Katie tagged me with the "6 weird things" post so here goes.

Each player of this game starts with 6 weird things about themselves. People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own (6) weird things, as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose (6) people to be tagged and list their names.

1) I HATE spiders! (I'm even worried about seeing Charlotte's Web in the theater because that doggon spider will be so big...)

2) I love climbing trees but am really quite terrified of heights.

3) I talk to my car radio (at times I even yell at it) but get irritated if someone answers me back or asks me what I am talking about.

4) I LOVE long car trips and personally perfer to drive unless I can sleep while someone else drives.

5) I always wished I was brave enough to sing in the shower but for years believed that people only did that in movies...

6) When I was 3 years old I decided that I wanted to be Sandi Patti when I grew up; memorized all her songs and had every tape. Yikes that was forever ago!!

I tag . . . the following people: Hutch5, daisy24girl, Budgaloo, aprescott, Meredarling, shutterspeed

Thou hast not that, My Child, but thou hast Me,
And am not I alone enough for thee?
I know it all, know how thy heart was set
Upon this joy which is not given yet

And well I know how through the wistful days
Thou walkest all the dear familiar ways
As unregarded as a breath of air
But there in love and longing, always there

I know it all; but from thy brier shall blow
A rose for others. If it were not so
I would have told thee, come, then say to Me:
"My Lord, my Love, I am content with Thee"

My Lord, my Love, I am content with Thee

Poetry by Amy Carmichael (1867-1951) - Missionary to India
Song by Jim Spencer www.jimspencermusic.com

(We attend church with this extremely talented and tender christian song writer! He is our pastor of Worship and Evangelism. This project has been endorsed by Lars and Elizabeth (Elliot) Gren, among others)

I love change. I know that is a bit simplistic but I do! I like seeing new places as well as being unsure of what the future holds. Everything looks full of promise to me where change looms ahead! There in lies the possibility, at least, that dreams may come true or adventures may be encountered.... Whenever we hit a rut or I feel like I can totally see what is coming next I grow uneasy or even sad. I don't want to go where I've already been or repeat a period in my life. I don't like feeling like we are moving backward not forward. And yet in the mundane; in the things that make us turn up our noses there is much to be learned!!

I have talked briefly and in passing about our farm in SE Kansas. An 80 acre plot of farmland with several pastures, a large pond, barns, a small forest and a zillion year-old farmhouse that we lived it while we attempted to fix it up for 5 years beginning shortly before our second child was born. We have tons of memories there, both good and bad, as well as tons of blood, sweat, and tears poured into the place. Todd especially has always cherished this first home we ever owned. Three of our five children where born in that house and Todd spent hundreds of hours trying to get that land to grow things and improve it! I loved and hated the place all at once. There is so much joy associated with it but a lot of pain too. When we moved to Kansas City for Todd to begin medical school I was jumping out of my skin, I was so excited! We bought a nice home in a safe, older neighborhood just like I had grown up with. It was a big 4 bedroom; bright, clean, and needed nothing to be done to it. It came with newer appliances, a totally finished basement, two fireplaces, and the biggest city backyard around; totally fenced and ready for kids to be turned loose in it's wonderful shady depths! We found a good church, we made friends, I discovered great shopping areas, and learned about libraries, museums, and zoos. But I was mostly the one thriving. Todd was totally out of his element. But with school to focus on he was just glad that I was happy and that the family was safe. He was free to worry about passing his classes and preparing to be the best doctor he could be. But we have struggled to make it financially. With a large house payment we were cutting corners everywhere possible; driving only one car, using government assistance, never eating out, or getting babies sitters. I worked full time for much of 2006, starting only a few weeks after my baby was born and all while trying to keep the kids feed, cared for, and taught. We made it but the strain was taking it's toll on Todd and I didn't even notice really...

So that brings me to now. I have enrolled in full time classes at the community college in order to get more loans (yuck, I know....) to keep us afloat over this next semester and then we started looking at what happens next. Todd takes boards in June and then he is done with the classroom part of his training. In the Fall he will begin his clinical rotations and our life will change radically. And then the thought came to Todd to move us back to the farm over the summer and sell this house. *gulp*  Lots of reasons went into his thought process but I have struggled with how to process all of this... with how to trust that God knows what He is doing through my husband. I want to but I feel like I'm sliding back down hill and that unease sets in.....

Yesterday we met with our real estate agent and got some good news in that it looks like we should make money on the sale with only minimal touch up to the house. We are hopeful and examining options from lots of angles. Much could change over the next few months but I covet your prayers as we seek to follow the best course. I need less emotion about this and more trust. I need to see the big picture and not get tunnel visioned by what life was like in the past. I need to have the eyes to see God's heart and the willingness to let go of my desires...

