New Blog update

It has come to my attention that some people who were subscribed by email to my blog have wondered where I have been?  My new blog is FairOaks Family.  Web address is  restwoodmemories.blogspot.com.  I do not have the subscribe button up at my new blog, but you can become a google follower, or just check back for updates.  Otherwise if you email me, I can add you to my email list that I manually send out each time I update the blog.  See you at FairOaks!

New Blog!

The time has come for the E family to have a new blog.  The Lord takes us through different seasons of our life, Since my blogs are similar to a journal for me, I feel the blog should also reflect those changes.  When we moved from Texas my first blog Texas Tidings ended and this current blog began.  Now with the Clarity of Vision that I shared recently it is time to start afresh.  So dear readers, welcome to my new blog...


Restwood Memories

A large family...

I copied this post from a blog I follow...to visit A Wise Woman Builds Her Home click HERE.

I love the fact that we have a large family. Since I was an only child, it is almost like I have another chance to relive my youth in a family of many siblings (except now I am in charge!). It has truly been an adventure, a joyous adventure in having 8 children and getting to live each moment with them--the fun, the exciting, the good and the bad.

There has been so much I have had to learn in how to raise a brood this size so I appreciate when I see lists like the following that bring a smile.

Large Families..

-Accept donations of restaurant-size cookware!!!

-are CHAOTIC and NOISY and FUN

-have no matching socks...but 58 white non- mates

-always have someone to play with... never bored or lonely

-lots of babysitters, readers, and rockers

-never have a dull meal

-are never picky eaters! there's someone to eat it!!!

-have an ever ready sports team

-never have moldy leftovers (ha!)

-and yes the parents DO know what causes them...

-and no, moms are not supermoms or super organized

-do not have overabundance of patience, just lots of opportunities to cultivate patience!


 (Source-A Christian Home) 

Large families are a blessing in so many ways and children are a joy to raise. Money might be tighter but the riches of having a large family are priceless! 

Clarity of Vision

I mentioned in a previous post that we had some family direction that I would soon announce.  And since I know everyone has been waiting on pins and needles :)  Here it is...

But first a bit of background...

When we moved here from Tx we were seeking the Lord as to where we would live in SC.  We knew we wanted to be back in the country and live near our good friends that were also moving as well.  A beautiful piece of property across from our friends was for sale, which we purchased and named SpringMeadows.  But we still needed a temporary place to live.  My mom was here ahead of us and so began calling on rental properties.  She called a man about a doublewide in the country.  He said that was rented but that he had a big, 5 bedroom home he was currently living in that he might consider renting.  Mom knew immediately when she went out there that it was perfect for us.  This is where we are living now.  Our landlord has become a dear friend to us and is a sweet Christian.  This place has suited our needs in every way.  The doublewide that originally was for rent that  my mom called on, eventually my parents moved into on the same property.  

Fast forward now 2 1/2 years... We have been waiting and praying for the ability to begin out at SpringMeadows.  But SM is a raw piece of land...no water, septic, electricity, road, etc.  So no matter what angle we tried to plan it was a huge undertaking.  We thought of building a double garage and moving into it while we built the rest of the house..but even that would be a big bite to get the land able to be lived on with all the things I listed above.  So we kept praying and waiting.

And then the vision came clear...we WERE home.  Why not see if we could buy this home.  This place has been a sweet haven and wonderful place to raise our children.  Is roomy, and in the country, and 7 mins from our dear friends.  So we approached our landlord who had actually already thought of it.  So, long story short, we are in the process of purchasing the home we are currently in.  We have had the inspections and are waiting on the appraisal.  All being well, we hope to have everything finalized before too long.  

We have some really great plans for this house too... After we finalize the sale, we are going to enter into major remodeling.  For those of you who have been here I will try to describe it for you.  First of all, the biggest problem for us in this house has been the lack of eating space.  So we are thinking of making our current living room into a dining hall.  We will knock out the wall between the living room and kitchen and make the kitchen open up into the dining hall.  Off the back of the house we are going to put a large addition on which will  have our living room with a fire place (if possible) and lots of windows and off the other side of the addition will be pantry/laundry/closet and mud room.  Outside under the addition we are talking about a nice carport.  Then we are talking about the back room of the house becoming Steven's and my room and knocking out the wall between the little back bathroom and the room to make a second master bedroom (if you remember, we are using the master bedroom as a schoolroom/guest room) complete with sometime I have longed for for years....a big garden tub.  :)  S wants to make under the house really nice and pour concrete for a nice workshop and gameroom under there as well.

