Riverbend Ramblings

The last few days have been rough! My dear husband awoke around 11p.m. Saturday with severe abdominal pains and vomiting. He vomited 40-50 times over the next 8 hours and was in excruciating pain. I knew that this was not the flu! I had emergency surgery three years ago, and I could tell from the level of pain he was experiencing that something was very wrong. He finally consented to going to the ER. A young couple from our church came to our house to watch our 4 kids while we high-tailed it to the hospital. To make a long story short, Mr. C had an emergency appendectomy on Sunday night. He was able to come home yesterday and is doing pretty well, although he's in quite a bit of pain today. Please pray for a speedy recovery! Also, I think I was just worn down from going so long without sleep and from the stress of my husband being so sick. I now have a fever and cough, and I think I'm just functioning on auto-pilot right now. The older children have been good about doing their schoolwork without Mommy's help, and the little girls are doing their best to play nicely. :) Please pray that I will feel better so I can care for the rest of the family and that sickness won't spread throughout the house.

Labels: Prayer Requests

"The way you manage your own home is important, too. Very important. Little things again- like having the table set when John comes home. And making the meal the most important thing in your life at that moment. Nothing lifts a man's spirit like the odor of fresh coffee and meat and muffins baking in the oven. And when you whisper 'Darling, I cooked this especially for you!' Well- that's a big deposit in your happiness-for-life bank account."

~ from Papa's Wife by Thyra Ferre Bjorn

Labels: Keeping the Home, Quotes

Here are some pictures of the recent birthday-girls enjoying their birthday cakes. Lil' Nut wanted a chocolate cake, and Bookworm wanted a strawberry cheesecake covered with whipped cream. They have both inherited my sweet tooth!

Labels: Family Life, Special Days

Happy Monday! I've been a busy little bee this morning. So far I've washed (and put away!) 3 loads of laundry, swept the house, tidied all of my "hotspots", dusted my bedroom, and finished today's school lessons. Whew! This afternoon I'm going to reward myself by curling up with a good book and a cup of hot chocolate. I'm almost finished reading Papa's Wife by Thyra Ferre Bjorn. This is the first book in the trilogy, and it has been easy, light-hearted reading. If you are a fan of Anne of Green Gables, The Sound of Music, or Jan Karon's books, you'll enjoy Papa's Wife. The weather here today is still on the chilly side, but it should be warming up in the next few days. I told the children that maybe it will be warm enough to set up the hammock later in the week. :) I'm looking forward to warmer sunshine-filled days!

Labels: Daily Life

We've been studying about some of the early American Presidents for the last couple of weeks. I had each of the older children write a short story about a President of their choosing. While we've enjoyed learning some new things together, there have been some challenges. It's difficult for me to explain to my children how America used to be. It's hard for them to imagine a time when our nation's leaders actually sought God's wisdom and guidance as they forged the way for us.

I came across this quote by President Abraham Lincoln that I wanted to share. Though the words were penned 144 years ago, they are, unfortunately, even more fitting today. May we all be encouraged to pray for America and our national leaders.

Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.

~President Abraham Lincoln (March 30, 1863)

Labels: Homeschool Corner, Quotes, Special Days

We had a fun time yesterday celebrating Valentine's Day and Bookworm's birthday. She opened a few small gifts after breakfast, but I mentioned in another post that I had a big surprise planned for later in the day.

Here's a closeup of the quilt. The sheets are the same pattern as the cream colored stripe with tiny flowers.

This pillow is adorable! It's designed like a western shirt with the fringe and the front pocket.

The lamp was probably my favorite. It has a little horseshoe charm with pink rhinestones on the pull-chain.

I want to share the story of my search for these goodies, but that will have to come in another post!

Labels: Family Life, Favorite Things, Fun Stuff, Special Days

My life was forever changed on February 14, 1998. I received the most incredible gift of love that day- I became a mother.

Oh, how I remember those first few weeks at home with a newborn! I had read every "What To Expect" book out there, but I still had absolutely no idea what I was doing. Bookworm and I began our journey down the mother/daughter road together. On days when I questioned my skills as a mother, one smile from that precious face would clear all doubts away.

I've made many mistakes on our journey, but Bookworm and I have continued the growing process together. She has turned into a young lady right before my eyes!

Sometimes I wish that I could turn back the hands of time and be able to do those early days over again. I'd like to think that I would make fewer mistakes. But I can't go back. Instead, I'll embrace each new day and strive to be the mother that God would have me to be.

To my Birthday Girl,
I pray that in the coming year you will grow closer to Jesus and seek to please Him in all that you say and do. I'm so very thankful that God chose you to be my firstborn! Daddy and I feel so blessed to have you as our daughter. You will always have a special place in our hearts. Happy 9th birthday, Sweetie! I love you bunches!

