Three (Young) Men and a Little Lady

Packin' Up and Movin'!!

2009-01-29T00:13:00.002-06:00

Well, friends, due to some technical difficulties (which are all my fault), I'm going to move my blog to a new address. You can find me here. My sister thinks I'm deserting all of my blogger "family", but really I think it will be okay. I'll leave this blog here for a little while, but I'll probably delete it eventually. It's part of my love of cleaning up and getting rid of stuff, I guess. Why have a blog out there in cyberspace that you're not using any more??

So, come on over and join me again!

Fun!

2009-01-26T16:12:00.004-06:00

The caption of the middle picture above should be, "Hey, I found my barrette and I'm taking it out right now! HAHA!"

My friend, AnneJisca, is wanting to get into photography as a business. She came over on Sat. and practiced on Hannah. We couldn't do Josiah's 3-year pic, because he was at Grandma's for the day. But we're going to do that in a few weeks. It went quite well and I thought they turned out great for being done on the dining room table! I made these collages on Picasa (oh what fun!! I thought posting them was a lot easier and faster than deciding which ones to post individually!

In other exciting news, I have two heaping baskets of wet laundry to hang up downstairs and a bunch of burger thawing to make meatloaf. Today was a rather excruciating day of schooling and parenting and I have a headache. I need to go to bed early tonight!! I hope that doesn't sound whiny. It's just the way things are today.

For you home-schoolers out there, I've been reading a great blog called "Grueling Homeschooling". Doesn't the title just make you love it already? If you read it, be sure to read the very first post. I don't know how to make fancy links on here, but here's the address: gruelinghomeschooling.beautifulheritage.com. I hope you enjoy it!

Happy Monday...

Overheard At Our House

2009-01-25T15:10:00.002-06:00

Logan: Dad, what is 7+7?

Keith: What is it?

Logan: Mmmmmm..... Nine!

Josiah (with great enthusiasm): You got it, Logan. You got it!

Yup, what we're lacking in knowledge, we make up for with enthusiasm!!

And on another note, yes you will get to see results of the photo shoot. Pardon me, now, while I go play with the pictures. I'll be back soon, I hope...

Cleaning Up The Pigpen

2009-01-24T23:32:00.004-06:00

Tonight the house was, in Logan's words, "a pig-pen." I had let everything go today, and we had a photo shoot in the dining room, compliments of our friend, AnneJisca. So, yes, it was a pig-pen - toys, clothes, whatever, strewn everywhere. So, just before bed-time, we told the boys we were having a "15 minute clean-up". Or did we say 5 minutes?? Anyway, I had a little brain wave that actually worked really well this time. I told the boys to count the things they put away - in the proper place. I told them they could count every toy, sock, etc. They seemed enthusiastic and we all dove in. In about 15 or 20 minutes, Keith, Caleb, Logan and I put away approximately 500 items!!! Now, probably 100 or more of those were legos, but still, I thought it was quite an impressive number. And the difference it made was amazing. I didn't offer any reward for the most items (Caleb would always win a contest like that!) or any money. I momentarily considered a penny per item, but decided against it. For this time anyway, the thrill of counting was enough. Until they were in bed, then Logan said he wished they could have a reward. So we got to have a smallish lesson on the reward of a clean house, etc. :-) Anyway, there's my happy little story for the day. Let me know if you try it and how many things you put away.

Confessions of a Non-Reader

2009-01-19T19:32:00.002-06:00

Here it is. The stack of books that I've started or browsed, but not finished, in the last few years. Drives me crazy. (In case you can't read it, the top two books are "Can You Hear Me?" and "Exploring the Spirit of Adoption".)

I'm married to a guy who devours books like I do chocolate. I read some, but not at all like I want to. These books are good and it's stuff I really want to learn from. I'm not a big fan of New Year's resolutions, so I'm not going to make one. But here's my idea. I'm going to try to go to bed 10 or 15 minutes early and read just a little every night. (That's what Keith does and it sure works for him.) At that rate, do you think I could read a book a month or so? That would sure be a big improvement.

On the other hand, I bought this the other day, and I'm sure I'll have no problem finishing it once I start it! I can devour Bodie Thoene books even faster than chocolate. I actually usually put off starting one of these books when I get it, because once I start, I'm useless until it's done. I don't read much fiction and I buy even less, but this author is my favorite and I'll gladly buy her books!

So, what are you reading, or what is sitting beside your bed that you're not reading??

A Year In Review

2009-01-14T22:15:00.005-06:00

Oh my word, our baby is one! How did that happen? Hannah joined us a year ago and forever changed the fabric of our family. It's amazing how one little bundle can wiggle it's way into your hearts and lives.

One day old. Hangin' out with Daddy.

About a month old.

Hannah wasn't so impressed with the Great Outdoors!

Flying to IN to help Auntie Rachel plan her wedding. Hannah was a great traveler!

Five months old.

Now she likes the great outdoors a little better. She did pretty well with camping this summer.

Baby food and Uncle Jeff's boat - a great combination!

Still no teeth...

Do you like my bed-head?

Hannah's first Christmas.

And now she's one! Whew, what a year. It's been rather a blur, but we sure wouldn't trade in our little punkin' for anything in the world!

Don't Blink

2009-01-14T22:00:00.004-06:00

Three years ago he was this little precious bundle.

Then he was this cutie pie toddler.

And suddenly, a big brother!

Now he's one of our resident goof-balls.

Josiah's birthday is on New Year's Eve. We managed to have a Mom's and kids birthday party over lunch. I think the kids had a lot of fun. We Mom's did, anyway. :-)

Yay! A hockey stick from Scotty!

Anne Jisca made maple sugar candy in snow for us. Yummy!!

Everyone say "three"!

Josiah wanted a blue cake. That's all he cared about. Not flavor, not shape. Just blue!

Isn't he cute?!? I'm sure I'm not biased...

I guess that's enough birthday for this year!

Christmas in Pictures

2009-01-02T21:14:00.008-06:00

Since posting pictures is easier than writing, here are some pictures from the past month.

Making cookies with Grandma G.

Josiah got to put the angel on the tree.

This is what happens when Josiah helps decorate the tree. (That's a lego man.)

My family spent a weekend together at Stormer Lake. We played lots of games, at lots of good food, we ladies did a fun craft, and the guys and kids played floor hockey and tore around in the gym.

Here we are decorating journals or notebooks with pictures and stuff from magazines. It was so fun. Sorta like scrap-booking, but easier.

Rhonda and her pink pages.

Two first-borns, Caleb and Caitlyn, playing Mastermind.

A common scene. This game is serious business!

Erica, the Beautiful

Christmas morning. We had the traditional brunch and then tore into the presents.

Keith modeling his new shirt.

Josiah with his new guitar. He was so happy he was speechless.

Rachel and Dave. Aren't they smashing?!?

Caleb and Logan made this shelf for me. I was very touched!

Hannah's first Christmas. She was still kinda sick, so her eyes look very droopy.

Some of us had Christmas dinner at our house and then most of us went to Mike and Helen's for dessert. Here are their two grandbabies, Serenity and Xander. Aren't they cute??

The kids all over papa.

Grandma Dru surrounded by kids.

Larissa

Rachel playing twister with Caleb and Logan.

We had a good time with Rachel and Dave here for about 10 days. The Christmas season is always so busy, it seems, but it was still fun - and exhausting. By Christmas day I was so tired I could hardly function. But, I'm catching up on my rest now, I think. At least I will if I shut up now and head for bed immediately!!

Happy New Year, everyone!

This Week's Insanity Brought To You By...

2008-12-31T00:59:00.003-06:00

Well, hi there! Yes, I'm still alive. Soon, very soon (after we get through Josiah's birthday and New Year's Eve, which happen to be the same day, and how's that for family planning?) I will post about why I haven't been posting, and hopefully also some pictures from Christmas. But for now, this little story which amuses me and hopefully will you as well...

Tonight, after the day was basically done, I glanced down at my clothes and realized my shirt and pants didn't really match. I remember thinking this morning as I threw on my clothes that I would wear this shirt because it goes with my light blue sweatshirt. And the color of my jeans never once entered my mind. Good thing today wasn't tomorrow, when I'm having three different shindigs here in one day! Am I losin' it, or what? :-)

Oh, shoot, and while I'm here anyway, I'll just give you one little picture of our youngest cutie on Christmas day.

Of Chocolates and Friends, There Shall Never Be Too Much

2008-12-02T11:22:00.005-06:00

I know these pictures are almost two months old, but that's just kinda how my life is these days. :-) A little behind. So I thought I'd post them anyway, since I just want to.

The day after my birthday, I had a chance to fly up north to see my dear friend, Iris for the day. (Well, for about 5 hours, actually.) We took the opportunity to do our annual tradition of making Christmas candy. It was fun, but the time just flew by and it seemed sort of like a dream that it even happened.

I took Logan along since there was another seat in the plane. He had fun playing with the kids and having a plane ride. (Although he got a belly-ache when we were up in the clouds and he couldn't see the ground.)

Enjoying the ride.

The bush in the fall.

Our fearless pilot, my brother Matthew.

Co-conspirators in the production of much chocolate and sugar!

Yum! Peanut butter balls. Or buck-eyes if you're from Ohio.

Blankets and Buckets

2008-12-02T10:40:00.000-06:00

It seemed like such a good idea at the time...

Josiah had an appointment with the pediatrician in a bigger town about 3 hours from here. (Yeah, we live at the end of the world and that's how far we have to go to see a pediatrician!) Anyway, we decided to make a little trip out of it and take all of the family and stay overnight with our friend, Debby. We'd go shopping and have a nice visit with Debby. And I could even go shopping by myself a bit while Keith stayed with the kids at the house. And it wouldn't be such a long, exhausting day if we stayed overnight.

It was such a good plan.

Until.

Before we even got out of town, Hannah erupted. And she barfed most of the way there. Oh gross. If you've ever had the experience of a child puking while strapped in a reclining car seat, you know what I mean. And of course, I wasn't prepared with cleaning supplies and I didn't bring that many clothes along for just one night. We stopped along the way and bought paper towels, and changed her clothes a few times.

She was fine by the time we got there and even ate lunch. Later in the afternoon we headed out to Debby's to put the little ones down for a nap while I went to do more shopping.

Well.

Before I left, Josiah started throwing up. When I came back a few hours later, Logan had joined in the fun. Those of us who were still standing sat down for supper and it just didn't taste good to me. Oh No! I just didn't feel quite right and as the evening progressed, I got more nauseous, chilled, and achy. So, we sat and layed around Debby's living room, wrapped in blankets and staying close to the buckets. Logan and Josiah got quite good at knowing when they needed a bucket. The poor little guys couldn't even keep any water down.

When it was bed time, Keith told me to go sleep in the bedroom with Hannah (who had thrown up after she went to bed, but didn't even wake up. I was too tired and miserable to care and just left her. Can you believe that!?!) The boys slept on the floor in the living room and Keith slept out there with them to help with the buckets. I think they quit barfing around 2:30 am. Some time during the night, I started peeling off blankets, so I knew I was getting better.

In the morning, I was still tired and achy, the kids were in varying degrees of listless, no appetite, and diarhea. And Keith was pale and had no appetite! We left in the afternoon and before we left town, Hannah started barfing again. Is it a special thing she likes to do in the van?? Anyway, we were so glad to get home.

Josiah is finally better today and I think Hannah is just about better. (I'll spare you the rest of the details.) The washing machine has become my best friend!! :-) And somehow, Caleb has escaped the whole thing. Bless his heart!

I must add that Debby was very gracious about the whole disaster and willingly shared her buckets, blankets, washing machine, etc. She and I did get to go out for lunch on Sat. too. Oh, and I did get a lot of necessary shopping done so all was not lost.

And on a totally unrelated topic. Hannah had her mouth open last night for some reason (crying perhaps?) and I saw something white. The little turkey has a molar through. I had no idea. And it's only her third tooth. Isn't that kind of odd?

My Little Men

2008-11-20T21:46:00.002-06:00

Lately Hannah's been taking more than her share of bloggy publicity. So here are my awesome little guys...

Josiah - on the way home from camping Labour Day weekend.

Who needs Wal-Mart? I decided to do my own portraits of Caleb and Logan this fall. I was pretty pleased with the results!

Logan - six years old

Caleb - 8 years old

Randomness

2008-11-20T21:14:00.003-06:00

*I cleaned out the drawer under my phone. Yay! Now that's something worth shouting about! Dumb thing is, it's not completely done, but it's SO much better that I'm not sure I care. I even found the lab requisition for my blood sugar test I was supposed to do when Hannah was 6 months old. Oops.

* Last weekend my friend, Iris, came to for the weekend. We had fun and stayed up late. She had shopping and stuff to do and couldn't get everything done. She was hoping to update her blog while she was here (since their internet doesn't work), but didn't have time. :-(

* Hannah had roseola last week. I couldn't figure out why she was so cranky when her teeth were already through. Then she got a fever. When that went away, the rash appeared. She's doing much better now. Whew!

* I just ordered Keith's and Caleb's Christmas presents, and paid for one for Dave. :-) I really like shopping on-line!

* I've been trying to buy a Playmobil gas station on ebay for Logan and they keep slipping away from me. Either I don't bid high enough or I forget to bid at the end. I'll keep trying, but I'm ready to pay a wad right now just to Get It Already!

* A friend told me yesterday that her sister and family don't open presents on Christmas. They do that several weeks before Christmas day. Then Christmas is for going to church and doing family things. Isn't that a good idea?? I wonder if we could really pull it off...

* The other night the boys were messing around in bed (when they were supposed to be sleeping!). Josiah hit his nose on the bed and got a doozy of a nose-bleed. Much weeping and wailing followed!

* I damaged and possibly wrecked two good/casual shirts in the last week or so. :-( The first one was my beloved black shirt that Rachel gave me. It was in the dryer with an orange crayon! Aaarrrggghhh!!! Tonight I tried just a little bit to get it out by ironing the orange spots onto another cloth. It looks like it just might work. Any advice?? The second one - my beloved light blue shirt (that Rachel gave me, notice a pattern here?) - was a victim of the above-mentioned nose-bleed. Crud. Blood on a powder blue shirt. I soaked it in cold water right away and then washed it. I didn't dry it. The marks are still there, but not too obvious. Any advice on that one?

* This week is the first in a long time that I feel like the school-work and schedule is mostly under control. Next week doesn't look so promising...

* I'm starting a weekly "lunch bunch" for young (and others like myself) :-) women - mostly from church and some others. It's been fun.

* Next Friday we're heading off to the "small city" for an appointment with the pediatrician for Josiah. We're going to get his "seizures" or whatever it is, checked out. He did it again the other night, but this time he hit the front of his head, not the back. I don't know if it's hitting his head that does it, or holding his breath from crying. Anyway, we'll see what the Dr. says.

* Next week looks a little too busy. :-( I need to decorate the church for Christmas, get ready to lead worship on Sunday, go to a home-school lunch/literary performance shin-dig, and leave first thing Friday morning. Oh, and we're all going and staying overnight with our friend, Debby. So, we won't be back until Sat. Yikes! Why do things always happen all at once like that?

* Tomorrow Keith is taking the afternoon off and he said I can do whatever I want. Sadly, it doesn't look like it will be a relaxed afternoon of scrap-booking. But, I want to take the boys to finish shopping for our Compassion shoeboxes and that will be fun. And I'm helping set up for a baby shower for my nieces which is tomorrow night. Maybe that won't take too long and I'll have time for a cup of coffee and a muffin. I'll take a book along just in case!

* And now it's time for bed!! Toodles!

Thought for Today

2008-11-14T17:20:00.001-06:00

My friend, Priscilla sent me this recently: from Streams in the Desert on November 5th: "The only thing 'too hard for the LORD' is our deliberate and continual disbelief in His love and power, and our ultimate rejection of His plans for us."

I needed that!

Out With the Old...

2008-11-09T16:35:00.005-06:00

Shoes! Did I ever mention that I hate buying shoes? So many questions: What, pray tell, is in style right now? Are these cute? Are they for an old lady? Am I an old lady? Will they be comfortable? Should I buy the cheap ones, or the more expensive ones that will last a really long time?? Do I really like these? And the list goes on and on.

So.

When I manage to buy some I like, it's a really big deal! (To me, anyway.) I don't expect everyone else to be as excited as me, but, since I have a blog, I can subject you to my joyful ramblings about my shoes. (It's a free country. You don't have to read it if you don't want to.)

Anyway, I give you exhibit A. I bought these shoes on our trip to Jeff and Wendy's wedding. That was in 1999/2000!! And I've been wearing them ever since. (When you don't like to buy shoes, you can wear the same ones for a very long time!!) But, this fall I started to be embarrassed by their scruffy appearance and maybe even their out-dated style (that part bothers me less.) These shoes, my friends are going in the garbage to make way for...

... these cute little numbers. (Exhibit B) Did I do okay? I'm anything but an authority on the subject, but I think these are kinda stylish. And cute. And leather. And comfortable. And they were on sale. Yay!
Now, a couple questions, since I'm style-challenged. Can I wear these with skirts or pants? Panty-hose or socks? I'm thinking yes, but I'd like some confirmation from someone who knows more than me...

Thanks for sharing my happiness. (I'm assuming something there, eh?) :-)

Life

2008-11-09T16:11:00.002-06:00

It was a wild week! Last weekend we were at Stormer Lake for a weekend of encouragement, worship, listening to God... It was a good time. Then...

We came home and hit the ground running. Cell group on Sunday night. When we got home, Sheldon called and said an old family friend had passed away. Mrs. Hausmann was always special to us. By Monday morning, I was thinking, I really should go down for that funeral. Keith agreed and we started to make plans. Unknown to me, my friend, Karen, was also making plans to go. We connected sort of at the last minute and found out our plans were almost identical. So, she and her boys went down with us. What a blessing. I took Logan and Hannah with me and left Caleb and Josiah with Keith, Grandma G., and other friends.

I was really glad I went. While funerals are never fun it's always a good thing to say good-bye. And, I got to connect with people I haven't seen (or not very often) in 25 or 30 years. It leaves you with a really odd feeling. It was like being in a time warp. Some things have changed so much and still so many things are the same.

