28 May 2009

Danika lost her first tooth!

Tonight Danika lost her first tooth! Dad gave her some Enjura and Rescue drops and rubbed Traumeel S on the gums and then he pulled the tooth with his fingers.
Where were the days where my parents would tie a piece of string around the tooth, the other end to the door knob, and then pull it? For a start it is almost impossible to tie a knot around the tooth and then, when you pulled, the string would break and we would have to start the whole process again!

I remember once my grandma pulled one of my teeth. She was pushing me on the swing in their garden. Grandma thought it a good idea to knot the other end of the string to the swing pole and then gave me a strong push on the swing. It worked very well, too well. I didn't feel anything, but my tooth got lost in the grass. We looked for hours, but the tooth was gone! Oh! The disappointment of loosing my tooth!

Maybe you too have an interesting tooth story and would like to share it with us?

Little Danika is all smiles now and very excited to see how much the tooth mouse will pay her for her tooth!

25 May 2009

God visited me!

This past weekend we discovered that life, as we as a family know it, is going to change. We are going to have another baby! Yes! I'm pregnant!

Sometime during the past 5 weeks I was visited by God. In the following scriptures we read that God visited these women to give them conception:

Gen 21:1
“And the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken. For Sarah conceived…”
and 1 Sam 2:20-21
 “And the Lord visited Hannah, so that she conceived…”

Wow, God Almighty visited me and put a new soul in my womb. Isn’t that amazing? A soul that will live forever. I can't imagine, that right now, at this very moment, a tiny little human is growing inside me, in the image of God! Over the next 8 months my body will have the privilege of nurturing and protecting this baby while God puts together everything he or she needs to fulfil his or her calling in life! A precious new life that will bring God glory and be part of God's army that will destroy the dark works of the enemy! Wow! Isn't that awesome! It is such a big idea; my mind cannot understand the full meaning of it.

I want to sing like David in Ps 139
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.
For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.

For this little person to answer the call on his or her life, the Lord entrusted Christo and I with his or her training. Training in God’s ways. I also cannot comprehend the full meaning of that! How God can entrust a brand new person in the hands of sinful parents, whom themselves are trying to get rid of sin, and fail tremendously in the attempt to do so. Still our almighty God is so gracious and merciful and has so much faith in the good work which He started in us - to become more like Him – that he gave us another baby. What a precious gift! What a privilege.

I got promoted as a mother. I'm not the mother of seven children anymore, I'm now the proud mother of eight children - Wow, I feel like singing and dancing, praising my wonderful God!

Daddy and Josua already bought a blue(?) outfit for our new baby. But Oh! Danika is already praying for months for a baby sister….

21 May 2009

Daniel’s First Haircut!

Daniel (9 ½ months) got his first haircut! He was so good and didn’t even cry once!
He is my first baby that didn’t cry hysterical, but I must add, Lizelle is a natural in cutting children’s hair.


The finished product!

Organizing Toys

On Tuesday morning I decided it was time to sort out the children’s toys. It had been 2months since we last sorted out the toys, and everywhere you looked there was a mess of toys in cupboards, under the beds, on top of cupboards and in plastic buckets.

Heidi-Mari is really the one who has the gift of organization. I haven’t yet decided if my home is disorganized because too many things happen at once, and I cannot prioritize or plane since being organized is not one of my strengths! I like things to look neat and I always try to put things in their right places. Though part of the problem is not having an allocated place for certain stuff…, if you have a successful plan, please let me know!

So, every month or two, I have to come to a stop and try to sort out some areas in the home. Almost every member of this family, myself included, are hoarders and we hate to throw things away. But on days like Tuesday I would suppress my tendency to keep stuff, and practice decent decluttering!

All the toys sorted out and put in plastic buckets.

What a joy for children and Mom. Each boy could just grab a plastic bucket and play with his favourite toys.

Now the challenge is to keep it like that for at least a week…?!

18 May 2009

Muscle System Lapbook

Heidi-Mari and Josua made a Muscle System Lap book as part of the Konos Unit Study, Cooperation. We got 3 books on the Muscle System from the library and we used the internet, where you can find very interesting sites on the muscle system. I tend to use the internet more and more for school, instead of using the library. It really become ‘mission impossible’ to visit the library with my three small boys. To visit the library with energetic and inquisitive the little ones, while trying to focus on the older children’s subject related books, is a real challenge for me. It’s a totally different story when we are looking for story books, as then the older ones can help themselves.

When you use General Science from Apologia you have access to multiple websites with stunning illustrations on the muscle system on a child’s level.

The children focused on the anatomy of the muscle;

and where muscles got their energy from (cellular metabolism);

the three types of muscles;



they demonstrated some of the muscles in their faces by making faces (this was great fun), they learnt how muscles contract in pairs and demonstrated the lever action of muscles attached to bones;

they gave a brief explanation of the Latin names for the different muscles; they discussed some muscle injuries;

How to treat a cramp and how to keep your muscles healthy and strong with your diet and exercise.

