A Little Different Swing on that Virtuous Woman

Disclaimer:I know I'm going to "catch-it" from at least one person for my illustration of this subject, but I'm betting that there is ONLY one person out there who would disagree. Thus, with a hypothetical vote of everybody to 1...the "everybodys" have it! :-) (I love you- 1!) I can't help but have this image in my mind for almost all of this passage!

I had a Bible Study on Proverbs 31 recently and we discussed ideas of how to make each verse more meaningful to us in our lives now. So I got this idea to write up a modern day application of the passage and what it means to me- and use the acrostic idea that is present in the Hebrew that you can’t appreciate in English.

10. Are there any women out there who are capable, unflappable, strong and kind? If so, she must be so amazing as to be unbelievable! Let me tell you what I think she is really like:
11. Being her husband does not bring any worry or anxiety. He trusts her completely and is confident in her decision making and knows she will be wise.
12. Continually she is kind and pleasant to him and avoids anything that is not in his best interest or would hurt him.
13. Diligently she takes pleasure in her hard work and delights in new ways to be resourceful.
14. Everything she feeds her family is selected with care to find the healthiest, most frugal, and freshest ingredients knowing that the extra time spent in getting the best will be worth it.
15. Family needs come first and she is motivated and energetic about meeting them. She is a self-starter and unselfish.
16. Gradually she makes wise long term investments knowing that her extra work now will benefit her family for years to come.
17. Her body is kept strong and in good shape. She considers it a priority to be in a healthy state so that she can keep up with the demands of her job.
18. In the night she is always available for her children’s needs- be they practical or spiritual. She’s also willing to put forth extra effort to make good quality products.
19. Just as quickly as she can, she increases her knowledge to benefit her family with her new skills. She’s willing to do repetitive work and can be depended on to take care of mundane tasks.
20. Kindness flows from her to everyone she meets. She ministers to others in need, shows hospitality and is generous.
21. Living prepared, the unexpected is not feared. She plans for emergencies, prepares for the seasons ahead of time, and maintains her household calmly rather than jumping from one disaster to another.
22. Most days she keeps her own appearance and clothing a priority as well, knowing that it is a positive influence and reflection on her family for her to appear “put together”. But she is frugal about it and can be creative with what she has in her wardrobe already.
23. Now her husband is a leader and is well respected, so she encourages him in his role and does not complain that he is gone extra hours of the day.
24. Often she is found creatively subsidizing the family income. She is organized, managerial, and can run a business with confidence and leadership.
25. Physical strength as well as emotional stability are immediately obvious in her. She stays mentally ready and spiritually in tune to things around her. Stability and cheerfulness will pay off for her in the long run.
26. Quietly she considers those she listens to and when she speaks from her vast wisdom, experience, and insight, it is without judgment and contains the utmost gentleness.
27. Reliability is her trademark and she is forever keeping watch for what to work on next. There is no place in her life for procrastination for she loves her work and has plenty of it.
28. Such an energy giver she is that her children and husband rave about her to others.
29. There are many women who have become great, but this woman is better than all the others.
30. Understand that greatness and beauty will fade with time, but a woman who loves God and shows that love unconditionally to others will be valued all her life.
31. Virtually everything she does and everyone who comes in contact with her will speak for her so clearly that she will never need to defend herself.

Light at the end of the Hallway

(My faithful bed rest partener and her "gibit")
We’re on to week “I’ve-lost-count” of bed rest. I’ve been in my bedroom, on my bed for two full weeks now. I was on the couch before that for at least 3 weeks. Before that, everything is a little fuzzy in my brain. Of course when you are horizontal for that length of time I think it makes everything in life a little fuzzy, not to mention sideways.

Remarkably, I think things have gone fairly well. I’ve had plenty of support from wonderful friends, my fabulous husband has kept me fed and my needs met, the children have been supportive and understanding, and I’ve had many phone calls, visits, and cards from friends. Overall, I couldn’t ask for a better situation considering the needs.

