He Taught Us To Pray

Our Father, who art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy Name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

As we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

and the power,

and the glory,

for ever and ever.

Amen.

Matthew 6:9-13

The Lord's Prayer has had me in amazement these days.  It is so complete!  Everything I need or want is included in this prayer. God cares for us so much that He gave us just the right words to say.  I also really enjoy reading Martin Luther's Large Catachism on the subject. 

"........God takes the initiative and puts into our mouths the very words we are to use. Thus we see how sincerely he is concerned over our needs, and we shall never doubt that our prayer pleases him and will assuredly be heard.  So this prayer is far superior to all others that we might ourselves devise.  For in the latter our conscience would always be in doubt, saying, "I have prayed, but who knows whether it pleased Him, or whether I have hit upon the right form and mode?"  Thus there is no nobler prayer to be found on earth, for it has the excellent testimony that God loves to hear it.  This we should not trade for all the riches in the world.

                        Dr. Martin Luther, The Large Catachism

2 Minute Phone Call

We got a call from Seth today - that was a surprise!  It was good to hear from him.  He was allowed two minutes to talk so we talked about travel plans to get home.  He only has about two weeks of boot camp left, then he will come home for 10 days before he leaves again for basic training.  He said he has learned a lot, feels like a "different" person as far a physical abilities go, and appreciated the letters he has received from people.  Thank you.

If you want to see Seth and his platoon go to http://devildogs.info/Echo%20Company.htm. He is in platoon 2115. As the video scrolls through everyone, you will see Seth at 1:01 on the counter, on the very left.

Today's Kid Logic Question

Steve, Peter, and I were stepping out of the house for a little bit.  This would leave Ben in charge for the time we would be gone.  I told the younger ones that Ben would be taking care of them while we are out.  On the way out the door Sam runs up to me and says, "Is that taking care of me if Ben told me to clean my room?"

Yes Sam, it is. : )

Winter Break Wonderments

We took 2 weeks off of school for our winter break this year.  Usually I am indifferent of any break or vacation because I still have the same amount of work to do if not more from extra activities.  I'm not complaining that's just part of being a homemaker/mother/wife.  Well this time I was really looking forward to the break.  I told the children maybe this means I'm getting older and am wanting to slow down more. Hopefully not-I dont have time to slow down yet.  : )

Here are some highlights of our winter break:

1.  We bought a winter, porcelean village set and this year I did something different.  I put this set down at everyones level instead of up where it can only be seen and not touched.  I wanted the younger ones to be able to play with this set up. David and Peter set it up.  We told everyone the "rules" of how to play with them-be gentle, no clanking them together, etc).  This little village has brought hours of entertainment.



The winter village

Molly can spend half the day playing with them


2.  Peter and I watched the eclipse together.  It was a little cloudy, but still fun.  We also got to see our neighborhood owl swooping around the back field.



Peter watching eclipes

Lunar Eclipes

 

 3.  Finally got around to cooking the only pumpkin from this years garden.  Washington had such an odd spring weather, which in turn made my garden to be a flop!  Hopefully next year will be better.  Amy and I roasted the seeds and made pies with the pumpkin. 



The lone 2010 pumpkin

Yummy pumpkin pies!

 
4.  Ben, who can be quite industrious, hooked up the laptop to the TV so that we all could all enjoy a nice (screen saver) fire in the fireplace.  It's got the sound effects and everything!

Our TV/Fireplace



 5.  We finally are finishing our dinning room!  The biggest wall is now painted.  I thank Ben for this.  If he hadn't taken on filling of holes, sanding, and doing it all so quickly it wouldn't be done yet. 

Molly doing her part of the dinning room project

 6.  Of course on vacation one should have leisure time!



Amy staying up late reading a good book

Board games!



David reading

Playing cards

Kids took pictures of a hungry squirrel-with chicken bone?



Sam & Molly remembering summer days

7. We think of, miss, and pray often for Seth.  God loves him even more than we ever could.  We received a letter from him this New Years Eve Day.  He says he's doing well and will be glad to be home.



Our back yard sunrise

Motherhood Moments

Molly has been sick off and on for the past few days.  She is a lot better but just has an aweful cough.  Last night, as she was coughing away, I was trying to remember all of the things I can do to ease her discomfort: give her tea, water, cough drops, turn on the vaporizer.  I can never remember if the humidifier or the vaporizer is better.  You'd think I would remember after eight children, but I don't.

Well, Molly and I were up on and off until at least 3:30 in the morning.  She was in torment and I was in torment.  As soon as I would doze off she would wake up coughing again.  At one point she was just wide awake so I prayed for her, sang to her, hoping somehow this would help her sleep better and longer.  But it didn't.  Oh well.  I know there are bigger problems.

This morning I woke up wishing I could sleep a lot longer while Molly woke up singing, "It's the best day ever, it's the best day ever............."  Talk about praise being perfected in the mouth of babes.  While I am lamenting about my lack of sleep she is obeying Psalm 149:5  where it says

"Let the saints be joyful in glory;  Let them sing aloud on their beds................"

Dual Initials

David was so happy this morning to realize that he and his dad have the same initials:

"D.O. for David O'Brien and D.O. for Dad O'Brien!"

Molly's Memory Verse

Molly enjoyed learning her memory verse this week.  She learned it in less than a day since I turned it into a song for her. Hmmmmm, I should do this more often  : )

Watch her sing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcTRiFgzCKg&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Thank you Letha for recording her!