New Furniture

At the request of someone VERY special I have come out of blogging hibernation to show pics of our new furniture.

Compliments of Lancaster Bible College and their very generous donation to Fairwood Bible Institute. We received 2 bunks, 2 tall dressers, 4 small dressers, and 1 desk to use in our home.

The brand is "This End Up".

Praise the Lord!

A Big Pile of Stuff

Happy Birthday Daddy! I must just say that I think I have a great Dad, in fact, the greatest I could possibly have! I hope he had a wonderful day! I love him very much.

James told me yesterday what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday (Aug 3rd.)
"I want a chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream cake with strawberries and spray whip cream on top in the shape of a soldier gun and bullets."

Later he requested scrambled eggs in a circle on top, which I declined and instead told him he could have them on the side. He has opted for scrambled eggs, bacon, and waffles for his dinner. Then today he informed me that he wanted a rope on top too. I think he was prompted to remember the rope because he was in the process of hunting to catch a moose. He said he was going to catch a big moose with antlers because Jonathon told him he wasn't allowed to catch baby "mooses". He then asked me if I would help him carry it home when he caught it because it would be too heavy for him to carry by himself. I assured him that whatever moose he caught today with his rope, I would help him carry home. I can only imagine what would have happened had he been successful.

And last but not least....we bought a van- from Ebay- in Ohio! Brandon is suppose to fly out on Monday to get it and drive it home. Check it out:

Wiggle and Splat Update

For those of you who wondered what we did about the fish...

We did in fact get another Wiggle and Splat. They are not rosy barbs, but neon glofish instead, from the Danio family. They are pretty and speedy and fun to watch. We also added two harlequin tetras to the tank named Wallace and Gromit. Our last addition was an algae eater that James deamed it appropriate to call Slime Sucker. So that brings our fish count to five and we are enjoying them. It did involve more fish "stuff" as we had to get a heater and a thermometer for the tank when we got the algae eater because he is a tropical fish, but the children like them and Jonathon even remembers to feed them occasionally. Happy Fishing!

"You've got to admit, they are getting better."

This is a quote from one of my all time favorite movies: Disney's "Robin Hood", the animated version. In the scene, Robin Hood is exclaiming to Little John that the Sheriff's posse is getting to be a bit better at hitting the mark with their bows and arrows. In this case, I mean that things are looking a bit better around here. Thank you for all your prayers and words of encouragement. Who knows where I'll be in the battle next week, but right now, I'm ok.

Good things going right now:

- A childhood friend of mine just moved to New Hampshire and is living less than an hour away from me!
- Jonathon, as Brandon mentioned on his blog, has been just about as wonderful as can be lately. Washing dishes, kissing and hugging regularly, helping with chores, paying attention to his little brothers and sister, and just being basically pleasant. This is especially great, since some of my family can attest that the weeks before, he was quite a royal bear! SOme of this I think was the recovery from Lyme disease, but some was just plain ornery! (sp?) Anyway, he's been great.
- Even though we are planning to move to another residence here at Fairwood soon, the move has been postponed until at least the first of the year, so I don't have to think about packing up! Whooo hooo!
- James is the one child who doesn't mind taking care of his own issues in the middle of the night. I'm glad one of them can handle it.
- Jeff is still struggling with his fettish for playing in water, but it does seem to be getting better. I actually got through two days this week without going through every dish rag in the drawer to mop up puddles.
- Rachel is getting better about her fear of bugs. Thanks to Brandon's efforts and training, she has gone from being deathly afraid of grass slivers that resembled bugs to letting a beetle crawl on her arm! She actually was caught seeking bugs out the other day!
- Joseph has learned to laugh and suck his fingers. He has chosen the two middle fingers on the left hand, just like Jeff.
- So, all in all, God continues to meet our needs. I'll just say that last week was a hard week in many ways, not the least of which involved one of our children attempting to express love to another one of our children by strangling them. No one is dead, thankfully, but I'm glad we aren't dealing with quite as many emotionally traumatizing issues right now. I think the vacation to the lake did a world of good. Many thanks to the Randall family for the use of their cabin and lake property, as well as hamburgers and hotdogs for Sunday lunch and for dinner two nights. They are some pretty awesome friends! We might could have had a better time, but I'm not sure how!
-Ok, now I'm off to prepare for company coming tomorrow. Good Evening to you all.

She is not dead, nor doth she sleep

Well ok, maybe some occasional sleep. It seems as though this is one of those times in the parent/ child relationship that feels like I am one of those Israelites walking in the desert for 40 years. And I have done my fair share of complaining. There are plenty of struggles right now. Lately the children have been conspiring (it seems) to see how many times they can wake me up in the night. I have had about 5 nights of sleep since Feb. where I was not ever awakened the entire night. Thankfully 4 of the have been in the last few weeks. More often it's around 3-4 times. I think the record was 8 or 9 (I lost count that night) and I actually started one day at 1:30 am because the children timed their needs in such a way that I never went back to sleep. Jonathon is doing pretty well lately with the exception of being a bit whiny and he had Lyme disease recently. James is having trouble showing affection. He thinks the way to love the baby is to stand,sit, lay on him, kick,hit or pound him, and on several occasion I have caught him strangling the child. I'm sure is doesn't make sense to read is, but if you were here you would realize that it all comes from a feeling of "I love you so much I don't know what to do." We are, as responsible parents doing everything we can to discourage this behavior. Jeff has hit the "get into everything" stage and seems to continue hie fixation with water. He has figured out how to hold his hand to the faucet and soak the entire bathroom. He plays in the kitchen sink frequently and I find myself using most of the dish towels every day to mop up his messes. I don't really understand why he is still doing this. I think we have made it pretty clear to him that it is not ok. He and Rachel seem to frequently wander away from the play area as well. We have caught them riding their trikes in the sanctuary!, playing in the wood shop, in the attic of the dinig hall, etc. They seem to go everywhere and despite my efforts to keep track of them every 5-10 minutes, they can get away pretty fast.

So, this is what's going on - not to mention some severe excema problems on my fingers that make it painful to type and the internet being down for a while. Hence the lack of posts and it will continue for a while I'm afraid.

I'll just say that I realize this isn't a perky post and if you have a minute, a word of encouragement from others would be nice. I am having a hard time. Perhaps sometime soon I can think of all the things that are going well and jot them down here as well. Then this won't seem so unbalanced.

Wiggle and Splat

Jonathon got fish last Friday from the pet store. The fish cost about $5 and the stuff was 15 time as expensive.

And the numbers are in. Wiggle and Splat- the names of said pet fish (Rosy Barbs) lasted 6 days, perhaps only depending on when they died in the night. Jeff and Rachel fed them ALL the fish food in the packet- enough for a month and then the fish became gluttons.

It killed them. Perhaps we will attempt a reincarnation of Wiggle and Splat next week and see if we can break our record. I can't spend this much money on fish apparatus and not have fish for a while! Besides, they died in less that 15 days so we get the next ones free. Hmmm...we could be at this a long time!

Tagged

I've just been "tagged" to mention seven random things/ facts about myself and tag seven other people to do the same, leaving comments on their blogs to let them know they've been tagged. So here goes:

1. I just learned all there is to know about ammonia/ nitrite levels, gravel vacuums, nets, siphoning, and many other details related to fish, thanks to Jeff emptying a months worth of fish food into the tank this morning.

2. The only thing I dislike about living in New Hampshire is the biting flies.

3. It took me 16 years of practice/ spitting on myself before I learned how to whistle loudly.

4. I have a mole on the bottom of my right pinky toe.

5. I actually like children, but I keep it a secret from the ones I have more than I should.

6. My favorite sleeping position (which my children have inherited) is on my tummy with my head under my pillow and my hands tucked under my legs on the bed.

7. My favorite foods are onions- sauted or fried, super sharp cheddar cheese, salad bars, all things mexican, sweet potatoes, fried okra, shrimp, strawberries, vanilla ice cream, Kit Kat bars, and whatever someone else cooked for me.

