Moment by Moment

The Sky's the Limit... Sort Of

2012-01-03T18:11:00.000-06:00

Don't fall over. I'm actually writing a blog post. Hope you can recover from the shock.

I've been reading the Little House series to the boys before bedtime. I started the first book a couple of weeks ago and really thought the boys would lose interest in the storyline of a little girl and her family in the Big Woods - but there was enough hunting and butchering and storytelling to keep them focused.

In that book, (Little House in the Big Woods), Laura and Mary live with their family in a little cabin deep in the Wisconsin woods. One day their dad decides that it's time for his family to join him for his visit into town. They had never gone before, and of course there was a lot of excitement about the many things they might see.

The town was near a lake and as they traveled they eventually came out of the woods - the only environment Laura had known - and entered into the wide open spaces near a lake that stretched for miles... and Laura was scared of how very big the sky was. She had never realized the sky was so huge, because at home it was drowned out by the trees. She felt small and swallowed up and she will never forget how different she felt when she saw the reality of the size of the sky above her.

Now, I've read this book before, but this portion had never struck me like it did this time around. It made me wonder how very limited my perspective might be. What am I missing out on because I'm so entrenched in what is around me - because the trees are crowding out the big, glorious sky? Am I walking around oblivious to the opportunities around me or am I searching for them, hoping for that exciting and intimidating feeling that comes when you realize that you are a part of something much bigger than yourself?

That little story just got me to thinking... so I thought I had better write it down (and am very glad Laura had wrote it down for me.)

Open Your Eyes

2011-11-27T21:32:00.000-06:00

Don't ya hate it when there is something right in front of a person's face and they don't even see it. They're missing out and they don't even seem aware. They could join the party, relax, relish the moment... but they are too preoccupied with either themselves or some pressing need that really isn't that pressing.

I know we all can fall into these tunnel-vision traps at some point. But I also think that some of us are better able to snap out of them than others.

So what do you do when someone you care for insists on getting bogged down in the unimportant? If I point it out, it just angers them. And in my eyes, they are old enough to know better - so I must admit I have very little hope that they will just "grow out of it."

On the surface, they seem to have it together. But there is a huge piece missing. They are preoccupied with the temporal and have totally lost sight of the eternal.

I believe only the Eternal One can help a cause like this one. And really, with the way things are set up at this point, His hands are even tied to a degree... free will, ya know. I know that God can move powerfully and at times and in ways that we can either anticipate or comprehend... but when that vision is soooo focused.... will they ever really step back to see what is missing?

Or is my vision just soooo focused on their focus that I'm missing something as well?

How's that for a rambley, unspecific, cryptic blog post?

One Thing Leads to Another

2011-11-22T20:06:00.000-06:00

I was just reading a book to the kids this evening. It was a collection of quite a few old short stories in which one thing leads to another... like The Little Red Hen, Chicken Little, and a few other more obscure ones that few have ever heard of. After I finished reading them, I got to thinkin'... my day was a bit like one of those stories today.

We're hosting Thanksgiving again this year. Our house is a good size for so many folks (15 of us in all this time around) and we have entertainment for so many young kids (Steven's brother's family with their three under the age of three are coming this year).

Well, of course that got me in the mood to clean some stuff out. Especially with young toddlers on their way - must make sure there aren't any blatant choking hazards lying around. I started in our newly finished basement. Filled trash bags worth of stuff out of areas and then got to thinkin.... it sure would be nice to move the computer downstairs, out of our kitchen.

Steven and I worked on that project last night. Which caused us to clean out all the junk out of the drawers and cabinets within the computer desk... so we could move it. And that stuff then needed sorted out and most of it needed to find a new home. And the radio that shared housing within the computer desk needed a new place to sit... which led me to moving some furniture around.

So I found a piece of furniture that could now house the radio and the phone that got evicted from the computer table... and I swept away all the dust bunnies that took up residency and multiplied under those pieces of furniture. And that led me to wanting to paint the walls of the island counter. Cuz with the space freed up from where the computer used to be - the terrible, experimental paint job I had done this time LAST YEAR - looked well, terrible and experimental.

So I painted. Then I noticed a few spots in the floor that needed repaird so I fixed them.

Add a little laundry, feeding of children, dishes and room straightening to that list and you've got yourself a great little story of how one thing leads to another... and all because of Thanksgiving.

And let me tell you, it's a lot more entertaining reading them than it is living them. I'm ready for bed!

It's Been 4 Months...

2011-11-20T19:57:00.000-06:00

...since my last confession... oh wait. I mean blogpost. I'm still trying to figure out what this creature is for anymore. (hey, that rhymes) Facebook has taken "keeping in touch" to a whole new handy level and I have found that I can only be somewhat witty in 200 characters or less (status update heaven!)...

Yet, here sits this blog... I can't seem to bring myself to throw it out completely. The kids are growing, and are more aware of what I share and say to the general public (even if it is tens of people)... I'm not really a bragging type (I am proud of my kids, but don't like to go on and on about what they can do) and if I turn this into a frustration forum, I believe I would wear out my readership fairly quickly (ha! readership! ummm, hello... you haven't posted anything for 4 months...)

Isaiah is 10 now. 10. I just typed two digits in reference to his age. 10. That's huge. And a bit scary.

Huston is crazy. He's a bundle of goofballiness. (Yes, I'm sure that's a word). He's 7.

Avery is 6 now. Seriously? I don't have but one child under the age of 5 now? Impossible.

And Lillie is 3. She still wants me to hold her and snuggle at times - so it's still ok.

There's your update for now. We are alive. I'm still a smart alec (or is it aleck?) and I will attempt to string more than one coherrent thought together more often to put a post up on this blog. But I'm not promising. My brain is toast most of the time.

God Can Use Anyone

2011-07-28T21:33:00.001-05:00

So needless to say, if you've been following the last few posts on this blog you know we've been experiencing a high-maintenance parenting season. A lot of uncertainty, a lot of prayer, a lot of frustration and spinning of wheels. I feel the whole two steps forward, one step back thing is reversed in this situation - it seems we back peddle more than we move ahead.

But as God most usually does, right when you think you are doing everything wrong and only clouds are overhead, He reaches down and lifts you up in an unexpected way.

Isaiah has been a challenge: he's getting a kind of pre-pubescent, eye-rolling attitude toward everything I say as well as all the other uncharted waters already mentioned, and all of that combined makes me seriously feel like I am sinking. Nothing I say seems to sink in; nothing I do seems to help the situation. I'm at a loss... to a degree. But through this (as through most any trial) I crave my time in the Word and I cry out for help, a lot. But recently, I've felt more uncertain than confident.

Then there came Huston. Huston is a sweet and simple kind of guy. He is seven and often a follower of whatever the friend or brother wants to do. He's a laid back bundle of cuddly sweetness and wants to please those he's around (which can be good and bad, but that's another story). Anyway, he doesn't usually draw. He will sometimes create a picture when Avery decides to do so, but today he started drawing all his own. And he very proudly showed up at the chair in which I was working, and presented me with a picture that he thought to make for me... and here is what he drew...

It may be kinda hard to see, but it's multiple pictures of me. I'm laying down in bed, standing up, sitting at the dinner table and walking on the street (top part)... and in each picture, I have a thought bubble of a cross. I asked him what this was and he told me that he made this picture because "no matter what you do, you think about God." Now, not only was that totally sweet of him to say, but his picture blew my mind and I immediately had to read to him Deuteronomy 6:4-7:

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD you God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them upon your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."

When I read those word to Huston and pointed to each picture he drew as I read that last verse, his eyes became like saucers. Yep, He ended up blessing both of us this morning through the simple drawing of a cute little seven year old.

So yeah, I feel like everything is going to be ok - maybe not easy, maybe not simple - but I feel like God took a moment to tell me that I'm on the right track. And boy did I need that!

When Life Gives Ya Lemons...

2011-07-26T12:12:00.001-05:00

What are you supposed to do with them again? I've seemed to have lost my lemonade recipe, I guess.

Isaiah seems to be getting better at times. But just today he was invited to a friend's house, a very good friend that he has visited many times before in the "I can't get away from mom fast enough" fashion and he is currently a puddle of anxious tears in his room because he "just can't do it."

Seriously? You can't go 3 miles away to your good friends house (who loves you and encourages you) and eat ice cream and have a water/nerf gun fight for a few hours and then return home? This is just wrong. And today I'm having very little patience in dealing with it. I'm pretty much at the "just shake the boy by the shoulders and make him snap out of it" stage.

And this event came after a full morning of just trying to get him to see how negative and defeatist he is with every attitude toward work and attempting new things. Hearing "I can't, I need help, I give up and you won't help me" come from his pouty mouth is all wearing very, very thin. I totally spent over two hours in what feels like hand to hand combat, finally getting him to see a glimpse of the proper perspective and then the friend's invite becomes known and he quickly melts into a puddle of tears again. And all I want to do is scream.

How do you make lemonade out of this mess? I'm trying and I have rather good and well-tested strategies, but I am still failing for now. And yes, I realize that I'm probably growing within him fruit that will produce later... but I'm just tired of lemons.

Goodbye to GG

2011-07-21T21:55:00.000-05:00

but just for awhile.

GG went home on Monday morning. And when I say home, I mean the true eternal home prepared by Christ himself. She left us peacefully and she will not be suffering anymore - that darn ol' temporal body just wasn't very nice to her in the end.

We now must go about trying to figure out life without her, and our hope is knowing that there will be one day when that won't be an issue any longer.

But until then we'll be muddling our way through. Today was the funeral; we laid her to rest, and now I hope to help my oldest boy lay his worries to rest as well. It will be a process and prayers would be appreciated. It's a process for all of us.

Need Some Encouragement

2011-07-11T22:13:00.001-05:00

Yeah I know. I promised you another installment of my baseball summer. But things took a little turn and baseball once again doesn't seem as important anymore.

Lots of personal uncharted parenting waters have been occurring around these parts. And the title of this blog post could either be read as a question or a statement. Do you need encouragement? And yes, as a matter of fact I do.

On the way into work today I listened to two preaching radio shows talking about sitting and listening. I often ask my kids to sit down and listen, but how often do I do that? Usually that requires quiet and it feels like I just don't have the luxury of quiet anymore. Parenthood will do that to ya. But the overall theme of the messages were to stop talking, sit down before the Lord and just listen. I needed to hear that.

You see, here is a small part of what has been happening lately. (and I say "small" as in, one of many parts, not as in scale) My grandmother is dying. This is GG (her self-chosen moniker - short for Great-Grandma)... she's the only grandmother I've really known and the one that has lived here in town with us for almost 8 years - and the past 5-6 of those 8 years she's lived with my parents. She's watched my kids, taught them to play cards (Skip-Bo people, not Poker :) and all-in-all just has been a consistent part of my kids' lives. That's such a blessing. But watching her slip away from us has really taken a toll and I've never had to manage my own grief while also helping my youngins manage theirs. One of those hard parenting roads you don't think about when you sign up for the job. She has lots of complicated health issues that is weakening her 82 year old body - but the lung cancer that she's chosen not to treat will take her from us soon. Hard stuff.

And Isaiah is showing the most wear through all of this. He's having anxiety attacks. About pretty much everything. Sunday school, going to friends houses, church camp, birthday parties. The stuff he used to look forward to - get excited about - now ties him up in knots and troubles his mind. A friend of mine said today, "His body just can't stop hurting." And that pretty much sums it up. He knows what he's feeling is irrational, but he just can't tell that body of his to knock it off. He hovers around me, constantly asks for reassurance through tears and apologizes for something he can't seem to control. And all I can think is, "my poor baby."

Now I labeled this post with the word encouragement. I should at least offer some, right? Well, I did get encouraged today by a couple of friends at lunch. Sometimes encouragement comes from rather surprising sources. And even after admitting that my parenting attempts at getting my family through this are feeble at best, and that I have no clue what I'm doing, and that I have no straight-forward answers - to hear a couple of folks that I know won't lie to me, a couple of folks that aren't ones to give hollow praise - to have them sit beside me and tell me that I'm doing a good job... well, that meant a lot.

And tonight when Isaiah once again came to me in tears, worrying about something some unidentifiable thing that he knew not what. We sat down and prayed together and read Scriptures about what the Bible says about anxiety and I told him of our new commitment to pray and read these Scriptures out loud together every night until he knows them and recites them and lives them and breathes them. To see his countenance change just a little bit and hear him take a deep sigh of relief like he could feel that there will be a time that this won't rule over him any longer... well that was just plain encouraging to both of us.

"Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. If you do this you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your heart and mind as you live in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT)

The Year of the Cardinal

2011-06-22T20:57:00.000-05:00

I've always loved baseball. I remember getting baseball cards from the grocery store as a kid and "talking ball" with the guys. In hindsight, I don't believe I really had that much knowledge under my cap, but I had plenty of guys in the neighborhood, so I pretended.

Later on, when I entered into high school and college years my love for the game increased to the point of obsession. You know college kids can have a lot of spare time on their hands, and my time was tethered to watching every televised game I could find. I fell asleep to ESPN's Wednesday night double headers and caught nearly every Braves game on TBS. I then would take my few extra dollars and spend a few afternoons in Busch stadium cheering for the Cardinals. I knew every line-up, every stat, every amazing and ridiculous play that occurred each evening in the ballparks. I was kinda pathetic.

Then I got married... then I started having kids... and baseball slowly kept being squeezed out of my life, because really, who had time to obsess over stats and plays when you barely had enough time to sleep?

This year has been different though. I always thought if I had boys, they would be just as interested in baseball as I am - and I would enjoy teaching them to talk ball and taking them to beloved Busch Stadium. But it just didn't really pan out that way. Until now.

Isaiah is finally convinced that the Cardinals are the team to watch and love. My father-in-law is a *gasp* Royals fan. And let me tell you, when getting involved with a significant other 1. you check your compatibility in regards to your faith and worldview and then 2. you check your baseball compatibility. Cuz otherwise you have quite a battle on your hands, let me tell you.

The past few years have been spent "fighting" for allegiance. And I possibly have won this current battle anyway and maybe the war - we'll see. Anyway, Isaiah is interested. And when Isaiah is interested, the other boys are interested as well.

Also some friends of ours bought up a huge block of Cardinal tickets for this season and had a few games that they couldn't use. I bought 3 games, 2 tickets per game - and I'm taking each of the boys on a mother-son baseball date. A dream come true.

But before I get to that. This baseball season has also treated me greatly already due to the kindness of an organization that my hubby volunteers with. The founder of this organization is himself a great Cardinals fan and let's just say, has some great financial opportunities and personal connections. And we were blessed greatly one evening a few weeks ago to the night at the ballpark with 4 Cardinal hall of famers... Here are the picks.

Steven and I with Bob Gibson! (If you're not a Cardinal fan, trust me, he's a biggie)

Me with Lou Brock and his wife Jackie. (I sat 4 vacant seats away from them while watching the game. Amazing.)

And here I am with Whitey Herzog. I grew up watching this guy coach my favorite ball team. Couldn't believe I got to meet him in person.

The other hall of famer I got to meet was Red Schoendienst. I didn't get my picture with him, but he did call me "honey" and he signed my record... see...

This my copy of play-by-play highlights of the 1964 World Series Championship (remember, baseball nerd!) and my husband urged me to take this to the game to have it signed. I was reluctant, because I was also skeptical that I would actually meet this men. Boy am I glad I listened to his urgings. Bob Gibson and Lou Brock were both players on the team that year, and Red was one of the managers. I had them all sign the record and they were very happy to.

Each person that went to the game that night also received an official major league ball signed by all these gentlemen. So we got 2 of them. We gave one to my dad and the other will go to my brother. Don't worry, I got Whitey to sign my score card.

And I can't figure out how to rotate the photo.... I tell ya, get out of blogging for a month or two and you can't figure out how to do anything anymore!

Anyway. It was an unbelievable evening. One that I never thought I would ever get to enjoy in a million years. Totally put the baseball spirit back into me...

But the rest of the Cardinal stories will have to wait. I've rambled on long enough. So stay tuned for I will soon upload the pics I took of Avery's mom-son baseball date - his first ballgame. I love being a mom. :)

Hey There.

2011-06-16T22:15:00.000-05:00

I'm still among the living.

I've been in a long season of something. Can't really identify it and since I don't know what it is, I can't really ramble on about it very well. So I've been quiet. I guess a bit more introspective/reflective but not feeling called to share it.

Anyway. We have made kind of a major decision around here in regards to the schooling saga. We are sending Isaiah to a University-model school in town that is Christian value based and will only require Isaiah to attend physically 2 days a week.

The more I got into figuring out the problem, the more I knew the solution was to find him a different outlet. The boy needs independence from me. We were (are) driving each other nuts to a degree. He needs independence from his younger siblings. They both with thrive under a few days of detachment from each other, I believe. And we needed the accountability without having to be away from home 5 days a week, 8 or so hours a day. And I think this will meet all of those needs.

It'll be a bit more money than we are used to paying out, but I believe the rewards will outweigh the cost.

The worries are still there - Is he a strong enough student (as in hard worker)? Is he too far behind to make the transition go smoothly? Will the money continue to be there? Will there be enough kids in his class? But really, why worry at this point. What's done is done and what needs to be done will be worked toward. I'm just excited that this may actually work!

I Feel Better

2011-05-05T10:35:00.000-05:00

Didn't really mean to leave that ugly post up for so long. Kinda got busy this past week... er... month.

I'm feeling much better and the timing of how Easter followed my lava flow of frustration was very appropriate. I needed to be reminded that it's not about me, I needed to be reminded of how much grace I've been extended and need to extend to others... and I needed medication. And I got all of the above.

And don't worry, I know most of you are nodding your head in agreement and saying, "Yes you did."

Now getting back to the lessons learned from this ordeal. Has anything changed? No, not much. Got extremely frustrated at some things during schooling this morning, but whatever, I just backed off. I currently have one child in front of a movie and another one crying in his bed, but whatever, it's only today.

I am amazed at how much loving-kindness and long-suffering God has for us. I'm completely at a loss as to what I do with my kids and I only have four. But I've relearned something... I'm not going to be the one making their choices. They are going to make mistakes and they're not going to listen to me and they are going to follow themselves... quite often. And it's their life. I can only do so much and I will continue to do what I can, but I can't own their mistakes - it's too stressful.

So I'm trying to be indifferent, for lack of a better term. Watching them mess up and make bad choices still pains me and I will still try to teach them the correct path whenever and wherever I can, but when they mess up I'm going to try to not be so emotional about. That's why I got the pills (ha! just kidding, people... just kidding.)

Ugh.

2011-04-18T17:32:00.000-05:00

Warning: This is one of those posts that's just gonna let it all hang out. So, if you can't handle the truth you may want to skip to the next in a long line of happy-go-lucky blogs.

I'm a grump today. Major grump. It started in yesterday and my levels of frustration have become increasingly more obvious and hard to control. I even called my ob/gyn this afternoon to see if I'm a normal human being.

My first disclaimer is this: when compared to other things that could be happening in my life right now, my mind knows that I should feel like I've got it made. I want to put that out there right now before I dive deeper into the pit of despair... said with the hoarse, gravely voice like the guy on The Princess Bride and I want you to know that I totally should be able to clear my voice and sync up my feelings to my knowings and shrug my shoulders to say that things really aren't that bad. So for everything I am about to say, I just want you to know that, yes, I know things could be worse. I know that my kids could be sick or dying instead of just frustrating. I know this stuff... but sometimes we need to admit that while we know this stuff, we might feel differently.

So today, I've totally lived out the Romans 7 Paul, I do what I hate and I don't do what I want to do.

I had intentions as I sat down to do this post, of writing everything out in detail of how I've yelled, frustrated and exasperated my children today and how they triggered each incident... but I have now decided against doing that.

Instead I just want you to know that even folks with good, descent, blessed lives have issues... me definitely included. And there are days that come along that make you wonder if you are all alone with the overwhelmed feeling, or if everyone is just as overwhelmed but they aren't admitting it.

