Vacation Week, Another Birthday...and Testing!

 

 

 

A lot has happened around here in a week! The kids had the academy fair last Thursday at school. I helped with hot lunch for the school on Friday.  We had a special singing group from Canada at our church. We had a church dinner in Sunday. We took a few days as a family earlier this week. We had a birthday party for Chandler and Wyatt. And we only have a few days left of spring break! (Updated: now break week is over!)

I have to say that I am very thankful that the academic fair is behind us! It was no small feat to help four children with research, reports, backboards, and projects! Roger was a huge help in the project area and helping the boys finish out their ideas. As a family we learned the most about Nate Saint as we read through his biographies during the evenings. Chandler did his project on drones, which is not something I’m very interested in,  but I did help him use the internet for pictures and articles! Wyatt did his on the company that Roger works for, so this was the second year in a row that Penobscot Island Air was represented at the academic fair! Travis made a bear den for his project and he is still learning the concept that more is not necessarily better! However, after using an entire can of spray foam on his bear den, Travis declared it was “perfect”. It was fun to see him so excited about something that had to do with School! On Thursday evening, the school had an open house where parents and friends could come and see the projects. The boys were excited to see Rogers boss, his wife, and another friend from work come to the open house event. It was a long day but a good day. I am also thankful that it is over for another year!

Fridays are a long, busy day for me. And no matter how prepared I try to be, it’s still a long day. Thankfully, my friend, Claire, made most of the casseroles for hot lunch. That helped free up a lot of my time on Thursday so that I could enjoy the academic fair. We had a singing group from Canada also at school on Friday, so that meant an extra nine people at hot lunch. However, we’ve always had   enough food and everyone is full. My friend, Claire, also brought me flowers today! That was such a special surprise. It totally made my day and warmed my heart. I don’t serve in the school or church for recognition or praise, but the flowers were such a sweet gift and made a long day not seem so long! After lunch we had a parents group meeting to discuss some upcoming events at the school. The grandparents luncheon is right around the corner, so we had much to talk about for that. I always enjoy making lists and seeing the boxes get checked off as things are completed, but sometimes the list seems way longer than the amount of time available to complete the list! However, we have a small group of moms that a small in number but mighty in spirit! I’m excited to see how God is going to bring everything together!

Roger had off on Saturday and after five days of flying, he was tired! Roger’s job is not an 8-5 job, and it’s very physically and mentally intense sometimes. He enjoys what he does, but with the days getting longer, it’s harder to have supper together. Generally, it’s just mom and kids unless the weather is bad. I’m not complaining, we’re just adjusting! Roger leaves for work about 5:00am., and generally gets home around 6:30pm. So after five days, he was ready for a break, and we were ready to have more time with him! We spent Saturday working on cleaning up the yard, taking trash to the dump, and preparing for Sunday school on Sunday. Roger and I will be working with the Childrens Sunday school classes at church every Sunday. We are starting an opening program with the kids where we will sing songs, take an offering, learn a Bible verse, and have a missions moment. I think it will add a lot to our children’s ministries, and I’m excited about Roger and I working together in a ministry again.

Sunday night, after the Childrens’s program, we had a singing concert with the group from Canada. I could tell that Roger felt right at home, and he recognized many of the traditional Canadian songs that they sang. It was very good, but I’m glad that we were entering into a break from school. The singing started about 6:00pm., and it wasn’t over until after 8:00pm. By that time, we had kids sleeping on the pews! The older people in our church looked like they could’ve kept going for  another couple of hours, but all the parents with kids looked like they were about ready for bed! It was a picture of the different seasons of life!

