miscellany monday {fourth child observations}

Ever since Iris was born, I have had a running list of things that I have noticed since we became a family of six.    

Iris at 6 weeks old   

• First, everyone comments on how she looks like one of her siblings. I have yet to hear that she resembles one of the parents who actually conceived her.
• The only time I have heard that she looked like me was from the sweet, random 80 yr old in the store. I thanked her for feeding my unfortunate narcissism.
• People assume that I have it all down now that I have 4. And I have absolutely no problem letting them believe it.
• Conversely, people allow me tons of grace for NOT having it all together. "Oh, it's okay," they say, "you have 4 kids, I'm doing good with just 2." "Don't worry that you're 45 minutes late." And I am thankful that the expectation bar has been lowered. Because that's how I like to roll, people. Always lowering the bar, always lowering the bar. 
• People tell me that she must be laid back since she's the fourth. I can remember hearing that when Reed was born and I got a rude awakening. He was and is not laid back, and in fact, he is very obstinate and let's just say, passionate. So I think it depends on the child's personality. So far, Iris, is shaping up to be more like Patrick and Meadow - calm and content. Saige and Reed favor their momma - emotional passionate and opinionated we'll say.
• I hear a lot of "God bless you," when I have all four of them in the store. I used to hear "you've got your hands full," but I guess people just jump straight to, "Holy crap, she's is crazy," and they just give me the sympathetic "God bless you."
• I get a lot of random people telling me all about their grandchildren, which I love by the way. I guess they feel like they can tell me, because apparently I love children. Oh and they usually think I am even more awesome since many of them (the grandmothers) have a friend named Iris.
• If you go to lunch with other moms with multiple children, bringing the total to 10 kids you may or may not be asked if you're part of a daycare. True story.

KAPOW! The AMAZING Super Baby on the attack!
(Iris at 6 months)

Happy Monday!!

 

{miscellany monday}

Happy Monday to everyone! I decided to jump back into {miscellany monday} because sharing about other things I find on the web is one of my favorite things about this blog!

1. 5 Ways to Fight Slavery

I liked this post - What Christians Do About Modern-Day Slavery over at the desiring God blog. It was informative, convicting and challenging. We need to do our part in fighting the evil of human trafficking and this article helps point out some easy and obvious ways to do it. I can't help but think of this quote by Martin Luther King Jr.
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” 

2. Stop Asking Jesus into Your Heart

This is a review of J.D. Greear's book, Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart, by Tim Challies.
Challies says, "Greear sets out to accomplish two things: to help the Christian find assurance that he has been saved, and to help the unbeliever resting on a false assurance see his danger and to turn to Christ." It looks like a great book and would be helpful for anyone who struggles with the assurance of their salvation.

3. A mover and a shaker

Iris is on the move! 
So far she still army crawls everywhere, but she gets up on all fours and rocks it like a rock star. I love to see their personalities take shape. She's 6 months and I love this age!


4. The Greatest of These is Love

photo by cloistered away

My friend, Bethany, wrote a great post on Valentine's Day last week. I could totally relate and I know you will too.
  Check it out, will you?

Grace and peace to you 

this glorious Monday morning,

miscellany monday {april matters}

1. Idleness, gossips and busybodies

Nancy Ann Wilson, wrote an article that really challenged me titled, "Daughters and Boredom."  

 "And we need to see the value of keeping our little girls busy too. Boredom and idleness lead to grumpiness and annoyance, and make fertile ground for fault-finding and tattling. Little girls who indulge in the sins of tattling and tale-bearing can grow up to become gossips and busybodies." Read the rest here.

First it challenged me as a woman to not be idle and to not be a busybody. My natural tendency is to be lazy, so this was a great reminder of what we are called to do - namely, being faithful with our time. I am also thankful to be reading it while my daughters are still young, so that I can set a good example for them and encourage them to be hard workers. But even if your daughters are grown up, or you don't have any, Wilson also encourages grandmothers in this as well.

2. Motherhood in the little things  

My friends and I have been talking a lot about this article that Rachel Jankovic (Nancy Ann Wilson's daughter) recently posted. She hits it on the nail again when it comes to being a mother in the little things. I encourage you to read it! 

"Organization and dishwasher running are not the only things that are little about motherhood. Your days are full of little questions, little answers, little puzzles, little problems, little concerns. Little disobedience. Big disobedience over little things. This can be very discouraging to any mother. What have I ever done that was important? What, in the course of my regular day, matters? Is this hot new system for containing playmobil really as big of an accomplishment as I think it is? What happened to me that I think this is important?"

Read the entire article here.