Some of the things that have made bed rest tolerable have been the unexpected items: doing some sort of school each day with the children, preparing and leading a Women’s Bible Study on Wednesday nights in my bedroom, and taking time to write thank-you notes. These things have kept me thinking of all the love people have poured out and help me avoid selfishly complaining. I have very few moments to think about myself and feel pitiful. I did not expect encouragement to come this way, but it has been my lifeline.



Brandon has faithfully awakened me each morning at 8am with breakfast in bed. He doesn’t have high expectations of what I will do after that, but he expects me to start my day. That’s been surprisingly helpful as well. It’s hard enough to keep my days and nights straight when I’m in the bed every day, but if I have a set time to be up and start- even if I nap later- it keeps me from getting completely switched around and greatly helps with emotional stability.

Then there is the wonderful change that has taken place over the last week. If I can be bold, I will say that I’m confident the change happened this past Sunday. You see, last Monday I went into the hospital with regular contractions, three minutes apart. Hospital experiences are always a story in themselves, but I’ll cut it short and say that they managed to drug me enough to cause the contractions and sent me home with the minor wounds of four attempts at starting an IV. Wednesday night I had regular contractions again and took my medicine with successful results. We repeated the scenario Thursday night and then again Saturday night, only each time it took longer to work. By Sunday morning I was tired of being up in the night wondering if I was going to have to head to the hospital and as things seemed to keep progressing in a less than desirable way, I call my family for prayer. I know that MANY people were praying for me on Sunday- for things to change, for the baby to stay put, for a miracle to happen! And I am confident that God heard and answered that prayer!

Monday morning, I felt like things were different. I can’t really explain it. It was a gradual feeling and not really something I can put my finger on, except that the more I thought about it this week, the more I was sure that God had done something to settle things down that Sunday. Just to really test things out, I started sitting up in bed more to see if things would be ok. Tuesday I sat on the bed for most of the day instead of lying down. I actually decorated Joseph’s birthday cake that day- on the bed, but enjoyed sitting up to do a number of other things as well. I had no negative repercussions.



Wednesday, I continued with the same thing. While I didn’t decorate a cake that day, I did sit up most of the day and also did a couple of things that required puttering around my room for a few minutes. Thursday I had my hair cut by a wonderful friend and even walked to the top of the stairs and sat there during lunch. Again I had a little more activity and no contractions or spotting. Friday has been similar. I moved to the couch in my room for a while today while someone changed the sheets on the bed and enjoyed having my lunch in a completely upright position. I also rearranged some flowers, watered a couple of plants, and put away a few things that belonged other places upstairs. Then when I felt like I was pushing the limits too much I would come back and recline on the bed for a while. I’d say I’m at about 1/8 capacity for full activity right now. That may not seem like much, but it was virtually at zero! And things continue to stay stable.
I also had a good conversation with my midwife earlier this week, giving me much more information, and clearing up some questions we had about the seriousness of my condition. For one, she is 99% sure I don’t have a placental abruption! Thanks to some other things being clarified, both Brandon and I are fairly confident that this baby is going to hang on at least until 37 weeks and we can also deliver at home. The risks are fewer every day for premature labor and we are encouraged that we can perhaps go back to our original plan, which for our family is much more sensible for a number of reasons.
All in all, I see God’s hand in it- thoroughly. He’s kept me upbeat for most of the time, he’s answer prayer for my physical needs to be met, He’s sent people and the perfect time and met practical needs in perfect ways. We’ve been blessed so much by the generosity of others! He has proved himself faithful. I am encouraged that He is on the job in our home and with our family.

In a less spiritual, more everyday amusement sort of way, here are some things going on:
- Jonathon and Jeff are learning to style their hair- with actual hair products. Jeff has been in the bathroom to fix his hair at least 6 times today. They are perfecting the looks of “messy” and “spike” respectively. I never thought I would have a seven year old that WANTED to style his hair! Look out teenage years!


- Jeff came in with an amusing comment today. He declared that his thumb wasn’t working because every time he pushed it down on the table it went like this:

A very terrible problem, as you can see.