In light of how often I check blogs lately, I'm going to refrain from tagging anyone else. Hope you enjoyed my random items though and feel free to play if you want to.

A Story in Pictures

The snow is gone...as well as the puddles.

On to more glorious pursuits

And Jonathon had a birthday! 6 Years Old!

And I made the cake.

Jeff fell out of the wagon and got his mouth smacked on the pavement and a trip to the emergency room to have it checked out. Everything was ok...except "he might loose that tooth".

And I made another cake- this one for Bible School Graduation. There is only one graduate this year so I personalized it a bit and I think it came out pretty well. It's Banana Nut Cake with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting. For those of you who may not be familiar with the items on top, they are: a Bible, A Warrior Songbook, and a Red Sox baseball cap. All were made from cake and frosting and I had a blast!

The End

Flowers and Fiascos

Well...time sure does fly. It seems like I just posted something yesterday and yet the date clearly says that it has been much longer than that! We have been a bit busy lately and thus I am limiting myself to 20 minutes on the computer this evening, so this will have to be short.

I did however want to write about several funny/ scary events lately:

Jonathon and James are on restriction from Calvin and Hobbes comics right now and here's why:

- Jonathon called me a "moron" the other day.
- James went up to Jonathon yesterday and said, "Oh, you have a mosquito on your back!" And whacked him and giggled with delight.
- Jonathon and James attempted riding in our large wagon down the front lawn with no one to stop it. *Yikes*
- Jeff pushed Rachel down the driveway in the little red wagon today and I only sprinted fast enough to catch her just as she was about to pass the dining hall and head down "Dead Man's Curve" (for those of you who do not know the layout here, she went down one good size hill and was headed for another)
- We occasionally hear James yelling at the sky, "SNOW! SNOW! SNOW!"
- James was playing with his cars the other day and I overheard him having one car tell the other that he had just turned him into a pterodactyl!
- Jonathon insisted that it was, in fact, a chicken!

Ok, so Calvin and Hobbes is great and all, but it's going to make my smart children smart in ways they shouldn't be and possibly kill others! So it's out for a while!

The other amusing note was our trip to the nursery today to buy some flowers. I am hoping against all hope that spring is actually here to stay and thus took all five children to the nursery to wander around and pick out some plants. This was my first mistake.

When we arrived I noticed that they had cool green wagons similar to one we own and I discerned that all five of my wiggly offspring would fit nicely in it and be easily contained. So, I ran to get said wagon, returned to the ever shrinking mini-van, and piled them all in. I turned it around and noticed that it was VERY hard to pull. Two more feet of pulling confirmed that we did, in fact, have a flat tire on our selected wagon. ARG! in the middle of the parking lot! So, I drug that stupid wagon to the curb and unloaded all five kids onto the sidewalk, instructed them to stay there and retrieved a different cart- this one was a flat bed. I loaded them all back on, got Joseph settled down again (he was riding on it in his car seat) and set off to weave in and out of endless rows of flowers. We got two feet and the wheel fell off. I mean the wheel came right off the axle! So, I unloaded them again, and proceed to play a sort of version of follow-the-leader through the plants when some guy (who was probably vowing never to have kids) came up with a fully functional cart and offered it to me. I put them all on and then had to remove three of them because the first plant we picked out had vines that spread way out and covered half the seating area. From then on it was only about standing still, not throwing or eating the rocks, not pulling the blooms off the plants, and the best one- please don't dismantle the gazebo flooring- even if it does look cool how they got that pipe to stick up through there like that and it comes apart. We finally picked out plants and escaped. Whew!

And that's my twenty minutes. Goodnight!

Ode to Spring

Spring has finally sprung! Hip hip hooray!

The kids can play with bareness of feet

and stay wet outside all day.

I'm so glad that it's no longer cold

And four changes of clothes every day

Makes laundry duty grow old.

So here's to fun and melting of snow,

Popsicles, bubbles, and butterflies.

I'm glad to let winter go!

And happy 2nd Monthaversary

to Joseph!

(hopefully he will grow out of the crosseyed stage)

Good Stuff

I just got home from the Women's Retreat. It seems a little odd to say, "just got home", because I never really went anywhere, but real life begins again now. First I'll say Brandon did an awesome job with the kids. They are happy, the house is clean, and the laundry is washed! So, I can start off the week a bit ahead rather than three days behind. Whooo hoooo for keeping up!

Now, before I get on to anything else, I want to jot down the nuggets I got from the retreat. This will probably be brief, but something is better than nothing. Right?

Nugget #1. The water is in the valley.

Ruth Murray talked about Jesus as our Shepherd and a book by Phillip Keller on the intricacies of the analogy between sheep and us in the 23rd Psalm. When she got to the verse about walking through the valley of the shadow of death, she pointed out that the sheep have to go there because that's where the water is. The stream runs through the valley and the sheep have to have water. I really appreciated the aspect that our thirst can be quenced IN the valley. It's not before the valley in preparation, or after the valley to build us back up, but IN the valley- the water is IN the valley. I come away with a challenge to remember that Jesus can be filling me in the tough times as well as the plesant ones.

Nugget#2. Children absorb the atmosphere in the home.

Elaine Sandford had a workshop on How to Get Ahead and Stay Ahead. It was lots of practical tidbits for everyday living that help us to keep from getting piles, overwhelmed, and generally unorganized. The above comment was one of the first things she said and it was a good reminded. If the house is a mess, the children tend towards chaos. If the house is clean, the children tend to be more calm and peaceful- or I don't have to work at it as hard. A good reminder and incentive for me to maintain order whenever possible.

Nugget #3. One of something is many times not enough, but two of something is almost always too much.

I mentioned this one to Brandon and he said, "Yeah, like spouses." Aha! Ha! Well, that wasn't really what I was thinking of, BUT... it was actually related to Decluttering. Gretchen Post had a workshop on Decluttering and I came away inspired by this phrase in regards to owning things. I also came away with it applied to spiritual matters. I may not be all that my family needs, but two of me, or a "bigger and better" me is not the answer. What they need is more of Jesus and it's what I need too.

Nugget #4. Sometimes 1 of something is too many.

In the same workshop, I was floored by the idea that I really didn't need 1 of something. Coming from a family that has always had at least one of everything, it has never really occured to me that a person would be completely satisfied without "one". I could think of a number of things in the house that this applied to and I am looking forward to getting rid of them. Don Aslett and his book, "Loose 200 pounds This Weekend." were the main inspiration for this workshop.

Nugget #5. I can trust God because He is going before me. -or- He has searched out the place.

Ellie Pass pointed out this one. She talked about how God went before the children of Israel and searched out a place for them. What I came away with was the thought that not only was he leading them one step at a time, but he had been there way before, so in a sense, he was there twice before me- which means he really knows his stuff AND I CAN trust Him!

Nugget #6- Make a list of needs and wants and watch Him provide.

Also from Ellie's testimony. I always latch on to practical ways of making the spiritual application work. I did this. I made a list of things that have been weighing on my mind and then copied out several verses about trusting God on the same page and committed the list to Him to provide for those things. It is a freeing feeling to put it all in His lap. Some of the things were tangible, like a larger vehicle, some not- like make me loose some weight, but regardless of whether I can put my hands on it or not, He can provide for the need and for the wants as well. After all, He says he gives us the desires of our heart, and I think that can include some wants as well. Praise the Lord for practical application!

Nugget #7- Give me an unconquered heart which no tribulation can wear out.

Branda Lackie had this one in her testimony about enduring and having courage in the end times. I sort of applied it to my life right now- what can sometimes seem like a tribulation. If I allow discouragement, dissapointment, or fear, or whatever to get in, then it's like allowing the Devil to raise his flag in my heart and he wins that battle. I have no intention of letting Satan raise his flag in my heart! I am encouraged that I can in some ways ignore the craziness around me and look up at Jesus and focus on Him and look to him for help and He does. Then He wins and gets the glory!

Ok, so that's the tip of the iceberg of great parts from the women's retreat. All you ladies should come next year!

