Introducing.......

Mr. & Mrs. Joshua and Rebecca Pauls

They are married.

The day was amazing.

We haven't even looked through the pictures.

Here is a preview.

More to come later.

I am going to bed. YAWN :)

Last Minute Preps

Well the wedding is around the corner and things seem to be falling into place. Here's a peak at what we spent all day Monday doing. Can you guess what we were busy at?

Yesterday we went to pick up my sister Amanda from the airport.

Tomorrow we will be at the church putting finishing touches on the meal and setting up and decorating.

And today I am

-getting clothes ironed

-finishing up the slide show

-cut Mark's hair

-packing for our overnight stay at Mark's parents on Friday (it makes us almost 1 hour closer to the church where the wedding is at)

-trying to savour all the 'lasts' that are happening around here.

I haven't forgotten to link to some of my favorite blog articles.

Here is one from Making Home that could have come straight from my heart.

Enjoy!

7 Days and Counting Down

The excitement it building... 7 more days until Joshua and Rebecca enter into the covenant of marriage. It is so fun to watch a couple in love, in anticipation, the passion, the excitement. A picture of how we are to feel about our Heavenly bridegroom. Passion for spending time with Him, anticipation for Him to return for His church, excitement to tell the world about Him. It's been a good reminder for me. So you probably won't hear much from me in the next week or so because of the busyness of the occasion. I do plan on posting some links to others blog posts that I have found helpful to me. I hope you enjoy them. I will post wedding photos as soon as I can! Until then :)

White as Snow

Monday morning we woke up to another dump of snow.

It was actually a very beautiful site (well beauty is in the eye of the beholder :)

Fresh, white, fluffy snow blanketing the ground.

White for as far as you could see.

I was reminded once again of the verse in Isaiah 1:18.

Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." Unless you've seen a snowfall like this I don't think you can really comprehend the phrase, "White as snow" We used to have a white cat. At least we thought she was white.....until it snowed. When walking in the snow she actually looked kind of yellowish.

And that is why I love the simile used in Isaiah. Snow is white, very, very white. In fact I don't think I have seen anything that is whiter than snow.

Another great thing about a snowfall like this is how it covers everything and makes everything look so clean. The same as when God forgives our sins and we are made clean. So white, so clean.

So here are a few photos of our white world. And if you live in this great snowy province, enjoy the beauty around you. Because before long it will be spring again and all this white stuff will be gone for another season :) (I know, sad isn't it!)

Here is what our roads looked like when we went to town this morning.

Would you like to have been the first one to blaze this trail?

Go to far either way and you end up in the ditch.....seriously stuck :)

It is pretty challenging to find and stay on these kind of roads.

Who needs to be on a nice warm sandy beach when you can write a message in the snow?!?

And of course the photographer in our family won't pass up an opportunity to capture the beauty of God's creation.

The Winner Is....

Stacey!

Good job Stacey :) for getting tackling this challenge. I wasn't sure if anyone would catch the 'terms of endearment' that Mark added to my love note (an inside joke :) But you did it! I'll contact you shortly and get this prize to you. And to the other's who tried, GOOD TRY!

Good for a Chuckle

We were grocery shopping the other day and I put a big chunk of ham in my cart.

Thinking it was bologna Zachary asked, "Does bologna grow in the garden."

After Megan and I laughed hysterically I got my composure, apologized to Zachary for laughing at him and then said, "Actually no bologna doesn't grow in the garden. And anyway, this is ham." To this Zach very seriously (a little puzzled at why we would laugh so hard at him making the simple mistake of calling ham bologna) replied, "Oh, well then does ham grow in the garden?" Can you tell that we don't raise pigs? Just the thought of growing pigs in the garden makes me kind of chuckle, you know? Guess it would be good fertilizer!

Brooke was helping me in the kitchen the other day when she looked at me and declared, "When I grow up I'm going to be a mommy, and you will be a mommy and then we can be mommies together!" To which I replied, "I would like that a lot :)" Awww...little girl you know how to melt a mommy's heart!

The younger ones were chorusing (translation: singing together at the top of their lungs) the song, "O be careful little eyes what you see, O be careful little eyes what you see, for the Father up above is looking down in love, O be careful little eyes what you see. O be careful little feet".....there was a slight pause as they tried to think of the words......Then it came to Nathan...."O be careful little feet what you step on...." I can tell already he is going to be a songwriter :)

What funny/cute/hilarious or all of the above things have your blessings said lately?

My Sweetie

Days before Valentine's Day Mark was busy out in the workshop.

I didn't know what he was up to until one day Brooke came in and said, "Dad's making you a susususurprise!"

He spent so many days at it I thought he was making me a house :) But when he gave it to me I understood why all the hours. What a masterpiece. Many hours of thinking, planning, re-thinking, re-planning, cutting...... The message starts at the top right and goes round and round with a beautiful love note to me. I know this picture isn't the greatest, but I had to show you all what my amazing sweetie made me! I feel so loved every time I look at it.

Oh ya, he also gave me chocolate letters that spelled my name. Well almost, the I is missing and he said that was because I seldom think of myself. Awwww.....and then he went on to say that it was also because they were out of I's in the store :) That's my man!

I love you babe! Thanks again for the amazing gift.

So here's the challenge. If you are the first to figure out what it says you will get this handy parenting tool. "Wise Words for Moms" by Ginger Plowman. Here's what Tedd Tripp, Pastor and author of Shepherding a Child's Heart has to say about this little booklet:

"Many parents today focus only on the outward behavior of their children. They have developed the philosophy that if they can get their children to "act" right that they are raising them the right way. There is far more to parenting than getting children to "act" right. We have to get them to "think" right and to be motivated out of a love of virtue rather than a fear of punishment. We do this by training them in righteousness. And righteous training can only come from the Word of God. In a handy quick-reference calendar style format Wise Words for Moms identifies 22 behavior problems in children (such as disobeying, lying and tattling) and offers examples of Scripture passages that help parents address heart issues. "Wise Words for Moms is an answer to one of the most frequently asked questions, 'How can I find the passages of Scripture that will enable me to address heart issues?' Ginger Plowman has identified themes of response we find in our children and located passages of Scripture that will help address heart issues in richly biblical ways. This book will encourage your study of Scripture and application of God's Truth to your correction, discipline, and motivation of your kids." -

Have fun:)

By the way my friend Denyse was the one who won this contest way back in January. Way to go Denyse!

My Sweetie

*UPDATED* AND THE ANSWER IS (DRUM ROLL PLEASE!)

The soother is upy sidy downy (as some of our kids would say)

Wow, you guys are clever :)

This was Nathan's doing. I was busy in the other room and I heard Josiah fussing. After a little bit he was quiet. I thought he had just settled himself. Then later when I checked on him I found him with his soother upside down. I asked Nathan if he had put the soother in Josiah's mouth. He proudly said yes he had. Obviously it doesn't matter to Josiah what way it is stuck in :) Actually this is kind of the story of Josiah's life. He is pretty laid back and doesn't seem to care about much. He's a pretty happy little guy. He is starting to smile. Not just a quick little smirk, but a big long smile :)----- just not quite long enough for a picture :(----- But I am sure we will get plenty of chances to capture those.

Oh, by the way, I can sure tell if you are from Canada or the United States. Know how? Up in the great white north we call this thing in Josiah's mouth a "soother" and our friends to the south call it a "pacifier". Have you noticed anything else in our posts that we say differently, EH?

Don't you just want to kiss these little cheeks.

I think I'll do that right now!

Okay so there's something wrong with this picture.

If you can figure it out, I'll tell you the story!

Housework 101

It's taken a lot of years to get a system that I have been happy with when it comes to the cleaning of our home. We used to do all our cleaning on Saturdays, but as the kids got older we found we would rather do family stuff on Saturdays, instead of clean all day. We also like to use Saturdays to prepare food for Sunday guests.

So here is a peak at the way things run right now.

I made up job cards for every room of the house.

Some rooms like the entrance and mud room, toy room and games closet are combined.

There is a check list for every room and also some monthly jobs.

So every day each girl (or team if they team up with a boy) cleans the designated room for that day and does one monthly job.

We do the monthly jobs instead of spring or fall cleaning. I found that I never 'got around to' a good thorough cleaning, so breaking it up into monthly jobs works better as long as they actually get done :)

Monday: Girls Bedroom Kitchen Chores Dining Room Tuesday: Downstairs Bathroom Upstairs Freezer Room Car/Van/Truck Wednesday- Laundry Room Playroom Babyroom Thursday- Living Room Playroom Babyroom Friday- Office Upstairs Bathroom Wash Floor Here is what the job cards look like. I made four on a page, printed them, cut them into cards and then laminated them so the jobs could be checked off with marker. Now that the girls are older they pretty much have the regular jobs memorized so they don't check off. For the monthly jobs we used to mark with stickers each job they have done, but now they write it all in a book.

So that's our method. What are some things that have worked for you in your house cleaning? If you'd like to share them, we'd love to hear :)

p.s. If anyone is interested in a copy of our job cards file, let me know what program you have (works, microsoft etc.) and I can email them to you.

Happy 14th Birthday Kerri!

When you were born life was very busy. We had 4 little ones ages 5 and under. We were so busy in fact that we hardly have any photos of your first few months. You got off to a bit of a rocky start. Like clock work you would cry and cry from 7-11 every evening. Nothing could console you. But it was almost overnight when you stopped that at around 3 months old. Then you were the happiest Pauls baby. Very contented just to look at what was going on around. It was like we were dreaming about you being fussy :) As you grew up you were always the life of the family. You could always find someway to make us laugh. Our family diary is loaded with the funny things you said. Things like when we slammed the door and you said,

“Ooo, That made my ears jump!” And here we are today, your 14 already. You have grown into a beautiful young lady. If I would think of a couple of words to describe you It would be “contented” “selfless” “repentant” You have always been the one to ask if you could help me. You have been the one who will take little ones and give mama’s a break. You have been the one who is more concerned of what others want than yourself. You never let on that you need anything, even when you do And when you commit an offense, you are very quick to make things right. If I think of the phrases I hear most often from you they would be, “It doesn’t matter to me, whatever you guys want.” “Will you please forgive me.” “I’ll be fine.” “Is there anything I can do to help?” God has given you an amazing talent of a beautiful singing voice. I love to hear you sing as you bring an atmosphere of worship to our home. Out of your mouth comes pure worship to God. You know that worship is not just about a song, it’s a lifestyle. And it shows in the way that you live your life. As you begin a new year my prayer would be: That you would live a life pleasing to the Lord. That your heart and actions would be a reflection of your Heavenly Father. That the joy of the Lord would carry you through the mountain tops and the valleys. That nothing would be more important to you than yielding

your life to the plan that God has for you. That you would know and experience God’s perfect love.

Kerri we love you and are so glad that God chose you to be a part of our family. Happy Birthday Kerisco ;)

Josiah's 1 Month Photo Shoot

Hair's and Do's Part 2

I have been wondering who I should get to do my hair for the wedding and then I came across this picture. And now I have no need to look any farther. With a daughter like this (Kerri) who can do hair like that!?!?! who needs a hairdresser? What do you think?

Hair's and Do's

We have a friend who has been experimenting with Jennifer and Kerri's hair

to see which style they would like for the wedding.

So we thought it would be fun to include you, our faithful blog readers in our decision.

Should they wear their hair half up, or all the way up?

Jennifer half-up do

Jennifer back view of half-up doJennifer side view of all up d0 Jennifer all up do Kerri half-up do

Kerri back view of half-up do

Kerri side view of half-up do Kerri all up do

Kerri side view of all up do

So they want to know "what do you think?"

My Husband, A Champion

Well if there is one thing you need to know about the Pauls', it's that they love to curl. When Mark and I were dating he used to curl almost every weekend during the winter. After we got married he curled a little less, but still regularly once a week and the occasional weekend bonspiel. Then when God started blessing us with children he decided that he needed to hang up the old broom and put away the curling shoes and concentrate on raising a family. But every once in awhile someone calls him up to curl in a bonspiel. This last weekend was such a time. With the ol' sparkle in his eye Mark dusted off his broom, slipped on his curling shoes (which he has worn ever since I have known him) and hit the ice. Even though the ice was tough and conditions were less than ideal, my sweetie (and his teemmates of course:) made it to the finals on Sunday. I was just going to let Mark go and play the game on Sunday, give us a report on how it went and then continue on with our day. But I saw the excitement in our kids eyes and the yearning to go and watch him, so the kids and I jumped in the van and went to the game. (Even though we were a little late). The kids were so excited when their hero, their daddy won! It was so fun to watch their reaction and hear comments like "Daddy's a really good curler." Their daddy, their hero! And even though it took an effort to get everyone there, it was well worth it. Caleb was so excited about the trophy that he would hardly let it out of his sight. When we got home he asked Mark what he should do with it. Mark asked Caleb if he would keep it safe in his room for him. Of course that made his day! So there you have it, my husband, a champion. Oh ya, and my wonderful husband let me pick his prize because in his words, "You had to stay home, while I went out and curled." So he passed up all the wonderful guy things and I picked out a foldable table. Something that will come in real handy when we have company.

So here's to my husband. A CHAMPION!

Of course it didn't take a curling game for his family to know that :)

Here is the picture from the local newspaper. Mark and his two cousins,

Ben and Harry and Ben's son Eric.

Wordless Wednesday ALMOST!

Just to think this little guy won't even remember his big brother living at home :(

Morals and Preferences

Thank you to those of you who shared your insights and questions on the last post. I will try to get your questions answered over time. Some of the questions that were asked encouraged me to write a post that I have been thinking about writing for some time. I guess I started to 'write a post in my head' when I read some responses on "Great Expectations". In that post I shared how I have not been able to exclusively nurse our children and have had to supplement. I was not surprised but yet saddened by those of you who thanked me for sharing this and eluded to the guilt they have felt in not being able to nurse their children or having to supplement. I was not surprised by these comments because I have went through these same feelings myself. And I would be lying to say that I don't still struggle with it. I am also saddened in realizing that the reason those of us who can't nurse feel this guilt is because of the 'pressure' that is put on us by others. I don't know how many times I have heard, "Everyone can successfully nurse their babies. You're just not trying hard enough." Well, I used to believe that and I used to try everything I could to make it happen. In doing so I practically starved my newborns all because "everyone can do it". Believe me, I would like nothing better than to be able to feed my babies without help. But that wasn't the plan. So a question that I have been asking myself is how many times do I put undue pressure on other moms to feel like they need to measure up just like has been put on me about nursing my babies. There are things that God has spoken to us in His Word that we need to obey. They are moral issues, commands from Him. And many of my posts have been convictions from these commands. Stuff that I wish someone would have told me when I was a young wife/mother. Things that I feel that God has laid on my heart to share with you. Things that I believe will help me be a reflection of Christ. Things that I believe He has commanded us in His word. But I also have preferences in my life. Things that are non-moral issues, but are part of the way I do things. I don't believe that they are 'right' or 'wrong', just the way we do it. But what concerns me is when we as moms/families put undo pressure on other moms/families to measure up to the way we do things, the non-moral issues. And how we make people feel inferior when they don't live according to our standard. I guess that is why I am reluctant to share about our preferences or the way we do things. I don't want to come across as saying that our way is the only way or best way. And yet I know how I like to watch other families or ask them questions about their experiences or learn from what works for them. I believe we are supposed to learn from one another. But my desire in my relationship with others and in my blog writings is to encourage others to honor God in their relationships and in their daily walk with Him. To encourage one another to be a shining light for God in a dark, hurting world. I know that when I stand before God one day He is not going to ask me about the non-moral issues, He is going to ask me about my heart and my obedience to Him. It won't matter to Him if I nursed my baby for 2 weeks, 2 months or 2 years but it will matter to Him if I trusted Him and was joyful through it all. It won't matter to Him what curriculum we used for school but rather if we taught our children to love Him with all their heart, soul, mind and strength. It won't matter to Him the particular denomination of church we attended, but rather if we lived a life of worship to Him. It won't matter if we used cloth diapers or bought diapers, sewed our families clothes or got them at the thrift shop or bought them new but rather if we clothed ourselves with righteousness. It won't matter if we ground wheat for our bread but rather if we ate from the bread of life. It won't matter if we traveled and sang together as a family but instead if we made a melody in our heart to the Lord. And the list goes on and on..... I am not saying that these things do not matter and that we can't seek God's will for us in these areas of our life, and in fact some of these things may be moral for you if God has told you to take a certain path. But I am saying that we can get so caught up in 'preferences' that we forget the real heart issues and are insensitive to the people around us. All this to say that when I answer questions about our life and the way we do things around here that it is just that, the way we do things. I know there are a lot of questions about how a large family functions and I don't mind those at all. In fact I welcome them. But I want to encourage you as moms and as families to seek God's path for your life because chances are it will look very different from ours. And that's great because God made us all unique. And any way, wouldn't it be boring if we were all the same? :)