We also plan on redoing all the floors (ripping out the carpet and probably putting in wood) and repainting everywhere.

So there you have our exciting change of plans.  It's the same vision --  the Lord just had us take a turn we had not anticipated.  We are thinking about what the  name of our place will be.  For those of you who know S, he names everything.  So there will be a new name announcement soon..and with that maybe even a new blog, we shall see.

I should say, all of this is, of course, Lord willing.  He could have surprises waiting for us we did not anticipate or close doors that are not His will.  So we take each day as He leads us and move forward in faith that He is guiding us.  But, as our friend and landlord said, he sees this merely as another revolving in the door of Providence from when we first contacted him over 2 years ago.  

Thanks for sharing in our excitement!

Grape Harvest!

As I mentioned in a recent post...it was time for our annual scuppernong/muskadine picking.  As many of you know, this vineyard is a short distance from our house.  We have become friends with the owners who have generously allowed us to come every year and pick to our heart's content.  The first year we "accidently" stopped by during harvest with our out of town friends (hello Huddles!!).  The owners are so sweet, and this time even brought out pictures they had taken from our first year there, they have saved them all this time.  It is such a blessing to have such friends and neighbors.

I want me some grapes!

Mmmm....

For your info..THESE are muscadines....

And...

These are Scuppernongs.

It's a beautiful vineyard

Now that box doesn't look like grapes!

E picking away

Watch for bees on those grapes, cause mommy popped on in her mouth on a grape last year and got stung on her tongue!

This was Stef's first year coming with us.

the buckets are getting full

Find just the perfect ones, girls

A family event

We picked over 16 gallons

And tonight there are 14 gallons of soon-to-be wine buried underground brewing till the spring...yum!

Computer back/Shopping!

I am back in action!  I got my computer back today and am so glad!  I have missed blogging and even though I can keep up with my phone, it has not been the same.


So I have a riddle for you?  What do you get when you combine six babies and 13 years?  You get a surprise when you go in the attic and find that the maternity wardrobe you had....will not work anymore.  So, today my mom and I went out maternity shopping.  It was so much fun.  We hit the goldmine at the Motherhood store I went to.  It is just as much fun to be able to smile and enjoy trying on your "preggy clothes" the 7th time as it is the 1st.  It's also fun to be able to tell people that it's my 7th...the responses are so great!  :)  Anyhow, 22 items later we walked out with my wardrobe.  I found some really cute things.  So maybe this will hold me through my next 7 pregnancies...LOL!  Just kidding.  I don't think the Lord will be giving us 14 children...but then again, who can tell the future.  (smile)


My mom is back in the car now (I am on wifi) so have to run...

Tomorrow my Dad is ordained a deacon..a very special day.  But, sadly I will be missing it, because I am coughing as well as the children.  But, it will still be a blessed day!  Happy Sabbath everyone!

phone post!

Good evening everyone. This is a little test blog. I am using a new application on my phone that allows me to post with it to my blog. Modern technology is amazing. S is working tonight so after our Thursday night grocery shopping we are watching the Fiddler on the Roof. I love the music in it!

Fall is in the air!

Well here I am again, popping in to let you all know I have not fallen off the face of the earth!  My computer is still in the shop...it came back to Best Buy after the screen was fixed and failed a mother board test, so of course we told them to send it back...so two more weeks it is!  I am borrowing Stef's computer to update this.  Hopefully, I will be up and running again before too long.  So let's see, several bits of news...

We have been really sick lately with a nasty upper respitory infection.  This was the first time that we took all six children into the dr at the same time...S took off work early and we looked like a parade walking through the drs office.  Antibiotics for all 6, and two cough syrups later we arrived home.  The coughs with this virus have been so very hard!  Never have we had the violence of this cough before.  But it is going around everywhere.  It has been well over two weeks now, and we are still coughing.  Apparently, even after they are over the initial sickness, the cough lingers.  Now this preggy mama is coughing...

