If you were here.....

You would see me....... talking with my neighbors
You would feel the sun shining on my front porch as issac and i sit on the steps and watching people walk by
You would talk to my mail man. He walks from house to house, greeting people by thier first name
You would hear the sound of lawn mowers
and smell someone grilling near by
You would see (and hear) us walking through the neighbors yard, because the dog got out, again.
You would love all the old doors in my neighborhood that are rounded at the top, making you wonder why they still don't make doors like that!
You would see sidewalks and hear many different bird songs.
You would see American flags.
and backyard playgrounds.

If you were here, you might think, "I love it here, this is perfect", and feel like this is only the beginning.

Yeah my house!

I really like my house. and i like it even more now. We just had 2 weeks of crazy construction stuff around here. Tons of men with tools, in and out of the house, saying things like "How would you like this?, and Have you picked your colors yet?, and "what were you thinking for the kitchen?" and "We're done for today, see you tomorrow!". it was pretty nice, i feel spoiled. I won't go into alot of detail, don't want to brag or anything. But do feel free to come for a visit anytime. I can share my house, really.

And, yes it IS spring! after that last post, it snowed again, ....and again. but i think that it is absolutley done now. (I mean really, it's totally uncalled for. this is april dang it.) we have all these little green leaves pushing up to the sky around the edge of our fence. Most likely we'll see some flowers when they are done. I can't wait to find out what they are.

Derek is working at a nusery in town, while he contiunes to go to school full time. Which means, PLANTS!, and nice yard (because he'll know how to take care of things) I like this. This is good. This makes wife happy.

Oh and if anyone is interested (which i can think of only one person who might be) i have started using a website called www.amblesideonline.org in schooling the kiddos. And well this is one of my full time jobs (teacher), and i get a bit excited about it. I don't use the entire site, but the method fits our family better than any other, and i think the time has come to get a tad more structured in school.

um de dum. well i am just blabbing. I really need a little social time. (i'd love to meet you at panera, lisa!)
Maybe next time i'll write something creative, entitled something like
"ode to my house"
or "Oh, how i love thee, house, let me count the ways"
or maybe "A day in the life...shauna and her house"

It's Spring!

About time!

I never realized the bummer weather of minnesota, until i left of course. I had gotten used to being able to go outside any month of the year, and relax. I love going for walks, or bike rides. I despise the car. and riding around in it, with my kids all strapped in like we are on a dangerous carnival ride or something. I would much rather go slow. Walk, look at passers by in the eyes and smile. Notice things that you don't while in the car. i even like public transportation. Yeah, its the way to live.

Today we went for our first family walk of the year. Well, the first one that didn't end with frozen hands, and crying kids.
We could have kept walking all day. It was glorious!

The girls rode thier bikes, and we pushed isaac in his umbrella stroller. And we ended up at our new favorite place to eat. Yummy real mexican fish tacos! Need i say more?

Winter bought herself a nice guitar the other day, and daddy is giving lessons! (ps she is really becoming a gorgeous little woman, but don't tell her i said so, she'll get pretty embarrased.)

Mr son is talking! And i just realized that he knows many body parts, because if you ask him "where is your ear?" and so on, he knows it all!! Brilliant! I always knew he was.

and middle daughter? She is also becoming quite a charming lady. She takes a ballet class, and its her favorite! She's a natural, and will probably take lessons for a while. And i am pretty convinced that her training wheels will be off soon.

Peace to you all
We love you, love you
night night

how do you know?

i just had some thoughts going through my mind , So i thought i'd write them out.

How do you know that you are drinking from the stream of living water? In other words, how do you know you are on the right path?

well.....the right path is.....
a path that makes you die everyday. And submit your will, to His.
A path in which you don't know the answers, but you know the One who does.
a path where salvation is a gift, and there is nothing you can do to attain more.
a path that you can only travel on through One door, and His name is Jesus.

A path that draws you low, and low, and lower still.

Jesus said,
The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of some great value, he went and sold all he had and bought it.

Nothing compares to the love of the Father.

What have we been doing?

