JPEG of the Week

~God Bless America~

~photo by 2 of 8~

~brownstone in New York City~

~flying the Stars and Stripes~

Yet Another 6 of 8 Astute Observation...

I was driving 5 and 6 of 8 home from dance yesterday when they began to discuss 1 of 8's upcoming departure for France, where she will be studying abroad for a year at the Sorbonne. 5 and 6 were talking about how quickly the time for her to leave was coming and 6 of 8 had this observation to offer:

"I am going to miss 1 of 8 so much. So much! She is like my sister....I mean, she is my sister, but she's also like my sister, too!"

I need some kind of compass to try to find my way around 6 of 8's reasoning...

The Look

I typically keep the boys' hair buzzed.

But I just have had a hard time keeping 8 of 8 closely shorn.

He has curls.

Curls, I tell ya.

What is it that makes cutting curls?

But, last week, I went for it...

I can't decide if he looks younger...

...or older.

But I do think, either way, he sure looks like his daddy.

Which is a very, very good thing...

My Photo Shoot, Their Photo Shoot

There are the pictures I have in my mind that I'd like to take...

And then there are the ideas that 1 of 8 and Da Boy had.

So while I was loving the above photo of their shoes, they wanted to take Action/Ninja/Jumping shots...

Like this one...

And then there is their take on American Gothic, sans the pitch fork, with the addition of a little bounce...

This action sequence was highly prized...

And this was 1 of 8's self portrait...

So I'm okay with taking these kind of shots for them...

...as long as they let me get a few like this...

A Winner and Some Winsome

Remember the big giveaway last week?

Brittney Lee, come on up! You are the winner of the iDerma Giveaway! Thanks again to all my worthy participants. And Miss Britt, be sure and email me at octamom@octamom.com to get the info on claiming your prize!

So that was the Winner part of the title.

And the above picture is the Winsome part of the title.

I wish I had a worthy segue here.

But I don't.

I'm just a little hooked on alliteration.

And pictures of my kids.

Hence the title.

Hence the post.

Thru Her Eyes

2 of 8 is continuing her big dancing adventure in the big city. And she's continuing to take pictures of her surroundings. I'm loving the architecture shots and her fascination with the colorful doors on some of the brownstones. And there is also a continuing theme of bikes.

But most of all, I love the pictures of her at the laundry mat, at the grocery, just the things of daily life where she is soaking up the views of the folks who make the Big Apple home. The touristy, razzle-dazzle stuff is all great, but it's the social anthropology of a place that holds the most fascination for me.

And judging by the photography collection, for 2 of 8 as well...

Sunday Selah

A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

Galations 5:9

It started slowly.

My computer, I mean.

Over the past couple of weeks, when I would turn it on, it would seem to take a while to run through its cycles, screens and waiting icons whirring endlessly.

But eventually it would flash to life. I kept thinking I needed to defrag the hard drive, move some files that were eating up memory, do a quick security scan.

You know, some day. When I had a little more time.

By Friday morning, all I could coax out of my laptop was a blank screen.

Not good.

Particularly with all kinds of photography and writing hidden within the silicon chips.

Friday turned into a long day.

I frantically got the computer opened into safe mode and began copying and moving files as quickly as possible. I tried 'system restore' multiple times. I searched online on 3 of 8's computer for fixes and magic buttons to try.

All to no avail.

From what I could tell, a little pesky, fractured update had rendered my powerful machine into a cyber mess.

One little corrupted file.

Clogging the whole system.

And it got me to thinking, as I sat for many a long hour, monitoring file transfers.

It got me to contemplating my inner life.

Where are the areas that sneaky little fragmented bits of sin are sneaking into my own life?

For many of us, major system viruses on our computer aren't too much of a threat. We download security systems, avoid risky sites or downloads and frequent safe browsers.

And we assume those measures keep our operating systems pure.

But all it takes to hamper the whole system is a strategically placed, small corrupted file. And a dual core processor can be brought to its knees and find all the information stored there in danger of being compromised.