Breakfast in the Bathroom

I’ve heard it said: You can do anything if you want to bad enough.

Today I disagree.

I REALLY wanted to eat my breakfast. I would have been happy to eat it with only a couple of interruptions, requests for more cereal, or other needs. That was not to be. For any of you out there who think a breakfast of cereal and milk is easy, I’m decidedly against the belief and despite trying to convince myself that it is, I remain in a state of prejudice against the flaky meal.

You see, Jonathon really wanted cereal this morning and despite my better judgement ( I was going to make eggs and muffins) I said ok. Usually I say ok to this request because A) He can get it all out by himself. B) I’m usually running late for breakfast if he has time to request something and C) I try to tell myself that a quick meal will help the rest of the day go better.

So I said ok. Out came the 10 boxes of cereal- I’m all about variety. Out came the milk. And then an argument began between James and Jonathon over who was going to get out the bowls and set them around the table. I told James he could since he had begun the task and Jonathon had taken care of the cereal and milk and then Jonathon was unhappy. I put Joseph in his bouncy seat, which has an automatic vibrator and music, and thus keeps him quiet for a short while. (It’s no wonder my children feel the need to have noise and motion ever waking moment. I train them into it from birth!) We then commenced breakfast:

Pour 4 bowls of cereal.
Pour 4 bows of milk.
Pour 4 glasses of water.
Notice the husband is sitting at the table with no water and pour the husband a glass of water.
Pour my own bowl of cereal. Exactly ¾ cup of granola and a half a cup of milk because I am trying to eat responsibly and loose some weight.
Notice that the bananas are still sitting in the middle of the table untouched and offer them to everyone.
No one answers with a desire to eat bananas. This is not ok. We must consume them, after all we paid REAL money for these things, they are good for us and I refuse to just have cardboard for breakfast.
Ask each child if they want a banana. I get two takers- Jeff and Rachel and I give myself one because, I never eat enough fruit and so I should.
Jeff and Rachel can’t peel it on their own though, so I start it for them, then Jeff cries that I messed with his.
Rachel peels hers and sets it to the side of her bowl and drinks all the milk out of her Fruity Cheerios and requests more milk.
I pour her some more milk.
I sit down and eat a bite of cereal.
Jonathon needs more cereal. He had Kix and now that he’s eaten that, he wants a bowl of granola.
Pour said bowl of granola.
Sit down to eat another bite of cereal.
Rachel says she has “stinky diaper”.
She is wearing underwear- because the die hard potty training parents just won’t give up.
I take her to the bathroom to sit on the little potty as there is currently nothing in her pants. Perhaps this is a break through.
Two seconds later she declares herself all done.
Well potty training during my breakfast of soggy granola isn’t my idea of a great goal so, “Ok, all done.” Put her clothes back on. Back to the table.
She wants more milk in her Fruity cheerios again. More milk given.
Sit down to eat a bite. One bite eaten.
Rachel says she needs to go potty.
Well it did smell like she was close, so I take her again. On the way by the table I bumped Jeff’s glass and spilled his water all over him and the floor.
Humbly ask husband to please clean it up while I deal with Rachel in the bathroom.
Jeff is sad. He always knocks his water over and this time it dumped without his help and he’s afraid he’s going to get in trouble anyway. Comfort Jeff.
For some reason this time Rachel needs her panties, skirt, socks, and sandals all removed to sit down on the potty chair. She tries to convince me that her bib must come off as well. I draw the line.
She sits, I walk out to take another quick bite of cereal. Husband cleaned up the puddles, but left Jeff in his wet clothes to finish breakfast. Jeff does not like this.
I gulp down my entire banana in 5 seconds.
Rachel comes out with a new pair of “pretty panties” to wear and I indulge her because I am currently sitting in my seat and I don’t want to get up. She put nothing in the toilet.
Put pants on child and send her back to eat her food. She needs more milk. I don’t care, I just give it to her.
Jeff needs more cereal. Done.
Jeff needs to go to the potty.
OK!!!!
Take Jeff to the potty. He doesn’t want to wet because his shirt sleeve is wet.
Move the offending shirt sleeve up his arm and command him to pee in the toilet.
Success.
Put wet clothes back on boy and return him to table.
(a bit graphic) Jonathon says he thought he had to do a stinky but wanted to wait, so he said he tried to keep it up there, but it wouldn’t stay and just came out on his pants anyway.
Tell Jonathon to go to the bathroom.
Joseph is not happy with the bouncy vibrating chair any longer and is declaring his undesireable situation LOUDLY to the rest of us.
Ask husband to PLEASE take him to bed, and oh, by the way, he has a stinky diaper and the sheet in his cradle needs to be changed because it is wet.
Husband takes the baby up to change diaper and put to bed.
Jonathon goes to the bathroom.
James needs more cereal.
Jonathon hollers that his underwear is in fact, dirty.
Mama hollers at husband to throw down Jezebel- I mean – some clean underwear.
Take clean underwear to Jonathon.
Come back to the table to inhale as much cereal as possible before the next request comes.
Jeff says he’s all done.
Throw away ¼ cup of cereal he did not eat. He gets down.
Jonathon gets finished in the bathroom and goes and plays.
Remove his dish from the table.
Rachel sees that people are done and wants to join. She gets down. I throw her banana with one bite gone and the bowl of Fruity Cheerios- with no milk- in the garbage.
James gets down.
I eat the last of my granola.
Rachel wets on the living room carpet and says “Oh dear.”
I run for the computer because if I don’t write down the insanity, I might just loose my mind!

Somehow I haven’t been able to loose weight.

And just in case you think this is a crazy way to eat breakfast, I’ll point out that noone dumped their cereal out this morning. This is how it is most of the time here. I should have made eggs and muffins. I like them better, I don’t have to do refills, and you can’t make as big of a mess with them.

Hope you have a great Thursday.

OH…and we’re having a snow storm today. In the middle of April. And James is going to the dentist today to have his OTHER front tooth removed- probably. The one that Jonathon smacked with a snow shovel. James is following in Uncle Roy’s footsteps of being toothless for as long as he can.

Fun with Grandmother

Sorry this is belated, but I thought this was a great shot of how much the children enjoyed Grandmother- the one who lives with "The Fishing Grandpa" while she was up here.

The sure did have fun with her, especially during a few games of "Alligator". She created this game one evening while the children were in trouble and had to stay on the couch. It involved something with pillows thrown at her and her trying to "eat" them. Sounds like only a slightly different version of "Diaper Woman" if you ask me. (Diaper Woman is a game she made up when I was little. It involved a cloth diaper on her head and running and screaming by us and I think at least one time we were chased with a broom, but it was fun!)

Which just goes to show, quality time- time invested in interaction with the child is what they remember and cherish most. Grandmother did a great job of quality time while she was with us and the children loved it!

Today's Favorites

Favorite friends: A family in church whose last name rhymes with "Need" who invited us over for the afternoon.

Favorite meal: Blueberry muffins for breakfast that I made the night before- no dishes, no messy clothes, happy children.

Favorite clothes: White Land's End dress shirts for the boys to wear to church, from the grandmother that lives with "The Fishing Grandpa".

Favorite conversation: Talking with a person whose name rhymes with "sellin'" about enjoying my family and my role as a mother.

Favorite Scene: Rachel drinking from the dog bowl.

Favorite activity: Watching a girl whose name rhymes with "stain" boil maple syrup.

Favorite thing I learned today: Details about sheep shearing and cutting their tails off.

Favorite time of the day: 9:30pm- When I pulled in the driveway and knew the children would be in bed soon.

Favorite quote from James: (half asleep) No! I want to stay here and sleep. (he said this in the van and refused to get out. In fact, I almost couldn't drag him out because he was convinced that he was actually in his bed.)

Favorite quote from Rachel: "I'm a kiddo."

Favorite comment from Jeff: (actually it was best when he finally stopped asking for more food some three hours after lunch was completed)

Favorite Snapshot with imaginary camera: Jonathon trying to feed a sheep some hay.

