Goings Ons

PAINTING WITH WATERCOLOR!

SHELDON FINALLY UNDERSTANDS THAT YOU DO
NOT EAT THE PAINT! :)

TWO OF THE JUICE LID SUN-CATCHERS
A SUN AND A BUTTERFLY

OUR LITTLE GRASS GARDEN FOR KATIE
THIS IS ON TOP OF OUR WOOD COOKING STOVE

Well, we have been busy here in the Phipps home. James went to the field (in Korea) for two weeks, so no phone calls for me or the kids to look forward to. Actually, this is the first time my husband has been to the field...they didn't do that stuff in the 160th... In case someone doesn't know what I am talking about...going to the field is where you go out and play war, paint your face up in cammo, and do other stuff like that...eat MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat), and get stinky and muddy...

The kids started AWANA (Approved Workman are Not Ashamed). It's a Bible club that is pretty popular here out West. They have it in the East but it doesn't seem to be much of a focus there. Kids around here love it, and my kids really seem to be enjoying it. They learn verses and play competitive games, etc. I bought each of my kids canvas totes for their books and decorated them with names in glitter pen, and appliques. On the backs I sewed on patches and name tags from my husband's old uniforms. The Army went to a new uniform design in 2007, so I had a lot of old uniforms down in the basement, to get the patches off of. I also put different Army pins on them. WAY cute!!! I will put a picture on here of them all.

In art, the kids planted some grass in an adorable pot that I got at a garage sale, and decorated the inside of the pot with fake cat-tails, silk flowers and two fake robins on sticks. The grass has come up...it will be nice to see it in the winter when we have 3 feet of snow! It is also for our cat, Katie, to eat/munch on in the winter, as she likes fresh grass. I know that sounds weird/gross, but she really is a super clean cat! :) We just put the pot up by her cat-food! :)

We also made juice-lid sun-catchers. You take old tin lids off of concentrated juice cans, place a pattern on top (we got the patterns out of the Art book we got from Christian Liberty), and then pound a little nail in all around it, wherever the pattern says to, with a little hammer. Then you put them on strings and hang them in the window! Cute, cute!

We are still doing well on our schedule. We have found that some chores do not need done weekly, but instead, by-weekly...such as dusting, and mopping (we take our shoes off, so it takes awhile for our floors to get mop-worthy).

I went into the ER last week with pain on my left side (which I have been having at certain times of the month now, for 6 months). I thought it was an Ovarian Cyst from the very beginning, and each month the pain got worse. I had read that cysts will go away on their own, so I waited. Well, this month, the pain was unbearable, and making me very tired and feverish. They ultra sounded it, and said that I had a cyst that had just ruptured, so hopefully I will no longer have pain when I ovulate. So, to say the least, I have not been getting up at 6:00am, like I like to. It's been 7 o'clock recently, when I get up, which isn't bad, but forces me to do my Bible Study, devotions and prayer some other time. I am really hungering for that time with my Lord, in the morning. Maybe now that I feel better, I can be better about getting up.

My neighbor, Leeah Davis, started a Bible Study. She lives just down the road. We are good friends already. We are doing a Beth Moore study called "Believing God." It is a real eye-opener and very thought provoking. She wants us not only to believe in God, but to BELIEVE Him. To believe that what He says in His Word is true...that He will and can do what He says He can do. It's a really good study, so far. There are five main points right now that she is trying to ingrain in our brain... 1) God is who He says He is 2) God can do what He says He can do. 3) I am who God says I am. 4) I can do all things through Christ. 5) God's Word is alive and active in me! I recommend this study if you have trouble believing that God loves you and cares for you, and has good plans for your life. I think sometimes that God's definition of "good" is sometimes not ours, and so, sometimes when we think something bad is happening in our life....to God, it is good, and is happening for His reasons and for His plans. I know, that is so hard...and I struggle with seeing the good in bad situations, too..........sometimes, I see NO good in the situation! I know God does, and He has higher plans than we do! See my post titled God's Plans, from June, for more on this subject. This study has been good for rounding out my faith. I sometimes feel that my faith is like a circle....and that sometimes it looks like a moon that you think is full at first, casual glance and then when you really look, you see that it is missing a large sliver...making it not full, after all. Sometimes my faith feels like a half moon....I think I am past crescent-moon stage, though! :)

Abbie is doing well in preschool. She likes to cut and paste, especially. I have a 12 inch stack of worksheets that we got from a preschool that was going out of business. Last week, I stapled them together in little stacks of 4 sheets. Each stack has a cutting and pasting sheet on it, a sheet to color, a sheet with number practice and a sheet with letter practice. She does these everyday, plus Bible with us and Art on Mondays (sometimes more). I am still not very good about loving art....so that's why we do it on Mondays....I'd like to start doing it Mon/Wed/Fri, so we'll see! :)

Sheldon spends his day getting into stuff, and I have been having a hard time making a time in the day to do something productive with him. He gets bored easy, and makes raids in the fridge, or the pantry, writes on Zane's school when no one is looking, or gets into stuff in the bathroom. He likes to find my eye-liner and write on the mirror with it. Yesterday, he found my eye-liner sharpener and found out what happens when you stick your fingers in there! I had three bloody fingers and you know how babies don't like band aids. It was a mess! I need prayer for finding things for him to do, and carving out time for one-on-one with him, since he is no longer nursing!

Well, that's our most recent news, I think! :) The weather is getting cold fast, and I know this week will be our last of warm weather. I am thinking that we will have snow by the end of October. Just a hunch. Well, take care and God Bless! Rachelle