-The popular tune heard around our house lately, thanks to our decision to name the baby, “Justin Alexander” is “Just-in Obey. For there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to Just-in obey.” I’m sure he’s going to hate that song his whole life at this rate! Joseph is the one that sings the tune most faithfully.

- I finally finished a project I began last April. I made Rachel some coat hangers for her doll clothes. A certain expensive company sells doll clothes hangers for a whopping 3 for $10. Since I can’t choke up enough nerve to even think about spending $50 for hangers, I had Brandon pick up some heavy duty wire at the hardware store last year and with a good set of needle nose pliers, I’ve just bent some into shape. They are nearly as cute or uniform, but they do the trick and Rachel was quick to put them to good use!

All this brings me to today- Tuesday. I’m officially 36 weeks along today and I can begin getting up. It will have to be gradual as the earliest the baby can come here at home is Sunday. So, we don’t want to get things going too quickly. Today’s extra event will be sitting on the couch this afternoon to supervise the children while Jeff goes to the orthodontist. That will be enough activity I think- mostly due to the fact that I have to go up and down the stairs to get there.

Jeff’s appointment at the orthodontist is to discuss widening his upper jaw to eliminate his massive cross bite problem. This is a symptom that comes with the ear problem he’s had since birth, but we are hoping to correct the mouth issue while we can- which is apparently sometime between now and the time he turns 10-12. We took him in last year, but he didn’t have his six-year molars, which are apparently necessary anchor points for the contraptions he will have to wear in his mouth. I’m pretty sure they are present now, so we’ll see.

Ok…I suppose I have to stop talking here or this will never get published to my blog. And the longer I type the less likely people are to sit down and read it… Happy Tuesday.

The Nitty Gritty

Ok, so after attempting several posts, writing, adding to, undoing, writing again, I’m finally committed to putting an update together. Here’s what’s going on- for all of you who are interested.
Ever since the 20th of January I have been on bed rest. Or couch rest to be more precise. In the morning I get up, get dressed (sort of) and meander down to the couch where I spend the majority of my day sitting or lying on my side and telling other people what to do.
I have a plethora of entertainment possibilities while I sit. I have a Bible Study I’m leading each Wednesday for the Bible School Women. So I get plenty of time to prepare. I have my daily Bible reading, some videos to watch, and some craft things I’m working on to keep my fingers busy.


There’s always the laptop to keep me distracted with things like blog posts or Facebook and most of my time is taken up with telling the children what to do. We have done some school almost every day and I am grateful for the forced focus that required down time lends to school.
Thanks to a special someone, I have money with which to bribe pay my kids and others to do extra chores. I’m not paying them to get dressed and clean their room. Nor am I paying for the regular work they are supposed to help with- cleaning up toys, emptying the dishwasher, and wiping the bathroom. But I have been paying for the times when I need one child to do an extra job or something. Jonathon has been taking advantage of this new business opportunity and has earned several dollars making dinner, cleaning up from meals, and doing the younger kids jobs when they are outside playing. James has gotten in on the action as well and Rachel just a tiny bit. It’s been nice to be able to give them some reward for the extra effort they are putting out. They really have been cheerful workers overall and I have been blessed by their diligence and initiative numerous times. One thing we have going is a deal to pay half of what they earn to them to spend and the other half to put into a jar we keep on top of the fridge for some family fun. Right now we are saving up to build some sort of tree house in the spring or summer and hope to have a little left over for something else fun like a day trip to the ocean or out for ice cream. Since it’s such a family effort to keep things going around here, I thought that everyone should benefit in some way of the team work they are exhibiting. Overall they seem to like this arrangement, especially since I have been fairly generous in the payment for certain jobs. This plan is working and I’m thrilled. So, a big thank you to my “fairy godmother” for meeting a need in a creative way!