Just in case you have been wondering.......

currently i am listening to some african music from Derek's world music class, while he does algebra, and isaac dances.
I love how little kids instinctively dance to music. I think isaac even danced to the washing machine once.

Latley we have been (i have been) getting better at homeschooling winter, and serenity has started a workbook, which is her "school" she's so ecstatic, it's cute.

Our sweet friends from Milwaukee came to visit with thier sweet kids. We had such a fruitful, warm and gooey time. We played cheezy games, and ate together. and talked. I had an especially great time with Lisa. (I love you Lisa!)

I have realized a pretty important thing about motherhood/ and wifeness. Well the bottom line is creating an atmosphere. So Derek can come home to a peaceful haven. Which involves keeping everyones bellys full of yummy food. Sounds silly, but the atmosphere is pretty lame when everyone is always hungry, and i am off doing my own thing. So i made a meal plan, woohoo. Our lives have been changed!

Singing and drumming in the Rochester House of Prayer, which sounds fancy, but is just a few folks of various ages, and denominations, singing to jesus together.

Not visiting the farm. I love you farm and i miss you. (note to self: must visit farm soon)

Taking Serenity to dance/ music class, and meeting interesting folks in the waiting room.

Making new friends, inviting lots of people to my home, despite all my messes, and letting my roots grow without fear- because heaven is my home.

an amish paradise

Have I ever mentioned that we live NEAR an amish paradise?

I had almost forgotten, because we moved into an urban area a few months ago. In someplaces nearby, you can buy canned things, bread, quilts, furniture from amish folks. There are signs on the sides of the road, indicating that you should watch for carts and buggies. You come upon these beautifully kept up farms, usually white houses, with hitching posts outside, and no sign of any electric or phone line.
And you will most likely see hitching posts at the grocery stores too. And beautiful children, with handmade bonnets, little boys with black pants, blue shirts and suspenders. Men with long facial hair, and a tape measure always fastend at the side.
And you may even hear a little German.

I was reminded yesterday, because we went on a long drive yesterday on roads which cut through the frozen cornfields of iowa. A LONG drive, got lost once. All to find our PEARL of great price. Our puppy. Yes we have a puppy now, and We named her Pearl. and We bought her from a Mennonite family. It was fun. And She is fun. Serenity is in heaven. Pearl a very little white Bichon Frisse, kind of like a poodle i guess, but we vow not to shame her with the poodle hair cut, or the bichon frisse haircut for that matter. Yup.

Our family is growing.

tie tie

We have a way, around this house, of shortening or rhyming all our words. If you were in our home, you may think we have our own language- and we do.
let me translate for you:

tie tie = tired
ga ga= i am feeling kind of mushy, and i love you right now
nayb= neighbor

A typical conversation (or convo) might sound something like

ME: "Who wants a little juicy juice juice with thier cake pakes? "
Daughter 2: "Mmmm gaga."
ME: "i love you too, sweet pete"
Daughter 1: "oh look, the nayb is out with his snowblower!"
the Dad: "sweetness"
small boy: ahh (pointing at cake pakes, because he wants one)

Now i must sleep, because i am TIE TIE.
goodnight

CRAZY MINNESOTANS!

people are weird here, and really nice too.
look at this
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ8PrELc4-A
(sorry i don't know how to do the clever link thing)

my only son

I love having a son. After having two girls. I am in love with my son.
I love his breath, even after having a whopping 6 teeth, his breath still smells like a baby. Perfect.
I love how he comunicates. If body language really is like 90% of communication, he has got all 90% down pat. Its that pesky 10% of speech he has yet to conquer.
I love his drunken laughing, when he is so happy that he's beyond happy. like when he is in the bathtub late at night with bubbles. he just laughs and laughs and laughs.
I love that fact that, when eating at the table, he holds his utensil with his right hand, patting the food with it and atemping to pick it up, all the while knowing that it is just practice and he will eventually pick the food up with his left hand to eat.
I love that he loves to stand on his stool in the kitchen and watch everything i do.
I love that if you offer him two choices of food, he will choose the bigger one.
I love the little grunting man noises he makes, and has made since ever since i can remember.
I love that he is sensitive, though it would be hard not to be in this house. his sensitive dad is always kissing him, and taking off his shirt so that thier bare skin can touch, like when he was a newborn. he also has two older sisters to nurture him, and teach him how to swaddle baby dolls.
I love those big brown eyes, and wispy baby curls.
and how his smile seems to disable gravity, and i am suddenly in a much better place.

