Day #Spring Yesterday and Snow Today!

                                             Supper....always a favorite time of the day!!

                                                    Emma’s lesson

Snow again! 

Is it Thisday, Thatday, Someday, or Whatday?! Actually, here’s your reminder for the day- it’s Thursday, April 9, today! Today we put in extra effort into getting the school work lessons done as everyone would like to have a break from the regular studies tomorrow on Good Friday. Travis is behind on his reading, and when I asked him about it, he dissolved into tears. Solving that problem before dinner seemed like a bad idea at the time, so we will conquer that tomorrow when he’s had a good night’s rest! Sometimes the best thing to do is just to wait for another opportunity!

This morning was a bit crazy and chaotic as I worked on uploading the right preschool videos for the right class, helping Emma get set up with her weekly lesson, and then having a preschool meeting with our preschoolers. It was a busy morning! Emma seems to look forward to her weekly visits with her teacher, and she really does do her best to pay attention and concentrate. I know it can be distracting with brothers around and noise, but she did very well. I am thankful for her teacher.

Renee and I had a google meet with our three-year old preschoolers, and we had 100% participation! I was thrilled! It was crazy and chaotic, but they really seemed to enjoy the opportunity to “see” each other. There attention span is much shorter than our four-year old class, but it sure was a special blessing to “see” their sweet faces. We’ve received good feedback from our video lessons, and knowing that our students are watching them makes the recording process all worth it. I sure do miss all our preschoolers, and I’m still praying that we will see them again this year!

The boys and Emma played outside for much of the morning even as the temperature started dropping, and it started raining. But even the rain didn’t slow them down much as they just put on another coat and headed back out. I’m so very, very thankful that they enjoy outside play so much. Wyatt has been working long and hard on conquering a front flip on the trampoline, and he’s almost mastered it.

Roger needed to go to work to pick up his paycheck to take to the bank, so I decided to go along. He dropped me off at Wal-mart while he went to pick up his check and go to the bank. It’s always weird to stand in line to get in the store, but I will say that the cashiers and greeters are very friendly and helpful. Wal-mart was surprisingly well-stocked (thank you for those that prayed about that!), and it was actually a very pleasant experience. I only had to make about two substitutions for things on my list, but nothing that was major. Being in Wal-mart with only 100 other people is a weird experience in and of itself, but it was a blessing to get my shopping done for our Easter dinner. I think we are set on all the ingredients, and I will be baking and cooking on Friday and Saturday! I’m looking forward to it, and I am especially glad that the children are caught up with their school work.

I also managed to make a dairy free, gluten free, and refined sugar free lemon curd today! I wasn’t sure if I would be able to manage all of that, but I did...and it was delicious! It’s a bit tarter than typical lemon curd as honey is a different substitute, but I’m happy with how it turned out. A few of the meals on Sunday need to be gluten free, so I wanted to experiment beforehand!

Maine news: Maine is up to 560 cases of Coronavirus, with 202 recovered. We have 23 more cases of corona than we had yesterday, but also 15 additional recoveries compared to yesterday. I wish that the media would  celebrate more of the recoveries and less hype and fear about the new cases. Caution? Yes! Panic and Hysteria? No way!

I hope that you remembered to pray today for our President, our nation, our states, our communities, our churches and our school. We must not neglect to pray! I know it seems sometimes that our prayers aren’t reaching any further than the air that comes from our mouth, but let us not be weary in well-doing. The promises of God have not changed even though our world has changed drastically! I don’t know about you, but that gives me great, great comfort!


This is one of my very favorite songs, and I hope you enjoy it also!

March Madness or March Monotony?!

Guess what season it is here? MUD Season! I’m pretty sure this is one of my kids favorite seasons, but it’s not exactly Mom’s favorite season! However...”this is the day that the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it.”