Let's Play a Game...

2011-04-12T08:45:00.000-05:00

How 'bout the ol' standby, "What's Wrong with This Picture"

Answers:
1. Everyone is still in pajamas...
2. They are all "wasting time" watching video clips on the computer...
3. Oh yeah, Isaiah has a big boot on his foot.

Which explains the first two details. Isaiah tried to be superman last night and tried to leap tall creek banks in a single bound... and found out the hard way that we mortals are prone to accidents. He's ok. It's not broken officially, just badly sprained. Hoping that in a day or so he won't be so wobbly. But today we'll just take it easy.... I'm tempted to even call off schooling, but am afraid it would totally unravel what we've built up. Maybe we'll just abbreviate it a bit instead.

A Better Strategy, A Better Result

2011-04-06T19:35:00.000-05:00

"Day One" down on the 100 day challenge and everything went surprisingly well.

We did 3 hours of school before lunch time. The little guys did coloring books, drew pictures and played quietly in their rooms. There were only a few times when I had to shoo them away from the school workers. Huston and Isaiah were focused and had good attitudes... although I will say that Isaiah kept a clock right by his side so he could keep tabs on when high noon rolled around.

Hoping that this much improved success continues, but I do wonder if I should chalk it up to a honeymoon period. We'll see.

Here are some pics to prove that I had them working :) Creating their own "cave paintings"....

And the Crown for the Most Crummy Mom to Ever Play the Part of a Homeschool Educator Goes To...

2011-04-05T21:40:00.000-05:00

Yeah, it's a long title, but one I totally deserve.

I had Isaiah in tears tonight. I know, it's not the first time, but I think it was the first time I finally got through that thick noggin of his.

We've been struggling with the whole homeschool thing, and I know a lot of the responsibility - ok, so like all of it - falls on my shoulders. I always envisioned homeschooling my kids as a "fun" task... in that you would choose what you wanted to study and you were more flexible in how you were gonna study it, etc. And that is all true. But my kids don't seem to want to choose to study anything. And if they are interested, it is only in a small sliver of a whole pie that needs to be ingested somehow.

I waffle a lot. I go back and forth between thinking that this laid back approach to schooling is a good thing. That they will learn the important stuff eventually and a window will open when they are interested in learning a particular skill or piece of knowledge. Then I think that I'm teaching my kids all the wrong kinds of habits and that as they age they will slip further and further behind because they have no work ethic. Then I swing back the other way and think, "Who determines what the norm is? and why should I be worried about it anyway?" You know, small issues like that.

I've determined lately though that I'm cultivating all the wrong attitudes and habits in Isaiah for sure. The only thing that he seems to be learning really well is how to roll his eyes at his mother. The boy is spoiled and doesn't know how good he's got it. I'll request that he read or practice math facts or whatever the task may be, and I get a bad attitude or a fight every. single. time. Then I get mad and yell and threaten and he feels convicted for about 2 seconds and we're right back at the beginning of the same vicious cycle. And I'm weary. He's weary. And our relationship is strained.

So tonight I sat him down. I told him that life is full of choices and we not only make those choices with our words but we make them with our actions too. So starting tomorrow we are going to schedule our school day (I know, I know... no, we've never had a schedule - the first step is admitting you have a problem, right?)... anyway, we're going to schedule our school day to be from 9am until noon. If work does not get accomplished or if objectives/deadlines are not met by noon then the school day will spill over into the afternoon or fun things will at least be taken away until school is caught up. But here is the kicker of the plan. We will do all of this 100 times. If within that "100 days of school" I still get the bad attitude, the whining, the refusals... well, then he is choosing to pursue another schooling route. Cuz I can't take it anymore. We even signed a contract. And he went nuts.

This is as much a challenge for me as it is for him. I need to put my actions where my words are and I need to become more motivated and structured and organized myself, if I'm going to help him to be a successful student. I realize that - I need to see if I can meet that goal or I feel I am doing him more of a disservice as his teacher than I am helping him.

The next few months are going to be quite interesting for sure. I've thrown the choice in his lap, but it's just as much a test for me as it is for him... maybe more so. I'm kinda scared of what the outcome might be - either way.

Ready to Dig Deeper?

2011-03-26T20:36:00.000-05:00

My kids have been mesmerized by the tv lately... and sometimes that's not a bad thing. Let me explain.

In the past, most spiritual education involved parents opening up a Bible storybook and reading the many, many different awe-inspiring, child-friendly accounts to their kids. They are popular with the young ones, but this system can also cause a couple of different problems: First, the little ones will tuck the stories into their minds the same as any other bedtime story, not realizing the Bible stories are a cohesive message of how God has a plan in rescuing His people. (Quick sidenote: As you read the many fun stories of God's power and provision to your young ones always, always tell them that this story is true, it really happened - this will help them start to see the Bible in it's proper perspective.) Secondly, many times it's difficult to help the kids progress past the storybook level of learning the Scriptures... the story of Jonah always ends with him preaching in Ninevah... the Israelites obediently followed Moses across the dry land of the Red Sea and live happily ever after... and once Jesus ascends back into heaven the whole Bible is pretty much over. That's what most storybook Bibles would have you believe anyway. There are few resources available to aid parents in moving their kids on to the next level spiritually.

Admittedly, the Bible is full of very abstract concepts - things that little guys just won't grasp - so there is definitely a time and place for such basic Bible story teachings. But as your little guy grows bigger, are you having trouble figuring out where you should even start in teaching your child about what the Bible is for and what it's message is all about?

Now to the point of worthy tv viewing... Phil Vischer, the creator of VeggieTales, has moved on to something I would deem as one of his more nobler pursuits. He has launched a new kids' series that can be described as the Muppet Show meets Biblical Studies 101 - a strange combination? Maybe. But my kids love it and they are learning a lot.

The show/dvds are entitled What's in the Bible? with Buck Denver... but you can preview many of the songs, sketches, bits, and pieces at JellyTelly.com. The dvds will take the kids through the Bible step by step - starting by answering the questions of where the Bible came from, who wrote it, and why it's important... and then walks them through each of the books, giving a synopsis of each of the books in a fun, creative, entertaining, and informative style while still pulling the kids back to give them the overall perspective of how each book fits into the big picture of God's plan of redemption. Parents, you will learn things too! (The shows even have a segment called Tricky Bits that will tackle the really hard questions the Bible presents...)

What's in the Bible, Vol. 1-4 are available for purchase, and Vol. 5 comes out in May... but you can view many parts of it for free at JellyTelly.com so go check it out. They hold Lillie's attention pretty well, Avery is grasping basic concepts from them, and Huston and Isaiah are being educated as to why this book we read is so very important. This is not a paid endorsement, this is an excited mom wanting to let others know of a great educational tool.

I'll leave you with a clip of one of their many silly songs... my kids laugh and learn all in one. Priceless.

The Progression of Lillie

2011-03-21T01:32:00.001-05:00

What a difference three years makes, eh? These were all taken on her actual birthday (March 19th). She had a great time celebrating this year - the first year she knew what was going on really. The presents, people singing to her, everyone telling her happy birthday. She ate. it. up. I think if it were up to her, everyday would be a Lillie day :) Anyway, I won't bore you with all the details - it was a pretty quiet, yet fun day. And heck, we're still celebrating.

This is Not my Baby Girl

2011-03-18T15:50:00.000-05:00

Yes, yes, she will always be my "baby" - but tomorrow this little widgit turns 3...

She was playing with stickers when I snapped this photo - and she was decorating herself - cuz who needs paper.

I thought the sticker she chose was rather appropriate...

We all think she's pretty wonderful (of course we should).

And she's also pretty goofy...

So anyway, tomorrow is her birthday - she will be "free" - and is insulted when I call her my baby (most times...)

I will try to recap the weekend celebrations - but wanted to throw this up here before I forgot to.

Happy Birthday dear Lillie Frances - your whole family is quite smitten with you.

I Have No Words...

2011-03-16T21:49:00.000-05:00

so I'll make some up.

Yes, yes. I've neglected you, but I'm sure after the first 3 times you checked back in to see if anything new was ever going to materialize, you simply gave up and moved on with your lives. And I'm proud of you for that.

I have sensed for quite some time that I am shifting seasons within my life. I've alluded to "the shift" a few times before (yeah, in some of those posts that were written like a million years ago... and in at least one of those posts, I kinda got in trouble for it...) but I see that this newly budding season has arrived. And I'm not completely talking about spring.

Peoples, I'm getting older. Now I'm not saying that I'm old. Cuz, I'm not. And I don't particularly care for younger people going around saying that they are old, especially when about 66.8 % of the population is older than them. But in just a few months I will have three elementary aged children and my "baby" is soon to be 3 years old - not really a baby anymore. She talks, she walks, she uses the potty (when she has time for it) - she's practically growed. (yes, I homeschool).

So, evidence #1 of new season - my kids are growing older.

Follow the dominoes with me - my kids are growing older, therefore I have more "free time" - what's that? That's the time that you are not spending making decisions for all of your children, wiping their noses and bottoms, getting them bathed and dressed and feeding them (oh yeah, I still feed my children.) But the rest of that stuff - so many of them, if not all of them, can pretty much do on their own with some success. This allows me to focus on other things.

Evidence #2 of new season - I have a new focus.

My job has slowly become not so fuzzy anymore. Lots of opportunities presenting themselves before me - lots of them rather exciting, but still - I'm not completely sure of where things are heading. I'm becoming more of a resource for young families - looked to as the one that's been there, done that. (see? getting older) I like the change, simply because it shows that I'm not completely living the preschool life anymore - it's kinda nice.

And finally evidence #3 - I have no idea what I'm doing.

The new season of parenting has me guessing more than knowing - and that's the nature of the beast. That's a season that I anticipate that I will never grow out of...which makes me that much more dependent upon God and studying His Word, which makes me that much more interested in teaching others what I find out, which makes me that much more curious as to where this new season of life will lead. What did I tell ya. Dominoes.

So I guess I did have words - and here I thought I couldn't produce a blog entry anymore. This rambling stuff may continue after all.

A Quote to Chew On...

2011-02-20T19:12:00.001-06:00

"There can be no reproach to pain unless we assume human dignity; there is no reason for restraints on pleasure unless we assume human worth; there is legitimacy to monotony unless we assume greater purpose to life; there is no purpose to life unless we assume design; death has no significance unless we seek what is everlasting. This is true across the board in human experience – across cultures, languages, and backgrounds. This is what Christianity teaches."
- Ravi Zacharias

Still Not in the Routine

2011-02-08T19:37:00.000-06:00

I don't know what's gotten into me these past few days... I'm sooo tired! And that's after being homebound for a good part of a week!

Today I got up, puttered around the house, moved some stuff around to make it look like I accomplished something, I asked the kids to clean their rooms (which they sort of did successfully), asked the kids to do a few school lessons, took a nap (which means that my kids undid every bit of cleaning they had done earlier), and allowed my children to veg in front of the tv while I vegged on the couch.

I keep telling myself the next few days will get better - I'm hoping that I'm right.

In the mean time, can I tell ya that I'm really tired of being cold - I think my body is rebelling... all it wants to do is wrap up in a warm blanket and sleep. Maybe I need a soda...

What the Snow Does to Us

2011-02-04T08:58:00.001-06:00

They say a picture is worth a thousand words... well this one totally tattles on me.

Do you notice it? Maybe it's not so very glaring, but this is what the picture shouts out to me... this snow bound week has brought about some bad habits:

Notice the chocolate face... brownies eaten before 8:00am... she might, or might not have had breakfast first...
Still in pajamas... which will more than likely be worn all day (although I will report that we dressed the girl today, improvements people, baby steps.)
The holding of a movie... watch movies immediately and often throughout the day.

These are not habits that I'm particularly proud of. I'm sure other mom blogs will herald how they have taken the extra time with their children to read more books, cook healthy dinners together, do fun school activities that exercise the mind. No, not us. We've spiraled down into unhealthy eating, mindless entertainment, and bad habits. Yay me!

Really though - I might become motivated to do better here within the next day or so. Again, 3 out of my 4 children are currently dressed! We must celebrate the small victories...

Ha!

2011-02-03T20:02:00.002-06:00

A friend of mine posted this on facebook, and I had to share it... we were at day 3, but luckily broke out before the comatose state. (click on the picture to make it bigger)

Well, We Got It

2011-02-03T07:55:00.000-06:00

We survived the blizzard of 2011... and apart from sore muscles from shoveling and some cabin fever, we came through unscathed. The 12-18 inches turned into 20, officially. We never got the thundersnow they predicted, but we did get the white out conditions. This is stuff we're not quite used to here in central MO. There are winters that we get good amounts of snow, but over 10 inches is rare and a blizzard is pretty much unheard of. So as a result, the whole town pretty much closed shop. The bank my hubby works at even closed for one of those days. The universities canceled classes, the malls and shopping areas closed, and even I-70 closed from St. Louis to Kansas City. Epic stuff.

Here are a few pics I took around our house...

This is our driveway into the garage... now you know why we have sore muscles. (Notice the edge of the planter box on the left)

This is the pond... yeah, I don't see it either

Dug out to the chicken house...

There is a 3-tiered planter under this snow... the first tier is hip high on me...

Thankfully a very nice neighbor came with his tractor and blade and bladed our drive to the road. So we now have freedom to travel! Yay! We're breaking out of his joint today.

We're In for It

2011-01-31T10:34:00.000-06:00

Snow storm #259 is heading this way. "They" say it will dump freezing rain and ice and then 12-18 inches of snow on top of that. *sigh*

I'm dreaming of a warm summer. Lounging by the pool, not having to worry about bundling yourself and your children up for the sake of their life, just to go to the store. I find falling snow very exciting, but I find old snow that just lays around and covers up the ground for weeks on end not so fun.

And given that our last snow of 10 inches or so has been around for over a week, I predict that this latest wave should be melted off by June.

It' 47 days until spring.

I do hope to get out in this snow with my kids and make snow angels and build snow forts until nobody can feel their toes and hands anymore (which will probably last for all of 20 minutes.) While we're out there though, I will take some pictures to document it for the season that we will look back on this fondly.... maybe when I'm a grandma???

I've Kinda Forgotten

2011-01-27T14:37:00.000-06:00

I've forgotten many things concerning this blog. I've forgotten how to write in coherent thought processes... I've forgotten how to type without making tons of errors it seems... and I no longer have any topic that I am dying to discuss or monologue about. My life seems rather hum-drum, so-so, and altogether ordinary.

I didn't start this to build a readership. I started this to document my kiddos - the quirky things they say, the fun stuff they do, the infuriating habits they form - you know stuff like that. But now I feel rather guilty going on and on about them... especially the older ones; they are more aware of what is said about them.

So, that's basically why I haven't posted for quite some time. It's because I no longer have a real goal or purpose... but I may change that soon. We'll see.

I Really Am Trustworthy

2011-01-08T13:42:00.000-06:00

So yeah, it's been a couple of weeks now since I've posted, and that after a promise of more to come. Not nice. But I don't think my readership is large enough for this to be a huge issue.

Here's where I am with the read through the Bible thing... I'm still doing it, but I'm behind schedule. Now I could offer you lots of excuses, but here's the main issue. I need something deeper this time.

I read through the Bible a year ago and I had sooooo many questions while I was reading... but I brushed them aside and kept on keeping on because I had that deadline to meet. Well, this time around? I read through the Bible and all these questions come right back and this time they nag at me a little more and it's harder for me to just brush right past them in order to stay on a timeline. So instead I've been digging a bit more. And the stuff is a little too... uhh... I don't know the word... maybe a combination of personal, boring, time-consuming to just sit down and type, type, type out all the stuff that I'm finding out.

I haven't been too motivated to come on here and update because it seems that I'm the only one on this little quest right now and so I'd rather just take my time with it. But I'm still reading, honest.

I'm also trying to figure out a good method/program/process to get some Bible study into my kids' day-to-day lives. I'm researching different subjects, ideas, strategies... and trying to figure out what will fit us best.

I need to start personalizing a few things for my family a bit more - and become more strong-willed when it comes to teaching them. I've compromised a bit too much here recently and it's time to shift the focus before we run into an iceberg or something catastrophic like that.

So always know that I'm here and I'm still plugging along and I hope you are too. I still am unsure of what the purpose of this blog is - if anything I guess its the place that I come a ramble out the thoughts that are in my head... and for that I am truly sorry.

So keep digging and keep reading and I hope to as well!

Are You Feeling Abandoned?

2010-12-26T22:27:00.000-06:00

Sorry.

I guess I should have thought through the whole holiday thing before I planned this little project, eh? I must say that my reading has not been the best and my blogging has been non-existent, but I'm not giving up! (and neither should you my dear silent reader...)

I am skipping Numbers and Deuteronomy... for now. I plan to get back to them at some point - may listen to them on cd or something, but at this point I'm picking up at Joshua and reading along again. No biggie.

I will day that since my last post I've been introduced to a study on the background and customs and details of the Bible, especially Old Testament stuff, called That the World May Know. Our church has a few from the series among their small group study materials so I checked one out the other day - very interesting. I heard Focus on the Family revisit an interview they did with the series founder Ray Vander Laan... you can click here to hear the interview. Good stuff.

Anyway, I hope to get back into the swing of things now that I've put my house back together. I'll also recap our Christmas here in a day or two.

If you wanna get back onto the reading wagon you need to read Joshua 20-Judges 7 for tomorrow (I'm going to try to read a majority of Joshua and gradually make my way back on track). Good luck to you - no matter if you're on track or have a ways to go, just read something! (We still have 83 days til spring... we can do this!)

See ya later... I promise.

Exodus and Leviticus

2010-12-18T17:15:00.001-06:00

Some hard reads there. They are still rather interesting, rather repetitive, and rather gross at times. So much of this stuff is lost on us westerners. But still the overall themes are read loud and clear.

You don't need a degree from a Bible college to realize that God is talking about holiness here. But I'm getting ahead of myself a bit.

First lets look at Exodus. If you're on schedule you should have finished reading it yesterday.  (If you're not on schedule it's no biggie!! Remember I too got off schedule for a time, just catch up where ya can and if it starts to get overwhelming, SKIP IT and get back on track. You are not being tested on this stuff. I would rather you read 7/8 of the Bible than to give up now because you are a few chapters behind.)

Here are my observations from Exodus:

*Found it interesting that Moses' mother decided to hide Moses in the Nile River when that was the very place that Pharaoh ordered his people to throw the Hebrew baby boys (1:22). You know in the epic Charlton Heston film they depict the babies being killed by the sword - so you don't think of the Nile being the focal point of the mass murder.  Wonder what the thinking was behind this - because in my limited thought processes I would have probably chosen somewhere far away from the Nile to hide him. Obviously for some reason she was hoping for a good outcome by placing him there... maybe one of you out there has a take on this...

* I also found it interesting that they saw something special in Moses from the beginning (2:2) wonder what that was...

*The plagues are always interesting to read... first of all despite common depictions, Moses was not the only one that used the staff - Aaron's staff became the snake and he ushered in the frogs and gnats as well. How disgusting these experiences would have been and for the first few plagues or at least the demonstrations of God's power, Pharaoh's magicians were able to reciprocate - but that didn't last long at all. What a great way to show them that their power is useless. And what a testimony to God's people for them to see the Egyptians suffer with these plagues but have God's protection from them at the same time (9:4,26; 10:23; 11:7)

*God knows us so well - it's not surprising, He created us and knows everything about us - but I loved when God lead the Israelites out of Egypt it says that He did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For He said, "If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt." (13:17) We later read that the Israelites were swayed to go back by the smallest struggle (just read in the very next chapter! 14:10-12). War would have sent them over the edge.

*Loved the lesson taken concerning grumbling and it is one that I will not only try to remember myself (cuz I need that lesson often unfortunately) but also will try to teach my children. In chapter 16 when the Israelites got a bit hungry the grumbling started and Moses admonished them saying, (v. 8) that they were not in fact grumbling against them, but against the LORD. Wow. How many times have I grumbled against the LORD. I'm sure I would be embarrassed to find out. Along those lines when the Israelites became thirsty they began to quarrel with Moses and he responded, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the LORD to the test?" (17:2)  When we demonstrate a lack of faith and a lack of trust in our God we are basically calling Him out - putting Him to the test... not a good scenario.

