Some Tidbits...

Here are some random tidbits (mostly in the form of pictures) about what's been goin' down in the Hunter house...

Natalie is kind of obsessed with playing "house". She loves playing with her babies and shopping. She is always packing stuff up in grocery or diaper bags. For a while, we were randomly loosing things like keys or cans of olives. We soon realized the first place to look was in one of the 15 stuffed full bags laying around the house. Behind this chair is one of her favorite places to "live".

Just 4 cute kids being cute.

Ethan is playing Upward Basketball this year. He was excited to try out a new sport and is doing well. He's still a little bit hesitant during the games, but you can be sure whoever he's gaurding isn't going to get the ball!

We made our pinecone birdfeeders again and the birds are LOVING them. One morning I looked out the window and there were 2 pairs of Eastern Bluebirds, a pair of Cardinals, 3 different kinds of woodpeckers, a couple of nuthatches, a few juncos, sparrows and a chickadee or two. It was crazy!

Still working for Levi's naptime. I don't mind doing the "bounce around"...I usually try to squeeze in some squats, lunges, and calf raises while I'm doing it. Ha ha...I know, I'm a dork!

Seriously? How cute is this face??

"Letting Go" in 2010

Well, in case you've been wondering where I've been...we've been sick. Nothing really terrible, but Mark started it with a stomach bug about a week and a half ago, then Karis got it last Monday, then Ethan got strep throat on Thursday, and then I got the stomach bug on Saturday night. So, we've just been in that take it easy while still trying to keep up with daily tasks mode for a bit. I had a friend invite the girls over for a play date today (I warned her, but she was willing to take the risk!) and Levi is napping, so I decided to put off the toy clean-up and laundry folding to blog instead. Feels kind of good to choose something I want to do instead of the things I should do :O).


So, I've been saying I wanted to tell you a little bit about my "word" for the year. Last year was a year of expecting God and His changes in my life, and even though I didn't end up blogging about much them, He did some very necessary things in my heart and life.

This year I'm not expecting any different, as I ask Him to teach me how to better let go. This is something I so need to work on on many levels.

As I've mentioned many times before, I have issues with control...I don't like when my house looks out of control. I don't like when my kids are at school and I don't have control over what they are doing or what's being done to them. I don't like when cars break down, water lines leak or people get sick. It just stresses me out! God, help me let go of my need to control, because I know you are glorified in my ability to focus on what's truly important, trust in your protection, and believe in your provision.

I also have issues with pride and judging. There are a lot of times that I feel like I'm doing a pretty good job at life. It may seem like a contradiction, since I know I've mentioned that I've often compared myself to other women and felt inadequate. At the same time though, I've often compared myself to some women and felt like, "...maybe I do have it all together...". I can be pretty quick to judge other peoples' ways of doing things if I think my way is better. I probably shouldn't even admit this, but there are a lot of times that Mark and I will be discussing somebody's situation and we'll jokingly say..."It's a good thing we're perfect." Yah, we're being totally sarcastic, but still, there is an element judgment and pride in it. God, help me let go of my tendency to judge because I know that I am nothing without your grace.

Another thing that I have issues with is holding on to things. I hold on to material things, the idea of future financial stability, and time. I have a hard time throwing stuff out...actually Mark and I both do. We're not hoarders by any means, but seriously, our basement has become the dumpsite of all the stuff we're not ready to part with because someday we might have a use for them. We did do really well this weekend getting rid of a bunch of stuff and setting aside plenty more for a Spring garage sale. I just want to get rid of "stuff" that clutters our life. I cling to this idea of someday being able to not have to think about money and whether we have enough for this or that. Not that I have a desire to live some extravegant lifestyle, but we want to fix up the basement and remodel the kitchen here, we want to buy land in the (sort of) country and build a house, we want to travel. Yet, I know I'm not guaranteed tomorrow, so in my heart, I feel like I'd rather leave a legacy of giving than saving for what may never come. I'm pretty selfish with the time I spend with my family. I really don't have much desire to get out by myself or for us to spend time socializing with other families. I really don't like to give up our time, especially now that Ethan is in school all day. Even though neither one of us are very willing to give up our time together, Mark and I go back and forth all the time about whether it's more important to spend time binding our family together or reaching out to come in contact with and serve those that need to see a God-loving/fearing family. So far, we're not balanced in that area at all. God, help me let go of my desire to hold on to these things...provide me motivation to get rid of things we don't need and the opportunity to give of our time and money becuase I know we have so much more of these than many, many others.