I love my son.

All my cool skills

I learn alot here at home
these are some sweet skills i've picked up

*conflict resolution skills
*time management skills
*people management skills
* teaching skills
* cooking skills
* laundry skills
* resource$ mangagemnt skills
* cleaning skills
*hospitality skills
*gardening skills (come spring)
* home maitenence skills
*administrative skills

Not to mention the "oldies but goodies" that are more like plants that are constantly growing in our home, than a mere skill.
like
love love and more sacrificial love
patience
self control
joy
rest
ecstatic joy
thankfullness
faithfulness

Oh the benefits of family life!!!!!!!

My lovely weekend

i had a LOVELY weekend. we went to a retreat center thing with a bunch of folks from our church and just hung out and played games, and music, went sledding and played broom ball (which is like hockey, except no skates-just shoes on ice, and brooms and a ball). no agenda. i loved it! it felt like living in community again, for a second.

and we just got to know people so much better. It was real. mmmmmmm. woohoo. i'm happy.

and i love our church! i love our pastor! i love him love him. he is so unashamedly smitten in love with God. and he can take the most offensive thing in the old testament, and bring it to life. to life i tell you! we are in a good place.

and .....some people in our church want to live in intentional community, which made me a bit EXCITED! So we'll see. anyhow, i love my church!

Resolutions anyone?

i guess it is 2008. i haven't really grasped that yet.
we were out of town for the new year and probably sleeping when the ball dropped. and then we all got sick, which always makes me glad (in a way) because i remember that we barely ever get sick, and i get thankful for the grace of health.

I think we are all better now. and all the ickies cleaned up.
How bout some new years resolutions? sure ok.

THIS NEW YEAR I RESOLVE TO...

...make efforts to love people more, especially my family.
...invite friends over more for meals
...write more letters
...take more pictures
...get better at cleaning my house (that will be hard, but inviting others over is a good motivation.)
...kiss my husband more
...go for more walks with my kids
...fast and pray until i see the face of God

i think that is pretty good.

OK i'm on a roll! This is my darling son.

This is my Granny Lampert. Isn't she sweet?

pictures!

ok Lord knows i try.
computers are so expensive, and seem to take up alot of time. This is one of the reasons that we seem to go through alot of VERY OLD and VERY SLOW computers, which end up being very troublesome, and take up more even more time.

I have been trying to save photos on this computer so i can upload them gracefully onto this blog. It is suppose to happen like ballet. Beautiful. Effortless. and in a tutu.

We'll see.

(i wrote this while waiting ten minutes for a photo to upload, after taking an hour to figure out how to do it!
But, IT WORKED!!!!!!!! Yippie!)

the favor of God and the lameness of me

We went out to this restaurant nearby last night, because, hey, kids eat free on wednesday nights. After we were in there a while and my kids were being......, well, kids, there was a lady near us kind of staring, i noticed with my peripheral vision. And i thought she was probably thinking about how misbehaved my kids were and i was offended. my heart was like "Whatever lady."
So i turned to her and to my surprize she had a huge smile on her face and she said "you have such a beautiful little boy" and through tears told me how he looked like her grandson. As she got up to leave she told us to have a "very blessed holiday" and while she walked on, i couldn't help but smile. Derek said, "wow that was pretty cool" I thought so too.

Then there was another lady a couple of tables away. and I noticed her in a not very nice way either. because she was very overweight and had to be pushed in a wheelchair, and was eating ALOT and at some point was on the phone discussing medical things with someone that involved her internal organs, and i was trying to eat dutch food.
So as we were getting up to leave, i happened to walk by her and when my eyes met hers, she was all aglow. She said " i saw that you have such a nice family, and i would like to give you this gift certificate. Have a merry christmas."