"Courage man! Courage!"

Whew! I feel like a whirlwind has finally passed and I am standing in the middle of it's wake.... The Christmas season was crazy. I did 2 photo shoots for a couple of my friends Christmas cards but didn't get any done for us! (which I am so bummed about!!) I have next to no pictures from the holidays with my parents here which really was sooo special and fun mostly because I wasn't organized enough to get my camera out! Aside from everyone coming down with some yucky crud that is going around we had such a memorable and wonderful time with my parents and Caleb and Grace! One important picture did get taken at church on Christmas Eve:

Everyone from L to R (back row): Grace (15), Caleb (17), My Dad and Mom, Tyler (3), Todd, Me  and Tegan (13 months). Front row: Trenton (8), Trina (7), and Tacelyn (5).

This is the one and only picture that I got from their visit and I feel like an idiot for just not pulling the camera out more!!! And my laptop isn't working right now so I can't work my Photoshop magic on it and get rid of all the red eye and clean it up a bit.... but I wanted to get a quick post on here so.... there ya go..... (I hate posting less than decent photos but.... this is what I have...)

On a sad note, Todd's grandfather passed away on Tuesday the 26th after quite a few months of struggle with the deterioration of his arteries and several unsuccessful surgeries. He passed peacefully with his wife and Todd's dad by his side. This was a direct answer to prayer and meant so much to both Grandmother and Joe. We all were able to attend the funeral in Elk City, Oklahoma on Friday. It was a beautiful tribute to a kind and faithful man!

So that was our holiday season. A bit different than normal but it was special nonetheless! It has been so good to read all your adventures over the holidays and your reflections on the New Year! God has been so gracious, hasn't He??? What a year! I hope to post more soon but since I spent the entire day in bed yesterday (with whatever crud everybody got at Christmas and I thought I was avoiding...) and now my house looks like a bomb hit it, I am going to say "ta ta for now" and post again when my life is more together.... (ha! like that will ever happen.....)

Blessings on your new year!!

As the Christmas holidays approach this year I am again reminded of the Reason for the season and challenged to move outside of my comfort zones and see the world through new eyes. This year it dawned on me that this has been a recurring theme since my marriage.

When I married Todd at 19 years old, I was completely optimistic and full of dreams of "Christmases" to come! Since our wedding was in November, Christmas was really just around the corner and we put up our tree and purchased gifts excitedly! Only a couple of days before Christmas did we discover that we were pregnant with our first child! We were shocked (much more so than our parents who both told us on the phone, "oh, yeah... We knew this would happen..."). We had expected to hopefully have a baby but had no idea that it would be that easy!!  Little did we know that for us the only hard part would be slowing down how fast they came in succession! Anyway, I digress.... Life obviously changed for us in a big way that year. By the time New Years arrived I was sicker than a dog! The whole look of the world changed for me that year and it would never look the same!

The next year was our little son's first Christmas! We had moved to a new home, Todd had changed jobs and was now a building contractor for my Dad's exciting new land development company. We were together a lot! And this year Todd's family joined us in our tiny house for Christmas. We shared gifts in a mix of Goforth and Francis tradition. There were lots of laughs, new traditions formed, and memories shared! But Christmas would never be the same for me as old traditions gave way to new and different ones. I was now firmly established as a "Francis" and the world would forever feel different to me....

The next year was incredible! I've never been so cold in my entire life! I woke up Christmas morning to a house that was easily 10 degrees! Outside the radio was reporting that the ACTUAL temp was -5! Wind chill was -30! Our heat had obviously gone out in the night in our turn-of-the-century, ramshackled old farmhouse we had purchased in Kansas the previous Summer. And I had thought I had survived the worst that rural SE Kansas could throw at me after 100+ degree temps in the Summer! But that was nothing compared to this bone chilling cold!! I scrambled out of bed to drag Trenton out from under his mountain of covers and bring him to bed with me where I huddled with my tiny, new baby girl to keep everybody warm until Todd got home at about 8:30 that morning from his night shift on the ambulance. Needless to say, I saw Mary and her night in a stable/cave in a whole new way that morning! Again, the world took on a different look. I was forever changed by that Christmas morning and many other winter mornings....

In fact, that marked the beginning of a series of Christmases and winters of cold; frozen pipes, causing no indoor plumbing (our farmhouse was equipped with a state-of-the-art back up system... called an OUTHOUSE!! Ahhhhhhh!!! Believe me! I never take a toilet for granted! EVER!), heating water to wash everything with... including ourselves, building fires in the stove, processing 6 deer one season in our tiny kitchen one right after the other while pregnant, and watching snow blow through my diningroom wall. I went to the library to check out books on the pioneer women of the West to find someone who could relate to what I was going through. Needless to say, again my world became bigger, vaster, and deeper. I learned things I have needed for all of life and have seen more than I could ever have imagined while in the little bubble I once called home!

