A Little Quiet

Just taking a little break ~ A little quiet.

From this space ~ For a time.

Perhaps a week or more?

May the LORD bless you each one 
in the coming days ~
He truly is Wonderful and worthy of all our praise.

I will plan to reconnect after a little while ~
I appreciate your patience and understanding.

Thank you for your kind friendship ~
Each one of you is a sweet blessing to me.  :)

With Love,

Camille

**Image in this post courtesy of Calvin ~

Thank you my love!  XO

Shared writing & five for Friday

1.  Shared writing=my new favorite thing.   During our insect unit last week, we read a cool nonfiction book about fireflies.  The kids finger painted yellow dots all over their papers, and after they dried, they went back to create firefly doodles around the dots--some we glued to the firefly shared writing poster, and some we added to our "firefly jar"!

2.  Ow/ou towers!  My kids have been loving our new geoblocks, and I needed a quick and easy literacy station activity.  I used a word page of ou/ow words from Cara Carroll's Out of Towners packet--(which is AWESOME for teaching ow/ou!), and taped them to the blocks.  At word work, a pair of students would take turns choosing a block to read.  If they read the word correctly, they could use it to create their ow/ou tower!  They loved this word work station so much, I kept it in the basket for this week, too!  

3.  Hermit crabs are *kinda* cool.  Each year during my ocean unit, I read A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle, and we always do the cool retelling pieces from Kim Adsit's Ocean Animals packet (love it)!  As you can see from the picture, I was in the middle of printing Kim's Ocean packet--ha!  Anyway, this year, my kids started asking questions about real hermit crabs--and to be perfectly honest, I don't know a THING about real hermit crabs.  I mean, I've seen the painted ones at the beach, and I know they live in a shell, but that's about it.  So, we ALL decided to do a little more research about these guys, and found out that they are pretty cool little creatures--so I made another sharing writing poster, so we could remember all the facts, and the kids created their own posters, too!

4.  Fish in a cup.  We read Swim! Swim!  (SO CUTE!!!)  I just love this book.  I bought clear plastic cups and blue pebbles from Dollar Tree, and had the kids draw their own "Lerch" the fish.  They made speech bubbles with quotes from the book to add to the cup, and some even added the girl fish, Dinah, that Lerch falls in love with at the end of the book.  

5.  {My sweet family!} My sister-in-law took amazing pictures of our entire family to give to my mom for Mother's Day.  We all met at a nearby park last Sunday.  It was FREEZING and cloudy, and we were worried we wouldn't be able to get a good picture--well, she is an amazing photographer and got the most beautiful pictures!  We gave them to my mom last night, and she cried!  So special.

I love these peeps.

Well, yet again, I am late to the party--one day I will actually post this on a Friday.  Promise.

  If you are a procrastinator like me, you can still link up with Doodle Bugs to share your five randoms from the week!  :)

The View From Here

I know that one day I will forget.

My memories will fade.

And, partly, that is why I blog.

I blog for many other reasons, but this journal

of life in the here and now is a very important part of it.

I remember when the kids were small,

I thought it would go on and on and on in the same way forever.

And, then things changed.  They changed.  Routines changed.
It snuck up on us slowly, rarely did it happen suddenly.
And then, things were different.

This is my way of preserving the here and now forever.

These days are sweet and full and will not return to us as they are.

Things will change.  We will change.  And life marches on.
So, today...I'm sharing the view from here ~
Because I know it won't be like this for long.

Emma's cousin let her borrow her doll (the blonde one)
complete with clothes and bed ~ SO sweet!
Thank you R...you may never know what joy you've brought.

 Emma tenderly cares for these two as though they were 
a living and breathing part of her little family.

 See the attention to detail?

  It's been gorgeous lately ~
Howie pressure washed and set up the deck furniture last weekend.
The children have taken full advantage of it and migrated  
outside with their studies ~ some more benefits of homeschool.  :)

We cannot tell you how wonderful it is to see 
this young man resume his studies...

...and take up the violin once again!  :)

Howie's parents have been down-sizing.
Pieces of their home have been integrated into ours ~
it's bittersweet.

 This photo was the inspiration for the post title ~
it's the view from our back sundeck...looking to the left.

 This little miss is growing up so quickly ~
remember the last time I posted a photo like this?

Cherish the days and moments and joys of life ~
they really are gifts to be thankful for.
May the LORD continually give us eyes to see
and hearts full of rejoicing in Him.
May He help us truly to enjoy the treasures of now.

Many Blessings to you!
Camille

Overwhelmed and Sinking?

Trials and troubles in this life can weigh us down.

Our focus can become blurred when we find ourselves 

overwhelmed with sorrows and difficult circumstances.

This ought not to be.

If we belong to the LORD, we have no reason for despair.

We have every reason to hope and to rejoice.  In Him.

But, how is it possible?  How can this rejoicing be ours?

"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;

who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross,

despising the shame, and is set down 

at the right hand of the throne of God.

For consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners

against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds."

~ Hebrews 12:2-3 ~

 Remember the time when Peter walked on the water to the Lord?

