He's here with us...

"A Snowy Day" by Ethan and Karis

How crazy is this???

I want to introduce you to a new "bloggie" friend of mine. Her name is Courtney. I found her blog several months ago when I was searching for reviews of a book. Her blog came up in the search results since she had done a post about it at some point. I opened her blog to check it out and found that she has two kids. . .named Ethan and Karis. How crazy it that?? I'm obviously not surprised when I see others with the name Ethan, as it has become pretty popular, but to have an Ethan and a Karis, I thought was so crazy! Her Karis is the older of the two. It actually gets a bit crazier when you find out that Courtney and her husband are expecting their third baby, a boy. . .and they've decided on the name Levi!! It was also neat to find out that she has her teaching degree, among a couple other commonalities.



I wanted to ask all of you praying ladies (I don't know of any guys that read this, but if you're out there, you can go ahead and pray, too) to say a quick prayer for Courtney. She and her family just found out they are going to be moving in the next week, which we all know is no small task when you have two small children, are expecting your third, and it's the week before Christmas. They are also hosting her family for Christmas Eve. On top of all of this, her brother passed away just after Thanksgiving. Pray that God fills her with His strength and joy as she goes through this Christmas season.

Christmas Cookies

We've been doing a lot of baking here in the Hunter house. I LOVE Christmas cookies, and unfortunately for my waistline, I have a really hard time keeping my hand out of the cookie jar these days. Here are the ones that have become our "must have" Christmas cookies:

Frosted Orange Drop Cookies, Sugar and Spice Cookies (a chewy gingersnap-type cookie), Peanut Butter Reindeers, Chocolate Crinkles, Butterballs, and Vanilla Cookie Cut-Outs.

What cookies do you make every year??

Why I'm blogging again

I had a friend tell me recently about her friend who had her blog printed off in a bound book. It was one of the things that encouraged me to actually start blogging again. I don't have time or space to put together physical scrapbooks and I don't really have the money to do a bunch of digital scrapbooking. I think it would be neat to print my blog at some point...maybe every year or two as a combo journal and scrapbook. It would be something nice to look over down the road and pass on to the kids someday if they are interested. I'd like for them to know the "tidbits, treasures, and toils" that have made our family what it is.

I also got okay with the fact that it's okay to not be known. I think when I first started blogging, part of my motivation was to have lots of people read my blog and know me. We all kind of want to be a little "famous" don't we? Even if it is in our own little world? I thought it would be fun to be known for my writing, or maybe my baking, or maybe some parenting idea I had...that I could gain some higher level of "significance" through blogging. {That might be a "stay-at-home mom do load after load of laundry, dishes, vaccuum 42 times a week, answer 780 pointless questions a day, get interrupted at least 4 times every conversation you have with your husband, lock yourself in your bedroom while talking on the phone, make 21 meals and dish out 42 snacks every week, pay bills, monitor bank accounts, clip coupons, push the "car" cart through the grocery store while no one rides in it without any type of recognition" kind of hang up, I suppose}

But, I didn't just want to be known by people. I wanted people to know why I was doing the things that I do, in order to validate my thoughts and actions in some way. {For example} A couple months ago I wanted to tell you about why we were sending our kids to public school because I didn't want anyone to think we were doing it because we couldn't handle the homeschooling. I mean, I really couldn't handle it if someone thought I was a wimp! I needed people know why we were doing it. That started bothering me.

When I quit blogging for a while, though, I was reminded that it didn't change what I did or why I did it, just because no one knew what was going on with me or in my head. I still did the same things for the same reasons and I didn't loose any sleep (well, I did loose sleep, but that was because of Levi!) because people didn't know what was going on. I know people will think whatever they want about my actions, and my blog writing is probably not going to change anything. I reminded myself that I am known intimately by the only One that matters. With all that in mind, I was able to tell you about why we are not homeschooling more as a clear my mind, if you're struggling with this same decision you're not alone kind of post.

So I don't know if that makes sense to anyone else, or if you can relate. I do want ya'll know what's going on with us, but not because I need you to feed my need for significance. I just figure maybe you want to know, just like I like to know what's going on with you guys. It's fun to have "conversation" through comments, get new ideas from each other, and participate in the "you're not alone" club together.

