Update: haven't done one in ages!!

Reading: The Prime of Miss Jean Brody 
Linking: 
Listening: the running of our washing machine, there has been fevers today and yesterday in our place and so were getting things clean!! 
Recovering: from a super busy two weeks! Sometimes life is so full it tires you out! 
Crazy Doug Fact: Every night (without fail) our little 3yo wanders into our bedroom between the hours of 10:30pm and 2am where she sleeps on the floor in a special spot her daddy has for her! We're getting lax the more kids we bring up! 
Crazy Doug Quote: "Momma, what's a VHS?" Yup totally happened. Made me feel old! 😳

Crazy FAM Update!

Reading: Sometimes you need a little Harry Potter (Half Blood Prince), a Little history (Mila 18), a little Austen (Mansfield Park), a little WWII epic (The rise and fall of the third Reich), and some kids books you are doing with your homeschoolers (Encyclopedia Brown and Milly-molly-mandy).
Listening: to Adie while my chillens are supposed to be napping! haha! Yeah it is as crazy as it sounds...time change is ridiculous!

upDate...

Lulu and her Great Grandma, Nannie.

Did you know??

"You know that rats can only drink in little sips, right?".....Gresham.
'No, I didn't know that." ....Momma.
"And that they can't talk?" ......Gresham.

Update......Well we're still crazy so not too much has changed!!

It's Been a LONG Month!

It's been a LONG month! One of the longest ones I can ever remember! Our sweet flibberdilou has contracted some errant virus which forced her to be hospitalized for three days and released on thanksgiving day which made us all VERY thankful we weren't in the hospital for longer, but it was still a long week of separation for our family! We had a wonderful nursing staff and luckily Will was able to miss only one work day to care for the kids while I stayed with Libi at the hospital! I remember the nurse asking me "You seem so calm!" I was by this point beyond exhausted and just ready to have someone say, "Here Larissa, I will take all the pressure you go take a nap for three days, okay?!" But I remember telling her of when we thought Silas had leukemia and when Kace had his arm surgically set after a severe break when he was 3. I just knew that this time around Libi wasn't my baby to freak out over. She is on loan and very much appreciated, but still she doesn't ultimately belong to me! I could not freak out, even when they told me if it developed into Pneumonia they could not treat her.

It was such an eye opening experience, I mean really who thinks about those people in the hospital during the holidays?! I never have! I never think about the doctors or the nurses, or the families with sick children. While in the ER my eyes met those of another mother whose son who was also on a stretcher being admitted to the hospital. This mom would not look away from my stare. Something passed between two mothers at that moment, a feeling of total understanding and compassion. I have never looked into the eyes of another human being before and seen their pain and felt my own ability to touch that pain! That mom was going through the same thing, although in a different way. Her child, like mine was struggling and she was afraid! I will never forget her eyes. I will never forget how she looked at me and didn't look away. I will think about her because in that moment I felt my own humanity most acutely! I felt my own fearful nature, I saw myself reflected back at me. I attempted to use my eyes and my look to convey support and grace. I hope in the future I can experience more moments of humanity in this manner. Where I look upon another person and can have complete unity of feeling.

I am still learning what it means to be a steward of the lives I am given! I have not learned yet completely how to trust and obey. But I can admit, with total honesty that I am trying!! I want to be able to say, that in the face of a great and terrible illness which could likely affect this little gem's entire life forward, I am following with abandon. I hope one day, and I know my hope to be valid, to seem the fruit of this hope and know my life to truly reflect His image!

Daddy and His Big Boys

Daddy and the three big boys in 2007.

For nearly a month our family has been having a new experience.....christian school! WoW! Who would have thought our fam would ever get a chance to enjoy the blessings of a private school experience, but we have because He is provisional! We would never have stopped homeschooling had we not been given a great opportunity  and we are nothing but thankful for it! Will also began teaching Bible at this same school. It is a good chance for them all to spend time together and also learn! They are loving the time, although the early mornings are wearing on us all...but not our littlest family members.

Daddy and these crazy fellas in 2008.

Will is Teaching High School Bible and currently educating the kids on reading the word correctly. Rightly dividing isn't simply a natural thing, it is a learned concept and the kids are really taking to the new information. He will be starting a new bible study once a week with some of the boys and is excited to be  involved in openly teaching the Word again.

Fall 2008.

Silas has begun 2nd grade. The experience has been one of discipline for him, especially coming from a homeschooling back ground where our school lasts only 3 to 4 hours max! So an all day thing, taking notes, and being organized without mom's help has been hard, but he's getting the knack. He and I are reading the Snow Queen together at night and He is doing a fab job, considering many of the words need to be sounded out!

April 2010.