*The splendor and majesty of the Tabernacle - a temporary dwelling for the LORD - just a fraction of the reflection of the glory of God. I was struck by how He demanded the best and had every detail in order. He is a creative God for sure but also one that asks for our best. The denomination I've grown up in is one of the more laid back denominations. When I was younger shorts and jeans - casual clothes in general - worn to church was a faux pas. But today you see folks come in their team jerseys before their late Sunday morning ball games... I wear jeans most every Sunday... there are ball caps and hoodies and sneakers. I know that the new covenant has created a new "playing field" so to speak in regards to worship... but I also know that God is the same yesterday, today and forever... and I'm sure there are many instances that we should show Him more respect than we currently do. Just my thoughts.

*I also heard Ravi Zacharias say at one time that Exodus recounts God detailing the building of the Tabernacle to Moses and then turns around a repeats the whole process to show that Moses carried out his duties faithfully and obeyed God to every detail. A lesson to be learned indeed. My only question is this: how in the world did Moses remember all of those details!? :) I'm sure God placed them in his heart and on his mind, but I can just picture Moses trying to frantically record each detail using whatever writing instrument was used at that point! If you are a visual person go check out this site - it has a model of all components of the Tabernacle and if you want to see a model on a really terrible looking dummy of the priestly garments go here. (I must say the teacher/nerd in me is tempted to buy that Tabernacle model!)

Ok, so I'm not going to get to Leviticus today as I had thought. No worries, we still have a day more of reading in that chapter (if you haven't been grossed out and scared away from it yet!) - I will try to get to my thoughts there soon. In the mean time, keep persevering! Tomorrow's reading is Leviticus 21-Numbers 5.

I'm Admitting To You Now

2010-12-16T10:19:00.000-06:00

that I skipped the reading for yesterday. I was under the weather and basically laid on the couch and barked orders to my children. Yes the house is a wreck now. But I feel much better.

So, yesterday's reading was to be Exodus 12-23

And today's is Exodus 24-35

And tomorrow's is to be Exodus 36-Leviticus 7! You're up to book #3! :)

So be diligent - I'll get back into this too - and by the weeks end you'll be moving on to book #4. I'll try to post my observations soon, but until then, happy reading!

Today's Reading

2010-12-14T08:40:00.003-06:00

and other random tidbits...

The book of Genesis set the tee for the Exodus which is what we'll be beginning today. Today's reading assignment is Genesis 49-Exodus 11.

I've forgotten to give you "my tips" on how to read through some of this stuff...

1. Don't try to pronounce the crazy names. That's not the goal of the challenge - many times the meaning of the names are noted in the footnotes... and they're always easier to read and understand than the actual name.

2. For the most part, skip the genealogical listings. Skim them for well-known names or important events and details... but for the most part they are names of unknowns that aid in giving us a time frame between events.

3. If it's bogging you down, read it out loud. For me there is something about reading it aloud that makes it more tolerable and interesting.

Now - for some really random observations from the last few days:

* It was amazing to me that Sarah was such a looker even in her "old age" - the second incident in which Abraham requested her to go through the brother/sister charade occurred after they were told they would have a child within a year's time. So she was around 90 years old! and still lovely enough to tempt the king. Amazing.

* All of these Patriarch wives struggling with birthing children... Sarah, Rebekah (25:21), and Rachel... and after their husbands were promised many generations and descendants. I'm thinking God really wanted them to be aware that He was the one in control.

* I also thought it was kinda funny (strange too) that Isaac asked Esau to go fix him a meal so he could give his blessing because, "I am now an old man and don't know the day of my death." (27:2) And then Jacob tricked Esau, stole the blessing, ran away from home, married two women, worked for over 20 years for his uncle, reunited with Esau and finally came home to his father - who was still alive! I'm sure it's a cultural thing... either that or Isaac was a hypochondriac. :)

* It was also interesting to me that Judah was the one that suggested they sell Joseph into Egypt. The bad turned into good and the event saved their family from famine - and Christ came from the line of Judah... the plan for a Savior to come was always in place! Such a detailed God we serve.

Anyway - hope you all are continuing with the readings (that is if anyone is reading) and I'll check in with ya again soon.

And Three And Four...

2010-12-12T20:45:00.000-06:00

The snow has hit around here - perfect weather to stay inside to read!

Today you should have tackled Genesis 25-36.

Tomorrow hit chapters 37-48... and then you know what?? You're almost through with the first of 66 books!

And you'll also only be 96 days away for spring (and hopefully some major spiritual renewal!).

Day #2

2010-12-11T12:11:00.000-06:00

If you are joining the challenge you are supposed to be reading Genesis 13-24 today :)

If you don't know what I'm talking about, read yesterday's post.

If you read the first 12 chapters of Genesis yesterday with me, wasn't it full of action!? The creation of the world, the fall of man, Cain and Abel, the flood, the splintering of the people groups, the Tower of Babel and the very beginnings of the story of Abram (Abraham). Wow - all packed into 12 chapters. Many theologians say that the first 11-12 chapters of Genesis are the foundations of society today.

Some of the principles found in these chapters:
1. Our God is powerful and creative - He spoke the world into existence and everything has been made with thought and purpose.
2. All life has value - people are made in the image of God and He views us as His creation as very good.
3. Marriage is important and ordained by God.
4. People will mess up - God gave us free will so that we may choose to love and follow Him, but we can also choose to gratify our own desires. Many wonder why all of mankind was cursed just because of the mistake of two people - it's because we all would make the same mistakes eventually.
5. The curses cause us to look for a Savior - because we are all in need of one.
6. The flood explains many of the questions concerning the earth's current form and fossil records.
7. God had a plan from the beginning - Abram becomes the family line in which all people will be blessed.

And that's only the tip of the iceberg!

A couple of random observations I had concerning the story of Cain and Abel:

First, so many children's Bibles and Sunday School lessons show the first family as a family of four - Adam, Eve with their two sons, Cain and Abel. This is where I need to remind myself and caution others to always go back to Scriptures when teaching our young people. It does not say that Cain was the first born it just basically recounts a dispute between two brothers. They could not have been the only children at the time... some clues are found in Genesis 4:14 and also in verse 17. After God cursed Cain for his wicked deed against his brother, Cain responded with fear for his life. In verse 14 he says, "I will be a restless wanderer on the earth and whoever finds me will kill me." Who would be around to find him? Obviously the earth was quite inhabited by this time. Also in verse 17 it speaks of Cain's wife. Cain had to have married a sister. So let's be careful as to what we depict and teach our children, because false details of stories can become stumbling blocks in later years.

Second, in regards to the sacrifices presented by Cain and Abel. We need to trust that God is faithful and consistent. I am sure Cain knew what was expected of him when he made his sacrifice, for a reason not fully explained, God refused his offering. When reading these chapters last night a new thought entered my head... and I'm not sure if it has any significance in regards to Cain and Abel or not. In Genesis chapter 9, when Noah and his family were able to exit the ark, God made a covenant with Noah. At this time God also now broadens the food supply for humans. If you remember God had only given Adam and Eve the permission to eat plants (Genesis 2:8-9, and 16-17), but in 9:3 God said to Noah, "Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything." He then goes on in the following verses to establish the importance of the "lifeblood" - maybe Abel's offering had that much more significance because he offered portions from the firstborn of his flock at a time when the killing of animals was rare since they were not used for food consumption? Abel's offering at least shows he either felt the severe weight of his sin or he realized the holiness and glory of God. Once again, just an observation I had.... which does not make it a correct one.

So I hope you're reading and making connections and seeing things in a new light. And I hope you continue on for today (only 99 days left until spring! yay!!).

I'm Not Promising Anything...

2010-12-10T07:03:00.003-06:00

but I think I'm up to a Winter Challenge, and that's exactly what I'm gonna call it - The Winter Challenge. (so very creative, I know.)

Here's what I'm thinking. What good is winter if you can't basically sit at home, curl up in a blanket and read a book? Yep, from my perspective that's pretty much all winter is good for - the occasional snow is fine, but I would rather just hibernate til spring. Speaking of... did you know today marks 100 days until the first official day of spring?

So in hopes that I will be able to fulfill my plan of curling up to read while I endure the next 100 days known as winter, I have decided that I will read the Bible in 100 days.

Back at the beginning of the year I was able to read the Bible in 90 days - there's a whole program with support materials and everything. It was the first time I was successful in a "read through the whole Bible" program - that read the Bible in a year stuff never worked for me - I always got distracted or procrastinated to the point that I just gave it up. The shorter time frame is easier for me to stick to and the larger chunks of reading help me to get into the "story" of it all a bit better.... plus knowing that if I procrastinate even one day I'll be behind 12 chapters helps me to stay on track.

So I'm wondering if anyone will join me? I know it's short notice... but all you need to do is read 12 chapters a day. I'm going to try to post things that pop to mind while I'm reading - questions I might have, things I find interesting, any nuggets of truth that strike me through the journey... not everyday, just from time to time. This is going to become my electronic journal... just because I really don't know what to do on this blog anymore. (But that subject is for a different post).

Anyway, if you'd like to join me, I'd love to have the company (and the accountability)... or if you ever want to leave a comment about something that I babble on about, I would welcome the conversation too.

Regardless, I challenge you to do something big this winter. Make it worthwhile - even if these days make you go blah... and if you are gonna do The Winter Challenge with me, then you need to go read Genesis 1-12. :)

Need Some Truth?

2010-12-08T09:09:00.001-06:00

Sitting in my inbox this morning was this devotional from Chuck Swindoll. It's awesome. Had to share it, because it deals with pits we can all fall into so easily. I'm not usually one to just cut and paste... but will make an exception today :)

How to Waste Time

James 4:13-17

"Have you noticed how many day-planners are available these days? And then there are the time-management self-help books: how to increase your efficiency, how to make every moment count, how to invest your time wisely and productively.

While all those voices and handy products scream for your attention, I'd like to play devil's advocate and tell you how to waste your time. Five proven ideas come immediately to mind:

First, worry a lot. Start worrying early in the morning and intensify your anxiety as the day passes. Worry about your own failures and mistakes---about what you should or could have done but didn't. To add variety, worry about things you should not have done but did. Hanging around negative people is another secret you won't want to forget. Remember: Potential ulcers need fresh acid.

Second, make hard-and-fast predictions. Of course, you'll need to ignore that little throwaway line in the fourth chapter of James: "you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow." But forget that comment and set your expectations in motion. Be as specific as you can. For example, one month before his July 1975 disappearance, Jimmy Hoffa announced: "I don't need bodyguards."

Third, fix your attention on getting rich. You'll get a lot of innovative ideas from the secular bookshelves (I counted fourteen books on the subject last time I was in a bookstore), plus you'll fit right in with most of the hype that's pouring out of entrepreneurial seminars and high-pressure sales meetings.

Fourth, compare yourself with others. Not only will you ricochet between the extremes of arrogance and discouragement, you will also spend the time not knowing who you are.

Fifth, lengthen your list of enemies. If there's one thing above all others that will keep your wheels spinning, it's perfecting your skill at the Blame Game. With a full arsenal of suspicion, paranoia, and resentment, you can waste endless evenings stewing over those folks who have made your life miserable.

Put these five surefire suggestions in motion, and you can forget about all the hassles connected with being happy, efficient, productive, and contented. Within a couple of months, those things won't even be on your agenda.

All this sounds like foolish exaggeration, doesn't it? But just stop and think: How much time are you already wasting on some of these things?"

Stay Tuned...

2010-12-07T17:36:00.000-06:00

Do you need something to help you through the winter blahs? Me too. I'm plotting, I'm thinking... and I may have come up with something. We'll see... and I'll keep ya posted. The announcement may come on Thursday. Maybe.

The 2:00 Wake-Up

2010-12-02T20:16:00.000-06:00

I'm not a morning person. I love my sleep. It makes me happy. In fact I can't think of any feeling I love more than finally being able to lay my weary body down on my soft bed and know that good deep sleep will soon follow. I usually am asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.

Here lately I've been waking up in the middle of the night... for seemingly no particular reason. I used to hate it. I mean when I was dealing with an infant, the middle of the night feeding got old really fast, so waking up for no reason got old even faster. I couldn't just drift back to sleep either - it would be at least an hour of doing nothing waiting to get drowsy again.

But now I look on this time quite differently and I almost look forward to it as much as I do my bedtime. This has become my devotional time. Any moment that I wake up in the middle of the night I view it as God tapping me on the shoulder asking me to spend time with Him. I love it. The house is so quiet, no chance of any interruptions... I spend the time with Him and then I fall asleep so easily afterward. I'm also so very ready for the next day ahead.

I have struggled for nearly 9 years now in finding a good time to have uninterrupted God time. Seems that He has solved the problem for me... too bad I was too dense (or selfish) to think of it sooner!

Oh Yeah, They're Back...

2010-11-28T15:49:00.000-06:00

Back together again. And they missed me, so all is right with the world.

And we went from the joy we felt in seeing each other into a rough re-entry into sibling life, into "that time of the month," into the holiday season. Fun times.

I'm really hoping for a good quiet week this week. Isaiah has a mysterious, itchy rash on his face. Huston lost his first tooth, Avery is already getting the dry skin thing goin' and Lillie is refusing to cooperate with this potty training thing, and I have a head cold.

We have to remember what it's like to do this school thing, what it's like to plan and fix meals, what it's like to play with each other without ending in a shouting match and decorate for Christmas.

Should be an interesting week. And I'll try to remember to get a picture of Huston's tooth"less" grin.

It's Been Years...

2010-11-19T16:25:00.000-06:00

since I've seen my two older boys... ok, so in reality it's only been 8 days... but I still have two days to wait before I see them again... so it might as well be considered an eternity.

Do I miss them? Why would you think that?? OF COURSE I do... heh... sorry didn't mean to start yelling there.

I wonder what this vacation with my folks has changed, if anything. My younger two have been so mellow and laid back. But they've also been a little unsure as to what their role is. They are the followers and they really haven't had anyone to follow for awhile. Since his big brothers' departure, Avery tends to gravitate toward whatever I'm doing. Which is fine, I've enjoyed it to a degree, but it's kinda hard to get things done with a 5 year old and then a 2 year old grasping your leg.

I wonder if Huston has matured a bit. I wonder if he will be bigger in thought and action. I wonder if the boys will be willing to catch up on the near two weeks of school that we've missed out on. I wonder if they will be full of unsatisfaction for the life they knew pre-Florida. I can worry about the most random things. Did they miss me? Do they want to be home? Or would they be content to not see me ever again and move in with their grandparents or other extended family. And should I be bothered if that's the case?

See what I mean. I'm a mess.

I just want my family back together. A couple of nights ago the boys talked with their siblings on the phone. Lillie talked to Huston first and said, "I miss you.... I love you.... I want you to come home." My sediments exactly.

Anyway. Life goes on. I've enjoyed the quieter times I've had with the younger two. We've had ~~non-fit involving~~ successful trips to the library (who knew it was possible!), we've had book reading times and tent building times and restful afternoons and doing errands with two rather than four has been life-changing.

They got hair cuts too. Here's Lillie's new do: (sorry, I uploaded them in backwards order and was too lazy to redo... still can't figure out how to cut and paste with the new blogger layout)

By Sunday I should feel whole again with all my family together.... and we'll start on getting back into a routine.... right before Thanksgiving.... yeah, right.

5 Days After Halloween

2010-11-05T14:27:00.000-05:00

is pretty special too because it's the day I first became a mommy. Nine years ago today I had a beautiful baby boy named Isaiah Clifton.

He's nine. No it hasn't sunk in yet. This one is hitting me a little harder. He's halfway to legalized adulthood. His last year of single digits. He's practically shaving.

Another thing that hit me is that I have been changing diapers now for 9 straight years. That's kinda depressing. Lillie had better start this potty training buisness.

Isaiah is a wonderful boy and I mess up with him a lot. That's what the oldest kids are for - to take the brunt of all the parental mistakes and come out smelling like roses (after some therapy). He is a level headed little guy (although he's very close to being as tall as me!). He is loving and kind to his siblings (those dasterdly siblings that try to ruin his very existence). He is tender-hearted and can be hurt by the words that others take for granted (which means that often times I just need to shup up).

He's a great kid and will prayerfully, hopefully continue into a wonderful young man that will follow the Lord and consider the needs of others. He's a great guy, that Isaiah.

The Day After Halloween

2010-11-01T10:30:00.001-05:00

is pretty special in this house too. Today is Avery's 5th birthday - his age has finally caught up with his personality - he's a whole "handful."

Here is a pic of my boy this morning on his actual day - and ironically he is wearing the shirt he stole from Target - totally encapsulates his personality. :)

Halloween Pics

2010-10-31T19:40:00.000-05:00

The tough guys....

The indians....

And So It Comes to an End

2010-10-31T11:54:00.000-05:00

Phew. 31 straight days of posting - that was kinda hard! I don't know how these popular daily blogger people do it - constantly coming up with a new topic, having the brain function to sit down and spew out something witty and not offend anyone while doing so (ok, so some of them may offend, but they probably don't care that they offend).

I was glad to do it though - it's good for us to become aware of things that other people are looking straight in the eye and tackling head on because it's a part of their life. They do so with grace and they teach those that are around them a lot through their experiences. It's good that God gave us each other to learn from and lean on.

Tonight is the Fall Festival at our church - I'm kinda coordinating it, but it's not a huge feat. We're keeping it very simple this year and for that I'm very thankful.

Huston has changed his mind about a costume.... again. There's no going back now. He's going to be a police man - which sounds easy enough, but in reality the only police man costumes out there these days are the SWAT team/mega force/military police garb. I was thinking more along the lines of Andy Griffith. I want my kid to be handing out parking tickets not capturing drug lords. But we've pieced things together the best that we can and I think he'll look just fine.

Well, I'll post pics of them later. You may not hear from me for awhile - you and I both probably need the break! :)

The Only Thing Good About Nebraska...

2010-10-30T18:52:00.000-05:00

is the little girl that shares it's name.

That college football team called Nebraska? They're yucky.

I still think our Tigers are better.

31 for 21: Wrapping Up

2010-10-29T15:34:00.002-05:00

I only have a few more days of posts before the month of October is complete. Looking back I should have just linked to RK most every day so you would read her posts - I certainly am aware that all are tired of listening to me (don't worry, I'll give you a rest come November :)

I am linking you up with RK today tho... and she has linked up to another mom and they are both talking about an issue that I believe stands in the way of everyone just relaxing and getting to know any person or any family with "special needs".... that we on the outside are afraid that we'll "say the wrong thing."

In our world of politically correctness and the push for tolerance in everything I think we are shooting ourselves in the foot. Yes, we should not be rude to each other. Yes, we should always value life. There is no room for compromise in these areas. But we should always be looking at the intent of the heart of people. We don't live each others lives day after day, we are not educated in the needs of each others families... I don't know what it's like to be you. I of course need to try to find out, but there is no way that I can automatically have this information - there must be a starting point. We need to extend grace and love to each other so that the walls can fall naturally and safely, and RK and her friend express that very well in their posts today!

And when you're done reading, hop over here and take a look at Braska when she was a baby - she is such a cutie!

Do You Facebook?

2010-10-28T20:32:00.002-05:00

Why yes, yes I do. I was skeptical at first. I hated it when I first signed up... but now I love it because it can be quick and easy to check in on a good number of long lost friends and relatives or my neighbor down the street - one stop shopping.

I've also become a fb (that's what the cool kids say instead of typing the whole word out... yeah, I know... pretty hip) anyway, I've become a fb status update writer. Blog entries are getting harder because I: 1.) I don't have the brain power anymore... 2.) I don't have the time... 3.) The stories I want to share can usually be summed up in a short little blurb.