We are pushing on through this month of March, which in truth, is a bit of a wearying month for me. There’s academic fair projects galore, lots of days of school, some warmer days, some colder days, and sometimes just a lot of the same things! I am very thankful that the bit of warmer days have allowed me to get outside to go running again. Chandler has been going with me sometimes, and it’s been nice to have him along. I’m pretty sure that his motivation for running is so that he can beat me in our school’s 5k race next month, but oh well! He is going to be a fast runner someday if he keeps it up. Chandler is the most competitive of all our children, which can be both good and bad. It can drive him to keep working at something until he is good at it, but it can also be a hinderance when playing with younger children. Hmm...balance!  I am happy to have him run with me. I don’t usually listen to music or podcasts when I run, simply because its another opportunity just to pray and enjoy God’s creation. I certainly don’t have anything against music or podcasts, but our society is so inundated with noise, that it’s sometimes nice just to be in silence!

Last Friday, we attended a bowling event with our church family. We had a good turnout, and it was fun to fellowship with those in our church body as well as a few other families. All of our children are better bowlers than I am, except may be Emma! I’m very good a rolling the ball into the gutter, and if I think of bowling as a game of golf (lowest score wins), I’m very, very good at it!

Saturday night was “spring forward” in time. I truly do not like the days following either spring forward or fall back! I think the state of Arizona has it right in the fact that they don’t do daylight savings time! The first day does not seem to bad, but this week of getting up has been hard on all of us. I usually bound out of bed, but I’ve been dragging all week. Even our kids have been sleeping in until about 6:15, and they are usually all up by 5:30am. I do like the longer afternoons of daylight, but I have mixed feelings about the longer days. Roger is until later in the evenings, so it makes it much harder to hold off the piranhas (children) for a later supper. Its okay though as I am very, very thankful for Roger’s job! We have to take the good with the not so good, and just be content regardless!

Roger and I have been enjoying our time with the teens on Sunday nights, and we’ve had a steady group of teens that keep coming. Roger would admit that he is not a gifted speaker by nature, but he has been studying hard for the lessons that he teaches. I’m thankful for this season that we get to work with the teens especially as we now have kids old enough to go!

 I don’t think that teen group or any other ministry should be a substitute for good family time around God’s Word, but it is a ministry that can come alongside a family to encourage teens in their walk with God. I don’t want our children to see church as something that is optional or that we go to as long as nothing better has come along. I just recently read an article this week about driving teens away or towards church fellowship. I’m referring to this article. I certainly do not agree with everything I read, but this article certainly did catch my attention.

Monday we paraded back to school again...another week! We have seen great progress with Emma and her school progression. Her teacher has been tutoring her some, and Emma seems to be grasping the concepts more clearly. I am so thankful for each teacher and person that invests in the lives of our children. While we attend a small Christian school, I am thankful that our children have the opportunity to be taught by well-educated teachers that not only have a passion for teaching but also for pointing our children to Jesus. We are blessed.

Hannah (my sister) and I had the rare opportunity to get together on Tuesday afternoon. Originally I was going to have Emma with me, but my friend, Claire, offered to let Emma come over to her house for the afternoon. Emma was excited about that, and I was delighted to have some one-on-one time with my sister. We squeezed in a run, a trip to T.J. Max and Goodwill, and lunch...all in a short afternoon! It was a good time, and I was able to pick her brain about Haiti and such. I am thankful for siblings.

Haiti currently has a travel advisory in effect. They are at a travel advisory level four which means travel is not advised. But praise the Lord, we serve a big God! He knows all about our needs, and the needs of those we are going to serve. Please pray for Haiti, as well as for the travel advisory level to go down. I’m certainly not going to worry about it, but instead to pray diligently. We serve a big God!

Making beef jerky 

Roger took Emma on a date to get her hair cut....Emma loves her time with her daddy! 

So true!

My running partner these days! 

A Full Week...Joy in the Adventures!