And so it is with our hearts.

Just a little collection of little sins, lurking along the edges of what can look like a successful life.

I attended a powerful ministry retreat yesterday and heard a fantastic teaching on the importance of the inner life and outer ministry. The importance of our inner lives being held to a high standard if we are in public ministry. The importance of our private walk with God being a mirror of the outer walk we exhibit. And given my recent computer issues, I found the timing quite apropos.

It is so easy to ignore or excuse those little things that don't seem so awful in the big scheme of things. Those little habits or temper flairs or blue jokes or what have you that don't make up the bulk of your daily life. They're just little blips, barely a dot on the moral screen.

But could those drops of demerit, those seemingly inconsequential errs be a possible pollutant to the desired purity of our hearts? Could they be the white noise in the background of our souls, dampening the clear voice of the Father?

Just maybe?

I'm mopping up my hard drive, repairing fractured programs, searching for secret software schisms.

And while I'm at it, as I wait on programs to download and scanners to scan, I'm going to spend a little time doing the same in the RAM of my heart.

Looking for a little lurking leaven.

And scrubbing it down.

Selah.

JPEG of the Week

~2 of 8's photography work~

~toy store, New York City~

~I think she may have taken this picture for her toy car obsessed baby brother, 8 of 8~

~he definitely speaks car~

An Interview With An Author

A few weeks ago, I was fortunate to post a book review on Jen Hatmaker's newest book, Out of the Spin Cycle.  Jen has such an honest and humorous style, giving moms a voice of encouragement and empathy in issues we face when it comes to the care and keeping of our kids' hearts.


It was great to be able to e-interview Jen about her new book and delve a bit deeper into her wisdom and insight.  I was particularly interested in how Jen sees her role as a serving mom and on her thoughts when it comes to the spiritual walk of older kids:

--about seeing your role as a mother/servant--in that concept, how do you instill in your kiddos that you are modeling servanthood and not just 'being' the servant who picks up, cleans up, deals with everyone's stuff?   It seems a challenge for moms to serve without becoming servile, if you will...

            By definition, a servant does the menial, excruciating, exhausting, behind-the-scenes work no one else has the energy for. Hello, motherhood. Something about being covered in the urine and vomit of little people while scrubbing toilets and singing “The Wheels on the Bus” for the seventeenth time that day reminds me that yes, indeed, I am a servant.

            But Jesus transformed my concept of servanthood after a lovely season of young motherhood when, ahem, I didn’t feel like I was getting enough credit for running the marathon of parenting babies and toddlers everyday (hold your response, please and thank you). I wrote this in Out of the Spin Cycle:

I am one parenting stage ahead of most of you, dear hearts. I’m past naptimes, Boudreaux’s Butt Paste, and preschool waiting lists (“Please, please, please, please…someone get kicked out for biting!”) But the constant need meeting, the incessant talking, the relentless managing all comes back to me…every summer.

            Here’s a slice of my life yesterday (add to the Kid Equation my three plus four or five extra neighbor kids at all times, everyday, starting at 8:30 a.m.):

            “Can you tie my bow? Will you make me a smoothie? Caleb keeps pressing pause! I have nothing to do. I’m bleeding! Can I watch Weird Al on YouTube? Gavin locked me in the bathroom! I’m starving, Mom! We’re all starving, Mrs. Hatmaker! Will you change these batteries? Sydney won’t get out of my room! Where’s the flashlight? How old do I have to be to legally change my name? No other kids have to do chores! I don’t like to read anymore. When’s lunch? Watch, Mom! Are you watching?”

            Moooooooooooooooooooom!!

            Mom?

            Mama?

            I have not had an uninterrupted thought in twelve straight days. I am in the kitchen morning, noon, and night feeding all the children of Garlic Creek. By 9:45 a.m., I’d already broken up three fights. When I refused to make a third round of smoothies, Caleb replied, “This is the worst day of my life.” So when hubs got home at 5:30 and said, “You seem a little tense,” I seriously considered getting in his car (because it doesn’t appear an army of filthy badgers live in it) and driving to Canada.

