Lots of goodbyes....(this will be LONG!)

Well, we have had a busy household for the last few months, that all changed the end of March;

As we prepared to say "GOODBYE" to Grandpa and Grandma Q who were heading back to MI (with one of our girls!) We praise God that she completed her radiation and reports look good! We will greatly miss her as a Kindergarten teacher, chef, care giver and listener.
It was great to have them here!!!

"GOODBYE" to a good friend of the family, Sarah, who headed south for 6 months in missions, (she was there the day we got our little guy too)

And we are so excited to see what God is going to do with this fun loving, faith filled friend of ours! We pray God will speak to her in a mighty way while she grows in her walk with him and then goes out to serve!


and finally "GOODBYE" to the "little guy" was able to go back home.

Some of his favorite things, balls and playing outside!

We were excited to be able to visit him this weekend and see he is doing well. Needless to say our house is very different without a little one underfoot! We have found a little sock of his, and a ball he liked keeps finding its way around the house, then while shopping we found his blanket! Well not really his but a new one just like his. We are reminded often to pray for him!!!

We are honored that God called us to love this little one until he was able to be reunified with his family. Enjoy a few memories with us...

a bunch of boys

a little bit of sunshine

what a great team

hold on tight!

peek-a-boo

so big

WEEEE

And that same weekend we were off on our first homeschool convention! Needless to say we didn't have much time to think too much about missing everyone!!! But boy was the house ever QUIET when we did get home to 4 less people! (you would think I would have had time to post this novel then, but then came the new nephew hence the out of order posts!)

Through these, any many other adventures this year, we have only been able to do what we do because of the grace of Jesus holding us up and providing when we think things look humanly IMPOSSIBLE!
May you trust God to help you do the impossible things before you today.

Blessings
the Quak flock

snip a little here...snip alot there!

I love doing hair cuts outside! and since its finally warm enough.... and since noone could see past their hair! I decided (or they forced me) into finally getting the clippers and scissors out today.

By the time we had done 4 boys and one daddy I was ready to pack it up when a girl sat down. I love their long hair but with a busy season almost upon us, easy seemed really good!

The girls have both donated their hair to locks of love before and wanted to do that again. That means at least a 10 inch cut! :( So here are a few before and after pictures: FIRST

Yes she cut the first one! She was amazed at how hard it is to cut a chunk of hair :)

NEXT...

She seems to be in pain! It was sad to see all that beautiful hair come off!
Thankfully it grows pretty quickly!
The new looks; there shouldn't be too many fights over tangles in the hair now! And someone will be blessed by some beautiful hair!!!

Backyard tire swing...

Grandpa is great for getting the little jobs done! He doesn't sit around much.We have been wanting to get a tire swing up since I got new tires this winter!
Dad and Grandpa found just the right tree, and super strong rope (the man from lowes said so!) and a few tosses to get it to just the right spot and there you have it!

Oh it took a REALLY good knot too (glad I wasn't doing this one, I don't think a bow would have cut it!) Testing it out making sure it doesn't hit the tree...

....or hit the ground!!

THANKS Dad and Grandpa we LOVE it!
Yes we are true county folk - actually USING old tires :) Happy swinging

Welcome SPRING!

Well its finally here, the season of new life, new beginnings, warm air, and sunshine!
Well I guess showers go with spring too and I don't mind those once and awhile too :)
Just wanted to share some spring pictures with you, most of these crocus' bloomed a week or two ago already!
The kids enjoy spotting them and then run me all over to show me where they were "hiding"!

I just love seeing God's amazing beauty as it develops, reminding me that each flowers beauty is so fleeting, we must treasure it while it is here! Just like each life -- treasure every moment!

The grass withers and the flower fades but the word of our God stands forever. Isaiah 40:8

May God's sunshine shine brightly in your life today!

The Lord your God is with you he is might to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17

The whole crew on on recently "baby proofed" deck thanks to Gr Q! We have already enjoyed 3 or 4 picnics on warm days and yes they are barefoot!
In front of the Bradford pear trees in full bloom.

this is a close up of the Bradford pear blooms amazingly beautiful! we call it our snowball tree because if you aren't really awake in the morning it looks like its covered in SNOW! Must say, I am thrilled its NOT snow!!!!

