Life's little accomplishments...

 
 Anyone who has been or is a mother of young children will understand that some days are harder than others, especially as far as feeling like you accomplished anything in comparison to...anyone (or so it can so easily seem sometimes). And being two weeks or so away from bringing another baby into this world, my accomplishments each day are getting simpler and simpler. Which is good in some ways I guess. I'm really trying to rest and enjoy this time I have with just my boys and take care of little odds and ends here and there.

So here are a few accomplishments that have been made in this household this week that I can look back and smile on:

~ Fresh strawberry crepes...BY MYSELF! Thanks Mom and Dad for a little alone time, and the strawberries that I cannot pick this season!

~ Fresh picked flowers from my garden:

~Very likely the only fruit tart I will make this summer, but boy was it a good one! Sorry for not sharing!

~ Choosing a boy name (just in case) and narrowing down our girl list to some final contestants =: )

 ~ Teaching Luke how to spell his name.

 ~ Embracing imagination: Scrabble tiles as ice cubes and the holders as straws for wine! That's right, wine! So tasty...

~ Filling up Evan's love cup after Luke goes to bed. He loves his one on one mommy/daddy time!
~ Organizing pictures from Hawaii and finally getting around to making a photo book from our trip.
~ Mopping the floor...a rare but 'happy feet' feat!
~ Bringing the boys to the pool =: )

Also, after Luke, Daddy, cake, hot, juice, and duck, Evan finally says Mommy or something to that effect. I'm so glad I'm so high up on the list of important names to learn!!

Thanking God for these little joys and enjoying frozen pizza tonight so I had time to share with you...Until next time!

~Charis

Matt and Leah's Wedding

 On Saturday, my dear brother-in-law and his bride got MARRIED! From Thursday night to Sunday afternoon, we celebrated in Winchester VA with a whirlwind of parties, perfect weather, and organized, stress free preparation for the big day. (I say that for everyone that was not also taking care of two youngsters in the midst of the festivities...but actually, as exhausted as we were, stressed we were not!)
The only con in a family wedding that you and your husband are in is that you don't get very many pictures. But I assure you we had a great time and are so happy for Matt and Leah.

So here are a few of the memories we snapped when we could:

I got to contribute a cake to the cause...which turned out great even after a three hour drive =: )

 These little guys danced the night away until 10 pm! That dance floor could not contain such energy!

 Leah's whole concept for the wedding and reception was just gorgeous: Hanging lanterns, little vases of flowers and books decorated the tables with burlap napkin holders and lace accents, wonderful music, a candy and cookie bar, a signature Hawaiian drink (they're moving back there on Thursday so Matt can finish up his time there serving in the Navy), an absolutely delicious array of food...I really don't think I've been to a wedding that went more smoothly or was more thought out with such beautiful personal touches!

 Aside from family, we got to see a few friends too that made the drive... Fun fun!

Fun with Daddy:

We will all have such wonderful memories to talk of for years to come, that's for sure =: ) Congratulations Matt and Leah!

A good read...

I haven't read a good book lately (well, any book at all to tell you the truth!) but two weeks ago I finally got two books to read that I thought would be encouraging. Man was I right for once! One of them, called Sacred Parenting, I saw on my brother's coffee table in Dallas and since he probably has less time to read then I do I figured it was probably pretty good (besides him telling me so =: ). So thank you Gary Thomas for some very poignant, encouraging words...Even though I only get in a page or two at a time, there is always something that waters the roots of this parenting heart!

So here's one of my favorite quotes so far:

" What our children ask of us pales in comparison to what we ask of God. In our struggles and our weariness, may we never get to the place of self-righteousness, forgetting that God has forgiven us, is patient with us, and endures our own failings to an even greater extent than we do for our children. Most kids live with us for two, maybe two and a half, decades; God puts up with us for the full breadth of our lives. While our children may occasionally provoke us with offensive words, God sees every offensive inclination of our hearts. For every single offense for which we forgive our children, God forgives us many times over. He remains patient with us for many times longer than we must exercise patience with our children. He doesn't ask anything of us as parents that he hasn't delivered a hundred times over himself. 
We need to use the most wearisome aspects of parenting as the occasion for thanking God for putting up with us. When we look through this lens, we find that raising a demanding child can actually become motivation for worshiping and adoring God."

Wow is all I had to say/think when I read that. I hope you're are encouraged with these words as much as I was! My eyes are closing so I'm off to bed. Good night!

