God's grace

 We've been sick this week! I am not talking some minor cold sick, I mean really sick. Have you ever had 10 kids be sick almost at the same time. Takes a lot of grace from God to get through and I am so thankful for grace! This is the sickest we have been in 3 years. I think partly due to me sliding a little with our immune boosting stuff, but sometime in our lives we are bound to get sick(it's a part of living in a fallen world).
  I am 32 weeks pregnant with our 11th child and to say this week has been hard for me is a understatement BUT God have extended so much grace. I am exhausted and can hardly function but somehow everything that has NEEDED to be done has gotten done. AND since I have done a lot of research for a couple of years and helped others use their Young Living oils with success I knew pretty much what to use (with a little help from others ;) ) and we haven't had to make a trip to the doctor with anyone yet. :) I am pretty sure we have either had  the flu or RSV. And I know for a fact my 3 yr old had a nasty ear infection. I have a tool you can look in their ears and see for yourself(if you don't have this as a parent it's on my must haves list).
 
     God has used a sweet neighbor, friend, and the family we home church with. They brought us groceries and some warm food Monday. Then He used my bestest friend and her church to provide food yesterday. That allowed a little rest and for me to be able to just take care of sick little ones. My biggest helper has also been sick since yesterday but thankfully she has been able to still help a little and push through. For two nights I was on the couch with a couple of really sick little ones. God's grace is the ONLY way I made it through those nights. At your most hopeless times God always shows up. Never give up!

    Yes, I am exhausted. Yes, it's hard and I haven't complained because my poor husband and older sons have been sick with it AND having to work. My husband is the only provider of the family and owns his own business so he pretty much had no choice. He is so strong and I know only by the grace of God he has made it to work and gotten his work done.

 I know this too shall pass but as any mother will tell you taking care of little ones is hard when they are really sick. But another grace thing happened. My husband and I were able to get away last weekend for a anniversary/Valentine's day, before baby comes trip. Therefore I was able to come in this sickness week rested and having had time with the most special person on earth. How Great Is Our God!!

   If you could just say a quick prayer for our family. And thank you to everyone that has helped our family in one way or another. My sweet Annie woke up and was fine this morning but started with hives later on but thankfully Lavender oil cleared that right up. Many blessings to everyone that reads this and I pray you see God's grace in everyday life as well as the rough times.

Mold Me, Lord!

 Boy, is the Lord doing a work in me and sometimes the molding hurts and is not fun but oh what blessings come from it. First, I want to say we found out last week our 11th baby is going to be a girl. What a sweet blessing! She is healthy thus far and I am so thankful to the Lord. She is already loved very much and we still have many months until we can me her here earth side .

  Back to the original post though. The Lord is molding me into being a wife, a mother to many, a sister, taking care of my grandma , and being a daughter. Life is NOT about us. Was never intended to be. But oh how society has made us think it is suppose to be. We need to give freely and no I am not talking about money. I am talking about ourselves. The Lord has totally humbled me in taking care of my grandma, my kids, and my husband. I am no where near the person I wished I was but I am still a work in progress. I am so thankful the Lord loves me enough to discipline me and mold me into that person that I should be, that I was put here to be. Back to giving freely. That means give of yourself, your time, your talents. When you start focusing on others and how you can help them you will be changed in the process. YES, life is hard taking care of 10 children, TRYING to be the wife I need to be, and taking care of my 91 year old grandma. YES , sometimes I am downright exhausted and want to give up. But guess what? In those times is when I call out to the Lord for help. Would I need him so much if I did not give myself to others? Following the Lord is NEVER easy but is so very worth it!!! If I didn't take in my grandmother I would miss all the sweet conversations we have or the silly times my family has with her. If I only decided to have the kids I thought I should of had I would of missed many blessings from the different children I would of missed meeting. Thankfully, we trusted the Lord in every part of our lives including our fertility. If I didn't strive to be the wife I should be I wouldn't need the Lord so much because frankly I mess up. I don't always love my husband like I should, or take care of him like I should. But I do try!!!

