He always provides

Here in the Hunter house we are used to coming into summer with the extra cushion of Mark's track coaching pay check. Since he didn't coach last spring, things have been pretty tight the past few weeks. I've been trying to figure out what things I can cut out so we can build the checking account back up and find a way to pay off Mark's car by March, almost 4 years ahead of schedule. I couldn't find much of anything that we can do without, though (believe me...there aren't many extras happening in this house). So I resigned myself to the fact that I was just going to keep saving our nickels and dimes by using my coupons and shopping the clearance racks...and pray they'd add up to more than I was expecting!

I'm so thankful that the Lord knows our hearts and our desire to make the most of the resources He gives us...and then does more than we expect.

On Tuesday night a neighbor called, out of the blue, and asked if they could pay me to watch their kindergartner a few days a week. He is actually our neice's half brother, and one of the little boys that came to our Backyard Bible Club. Dad is going back to school and Mom works full time. He'll be in morning kindergarten, so he'll get off the bus at our house on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday and spend about 8-10 hours a week here. He's a good kid and it shouldn't be much trouble at all. I'll still be able to do the morning activities I planned to do with Natalie and Levi, and I think Natalie will really enjoy having him around (I lost track of the number of times this summer she told me she needed to play with someone besides her family!)...hopefully he won't mind entertaining her a bit!

The Big Switch

We made the big switch last week. From cribs to bunk beds. From a big kid and a baby room to a boys' room and a girls' room.

It was almost kind of spontaneous. Mark was done staining and oiling the second set of beds, but we weren't quite sure when we were going to have time to take the cribs down and get the beds put together. I think, for me, that was the way to go. We had just picked gobs of peaches and blueberries that morning, so I was busy in the kitchen and Mark got busy making the change upstairs. I didn't have a chance to get too emotional about it. Before I knew it, it was done, and the kids were super excited. I didn't even have time to shed a tear {until later that night when I saw my sweet, tiny little boy asleep in that big huge bed and realized in the blink of an eye he is going to stretch from headboard to footboard}.

I was glad they were ALL excited, too. There was a time when Ethan {hater of change} said he wanted to share a bedroom with Karis forever. In the last several months though, he has become more "big boyish" and realized sharing a room with his little sister isn't quite that cool. I wasn't sure how Levi would respond either. He was a bit upset to see his crib go, but once we put the sports balls sheets on his bed, there was no turning back for him. I also figured he'd spend the first week or so climbing out of it 150 times before falling asleep. Thankfully, since the boy rarely naps anymore, he was beat by bedtime and didn't give us any trouble at all.

I love that with "big" beds I can climb in with each kid for prayers, cuddles, and kisses at bedtime. I hate that with two sets of bunk beds I want to chop my arms off every time I have to change sheets. There are some final touches to be done to both rooms. I need to paint over the handprint border in the boys' room and hopefully find them some curtains. I'd also like to paint some flowers and a verse on the wall in the girls' room. Two projects that will probably have to wait for some colder weather.

We joined the battle

Tuesday night we jumped out of the boat and physically joined the spiritual battle for our kids' schools by standing on the front steps of the schools and praying for them. There were only a handful of people at each school, but I'm not in the least disappointed by the turnout. The prayers that went up to the Throne of our God came from the hearts of parents and other community members that believe mighty things will be done in and through our children, and through our involvement in the school system. Satan's footholds will be weakened. Our children will be stronger. I walked away from the 45 minutes or so we spent there knowing, without a doubt, that I obeyed the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Can't wait until November when we can do it again.

Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord.
Lift your hands toward Him for the life of your young children.

Lamentations 2:19

A few favorite things...

A few things that have made me smile lately:

After completing the summer reading program at the library, Ethan picked out The Magician's Nephew from the Narnia series as his free book reward. He read all but the last few pages in about a week, and refused to finish it until we went to the library to get the next book, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. He just didn't want the story to end.

A crazily true quote from my younger sister about Natalie while Ethan, Karis, and Natalie spent the weekend with them: "its funny because when she is totally exhausted is the only time she actually acts like a real 3 yr old. the rest of the time its like she's 25."

When you ask Levi a question his response is often an innocent "uuhhh...no".

Taking the big kids out on school shopping dates. I love seeing what kinds of things they pick out (whether I approve and let them purchase is another story :O)).

Trusting God to provide and stretch our paychecks each week...and not giving into the temptation to worry about whether it will stretch far enough.