On Monday morning our kids were up early in spite of a late night bedtime! About six months ago, I  had purchased some gift cards to a trampoline park in Portland. I had gotten a really good deal on them, and we decided to take the kids over spring break week. We figured that the trampoline park  might be a bit busy during the school break week, so we decided to get there right away at nine am. We pulled into the parking lot just as the employees unlocked the door. It was perfect as there were only about fifteen kids in the whole place for the first hour! The kids had a two hour pass, and they jumped the whole time. It was good exercise for the whole family, and we had a good time together. After that adventure, we went to Sam’s Club for lunch. Roger took the boys to Cabelas for a bit while Emma and I wandered around at Target. Since Wyatt’s birthday is later this week, we decided to surprise the kids with an overnight at a hotel on the way home. I had already booked the hotel, packed everyone’s clothes and swim wear, and it was a nice time. For under $100.00 we  were able to make some great memories with our family, and I’m soaking up these times together. The days are flying by, parenting is getting harder, and I treasure these times together. I’m glad that Roger had off several days in a row so that we could do this together. The weather has been rather overcast and rainy this week, so a trampoline adventure and fun at the hotel was time well spent this week.

Roger went back to work in Wednesday, but we certainly did enjoy our few days together as a family. On Wednesday my sister, Hannah, came down for a visit. It’s been a while since we’ve visited together, so it was good to catch up on her life. The boys were disappointed that she didn’t bring the dogs, but they spent the time putting up the trampoline. I was excited to see them work together and they managed to get it up by themselves! It didn’t bother them that it rained in the afternoon, and they spent several hours outside on the trampoline.

Thursday morning brought us a visit from another friend, also named Hannah. Hannah has three little ones in three years, and I see so much of myself in her. I think she’s doing a great job, but parenting is hard work. It’s so nice to have someone to relate to that understands where I’ve been and where I’m trying to be. We talked about families, church ministries, children, and parenting. The morning passed super quickly, and it was a morning well spent.

On Thursday evening we had a small birthday party for Chandler and Wyatt. Chandler’s birthday was in January, but we didn’t have time to have friends over before I left for Haiti. And Wyatt will be nine  on Friday! We didn’t have very many friends that could make it to our birthday gathering between traveling and people being sick. However, we still had twelve kids between three families! The weather turned rainy again in the evening, but the kids had a good time playing hide n seek in the house. I do wonder why I bother to clean the house BEFORE a get together?! It was a fun evening, and I’m thankful for friends to share in our birthday celebrations.

Friday saw Roger back to work for another day, and the kids and I at home. Friday was also Wyatt’s official birthday, and he is now nine years old! I remember so much emotion crowding around the arrival of this third son...as Garett was only 2 1/2 at the time. I wondered what God had in store with gifting us with another son. Yet Wyatt has brought a special delight to our family. He is sweet and kind (except maybe not always to his brothers!). He is a hard worker at school, and he applies himself diligently to try to excel. He also likes to make people happy, which is good. We are just working on applying ourselves to do our best, but not making mountains out of the molehills when we make mistakes. Wyatt enjoyed playing with his birthday gifts, and then we had piano lessons in the afternoon. After piano lessons we were able to meet up with Roger and we had dinner together at the place that Wyatt choose-Taco Bell. I am so blessed to get to be the mama to this sweet boy, and although I often fail, he still loves me.

 Saturday was our trash day. Roger was working, so that meant it was a job for mom and the boys. I don’t like  hauling trash to the dump, but I certainly don’t like having it pile up at home! Several people from Rogers work have given the kids their cans. They know that the boys are working on saving money for a special family adventure, so they gave Roger several bags of cans for the boys. They boys loaded all the cans into the truck on Saturday morning as we made that our first stop of the day. Through the generous gift of others and the cans we’ve collected from our walks, we recycled over 1,000 cans/bottles! The total was about $53.00! The boys were very excited and we put the money into coins. We are working on filling a five gallon water jug with silver coins only! It is taking us a long time, but we will be able to put the money towards a family trip that will be debt free and soemthing everyone has worked towards. It was a busy day with taking the can in to be recycled, doing trash, and grocery shopping. The boys definitely don’t enjoy grocery shopping, but it’s something that must be done around here! We survived.