I have been thinking for quite sometime that I need to start saving some of these status updates over here on the blog... because I don't think fb saves things infinitely and a lot of these incidences are things that I want to look back on and remember at some point... cuz often times, I have silly kids.

So if you are my fb friend already and you are reading this post, skip it... you've heard it all before and I really doubt that we're that interesting. If you've never experienced the kookiness that is us, go ahead and read a few if ya wanna... but just know the main purpose for me putting these on here is to keep a record for the years to come.

if you want to derail your child's long drawn out verbal thought process, simply take your two index fingers and place them up your nose... the child won't remember what he was talking about.

stinkin' stink of stink and stink. I just ruined supper (on top of everything else today)... so forget it! we're goin' out for ice cream...

Huston just asked me if he could have dessert when the boy ate hardly anything for supper... are you kidding me? only I can eat unhealthy things in lieu of supper. sheesh. you'd think he'd know that by now.

wonders what it is about my front door that seems to draw our free-range chickens to forsake the 7 acres and huddle around the welcome mat.

when helping Lillie brush her teeth, as you finish the task, be sure to add "in the sink" to the end of the command for her to spit... yeah, trust me on this one.

if Avery went outside to play with the kittens and begins to sing "Super Kitty!," odds are you'll need to go out to intervene... just a general rule of thumb.

I fell victim to one of the classic blunders: never leave your drink alone with a 2 year old and only slightly less well known: never allow your son to be 6.

Avery just told me, "When I grow up, I'm gonna run fast and help people. I'll bring them a rope... or a string... or a barrel of monkeys." Comforting to know that he'll be prepared.

Lillie just declared herself a "cutie pie" and all the brothers agreed with her... a monster is being created. *sigh*

a good sign that you are raising a "country girl" is when your daughter's frilly ballerina tutu is filled with stick-tights.

is feeling really redneck... the woodstove guy came to deliver a part while I was standing outside covered in fish scales cleaning fish. ugh. at least all children were clothed and not peeing anywhere or shooting each other.

according to Huston's homework 0+0="nufing" hmmmm... thinking we need to review the existence of the number 0

I have decided to invent my own child translator. For example, when my 8 year old whines about having to do a job, he is actually saying, "Thank you mom for giving me tasks that will teach me to be tough and ready for the real world. You're the best." (btw, that "you're the best" part is at the end of all translations...)

While sitting down to dinner everyone was enjoying idle chit-chat when Avery says, "It's so nice when the neighbors come and throw dirt at us." Wasn't aware of that ever occuring... wishful thinking on his part I guess.

While I was cooking dinner tonight, Avery came in from playing outside and asked, "Mom, do you have a gun in the kitchen? I need to go shoot Isaiah." I had no comeback to that...

found out tonight that crows aren't the only ones who get the crap scared out of them by the strategic placing of a scarecrow. Thank you neighbor. sheesh.

Avery is requesting to watch "coyote and runrover" this morning...

I snitched a few Cheetohs off of Avery's plate at lunch, he caught me and said in a very sweet tone, "Aww... are you sharing my Cheetohs?" Such a gracious victim... almost made me feel guilty for stealing them... almost.

overheard conversation between Avery and Lillie: "Hey Lillie, ya remember... ya love me?" "Yeeeeaaaaah, Aaahvry"

was cutting apples for a dessert I'm making and Avery was sitting beside me keeping me company. He took an apple and held it up to his ear and said, "Hey mom! I can hear the ocean!" Such a silly boy.

was very entertained when Avery began his latest tattle with "Ummm mom. Once upon a time, Isaiah and Huston...." It seemed to make it a bit more bearable to listen to.

Avery, did you poke Huston with your pencil? "Uhhhh, I got a pencil.... cuz Huston took out his, uhhh, pocket knife... and tried to kill me...." *said while avoiding eye contact* I laughed and then I sent him to his room.

must confess I just hid in the van so I could eat a candybar without having to share it with the kids... I'm sure they would much rather have an apple... I needed more than they did... really.

the brothers just taught Lillie a valuable lesson in regards to emptying the dishwasher... you don't lick the silverware as you put them away. She was offended and there were tears but I'm thankful my boys were committed to proper procedure.

Avery is teaching Lillie the names of the Presidents that are found on Mt. Rushmore.... he said to her, "Look Lillie, this is George Washington... he says, 'Hey! I'm a man on a big rock!'" Such a great history teacher, that one.

Lillie is innocently taunting her older brothers by unintentionally referring to their current hero, Davy Crockett, as "Baby Crockett"

Lillie proudly helped me feed the chickens before heading inside to help me with supper... but she stopped in her tracks when I answered her question of what we were making with "chicken and rice"... she peered out the window overlooking the hen house and whispered, "We eat chickens?" Traumatic event #37 in my role of motherhood. Ooops.

Halloween

2010-10-27T13:14:00.000-05:00

It's just a few days away and I don't have everyone's costume figured out yet. I mean, I know what they are going to dress up as... but I just don't have all the little details worked out.

Isaiah wants to be a WW2 soldier. Oh yeah, that's simple. At first I basically thought he'd wear his camo pants and we'd get him a green shirt to go with them and that would be that - but soldiers didn't really wear camo in WW2. So my latest plan is to go to an antique store and see what we can find to help the kid out... but he may just have to settle with a generic soldier (who's gonna know anyway, besides him).

Huston wanted to be a ninja. Wherever did that come from?? Anyway I have a friend that had a homemade ninja costume that her son wore a few years ago. It's a great costume... all black... with a hood thingy. I know for fact that Huston isn't gonna wear the hood thingy... without the hood he just looks like a little boy dressed in all black. So I think I've convinced him to be a cowboy, because...

Avery and Lillie are going to be Indians. Once again my friend pulled through with Indian costumes for both of my little ones. They are really cute. So the kids have been collecting chicken feathers lately (a few of our chickens are molting) so I need to make them a headband and figure out some faux moccasins (maybe).

I need to find Huston some cowboy looking material - he has a holster, some boots, and a hat... maybe if I can find him some chaps the whole thing will pull together. And who knows what we will end up doing ~~with~~ for Isaiah.

It will be a fun night regardless. Yes I said it, and I'm a Christian to boot - Halloween can be fun! To claim that celebrating Halloween is a way of going against Christ is like saying that an atheist follows God because he eats turkey on Thanksgiving. It's the intent behind the celebration. We're going to be bringing glory to God by outreaching to the community around us and providing fellowship with the believers. So if you can find a costume, wear it! God can redeem more than just people, He can redeem holidays too.

Oh Lillie.

2010-10-26T13:01:00.002-05:00

Lillie is curled up in my lap laying her head on my chest. "Lillie, you know what it's time for?"
"What?"
"It's rest time. Time for your nap."
"I'll clean up lincoln logs."
"No. It's nap time."
"I watch a movie."
"No. It's nap time."
"I go on the potty."

Heard in the background... Avery asks, "How do you spell 'bomb'?"
Without skipping a beat Lillie yells out, "E-I-L, Avery! E-I-L!"

"You can't spell, Lillie. It's time to take a nap." I carry her to her bed and lay her down.
"I need my blankie."
"Here it is."
"K. Goodnight mom. See ya later."

Right now she's singing to herself in bed. That's our Lillie.

**UPDATE** She never did go to sleep.

That Toothless Grin...

2010-10-25T17:03:00.000-05:00

After spending the whole of yesterday worrying and being very squeamish about his loose tooth, Isaiah finally lost the little bugger in his sleep last night... and didn't swallow it which is a plus. I've lost track of which number this one is for him - 5 or 6 I believe... but probably more. My mind is not as it used to be. Just this morning the boy asked me where his "tooth box" was... ummmm... tooth box? I don't ever recall him having a tooth box. He said the dentist had given it to him to keep his teeth in. Ewwwww.... I don't mind pulling the little suckers (he does) but I'm not keeping his baby teeth for posterity (he would). No we don't do the tooth fairy - once again I'm a terrible mother in the childhood traditions category, but I do reward him for allowing his adult teeth to grow and push out his old ones, cuz that takes a lot of work. *sarcasm* He claims another tooth is on it's way out too - hopefully it won't have to hang there until "it rattles when he breathes" - but it probably will.

Whirl. Wind.

2010-10-24T19:10:00.000-05:00

I'm tired today. No real shocking surprise, it seems that I'm usually tired. I was up last night (again) at 2am. I don't know what it is about that time but my body is determined to be awake. It stinks because it pretty much means that it will take and hour or two to drift back into good sleep and then before I know it the little munchkins are waking me up at the crack of dawn (or before). Vicious cycle continues.

I ran around a lot today at church. I kinda like those mornings because it certainly makes everything flow quickly... but it wipes me out too.

After church I did some errands - the usual things:

took back overdue library books
returned some pants that I decided that I didn't want after all
paid for a shirt that Avery stole from Target...

You know, general stuff like that. The shirt incident happened on Tuesday afternoon. While Isaiah was taking his hour long art class, the rest of us hopped over to Target to shop a bit. I found this monster shirt on the clearance rack. It was a cute striped shirt with a crazy blue monster on the front and it screamed Avery. I showed it to him and he immediately grabbed it from me to admire it. I continued to look at other clearance items for Lillie... and forgot about the shirt.

Avery was sitting in one of those oversized big kid carts... the one with the large two seater attached to the handle - so he wasn't very visible. We finished our shopping and it was quickly getting to be time to pick up Isaiah. I headed to the check-out where all the kids started doing their part to empty the contents of the cart onto the table, while I did my part to empty the contents of my wallet. We chatted with the cashier - Lillie always seems to draw people out into conversation. We grab our bags and wheel that big ol' monster cart out to the van... that's when Avery slides off his seat and reveals the big ol' monster shirt still in his lap. Great.

I asked him, "Avery, did you give the shirt to the lady so we could pay for it??" He answered yes but after inspecting the receipt I found he was mistaken. No time to rectify the error that very moment, so we settled up accounts today... a whole $3. My conscience is clear.

Anyway, after the errands I've been pretty much veggin' here at home. Longing for an early bedtime - we'll see. Then I look at the date and realize that 2 months from today is Christmas Eve! Yeah, I'm sorry I brought it up too. *yawn*

The Weekend of Major... Ummmm....

2010-10-23T18:52:00.000-05:00

Hype? Maybe. Energy? Sure. Fun? Ok.

It's homecoming weekend. Living near a college town you can't avoid the buzz of a homecoming weekend. But this weekend has brewed the perfect storm. Our team is undefeated, rated 11th (however they figure that...). We're playing the #1 ranked team, the Oklahoma Sooners - a burr in our side for sure. And some ESPN show decided to broadcast live from our quad - on our campus... some crazy folks were there by 2:00am to get their spot to watch the spectacle. I was happily in bed.

The whole town has an almost palpable energy to it. Funny what sports will do to people. What makes a football game played by college age kids so incredibly unifying? Is it the thrill of possible victory - the idea of defeating another team representing another region of the US - a sort of civilized dual? Is it because so many are connected to the school? It's my alma mater and yes I'm wearing my school colors today when I usually truly don't pay any attention nor do I look back fondly on my college experience. Is it the *beauty* of the game itself? Nostalgia? Who knows.

I feel this energy more with baseball - I could spend my whole summer at the stadium if time and finances allowed... but why? Interesting psychology behind the whole phenomenon of sports... guess that's why folks become sports psychologists. There certainly is a misplacement of value on something that we could more than likely live without (although I argue that if we didn't have sports we'd find something else to compete with each other about.)

Anyway - we're just a few minutes from kickoff on national television (which we don't have television so I'll be listening a bit on the radio)...and if we win I hope the town can handle the excitement. Regardless of the reasoning behind it... Go Tigers!

But That's Our Norm

2010-10-22T17:00:00.000-05:00

Everybody has them. It's their personal pace in life, the measure of strength in handling what life throws back at them. Everyone has struggles. Everyone does life as they have to in order to get things done. It's their norm.

I don't know how many times I hear people say to me.... "I don't know how you do it!" Do what? I sometimes look around and think, do you know what other people are doing?? This is nothing. This is "nothing" to me because it's become our norm. It's what I know I will have to deal with week in and week out and most of the time we can cover it all without too much stress. God equips us for what He calls us to do.

What is our norm? 4 kids. Homeschooling 2 of them. Part-time job at the church. There I summed it up in 3 little fragment sentences. I will admit that many times it's easier said than done... but who's life isn't. We all have obstacles to negotiate on any given day.

I've never had a huge tragedy strike my immediate family. My husband has never lost his job. My children have been healthy. My support team has been large. And most importantly, my God is bigger than anything. In the great eternal perspective, if my kitchen doesn't get cleaned or my kids don't do math today... big. deal.

Many, many, (cannot emphasize that enough... many) folks have higher mountains to climb... and while there are stressful seasons (no denying stress - we would eventually die without it I think)... for the most part, they will eventually rise to the challenge and one day will also be caught off guard by a well-meaning soul that says, "I don't know how you do it!" Because this life that they live day in and day out has become their norm.

Every once in awhile something will throw us off our equilibrium but we're built to adjust, get right back on that ride and try it again until it works. If you're in the middle of a life transition - just remember that when you project a year out from now this whole scene will look totally different. Especially when you reach out for God's help, you will again figure out your norm. He is very faithful.

Field Trip!

2010-10-21T08:33:00.001-05:00

We're headin' to the zoo today to get some up close looks at some animals the boys have been studying. (Really hoping the experience isn't too up close in regards to the snakes they want to see!) Will tell ya all about it when we return!
Go check out the 31 for 21 team!

I've Got Lots Coming Up

2010-10-20T08:17:00.000-05:00

In less than 2 weeks it's Halloween. That day is getting to be more and more of a chore. As my kids get older and more set in what they want to dress up as... gone are the days of picking out something cheap and cute with them oblivious to what is going on... hello to the days of "I wanna be a WW2 soldier, I wanna be a ninja and Can I be an indian?" Thankfully I have a friend that does great costuming for her kids and so far we've been able to take advantage of her last year selections. Halloween is fun, but it can also be pricey.

Especially for us, when we have two kid birthdays within that same week. I still don't know exactly what I want to do for these boys for their day. Avery's birthday is the day after Halloween which is kinda a bummer... just because they are already coming off of a sugar high from the night before, adding cake and ice cream and excitement to the mix the very next day can have sobering effects.

But with Avery, he is so easy to please all I would have to do is bake him a lovely cake and let him dive in and that would be birthday enough - the boy loves sweets.

Isaiah turns 9 on the 5th of November. NINE people. He's halfway to adulthood or at least legal age. That's terrifying. Let's talk about something else.

A week following Isaiah's birthday my folks have planned a two week trip to Florida and want to take Isaiah and Huston with them. Two weeks away from home. I think I can do it. I know that they can do it. I tend to miss them more than they miss me. The thing is, Steven and I had kinda planned a little trip down to Branson the weekend that they are heading out - we got season passes to Silver Dollar City this year and we were going to attempt to take the kids down to see the Christmas lights (they start in November). We've heard they're quite grand. Anyway that plan has turned into plan B.

Plan B is this. The more Steven and I talked it over the more we thought it would be a better choice for the kids to go to Florida - a great experience with their grandparents, they'd get a chance to meet and see relatives that we don't get to visit with very often - many of them are cousins their age. The more we talked about it, the more we thought taking just Lillie and Avery to Branson would be kind of a waste. Yes, they would like it, but Lillie for sure wouldn't remember being there. So plan B involves Steven's mom coming to live at our house for a few days to watch Avery, Lillie and all the critters so Steven and I can go on a trip BY OUR SELVES. In all the 9 years of parenting we have yet to go on a solo trip. We won't know what to do with ourselves. I'm sure we will love it, and maybe it will spur Steven into taking me to bigger and better places every year. Either that or I'll miss the kids so terribly that I won't care to go anywhere without them for a long time. Yeah, I'm laughing about that one too. ;)

I'm Running Out of Ideas

2010-10-19T12:13:00.000-05:00

So you're gonna get a really random post (ya tired of listening to me yet?? yeah, I thought so.)

Isaiah ran his first 5K on Saturday - it was an event sponsored by our church. He was excited to try it because some of his friends in his Sunday school class were running it. He didn't practice. We don't even have any proper lace up tennis shoes for him. He wore his regular everyday clothes (heaven forbid that he would have to part with his camouflage pants). And he ran it in 31 minutes. I'm not very educated on running, but that seems pretty good to me considering he has never ran that great a distance before. He doesn't seem to enthusiastic to try it again tho.
Huston is becoming anxious about classroom situations (like Sunday school and the type). Isaiah did this very same thing about this age and it only lasted for a season. It's interesting how he gets a belly ache or has something hurting right before class begins. I'm the mean mom that makes him go anyway, and so far he's been fine.
The older I get, the more I crave cake. Not sure what that's all about.
Lillie keeps faking me out about the potty thing. I've determined to just let her decide when she's ready - coming off of the long, battle scarred experience with Avery I don't think I could survive it any other way. Yesterday she asked for underwear and kept them clean all afternoon and evening. This morning I put her in underwear and she messed it majorly. *sigh*
Steven was pretty busy last week and gone a lot - I'm tired.
I'm reading Lisa Whelchel's book, Friendship for Grown-ups in preparation for one of the Parenting Through the Proverbs lessons I'm compiling and it's an interesting and quick read. I'd recommend it.
Avery refused to eat the vegetable soup I made because it had peas in it. So I sent him to his room. He stayed in there for about 30 minutes and then came out and declared, "Hey mom? I forgot. I like peas." Then he sat down at the table and forced himself to eat the soup. Of course I rewarded him for the effort.
My allergies have been terrible this season. My ears kinda ache and I usually end up with a headache. Sleep has never looked so good to me.
This morning's sky reminded me of winter... I'm ready for spring. I will hardly ever complain about the heat because I would so much rather have heat than cold.
You know it's gonna be a long day when you finish feeding your kids lunch and you look up at the clock and it's only 11am.

Writing Curriculum

2010-10-18T13:52:00.001-05:00

I've been writing the PreK curriculum at church for a little over a year now. It's almost totally complete. I changed lesson plan formats in the middle of it all so I need to go back and reformat the first half of the journey. Then my plan is to go through each lesson, step-by-step, and collect all materials, books, etc. and have them stored away and organized somewhere so that everything is where it can be found when the time comes. (Yeah, I know, too high of expectations for a church, but I'm gonna try.)

Why did I write the curriculum? Because I was never satisfied with the published stuff. They all had bits and pieces that were good, but the bulk of it was rather lame, developmentally off base, or just not conducive to a Sunday school room environment. So I was constantly rewriting the lesson plans I'd already paid for. Very frustrating.

I'm so very anxious to have it all done and bound and easy to use, ready for the next year. I basically wrote about 52 lessons, give or take and we will continue to loop the same themes each year... cuz really the 5 year olds aren't gonna say, "Hey! We did this lesson when I was 3!" They don't remember and repetition is so good at that age - that's way Blue and Dora and all those ~~annoying~~ successful kid's shows ask the same question multiple times.

I also compiled a series of lessons for moms mostly, entitled Parenting Through the Proverbs. I won't say wrote for this one, because a majority of the material I've pulled from some other source. I am currently leading this study for a group of about 12 moms and the reviews have been favorable so far. We only have 2 lessons to go before we take a break for the semester (gotta be done before those holidays or I'll lose the participants to the Christmas rush).

I really enjoy the study and the discipline that lesson writing requires. I just don't really have the time at this point in my life to do it really well. Maybe a future "hobby" - who knows... there are a lot of times currently that I tend to schluff off what I'm supposed to be doing because I don't feel like doing it. But I think that's because truly "free" time in my life is so very limited that when I have it the last thing I want to do is think hard. :)

Anyway. That's one thing that I've been up to lately.

I Don't Know What to Say

2010-10-17T16:15:00.000-05:00

So I'm posting this to let you know that - I've fulfilled my post for the day and I've saved you from listening to me rattle on. I'm sure you're relieved!