I was made aware again last night that i am not at all as patient or loving as i would like people to believe, and also
just a LITTLE humbled , and blessed, as things like this happen all the time and i know it is just the favor of God, because we love him and he loves us.
And thank goodness, he shows us our faults, so we have the blessed opportunity to surrender over and over again, while his love washes us and changes us.

my cousin just sent me an email entitled "i have learned". she makes lots of little squiggly marks and a lesson after each one. which i thought was a good idea. then i started thinking about what i have learned in the last year.
so, i have learned
One main thing

-to rest. We came here a year and a half ago from california, kind of beat up and worn out feeling. looking for refuge from the storm we'd been in (spiritually speaking). We spent alot of time a bit stressed, feeling like "what a we doing here?" "how are we making a difference?"
like we want our lives to count for something, we don't want to have regrets in the end. If i died tommorrow (which i could) what do i have to show for my life? Our lives are so short, and there is only one thing that matters.
our souls long for God, and we will not just hang our and be lawn ornaments, or whatever. We are determined to seek his face and long for our souls to be satisfied in Him alone.
So the resting thing.
well God has changed my heart in a way that all my passion has been pouring into prayer. and now i sit. like a seed waiting to be blown by Him. "with my wings spread out I wait" I know i will not bear any fruit unless we are planted by God.

Now we are learning (kind of relearning) to be faithful- to the max, with what he gives us each day, and trust him.

hello!!!!!
i have a working computer!!!! this is exciting, i hope. we have it hidden downstairs in a dark cold office type of room, which , i hope, will discourage me from wasting all my time on it.
and TA DA......! We have a house! i feel so grown up. my own ground outside to dig in, my own walls to paint.
man i am tired and have absolutley NO creative flow WHATsoever right now. this must be so boring to read. I feel bad for you right now.
i am going to go, but will be updating often.
bye

today was sooooo relaxing.
we went down to the nearby state park, and "day camped " at our favorite spot. near by the swimming hole, and right next to the creek. its this tucked away ,private spot, near where alot of folks pass to swim. so we get the best of both worlds (all though i don't know if it would really be considered two different WORLDS) i mean either way you're in the woods.
in the woods. ahh. i love to be in the woods, with a river nearby. i brought my little "wildflowers of minnesota" field guide and i was identifying up a storm. i identified wild parsnip, white clover, false Solomons seal, and heal all. i would love to be a naturalist, well maybe i am already. i read somewhere that teaching science to kids should start with making them naturalists before scientists, because they have such a curiosity for nature already.
isaac and i took a nap outside, (i love sleeping outside)
and we rode bikes a bit.
we also met some folks who were Hutterite, which is similar to amish or mennonite. they have the same roots, but Hutterites live communally, as in on the same farm, and all their belongings including money is pooled together. they also speak a dialect of german. anyhow it was interesting, except for the fact that i think the man was hitting on me. i mean, are they allowed to even do that? I was pretty sure that he saw i was married.
so thats my day , in a nutshell.
love. mooah!

a few BRIGHT ORANGE FLOWERS that i love:
butterfly weed (native to minnesota)
california poppy (native to california of course)
and calendula (native to somewhere , i'm sure)


besides that, there are a few other things i could right about like:
-all the wild black raspberry's we have been picking, and how we came upon the mother lode black raspberry patch while on a family bike ride
-how bike riding together has revolutionized our lives
-or about how i have been wondering why some people just feel like home
-our trip to kansas city
-dereks lone adventure to nashville
-jesus coming back in the clouds
-horton hears a who
-thrush, and icky gentian violet
- benjamin west and his cat grimalkin (a book i am reading with winter and she loves so much she wrote her "tag" in it , which is her name in graffiti, and then she realized it was a library book, and trying to fix the problem, gobbed on the last bit of white out we had in the bottle, which just didn't work, so then we both took turns scraping it off. i hope the library doesn't mind)
-finally starting to speak my kids love languages, though i think isaacs is pretty limited to nursing right now. he is definitely way more into that than anything.
-secret snuggles
-fasting
-or the recent family reunion.
yes i have lots of topics i'd like to write about.
maybe i'll pick one tomorrow.