Choir Concerts and A Humbling Dedication

 

K-6th grade choir

 

pre-school choir

Today was our Home school Choir Christmas Concert. They all did such a great job. It is amazing how much talent is that little choir. Most of those children have a special talent in music so, this choir may give us some exciting shows in the near future. This time they sang a few hymns and some carols. Bailey sang a solo in The First Noel... she sounded so sweet. My favorite part was all those toothless grins. Most of them were missing at least 1 or 2.

The preschoolers also sang a few of their songs they do in Sing, Spell, Read, and Write (our Co-Op preschool program). They were so cute. Each of them got to hold the mic and sing thru the numbers song. Jadon remembered all the words to the shapes song which was a worry since he is the loudest one. Today he blended in better than I expected. He wore his new suit and tie. He says that it is his "Christian" suit. Who knows where he got that one.

Today we also dedicated Judson to the Lord. We have several of these dedications a year at our church but Carlton always makes each one of them so special. Of course my family can't do anything without having a story to go along with it. I spent forever picking out clothes so that we would all match since the whole family would be on stage. We were all in our Christmas black and red, suit and tie best. Half way through the dedication, as I am holding the squirming Judson, I discover that 3 out of 4 of my dress buttons are unbuttoned. OMG! And if that wasn't bad enough, Jadon tee-teed on himself while standing on stage. Thankfully he never acted as if he had to go, he just went and as soon as we left the stage he told me, and no one noticed my 3 unbuttoned buttons. Isn't it funny how I took all that time to make my family presentable because I knew we were going to be called up on stage only for it to backfire on me and leave me laughing at myself in embarrassment. God does humble the proud, doesn't he?

Scheduling

This has usually been something that I have been pretty good at. But, here lately, well its been a slow decline for a while, I've been struggling. I need your help. I am desperate for ideas on how to better schedule my time and ways to be more efficient. Also, pray for me. Whatever I decide to change, I will have to be disciplined to stick with it. Here are a few things that I could use some advise or scheduling tips with. 1.) Spending quality teaching time with each on the ones that are in school (pre-school, 1st, 3rd, 5th, 6th) and creative things to do with the others that are not 2.) Spending time playing with them all. 3.)Time with Eric. 4.)Time alone. For those of you with large families, I have a hard time keeping the house straightened. Do you have toy rules, clothes rules, kitchen duty, laundry duty ect...My children clean very well but they don't keep it clean. We all make huge messes then clean it up at a certain time in the day. That works sometimes but how could I stay on top of it more. My children are not lazy slobs, they work very hard, we are just so busy, even when we are just staying at home. It seems that all of our time would need to be structured and scheduled since there is so much for us to do in a day but everyone needs some freedom, right? I used to be on top of all these things but not anymore, 4 children is a world away from 7. I am tired of chaos and I need order. Please comment or E-mail me some ideas, large family moms or not.

Will they ever survive?

Monday was another one of those days that had me functioning on autopilot with little emotion. You know those days that are just so jammed packed with school, meals, dishes, laundry, more school, more meals, and more dishes. By 6pm I made the announcement that the next time I heard "Mama, I need you" I would spank. Eric had a hurt back and came home from work and went right to bed so he was little relief to the all day chaos. By 9pm all I wanted was to nurse my little man and go to sleep. My flesh was screaming of my woes of having no time for my self and if sleep was all I was allowed, I wanted all I could get. Get this, Judson would not nurse. He would latch on and bite, latch on and bite, ect. I was so mad. I would pull him away and say sternly, "NO!". How dare he bite me when I was so tired and just trying to feed him. Finally I gave up and just put him in his own bed to cry it out. He finally fell asleep. 30 min. later John Mark was awake and needing loving, so in my bed he came. This woke Judson up who wanted to nurse. This time he would not even latch on. He would root around but only to refuse. This went on for 5 hours. Miserable doesn't even come close, you know. Judson was screaming and would not accept any comfort. Around 3am he threw his head back in a fit and I saw something in his mouth. He had a furniture tack stuck in the roof of his mouth. The nail end, thankfully was already gone and not stuck into his flesh but the rough round end had created a STRONG suction to the roof of his mouth. It took great force to remove it. He ended up with blisters and scrapes on the roof of his mouth. He was so traumatised that he refused to nurse the rest of the night and on thru the next day. He still is very hesitant to nurse but is getting better each time.