Sunday was a day of worship with other believers at the house of the Lord. I was thankful for the opportunity to play the piano for prelude, and Roger and I taught children’s Church together. Chandler and Travis wanted to go on a walk to collect more cans in the afternoon, so I did that with them for a while. Travis isn’t that interested in collecting cans, but he likes the idea of making a few dollars. Unfounded, he doesn’t realize that it takes a lot of cans to get a dollar. He kept asking Chandler how much money he had every time he put a can in the trash bag. Chandler got tired of him asking and told him to “just keep working and stop asking!” We did find a package that belonged to one of our neighbors in the ditch. The package was about a mile away from the address on the package. My guess would be that perhaps the package fell out of a mail box and then it was swept down the road with the snow plow. It was fairly undamaged, so we were able to return it to its rightful owner. (I will admit to being curious as to what was in the package.) On Sunday night we had our Childrens program. I certainly haven’t minded working with the preschoolers this school year, but I am excited that we only have about four weeks left! With all the other responsibilities I have on my plate, I’m eager to wrap up this one. I mean, I’ve enjoyed it and all, but VBS is right around the corner!

The boys started their standardized testing at school today. They will have testing all week in the mornings, but the afternoons will be something different and fun. All the boys seemed to be excited about having a different week at school, except Garett. He doesn’t enjoy testing, and it’s hard for him. We’ve been praying that these tests will give us a better idea of where he is at and what he is understanding. Since I usually teach music on Monday mornings, my day was a bit different with most of the classes in the afternoon. Roger had today off so he was able to pick up Emma from preschool, and he stayed to play kick ball with the boys on lunch break. They always enjoy the days when Roger is able to come to play on break with them. I taught music classes, and then I picked up the kids from school. It was a bit of a long day for me, and I’m glad that music is taught for another week. Travis had a rough afternoon. He told me that the testing was too hard, and that he doesn’t want to go back to school-ever! I reminded him that it’s okay that the tests are hard, and that he just needs to do his best. He was a bit of an emotional basket case, so I’m praying that a good nights rest will refresh his body and encourage his heart. It’s hard on this mama heart that this is so hard for him, but I can pray and encourage him through this. It’s an opportunity to point him to the fact that God is bigger than Travis’s problems. I do love that boy though, so extra prayers are appreciated.

I think that wraps up another week! Thanks for reading about our lives and staying in touch with us. We love you!

Ladies Conference

My friend, Allison, and I attended a ladies conference this past weekend. While I enjoyed the ladies conference, one of my favorite parts was just the opportunity to have some uninterrupted conversations with Allison! We never run out of things to talk about, and I know that she will hold my confidences on the things we discuss.

However, the ladies conference was good, It started on Friday night, and by the time we arrived, the snow was really starting to come down! I’ve attended a few ladies conferences in the past, and I used to enjoy helping out with our own ladies conference at our church in Wisconsin. Each one is different and unique. The one we attended had about 100 ladies at the Friday night conference.

 We started out with singing some worship music. Music is very important to me, and I had been curious to know what the music would be like at this conference. Most of the songs we sang were newer songs, but doctrinally solid. We also sang a several hymns, which I knew. However, the hymns were what threw me for a loop! When music is on an overhead, you obviously can’t see what’s on the next slide. But when you know the hymn, you envision what the next slide is going to be, right? We started off with “Come, thou fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy praise. Streams of mercy never ceasing call for songs of loudest praise”. In my mind the next slide would say, “Teach me some melodious sonnet, song by flaming tongues above, etc.” Um...that’s not what happened! The next slide was “Be thou my vision”. I know that one also, but it’s hard when you’re  not following written music, but rather a slide to figure out what’s going to happen next! And after two lines of that song, it went into “I need thee every hour”. Don’t get me wrong, I know these songs! I enjoy them. But trying to follow along made me feel like I was always half a beat off or confused the whole way through! That’s not the way that I would’ve done it, but hey, no one asked my opinion!