Now for what’s actually going on. (PHYSICAL DETAILS- BEWARE) For the last four weeks I’ve been spotting- just barely bleeding. Some days it’s so barely there that I have to be in good light to see it. Other days it’s been obvious, but never bright red- just a little pink. There are a lot of things that can cause this to happen in later pregnancy, but unfortunately we’ve managed to rule out all the normal excuses. I have no detectable infections, no sores or abrasions, no kidney problems or other problems relating to elimination. Through a number of observations and testing we’ve managed to rule out all the easy answers that would make it possible to just ignore it and move on. This leaves me with the risk of placental abruption. For those of you not up on your pregnancy risk vocabulary, this is when there is a slight to large detachment of the placenta from the uterine wall, causing bleeding between the placenta and the uterine lining. With a small abruption a woman can easily go through pregnancy and labor and everything be fine, however if the abruption increases and the placenta decides it’s time to separate completely or becomes more fully separated then the baby looses oxygen and it can mean a premature delivery. We don’t know for sure if this is the problem or not, but it’s the next thing to suspect and with the minimal bleeding it seems that it is probably on the minimal side of abruption. If I make it to 37 weeks, the delivery would not be premature at that point but the risk will still exist for the baby’s stability during labor to be compromised. Bed rest helps keep things from moving around and becoming dislodged further- if that is in fact the problem. So, here I am- at least until Feb 21st, when I’m close enough to my due date that I can safely go into labor. I might end up on bed rest until March 10th however, just because that’s when our help (Jane the Wonderful) arrives. If at all possible we want to avoid having the baby and trying to supervise all the kids at the same time. So, we’ll do what we can to help things out that way and be trusting God to meet our needs both the practical ones and the timing of things.
We are also considering having this child at the hospital. It sounds crazy to most of you probably, but I’m a little nervous. I know the risk factors would be greatly reduced if we had this baby at the hospital, but I haven’t had a child outside of my own bedroom for 10 years! Jonathon has been the only hospital birth and since then we’ve been blessed to be able to have all the others naturally and at home with the help of a wonderful midwife. I’ve come to love the peacefulness of being at home, the comfort of laboring in my own house around my family, with all my own comforts. And when the baby is here, I lay down in my own bed and there are no monitors to be hooked to, no noises from a nurse’s station, no two hour checks for 24 hours after the baby is born. No one tells me I can’t let the baby sleep on my chest, no one takes him out for tests and such without my consent, noone gets paranoid and feeds him formula without asking me first. It’s just me and him and my wonderful family all around. AND I can have all the company I want as soon as I want it- which is one of the biggest things I’ll miss about a hospital delivery. After the baby is born and things are cleaned up, I’m usually ready to have everyone in the nearby vicinity come and ogle over the baby. Don’t believe me? Some of you know. Some of you have been here an hour after the birth. I eat it up- it’s one of the best things about the whole process! How many people can I get to come and see me and the baby as soon as possible? Hold him! Rejoice with me! It’s a new life! Let’s celebrate! And I don’t want to do it alone. The hospital is almost two hours away- the good one, that is. And regardless of efforts made, it just won’t be the same. I’ll miss having the entire Bible School in my room two hours after the delivery.
The safety and help from the doctors and being in a place where we will have help is worth it. I know that. I’ll trade all of the people time for the knowledge that if something goes wrong I’m in the best place I could be.
So, that’s where I am, what I’m doing and why. I’ve been tremendously blessed by supportive family and friends. I’ve got wonderful people helping keep up with laundry and child care and have loads of freezer meals- some people have brought and some I made with a friend just before I went on bed rest. Others have brought over hot meals- which are a welcome change up. I have gotten cards, videos, a Netflix subscription, money to pay the kids and others, and visitors (one of my favorites!) have come to chat and let me know they care. While, I’m still occasionally an emotional wreck, all the support has left me confident that others love me and my family and are there for us. When both my parents and Brandon’s parents live so far away, that is a treasure I don’t take for granted.
If you find yourself praying for our family, I’d appreciate all the help I can get for emotional stability and clear communication with Brandon. You can pray for the physical needs too, but also for my self control to stay put and eat correctly. I have to be even more cautious about my diet while I’m sitting around doing nothing.
God is good- all the time. He is meeting our needs and leading us each and every day. I find myself asking him for help sometimes in the silliest ways it seems, and yet I continue to find him faithful in answering my childish cries for attention and help. He hears my, “Daddy, I can’t do this” and seems to smile and say, “Yes, you can but I will help you anyway.” I’m so thankful for his mercy.

