Dancing Lessons and More

Over the summer, we joined a wonderful recreation center - Concordia Turners. The children took swimming lessons and we had plenty of pool time. One wonderful thing about the Turners is that once you pay your membership fee (extremely resonable for a family of 8), all lessons and classes are FREE! Once the list of Fall Classes was posted, I checked it out and boy was I amazed. Abby and Emma are taking tap, jazz, Irish dance, and gymnastics. Ernie takes Martial Arts and gymnastics. Jonathan attends a few of the martial arts classes, plus he and Christian are in Tumble Bears. This makes for busy nights, but when the gym is 7 minutes away...we've made it work. The children LOVE all the activities and John and I love to see them explore and learn new things. Concordia is a family friendly atmosphere and we are really happy there. If you live near us, go and take a tour!

Abby and Emma before their first dance class.

Sweet Sisters.

Older and hopefully wiser...

I turned 31 on October 10th. It was a wonderful birthday. John had to work so he made sure I had presents and Krispy Kremes to start the morning off right. Next, my Dad took the oldest 5 children out for the day. I headed off to Scandals for a pedicure, then Mom and Isabella took me shopping and lunch at my favorite spot-McAlister's. What an enjoyable day! Once John and the kiddos returned home, we had dinner at Culvers and enjoyed an evening on the couch watching the Cardinals. Too bad they lost. What a great family I have! They know how to spoil me and I really appreciate it!

Presents and Doughnuts

Krispy Kremes with Candles

My Sweet Clan

HAPPY FEET!

What's On Your Mind?

What is on your mind in a day?

Today, I looked down at a pile of stuff that needed to be put into my clean office and I was shocked to realize this is probably what the compartments of my mind contain for daily life as a Mom of six. There is my beloved calendars. Yes, it requires two calendars to track everything - my children's activities, my husband's meetings & coaching schedule, my nights out with friends. Of course there are doctor's appointments, the PCCA volleyball schedule, etc in it as well. Next are all the things I need to remember with 3 children in school: three different grades, field trips, items to bring in for show-n-tell, snack schedules, homework assignments, etc. There are forms to fill out for the chiropractor. Do you see the Post-it note? I presently have 5 around my computer monitor all with things I must remember. A cookbook for meal planning, which requires much thought everyday. Even if the meal is planned you still have to remember to get the ingredients out and what time it needs to be served in order to be at gymnastics or basketball on time. Don't forget the library books - time to read, plus remembering the date the books need to be returned. Last, but not least, is a box of 100 calorie snacks because who isn't thinking about their weight and how they look and what their husband and children are eating. I am sure most women have these compartments and many more, but it was shocking to me to see them right in front of my face in a pile.

Why I love being a MOM #2

My 9-year-old and his creation.

Oh, the love of a son for his Momma - Nothing in the world like it!

Forgiveness

My sis-in-law, Rebekah, gave me a book titled From Forgiven to Forgiving by Jay E. Adams.
This portion is based on "I will not remember your sins" Isaiah 43:25:

"Forgiveness is a promise! Never forget that fact. It is one of the most stupendous facts of all time. When our God forgives us, He promises that He will not remember our sins against us anymore. That is wonderful. ... Obviously, the omniscient God who created and sustains the universe does not forget, but he can 'not remeber.' You see, forgetting is passive and is something that we human beings, not being omniscient, do. 'Not remembering' is active; it is a promise whereby one person (in this case, God) determines not to remember the sins of another against him. To 'not remember' is simply a graphic way of saying , 'I will not bring up these matters to you or others in the future. I will bury them and not exhume the bones to beat you over the head with them. I will never use these sins against you.'"

100 Things About Me

About a year ago, my good friend, Shannon posted a challenge she was given by another friend. Write 100 things about you. She passed the challenge onto her friends, bloggers or not. Since I was not blogging then, I did the challenge anyway. It took me 2-3 months to come up with everything. My promise was that if I ever had a blog, I would post them. So, here are my 100 things about me along with a challenge to other bloggers and friends. Share 100 things about yourself. It is not easy.