While we were there, we got in on some of the U.S. election madness. Enough said! :-)

We got home Thursday evening in a bit of a snow-storm. People were concerned about us, but the roads really weren't bad until about 40 miles south of here. Now, winter is here for real, it seems. The boys are having a blast playing in the snow.

I decided to (hopefully) start a new tradition - making donuts when it snows the first time. I invited Karen to join me and we had fun doing that yesterday. They were SO yummy!!

Hannah has been very cranky. I'm starting to wonder if she's getting sick. She got her first two teeth this week, so I thought she'd be happier. Instead it seems like she's fussier. Hmmm.....

The last month or so, we've been singing with a little inter-church choir. We "made" Caleb and Logan go with us and sing with the choir at least for part of the practice. They grumbled sometimes, but went and seemed to enjoy it. We sang in church this morning, but we didn't make them join the performance. Now, I'm sitting at the computer and I'm listening to them playing with lego in the basement. They've been humming/singing parts of two of the songs we sang. :-)

Stay tuned for my post about me and shoes...

And Some More Pictures For Rachel :-)

2008-10-31T14:56:00.002-05:00

As Our World Turns

2008-10-31T05:49:00.006-05:00

I've been so focused on posting pictures and getting caught up on my blog from the past few months, that I haven't really written anything about what we're up to right now. I've been sorta obsessive compulsive about posting pictures and blogging about the summer and fall. I can't just not post pictures and leave a big gap in my blogging! :-) Oh my, no! Well, actually, yes I can. So, here they are. Real, actual words about us!

* I don't know if I mentioned this before, but Josiah is now POTTY-TRAINED! (Pardon me while I yell a little!) He still wears a diaper for naps and night-time, but I wonder if he'd do pretty good if I just put underwear on him.) Anyway, it's really, really nice. He's younger than either of his big brothers were. :-)

* Hannah is now cruising around furniture and standing alone for a few seconds at a time. I think she's just itchin' to walk. She's also started trying out a few words here and there. Or, maybe I should say, making obvious attempts. That just amazes me! As Rhonda (mother of 4 of my nieces) would say, with a knowing, almost smug look, "That's how girls are!" And, her first two teeth are about to pop through - late just like her brothers!

* I've been going to physio therapy for my back and feet. I don't know what's wrong with my feet, but I'm supposed to be "massaging" them with a little ball and it hurts like the dickens. And for my back, we're strengthening my almost-non-existent abs. Fun. The therapist showed me how to exercise abdominal muscles I never knew I had. And I would never have found them by doing crunches. It's very interesting and gives my some hope for some day having a flatter tummy and no lower back pain.

* I have a Dr. appt. for Josiah on Monday to check out his little "seizures" that he gets when he hits the back of his head.

* We went to the dentist a few weeks ago and found out that Logan has 5 cavities and Caleb has 2. Caleb also has a receding gum by one tooth which is either caused by crowding (sorry for the genetics I passed on there, Son!!) or plaque build-up. Sigh. So we're beefing up the brushing routines. Instead of getting the cavities filled immediately, I'm going to get a second opinion at the suggestion of a friend. But, that means another dentist visit and bill. It seems like we've been in a "season" of appointments lately and it sure makes the schedule challenging!!

* Yesterday Logan was drawing worms in his "Do You Doodle?" book and he said (loosely quoted):

Logan: Look Mom, these worms are girls.

Me: How do you know they're girls?

Logan: Because they have eyebrows. Pretty eyebrows!

* Yesterday I spent about three hours talking on the phone with two friends. That was so much fun, because it hardly ever happens. But, it's frustrating too, because at the same time I'm feeling a little bit guilty for "neglecting" my kids and house. I guess that's just one of the tensions of my chosen schedule and life right now.

* A quote from one of the aforementioned conversations: "I love Math in theory. It's the actual numbers that mess me up." Oh, really, Becky?!?

* Yesterday Caleb was reading "World", a Christian news magazine. Suddenly he piped up with, "Mom, what's abortion?" Ugh. I told him and watched the flicker of pain that went over his face. It's so sad to see their innocence slowly be chipped away by the rawness of our fallen world. Did I make the right decision in telling him?

* I've been very fed up lately with my "brokenness" and the junk in my heart. I'm so longing for a real and lasting change. "How long, Oh Lord, how long??"

* And along those lines... We're heading up to Stormer Lake this afternoon (as soon as I'm done with this post?) for a weekend of encouragement and fellowship. There will be about 10 of us getting together to share and pray for each other and worship together. I'm hoping this will be another good step along the journey of life.

* In the past few months, Josiah has gone from "stinker" to "the sweetest thing around" to "Challenging"!! Help me, Lord!

* Oh, and speaking of brokenness... I've REALLY been struggling with my eating lately. I just want to eat what I want and when I want and hang the consequences. (Well, actually, I'm wearing the consequences.) I was thinking about a whole post about "hunger", but here's the abridged version. When I'm "hungry" for comfort food, what I really need, I know is to feel loved, safe, comforted, etc. And I know in my head that food doesn't bring a lasting satisfaction. It just makes me want to go back for more. Recently I was reminded of the verse, "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. It's a promise. So, do I need to re-direct my "hunger" in the right direction? To hunger after God, to long for him to fill my heart with his love and to love him in return, to hunger to be clean and pure in his eyes. That's what I really long for underneath the "felt need" for chocolate.

* Keith has gone moose-hunting a few days with no success yet. Last Sat. he took Caleb and Logan with him. They actually saw a cow, but it was right when they parked the truck and Keith didn't even have his gun loaded yet and she took off right away. He was pretty disgusted about that one!

* Oh, and I did have a birthday sometime not long ago which was well-celebrated. I celebrated by signing up on facebook. Haha. Not really. But I did join facebook around that time and I can attest that it's fun but it can be a real time-waster. I still like blogs and blogging!

* And now it's time to close this sucker down, give Hannah a bottle, and hit the road. And when I come home, I'll have 12 comments, right? :-) (That's what ya call shameless begging!)

Fun with Friends and Relations

2008-10-27T22:04:00.002-05:00

One of the things that's been fun this fall is spending lots of time with Matthew and Rhonda and their girls - and other cousins and friends along the way. Iris was here for awhile in August/September so we got to do some fun stuff.

Here's a whole bunch of misc. hooligans enjoying a meal of smokies and corn on the cob. Yum.
Matthew and Rhonda's girls had a sleep-over. Even Larissa stayed. The funny thing was that by morning, Caitlyn and Larissa were on either side of me in our bed, and Keith was on the couch. I was just glad we didn't have to take them home in the middle of the night!

Okay, this has been so much fun. Wendy, Rhonda, and I did a couple of "school" afternoons together. Wendy is teaching them art, I did some science activities, and Rhonda did "home-ec" (yummy snacks). Wendy and I are going to continue with just our kids when Rhonda is gone. The kids love it and so do we (as long as the babies co-operate!)

Tia and Caitlyn making quesadillas for snack.

Working on a science activity.

Caleb's (top left and bottom) and Logan's (top right) artwork.

The Final Hurrah of Summer

2008-10-19T16:49:00.009-05:00

The rest of the trip was interesting. I won't say much about the alternator trouble. Let's just say we had some changes in our plans and a big bill on our Visa! We also spent a night at my Aunt and Uncle's, Ruthie and Dwen, in northern MI. And I forgot to take a picture of them! But it was really nice to be at their place again!

When we got home on Sat. afternoon, all of Keith's siblings were already here. So we jumped directly into a week of G. family partying. What fun. It felt like Christmas without the snow and the other busyness that comes in Dec.

Family portrait. Logan messed up every one on my camera! But Sandra got a good one.

Shania and Hannah

The boys had a total blast playing with Uncle Neal. Josiah was pretty sad to see him go at the end of the week!!

"One, two, three..."

After they all left, we had fun spending time with Matthew, Rhonda and girls. It's so fun to see the cousins all getting to know each other and making good memories with each other. Labour Day weekend we went camping with my family. Well, with those of us who could make it. Unfortunately, Dad and Dru had to work and Mike's had something else going on, I think. And of course, Rachel and Dave are a million miles away. :-( But, we managed to have lots of fun anyway. The weather was beautiful, but windy. We spent a bunch of time at the beach and sitting around the fire. The kids just played and played. It was a reminder too, that camping isn't generally relaxing with little kids. But I'm expecting that each year now, things will get a little easier. Sunday afternoon it was actually warm enough that I went swimming. Darla and Rhonda came in too and our hubbies and a bunch of kids, of course. That was a relaxing afernoon and it was so much fun to just play! (I'm not so good at doing that normally!)

Hot babes hangin' out at the beach.

Goofy kids.

Playing with play-dough.

Scotty.

Dylan - all tuckered out.

Like I said, it was windy!

Matthew and Sierra - cheers!

Summer Re-visited. (Rachel wanted pictures!)

2008-10-18T22:28:00.005-05:00

After Rachel's wedding we had a week to "mosey" home. That was so nice. Our first stop was a Y. family reunion. We were just there for a few hours, but it was really nice to see family again.

Hannah with Great Grandpa and Grandma Y.

Then we headed to MI to spend a bit of time with our friends Jeff and RoxAnne and their family. It's always so good to see them!

Next stop - Lake Michigan. We rented a house near the lake for two nights with my dear friends Karla and Brenda. It was fun catching up and introducing them to our kids.

Next we met Keith's child-hood friend Dan, his wife, Juanita and family. We spent a day together and went to the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo. That was a lot of fun for the kids.

Snack time in the parking lot!

Some of the kids beside a real Blackbird. (The world's fastest plane, or something like that. Caleb could tell you all about it probably.)

To be continued...

Fall

2008-10-18T22:18:00.003-05:00

It's been a beautiful fall here. We've had lots of sunny, crisp/cool days to enjoy. But, I find I have a hard time enjoying it to the fullest because Fall mostly evokes in me a dread of winter. Sad, isn't it. Winter here is so long and often comes so early. I find that hard to deal with. Some day, I'd like to live somewhere - even if it's just for one year - where Fall is a really long, beautiful season and the winter that follows doesn't strike terror to my heart. And where there are lots of hard-woods that bust out with red and orange leaves. Here were mostly have just yellow leaves. But, in the meantime I'll try to soak in the beautiful days we have. And this year I've been thoroughly enjoying my maple tree that has Red Leaves. It's been wonderful! Happy fall!

Oh My Goodness, I'm A Great-Aunt!

2008-10-03T22:17:00.003-05:00

My niece, Kayla just had a baby girl this morning. Her name is Serenity Marie, and she is a precious, little cutie!! Kayla did a great job! Now we're waiting for Samantha to have her little boy soon. When it rains, it pours, eh? :-)

Is It Too Late To Post Pictures From The Wedding?

2008-10-03T21:34:00.008-05:00

It's almost Dave and Rachel's two-month anniversary. But I still want to post about it. If I can remember it. :-)

It was one of the most beautiful weddings I've been at. (Of course, I'm not biased, or anything.) It was a truck-load of work, and I hardly had time to scratch my ear all week, but there were some really good moments too. Here are some highlights:

* On Wednesday evening we (Dave, Rachel, and our family) went out for supper at a really nice restaurant right on Winona Lake. We sat outside on the screened porch overlooking the lake. It was a beautiful evening, and for some reason, I was able to not think about wedding stuff and we just relaxed and had a wonderful time together.

* Late Wednesday night, Matthew, Rhonda and their girls arrived, jet-lagged to the max. But it was SO good to see them!!!

* Friday morning all of Rachel's friends and relations who were around went out for brunch. It was like a big, 'ol, "back home" reunion. So many who used to live here and now live all over the globe, all coming together because of Rachie! We made quite a ruckus in the restaurant, and had a blast.

* The wedding ceremony was so meaningful and beautiful. And I didn't have to do anything else, so I could just relax and soak it in. (And try to forget that there were 240 people behind me.) The music was beautiful. She had piano, trumpet and cello for the prelude, processional and recessional. Wow. A definite highlight was when a group of our Yutzy aunts, uncles and cousins sang an amazing benediction. Oh my!

* The reception was lovely. It was in a tent outside Rachel's church and the weather was absolutely perfect. Amazing.

Sadly, I don't have any really good pictures. But, here are a few anyway.

Logan and Alabama were flower-girl and ring-bearer. They were so cute!!!

I'm a Nerd

2008-10-02T11:00:00.003-05:00

Last night I stayed up late (getting my new computer organized). :-) So just before I headed for bed I went in Hannah's room to cover her up. I turned off the closet light which I had left on when I put her to bed because her night-light is not very bright. (Bear with me, I think that detail is relevant.) Then, with my eyes not adjusted to the new level of darkness and with a sleepy brain, I headed out of the room and WHAMMED into the edge of the door with my forehead. PAIN. MUCH PAIN. I stood there for a bit wondering if my glasses were perhaps broken and just feelin' the pain. When I went into the bathroom and looked, I already had a nice goose-egg forming above my right eye. So I got a bag of frozen vegetables and sat with that on my head for awhile and read a book and wondered if I should take Advil before I went to bed. But, the pain did subside and I was able to sleep fine. I can't believe I did that.

Monday!

2008-09-29T20:22:00.002-05:00

Why are Mondays so.... Monday-ish??

As far as Mondays go, today was pretty much a bummer. Sigh. So, now I'm going to complain a bit, and then I'm going to be thankful, so hold on for the end of the post...

The "badness" started in the middle of the night when Hannah was awake and fussy off and on for an hour or two (it's hard to keep track in the wee hours!). Keith and I took turns trying to get her settled down. I finally thought maybe it was her ears or teeth and Keith gave her Advil. That finally seemed to do the trick. But the damage was done. I was tired! On top of that, I had a bad dream that pointed out some unresolved crud in my heart. :-(

So, I slept in, which I guess I needed, but that put our day behind schedule. Then, I made the (rebellious) mistake of checking the weather and email before spending any time with Jesus, and then it was too late. Duh.

After that it was a series of mis-haps, mistakes, and mayhem...

- Logan woke up with the sure conviction that he, in fact, was in charge and I definitely wasn't.

- I was feeling grumpy and out-of-sorts. I ended up getting angry at the kids and yelling and it was pretty ugly around here. By the time we were done with breakfast and chores, I knew we had to back up and take care of stuff. So we spent some time talking, repenting and praying. After a discipline session with Logan, I sent him back to bed and told him we were going to pretend that we were starting the day all over.

- Logan and Caleb were HYPER. Made me want to never feed them another gram of sugar again. Ever.

- It was raining and cold today.

- I tried three times to start a fire in the stove and it never did take off - until Keith came home and dumped something very flammable and stinky on it. So I was cold a good bit of the morning.

- Caleb has a runny nose and his first instinct is to snort. Gross! Then when he does blow, he leaves dirty tissues everywhere. Grrr. Tomorrow I'm going to charge him $.10 for every snort and every tissue laying around. Money talks to that boy!

- Caleb "shared" his runny nose with Josiah, who is taking it to another level and is pretty miserable tonight. More on that later.

- Logan broke a stapler and I found a section of staples - sharp side up - on the dining room floor.

- Caleb broke a cool little car we just got at a garage sale on Sat.

- Keith had a rough morning and then took a night shift at the ambulance tonight. We hardly had any time to talk, which left me feeling rather dis-connected, but we did talk on the phone tonight, so that's good.

- Josiah didn't take a nap today. (I gave up around 3:30 or so.)

- I had to discipline Josiah a bajillion times today for a particular behaviour that we're trying to irradicate.

-I dug a small piece of plastic out of Hannah's mouth tonight - I'm guessing it was from the broken car.

- I sent Josiah to go pee this evening and when I went in there a bit later, I found pee All Over the floor. He claimed he was trying to go in the potty, and I think I believe him. Not 100% sure.

- Josiah has already been half awake and crying three times tonight. I feel like just not going to bed at all because I'm afraid I won't get any sleep anyway. He did this about 3 or 4 weeks ago when he had a cold. He woke up crying and inconsolable about 9 times during the night. And, ironically, that was also a night when Keith was doing a night shift and I hardly got any sleep.

So. That's the garbage. As I was thinking about this post earlier this evening, I realized that even with all the junk today, I still have a long list of things to be thankful for, if I just stop and look for them. So, here's the good stuff that I'm thankful for:

- Hannah didn't choke on anything today. (That girl puts Everything in her mouth!) Of course, I have no idea what all she ate off of the floor! :-)

- My boys forgave me for my anger and harsh words.

- Supper was delicious (and came from the freezer, so it was very little work!)

- No one stepped on the staples!

- For the first time since Thursday or Friday, every dirty dish was either washed or in the dishwasher tonight. (We came close a few times over the weekend, but never got around to that one pan that was soaking...)

- Kisses. From my handsome hubby and precious little boys .

- I was finally able to start the laundry tonight - after wanting to do it all day.

- Josiah is actually having fewer accidents and starting to tell me when he needs to go.

- And, he hasn't pooped in his underwear for a few days. He's been going in his diaper when I put him down for a nap. Works for now I guess.

- Hannah really is a good baby.

- Caleb was very willing to lay down with Josiah tonight so I could get Hannah to bed.

- Caleb can be a very compassionate big brother.

- Logan got himself and Caleb a bed-time snack without any help from me.

- Logan and Caleb willingly cleaned up toys, etc. while I was getting Hannah to bed.

- With the two "littles" asleep, we were able to do some reading that we didn't get done today. And we were in a much better frame of mind than when we tried this afternoon. Instead of "I don't like this book!", I heard, "Read more!"

- In spite of hyperness and bad attitudes, the boys actually did quite well on their school work today.

- I was able to sweep the floor and put away some miscellaneous stuff this afternoon. Yay. Let's hear it for sweeping!

- This afternoon, Keith and I watched part of a Beth Moore video that we watched in our ladies' Sunday School class yesterday. (I got there late and didn't get to see the whole thing, so I borrowed it.) It is So Good! It's from her Bible study series called, "Breaking Free" and the session is titled "God's Unfailing Love." I think I should write a whole post about that, but we'll see. I have so much growing to do, but she offers so much hope!

- My Father God, loves me!!!!

- Yeah, there's a small mountain of laundry, but hey, we have clothes to wear! And I have four precious kids to make them dirty!

- Caleb and Logan can do chores! Today Caleb sorted the laundry and Logan cleaned the bathroom counter and sink.