Convenience Food at it's Best

Today was a wonderful exhausting day. A friend of mine told me a few weeks ago that she would come over today and help me make freezer meals. Whoot! After mega planning and a phenomenal grocery store trip by the marvelous husband yesterday we had all the ingredients necessary to put together 20 meals that serve at least 8 people each! Thankfully a couple of stores had meats on sale so I didn’t have to spend my entire life savings (which really amounts to about 24 cents in my wallet) on the food. It was a little more than regular shopping, but in the end the convenience is totally worth it!
I like to think of these meals as almost ready meals. They aren’t your regular casseroles and such. Several years ago my sister in law gave me a couple of “Mega Menu” kits from www.savingdinner.com. I tried them and absolutely love them and have purchase and made some of their other kits as well. The one I did today was a Low Carb Menu for 20 meals. Basically you put all the ingredients together for each meal, but it isn’t cooked yet. These are a good balance to killing yourself all in one day to make meals, and having something easy to prepare. I also get to eat healthier since these are main dishes that avoid things like creamed soups and incorporate more items like fresh veggies, spices, and whole grains, etc. Just in case you like this idea, they have plans for 10 meals or you can just make 5 all chicken or 5 all beef.
Anyway, we had a grand day of chopping, dicing, squeezing, measuring, pounding, and running around changing dirty diapers. We made things like Italian Chicken Skillet- with loads of zucchini, red bell pepper, onions, chicken, and tomatoes, and Mini Meatloaves- which is about half beef, half shredded zucchini, and Nutty Fish- a cod dipped in egg and then dredged in ground pecans and paprika. Of course, after the main dishes are prepared and frozen, then I just have to pull them out and cook them. There are also whole menu suggestions of side dishes and salad ideas to have with it to keep it in the “Low Carb” category. I love it!
One of my favorite discoveries recently has been mashed cauliflower. I really should stay away from that big heaping pile of buttery mashed potatoes and this menu suggested using cooked, mashed cauliflower with a little cream cheese, salt and pepper instead. Does it taste like potatoes? No. However, it makes for a yummy creamy substitute that I can enjoy and even put a little gravy on if I choose.
So, now I have preassembled meals for a month in my chest freezer. I couldn’t be happier! Our family can all eat the same thing at dinner and I can rest easy knowing that I’m being “good”. For anyone that has struggled to stay on some sort of diet while feeding your family, who is not on a diet, you know it gets old trying to figure out two meals every single day. This combines things so that if I want to add bread for them I can, but if they just eat what I’m serving for myself, then I can be confident that they are consuming something that is good for them too. And it helps me keep from slacking off as much on what I’m eating.
Bottom line: we had a good time and it’s all done and in the freezer waiting, or perhaps begging to be pulled out in a couple of days.

I’m now off duty, the children are in bed, and I’m putting my feet up. I just might go to sleep a wee bit early- smiling all the way.

Life in the Tundra

Yesterday was a delightful day of watching snow swirl around and blow. In fact the last couple of days have been good for that. It inspired me to clean the slime and snot off the windows so I could actually see through them and out to that gorgeous white lawn. We received about 20 inches- or first good solid dumping of the season.

Today we needed a change, and so ventured out of the house to the store, not in the tradition of the my Southern heritage, "oh I need something from the store or I'll starve cause it's snowing outside" but in the Northern heritage of, "Oh, the Bible School is out of milk and the husband volunteered for the job but doesn't have time to do it." I must say for ya'll down in warmer climates I'm sure 20 inches would have kept you in for weeks, but this morning, my driveway had been plowed for the second time and the main roads had zero snow on them. Oh...and we have car inspections, so my tires have tread and so do everyone else's. I get it.

