Success Moments...

Most of the time I consider getting through a day without tears, scraps, sibling fights and the house still standing a success. 

The other day we had a few extra proud child success moments that I must share!

Charlie has been working REALLY hard in his school work especially in writing and reading. You've read my challenges in regards to the struggles we have understanding the structure of words and sounds. (Current battle is convincing him dragon is spelled with a dr not jr. Being that Charlie is missing most of his front teeth it makes it harder to form the correct sound.) Charlie has completed a few 'Explode the Code' books and has gone back to make sure he knows the spelling and structure of the past words. This was one of his recent spelling tests that he rocked! I was more proud of the small, controlled hand writing and the fact that he completed it without a meltdown or fit. 

Way to go Chuckles!!!

For art class this month, the kids have been focusing on drawing human faces. This was one of Addison's sketches she did for the first week of the month. The assignment was to sketch a still human face. As you can see, the child has natural creative abilities and talents as she focuses on all the details of a pudgy, 18 month old face. This one took about 45 minutes of intense focus and concentration to complete. Beautiful Addison!

And then...well, back in December we connected to the city septic which left our yard a mud pit. That only lasted a short while driving Tim crazy with the mess causing him to stand for long periods of time envisioning big changes. Only problem is we made a bigger mess to get to the final outcome inviting little ones to experience mud facials. My hands were tied up cutting hair leaving Tim to clean this one up! Happy as a clam she was and yes, I did get everything washed up just fine. 

So, there's a little success in every day, in every way we can find it. 

February Photo Challenge

Speaking for myself here...last months photo challenge is still in edit and not posted yet, BUT, I have this month's challenge ready for you! Have fun and snap, SNAP!

A Dirty Date...

I'm not exactly sure how I managed to talk My Love into this muddy date BUT, I did!!!

This past weekend, we were invited to participate in the Mud Run with our friends as you "run" a 5k course with the one task of being upright on two feet. After days of heavy rain, the BMX bike track was saturated in soggy, puddled-up mud and slippery grass with areas of pond-like puddles as well. Tim was thrilled. (insert sarcasm)

There were race bibs, you did sign a waiver and yes, there was a small group of other crazy people like ourselves that were eager to attempt this course. 

This was an official race!

The first lap, my girlfriend Christie laughed the entire time as Tim muttered happy thoughts which only made it harder to focus on staying vertical. I've never laughed so much during a race! Our shoes were seriously being pulled off as they got stuck in the thick mud then rinsed off as you splashed through deep puddles. The best way to explain my new running stance is arms out like you're walking a balance beam with occasional full arm waving to catch your balance once again. I can't tell you how many times I almost went done and watched others do the same. Addison was there to cheer Mommy and Daddy on as we charged through the bike course. 

In the end, all of us stayed pretty clean in relation to how sloppy the conditions were. Don't look too close at my toenails because I may still have 

leftover mud under a nail or too! 

Now, will My Love ever join me again on this sacrificial day date? Probably not. But, just as me strapping on a motorcycle helmet meets his love language, so does running behind me stomping through the mud.

 { Josh, Cole, Kyle, Christie & the lovely couple pre-race. }

{ The gal in blue mid-fall as she went down! }

{ Almost a mud facial but I managed to recover. }

{ He looks so excited. }

{ Not that dirty? }

Next months "Mud Run" date is February 21st: start time is at noon…

who wants to join me?

Cost is $10 cash...

Bald IS Beautiful

Been there; done this twice before. Third times a charm.

Grandma is down three chemotherapy treatments and with that comes hand-full hair loss. That's quite common and Grandma was prepared with a beautiful wig in place along with a few hats. My mom held it together after a brief "I'm going to loose it" moment and continues to be the rock we all love and adore. 

Grandma was ready. So were my clippers….

 { Pre-buzz cut with mom - isn't she pretty?! }

 { Mid-cut; mid-sentence…go figure. }

 { Post-cut with her fashion forward wig. }

We love you so much Grandma! 

I know with your faith as solid as a rock and the family ready to hold you up when you're too weak to stand, we can conquer ANYTHING that comes in our way. 

"Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; 
but a women who fears the Lord is to be praised."

Proverbs 31:30

"It Is Done!"