- Tomorrow we get to start swimming lessons. We're all excited. And I'm a little nervous about getting us all out the door by 9:10!!

- Any day now, "my" new computer (a refurbished MacBook) will be arriving. And I won't ever have to use this stinking, old, dinosaur of a PC any more! Oops, this was supposed to be the thankful list. Let's see... I've been very thankful for it's years - or was that months - of somewhat faithful service. And for the friend who put it together and gave it to us!

- Tomorrow night I get to go to a Stampin' Up party. Just me. No kidlets. Just grown-up ladies, who can carry on grown-up conversations. And after that, a prayer time with some ladies from church. What could be better!

So, as you see, I really do have many things to be thankful for! I just need to remember them and thank my Completely Gracious and Good Heavenly Father!

Now, my question is, do I go to bed and try to get some sleep, or just sit here at the computer and work all night. Josiah has already been awake and crying 4 - no, make that 5 - times and it's only 11:45. He "barks" like a seal and his nose is all stuffy. He's been laying on the living room floor for the past while. Poor little guy!

If you've read all the way to the end, congratulations. You're a true friend - or very bored! :-) And now I will quit rambling!!

Confessions Of An Intrepid Home-schooler

2008-09-21T22:16:00.002-05:00

I want to tell you a little story and give all kinds of praise and glory to my “Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend.”

For a long time I've thought that I would want to home-school my children – at least for the first few years (when it's the “easiest”) Haha. That goes to show what I knew way back then. Anyway, when the time came to start educating Caleb, there was no longer a Christian school here, and public school wasn't what we wanted to do. So the only option I was left with was home-schooling. I wasn't always sure if I was doing it because we really wanted to, or because it was our only option.

Up until this year, it was fairly easy to be low-key (and half-hearted) about the whole thing since Caleb learns easily and was ahead, and Logan was pretty young yet. But, with this school-year looming ahead of me, I knew it was time to get really serious. As I mulled over my feelings, I had some disturbing revelations. 1) I don't really like home-schooling. I guess that wasn't actually a new thought. I just freely admitted it to myself. 2) I have this nagging feeling that I'm not really “accomplishing” anything when I'm spending so much time doing school. This feeling that I really should be doing something else. 3) I've never really become whole-hearted or “given myself” to home-schooling.

I have to take a little rabbit-trail here to explain a bit. For a long time I've been goal-oriented, achievement-driven, and very fond of having a clean and organized home. And I'll quickly admit that I've often taken that to an unhealthy extreme. Not that my house is too neat or clean. Ha! But my task-focus and drivenness too often have taken priority over my children's and husband's needs. I'm very happy to spend lots of time at home, taking care of my home and my children and “accomplishing things”.

What I've discovered is that home-schooling takes a lot of time away from “housework” time and I sorta resent that. As we were approaching this school year and these feeling were crystallizing in my mind, I realized I really, really don't want to go on this way. I started praying and asking God to please, Please, PLEASE help me LIKE this home-school business that we've gotten ourselves into. And I told Him I accept this task He's given me and I commit myself to it.

So, now, a few weeks into school, suddenly I'm realizing that I'm having fun! I'm actually enjoying our learning time together. And the funny thing is, this year it's more demanding and time-consuming than ever before. And I don't resent it. I'm so excited about that I could just, uh, well, I don't know, but I'm really excited. Along with that, I'm enjoying my kids more than I ever have before, I think. Another huge answer to prayer.

Yes, sometimes it all makes my head spin: keeping a toddler occupied, the baby happy, and the older two motivated and focused. And I'm still trying to figure out how to get the necessities done around the house and get enough rest and exercise, etc. But I mostly have joy through it all. Mostly. :-) And please don't take this to mean that I've pretty much got it together now. I'm just saying this feels like a victory. Even on the days when I'm asking forgiveness for losing my temper at someone.

I'm just so thankful that I have a God who is willing and able to work in me and change me. As I write this, it encourages me to ask Him to change some other areas in my life that need a serious make-over. If you think about me, you can pray for me/us. I'm always kinda nervous to share a victory story like this, because I'm afraid I'll just crash in a few days. So, I'm resisting the Enemy and standing in the victory that Jesus has given me.

In case you're interested, here's what we're doing for school-work this year:

Caleb:
Math – Abeka, Grade 3
Language Arts – Some Sonlight, MCP Phonics, Wordly Wise, Sequential Spelling (that is so cool!), and some of Mom's ingenuity for Creative Writing (because he hates it and I'm trying to help him not hate it!) (Does anyone have any good ideas??)
Science and History – finishing up Sonlight Core K and soon moving into Core 1. We actually did Core 1 two years ago, but it was way ahead of Logan so we backed up and will hopefully catch Logan's interest this time around. I'm thinking of supplementing him with lots of good library books. He loves to learn by reading, so I think I should capitalize on that.
Electives - An art appreciation book for kids that we haven't opened yet this year.
- “Do You Doodle?”, a fun drawing book I got from Sonlight. Hopefully Wendy will be doing some art with the her kids and mine and I'll do Science activities with them all.
- “Mavis Beacon teaches typing”. I think he's anxious to start that, but we're having computer issues right now – and I'm not sure right now how we'll fit it in time-wise...

Logan:
Math – Math-U-See, Primer level. We're having so much fun with this! I'm thinking I'll switch Caleb over at some point this year or next.
Language Arts – Abeka, K-5. He did some Sonlight Language last year but I'm switching back to Abeka. It's easier for me. Since he already knows most of his letters and is blending simple words, I think we'll follow the curriculum loosely and probably go through at least the first part of it fairly quickly.
Science and History – the same as Caleb, but without any supplementing.
Electives – the same as Caleb, but without the typing.

And, of course, there's still music. We put Logan back in the same level as last year. At the end of last year it was getting to be overwhelming for him. He's having a lot of fun this year. I think it helps that Keith is practicing with him most of the time. Caleb was dragging his feet this year with the piano thing, but this week he got a song he really likes and that has piqued his interest much more. Whew!

And next week we start swimming lessons, so that takes care of Phys. Ed. Well, that and all the running, jumping, and riding bike they do anyway!

I really didn't mean to "talk your ear off like that." You don't have to read the whole thing... :-) It's time to head for bed... Oh, ugh. I told Caleb I'd order some shoes for him from Sears before I go to bed tonight. The poor child has no shoes - only sandals, dress shoes, and rubber boots. Sometimes it's not so good being the oldest. There are no hand-me-downs when you need something now! Okay, I'm signing off!

Hey Ya'll, I'm Alive! (Is Anyone Still Checking Here??)

2008-09-17T21:17:00.002-05:00

Hello? Is anyone still out there? I'll have to see if I remember how to do this blogging thing still. Oh my, where do I start. See, this is the problem with me: The longer I wait to write, the more there is to catch up on and the more daunting it seems. So I procrastinate some more. Nasty cycle!

So... Hmmm.... It's hard to get started here. Some day I will post a whole photo album, but for now I'll just write for a few minutes. Here's a quick overview of the last month or so.

* Wedding madness - lots of fun, friends, and family.

* A little vacation on the way home - more time with friends and family and a few days close to Lake Michigan. Ahhhhh....

* Home again - recovering from the trip and all of Keith's family was here for a week. Party time! It was like Christmas without the snow and presents!

* Iris and her kids were in town and, of course, Matthew and Rhonda and family, so we did a bunch of stuff together.

* Oh My It's Time To Start School! It took me a bit to get organized and started, but we're getting into the swing of things now. It's like learning how to juggle! I'm learning how to teach Logan to read while giving Hannah her bottle, keep Josiah occupied while helping the others, keep Caleb encouraged and motivated, and just now I even gave Caleb his spelling words while working on this blog! Please dont' take this to mean that we're just doing just peachy, though. We are definitely a work in progress!!

I have much more to say about the above subjects, and many pictures to post, but we'll see how and when that happens. I'm really hoping to post more now that we're getting into a routine. Hoping.

Now, I'll hold my breath and see if anyone is still checking here, and willing to comment. Someone just said the other day that they read this, but never comment. That was you, Yvonne, right? :-) Hint, hint...

I Don't Have Time To Post But I'm Going To Anyway - Quickly

2008-08-06T09:36:00.003-05:00

* We made it down here in 22 hours straight. Ugh. But the kids did really well. We left at 3:15 am Sunday morning and got here at 2:30 (eastern) Monday morning.

* Since then we've been going full tilt. Baking cakes, making bulletins, gathering up "stuff" we need, etc.

* Tonight Matthew and Rhonda get here and maybe Derek's. We're all going out for supper.

* Last night Rachel was having her trial run with her hairdresser and the lady who's going to do my hair was looking at my hair and asking how I want it. I had been baking cakes all day and had no time for a shower. My hair was gross. They had said that we should come in with clean, dry hair, but not "too clean". The lady who was looking at my thin, greasy, stringy hair blurted out, "but don't come in with it this dirty!" We laughed and laughed. I was embarrassed to be seen in public like that anyway, but then to have a hairdresser looking at your hair...

* Weddings are a huffin' lot of work! But fun too.

Big Trip Comin' Up

2008-07-30T20:12:00.000-05:00

Lists are made.

Dress is sewn.

Boys' hair is cut.

A few fingernails got trimmed - but not all of them.

I'm real tired.

I found something to wear to Emily's wedding on Saturday.

I had to alter it.

I learned how to bake wedding cakes today.

The laundry is almost done.

Tomorrow is Packing Day.

I feel like I'm running a marathon.

In three and a half days we'll be in Indiana.

In six days Matthew and Rhonda and the girls will be there too.

That's very exciting.

I'm going to bed.

Potpourri

2008-07-24T23:28:00.001-05:00

We had a great time at my little reunion two weeks ago. We used to be just four young girls – 30 years later we’re 4 ladies, 4 husbands and 24 (soon to be 25) children! It was hard to know whether to reminisce or catch up from the last umpteen years. We hadn’t all been together at one time for about 20 years. Thank God for friends!

As soon as we got home, we dove right into VBS. It went quite well, I’d say. There were anywhere from 31 – 41 kids. It was exhausting though, and it’s good to be done for anther year.

Overheard at Sheldon’s late at night:

Sheldon (nagging Alicia about chewing her fingernails): “I read that chewing your fingenails reduces life expectancy the same as smoking a pack a day.”

Sara: “But it’s cheaper!”

I howled with laughter, but it was pretty late. Not sure if it’s funny now…

The ratio of sunshine: rain has finally tipped more in favor of the sunshine! Yay! It’s an absolutely gorgeous day (and I need to go to the basement and sew!) (That was yesterday. Today it rained most of the day again.)

My dress for Rachel’s wedding is about 65% done. Maybe more. Tomorrow I’m going to sew the bodice and skirt together and then wait for my friend Phyllis to put in the invisible zipper. (I never learned to do those things. I always had Mom do it.) It’s looking really pretty.

It’s only 9 days until we hit the road for Indiana and Rachel and Dave’s big day. Mercy! It’s gonna be a marathon until then!

I’m convinced Hannah has/had another (the fourth?) ear infection. This happened two weeks ago and again this week. She was fussy about drinking her bottle and would usually only take a 3 – 5 oz. at a time. So, I started in on the onion/garlic/olive oil treatment and also did vinegar for good measure. I started yesterday and today I could already tell a big difference. She’s taking 7-8 oz. at a time. Two weeks ago I did the same treatment and it seemed to work then too. Craziness!

I’m trying to start exercising again. It’s so hard to get back into the routine – especially when I’m still so tired that I rarely get up early. I miss my early morning walks…

That's all for tonight. It's way past my bed-time!

Rhonda's Got A Hankerin'...

2008-07-08T18:24:00.006-05:00

... for pictures of Hannah. Here you go! Enjoy.

Five months old! (Oh my, she's almost 6 now!)

At church camp-out with Justin P., Andy and Amanda's little guy.

Having fun with Daddy.

Logan wanted to make a dandelion chain. I did most of it, really, but aren't they cute?
Hannah's dedication, several weeks ago.

After a walk at camp-out last weekend.

Hey, Karla or Brenda

2008-07-07T22:25:00.002-05:00

I don't usually use this as e-mail, but... Our home computer is at the doctor and that's where I have your email addresses. So, could you send me an email, so we can discuss our vacation plans more? Whoo hoo! Keith got the Mac hooked up to the internet at home so I now have internet again. Yay!

A Few Things You Were Just Dying To Know

2008-07-06T16:41:00.000-05:00

- Our computer (PC) is either sick or dead, not sure which. The mac still works of course, but Keith hasn’t figured out how to hook it up to the internet at home. So I’m at church doing this.

- I told you awhile ago I was going to have a vacation for a few days. Well, it was really nice! Just so you know. With my little “vacation” and camping, I’ve actually read a few novels in the last few weeks. And I’ve developed some opinions about a couple of authors. J

- Today I trimmed a shrub for the first time. I really didn’t know what I was doing and didn’t have the proper tool for the job, but it still looks better than before I started.

- Josiah is a little bit pigeon-toed. One foot turns in a little. Should I be concerned?

- Remember awhile ago when Josiah fell down the stairs and had a little “seizure” of some sort? Later he had a really tiny one after hitting his head. Well, he did it again a couple of days ago. He fell off a riding toy backwards and hit his head on the brick patio. He cried really hard – the kind where you don’t breathe for awhile, cried more softly a couple times, then went “spacey” for just a few seconds. Then he sat on my lap for a long time. Should I take him to the doctor?

- Hannah is completely weaned now. I pumped for a few weeks, but that was getting pretty old. She’s doing quite well, but she’s not on a very consistent schedule. Oh well. Just don’t tell Gary Ezzo!

- I started my dress for Rachel’s wedding. Well, I made a practice bodice with some ugly, old, brown calico. I was pleased that it was quite close to fitting properly the first time. I think I’ll try one more before I cut into the real thing.

- Next weekend we’re going to MN. The purpose of the trip is a reunion with three friends from my childhood, Jewell, Eunice and Prisilla. We were inseperable when we were about 8 until we started moving away one by one (except Priscilla who still lives in MN. Anyway, we all turned 40 in the last year or so, and so we’re having a reunion. We haven’t all been together since Jewell’s wedding in about 1989, I think. (Eunice and Priscilla, you can correct me here if I’m wrong.) And between the four of us, we have 24 children and one more on the way (for the youngest, Eunice, who just turned 40 last month.) I think we’ll have a rollicking good time!

- We went to the beach Thursday for the first time. It was a little chilly, but the kids had fun playing on the playground equipment, and swimming just a little.

- Today I found a young girl who’s going to come help me once a week for a day or half-day during the summer. Thank you, Jesus! I’ve been feeling so overwhelmed with all the stuff to do this summer, so I think this will help. I’ll have her help with housework, summer projects, and playing with the kids so I can sew or paint up on a ladder or something like that.

- This might just be the summer to paint the trim around the windows (outside) and paint my front door green (sage, not grass). I’ve wanted to do that ever since we moved in four years ago.

- Did I ever mention that when I was in IN in May, Keith (and Jeff) put new carpet in the boys’ bedroom? We had gotten a really good deal on a remnant, but I didn’t know when it would get installed. So, that was a really nice surprise! Keith said it was my Mother’s Day present. J

- This next week looks very overwhelmin with getting ready to go away for the weekend, and getting ready for VBS, which starts next Sunday night. We’re leaving Sheldon’s on Sunday morning so we can get back in time for that. Oh my. Pray for me, please?

Thoughts on Evolution

2008-07-06T16:40:00.000-05:00

How could evolution possibly be true? Isn’t it based on the premise that order can come spontaneosly from chaos? Have any of us ever seen that happen? On the contrary, don’t we witness the exact opposite every day??

Last fall I got in the “declare war on clutter” mode and this house was really looking good – even the corners and closets. Of course, with the arrival of Hannah in January, my “extra tme” disappeared and things started to slide into chaos. At this point, I would say that clutter and chaos definitely have the upper hand in this house. It’s driving me a little crazy. If I believed in evolution, I’d be hopefully watching a pile of stuff (books that need to find a home on a bookshelf, out-grown kid’s clothes, etc.) to see if it turns into some kind of masterpiece – say a set of china dishes (in my pattern of course), or a new computer (to replace our archaic PC that is on it’s way to the doctor – or possibly the cemetary.) Alas, it doesn’t seem to be happening.

So, yesterday I dug in and re-arranged the kids’ dressers and closets. It’s not all done, but I got a really good start anyway. It felt really good to shake my fist in the face of clutter just a little bit.

A Fine And Pleasant Misery (with apologies to Pat McManus)

2008-07-06T16:16:00.001-05:00

Last weekend was our church camp-out. There were quite a few people signed up, and then the forecast looked pretty bad. We headed down the road Friday evening even though it was supposed to rain. We bought chicken and potato wedges before we left and ate them when we got to the camp-ground. Derek and Elise were already there, and two other families/groups in campers. One other family came later. Everyone else chickened out that night. And I couldn’t really blame them. It rained most of the evening, through-out the night and the next morning. We had the fun of setting up camp in the rain. Thankfully, Keith put up a big tarp first, before it started to rain hard. We set up our tent under the tarp and then slid it out so the entrance was just under the tarp.

By Saturday afternoon, the weather cleared up and we had great weather the rest of the time. Tuesday was a holiday (Canada Day) and Keith also had Monday off. Derek’s were staying longer, so we did too. Jeff and Wendy and Dad and Dru came down on Monday. We ended up staying Monday night too. That was where we went wrong. We were getting kinda tired of camping by then and wouldn’t you know, we had a major thunderstorm early Tuesday morning and then had to pack up in the rain. Oh well, the kids had a blast and we had some fun too. I think it was the first time that I really had my fill of camping. Well, except for last summer when I was pregnant. I’ll just say that camping with a baby and a pre-schooler is rather exhausting. Hannah wasn’t the most content, and Josiah loves to run/wander away. But hey, we kept them both alive, so that’s a good thing. Maybe next year camping will be more fun. J

Jeff improvised a swing for Dylan.
The dangers of camping and heating bottles.

Kendra getting ready to lead worship.

Ashley and Hannah.

Mmmmm. Good s'more!