Go wish RK a happy birthday, or go and remind yourself why I've committed to posting everyday this month.

Now For the Harvest

2010-10-16T14:31:00.000-05:00

Remember I told you that last weekend we headed to Iowa to watch Steven's Uncle and cousin bring in the harvest? My boys LOVED it. I'm not sure they are quite inspired to be farmers - but they would've sat in that combine all night I think if I would have let them.

All the boys participated. Lillie didn't like the noise, so she hung around when things were kinda low key but wanted out of there otherwise.

They did beans the first day and then corn the next day. All the kids enjoyed watching the corn get eaten up by the combine more than the beans. I didn't get out there with the camera on the corn day tho.

The Pictures are Done

2010-10-15T13:28:00.000-05:00

Here are the cream of the crop from the group of kid pics I took the other day - I was attempting to get one good shot and happily I have quite few to choose from. Phew.

And of course we had our share of out-takes too :)

I Don't Have Much Time Today

2010-10-14T06:51:00.000-05:00

I have a busy day ahead and I have a husband on an overnight buisness trip so it's really early in the morning and I'm throwing this up here before the day takes off and sweeps away.

Yesterday I took my kids outside to get a picture of them together, preferably looking at the camera, and maybe even smiling. In the past this *little* project has been a frustrating nightmare and I fully expected more of the same yesterday. But a funny thing has happened in a year.

My kids have grown up. My youngest is now 2 1/2 years old. So when I say stand here and look at the camera - she actually does it! And the boys did pretty good forced smiles too! It was totally amazing. The whole process took 15 minutes and no one died.

I took the pics with an old school, film camera so that I would have no delay time when I hit that button to capture the moment... so pictures of the photo shoot as well as pictures of harvest time in Iowa will be along as soon as I get a cd made this afternoon.

P.S. - to tag onto yesterday's post I just want to say that I learned this morning that all the miners are out of the ground and I am very happy and thankful. It was a miracle of a circumstance for sure.

Maybe My Shoes Are Too Tight...

2010-10-13T12:11:00.000-05:00

I sometimes feel like the Grinch. That my heart is two sizes too small. I think I just must be jaded about the news media... and maybe living in a vacuum has hardened my heart toward the news media more than it has softened it toward world events. I don't know... but I'm not moved to tears by the Chilean minors. Yes I said it. And lightening hasn't struck me down.... yet.

I'm very sorry for their circumstances. It stinks. Terribly. But they're not dead. They've been cared for to the best of everyone's abilities, under the watchful eye of people all around the world, and they are being reunited with their families. Yay! Next story please.

It's so like the media (in my book) to take one story that they know is going to end successfully (Oh, ok, it doesn't necessarily have to end successfully) and stretch it out for as long as they possibly can. It's good for ratings. And when it ends happily makes the audience feel great and warm and fuzzy and wanting to join together hand-in-hand around the world and sing Kum Bah Ya. It makes me feel used and exploited - I feel that way even more so for the miners.

There is terrible injustice in this world - all around us. It does break my heart and make me shake my head in wonder. But for goodness sake, can we just put the camera down and do something! I don't think the mainstream media sees their role as one to inform the public as much as it is to boost ratings and sensationalize the situation and that does no one any good.

Now if you are reading this and you were one to be moved by the rescue of the Chilean miners I am very thankful that your tender heart has remained intact even after years of this media behavior. You are a much stronger person than me. This is not a judgement on your reaction to the news story... this is a rant about how these real-life situations can be turned into a show for the benefit of others. Makes me rather sick.

There are a lot of people out there that are trying to help things get better -- and they don't do it with flashy lights and cameras. Thank God for these people - we should all find a way to join them or spread the word concerning their needs... but please don't contact the news media!

Click on this link if you want to learn about an organization that is helping kids with disabilities all around the world. Reece's Rainbow is committed to helping kids that will be forgotten and institutionalized no matter how severe or minor their medical situation if they are left where they are at today. But with the help of many people through this organization many of these kids will have a different outcome - one of love and hope for the future. Now that's putting the camera down and really doing something to make a difference!

Musical Therapy

2010-10-12T10:34:00.000-05:00

Been taking part in some Keith Green therapy lately - yes I listen to Christian music from the '70s at times... I'm that cool.

But seriously - his lyrics are meaty - you're getting a Bible lesson to music. Here's the one that keeps playing in my mind... When I Hear the Praises Start.

My son, My son, why are you striving

You can't add one thing to what's been done for you

I did it all while I was dying

Rest in your faith, my peace will come to you

For when I hear the praises start

I want to rain upon you

Blessings that will fill your heart

I see no stain upon you

Because you are my child and you know me

To Me you're only holy

Nothing that you've done remains

Only what you do for Me

My child, My child, why are you weeping

You will not have to wait forever

That day and that hour is in My keeping

The day I'll bring you into Heaven

For when I hear the praises start

My child, I want to rain upon you

Blessing that will fill your heart

I see no stain upon you

Because you are My child and you know me

To me you're only holy

Nothing that you've done remains

Only what you do in Me

My precious bride, the day is nearing

When I'll take you in My arms and hold you

I know there are so many things that you've been hearing

But you just hold on to what I have told you

For when I hear the praises start

My bride, I want to rain upon you

Blessings that will fill your heart

I see no stain upon you

Because you are My child, and you know Me

To me you're only holy

Nothing that you've done will remain

Only what you do for me

Check out the link to a YouTube clip of him singing his song if you wanna hear these words to music and you can get past the afro hair. Good stuff.

Welcome to Holland

2010-10-11T09:30:00.001-05:00

I know many folks that have posted this essay before and will do so throughout this month I am sure. But I think it's very worthy to repost here.

"Welcome To Holland" is an essay written by Emily Perl Kingsley, (a writer for Sesame Street, and numerous children's books) and mother of a son with Down syndrome. She wrote the essay to describe what it was like to have a child with a disability.

I do not have a child with a disability (inability? yes!) but I think anyone that has not had things in their life "go as planned" can relate and learn from this piece. Remember, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11)

Welcome To Holland

When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum, the Sistine Chapel, Gondolas. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It’s all very exciting.

After several months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, “Welcome to Holland!”

“Holland?” you say. “What do you mean, Holland? I signed up for Italy. I’m supposed to be in Italy. All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy.”

But there’s been a change in the flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven’t taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place full of pestilence, famine, and disease. It’s just a different place.

So, you must go out and buy new guidebooks. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It’s just a different place. It’s slower paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you’ve been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around. You begin to notice that Holland has windmills. Holland has tulips. And Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they’re all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life you will say, “Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go. That’s what I had planned.”

And the pain of that experience will never, ever, ever, go away. The loss of that dream is a very significant loss.

But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland.

And We're Back

2010-10-10T06:15:00.001-05:00

Did ya even know we were gone?? Ahhhh, the joy of scheduled posts. We were off in Iowa for the past few days. My hubby, Steven, has family up there and they farm and it's harvest time folks - the peak season of large farm machinery - every boy's dream (unless you live with it day in and day out I suppose).

We headed up there Thursday morning with Steven's mom to stay with his Aunt Vicki and Uncle Doug. They farm many acres with their adult son, Jeff. My three boys took turns riding shot gun between the tractor pulling the wagons of grain to the combine cutting the crops. They were pretty much in heaven. Dog tired from it all too. Late nights and very early mornings while not sleeping in your own bed makes for some really touchy kiddos (and parents!) but we survived and will spend the next few days recovering I am sure.

Back to the daily grind... but I'm sure visions of corn stalks getting eaten by the blades of the combine are dancing in my little boys' dreamy little heads.

** Lillie was too scared of the loud noises to even attempt to ride in a tractor - she'd climb all over the quiet non-moving ones all she could though and was happily contented to schmooze her rarely seen family members - maybe next year she'll be immune to the sounds of loud machinery and it will be more enjoyable for her.

Recap

2010-10-09T08:30:00.002-05:00

Time to recap why I'm posting something every day this month!

Grab This Button

Randa Kay and I grew up together, kinda. Her dad and my dad were college roommates and they both were in preaching ministries for many years. During the seasons that our families lived in the same vicinity there were nearly monthly-every couple of monthly visits so that the adults could eat spaghetti and snickerdoodles while playing pinochle.

While I kept up with news on RK through her parents over the years, she and I fell out of contact for quite awhile until she started a blog about her firstborn Nebraska Larae. Braska was born with DS and a heart defect that required major surgery while she was still very, very small (like 3 months old!). My mom and I would keep up with her progress and I eventually left a comment on one of her posts and thus we reconnected. Through RK I was bit with the blogging bug, so it's only fitting that I use this history of me talking to myself to raise awareness of Down Syndrome. So click on the button above and go encourage some families, get to know some new people, and educate yourself on the importance of showing love and respect to all people because they are created in the image of God!

Our Kittens

2010-10-08T11:00:00.001-05:00

We got some kittens about a month or a month and a half ago. They are really fun. Quite fiesty and cute and carefree. The follow the kids around and Avery ~~tortures~~ plays with them the most. Lillie will carry them around and they just hang limp in her arms - like they are surrendering under her power if she just promises not to hurt them.

Here's a kitty pic - taken right after we got them...

The black one is named "Socks" (original, I know), the front tiger one is Beau and the little gal in the back is "Sweet One" - Socks and Beau are boys.

We got them to be outside cats. I'm not a fan of litter boxes and cat hair. And really I'm not too fond of adult cats... kitties are cute - who couldn't like a kitty? I'm just really hoping these three will be expert mousers. Otherwise I'm gonna be sorely disappointed.

The problem is I think I'm creating a family of cat lovers... and I'm not sure how I feel about that. :) But NO - I cannot get them a dog yet. Thanks for the suggestion though. Maybe in a few years, but at this point we have 6 chickens, 2 hermit crabs, 3 cats, and a fish - ~~I'm~~ we're feeding enough mouths, thank you.

No Sympathetic Bone

2010-10-07T13:00:00.002-05:00

I'm feeling kinda bad about how non-sympathetic I've become with my kids.

Yesterday Huston got stung on his knee by something - a wasp or a bee I guess. The kid went crazy. Screaming, crying, chaos... would not listen to a word I said. Kept telling him to calm down but no doing. And instead of feeling sorry for him and his wound I got terribly irritated.

See the thing is, this kid reacts like that with just about anything. Goes of the deep end and is so hysterical you can't jump in after him or he'll drag ya down with him. I've tried everything that I can think of and no method seems more successful than another.

* Humor - he's insulted you're trying to make light of his plight
* A Stern look and talk - he argues and cries and makes you feel like a meanie
* Comfort - he keeps right on with his uncontrollable sobs
* Ignore it - he drives you crazier as he gets progressively louder until you are either forced to pay attention or you want to take your own life
* Distract him - he won't distract, he's got tunnel vision on his own pain

Will he grow out of this?? I'm really hoping he does. Is this kinda normal? I mean being upset when injured of course is very normal. But this hysteria stuff is crazy... and it happens with the slightest injury.

So if anyone has any suggestions, let me have 'em! Or I'm gonna film it sometime and make you watch it! (how's that for a threat...)

Take Their Toys Away

2010-10-06T07:30:00.005-05:00

Remember... 31 for 21

I will say, that this step that I'm about to describe may not work as well on younger kids... but then again, maybe we're selling our kids too short.

I was tired of them. I was tired of seeing them, I was tired of stepping on them, I was tired of hearing about how they were lost or broken and I was especially tired of cleaning them up. So I got rid of them: a huge chunk of my kids' toys.

They were causing problems - more than the obvious problems I just mentioned. They were feeding the monsters. I couldn't pull the boys away for school without an eyeroll and a whine because I was taking them away from their play time. I couldn't ask them to clean something up without them sporting a sense of injustice and complaining about how very hard the job would be. I began to believe my name was "but Mom!" and I wasn't happy, the kids weren't healthy, and I couldn't accomplish what needed to be done during the day without major battles. The whole vicous cycle was becoming ugly.

So one day I boxed lots of things up. I put them in the attic and even today if a whole bunch of stuff is left laying around I will just box it up and stick it away... and do you know what? The kids have barely even noticed.

We don't have a huge amount of toys to begin with, but we have plenty. My rule has always been that the toys need to be able to fit inside their closet - preferably on the upper shelf. As the kids have grown, and more birthdays and Christmases have passed, this rule has only been able to be followed by donating quite a sizeable stash to friends and church classrooms... and that's been perfectly fine with me.

But even the *small* amount we had was causing problems. So what do my kids do now? I still get complaints and eyerolls at times. I'd be lying if I said that all our bad attitudes were fixed, but it really has helped. Free time is filled with outside play, and at times they have actually been known to read, color, do puzzles, or draw. When I ask them to do school, they come a bit more willingly because it gives them something to occupy their time.

I will warn you that if you decide to do this you will need to find something to fill the void or they will do more wrestling, they will jump on the furniture or run around like crazy kids and drive. you. nuts. Not that I would know...

So I'm already scheming and thinking of non-toy gifts for some of our upcoming birthdays and Christmas. I think less toys just make for happier kids - and happier moms!

I'm Taking Requests

2010-10-05T04:32:00.000-05:00

Here's the deal folks, I've got a little over three weeks of daily posting left for 31 for 21 and I'm already wondering what in the world of all that's interesting am I gonna talk about?? So if you have any questions or request you can let them be known and I'll try to make a post out of them.

RK! You need to revive your Random Questions series!

In the meantime, you need to go and meet RK's little extra special gal, Braska. Such a little doll and she has some fun adventures with her sister Kinlee.

Kids Are Like Soap

2010-10-04T09:12:00.003-05:00

Not in the sense of cleanliness though. Just the other day I was slimed by unidentfiable chewed food and messy nose and footprinted by a chicken poo covered shoe as I picked one child up to soothe a wrong that had been done. They don't usually smell soapy either - more like sweaty.

But the one area that kids are like soap is that they are hard to hold tightly. You can never be sure you have a good handle on a bar of soap.... more often than not if you become cocky enough to think you have a good grip on it, that's when it slips right through your fingers. And so goes my children.

They are all throwing me for a loop lately. The lazy days of summer lulled me into putting my guard down a bit. I feel like Isaiah is on the threshold of teenager-hood and is getting a mildly cocky-type 'tude to slip on for size and try out a bit. I don't like how it fits.

Huston is so overdramatic and whiny. I really had hoped that this would pass by the time he was 6, but I am now beginning to think that this is just him - coping mechanism with him is almost nil, but we're making him exercise what little he has and hoping that it builds into something very strong.

All of a sudden Avery looks unhealthy. His face is pale and he has bags under his eyes. He can be irritable and at times sleeps terribly and his nose is full. He can. not. focus. He spends parts of his day in a haze and I don't know where the fog came from, but I wish it would burn off. Allergies? Possibly.

And Lillie is teasing me with potty training... some moments she's an excited and willing participant and very successful. But most of the time she ignores the issue and I'm still so shell-shocked from the experience with Avery, I don't have the energy or the mindset to tackle this issue just yet. But let me tell you, the idea of not having to change any more diapers is bringing me around!

When all of these minor crises come at me at once, it always seems to make me stop and think that I'm doing this whole parent thing all wrong. That I should read more books, speak more quietly, frustrate less frequently, engage them more actively... that if I would just do my job better the behaviors and outcome would be much less stressful. And to some degree that is true. I do need to lighten up more often than not - the constant wearing can give me tunnel vision and it's harder to focus on the big picture. I am not a perfect parent in any stretch of the imagination... but...

I do the best I can, and pray that God supplements my weaknesses. I can't be perfect for my children. And I'm confident they know that and love me anyway. I apologize when I mess up. I try to make more good memories than bad and I teach them from my mistakes... hoping that in the end they'll figure out they can learn from theirs as well.

And seriously - removing a lot of their toys has helped with many of these attitudes. A. LOT. I'll save that for another post though... (remember, you've got one comin' every day! for 31 for 21).

Make New Friends, and Keep the Old

2010-10-03T15:54:00.001-05:00

I hated that song when I was in Brownies (I never made it to Girl Scouts... I'm a Brownie drop-out).

I don't hate the lyrics necessarily - they pretty much hold true... but the tune was grating... in fact my mind is driving me nuts as I type.

I mentioned in this post a while back that friendships go through seasons... I want to elaborate on a few things... I'm afraid that my drift was not fully caught.

First of all let me say that I am sometimes lulled into thinking that this blog is a "safe" place - meaning it's a place where I can freely say what's on my mind without hurting, bothering, upsetting, ticking off any other person. I rarely receive comments - which is perfectly fine with me... too much pressure otherwise, I think. But the comments I do receive are usually from good friends that are out of town so I will many times assume that anonymity is present and that is not necessarily the case.

That said, I'm pretty confident I goofed with that post and I want to try to clarify and make things right in this post.

Ok.  Concerning the post in question I mentioned that I had felt that I was entering a time of confusion within a certain relationship... that maybe things were taking a turn, changing into a different season. I know that this is bound to happen with any friendship. In fact, if it doesn't happen then we might want to be concerned, because it might be a sign there is a void of progression within our character development and our lives.

I am not one that enjoys change immensely - in certain areas - like changing my living room layout or the colors of my walls or the regular routine - I'm as happy as a clam. Change my comfort zone or my sweet spot when it comes to relationships?? I start to panic a bit. That former post was me in panic mode.

I hope that all people form new friendships and find who they need in the season they are in. I would not wish any friend of mine to stay strictly my friend or be who I want them to be instead of who they were created to be. That would stink and I wouldn't be a very good friend then. At all. I wouldn't like myself.

This particular post stemmed from me simply wondering what was next, what was on the horizon. I didn't want anyone to feel judged or at fault or be upset with me because I am being selfish. I hope that those things didn't happen (but I'm kinda worried they did).  I'm a firm believer that God has folks cross your paths at just the point that you need them. I simply was wondering if one particular friend's path was turning away from my own. Not judging them for taking that path, but lamenting that I wasn't ready for it to happen... and confused as to just what was happening??

I love all my friends dearly, and would hold onto them for as long as I possibly can. I am confident now that this particular friends ship isn't dissolving... and I would hold no animosity if it had to... I was just fearful of the change. And wasn't ready for it if that's the way it had to be.

So all this confusion and rattling on to simply say treasure your friendships, but don't hold on to anyone too tightly - God may have a plan for them somewhere else... and that's ok. Enjoy every moment you have, and trust God that He has a plan for you too.  When I wrote that cryptic post, I think I should have been trusting more than typing.

Now go over here and meet my "old" (meaning I've known her a long time, not that we're old) friend RK and her beautiful family, cuz this post is all about 31 for 21.

Just Keep Movin'...

2010-10-02T11:51:00.003-05:00

This post is part of the 31 for 21 effort. Go meet some great families with extra special kids here...

I think the title has become my new motto. There are many times in my day-to-day that I feel overwhelmed by things: housework (I really am constantly amazed at how very quickly we can destroy a clean house, I think we're faster than a tornado...), deadlines (I've got a huge stack of to-dos... and yeah, I'm not doin' much), parenting (these kids throw me for a loop nearly every day...) - you know, *little* stuff like that.

I will admit that when things get tough, I often times just wanna take a nap. I don't feel motivated to start on something that at times feels impossible. This feeling of inadequacy can spill over into the intangible as well... keeping relationships healthy, feeding myself spiritually, healthy lifestyles - again, all those *little* things. Once I begin to feel like I'm failing, or that my efforts are in vain, most every ounce of my being is shouting at me to stop. If I give into that feeling and go sit and veg, or I ignore the elephant in the room, the problem doesn't go away and I just compound upon my feeling of inadequacy...

BUT

if I just get off my hind end and chip at things a bit at a time - just keep moving, just keep falling forward - I find that even if the task doesn't get completed I feel better about myself for just having started. And the better I feel the more I get done. I know! Shocking, isn't it. *wink*

So that is my encouragement to you today - I'm right there with ya on some things, and admittedly my problems may be nothing compared to yours in other areas - but keep chipping away at them, don't dwell on the negative and make it bigger than it really is (those negative feelings have a way of growing inside your mind... objects in your mind are smaller than they appear).