What's been on my mind

There have been two things that have been on my mind a lot over the past year. I thought I'd share a little bit of the journey they have taken me on. Here are the questions I was asking:

Would I be a better mom if I homeschooled our kids? I know this doesn't have to be an issue of being a better mom, but that's part of what it became for me. For some reason, in the past year, I managed to convince myself that homeschooling moms are better moms than those of us who send our kids to public school. They are more organized. They prioritize better. They are obeying Deuteronomy 6 more fully. They spend more time with their kids. They must be more patient. They are protecting their children from worldly influence.

It surprised me when I fell into this line of thinking because I never imagined I would want to homeschool. I've always been of the mindset that public schools need strong Christian families in them, and really felt a calling to make every effort to be one of those families. And, to be honest, I had once thought that homeschooling moms shelter and cater to their kids too much and don't send their kids to school because they can't let go. Thing is, my oldest is now away from home for more than 8 hours a day and I hate it. I also have quite a few friends who are homeschooling, and I've looked deeper at how it honors what God calls us to in Deuteronomy and can really knit a family together.

By the end of last school year my heart was aching to homeschool our kids. I did a "practice day". I looked at different curriculums. I was trying to figure out how I could really make it work in our family. I thought, "Maybe God is calling me to do this thing that I never wanted to do". I spent the summer trying to determine if I wanted to homeschool because I thought it would give me the image of being an amazing mom, because I just couldn't let go of my babies, or because God was, in fact, calling me to it.

Would having more kids make me a better mom? Again, I know this doesn't have to be an issue of being a better mom, but at some point, I also convinced myself that moms with more kids are better moms. They can handle more. They trust God more. They are more willing to sacrifice. It just seems like there is a certain "status" attached to parents of large families - just look at our fascination with TV shows like John & Kate, 18 Kids and Counting, Table for 12, etc. (Alright, I know that John and Kate have fallen apart, and maybe I'm the only one fascinated with how amazing it seems for these parents to be able to do what they do...)

This has actually been something I've struggled with since right after Mark and I decided we were done having kids. This was not an easy decision for either of us. I went back and forth about whether birth control (horomonal or permanent) was Biblical. We wondered where we should draw the line between trusting God to provide for us if we left it up to Him and testing God to provide if we knew full well that another baby would make it difficult to even put food on the table and clothes on our backs, especially when He had already given us FOUR amazing kids!


At the beginning of July I went back to Exodus 14:14, stilled my mind on these two things and asked (or maybe I should say begged) God to fight for my heart/mind on them and give me clarity. When I gave up, He gave me answers and peace.

I became confident that God's place for our kids is in the public school. At the end of July, while Mark was away at Cross-Country camp, I sat on the couch trying to read a book to Ethan and Karis...while Natalie forced herself on to my lap pushing the book and kids away and Levi scaled the entertainment center. I paused for a short moment to keep control and clearly felt God say to me, "Let this be one of the reasons I want you to trust me and put your kids in school." It's not that I can't handle the chaos, but I'm very aware that I have two high maintenance younger ones, and it wouldn't be fair to either "set" of kids to try to make homeschooling work in our home right now. He continues to give me reasons to maintain my peace about this decision. Both kids were "Principal's Pick" for the first month of the school year...a testament to their quiet dilligence and desire to be good examples. Ethan has done multiple assignments where he has written about being thankful for his Bible, that Christmas means we can celebrate the birth of Jesus, and giving to the poor. He has also taken Bible to school again this year as part of his "All about me" presentation.

I realized that sending our kids to school was not the easy way out and that I was sacrificing, just in a way that was different than homeschooling moms are. I have to give up control every day. I want to keep our kids home now. It hurts, most days, to watch them walk up the street to that bus stop. I have to trust that God will protect their hearts and minds when I can't be there to do it. Mark and I have work extra hard to make good use of the time we do have together and be sure that as much as possible is spent helping our kids grow in their faith and gain the tools that will help them make wise choices each day.

I became sure that we were not in a position to ask God for another baby. When you get pregnant as easily as we do, not being on strict birth control of some kind equals asking God for another baby. We are blessed to have 4 children, and I know that God did not create all of us to be like the Duggars. Every family has a different sized quiver for reasons that only God knows. He gives us what we need to make the decision that works for our family. We decided the most responsible thing for us to do was prayerfully take permanent action, knowing that if God desired to give us another baby, He would find His way and provide what we needed.