The kids and popcorn. left to right: Josiah, Trevor, Logan, Tia, Alabama.
Trevor kissing Papa's fish. (Don't ask me!)
Scotty and Mary L. having a little moment together.
AnneJisca enjoying her home-made ice cream. The best part of the day! :-)
John and Esther.
Our bravest camper. Yes, she was there all weekend!
Logan, after playing in the clay/mud at the beach. It was even in his hair!

Un-Camping

2008-07-04T17:51:00.000-05:00

Two weekends ago we went to our local Prov. park for the day with some of the family. It was just like camping without having to set up or sleep in the tent. Good deal! It had been nice and warm on Friday and was really nice on Sunday, but when we were there on Sat., it was cold and windy. Huh. But, it was nice for sitting around a fire!

We borrowed a kiddie picnic table from another camp-site. It was great for the kids.
Tia, our little monkey.

Grandma Dru and Hannah. Hannah wasn't terribly impressed with "camping."
Dylan enjoying the day and his "bumbo".
I decided that my sheep must be shorn, or else, so we did it in the great outdoors. I think I cut 3" off of Caleb's. :-)
Scotty and Wendy chillin' out.
On the way home we saw these two and a moose as well!

His Eye Is On The Sparrow

2008-06-23T21:23:00.004-05:00

Tonight after supper, the boys and I were outside. Keith left on his bike for a leadership meeting at church. Hannah woke up shortly after so I went in to get her bottle. At some point after that I looked out the window to check Josiah and didn't see him in the back yard. I looked out the front and he wasn't by the road, so I assumed he was just somewhere where I couldn't see him. I sat down to feed Hannah and when Logan came in I sent him out to look for Josiah. He couldn't find him. Then Caleb came in and I sent him to look. He couldn't find him. I was getting really concerned. By then Hannah was done so I asked Logan to "babysit" her and Caleb and I looked again. I went all through the house and yard and asked some neighbors who were in their yard. Now I was really worried. I called Keith and he said he'd come right away. I decided to take a little walk up the road (in the direction that Keith had gone, in case Josiah had followed him.) As I went up the hill I saw a man walking our way carrying a little person in a red t-shirt. Thank you, Jesus! When I got to them, it was a stranger and Josiah was whimpering. The man said Josiah was heading for the highway and he knew right away he was lost. He said he has a little guy about the same size. I asked if Josiah was crying and he said not until he picked him up. He thought he scared him a little. I said, "good!" He said Josiah pointed the way toward home. What relief! As I walked back with him, I was telling him how he could have been hit by a car or got lost. Through his sniffles he said, "I didn't!" He just doesn't get it. But I really hope it scared some sense into him!! That's why I have gray hair!

Our Four Biggest Blessings

2008-06-22T21:56:00.002-05:00

Caleb...

- got his cast off on Thursday. Everything seems fine, but he doesn’t have full range of motion yet.

- is quite happy to be finished with school for the summer. (It’s just the desk-work he’s not fond of…)

- said the other day that he wants to be a biologist when he grows up. That wouldn’t surprise me.

- got a microscope and had a lot of fun with it recently.

- had a major wipe-out on his bike last week, resulting in various wounds and a big bruise. I’ve instituted a “no jumping” policy for the time being!!

- had a virus last week with a high fever.

- could happily spend most of his time reading, riding bike, and playing with Lego.

- is changing from a little boy to a big boy.

- has a strong sense of “justice”.

Logan...

- is very fond of his little cousin, Alabama. They can play together for hours – mostly “house” or some other make-believe game.

- gets to be the ring-bearer for Auntie Rachel’s wedding. And Alabama is the flower girl.

- is almost definitely partially color-blind. We have eye appointments in a couple weeks.

- learned to ride bike without training wheels this spring, and has since graduated to an even bigger bike.

- still sucks his thumb. I’m in the market for that nasty-tasting stuff you can put on their fingernails or thumb.

- isn’t so fond of practicing piano right now. I’m trying to keep it light and fun for the summer, but still help him not forget everything he learned.

- is cheerful, enthusiastic, emotional (sometimes whiny) and dramatic.

- can often be heard singing as he does jobs or plays.

Josiah…

- learned to ride the little bike with training wheels in the last week or so. He’s so happy he can ride around the patio with his brothers!

- got a bug-bite on or behind his ear the other day and his ear got all swollen. He looked like a little monkey.

- can talk a blue streak now. But he’s still hard to understand sometimes.

- is starting to eat better. What a relief!!

-likes to communicate with whining and yelling. I keep hoping that consistent and patient correction will yield results!!

- tries to keep up with his big brothers.

- can pee in the potty almost whenever he tries - but doesn't tell me when he has to go.

- is “very two”.

- is stinkin’ cute!

Hannah…

- is five months old!

- could roll over both ways a few weeks ago, but isn’t doing it much now.

- is on a bottle now, but I’m still pumping some b.milk for her. She doesn’t seem to like soy formula or goat milk very much yet. So, feeding her is still a struggle, but not as bad as when I was nursing.

- was dedicated to the Lord this morning in church.

- seems to look quite a bit like my brother Matthew’s girls.

- doesn’t have much hair, but what she does have is strawberry blonde. And there’s a little tuft on the top of her had that sticks straight up most of the time.

- liked to “growl” last week.

- “found” her tongue today and started clicking it.

- is a sweet little huggable bundle!!

10 Years Together

2008-06-18T22:18:00.001-05:00

I did say I’d tell you more about our anniversary, so here goes. It’s hard to believe we’ve been married 10 years. That’s ¼ of my life! Keith asked me awhile ago what I wanted to do for our anniversary. Well, since we still had a nursing baby, I knew it wouldn’t be anything big or far away. But I told Keith that in about a year and a half when Hannah’s old enough to leave for a bit, I want to go on a nice little trip to somewhere fun – like maybe New England in the Fall. Oooo, that sounds really nice!

So, for now, we stayed close to home. On our anniversary I made a special supper. I was planning for it to be really nice and then in the afternoon, I realized that Caleb’s cast was really moving – or rather, his arm was bending a lot – so I had to quickly take him in for a new cast. I thought that might trash my plans for a nice supper, but we managed. (Keith helped). At least we ate on china and had chocolate cake!

The next day, we had a really nice treat. My Dad gave us a coupon he had for one night at the executive suite at a local motel. (Dad had worked there last year.) The room was recently remodeled and was really nice. Glenda came about 2:30 to stay with the boys (Hannah went with us), and then Dad and Dru came a little while later and stayed overnight with them.

We checked in by about 3:00. I felt like I was in the city (until I looked outside!) . We napped, watched TV, went out for supper, sat in the hot tub, watched a really fun movie (National Treasure), played a game of Settlers, ate… You get the picture.

The only drawback was that it was on a Sat. night, so we couldn’t really sleep in. We had to get moving in order to make it to church on time, but it was still really nice and relaxing. A really nice little break from “normal” life!

Oh, and we got each other gifts. This is what I got:

This is what Keith got:

I’m not so swift in the gift-giving department lately! But, it is a pretty funny shirt.

Anyway, I’m thankful for my dear husband, and all the good memories of the last 10 years. It was good to celebrate together!

A Good Weekend, A Plan For This Week

2008-06-15T21:28:00.002-05:00

It was a busy, but good weekend. Friday was officially our last day of school. In reality, we're going to continue a few things through the summer, but it will be some of the "fun" stuff and Logan's language arts. (Maybe he'll learn to read this summer!) I thought we should have some kind of celebration - so we went out to Subway for supper.  Yay!  I didn't have to cook!  :-)   Afterward, I went to the church to look through some garage-sale stuff from our school that closed.  I got a microscope for the kids and the boys had a blast looking at stuff in it that night and Saturday.

Saturday morning I zipped over to the church where they were having our annual garage and bake-sale and bought some fresh donuts. Oh my goodness, were they ever good! After bringing the donuts home, I went back to the church to help clean up, etc. After that I did a few errands and hit another garage sale (all by myself!). I found a few really cute things for Hannah. It's so fun to buy girl clothes!

The rest of the day was busy with odd jobs, going shopping with Caleb and Logan for Father's Day presents, making pizza for supper, and making food for today. Dad and Dru stopped in for a bit to get Dad's Father's Day can of mixed nuts. I was Bone Weary when we went to bed!

Today in church Keith led a special time of blessing and prayer for all the fathers there. He had them all go to the front to be prayed for and it was really touching.   Josiah and Anne Jisca came today to have baby Korban dedicated. Then they and Derek and Scotty (Elise was gone for the week, coming back tonight) came over for lunch. We had our traditional Father's Day strawberry pie and it was delicious! (Dog gone it, I over-ate!) :-(

In the evening we had our Father's Day ball-game and potluck. Unfortunately it was cold and rained part of the time. Anne Jisca and I got there just as it was starting to rain, so we just went to the church. I think the die-hards who played ball had a good time, and the food and fellowship was good.

So, that was the weekend. Now I'm looking ahead to this week. I was talking with Iris last week about the vacation they just had and I realized again that I'm a workaholic and hardly know how to relax. Sigh. But part of me just longs for some rest. We've been so busy for so long! Iris challenged me to take a few days at home and just have a "vacation". So, that is on my agenda for this week. Here's my plan:

* We're not doing any school this week at all - unless we feel like doing some reading.

* Tomorrow I'm going to work hard at a few projects that seem rather pressing:
     - Wash windows and put up the rest of the screens.
     - Wash and dry the laundry - folding is optional.
     - Fertilize the trees that we planted last year.
     - "Round-up" some weeds in the driveway, and grass around the trees if it isn't raining.
     - Start catching up the budget, check-book, etc.

* For the rest of the week, I'll work on the budget for 20 minutes/day. (I'm really behind.)

* Here's the hard one: Tuesday and Wednesday are Vacation Days, with only the minimum amount of cooking and housework allowed. We're going to play games, visit people, go to the park and hopefully have some friends over for lunch. I'm going to read(!!!) and maybe even crotchet! Oh, and take naps! And blog. Now that I think about it, maybe we'll need Thursday for vacation too! I grabbed "The Atonement Child" and "Unspoken" by Francine Rivers from the church library tonight.  :-) So, that's what I'm up to! Hopefully you'll hear from me in a day or two.

My Sister, My Friend

2008-06-11T22:18:00.011-05:00

There’s a picture frame sitting on my desk that says, “You have always been my sister, but you’ve been an even greater friend.” There’s a picture in it of Rachel and me in the Canadian Rockies. The frame is actually broken, but I won’t throw it away because it was from Rachel and it expresses my heart so well. I’ve been so blessed to have a wonderful sister, a true kindred spirit.

We’ve gone through many stages in life. When she was born and I was 10, she was a novelty – a novelty who threw up all the time. :-) I think I was scared to hold her because of it. I remember when she was around two, or even younger, I decided it would be fun to have her sleep with me (it turned out to not be all fun, since she wasn't completely potty-trained!) About 6 years later, I was ready to do anything to have my own room! At that time it meant moving upstairs to an unfinished bedroom with orange tarps and pink insulation for walls. Anything to have my own space away from that little sister!

But the older Rachel got, the more we connected and became best friends. I remember when she was so excited to wear my cast-off clothing – even when it was still too big for her. Then came the time when I accepted her old clothes. And now I get her to shop for me and get her opinions on clothes because she’s way more hip than me!

Here are some pictures in honor of my dear sis, and her "big" birthday today.

Three years old. Isn't she cute??

I think she's five on this picture.
When she was about twelve, we spent Christmas at the Holiday Inn in Goshen with some family. I told Rachel I'd give her five dollars if she jumped in the pool with her clothes on. Of course, she did it!
Thirteen years old!! With her friends, and Murphy, the dog.

2008-06-11T22:18:00.010-05:00

Rachel came to see me when I was in Russia. It was so much fun to show her where I was and what I was doing!!

Of course, when I got married, she was my Maid of Honor. Made her so nervous she almost tossed her cookies! :-)

Rachel has always been a very good Auntie and my kids love her! This is her with Caleb.
Did I mention her brains? Here she is, making us all proud as the first one in the family to earn a bachelor's degree - and with "something cum laude". (Sorry, Rachel, I can't remember exactly which one.) Anyway, she did really well and I'm so proud of her.

And now, there's Dave. I have to share her with him now, but I'm so happy that she has someone to share her life with!

I admire many things about you, Rachel: your quirky sense of humor, your ability to write, your passion for justice, your brains, your love for kids (mine especially!), your creativity, to name a few! You are one of my favorite people in the world to be with! You can make me laugh like crazy.

There are so many memories, good ones and hard times, and it’s so good to know that a sister is forever. Rachel, you are my very dear, sweet friend and I love you very much!

Happy 30th Birthday!!!

Remember Me?

2008-06-11T22:18:00.005-05:00

I hardly know where to start. If only all the posts I've had in my head for the last few months, could have just written themselves... Anyway, I really need to feed the baby and go to bed, but here are some pictures to tide you over until I can write more. That is, if anyone is still reading this blog! If you are, can you leave me a comment to encourage me to post more? :-)

Iris and four of her kids spent a few days here a couple weeks ago. We had a wonderful, relaxing time. Wendy and her kids came for lunch one day. So that made, let's see, um, 12 kids - plus a neighbor. :-) Fun times!
All of the little munchkins except the babies.
I decided the other day that I have three favorite days of the year: Christmas Eve, Easter, and Going To The Greenhouse. Glenda went with me and it was so much fun to buy flowers and dream of summer. They're actually all planted now, and that was fun too!!

2008-06-11T22:18:00.002-05:00

Olivia and Evan enjoying Hannah.

My sleepy-head with his morning watermelon.

Ready to get the cast off! (He wasn't so happy when they yanked the pins out. Several days later I still wanted to punch the Dr. in the nose!)

Logan, the drama king!

Yes, it's been ten years!! More details on that celebration later...

Now What Do I Do With Myself?

2008-05-27T14:33:00.005-05:00

Here's an unexpected twist in my life: Our dear friend Kendra is heading south today on business and offered to take Caleb along with her to see my brother Sheldon and his family. Caleb was going to stay with them when I went to Indiana but didn't because of having surgery on his arm two days before I went. So Kendra thought he might like to go along and play with his cousin Emily for a day. Good idea, but we thought maybe Logan should go too, since he sometimes gets left behind too much. Kendra and Darla said sure, so today at 1:00 we sent our big boys down the road. How strange! I said, "At least it's not for a week of camp yet!" So now, my other two "littles" are sleeping and I need to decide how to use my free time! (It's amazing how only having a toddler and a baby feels like a major vacation!!)

Should I:

- Spend an hour Putting Things Away (the toys are a mess and the horizontal surfaces need some serious help!)?

- Blog and post pictures about our trip to Indiana?

- Spend some blissful hours in the sunshine, digging in my flowerbeds getting them ready to plant?

- Fold a mountain of laundry?

- Pay bills and update the budget?

- Finish writing a letter I started last night?

- Re-arrange and organize Hannah's room (it's a total disaster and still has extra furniture in it from when we had a guest a month and a half ago)?

- Bake bread?

-Take a nap?

- Read a "Birds and Blooms" that I got at the library this morning?

-Get organized for my cooking day on Thursday?

So many options. I guess I should quit rambling and go get busy. I think a 15 minute Nap followed by Putting Things Away, and then Digging In The Dirt are the first things on my list. Hopefully Blogging will make it on my list for tomorrow! I'm pretty sure the laundry and bills are on the bottom of the list. :-) I'm outa here!

Just a Few Lines...

2008-05-22T22:37:00.003-05:00

Hi everyone! I really should be heading for bed, but... Keith is working a night shift, so it's really easy to stay up too late. I just want to say that the big trip happened and we all survived. Hannah did pretty well and actually did great on the long trip home on Tuesday. I didn't wean her yet - that's a longer story that I don't have time to write now. She's nursing weird again like she did when she had an ear infection. I took her to the Dr. yesterday and she couldn't see her one ear drum because of wax. So now I'm trying to get rid of the wax. Oh, and Josiah has pink-eye. Now Hannah's asking for her late-night feeding, so I must run. More news and pictures soon, I hope.

Caleb's Song

2008-05-11T22:39:00.005-05:00

Here it is, finally. The title is "A Happy Song".

Rolling With The Punches

2008-05-11T22:39:00.004-05:00

I guess we all know it in our heads at least that life often throws us unexpected curve-balls. But they still take us by surprise, somehow. Right? Well, here's our latest curve-ball. Caleb tripped and fell on Friday - and broke his arm. Yup, you read that right. He landed on his hand or arm and bent it back. It's a smallish break in the growth plate. Actually, the growth plate is separated from the bone a bit. (Oops, I hope this doesn't make Heather faint or throw up!) It's not as bad a break as the one he did to his other arm 4 years ago - but it still needed pins put in so that it for sure heals right. So... Yesterday afternoon Keith and Logan (oops, I mean Caleb!) headed for Thunder Bay. They admitted him right away when they got there and said the surgery would be this morning. Then this morning they said it would be this afternoon. So, he went in around 6:30. :-) I talked to Keith after and he said Caleb was in quite a bit of pain afterwards but they were going to discharge him as soon as he could eat some solids successfully. They will stay overnight with some friends and head home tomorrow.

I didn't think to take a picture of Caleb before they left, but here's a little bit of cuteness from when he did the same thing to his other arm 4 years ago.

So, of course in all of this craziness, Logan had two birthday parties to go to on Sat., I'm trying to get ready to go on a big trip, I'm getting a cold, and we had a potluck and talent show after church today. It's been sorta stressful, to say the least. But God is still good and He faithfully shows His love to me in little ways!

Then, the second big curve-ball this week - nursing (again!). Hannah's been doing really well since she's on the antibiotics and her ear isn't bothering her. And then, a few days after she started the medication and things were going well, I started noticing that my milk supply is quite low. What!?! I haven't had much problem with that for quite awhile. Hannah just started consistently sleeping through the night, so I thought maybe that was the problem. So, I've been getting up at about 5:30 to feed her. Ugh. But it's not really helping. So today I started taking a medication that has a side-effect of increased milk production. I took it for awhile when I was nursing Josiah. Unfortunately, it also has a side-effect of head-aches for me. I thought I could just tough that out and make it through the trip. After having a head-ache most of the afternoon, I'm not so sure. So, now I'm leaving on this trip in 36 hours. I guess I might be weaning her when I'm at Rachel's. That really wasn't what I wanted, but I'm sure God still knows what He's doing!!