 

 

 

 

It would be truly impossible to capture all that we did and experienced this week in Wisconsin. We had a wonderful week at my parents home, and they graciously offered hospitality to our chaos and many of our dear friends. Since I had lived in Wisconsin for about thirty years, I have a lot of memory trails and some dear, dear friends. We tried to visit and see many of our friends, but unless I  had a lot more time, it would be impossible to squeeze in anything more.

My dad took the kids fishing, let them sleep in the camper in the driveway, and put up with many hours of four-wheeling and gator noise in the yard! (As well as guns shooting!) My mom allowed my children to eat her out of house and home, and she said she just couldn’t believe how much our kids can yet! Yes, yes I know!! Milk is about $2.00 a gallon in Wisconsin and in Maine we pay just under $4.00 a gallon. I’m pretty sure that Garett drank about half a gallon a day! At home we have to sometimes limit milk consumption and we still go through about four gallons a week! The boys were delighted to be back in the Dairyland state!

My dad tried to take the boys on a camping trip on Friday, but instead he spent most of the day trying to move vehicles and equipment around! His truck broke down on the way up to the cabin in Wausau, and he had the trailer with the canoes and four-wheelers on it. My mom took our van to go get the kids and bring my dad back to find a friend with a truck he could borrow. Then my dad, Chandler, and Garett went back and got the canoe trailer. And then one more trip to put the broken truck on the trailer...whew! The boys were disappointed about not being able to go up north, but God had a plan. While my dad was driving my van back to get another truck, he realized that something was not right with the van. He asked the mechanic to look at it and the power steering pump was broken...ugh! Now in one day, two vehicles needed to go to the mechanic shop! Obviously, we needed our van to take back to Maine, and we had plans to go to the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter with my parents. My parents left on Monday morning (7/29) with our three older boys, while Travis, Emma  and I waited for the van to be fixed. Thankfully, the mechanic was able to have our van fixed by around eleven, so we were all able to meet up at the hotel on Monday night. (We have two days planned. And my mom’s sister, Lisa, is bringing two of her grandchildren also.)

Anyways, back to the rest of the week. Every day was full to overflowing, but so is my heart. I had so many heart-to-heart conversations with several of my dear friends. I’m thankful for friends who ask the hard questions and are willing to engage with me about every topic under the sun. Many of my conversations these days revolve around parenting challenges and raising kids that love Jesus! Oh, my hearts desire is to see each of our children filled with the Holy Spirit and have a desire to love and serve Him! I had conversations about is there such a thing as too much Bible? What is the balance between sanctification  and service? How do we encourage our kids to serve and to be involved in the local church without it becoming “loathesome” to their souls? What makes for a good Christian education? And so much more!


I was able to connect with one of my friends who I didn’t see last year. She and her husband have faithfully served in full time ministry and recently God brought them through some “refining fires”. They have continued to serve the Lord and wait patiently, and recently became involved in the church Roger and I were attended. Over and over throughout the week people mentioned to me what a blessing this couple has been to the church. The body of Christ has been encouraged and become stronger because of this dear couple. I’m so blessed to count them among our friends, and I loved hearing how God has orchestrated these events! Beka and Jared have been friends of ours for years (they can’t get rid of us!), and it was such a blessing to me to hear about how God has once again shown that His way is perfect.

Our children had a full and wonderful week. I so enjoyed seeing our older children interact and play with younger children. Garett has a special gift with young children, and many of them seem to
gravitate towards him. It happened in a flash, but now my kids are becoming the older kids!


Wyatt had several rough learning lessons this week. He accidentally broke the John Deere gator and had the hard job of telling Papa about it. However, he did it. Secondly, when he had a friend over, Wyatt was convinced to let his friend drive without asking Papa about it. Wyatt then needed to say “I’m sorry and will you forgive me?” Roger and I have continually worked with our kids that an apology is not complete until you ask for forgiveness. It’s sometimes easy to bark out “I’m sorry.” But...looking someone in the eye and asking for forgiveness is much harder! Wyatt struggles with wanting to please people, and sometimes that allows him to make poor decisions. If you think about it, I could surely use some prayers on how to help him! I sure do love that boy!

