I'm a momma of four little ones- ages 6, 4, 2, and 8 months. I'm 27 and have been married to my sweetie for almost 8 years!

My heart's desire is to love God and love people. I don't want to waste my life. I want to be completely His. I think this quote reminds me of where I am and where I want to be:

“The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie. It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. It is not the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of triviality we drink in every night. For all the ill that Satan can do, when God describes what keeps us from the banquet table of his love, it is a piece of land, a yoke of oxen, and a wife (Luke 14:18-20). ….the most deadly appetites are not for the poison of evil, but for the simple pleasures of earth.”
~John Piper in A Hunger for God

I want to be HIS. I am here, struggling to find the meaning in the mundane. Raising four babies and helping a husband is no small quest. I hope this blog is an encouragement to other women who are in the same place as I am- serving God in everyday homemaking.

God's been working on my heart of late. In the past few months I have acquired a huge burden for orphans. It's crazy- I have four children six and under. Adopting another child sounds insane! Crazy or not, I would love to, and the more I study it, the more I find that the cost of adoption is out of reach not only for our family, but for the dozens of other families that wish to love and want an unloved and unwanted child.

One night I woke up at 3 a.m. and couldn't fall asleep again. Often I find that when I'm awake at night God uses the quiet to speak to me. I found myself thinking about adoption, and wishing I could do something about it. The thought came to me- an idea to affect adopting families in a local, missional way.

What if I were to create a non-profit organization? A local one, where we raise funds from the local community, from people that can't adopt but want to do something to fulfill the Biblical mandate to care for the widows and orphans.

I was immediately excited. I could start an organization that gathers funding for local Christian families to adopt children. The local family, maybe someone I even know, could adopt when they could not afford to do so! How awesome would that be!

My heart's desire is to see those precious little ones who aren't loved get to experience Christ's love.

How's that related to the She Speaks conference, a Proverbs 31 ministry?

She Speaks is a conference that gives women the tools they need to advance in ministry- resources to better their speaking, writing, and leading abilities.

Lysa TerKeurst is giving away three scholarships, and I would love win one and be a part of this conference to see how to make my idea become a reality. I imagine a day when we give out the funds for a family to adopt every week, and hundreds of children's lives are changed because people gave locally and saw the result of their giving in the eyes of that precious child sitting beside them at church.

Getting started is the biggest hurdle, and I think this conference would steer me in the right direction. Check out Lysa's blog for more information, or go to the She Speaks Conference website to find out more.

The last year has been so crazy.

Between July and December we had our fourth baby, put our house on the market again, started homeschooling, I started a book club, started instructing a women's fitness class, made a groom's cake (my first- it was soooo stressful!), was a bridesmaid, hosted a wedding shower, and threw two big birthday parties. Add in exercising 1-2 hours a day, holidays, and feeding and caring for five other people (including a colicky one who needed to eat every 3 hours), and you have a recipe for exhausted mommy.

Some of it was definitely self-induced, like the book club and the exercise class. In January I cut back on some of my commitments and exercise sessions so that I wouldn't feel so overwhelmed. Other things like the wedding events I wouldn't trade for anything- they were once in a lifetime things that I would never want to miss.

I'd love to say that homeschooling is just perfect. I'd be lying if I said I loved it. There are things I do like about it, such as the flexibility, the advanced level of teaching for the age range, and the sheltering aspect. The hard part is the managing of a home and two very needy little girls while trying to teach reading and math to two little boys who need constant help. The boys can't really work well without my continual direction, mostly because they can't really read yet, and they just need my help. The last month has gotten better for sure. God has been good to me.

The other day Kim from Life in a Shoe (mom of 10) wrote that it eventually gets easier, and that you won't be fighting falling into a teary heap on the kitchen floor. That's about where I am in this stage of motherhood. When people say, "Enjoy it- you're going to miss this," I think, there is no way on God's green earth that I will miss this. I practically can't wait for them to get big enough to do things for themselves. To never have to wipe up poop. Ever again.

But when it's quiet, I look at them, and I KNOW I'm going to forget the exhaustion and the tears and the feelings of defeat. I'm going to look at their precious chubby faces in pictures and remember how they would tell me I love you out of the blue. And how their eyes lit up at something as simple as a cookie. Their squeaky little voices, their high pitched giggles. The sweet, sad little weed flowers they brought me so proudly.

I've been praying so much for God to give me more joy during this time, to see what I should be enjoying, not just wading through, waiting for the next big thing. He has. It's a daily struggle, and I find myself crying out to Him for help and patience. Some days are better than others. This is harder than I ever expected it would be. But He is there. When I keep knocking on the door, when I keep seeking Him, He responds. My day is better, and I find His joy. He sustains me.

Avalie is 4 weeks old! Time is flying by in a way, and in another it's slowed! I think the lack of sleep is definitely more pronounced the older I get. :) I wouldn't say this one sleeps less than the others, I just don't get to sleep in like I did with the younger ones. With a 5 1/2 , 4, and almost 2 year old running around, sleeping in isn't possible anymore!