In other un-related news:

- Logan can ride bike without training wheels. He's SO happy about that!

- after our big snowstorm almost two weeks ago, the snow is finally gone today - I think. But it’s still pretty chilly.

- I saw a mosquito the other night.

- I hung the laundry out on the line for the first time on Tuesday. That was fun!

- As of May 5, you can only take one 50 lb. suitcase on the airplane! Just one for me and Hannah! Yikes. But, I get to have a diaper bag in addition to my regular carry-on, since I have a baby. It’s gonna be a big diaper bag!

- I can't think of anything else and I MUST go to bed! Good-night.

Can You Relate?

2008-05-08T16:25:00.002-05:00

We get a joke every day from Good Clean Funnies. I just had to pass this one on to you! I hope it brightens your day! :-)

We had this great 10-year-old cat named Jack who just recently died.

Jack was a great cat, and the kids would carry him around and sit on him and nothing ever bothered him. He used to hang out and nap all day long on the mat in our bathroom.

We have three kids, and at the time of this story, they were 4 years old, 3 years old, and 1 year old. The middle one is Eli. Eli really loved Chapstick. LOVED it. He kept asking to use my Chapstick and then would lose it. Finally one day I showed him where in the bathroom I keep my Chapstick and explained he could use it whenever he wanted to, but he needed to put it right back in the drawer after he finished.

That year on Mother's Day, we were having the typical rush around and try to get ready for church with everyone crying and carrying on. My two boys were fighting over the toy in
the cereal box. I was trying to nurse my little one at the same time I was putting on my make-up. Everything was a mess, and everyone had long forgotten that this was a wonderful day to honor me and the amazing job that is motherhood.

We finally had the older one and the baby loaded in the car and I was looking for Eli. I searched everywhere and I finally went into the bathroom. There was Eli. He was applying my Chapstick very carefully to Jack's ... rear end. Eli looked right into my eyes and said, "Chapped." Now if
you have a cat, you know that he is right -- their little bottoms do look pretty chapped. And, frankly, Jack didn't seem to mind. The only question to ask at that point was whether it was the FIRST time Eli had done that to the cat's behind or the hundredth!?!

And THAT is my favorite Mother's Day moment ever because it reminds us that no matter how hard we try to civilize these glorious little creatures, there will always be that day when you realize they've been using your Chapstick on the cat's butt.

Received from Pastor Tim.

Popping My Buttons

2008-05-08T13:42:00.002-05:00

Caleb and Logan were in Music For Young Children again this year. A part of the program is that every child writes a piano composition that is then entered in a competition with all MYC students around the world. Sunday night we had our end-of-year recital. Of course, I was about as nervous as the boys when they got up to play, but they did very well. And then, big surprise! Pastor Brian announced that there were two finalists in the composition festival - one in Mrs. Diane's class and one in his. Then he announced "Caleb Graber!". What a shock! I just about bawled. He explained after that he was a finalist in Ontario for his class (Sunbeams II in case you're familiar with the program). So, we were pretty excited and honored. Today I got a call from our little local newspaper that they want a picture of Caleb and the other little girl to put in the paper. Cool! I had Caleb practice the song again so I could tape him playing it. I was just going to post the video, but I'm having no success. When I click the "add video" button, it does nothing... huh. Anyway, I just had to share our little story.

I'm So Glad She's Sick!!!

2008-05-06T20:38:00.002-05:00

As many of you know, nursing my babies has been a struggle more often than not. Things have been up and down with Hannah, but we were doing okay. Well, for about two weeks now, she has been nursing terribly. She got to the point where she would only nurse if I put her to sleep or almost to sleep first. Or stood to nurse her (not terribly comfortable at her size!), or sometimes both. It was getting really bad. I cried, I prayed, I trusted God, I cried, I prayed, I stressed...

Last week at our small group, my friend who's a nurse suggested I take her to the Dr. to see if she has an ear infection. I thought that was a pretty long shot since she had no other symptoms. But, if this kept up, I was going to have to wean her, and I thought I might as well get her checked before I did that. I didn't have time to take her in right away, so on Friday I put olive oil in her ears - my standard treatment for earaches. She nursed like a trooper that day and I was so excited. But the next day she was back to her weird ways, but not quite as severely as before. So, yesterday morning I braved the walk-in clinic and took her in.

Guess what!?! She has an ear infection! I was floored. And so thankful! There's actually something wrong that we can do something about!! So, for the first time in my life, I'm putting my child on antibiotics for an ear infection. She's already doing some better. Thank you, Jesus!!! I talked to a friend today who said to put onion juice in her ears. Huh! I might try that to for good measure.

Just had to share my happiness with you all!

Revenge

2008-05-03T22:21:00.002-05:00

You wanna see what scissors can do to hair, I'll show you what scissors can do to hair!! Josiah really, really needed a haircut, so I finally did it tonight. And it was another reminder of one reason why I procrastinate on haircuts - it's a pain in the neck! :-) I think Josiah (like Caleb) looks better with longer hair, but at this stage in life, I'm gonna cut it short so I can do it as seldom as possible!

The back of my head isn't worthy of a photo, Sheldon - you can hardly see the damage. But here's the lock he whacked off. I'm trying to decide if I should throw it away, or keep it for my scrapbook. :-)

Hazards of Toddlerhood

2008-05-01T10:55:00.005-05:00

Oh. My. Word.

I'm sitting at the computer reading a very interesting blog. My two-year-old angel is standing on the chair behind me and of course I'm engrossed in my reading... Suddenly I hear "crunch" and realize Little Mr. has just Chopped! My! Hair! with a big pair of scissors!! This is a rough re-stating of the ensuing converstation.

Me: Josiah!!!!!!!!!! No! No! Oh my word!! You cut my hair!

Josiah: Fowwy (sorry) Mom. Fowwy! (Puts his arms around me and kisses the back of my head to make it better.

Me: Oh my word! Oh my...

Josiah: Goodness!

Me: (trying not to let him see me laughing and pulling a big wad of hair from the back of my head). Oh. My. Word. That's no no, Josiah.

Josiah: Daddy fix it!

So, I haven't even left my chair yet to go survey the damage. I don't know yet if I'm looking at a new hairstyle or creative hair-dos for the next 6 months. I'll give you an update soon.

Edited to add: I checked the damage and it's not too bad. He took out a little chunk about 6 inches long. I think someone could blend it in so it's not really noticeable (any volunteers for the hairdressing job?)

Sigh!

2008-04-26T07:25:00.007-05:00

And it's still coming down!! Big, sad sigh! I'm gonna go make pancakes!! (Drown my sorrows in syrup!)
And I have no idea why this thing is underlining.

I'm Gonna Blog Tonight Even If It Kills Me!

2008-04-23T19:58:00.014-05:00

I hope it doesn't though. Well, the silence is finally over and I hope it doesn't take me that long to blog again! Life really has been insane in some ways, but I know that's probably true for most of us. Anyway, I'm now officially ignoring the laundry, dirty entry-way, the large stack of papers to go through, various messy corners, and numerous desk/computer tasks.

Keith is working his second night shift in a row at the ambulance. So there's no one here to tell me to go to bed. But I'll try not to stay up too late!

Where in the world do I start?? I really wanted to write about Easter, but that was so long ago, it seems really stale now. I'll just say that I really love to celebrate Easter. My favorite things this Easter were the two joint-church services we had: Good Friday at the Pentecostal Church and Sunday Evening Music Celebration at our church. It's just so good to worship together and celebrate what Jesus has done for us. What an awesome Saviour we have! Our church was decorated on Easter with candelabras and Easter lilies. Someone said to me, "It looks really nice. Are we having a wedding today?" I replied, "Yes!" Then later I thought, "No, not a wedding, but a rehearsal!" Isn't that what our gatherings are? Practicing for the marriage feast of the Lamb? Makes me excited about Heaven!!

Keith and I have just come through an especially busy time. I guess that's why it's been so long since I've posted. Two weeks after Easter (if my memory is working, which it might not be...) we had a 5-day seminar at our church. Merv Tuplin was the speaker and the theme was "Biblical Solutions for Damaged Hearts". He's a counsellor that does the type of counselling that is done by John Regier. So, he did a bunch of teaching in the evenings and then he and two other counsellors that came for the week had counselling sessions with people during the day-time. It was and incredibly intense week but so good. God answered our prayers in many ways. As the week went on, I realized I had so many fears and worries about the week: "no one will come", "there won't be enough for the counsellors to do", "the week will be a bust", etc., etc. I'm seeing how I was so bound by the lie that we can't accomplish anything good. Well, I guess that's true in a way, because only God can really make things happen. But He does choose to use us to make the phone calls and write the emails, etc. So, when the first night came and there were about 75 people there, I was floored. I didn't expect nearly that many! There were a lot of people from other churches as well, and that was good to see too. It was a really good week and I know lots of people were blessed and impacted.

On the Sat. after the seminar, Merv did a one-day training seminar for counselling training. That day one of the ladies was telling me about the deep healing God did for her in the counselling sessions. I listened with tears in my eyes and realized it was worth all the work, effort, and tiredness. Our deep desire is to see people (ourselves included) be free from the pain and sins that tie us down and be free to give and receive love - both with God and other people. We want to be free to be the people that God intended us to be when He created us! It's been so wonderful to hear of people making big and little steps in that direction. Thank you, Jesus!!

The weekend after the seminar (this past weekend) we took off and headed to Landmark, MB for a weekend conference at the Landmark Christian Fellowship. It was a wonderful time of teaching, worship, meeting new people, hanging out with some old friends, eating, etc. We were privileged to hear Wayne Shenk from BC speak three times. God is using him in amazing ways. It was very challenging and refreshing!

Now, I'm trying to get back on my feet and get this house and myself in order a little bit. Today I finally started thinking through our daily routines again. We've been sorta short on routine around here since Hannah was born. Now it's time to change that at least a little bit. And, in less than a month, Hannah and I and our friend Rita N. are making a trip down to IN to help my little sister plan her wedding. What fun! We got a good deal on plane tickets so we don't have to drive the whole way down there. Yay!! Life doesn't seem likely to slow down much for a good while!

Okay, it's getting really late and I need to hit the sack! Part of my new resolve to have better routines is to get up earlier! So, I'm off to feed Hannah again, and then to bed, and I'll try to write more before too long.

Winter Fun

2008-04-23T19:58:00.011-05:00

We had some wonderful, wet snow (if you can call snow in March wonderful) a few weeks ago and Keith and the boys had fun playing in it.

Hannah, on the other hand, didn't enjoy it so much! Poor girl!

Caleb Is 8! (How in the world did that happen?)

2008-04-23T19:58:00.007-05:00

For Caleb's birthday this year, we had the Miller family (who have five boys!), and another friend of Caleb's over for supper. Pizza, cocolate cake, ice cream, and Legos. What more could nine boys ask for? :-)

We found this race-track cake on the internet. It was awhile before it dawned on me that it was a number 8 as well. Duh!

Pizza!!

A stack of boys. We were just missing the littlest one for the picture.

And, of course, Legos!

Cooking Marathon!

2008-04-23T19:58:00.003-05:00

I finally took the plunge and asked my friend, Debbie, to help me do a cooking day again. I think it went pretty well, considering the little ones we had with us. This was about three weeks ago, I think, but I thought I'd still post the pictures. Man, I love having food in the freezer!!!

Debbie wore Caleb's swim goggles to keep the onion fumes out of her eyes. It worked! :-)

Debbie had a foster baby at the time, so we had two babies to take care of! They did really well.

Caleb was home this time and proved to be a good helper. He peeled carrots, put veggies through the food processor, ran lots of errands, etc.

The mess we were faced with at the end of the day. But it was worth it!!

More Randomness - This Time Pictures

2008-03-27T13:01:00.017-05:00

Keith has been ski-ing home from work some days, and this is the view he gets!

"The girls" on Easter Sunday.

Keith was telling the kids a story as part of his sermon. He almost always does that when he preaches.

Our "Easter Saturday" breakfast: coffee cake, hard-boiled eggs, and hot chocolate.

2008-03-27T13:01:00.016-05:00

Plinking away at the ivories. This is a rather rare moment, since it's usually not too peaceful when Josiah tries to join in the fun at the piano.

I've started taking Josiah's clothes off when he plays with play-do since he tends to get it ground into his clothes. It works great!

Caleb in his little corner in the dining room - and having a barrel of fun! :-)

Caleb and Hannah, just being themselves! See the new tile!

2008-03-27T13:01:00.010-05:00

Two months old (and pretty happy about that, apparently)!

I just had to post this and ask those of you who knew me when I was two, or have seen pictures of me - doesn't Josiah look like me in this picture?

"I love my Daddy!!"

Random Bullet Points!

2008-03-27T13:01:00.005-05:00

* Josiah is now sleeping with the big boys in their room! It’s been a bit of a challenge but he’s doing pretty well now.

* Hannah is very free and generous with her smiles!! And she has an adorable dimple.

* The boys have been diagnosed with “molluscum contageosum”. (Not sure how to spell it.) For a long time they’ve had randomly appearing and disappearing little spots on their faces, and bodies. When one of Logan’s got infected I finally took him and Josiah to see the nurse practitioner. She said it’s a very common pox virus that comes and goes and is nothing to worry about. It’s contagious and very common in children. That’s one I hadn’t heard of before!

* Hannah’s evening and night-time schedule is still pretty erratic. A few times she’s slept until 6:00. Other times she still wakes up anywhere from 1:30 to 4:00. Oh well!

* The other day, Logan informed us that his favorite color is “bright brown”. Upon further questioning, he changed it to dark brown.

* I’ve been feeling fairly overwhelmed lately with housework in general and laundry in particular. It seems like we barely get one “batch” folded before it’s time to start washing more!

* I think one reason I’m feeling overwhelmed is because I’m almost out of freezer meals, and I’m having to cook meals most of the time. So, I’m planning another marathon cooking day on Monday. I’m not really looking forward to it, but I’m looking forward to the results!!

* Hannah is apparently sensitive to dairy and possibly a few other things. When I eat dairy, she doesn’t nurse well the next day – gassy, etc.

* You could all write your names in the dust on my piano.

* Caleb told me yesterday that he prays every night for a soft heart and a compassionate heart. That blessed my heart so much. It’s a confirmation that God does hear my prayers!

* Yesterday Josiah ate three bowls of cereal, two slices of orange, and a piece of toast for breakfast. In retrospect, I don’t think he ate much supper the night before. Oh, and the other day for lunch he had two bowls of peas, about 6 perogies, and ½ of a hard-boiled egg. Then he wanted a piece of bread but I wouldn’t give him one because he wouldn’t finish the egg. And many times he eats almost nothing! What a kid!

* Last night at small group, Hannah screamed if anyone but me held her (including Keith)! She often has fussy evenings.

* I spent lots of the day Saturday sewing a new blouse for myself so I’d have something nice to wear for Easter.

* When you don’t sew much anymore, sewing even a very simple blouse can be fraught with much frustration and many mistakes!!

* Caleb and Logan have been blowing out the knees of their jeans left and right! Never mind abs of steel! Someone find me some jeans of steel!

* Last night on the way home from our small group, we stopped to look at some great northern lights. When Logan got back in the van, I asked him what he thought of them. He replied that they were “cute” and then added “cool”. I wonder what the Creator of the northern lights thought of that? :-)

* I want to write something about Easter weekend, but I think it deserves it’s own post. I’m not sure when or how, but I’ll try to do that soon.

* That's all for now!

Please Don't Insult My Intelligence!

2008-03-26T08:14:00.003-05:00

The following was found on a cereal box at our house:

Directions for use

Place 55 g (300 ml, 1 1/4 cup) of VECTOR* in a bowl. Add 200 ml (3/4 cup) skim milk.

Then what?? They didn't tell me to get a spoon and eat it, so how am I supposed to know that?? Needless to say, my "ducks-in-a-row" eldest son had to get out the measuring cups this morning and try it!

Meal-time Solutions For A Harried Mom

2008-03-17T14:03:00.003-05:00

Scenario One

Problem: They didn't like the turkey/potato/green bean casserole. (Too much thyme, perhaps?)

Solution: Add broth and some milk and call it turkey chowder. (I might have even poured off some of the original sauce, hoping to make the flavor milder.)

Problem: They recognized it and still didn't like it.

Solution: Put it in the freezer and get it out a month or so later. Add more milk and thickening, and cheese so it's a thicker, richer turkey chowder.

Result: They didn't seem to recognize/remember it and although it wasn't a great hit, they ate it. Score: Mom - 1 Kids - 0

Scenario Two

Problem: Little Mr. Two-Year-Old is still really picky about what he eats. If he doesn't like it, he would often rather just go to bed hungry. :-( And, now that I'm so busy with Baby and all, I sometimes even forget to offer it to him later. And, he's a bit on the scrawny side.

Solution: If he doesn't like what we're having, I offer him a bowl of oatmeal (I sometimes even keep some cooked in the fridge to heat up when he needs it.) He's been eating it with great enthusiasm. When I tried this awhile back, it seemed like after eating oatmeal for a few meals, he was more ready to eat what we were eating. I guess we both win on this one!

I'd love to hear some of your challenges and victories (or defeats if you want to share them) with feeding your family.

Something to Make You Smile

2008-03-12T21:39:00.005-05:00

Thoughts on Worry

2008-03-12T21:39:00.003-05:00

I've known for a long time that I have the propensity toward worry, anxiety and fear - oh yeah, and a desire to try to control people and circumstances, which is closely related! It's something I fight/confess/repent of fairly often. Lately I've been "worrying" again. Just stewing over problems and issues in my mind a lot. What a waste of brain power! Anyway, I had lunch with my sister-in-law, Wendy, today and she reminded me of some important truths:

1) God hears and answers prayer!
2) I can and should prayer anywhere and anytime, or maybe I should say, everywhere and all the time.

I was convicted because I know if I have time to "stew", I have time to pray!! Keith said recently, "If you know how to complain, you know how to meditate." (He can't remember who he was quoting.) I'd like to paraphrase that a little: "If I know how to worry, I know how to pray!" I just need to turn those anxious thoughts into petitions to my wonderful Heavenly Father, who is completely powerful and good!