The speaker did a good job on speaking about waiting on God and abiding in Him. I would’ve enjoyed to hear more of her personal testimony, but what she said was good and from God’s Word. Honestly, quite a bit of what she said is applicable to me (and some to Roger too) on where we are today. Truth is, there are a lot of things I miss about our church in Wisconsin. I miss the fact that people understood that Roger is perhaps more of an introvert but were still willing to connect with him and ask him to be involved in various ministries. I miss the closeness I had with the pastor’s wife, and Roger and I both greatly miss the children’s pastor and his wife as we worked closely and often with them. Sometimes it’s hard to get past the feeling of not being connected out here. Most of the people in Maine grew up here, attended the same church all their life, have every family member within two hours of them, know about everyone, and sometimes it can all feel a bit cliche. But for some reason, God has directed the steps of our life out here to Maine. We are living life to the best of our ability and in the center of His will as He directs us!

After the Friday night main session, we had small break-off groups. I went to one on Music and Allison went to a different one. While I enjoyed the break-off group, it wasn’t what I was anticipating. For one thing, it was a lot of discussion (which isn’t all bad) but it lacked Biblical depth. I teach music classes at our school, and I’m often teaching my students what God’s Word says about music. I would’ve enjoyed some more of that type of teaching. I did learn that there are a wide variety of personalities and opinions portrayed in group discussions. I actually have lots of opinions too (just ask Roger!), but I’m not always comfortable sharing in a group setting.

By the time the evening wrapped up on Friday night, I was tired! Fridays are always long and busy for me, but the conference was good. Allison and I made a quick trip to Walmart because I needed a snack, and then headed back to the hotel. We stayed up late talking, but we had some good discussions on many things!

The conference started at 9:00 am., on Saturday morning. Since I didn’t sleep well, I was up before six am. I was happy to get in some exercise and devotions before a long day of sitting ahead of me. We had breakfast at the hotel and then headed to the conference. The group sessions were good as well as the smaller break off groups today. The first break off group I attended was on marriage which is a  topic that is dear to my heart and important to me. The lady who taught the session also told her testimony, which I enjoyed. She and her husband work with a “Weekend to Remember” which hosts marriage conferences. I would enjoy going to one of those weekends sometime with Roger. It’s good to be reminded of the importance of marriage, and to be challenged  not to be complacent or lazy but to work at having a good marriage.

The last breakoff session Allison and I atttended together. This session was on finding and using your spiritual gifts. The speaker spoke briefly on each of the spiritual gifts, and then offered a survey to each of the ladies. I don’t remember the last time I took a spiritual gift survey, so that was intriguing to me. I realize that it is a survey, and that the results should not be taken as infallible. However, it was interesting to me to see what my strengths are in my life. I scored really high on administration (which is why I have to work at not being bossy!) and giving. I don’t think I realized that administration might be one of my gifts, I just like to be organized and structured when it comes to events and life. Service/helps was another area that appeared to be one of my gifts, but I was lower than I thought I would be on the gift of hospitality. Perhaps I’m just hospitable because I see a need?! I can see how God gives each believer gifts to complete the body of Christ, but I need to be careful not to bite off more than I can chew because I see a need that I COULD help with. Pursue with Prayer needs to be my motto! I did find it interesting that out of the 18 women in the room, about 15 of them listed giving as one of their top three gifts. But giving is also what keeps the church moving forward, helping missionaries, and seeing the needs around us. It’s the body coming together to work in unity and harmony. And when the church works together, it’s a beautiful picture. We are so blessed have the opportunity to serve a great God, and I want to make sure that I am using my gifts to give Him all the glory.

Allison and I headed home before the conference was completely over. We had about 1 1/2 hour ride to get home, and while the conference was good, we were ready to go. It was a good weekend, and  I’m thankful that we had the opportunity to attend this conference.

