room that as I was moving things around I found his Garfield sweatshirt. Now, this sweatshirt was made by a friend of our family when my brothers were young. I think it was a gift to my brother Johnse when he went through his "Garfield" stage. A couple years ago my mom gave it to Zachary to wear because he had become a Garfield fan.

I remember last spring when we packed it away telling him that he wouldn't be able to wear it next winter because it was already looking too small. He gave me that fretful look. He hates thinking of getting rid of anything and something especially meaningful to him, it is very stressful for him. I expound a little more about that here.

Quickly my mind went to the idea of cutting the Garfield out and using the back of the sweatshirt along with it to stuff it into a pillow for his bed. I was pretty sure that he would love it. Giving him a way to keep something he treasures is one of my missions as his mom. 

As I started working on it I found a 16x16 pillow form under another pile of stuff and thought I would just make it to fit that. I had a gold t-shirt in a box that I was going to take to Goodwill and thought about making the stripes and of course for Zachary, anything that has his name on it is even better!

I was so pleased with how it turned out and to know you have hit the nail right on the head is such a great feeling! I know this will turn out to be on the top of my 2017 Christmas memories!

2017 Fun Gift #1

Anytime I have fun leftover yarn to make granny squares I do! And then when I have enough to put together I use my Caron pound skeins of yarn to join them into an afghan.

This one went with Matthew to school for his teacher for Christmas. We love her and he has been thankful for her in his classroom this year. I know God answers our prayers when we ask Him to put our children with the right teacher for them.

I love to know that someone we care about will open a gift and be over the moon surprised. For those who crochet or like me, need something busy to do with their hands while the family has movie night, these things don't take long to come together.

These last couple of years I haven't been as on the ball to work up these yarn balls into squares but have had a blast this fall seeing how the artistry of it forms in my hand as I put the colors together. There really is no bad combination.