Niederman Farm

Need a new fall family tradition?!? You should go to Niederman Farm. It can be pricey but you would be supporting a great family farm and your family will have a BLAST!

 

This next picture was from 4 years ago!

 

So I made him stand by the sign for another pic to compare:)

Soccer

 Well I can't say that Noah loves soccer. Usually once each game he says he doesn't like soccer...BUT we told him we want him to give it a try. He never wants to do anything he doesn't think he will be good at so we wanted to challenge him to give this a try and maybe he would like it. Well I don't think he's changed his mind about it, but I do think it has helped his character. We emphasize before each game and practice that we want him to TRY. He doesn't need to be awesome, just try. And we have really seen a lot of improvement in his effort!

 Mary is her typical self: doesn't do much but pick grass, but still says she likes soccer:)

Mary's 6 year pictures!

 

Love this sweet girl! I literally thank God for her everyday because she is so thoughtful and helpful. Sometimes she'll think of things for the boys before I do and she'll take care of it. It's unbelievable.

 She loves her family, doing crafts, playing on the iPad, running and being "crazy," and reading books. She mildly likes soccer but I think her interest is getting less and less as this season goes on...

Such a blessing:)

Quotable

Noah: mommy I thought you said grandma was coming!

Me: she will be here in 14 minutes

Mary: so I need to count to a hundred and she will be here?

Me: um no (grab calculator) you need to count to 840

Mary: oh ok! 1...2...3...

She's up to 87, let's see how long she lasts

How God is so good to us

J's big happy smile

People don't really understand big families in America. Many worry about finances with lots of kids. They think they can't handle it because kids are too difficult. They think you can't possibly give enough attention to more than 2 kids, etc. I'm not going to address each of these concerns except to say that God calls children a reward, a heritage, a value to society, and he is bigger than any concern someone may have. If it is his plan for us to add to our family we will do it and trust that he is faithful. Now, I'm not saying that it is ALWAYS his plan for us to add...but when it is we want to trust him.

With that said...there will be another Lubbers joining the family in March! We are very excited for this little addition, but it was definitely a hard mental transition. We found out I am pregnant the day before we got J so it was a lot to absorb in 24 hours. It took a long time for that to sink in and I think it wasn't until I heard a heart beat that I really believed it!

Sometimes I think about how life is so hard right now and it's going to be even harder when we have a newborn. But I immediately remind myself that just because something is hard doesn't mean I shouldn't do it! In our culture we want things to come easy, we want to be happy, and we don't want to do anything that might make us sacrifice. I find that thought line creeping in every now and then and I have to remind myself of the truth found in scripture. Lately I've been returning over and over again to the very popular verses in Lamentations 3. The author is remembering the difficulties he has encountered in his life and then his writing shifts:

But this I call to mind,
    and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
    his mercies never come to an end;
 they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
    “therefore I will hope in him.”

This is what I say to my soul lately when I start to "claim my rights" to an easy life. God is my portion, great is his faithfulness:)

Ephesians 6:12

image from faithgateway.com

This verse has been the theme of my life lately. When I typed it into google images a million images came up, but I feel like this one just paints a thousand words over my life right now. I'm trying to get over my frustration with not knowing anything about what's going on with J's case and the fact that no one is getting back to me. Honestly right now I'm not pro-union or pro-administration I am just pro-my workers coming back because they got things done! My struggle is not against flesh and blood...

Mostly I've been reminding myself of this verse with J. I keep thinking if I can just get him to quit throwing this loud, crazy tantrums things will be so much better, but that does not line up with this verse. A couple people have told me that he's changed so much since he came to us and that is so helpful for me to hear. I'm still dealing with the annoying behaviors every day, but when I think back to how he was when he came it's like night and day! He is learning so much about communication and has been signing and saying things that his tantrums are much less frequent. He is attached to us now and knows that we are the ones to take care of him whereas at first he would go to anyone and didn't know where to turn if he got hurt. And best of all...he's happy! We see his smile all day, get cuddles and hugs from him, and hear his laughter often. That was not the case for the first month or so.

So please keep praying for our hearts. That we would just take things as they come and try not to stress about not being able to get information or help his mom. God is still in control!