Favorite Hymn at church: Great is thy Faithfulness, for that part, "morning by morning, new mercies I see".

Today was exhausting and wonderful all rolled together. I wouldn't change much except I might not have put James' pjs on so soon and then see him go back outside in the mud and thus have to put different pjs on before he went to bed.

Life is good.

The Tally

What did you find in your washer this evening? Here's what I found:

26 nails

16 acorns

4 rocks

3 toy bullets

2 sticks

1 playmobil sword

and a handful of debris

All because I didn't check one garment's pockets...kids are worse than squirrels!

Our Resident Acrobat

Here's one of Jeff's tricks:

His other new trick is going to the potty!!!! Whooooo hoooo! He's been ready for a while, but his Mama just won't get with the program! So he's been in underwear for a while and today actually stayed dry several times and made it!

Rachel is trying to go as well, though she has some sort of bitterness harbored against the toilet and though she desperately tries to keep from wetting her undies, she also loathes sitting on the little toilet. Well, girl, you can't have it both ways. Sooner or later it's bound to come out- usually on the floor and the couch, at which time she gets excited because she gets to pick a new pair of panties to put on. Hmm...the purple ones with flowers or the green ones with little bumblebees? What a girl!

And to all this, James would say, "Mama is a potty mouth!" (*chuckle*- probably the only time he would be allowed to use that phrase without his tongue meeting up with some hot sauce.

Just so Jonathon and Joseph don't get left out of this post, Jonathon is going to be a overly merciful parent if he doesn't learn some balance. He notifies me every time Joseph is crying and immediately wants to pick him up and "walk him". For some reason Joseph likes it, even though he looks a bit precarious in Jonathon's arms. (Ever seen a 5 year old carry a little baby down the stairs??? Don't watch- it's much easier to let him do it that way!) I'm glad he likes his little brother.

And for random comments:

We're having meatloaf for dinner.

I've washed 3 loads of laundry today, 4 yesterday, 5 the day before that, and I lost count of Tuesday's loads before the day was out! Muddy clothes and "accidents".

Going to a girls' party this evening! I suppose Joseph is going too.

It's really great weather outside today- in the 50's.

I've exercised most days this week and am looking forward to beating my family in "the RACE" though ever since I started working on loosing pounds I have only gained them! Arg! This is not supposed to happen.

Ok gotta go.

Catching up quickly

(More attempts at a family pic.)

Here's the "Cliff's Notes" Version of life here:

-We had the Feast

-Grandmother and Ruth came for a visit

- As a result of their visit we had good times, Brandon and I got a break from laundry duty, we successfully went through all the boy clothes and most of the girl clothes, and Ruth learned how to sled.

-Grandmother did not take part in the sledding, though she did wash the clothes from the event -She also helped Jeff and Rachel work on potty training. Jeff is just about there and Rachel with some focus efforts could be there soon I think.

-I've been catching up on the house

- We have LOTS of laundry these days- spring is the worst for making dirty clothes pile up. Today 3 children changed clothes 3 times and one changed 4 times. Can you say MUD??

- I cleaned up several rooms, organized here and there, and am back to making some real meals

- We celebrated Grandmother's birthday...with our friends, the Reeds. Anybody for fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, fried okra, Breyers ice cream, and chocolate chip cookie cake?

- Joseph is sleeping much better lately, just once up in the night most of the time now.

- I'm getting up in the morning at a normal time again.

- Devotions are back to a generally regular thing. (I always have trouble, always have.)

- Things are looking up.

And here's some favorites:

Favorite scene lately: Little Rachel sitting on the big couch alone playing with the Leap Pad.

Favorite Idea: Winning an "Original Recipe Contest" and going to Provence, France for a week.

Favorite Quote: James on his way into the tub: Hey! The water will clean us and wash our sins away!"

Favorite Person: Brandon, because he gave me two spontaneous shoulder rubs today and gave four children baths this evening.

Favorite Time of Day: 10 am when I'm awake, the children are out playing and I'm not tired yet.

Ok, gotta run. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods....

Real Life

Hi there...this is just a quick post to say that real life has begun to settle back in and all those blissful moments of wasting time at the computer are coming to a grinding halt. So don't expect great things from me anytime soon... but here's a picture to make up for it.





Evening rough housing with Daddy (I try to stay out of it and often even leave the room.)

And my, oh, my! High speed internet does wonders for uploading pictures. I am VERY happy about this!

James is still alive...somehow

Just an update to let you know that by some miracle, James still lives. Last week he got bashed in the face with a snow shovel (unfortunately a result of brotherly anger) and ended up with a busted lip and a loose front tooth- which will probably fall out soon. Then, yesterday he ran into the branch of a bush and tried to poke his eyeball out. Fortunately, his eyelid took the hit instead of his eye and now he just has a nasty scratch on his eyelid and some bruising. I must say, if he makes it to adulthood, there should be no doubt in anyone's mind that there is a God and he does protect us! A living testimony!

Lessons from Mother- #3 No Procrastinating- Ever!

I’ve never seen a woman who can work more than my mother. In fact, if she has any fault, it would be that she doesn’t know how to take a break. However, she taught me not to put things off and since I have had more and more children, I’ve realized the value of doing things right away. Sometimes it means hanging up my clothes when I take them off (which I still can’t seem to do) and sometimes it means starting a 2 hour long project when you only have 15 minutes to work with.

It is often said that we don’t know how long we have here on earth and to use what time we have as best we can. I’d like to boil it down to something more simple: As a mother, I don’t know exactly how many more minutes I’m going to have to clean out the diaper bag before a disaster strikes, so I better make the most of it.

Lately, I’ve been working on another part of avoiding procrastination. Work before play. Mother used to tell me that if I was too sick to go to school, I was too sick to play afterwards. This can also apply to motherhood. Since in a lot of ways I am my own boss, it’s easy to decide that I can go play even though there are things around the house that need to be done. Now don’t get me wrong, I could work all day, all week, and all night long and there would still be things that need to get done, but I’m talking about the essentials. This week I’ve been focusing on dishes, laundry, and the living room. That means if I’m going to take a break, I try to make sure that the dishes are washed, the living room is relatively tidy, and the laundry is caught up. In the long run I know that having these things done makes me more relaxed and more prepared for those “surprise” situations that happen every day.

I remember doing lots of spontaneous things with my family growing up. Everything wasn’t always picture perfect at our house, but my mother did try to stay on top of the dishes, laundry, and the orderliness of the main family room. I think it paid off in how we were able to drop what we were doing and “go and do”. Sometimes it was for someone else, sometimes it was just a fun opportunity that came along, but always it was easier to manage if the essentials were covered.

The other place I have noticed that avoiding procrastination helps is in the evenings. If I just take a few minutes and prepare for the next morning, it helps that morning go MUCH better. My brain doesn’t operate in the morning unfortunately, so if I use it in the evening when it does work to plan out what needs to happen the next day, all of us are better off.

So, here’s to not putting off till tomorrow what I can do today!

Lessons from Mother- #2: Bake Cookies

Before I begin this one, I should clarify something about my Mother. She's a wonderful woman! I love her. She cares, is honest, and works hard to make sure her children have every opportunity to follow Jesus. But she is not gushy. Since I have been married, I have heard more sympathy from her during struggles than in all my growing up years and I'm not complaining about anything, just stating it as fact. She doesn't commiserate often and certainly doesn't ever spend time coming up with reasons why it's ok to complain about things. For these things, I love her. Sometimes it's not the easiest thing in the world to hear the truth. Running 4 miles and then being told you need to run another isn't always fun, but it gets me to the finish line faster than if someone told me to take a break because it's hard. (not that I've run 5 consecutive miles anytime in my life) So, there are probably some people out there that if their mother told them what mine tells me it would be very difficult to handle. It's good for me though and so I'll keep her.