I am 11 weeks pregnant...only another week or so till I should feel some relief from the morning sickness!  Yahoo!  We have found a midwife that I think I will really like and she came out to the house for the initial visit.  She and another primary midwife work together and will do either a home birth for me or a birth center birth.  It is up to me.  I go in to tour the birthcenter and have my first prenatal on Monday.  But the best thing is....We heard our precious baby's heartbeat!!!!  I am so thankful to the Lord that He has seen fit to preserve this little life so far.  We already love him.  I say him, because it is Daddy's prediction (and he has been right all six times) that it is a boy.  And the magnet test also said boy.  :)  I am definately growing out of my regular clothes and it is time for maternity clothes to make their appearance.  I am so looking forward to this second trimester.

Fall is in the air.  The nights are gettting cool and the trees are beginning to show change in color.  It has still been quite hot during the day...but the autumn is surely beginning to take hold.  I can't wait to go outside during the day and feel the cool breeze on my face.  I have put out my fall decorations in the house which is a nice change.

It's muscadine time again!  The vines are being harvested and the owners told us we can come whenever we would like to pick.  So tomorrow we are going to get our scupernong grapes!  S is all ready to make and bury his famous wine and we are excited!  You have not tasted anything till you have S's homemade wine.  :)

These next several weeks look to be very busy.  We have our deacon ordination this Lords Day, a baby shower, birthdays, the state fair, S and I have a couples night one weekend, the girl's piano recital, our church's communion season...it's shaping up to be a busy fall!

And the Lord has given us some direction in a major area of our life, which I will be sharing very soon....

Quick update

For those of you who have been daily, hourly and minutely (haha) checking for updates from me...I know, I know my blog has been very silent and boring lately.  But, I have two good excuses.  1.  I have been very morning sick and life has been on quite a standstill.  My days have consisted in keeping my tummy happy (which is not easy) and trying to get a little bit of normal life accomplished.  :)  I did end up so incapacitated by the nausea that I had to go in to the Dr who put me on Zofran for the nausea and Unisom to sleep at night.  The zofran has helped tremendously and I am so thankful.  But, the mommy-has-been-hit-by-a-truck feeling is still there and so I my moving around resembles one of those slugs that kinda creeps slowly across the room.  :)  But, I am happy to say that I am 9 weeks and things seem to be going well.  I am going to be researching midwives and making a final decision as to my caregiver soon...and look forward to hearing a heartbeat in a few weeks, Lord willing!  My belly is already filling out and so this little one is making himself known.  For the record we think this baby is a boy.  S has guessed with every child and been correct each time.  He says "boy".  Also, we did a magnet test which some are convinced is very, very accurate.  It also says "boy".  So, we shall see what this little pumpkin is.  :)

2. My second excuse is that my computer screen on my laptop broke.  Thankfully, we have full warrently, so it is in the shop being repaired.  I am keeping up with email through my phone, but that is not very conducive to long blog posts.  I still have pics to put up from J and E's birthdays...all in time. 

So a couple other bits of news.  Our church is hoping to move into our new building soon.  There is a problem with the floor which we are trying to get fixed (the carpenters botched the application of the stain) so we are delayed a bit, but are really looking forward to getting in there.  It is going to be such a nice place for us.  At the rate our congregation has been growing, we are going to need a bigger place in the not too long future though...it's a good problem to have.  We are having a congregational meeting tomorrow night where we are voting on the election of a new deacon and two new elders possibly.  This would make our whole session to be local, which would be wonderful.

So there is a little update of the E happenins'    Hopefully you will hear more from me as I start feeling better in a few weeks.  Bye for now!

Happy Lord's Day!

Happy Lord's Day everyone!   I am happy to report that baby #7 is making himself known very strongly through some solid morning sickness (or rather all day sickness).  This is comforting for me, since I did not have this with the miscarried babies.  We are in full force "early pregnancy" mode at the E house, which means lots of time that mommy is spending on the couch. 