Then I came home and read this:
"So I advise you to live according to your new life in the Holy Spirit. then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. The old sinful nature loves to do evil, which is just opposite from what the Holy Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are opposite from what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, and your choices are never free from this confilict. But when you are directed by the Holy Spirit, you are no longer subject to the law." Galatians 5:16 - 18, NLT

So, my desires to worry, fear, and control are from my old, sinful nature. And I know that I have good desires, from the Holy Spirit - desires to pray lots, trust my Saviour completely, be filled with His peace, joy, and love, etc. Apparently what makes the difference is my choices. And it's good to know that "my choices will never be free from this conflict." It's a daily thing and when I forget that, I fall into the enemy's trap.

"Change me, Lord, and help me to make the choice to pray, not worry, every moment of every day!"

In Case Anyone Is Still Checking

2008-03-04T21:59:00.002-06:00

Hi Everyone. I really am still alive. But whenever I think about blogging, it just seems like too much work! But, I have a few minutes here to at least say hi and try to figure out what to tell you all about ourselves.

Hannah's doing pretty well. Growing like crazy. She doesn't sleep great during the day, much of the time, so I spend a lot of time holding her. Any suggestions?? She's gracing us with smiles now, which makes us very happy!

We're managing to get some school-work done and so far we've had food to eat and clothes to wear! What more could anyone ask for?? I'm really surprised sometimes how well it's going. It might be because my expectations are so low. :-) (Oh, you mean toilets and bathtubs are supposed to be cleaned??) The boys are doing well at helping out - which reminds me, I was going to get Caleb to water the neglected plants tonight, but I forgot. Bummer.

God has been working on me in the area of mothering. I need it. I've been a lousy mother in some real ways (And don't comment and tell me how that's not true. I know what's been in my heart and I've lived with the consequences in myself and my children!) But, God is good and He's changing me - and my children - by His grace!! Where would I be without Him?!?

That's all for now. It's time for another feeding and then blissful sleep under a poufy down duvet. (Remember when we got them, Karla?) Once in awhile, Hannah even lets me sleep until 5:00!

I'm One Month Old!

2008-02-12T20:59:00.004-06:00

* We’re getting up only once at night most of the time.
* Hannah gained 1 lb. 11 oz. in 2.5 weeks.
* She often doesn’t sleep great during the day.
* Feedings still can take a long time (with waking her up, diaper changes, etc.)
* The boys have all had or still have the flu. The two that are getting over it now have a cold.
* Keith is taking time off from one of his jobs right now.
* The last month is kind of a blur.
* We made a few Valentine cookies today (leftover dough in the freezer from Christmas).
* Josiah was an emotional wreck today.
* I wish someone could’ve taken a picture of me and all four kids on one chair tonight, with me nursing Hannah and reading a book to them. I was rather proud of myself.
* Moments like that are not common!
* Dr. Z. made a favorable comment today about my weight/how I look. If you know her, you’ll understand the significance of that!
* I take naps as often as I can. On Sunday, I slept for 1.5 hours! Sweet.
* I’ve read all but one of the Chronicles of Narnia in the last week or two – mostly while nursing.
* That’s all for now!

2008-01-22T19:43:00.001-06:00

In Case You're Wondering

2008-01-22T19:43:00.000-06:00

Hi from the land of diapers, round-the-clock feedings, and my four walls!! I have just a few minutes before my little "master" will need to eat again. So, I'm going to try to peck out a few words to let you know how we're doing.

Huh, I hardly know where to start. It seems like I've crammed 3 months of living into the last week and a half. Maybe that's because I've spent so little time sleeping. :-)

The first days/week were rough in some ways. My milk was slow to come in so the poor little girl was quite hungry and nursed for hours on end, it seemed but still wasn't content. Neither Keith nor I got much sleep those nights!! The good news is, I didn't really get that stressed out or anxious about it. And for me that's what you'd call a major miracle!! By Tuesday night, I did sorta lose it though and then (finally!) Keith and I spent some time really praying about my milk coming in. When we were done praying, I fed Hannah and, wouldn't you know it, I had more milk than any other time! After that, she would nurse and then was contented. And I think once my milk came in she slept for about 36 hours, only waking up to eat. :-)

A day or two later, I was getting very sore, um, well, you know. Keith prayed about that too and since then, it's gotten much, much better. So, we were starting to get the idea that God really is listening and caring about our lives!! So, when I started to not have enough milk again this weekend, I knew what we needed to do! We prayed some more, and now I seem to have LOTS. I'm just so thankful for our wonderful, compassionate, and personal God! Nothing is too big or too little to bring to Him!! Last night Keith read a story of Jesus healing a blind man. And Jesus asked the man, "What do you want me to do?" Huh? Seems like sort of a no-brainer, right? But Jesus obviously wanted him to ask. So we were discussing why Jesus wants us to ask Him for things. I think one reason is so that we can give Him the glory when He answers - and we know for sure that HE did it, and it wasn't a coincidence. Also, I think it helps us to be humble when we have to acknowlege our needs. What do you think? Why does God want us to ASK??

In other news... The boys seem to be really happy with their sister. I see some small signs of us all "adjusting" here and there, but nothing too major yet. I think it really helps that we have lots of help, so I'm not stressed out and I can give the boys my attention. I didn't mention this before on here - I think I was afraid it wouldn't work out... But, it did, and we have a wonderful young lady named Anita N. (Michael and Connnie's daughter, in case you know them) here helping us out for several weeks. She's doing a great job - cleaning, laundry, getting meals on, helping with the boys, etc., etc. I called her Cinderella today! But, I'm not the wicked step-mother because I do tell her she can stop and she just keeps going. :-) She's been a huge blessing. It's so wonderful in the morning when I think Hannah is going to sleep longer and the boys are up, I send them downstairs to get Anita to feed them breakfast, and I go back to bed!!

I guess that's all for now. I'll try to post a few pictures to keep Rachel happy. Oh, one more thing. Here's a typical converstaion with Josiah right now...

Me: "What's the baby's name?"
Josiah: "Two!"
Me: "It's Hannah."
Josiah (emphatically): "Hannah Baby!"

The much anticipated photos

2008-01-13T22:25:00.000-06:00

Since all of the adoring fans are SCREAMING for pics, here you go. Ain't she sweet?

If you haven't figured it out yet....

2008-01-12T15:44:00.000-06:00

....it's a girl! Hannah Joy arrived at 11:37, she weighed 9 lbs 3 ozs, and was 20 1/2 inches long. I have too many things to do right now (like get back to the hospital and see my DAUGHTER) to give you lots of gory details about the labour and delivery. I can tell you that Jenni's labour was 5ish hours, with the first 3 hours being rather light. Although far be it from me to suggest any woman's LABOUR is LIGHT. She pushed for six minutes.

Oh, and she has red hair!! Imagine. Two redheads out of four kids.

Keith, for the SIX of us. (THAT sounds strange.)

Woo Hoo!

An 8000-Word Essay (A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words)

2008-01-10T13:23:00.000-06:00

2008-01-10T12:34:00.001-06:00

1 & 2 - Elise took some "Christmas" pictures for us.
3 - The boys in their "Christmas Duds". Isn't Josiah's vest cute?!? Rachel got it for him at her Special High Class Place for Good Deals! And isn't it cool that the boys' bubble gum matches Caleb's shirt?
4 - The Magic Apple Machine that inspired Keith to do a bunch of work for me. (Available at Lee Valley. Think I could get a commission?)
5 - My new pendant. Ain't it purty??
6 & 7 - The bedroom carpet - before and after. Now I want to figure out a way to make the blue chair turn red. And there will be baseboard before the winter is over - I hope.
8 - Caleb's black eye. It got just a little worse, but didn't last too long.

Josiah is Two!!

2008-01-07T17:50:00.000-06:00

Where has the time gone?? Josiah is Mr. Talkative these days. He's venturing into 3 - 5 word sentences which never ceases to amaze me when I hear it. I can't remember for sure, but I think he's our best talker so far. He's really a barrel of fun these days. He understands and communicates so much and he's been really happy most of the time. He can be a real tease/show-off. I'm not always sure when we're supposed to laugh. I can hear my Mom's words so clearly regarding my little brother, "Don't laugh at him when he shows off!". But many times he's truly funny and not being naughty.

I still haven't adjusted to the reality of having a birthday to celebrate on New Year's Eve. But we managed. It's a good thing I simplified the cake, though!! (See previous "I'm Free" post). We ended up having a pizza supper with the grandparents, Jeff and Wendy's kids (Jeff's were off celebrating their anniversary) and Derek, Elise, and Scotty.

Josiah was quite impressed with the Happy Birthday song as you can see in the second picture. It was a fun evening. And after the kids were in bed, Keith and I watched "The Nativity Story" and went to bed around 12:30.

38 Weeks - And What That Means For Me

2008-01-04T18:09:00.000-06:00

* I'm officially as big as a barn. The Dr. said today that I'm measuring 41 cm and she keeps muttering ominously about "big baby". Oh yay!

* One day I'll feel great physically and emotionally and have lots of energy, and then the next day I'm tired, uncomfortable and grumpy. I never know what's coming! My poor family!

* Sleep is a Precious Commodity!!!! I'm thankful that I can get comfortable, but the challenge is I can't breathe well. I don't know if I'm still fighting a bit of cold or if it's all just pregnancy related congestion. Either way, it's annoying. But, I'm finding some ways to cope.

* On a similar note, I spend a lot of time in bed! I'm trying to get all the rest I can right now.

* Night-time "rest" involves 2 - 4 trips to the bathroom.

* My feet and legs are swelling, but my hands are pretty good. I'm still wearing my ring and that's never happened before!

* I get to spend lots of time in the Dr. office. It took two hours today. :-(

* I'm in full-blown nesting mode. Any extra time/energy is going into cleaning, organizing, getting baby stuff ready, crossing things off my to-do list, etc.

* I'm ready for this to be over!!! And really excited about the new baby we're waiting for!

Christmas Pictures

2007-12-31T22:38:00.000-06:00

2007-12-31T22:13:00.000-06:00

Misc. Pictures

2007-12-31T22:07:00.001-06:00

Pictures I Meant to Post Weeks Ago

2007-12-31T21:36:00.000-06:00

1 & 2 - Keith, shorn and shaven! I'm so glad he grew it back!

3 - The truckload of stuff we took to the second-hand store and Wendy. That felt good! I hope no one sees anything in the picture that they gave me. :-)

4&5 - Iris and me carrying on our crazy sweet tradition of making Christmas candy. Isn't an apron flattering on a largely pregnant woman?!?

I'm Free!!

2007-12-31T11:38:00.000-06:00

My sister says I'm anal. I say I'm obsessive compulsive. Sadly, we're both right. I usually tell myself that as long as it doesn't put pressure on other people, it's okay. Well, last night it got the best of me. I love traditions, and I decided long ago that I would make the same birthday cake for the boys for the same number birthday. Make sense? So, when Caleb turned one, he had a sheet cake with balloons on it. So have all the others. And that started because I'm not that great at decorating cakes and I can do balloons in cool colors! So, for Caleb's second birthday, we upped it a notch and he had a puppy cake made in a shaped pan. This involves 3 - 5 colors of icing, 100,000 drop flowers, and some training and experience. In retrospect, I'm pretty sure that my sister (who has much more training and experience than I in decorating cakes!!) made that cake. I think I fumbled through making one for Logan and it was okay. Now it's Josiah's turn. (He's two today!!) So last night I dutifully mixed up a yummy carrot cake and baked it in the puppy pan - while sort of dreading the decorating part. Alas, I forgot to flour the pan, and the durn thing stuck like crazy. Ruined. At 10:00. That's when it hit me. I don't have to do this!! Just because I've always done it, doesn't mean I can't quit! Oh bliss! So now there's another carrot cake in the oven. It will also be a puppy, but the easy kind where you cut it into pieces, arrange them, ice them, and make eyes, etc out of candy. Much easier! Much more within my realm of possibilities today!! Oh, and the ruined cake... It tastes really good! :-)

Another Christmas Come and Gone

2007-12-29T21:58:00.000-06:00

I was just going to post a bazillion pictures to make Rhonda happy, but the PC is not cooperating. :-( So, I'll just type a bit here and see what comes out. Then I'll go to bed like I should have a half hour ago!!

I feel like I"ve been living in a bit of a whirlwind around here. I have to admit that, even though Christmas was really fun, I'm glad it's over for this year. I guess it's because I'm pregnant and don't have the energy I usually do, and that I'm trying to home-school as well. Anyway, there were lots of things that just didn't get done this year and I did learn to be okay with that. Really! Like that fact that there was a pile of clean laundry on my bedroom floor all through the holidays, and it just got folded today. For the last few days, I've been sleeping lots and slowly working my way through the house (with the help of Keith and the boys!) restoring order from chaos. And it feels good! I don't know when I'll tackle taking down all the decorations. I'm not ready for that yet, and we have to have a birthday party for the little guy first...

So, here's a run-down of our Christmas activities, and I'll try to be brief. (hahahahaha) Last week I finally gave in and admitted that I couldn't get ready for Christmas and still do school, so we abbreviated it for a few days, and then scrapped it totally. My out-of-town family arrived Friday evening/early Sat. morning (except for the Malagasies, whom we missed!!) We all just met at Jeff and Wendy's this year and it went really well. We really did have a fun time. Talked, laughed, ate (duh!), played games, slept, etc. On Sat. night we had a catered Christmas meal at the Rec. Centre then went bowling and swimming - all under one roof. Pretty cool. I opted out of the bowling, but did go swimming. Some people stayed at Jeff's overnight, but I wanted my own bed! :-) Logan stayed over there with his best friend, Alabama. We had fun getting to know Rachel's boyfriend, Dave. I hope we didn't scare him off too much! Also, Alicia's boyfriend, Aaron was there. How can I be old enough to have a niece seriously dating?? When I stop and think, I realize I am old enough to be her mother... Oh well! Sunday after lunch we opened presents. That was fun, of course. We had exchanged names, and we supposed to spend $5 - $10. It's amazing what you can come up with for that price! One sad thing was that Dad ended up having to be on-call for the snow-plow and it snowed a pile. So he worked Friday night and part of Sat. night and didn't get to be there as much as we wished. By Sunday night I was pretty much toast, but it was a fun time.

Monday I don't remember much about except a bit of cooking, and preparing for the evening. We once again we pretty involved in the Christmas Eve service so that was a bit stressful until it was over. But, I think it was a really good evening - one of my favorite parts of Christmas!! One really neat thing was a video of Matthew and Rhonda talking and Derek put video and pictures with it. They talked about God's grace in their lives. It was so neat to hear their voices and see the pics of them and the girls. And the girls sang "Angels We Have Heard On High" at the end. Makes me excited for next Christmas when they can be here!!

Our dear friend, Debby R. came Christmas eve and spent three nights here! Rachel and Dave were here too. So, we had lots of fun. After the service on Christmas eve, we ate a bunch of food and then watched a movie, "Scrooge" that Dave's family always watches on Christmas Eve. We let the boys stay up as late as they wanted. Caleb went to bed at 12:30 or so and Logan stayed up until the end of the movie - about 1:00!! The only good thing about all the late nights is that the kids slept in so we could too!!

Christmas morning we were pretty slow to get moving! Keith and I made our "traditional" gut-buster brunch of pancakes, eggs, sausague, etc Debby brought a cinnamon roll wreath so we put candles in that and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus. And we also lit the Christ candle in the Advent wreath. After brunch we finally got around to opening presents. It was a little chaotic and took a long time. Dad and Dru stopped in around 12:00 and we still weren't done. I didn't get very good pictures this year. I was too tired and out of it, I suppose. But I'll post some when the computer decides that I may! Anyway, the rest of the day was pretty laid back. Some went for walks, Josiah and I had naps, we made a fairly simple dinner - sweet and sour chicken, etc. Our friend, Bobbi and her Dad joined us for that. After the kids were in bed, Debby taught us how to play Battleship on paper. That was fun! Of course, we got to bed late again!

On Boxing Day we headed for Grandpa and Grandma Grabers. That was another laid back day - big breakfast, opened some presents (Caleb got a Swiss-Army knife and life will never be the same again!), crotcheted, slept, went with Rachel and Dave over to see our house where we grew up, Debby joined us for dinner (prime rib roast!), made home-made ice cream, went home and crashed!! :-)

Since then, we've been slowly recovering. :-) On Thursday I told the boys we'd do something fun (play a game, read, etc) and then clean up a room, then repeat. It worked pretty well. Yesterday we did some more of that. The house is starting to look normal again, and that MOUNTAIN of laundry is folded, at least - but not all put away. This morning Keith took the two oldest with him to get a load of firewood and I managed to get Josiah's hair cut while they were gone. I don't know how my parents ever did that without movies to distract their kids!!! This afternoon Caleb went to a birthday party for his friend Taylor. They went sliding and, unfortunately, his face connected with another kid's face. I had to go get him because he was crying and crying. He said he doesn't remember what happened, so I guess that means it was a pretty hard hit. :-( He has a big fat lip and one side of his nose and eye is swollen. Keith is predicting a doozy of a black eye. I feel bad for him, and for me because I really was hoping to get someone to take family pictures of us this weekend. I guess I have to leave the tree up until Caleb looks normal again. :-)

Okay, this is geting really long (surprise!) but I really have to list a few blessings from the past few weeks.

* Remember me complaining about my back hurting?? It was pretty bad at times and really was affecting my life! I was praying about it and was trying to slow down and rest more. Then we went to a Christmas party at the home of some friends. She "happens" to be a physio-therapist. She and I were chatting and I asked her if she treats pregnant women with lower back pain. Before I knew it, she took me in the bedroom, gave me a treatment, and showed me a simple exercise/stretch to do whenever it hurts. My back improved dramatically over the next few days, and it's been feeling great ever since! Yesterday was the first I've done the exercise in awhile! And I can walk on the treadmill without pain. Thank you, Lord (and Deanna!!)

* Awhile ago, some friends gave us some boxes of apples. We've been eating them, but not fast enough keep them from spoiling. I really wanted to slice and freeze them, but it just wasn't happening. I had borrowed my Mother-in-law's apple peeler/corer/slicer, but hadn't done anything with it yet. Keith picked it up today and started slicing apples and he and the boys had a blast doing all of them!! Here's a hint ladies: If you need your hubby to help with something, have a cool tool on hand that will do the job!!