I learned that it is okay to grieve the fact I will never (barring some miracle) give birth again and that there is a good chance we will never be "baby parents" again. I know there are some who long for the end of this season: the changes of pregnancy, the pain of giving birth, having multiple babies in diapers, always being sure you have a change of clothes on hand when you leave the house, getting a workout simply going grocery shopping, trying to decipher baby babble before it becomes a tantrum, lowering angelic sleeping babies into cribs, having a house full of noise and messes. I LOVE this season. There is always going to be a part of me that will long to experience the miracle of a baby again. I've struggled to picture myself on the other side of it. But as allow myself to grieve (yes, I seriously get nauseous and cry) the ending of it, I am beginning to look forward to what the next season holds.

Well, maybe I should have split that into two posts! Hopefully I didn't loose you halfway through it. I know these are two things that many moms struggle with, so I hope in some way it has encouraged you that you are not alone...or given you the push to seek God's peace for these decisions in your own life.

Back from Sabbatical

Well, I think I'm ready to start blogging again. For the most part, I just got way too busy with school starting, Mark coaching CC, Ethan and Karis playing soccer on two different teams, having 36 History students, and everything else that is included in the life of a mom/wife. When I had 15 minutes of free time, I just wasn't interested in spending it blogging! Life has calmed down considerably, and even with Christmas approaching, I do have a little bit of spare time on my hands here and there.

To get back into the groove of blogging, I'm just going to post a few pictures of the kids from this fall. Baby steps, right?

So, anyway, I hope you'll all start reading again. I'll feel like my efforts are so much more worth it if someone out there is reading :O). I'll be back to tomorrow with a post about what I've been learning lately. All of those teasers about deep thoughts in my (long) past posts are finally coming to fruition!

Sleep is Overrated

So, we've been dealing with sleep issues again.

Issues as in...Levi just isn't interesting in participating in the activity.

I feel like possibly there is some systemic issue going on (alot of people have suggested allergies), but we just can't pinpoint anything. The other three kids spent the weekend with my parents and we thought it would be a good opportunity to let Levi cry it out...which he did most of Saturday night. Then it seemed that there was improvement from there. Tuesday night he slept from 9pm to 6am without waking up.

But yesterday he only took a 45 minute nap and tonight we are pulling another all-nighter. I've tried tylenol, orajel, gas drops, diet alterations, snacks, drinks, walking with him, laying down with him. He just doesn't want to sleep. Period.

I'm not quite sure how I can keep putting in 17 to 20 hour days with no break (since the other kids don't nap) on 3-4 hours of sleep.

Any suggestions??

Enjoying Summer

We continue to enjoy our summer, as might be evidenced by my lack of posting. I'm beginning to wonder whether it's even worth it for me to keep blogging!?!? Will I ever really come back and read all this stuff? Is anyone else even reading it? Most of my posts lately have been... well...on the boring side, I suppose. I've had a few "deeper" things on my mind lately, but I'm such a slow thought processor, that it takes me way to long to get a post put together. I've been packing a lot of activity into my days, and there's been next to no room for quiet thinking time. If I get quiet time, it's while I'm running and, unfortunately, I'm just not "super-woman" enough to run and type blog posts at the same time :O).

Here is some of what's been filling up our days:

Following/Chasing/Protecting Levi. The kid is a maniac. He's been scaling the bannister of our staircase, rendering the gate we normally use to keep him downstairs useless. He plays in toilets and trash cans. He balances on tricycle seats. He puts small objects in his mouth. He eats handfuls of sand and chunks of sidewalk chalk...repeatedly. He thinks he is a WWF/ultimate fight contestant. He enjoys throwing hard objects at people. Ummm, yah...he's a maniac.

Watching a meteor shower cuddled under blankets on the trampoline. 4 of the many we saw left huge tails across the sky.

Big smiles and little slugs.

Swimming at Uncle Daniel's.

Celebrating some early birthdays at Grandma and Grandpa's.

Reaping our harvest and some other "domestic" things. We planted some veggies at Mark's parents' house, which have produced ridiculous amounts of zucchini and cucumbers. I've lost count of how many loaves of zucchini bread/muffins I've made. There are 6 loaves in my freezer and a few batches in our tummies :O). We've enjoyed homegrown salad. I've canned pickles and salsa. I've frozen zucchini, blueberries, corn, green beans, broccoli, strawberries, and strawberry jam.

Painting our own set of wooden blocks.

Running another family oriented 5k/1 mile fun run. The kids did great. Karis even ran the whole mile without walking!! Ethan ran right around 8 1/2 minutes and Karis 9 1/2 minutes.