"I'm pregnant and I know it"

 Bam...there it is. But there are pros to having a huge 35 week round girl bulge protruding from one's front side.
Here are several I take advantage of on a regular basis:

1. Table top for folding laundry, eating ice cream (or anything), and driving toy cars on.

2. A great conversation starter amongst strangers. Hmm, the most common among men is "wow! did you swallow a watermelon?" Ed advised me to respond, "No, just the seed." 

3. Flattery of being stared at. I like to think it's my stunning good looks =; ), but the truth is that what they're really thinking is ' that poor haggard waddler' !!

4. But my favorite: A pillow for little sons' heads to lay on or stroke. 

5. And last but not least- being able to eat, eat, eat!

So besides resting as much as my kids will allow as we all  anxiously wait for (fingers crossed) a little girl to enter our lives, here are some of the happy things that make the days pass a little quicker:

~Hand in hand~

 Cape May B&B

with my best friend

 Latest consignment store find...A lovely wooden kitchen with all the wooden food 

and pots and pantry staples a little boy ( or girl) could want =: )

Thanks for stopping by!

Anger management

I hope you have those moments every now and then, like I just have, where God touches you with just a few challenging words that renew your spirit to persevere, to strive, to pursue godliness just that much more.

Here's my verse that hit me square in the face in last week's sermon. In fact it caught me so much that I have no idea what the rest of the sermon was about. My mind immediately began to think through all the reasons why I HAVE to change and all the positive effects this change would bring.

So the verse? James 1:19-20: "Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires."

Well, I'm the opposite of all that. The exact opposite.

According to my husband, I do NOT listen well. I know it. I just blab and interrupt to my heart's content. But it really bothers him when I don't really listen. He's been saying it for 5, well actually 9 years. So it's time I really put this listening thing to heart.

And According to my own self-awareness, I am way too quick to become angry. And at what? If I'm honest, it's not the big things that make me lash out. It's:

Spilled juice. Kids waking up earlier than they're 'supposed to'. Dirty feet. Piles of laundry. Whining. Oh the whining. Potty training failures. Little sinners (and big sinners too). Forgetfulness, especially when it involves stairs and bringing things to where they belong. Aching back. You know, the little frustrations of life.

I don't remember my mom EVER yelling at us. I'm serious. Five kids to raise and never yelling? I don't know how she did it. (Besides LOTS of God's grace and being naturally gifted with one of the kindest hearts I've ever known). But since being a mother I have definitely had my fair share of unrighteous yelling. And it's really got to stop. It sounds awful. Because it is. And you know what? Raising my voice never accomplishes anything! And worst of all, I'm realizing just how serious my humble little existence is in the exemplifying of Christ to my kids. I'm it most of the time. They see me pretty much all day, everyday. So when I lose my cool and lash out, even if not directed at them, they notice. Then, worst of all, they act like that too. Which makes me even more angry. A vicious cycle. "For man's anger does NOT bring about the righteous life that God desires."

I have by God's help though come upon a sure fire way of calming myself and them down anytime I feel anger quickly coming on. Such a simple thing if I put my mind to it.

Say God's Word out loud. To them. To me.

Breathe and simply count to ten.

Tell them I'm sorry. Mommy was wrong. Hugs.

I'm a blond, and it takes me a while to learn some things, but hopefully I can become a better example to my kids as I put God's word to heart.


I'd love to hear what God has been saying to your heart recently...

Until next time... Enjoy this wonderful spring weather (yes even the rain that saves me from watering my garden =: )

Spring is here!

And with it some sickness (ok, a lot of sickness that we're just now getting rid of), some flowers, some parties, some projects, some laughs, some sunshine...

So here's a taste of life in the O'Connell household this last month (besides the sickness part of course!)


~ Concert with the Lancaster Chorale: a big success! Accompanied the whole concert and did some solos. Lots of fun!

~ Bridal shower for future sister-in-law Leah -- what fun =: )

~ Philadelphia zoo on a beautifully cool yet sun-filled day with Dan, Rachel, and cousin Seth:

 (Notice the crazy peacock earrings Rachel got me from India??)

~ Phone calls from sisters and best friends =: )

~ Watching Castle (newest addiction) with hubby after kids are in bed...laughing and eating too!

~ Gardening: planted my peas, scallions, lettuce, and tomatoes, and some flower boxes before my back told me to stop!

~ Weekly swimming with the boys at the indoor pool at the intermediate school. They LOVE it!

~ Daily nap time (for me too! pregnancy is a great excuse to slow down)

~ Boys room painted and curtains dyed blue. A little more blue than what I was originally thinking, but hey, two little boys can handle it =: ) They love their 'new room'!

~ Bedtime stories...still warms my heart and makes me love both of these guys more every time I witness this =: ) I am blessed!