            If there is a more thankless, unglamorous job than motherhood, I haven’t seen it. I know you get it, girls. Something about being covered in other people’s urine and vomit while scrubbing toilets and hearing your precious cherub say “NO!” to you twelve hundred times a day makes moms bat-poop crazy sometimes. On super bad days, you might even say, “Is this really my life?” Some of you were in a boardroom or office just a couple of years ago, talking grown-up talk and wearing clean clothes. Motherhood comes with no status, no paycheck, no recognition, and very little credit.

“When Jesus was in the house, he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the road?’ But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.” (Busted.) “Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, ‘If anyone wants to be the first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.’” (Mark 9: 33-35).

            When I became a mom, “servant-hood” took on a whole new meaning.  In our home, we decided I would be the one to change my daily life and stay at home with the babies.  But when I took that as my identity I developed a sense of entitlement and did a lot of waiting around for credit. I held the emotional position that I was doing everyone a favor. This top-down perspective tainted everything, because if I wasn’t perfectly appreciated, adequately recognized, or verbally praised (and what mom is??), then I became the wounded martyr who was always disgruntled.

            Jesus transformed my idea of “being the greatest.” It’s not about receiving credit or being popular. It has nothing to do with position or power or getting our just due. Greatness does not come from recognition or the praises of others.

True greatness comes to us through the back door of servant-hood.

            As mothers, this requires an emotional shift. We are not doing our husbands and children a favor. We are intentional servants; consciously deferring to the needs of those God entrusted to us. We make the near constant decision to cast off selfishness and resist entitlement. We deliberately choose ‘servant’ with all our faculties in place, exactly as Jesus did in all His strength and glory.

With His knack for perfect illustrations, Jesus elaborated like this:

“He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me’” (Vs. 36-37).

            When I choose servant instead of martyr, my children enjoy the security that they are welcomed in our home. They are not a thorn in my flesh, cutting into my personal time. They aren’t a nuisance, making me sigh with irritation all day. They are welcomed members of this family, loved and purposed. And when my children are welcomed, I have opened the very doors of heaven and invited God Himself into the laughter, chaos, and life of our home. 

            Now that is greatness.

            However, to be fair, I did tell my kids yesterday that the reason we had children was so that we’d never have to pick up dog poop or unload the dishwasher again. So I’m still technically working on that servant thingy.

---

What do you have to saw to moms who are not seeing spiritual fruit in their late-teens/early adult children?  Since I'm mothering a passel of kids ages 19 years to 3 years old, some of my friends with older kids are struggling as their older kids are not presently walking with the Lord.  What words of encouragement do you have for them when evidence of fruit is missing?

As you know, we have the strongest spiritual voice to our kids when they are under 14. (About 85% of all Christians become a believer before that age.) After that, it's much harder to affect their trajectory. This, of course, is why discipling our kids while they are young and preteen is so crucial. However, the teenage years are also the years kids are trying to decide if their parents faith is also theirs. We should expect some push back, some skepticism, even some spiritual disappointment during that phase. That is not necessarily indicative of how they will enter young adulthood.


So our best bet is to consistently model a transformed life to our teenagers - not just church attendance and tithing. I mean living a transformed Christian life in front of them that includes sacrifice, justice, mission...the things that inspire the young generation. Most church youth groups (and parents) expect to see wonderful fruit in their kids lives, but all they've ever inspired them with are putt-putt outings and youth pizza parties. It isn't enough. Teens need something monstrous, something larger than themselves, something grand and exciting to believe it, or they'll leave. They can get putt-putt and pizza parties anywhere. Parents need to live a fearless, adventurous spiritual life in front of their children. The gospel is inspiring and marvelous; it is enough. Live on mission with your kids and leave the work of the Holy Spirit up to him. At that point, you've done everything you were asked to do as a mom.