Because of my sickness, I was home from church today.  S stayed home with me and the children all went with Gramps, MamaMo and Stef.  It has been a very quiet house today, and S and I have been able to listen in live to our church's services.  I appreciate some of our dear friends from church coming over tonight for a bit, to give me a little lift, since along with the morning sickness, depression is another strong first trimester symptom for me.  I look forward to seeing them!

I wanted to post this sermon.  It is another gem from our pastor...absolutely faithful bringing the truth home!  Please listen to it, if you can.  You will be blessed! 

Take me out to the ballgame!

I have to say it is nice to have another blogger in the house.  I think I need to officially call Stef my inhouse journalist.  Especially now between morning sickness and schooling, it is nice for Stef to be able to put pics and videos up!  We had a great time last Monday going to the baseball game.  The children got free tickets and were in a parade because of taking part in the summer reading program.  Here is a slideshow that Stef put together...

Let's Get Healthy! Change of course...

It's time for another update..I have so appreciated each one of you that has jumped in with me on this journey.  It has meant alot to me to have the support and encouragement. As most of you have seen from my announcement yesterday the Lord has changed my plans regarding weight loss for the next 9 months.  :) I will now be on a weight gain program.  Therefore I will not longer be able to do the weekly "Let's Get Healthy" updates.  I do not want to leave ya'll high and dry though.  Is there anyone that could take this over for me?  If you do not blog, you could just have a weekly email loop going?  I hope that the Lord blesses each one of you as you seek to loose weight and get healthy...all for His glory! 

More pics and blogging from Stef

Here are a few pictures of our travels to Rockingham County Virginia. 400 plus miles with 32 people (friends and family from church) caravaning together. Definitely an adventure, a time to learn patience, and a making of memories! I'm thankful to say both coming and going we made it safely.

"The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore." Psalm 121:8

All packed and ready to go!

I loved the signs we made for the vehicles:-)

On our way!

A stop for gas.

I won't say how long it took to get our whole group through a bathroom break...

Busy children...

Lunch!

Patti sharing her music with me in an attempt to drown out some of the noise:-)


It was a beautiful drive.

We had 32 people in our caravan -- 9 adults, 3 teenagers, and 20 children......is it any wonder I was told to look on this trip as an opportunity for sanctification?!

T

E

                                                                                       H

Pictures

We had a farewell party for my sister this past Lord's Day.  Her is what Stef documented about it...

last night we had 41 people here for a time of fellowship, singing, talking, laughing, watching a slide show of conference pictures, and to say goodbyes to Patti and the children. Here are a couple pictures of our evening ~

Dinner for 41!

Let the sweet tea flow:-)

Ladies first...we lined up to fix plates.

slideshow of the FCC family conference

It's nice to have a fellow blogger in our family. :)  Stef made this slideshow and I am borrowing it.  :)

Another Gift from the Lord!

The Lord has blessed us again with another little E.  We are very happy as you can imagine.  But, we also seek to rest in the Lord as we wait to see how long the Lord will give us this precious one.  As most of you know I have had a few miscarriages. But, we are hopeful and I am already feeling pregnancy symptoms. I will be 6 weeks tomorrow and have a mid April due date.  We do not have a "womb name" for this baby yet (the womb name is the name that we all call the baby through the pregnancy) but S is sure that it is a little boy.  He has guessed with each one and been 100% accurate. :)  The children are so, so excited!  And they eagerly are looking at the pictures at how the baby is developing week by week.  Rejoice with us as we treasure this little one who is growing so secretly within my womb!

Catching up on news...

It seems like I have oodles and oodles of news to tell.  It has been such a busy last few weeks and so much packed into it.  I still have slideshows and pics to put up J's manhood initiation party, as well as E's 8th birthday party.  But, all in time.

*Last week was our church's family conference.  Here are some memories:
~beautiful psalm singing
~rich sermons
~deep conversations
~campfires, father/son hikes/ volleyball/ football/
~friendship bracelet beadmaking/ cookie baking
~long conversations on the front porch
~pingpong tournaments/ pool table/ children ripsticking
~lots of laughter!
~card games (Are you serious?  You want to play Go Fish?")
~the game "catch phrase" 
(what time period am I stuck in when I try to guess the word "floppy disk" for a computer related device?)
~staying up till 3 and 4 in the morning
Can you tell it was a wonderful time? 

