All posts by Jennifer

Jennifer Horne is a mom to 4 children and wife to one husband (thank God!). She enjoys laughing at her overly dramatic offspring, correcting her family's speech, and wasting time on the internet. Her blog serves as a chronicle of her family life and random thoughts that she deems worthy of a post.
christian growth, The Bible

Be Encouraged

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Psalm 59:16-17 (ESV)

16But I will sing of your strength;
I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.
For you have been to me a fortress
and a refuge in the day of my distress.
17O my Strength, I will sing praises to you,
for you, O God, are my fortress,
the God who shows me steadfast love.

Philippians 4:4-9 (ESV)

4Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

family

Nevin – A Mini-Tribute

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Today, our Nevin turns 11!  Happy Birthday.

In a family with 4 children, it is often hard to pinpoint a “middle child.”  But, in our family, Nevin was #2 of 3 for 4 years, so the monaker of “middle child” definitely falls to him.   So to ward off a little of that “the middle child is always forgotten syndrome,” I am offering a mini-tribute to our 11-year-old middle child–Nevin.  (Please note, being the middle child means there are very few photos of you alone.)

Nevin at around 1.  Cute little guy.

Nevin & Calvin right after a bath.  Nevin was probably about 9 months old, which means Calvin was just over 2.

The whole  family in 1999 at our church near Seattle, WA.

Nevin & Calvin, circa 2001, in Minco, OK.

Nevin with Granddaddy at the St Louis Zoo,  2005.

Nevin at this year’s harvest party.

Nevin is a sweet-natured kid who loves to read, play computer games, and has recently acquired a taste for old A-Team episodes that are posted on the internet. He also likes to sing, to do strange dance moves that often embarass his older brother, and he enjoys operatic music.

We love him a lot, and we’re thankful for all the great and fun qualities he brings to our family.  Thank you, Lord, for Nev.

family, health

The Wounded Princess

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Many of you know that our Charis fell on the black top near the playground at recess about 2  weeks ago.  This past Sunday was the first time I had the opportunity to take a picture of her with the cast.  This was taken at our church’s annual Harvest Party:

As you can see, she’s pretty happy with life despite the large pink cast.  After having the bone set and the cast put on, she has barely missed a beat.   She did say to her teacher last week, “I don’t know how all those misquitoes are getting into my cast.”

christian growth, family

School Walk-a-thon Fundraiser

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This is the second year we have had children enrolled at  a small Christian school in south St. Louis County.  It is like lots of other Christian schools with small classes, loving teachers, strong academics, and sweet students.  However, it is unique because the church that hosts the school donates the building, and even maintenance and utilities to the school to keep their overhead very low.  The church sees this as a ministry to the community,  and I can testify that it is a ministry to our family.  We are very blessed to have our children surrounded by other believers each day as they study and learn academics as well as what it means to be a Christian in today’s culture.

All tuition at this school goes to paying for school materials (textbooks, etc) and teacher salaries.  The school is also very committed to making Christian education accessible to families of all economic backgrounds.  They have a generous multi-child discount, which makes it possible for several families with multiple children to keep them in a Christian educational environment.

The school has very few fundraisers compared to other schools.  As a parent, I am very thankful for this.  However, each fall the school has its primary fundraiser, a walk-a-thon, where parents, friends, and family sponsor the children to walk to raise money to help allow the school to keep its tuition low and its academics and Christian testimony strong. The children do not take donations for number of laps walked, but they take lump-sum donations for completing the event.

This year’s fall walk-a-thon is scheduled for October 31, and the school’s goal is to raise $40,000.00 through this event.  They would like to see each student raise $350.  With 4 kids at the school, that makes our family expectation $1,300.00.  If we were able, we would just hand over the $1,300.00.  But we’re not.  So, I am asking anyone who stops by my blog to consider donating to this cause.  If you would like to donate, you can e-mail me at mjathornesdotorg for instructions of how to get your donation into the right hands.  If you are interested in giving but would like to know more details about the school, e-mail me so I can answer you privately.  Any donations we receive through my blog will be divided up among my 4 children so they receive “credit” for the funds raised.

You can also donate through paypal if you like.  I tried putting a donate button up here, but it didn’t work.  So if you want to use paypal, shoot me an e-mail, too.

around the house, family

Our Simonaversary

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Perhaps you remember this post from a little over a year ago.

So it has been just over a year since Simon joined our household.  He has adpated well to the craziness of living with us.  The children still bemoan the fact that he feels he must sit as close to me as possible when we are just hanging around the house, but they have gotten used to it.  I think Simon thinks he is just another one of the kids–the most special one who must always be by Mommy.  He and Charis have had their tossels as they both jockey for position.  In the end, though, I think Simon has learned that he is #5 in the pecking order of children (the rest come in no particular order of course, ahem  . . .)