How long had that thing been in his mouth? Where did he get such a thing? Was he biting me or was I being irritated by the tack? Was I being stern and jerking him away for something he wasn't even in control over? My poor baby. Will I ever lie down at the end of a long day and know that I did a good job that day? Will John Mark ever stay or be where I think he should be? Will any of them ever survive my feeble attempt at parenting? Thanks be to God, when I am weak, He is strong.

Good News / Bad News

 

Okay, bad news first. Today was Judson's ocularist appointment to get another conformer. BTW, They are getting so big and hard to get in but Judson handles them so well. Today I found out that BC/BS will not pay for the conformers nor the scleral shell. That's a whole lot of change $$$. Because of Judson's problem he is also on Medicaid but...Medicaid will not pay either. So pray for me as I start battling the insurance company through appeals to try and get them to pay something. It really doesn't make since to me. Why would they not cover the cost to give my baby a chance to have a normal looking appearance? I mean this isn't like I am having his teeth whitened or something. If they will pay for a prosthetic leg or breast than why not an eye? Anyhow, that's the bad news.

Now, the good. Judson has been tolerating the larger conformers so well that he will be able to get his painted scleral shell January 26th! YIPPEE. I was told that he would be in conformers until he was a 1 or 2. He will be 9 months old and already have his. I don't know really what to expect. The next appointment will take half the day while they get a mold made from the conformers and hand paint it, clear coat it, shine it up and put it in. I know that they will not get to do a mold of his good eye until he is 4 so this first shell may not be the "perfect" fit that later ones will be. I also found out that the normal length to keep one shell before needing a new one is 7 years. We will need to have it cleaned and adjusted twice a year. Of course, all this would not be covered under insurance and totally out of pocket unless God intervenes. But today I am just thanking the Lord and kissing all over my baby boy for being able to handle these irritating conformers so well. Tomorrow I will ruffle my feathers and get down to business with the big wigs.

Help Wanted!!

 

I need your help blog friends. Here at the Davis home we have come upon something that we are stumped in finding an answer to. Many of you know that when I was a little girl I was terrified to be alone. It was quite a debilitating problem. I would loose several hours of sleep a night because I was afraid to close my eyes. I was afraid that someone would come into my house and try to hurt my family. When everyone else had been sleeping for an hour or so I was the only one left awake, so I felt the responsibility to take care of my family in case someone broke in while they were sleeping. It was a miserable time in my life. Being afraid is a horrible feeling but thankfully God took my fears away 6 years ago. Since then, I go to sleep with no fear, Eric at my side or not. I say all that to let you know the pain I feel when my children are afraid. Most of the time when one does complain(which is odd), I will pray with them and we sing awhile and it is all over. But my sweet Mary-Grace is not getting over it. She is truly afraid to go to sleep without me or Eric with her. I have tried everything positive I can think of. Of course she is not in a room alone, Annalee is with her but that just will not do because Annalee falls asleep fast and leaves Mary-Grace to fight the criminals alone should they invade. She is not afraid of monsters or bad guys. She is afraid of some criminal breaking in and hurting us. I don't know specifically where she saw or heard this but she has developed these thoughts somewhere. Of course we try to keep our TV watching safe but even those "home security" commercials give me chills. We do watch some of the "super hero" movies which could have introduced the evil side of people too early for her little mind to understand. A month ago if she was tired she would go to bed all alone with no fear at all but something has happened and she CANNOT sleep alone. Blog Friends, help me! I do not want my baby to suffer as I did all those years. What can we do. We have read verses and prayed God to put a hedge around our home. We have locked and relocked doors and tried staying awake until she fell asleep. Nothing has worked. Should she be discipline for not trusting me? That seems harsh to me. I mean, I hope God doesn't discipline me every time I am afraid and untrusting. We have decided to let consequences happen. She will not be able to spend the night away from home until she can get a handle on this. I tell her that she is going to have to choose to not be afraid and trust in God's protection. Until then, no sleep overs. I want to test her to see just how much of her fear is real and how much is just "a chance to sleep with mama" but I don't want to punish her if she is truly afraid. Give me your ideas, please. And please pray that these evil thoughts would stay out of my baby's mind and that Eric and I will make better choices of what comes into our home through the TV. I look forward to hearing your ideas.

