Words of Sunshine

Words of Sunshine on a cold and cloudy spring day:

"I love Joel, moe;

he is like the best baby in the whole wide world!"

by Hendrik

Another time, another season....

It's been a l-o-n-g time since I was last here, posting about our ordinary life, with never a dull moment! I have finally excepted that life is BUSY. I have also learned to look at life as 'seasons'. There is a time for blogging, and there is a time to have a break from blogging.

Sometime life just gets in the way of doing certain things.

Since the last time I posted, this happy, friendly boy has been entrusted into our family! He truly is a rich boy with so many hearts to love and hands to play with him! He is almost 6 months old.

.

~ joel ~

We recently went to the Sugar Bush to learn more about tapping trees and making Maple Syrup. Because there was such a large group of children, we were all divided into (age appropriote) groups. This anabled me to get down at the level of our four and two year old and I realized that I do not do that very often. When we teach, we tend to gear toward to other children. It was good to realize this. Yesterday, after dropping our boys off at the markets to help sell vegetables for a dear family we know, I took Rein and Gesina to the Butterfly Conservatory. We had SUCH a good time, but I'll share that in another post. =)

~this momma loves sap pails~

Joel riding along with his dad, occupying the best available spot!

Young Beech trees, hanging on to their precious leaves through the winters...its beautiful to see how the sun shines through them, dotting the seemingly dead forest with little lights of yellow.

the only green we saw. We have had a wet spring, but slowly the greens are coming back.

~ growing up with a gentle heart and a ready smile ~

That's all for now, I hope to be back soon!

with love, Boukje~ a busy mom with alot of things to be thankful for!

A new little friend!

God is SOOO GOOD! Has you heart burst with love for Him lately? If you walk with Him, He walks with you and He makes the journey so worthwhile and GOOD. My cup runneth over!

We have had sickness in our home and I wonder when we will be breathing something else rather than garlic and onion and rubbing alcohol, and the tissues became a thing from yesterday and we can get back into something more of a routine. But then again, if we don' t have days like this, we would not appreciate health like we should. So, I am thankful!

Last week when ALL the children were sick, we had them in the livingroom on a mattress during the day. I do have to say I had a very restful week and I could do alot of reading, studying and praying! I prayed alot, and it was such a blessing. Quietness does not come here very often.

Anyways, one day last week an 11 year girl came to mind and my heart went out to her. I realized how sweet she really is and how gentle. I prayed for her, wept for her salvation, wrapped up a small (dollar store) notebook, wrote her a note and gave it to her.

This is what came in the mail today:

Dear sister Becky,

In the past, I have been wondering if anyone ever prayed for me, and I asked God to reveal it to me. And God answered thru your note! God workes thru YOU!!! =) God Bless, L.P.

in another note she wrote:

Dear Becky,
I will never forget you. You have been such an incouragement to me, such a great friend. How could I forget you? I love you very, very much. Thank you so much for the gift you gave me. The note was very encouraging. I could never express my gratefulness for your friendship with a poor little girl like me. Thank you!! Very grateful, L
Thank you a million times.

The saying: 'if you want a friend, be one', rings so true, and I am so blessed. Blessed because God uses me for HIM! He used me to answer this 'poor little girl's' prayer.

My heart is FULL, and overflowing.

Fevers, headaches, chicken pox, vomiting, earaches, about sums up the last week. The children were all sick, so home school was definitely on the back burner. We placed the futon mattress on the living room floor, so they could have a soft spot to rest and sleep, and yet be close to the activity in the kitchen. Other than tending to them, I also had lots of time to read, study and pray. Anything to do with end times prophesy, gardening, home use of herbs and weeds, whole foods, (and not GM foods) the Bible, sprouting seeds have captured my attention for the last little while. (or maybe a bit longer *wink*) It is fascinating.

