Home sweet home

Ahhhhh... hard wood floors, large kitchen, nice neighbors, play room for the boys, boxes, boxes, dust, cleaning, 'where should I put that?'. We are experiencing both the joys and difficulties of moving. We all really like the new home, and are looking forward to all of the boxes put away and there being some sort of order and cleanliness to this cute blue house! We have also been sick and incredibly busy with David's work and the kids school work. I am so excited that we are officially beginning the Thanksgiving break tomorrow! I am looking forward to unpacking, reading books to the kids, going on walks, and just relaxing! The following are some pictures from our moving day.

Baby Picasso

Well, I am on a roll... This is my 4th blog post tonight. David was supposed to get home from Haiti tonight, but he and his buddy missed the last plane and will not arrive until tomorrow morning. We were a little sad, but happy that they are safely back in the US and we will retrieve them at a much better time of day tomorrow morning. So instead of hearing all about David's trip, I am catching up on my blog. :)
So, what does that have to do with Picasso? Nothing! The real reason for this post is to show these pictures of Silas. Keenan was trying out Abby's new easel she received as a gift from grandparents, when Silas spied him. He is in the stage where he wants whatever anyone else has so of course he had to have a try. He sat right down, picked up the crayons, and made his first work of art. Maybe I should have kept it, but in light of our up-coming move (this week!!!), I trashed it. Hope you don't think I'm a terrible mom. At least I took a picture of it first!

My little ballerina and her party

Abby is now 9! She had a "Let's be creative" party on the 23rd, the day before her birthday. She invited several friends. She helped "designed" the party and the activities, which included Making pizza pockets for dinner, making chocolate lolipops, making stationary kits, and playing a homemade lifesize game. Unfortunately, the photographer was not very attentive to picture taking. It was a little crazy with all that making stuff!
I've also included a couple of pictures of Abby at ballet class this week. She posed (eyes close!!) for me and then I got her as she was trying on her costume for the Christmas dance. More about that later. Happy birthday to my sweet girl! I am so glad she is a part of our family and pray she continues to stay close the the Good Shepherd as she grows up!

Pumpkin Carving

I need to be a little more creative with my titles, don't you think? Crystal King, send me some of your pizazz! :) Here are some pictures of our family carving a pumpkin. David went with Keenan's kindergarten class to a pumpkin farm and they picked out this big guy. We gave him the happiest pumpkin face there ever was! The boys were really into the scooping of the goop. The girls were not into this part, but liked the design and cut part. Rachel spent most her time reading until she got the idea that we should roast the seeds. She pulled them out of the goop with some help from her siblings and we roasted them. "They taste like chips" was her reply after sampling the salted ones.

Not a baby anymore!

Well, as I looked through my latest pictures, I realized Silas is so BIG! He's a toddler now. Goodbye, baby. His personality is blossoming. He is determined but I still think he will be a little more mellow than the other two boys. Maybe its just wishful thinking. ;) Anyway, enjoy the pictures of our cutie!

Birthday Morning

We have a tradition at our house. Birthday boy or girl gets to choose his homemade breakfast... anything they want. In past years we have had chocolate waffles, oatmeal, cereal, pumpkin doughnuts, shaped pancakes, etc... This year Rachel wanted Daddy to make waffles. He was flattered and even put off his planned morning run to make birthday breakfast for his oldest little girl. We served the waffles with homemade berry topping, apples and cinnamon, yogurt, maple syrup and even chocolate syrup. Better than Denny's! What a great way to start the celebration! After breakfast the birthday girl got to open her gifts from mom and dad and from her grandparents. She was pleased with all of her gifts. The following video is of Rachel opening her gift from Melissa's parents. Since you guys couldn't be here, I thought you would enjoy seeing it on video.

My oldest girl turns 11!

Happy birthday to you...
Today is actually Rachel's birthday, but she had her campout slumber party last weekend so her closest friend could come. We had planned to campout near the woods at the Cornerstone mission base. However, rain forced us to improvise. We set up the tent in the newly built sunroom. We decorated the table and built a rock "fire ring" for our electric grill to be our camp fire. After the guests arrived, we sang happy birthday and ate the camping themed birthday cake. As a side note, the cake was a lot of fun to make. Other birthday events included gifts, roasting marshmallows over the "fire," watching a movie and playing wild horse. In the morning the girls made pancakes together, then went out in the chilly air to play. Rachel really enjoyed her party! Thanks to all who had a part in it!