Jen, many, many thanks for your transparency, humor and heart.  Best wishes on the new book!  And fearless Octamom Readers, be sure and pick up Jen's latest tome, Out of the Spin Cycle, for a spiritual boost in the mothering glute!

These Two

These two.

What do you say about two people who have been best buddies/nerds together for many a year?

And then discover that they might have the eensy-teensiest little crush on each other?

That isn't so eensy anymore?

I was excited to take pictures of these two when Da Boy came to visit this past week. As I looked through the lens of my beloved Canon at these two beloved faces, it made me a bit misty.

But, thankfully, before I got too choked up, I harkened back to their early tween days...

Um.


Yeah.


So shots like that one keep me from getting too mushy.

Awww......

I'm thinking a big ol' crush on your best friend is a pretty spectacular thing...

On The Town!

Here she is...

2 of 8. On pointe. In Central Park. In New York City.

She's at the Big Dance Studio.

Loving it.

This one was taken in front of the Lincoln Center.

She's taking in the sights, making new dance friends, dancing her feet into blisters and callouses and sore muscles.

She's already blown through a couple of pair of pointe shoes.

Here she is on the steps of Julliard.

I'm so glad she's had the presence of mind to have her buddies take pictures of her in these settings.

My parents packed me off to Europe when I was seventeen, newly graduated from high school.

When I arrived home, after many weeks across the Atlantic, my parents couldn't wait to see my pictures.

But 99.9% of the pictures I took did not involve images of myself. So they were essentially poor quality, post-card-esque scenery shots.

I don't know if I could actually prove that I have ever been to Europe, based on the photographic evidence.

But 2 of 8 has decided to break that pattern and hand off a camera to a friend.

Smart girl, that one.

This is another one from Central Park.

I'm not exactly sure how she gets her feet to bend that way. Maybe it was those cheap flip flops I made her wear when she was a toddler.

New York City looks good on this kid.

Maybe a little too good.

But I guess it's what that whole parenting thing is about...to help them find their wings.

And to let them fly.

Fly, Baby Girl, fly.

Interactive Giveaway...and it's a doozy!

I told you not to despair if you weren't the winner of yesterday's giveaway...
Because I knew we'd be partying like Christmas today.

iDerma is a leading skin care company and the winner of this giveaway will receive the product of their choice.

Yep.

I'm not just trying to help expand your mind. I'm trying to help you look good while you do it.

As an avid outdoor girl living in an avid outdoor, sun-drenched city, what I'm putting on my skin has become more and more important to me. My years of literally living on the beach when we were on the island and now my present all-things-outdoors locale, in addition to my, a-hem, maturing skin keep me checking out all the latest skinformation (sorry...just couldn't help myself...).

So I'm thrilled to host this giveaway for such a premiere company. I myself am checking out the TNS Night Eye Repair (do you know what raising eight kids and not sleeping for several years can do to a girl's under eye area?)

So let's get on to the rules, shall we?

Contest Rules:
~The winner of the contest will receive one (1) free product of their choice from the iDerma products contained in the widget.
~The winner will be chosen by me, based on the quality and helpfulness of the comments that participants contribute about widget products.
In order to qualify to win:
~~~~~You must comment on at least 5 products in the widget~
~~~~~You must make all comments in the widget itself--not at the bottom of the post~

~~~~~Be sure and leave your name contact info in comments 'name' field so that I can contact you.  If I don't have your name, I can't 'name' the winner!
~~~~~Comments can be up to 500 characters (the widget will not accept more than this)






So, get ready to take a looksie and comment. This giveaway is valued at over a hundred smackeroos and is open to U.S. residents only. The contest ends Sunday, July 25th at midnight, CST and I'll be announcing the lucky winner the next day. So take a perusal, leave some inspiring words and get ready to win!

Drum Roll Please!!!!

And the winner of the $60 gift certificate to CSN online stores is.....

Suzie!



Suzie Girl, shoot me an email at octamom@octamom.com and I'll get you in touch with the nice folks at CSN to claim your prize!