So raise your coffee cup to our first year with Simon.  He has been a happy (albeit sometimes smelly) addition to the family.

around the house

Clean Counter Tops & Sanity

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Last Saturday, I hosted a bridal shower in my home for a young woman from church.  I was providing the place, and someone else was bringing the decorations, set-up, etc.  I was only responsible to have the house clean, make my one small contribution to the food table, and be available.   So I cleaned, and I was pretty happy with my results.

This is the counter a bit after the shower–not completely clean, but close!

We have a long, skinny galley kitchen with very little counter space.  So one thing I did was cleaned off the counter surfaces completely.  Our refrigerator stands between two island like tables I have added to serve as extra counter space, so I removed all the papers, notices, pictures, etc., from the refrigerator, too.   Boy, do I love a clutter free refrigerator.  Who knew how good something so simple could make me feel?

In the week since the shower, I have tried to keep the counters and fridge clear of as much stuff as possible. It has been great to have more space for cutting, serving, etc., this week because there’s not a lot of extra junk sitting on my counters.  I have felt more calm in my kitchen than I have in a long time.

Now, with 4 kids and a husband, is it possible to keep up this clean counter-top regimen?  Time will tell.  In the mean time, would you like me to slice you a piece of banana bread on my nice clean counter top?

politics

The One about the Debate

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So, who watched the debate?  I watched it while I cleaned the kitchen.  Doing something physical was helpful to keep my mind occupied enough with something else so as to not scream at the tv.

Seriously though, apart from the time that John McCain talked in a melodramatic way about the bracelet he had from the mother of a soldier who died in Iraq and then Obama said, “I have a bracelet, too,” I was able to keep from too many snide remarks.

I admit to some concern about how McCain would do, but I honestly think he held his own pretty well.  The dem spin is that he talked too much about what he did 30 years ago, but I really felt those points did bring attention to Obama’s lack of experience.  McCain may have dropped too many names and said he loved Petraus too much, but overall, I was pleasantly surprised with his performance.

For a little debate humor, take a look at this.

around the house, blogging, family, parenting

No Longer on a Roll

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So I was doing pretty well there with regular blog posts.  What happened?  What always does–life.

Mark has been crazy busy with work projects.  One has a quick turnaround deadline, and it is sort of speculative.  So pray he gets it done, and pray the $$ comes through.

Then there’s been all the kids’ stuff.  The girls are taking swimming lessons; Nevin is taking wrestling; and Calvin only made it on the waiting list for fencing, but he’ll get in the next session in a month or so.  Awana started for the the 3 younger ones three weeks ago, too.  And, Evangeline has been to the dentist twice in the past 2 weeks.  She had a toothache that turned out to be an abcessed tooth.  She had to have it pulled, and she was very brave about it all.  Then we took her back the following week for a cleaning and x-rays.  It turns out she has 2 more cavities that will need to be filled.  Oh, and the dentist informed me that we need to see an orthodontist.  Yay!  We have expected this with Nevin, but we were crossing our fingers that he would be the only one.

So in the midst of the nation’s economic crisis, life goes on.  Nevin asked me today what we would do if the economic system collapsed.  I told him we would be ok because we have practice with economic crisis.  He laughed at my little joke, which I guess is a good thing since he understood what I was getting at, and yet it didn’t make him unhappy.  (I also added that we would trust God and work for a solution, btw. )

books

Life in Cranford

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I just finished the little novel, Cranford, by Elizabeth Gaskell.  I took a long time to finish it after getting halfway through on our cruise the last week of July, but this is not because it is a poorly written or uninteresting book.  I just meandered through it a few pages a day because life got busy with school starting and work stuff and appliances breaking down.  But this morning, I had a little time to myself, and I finished the last 2 chapters.  I can’t recommend this book enough to all you Jane Austen fans out there.  If you like Jane, you’ll like the worlds that Eliabeth Gaskell creates.

Cranford is a small English town inhabited mostly by women.  There are men associated with the town, but they are not on the scene very much.  Gaskell paints a very comfortable picture of country living in England in the late 1800s with characters that you want to know and emulate in your life.  The 2 main characters are Miss Matty and her regular companion, Miss Mary Smith, who serves as the narrator.   The book is very much character driven, with each chapter revealing something about the town’s women through short vignettes of the events and goings on in Cranford.  Gaskell’s narrative has a pleasant ending that makes the reader appreciate Miss Matty even more and that demonstrates the benefits of living a meaningful quiet life being kind to those around you.

Annie Barlow told me there is a BBC dvd series based on this book a few months back.  I am anxiously awaiting an opportunity to watch them now that I’ve finished the book.