Another Organization to Give to...

I am reading through James in the mornings with the kids...this is the book they chose. We usually just read about 10 verses each day while they are eating breakfast. They both have their own Bibles with neat little application and further study features that bring the Scriptures to their level, so some mornings we don't read, we just go over one of those. There tends to be a lot of explaining and plenty of questions. I benefit from it as much as they do, if not more. We finished Chapter One this morning, which closes with this verse: "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27

How timely? Because I can't get these people off of my mind and heart, I wanted to share another organization we are going to support. It is Vision of Hope Ministries Haiti. Our church sends missions groups to work beside this organization on a regular basis. Our youth pastor's daughter, Brittany, is working closely with Pastor Henoc of this ministry, as she teaches in a Christian school in Cap Haitian and cares for 11 children orphaned by the hurricanes a couple of years ago. These unbelievably poor people are doing whatever they can to help take care of those who were hurt and displaced by the earthquake, even as they grieve the loss of some of their own friends and family. Oh, that I could be so selfless!

On a related note, I did get an email from one of my students that lives in Haiti. He said he and his family are okay and are just waiting with hope to hear from other family and friends.

Haiti Earthquake

I'm sure you all have seen the heartbreaking pictures of the earthquake that rocked Haiti earlier this week. Can you imagine if you lived there in your current situation? Where would you find diapers or food for your babies? If you're pregnant, can you imagine giving birth in the rubble on the side of the street because the hospitals have collapsed? Can you imagine searching for your husband or babies among the broken buildings?

I had two students in my American History course this summer/fall who live and go to school in Port au Prince. I emailed them, knowing it could be weeks before they even receive it, but I am praying they are safe.

The quake is causing me to re-evaluate (something I often do after these natural disasters) what is important...what is really a trial? Is getting out of bed 10 times during the night that big of a deal? At least my feet are hitting plush carpet and there's a roof over my head. Is being able to purchase organic and natural food or having variety on my weekly menu essential? At least I have a grocery store within 2 miles of my house with more choices of products than many people will ever see in their lifetime. Part of me knows that I need to just go on with my life, but at the same time I think to myself, "How can we all sit here and continue to post our facebook statuses about what the Browns are doing or having a few drinks after work or missing out on this "great" thing or having that "bad" thing happen" without laughing about how unbelievably trivial it all is?

I want to donate, but the practical, material, "American" side of me is saying we don't have the money right now. We just had to get Mark a new(er) car, haven't sold his yet, need to get our water line fixed, should be purchasing wood to build the second set of bunk beds and mattresses, oh, and, we want to recarpet that bedroom, too.

So, I'm asking myself, is it that big of a deal if we eat sloppy joe's and mac 'n' cheese or spaghetti for week, so someone else can have clean water? Can I deal with ugly teal green carpet for another year, so someone else might find bed to sleep in?

I've looked at several organizations and who/what efforts the donations they receive are supporting. Not that there aren't others who aren't helping immediately and directly, but I've chosen Food for the Hungry. If you haven't donated yet and want to, I posted a banner for their donation page on the right.

I Am...

A couple of years ago for MOPS we talked about identity. Several of us wrote some testimonies about who we were. I've been kind of busy the past few days...well not really busy busy, just busy enjoying life and my family, so I haven't felt like taking the time to think through the post I really want to write about my word/words for the year. So anyway, I thought that over the next few weeks, if I'm "due" for a post but not wanting to take the time to write something, I'll post some of the writings I did. I'm adapting some of them since they're a bit outdated. This will be a good place for me to keep them, I think.