  Believe me I know what many of you are saying I don't have the time or energy for anything else.  But a lot of time this is where prayer comes into play. Along with a good bible study time(which I really need to get back into). I am thankful the Lord is still molding me and while I will never be perfect this side of heaven I want to follow Him. I want to do His will. I want to give freely of myself even when it's too much. Because in those times I come broken to the Lord and He picks me up and dusts me off and tells me it is part of the plan. He is molding me into the woman He wants me to be and THAT is exactly where I want to be. :) I know many are struggling today but just remember your stumbling blocks only cause you to hit your knees and pray and that you are still a work in progress. What the devil means for evil , God turns into blessings!!

Been MIA

Hey friends! I know I haven't been around for awhile. I was having a busy summer enjoying my kiddos and things really changed all of a sudden for my family and we have gotten even busier. My grandmother had a stroke , she is 91 years old and was living by herself. Of course after the stroke she cannot live by herself and there was the talk of putting her in a nursing home. We knew a nursing home just was not for her and my family and I have a major heart to heart talk. My husband agreed to let my grandma move in with us and our 10 kids. It has required a lot of sacrifice from EVERYONE in this home but my kids have also LEARNED so very much from it all as well. My kids have learned that life is important, that people are important. That we should put others needs ahead of our own. That life is fleeting and not always fair. IT has grown our family in so many ways. Yes, some days it's hard but I am not sure who told society this lie that life was suppose to be easy. I have heard several comments on I don't see how in the world you do it all now that you have your grandma living with you too. Well, the fact is *I* don't do it all, first I fall on my face daily in front of Jesus's feet and ask for help and grace. God sustains me!!! Secondly, we work as a family. No one person in this family is more important than the other, everyone plays a vital role down to our unborn child. Speaking of unborn child we found out right before my grandmother moved in we are expecting our 11th child. At first with all that at one time I will admit I was a bit overwhelmed but I am so very ,very thankful! We are excited that things seem to be progressing normally and Lord willing sometime around the first of April 2015 we will welcome our 11th child in our family.

  Our kids could not be more happier that we are welcoming another baby and are already putting in orders if they want a boy or girl. I know many people probably look at our kids and think they have no life but from where I am sitting they have a pretty good one! And the lessons they have learned in our family(since it is not so average) they will carry to future generations. I only hope that they love the Lord and realize just what a gift he has given them. We have been truly blessed! Maybe not in the eyes of society but where it really matters WE ARE BLESSED.

   I hope to be able to blog more frequently but if I am not around you will know why. Times are busy and there are some very important people who need me. Have a blessed day!

Things I Learned While Taking the Kids Camping

 My family went camping this weekend for my birthday. We have not taken them in a long time... we have only been one time and only had 4 kids at that time. Now, having 10 kids I was to say the least a little apprehensive . But I am so thankful we went!! I learned so much and realized so much from it and we will be going back LONGER next time. I will be doing another post soon about tips and tricks I learned and what worked well but that is a later post. Here are some of the things I discovered....

 Number 1- God is soooo very good. We are blessed beyond measure. I think we take sunsets, sunrises, just life in general for granted and while camping you have time to kind of focus on that. You have time to actually absorb all the Lord has blessed you with. What a great reminder.

Number 2- We miss so much in our day to day lives. Doing chores, being on the internet, our phones, living our everyday lives we miss a lot of things. WE miss important things. We miss some awesome conversations between our kids. We miss some silly things they say. Now, I KNOW we have to do daily things and do what needs to be done but that is why camping and these sorts of trips are so important. I think my kids will remember this trip more than Disney or anything else we have done. They have said over and over again how they loved camping and time we spent as a family.

Number 3- I realized how much my kids like to be together doing things. I saw them have so much fun together and hardly ever argue. I realized how grown up my sons actually were while they were helping their dad put up the tent, helping back the boat in the water, taking us on the many trips to the bathroom, and helping pack up... They are truly men!!