Labels: Family Life, Special Days

Labels: Daily Life, Favorite Things, Special Days

I've placed some of my fovorite Precious Moments miniatures on the kitchen counter where I can glance at them throughout the day. These were gifts Mr. C gave me on our first anniversary. They make me smile. Our "love table" greets visitors as they enter the front door.

Labels: Favorite Things, Keeping the Home, Special Days

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! I spent Saturday doing some cleaning projects that require more time than I can devote to them during the week. It always feels so good to get caught up with things around the house! Sunday we had a wonderful day at church; Mr. C preached some great messages (which he always does :D). Mondays are just about the weirdest day of the week for us. Bookworm has a mid-morning piano lesson in town which throws the morning school schedule off a wee bit. We jump back into things after her lesson, but it does take us longer to finish up our work. Mr. C sometimes takes part of the day off on Monday, so today is was nice to have him home with us. He treated the kids to McDonald's for lunch, which means I have four more Happy Meal toys around the house to step on. :-} This afternoon a friend from church rode with me to pick up some birthday goodies I'd ordered for Bookworm who will be turning 9 on Wednesday. I am soooo excited about Bookworm's presents! I'll just say that when we painted her bedroom a couple of months ago, I knew it was time to change her room decor. She is absolutely in love with anything and everything to do with horses, so I've been searching high and low for some things to complete an "Extreme Makeover" in her room. I'll share pictures with you after the "transformation." I've been updating the children's ChorePacks, but it is taking me longer than anticipated. My kids are such a blessing around the house, but recently they have not been doing their best on their chores. Part of the problem lies with me not checking the chores consistently. I need to take some time this week to re-train them in some areas and work on my consistency. :D Tomorrow night we are having our church-wide Valentine's Banquet, so between preparing for that and Bookworm's birthday, I have a pretty busy week ahead of me. I do have a few thoughts to share on the Valentine's theme of l-o-v-e, so hopefully I'll get around to posting those later this week.

Labels: Daily Life, Family Life, General, Keeping the Home

Lil' Nut received quite a bit of cash for her birthday, so yesterday we planned to take her shopping. The children worked diligently to complete their schoolwork before lunchtime. Mr. C decided to take the family to a restaurant for lunch, so we loaded up and hit the road. We live quite a ways from our shopping destination, so we had plenty of time to decide where to stop for lunch. I suggested that we go here. Reservations are usually required, but we decided to take our chances. We arrived after the bulk of the lunch crowd had left, so we were able to get a table immediately. Let me just tell you that we pigged out! I enjoyed some fried green tomatos, turnip greens, mac & cheese, corn, beans, roast beef, and yellow squash. Dessert was pure bliss-- peanut butter pie and New York cheesecake! Need I say more? We finally arrived at the mall and headed straight to the Build-A-Bear Workshop. I think that the prices they charge for creating a furry friend are rediculous, but if you could have seen the expressions on Lil' Nut's face as she added the stuffing, bathed her bear, and picked out its clothes, you would have thought it was worth it. Lil' Nut had enough money left over for a more practical gift: a new pair of shoes. We were able to find her a cute little pair of sandals. Yes, I know it's still a bit chilly for sandals, but Spring will be here before too long. We went to Toys R Us (Curly Girl calls it Toys 4 Us :D) but didn't buy anything, and then we went to Sam's Club to stock up on a few essentials. On our way home Mr. C was so sweet and let me run into a school supply store and a Michael's craft store for a few minutes. Oh, I just love going to Michael's! I picked up some supplies for a Valentine craft to make with the children at church. It was pretty late by the time we got home, and I was glad that we didn't even need supper since we were still so stuffed from our huge lunch. We had a wonderful day and accomplished a lot!

Labels: Daily Life, Family Life

Now matter how old someone is, they always appreciate a visit, a smile, a kind word, and a little something that says, "I care about you!"

For more Works For Me Wednesday ideas, head over to Rocks In My Dryer.

Labels: Family Life, Homeschool Corner, Works For Me Wednesday

One of the *joys* of homeschooling is keeping track of all the paperwork. I maintain a portfolio for each child which contains daily work. I keep all of their graded tests and quizzes in a separate notebook so that I have easy access for recording and averaging their grades. I've been staying on top of grading their papers, but I've fallen way behind in getting them into the notebook.

I had about 6 weeks worth of graded papers piled neatly stacked on top of my desk. I sorted them by subject and then 3-hole punched them. It took less than 15 minutes to get this job done, and now I'm all caught up!