They used a variety of folds in this lapbook. Tab books (to illustrate the 3 types of muscles); accordion books (to illustrate the muscle injuries) and wheel books (to illustrate food groups in the diet) to name just a few.

My main goal was to illustrate to them the cooperation between the muscle system and skeletal system and also the cooperation between the muscle system and nervous system. This is a fine example of how smooth a house can run when there is cooperation between family members, but also what a disaster it can be for the other members of the family, if one family member does not cooperate and has a bad attitude.

14 May 2009

Dress for Heidi-Mari

This past weekend I finished a formal dress for Heidi-Mari. The material is the last of a few meters of winter cloth I bought 3 years ago; I was still pregnant with David!


It is so difficult to get decent, winter material for girls. Now I have to start the search for winter cloth all over again.

Our next sewing project is a beautiful, flared skirt with multiple tiers of varying widths, also for Heidi-Mari. We got different fabrics in various shades of pink for the multiple tiers. I cannot wait to get creative with these fine, lovely pieces of material!

12 May 2009

Kayleigh

My heart broke into two as I learned this afternoon that little Kayleigh went to Jesus last night after a courageous, but much too short, life.

Would you please keep the Freeman family in your prayers as they mourn their beautiful daughter's passing?

Praise the Lord, they will see her again!


11 May 2009

Mothers day!

The reason I could be spoiled on Mothers day – My Seven Children



This weekend we took our first official family pictures since Daniel was born.





My Boys

My Girls


My "Triplets"?
No!
They just look like triplets.
I love Ps 128
Blessings of Those Who Fear the Lord

1 Blessed is every one who fears the Lord,
Who walks in His ways.
2 When you eat the labor of your hands,
You shall be happy, and it shall be well with you.
3 Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine
In the very heart of your house,
Your children like olive plants
All around your table.
4 Behold, thus shall the man be blessed
Who fears the Lord.
5 The Lord bless you out of Zion,
And may you see the good of Jerusalem
All the days of your life.
6 Yes, may you see your children’s children.
Peace be upon Israel!
Thank you Lord for blessing us with seven olive plants so far!

08 May 2009

Taking Nothing for Granted!

Very early this morning, as I was reading the Word, the house was all quiet, but little Daniel was awake, playing around me on the mattress in his room. I could not resist stopping for a moment to watch my little baby. Everything in him testifies of life, curiosity, joy and love!

I am currently following Kayleigh-Anne's Story
Kayleigh was born 3 months early on June 23, 2008 from severe IUGR and pre-eclampsia. Kayleigh was a fragile 10 ½ inch long and weighed 1pound 1onze. Several doctors were completely amazed that Kayleigh survived the pregnancy, but that was just the beginning of her journey of amazing triumphs as she has overcome the impossible with several major surgeries. After the final surgery, about 3 weeks ago, she was supposed to go home. Going home perfectly, that is. But, something went wrong during the final surgery which caused Kayleigh to not get enough blood and/or oxygen to her brain causing her Cerebral Cortex to be damaged that is now considered to be flat, no waves, not working, or no activity.

Kayleigh's brain stem still functions, allowing her heart to work, breathe and have reactive movements (nothing purposeful). After many, many hours of praying, her injured brain is now deteriorating and cannot repair itself without a miracle.

She's only 5 weeks older than Daniel and it breaks my heart to see pictures of little Kayleigh.

Pictures of such a beautiful little baby girl with empty eyes, knowing she was also supposed to discover her world, just like little Daniel is now, but now there is…. nothing.

How easy we can take the development of our children for granted! At 9 months Daniel had watched his brothers playing with cars.


Now he is pushing a car on the carpet and even makes the right noises. He's crawling, pulling himself up against everything, laughing with his siblings, even plays with his two little brothers on the carpet and gives everyone so much joy!

I started taking it all for granted – my children’s development. I thought it is just supposed to be like this. Danika who taught herself to write her name, Josua who memorized the sequence of the planets in an afternoon, while studying Astronomy! Heidi who can take care of the household almost as well as I can, and CJ the strong young man who can show me shortcuts on the computer and carry out the garbage for me every morning!

This morning, while watching Daniel, I realised, it is all by God's grace! It is only by His grace that I have healthy, normal children and I should never, ever take it for granted.

Next time when you see your children playing or learning with passion, will you praise God? Will you just stop and thank Him from the bottom of your heart for His grace to you and then pray for little Kayleigh and her family, for strength to keep going through this very painful time in their lives.

Today I made a choice to be more thankful for my children.

I will appreciate them, no matter where they are in their development;
I will forget about my own expectations;
I will stop trying to change their personalities;
I will stop making them do things the way I would like it to be done.

I will pray more for them.
I will love them more and more!