Ok, so, "Bake Cookies". This isn't what she says, but it's what I hear. This is the start to the pep talk I get when I am groaning about myself. Sometimes, I get in a rut where I start thinking about all the things that are hard it life, mostly to do with me. For example: during my pregnancy I was groaning about how I have this allergy to formaldehyde that makes my skin break out in little liquid filled bubbles and itch like crazy. If I come in contact with any of the stuff, I have a reaction for about 2 weeks trying to recover from it. In case you don't think this is a big deal, I have discovered through this problem the millions of things that have formaldehyde in them: shampoo (all of it), liquid soap, baby wipes, some lotions and creams, moist towelettes, makeup, some clothes when brand new, and many other things. This allergy has changed my lifestyle in many ways. Anyway, that's an issue. Then there was the blood sugar problem. I got gestational diabetes and rather than deal with insulin, I maintained it with diet- which pretty much involved eating almost NO carbohydrates. For the health conscious out there- I could get away with about 15 grams of carbs at one meal. Look on your cereal box and see how much cereal you can eat for that amount. Not much. So it was pretty much eggs for breakfast, cheese and peanut butter for snacks, meat and cheese rolls with a salad for lunch, and some sort of meat and veggies for dinner. If I ate more carbs I had to walk- which I did, but for the longest time I hated. Then I had kidney stones. Ugh! I won't even revisit that unpleasant subject. (I'm not trying to complain here, but I want to set an accurate background for what I have heard from my Mother) So, I couldn't change the children's diapers without wearing gloves, I couldn't wash the dishes without gloves, if I grabbed the dish rag to wipe the table- I need gloves, I couldn't eat what everyone else eats at the meal, so many times I had to cook TWO things, and after kidney stones, there was the struggle of drinking tons of water. It might be easy for you to see why I could become discouraged at this point.

SO, discouragement day comes. I'm not sure what the breaking straw is- maybe less sleep, or a new skin break out, or maybe it was just the 24th day in a row that I had eggs for breakfast and I would have rather thrown up. Whatever it was, the day came and I found myself calling my mother as I have before to say, "I can't do this! Why is life so hard! I have all these problems! Etc."

Then in her wisdom, she listens and comments and though it usually isn't at the very beginning, she always gets around to the "Bake Cookies" talk. Basically, it's the idea that I am spending too much time thinking about myself and I need to do something for someone else.

That's never the first thing that pops in my mind when I am struggling to survive. "I can barely get up in the morning, so what can I do to bless someone else?" It doesn't really seem to make sense on the surface, and yet it works. Being concerned only with myself only causes me to focus more on me and my problems. Doing something for someone else, like baking cookies for a friend, takes my mind off of me and my problems and focuses my attention elsewhere. As a result the problems go away forever! No, just kidding. But they do tend to fade into the background a little. It also tends to give me a more accurate picture of "my problems". I may have some issues, but there are so many people out there with bigger issues that could use some encouragement, too.

So, my thought is that the quickest way to dig myself out of depression and discouragement is to get up and do something for someone else. Thinking "poor me" only causes me to spiral downward and only makes me think I am less and less capable of anything. But doing something makes me successful in a small way, makes me a blessing to others, and gives me hope that since I conquered one problem I can tackle another. No one ever climbed a mountain by sitting on the ground looking at it and saying, "I don't think I can do that."

Some would say that I don't know about depression because "I've never really had it." I'm not here to argue the point and in someways, I don't really care about the clinical diagnosis and the fact that it's a disease. I have been in a depressed state at times and know that with or without an official name on it, the way out is to choose to do something rather than sit there. It may be harder for the one who has a regular chemical imbalance in someway, but the choices are the same.

Baking cookies happens to be my way of remembering to bless others, though when I get to it, cookies is rarely the actual blessing.

Here's to thinking about someone else besides me! God, help me to do it more often!

Lessons from Mother- #1 Don't Focus on the Dust

Lessons I’ve Learned from my Mother
#1- Don’t focus on the dust.

I thought I might do a little series of posts on things my mother has taught me through the years that I have been married and have been raising my children- things that she tells me when I call on the phone and wail about the latest incident in the house. I appreciate her balance of being sympathetic to my situation – she had 8 children herself, and yet honest and bold enough to tell me what I need to hear. Sometimes it’s the tough side of love, but it is usually the quickest way to get me out of the emotionally drained hole I am it.

So, the first one I’ll mention is “Don’t focus on the dust.”

She doesn’t quite say it that way on the phone, but that’s usually the way I remember it. Generally I hear the dust pep talk when I’ve hit rock bottom with the children and the house and everything all together. Usually I’ve had some disaster (real life example: Jeff floods the kitchen with the water that comes out of the door on the freezer.) and I’ve been interrupted with Bible School questions, and there are 5 piles of laundry sitting on my bed to be folded, and I haven’t done any school, and we need groceries, and I probably didn’t go to bed on time the night before. I’m worn out, upset, tired, and without a plan and so I call her and say, “I quit!”

She translates that into, “I am an Israelite walking through the desert. I don’t like it and I want to go back to Egypt.” Then I get the “talk”. She tells me all about the Israelites. I never really thought much about them and how they went from one place to another, but since she has latched on to this story, I see them very clearly now:

The Israelites are walking in a line, well a sort of line with all the tribes, one after the other trudging along. There are groups of cattle with their owners and then comes another family behind, then a cart or two of stuff bumping over the rocky ground. After that is another family with their meager herd of goats and 5 children and a wheelbarrow, next is a man who had a cage of chickens and a very large tent that no one understands WHY he must lug that huge thing around when EVERYONE knows it’s terribly impractical. There are 600,000 of these people and YOUR family happens to be smack dab in the middle of the line. Somewhere in between Reuben and Benjamin, thousands of animals, carts, kids, stuff, and noise, there you are walking along with the rest of them. It’s hot, it’s rocky, and the wheels on whatever you have don’t roll smoothly across the ground. Generally your children are running in circles around you because they’ve already walked for so long that they are TOTALLY bored of it and there are no signs for playing the ABC game- even if you could stand it. Since you are in the middle and happen to be behind some family’s herd of cattle and in front of some lady’s prize rooster, you manage to get the best of both worlds: the mounds of cow dung to avoid AND to try to keep your kids out of, the dust that gets in your face from being stirred up by all those hooves, and the lovely crowing behind to serenade your little escapade as you go. Can you picture it? Don’t you love your journey through the desert? Of course not! It’s hard, hot, long, crazy, and besides that, every night no matter what, you have more sand in your bed than anyone else in camp!
The key is that in your walk- you’re focusing on the dust. All the hard things of the NOW. Everything that’s tough that makes you want to complain. It’s hard to have long range vision sometimes, but that’s what the Israelites needed more of- long range vision. They needed to look beyond the dust and the noisy animals and see where they were headed: The Promised Land! God had prepared a special place for them, just for them. He was carving out a way, feeding them, giving them water, meeting their needs and going before them every step of the way to get them to their glorious home. That’s what I need to remember- where I’m headed.

God says children are a blessing from the Lord. He says that because they ARE, not because they might be or could be or someone else’s are to them. NO. Children ARE a blessing and right now during the little years when things are really hard, He has still said they are a blessing and they will be later too.

Then my Mom often reminds me of my relationship with my siblings. Since we grew up in a Christian family that focused a lot on doing things together- we love each other and times when we are together, it’s one of the best things in life. They are my best friends and we have a blast together. That’s the vision I can see. I also see my siblings making wise choices having good character and being a “Jesus” influence on others in the world. I can look at those things and think of them as my Promised Land for my family. When I look ahead, it’s easier to make sense of why I put up with the frustrations of here and now. I no longer want to give up and sometimes become inspired to walk harder, faster and most importantly, with a smile on my face.

We are building an army for Jesus in our family. As one politician put it, though I can’t recall who, "If we can’t change them, we’ll just out number them." Training lots of little soldiers is hard work, but we can have the vision of a mighty army of Christians changing the tide of thinking, action, and moral decay in our society and that is what keeps me going when the road is dusty.

So, don’t focus on the dust. Focus on the goal at the end, our Promised Land, our vision of making a difference in the lives of others, and the vision of raising Godly men and women who can do the same.