On Sunday morning, I sat at the kitchen table with Roger. We were talking about the conference so I got out my notes. I still had my survey from the spiritual gifts session, so I had Roger take the survey. Surprise, surprise! We have different gifts and strength! (I’m kidding, I already knew that!) Roger scored very high on discernment, which I would’ve said was one of his gifts before he took the survey. Roger is very good at seeing people, and while mercy is also one of his gifts, having discernment in our marriage has helped us many times! It’s Roger’s  discernment that keeps me from getting completely swallowed up in too many things that I see as service or helps. We both had a few more strengths that balance out our marriage, but one thing I’m very thankful for is grace. Grace is not a gift, and it is freely bestowed on each believer! Hallelujah ! God gives grace for what we need, and I am so thankful that I don’t have to work to obtain God’s grace.

I am thankful that Roger kept the home fires burning and that I was able to go to the conference.

Also this week:
1) Chandler turned in his cans and bottles. He’s made $19.85 this year so far!

2) The academic fair is this Thursday, and we are all looking forward to having it behind us!

3) Travis is continuing with speech lessons, but we are having another meeting to see if we can help him achieve other academic goals.

4) Spring break is next week, and we don’t have school. I’m both thrilled and sad about that. I just want to be done with school; but since we have the week off, we are going to enjoy it!

5) I was able to present my Haiti video to the church on Sunday, and I was thankful for that opportunity.

6)  We appreciate your continued love and prayers

 2 Corinthians 12:9 “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” 

April Showers and Flying Adventures!

    

 

April is here, and hopefully bringing May flowers! But we haven’t had any snow days in at least a week, so that is definitely something to be thankful for!

Last week on Thursday, Roger, Emma and I left after morning drop-off at school. We headed on our date to Portland! A friend of mine had offered to watch Emma, but since I knew that we would probably be gone most of the day we decided to bring her along. She definitely enjoys going to Target and Sam’s Club! My friend, Allison, said that she would get the boys from school, so that we wouldn’t have to try to rush back to pick them up at three. The boys were very excited about going to their friends house, so they told us to be gone a long time! We had a good day together. Emma and I went to Target while Roger went to Cabela’s. It’s not that I don’t like Cabela’s, but I find a lot of things more interesting at Target...and Target takes coupons! Roger has been looking for a gun holster for his pistol, and since he’s left handed sometimes a bit of a challenge. He was able to find one that fit his budget (his gift card amount), and I was able to find some good grocery deals at Target. I was  just telling my mom the day before that eggs and milk are so expensive out here. The price for a  dozen eggs at the local grocery store the week before was $2.39. Target had 18 count eggs for .99! We will be eating lots of eggs next week!

After Roger came and picked Emma and I up, we went to the craft store. The boys have these academic fair projects, and Travis decided to build a bear den with modeling clay. Garett is,  of course doing something with aviation, so he needed paint for his airplane project. It’s been a learning experience, but the boys are doing well with working independently!

I love how God hears our prayers and responds to each one of them. One of the things that really eats at our grocery budget is fresh fruits and vegetables. The boys look forward to having fruit in their lunch boxes and four boys times five lunches is twenty pieces of fruit...just for lunches! Roger and I had discovered that a department store in Portland has also a fruit and vegetable stand inside the store (kinda odd, but it works!) We made a quick stop in there and this week the store had strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries for $1.00 a package! I bought ten packages of berries, and we managed to make them last until Sunday night. I was also able to purchase fresh asparagus, cucumbers, and oranges at great prices. God is so good to us!!

We made a quick stop at home to drop off our groceries, and then went to Allison’s house to get the boys. When we arrived, Chandler had on purple boots, and Travis had on pink boots. They were both as happy as clams, and all the kids were outside. At this moment the boys aren’t interested in fashion, just in being outside! I hope it stays that way for a loooooong time!