But anyways, while the boys were sick I put into practise different things I have been learning and as I knew a wash cloth wetted with rubbing alcohol and placed on your diaphragm reduces fever, I was amazed again how quickly the fever went down from one of my boys. Within 15 minutes of having a very high fever, it was down at a safe level. So, next time, when you hesitate to use that Tylenol... grab your rubbing alcohol instead! Its cheap, and much more healthy for your children.

This afternoon as I was waiting for someone to come for a coffee visit, I made my way downstairs and blew away some dust that somehow finds its way to our house and lo and behold, I found my faithful sewing machine. I sat down and cut some towels in half and Serge the ends. Then I sewed a skirt together that had been sitting around all cut and ready to go. It is well underway of getting done. After that I have some fabric waiting to be made into bloomers for my little girl, a cotton underskirt of me, and some other odds and ends. Before you know it, spring will be here and we will need to focus on nursing little seedlings!

The seeds have been ordered, (most of them) from different company's and are arriving through the mail. One order we picked up as my hubby took me away for a day and a night in honour of my birthday. We had a most wonderful time together, driving back roads, getting lost, checking the map, arriving at the tubing hills 3 hours before it opened and find our way in there anyways, (Pieter is quite adventurous), tubing, making a yummy romantic dinner for just the two of us in the cabin, flying down the hills, wind blowing in your face, sitting by the outdoor fire pit at 11 pm, laughing, loving, smiling and enjoying being together.

That was the week before everyone got sick, so hurray! We went just in time! Or, better said, God. He is the one that teaches us over and over that His ways are not our ways, and our ways are not His ways. If we simply trust, Trust, TRUST, we can go through life with peace and joy. Sometimes from our end we think, oh dear, now what? But it is God in the end that makes us look back and see that Trusting is what we need to do, today, tomorrow and the day after. It gives rest. Peaceful REST!

God is Good!

Peek-a-boo!

Hello Everyone!

It's me! And I have not forgotten about our family blog! A few times I have sat down to update, but there were interruptions, and one time, when everyone was sound a sleep, I wrote out a long post.....and accidentally deleted it.

Ja, I did.

My hubby said is was meant to be, so I took a deep breath and moved on. =)

~~

CHANGE IS IN THE AIR!

Normally my dear husband would go faithfully to work each and every morning without a single complaint, because he took his duty seriously. Lately though, before he 'actually' leaves, he pauses, take a deep breath and tells me he longs to be home.

...Home, where he belongs.

So, I encourage him to keep on keeping on. Soon, when the days grow a little longer, when we see a faint glimmer of spring peeking through, he will be HOME!

To stay!

It is amazing to see how the LORD has opened doors for us to go into produce farming as a family! Who would have thought! But we are and we are all very excited about it. It will be hard work, but we anticipate it, none-the-less! Our neighbour has agreed to rent us two acres of his land that sits along our property. We already have a greenhouse and right now we are looking to fix up the holes in it and adding a wood stove to start our seeds early. Yesterday our second seed catalogue same in the mail and the boys have been busy looking through it. They each get to pick something to grow and sell, independently. I hope to add lots of herbs to the ones I already have. Other than that we are looking at planting potatoes, onions, salad mix, carrots, beans, beets, leeks...lots of learning this summer!

Best part of all, we will be together as a family! It will be a whole new way of life, and we look forward to the change. Our boys need their dad. God knew what he was doing when he first gave us four boys! What a rich blessing!

Today we have a full day planned. Or, should I say, we have a full morning planned. Other than doing a run and clean through the house we have a lesson on Indonesia, laundry to catch up on, a dessert to bake, errands to run and this afternoon we are going sledding with other home schoolers. Tonight we are having pizza for supper to correspond with Pieters math lesson. He is learning to tell time, so we will be making a clock pizza.

Ah, the joys of motherhood!

God is good!

Taking out the garbage...

We are not put on this earth to see through one another,

but to see one another through.

The Peace He Promised

Jesus did not promise to change the circumstances around us. He promised great PEACE and pure JOY to those who would learn to believe that God actually controls all things. ~Corrie ten Boom

But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings;

that, when his glory shall be revealed,

ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. 1Pe 4:13