So, I bundled up the kids- actually they mostly bundled themselves, ate breakfast, and found all the appropriate boots and coats. Then I made them all go back and change clothes because 4 out of 6 were wearing the same clothes as they were on Monday and the rest of the week. We finally got everyone properly dressed and loaded into the van where I discovered that Joseph still didn't put a jacket on. Back into the house to get a jacket in case we got stranded in our car on the side of the road buried under a pile of snow 8 feet tall (cause that's how much it would take to bury our van) and then off to town. It only took us one hour and 15 min. to get ready and most of that really was spent with me going to the bathroom and trying to reach my shoes...after all, I am pregnant. We had three goals: get milk, pick up some ingredients for a pot luck offering for the weekend, and go to the library to pick out books. Oh...and don't kill the kids.

Our first stop was the grocery store where we normally shop. Really, I'm not sure why the other three grocery stores even stay in business. There is such a difference in prices between this one and the others. I estimated one time that a list of groceries that cost me $160 at store A would have cost $200 at least at any of the other stores! Anyway, we were there. I pulled into the only proper spot for a pregnant woman with 6 kids and a large bus- the spot in between the plow's snow hill and the buggy return. Actually it was pretty sweet cause there weren't two complete spots plowed there, only about 1 1/2. So we gladly took up the entire space. Ah...if you don't use a large van on a regular basis you have no idea how glorious it is to have space on BOTH sides of the vehicle to exit AND not have to squeeze into a shape similar to a diet size slice of cucumber to get out of the car. I opened my door all the way stepped my big preggo self out onto the ground and then spaciously walked around and opened both side doors to let the ants out of the hill to mill around and scavenge for food.