Credit to Whom Credit is Due

Lest anyone think that I am conquering the world here and at the same time finding more time to blog than ever before...I'll just state right now that "it ain't so"! Therfore, without further hesitation let me proclaim far and wide and high and low that "my husband is wonderful"!
I don't know how I rated to get such a great man, but I feel like one of the most blessed people on the planet and here's some of the reasons why- just this week...

1. Willingness to keep the children ALL DAY LONG, multiple days in a row.
2. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner in bed for almost an entire week.
3. When he doesn't know what I want, he walks in and in an elderly, raspy voice says, "Dietary".
4. The laundry is done- I fold it, but he has washed and dried it all, including two rounds of Jonathon ?!? wetting his bed- all of it.
5. He has kept the kitchen clean.
6. He has kept the living room picked up.
7. He even cleaned off the clutter "hot spots" a time or two.
8. He changes dirty diapers.
9. He makes the children clean their rooms and make the bed.
10. He has sent one child up at a time to me this week and thus we have had a continuous week of school!!!!!!!!!!
11. Somehow he managed to squeeze in almost 30 hours of "real" work. (Not without help from friends and neighbors, but nevertheless...)
12. He made SALAD to go with dinner tonight!
13. He makes me laugh.
14. He is teaching the children to love me. Jonathon comes up one day and says, "Dietary. Mama, what's a dietary?"
15. He stopped working and went to town so I wouldn't have to go one day.
16. He has been my servant many times, fetching things from downstairs so I would not have to climb them or do without.
17. He drove 5 of us (Jonathon, James, Joseph, Brandon and myself) to Joseph's circumcision appointment and held his little hands during he operation.
18. He let Jonathon watch #17 and thus we have a budding doctor in our midst- at least a child who is fascinated with all manner of dealing with human ailments and blood and guts and such.
19. He has put his comfort and rest last and the children and my needs first.
20. He cares about me and lets me know it.

Anyway, the disclaimer is that I have had a tremndous amount of help from others as well and I don't want to discount their efforts, but the brunt of the responsibility of running the house has fallen on him and he gets an A+ for his efforts.

Oh, and the children are happy!

Attempting the Impossible

Here's one or the results of our attempts at a group shot. I think five is the number at which we might have to stop trying to get everyone looking at the camera, with no fingers in their mouths, and happy, but not fake smiling, and no falling over or looking the other way or leaning back on the pillow, or ....arh! Anyway...they are still charming when they are out of trouble and at this moment none of them were in trouble so life was good and I'll take it!

In Times Like These...

…all the world seems to be a peace. This week of recovery has been quite productive and I have found rest for the whole of me, not just the physical side, but emotionally and spiritually as well.

First, I have been blessed to have a wonderful friend- DR- who, took two of her four personal days (per year) to stay home and help take care of our family while I rested! I remember days in years gone by when I prayed that God would supply me with “real” friends that I could enjoy, trade encouragement with, and be moving together towards God. I haven’t been on the asking side of that prayer for a while now, but there are many times when I find myself thanking Him for supplying that need in my life. So, this week, even though the baby wasn’t suppose to be here yet and thus threw us for a bit of a loop preparation wise, we have had help. I should mention that DR is not the only one who has assisted. I’m sure to skip someone, but there is ES that came on Thursday when the midwife left and Brandon was at the airport and she stayed the day to babysit “Mary and Joseph” (hehe- I didn’t think about that combo until after he was born) . Then there was GP- who in my hour of social thirst came and filled my cup to running over with all manner of conversation, laughing, day dreaming, and general talkativeness. And ER, usually with many children in tow, who has stopped by several times to see me and always lifts my spirits- even if we don’t talk about much of anything. ER has 9 kids and sometimes my strength is renewed just by seeing her alive and knowing that it is possible to have that many children and not be dead from the work of it, but she usually has a smile and a laugh as well- which makes it all the better. And of course, there have been many others who have stopped by to see me, the baby, and say hi. For me, that’s like drugs. I’m practically addicted to people and the worst part of being away in my bedroom is the lack of company. So, thanks to all those people out there who have come to visit and all of you who wish you could…that helps too.

Second, I have been way productive. I feel like I’ve climbed mountains. First and foremost, I’ve been able to read my Bible and have virtually no excuse for not getting it all in. So, that has been a huge boost. I also managed to sneak into the school room yesterday and tidy it up a bit so I could walk in there. When it isn’t in use, it quickly becomes a dumping grounds for all things without a home. Now it’s tidy. I’ve also managed to write up a family letter for this year and hopefully I’ll actually get it sent as well. Among other things, I’ve also finished two books I was reading, cleaned up my room- more thoroughly, made some necessary phone calls, received some books in the mail for school next year and glanced them over, done some long overdue blogging, taken plenty of naps, given orders for the fridge to be cleaned out, done some school with James and Jonathon, put puzzles together with Rachel, gotten my birthing supplies packed away and ready to be transported back to the attic until the next round, had plenty of prayer time, updated some pictures of the children, and numerous other little tidbits. The great thing is that since I have had several days of bed rest recently due to the kidney stone issues, I have actually crossed off lots more of those little nagging things that need to be done than I ever anticipated. I never have much time for work that I need to sit for, because I don’t sit for much, but now I’m caught up with tons of it!!!!! WHOOOOOHOOO!

Third, physically I’m doing pretty good. Joseph has had a bit of trouble eatting due to engorgement issues and the fact that his mouth is so tiny, so that has been tough, but other than that, I’m feeling pretty good and every day find I have more energy. I’m especially thankful now for the disgusting diet I’ve had to be on for my blood sugar issues. For the first time in all my pregnancies I only gained 25 lbs. and lost over half of it at the birth, so getting back down to a decent weight seems more realistic than ever. Two thumbs up for exercise and healthy eatting even when I hate it…it is paying off! Hooray!

Spiritually, I’m doing pretty well. I was just recently feeling discouraged and like I could pray, but felt convinced that God wasn’t really able to respond to me in a way I could hear it. Perhaps you have felt that way about something- like the idea that you want to call God up on the phone and talk to him about a particular matter, but even though you talk and talk and then listen, there is no voice that comes out of the phone saying: “I will send you money tomorrow to pay for the car bill.” Then you say, “thanks, that’s exactly what I needed to know.” So, I was basically griping about a host of things that I didn’t have answers for- that was Saturday night- before the baby was born.

It’s too bad that I am such an impatient person, but Sunday I received answers to several of the things that I was frustrated with and once again I was reminded that God DOES hear, he DOES respond, and even though it may not be through a phone or maybe we don’t ask and then find: GO TO TOWN THIS AFTERNOON written in Matthew, he DOES lead us! So, not only did I get answers to at least three concerns, but I also got a gold nugget from a George MacDonald book I was reading. The idea I got from that, though I don’t remember the quote exactly was,

When we reach the end of the land of possibilities and find ourselves stepping out into the realm of impossibilities, that is just where God dwells.

I was so encouraged to be reminded that God is the KING of conquering impossibilities. And somehow it reminded me once again that he wants to be the KING of what I think is possible too. He would rather me fall flat on my face, than bring glory to myself by doing a thing solo. He wants me to need him for EVERYTHING, to trust him for everything, so that when I get to the end of the day, I can say that God did it.

The other nugget of truth I have been blessed by this week came from listening to “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” on DVD, thanks to a particular CS here at Fairwood. I was listening to the part where the children are discussing Edmond’s recent fall in with the witch and they were despairing over his fate. One of the girls looks to Aslan and says something like, “Surely, something can be done to save him.” And Aslan replies, “All will be done…” And I rejoiced to be reminded that when there are those we know who are stumbling along in their faith, or perhaps it’s just a bad habit that I cannot conquer within myself, I am reminded that God doesn’t stop after he’s tried a couple of tactics. NO! ALL WILL BE DONE! He would not stop until he has given up all of himself and more for every single one of us! He doesn’t throw in the towel after “experiment #4” and say he’s done with it. NO! ALL WILL BE DONE! He keeps going, keeps knocking, keeps pointing, keeps leading, keeps going, and keeps himself on the cross long enough for His death to be the necessary answer for everything we have done, and could ever do, and ever will do.