Kace was made for a school environment! He just loves having a ton of busy work to do, directions to follow constantly, and a teacher to help out consistently. We have struggled a little in loving our family through out this transition for him. He has tended to love his school familt better than is real family and so we are working toward getting out priorities straight.

This summer, 2011. They are HUGE!

Momma, G-man, Pie Pie, and Lulu have been getting into a groove a bit slower than we had hoped. G-man has been working on writing his letters, Pie Pie is learning how NOT to pick on her older brother, and Lulu is getting better at sleeping consistently! We have seen  how much we enjoy a little more quiet in the house, but the little kids get so excited when their "big" brothers get home! G-man and Dodio hole up in their room to play "camping trip" or cars and Pie D tags along while trying to be a momma at the same time! I have enjoyed only having three at home during the day, not because I like having a break from the big boys, but because the lil'uns have been able to have more one on one attention and in some ways it has brought out more uglies than one would expect, but it is good for Pie D and G-man to be able to be the trouble makers for a bit. I would hate for them to feel that they are without the need of a Savior and seeing their flaws helps me to guide them and know them better, also address them more effectively!

lil'bit! Do you want to kiss this face a million times too?
Okay maybe thats just me! :D

So we have had a busy month in september; 2 birthdays, first days of school, countless loads of laundry, homework, homework, homework, Read alouds, hugs, cupcakes, packed lunches, art, coloring, big family dinners, visits to Fredericksburg Virginia, hundreds of smiles, laughs, tears, early mornings, lots of petrol (I would say gas - and we've had that too- but thats not exactly they way I would prefer to put it!), and hopefully a new home this month. I hope you have enjoyed our recap of this last month--I hope even more the kiddos enjoy reading about themselves one day!

The Original Crazy Doug Girl ...diggin' those dimples!
Aren't you jealous I get to see this face EVERY DAY?!

We're Back Update

Almost 3 Months.

Driving Down The Road!

In case you were wondering what being in our car is like......

Daddy and Lulu

Drinking: Anything I can get, we have been a thristy crew lately!

Recovering: From Hurricane Irene, we lost poweer for three days and the kids school was postponed for almost a week, church was cancelled and many things happened....welcome back to the east coast!

Linking: Civil War Events 2011....the 150 anniversary of the beginning of the war between the states.
Thinking: I can't believe I am a mom to five chillens.....I mean really....the girl who thought she wasnt gonna marry? Seriously weirds me out!!

Listening: My kids talking, which I admit is an almost constant occurance, but lately they have been more prone to argueing with one another...kinda sad, but also at times strangely funny what they actually fight about! I would love to say I never laugh at my kids, but honestly I laugh at them ALL the time!

Wishing: I could take a nice long trip to see some historic places with my hubs. I would love to spend a weekend strolling the streets of fredericksburg, visiting the house visited by both lincoln and washington and washington's childhood home ferry farm. I also would like to go for a long day south of richmond va to the national museum of the civil war soldier and the virginia state holocaust museum which is near our church. So many wishes...so little time.

Reading: Here's a link to my currently reading page on Goodreads, Join if you haven't already and track your own reading progress, its fun and also a good way to share recommends.

Crazy Doug Fact: Numero Unos favorite color is blue and brown, Dodio's fave is green, G-man's is red, Pie-Pie's is purple, Lulu is a pink girl (because I say so), my fave is yellow and Will's is dark brown or khaki green.

Update

Drinking: Milk and Water and sometimes I get some big ice filled sonic drinks when the hubs is spoiling me! :D

Recovering: Petra contracted Step somehow and now we have two people with ear infection (Gresham and Will), two with Eye Infections (Gresham and Petra) and one with toncillitis (Kace). So far we have been cooped up for a week on wednesday! We ARE SOO ready  to be over this!

Reading: I recently finished Adventures of Sherlock Holmes which I enjoyed immensly! And am now onto The Red Badge Of Courage which has so far been pretty good, but then again I am only half-way through. And the best part is they were both FREE on kindle! I just Love my kindle!

Linking: One site I use all the time is Wikipedia and it is so totally cool! I also have been haunting some baby naming sites which have helped me to narrow our search by quite a bit. I also have been using a lot of sites for extra worksheets to use with my eldest, we have hit a rough patch in homeschooling and so I am trying a lot of new ideas to make things easier for us without an argument.

Watching: Since we have had a sick day today we watched Jumanji, Batman, and My Little Pony.

Listening To: Lots of coughing.

Crazy-Five-O: For those of you interested in our progress, no we do not know what we are having yet. Here are some recent pics of our progress. Will thinks it is a boy, my mom and I are hoping it is a girl!

Christmas Memories

How Much IS a Brood?

Announcing Crazy-Five-O



I want to see little children adorning every home as flowers adorn every meadow and every wayside. I want to see them welcomed to the homes they enter, to see their parents grow less and less selfish and more and more loving because they have come. I want to see God's precious gifts accepted, not frowned upon and refused.
-Elizabeth Prentiss


So I ask you, do we qualify as having a brood yet or not?