Emma had a friend over for a sleep over. Roger and I are totally not sleepover type parents, but every  once in a while, we allow it to happen. Story is the daughter of one of my dearest and bestest (I know that’s not a word!) friends! Story and Emma have totally different personalities but yet they seem to really enjoy each other’s company. It was so sweet to see them playing together, and I hope their friendship continues over the years.

Truly God gave us a wonderful week. It was wild and crazy, but full of memories. We serve an amazing God. I am blessed with wonderful grandparents for our children, and I rejoice in serving a great God!

“Iron Sharpeneth Iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.”   

Spring Break- Ferries, Islands, Friends...and Mud!

Last week was spring break from school! We had a wonderful week, and I have many memories to write about this week. I’ll have to probably divide my writings into two posts simply because I don’t have time to write about everything in one sitting!

We actually didn’t have any plans for spring break when we started off the week, but the week ended up being quite full and busy, not that I was worried about being bored!

On Monday, Travis and Wyatt had over a classmate to play for a bit. The weather was rainy and dreary (as it was for most of the week). Ethan’s mom dropped him off, but she stayed for a bit to visit with her younger two boys. Although I enjoy chatting with ladies at church, I do enjoy the deeper conversations that can stem from having people in our home. We had a great morning with a house full of children, lots of snacks, and muddy feet! Ethan stayed for part of the afternoon, and then Travis and I took him home. Travis and I don’t get a whole lot of one-on-one time, and I realized this as he started talking to me after dropping off his friend. I had some errands to do, but instead Travis and I went and got a small treat and talked for a while. Sometimes he has a lot to say! It was good to spend some time with him, and it was a reminder to me that I need to make sure Roger and I keep up with our individual dates with our kids.

Tuesday was dentist appointment day, which is no ones favorite thing to do! Only two of the kids had dentist appointments, but since the office is over an hour away, they all needed to come along. For a change the dentist office was ready for them early, so that was a pleasant surprise. We hurried home from the appointments because I had a school board meeting in the evening. Chandler and Garett were able to go to the teen group while I went to the board meeting. Every year brings about new
changes, struggles, joy and challenges for every Christian school and ours in no exception. As we
approach the end of the year, there are more things that need to be discussed, but thankfully we were done around the same time as the teen group. I certainly count it a privilege to serve on the school board as this ministry is very near and dear to our hearts.


Wednesday- is that sunshine?! Roger had off from work, and we planned to do something fun with our family. It was a beautiful day, so I packed a picnic lunch (which consisted of a cooler full of food!). We decided to take the kids out to one of the islands. Although we’ve been out to Vinalhaven before, this was the kids first time to take the ferry across. Roger’s boss borrowed us a bigger van so that we would have plenty of space for the kids and the bottles and cans that we were planning on collecting. We picked up some donuts and coffee, and we were waiting for the first ferry by 6:30 am. The ferry was full of vehicles, and we were the last vehicle to get on. It's about an hour and one-half to go across to the islands, but it was a good time with our family. We spent some time talking about prayer requests and praises, reading the Bible, and praying before disembarking on the other side.
 Of course the first stop was to find the bathroom! Thankfully, the ferry terminal had a bathroom. Then we were ready to collect cans and bottles. The island has 79 miles of roads, and a lot of them have lots of cans and bottles to collect. We had fifteen trash bags, and we filled eleven of them in 3.5 hours! The kids worked hard, and they were exhausted and muddy. In the first 30 minutes, Wyatt managed to find a puddle that went over the top of his rubber boot! His feet were soaked, so he wore his socks for most of the day. Emma stuck with it, and we all probably walked about four miles or more total that day. We stopped for lunch (and many snacks). We went to a land preserve on the island which had picnic benches to sit at. But why use a picnic bench!? The kids all went down to the beach, and made “stone” chairs with the rocks. That idea stems from reading The Boxcar Children books to the kids. The sun was shining, the weather was beautiful, and it was a fun day! Emma found a small skull of some kind in a ditch, and she was pretty impressed with her “dinosaur” head. Her
brothers kept telling her it was not a dinosaur head, but she was not convinced. It was pretty clear that
she has brothers though as she carried the thing around for most of the day, and had no qualms about  
picking it up right out of the ditch!  