And for the rest of you, never fear. There's another giveaway launching tomorrow that will be AWESOME! Yes, I used all caps and the word 'awesome'. It's like 21st century computer tech etiquette meeting 80's catch phrases. That's just how I roll.

So get a hot cup of coffee tomorrow morning, click on that computer and tune back in here for another fun giveaway!

Sunday Selah

Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

I Peter 3:9

It's an opportunity we get, practically every day.
In traffic, in the store, in the neighborhood, in the classroom.

It's an opportunity that opens up our inheritance in the Lord, a chance to validate our calling card into the heavenlies.

But this opportunity doesn't come wrapped in a beautiful spiritual package, tied off with a bow of angelic sparkle.

This opportunity arrives in the form of evil and insult.

So it can be a little hard to recognize.

The hostile driver in traffic cuts us off and gestures to us in an inappropriate way. The co-worker snaps at us, hurling deprecating remarks. The gossip talks, the grumpy harangues, the boss badgers.

Opportunity.

It's opportunity knocking.

We have a choice to make in such situations.

We can hurl a bigger and better insult at that driver, that gossip, that boss.

Or we can cash in on the opportunity.

The opportunity to return that evil, that insult with a blessing.

Peter tells us that we should repay evil and insult with a blessing. The Greek word for this type of blessing is 'eulogeo' and it means to speak well of, to speak best wishes over that person.

Not easy to do, in the face of insult.

But an opportunity.

Because Peter goes on to tell us that when we exercise 'eulogeo', we inherit 'eulogia'.

It's one of those passages where English fails us a bit in that English interprets 'eulogeo' and 'eulogia' both as 'blessing'. But in the Greek, there is a subtle but important distinction.

When we give a blessing, 'eulogeo',  in return for an insult, we inherit the blessing, 'eulogia', which is defined as  the indwelling of God, an indwelling that in definition should bring full spiritual satisfaction. We inherit consecration from the Lord when we bless those who castigate us. By simply speaking words of kindness and best wishes, we receive spiritual satiation and ordination.

Opportunity.

To experience contempt.

To return with 'eulogeo', blessing.

And to then receive 'eulogia', the smile of God on our lives.

Seems a small investment to make for an amazing return.

Selah.

JPEG of the Week

~7 of 8~

~Fairy makeup at the corners of her eyes, compliments of 4 of 8~

~she is magical...~

The Office

Michael and I have been sharing an office for quite a while now.
The home office.

We have a huge desk that we share. He sits on one side, I sit on the other.

It used to be a door.

And now it's our desk.

We are nothing if not recyclers.

I don't believe it...'recyclers' did not trigger spellcheck. Although 'spellcheck' does.

Our office furnishings are cobbled together from odds and ends of other houses and other uses. I'd like to come up with a more cohesive look.

But I'm designing a work space for two very different people. Mike would be totally happy with a card table and some cardboard boxes to 'file' into.

And I'd like for it to look exactly like Centsational Girl's home office.

Although it's hard to imagine anything white in my house lasting for very long.

I was invited to peruse Overstock.com's selection of office items and I quickly found some things that I've been crushing on ever since.

Check out this Office Furniture...

Love. Love. Love.

And then there's this lamp from home lighting...

But if I go all crystal and white, I have a feeling Mike's going to, ah, feel a little left out of the design concept.

Or not.

Because he might not even notice.

But in case he did, I also found this lamp in the collection that had a cool Asian look to it.

Somehow I am going to figure out how to work Michael's preference for dark woods and accents into my love for light and white and cream. But I do think my guy would look pretty spiffy sitting behind this desk, again from the office furniture collection.

Of course, no shared office would be complete without a pair of these...

It's a natural progression for me...think about work, think about shoes. Think about groceries, think about shoes. Think about much of anything...and my mind drifts back to shoes.

Which is why Mike and I are still sharing a door/desk.

But I'm wearing some great shoes.