Believe it or not, in my family of six, no matter how huge the pile of dishes are in the sink and on the counter tops, it rarely takes me longer than 30 minutes to get it all cleaned up. 30 minutes. How many problems are we avoiding because we keep telling ourselves that it's too complicated and will take too much time and effort when in actuality it would only be the tiniest blip of our lifetime.

So just keep movin' - I will too.

And So it Begins...

2010-10-01T10:55:00.002-05:00

Grab This Button

This year I'm gonna try to help RK and her gang of friends raise awareness for Downs Syndrome by participating in the 31 for 21 blog everyday extravaganza. Let me warn you right now that you will be very tired of hearing from me by the end of this month... so maybe you'd like to head over here and check out some other bloggers that are doing the same thing.

I don't have a child or close family member with DS. I don't live with it day in and day out like so many moms do, so my perspective is very narrow. I will say that I have met a few moms of ds kids through RK's blog and what a great group of ladies that have been given a special gift wrapped up in the package of their extra special kids. So while I can't offer you lots of wonderful information to help someone through this journey or to educate you on the needs and hurdles that these kids may need to overcome, I can let you know that choosing life and valuing everyone is a foundational aspect of our society. I can also be that stepping stone for folks that may be needing to find a ds community. Whatever my role here, I'm ready... and I hope you're ready to get a post from me every.day. in October. I pity you already.

Quick Recap...

2010-09-28T22:23:00.000-05:00

I originally sat down to do a long, ~~tedius~~ thought-provoking post about how our day went today, but I just don't have the energy to get the job done. So you get the recap bullet style. (My boys would be so proud that I'm taking the ammunition approach...)

7:38 am - cranky younger kids from the word go.... everything dramatic, everything terrible... mom sends them outside to preserve her sanity.
8:12 am - feed all children pancakes... supposedly stick to your ribs filling... older boys bummed with me because I'm not liking their attitudes (think a small dose of teenagerhood mixed with a larger dose of little kid "it's not fair")
8:42 am - all children "huuuuungggrrrryyyyy, moooooooommmm" all children reminded that they were fed and denied food - sent outside.
9:22 am - too many fits outside. Lillie is brought in and placed in front of a movie. Older boys are brought in and sequestered to their rooms to do homework.... I tackle the ~~piles~~ err... mountains of clothes in the living room to sort for the changing of seasons - out with the summer, in with the fall/winter. bleh. I hate that job.
11:27 am - break time - older boys and younger children are sent outside to run and goof off... I'm still dealing with attitudes and clothes. grrr.
11:41 am - Lillie is brought in crying. *rolling of eyes* but then realize she is legitimately hurt. Has been stung on her thumb which is now growing to twice it's normal size. Call to Gran made. Benedryl, ice, and After Bite medication administered... back in front of the electronic babysitter she goes... back to the excess clothing I go.
12:14 pm - kids are speed dressing through piles of clothes to see which fit. Isaiah assigned the duty of running acceptable clothing to appropriate rooms and I bundle up the unneeded, out-grown, overused clothes to deliver to designated areas.
12:48 pm - all pile into the van to get lunch and deliver unneeded, out-grown, overused clothes.
1:24 pm - arrive at grandmas to deliver one bundle. Visit for a few minutes. Head to church.
2:17 pm - arrive at church to deliver bundle of unwanted shoes to the shoe donation program. While there Avery sustains injury at playground. Deep, disgusting gash above right eye. Urgent care needed. Grandad on his way to help. Gran takes the rest of kids for the afternoon.
2:52 pm - arrive at urgent care where the waiting area is filled with folks, none of them with ailments that seem very urgent.
5:37 pm - leave Urgent care.... Avery now has 6 stitches. Took 4 adults to hold him down and get the job done. He's exhausted, I'm exhausted.
6:03 pm - on the way home. Avery receives a Sonic Cream Slush to help soothe the pain, which makes Lillie terribly jealous and begins screaming for Gran and Grandad to right the injustice (doesn't matter that they are no where near her at the time to hear her cries for help), and Isaiah is pricked to the heart that he in fact intentionally threw the piece of plastic at Avery's head that caused his forehead to bust open all because he was frustrated that Avery kept throwing gravel at him and Huston on the playground. He confesses, he's forgiven and all is well.

Very thankful that my parents were there to help me through this afternoon adventure - seriously don't know how this list would look (or if I'd be alive to type it) if I had to take all 4 of my kids to Urgent care for 3 hours to watch their brother fight against getting stitches.

Also thankful that my mother-in-law is coming tomorrow to watch the kids so that I can recoop from a day like today - I'm really hoping this kinda day won't be repeated for a really, really long time. I will leave you with a picture of my *brave* boy... high on cream slush and motrin :)

Oh Avery...

2010-09-23T14:07:00.001-05:00

Today my mom watched my two youngest for a little bit while I took the older kids to a drs. appointment (that we ended up rescheduling because they were backed up til Christmas.... or at least way past our appointment time.)

Anyhoo. My mom took the little ones with her to Wal-Mart to get a few things and to pick up my grandma's prescriptions. My kids call my grandma G.G. - it's short for great-grandma. Mom told me later when we hooked up for lunch that she had mentioned to Avery that they needed to pick up G.G's prescriptions and Avery responded something like, "Yeah G.G. needs her medicine so she doesn't get sick.... or old.... we better hurry!"

Gotta love kids.

Ponderings

2010-09-22T16:35:00.004-05:00

I've been mulling over quite a few things in my head, but obviously not writing them down too quickly... I will list the main ideas below in no particular order or coherency:

1. The D6 conference was really good, very much a blessing and brought greater focus not only to my ministry, but more importantly, to my parenting. And after every Spiritual high, reality must come crashing in - and boy has it done just that over the past few days - but being aware that it's coming helps me to deal with it a bit better. I don't always act the way I want to for sure. But thankfully that's where grace comes in.

2. I have some really wonderful lessons that I have taken away from the conference but thus far I have no audience with which to share these nuggets of truth. That is one of the most frustrating aspects of learning more about building faith at home - it's supposed to happen at home, and I'm only a member of one household. I've been trying to find some sort of avenue to share this important information to parents but I keep meeting roadblocks. So be prepared internet - you may become my outlet. We'll see.

3. Seasons of friendship are so confusing. When a friend you were pretty close with and (seemingly) encouraged through many of life's ups and downs finds someone else they quite prefer to be with, it can really cause a season of doubt, loneliness, and frustration. I know that God puts people in our paths for certain seasons and it's very rare that you find that one close friend that will last your entire lifetime, but I've always wished for that type of friendship. I'm currently experiencing a transition I do believe... one that I'm not necessarily ready for, but I will trust it will work out for the best. It's just harder when you're not quite sure what is going on...

4. Life is better without distractions. I've scaled back quite a bit on the kid's toys and movie time. When they need something to do we pull out some sort of school work or they go outside to run off the energy. It's helping to get the job done. It's helping with attitudes. It's helping to ease the stress level. I'm glad something is moving in the right direction (I hope).

5. I hate it when I feel intimidated as a mom. I know there are no real-life super moms out there. I keep telling myself that everyone has their struggles whether I see them or not. I confess, I rationalize away their good behavior... because most everytime I see really well behaved families I've most always noticed that either 1. they have like 2 kids... 2. half or a majority of their brood are girls... and 3. they seem to go everywhere I go just to taunt me. I realize I'm choosing to compare apples to oranges and that's never really good to do - but it's hard to deal day in and day out with all our family warts but see these "we've got it all together" families and not feel some level of.... ummm.... resentment. Then I feel ugly and guilty for not only wishing to drag others down, but for not championing my own family. Yeah, it's pathetic. I'm a let it all hang out there kind of mom. We don't have it together and frankly I don't want people to look at us and think that we do. Strength only comes through the struggle right? That's what I keep telling myself anyway. Don't worry. I wouldn't trade my family for anything... no matter how perfect other families seem in public. (Although, in the future, I would like to avoid Avery turning to Huston and declaring very loudly while walking through the grocery store, "Huston! did you see that man's big belly??")

The next post will be about the kids... I promise.

D6.... Hit.

2010-09-14T19:19:00.003-05:00

No, I'm not playing Battleship.

Tomorrow morning I'm heading out with a gal from the office to Dallas, TX where I will attending the D6 Conference at the end of the week.

What's D6? Well, here's a link - you can go look for yourself a bit if ya wanna. I've never attended but am familiar with a few of the speakers and am therefore very excited about what I may encounter.

I have a growing passion to wake families up (mine included, anything I write on here can also be directed to myself). Wake them up to the responsibilities they have in building faith within themselves and their kids. It's a huge job, it's a hard job, and it's a very much forgotten job. Many families now rely on the church to do the job that God intended for the family. Many families look at the church as yet another "thing" they can sign their kids up for, similar to spanish lessons and soccer practices.

If we don't get this generation of parents comfortable and active in their role of spiritual leadership our nation will suffer for it phenomenally. Talk about wanting to change a nation - really can it happen with any success, any other way then tackling it first in the home?

Marriages are faltering

Parents are spreading thin

Kids are overcommited

Children are being raised by strangers

Education is left to the government

Materialism, social status, educational merit and athletic prowess all take priority over a relationship with God.

Parents are Scripturally illiterate

All of these factors are just the tip of the iceberg of problems that are facing our families today. Satan is having waaaayyyy too much success out there. It's time the church woke up. Bottomline.

But what can a children's minister do to motivate the body of Christ? I'm hoping this conference will have some ideas that might lead to answers that will fit our particular church at this time in it's life. It should be a great experience anyway.

I'll leave ya with two quotes from one of my favorite theologians, Ravi Zacharias...

The first comes from his book, "I, Isaac, Take Thee, Rebekah"

"God designed marriage for union and communion. Adam and Eve had no mother or father to leave, but they were now to become father and mother and transfer the trust so that as God had made them separate yet one, marriage would continue from generation to generation.

This was the first home. This was the first family. From here, all of humanity emerged. The home was instituted before the Church was brought into being. May I underscore that God intended the home to the the seed from which culture flowers and history unfolds. It is not coincidental that a garden was the first setting for the first home."

The home is important, don't let Satan lie to you and convince you otherwise. Everything you do as husband and wife, as father and mother, has eternal consequences and very definite earthly ones as well. As Ravi said in one of his radio broadcasts, "Parents, we have within our homes those who could change nations; let us pour our lives into them."

I'll let ya know what I learn!

Better Than Branson

2010-09-10T12:32:00.004-05:00

We went to Sams this morning. I'm not exactly sure what it is about Sams that make most every male fall in love with shopping, but my boys are no exception.

First mistake I made: I allowed the kids to dress themselves and go straight to the van without first seeing or approving their outfits. Avery - shorts with rubber work boots.... Huston - long sleeved shirt with mismatched shorts.... Isaiah - camo pants with huge holes in both knees. Lillie and I looked cute though.

Anyway, while we were there all the kids were mesmerized by all of the mechanical Halloween decorations. They drooled over the long row of movies and ooohed and ahhhhed over the huge bags of fruits and veggies we were loading into our cart.

As we were finishing up, Huston asked if Sams had a bathroom. I spotted it down the way from the check-out lanes and asked Isaiah to escort his brother to the bathroom as we checked out. They were in there for longer than usual. I finished checking out and had to wait a few minutes before they started back down the hall. They were both laughing and so excited. When the reached us they were talking at once...

"Mom, you should see that bathroom! It's better than Branson! It's the best bathroom I've ever seen... you know those potty things they have just for men? Well here it let's you pee on the floor!"

Amazing.

Well Then, You Had No Choice!

2010-09-10T12:23:00.004-05:00

Last night we were all sitting in the living room watching a movie together. At some point Avery left and went to the "school room" which is right next door to the living room. All of a sudden Huston, who was sitting in the chair closest to the hallway to the school room, let out his signature blood curdling over reactive scream.

"What in the world happened??," I asked.

"Avery just poked me with a pencil!," he replied.

I did recall seeing in my peripheral vision someone running in and out of the room... I concluded that Avery must have just committed a run-by poking.

I called him to me. "Avery... did you poke Huston with a pencil?," I asked him in the serious yet understanding mommy voice.

"I got a pencil..." he started to stumble. "because, uhhhh.... Huston took out his pocket knife.... and uhhh, triedtokillme." The whole time he was speaking his little eyes were searching the back of his mind for a valid excuse for his behavior. And I guess this was the best he could do.

I laughed. out. loud. And then I sent him to his room. :)

I Don't Usually Do This

2010-09-01T00:31:00.004-05:00

But I am going to tell you right now that you need to see the movie Inception. I seriously can't remember the last time I saw such an amazingly fun movie. It is so suspenseful. It is so brilliant. It is rather clean. It is a movie that will totally make you drop your jaw and wanna see it again. I don't think my tastes are that far off the norm that you won't enjoy it just as much as I did.

I can't even describe the plot so I'm not even gonna try. Just go see it. :)

I Don't Wanna Talk About It.

2010-08-26T22:26:00.003-05:00

But it's hard to do a blog post when choosing to not talk about something. The school year has begun, and yeah, I don't wanna talk about it.

1. In some ways we're doin' ok. I'm getting Huston and Isaiah off to a gradual start and it seemed to be going pretty well. I was purtin' near babying them. Well no more of that, cuz...

2. The attitude is kicking in. My kids don't wanna work at school. If it takes more than 10 minutes and it's something they have to stop and think about then they don't want to do it and they complain and whine and ask for a break... so...

3. I'm getting mean. Today I "locked" Isaiah in his room all morning and made him work non-stop until lunch time. I eased off him after lunch and allowed him to run outside for quite awhile. After at least 2 hours of free time in this beautiful weather and even a little movie break I asked him to start back on another lesson and the attitude returned full force. Stink - er. I totally became not pleasant. He got the picture and did another half hour or so before I had to leave to work a bit this evening. Making my plans cement even further in my mind...

4. I'm taking away more toys. I picked up their cotton-pickin' Lincoln logs for the last time this morning. They are in the attic with the legos, Play Mobile, castle stuff and all other toys that have 15 gazillion parts. There are still a few things out but I will continue to weed away until the only thing they can do is school. Maybe if the options aren't around the attitude will change. I'm willing to try...

5. I'm also going to be more structured and strict with our priorities. I am too easily swayed too often. I'm going to be a mean mom and hopefully in the end they'll like me for it.

But for now, I don't wanna talk about it.

Yes, He is That Smart, and Yes, He Gets it From Me

2010-08-19T15:07:00.005-05:00

Today I had to take the two older boys to a follow up doctors appointment. No they're not sick, they are in fact two very healthy, goofy little boys. I will go ahead and tell you the reason for the appointment despite the *shame* that may be associated with it... my boys still have a problem with bed-wetting. They are 8 and 6 and we are tired of buying Pull-Ups or Goodnights, or whatever brand you choose. So we are going the route of medication to correct the legitimate medical problem. If you are interested in knowing more concerning this, leave me a comment asking your questions. Otherwise, I will be moving on to the wacky personalities of my boys.

Isaiah is a smart boy. Not a genius; I'm telling you right now. I'm not gonna sit here and wax poetic about how incredibly gifted my child is... cuz he's just a good ol' ordinary boy that likes to retain random information - which can make him kinda sharp... sometimes. Anyway. Today in the examining room to pass the time while we were waiting for the doctor to come in, Huston was looking at a child's reference book about different facets of the environment. He doesn't really read much past the "consonant-vowel-consonant" 3 letter word pattern so he was basically just lookin' at the pictures. He turns the page and there are pictures of elephants in their habitat with lots of little info. blurbs giving specific facts and information concerning the biome highlighted on the page. It wasn't necessarily about the elephants in the picture, but more about the surroundings that the elephant was in. Huston looks at the picture and asks me, "Mom, how much do elephants weigh?" I look at the book and say, "Ummmm, I don't know Huston. The book doesn't say." To which Isaiah replies, "An elephant weighs about the same as three vehicles." Just as matter-of-fact as if he was a walking encyclopedia. I turned to him and said, "Where did you learn that?" And Isaiah totally turns to me with that, "duh everyone knows that" type look and says, "Mom, you hear that everywhere!" Seriously? I didn't know that the weight of an elephant could be found all around me. That's fascinating.

Then to really top things off Huston asks, "How much does a baby elephant weigh?" and Isaiah responds without skipping a beat, "about 150 lbs." The crazy thing is.... I've looked it up on-line and he's pretty much dead on for the weights of Asian elephants. Then I remember that he did some basic research on elephants in the spring for school... so the guy probably did know what he was talking about. Crazy that my kid can just know random facts like that.

BUT....

A few minutes later, I had my turn at blowing the boys away with my knowledge. Huston had left the examining room to use the restroom. When he returned I knew he hadn't washed his hands so I told him to use the sink in the examining room to take care of the job. When he was finished and had dried his hands, he kept looking around for a trash can in which to throw away his paper towel. I told him, "Huston, look in the cabinet under the sink." He opened the door and lo and behold, a trash can. The boy looked at me amazed and exclaimed, "Wow Mom! How did you know that? Did you used to be a doctor or something?" Trust me, Isaiah was equally impressed.

Ohhhhh yeeeahhh... I'm that smart. Scary, isn't it... at least I still have some knowledge that I can impart to my children. :)

Avery Think He Can Fly... and Other Fascinating Tidbits

2010-08-17T07:43:00.002-05:00

Hold on, cuz this post is gonna be random alright.

1. Avery thinks he can fly. He's been walking around the house today "flapping" his hands and jumping. He thinks his large jump equates to flying. And yes, I'm the type of mom that bursts his bubble and says, "No Avery, little boys can't fly. That was jumping. Stop flapping your arms please." So mean I am... because the constant flapping is rather annoying. I did send him outside to flap to his heart's content too... just so you know that I'm not a total meany.

2. This week the pool pretty much closes so I'm taking that as my cue to start school with the boys. We're taking it one step at a time and I've stopped asking everyone else what they're doing and when they're doing it cuz it just stresses me out. The academics will come eventually and I really don't want to be worried about a timeline. I hope that we can make it a little more fun this year with a few more trips - cuz Lillie is refusing naps these days and to spend all day at home with all 4 children "on" constantly is a little wearing. Yes I love my children, why do you ask?

3. Lillie gets into mischief and she thinks since she tends to ooz cuteness that this allows her to be "above the law." Don't worry, I'm doing my best to burst that bubble too - I just wish other people would see the need to help me. The girl clogged up the bathroom sink and left the water running until it spilled over the edge onto the counter and down the floor (as well as soaking the front of herself)... and yesterday she had a little mishap at the pond because she feels that she must follow her brothers everywhere they go. Silly Lillie.

It feels like everyone, everywhere tells the little stinker how cute she is and then proceeds to butter her up until she's too slippery to handle. Even her brothers get in on the act. I'm hoping that as she grows older these same brothers will give her what for every once in awhile to balance things out a bit. But of course we do love our Lillie.

4. Sunday was my/our 11th wedding anniversary. And I want to say that this year has been the best one yet. Thank goodness that things seem to be finally easing up a bit - we've had so many hard years. Not to say that we won't keep working at things - cuz constant work comes with the territory of marriage. It's just that in this season of life the work doesn't seem like such hard work, ya know?

5. I've fulfilled one of my good intentions for this year. I've stepped up my reading quite a bit. I've read a little bit of everything genre-wise and am now looking for another book to start. Here are a few of the books I've finished - I haven't really kept track so I'm sure I won't remember them all.

The Bible - using the 90 day program
The Yada Yada Prayer Group
Jane Austen's Emma
James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small
Evidence Not Seen by Darlene Deibler Rose

I just finished Evidence Not Seen and it was certainly an excellent book; it is definitely convicting. It shows how very few complaints we truly have and is equally amazing at showing how great one's faith can become. It's a great read and I would highly recommend it. My list isn't very long, but I assure you it's much longer than last year's!