It's not cheap to take a vehicle and a large family across on the ferry, and truthfully, we probably didn’t make any money. But that’s okay. We made a memory with our family; we spent quality time together; the kids had a great time; and I soaked up the delightful sounds of laughter and slopping, sloshing boots! We were surprised at how many full cans and bottles of alcohol we found. At one point, Chandler and I found four glass bottles that were full! Somehow I don’t think the “don’t drink and drive” law is effectively working!

The boys had a job to do on Thursday afternoon. One of my friends, Hannah, brought her three little ones over to play with the boys and Emma. Hannah had offered to let the boys watch her kids while she worked for a few hours (with me supervising, of course!). I was supervised at how well the boys did at babysitting! Garett helped the littlest one into a chair at the table, and then stood right next to him to make sure the little boy was safe. Chandler and Wyatt played farm with another of the children, and it really was a very smooth three hours.  I think my boys overfed Hannahs children on goldfish, but overall, it was a good afternoon for everyone. I’m thankful for friends that give our children opportunities to work and to be responsible. I told Roger that with the ages of Hannah’s children that is what our life would be like with eight kids! :)


Friday morning brought about nine boys and two girls at our house.  It was still a bit of an overcast day, and very wet outside, but that didn’t stop the boys! Chandler was able to have over the two classmates that had come last Saturday, and then a friend came by with her two boys and little daughter.  Was it wild and noisy? Oh, yes! However, no one was hurt, and everyone seemed to get along just fine. Travis did get a scrape above his eye, and two boys managed to get locked in the tree house, but it was all good. Garett and Wesley managed to  lock the door on the treehouse and they couldn’t get out. Emma came and reported it to Bethany and I, but when I looked out the window no one was crying. The tree house has a big see-through door in it, and Garett and Wesley didn’t seem to be too distressed. Bethany and I could’ve gone out to help them solve their problems, but Roger and I are big advocates of seeing if the kids can solve their own problems first. Sure enough, eventually
they got out of the tree house. Garett used  his knife to take the door handle off, and they managed to
solve their problem! Bethany and I enjoyed a good visit together. We’ve missed their family, and it was good to visit. My boys were thrilled to see her sons, and a good time was had by all...and lots of food was eaten! These boys!

I have more I’d like to write about Saturday (a 5K race and Wyatts birthday) and Resurrection Sunday, but it will have to wait. I have laundry that needs to get done, and other responsibilities to take care off. It was a good week for our family.

This was the week before Easter Sunday. We’ve been reading through the New Testament of the Bible in chronological order, but we took some time this past week to read through the crucifixion account in each of the four Gospels. The boys have been asking some challenging questions as of late, and Roger and I need great wisdom from God. Chandler asked us this week, “How do we know that what we believe about the Bible is right?”  That’s not an easy question to answer an 11 year old
boy without overwhelming him completely. Roger and I  pointed him first to  the facts. 1) The Bible is truth. 2) It is the written Word of God 3) Mankind and religions make mistakes, but God does not make mistakes 4) When we take God at His Word, we can rest in knowing the truth 5) We discern what is truth by finding out what God has said in His Word.

Oh my, we could’ve and maybe should’ve said so much more to answer his question. But  he seemed to have peace of mind, and Chandler said that made sense to him. I can not even imagine all the questions that the boys are going to need to ask as we enter these pre-teen years. However, I do know that God promises that His Word will not return void. We need and treasure the prayers that are prayed on behalf of our children. It’s not just about raising our children to KNOW Jesus, it’s about pointing them to their Savior and the RELATIONSHIP that they need to have with Jesus. ...and so do you.