The Purple Onion

It's been a bit since anything with meat has been attempted to be written here at "the broersma five". So, I cheated and copied from the Redeemed website to share a bit of my heart with you. Without disclosing names or information, I ask that you pray with our family today as we receive some heavy news about a family member and make some heavy decisions due to illness. This was written a few weeks back…

   This past weekend I was standing over the counter dicing a purple onion. I found my eyes to instantly swell with tears as they burned from the pungent, raw smell of the vegetable. All I needed was a few diced onions and instead found my eyes to 
water hours later. 

Lately, there has been a wave of sadness, frustration and anger that has settled over me. So much so that I've been angry at God and challenged to even open the Bible. I find myself having these conversations in my prayer chair with God over why certain things are happening and feel the urge to fear over tomorrow bubbling up like painful, nasty  heartburn. The cancer diagnoses within my family, the state of our society, work pressures and worn out mommy drama, has my heart full of emotional distress. I confessed to My Love the other night that I just can't do any more cancer in our family. No one family should deal with it as often as we do!

 I see other women in marriages that are not fulfilled, husbands not leading and children suffering in the midst and my heart hurts for them. I see lives altered because of health or worse, death. I hear of stress at work, pressure from travel or unhappiness in the office and it's more burden to listen too. 
This year has been a great year, but I'm happy to bring it to a close.    

I love my job: stay-at-home mommy and full time teacher/trainer/event coordinator to three beautiful children God has perfectly placed in our family. This comes at a 24/7 price tag and no raise in the paycheck. I will be be the first to admit that lately I should be fired from my job as I've been worn out and not giving my all to the kids. I haven't cleaned as much as I should, haven't read to them as much even though I make them read to me or on their own, I haven't played as much with guards down and haven't taught them the best that I know I could.    

I take things upon myself that I shouldn't take as my own. Our Charlie struggles with reading, but excels in math. I take that as, "I'm not teaching him well enough. What am I doing wrong?" His tossing of the pencil and threats to run away to the neighbors to play forever are sent straight to my heart and makes me wonder what am I not giving him enough of to feel loved here in our home? When my heart is worn out, it's hard to see the good in everyday. Charlie IS reading…just slower than his older sister learned. He IS making progress; just with baby steps that sometimes stumble backwards for support or review. Charlie DOES love his family and home; the threats are only when he's caught in the event of dishonesty or middle of a fight with his sister. See? Once I stop and assess the situation, the moment doesn't seem so devastating. It's when I refuse to take the blinders off that I can only see what I'm focused on and hearing, rather than the perspective of what's been happening over time.     

When you walk through betrayal, you struggle with those emotions for the rest of your life. Trust is hard to earn and easily broken. The consequences of betrayal look different to everyone and I struggle with my own often. When I'm tired, burnt and yes, angry too, these struggles become extremely clear to me. I have to confess that my anger over the cancer in my family has recently been turned towards My Love. I'm sorry. I've let it stew inside and the devil has ran with it. I teach other women to take it to the cross and I myself, struggled in doing that these past few weeks. 
My heart was not in check with my words.    

When I found my tears welling up over a small purple onion, I let them fall with humility and asked God for more grace. I found it refreshing to give way to the tears that have been bottled up inside. Sometimes you just need a good cry to clear your heart and mind. As for now, I'm praying that God will speak softly to me and I will be able to listen to His gentle words. I pray that He will grant me more patience in my parenting, more understanding to my children, more grace for everyday and 
bless us with more family fun.     

So, please don't judge me because I'm confessing to a weak moment or sharing my struggles with you. 

Let's be honest…I'm sure you may wish you had a purple onion to cut too. 

A Photo Challenge for YOU!

Here it is. The deal. The scoop. The challenge for the next year. 

A photo a day with the help from the guide below. You can blog the pictures, Facebook tally your pictures or keep them private on your own computer. Looking back on the last year of our 365 project was fun, interesting and memories at a glance of what the year was like from day to day. This next year, I plan to do it a bit differently and will offer guides to give the project more structure. Some months will be similar to below and others may be themed by topic or color. Either way, I challenge you to take a yearbook of pictures for your own records and enjoyment. 

Snap! SNAP!

You can see our next year family project life photos by clicking 

on the button above titled, "365."