Chilson Family

Our scholars have been out of school since the end of the school day on the 17th of this month.  It is AMAZING what being out of a routine can do!  They finally got into a "new normal" routine. (Although they have a hard time sleeping in!)   Christmas was wonderful!  We spent Christmas Eve with the  almost entire Chilson Clan.  Our oldest son and his family were over on the twenty-third.  Our oldest daughter flew in from Fort Bragg, North Carolina early on Christmas  Eve.  This time she decided not to jump but wait for the plane to land!  She is Army Airborne!  Everyone visited while I finished up preparing lunch.  We had turkey, ham that we made into sandwiches, and the usual sides. Two of the older boys went together and bought their siblings a BIG gift.  Keep in mind, it has been standing behind the Christmas tree for about three weeks.  Most of the siblings we...

Romans 11:33-36 "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" "For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counselor?" "Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?"   "For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen."

Monday through Friday at 6:15 am, my hubby and I roll out of bed to see Son #5 off to work.  He is 20, but as a mother I still like to see my offspring off in the morning. :-)  This morning was no different than any other except our front gate was opened.  Both, Husband and Son, shrugged their shoulders, took a quick look on the porch and did not see anything disturbed.  I on the other hand ask them to check for footprints in the snow on the sides of the house.  The both look at me as if I ask them to run in a Polar Bear run!   "Of course there are foot prints!  We  have children who have been out in the snow!!!!"  :-) Son is off to work and we go back to bed.  It is Christmas break, you know! But, I can't sleep!  My mind has to think about the gate that was opened!  Husband of course, is back to sleep within seconds!  Then I had to stop and think, God has not given us the spirit of fear.  What ...

Psalm 27:14 "Wait on the L ORD :  be of good courage and he will strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD."   Waiting is so hard!  I don't like to wait!  I usually talk my husband into letting me open a my Christmas gift on Christmas Eve AFTER   our children are in bed and  asleep !  Why?  Well, I tell him, "I rather watch the children open their gift's."  Truly, I can't WAIT !  I am sure he knows the truth!  I am worse than the children! :-)  It is also kind of like a chipped nail, I can not wait and leave it alone until I can find a file or clippers to take care of it.  No, I have to pick at it, then it is worse than before and has to be clipped way down.  Then... UNEVEN NAILS!  THE SHAME OF IT! :-) By the Bible verse on the top of this Blog, you probably can tell what my devotions were on today...WAITING!  It was actually titled " A Necessay but Challenging Lesson ...

I must be turning into a softy!  Maybe it was the snow day I gave the scholars on Monday!  Thursday night I went to be in tears.  I was so tired all I wanted to do was cry.  So I went to bed earlier than usual.  By morning's light, and I'm not talking about the sun, I got thinking about what our real schedule was for Christmas break.  I am one who does not like to lose a day in school, FOR NOTHING! Get it done, get it done right and quick!  Come on, you would be thinking the same thing if YOU had nine scholars in eight different grades!   Okay!  Call me a control freak!  (I think of it as "keeping things in order"!) :-)  It is scheduled for the 20th of December and returning the 3rd of January.  THAT'S A LONG TIME!  No, really it is okay!  If I am at the point of tears when going to bed and the scholars are in tears when they wake up, WE NEED A BREAK! The morning did not start out the greatest!  I woke u...

I can not believe how time gets away.  I still l have not feeling well with this sinus stuff.  Just when I think I am better here it comes again!  Life has been busy with home and school.  One of our sons came over on Monday over the last couple of weeks to help Hubby get some heavy cleaning in the storage area and rearranging done also.  He also spent time repairing some "dings" on the walls of our family room and painting.  Looks really nice.  We went with a milk chocolate brown.  Makes the room so cozy.  New slip covers on the sofas also!  The room was in need of a change.   Snow, snow, snow...kind of tired of it.  Well, at least the mess it drags in!  We  had a nice snow Sunday afternoon into Monday morning.  About 2 1/2 to 3 inches.  I heard on the radio this morning that we are in for 2 to 4 more inches tonight!  If only the snow would stay off the the street, sidewalk and park...