Checking out the new splash park in our area.

Indian Bear Lodge. Each summer my mom's side of the family gets together for a few days somewhere in central Ohio/Hocking Hills. This year the group was small, but we returned to one of our favorite spots a bit south of Mt. Vernon. IBL is great place in the middle of nowhere. We usually spend our days eating WAY too much food, hanging out by the pond, and riding on the Kokosing bike trail.

Outer Banks: Beach Walks

Walking on the beach in the evenings might have actually been my favorite part of this vacation. I loved going down and walking the mostly empty beach as the tide was coming in. The kids loved seeing how deep they could make their footprints in the wet sand. It was just a nice, relaxing way to walk off dinner and wind down for the day. Here are some of our beach walk pics.

A couple of the nights we went back down to the beach after dark to look for crabs. They were scrambling all over the beach in and out of the waves and the little holes they dig in the sand. I wasn't fast enough to catch...mostly cuz I wasn't sure I really wanted to grab one!?!? Ethan, with his quick reflexes, was able to scoop one up in the bucket. Pretty cute!

Outer Banks: Hittin' the Beach

It was great to have the Butcher's there to show us the ropes of the "beach life". Really, I'm not sure there are many things better than relaxing with a good book, playing in the waves and sand, and taking evening walks along the beach. I love the fact that all the fun and entertainment that we needed for the week was right outside our door and FREE! We did take a trip to the Aquarium one morning for a little break, but, basically, we we were beach bums for six days! It was a trip we will definitely make again!!

The kids loved digging in the sand, finding shells, and cooling off in the water. Mark and Jason even got in on the action one morning.

Ethan became a pro boogie boarder...and Mark and I had some fun riding the waves, too!

We set up a blow up pool for Levi and he enjoyed being able to sit under the umbrella and splash around in there. By the end of the week, though, he was pretty much covered head to toe in sand and ready to dip his feet in the waves.

Outer Banks Trip: The Drive

We were really thrilled that we got the chance to take our first ever family vacation to the Outer Banks this year. Friends of ours from college have been going down with their family since she was a little girl. Her aunt wasn't able to make this year and her share of the condo was offered up, so we (a little nervously) decided to snag it up.

Packing up all that a family of 6 might need for a trip of this sort went surprisingly smoothly. A few friends who have travelled to the beach before offered up a few things that we might need and our wonderful friends, the Berrys, lent us their cartop carrier. There is no way we would have fit everything with out it!!

We hit the road early, hoping everyone would be groggy and fall right to sleep for the first few hours of the trip. Of course, that didn't happen. Natalie flipped out about me bringing along her blanket, so we started off with a screaming kid! Thanks to a Little Rascals DVD, there was soon laughter filling the van. Yes...our kids were laughing hysterically at Little Rascals at 5am. Overall, the drive went well. There were several more stops than we really intended to make, but it was probably better for Mark's back that we did. Natalie even went tinkle in the potty at a few of the stops! The last hour or so did become somewhat chaotic. Natalie and Levi were pretty much done being in the van. They would simultaneously go from screaming to laughing. Mark and I just kept looking at each other like "What have we done?!?!?"

We were relieved to arrive in Pine Knoll Shores after 13.5 hours. We had a great room in a condo right on the beach. We didn't waste any time checking out the ocean! We quickly learned that Levi was scared of it! Thankfully a couple friends mentioned that bringing a baby pool might be a good idea.

You are Loved!!

I just had to share some pictures of the plate I made at the local pottery shop. I am so excited about how well it turned out!! I've had the idea for the plate for a while, since reading something about The Red Plate Honor at the Proverbs 31 Ministries site months ago. I wanted to do my own version of the plate that we could use for guests, on birthdays, Mothers/Fathers Day, the day of a big accomplishment/disappointment, or just whenever. Whoever gets the plate on a certain day will get to hear special words of encouragement and affirmation of who they are in Christ and know that they are loved by us.

My original design had stuff written in the middle, but after I got the outside finished I felt like maybe I was done. I thought on it for a couple days and decided I was finished, so I called Jane and asked her to go ahead and fire it. I was really nervous because it is hard to tell how everything will actually look once it gets fired...the colors aren't the same as they will be once fired and you wonder if you put on enough coats of glaze!?!? But, I think it might have turned out even better than I hoped it would!

Do I get a cookie, Mom?

LOVE this picture of my sweet baby boy!

Some wet fun