6. Isaiah and Huston keep squabbling over the Lincoln logs. Which is what they are currently doing so I guess I better go and intervene. I'm thinking we'll just have to take them away for a bit... which is a shame because they occupy my children for what seems like hours! Oh well.

Sorry for the completely random post, but really it pretty much sums up my life. There is no focus in me whatsoever it seems.

2:37 AM

2010-08-12T02:37:00.003-05:00

I can't sleep... again. I've developed quite the habit of waking up at 2:30 nearly every morning. It's very frustrating and makes for a short night. No matter how late or early I go to bed, no matter how tired I am, I just seem to wake up. It couldn't be old age, could it??? Nah, I didn't think so. Babies wake up in the middle of the night too ya know.

This week is the last week of the pool being open, and we are running ourselves ragged trying to get there and squeeze the last few ounces of fun out of our investment. It really has been a lifesaver, especially over the past few weeks-month when the temps have been dreadfully hot and the kids don't want to step foot outside much past 8 in the morning.... BUT they still have so. much. energy. The pool is the perfect place to get some exercise while beating the heat. I hope we can repeat this for next year. We'll see though; right now I'm just thankful for how it has blessed us at this point in time.

Isaiah is a social butterfly at the pool. It's amazing to see how this kid of mine has transformed from a shy guy that would hardly talk to anyone and would be too scared to participate in any activity or church function that involved bigger kids, into one that is now making a new friend every time we go - and most of them are older than he is. One established friend leaves, in a few minutes he's talking and playing with someone else. Amazing, really. If you would have told me even two years ago that he would be acting this way I would have laughed in your face... that sounds rude, sorry.... let's just say I wouldn't have believed you.

Huston has no trouble at all putting his face in the water anymore. That was his major set-back when he took swimming lessons a few years ago. The instructor basically brought him to me on our second to last scheduled lesson and said that she had taken him as far as she could if he continued to refuse to put his face in the water - so yeah, he quit the lessons rather then risk the chance of drowning in 3 ft. of water while wearing a flotation device and having a trained life guard standing right next to him. But now? Now he never plays in the "baby" pool; you'll pretty much always find him in the shallow 3-4 ft. end of the pool swimming like a fish completely underwater... or jumping from the side of the pool inseperable from his buddy Grant.

Avery stole a swimming lesson and since then has been practicing his swimming technique over and over. I really should sign him up for lessons now, cuz I have a feeling the kid would take off like no other. See the pool has swimming lessons that they give in the morning while the pool is open to other members. One morning Steven came with us to the pool and we were all playing and occupied and I soon look over to see that Avery is in a lesson. I hadn't signed him up for a lesson. I discovered that the instructor basically just calls out, "Beginner class, 11:00" and waits for his/her students to show up on the steps. Avery just happened to be playing near the steps that day so when the instructor called out for his lesson to begin, Avery thought "why not" and ran over to participate. It was only him and another little gal and I have never seen Avery so focused and attentive. And it shows. The kid is so close to swimming alongside his brothers, although you'll usually find him happily entertaining himself or playing with whoever is around him and wishes to play.

Lillie has just had fun. They have a zero entry area for the little guys and she has pretty much stayed in that area. She submerges herself frequently and has no fear of the water, but is alert enough to know when she is getting too deep to be safe. She also has a friend at the pool, Grant's brother, Harrison, whom she asks me about often though they rarely really play together... but what 2 year olds play together? I remember my early childhood training - we're still in the parallel play stage - they'll happily be near each other usually and occasionally will occupy themselves with the same toys, but rarely are they really interacting. But they are getting close...

Here they are on one of those rare occasions when they seemed to be aware of each other :)

Aren't they sweet. It's so nice to have friends to play with at the pool. I really couldn't imagine our summer being as fun without it. Could we have survived? Well, sure. But how very many blessings and what tremendous areas of growth we have experienced because of it! It has been very fun indeed.

It Was an Honest Mistake...

2010-08-08T17:16:00.022-05:00

So, if you've been a regular reader of my blog, you may be aware that we have a hermit crab named Ted. Remember, Huston makes houses for him. He was our souvenir from our family vacation in Mississippi in December. We picked him up in a stereotypical trinket shop in Biloxi and Avery named him Ted. What a great name, what a great crab. He's not the anti-social type and he's pretty large as far as hermit crabs go. We love him. He's family.

Well for a Christmas present last year we bought the kids a second hermit crab to keep Ted company, because contrary to their name, hermit crabs are actually rather social. We went to the local pet store and chose a very small guy and the kids named him Fred. This hermit crab was a bit more slow to warm up to my eager children. He would rarely come out of his shell. If you waited for what seemed like forever in kid timing he would finally peek out but the moment you moved he would duck back into his shell and all you would see were his little legs barely hanging out of the seashell he called home.

One evening, not long after the kids got Fred, I went to check their water and Fred was in pieces all over the habitat. Avery was too eager and we surmise that he attempted to pull Fred out for a visit and instead accidentally dismembered him. Isaiah was very unhappy, but frankly we hadn't really had time to become attached to the little guy. Fred was so shy and we had him for so little time that we barely felt the grief that comes with losing a pet, and besides, we still had good ol' Mississippi Ted.

Last night I sent Isaiah to go check Ted's water levels and to give him "a bath" (which is just basically spritzing him with a water bottle) and Isaiah came into to me crying hysterically. Ted was dead. I went to investigate and sure enough there was a clump of Ted legs in his habitat and they were not attached to his seashell home. *sigh* We were all very sad about this, cuz Ted was such a good crab. Isaiah and Huston cried and cried... and I looked at Avery very suspiciously.

Yesterday was our VBS day. The older boys and I were gone all morning. I assumed that Avery took his unsupervised opportunity to "play" with another crab... and failed. I asked Avery, "Did you pull Ted out of his shell?" Avery nodded no. I asked again, "Avery, tell me the truth. Did you pull Ted out of his shell?" Avery again said no. One final time I asked, "Avery, we need to be truthful. Did you pull Ted out of his shell while we were gone today?" This time Avery slowly nodded his head in agreement. I then spent the evening trying to convince him of the graveness of the matter. "Avery, you need to be gentle with our pets. You can't pull on the crabs, they will die. You killed Ted, Avery." I repeated these things until I felt like he "got it" - I wanted him to understand that his actions hurt people, not just Ted. I had him look at his crying brothers and told him that they are sad because Ted is dead. Yeah, I rubbed his nose in it real. good.

I promised the older boys that after church on Sunday, I would take them to the new pet store that just opened up in town and we would purchase a new hermit crab. This alleviated the pain a bit and we pretty much went to bed. I didn't feel like messing with cleaning up crab parts, so I just removed the habitat from the boys' room and told myself I would mess with the mess on Sunday. It had been a VBS day ya know, I was wiped out. The thing was dead so it wasn't goin' anywhere.

We were up with the sun this Sunday morning as usual. After the older boys and I had lunch we headed to the pet store and chose from among their very small crabs. The new crab was christened "Jed" and we happily brought him home. We all still wished we had Ted, this new guy was much smaller than Ted and he didn't remind us of our fun Mississippi vacation, where the kids saw the ocean for the first time. But we were thankful for the new pet.

When we got home, I needed a Sunday nap so the boys played with their new crab while I rested and I told them I would clean out the habitat after I woke up. When I pulled out the habitat and picked up the glob of little crab legs and quickly threw them in the trash, Isaiah asked for Ted's American flag painted seashell - he wanted to bury it. I picked it up and turned it over and what was this, it had legs and they were moving! I took the water bottle and quickly started to spritz him... Ted loves his baths, and low and behold Ted popped right out! He was a pale rosy pink color and all the pieces fell into place. Ted had shed his shell!

I had read about them doing this soon after we bought Ted but the resource I had said that this shedding of the exoskeleton was a rare occurrence... especially in captivity. I don't know if that's accurate... but Ted is a very special crab. :) We were so excited that Ted was still alive! and now he had a friend. I told the boys I thought this was their sneaky way of getting another crab.

I apologized to Avery for accusing him of mistreating Ted and of interrogating a false confession out of him and Avery responded, "See! I told you I killed him!" So yeah, he obviously still doesn't get it. :)

So here is our Ted's exoskeleton - a science lesson for sure:

Here is Ted in his new rosy exoskeleton style:

and here is the new guy, Jed:

It was in fact an honest mistake. And I'm so glad that Ted is still a part of our big happy family.

An Old Man Trapped In a Young Man's Body

2010-08-03T14:12:00.000-05:00

I usually say this in regards to my husband. :) Steven loves to work with the older generation and has many interests in common with them as well... but this time I am talking about Isaiah.

Isaiah is a lot like his daddy in mannerisms and personality so I shouldn't be surprised that my son would rather spend time hanging out with adults rather than kids... but I see this as a delimma, and one that I am having trouble figuring out.

Isaiah is a sweet, sweet boy. He puts up with me so much. First borns really should be disposable because we are always doing our experimental parenting on them. The poor boy probably feels like he gets a bad rap most of the time, but in spite of all our experiments he's got alot of great attributes.

He is now almost 9 years old and he's intelligent and sensitive and caring and mature for his age I think, but he's also kinda nosy and likes to be in the know concerning everybody's business and happenings. He also often wants to join in on conversations between adults and joke around with them and I just don't see that working out.

There is a difference between learning to interact with an adult and being an adult. I want all my kids to know how to easily and appropriately converse with grown ups, but I don't want them to think that they are on the same peer level as them. I'm a sarcastic gal and have many adult friends with which I enjoy a good tease and laugh. Isaiah finds this so entertaining that he will often try to either join in or give it a try on his own... and to me it always comes across as a disrespectful little kid.

That coupled with the problem that he just has to know what's going on all the time makes for some frustrating moments. I guess a lot of it is that the boy just seems to be in my space a lot. If I am talking to an adult he is there listening in. If I'm on the phone he has a myriad of questons for me when I hang up. If I'm typing an email a lot of times it's amazing how he ends up right behind my shoulder. So when I finally get a real living adult to communicate with face to face I'm ready to be without his presence for a moment... and I often shoo him away... which he hates.

I need to teach my children proper conversational etiquette. Flat out I need to teach them how not to be a nosy busybody - which can be hard because I'm sure I have moments where I model the busybody lifestyle pretty well.

It's just at times a hard to distinguish, fine line that seperates a mature, interactive child from a borderline disrespectful busybody. I want my kids to feel comfortable around adults but still realize that they aren't one yet... and there are many times that adults just need to be with adults.

So I've written this long rambling post and I have no solution to this delimma to present to you really. I will still frustrate and annoy Isaiah by shooing him away from the adults from time to time and I think that is ok and maybe good for him despite the long drawn out puppy-dog face he gives me when I do. I will still encourage him to speak to adults at times too and hope that I don't confuse him as to when and why it's ok some times and not others.

Man, teaching social skills to children is much harder than I anticipated, especially when as an adult I'm not even sure I've got a good grasp of them myself.

Maybe We Shouldn't Be Allowed to Care for Living Creatures...

2010-07-26T16:11:00.005-05:00

The animals are plotting against us I think. First it was Ted the hermit crab. The other day while I was at work I came home and found Huston and Steven searching the living room for him. Huston loves to build Ted little "castles" out of his building blocks. He's done this for some time. He'll build the latest style in crab habitats and then go retrieve Ted for a little time away from home: a hermit crab vacation.

The problem comes in the fact that Huston is not a very sound engineer, nor is he very knowledgeable concerning the abilities of his hermit crab. Many times his structures are viewed more as an challenge of escape by Ted than they are a lovely vacation home. And he has often times succeeded in his escape.

Usually we are not too far away from him and can quickly locate him when he shows off his Houdini-like skills... but this weekend was a different story. It seems that the rest of the family took a trip to a local park while Ted was in one of these temporary Huston-designed structures. About an hour later the jail break was discovered. As I walked in they were searching the living room - the scene of the crime.

I took over the search from Steven and Isaiah, Huston and I looked everywhere - we eventually just sent Huston to bed because he just wasn't handling the situation very well - a little frantic, a little overeactive, and a great big bundle of panic and tired. Isaiah picked up all the toys and ummm... junk all over the floor while I also helped straighten and moved the furniture. We looked every.where. No Ted. I eventually found him in the next room hanging out with some dust bunnies in the furthest corner he could find under a bookshelf... confirming that Huston just has no idea how to architecturally please his crab. (He needs dark creepy cave places, not roofless baby block condominiums).

That experience ended well... but today's experience not so much.

Our poor little Chicky has flown the coop. Once again, I would like to let the reading public know that I was out of the house at work during the time of the incident. Today I returned home from town just ahead of a slight thunderstorm. Usually when it storms we cover Chicky's little chicken coop to protect it from the rain and wind - the coop only has chicken wire on the sides. I jumped out the van and ran to get the job done and that's when I discovered the bird was missing. Very, very sad.

Steven and I looked everywhere. All the kids were sleeping at the time (miracle, I know!) and I really dreaded them waking up. Isaiah and Huston were the first to hear of the unfortunate news. Seems as though the chicken was left unattended outside of his cage - so who knows what exactly happened. I'm betting that some bird of prey snatched him up for his lunch. :(

The boys of course cried... and are this very moment outside with their rain jackets searching for their beloved Chicky. I really have very little hope that it will be found, but crazier things have happened. It's a hard lesson to learn, but maybe they will be a bit more responsible when caring for their critters? One can only hope. This is only a small taste of what it's like to watch your kids struggle through bad choices and let me tell ya, it stinks!

Just Had To Share...

2010-07-19T21:35:00.005-05:00

So last night I was looking through one of my many resources to use in a future lesson plan for the preschool classes at church and I ran across this picture and laughed. out. loud...

Seems to me that Job had a few more difficult "troubles" to deal with in his life, but ya know, this is for a preschool audience I suppose...

Go ahead a click on it to make sure you can read the subtitle. Ahh, this picture is a gem.

My mom did point out that his house is crumbling in the background as well... but the "aw shucks" expression on his face is priceless. I wonder if Job is aware of how he is (at times) portrayed down here on earth... I wonder if he commiserates with some of the other great Biblical characters....

"I lose my family, my livestock, my wealth, my health, the respect of my wife and friends and how do they depict me?? Worrying over a broken wheel on my vegetable cart... sheesh."

And What Do I Do Now?

2010-07-18T18:21:00.003-05:00

I sent Isaiah off to church camp today. He will be gone for approximately 74 hours, is an hour and a half away, with kids that are mostly a grade older than he is, and there is very little way to check on him... yeah, I'm fine, why do you ask?

Seriously though, this kid has been ready to go for months - he had a countdown calendar in his room. I never thought my cautious, timid first born would be so gung-ho to leave his family and house behind to go spend time with complete strangers at camp, but he is. (ooh, sudden thought, does this mean we, his beloved family, annoy him that much?) I won't dwell on that.

So the very afternoon Isaiah takes off for camp guess what Huston does? He falls asleep and takes a 2 hour nap... coincidence? I think not.

Huston becomes a different person when Isaiah is gone; he calms down, he plays better with his younger siblings, he rests, he's a bit more outgoing and a bigger help around the house. He's capable of doing lots of responsible things... but when Isaiah's around? He reverts to a whiny, manipulative, overly tired because he refuses to rest, must follow Isaiah's lead at all costs, and fall to pieces if he's wronged type of guy. *sigh*

So what's the solution? I don't know. I wish I did. I praise Huston immensely when he is the big responsible brother and I tell him that he can be that way when Isaiah is around too. I tell him that big and helpful Huston is his true self and he should be that personality no matter who is around. When Isaiah is home, I plead with Huston to rest (he never sleeps), I attempt to give him responsibilities (he'll often want Isaiah to help him or he'll pout that he has to do it), I tell him over and over again that he doesn't have to throw a fit when something doesn't go as planned... and punish him when he chooses to throw that fit (he hasn't thrown even one today)... I've done all that I know to do besides kick Isaiah out of the house (which is not an option, just to clarify).

It's an odd sibling dynamic for sure, they can't live with each other but most importantly they can't live without one another either. They truly love being together. Maybe I'll try switching up the roommates... maybe I'll give Isaiah and Avery a trial run at bunking together - Avery is strong willed enough to not give Isaiah's instructions a second thought, and if Huston rooms with Lillie maybe that will give him the confidence to be the responsible one... that might help.

But still I'm curious what others have experienced... has anyone out there in cyberspace experienced parenting siblings that seem to bring out the worst in each other at times? What did you do about it - cuz for us the root of the problem is that the kids don't even recognize the difference in how they act when they are apart, and it's hard to work to change a habit that doesn't seem to be identified.

As Long As Ye Both Shall Live

2010-07-16T21:41:00.004-05:00

I didn't mean to leave that last post hangin' there for so long. Yes it was a rather random complainy type post again, but for good reason.

I've witnessed quite a few crumbling marriages here lately... and the one of the biggest problems in my non-expert opinion that is contributing to this far reaching problem is a direct violation of the definition of "love."

I don't think a lot of people have any clue what love is. We throw around the word too carelessly for one thing, but the media and society in general does an abominable job in portraying an accurate depiction of what sincere love lived out looks like. We think we have to feel happy and satisfied all the time... that the happiness and satisfaction will come from our spouse when in fact complete fulfillment can only come in making God happy, not ourselves.

That little list I wrote in the last post is just the tip of the iceberg in a long list of things that I or Steven could write that drives one of us crazy. I guarantee that we are not the same person and we often view life from two totally different perspectives... but if we sat around and kept becoming frustrated over each others differences we will only grow further and further apart.

One of the many criteria of true love is that it keeps no record of wrongs. If I fumed and got all hot and bothered every time Steven violated something on "my list" I would be a terrible person to live with. Some of the wrongs that occur are simple and petty like my last post. Who really cares what the sheets on the bed look like in the grand scheme of things? Other wrongs that occur hurt deeply and take awhile to heal... but we really shouldn't give up.

Here are my feeble attempts at offering advice on how to deal with a difficult marriage...

1. Laugh about it - come on, some of it is funny... it hurts at times, but we can find the humor even in the tough stuff.
2. Lower your expectations - don't expect your spouse to meet all of your needs - they are human and they are going to let you down... extend to them grace when they do.
3. Involve yourself in something that you enjoy - don't look to your spouse for total happiness. If you could find something that the two of you enjoy together that is best, but nevertheless, if you become involved in something that brings you some fulfillment you won't be requiring so much from your spouse and your overall outlook will be a brighter one.
4. Find one or two good friends to tell all your troubles to - don't go blabbing around to everyone how terrible things are, but instead find a good strong friend that will allow you vent but doesn't join in your pity party. Meaning, someone that will let you air out your frustrations but won't then trash your spouse. It's good to vent, but it's not good to wallow.

If we all remembered that this marriage thing was supposed to be long term and that divorce is simply trading out problems, I think people would work so much harder at getting it right. Today's throw away society has put marriage in the same trash can as last year's broken toaster. It deserves much more respect than that.

I hope my last post was taken for the list of ridiculousness that was intended. Yes, I drive my husband just as crazy as he can drive me at times, but it is so worth the hard work and craziness. (and yes, he still fills the dishwasher incorrectly... ;)

I Have A Moment

2010-07-13T21:25:00.003-05:00

and I don't have a thing of importance to write about.

I sounded rather crabby in my last post and I apologize for that - but you know sometimes I just have to let those little frustrations out.

To further clarify on one point... I really am not overly offended by Disney - and for full disclosure purposes I want you to know that I've been to both Disney Land and Disney World within my lifetime. I even had a conference at a Disney World Resort a few years ago and I will say that I've never been in a place with so many helpful people ready to make your stay more enjoyable. But I must also say that everything was sickeningly overpriced and unless I lived near there where I could do the season pass thing (like you experienced, Jessica! :) I would just always feel like I could have used my money more wisely - but that's just me and I am in no way trying to steal the magic and fun from someone else. Lots and lots of people have had fabulous times there and I'm glad. I just wish the industry would clean up their movies a bit. Steven and I have coined the term "disney" - it's said anytime we see some sort of groin injury joke in a movie, cuz it just seems like Disney always lowers themselves to that baseline humor. (Again, I think the Pixar offerings are much better).