I am a saver. . . a saver of plenty of things I don't really need, and some I actually do. Sometimes I save money by shopping sales or clipping coupons. On occasion, I have saved my children's lives. Mostly, though, I save memories. The pockets of my mind are full of moments and phrases I plan to keep forever . . .

. . . sitting on the couch with my mom twenty three years ago and giving my heart to Christ; the sound of my dad's voice reading the Christmas story on Christmas Eve; what I ate for breakfast the morning I won the first high school cross-country race I had ever run; hugging my tearful baby sister goodbye on my first day of college; how my husband shivered next to me on the couch the moments before he proposed, while I sat there wondering how he could be cold the last weekend in July; the excitement of finding out we had the winning bid on our first home; the scent of our newborn babies; the time my Ethan insisted in his sweet little voice that he wasn't bossy, he was a cowboy; holding Karis for the first time and feeling like I was looking at my own baby pictures; having the kids help me tell my husband that number three was on the way; how I completely lost it my son's first day of preschool; taking the pregnancy test for the baby we never held; driving to the hospital to have my fourth baby with the other three in the van; Natalie singing her version of "Away in the Manger" at the top of her lungs; our first trip to the ocean; finding Levi standing IN the toilet; the kids begging to here "You Never Let Go" every time we go somewhere. . .

. . . of course, I could go on for hours, as I'm sure each of us could. We all keep our memories for different reasons. I save these words, these smells, these snapshots in time for those moments when I wonder who I am. These memories remind me of where I've been, what I've accomplished, and why I'm doing what I do each day. That is why I hold on to them so tightly that it hurts when I feel them starting to fade.

I'd love it if you some of you guys joined in on this and post some of your own "I am's". It would be neat to see the different ways we all identify ourselves. Leave a comment with the link to your post...

My Favorite Things

These are a few of my favorite things right now (not in any particular order)...

Mark and his mom got me a Mr. Coffee Cafe Frappe maker for Christmas. I don't like coffee, but I really enjoy me a yummy frappe! Make a date with me...I'll brew you one, too!

This verse:

"The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy. I have come that you might have life and have it to the full." John 10:10

My baby boy doesn't think he really needs naps anymore (I should clarify...fighting naps isn't my favorite thing, but result of it is...so read on). He is quite sure he is going to miss something while he's in dreamland and can climb out of his crib, even with his mattress on the lowest notch (it took over an hour for us to get him to stay in bed the other night). So, I've had to "trick" him into taking a nap lately. I have all the other kids find a book and a quiet spot, while I sit with him and read a book. He usually falls asleep in my lap, but even still he sometimes wakes up when I lay him in his crib...thus ensues another 30-45 minute escapade of getting him to sleep. In case you weren't aware, I don't have that much time to spend trying to get the kid to nap. The past couple of days I've taken him up to my bed with a couple books and he's fallen asleep there for an hour or two. I. LOVE. IT. I'm sure all the authors of baby books and perfect mom's out there would be shaking their fingers at me, but I don't care. I'll trade hours of wasted time trying to get him to nap the "right way" for little giggles, sweet kisses, snuggles and this:

Snow covered trees.

Having back my journaling/quiet/devotional time. Levi has (finally) pretty consistently been staying in bed until 6:30ish so I am able to get up at 6 and have some quiet time again. (I know what you're thinking and I agree...it is totally reediculous that the kid still wakes up multiple times during the night, is up at the crack of dawn, and still thinks he doesn't need a nap...try convincing him that, though!) Anyway, my days go so much better when I can get this time to myself and with God.

This song:

Holiday Pictures

We had a wonderful break for Christmas and New Year's. Of course, it went way too fast, but I was thankful that we made it through healthy and not ready to ship the kids off somewhere else! In fact, I'm really not ready for anyone to go back to school. We love staying home in pj's all day long, playing video games, reading books, cuddling, drinking hot chocolate, sledding, playing board games, spending time with family, and sitting by the fire. I'm kind of convinced we would be perfectly happy as hermits :O).

Here are some picture highlights of our "life" the past couple of weeks: