Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Fatigue, Fish and Fun???

This is a post from my wife's blog Grace and Truth that I had to share. Lisa never ceases to amaze me..she will do about anything for the little ones.
I was so, so, so tired today when we got home from co-op. The children were buzzing with energy, but all I wanted to do was lay down on the floor and take a much deserved nap. Well, since my determined and sweet little 7 month old has now claimed the living room floor as her new domain, that did not happen. Instead I watched her show off her ability to get from point A to point B, cheering her on all the way.

By the time I mustered up enough energy to fix dinner, the boys told me that they had defrosted the fish they caught yesterday in a trout derby and they were planning to gut them. "No, no, no boys!" I know what that meant. It meant I would have to be in the kitchen gutting fish with them. That was absolutely the last thing I wanted to do with my last few hours of the day. Ugh!

But.......after dinner and devotions, I let them gut the fish. I googled "how to clean a trout" and we cleaned, gutted, and skinned fish for the first time....together.

Why did I clean the fish with them? Because I am "SUPERMOM"? Not hardly. Because all day long, all I think about is what fun and messy activity I can do with my children? Well maybe sometimes, but not today. Definitely not today. All I wanted to tell them was to throw the fish in the garbage and call it a day. But nonetheless, I let them clean the fish because I have been challenged with the thought that, on this earth I am going to be spent for something. We are all going to use up our last bit of strength or last bit of time for some worthy or unworthy cause. Why not be spent for my children's or the gospel's sake. In this case, I dragged myself to the kitchen and I built memories with my children. They now know, thanks to Google and YouTube, how to clean and cook the fish they catch. This is a part of preparing them for life. God even blessed me with a small spurt of excitement and enthusiasm, just in time to get fish juice in my eye. Yuck!!

I am still going to go to bed good and tired tonight, but now I will be good, tired and satisfied knowing that I added to my love list today.

By the way, Renee Ellison is a wife, mom, teacher, and home school speaker. Her e-book "Burn Out" is what I have been reading for encouragement these days. Her website is www.homeschoolhowtos.com

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Hill Family Summer-Change and fun

Well I am currently playing catching up after a busy summer. Updating the blog got pushed to the wayside for a little while. I am going to learn the skill of blogging short and sweet (Maybe).

Here are random things that happened this summer in the Hill House:



  1. The boys and Liberty love basketball, they are on the Oklahoma Storm which is an organized homeschool league that plays all the city teams for competition. Between four children, practices, tournaments, and coaching Lisa and I were on our toes this summer.
  2. Early this summer the children took swim lessons at the YMCA...the younger ones are gaining confidence.
  3. I got to have daddy time pretty consistently with the children this summer. I have explained all that in previous blogs called: Daddy time
  4. We got a visit from an Iowa friend and former coworker, Bridget Johnson and we had a wonderful time of fellowship and she got to visit church with us.
  5. Lisa's niece, Shirah, from Iowa stayed with us for two months of the summer..she had a blast and fit right in with her cousins.
  6. Lisa's Dad, Terri, and Lisa's brothers and sister came down for three days to visit and that made my wife's summer...she is still a daddy's girl. We played games, visited water parks, arcades, ate and had tons of fun.
  7. Lisa lost a grandpa so she went to Iowa to spend a week with her family and attend the funeral. She was very happy that she was able to reconnect with her family. This was her first time being back to Iowa since our move in 2007.
  8. My dad had a major surgery then followed that with a stroke which left him hospitalized for over a month. I got to serve my parents and help out for a week in Iowa. Blogged about that here: Aging parents
  9. We moved my dad and mom (and their two grandchildren they are raising) down hear to Oklahoma from Iowa. That was a major move but God was faithful through it all. Will blog about that later.
  10. I had two other former coworkers from Iowa, Kim and Lynn, visit while they were passing through. It was a pleasant surprise.
  11. I had my best friend from High School, Eric Delker and family, stop through for a night and hang out..that was a treat. We got to catch up on old times and go do fun family stuff together.
  12. We got to go amateur river rafting and camping with the church family in Teloquah, OK. We had a blast-rafting, fishing, eating, volleyball, cards, swimming, etc.
  13. We visited the Witchita Mts. here in Oklahoma with the church family basically hiked, took pictures, and let the children explore.
  14. The marriage ministry Eye to Eye had one of the best Summer BBQ and Olympics we have ever had, it was fun and educating and a pretty good turn out.
  15. The GIFT (Godly Instruction and Family Training) homeschool coop has been active during the summer planning for an educational fall term. We pasted the president baton on to the Williams family and we now serve as vice-presidents.
  16. Our boys and girls group (Contenders and Keepers of the Faith) went great this summer. Ten boys learned how to change oil, tie knots, and maintain physical fitness. Seven girls learned to cross stitch and several other skills. The heart pricking thing is seeing the children grasp the character of Christ through the lessons and seeing them apply it in their daily living.
  17. With Church Ablaze, God is knitting the hearts of our Church Family...we have spent alot of time doing fun things together and building lasting relationships. I can see people growing in Christ and affecting others lives around them. I love the Church and everybody in it. I work with two of the best leaders in the country, Clarence Hill and Nate Williams, I feel spoiled.
  18. Hill Engineering Group is still pressing forward. I am still the sole owner and this is what God is using to put food on the table...I am working on small projects currently and need to ask, seek, and knock for some bigger projects to come through the door. I also took my education to be a licensed home inspector and will be taking the test this fall.
  19. Lisa and I fight to keep our God, our marriage, and our family first in the midst of following God's call in our life. The times it gets difficult is when we are not seeking Him first. We consistently have to recalibrate our priorities to be sure we are staying close.
  20. If any of our ministry partners are reading this blog I just want to say thank you for the support. It really was a blessing for us this year.

That's it for now...It has been an opportunistic summer..Lot's of change and lots of opportunities for God to show us HE is faithful all the time.

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