I am Certain You are Dying to Know That......

Drinking: Orange Juice, did I even mention how I DON'T Like Orange Juice and here I am drinking it! Lame!


Recovering: Well, I would Love to recover from the Drama that has been 2010, but I have 3 more weeks to wait! Let's hope it is drama free!

Reading: Well, I have read several stinkers lately and have decided to take a little break from my list. I have been reading a bit but mostly, just school stuff with my boys.
Studying: Reading several Psalms while I have been deciding where to head next.

Linking: YouTube Shoah Foundation Page. I recently stumbled across these full length taped interviews with Shoah survivors and their families. I have read widely not only on the holocaust but also on WWII in general and it never fails to learn more the more you are exposed to. I have only watched a couple of these over several weeks, most are over 2 hours long, but they are very interesting, I think they should be more interesting to Christians as the Jewish people are clearly spoken of frequently in scripture. I have also learned through one of these videos about a pastor who was imprisoned in Dachau for excersizing church discipline on members of his church who engaged in Nazi activity. He was a member of the confessing church and one of the first martyered for the faith. This is just one example of how closely the history of Christianity is linked with the Jewish people.

Watching: I have watched some Sherlock Holmes on Netflix lately, loved the books I have read by Doyle and Jeremy Brett brings the old detective to life.

Listening To: my baby girl has recently begun "reading" books to people. Right now she is sitting at their little table reading herself a book, I have no idea exactly what it all says, but she is content to tell herself a story, I love this age right now, if only she would use the potty!

Update.....Even When We Are Kinda Boring

Can't forget the crazy pic! Here's our fab female Boone Baby!

Drinking: hmm, I have to be thankful they have a Sonic here too! :)

Recovering: I don't want to answer this one, suffice to say that we have yet to recover. I suppose one can honestly say that we will always have the truth of our eternal allegiance upon us.

Reading: Where do I start? The Wizard's first rule-fantasy recommend from my sis Jenny. Rutherford's letters-I read them every so often and man is this guy on point or what?! I have read some of his letters before, I assume our current reality has something to do with his power today rather than yesterday. Also reading Luther's treatise on Good Works- Always knew I loved Luther. Slowly wading through Bonhoeffer Bio by Metaxes-I hope everyone knows by now I love reading Bonhoeffer! I am reading a few other things that are probably of little interest to anyone but me. Plus Gooney Bird Greene with my first grader (when did he get sooo OLD????).

Studying: Luke and Joel (now, just finished Lamentations)

Linking: http://www.goodreads.com/-If you haven't signed up and are a reading nut I hope you will. It is alot of fun to see what other people are reading and what their favorite books are. I heard someone say once that where one is well read one need not fear any ideas, it is only the less well read who must fear being apprehended by a wayward idea. I hope that means I am well read, although I would probably say I was far from well read, as you will see if you join! :)

Watching: Nothing right now. But I recently re-watched the Hiding Place and was reminded again that "no pit is so deep that He is not deeper still." I am not one to over-spiritualize by any means but I have to admit somehow that watching seemed providential, because I really wasn't wanting to watch it over. But I am thankful for her testimony once again. I love that Corrie ten Boom says that because her sister died she now gets to speak about Jesus to everyone. I often forget that my struggles are often the means by which the gospel is brought forth, already that has been true. It is easier for people in struggles seeing us so clearly struggling to speak to us. I suppose we are more available than ever before. More Human, but isn't that the point, to become what God created us to be.....true humans-just as Christ was the epitome of Humanity so one day will we be to--exactly what He created us to be if we follow Him completely.

Listening To: New iTunes songs I downloaded, maybe it is a bad sign when all the songs I like are .69 cents? I also was able to play a trick on my hubs, so that's ALWAYS fun!!!

Wacky Wednesday

1) We are still trying to hammer out the details in homeschooling two fellas in two different grades. We have been struggling to keep up with kace's work in preschool because, honestly, we are having to battle through a lot of baggage that was acquired while Silas attended Kindergarten. I never imagined how much pride was so deeply ingrained in each of us. I am realizing that my son, my dear child has sin struggles that the Lord is graciously showing me and which are bringing out a lot of ungodly fruit in my own heart. I have often this week remembered that I am a sad example of peace, patience, kindness, and self control. So it looks like while I am striving to teach my son humility in the midst of math, I am also learning how much I need a savior still. So Home-school has really taught me much. Yeah, stop laughing at me!

2) I have been reading George MacDonald's amazing book called Phantastes and I have never felt so obtuse. I feel as though I were reading something just achingly beautiful and still not seeing the extent of the picture. What exactly is this man trying to explain? Is it a story? Or an Allegory?I can completely imagine how C.S. Lewis calls him the master, he is head and shoulders above me in understanding and experience! I am simply amazed at this mans mind! I wish I knew so much more about language and vocabulary and imagery!