Wow!  It seems like it has been FOREVEVR since I have posted!  I guess it has been a little over a week! :-(  The weekend following Thanksgiving I ended up with a head cold.  I thought I was feeling better but it turned into a sinus infection.  I still am not feeling 100%, the top of my teeth still hurt.  I really feel it if I have to bend down to get anything.  Yesterday I started out with a headache that turned into a migraine.  It was about 4 o'clock this afternoon before it was totally gone. The last couple of weeks have been real challenging for our family.  There have been a couple of times I wondered if God had forgotten us.  But just a quick as I wondered the Holy Spirit was kind enough to "nudge" me back to the right way of thinking!  In our small human minds we tend to limit God.  I was reading in my devotions today Psalm 46.  One of my favorite verses in this passage is the first part of verse ten, " Be st...

Well , well, well.  Wonders never cease!  See what DD #2 was able to do for me!  She was able to upload a picture of one of my cards!!!!!  These beautiful colors are from Stampin' Up!  Sorry I can not remember the color names!  Can you see that I quilted the background by   scoring the paper!  What fun, what fun, what fun!  I wish I did this for a living!  Just thought I would share!

Well, as you can tell it has been a while since I posted.  Friday through tonight have been busy.  We had teen night on Friday, visitation on Saturday, church Sunday morning and evening, with a food auction after service in the evening.  I had a few things to prepare yesterday for a craft sell tonight! If I did not have a busy life I don't think I could appreciate the quiet times.  I was at church this evening for about 20 minutes by myself and the quiet was deafening!  IT WAS GREAT! 

 "Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding." "He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength." "Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:" "But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."                                                                            ...

Yep, sounds funny.  But I was looking at myself in the mirror, not really sure who was looking back at me, and I saw a "stray" hair escape my bangs.  Of course the only ones that "escape" are the gray one!  Let me ask this question, why does gray hair on a man make him look distinguished but not a woman? I am not yet 47, and truly have very few gray hairs, but the ones I do have, do they have to have a mind of their own?  I was going to start complaining about it, when a thought came to my head..."Better gray hair than no hair".  So, I am thankful for hair, and I think gray hair is a sign of wisdom!

I am thankful for modern day transportation.  Although I would love to have a horse and buggy, I know I would not be able to travel very far.  Uh, I don't think I'd like cleaning horse stalls either!!!  Today eight of us from our church went to Milford, Ohio to Bearing Precious Seeds to help assemble Bibles that contain the Gospel of John, and Romans.  We were able to put together a little over 3,000 of them today.  Just think, our finger prints on the Word of God going "somewhere"!  Who knows in whose hands they will end up.  We were very blessed in our travel.  Going over to Ohio we came across what looked like a fatal accident.  There were 2 vehicles, and one looked like it was only half there.  White sheets draped the sides.  Traffic was backed up for miles for several hours!  It was a very somber reminder just how fragile life is and at any moment it can be gone.  We did run into rain coming back home tonight...

Just a short post tonight...I am thankful for our American Veterans.  They have given so much and are recognized so little.  When was the last time you thanked a vet?  What about a soldier/sailor/airmen?  We all see them at one time or another...in the mall, Wal-Mart, Target,etc.  Why not brighten their day and thank them, they'll be glad you did, and so will you!

Sometimes it is hard to see beyond the "here and now".  Things don't go as planned, something "unexpected" comes up, or what you "thought" was not really what you "thought" it was going to be.  Does that even make sense?  Right now, for me, things have not gone as planned, it is hard to see beyond the "here and now",  to deal with the "unexpected", and what I "thought" several months ago, is not how I "thought" it would turn out.  But I am choosing to be thankful anyway.  Things could be a lot worse.  I am choosing to count my blessing and follow the One who has set this path before me. God is good all the time, and all the time God is good.

We are to be thankful in all things.  It is hard to be thankful with a headache that is now on day two.  Truly, I am thankful for the valleys and the mountain tops.  I really could use a mountain top!!! If it wasn't for the valleys we may never realize just how wonderful the mountain tops are.  I am thankful that my family let me sleep a bit this afternoon to help relieve my headache.  I still have it and we have a ladies meeting at church tonight.  Maybe by the time I fix supper it will be easing up some. 

Well, it looks as if I have posted twice today, but actually the other Sunday post was Saturday, but by the time I finished the clock chimed in the new day! I am thankful for the extra hour sleep I got this morning!  I really could have used two extra hours, but am thankful for the one! It was good to be at church today!  It is balm for the soul!  God has been so good to us.  I know, I keep saying that, but it is true!   God is always on time with seeing to our needs!  It may be in the 11th hour, 59th minute, and 59th second, but He is always on time!

