WRAD Memories

I got to have a nice long visit with a friend today. We've only known each other for just over a year, but in some ways it seems like a lifetime. We are so similar in so many ways it's almost scary- our husbands even have similar occupations (professional drivers)! Once of the many things that I appreciate most about her is that we can be real with each other. On recent visits we have joked that we're such good friends that we no longer feel the need to clean our houses before the other arrives (you know the cleaning I'm talking about- the 'I've got to impress' kind of clean as opposed to this is life kind of clean). But deeper than how clean we try to get our houses, we can be real about life. How our days are going, frustrations with home schooling or children or whatever. Thankfully though, we don't leave it there. We know that the other person will pray for us in those situations and challenge us to make it better by remembering to keep bringin...

In the chaos of home schooling and life, it's easy for days (if not weeks) to go by without really connecting with them on an individual level. This is also complicated by the fact that the four boys all share one room- which means that one-on-one conversations can't really happen. So, in an effort to put more structure into my days- I've re-instituted 'mummy time'. I originally got the idea from a book called Large Family Logistics by Kim Brenneman (a book I highly recommend!). Kim is a home schooling mom of 9, so she knows what she's talking about! From Monday through Friday, each child gets their day- like a special helper. One aspect of it is that I try to give them at least 1/2 hour during the day for only me and them to do something of their choosing. Then, at night (if they want), they can sleep by themselves in the tv/guest room where we can have a private chat about whatever they want. Today was 'mummy time' for my oldest, Elijah. He's...

Today was one of those days. The kids were up later than usual last night and so were cranky this morning. It was special breakfast day (our Saturday tradition), and after sleeping in my husband decided that HE wanted to make breakfast. Knowing that it would take a bit longer than if I did it, I let them each have a bite of left-over Nanaimo Bar to tide them over till the french toast was ready. Any guesses at where this will be going? They're tired and now hyped up on sugar... So, after breakfast we did what any sane parent would do in this type of situation- we took all five of them SHOPPING! To not just one place, mind you- we were going to two places. Oh.My.Goodness! Can we say brain-dead? First, a Marshall's store had recently opened at the new shopping centre being built in town, so my darling hubby wanted to go check it out. Truth be told I was curious as well, so that was our first stop. After the requisite whining about who was going to sit where (which was heigh...

I really should follow through on things that I'm supposed to do (or rather NOT supposed to do). Like not going on Facebook or mindlessly spending hours on the internet ('oh, but I just need to look something up' always takes more time than you think!). It would have saved me a lot of grief this week. See, one of my friends posted this article by someone who (it felt like to me) was bragging about how great they were as a mother because they didn't yell at their kids (anymore, at least). To make matters worse, the friend who posted it has always been held up by another person close to me as being so 'perfect' because THEY don't EVER yell at their kids either. (Anyone sense the sarcasm/frustration level rising here?) Well, confession time. I yell at my kids. Not all the time, mind you (at least I don't think so- although my husband/kids might beg to differ, esp. when I'm hormonal). I REALLY try hard not to yell- most days. And I don't rememb...

I went to my parents for lunch after church today. Several hours later it was time to pack up the kids and go home. Lo and behold, not one of them wanted to leave. It's really hard to compete with no screen restrictions and the pool- I mean really, why on earth would they ever want to leave? Since tomorrow is my wedding anniversary, my mom graciously agreed to keep all the kids so I can sleep in! What are the chances that I'll be able to do that now that I can? It really was a nice quiet evening. Graham and I could actually have a full conversation that wasn't getting interrupted every five seconds by either a scream child or nagging questions. We both reminisced about how this was our life before kids (and how long it had been since we'd actually been at home together, without a specific purpose to occupy us (like our never-ending reno's), with not even one kid around). But you know what? It didn't take long for both of us to agree that even in the mi...

Yesterday my sweet Jeremiah got another 6 teeth pulled (thankfully he had recently lost one, otherwise it was going to be 7 teeth!). Over the years, he's already had more than a half-dozen teeth pulled, in addition to all the ones that he's lost on his own (or that his brother's have 'accidentally' knocked out). So, in an effort to reduce his growing anxiety about needles in his mouth (and hopefully stem off braces), I asked that he be put under and do them all at once. Unfortunately, while he appreciated this, it ended up giving him a new reason to be anxious. He's a man of few words, so I don't always know what's going on inside his head- but then he'll come up to me and say what appears to be some random comment. To an outsider, they might think it odd. But I'm not an outsider, I'm his mom. And mom's know things. So then, the dilemma now is, how do I help my son learn to cope? The world is uncertain and sometimes bad things d...

This week got away from me. I had intended on doing a Mother's Day blog. Really, I even have two different drafts going at the moment (that probably have enough ideas for six different posts). However, the more I thought about them, the less they seemed to work in my mind. So I did nothing. Oh my, how often is that the case with life. We'd rather err on the side of doing nothing than risk failing at something. Or is it that we already feel like we're failing at so many things, that we just don't want to risk bombing out at yet another thing in our lives? So we wait. And do nothing. But where does that get us?  Nowhere.  Literally. I think if we're honest with ourselves, that's not where we want to be. Prov. 29:18a says that "Where there is no vision, the people perish." And when we do nothing, when we risk nothing, it's because we either can't see the vision or we've lost sight of the vision.  Either way, is suck...

I don't know about you, but I really don't like doing art projects with my kids. There are several reasons for this: 1.) I have a hard enough time trying to keep my house clean as it is and adding whatever mess might be generated from said art project will only compound that problem. 2.) Once said project is completed, where on earth am I going to put it? (refer back to point 1) 3.) Having multiple ages means either many art projects or absolute chaos trying to get different levels to complete the same project. 4.) Not only am I a bit of a perfectionist, but I've managed to pass this gene along to at least one of my kids- which means that there will be weeping and wailing from at least one person- and it might even be from a child or two. However, in my valiant attempts lately to reduce the amount of time that my children spend glued to a screen of some sort (thanks peers for introducing yet ANOTHER 'really cool game' to my children that they are now absolu...

A while back I started something I called 'The Truth Project'. It came out of the idea that most of the frustrations I was having stemmed from lies that I was believing were truth. Then, I would make decisions based on whatever I believed to be true. Eventually, we reap what we have sown (Prov. 11:17-19; Prov. 22:7-9 for a couple examples). Honestly, I'm not all that fond of some of the things that I've been reaping in my life these days. So, I started working on my Truth Project. You can do it however you want, mine seems to be constantly evolving, but I started out with a new notebook and at least 2 different coloured pens. I would then sit down and pray for God to reveal a lie that was impacting my life. Normally it wouldn't take very long and a thought would pop into my head- so I would take the first colour and write out what that lie was. Next, I would do another prayer- this time asking God to reveal what HE had to say about this lie that I was thinki...

Hey there, welcome! My name is Tammy and this is my blog. I'm married to my husband, Graham and together we have five kids: Elijah (12), Jeremiah (10), Samuel (8), Noah (5 1/2) and finally Rebekah (3 1/2). Yes, my kids all have bible names and yes that was intentional. I home school my boys and try to figure out ways to keep my daughter entertained without resorting to a screen (which happens more often than I would care to admit to anyone). I also now sell Creative Memories because I love taking pictures and I love telling the stories that those pictures represent. This blog will be about me, my life, my WRAD memories and hopefully all the things I learn along the way. Not because I think  I'm perfect and have it all together. Let me be totally honest with you- my house is a mess most of the time, the laundry piles never seem to disappear and I can't recall the last time I saw the top of my dresser (or desk, or some of my counters for that matter). So, why should you...