Phew, glad I got that off my chest.

Now onto more important things - like compromise and concession - which you have to do a lot of in a relationship - especially a marriage.

Some homely jobs and habits change when one establishes a new household. This Spellman house has been established since August of 1999 and there are still a few things that I find very difficult to let go of... for example:

- There is a right way and a wrong way to load a dishwasher. I won't tell you which one of us is right and which one is wrong, but just be aware that I have been known to undo what has been already been done to suit my particular style... I don't rail him about it, I don't even mention it to him, I just quietly rearrange while muttering under my breath in frustration, shock and surprise that he doesn't realize the obvious. (utensils go in handle down and plates lean back instead of forward...)

- Sheets should match. It's a sheet set for a reason. The pillow case should match the flat sheet, which should match the fitted sheet and in the winter the heavier blanket should be in a similar color scheme. Folks don't sleep well when their sheets are mismatched, I'm sure of it.

- Containers should use their lids. That's why they have them. When we have leftovers it does not do to simply plop it into a container and then lay a piece of loose fitting plastic wrap on top. But it's much worse to just sit the cooking pot full of leftover food in the refrigerator without bothering with a storage container. Containers store, pots cook.

- After emptying a sink of dishes the sink should then be wiped down and the garbage disposal run. Nothing terrible will happen if the garbage disposal switch is flipped... unless you're a piece of leftover food.

- The shower curtain should be pulled "closed" after a shower - then all those little mildewy things won't breed and multiply. It's not a science experiment, it's a shower curtain.

But I will tolerate all of these things and usually don't say much because in the end I'm very glad that he will empty a sink full of dishes and will make beds and will clean up after supper, cuz heck you don't find that too often in a husband - and he's definitely a keeper... just there are times I wish he would see my correct side of things.

So I have learned to compromise (like when I do the jobs, I can do it my way) and concede (when he does the jobs... I will try to beat him to it the next time) and will be all the happier for it. And I promise, the next post won't be complainy.

A Few Things I Just Don't Get...

2010-07-09T21:48:00.003-05:00

Warning: Parts of this post may step on toes.

1. Wal-Mart greeters. I mean just by placing an older person or a disinterested teenager at the front entrance of your store to say "welcome" does this sincerely reflect a store that cares? No. What they really need is a sign that says, "come in. find your stuff yourself and spend lots of money. thank you."

2. Disney. Why are all things Disney so darn great? I mean I can't really remember the last time that I deemed a newer Disney feature appropriate for my children. I will say I enjoy most of the Pixar offerings, but Disney itself is lame. And why is it so great to flock to amusement parks filled with adults wearing costumes and requiring parents to dole out tons of money for their child to be happy in "the happiest place on earth"? I'd rather use that money to go somewhere interesting. (and the whole princess stuff kinda makes me throw up...)

3. Following celebrities. Who really cares who is getting a divorce, who has had some sort of body altering surgery, and what new movie role is up and coming for said plasticy faced person? But maybe the more important question is why is this headline news? What's the draw with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt? Their weirdos and (sorry, but not that great looking...) and why do we keep putting attention on Kate Gosselin? Please, somebody take the cameras away from that woman and all her children and let them figure out what normal life needs to look like.

4. Children refusing naps. I mean come. on. The whole world is a brighter place if a child would just nap. They feel better, mom feels better, I'm sure it helps them grow more brain cells and actually would help the parent save a few of their own as well. (And trust me, I don't have many left to spare).

5. Twilight. I refuse to get involved. I really know very, very little about it, but it sounds creepy and unnatural. They're teenagers, right? Why are so many women of all ages really so very obsessed with the romantic life of a teenager, vampire or not? Since when did a teenager make good choices in love? Yes, yes there are a few exceptions, but let me assure you they had some growing up to do at some point. Let's for once glorify the growing up part.

I'm done for now. If you have a case that you would like to make for the alternate view to any of the above I would be willing to listen - as long as you are nice.

Lillie's First Hair Cut!

2010-07-02T21:28:00.006-05:00

I realized it was time. Lillie has grown to be slightly more willing to letting me put her hair up into ponytails lately, but her hair was still so many different layers and I would have to redo it thousands of times a day cuz nothing would stay in place. So it hit me today that I needed to just bob it off. And just like when I decide that I need a hair cut - there was no rest until it was done. As soon as the girl woke up from her nap we hopped in the van and went for a hair cut.

The before pictures...

The during pictures...
The after pictures....

I have no idea why I took so long to do this! It looks so much nicer... and it will grow, maybe, if I let it :) She loves it cuz the boys keep telling her how cute she looks and I love it cuz it's off her neck and doesn't need styling! Win, win!

Change Is Gonna Happen

2010-07-01T21:42:00.004-05:00

Hopefully.

We've been struggling with some attitudes around here. We're all totally feeding off of each other. I have no idea who started it, but I pray it's about to stop. The perfect storm has cropped up I believe:

1. No structure. I've been enjoying the summer time ease. We've totally fallen off any sort of routine - no definite sitter days, no definite go into the office days, no definite class schedules. Wanna go to the pool for 4 hours? Sure. Wanna have no particular plans for the day and wind up making huge messes and falling into mischief? Why not. All we've got to lose is our sanity.

2. Been a little greedy. The summer time also brings about a few more treat type options. Swimming, sodas, movies, play time, trips, ice cream. All of that is summer fun but too much of it brings about a sense of entitlement and greediness.

3. Lack of spiritual disciplines. This is pointed at myself. I can't blame my 8, 6, 4 and 2 year old for not being disciplined. I read the Bible in 90 days at the beginning of the year and it was awesome. One of the first Bible reading plans that I could stick to. I finished around Easter time and thought to myself, "I've got other irons in the fire right now, I'll hop back on it for another go around in a month or so." The month came and went and I didn't hop back on. In fact I hopped off every other spiritual accountability type thing I was involved in as well. It's been a long dry period and boy is it showing. I also have been neglectful with the daily bible reading I had been doing with the boys. And it's showing there too.

So the answers to my problems are as follows...

1. Today is July 1st - that's significant in one important area - the homeschool calendar begins. Now anything that I do with the kids can be logged for the 2010-11 school year. Hello structure, it's great to see you again.

2. No more toys. Ok, so not that drastic, but I did put a bunch of them away. I hope to be doing more mind expanding type activities. I need to go to our local teacher's store and see if I can find a good messy science experiment book.

3. Less computer time - for me. I can piddle the day away too easily on this thing.

4. Back into daily spiritual disciplines. It's just a matter of doing it.

5. Going to work. This will help me feel less buried and piled on. Once I get my head above water with that area I won't feel overwhelmed to the point of paralysis. I went in with all of my kids today for 2 hours and we cleaned out a whole storage area. They were a great help really in taking things to the dump and moving junk around for me and in between times they played hide and seek in the classrooms. I just need to bite the bullet and take them with me more often I guess.

So anyway. That's what we have in store for us, I pray that we can stick to it and maybe a structured day of goals to attain with help us to fight to accomplish something useful rather than turning on ourselves! (but we'll still go to the pool every chance we get!)

Aaaaaaahhhhh!

2010-07-01T11:00:00.003-05:00

That's my literary attempt at screaming. I've heard a lot of it over the past few days, it comes with the territory in parenting, but we are experiencing a higher rate than usual.

I actually have a scream/fit per hour ratio that helps me determine who will get naps and/or solitary confinement. So far today... they're all goin' down.

Actually, I had one kid that was doing rather well but his grandad just picked him up to take him on a little trip...

Lillie is following me. She is very clingy and needy today and I could handle her if she was the only issue. She just recently came over to me screaming about an "owie!!" which upon further inspection was found to be an ink pen mark. Not worth the drama.

Avery is manic depressive. Up one moment but he's a fragile house of cards that can topple over if the wind shifts. He needs a nap. The big question is: Can I convince him of that?

Huston is the worst at the moment. Screams. about. everything. Has already been sent to and kept in his room on 3 different occasions... and it's just 11:00am. He's going through a grumpy stage... and how he knows to plan his grumpiness to coincide with my monthly grumpy stage, I'll never know.?! (Ok, so some believe that there may be a correlation - and that a "routinely monthly mommy grumpy stage" sets up grumpy behavior in said mommy's children, but I"m not buying it. Sounds like a quack theory to me. Ok, so I'm in denial.)

Huston was sent to his room right at supper time last night because of his fit pitching and he fell asleep at 6:00pm... was hoping that would solve the problems, but notsomuch. He's actually fine if he's by himself.

Isaiah is not in the house. Lucky boy.

Actually, it seems we are all fine if we aren't around each other. Solitary confinement is not a bad thing sometimes. (Right now though, Lillie is in her room by herself yelling, "No Avery!".... Ummm, honey, Avery isn't in here...)

Truth Be Told

2010-06-26T22:36:00.005-05:00

I don't like reading blog posts from people that speak as though they have it all together. I don't believe it to be realistic, and will at times begin to feel inadequate and resent their sunshine, lollipops and rainbows. I think it's naturally easier to lament with another's sorrow than to share in another's joy. I wish that were not the case, but for me it's really hard to overcome my cynicism. I believe most human beings, (especially those with children) have bad moments, days, weeks, seasons, years... (take your pick).

My method of coping with the negatives of life is to usually brood, vent, then laugh. For me laughter is the very best medicine. I will admit that there are areas in my life (usually the reoccurring issues) that are harder to laugh at... but it's true, the joy of the Lord is my strength.

So I will now share some truths that I want you to know about me:

*nobody listens to me. ever. (I know, I know, you're not supposed to say things like always, everytime and never... but let me tell ya, it certainly feels like never). The positive side is that you can then tell people that you told them about something even if you really did forgot to tell them... cuz deep down they know they don't really ever listen to you anyway.

*I homeschool my kids, but they are not geniuses and I am not ambitious. Yes these things can go together, and it makes for some interesting (or not interesting) situations... but it's still better than public school and I always give my kids the appearance that I know exactly what I'm doing.

*the older I get, the more people annoy me. I'm destined to be a crotchity old lady I think because my list of irritating people keeps growing. But I'm really fun to the people I like... so try to stay on my good side.

*my kids provide me with the most frustrating circumstances (just experience a van ride with us sometime, you'll catch a glimpse...) as well as the most laughter and joy. Some people say I need to write a book... ummm, I seriously think that would be one huge collection of the mundane... like a joke with a long lead in but a weak punchline. I'll stick to short stories.

*my marriage is the hardest thing I've ever had to work at... some days I wonder if I'm on candid camera.

*I like to cook, but I can never remember what I cook... meaning I tend to get stuck on the same 5 meals... it feels a little similar to the Monty Python spam bit. "We can have chicken and rice, or chicken and noodles, or rice and chicken, or rice with rice and noodles and chicken..."

*my house is usually a mess and I often times just try to convince myself that a messy house is a mark of a busy and intelligent household... but the truth is that I'm usually doing nothing of consequence and things aren't put away because some of my children aren't even sure where things (like the dishwasher) are...

*I long to be all healthy and natural but will rarely turn down a fountain coke and will slather my made from scratch whole wheat pancakes in butter and syrup... yes, I'm a granola girl, but my granola is made with high fructose corn syrup.

*I feel like my blog is full of "debbie downer" complainy type posts, but for the most part I live a happy life! I really just long to laugh more and more each day. So remember, you will never come to this site to read about a family that has it all together... (because we don't) and really, where's the fun in perfection? (I only see it in dysfunction)

Shhhhh...

2010-06-24T07:21:00.003-05:00

be very, very quiet. My kids are still sleeping... well, everyone but Avery. They're right at 12 hours right now. I was out on one of my girl dates last night and when I came home Steven said that the kids could barely make it through supper they were so tired... 7:30 bedtimes across the board. Yay for swimming.

We invested in a pool membership for the first time and we really are enjoying it. It's nice to be able to pick up and go to a pool almost anytime you want to and know people there that your kids can play with. Everyone is getting so tan... except for me. I'm getting sunburned and rashy. (really, I do wear sunscreen, but forgot to screen my legs one day and then was able to take some rare moments to sit on a pool chair, instead of stay in the water to watch over Lillie... not a good combination - even if it was just for a few minutes.) And then the rash is just on my arm, and I don't know if it's pool related or not, but I'll blame it anyway.

But we are having lots of fun.

I packed away a bunch of the older boys' toys this week. I was tired of them. Tired of all the stinkin' little pieces of lego and play mobile and every other tiny little piece of whatever stuffed under the bed and bookshelf and all over their floor. So I packed them up and put them in the attic. Yes there were a few tears, but they also realized that when mom had asked for the 50th time to clean up that making a big pile and stuffing small pieces under furniture isn't what she has in mind.

We will live, and be better for it. I'll keep ya updated on that little saga. At this point, my crew has opened their sleepy eyes... I knew I would jinx it. Off to go swimming!

Gearing Up For An Awesome Week

2010-06-21T07:28:00.007-05:00

All the factors are in play...

1. We just got back from a weekend trip to Iowa. Steven's cousin was getting married in Ames. It was a beautiful wedding, nice to see family, we had an awesome hotel room (a suite with 2 rooms and a kitchenette - which for a family of our size, really helps the stay be a more pleasant one...), and we all survived the trip there and back (I'm not gonna lie, there were some ugly moments, but the key word is survived). A trip like that always primes the kids to be ready to just be home. Plus our house is clean, because we cleaned it for my parents (our chicken watchers) before we left - and two grown adults don't trash a house in a few hours like a brood of small children. So #1: My house is clean and the kids are mildly content.

2. Fun new things. We have one baby chick. Right before we left for the weekend one of our 8 chicken eggs hatched out. Yeah, the other 7 failed to launch - not sure the reason, the factors are so fragile - but we are pleased we got to witness the process with one. Here are some pics...

A picture of the original 8

Here is the lone chick freshly hatched

And here it is just a few hours later looking much cuter

Plus, we brought home two Betta fish from the wedding reception. They were the center pieces and needed homes... so of course we couldn't pass them up. So #2: We have new critters to occupy us.

3. It's officially summer. Which yeah, we've had the weather for it up til now, but this week is predicted to be clear and hot, and that is perfect pool weather. We have a membership to a pool club for the first time and boy are we going to use it. Today we are picking up a little friend and heading to lounge by the pool for the afternoon... (well until Sonic happy hour anyway :) Plus summer movies start at the theater. We have Toy Story 3 as a viewing option as well as $1 movies for the kids in the morning. Most of them are not appropriate for my little ones, but there are some bright spots in the summer schedule. Plus I'm thinking of taking the kids on a little field trip to a local hatchery so that we can get a few buddies for our lone chick and also see the process at a larger scale... we'll see if that works out but, #3: We have entertainment possibilities.

4. I have girl date nights scheduled this week! Phew, not a moment too soon. I still keep up with some friends from high school and we usually head out for dinner every 6-8 weeks and catch up with each other. This week is the next scheduled event and is at one of my favorite restaurants no less. Plus a friend that has been too super busy for me for several months now is on the schedule as well... and I'm really hoping she won't have to cancel at the last minute... cuz I MISS HER!!! So the possibility of 2 nights out before me after a long desert season of none makes me very happy. #4: Mommy break time.

5. The church construction process is in the home stretch. By Sunday I should have all of my new classrooms constructed, painted, and furnished as well as my own office painted and graced with brand new flooring. So the season of throwing classrooms and supplies together from week to week is coming to a close. #5: My work-life might become sane again.

*Sigh* I'm gonna love this week.

Yeah, I've Been Playin'

2010-06-17T08:44:00.005-05:00

Everyone else was doing it. Lots of blogs I follow have changed their backgrounds recently, so of course I was bored enough to piddle around for about 5 minutes and find something else I like.

Bored. That's the word of the moment. I'm not sure why I'm so bored, but I am. I guess, that may not be the word I'm quite looking for... I have enough to do. I stay busy, but it's pretty much the same ol' stuff. I need excitement I suppose... but not too exciting. I have a feeling that my writing right now is totally reflecting my mood. Just going around in circles without anything spectacular.

Guess we're heading into the lazy days of summer.

Let's see, what's been going on...

Our chicken eggs are beginning to hatch. I suppose that's kinda exciting... but they are being pretty slow about it - which makes a person a bit anxious. 2 of the 8 have pipped their shell... but nothing more. Today is day 21, the final day of the process, so I'm hoping that they will get a little more active over the next 24 hours. I've already prepped the boys that not all the eggs will probably make it, but of course inside of me I've been hoping that this information is wrong and all 8 will hatch nice and healthy, cuz really who wants to tell a kid that the eggs they've been watching over for almost a month aren't gonna become chicks.

Lillie fell again and bonked the same eye that she blackened a month or so ago. I thought for sure we were in for another black eye, but it looks like we'll just have a bit of road rash. She always has to try to keep up with those boys. The other day I looked out the window to see the girl in her flouncy dress along with rubber work boots, a backpack and a gun. So of course I took a couple of pictures.

And here's a good close up of that eye... (and the dirty mouth from supper...)

I'm still without my regular break from the kids and it's wearing a bit. I love my kids, they're good kids but I kinda feel like they gang up on me. Ok, so maybe they aren't organized and vicious like that... but here are some examples of what I'm dealing with.

Lillie - constantly says my name... like a gazillion times a day. "Mommy, it lunch time, mommy?" is a classic example and it's not done in a strong big girl voice, it's the whiny helpless baby voice. Ugh.

Avery - doesn't appear to comprehend a word I say. Example: today I told him to get a cup out of the dishwasher and he goes over to the appliance and says, "This dishwasher?" Ummm, yeah. It's the only one we've got.

Huston - is getting kinda bully-ish with his younger siblings and is pretty much an annoyance at times with his constant noises and attempts at being funny. It grates.

Isaiah - well he's pretty much hosed, cuz anything he does combined with the previous three sends mommy over the edge - poor kid.

Luckily the pool is helpful and we've finally been able to take advantage of it. We spent right at 2 hours there yesterday and everyone came home exhausted - unfortunately only one of them slept and the other 3 just were a bit grumpy (ok, 4 cuz I fit into that category as well...) but at least everyone was a bit less energetic with their grumpiness.

That's all I can think of regarding our happenings. Riveting, I know. I promise the next post will be more uplifting. I'll find that boost of excitement somewhere!

When It Rains, It Pours...

2010-06-08T11:14:00.003-05:00

which is quite an appropriate title since it is pouring outside today.

This money stuff just grows on trees anyway, right? No need to hold onto it too tightly? Good, cuz we can't right now.

1. Car - Steven bought the car a little over a year ago now. Got it pretty cheap - this last month we sunk more into repairing it than we did to purchase it - it's still a good car and will hopefully now serve Steven well for a good amount of time without having to think about repairs.

2. Van - Yes, we have a swagger wagon, but our swagger is now close to 11 years old and is limping a bit. Struts, a/c, slow oil leak, and a sliding door that is being difficult (handle broke off even!) all added up to a huge repair bill as well. Right after paying for the car repairs. Nice. We didn't fix everything and are hopeful that a mechanic friend of ours can help us with the remainder.

3. Air Conditioning - is it really necessary to have this in order to live comfortably during the summers in MO? We will soon find out, cuz we can't afford to fix ours at this time. We try to wait until the last possible moment to switch it on as the season begins, and Friday was my breaking point, namely because we were having guests over and I wanted them to be comfortable. Switched it on. Blowing hot air only. The repairman came today to tell us the coil is shot. $1500 to replace the coil on a really old machine... but the better alternative (to him) would be to replace the system... and yeah, that's more than $1500. Ugh.

4. Lots of little things - seems like every time I turn around there is something else... and these kids eat constantly too - what's up with that? ;) Anyway, we'll be alright. Steven is good with the money. I just hate to see so many large bills hit at one time. That's usually the way it goes though... and it's a great way to see how God provides the small stuff as well as the big. He's a great umbrella.