*Yesterday we said our goodbyes to my sister and her children.  How many good memoies we have of their summer over here, and we will miss them!  They made it home safely, for which we are thankful.  It was a little hairy there for awhile, when we found out that 2 of P's bags could not go on the plane, plus her crib.  So we had to open up the cases and stuff as much as possible into carry on bags.  We had to get creative but fit alot in there.  Mom is going to have to slowly ship the rest over in time.  After getting home last night near 1am...we are bushed!  I am thankful that the Lord gave us such time with them.  We will miss them!

*We are soon to start school again within a few days.  We are very excited about the plan that we have this year.  I will be sharing more in the future regarding that I am sure.  For now, we need a few days of recoup and rest and then will be jumping in with both feet! Some of the highlights of our schooling this year are:
~Mystery of History 2- we will be learning biblical and secular history from the birth of Christ through the reformation
~Teaching Textbooks Math- J will be finishing up Algebra 1 and then going on, W will be starting 6th grade level, R finishing where she left off last year, E will be starting TT for the first time with year 3, and D and H will be working with mommy on their math.
~J will be doing Apologia Biology this year, W will be doing Bob Jones 6 Science, the girls will be continuing through their CLP Nature Reader series this year, and the two youngers will be reading from our vast library!
~Spelling/Writing/ Grammer- We will be using Spelling Power, Rod and Staff Grammar and Write Away as a group for our language arts time.
~Latin- we will continue with our weekly latin class using the same video course and meeting with our friends the Vernons.
~Music- the girls will continue their piano (they are planning their first recital this fall!)
We also are looking into being college preparation for J using a course called College Prep!  This program would allow him to have quite a bit of college under his belt by the time he graduates from high school.  We are still looking into and prayerfully considering our options right now.  I can hardly believe I have a child old enough to be doing this!

*And I have a final (actually the most important) bit of news...that I will save for the next post!

Let's Get Healthy- Week 4

I am away this week at our church's family conference so this is actually an automated post.  But, how did you do this week?  Are you staying motivated?  Remember, it is baby steps.  Our lifestyles and weight gain did not happen overnight, and neither will the changes.  Keep up the good work! 

Let's Get Healthy- Week 3

Ok, it's confession time.  I did not do weight watchers much at all this week.  This week was full of having company, celebrating two birthdays and having dessert nearly every night!  But, the good news is I stayed the same in weight and did not gain.  So I am going to try and get back on track.  Next week starting Monday though, I will be at a family conference so my menu will be very different again. But, let's not lose our focus, even if we have sabbaticals and things that change our lifestyles.  Having the mindset is half the battle!  So, how have you all done? The comments section was awfully quiet this week.  Where are you guys?  Hello?  Hello?  :)

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to our precious E!  This daughter has been such a blessing to us!  We love you very much, sweetie!

Ladies night out!

Stef blogged again about our ladies night Tuesday night...so I am "sharing" her post!
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Last night a group of friends and I enjoyed a "ladies night out" - we met at Chick Fil A for dinner...

Katie, the youngest member of our group, enjoyed the fries we shared with her.

Talking to Katie.

So cute!

Kara joined us when we got to Cato.

Abigail - one of the younger members of our group.

Good times!

Mirror, mirror on the wall...

Mrs. B watched Katie and was the "fashion police" for us as we tried things on:-)

My favorite kind of shopping.

Sisters being silly together:-)

Having fun...

Talking by the dressing rooms...

Shopping...

I went to Jenny, and trying to act serious, told her I needed help choosing which pair of earrings to buy:-)

We had fun trying on cute shoes....

Pretty!

This picture is hilarious - me trying to balance in a pair of stiletto heels. I felt so tall, was probably 5 foot, 6 or 7, and gained a new respect for women who can actually get around in them.

Lining up to pay...

Kara took this group picture in front of the store.

All of us together - we got Abigail to take this one. The end of a fun night!