I’m a bit inspired…

Anyway, I was thinking along those lines for those people out there who want to be following God on one hand, and yet more and more find that they want to be following the world at the same time. I am so thankful He is not content to leave us in such a state!

Well…I guess you got your sermon for the day! I wasn’t really planning on going on that tangent in the beginning, but now you have it. Praise the Lord for rest on all sides!

In the midst of the storm...

So here's my attempt to recreate some of the details for those of you who want more.

I've sat down to post several times since my last posting, but always found myself with more hands at the "wheel" than what I can manage.

Anyway, most of you know that yesterday, February 15th, we had #5.

Joseph Zachary Aldrich

My story is that I started with mild labor on the 14th at about 5am when I couldn't sleep anymore due to contractions and the fact that I was cooking breakfast for the students that morning for Valentine's Day. So, I got up and began. It was a great breakfast if I do say so...we had scrambled eggs, beef sausage links, strawberry yogurt, granola, strawberries, homemade cheese danish, cran-grape juice, and lots of fancy dishes to round it out. The contractions were mild enough that I could work right through them, but they were very regular and hard enough that when I tried to take a nap later that morning, I could really sleep much- about every 6 minutes apart.

For those of you who do not live in the north and thus might be ignorant of our recent weather patterns, Wednesday was also a VERY BIG snow day. We got close to 2 feet of snow before the day was out! So, have snow...must have baby! I called our midwife around 10:30 and apologized over and over that I thought I might be in labor in the middle of a blizzard. She was very comforting and told me numerous times that I was doing the right thing to call- even if this wasn't the "real" thing. (Note: for those of you who don't know...even after four children I can't really tell when I'm in labor in the early stages unless my water breaks first- which it did not.) So, on I went with life...lunch and such and then the midwife (MW) came around 3. She did a few checks, said she thought I probably was in labor and hung around to wait it out. A few applications of some evening primrose oil helped things move along in the right direction, but only very slowly. The short of it is- by 1am I was only 3-4 cm and somehow I have to get to 10!

In fact, I thought I was slowing down afer that and called my mother around 5 to say that I didn't know what was going on, but I seemed to be "circling the runway" with little intention to land any time soon. At 5:15 am on the 15th though- that's 24 hours into this for those of you who don't want to do the math- things changed and I could tell we were going to actually have this baby. It was rather interesting timing however because Brandon was supposed to leave at 7:30 to go pick up my sister Amy at the Boston airport- 2 hours away and then retrieve our new living room furniture (more on that later) on the way home. So I was a little nervous that he would either miss the birth or Amy would have to wait at the airport for us for a while.

But God's timing is perfect- as I am realizing more and more with this child. Brandon stayed and the baby was born at 8:09am. For those of you who appreciate some of the gory details, the midwife broke my water about 2 contractions before I was ready to push and then I had one warm up push and Joseph came out in the second really long push- everything in one great heave! It was not pleasant...and that's all I'll say about that other that, I'd do it again if I could avoid kidney stones!

So Joseph was born, Amy's flight was providentially delayed, and Brandon did his airport and furniture run and Amy didn't have to sit at the airport too long on this end waiting for him.

Now he's here and you might want to know what he's like:

Well, Jonathon insisted that he was still named "Isaac"- a name we considered for a while after being suggested by him on numerous occasions.

James exclaimed that his hands were very small and they were smaller than Rachel's.

Jeff smiled- which was a big improvement to his reaction over Rachel's birth- and just looked on.

Rachel is quite taken with all of Joseph and loves to sit and rub his hands and feet and head and talk about all his parts and say "Baby Joses" over and over.

I think he's pretty cute myself and I think he looks kind of like my paternal grandfather. He had a rounder face than the other children and I could almost imagine him with a balding head of gray hair and some glasses! He was quite a sleeper for most of the day and didn't really want to try to eat anything. I don't often think of the work the baby must do to be born, but I think I just wore him out! He whimpered tiny little whimpers while he slept- kind of like someone who snores with each breath, only his were cute...and he managed to sleep a good part of the night too. He's awake wide and early this morning and has been trying to eat almost nonstop, so the two of us escaped the bedroom to give Brandon a little more sleep before he had to be functional.

For all of you who know and believe in God's timing of events, Joseph was named for the meaning: God will add (and not because it starts with "J") He was a little of a surprise to us from the beginning, though we were very thrilled! He also came after a longer break between children and after the wedding of my brother- which I had specifically prayed for. And the timing here at the end of his birth has just seemed to be perfect as well. I never dreamed I'd have a baby 2 weeks early, but I had prayed that way and God was gracious and answered.

Now, I'm excited about the rest of Joseph's life and wondering what events God has in store for him down the road that might look big or crazy, but in reality are just perfectly put together in God's plan. Whatever it is, I hope I will remember why we named him Joseph and be able to focus on God's big picture of adding things to our lives when He wants to- whether it all makes sense to me or not.


Hooray for little miracles...we have a nice new one here and you should all come and see him! He truly is a blessing from our heavenly Father!

Picture of the Kids

Brandon posted a picture of the kids over here.

24 Hours and Counting

Ok, so here's the scoop...for those of you who are in the dark, or are in the light, but wanting more of it...

CAUTION:

Some parts of this post are more detailed than the light stomach reader would prefer,

proceed with care.

I started having some pain in my side on Wednesday morning- enough to make me just want to lay down with a heat pad. It was similar pain to what I had in November just before Thanksgiving, with the exception that this pain was on the left side and the previous pain was on the right. At the last hospital incident, the diagnosis was that the baby was just putting a lot of pressure on the right ureter (tube from kidney to bladder) and causing me discomfort. I think it was a kidney stone personally, but what do I know...anyway, the pain went away suddenly in the night the last night I was at the hospital, and I haven't had it return since.

This new pain lasted the entire day, Wednesday, and found me taking a prescribed narcotic called Oxycodone- "one of the most powerful medications for pain control that can be taken orally" (according to Wikipedia)- which by the way is safe for the baby since it only messes with your brain. The meds managed the pain and that night the pain went away and I had a good night's rest.

On Thursday, I awoke to find myself somewhat exhausted and rested most of the morning, but in the afternoon, the pain came back, I went back on the drugs and went back to bed with my trusty heating pad. All the time I continued to drink copious amounts of water thinking that this was in fact a kidney stone that needed to pass. It was certainly painful enough to be one and the pain was located in the correct area to be caused by such a thing. Again, in the night, the pain went away and I was relieved.

Friday, I had no pain, but was very exhausted and worn out and rested most of the day. I had very little appetite and found I was cold and tired. In the evening, around 7pm, the pain began again and at 8:30, I took another dose of drugs. By midnight, I was in an intolerable amount of pain and could only lay on my left side without feeling nausea or more discomfort. At 12:30 when I tried to take my next dose of pain medications I found myself in quite a state. I couldn't take the meds because I was throwing up everytime I rolled over or went to the bathroom, I couldn't get comfortable, I was in terrible pain, and I was having false labor contractions on top of it all (that silly baby felt the need to excercise for the delivery right then!?!) At this point, I was beyond being rational and I told Brandon I couldn't deal with it anymore. Actually, I was in so much pain that I couldn't walk and when it came time to put me in the car to go to the hospital, I sort of piggy-backed down the stairs on Brandon. I was in tears! I have never felt so awful in my life!