We'll say this was one of the better trips to the store. People stopped and stared. They always do. And really, I think I would too, but it was mostly happy stares. I grabbed a buggy from the stall, plopped Renna in her light pink poofy coat in the baby seat and then shoved it through the slush to the door. My train followed faithfully behind. If we didn't look like a circus parade, we'd be a cute family. The older three boys each have jackets of a different bright color. That way when I want to point them out to someone I can say, "Hey! Can you swat the one in the blue? Thanks!" So red, green, blue marched forward. Then came Rachel in her purple striped shirt, light pink quilted handmade skirt (which I sewed for her back when I magically was able to create time for something like that), brown leggings, white footies, white sneakers, and a fuchsia sweater jacket. This was not one of her better coordinated days. Joseph tramped along behind her with his jacket unzipped, freezing, sucking his fingers and...THAT BOY put on the pants he wet yesterday! GREAT...I still missed one back at the dressing ordeal- oh well. So our train went into the store, up and down the isles, stopping at the few items we needed to pick up.
I really must apologize to all the other customers in the store. I know we made their shopping experience take ever so much longer due to the stare factor. I actually started looking around to see if there was a sign posted saying: Make way for the big lady with all the kids...and don't shop when she's on your isle. Cause, really every time we turned down an isle to get milk or white chocolate chips or other food item, life completely stopped all around us. Whether there were 2 or 20 other people on that isle, as soon as we got there they all froze and maintained complete silence as we walked by, got our stuff and moved on. Once I actually went back to the previous isle just to be sure the people started moving again. I mean I would hate to cause a permanent frozen state in others. Sure enough they were back to their business. It was a handy thing for us. I mean...if no one else is shopping then it's easier to get stuff and get out. The store clerks on the other hand ran the other direction. The one I tried to get to find some blueberries acted like he was deaf. And another when he saw me coming actually pulled out a newspaper and began reading while walking the other way as if he wasn't a sales clerk! They weren't mean, just careful to avoid all possible interaction with that crazy woman who brought the day care out for a field trip.
The kids were a big help though. We needed 13 gallons of milk and I didn't have to lift a single one. They didn't play bumper cars too many times, and Renna only unloaded my purse once. We even made it out without having to visit the bathroom- which is the first time I think since #3 has been potty trained that we have NOT had to use the facilities in the grocery store. Perhaps we should have cake for dinner and celebrate this small accomplishment.
Anyway, they loaded the belt at the cashier, loaded the cart with the bagged groceries, AND managed to stay together all the way back to the car. Since I was button-popping proud of their behavior I handed them all a chocolate cupcake with valentines frosting on top as a snack when we got in. That was a big hit and I'm now, for the time being on the "awesome mama" list. At least until I tell them to clean up their rooms today. That was a great distraction for the second store I went to where I left them all in the car for about 5 minutes to buy one item and come back. So glad I can trust them for a little while! It's unbelievably freeing!
Stop number three was the library- by far the most exhausting one. For starters the parking isn't nearly as divine. We ended up parallel parked on the street where the snow hadn't been cleared away completely. So, too bad I couldn't get to that parking meter to put my change in...I would have, you know. As it was, I had to step one foot into the plowed line of snow to get out of the car- only up to my knee of course. And then I hung on to the rear view mirror to get around the front without toppling over into the bank. The kids got out into the street and I discovered Renna had really enjoyed her cupcake. Jonathon appropriately warned me, "Mama, Renna looks like she's had 15 lunches and no manners at any of them." Now her coat is in the washer and I hope it comes out without plastered chocolate and red sprinkles on it. Fortunately I scrounged around and located a sad roll of paper towels and used water from my water bottle to smear around the cake mess. At least it was more like a facial glow than polka dots then. We trotted into the library with our purple book crate, 6 kids, and the cake crumbs trailing behind. It's actually good that we had to walk a ways to the door cause that way most of the crumbs were knocked off before we got to the quiet, clean, always act like adults library. In we went and up two flights of stairs to the children's section. They have an elevator, but the kids were in front and far be it from me to make them come back to ride it, so I limped up the stairs as well with Renna on my hip like some old woman that should have come in her wheelchair. We picked out books and played with the library toys- this place has AWESOME toys. In fact, the kids really never want to come for the books. They just want to play with the 4 foot dollhouse and the trains- which we have at home and they get bored of! I called a bit of the adventure there "school" because I did technically explain the numbering system to Jonathon while he was trying to find the non fiction sections relating to pirates, boats, vikings, and dragons. Totally counts!
After about 3 seconds Jeff had his required 3 books and went to play. The rest of the kids followed suit eventually, but after each child gets 3 books and Mama finds a small stack she thinks they will like that purple crate is heavy! I think we had almost 30 books picked out...so time to go.
Somewhere in there, I took one child to the bathroom and made the other wait. Why can't they want to go at the same time? I don't know...but there is a law- I'm convinced.
Down the stairs we stomped. Really, I'm not sure if there is any hope of us not distracting all the other patrons in the library- ever. While we checked out, I added another to the bathroom list, Renna tried to slam her fingers in the door and wailed, Joseph used the chair cushions in the lobby as trampolines, and Rachel attempted to read the words on the welcome sign at the top of her lungs to all who would listen. I bet the librarians had a party of silence when we finally left.
Now we are home, everything is inside and mostly put away, Renna is busy unfolding all the paper napkins, some of the kids have been outside to play, and the bathroom is available to all who want to use it. Oh, and I think Joseph did eventually change his pants. I did ask him to anyway- at least twice. Same shirt, but you know...some battles just aren't worth it.
So...from 8:30 to 12:30 our entire focus was one stop at the grocery store and a 30 minute stay at the library, with a quick grab at another place. It probably wouldn't have taken that long by myself, but it wouldn't have been nearly as interesting and I wouldn't have bothered to share it with you.

Now off to figure out dinner...mac n' cheese anyone?

Sweet Peace

Today started off sort of late. Mostly because last night ended late- for everyone. Yesterday the kids and I bravely attended an evening ice skating party. I wasn't completely convinced I had energy for such things. There is all the frozenness, the skate tying and immediate untying, the trotting from house to pond, the forgotten gloves or diaper bag, and the child with big eyes begging no one but Mama to pull them on the sled around the ice- at 6 1/2 months pregnant. Of course 3 year olds don't generally factor the tummy issue into their decision matrix. But I wanted so badly to get out of the house and take the kids to do something fun that it was worth the risk of running out of steam or falling down once to try to make it work. It was an exercise in throwing out the schedule and routine to watch them smile and experience something different. We had an exhausting fabulous time.