One year just before Christmas I sent Todd to Lowe's Hardware in the nearest city (a 2 hour drive away) to get a new faucet for our kitchen sink. The one I had was so old that when I tried to move it from one side of the sink to the other it sprayed water all over me! We didn't have a dishwasher (which, when I married Todd, I thought was unthinkable since I had grown up with one!) and I hated washing dishes by hand but even more so with that awful faucet! Well, when several hours later he came home without a faucet I lost it!! I pitched a fit and a half, I'm ashamed to admit!! I ranted and raved about how all I had asked for for Christmas was a faucet and how hard was it for him to just get me what I had asked! EVEN A CHEAPY ONE!!!!!!!  Poor Todd almost cried as he sadly presented me with what he had gotten me.... a beautiful, state of the art, brand spanking new DISHWASHER!!! Of course, I burst into tears! I have never felt so ashamed in my life! I think God is that way with us. We often ask for things and then rant and rave to Him when we don't get what we asked for. He must just shake his head and think, "My Child, I have so much better in mind for you! Why long for what is really only the little stuff?" Again, my world took new forms....

This year as I make new friends and take old ones deeper I find that again my world looks different. I am "seeing" places in the world that I had only heard about in newspapers or books but for me this year are taking human form. I am gaining personal glimpses of another life, another era, another side of my past as I never knew it. It's good to have clarity. To learn things you never knew. It can be scary and unsettling but it is still important to process it. I hope to be always growing; always learning new things! Ever willing to get down in the trenches with other people and see their lives in a more personal light. Although I can't put my finger on it, I have this sense that in the past I have said and acted in such a way as to show my lack of understanding; of not seeing things really as they are. I repent of that as I know that this year's "discovery" was again for my growth and to expand my world view. May there be many more such Christmases to remember!

Blessings to all of you on your Christmas holidays!!

We have been so incredibly blessed by our new friend, Katie. She has come to us so full of warmth and friendship and we feel so privileged to have met her! She is headed to France to begin her work as a missionary this coming March but still needs more supporters, both prayer and financial, before she heads out. Please pray with us about the way each of us can help Katie make an impact to the French people! The more we get to know Katie the more excited we become about her ministry! She has a truly inspiring testimony!! Thanks, Heather for sharing her qualities with us! We love her to death!! You are a precious friend to us, Katie!!

As I reread the article that Alyssa and Aby sited that I had originally gotten from my mother, I was given more food for thought. You can read this article here. Some things that stand out:

• When we allow the success of our family to determine our security or sense of wellbeing we are seeking from it something God intends us to receive from Him. I am describing idolatry. If homeschoolers are not careful, family can easily become an idol.... A great problem with idolatry is that idols require sacrifice, and we end up sacrificing relationship with our children for the idol of the family.  When we elevate the image of the family, we effectively trade our children’s hearts for our reputation.

In the Christian life it is important to understand that our highest success is not measured by the effect we have upon others, but strictly by our obedience to God. In other words, God does not credit us that someone came to faith in Christ through our words – He credits us for our obedience. We obey and speak the truth – God bears the fruit (1 Cor 3:6). Parents, therefore, must do what is right and acquaint their children with Christ and his ways. They must train, discipline and instruct, with the intent, obviously, of bringing maturity and leading their children to Christ. However, from God’s standpoint, parents’ success is measured by their obedience – not by how their children ultimately choose to respond to their influence.

• The Pharisees were earnest in their religion, but they were preoccupied with outward expressions of holiness rather than hearts of humility and love (Micah 6:8) that would bear genuine fruit. I find it fascinating that in the gospels there is not one mention of Jesus coming against immodesty, even though among his followers were prostitutes and the like. Jesus emphasized cleaning up the inside while the Pharisees were the ones preoccupied with cleaning up the outside. We must ask ourselves: Which are we more like – Jesus or the Pharisees? Even now do we justify ourselves, insisting we emphasize cleaning up both the inside and the outside?. (Whoa! That one sure hits close to home!)


• We must ask ourselves, is it possible that we have elevated modesty, or other issues of outward form, higher than Jesus did?  If he only mentioned modesty once in the epistles and never mentioned it in his earthly ministry, but instead emphasized the importance of a changed heart bearing outward fruit, should we not follow his example and concentrate on reaching our children’s hearts?


• In Proverbs 22:6 we receive encouragement towards diligent training of our children, but we must remember that they are neither animals to be dominated nor mindless plants to be pruned and bound. They are self-determining individuals who are processing their upbringing and will one day have their own time of reckoning with God.