Our newest pet

Meet the newest pet in the Trimble home: a praying mantis. We are enjoying this unique creature that God made. We caught it at Cornerstone after prayer one day. The girls have fittingly named it "warrior." A week before catching it, another prayer missionary found a mantis eating a baby snake. We thought it was a good prophetic picture of the "pray-er" or one who prays having victory over our enemy, Satan, symbolized by the snake. We don't know if we caught that same mantis or a different one. Anyway, we brought the mantis home and have been taking care of it for a week or so. We catch flies and put them into the cage live. Then the mantis hunts it, catches it and eats it. It is gross but fascinating. The following videos are rare footage of the actual hunt and eating of the prey. The first video is of the mantis hunting. He misses in this video but you can get the idea. I wasn't quite quick enough to film him actually catching the fly. The second one is him eating that same fly. The videos are not National Geographic quality cause I am still learning to use this crazy camera, but I know someone who reads our blog will like them.

video...finally

This video is of Silas playing chase with Keenan. The boys love to play together. Silas is already learning "boy stuff" from his brothers. As I was starting this blog, Silas was grunting (his way of asking for something) for a sword. He goes to the fridge where we keep them and points to the top and grunts persistently :) He also likes to wrestle. Beware lying on the floor. He will run (as best he can, which is cute in itself), smile a big smile and jump right on you!

A little glance at life

Life has gotten so busy with the start of school. My days are so full with planning, teaching, taking to and from school and extra activities, cooking, cleaning, praying, teaching some more... I am so thankful for this life God has given me! But it is busy. So I have not had time to sit down and blog. I really haven't been taking photos or videos much. But for those of you who do want to see our children... Here are some pictures. Most of them are of the boys. The girls are usually reading or doing school work or riding their bikes. I just don't think to take pictures unless someone is doing something cute! Here you will see sidewalk art, a birthday cake for mama made in the Trimble boy bakery, morning cuddle time, and some wrestling. Silas wanted to get in on it, too!

Silent Movies

My dad is letting me use another of his cameras. So I am experimenting. Why are these electronic gadgets so difficult to work properly? First I have to learn how to use the camera to take a picture. Then, I have to learn how to make a video with the camera. Next, I have to download the pictures and videos onto my computer. Then I have figure out why my videos are not showing up on the computer when they are there on the playback of the camera. After some time, I determine that the formatting of the videos from the camera is not compatible with the programs already on my computer so then I have to download "Quicktime." And when I finally get the video to play on the computer, I learn that it has no sound! So now I guess I have to learn how to turn the sound on the camera, too! Oh well! Here is a video of Silas, without the clicking, but with no sound at all! It would be much better with sound, 'cause then you could hear all his babbling and laughing! I guess that's why they added sound to movies all those years ago.
On the brighter side... I figured out how to solve my problem all by myself! God has given me a good brain!

Hahahahaha! After all that, I guess there is still more I have to learn. After 3 tries and several hours, I could not get the video to upload. It is not the first time I have had this problem, but there seems to be others in the blogging community that have struggled with this too. Anyway, hope you enjoyed a laugh today. And I will try to get a video up soon! I will not let the electronic monsters win!

Kentucky State Fair

We have a tradition in our family. A state fair tradition. Almost every year since I was a small child, my parents have taken me to the state fair. When our children came along, they wanted to continue that tradition, even though at the time we were living in Kentucky and they were in SC. So they drove up to our house, we loaded our van and drove to Louisville for the annual state fair. We are now back in Kentucky, but that did not stop the tradition. Once again, they made the long trip from SC to Kentucky so that we could pile into two cars (our family has grown!) and make our way to the Grand Event. So what draws us back there year after year, spending loads of money and time in the car? David asks that question too! Maybe its the fun of watching the children laugh as they are are tossed around on the dragon mini-roller coaster or fly through the air on the swings. Maybe its riding the tilt-a-whirl (with my mom!) to see how fast we can get our car to spin! Maybe its the funnel cakes. Maybe its the excitement of my dad playing a game to win a prize for his girls. He almost always wins, too. Its probably a little bit of all of that plus the memories of all the previous years at the fair that draws us back each year. Fun, excitement, rides, and sweet treats + nostalgia = the state fair for the Cockrell family. Thanks mom and dad for a fun night!
Here are some pictures of our adventures. The boys had so much fun on the rides, squealing with delight. Their favorite was the swing ride. The girls are getting older and wanted to try out some of the bigger rides, which made their mother a little nervous :) Their favorite was the pirate ship that swings way up!

school!

