I just wanted to let all of your readers (family) know that we are wishing you many reasons to be thankful this Thanksgiving. We have way too many to list but here are a few we wanted to share with you:
1. Reconnecting with my (Janelle's) mom this year (totally a God thing) after almost 18 years out of touch.
2. That we (my mom and I) like each other, get along really well, and are amazingly alike in many ways!
3. That "Aunt" Kristen is following the Cole Plan for her family and will add a beautiful little girl to her brood in a few short months (after 3 adorable little boys)!
4. That "Uncle" James is willing to make huge sacrifices (with his family) for our country by serving in Iraq - thank you! (said with misty eyes!)
5. That we are able to travel to places like Maine, Michigan, North Carolina and Mississippi (and Dallas too) and spend great time with our family.
6. That the kids and I were able to see my Grandfather in early October - it had been about 4 years at least. The visit was tough as he was not looking great and is almost deaf and blind. We did stop by while in Mississippi though to say hello and check in on him. we are thankful for that brief visit because he passed away this past weekend. God is amazing and works all things for his good! I am glad we did not plan to do a visit "next" time, it would have been too late.
7. That we live in a country where we are allowed to teach our children at home and go to our church that teaches the truth of the Bible, where we worship the ONE true God!
8. That our boys are learning to love God passionately - and even our little girl who tells me all the time that Jesus loves me!
9. That we have a great group of kids and a healthy, happy family!
What more is there to say? We hope that you have a day of reflection and contemplation - and are able to see the many things our great and glorious God has given you this year - that you are able to thank God in all things and for all things. We are blessed and hope you feel that way too!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Love,
The Cole Clan
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
Winter Wonderland!!
Blessings, blessings, and more blessings!
Where do I begin? well we drove about 1100 miles with a nail in our tire (we think)- blessing #1 - we still made it to Michigan where we had the tire repaired! God is so good!
We arrived in Michigan Saturday late afternoon to see snow on the ground - direct answer to prayer (he said yes this time:)) and we had more snow today and more tomorrow is expected!! Blessing #2! God really is good!
We were able to spend the evening with Denny & Jon (Robert's aunt & uncle) for her birthday on Sunday - and we were able to see the answer to lots of prayers and tears too - Uncle Jon had emergency Open heart surgery this summer and we were a little scared - but driven to our knees in prayer - he looks great! It was so good to see them both and see how Jon has recovered and is just feeling great! Blessing #3!
Does he always say yes? of course not - but right now we are delighting in some yeses to our prayers! I am sure there are many more - too many to list - but we are just feeling so thankful this week!
The kids are loving the brisk air and the lovely snow and the warm fires! Not to mention yummy food, great family time and more "new" toys than they dreamed of! There are so many joys of childhood!
We are just so thrilled to be up here enjoying the weather and the family time! We are not looking forward to the drive back, but that is reality!
the kids even made a snow man this morning! Check out our pics on flickr
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Here we are enjoying some cool weather and fun with family! We got some great pics at the Arboretum this weekend with Brian & Lisa and the kids had a blast!
We are heading up North in a couple days so my blog will probably be sleeping for a week. Hope you all have a wonderfully blessed Thanksgiving and that you have lots to be Thankful for this year!
Thursday, November 13, 2008
More of Mary and less of Martha for me!!
I am just amazed at how hard headed I can be sometimes. It takes a group of ladies (great ladies I must say) sitting in a circle offering advice on how to (this time) stop yelling too much. But you know it was nothing they said that gave me that "Ah ha" moment! One of these friends is a licensed counselor - so I did feel like I was getting some great FREE advice, but she is also a grandma and has been where I am and has done it! So her advice is well received.
This time however, my revelation was not in how I was dealing with my kids, not in my temper or my attitude. It was not one of my kids anger outbursts that I was solving. It was realizing that when I take my focus off why I am home and what my "mission" is - things fall apart! And that is what has happened the last 2 weeks or so.
We have been going great with school - consistent, good attitudes, and getting everything done! I can not always claim those things. But as soon as we are done with school, I start on my "project" which currently is sewing Christmas gifts. This is something I love to do - but if it is taking my focus off of being a stable mom and a loving mom, to my kids, then I need to find another way to do things!
One thing that rang true from my friend's advice - is to "rest" when the kids are resting. Okay, I know this is not new or anything. I have "rested" for years when the kids rest - especially when we had a baby in the house. But these days? Well, 3 of my 4 don't nap - they read or have quiet time. What do I do? Feverishly do things that I do not like to do when they are running around (i.e. sewing, canning, cleaning, etc). I also heard this week that we need to teach our kids to relax without guilt. Now in this area, I know that Robert is the person to model this to our kids. But really, if they never see me relax without guilt (which they don't) then what am I teaching them? That is it all about performance. That concept is something my boys will figure out without me modeling it every day of their lives, so really I need to teach them to take some down time, that relaxing after working hard is okay. I have to teach myself that concept more I think. I am performance driven - has to be done well (okay usually perfect) and has to be done NOW, and has to be done! This is not a healthy philosophy to live by.