Since Friday was Good Friday, the boys had the day off of school. Roger had to work,  but the rest of us enjoyed the day at home. Chandler has been on a warpath about earning some of his own money. He’s come up with the idea to collect cans and bottles along the road. Thankfully, he has a mama that certainly doesn’t mind walking with him! He has collected several garabage bags of cans now, and it has been a learning lesson as well. Those beer can and bottles smell terrible, and he’s dumped out several bottles with tobacco juice in them. He practically gags, but I figure it’s a good way for him to hopefully not want to do it-ever! He is hoping to take in his cans and bottles this weekend to see how much he’s made so far. We’ve had some good talks, lots of long walks, and I certainly have enjoyed this one-on-one time with him.

On Saturday Roger needed to go into work for a little bit, but then he was free the rest of the day. An  airplane was free as well, so we decided to take a trip out to one of the islands. As a family, we are trying to come up with a bit of extra money for something special, and we knew that we could find  lots of cans and bottles out on the island. While the rest of the world was taking their kids to egg hunts, the Robertson kids were out having their own hunt for bottles and cans! We worked for a little over an hour and we had four garabage bags full! Emma tends to want to pick up the smashed cans, but those aren’t worth five cents. Garett kept telling her to throw those back in the weeds! Travis ended up with two wet feet in spite of his rubber boots, but I kinda expected that! After we filled our garbage bags, we took off again. We headed to another island to make a delivery and to meet one of the people that Roger  flies often. It’s always nice to put faces with names. We truly had a great time as a family, and I’m thankful for the memories! After we came back, Emma and I went grocery shopping. Roger took the boys to the can and bottle redemption center. The boys were pretty excited that they had collected over 400 bottles and cans! They were able to add a little over $20.00 to our  special fund.

Sunday was Resurrection Sunday. Our church hosts a sunrise service which was at 6:00 am. Since our family are early risers, it really wasn’t too much extra effort to be there on time. After the short service, we had breakfast with the church family. We went home for a bit before Sunday school and worship service. One of the ladies in our church gave the boys each a kite and a small bag of treats. Emma also got a special treat. It’s always such a nice gesture when someone remembers your kids. As a mom, it makes me feel really special too!

The week before, Allison had invited our family to spend Easter afternoon with their family and extended family. Since we weren’t going to be able to get together with Hannah and Josh, we said yes. While I brought a few things to contribute to the lunch meal, it’s so nice to eat dinner at someone else’s house! Carolyn had made a Easter bag for each of her grandchildren as well as our children! That was really sweet and thoughtful! Carolyn’s house is fairly close to a pond that had a canoe and kayak in it. Our boys were out in the pond with some of their friends, Josiah and Caleb. Any guesses as to what happens with boys, canoes, and water?! Well, let’s just say that Josiah, Chandler, Wyatt and Travis came back up to the house wet up to their waists! Carolyn was able to find an assortment of clothes, and while not exactly the right sizes, the clothes were dry! It was a good afternoon of food, visting and also walking. Annah’s family (one of our school friends) was also at lunch as Carolyn is her mom. Our boys greatly enjoy  playing with Annah’s kids also, so they  enjoyed a fun afternoon of running around, being wet, and just being kids! I also enjoy Annah’s friendship, so it made for a fun afternoon. A year ago, our Easter was quite quiet.  But God provided friends to include us, and we are thankful!

Allison and Jason (Allison’s husband), Roger, myself, and Aaron (Annah’s husband), as well as some of the kids,  took a hike through the woods after lunch. It was a wet foot kind of walk! While a lot of the snow has melted, most of the woods are still very soggy! We laughed our way through it and enjoyed the memories!

So the week was pretty full with making memories. I taught music class on Monday, which I enjoy, but I’m also tired after three hours of music classes! This week has been a bit cooler in temperatures, but no snow.   Chandler and I have been out collecting cans several times, and Roger has been  interviewing pilots for work this summer. We have moments of discouragement as does everyone, but spring is coming! Roger and I could use your prayers as we have several important decisions to make. God is so good to us, and I am thankful that He is always faithful. He never loses His patience  , responds ungraciously, and loves unconditionally. Oh, how I want to point our children to Him!

We love and appreciate each one of you.
Love, Sarah

 

Our “Tribe”