Well, the Trimble crew has a boy in public school! We have a great kindergarten program in this county and we have a very energetic little boy, who when coupled with his little brother gets into too much mischief or too much wrestling when I am doing school work with the girls. So we decided after much thought and prayer to put Keenan in Kindergarten! He started last Thursday and really enjoys it! He is so cute! I enjoy having a few quiet minutes in the mornings with just him (and sometimes Silas). He even likes riding the bus... to school, not home from school :) He says its too hot on the bus in the afternoons. We like that he is only at school for 3 hours. Adjusting to the schedule so strictly is a little bit of a stretch for me. I am used to being able to roll with whatever may be happening that day. Our homeschool schedule is somewhat flexible. But public school doesn't care that the baby was up all night, or that church went really late the night before, or that friends are coming from out of town for just one day. The bus still comes at 7 am sharp, Monday through Friday. I know that many, many others have surrendered themselves to the public school schedule for years of their lives. I just don't like someone else telling me exactly when and where I have to be so often. Anyway, we are doing well with it and looking forward to a fun year, both at kindergarten and with the girls at home!

Camp and Camping

Last week we took the girls to a camp in Ohio. Some good friends of ours were helping to lead it and we wanted the girls to experience summer camp, with an eternal purpose! So they spent three days worshiping God, praying, learning to use dance and other forms of art for God's glory, playing games, staying up late, etc... They had so much fun! Both said they came home knowing that they had really, wholeheartedly worshiped God! That was worth every penny we paid for it! I cannot post their pictures because they had a disposable camera. Sorry.
While the girls were at camp, David and I took the boys camping nearby. We also had a great time. The boys loved playing in the dirt, hammering sticks with a rubber mallet, hiking in the woods, exploring, roasting marshmallows and other outside activities. Silas was so filthy by the last day, but he loves to be outside so he didn't mind! I bathed him a tiny sink before we left :) Enjoy the pictures of the boys roasting marshmallows, Silas with a whole marshmallow in his mouth, and the boys at the lake near our campsite.

comments

For those of you who care to comment, I think I figured out how to make it easier to do so. Grandma T., try it and let me know if it really is easier.

Hard Pressed by not Crushed!

Well, for those of you who read the Aug 1 blog "Overwhelmed" here is the update. God was so good to me as I cried out to Him for his eyes and his heart for my kids. As usually happens when I take my eyes off of me and my circumstances and fix them on Jesus, my perspective is corrected and put into clearer focus. I had a fabulous day following that blog and though the days that have followed have not all been easy, my outlook and attitude (perspective!!! I love that word) is better. I keep seeking the Lord and his joy and grace for each day. I was very encouraged as I reread Scriptures like " We are had pressed on every side but not crushed, perplexed but not in despair... Therefore we do not lose heart..." 2 Corinthians 4:7-18 Paul knew how I was feeling! He had experienced it. Not with his kids, but his other daily circumstances. And my life is no less important to God than his, though it is less "famous." One of our favorite singers at IHOP (International House of Prayer) in Kansas City sings this line, "If I don't give up, I win!" Endurance and staying faithful to the end is a theme all through Scripture. So even when I am struggling and God seems so far away, I'm not going to give up. I will keep seeking the Awesome God who made me and loves me! I will keep singing to Him and waiting on him, putting my hope in God alone. See Psalm 33!! It's one of my favs!
Melissa

He's Walking!!

Today, Silas just started walking. It seemed sudden to us because he didn't really do just one or two steps first. Rachel was holding his hand leading in down the hall, she let go, but he kept walking. He took at least 5 steps before plopping down. Just to make sure it wasn't a fluke, we tried it again, this time with the camera. And sure enough he did it again for us and then again for Daddy. So here you go... footage of baby Silas, who is quickly growing out of "babyhood," walking!

boys just gotta run and jump

Here is some video footage of the boys having fun a few days ago. Just a reminder that the videos I post are not really great quality, but for grandparents, they will do. One day I will have a better camera, but for now I am thankful for the one I have! Thanks mom and dad!
p.s. there were two videos but I could only get one to download. I need to learn a new format or something for my videos. If you are computer savvy and have suggestions, please let me know.