Okay - so the new me. Today, we schooled at a leisurely pace (not that I would ever rush through school to that I can then dig out the sewing machine - no not me!) (we schooled by the fire I might add) and then we cleaned the house - together. We each took a room and the kids picked up and vacuumed the floors. Then the little guy helped me in my room just picking up stuff and getting it in one place for me to sort. Anyway, it went great. We have several very clean rooms and then the kids hit the legos. Oh yeah, I did send the 2 bigger boys out to journal nature this morning after school - by drawing our tree that is actually changing colors. So we really had a great morning. While they did legos I did can some pumpkin butter - but it only took about 30 minutes. Then as rest time approached I wanted to get the sewing machine out - but knew that would re-start the frenzy - and I wanted to force myself to rest this afternoon. So here I am resting.
Really, blogging is relaxing, I am not multi-tasking (don't ask the number of tabs I have opened - that does not count) and I get to have a few moments of me time. While that may sound selfish I am becoming increasingly aware that after I have some me moments I am a better and more patient mom! So here goes!
Did I mention that one of my friends called Nancy Leigh Demoss last night? I don't know which one did it, but today she was talking to me on her radio show! I could not believe it! She was using the Mary and Martha story to speak to my heart and oh my goodness! I can get so wrapped into being a Martha that I could scream!! I just pray that God will slow me down (gently) and show me how to be Mary, how to savor the moments with my kids and not let them fly by! Check it out here if you want to hear what she was saying to me. I still cannot believe those ladies!! :)
And while I do this, my boys are quietly in their rooms on their beds reading some books and resting, I must say the quiet sounds great!
Hope you have a blessed day!
This time however, my revelation was not in how I was dealing with my kids, not in my temper or my attitude. It was not one of my kids anger outbursts that I was solving. It was realizing that when I take my focus off why I am home and what my "mission" is - things fall apart! And that is what has happened the last 2 weeks or so.
We have been going great with school - consistent, good attitudes, and getting everything done! I can not always claim those things. But as soon as we are done with school, I start on my "project" which currently is sewing Christmas gifts. This is something I love to do - but if it is taking my focus off of being a stable mom and a loving mom, to my kids, then I need to find another way to do things!
One thing that rang true from my friend's advice - is to "rest" when the kids are resting. Okay, I know this is not new or anything. I have "rested" for years when the kids rest - especially when we had a baby in the house. But these days? Well, 3 of my 4 don't nap - they read or have quiet time. What do I do? Feverishly do things that I do not like to do when they are running around (i.e. sewing, canning, cleaning, etc). I also heard this week that we need to teach our kids to relax without guilt. Now in this area, I know that Robert is the person to model this to our kids. But really, if they never see me relax without guilt (which they don't) then what am I teaching them? That is it all about performance. That concept is something my boys will figure out without me modeling it every day of their lives, so really I need to teach them to take some down time, that relaxing after working hard is okay. I have to teach myself that concept more I think. I am performance driven - has to be done well (okay usually perfect) and has to be done NOW, and has to be done! This is not a healthy philosophy to live by.
Okay - so the new me. Today, we schooled at a leisurely pace (not that I would ever rush through school to that I can then dig out the sewing machine - no not me!) (we schooled by the fire I might add) and then we cleaned the house - together. We each took a room and the kids picked up and vacuumed the floors. Then the little guy helped me in my room just picking up stuff and getting it in one place for me to sort. Anyway, it went great. We have several very clean rooms and then the kids hit the legos. Oh yeah, I did send the 2 bigger boys out to journal nature this morning after school - by drawing our tree that is actually changing colors. So we really had a great morning. While they did legos I did can some pumpkin butter - but it only took about 30 minutes. Then as rest time approached I wanted to get the sewing machine out - but knew that would re-start the frenzy - and I wanted to force myself to rest this afternoon. So here I am resting.
Really, blogging is relaxing, I am not multi-tasking (don't ask the number of tabs I have opened - that does not count) and I get to have a few moments of me time. While that may sound selfish I am becoming increasingly aware that after I have some me moments I am a better and more patient mom! So here goes!
Did I mention that one of my friends called Nancy Leigh Demoss last night? I don't know which one did it, but today she was talking to me on her radio show! I could not believe it! She was using the Mary and Martha story to speak to my heart and oh my goodness! I can get so wrapped into being a Martha that I could scream!! I just pray that God will slow me down (gently) and show me how to be Mary, how to savor the moments with my kids and not let them fly by! Check it out here if you want to hear what she was saying to me. I still cannot believe those ladies!! :)
And while I do this, my boys are quietly in their rooms on their beds reading some books and resting, I must say the quiet sounds great!
Hope you have a blessed day!
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