* I'm not a big jewelry person, but I do usually wear a necklace. Usually the same one for about 6 months at a time. :-) Well, one of my two pendants that I usually wear lost the stone, and I was actually wishing for a new pendant for Christmas. But I didn't get one. (Yes, I know this isn't really a big crisis! But God cares about the little things too.) So, yesterday I got a box in the mail from two dear friends who forgot that my last birthday was a "big one". I guess they felt a little badly about that. :-) Anyway, they gave me a beautiful pendant from Greece. (They were there on holidays this summer and so they ordered one for me from Thessolonika!) How cool is that!?! Maybe I can post of picture of it soon. Thanks, Brenda and Karla!!

It really is time for bed! Since tomorrow is Sunday and I'm leading worship, I really can't sleep in like I've been doing! So, more later, and hopefully a bunch of pictures soon!

Recent Adventures

2007-12-15T10:04:00.000-06:00

* On Monday, Grandma Graber came over and helped us make Christmas cookies. We made four kinds, and I think it was that day or the next that I heard from God about not over-doing it. :-) I just can't be on my feet all day like that anymore! But the cookies were very yummy and I was so thankful for Grandma helping us! The boys had great fun with the cut-outs - and I forgot to take pictures.

* A couple weeks ago, Keith shaved his goatee. He didn't even ask me! :-) It was quite shocking to say the least. I don't think he's been without facial hair since before we were marrried. Anyway, it didn't take much at all to convince him to grow it back. It's almost back to normal already. But, I must say, there's something quite nice about kissing a smooth-shaven man! I guess that's the first time I experienced that! :-)

* Keith started training Josiah to sleep with the boys in their room. It's not working so well. We're not sure what to do next. He just has a terrible time relaxing and going to sleep.

* Last Sunday evening we had our annual joint-church Christmas Sing. It was so good. I always enjoy that so much. I was thinking as I sat there that I really need times like that to focus my heart and mind on what Christmas really is! This afternoon we have our ladies Christmas Tea and I think that will be another time of "re-focusing". I'm so thankful for the Gift of God which is our salvation through Jesus Christ!!!

* I'm in the second week or so of my Worst Cold Ever, I think. It just hangs on and on, although I can tell I'm getting better slowly. I've had a hard time sleeping at times because of coughing and a stuffy nose. Thankfully, my nights have been more restful lately!

* And, on top of that, lower back pain has set in for me. The weird thing was, it hit both Keith and me the same day. He's much better and I"m up and down with it. It seemed the other day like God was saying to me, "You are over-doing it and need to slow down." So, I'm willingly taking that to heart!

* Awhile ago, I promised the boys we'd make gingerbread houses and have some of their friends over too. So last Sat. was the day. Unfortunately, it was the day I felt about the worst with this cold. But, the kids had a great time and us Moms enjoyed it too. There was lots of sugar everywhere, both inside and on the outside of the kids! We made the houses out of graham crackers, which works quite well and is so much easier than making the gingerbread!! Now my challenge is finding a place to put their creations where Josiah won't help himself to all the "tandy" he wants! (Josiah was "un-invited" to this party! He went to Grandma's!)

* I'm not sure how to make this long story short... We got a treadmill from some friends this summer, but we lost the "key" in transport. It won't go without that key (basically a little rectangular piece of plastic). I tried to make a key but the treadmill only worked sporadically, and finally not at all. We finally concluded the treadmill just didn't work. We just kinda never got around to doing anything about it because I didn't really need it in the summer and fall. Now that I'm huge and it's very cold outside, I want to walk inside. I prayed a little while ago and asked God for a treadmill. Finally, last week, I asked Keith if he would make a key out of wood for it. (This had never occurred to us before.) He made one, and the thing works just fine! It was just that my "key" wasn't right. I'm sure it was God that prompted me to ask Keith to make a key! Thanks, Lord, for providing for us again!

* And speaking of provision... I've always wanted to change the carpet in ours and the boys room. What's there is gray - which is really not my favorite color - and worn. I didn't decorate at all around the carpet, so both of our rooms are painted some shade of tan/brown. Anyway, some friends of ours just replaced their carpet and what they took out is a medium brown. It's not the newest, but the color is so much better and the price is right (free!) So, last week, Keith started working on putting it in our room. Last night, Jeff (my carpet-laying-wonder-brother) came over and helped him finish it up! Or I should say, Keith helped him. Anyway, it's done in our room and it looks so much better. Once he does the boys' room, we'll (meaning Keith) steam clean them both, and then I'll feel really good about it! Oh, and then we're getting base-board in those rooms, which have never had it! Yay!

* We've been so busy the last few weeks (why did we add carpet installation to the Christmas season??) with various things, that we haven't had a chance to go cut a Christmas tree. (For those of you not familiar with our area, we can just go out in the bush (woods, if you're an American) and cut one down and no one cares!) I actually talked Keith into just buying one this year. Gasp! Heresy! We've never done such a thing before, but this time, even Keith was okay with the idea. Then, when we went to get it, the man (who goes to our church) wouldn't take any money for it! Wow! We picked out a white pine (I think that's what it is) with long needles. It's really pretty, but the funny thing is, the ornaments slide off very easily! So, I have a little pile of stuff to put back on the tree one of these days!

* Keith has been hauling loads of free, easy-to-get firewood this week. We're really happy about that!

* I've been faithfully checking my blood-sugar, and it seems that with a few changes to my diet, I can easily control it. I've even been able to eat my share of cookies, dessert, etc sometimes. In fact, I've wondered sometimes if God has healed me. I've definitely asked Him to! I'm really thankful that I don't have to say no to ALL off my favorite Christmas goodies!

* I guess that's all for now. I really need to sit at the desk for awhile and sort through receipts and bills. I have the ominous feeling I've let some bills go overdue again. Duh! Merry Christmas everyone!!

Here It Is, Rachel!!

2007-11-30T13:53:00.000-06:00

I really am alive! Maybe you’ve guessed that my last month or so haven’t been exactly filled with free time, peace and tranquility! Besides being Very Busy, we’ve also had our share of emotional/spiritual struggles. I do find it really hard to write when I’m not feeling “on top” of things, maybe since writing isn’t my preferred form of communication anyway. So, without any more excuses, I’ll try to update you on what’s been going on around our house…

Some words to describe my life (with apologies to Rhonda for stealing this idea from her:

Fragile: This fourth pregnancy has been the hardest for me emotionally. I don’t know if it’s because I’m older or because I have more children than other times and I’m home-schooling two of them… At any rate, I find that my emotional and mental energy are so quickly depleted and I can very quickly slide into crying, feeling overwhelmed, yelling at my kids, etc. I feel pretty fragile and haven’t been too impressed with my behavior many times. But I do have to say that God is faithful and when I cry out to Him for help, He does help me!!

Grateful:

-Caleb pulled our 4-drawer filing cabinet over on himself last week! (That’s what happens when you pull out the top three drawers at the same time!) I couldn’t get it up by myself and he was pinned under it. I panicked, of course! Then I remembered that my friend, AnneJisca was here. She heard the commotion (to put it mildly) and came to my rescue. Together we were able to set it up. I was wondering how many bones were broken, but he ended up with two little bruises – one barely visible. Amazing! Thank you, Jesus for your protection!

-My kids have two Grandmas who like to take them for part of a day almost every week. (One of them gets two kids and the other one gets one.) It’s a great way for me to have a break and get some other stuff done!!

-When our stuff was stolen in the City, one big disappointment was that I had bought a denim shirt for Caleb at Value Village. I was so excited because all three of them would have one then and I like to dress them alike sometimes. (See, you can still have some fun dressing little boys!) Anyway, it was gone, and I said something to God like, “Well, you provided all these things once, I wonder how you’ll do it again?” Then I gave up on Caleb having a denim shirt. Last night, Keith brought in from the van two garbage bags of clothes a friend had given me a week or two ago (I don’t get things done fast around here, remember?) :-) One of the first things I pulled out of them this morning was a denim shirt in great shape that fits Caleb! I was floored and so thankful that God knows exactly what we like and want and sometimes He just hands out little special blessings like candy!

Anticipation: In only 7 weeks (give or take!) we’ll have a precious new baby to hold and take care of!

Confusion: What in the world should we name the precious little baby??

Validation: The other night I was talking to my dear sister. I mentioned that I feel like absolutely all I get done is home-school, and just the basics at home. She replied with “well, of course” and explained that she thinks that’s pretty normal for my situation. That made me feel so good, because so often I feel like I should be more of a super-woman and “get more done” or educate my boys more adequately. It’s hard not to feel like a failure lots of the time. Thanks, Rachel! And the same day another friend who home-schooled 4 (now-grown) kids assured me that you do what you can and don’t let Satan steal your joy by always telling you you’re not doing enough. Thanks, Debbie!

Excitement: Christmas is coming!

Wondering: How in the world will I get everything done by then? I’m having to lower my expectations big time. Really, I should be happy if we get a tree up and decorated and the presents bought and wrapped. Plans are already made/in the making to make candy on Saturday with Iris (yay!) and gingerbread houses with the boys and some little friends next Sat. I really want to do the advent wreath and calendar again with the kids. Other than that, I hope I’ll have some time to make a few kinds of cookies, but who knows??

Fun!: The presents are bought!! Well, almost all of them. Last Saturday, Kendra, Logan and I went to the “Big Town” to shop and have Logan’s picture taken. (And I just have to insert that Logan my have a future as a model. He was such a little cheeser and had so much fun having his picture taken!) That was a very successful shopping trip and we got to eat at Pizza Hut and get bagels from Tim Horton’s for on the way home. Then yesterday morning I spent an hour and a half on the internet and crossed lots off of my list of gifts to buy (two of the boys were at Grandma’s!). In the afternoon, Caleb and I did some more shopping around town and got a bunch of stocking stuffers, etc. Last night the boys helped me start wrapping some stuff. That was fun!!

Disappointment:

-Why does God answer some prayers – big or small – “easily” and others just seem to take forever?? There are things I’ve been praying for and it seems like so long and sometimes I think my heart will break if they’re not answered soon. I just started (again) the book “Believing God” by Beth Moore and I hope that helps answer some of my questions and bolster my faith!

-The day Josiah was born, they discovered I had high blood sugar. We don’t know how long it had been going on. So, of course, this time, I’m having to check it periodically. I had been forgetting for awhile, but the other night when I checked it, suddenly it was quite high! Sigh. Since then it’s been high sometimes but not always. We’ll see what the Doc says on Monday! In the meantime, I know I shouldn’t be eating any sugar, but I’m rebellious on that one right now. And we’re making Christmas candy tomorrow!

Health: Thank God for health! Keith went through a week or more of a really nasty virus. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen him so miserable. We’re so thankful he’s better! Then Josiah got pink-eye and had to have antibiotic ointment for that. Other than that we are healthy. I’m just so thankful for how good I feel. I can still sleep pretty well at night, I’m not retaining fluid yet so no carpal tunnel when I sleep and my feet don’t hurt, my back rarely hurts, and I’m just now starting to feel a bit like an elephant, if you know what I mean. :-) Thank God for His goodness!

Cold: It was -30 C (you Americans can do the math) this morning!

I’m sure I could write more, but I need to just get this posted so you won’t all think I’ve died or something! I wonder if anyone is checking my blog anymore! Happy December!

Noah's Ark Party

2007-11-04T18:20:00.000-06:00

The Baptist Church has a "Noah's Ark" party on Halloween. The kids are supposed to dress up as a Bible character or animal. So, we had fun with that again this year. I just shifted Caleb and Logan's David and Goliath costumes from last year down to Logan and Josiah. I just had to hem up Josiah's robe 4 inches. :-) I tried and tried to convince Caleb to go as Lazarus, but that was just a bit too "outstanding" for him, I think. So, we settled for King Solomon. (I got a robe from the kid's costumes at the church. I had no time to sew one!!) Anyway, it's a fun and wholesome way to spend my least favorite holiday!!

You Know You've Been Busy When...

2007-11-04T18:13:00.000-06:00

October was such a crazy, busy month! The boys' hair was getting longer and longer and there was just no time to cut it. It was starting to really really bug me. Anyway, here's the proof that it really was long! And this is after I trimmed Caleb's bangs and "side-burns" just a little so he wouldn't look like a dork in his King Solomon crown.

So, we finally got it done on Friday, and I'm much happier with the way my boys look. I know I'm biased, but I think they're pretty cute.

Look, Ma, No Teeth

2007-11-04T18:10:00.000-06:00

When we came home from Winnipeg, Caleb had lost one tooth. The other one followed a few days later. Keith was having fun teasing him and not telling him who the tooth fairy is - although Caleb really does know, I think.

He has little bit of a "lithp". :-)

The Promised Pictures

2007-10-19T23:18:00.000-05:00

Top picture: The birthday party that Connie brought along. It really is just grape juice and Keith really isn't sloshed.

Middle: At the Ethiopian Restaurant. I don't think the guys really knew what they were eating. Sheldon will correct me if I'm wrong.

Bottom: Pretty obvious, I guess.

Here's a little van update. Our "new" used window arrived today and Keith put it in this afternoon. Yay!! It's so nice to be able to see. Here's the fun part though. Keith also asked them about a radio when he got the window and they threw in a radio/cassette player for nothing. (Our cassete player doesn't work, and it's a bummer when the kids can't listen to stories when we're traveling!) Also, our rear defrost didn't work, which is also rather unsafe up here in the north. So tonight when I drove, I turned it on, and wouldn't you know, it works. I'm so excited about that! I guess that's the silver lining in our little cloud.

Old Fogies in the City

2007-10-18T14:56:00.000-05:00

Well, the big trip was here gone. But the good memories linger. Do you want me to share them with you? If not, then don't read on, I guess. Otherwise, you're in for a play-by-play...

We arrived in the city shortly before 6:00 on Thursday evening. We didn't make great time on account of construction, getting behind a funeral procession, my, um pregnant bladder situation, etc. But we made it. We stopped at one store quickly, then went to Olive Garden where we were meeting the others at 6:30. We thought maybe we could get our names in early and not have to wait so long. But, they had the same idea and were there and waiting. They only waited about 15 minutes and we got in soon after we got there. They, of course, felt a need to make a big deal of my age, etc. There was a balloon bouquet and a goofy pin that said I am 40 and "old, old, old" which they expected me to wear during dinner. We had a great dinner and good time starting to get caught up. We wondered if we might get kicked out for being so loud. :-)

During dinner, Sheldon brought us all up to speed on our plans for eating the next day. It was a revelation to me that a recent interest of his is finding little one-of-a-kind and ethnic restaurants rather than big, "boring" chains. Well, there went my hopes of eating at Perkins. Which really was fine because we had way more fun this way. Anyway, at Olive Garden they were telling us how he had pages of info printed off the internet about all of these restaurants and spreadsheets for all of us to vote on where we wanted to eat. Oh, and he had the ladies opinions weighted higher than the men's and mine weighted even a little higher. I guess there are some advantages to being the birthday girl. We all had some good laughs at/with Sheldon, but it really was fun.

After dinner we headed for Value Village. (We are high-class, big spenders, after all!!) I was tickled to find a bunch of clothes for Caleb and Josiah and a few things for Keith and me - all for $40. :-) The others found some bargains too, and of course, that made us all happy. (We are a bunch of tight-wads, for sure!) :-) Then Keith and I headed to "Eddie Wal-Mart" to knock some necessities off of my long list and the others headed back to the hotel. When we got back there around 10:00 or so, they had a table set with goblets, sparkling grape juice, candles, chocolate and presents. So, we had a little party and, would you believe it, Connie made me an apron!!! I hadn't even told her I wanted one. So now I am sufficiently aproned for years to come!! We stayed up late talking, laughing, and voting on Friday's supper destination.

Our room was quite warm and I didn't sleep the greatest. Maybe because I'm old now, I'll have more trouble sleeping in new places. (I slept great the second night, though!!) We were up and at 'em relatively early because Keith had booked a tour of the Mint for us at 9:00(!?!) We had coffee and muffins in our room and thought that should get us through the tour and then we'd get some real food. :-) When we got to the Mint we found out that our tour was actually at 10:00. Hahaha. But they had one at 9:15 so that was okay. It was very interesting, of course, to see how our coins are made. If Keith were blogging, he'd write a whole essay about it. But since it's me, I'll just say it was pretty amazing. After the tour was over we ladies sat on a bench and had some serious "lady talk" while the guys wandered around and looked at guy things. Finally our stomachs urged us to hit the road.

Sheldon had picked out a Danish restaurant for lunch so we headed that way and made a couple of "quick" stops at stores that we saw along the way - some supplements for me and a Mac store to drop off Keith's computer to get the CD/DVD drive fixed. (Good news, it's under warranty!) We finally arrived at the little cafe and it didn't disappoint us! The highlights were the fresh crusty bread, and the cream puff we all shared for dessert. A bunch of us had veal or chicken schnitzel and it was good! Connie was very impressed with her soup and Keith's sweet and sour cabbage was very good too! It was like a mild and sweet sauerkraut.

By this time it was mid-afternoon and we tossed around going to the Forks or something like that. I finally piped up and wondered if I could just go back to the hotel and have a little nap. I am pregnant, after all! Turns out all of us women were in favour of a rest and the guys rested a little and/or went shopping and walking around the city centre. I had a wonderful nap!!! Then it was time to get dressed up and head out for dinner. I guess the theme of the weekend was good eating. :-) The voting for dinner headed us to an Ethiopian/Middle Eastern Restaurant. It was unique and very interesting. The falafels were very good except they mis-communicated and put the hot sauce on them. Connie and I had to order milk. :-) It didn't seem to bother Darla much. She's a tough one, I guess. :-) The guys all had more Ethiopian dishes. No one was raving about how delicious it was, but it was good and interesting. The owners were really neat people and very friendly. When we were done, they brought us tea "on the house". I think it was black tea with cloves or something like that. It really was good.