OVERWHELMED!!

WARNING: THIS IS RAW, PERSONAL INFORMATION. PROCEED WITH CAUTION.
David is not here to talk to so I am using this blog to process some of my thoughts. The last few weeks have been difficult days for me, especially at home. Jesus, please meet with me as I type and help me to work out some of these issues. Honestly, I am having a hard time enjoying my children. What are the difficulties? Bickering, a baby who has turned so whiny all of a sudden, boys who want to beat up each other all day long, not listening to instructions, self-centeredness and the inability or unwillingness to consider others... I could go on, but really I think I just feel two things: one is a sense of being overwhelmed by day to day struggles and the second is a genuine burden for the spiritual and emotional maturation of my children. Now my problem is what do I do now? What do I do with these feelings? How do I handle them correctly so that I grow to know God in a deeper way and that my children do, too. How do I teach my children things like overlooking a (minor) offense, patience with a grumpy baby (even when I am tiring of it too), thinking of someone else's feelings or desires, being calm when necessary, self control when they are angry, etc...? Not to mention picking up after oneself, not picking one's nose, closing the door when going outside, following directions as soon as they are given, etc... I am getting bogged down in the muck of parenthood. I am not laughing and enjoying being a mommy. Tonight I played a card game with the girls after I finally got all the boys in bed. It was so good to laugh with them. I told them that our laughter was good medicine for me. But the majority of my day is so different. How do I enjoy them when one minute my three year old is calling someone "poopy bottom," my five year old gets angry and hits him, the 10 year old gets mad at the 5 year old and starts saying all manner of ugly things. Then a few minutes later, the baby is whining at my feet or pulling the CDs off the shelf he knows he isn't supposed to touch and "accidently" the 8 year old pushes the 5 year old off the bed and now he's screaming in his anger at his mistreatment. And on it goes all day! It hasn't always been like this I don't think. What has changed or why do I feel the weight of parenting so heavily now?
Is is a discipline problem? Is it some sort of spiritual attack? Is it deep heart issues with me or with my children? Probably it is some of all of it.
Last night after a hard day, I just put some worship music on and prayed and worshiped God. And it was wonderful! Today, I am writing this blog. I feel like crying and screaming all at the same time. I do feel like God gives me strength enough for each day, but I don't like always feeling like I am running on fumes. fumes of joy, fumes of patience, fumes of energy and strength... I want to be victorious. I want Jesus to be king in my home. I want my children to love God and his ways. I want to abide in Christ. I want to live in freedom and joy and the power of the Holy Spirit. I want more than I am experiencing right now!
One thing I know. God had put me in this place at this time and it is He who is my help! I call on Him and wait for his hand of mercy and deliverance. I am not giving up the fight. If I don't give up, I win!
Here's my plan. Worship and pray now! Communion with God is my strength, my joy, my fuel! Tomorrow, I think I'll turn off my computer, use paper plates, sing lots of fun kids songs, get outside and enjoy my kids. And I'll start our day with worship and prayer and God's Living Word! I'll "trust in the Lord with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding!"
It was nice to write openly. I feel a little lighter after expressing my frustrations. I hope none of you are offended or have the wrong idea about me or my family! I love what I do and my kids are great. We are all just a work in progress and that gets messy sometimes. God is faithful! I'll write again soon so I don't leave you hanging.
Just thought of this verse, God speaking: "when you pass through the waters, I will be with you and the waves will not overwhelm you." From Isaiah 43. Thank you Lord for your promises.

Happy Birthday

Yesterday we gathered at a park with another family to celebrate Silas's birthday. As we drove to the park it started raining a little and we were wondering if we would have to change our location. But by the time we got there, the rain had stopped and we were greeted by this beautiful rainbow.
Silas brings so much joy to all of us. We are thankful that God gave him to us. Here are some pictures from the party. There are a few more on in my Facebook album.

quick peek at the family

Last week we went to an old farm. David was taking the pictures so I could be in them. However he didn't know that the camera was on video mode. So here are some super quick videos of us...

Trash for Cash

Our county wants to clean up some roads so they are offering non-profit organizations money for each mile of road we clean up. So a group of us from Cornerstone International House of Prayer cleaned up the road that leads to the mission base. Here are some pictures a friend and fellow trash picker-upper took...