Fortunately, one of the seats was out of the van and Brandon spread a blanket on the floor and I was able to just lay down flat the entire way to the hospital. He called them on the way so they would be expecting us and when we got there, I was almost immediately wheeled into a bed and given an IV. Me- the person who has always had a very BIG issue with needles was ASKING for an IV. They even messed up the first one and had to do a second one and I didn't really care! All I wanted was drugs! Just make the pain go away!!!! So, pretty quickly, I got some relief and spent the day Saturday in the emergency room. Actually I was in the ER until about 3pm in the afternoon.- the weekend is NOT the time to have a problem! I had an ultrasound to see what there was to see in the morning, but I didn't see the doctor about the results until after 10:30 that night! It wasn't all his fault- he's an OB/GYN and had 7 women in labor that day, so he delivered 4 babies and still had 3 to go when he came to see me that evening. I couldn't help but have some sympathy! Besides, by that time my pain was under control, if not gone and I was able to at least rest some.

Sunday, the pain was almost none that morning, but around noon it came back. At the hospital they put me on a different narcotic called Dilaudid, which is a synthetic form of morphine and a anti-nausea medication called Zofran. Between the two of them I was pretty much knocked out when I was drugged. I don't especially like feeling dopey, but it was better than the alternative for sure! Most of the time I couldn't keep my eyes open, though I could stay awake for a while- even if they were shut. Part of it was that the meds made me dizzy and sort of see double of things some, so it made my head hurt to have my eyes open a lot, but I could shut them and talk still. So, Sunday evening, that pain went away and at that point they had me on an oral dilaudid and were shutting down the fluids on the IV and making me drink. I should mention at this point that both Saturday night and Sunday night I had trememndous volcanic activity in my intestines and had to visit the restroom quite a bit- which is NOT a know side effect of the meds and in hind sight might have very well been a virus on top of all of the stone issue.

Monday, I was having no pain, but hesitant to leave for fear that the pain would return, but the hospital seemed ready for me to go and they covered their bases with the appropriate prescriptions and paperwork. Brandon picked me up and we came home in the afternoon. I had some pain that evening at home, but it was minimal and took only a little of the meds.

Tuesday, I stayed in bed and had some pain in the afternoon and evening, used the drugs, but it went away that night. In the night, I noticed that the pain was completely gone and that mostly I just felt worn out.

On Wednesday, I slept in and rested during the day, doing to lap work on the bed and watched commentaries to movies I had already seen. The pain did not return and I had a good nap. So good in fact that when I went to bed Wednesday night at 11pm I couldn't sleep and I spent the next hour and half laying there wide awake, praying for people and wondering if I would ever sleep. So, I got up marked the 24 hours of no pain and now you have this lovely post for your reading pleasure.

Future Plans: So far, this month it has not worked out for me to plan much of anything, but currently, I am anticipating feeling better tomorrow and possibly spending some time around the family- something I haven't done for a week! This weekend promises to bring some interesting scheduling puzzles to work out and I hope that things will continue to improve as the days progress. Afterall, I only have 6 weeks until I end up in bed again recouping from the baby! I'm not positive that the stone has passed, but it does feel different at this point and I am hoping and praying that means it's gone.

Brandon has done an awesome job of managing the house, the children, and his work. And we have WONDERFUL friends who have also helped make him successful in his efforts. Many people have watched the children, cooked meals, folded clothes, cleaned up, washed dishes, and prayed. I have had many phone calls and felt a tremendous amount of love and support this week. Never could I ever pay everyone back for their kindness to our family. I only hope that in time I'll be able to pass some of the kindness along to someone else who needs it.

And now, for your amusement, some interesting facts from Wikipedia about kidneys stones:

-In 271 BC, the Greek Philosopher Epicurus died from a kidney stone blockage lasting 2 weeks.
-British statesman Samuel Pepys also suffered from kidney stones and was operated on, pre-anesthesia, to remove a large stone which he carried with him and used to try to persuade fellow sufferers to endure the painful surgery.
-Dutch blacksmith Jan de Doot is remembered for having his portrait painted with the large stone that he removed from himself in 1651.
-Astronauts often get kidney stones because of an increase in the amount of calcium in their blood due to a loss of bone density in zero gravity.
-In his book "A Year at the Movies, Mystery Science Theater 3000",writer/performer Kevin Murphy describes his ordeal with a kidney stone: "Being gut-stabbed with a dirty spoon in a prison cafeteria is less painful."
-Lyndon B. Johnson suffered from kidney stones at various times in his life.
-On October 19, 2005, actor William Shatner was taken to the emergency room for lower back pain. He eventually passed a kidney stone, but recovered and soon returned to work. Shatner sold his kidney stone in 2006 for $75,000 to GoldenPalace.com. The money will go to a housing charity.
-John Hart, signer of the Declaration of Independence, died of kidney stones.
-Peter Baulman (Australia) had a kidney stone removed from his right kidney in December 2003 at The Gold Coast Hospital, Southport, Queensland, Australia, weighing 12.5 oz and measuring at its widest point, 4.66 in. It holds the Guinness world record for largest and heaviest kidney stone removed from a human being.

Family Update Revisited

Ok, so I did get sick afterall, though thankfully I avoided the vomitting part of the sickness. Brandon got it too, just after I recovered and thus we finished out the week last week with everyone just barely well.

Monday was an awesome day. We had school with the children, things got done, we stayed on routine and I was excited about the potential of getting back on schedule. Tuesday was off to a good start, but I had a doctor's appointment in the morning and then went to Manchester for some errands that afternoon, so as far as the schedule goes, the day was shot. Brandon took care of the children for the afternoon and evening and then has basically had them the rest of the week as well. Wednesday, I came down with a case of trouble with kidney stones. This is what put me in the hospital back before Thanksgiving, but since I had been around this block and had proper medication for it, I decided to brave it at home. Wednesday evening, I felt much better and thought that perhaps I had passed the stone, but Thursday afternoon the pain returned and I have been drugged ever since. Even now I'm in sort of a daze with a slight feeling of the room spinning, a good headache, and a bit of nausea, but the pain in my side is minimal, so I suppose the meds are doing their work- even if I hate the side effects. I will put all your minds at ease and say that both the doctor and my midwife told me that the drugs I am taking will not hurt the baby, so don't worry, but if you think of us you can pray that this will all go away. Pray for Brandon too, he's very busy this month and being sick and having to play househusband is not helping his work load.

Actually, my list of things to do in the near future is kind of overwhelming as well, so keep us in your prayers. I'll try to post if things change around here. Right now the good things are: great friends to help us out, the kids are happy, and I have been able to rest. Praise the Lord for His goodness to us- even when it looks bad.

Well, I think that's all my head can take of looking at words. We'll keep in touch...

Family Update

Here's the lastest report on our activities and status:

Brandon is currently en route to NH and should arrive sometime Tuesday morning. Perhaps he will be all perky and ready to take over the sick ward....maybe??? ok....maybe not.

I came home with the kids from Maine on Sunday morning- a day early, when Rachel threw up and J1 and J3 were sounding VERY congested. We have managed to survive, thanks to some planning, coming home to a clean house, and some reinforcements today for dinner prep.

Rachel seems to be feeling better today. She only spewed twice yesterday and has been scarfing down the food ever since. Jeff was sick this evening with a grand total of 5 rounds. Unfortunately, he hit the bed- everything on it, so that had to be washed, and he also disliked the activity so much that he would hide from me when he was about to vomit. So, I had to fight with him to get him to hit the bucket. We succeeded mostly and thus minimized the mess. Jonathon's stomach was feeling icky tonight, so he did not have dinner. He said he wanted it, but then just pushed it around on his plate for 20 minutes, so I took it away and said that perhaps the good soldiers in his body needed to concentrate on fighting off the bad guys and if he put food in there, the soldiers wouldn't be able to do their job as well. (Did anyone else think they had little men in their bodies when they were little besides me?) Anyway, all three of the boys went to bed with buckets by their sides, but so far, no one has had to use them. I'm glad. I hope it stays that way all night. The only reason James went with a bucket was because I just thought that anyone who ate about three hotdogs for dinner was bound to loose it if their stomach got the least bit queasy.

SO, I'm thankful that the house is pretty clean, I"m not sick, and Brandon is on his way home. The house is pretty peaceful and as I recal, we were sick when ringing in the New Year last year as well, so maybe it's just tradition...but I don't think we need to keep up with this one.

Tata.