I haven't done OAMC before, but since we got a new to us freezer in January, I have been trying to stock it before the baby comes. I stumbled upon Once a Month Mom, where they have complete menus, grocery lists, instructions and even LABELS!! What an incredible find- and it's all free! Be sure to check it out! I linked directly to the June menu so you can see what they have to offer. How awesome are those two mommas that put all that together!

Only 37 more days until this little one is supposed to arrive! I am so excited and ready to meet her! We will have two boys and two girls in just a little over a month. The fourth pregnancy is really funny because you really don't think much about being pregnant. I've been pregnant for nearly three years at this point! :) This pregnancy has been so very easy and enjoyable, yet somehow I am ready to be done with it and meet my little girl. Here's to hoping that the next 4-6 weeks go by quickly!

From the desk of my wonderful husband:

I have been using the Visual Weekly Desk Planner from Quo Vadis Planners since January. This is an excellent planner, it has a very professional appearance and is also very functional. The black cover is made of genuine leather and has the appearance of fine craftsmanship. The extra thick pages give the planner a robust feeling and also keep the previous weeks events from showing through the page. The weekly desk planner has 1 week spread across 2 pages with an 8 a.m. - 9 p.m. daily layout in 30 minute increments. The planner also includes Saturday and Sunday so you can keep up with your weekends as well. Being concise is key because very little space is available for each 30 minute time slot. Each page has a designated location for making notes about phone calls and emails. I find this particularly convenient and use it for both keeping a record and for planning purposes. Thumb tear outs provide a quick way to navigate to the current week without having to flip pages repeatedly to find your spot.

The back of the planner has a phone directory insert complete with alphabetic thumb tabs for quickly turning to the desired page. The Visual planner is loaded with other features that include a holiday schedule for 2009 and 2010, weights a measures conversion tables, international telephone access codes, time zone map and North and South American maps. With the included Semi-Annual planner section you can keep up with major daily events and the one month per page section comes in really handy when you want to keep track of appointments and upcoming events.

The Visual Planner from Quo Vadis is an all around excellent product. The high quality construction and its aesthetic appeal are sure to represent you in a professional and organized manner. The thoughtfulness and completeness of its contents really goes to show the amount of work that was put into the making of such a high quality planner. I am convinced that you will be more than satisfied with this product and that your productivity level is sure to increase as a result of using this planner.

Life is busy these days! I am finally feeling more energetic and less sick since reaching the second trimester. I am trying to get the house organized and ready to sell hopefully by the end of the month.

I heard our little baby's heartbeat this week. It's so much fun. We've almost decided we think it's a girl based on symptoms alone, but we have to wait until March to find out for sure!

Although I enjoy being pregnant, I find the more children I have, the more difficult the tiredness, nausea, and hormones are to deal with. Not that the symptoms are much worse in themselves, just that all three children require more attention and individual responses, more time to get ready, more clothes to wash, all of which doesn't allow this mama time to rest much. :) Feeling the baby move has been very encouraging to me- a good and happy reason that I've been feeling the way I have for the past few weeks. It's exciting to see my belly growing a little every day.

In other news, we became DEBT FREE in December!!!! Praise the Lord. He is merciful and provided extra jobs for us even though the debt was our fault to begin with. When I find I am not as merciful as I should be (often!) I remember how good God has been to us. We never went hungry or with a bill unpaid, even though we made the bad decisions that we did. We only have our mortgage left, and we are working on selling this one and building with cash. How exciting would that be!! God is good!

I hope you are having a great January!

We are busy today! In between cleaning and baking, we are wrapping presents! Tomorrow we get to see my husband's family and then on Christmas we have my family over to our house. I cook and bake for days in preparation. :) Today, we've made Neiman Marcus cake, Magic cookie bars, banana crumb mini loaves, fudge, and we still have to make apple pie, red velvet cake and taco soup tonight. I also have to finish my last fleece blanket for Isabella. I thought a no sew fringe blanket would be fast! Thankfully my hubby helped me last night and did a whole blanket in about 2 hours. He is a sweetie. Today we have to make mugs with orange spice tea mix for tomorrow's gifts. I hope you have a merry (and less busy!) Christmas! Thank you Lord, for bringing your Son into this world! Please help us not to forget You in the midst of all the excitement.

Noah, my 3 1/2 year old is growing up. You notice the growing so much more with the first one because you are carefully watching their every move, but subsequent children enjoy a little less scrutiny I think. And so, it seems they often take you by surprise when they show signs of maturing. I was in Lowe's shopping for the hubby when such a moment happened to me.

As we placed our item on the counter to check out, the cashier said, "I bet Santa Claus is going to come see you for Christmas!" My children looked at her with blank stares and said nothing, so she repeated it two more times in the course of checking us out. And still no response from the boys, just blank stares and half smiles, like why does this lady keep saying that?

I smiled too, said nothing about Santa and we thanked her and left the store. As we walked out the door, Noah whispered to me,

"Mommy, that lady thinks Santa Claus is real!"

I couldn't stop laughing all the way to the car. It's fun being a mommy.