Our love,
Sarah

Time?! Where does it go?!

Mud fight!

Honestly, it’s been soooo long since I wrote a post that I hardly know where to start! Chandler’s birthday party, Roger’s birthday, Wyatt’s birthday, Easter, Mother’s Day, the yard sale we had, our plans for the summer, the boys finishing school, the new things Emma can do, the mud fight we had…it’s hard to know where to start! J

Our older two, Garett and Chandler, finished school on May 2. We survived first grade and kindergarten due mostly to my mom’s ever enduring long suffering and patience when it came to helping out with schooling! It’s a relief and a blessing to have finished up the school year, although I’ve been having the boys read and practice math skills. J Wyatt still has about 12 days of 4K left, but he is anxiously looking forward to summer break as well!

My dad took the boys camping for an end of the year field trip, and the boys enjoyed fishing, four-wheeling, “mushmellows” (as Wyatt calls marshmallows) and a “bombfire” (bonfire J ). They came home happy and filthy, so it was a success. J

 

Our family!

We went to a wedding on Saturday, also my birthday, in Eau Claire, WI. After my cousin’s wedding, the older two boys headed to South Dakota for a few days with my sister. They are ecstatic and have shown no qualms about leaving their parents! J It will be nice to spend more one-on-one time with the younger three, although I will miss my two big boys…I’ll have to empty the trash, and fold the laundry next week! J I’m thankful that they have the opportunity to do something fun like this, but it’s a huge step for us as parents. Even though it’s my sister, the boys are still a reflection of our parenting, so it will be interesting to see how the week goes!

Our sweet Emma "Cake"

Mother’s Day was last Sunday, and Roger decided to take the family out to dinner. (Hindsight, we should have just gone home, since the boys were worn out from camping…but they did okay). Anyways, while we were at the restaurant, someone else told their mama, “Happy Mother’s Day”, to which Travis immediately replied, “It’s their Mother’s Day too?!”. J Thankful for the memories, and the dinner out, and the boys were delighted to take mom out for lunch…although, this mama would have been just as delighted with a nap! J  Also, on Mother's day, Chandler was baptized! Our sweet second son, asked Jesus to come into his heart on April 16, 2014. He's been talking about wanting to be baptized and even took the initiative to talk to our pastor himself. He was sure that this was the next step, and confident in getting baptized. I'm so thankful that it worked out for him to be baptized before Roger leaves for the summer!



Garett on Mother's Day

As the summer approaches, changes are coming for the Robertson family. Roger will be leaving on May 26^th, Lord willing for flight training in North Carolina and then Florida. This is a big step for us, and we have lots to do in the final days. Please pray specifically for two things: 1) we will get approved for a loan to do this training  2) that the Piper Pacer will sell so we won’t need as much of a loan

Roger will be gone for a loooong time, and single parenting is not my forte, so I’d appreciate prayers. At this time, it looks like Roger will be back sometime mid-September. While we’ve prayed, sought Godly counsel, and prayed some more, this is a HUGE step for us. I’ll be parenting five young children by myself for 15 weeks, and while I’m better at being consistent than Roger on some things, Roger is far better at others! He’s their playmate, part of their stability, a core of their confidants, and a listener to fears and dreams…and so much more! Pray that I can adequately meet the needs of my children this summer…without losing patience and sanity! J

 

 

MUD??? Oh, yeah!

All boy!

Love this one!

A little like a little pig!

MUD? Yes, please!

Our county received four inches of rain last night, and then probably about another 1 1/2 inches today. So, suffice it to say, "It's really wet!". My boys were esctatic to see the mud puddles in our yard, and went through several outfits  of clothes before I got smart, and told them they could come in the house in their underwear and put the wet, "used" clothes back on to go outside. We've had two baths today, and now everyone is fed, clean, and dry and off to bed in a little bit. YES! They loved it!

WET and MUDDY!

He was pretending to be a polar bear!

Not quite sure...