There is a beautiful song by Michael W. Smith – Love in His Right Hand

He accepts you at your worst
And He is hoping for the best
Jesus loves you
Jesus loves you
He will never ever leave you
And He will never ever forsake you
Jesus loves you
Jesus loves you

He is proud of who your are
And He has faith in who you’ll become
He is not like us
He loves you just because
He is not like us
He love you just because

Broken hearted do you want your healing
Oh, trust again their is love in His Right Hand
Oh, trust again there is love in His Right Hand

He believes your dreams are true
And what a plan He has for you
Jesus loves you
Jesus loves you
When you want to walk away
He is asking you to stay
Jesus loves you
Jesus loves you

You will never be alone
He makes your heart His loving Home
He is not like us
He loves you just because
He is not like us
He loves you just because

Broken hearted do you want your healing
Oh, trust again their is love in His Right Hand
Oh, trust again there is love in His Right Hand


I shall love them just because...

03 May 2009

Living by Faith, not by Feelings!

It has been a depressing weekend!
It has actually been a depressing week!

It all started on Sunday evening, when David had a fever. Monday morning was CJ’s Cross Country Event and all the children went with Dad to watch CJ, while David, Daniel and I had to stay at home. Already a great disappointment to me.

Monday evening Andrew had a fever too. By Tuesday afternoon they were so ill with the flu, I had to juggle the big children’s extramurals with the little ones’ staying at home. The first half of the afternoon, Heidi-Mari stayed with David and Andrew while I dropped CJ at horse riding and Danika at ballet, with Josua staying at the premises of the ballet school with her. During Danika’s ballet class I popped in at an art shop for accessories needed for an Astronomy assignment, at Pick n’ Pay for groceries and Woolworths for the week’s organic fruit and vegetables. After picking up Danika and Josua, I rushed home, left Josua and Danika with the little patients and dropped Heidi-Mari at ballet. On my way back home, I quickly picked up our laundry at the Laundromat. Meanwhile, it was raining and I had to take little Daniel with me in and out of shops.

By Thursday night Andrew, David and Daniel were sick with fever coming and going and a terrible cough! By now Christo was sleeping with Andrew and David to manage their coughing during the night and me with Daniel with his coughing and crying. You can imagine how much sleep we got.

To make things even worse Josua and Danika started coughing too and by Saturday evening only CJ, Heidi-Mari and I were not coughing and struggling with fever and terrible flu. And it seemed like Pappa Christo had it worst of all.

Figuring out who would look after who during Saturday night was a challenge! Daniel was coughing and crying so badly, only I could comfort him. He had been on my breast the whole day and I didn’t foresee that the night would be any different. Christo was really sick, but only he would be able to look after Andrew and David. So Andrew, David and Christo slept in our queen-size bed and we prayed that they would be over their coughing to give Christo a chance to sleep and recover. I moved into Daniel’s room, Heidi-Mari took responsibility for Danika and CJ for Josua, when they coughed and off we went for the night.

CJ and Heidi-Mari were really amazing! They got up for their brother or sister every time they heard them coughing, gave them medicine and looked after them very well. As we had prayed, Andrew and David didn’t cough once during the night, and did not need Christo to get up for them. But Christo himself had a terrible night, being able to sleep for only half an hour at a time.

Within an hour of everyone waking Sunday morning, you could hear coughing and blowing of noses.
Now I have to confess, I don’t take sick children well, and when my dear husband is sick too, I'm even worse. I like to be in control and when my loved ones are sick, I'm out of control and that is not a nice place for me to be. So, I could feel the hopelessness, frustration and anger build up during Saturday, and that, combined with my utter exhaustion after nights without enough sleep (how much is enough?) meant I was no good.

So waking up this morning, realizing nothing has changed since yesterday, I'm facing yet another day of coughing, crying children. And seeing my dear husband with the worst flu ever, has left me drained, feeling like a flat tyre with nowhere to go.

But I do know I have one special friend that knows of our family’s ailments and she has promised to pray for us. It must have been their family’s intercession for us and the beautiful, crystal clear, sunny, autumn day outside that made me make a U-turn in my emotions. Somewhere during the early morning I found myself protesting against my own negative feelings. My Mother always said I was a bouncing ball. No matter how bad things got, I always bounced back. This was a bouncing ball moment!

I just knew we needed a little fun, we (I!) needed sunshine. Within minutes everyone was dressed and we were heading for the sun. I have a neglected rose garden, (because of lack of time and security reasons) and we decided to have everyone help prune some dead flowers. What fun we had, I could even take some nice pictures of the children while they played with the rose petals.






The beauty of God's creation and my smiling children (they were actually still sick) made me remember to thank God for all the Blessings that surround me and lifted me out of the negative feelings that overwhelmed me. Nancy Campbell said in her Beautiful Woman teaching CD: Don’t live by your feelings, live by faith! Feelings come and go, but living by faith, is pleasing to God.

Thank you Lord, today I chose to live by faith and not my feelings. I will love my children; take care of my sick husband and give You glory!
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