3) Visited a new small group for the first time here on Monday. was good to be learning more about the bible with fellow followers. Also am realizing that our recent experiences have made me much more vulnerable than I have ever felt in my entire life. My own life story has suddenly become a means of humility for me and I want to kick against these trappings and once again think myself something! Ha ha, looks like my sons pride doesn't seem so different from my own!

4) Went to the National Civil War Park Center here in Richmond. I cannot put into words how much the things I learn disturb and also intrigue me. I cannot imagine the decisions that led to so much loss. But then again I have heard stories of such heart rending joy that I am moved almost to tears from the beauty of it. Truly a paradox to me.

5) My second little boy is on the cusp of turning five! I can hardly believe that another of my babies is coming upon another milestone in his life. He is getting so tall and so ready for everything this life has to offer him. That trait can be good or bad for him, but so far he is the most able to admit need to God. I am thankful for that today. He asked today after seeing a billboard, "Why did God die?" We had a long conversation and I have to say that the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe is simply a fabulous analogy for us to use. I can hardly believe that in two weeks it will have been five years since he first opened his eyes to meet us face to face! Believe them when they tell you it flies by!

Spring Update

Drinking: Well I hope everyone already knows I LOVE Sonic and their soda's!!
Recovering: Maybe the reality is we never really will recover...this condition is permanent? :D
Reading: Well....sometimes I am reading Mortification of sin....but not very often lately....I haven't read much lately--I am a slacker I know.
Studying: Romans and it's rockin' my world again....as always!
Linking: http://www.sistercircles.com/ If you haven't read these books by Nancy Moser and Vonette Bright and you are a woman and a believer....YOU MUST READ THEM!!! All I can say is why didn't they write it sooner!
Watching: Were the Wild Things are---HORRIBLE DON'T RENT IT!!! And everything is illuminated, it was surprisingly good, heavy but powerful. Amazing what happens to your psyche when you don't stand up for what you believe and without Christ the lengths you will go in the end.
Listening: My son, Silas (yeah I will rat him out!) whining about not eating the rest of his dinner, needless to say he's been eating it for a LONG time. A really LONG time!


And here are some pictures from this spring....

Kace Picked all the tulips in the front of the house. It was sweet!

Date night really was just the yearly senior dinner. Silas is our great photographer!

This is what happens to a girl when she sleeps with her hair in a pony tail and then you take it our after the morning! :D

My ham! He sure doesn't look very much like the other kiddos, but he sure is cute!

Gresham and Kace after opening Gresham's birthday box from Pop Pop, Chickie and Nannie.

Using every blanket in their room and the living room they made a fort. They loved it!

And last but not least--Gresham's homemade chocolate Birthday cake, which he loved I might add!

Unfortunately there aren't any pictures of Silas, I know. He is usually busy at school while all the fun goes down at the house and we are busy taking pictures, but he is the photographer on a few of these so be impressed by his talent even if his face is absent! :)

Our First Time

We had the boys first halloween celebrations at school this year. We have never done anything for halloween before. So we were nubies at this whole dressing up and trick or treating thing. But it came off well and the kids had a good time. I enjoyed going and helping out in their classes and seeing all the cuties dressed up. And the costume parade was great! We also spent about 2 hours trick or treating on saturday night and the boys got a boat load of candy. We came home and had hot chocolate together after the cool walk and helping daddy with the "truth or treat" at church. It was a good time together. Now we are looking forward to thanksgiving and putting the tree up for Christmas! I am sure you will see a whole lotta pictures from us in the very near future!

Update: Our Summer So Far

We took a long vaca and drove through 11 states! I can hardly believe we made it 4700 miles!

My big man FIVE! FIVE! How does the time pass so?!

My baby sister got hitched! I had to attend! :)

VBS! It was such a good time!

William managed to eek out a masters of Biblical languages degree after four years, four kids, a full time and part time job....oh yeah and lil ole me!

Though I haven't yet gotten a picture of it! (Yeah I am a slacker!) My girl is standing on her own and even trying to walk!

We are trying the swimming thing a whole lot this summer! My Poor whitey! What shall I do with thee? How cute is this face?

I figured after a two month hiatus a picture (or several) was worth more then words! Am I right? We have been a busy bunch and I am guessing that things will only get worse as the school year begins and my big man goes off to kindergarten and my middle man starts pre-school! Some times I look at them and they are so cute and I think there is no way they are even mine on loan. But then they come in the house after a half hour in our yard, covered in a literal inch of dust and I remember..."Oh yeah! they're mine, alright!"

Many blessings!

The crazy douglas fam