Spending a long weekend with extended family at Oglebay Resort in West Virginia.

Meteor Showers.

Levi going potty on the toilet on a random, but almost daily basis.

Skunk {and other fun} adventures with our friends the Butchers. (and, no, the irony is not lost on us that when we hang out together we are the "Hunters" and the "Butchers")

Running 800m repeats and bringing back some memories of high school and college.

The dryer choosing one of the hottest, but also breezy, days of summer to break down. And my amazing husband who figured out the problem, bought the part, and had it fixed in less than 24 hours and for less than $20.

How much Karis' attitude has changed in the past 6 months. She's far less emotional, cries/whines much less, and smiles much more!!

Mandy's E-book

If you've been reading my blog for a while you might remember about a year and a half ago when my friend, Mandy, created an online life group called Angry Homemade Noodles. It was a bunch of moms connecting online and seeking to allow God to help us overcome some hangups and sins we were struggling with. Mandy is a wonderful writer, and has put all of the teaching/learning from that group into an E-Book that you can purchase.

If you are struggling with something over and over and would like to find freedom from it, you are not alone. There is freedom in Christ, but even if you know that (as I did), sometimes you need some help finding it. If that's the case, I encourage you to check out the book at the Messy Canvas bookstore on Mandy's blog.

Gasp...Gulp...Splish...Splash...

That's the sound of me trying to keep my head above water for the next three months....

It all seems to start with Mark going away to Cross Country Camp, which happened this past week, and my first students enrolling, which happened Friday. I like some busyness for short periods of time, but, the past few years, the end of summer/beginning of the school year seems to have the potential to drown me.

Mark is coaching cross-country, I'll be getting 35ish online students off the ground {read: insane amounts of phone calls to be made/received, emails to be sent/received/responded to, questions to be answered, and papers to be graded} in their American History class, a family reunion trip, Ethan and Karis will be playing soccer {on separate teams}, MOPS steering team planning gets busy, and this year I'm leading a 2nd/3rd grade small group on Wednesday nights at church and running my half-marathon training. September is also Ethan's and Karis' birthdays and it's Ethan's turn to have a party this year. Throw in there all the typical things like school shopping, orientation nights, picking kids up from school, grocery shopping, laundry, packing lunches, and helping with homework and things are going to get a little crazy!

To help maintain sanity, I'm taking a break for Bible Study and Karis is taking a break from gymnastics. We had thought about sending Natalie to pre-school one day a week this year, but I think we'll hold off another year. I think I'll probably give up cleaning the house, too...it'll probably just be too much ;O)

I know we'll survive and have some fun amidst all the craziness...but if you see me going under....throw me a life preserver!!

Poundin' the Pavement

Well, I'm 5 weeks into my half-marathon training, and I'd have to say, so far, I'm really enjoying it. Yes, I enjoy running. I'm a little weird like that.

In my first 5 weeks, I think my favorite run so far has been my 7 miler. It was a nice evening and I was able to keep a consistent, sub-10 minute pace. Although it was extremely hot, I enjoyed my 8 mile run, too. The big kids were at my parents' house for the weekend, so Mark joined me on his bike with Levi in the bike trailer. He was my travelling water station...how nice is that?? I tried my first energy gel pack on that run, too. Umm...that's some pretty gross stuff trying to taste good.

I have had two longer runs that have done weird things to my stomach/intestines, and I haven't been able to pinpoint whether I'm eating something that doesn't agree with running or if it's my pace. Both runs I've done with a friend and we've pushed the pace under 9 minute miles for 6 and 7 miles, which is a bit faster than I usually do long runs at. Hopefully, I'll get it figured out in the next couple weeks!

I love that I'm achieving a goal. {It's been years since I've had a specific goal to work towards, aside from just surviving with four small children and completing the typical motherly tasks of each day, all while maintaining sanity :O)} I love that there's purpose in my running. I love watching the training plan work. It's fascinating to me to see longer and longer runs get easier and faster. It's nice to see some more muscle tone in my legs, too!

I don't love that it usually requires time away from my family or that some days it costs us our relaxing dinner or bedtime schedule. I don't like that I feel like I'm being pushy with my need to "get my run in". Mark just had to reassure me last night that I'm doing okay. That I'm not being pushy. I'm still trying to convince myself that I'm not being selfish. I've got 7 more weeks to let go of that. Hopefully, I'll have time next month to keep you updated on how that's going.