Evenings can be hard--sometimes we parents are so tired and the last thing we feel like doing is coming up with creative fun for the kids. But...our children will only be young once, and why not have some jolly times with them? I find it easier to mix up the evenings of busy, messy projects with evenings that consist of quieter activities. I was inspired …
Continue reading Children and Winter Evenings: Plan of Action
The post about Keeping Children Busy is in the works! I received some fantastic input and I'm excited to share it with you! It will take you a winter evening just to read it all. 🙂 I started the work of compiling everything, but...I have been sick all week. So it might be a few …
While Will was home for his lunch break, I read to him out of T4T (a book written by Steve Smith with Ying Kai). The book uses a verse from Proverbs to show that a lot of mess is normal for vibrant churches. Here's the verse: Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come …
One of my friends asked me, how do you occupy four little children on these long, dark winter evenings? I hardly know myself. I have a few tricks, but not as many as I wish. We live in town, which limits what our kids can do after dark. (Actually, keeping them busy is not a problem. Keeping them …
Merry Christmas from the Schmucker family! We are so grateful for God's gift of Jesus at Christmas, and the gifts He's given us of family and friends and love all around! All photos taken on a windy day in November 2015 by Egging Photography.
I'm cleaning out a very jumbled dresser in the nursery, and I say to my four-year-old girl, "Desiree, why do you make such a mess in your drawer?" "I like it messy," says Desiree. "Because then I can't find the clothes that I don't like!" I giggle and keep sorting out too-small or too-stained clothes, …
Tomorrow morning we are leaving for Kentucky. On Wednesday, Will and I plan to take our children to the Creation Museum. (They are hopping with excitement!) Then the next four days will be spent in Leitchfield with my parents and all eight of my siblings and their families! It will be a noisy four days! I'm so …
Life is fragile. I stroke the downy cheek of my newborn son, and press him close to my heart. Wonder suffuses me, for life is fragile. ... Life is brittle. I watch the black clumps of Kansas soil falling into my grandma's grave. Sadness consumes me, for life is brittle. ... Life is brief. I …
Two years ago, my brother-in-law Sheldon drowned. How does a person begin to describe that kind of loss? Sheldon was quirky (remember the donkey mask?), funny, energetic, good with kids, and underneath all the energy was a gentle, serving, dreaming heart. That last year, Sheldon was becoming one of Will's best friends. He was intensely loyal, …
Here are a few of the things we've been doing this week. Last Sunday afternoon we went biking. (During the summer, we can bike in the evenings, but now it gets dark too early.) Biking around town does several things: it helps me get exercise, we get more familiar with the houses and streets, and we …
arabah rejoice 