I am thankful that I live in a country where I have a choice to worship freely.  We are coming fast to the Thanksgiving season.  We so often associate it with turkey, ham, stuffing, all the rich side dishes.  But what about the reason we really celebrate the holiday?  Do we celebrate because we are thankful for family, home, friends, nice things, and let us not forget that football game!  Those are truly wonderful things (except maybe football {smile})  to be grateful for, but what is Thanksgiving? Webster, { you remember him, the man who had a way with words }  defines Thanksgiving as:    1) the act of giving thanks; 2) a prayer expressing gratitude; 3) a public acknowledgment or celebration of divine goodness.  I thought about a "short" history lesson on the first Thanksgiving.  After I started to put together the information, I realized why history class in school always seemed to be the longest class,  there i...

How thankful I am for friends!  In the recent weeks we have been so blessed to have so many friends that God has placed in our lives!  I do not know what I would do without friends.  It may have been a listening ear, or a specific need being met, God placed them there for our family.  God is so good. 

"No".  It's a word we use often, especially as a parent.  When I had our first child, someone told me not to use the word "no" because it was negative.  I needed to make everything positive so my "little guy" would not grow up to be negative. Well, I guess I messed up BIG time because I told all my children "no" many times.  Not because I was a mean parent, or being negative, but because I had their best interest at heart.  I am sure I became very unpopular in my children's eyes when the answer was "no".  But being a parent is not about being popular, or at least it shouldn't be.  Okay, how is a "no" answer a blessing?  For the last 6 weeks our family has been praying for something very big in our lives.  I thought for sure a door had or would soon be opened. T he door slammed shut.  It was a definite "NO".  I truly was shocked, wanted to succumb to tears, all while my chest was in knots.  Then I had t...

I am thankful for my 14 children.  Our lives are busy and everyday is a new adventure.  But I wouldn't change it for the world.  I feel very blessed to have given birth to such wonderful children!   Today is the 12th birthday of our twin son and daughter, "babies 9 and 10"!!!  Happy Birthday you two!   To all my offspring who are reading this, remember, Momma loves you, and "walk the walk, talk the talk, and remember the sacrifice on Calvary".   Lo, children are a heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. Psalm 127:3  

I am thankful for the husband God has given me.  After 27 years of marriage he is still my best friend.  He has always worked hard to provide for our family, always putting his needs behind everyone else.  I am thankful that he has a heart to follow God when it seems foolish to most others.  I am thankful that he still loves me even though I have lost my "girlish" figure... if you see it, please tell it to return to it's original owner. :-)  We love history!  Maybe because we are "old"!  This spring/summer we bought two family passes, one to the Creation Museum, and one to our state museum.  (Museums and a sack lunch are our "vacations"!)  We were able to see the Creation Museum this spring.  We had blast!  We went through it twice!  This summer we went to the State Museum to see the Abraham Lincoln exhibit. We saw a poster that advertised the Titanic exhibit for fall/winter! ...

I thought it would be fitting to do a month of posting what I am thankful for.   " It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High:"   Psalm 92:1 I am thankful that God loved me enough to send His only Son to die in my place, for MY sins.  I am also thankful that when God looks at me He sees me through Christ.  I am washed clean by His blood!   Okay, that was two!  It's two for one day!!!!

It's been a long two days.  I woke up with a headache yesterday about 6 AM, and lasted until about 9 PM this evening!  It was a struggle through both days.  I still went on Saturday visitation for church, and both services today.  But hopefully  it is behind me and tomorrow will be better! I made a real cute card yesterday!   Of course I don't know how to upload a photo of it, so you will have to take my word for it!!!   I had hoped it would help "numb" the pain of the headache, but it didn't.   Daughter #2 is filling out her info for college next fall.  She was accepted last October, but is filling out emergency numbers, med info, etc.  She is so excited about going!  I just hope she misses me while she is gone!  She says she will, but...  My mother always told me that God gave us children to give them wings, to let them fly. That is exactly what I am doing!  I would not want any of my children fee...

Can't believe it is Friday!  Yes! Week-end!!!  Tonight was youth night.  My hubby and I had the honor of helping get the teen meal ready tonight.  It was fun!  Fed just a few more mouths than I cook for at home, so it wasn't too bad.  We had nachos with all the toppings! Today was a normal day with the ususal, getting up and eating breakfast, getting ready for school, etc.  It was actually cold this morning, in the low 30's!  The family has been complaining for days that it is cold.  I actually got cold during the night!  So I finally gave in and turned on the heat this morning.  It was a mad dash for the vents!  The younger ones love to sit or stand on the vents in the morning.  They are almost as bad as the Golden Retrievers we had.  They, the Goldens, were vent hogs!  Didn't matter if it was cold or hot outside, they claimed the vents!!!!  I sure miss those dogs! I'd like to say a quick than...

