In other news, I’ve added two new pictures the Chloe’s gallery. Papa, you’ll want to see these for sure.

Here are a few new videos on YouTube:

Lydia pretends to eat a pumpkin:

Chloe having fun:

Chloe says hi:

Girls singing at church:

Eliana playing torpedo ball:

And one last goody… I’m finally working on an update to the site’s design! Here is what it looks like in Photoshop so far:

Chloe has claimed that afghan now and every other one for that matter. She has a very peculiar affinity to the woven blankets, and absolutely demands to have one every night when she goes to bed. She is rarely found anywhere around the house without one nearby. They are capes, nets, pillows, ghost costumes, and simply a comfort to her for some reason. Whenever she is upset, you can almost always calm her down by offering her a blankie. The hilarity continues when you offer her a different kind of quilt or blanket. She will tell you, “That’s a blanket, I want my blankie!” There is a difference, you know.

Recently, Deb and I were at Hobby Lobby, the absolute worst place to go when you have money, it’s worse then Wal-Mart for me. We wound up in the yarn isles, and pretty soon our buggy was full of yarn. We found a wonderful boucle yarn, and I picked out my new living room colors of brown, beige, and variegated blue, and she picked out her new living room colors, a variegated forest green and brown, and bright red. When I got home, I was so drawn to my new crochet projects, I was having a hard time focussing on anything else.

Weeks later, I now have a collection of various sizes of crochet hooks, in bamboo, steel, and aluminum, and a big basket full of other yarns, my new crochet magazine subscriptions, a few printed patterns, and 3 or 4 newly created projects that are far from completion. I’m loving it, and it is a craft that gives back in so many ways, especially in the current season. The girls are already begging to learn, and they love the outcome of my loving labor.

Here are some photos of one piece I have finished. It’s made of a very soft, fuzzy yarn, adapted from a pattern I bought from etsy.com:

We had a fun pirate dress up party for her. That’s one of her favorite things to pretend to be is a pirate. Thank you TV. A lot of us dressed up, and we all had so much fun. We did a scavenger hunt and at the end was a treasure chest full of choclate gold coins. She got some great gifts, including several outfits and shoes, a new doll, and a few other things. We decorated everything in pink and black, and the loot bags gave everyone an eye patch.

I wanted to get a lot more pictures than I did, but my batteries weren’t as charged as I thought they were. Chris was able to get some for me, however. So here they are!

Oh, I have failed to mention that just a few weeks ago she shop two big chunks from either side of her hair! We had to bowl cut it. We hate to admit that it is terribly cute! But it will grow out eventually.

Here are a couple shots and a video of my darling 3 year old:

I’ve also updated the galleries, so check them out!

Everyone knows how deep my convictions about homeschooling are, and my desire to see my daisies blossom into honorable Christian women is just as deep, and in actuality, is the driving force behind that conviction. I cannot think of a greater failure than to have children that disrespect their parents, later their spouses, and ultimately their God. So what have I done to teach them respect so far? Have I prayed with them, taught them Bible truths, taken great care as to what influences are in their lives, taken them to church, taught them modesty and self respect? Yes, of course I have. But besides lectures and lessons, and even more so, they learn from example. I have been far from the best example in learning respect.

I cannot recall even one time that my mother ever complained about being my father’s wife. She assures me she had her moments and struggles, but apparently, she practiced sobriety and meekness, because I was never aware. If ever she did, it was minute enough that it didn’t make an impact enough on my life. I grew up assisting her in her loving service of my father. She would pour his drink, and we would carry it to him, and just before handing it over, we’d steal a sip and say, “carrier’s fee!” A lot of the time, mom worked a job, but she never failed to plan meals and pinch every penny she had. It may have been Hamburger Helper and a can of corn, but hey, I like cheeseburger macaroni! She always made sure that Dad’s dinner desires were met, and if she had received a can of asparagus in a pounding, she might treat herself to it if she felt like it. My mom had many complaints over us and our behaviour, and I am not stupid enough to say she is 100% faultless, but when you weigh out everything she taught us through example, I have to force up the negative memories. They aren’t what I recall, and that is unusual according to normal human behaviour.

So why am I writing yet another story of how great my mom is? What in this crazy world happened to me? I remember starting out my married life swooning over an imperfect man, ready and willing to devote myself to folding laundry, taming dust bunnies, and holding members hands as he pastored small churches. I remember standing up to the naysayers declaring our marriage would be different because we had such a respect for each other and the Bible’s teachings about marriage. But when you skip ahead to about a year and a half ago, I was living a hopeless life, wallowing in self pity, hating myself and my circumstances, and I had all fingers bolding and unabashedly pointing at my hapless husband. I blamed our unhappy marriage on our material circumstances. How did I get from “I don’t care if I live under a bridge, I’ll respect my husband” to this? For one, I know I was away from my mother’s influence. But no matter how I got there, I did. I’ve not fully recuperated from that line of thinking, but God and i have been working together to unscramble the mess I’ve made by trusting in my self instead of Him and the husband He gave me. I don’t want to turn this into a long drawn out sermon on Biblical wives (that’s a soapbox like homeschooling, I have no fear of being on), but if you take it back to the very beginning, Eve was created to help Adam be what God created him to be. I had fallen into the modern culture trap of “it’s all about the wife”, and fallen out of the wisdom and meekness my mother had instilled in me.

Going back to the original point of the discussion, I have decided to take a stand… about 2 feet behind my husband. My daughters’ success in their lives depends on me giving them an everyday example of what they need to yearn to be. Eliana is career minded, Lydia can’t decide if she wants to have babies or just be Eliana’s sister when she grows up, Chloe is confused in general, and that’s fine for a 3 year old, she’s a good follower so far, though. I don’t know if this world will last long enough for them to be adults, but that’s no reason to let down on my training. Eliana isn’t far from accountability, and all of my training isn’t just for teaching her how to be a good wife, it’s also teaching her how to respect God. So I’m going to tighten up my discipline, regain my naive adoration for my human husband, and live happily ever after in a heavenly marriage, designed by God.

If you’re a wife or will be one someday, please, please, please read “Created to Be His Help Meet” by Debi Pearl. You can start off your curiosity with this article: “Carnal Husbands, Cranky Wives, and Cantankerous Kids“.

A couple months ago, one of her sisters came running to us saying, “Chloe is in Daddy’s shaving stuff!” When Chloe finally emerged from the bathroom, she had shave cream on her face, and a cut from the razor on her thumb! Thank goodness she wasn’t hurt very bad, and we were able to give her a serious talking to about what she had done, and a spanking for making the mess she had made. But not before snapping this photo, of course.

In this movie, she has short, straight, blonde hair, and my idea of her and Eliana favoring are even stronger, especially after this picture:

Compare to this picture:

Or her entire gallery