 3. Speaking of not being idle  

I am totally nesting. And I love it. I bought a bunch of fabric and have caught the sewing bug. I made these for a friend who is having a baby boy soon. My only regret was that she was the guinea pig and they came out okay, but definitely could have been done better. I didn't take a picture of them, but I did take a picture of the ones I started my baby girl. Below is the source and then next is part of what I have done so far.

  

via pinterest

 

4. Cutting for Stone

I am currently reading Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese and am nearly finished. I have enjoyed it for the most part. It has been a little slow, but it's held my attention, which is saying a lot in this phase of my life. And I don't know if it's because my life is going to radically change in July, but I have been wanting to read more than I have in a long time. So I am really excited to pick up a copy of The House at Riverton that my sister-in-law, Laura, recommended. Another friend recommended, The Kitchen House, but I haven't been able to locate a copy of that one yet. If you have one, could I borrow it? Also, if you've read Cutting for Stone, I would love to hear your thoughts!

5. Traditional Easter pics

 

Happy Monday, y'all!

 

   

family pics

We attempted family photos this week for the annual Christmas card. 

I say attempt because we took them ourselves. And we took them in front of our garage. I'm not exactly sure why other than I wanted a neutral background. So here is a sneak peak.

This picture was salvaged from an overexposure fail (I accidentally moved the ISO and I am so annoyed). It's not my favorite in terms of photoshop magic, but it was such a good one of the kids, that I had to do something with it.

I'll post more later. 

Have a great Sunday!

friday favorites {instagram}

Do you use Instagram? I use it on my iPhone ALL. THE. Stinkin. TIME. I swear it makes any regular picture look fantastic. Here is a recap in instagram pics of the past few weeks. 



Our church meets in the evening on Sundays, so we usually spend the morning running errands as a family. I am always super insecure about people thinking we don't go to church. Not so much because I feel judged as much as I want people know it's important to me and a huge part of our lives. But I also don't want to get them dressed for church that early either because they might get dirty. I decided it's not worth worrying about what other people think. So here's to me letting go of what others think and letting them wear whatever they wanted to run to Lowe's last Sunday.
 

My sweet boy and I at the zoo

 

Meadow loves the merry-go-round and was especially excited that she got to ride on the dog.

Crazy and creative Saige looking beautiful no matter what she's wearing.

 

Super Reed and the mask I made quickly for his halloween costume. I was inspired by a friend who made them for her entire family. Hers looked a lot better. But as Patrick reminded me when I asked if I should start over - "It's going to just end up on the ground in the closet." I love that practical man of mine.

 

This one is for you, Mama Sharp! Meadow was super excited to open and find the cowgirl hat you sent for her birthday. She looks pretty cute, huh? 

 

And lastly, I want to tell you about my friend Blossom. She is amazing with the knitting needles and I mentioned this scarf to her after seeing it on pinterest.  Well, she made me this scarf and hat and put them in my mailbox this past week and totally surprised me. She rocks. If you're interested in purchasing one, let me know and I will get you her contact info. She has an etsy shop, Curly Giraffe, but right now she is just taking orders for the scarves so she can get specifics and not end up making ones that people don't want. Anyways, they're priced very reasonably as well and I think you would look fabulous in one!

In keeping with Wimberly tradition, we are off to the zoo again for miss Meadow's birthday WEEK.

 Happy Friday!

 

Dear Meadow,

 

Dearest Meadow,

You are four years old and your Daddy and I can hardly believe it! Everyone keeps telling me that kids grow fast and this year I am definitely beginning to believe it. 

You are so special and I am still trying to figure you out. :) You are a lot like your Daddy (and I can't figure him out either). It has been fun watching him defend you in situations where I think you are just being ornery. He gets you, he understands you, and when that happens I just laugh and thank God that your Daddy understands why you do the things you do. You are kind and generous. You are quick to help out. And you just love life - taking it all in stride. You love your family, you love to snuggle (especially with Momma) and are content to just be with us. But you also adapt well in new situations and make friends very easily. You love to laugh and make other people laugh, especially your brother (I think Reed is one of your biggest fans and one day you'll appreciate that). You are mischievous curious, and you are sincerely funny. Once again, you get that from your Daddy. You love real animals, stuffed animals, bugs, lizards, oh and shiny things. Girl, you love things that sparkle and shine. You love to put on my grandmothers sparkly necklaces and earrings, and you look so darling doing it. You also love the color green, pretty much any fruit or vegetable and you love to wear dresses. You are so special and so unique, Meadow Rae. Your Daddy and I love you to the moon and back and our hearts are full to the brim with gratefulness for God entrusting you in our care. We are looking forward to seeing you learn and grow this year, baby girl. We love you!

 

 

wordless wednesday {halloween}

  

 

 

 

 

 
A good time was had by all!

Happy Wednesday!