I was hoping to post every evening, but I guess that I am finding that sometimes life gets in the way.   After I posted on Monday, Dear Hubby "decides" to get sick!  He was up most of the night!  Darling Twin Son had a hard time sleeping.  He does not like to be the only one awake at night!  I get a little out of sorts if I get my sleep interrupted at night.  So, you can probably guess just how my day went on Tuesday!!  It was not my best day to say the least!  But thankfully, I have a very forgiving family, and things were much better today! This morning started late, again!  But school still was finished and no one suffered any from a little extra shut eye!  Everyone is back to normal, meaning over the "sickies" for the most part.   Daughter #2 is feeling so much better!  She is eating her hot sauce again!!!!  I love creating cards!  I went to a stamp club last night, Tuesday Tappers!  We always have a...

Have you ever had one of those days when you are glad it is over?  Well, that's today!  Daughter #2 is still sick with flu like symptoms but no fever.  Now she has hives, the little red pin dot type all over.  Our youngest son  has had a cough all day and just a little on the "pushing the limit" side also.  I feel like the whole day has been out of my control and just felt like crying, if I thought it would do any good I would!  You know, the little things become so overwhelming!  Oh well, I am so glad God has not and will not ever change!  He is in control, so it is no wonder the day has been out of my control! :-)  Guess I need to be resting in Him and not wrestling the day!  WOW!  I feel better just admitting it! Tomorrow will be a new day and God will still be on His throne reigning and directing.  Thank you L ORD for always remaining the same and never changing!  

A week has ended and a new one has begun.  It was a busy Saturday just as I expected.  I had a nice surprise when we went to church on Saturday morning.  The teens left for visitation and the Sunday school class our "generation of wisdom ",(older folks), had a corn hole tournament and chili/hotdog lunch.  Our associate pastor's daughter was home with her hubby from Alabama!  They were only "home" for the day and had to leave  this morning, but I was so thrilled to see her!  She was married this spring and this was her first trip home since she moved away!! Today is a milestone.  Our 8th child, 5th son, turned 14!!  "HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR SON!!"  Church was wonderful!  Always is!  Preaching was fantastic, this morning and evening!  One verse that was part of our text today was Colossians 3:2, "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth."  How many times do we g...

My dear, eldest daughter called me this afternoon on her lunch hour to let me know that I had a spelling error in my blog last night!!!  Don't bother to look for it, I fixed it while talking to her on the phone!!  If you found it...sorry!  I really did proof read it six times!  Anyway, she seems to be doing well.  She is stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, serving for this GREAT country, in the US Army.  Very proud of her, and all my other Lil' Chicks.  Thank you Dear Daughter #1 for finding my error and for serving our nation! Today was a busy day just as I expected.  Doctor appointment over and had to wait a little longer than I thought we would.  I had an errand to run after the appointment also, so that left Hubby in charge of school all day.  He did a great job!  He got laundry caught up and even all the grading finished for school!   We had a good time at  youth mee...

The day has been a quiet one...sort of.  Usual day with home school, unless you get to go to the library!  We had 3 scholars who needed books for book reports.  It seems as of late it takes forever to get books that we order from the library website.  Okay, it does not count when you are almost 13, and order a book that has just come out...patron in waiting number 139 out of the 202 on the list!  Of course, there are only about 25 books available and each with a 21 day loan !    So we had to go to 2 different branches to get 3 books that were on the shelf so no one gets behind!  Of course, it had to become a field trip to a couple of the younger ones!   So, I guess going to the library was the high light  of our day.  Now tomorrow will be different.  We have one who has to be at the doctor at 8:25!  EWWW!  I have to fight rush hour traffic going towards downtown!!!  Youth meeting is tomorr...

Hard to believe it is the middle of the week!  Where does time go?  (I have searched high and low for it and cannot find it any where!)  Today was one of those days...you get up late and then it seems like you spend forever trying to get through the day!  Yep, that was today!  After seeing our oldest son who lives at home off to work at 6:15, we crawled back to bed for "a few moments"!!  Right!!!!  We woke up at 8, and only because one of the twins came in to get us up!!!!  We had an appointment to have the van looked at this morning at 8:30!!!!  Dear hubby got ready really quick and made it to the body shop in time! God is so good to us!  In the midst of our struggles in life, He still shows us He is God and always in control!  When we get the mail each day we look for "blessings" and "burdens". ( You know, "blessings" are anything other than bills and junk mail, and "burdens" are bills!) Hubby checked the mail today and ...