• Christianity comes from the inside out – from who we are – not from what we do. It is the inside that must first be changed, and then the heart will give birth to healthy, genuine expressions. For example, a shortsighted question asks, “What can I do to show love to my liberal, feminist sister?”  Would it not be better to actually love her? The first approach is concerned with outside appearances – the second is based on what is actually in the heart, and will have far greater impact.

Well, I could go on and on quoting from this article. Good food for thought here.... I don't quite agree with all but he raises some great points. May our parenting ever reflect a heart of obedience toward Christ and a Christ-like love of my children!!

The past few years I have been thinking deeply and examining the heritage that I have been given as a child of the "Homeschool Movement". I smile as I imagine my young parents gathering for meetings with other concerned parents and trying to figure out how they could homeschool us kids without landing in jail! How they stormed the legislators and lawmakers of our state and pressed for laws to be passed that would allow homeschooling to be legal and protected. I remember feeling at certain moments like I was a social experiment.... I could just sense at times that the hopes of a social reformation rested on my little shoulders. I was proud. Proud to be changing the world. And yet that proved hard! I struggled to live up to those dreams... And very many times I thought that I had failed them; all of those hard working, big dreaming parents! That I was not living up to those dreams. That somehow I was falling way short of the expectation. In those moments the burden seemed too much!

As the years have gone by I have examined the teaching I have gotten during countless hours in seminars, training centers, and book fairs around the country. I have passed those experiences through several different lenses over the years examining it from every angle and in every light.  I've talked to other homeschool kids and read articles and books on the subject. My parents and my siblings and I have talked it to death! Many in this movement still feel that we can change the world in a single generation or maybe two. They look for the kids that have grown and are now cranking out babies, wearing dresses, and living on farms to show how the legacy continues. They hang the hopes of America on their children's tiny shoulders; I guess supposing they will breed "them" out! And I shake my head as the reality sinks in.... We can't change the world by keeping our selves in some sort of protected bubble having babies like crazy and thinking if we can just keep those children safe from the world and it's influences they will grow up able to change the world. How? By having more babies and hoping they will change the world?

The problem isn't in the world! It's inside us and inside our children! We have yucky sin natures that we are born with! We could live in a hole in the ground our entire life and still anger and sin against God! Our children are not programable or born with "clean slates". We can fill their "tool box" (as my mother used to call it) with all kinds of tools to make them productive and God-honoring adults but the fact is: if our child chooses not to use them no amount of "proper training" will stand them in good stead! And there isn't any guaranteed method of getting them to use them; much as we wish there were! The fact is, our parents weren't products of "The Sexual Revolution" like they thought. They were products of their own sin nature and therefore of their own making. We each choose our own path in a sense....

And then there is Christ....

He is the One who takes our filth and sin and draws us to Himself. No amount of proper training does that! That would mean that it was an us thing and not a God thing! We don't save our children! How can we get that through our heads?!? They will have to take their own road to Himself. We flatter ourselves when we think that we can make that path easier for our kids or pave the way. NO! That is God's job! Not ours!

Ok, so now what? God commands us to "train up a child". Why then? If there isn't a good result from our labor then what is the point? That thought set me scurrying back to scripture to see those verses again. And then it hit's me.... I must obey. When I think that I have to somehow turn my kid into an instrument to change the world I move into God's spot and I am in for a humbling the likes of which I would never have dreamed! I am to obey Christ by raising my children as He leads. Not looking to the results but looking to Christ to work in my life as I obey. Obedience is for my personal growth. That is all I am supposed to worry about: My heart before Christ! God will work in my children as He sees fit. Of course I will pray and hope as I train but I will not despair if they turn away from our teachings. God is sovereign. He has a plan that I cannot possibly conceive of!

We find ourselves delightfully shut in during the first snow storm of the winter season here! It is just gorgeous and the kids have been having a blast sleding down our big hill! And we had our first winter photoshoot! I love these shots of Tacey (age 5). She is soooo easy to shoot and just so natural! We had a lot of fun!

More of the other kids to come......

Our darling baby, Tegan Loraliese, joined our family this day 1 year ago! Weighing in at 8 lb. and 1 oz. (most of that being her very momorable head, measuring a full 15 inches around!!), and 5 days past her due date, I was starting to think that little darling wasn't going to come out... ever!! But this quiet, thoughtful creature had arrived to change our lives forever and we are only just beginning to see this little person unfold!

She lights up our lives in so many ways! She is "live dolly" for her big sisters to play with....

She captures Daddy's heart... (like the rest of her sisters)

She is pure sweetness; all soft, cuddly, and demure.

Happy Birthday, Teggy!

We  You!!!