For fear you are thinking this is really flowery -- don't worry I'll get a mud and lizard one on soon!
Yes the boys are onto # 6 at least in lizard catching season already this season!

Mom, read a book to me...

Sometimes it takes me awhile to finish things.... this post was started almost a year ago! Well I am finally sharing the STORY behind the "picture" you will understand after you read...

I love reading books to our children... and I love taking pictures of them... so when my husband called and said "Can I take some pictures of you reading to the children?" I said "sure!" then he told me that a few people would be seeing the pictures....after discovering they (the homeschool company we work with: My Father's World) wanted a picture for some ads I decided I should wash my hair! (thankfully no one can SMELL pictures :) and we rummaged through the drawers for thing that didn't "clash".

Now for those of you who know me you will find this all very funny (that is my goal to give you a giggle today!)Ok, just so you have total perspective: my wonderful hubby called at 11am, we were having a very good school day with the 7 children (we were schooling Alex and Julia last year) plus a foster baby, our helper was over as well (thankfully she was there, although I worry she really thinks we are CRAZY now!) A family brought lunch over on Mondays, so she came with her 2 boys bringing the household total to 12!-- it was CRAZY!
As the kids finished eating, I got clothes lined up, shoved all the clutter to one side of the family room and tried to make the couch corner look as "uncluttered" as possible --sorta an oxymoron in a homeschool home!!!OK so as the photographer arrives, we try various arrangements of people/seating/books and so on. After almost 2 hours of pretending to read, the kids were DONE (As was I!)
We all prayed ONE of those shots would be usable.

When we got home we all let out a low mumble OHHH when we heard the lighting wasn't good in any of the pictures, and we had to try again!
We were dealing with a deadline (need it by TOMORROW) we got through dinner, dad had a meeting, but as soon as he got home we started up again, this time we knew a little more what we were looking for!
lighting SET,
book to read SET,
uncluttered area still SET!
here is the other side of the room!!! scary! (I didn't move a thing since our afternoon session so we climbed over the mountain of STUFF to get through the room!!!)
Muliple click- click- click multi burst shots were fired. There were many comments like "just look at the book" or "pretend its interesting" "just imagine the people on this page were picking their nose" "don't poke him", and on and on! Many giggles and lots of WIGGLES!
and yes some discipline was caught on camera too --here is the mom glare -- JUST DO IT SO WE CAN BE DONE!
I don't know how people WANT to do this for a job!!!

Well by 9:45 pm we had all had it and I said "if one of those doesn't work you will need some other models"! We had taken close to 1000 pictures in 4 hours!
For all of you who think the cover on a homeschool magazine is true homeschool life moment-- well there is usually more to the story than one picture!
We are very blessed to educate our children at home and I am so thankful for the precious "couch" moments we do have and grateful that the glares are able to be few and far between :)
So if you want to see the offical final shot order a catalog www.mfwbooks.com or get an issue of Focus on the Family parents magazine (spring 09 issue) or check out the back cover of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.
Here it is... (this is the unedited version -- notice the cats tail! see nothing is perfect!)
My little boys insisted they wear their "cover shirts" for many a convention this year -- very sweet! So for the kind people who thought we just happen to have this sweet picture sitting around ~ now you know the REST OF THE STORY!

Now go read a book to your kids or to yourself for real!

She can see clearly now....

....we discovered she's near sighted

We think she looks pretty smart with her new specks,
believe it or not they are bifocals!

She is thrilled she can see out the window while we are in the car,

so she can play the alphabet game while we are on the road now !

Happy sight seeing!!!
(thanks R's for this pic! I took if off your blog!)

Humble thyself...

We continue to memorize James in "school", we are into chapter 4. God's word is always so appropriate! Just wanted to share it with you!

Submit Yourselves to God

¹What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? ²You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. ³When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

⁴You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. ⁵Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?^a]">[a] ⁶But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
"God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble."^b]">[b]

⁷Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

¹¹Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. ¹²There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?

Blessings,
Mama Q