Number 4- I do not actually NEED all the things at home but they do make things nice. And I always said I could never live back in the old days but actually now I think I could!! Yes, I loved coming home and taking my nice warm bath and using my washer and dryer BUT actually things were not that bad. I realize I do not NEED or really WANT some of things I use to.

Number 5- I realized how much I truly love my husband and how much he invest in our children and for that I am grateful. This birthday was one of the best ever because of this trip. I got to just focus on my children and be with them. We got to get away and just love on one another. I really believe God put this trip together for me. I needed it and I am thankful we were able to make these memories with our precious children.

Our screen free week!

What's a no screen week you might ask. Well, I was really tired of the kids constantly playing OR asking to play video games. I want my kids to enjoy life and you miss out on SO MUCH just staring at a screen. So we got together talked about some things they would like to do and prepared for our week. As you know with lots of little ones preparation is key! So how did it go? Well today is Friday , the kids are napping and I am exhausted but I think I have heard the most  thank you moms ever since having children,lol. They got to see their mama jump rope and was amazed when I got in on a water balloon fight! We also learned SO MUCH this week and that was not even planned. Today we visited a local place and they got to learn about how bees make honey!!! Those bees were just as busy as all my little bees. So I encourage you, no I challenge you to plan a no screen week with your kids , you will be thankful you did!!( btw- my husband and I  did get on our emails and Facebook some but for various reasons we needed to but it did make us step away from our screens a whole lot more too

) Also a huge thank you to my husband for working so hard and being such a wonderful provider so I can stay home and enjoy our children!!

The Highest Calling

 First I want to say I mean no disrespect by this post and realize SOME women have to work . But sadly, our society brainwashes young girls and women and robs many of the highest calling there is. That is the calling of motherhood! Many people ask me so did you plan on having 10 children. Well, of course not!!! But I did not plan a lot of things that have happened in my life. God's ways are better and if we go out on our fleshly desires we miss SO MANY BLESSINGS.

  There is a calling that pays little. And the hours, well.... it is pretty much a job that is 24-7. The days are long and the nights sometimes even longer. You are on call everyday , all day. And you do not get overtime pay. The job requires you constantly teach and correct and also have to clean up some huge messes and sometimes that means some not so nice smelling messes. If this was a job I was reading about I would say NO WAY! I would run the other way. But... I have been called to this job!!! It IS what I was put here for. It IS what God has called me to do. The job also has huge rewards! But the biggest reward that is many times overlooked is preparing souls for God's glory. Do you mother of all those little ones realize what impact you are having on future generations? WOW!! That is a mighty job and a high calling. I have no higher joy than when I hear my kids quote bible scripture and hear them send praise hymns. My heart soars when my littles tell me of how they love the Lord and want to serve him.

   Motherhood is the greatest vocation there is. It is who God divinely created us to be. Do not be lured away by humanistic voices around you, including in the church. The church has failed women , where they should be supporting them in their role. Big families a lot of times are looked down upon even in churches as if they are being irresponsible. Trust me, we have heard comments before. But... the church is suppose to be there to lift one another up. So sweet young women, please listen to the Bible. Listen to your heart. No one else will ever take care of and love your children like you can.

   Satan detest mothers!! They stand in his way. He wants their children out of the home, in day cares, public school, and so forth. The public school is becoming more and more foreign to things that are biblical and Satan is eating it up. Deut. 11:19 -And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.


 This job is not meant to be done alone , nor is it intended to be. A strong, godly father is very important to the family as well . But mother, you are what keeps the family ticking. It is your job and what a important job it is. When times are hard call on the Lord. He will sustain you. My go to verse a lot of times is 2 Cor. 12:9 . You will hear me quote this verse ALOT in my post.(It was a huge encouragement to me when I went through several miscarriages) Stand on the promises of God to make it through and remember motherhood is the highest calling you could ask for.

Update on my health

 Here is a update on my health blog.
http://healthierfamiliesforus.wordpress.com/2014/04/30/update-on-my-health-thyroid-and-adrenals/