Children are so precious!  In the mix of the morning getting school underway, our 5 1/2 year old daughter leaves her desk and comes to me in the kitchen.  She has taken her sweater off and tells me her "nostrils are cold".  Trying not to laugh, I pull her into my lap and rock her.  After loving on her a few moments, I plug her nose and tell her if she breathes out her mouth her "nostrils will not be cold any more"!  She breathes out her mouth and is off to her desk!  Now to tell the truth, her nose was not cold!  I think she was just looking for a little extra lovin' and a wee break from school!!  Kindergarten is very hard you know!  (She had to learn how to make a cursive "f" today.)  Being a mother is the hardest job I have ever had!  Actually, it's the longest job I have ever  had!   After 25 years of mothering, you think I may have found an easier way of doing the job.  But there is nothing easy about raisi...

You never know what a day will bring.  We got up this morning around 6:15 to find out someone hit our van during the night!  Since we have only street parking, some vehicles get a little "cozy" when going down the street.  With this van, we have had more than our share of marks down the drivers side.  We have even been swiped by two school buses!  BUT....this one takes the cake!  No buffing these marks out, no sir!  We have a nice dent and TEAR in the drivers front fender!  Of course it also pulled out the yellow "lamp" light.  But the good news is it is only a "thing", not a life.  It can be fixed.  God is good even when things "look" bad. It may have surprised us, but not Him. "I just keep trusting my Lord, as I walk along,...." We had a good day schooling!  One of our scholars had school underway by 7:15 and another by 7:30.  All the others were in place and going by 8.  Besides a m...

Sunday is always the beginning of a new week for us.  Our day begins like most, but Sunday is a race to get 13 people out the door by 9 A.M. for church.   With one bathroom, it is divided up into 3 areas, it is a challenge to get a spot in the mirror.  Usually we squeeze 2 bigger bodies with  one smaller one in between .   That does not always work out so well.  But , try having a hairdryer, curling iron and two flat irons plugged in and getting beautified!  Hair, arms, elbows....watch out!  Next, try not getting fingers tangled while doing 3 or 4 french braids! Tomorrow will begin a normal school week.  It may take a day or two to get back in the swing of things after having 4 days off last week.  Some of the scholars will be studying extra hard, as they are having 9 week exams!  This makes it a little difficult for me, as I have to keep "noise to a minimum" !  That can be a challenge!...

Ah!  Saturday, the end of the week!  Usually Saturday is our "sleep in" day, if you can imagine a house with young children sleeping in!  This Saturday morning was spent getting ready and out the door for our church bus blitz.  It was so good to see more than just the teens when we arrived at church!  I love it when the adults in the church take an interest and go out when the teens are involved!  I stayed behind to mind the nursery.  It is fun to spoil someone else's children!  I love holding, rocking and reading to them.  Today we play Red Light/Green Light , Mother May I , and had a pretend camp-out and camp fire.  Looks like I will be able to get some cards finished up this afternoon!  The majority of the house is caught up and so is the NEVER ending laundry!  Pork chops are in the slow cooker for supper and I'll make a couple of sides later on!  Yippe!  I get to PLAY! Lamentations 3:21-25   ...

Today was a "free" Friday.  We spent Tuesday-Thursday this week with some friends at a cabin.  The plan was to school Monday and Friday, but by last night I left the vote up to hubby if we should just take Friday off as well.  The scholars were excited!  This gave us time to get bedrooms back in a semi-order, and test and quizzes planned for next week!   Tonight was also the "off" night for our teen youth night.  It is nice to have a Friday evening at home, but when you are in a routine it can really throw the evening off.  It really has felt more like a Saturday! It has been a good day and God has blessed us greatly.  He always provides what we need.  I call it our manna.  He doesn't give us more than we need~~I wouldn't want it to "spoil".  What a wonderful God we serve! 

Blogging is new to me.  Outside of leaving a little message on a dear friend's blog, I have not been one to do anything like this.  That might be because I keep busy with my "little" family.  Ten of our fourteen children still live at home, plus we have another "daughter" living with us.  Yep!  That makes 15, ranging from the ages of 5 1/2 to 25, plus Dad and Mom!  Let's not forget the daughters-in-law, son-in-law, and grandchildren giving us a grand total of 23!!!  I hope our family is encouraging or even a little entertaining to you!  More about the family another time!  Have a great day and God bless!!!