He was able to do it, as long as his eyes were fixed on his Saviour.

However, when he became distracted by the waves 

and his surroundings, he sank.

There are times when we find ourselves sinking, too.

How does it happen?

Most often, it's when we fail to look to our Saviour in all things.

We must battle to get our eyes off of self and circumstances,

and fill our minds with Truth ~ His Truth.

Fill our minds with our Lord Jesus Christ ~ Him alone.

We must remember where we are headed and remind ourselves

that this world, along with its sufferings, is only temporary.  

When things seem to be falling apart all around us, where do we turn?

How do we find peace in the midst of our trials?  

How is it possible to find peace at all?

Only by His strength and grace ~ 

Only in and through Him is any of it possible.

The God who calls provides.

The means are His provision.

What are those means?  Where do we begin?

We first must be sure that the Lord Jesus Christ is our Saviour.

When we are truly His, we are able to

fortify ourselves with the Word of God and Prayer ~ 

It's so simple, yet, so vitally important!

Simply reading Scripture and praying through it changes our outlook.

Our Precious Saviour meets us there and renews our vision.

Our perspective shifts from the temporal to the eternal.

Our minds fill with His greatness and all-sufficiency.

We become less.  He becomes more.

Listening to good sermons and attending services with other believers

is another means of grace that is a blessing in our Christian walk.

It's easy to neglect these most basic of practices,

but, if we do, we most surely will suffer in our souls.

It's the way we were made.  We need Him.

May God, by His grace, continually give eyes to see

and ears to hear.  May we follow Him and keep our eyes fixed.

Especially when the waves are high and the wind is fierce.

May we know without a doubt ~ He is in the storm.

May He cause us to worship Him in the midst of it all.

Much love,
Camille

**These thoughts are a result of the sermon our pastor preached this morning ~
Thank you Pastor B for faithfully expounding God's Word to us.
We are thankful to the Lord for you!  

**Photo courtesy of Emma ~ Thank you my little love!  XO

Top 3 - Challenges 5 to 8

So following on from the winners post, here are the top 3 for the past few challenges.

Challenge 5

#4 - Tanya OD

#20 - An

#43 - Vicky PP

Challenge 6

#8 - FrancaK

#22 - Papersniffer

#26 - Gunn

Challenge 7

#15 - NanaConnie

#20 - kbrandy4

#41 - Kath

Challenge 8

#10 - Janiel

#29 - Renata

#94 Andreja L

Congratulations to you all. Grab the top 3 badge from our sidebar and add it to your own.

Winners - Challenge 5 to 8

Hi there, I've got some winners to announce, yaaayyyy!  Hopefully, I'll get the top 3's published and we will be contacting some new Design Team members.  For now, though, lets give out some prizes:

Challenge 5
The prize is a $5 gift certificate for Digital Delights which is won by #25 - Paper Profusion. Congratulations, please email me at cardsformen@donnasden.co.uk so that I can pass your details on to the sponsor.

Challenge 6
The prize is 7 free images from Bugaboo Stamps which is won by #22 - Papersniffer.  Congratulations, please email me at cardsformen@donnasden.co.uk with your choice of images so that I can pass your details on to the sponsor.

Challenge 7
The prize is a 6 pack of flexmarkers from Letraset which is won by #22 - Lindyloo.  Congratulations, please email your name and address to me at cardsformen@donnasden.co.uk and I'll get your prize out to you.

Challenge 8
The prize is 4 digis from Squidgi Digi which is won by #136 Berit.  Congratulations, please email me at cardsformen@donnasden.co.uk with your choice of images so that I can pass your details on to the sponsor.

12.2 ~ An Update

We are so thankful for each of you who have been checking in with us
and praying for Austin ~ you bless our hearts!
It's been a few weeks since my last update, so it's time.
Thank you for your patience with us and for loving us through this season.

Things have slowly been going in the right direction.

Austin has gained weight ounce by ounce over the weeks.

He is coming back to us slowly.

And we live.  One day at a time.
How precious and precarious life is.

Through it all, we are conscious of the fact that
our God is Great and does all things well.

In the last nearly six weeks, Austin has gained
12.2 pounds ~ isn't that wonderful?
Please join with us in rejoicing over this answer to prayer.
Praise our Great God for His mercies ~ they are new every morning.
We are praying for a further gain of 15 to 20 pounds.
Although we ask for this, we seek to submit continually 
to our Loving Heavenly Father's will and timing in all of these things.

On another note ~ Austin's iron levels are too low.

The next step in this journey is to try yet another supplement
to avoid going the transfusion route.
Please pray along with us that this iron will be accepted
by Austin's body, and that it will improve his overall well-being.

We stay the course and plod along.

Grateful for every improvement and every advance ~

no matter how small or incremental.

Over time, they all add up to great strides forward.

We are thankful for each new day.  For each new grace given.

Thankful, too, that we do not walk this path alone.

It's been a journey.

It has not come to an end and it is not near its end.

How precious life is.  How blessed we are.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

It is amazing to belong to the Family of our Great God.

We will praise Him together forever ~ isn't that an incredible thought?

With love and grateful thanks,
Camille