Thanksgiving

I love this season. It is so full of memories and traditions and new ones to make. This year we did a unit study about Thanksgiving that my mama ordered from Family Life. It was a dramatic audio reading of the Pilgrims voyage and the first few years that they were developing the Plymouth colony. William Bradford said of the people that there were far more graves than there were huts that first year. Before Native Americans intervened, the Pilgrims' daily ration of food was a meager 5 kernels of corn but the pilgrims, when given the opportunity set a day aside to give thanks and were so moved by the opportunity they couldn't wait to do it again. And what kind of president, after a feast that gave thanks to the one true God hundreds of years before, decides to make it a National holiday. Wow! Can you imagine.

"Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection of the People of this country..."
-Proclamation of Thanksgiving Day, President George Washington, October 3, 1789

"No human council hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people."
-Proclamation of Thanksgiving Day, President Abraham Lincoln, 1863

What is neat about Thanksgiving, it that it is a holiday that God himself has preserved so that we take time to give thanks. All other Christian holidays has been so perverted but Thanksgiving is truly American and Christian and is still observed with its original intent...to return thanks to the Most High God by the gathering of friends and family with a time of feasting.

Part of our study was to list thanksgivings. Here are a few...
My mama and daddy. - Mary-Grace
My best friend Mady. - Annalee
That God is changing my life and making this arrow sharper and pointier. - Bailey
For Judson's good eye and bad eye. - Elyona
Carly. - Jadon
Jesus, Family, Grace Fellowship, nursing babies, cold weather & coffee, silly
books like Twilight, fond memories, Honda's current work schedule, conformers
and prosthetics, A husband who loves to get up early get the kiddos ready and go shopping in the mad day after thanksgiving rush and... Alabama Football. - Mama

Acceptance

I read the other day something that I've heard many times but this time I was terribly convicted. Allow me to share. "Whatever controls us is really our God...The one who seeks acceptance is controlled by the people she wants to please".
Wow! It's still hard to think about, but that is me in a nutshell. Many of you know my famous statement, "I have seven children and I home school but I am NORMAL!".
That statement alone has convicted me just because I know that all I really want is to fit in with all kinds of people. I admit, when it comes to just about anything ,I will try to find a way to be accepted. As I was in another one of my mastitis bouts that kept me up half the night I started pondering all the things that I am absolutely convinced of that makes me abnormal from most people. The obvious are that I do home school and more than that is that I have 7 children that are all mine, that I birthed, and that I wanted. But the thing that separates me from most people is what I believe...my doctrine. So, let me try to explain it in common words.


I believe the scripture alone is the source of written divine revelation. The Bible alone teaches all that is necessary for our salvation from sin and is the standard by which all Christian behavior must be measured.
I believe that our salvation was accomplished by Christ alone.
I believe that in salvation we are rescued from God's wrath by his grace alone and that salvation is in no way a human work.
I believe that justification is by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone.
I believe that because salvation is of God and has been accomplished by God, it is for God's glory that we must glorify him always.
I believe that we inherited Adam's sin nature and therefore we all are depraved from birth and in need of a savior.
I believe that before the foundation of the world God choose those who would be His based on no work that they would or could accomplish.
I believe that God had a plan before the world began to redeem those whom He called out to be his. Jesus Christ became the atonement for those people.
I believe that I was dead in my trespasses, incapable of doing anything to save myself, and unknowing that I needed to be saved. In my dead state God breathed life into me and in my decayed sinful state of being He said LIVE. My first breath as I came to life was faith and then God, by his grace alone raised me from spiritual death to spiritual life.
I believe that because salvation is a work of God's grace alone that I cannot do anything to fall from that grace. God will keep me to the end and I will then be eternally saved.

Some of these thoughts may be new and radical to you but I am backed by scripture, church history, Jonathan Edwards, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Charles Spurgeon, the disciples and the apostle Paul to name a few.