1. I am Sarah Dickmann
2. Middle Name is Melissa
3. Maiden Name is Brummett
4. I am a Christian
5. Christ saved me at the age of about 13.
6. I was an only child
7. until I married my husband who has 5 siblings, plus their spouses
8. John is my husband
9. I am absolutely smitten with him still. He is absolutely wonderful!!! I think I would rather write 100 things about him.
10. We have been married for 11 years as of July 25, 2009
11. He proposed on my 18th birthday.
12. I was 19 when we married.
13. We went to Chicago for our honeymoon
14. I got VERY sick
15. We missed the Cubs game we were scheduled to attend
16. I will never live that down
17. I have 6 children
18. I am actually not pregnant right now.
19. My oldest child is 9
20. My youngest is 8 months
21. We have 3 boys
22. And 3 girls
23. All of them have blue eyes
24. I do think boys are easier as children (don’t have teenagers yet)
25. Because of the large extended family, I am Aunt Sarah to 13 sweeties.
26. My husband’s family calls me Sar or Sarai
27. My Mom calls me Lyss
28. I went to college for 1 year.
29. I disliked college
30. Although I loved high school
31. I attended High School at Southside Christian Academy
32. The number of my graduating class was 2
33. I love to read
34. My favorites are biographies of Christian men and women, Christian fiction (love those Amish romance novels), books about being a Godly wife and mother and birthing books
35. The last book I read was Chocolate Kisses For Couples by Cindy Sigler Dagnan -- excellent as always
36. The book I am currently reading Jonathan and Sarah (Edwards): An Uncommon Union
37. I love to read the Word of God on a daily basis.
38. If I do not I can feel such a lack in my life
39. My favorite Scriptures are 2 Timothy 1:7
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
& Philippians 4:6-7
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
40. A recent gem given to me by the Lord is Titus 3:1-8
“Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men.”
50. I am currently reading through and studying Isaiah.
51. I am not a very good house cleaner
52. I do try though
53. I just have lots of clutter, but I know where everything is.
54. I enjoy cooking (when not pregnant) and read cookbooks for fun
55. I am always up for a girls night out
56. I LOVE chocolate
57. Especially chocolate with peanut butter
58. My favorite drinks are hot chocolate and sweet tea.
59. I love to go out to restaurants (yes, even with 6 children in tow)
60. Some of my favorites are Red Lobster , Texas Roadhouse, McAlisters and so many more
61. My birthday is October 10th, 1978
62. Yes, I am 30 - almost 31
63. No, I am not happy about it.
64. I am a stay-at-home wife and mom
65. I LOVE IT!
66. My favorite part of my job is that I am at home with and for my children and attempting to make my home the place my husband and children want to be.
67. My least favorite part of my job is the redundancy. You can clean the same room 3 times a day and it is still messy when John walks in the door.
68. I am a St. Louis Cardinals fan
69. I belong to MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers)
70. It has been such a blessing for me.
71. Since the church that the MOPS group meets at is in Illinois, the majority of my friends live “across the Bridge”.
72. I am a city mouse.
73. My favorite part of the day is when John gets home from work.
74. I enjoy listening to music, especially oldies, country and 80s/90s
75. I have a hard time making decisions
76. I have other annoying habits, but I don’t feel like listing them here
77. I have a Type A personality, but having 6 children is changing that quickly.
78. I have never been out of the United States.
79. Someday I would like to see Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Italy and Greece.
80. One of my hobbies is meal planning.
81. I have a list of a year’s worth of meals on the computer, but I don’t use it anymore.
82. My hair is red and wavy.
83. When on a regular routine, I grocery shop once every two weeks with the exception of milk and produce.
84. I did a frozen meal exchange with a group of friends.
85. This required me to make 11-12 of the same meal at one time.
86. I LOVE alone time with my hubby.
87. I love to dance and sing (preferably in the kitchen)
88. My family is currently attending the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing)
89. I was born and raised in St Louis.
90. I would be content to be here until I die or the Lord takes me Home.
91. I wish for all my children and their families to live close to us forever.
92. I love old classic movies (Audrey Hepburn especially) and romantic comedies too.
93. I have the best Mother in the world! She is always here when I need her
and… when I don’t. ;-)
94. I am terrible at making phone calls.
95. I love Facebook, e-mailing and am so glad I have a blog now.
96. Blogging is harder than I thought it would be.
97. My favorite type of shoe is flip flops and I could wear them all the time.
98. Even my slippers are flip flops.
99. I used to be a night owl, but now I am in bed by 8pm most nights.
100. My life can be summed up by saying to my God, the One True God,
“Great is Your faithfulness…” Lamentations 3:22-26

A Day with my Daughter

I confess... I am not a fan of field trips.

That being said, I love my children and really enjoy getting to spend time with them individually as well as seeing them in action with their friends. So, off I went to Eckert's Orchard with my Kindergartener, Emma. After meeting a mom new to PCA and an enjoyable ride with her and her daughter to Millstadt, IL, we got to the apple picking. Em and I crammed her bag full of apples. We saw pig races, got lost in the corn maze, went down the gigantic slide and then the jack-o-lober (a cannon that shoots pumpkins). It was a great day with my girl, Emma!!