After that we scurried off to the symphony. Wow, what fun that was! It was an open dress rehearsal for the "real" performance on Sat. night. So, it was less formal and the conductor talked to us in between pieces. We got to hear him give directions to the orchestra and hear them practice things a bit. We had quite good seats, so that was really fun too. The conductor was funny and Michael thought maybe his parents had wondered if they should put him on Ritalin when he was young. :-) It was really amazing to hear Beethoven's Fifth live. I was only familiar with the first movement, but the last one was really good too. I'd like to get a recording of the whole thing, and also Haydn's "Surprise" Symphony which was the first one they played.

After all that we really had to head to Dairy Queen for some ice cream. Mmmmmm. Good! Then back to the hotel. Of course, we couldn't go to bed since it wasn’t midnight yet, so we hung out in Mike and Connie’s room. Sheldon treated us to some crazy songs and other songs from his computer and transferred pictures from his computer to our flash drive. The others had a time of prayer for Keith and me (how did we get so privileged?) before we headed to our rooms for the night.

Sat. morning we had to pick up Merv T. at the airport at 9:15 (he’s a counselor from Edmonton who’s here at Stormer Lake for several weeks). The Minnesotans thought they should sleep in since they didn’t have any such deadlines. So, we packed up and when Keith went to load the van, he discovered that ours and Sheldon’s vans were both broken into during the night. Sigh. Our rear window was broken and Sheldon’s driver’s side window. Sheldon’s Oakley sunglasses were taken, and we had various small things gone – my jacket, my bag from Value Village L, a few Wal-Mart purchases. So, that kinda put a damper on the morning. We zipped over to the airport with our “air conditioning” and found that Merv’s flight was delayed a bit. We were early anyway, so we headed out to look for cardboard. After a few unhelpful stops, we went to Lee Valley (they’re such a great place, surely they’d help us, right?). When we stopped there, Keith looked across the road and there was a dumpster with a bunch of cardboard in it. So we went and helped ourselves. Thank the Lord Keith’s Leatherman wasn’t stolen or the tool bag with the duct tape in it. We cut and taped and then ran out of tape, so Keith ran back to Lee Valley to get more. They were very sympathetic and helpful and offered to let us use their shop vac. Yay! So we headed back over to their loading dock and vacuumed and swept up the glass. The guy even gave us some heavy plastic in case we needed it. It was sure a blessing to experience some human kindness after being violated like that!

We got to the airport just in time to get Merv and then spent the rest of the morning finishing up our shopping. I hadn’t noticed yet that my Value Village stuff was gone, or we could have gone to a different one to look for more stuff. Oh well! We headed out of the city by 1:00 or so, and as we were cruisin’ down the TransCanada, suddenly a van full of waving, smiling people passed us. It was Sheldons and Michaels! We all pulled over at the next road and had a little chat. They already had their window fixed and had eaten at a cool little Italian bakery. :-) So we had a nice chat and then headed for home.

All in all, it was a really good trip. I guess it’s not so bad to have a “major birthday” if you can have a fun trip like that! I’m glad the break-ins didn’t happen the first night, since that could have messed up our day on the town. I think Keith and I are over our anger and frustration. (There was some forgiving and accepting to do there!) Now, I’m just wondering what God has in mind for a coat for me to wear this fall/winter. The one that was stolen was the outer shell that a fleece zips into. And it’s about the time of year to start wearing them together. The good news is that Keith found a used window from a place in T. Bay and it should be arriving here tomorrow. He thinks he and his Dad can install it themselves. I’ll be really grateful for a window, since it’s rather scary driving without being able to see behind you!!

Well, if you’re still with me, you are now definitely informed!! I’ll post pictures as soon as Sheldon sends me the one of all of us together. (No pressure, Sheldon!) That's all for now!!

Happy 40th to Me!

2007-10-08T22:35:00.001-05:00

Top picture: just so those of you far away can really believe that I'm pregnant.

Middle: pancakes in our pajamas.

Bottom: Helen and me with our cake. The 40 is for me and the extra 8 candles are for her. You can do the math. :-)

2007-10-08T22:13:00.000-05:00

Well, it's officially here and (almost) gone. I'm really 40 and I just can't seem to wrap my mind around that. It just seems sort of impossible or surreal. Old people are 40, you know. And I don't feel old. Just tired. :-) So, now I need to adjust my brain to this new reality and it might take a little while. I was reading an essay about turning 40 the other day and it changed my perspective a little. It's our worldly culture around us that hates to get old. But there are a lot of things to look forward to: wisdom, maturity, more to offer other people, a deeper, closer relationship with my heavenly Father, etc, etc. And getting older is sure a lot better than not!

The other day I read about a bumper sticker that said, "I'd rather be 40 than pregnant!" Somehow I didn't find that too amusing. :-/ How would you like to be both?? When we were married 9 years ago, I really hoped I'd be done having children by the time I was 40. Well, I guess we didn't quite make it. So, here I am 40 and pregnant! And it really doesn't seem any different than yesterday when I was 39 and pregnant. :-)

Thanks to family and friends, my birthday was celebrated in fine style. Kendra hosted a birthday party for me last night at her house. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. There were 10 or 11 of us ladies there and lots of yummy food. I got really cool presents too. I got two aprons!! I've really been wanting one, since I'm such a sloppy cook, and Lisa knew that, so she made me one! Elise didn't know I wanted one, and she didn't even seem to know that the package of hot pads she gave me included an apron. But there it was and it was really a nice one too. So now there's no excuse for grease spots, etc. on my clothes!

This morning I slep in a little. At a little after 8:00, Keith was making pancakes and I was showing him my presents. Suddenly I heard singing outside and there at the door were Wendy and her kids in their pajamas with flowers, balloons, and cards! Wow! Of couse they all stayed for breakfast and we had a great time. Then Keith left to cut firewood and took Caleb, and Wendy took Logan and Josiah with her for the rest of the morning. So, I had a quiet, refreshing morning. You can hardly get a better birthday present than that!

Tonight my family was here for Thanksgiving dinner. Dru made a cake for me and for Helen whose birthday is in a week. My boys gave me a good can opener (yes!) and Keith gave me a new Philips, Craig, and Dean CD (yes! yes!!). So, I feel well-celebrated and I still get to go to the city later this week. Okay, maybe I'm a little bit spoiled - or very much blessed!

Home Improvement

2007-10-06T22:06:00.000-05:00

It’s always fun to do a few little (or big) improvements around the house. I just thought I’d share a few with you. We recently had the top of our table refinished. Let me just say it pays to hire a professional sometimes. I wish I had taken a before picture, but those of you who have been at our house might remember what bad shape it was in. It was embarrassing! Now it’s so nice. I think the finish is better than the original because you can see the grain and color of the wood better. I’m really enjoying it!

Then I hung some plates above the doorway in the kitchen that I’ve had for years. They were a gift from my Grandma M. Thanks to Iris for the idea of where to put them. And, yay ebay, for the plate rack!

I just took a little trip down memory lane when I was looking at the picture of the plates. Way back when, my cousin Sue and I had some rivalry going on for whatever reasons. Well, when Grandma picked out plates for us (we are the two oldest granddaughters), I was jealous of hers. She got four (!) plates and I only got two. (Insert childish whine.) Hers had pink flowers as I recall, and mine were orange, yellow, and black, of all things. At that point in time, pink would definitely have been my pick over orange and yellow. If I remember correctly (and I might not) she liked mine - maybe because of the cool, octogan shape. We were pathetic. So now, many years later, I'm finally hanging my plate up and I'm so glad I have the orange and yellow ones! I've actually developed an affinity for yellow and orange - in the right places and amounts. Pink wouldn't look nearly as nice in my kitchen and two plates is just right for that space. And I love the octogan shape. There should be a moral to this story, right? I guess it's that we need to trust God to give us what's best because He see the end when we're only at the beginning.

And lastly, I finally made a curtain for the “pantry/misc. storage” shelves in my entryway. I always felt like they were an eyesore. That’s what you can see when you look into the entryway from the kitchen. So, now it looks much better, I think!

The Fans are Clamoring

2007-10-03T21:26:00.000-05:00

Well, actually, Iris was just wondering if I'm stuck in the freezer. So, instead of doing my before-bed routine, I'll type out a little morsel here. I've had things in mind to post, but no time. Can anyone else relate to that??

Homeschooling is proving to be quite an adjustment. It seems like it takes so much of our day. I think part of it is that I'm also now responsible for Logan's piano practice as well as Caleb's (Keith did it last year). Caleb is more independent with it, but I have to sit with Logan for most of it and help him. Add to that some discipline/relationship issues between Logan and me, and it can mean a stressful, long practice. Gotta pray more about that one!! Also, we sort of mix our chores right in with school and piano, so by the time we get all of that done, it can seem like the whole day is gone. So, we continue to work at it and I'm praying about my attitudes and parenting style, and we plug along!

As my dear sister has pointed out in the comments on the previous post, next week is a big milestone for me. Rhonda had asked me what it was going to take to numb the pain, or something like that. Well, this is what it will take: a trip to the city! Next week, Keith and I are meeting my brother Sheldon and his wife Darla, and our mutual friends Michael and Connie (who also hit the big 4-0 a little while ago) and we're going to just have some fun in the city! I'm looking forward to a little shopping (the men don't want to do much!), a nice hotel, a tour of the mint, Olive Garden and Perkins (hopefully) and the Symphony on Friday night. Yay!

Wendy and her kids are going to be at Stormer Lake for a couple days (Jeff is working up there somewhere) so tomorrow we're heading up there for the day. We asked Marvin to have a little "field trip" for the kids - show them how the generator works, or something. And we're going to make soft pretzels. And hopefully relax and just hang out with Yvonne for awhile. That should be fun!

I've really been enjoying the CD "Let the Worshippers Arise" by Philips, Craig and Dean!! Their lyrics and music are both so powerful!

And in the "things-you-really-must-know-or-your-life-will-never-be-complete" department:

-It seems like for the last month or more, every time I do laundry, it rains so I can't hang it out to dry. But inevitably, it seems, the day before or after is beautiful and sunny. Why??? I'm a cheapskate and it bugs me to have to dry it all in the dryer. Grrrr.

-We tried on snow pants, coats, and boots today to see what we need for the winter. So, of course the boys had to go all-out and dress to the teeth. They tried to play outside that way, but it didn't last long. It was beautiful outside!

-Josiah has had gooey eyes for the better part of a week. His eyeballs aren't red, but underneath his eyes it's red and swollen. Should I take him to the doctor? The others had a milder case of the same thing and they've all had runny noses...

-I got a little extra spending money so I bid on a place setting of my china on ebay. I got it for $20.50 which is really cheap for Old Country Roses. Then I got the invoice and the shipping is $22.54!! Huh! It's still a good price over-all, but it kinda makes me disgusted that the shipping is more than the price! And I'm sure that's more than the actual shipping will be. Oh well!

-I also bought Logan a dress shirt and tie on ebay. He often begs to wear a tie on Sunday (!?!) and he doesn't have anything that works right now. So I got him something. It might be a Christmas present. Not sure yet. We'll see how much of a problem Sunday mornings are for awhile! :-)

-I'm going to post soon about the on-line course I'm doing now about food addiction. It's been really good! I'm telling you this now so that I have to actually post about it.

-On Monday I'm going to be 40. That's just crazy. How did that happen??

Okay, I'm going to go now before you're all bored to tears!! Night-night!

Eating Out of the Freezer

2007-09-27T20:54:00.000-05:00

Awhile ago I told you about the cooking day we did. Several (well, two) of you wanted the list of recipes we made. So, here they are. And I must say, it has been wonderful pulling supper out of the freezer!! So far nearly everything has been a success. Not that little Mister Picky has liked it all, but that's just normal for him. I'm not sure if we'll have too much soup at the end of the month or not. It seemed like we made an awful lot of soup for one month. So, we'll see how it goes for next month...

Soups:

Chili
Lentil Stew
Potato Chowder (made without the white sauce. I'll add that when we eat it.)
Hamburger Barley
Cicken Wild Rice
Vegetable Beef
Cream of Broccoli/Pea (not a milk base. It's a pureed soup - mostly broccoli, peas, onions, celery, spices. I love it and Keith tolerates it.)

Casseroles/Main Dishes/Side Dishes:

Curry Chicken
Chimichangas
Mashed Potatoes
Burritoes
Yumzetti
Chicken & Rice
Tater Tot Casserole (made with a gravy base, not mushroom soup)
Lasagne (my vegetarian, tofu recipe. It's really good. Really.)
Chickenetti
Pakistani Kima (a hamburger, vegetable curry that you put over rice)
Breakfast Casserole
Rice & Veggie Casserole (sort of a Mexican Beans and Rice deal)
Chicken Gumbo
Sauce-baked Meatballs
Meatloaf
Taco Meat

That's 21 different main dishes, but some of them made LOTS. I love leftovers for lunches! I'm looking forward to doing it again, but I think I need some more chicken recipes. It seems like most of them were beef. Does anyone have any good freeze-able chicken ideas?? Or anything else? I don't want to make all the same stuff every month.

So, what are you having for supper tomorrow night? We're having potato chowder and I think I'll try to make bread sticks. Anybody wanna come over for supper?

Hilda the Housewife (and Schoolteacher)

2007-09-19T17:19:00.000-05:00

Thanks for the home-schooling ideas! This started out as a comment on my post, but it got too long, so I’ll just post it. You'd think the "after-lunch-while-he's-sleeping" solution would be a no-brainer. I hadn’t really considered it though because I was thinking I want to get it all done in the morning or something. And, that's my nap-time too. Thankfully, my naps are much shorter than they were and sometimes I can even skip them! So we're going to try that. Also, this morning, Caleb took his "table-work" that he can do mostly on his own to the basement and we shut the gate. That worked quite well! Less distractions for him too. As far as Daddy is concerned, he is doing the Bible stories and also the science activities. So that helps a lot. Anyway, today was a better day.

I also had the idea to insert regularly scheduled chores in each morning in place of the school work that we'll be doing in the afternoon. That feels good too. It was okay that Caleb and I were doing language at 3:00 because we had already folded all of the laundry in the morning. I’m thinking of the following schedule: Monday – swimming lessons, no extra chores, Tuesday – clean bathrooms and either dust or change sheets (those last two might not always happen. tee hee.), Wednesday – fold laundry, Thursday – send the kids to their Grandmas – no extra chores, Friday – vacuum and mop.

While I’m on the subject of housework, I’ve been meaning to ask sometime…. What is a favorite “routine” or household tip that really helps you get something done, stay organized, make a job you don't like easier, etc.??? I’d like to hear some good ideas from lots of people. We all have little things that we do that make housework more efficient. I thought it would be neat if we’d share some of our favorite ideas. So, let’s hear it for – and from – all the Hilda the Housewives out there!

Logan's Birthday

2007-09-15T21:26:00.001-05:00

I guess it's been a month since Logan's birthday, so it's time to post the pictures, eh? Since he turned five we did a bigger party than usual. We planned a beach party since, well, it was August. Makes sense, doesn't it? It was So Cold! Oh well, the kids had fun anyway! We had the party at 3:00 and then had the Grandparents over for pizza in the evening. You can see how Logan felt by the end of the day. The funny thing is, since he turned five, he finally doesn't take a nap most of the time. Just once in awhile.

School Daze

2007-09-14T11:40:00.001-05:00

Yeah, I know it's a lame pun, but I haven't the talent to think of something truly witty. We’re getting into the swing of home-school around here. I think it’s going pretty well. Then I remember that neither of the boys is doing their Language Arts yet. So, there are more challenges to come!

My biggest challenge right now is what to do with Josiah!! I’m asking all home-school Moms for advice. He’s 20 months old and just LOVES to do everything his brothers do. This doesn’t work so well when they’re writing/coloring/cutting at the table. He’s all over and into everything. Aarrgghh! Yes, I’m very willing to use purposeful swats to the backside and I do, but it seems to have no effect at this point. He spends a good chunk of time in his room with a gate across the door and toys to play with. He does well with that, but I can’t leave him in there all morning!! This morning I put him in his high-chair with crayons and a paper – and soon he was just eating the crayons. Later I tried the high-chair again and gave him playdo. That worked well for a little while, and then the playdo ended up all over the floor. Sigh. Is this just something we have to put up with?? Or do any of you have ideas for how to occupy and train him?? When we’re not doing school-work, he’s quite good and happy most of the time.

For those of you familiar with Sonlight, we’re doing Core C this year with both Caleb and Logan. It’s better for Logan, but I find it's not too challenging for Caleb. I’m thinking of what I can do to give him some more to do, but not just “busy work”. Several options I’m thinking of: some really good Canadian History books for kids (anyone know of any?) and/or ACE Science or Animal Science PACEs. Right now he’s finishing up a couple of Sonlight Science books that we didn’t do last year.

On a happy note, we’re really enjoying “The Boxcar Children” right now. That is a book I read many times when I was little, and it brings back memories for me! Also, I’m looking forward to Caleb’s Language Arts (Sonlight). I’ve hardly looked at Logan’s yet so I’m not sure if I’m looking forward to it or not. And here's one little funny. We were reading some "Mother Goose" rhymes today. After I finished one Caleb remarked, "That was lame!" And he was right! :-) Okay, enough rambling. I’d love to hear from you home-school Moms out there that I know read my blog and never or rarely comment.

Who Turned Down the Thermostat??

2007-09-14T11:20:00.000-05:00

In honour of the snowflakes we saw yesterday (someone forgot to tell us about global warming!), I'm finally posting pictures of us picking blueberries - in much warmer weather! :-)

We were so thankful for the blueberries this year! After quite a few years of not-so-many berries, they were plentiful this year. Thank you, Jesus! It was also very special to pick berries with good friends from out of town. Carolyn S. and Jennifer M and her kids were here right over blueberry time. We had one little trip out to the bush together. That time Glenda M. and Mary Elaine P. were there too, as well as Lisa's Mom and Grandma! Lots of foreigners in the blueberry patch! That was when we almost had to pry Glenda’s fingers off of the bushes so we could go home. :-) She could hardly stand to leave those beautiful berries there. Jennifer and her kids stayed with us and it was so good to see them again. Iris and I went out a couple times as well and did all the damage to the berries we could!! The picture of the four boys is them having a "moose poop fight". Boys will be boys, after all. In case you're not from the North, this moose poop is hard and dry, not soft and gross. :-) Well, it's still sorta gross, but hey, they were having fun and not bothering us while we were picking! :-)

2007-09-14T10:59:00.000-05:00