Speaking Their Love Language

Thanks to the MOMYS, I have been paying closer attention to what love language each of my children "speak".

I have to admit, I've never been very big on the 5 love languages. In fact, I don't even really know what my love language is nor do I really care...it's just not something I examine very closely.

But when it comes to my kids, I've found it SO much easier to connect with them when I'm "speaking" their love language.

For example, T-Man's primary love language is quality time. Once I really thought about his most common requests, it was just so apparent to me that quality time is what is MOST important to him in his relationships.

For those of you who have come to our home, you've probably heard T-Man tell Ryan and I "we need some time"...which means, "please leave so I can have [MooMaw] to myself". His most common questions are "Will you sit with me for a little talk?", "Will you come play ______ with me?", "Can I go to the store with you--just you and I?" and lately "Can we have a date night?"

So now that I'm aware of how he gives/receives love, it's much easier to take time out of my day in order to love on him! To be honest, before discovering all this, it was hard for me to be "side-tracked" from my daily To-Do List. But know that I take time to see things through T-Man's eyes, I know it's more to him that just a talk, just a game, just a car-ride...it's LOVE to him!

As for Boo, I'm still trying to figure out what his love language might be. My closest guess right now is giving/receiving gifts. It doesn't take a whole lot to make him a very happy boy...a surprise pizza for dinner, giving him a turn on the coveted guitar, a dum-dum sucker from the farm store, a new sippy cup, or just any new addition to his life and he's happy for days!

So when T-Man and I take our date night soon, I'll be sure to pick Boo up a little present to let him know I was thinking about him too!

We're in the business of making Men!

The city asked to take down a tree in our front yard (because of interference with power lines), so after I struck a deal with them--that we could keep the tree to use for firewood (they usually don't do this)--we gladly accepted the offer!

We rely on wood in the winter because we heat our house with a wood-burning stove, so this was such a blessing!

So after Ryan got home from work, he suited up for tree-cutting! And before I could even find T-Man to tell him Daddy needed help, I saw T-Man already in the front yard, suited up and carrying logs to his wagon.

Ryan cut...

And T-Man hauled...

We've been teaching T-Manabout hard work, perseverance and the responsibility of being a man, husband and dad.

So when he was getting tired of hauling the logs, he came to the front door and said...

T: "Momma, I'm getting a little tired."
G: "Yeah, you sure are working hard. Do you want to take a rest?"

T: "No, my Daddy needs me. But will you get me a drink?"

G: "Sure and you know what else girls do for men when their working hard?...They cook them a big dinner, so that's what I'm doing for you and Daddy!"

T: "OOOoooohhh...Spaghetti?!?!"

G: "Sure! Spaghetti it is!"

He's our Wonderful Wrestler?

For the month of December, the memory verse I've introduced to the boys is Isaiah 9:6,
"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

As we have been learning and studying this verse, both a funny and a special story have happened in the past few days.

First the special story:
As I am teaching T-Man and Boo to study the scriptures, I've been pausing after each phrase and explaining it using other scriptures. I read "For to us a child is born" and ask the boys, "Who is this child who was born to us?" They exclaim "JESUS!" Then I say, " '...to us a son is given'. Who gave His only son?" They exclaim again saying "GOD!".

So during family worship Tuesday evening we're going over all this with daddy and talking about the Trinity as seen in this verse. We could tell T-Man's wheels were turning (we LOVE it when we see this happening!) and he asked us "So if Jesus is God's son, who's son is the Holy Spirit?"

It was such a precious time to be able to explain how God is one, but in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. He really, really got it and it just made me think about how often I think of the Trinity without being shaken with awe at how great and awesome our God is and all three of His persons.

Now for the funny:
As we memorize this scripture I'm going to add a "name" for Jesus as we go, so I can explain it in depth to them. So, right now we're focusing on "Wonderful Counselor".

When I asked -Man this morning to quote the verse to me, he got to "And his name shall be called..." paused for a long time thinking quietly and finally said, "Wonderful....Wonderful....Wonderful Wrestler?"
It was so funny that I laughed and he looked at me very seriously and said, "Momma this is not something to laugh about".

~Oh how I LOVE my "job"!!!

Day to day

Ever since summer ended, I've been trying to set a new schedule for us. It took some trial and error and a lot of praying, but I believe I finally have a weekly schedule that works!

It's important to Ryan and I that our boys (even though they are young) know that their entire day can not be spent on play. While play is important, it's also important they understand there is more to life.

Here is what a week day in our house looks like: (the order stays the same, but times vary)

7:30 ~ Wake, Breakfast and Clean-up
8:00 ~ Get dressed and Boys help with Chores
8:30 ~ Play
9:30 ~ Worship and Bible at family alter
***prayer
***memory verse
***Bible story
***put on the armor of God (Eph 6)
9:45 ~ "School" at table
***work on Boo's goals
***work on T-Man's goals
10:15~Play outside
11:30~Prepare, Eat and Clean-up Lunch
12:15~Read-alouds (right now we're going through Little House on the Prairie chapter books)
12:45~Boo and SJ down for naps
***"Teach Your Child to Read" workbook with T-Man or books of interest with T-Man
(right now he's interested in spiders, so we stocked up at the library)
1:30 ~ T-Man rest time
3:30 ~ Daddy home! Family time! Fun time!
5:30 ~ Prepare, Eat, Clean-up dinner
6:15 ~ Usually take a walk
7:30 ~ Family worship
8:00 ~ Bed-time

Making Laundry "Soup"

We made our own laundry soap! It's super easy and cheap, cheap, cheap!

First we shredded up a bar of Ivory soap and boiled it in a little water...

And while it boiled, we added 3 gallons of hot water to 5 gallon bucket.

Then we poured the dissolved Ivory soap into the bucket of hot water and also added Borax and "pH increaser" (also known as washing soda, soda ash or sodium carbonate).

We stirred it every hour and then when it cooled, we had homemade laundry soap!

T-Man enjoyed having the job of "stirring the soup" as he called it!

I have to say thanks to Angie, who I've never met, but she blessed me with all her advice on making my new money-saver a possibility!