~ Almost 31 weeks! Hard to believe that we'll have a little girl here in 2 months! Luke asks me every day if the baby is coming out yet. So fun that he's so into it. Even Evan loves patting my belly:

For me, I'll be excited once the baby is OUT!

Hope springtime is putting a little spring in your step!

Hawaii...Part 3

 Ok, so here we are on a little one acre size lava island...ahem, I mean Bird Sanctuary! The guys did this stand-up paddle board thing which looked a little crazy to me, so I opted for the kayak route. Right in Kailua Bay, where the mountains loom on one side and the endless sea on the other, and the crystal blue warm water underneath (including a few sea turtle sightings!) we spent several not quite relaxing but WONDERFUL hours! As I was sitting in the kayak with all this beauty around me, it struck me that just the night before I had read in Psalm 136:5-6~

Give thanks...to Him who alone does great wonders, 

His love endures forever.

Who made the heavens so skillfully...

and set the earth upon the waters, 

His love endures forever.

 Next up was exploring the 'underworld' by means of snorkeling in very calm, clear waters. Thanks Matt for showing us Hanauma Bay too! We saw all kinds of beautiful fish, sea turtles munching away...just look how blue that water is behind us. Well, everywhere!

 Another day Joe took us to this little island off shore up in the North Shore area, where we had to wade a couple hundred yards over some pretty jagged reefy rock (thanks water shoes!) to another minature paradise for birds. On the other side of that land oasis were the most magnificent deathly dangerous waves crashing into the lava rock that I have EVER seen. Too bad we didn't take our camera...but I will never forget those waves!

 Blonnie and I on the windiest spot on the whole island I bet! And below the boys are trying to show just how windy by leaning into the gusts! Can't remember the name of this lookout but it was gorgeous, and right in the middle of the mountain range that Jurassic Park and Lost were filmed in.

Maui: After spending a week with the Crispins and Matt, we headed off on a 25 minute flight to Maui for another 6 days to enjoy...Whales, rain forests, more snorkeling, good food, and more sun! And again, I can't believe how blue the water is there. Magnificent!

 Hello humpback whale! Thanks for making our trip truly memorable!

View from the beach in Kihei, a 30 second walk from our resort. Everyone would line up for the 5 minutes it took for the sun to set and totally disappear. It was so fast! But apparently lingering sunsets do not exist so close to the equator, which I did not know. In another 7 seconds this sun was gone! But our evenings were full of very bright stars =: )

Ok, back to non-vacation life with a bang! Boys fighting, dinner is needing someone to make it, and pink-eye medicine needs to be administered. Sigh...And Luke is DEMANDING more crackers. So got to go!

Have a good one!

Trip of a lifetime Part 2...Hawaii!

 Sun, warmth, more sun, smile...sigh....I don't know how we could have not had a good time in such a place! No wonder why people will fly around the world to go to Hawaii! It's gorgeous!

 Day 1: My dear friend Blonnie picks us up from the airport. We go out to eat (fabulous!), soak in the sun, and try not to fall asleep as we tool around before picking Blonnie up from work and heading back to her house to make dinner, and pass out shortly after =: ) Blonnie and Joe graciously let us stay at their place while on Oahu, AND let us borrow their cars for all our sightseeing dreams...Joe even was our personal tour guide for a whole day. More on that to come...

 Day 2: We drove up towards the North Shore, and stopped at the Dole Pineapple Plantation, where we were told just the day before when we were eating at a diner that we HAD to try the pineapple soft serve they have there...Amazing! I also did not know that pineapples grew on little bushes on the ground =: )

 This is a rainbow eucalyptus tree...we had never seen bark like that before. Isn't it beautiful? I will tell you now, it will never cease to amaze me how much variety there is in creation. We serve a very imaginative God, that's for sure!

 COLORS!

 Up at the North Shore, the waves are the best for surfing. And the vehicles that transport the surfers and surf boards also caught our eye =: )

We spent about an hour at the Waimea (there might be a few more vowels in that word, not sure) Bay beach park, which was spent in total glorious breezy sun. Any longer and these very white folks would've gotten burnt the first day, but while we were there we enjoyed watching the CRAZY waves- and the crazy people in the waves. This pic does not do it justice but the waves here were literally 20-30 feet high and then would crash into the ground with a foot to spare. Dangerous! The lifegaurd kept calling out to not go in or you could drown very easily, even if you were an experienced swimmer. So let's just say that I got my feet wet =: )

That night we went back to Joe and Blonnie's and made steak and chicken on the grill, and Ed's brother Matt came to join us for dinner and then brought us back to his place on the other side of the island so we could start first thing in the morning with more fun on his day off.

More adventure to come!