It appears as though I'm paying for it this morning, but I'm not so sure that's the case either. Sure there are some heightened emotions, and school is a little slower- actually with several firm stand stills mixed in. But right now I have a precious baby asleep snuggled up in my arms, another child laying in bed taking some extra time with Jesus, another sitting in a rocking chair with my maternity sweater on rocking back and forth alternately reading his Bible and calmly talking to the kid on the floor building block towers about what he is reading. Rachel and Joseph are playing house kindly upstairs, happy that I finally took the two minutes this morning to tie a string to the end of the bedroom light switch cord so they can turn it on and off themselves. My tummy is wildly wiggling around as I sit here with my feet propped up and thus it appears that the one yet born is the only one capable of expressing massive amounts of energy right now.

This is a precious moment and I wouldn't miss it for all the world checked off a list.

New Comes around Again

With each new year I find myself thinking about where I want to be at the end of this period of months. I seem start off with similar goals each time: eat healthier, exercise more, be kinder to my family, read my Bible more faithfully, etc. I believe if I engraved this list of aspirations on a golden plaque and mounted it on my bedroom wall I could probably only change the years from one year to the next and never really alter my goals the least bit. It's not the most inspiring way to begin and this year I found myself discouraged at the thought of just erasing the "10", replacing it with "11" and attempting another round of vague feel good ideas.

It has taken me over a week to wade through my lofty ideas and ambitions for the new year. Some are reasonable like: have the baby. Others are more on the ridiculous side: after having the baby and possibly foot surgery and 6 months of recovery reach my prepregnancy weight from before Jonathon. Maybe in Heaven...

One of the things I did accomplish last year- which was not on my goal list- was to read a book about goal setting and thus, I'm strongly considering scrapping the old mantra and replacing it with a new concept to me.

This idea I read about was creating "S.M.A.R.T. Goals".
S.M.A.R.T. is an acronym for:
Specific(details)
Measurable(capable of measuring success)
Attainable(not dependent on another person's attitudes or actions)
Realistic(small enough chunk to actually be successful with)
Time Oriented (have a deadline).

With this in mind, I scrapped the old generalities and added some S.M.A.R.T. to brighten up my dusty list.

I changed "Eat Healthier" to:
For the first three months: keep a food journal, come up with 3 healthy snacks I enjoy, replace evening snacks with water or herbal tea, and note in my journal when I am really hungry or "emotionally hungry". Reevaluate at the beginning of April.

For "Exercise more":
Set a goal to walk for 20 minutes, 3 times a week until the end of March. Reevaluate then.

Instead of "Be kinder to my family":
Develop 2 new ideas for ways to show love during discipline and practice them for 2 months to see how they work. Set aside time at least once a week for a longer one on one time with a child to talk to them, listen to them or focus on their interests. Show kindness to Brandon by picking one of his pet peeves and working to change that habit- write it down and check back each month to evaluate.

To replace "Read my Bible more faithfully":
Purpose to read the New Testament through this year along with my oldest two boys(not depending on them, just doing the same thing) using a Bible reading chart set up for this amount of reading. Use time on Saturday to catch up on any reading missed during the week.

I'm convinced an entire year is way too long for me to make a goal and not check on it between now and then. Since I have always tended towards three month phases (or so I'm told) that seems like a good amount of time to work and then check on my progress. At that point, I can make it harder or easier depending on how I'm doing in a particular area. Three months will be a good transition point anyway because I will have a new little boy to care for by the end of March and that will change a number of things in my life for a while.

The other thing that I'd like to focus on this year is to find ways to build up encouragement in my life and put away despair and discouragement. I'm going to look for inspiring thoughts to print out and put on my walls in places where I'll see them. Write notes and put them in drawers or books that I read. Change my desktop to be something that builds me up each time I look at it. And look for other ways to be encouraged and press on. My hope is that I can bounce some cheerfulness off onto my family rather than throwing grouchy at them so often. We'll see. It's all got to be written down but I'm already working on it.

And to end on a lighter note, Jeff has declared that he wants to be a Daddy when he grows up- which apparently includes checking email, cooking, cutting grass, and making fires. This is one of the best goals I can think of!

Great time to Practice

Well... tonight marks a new test in my life. Brandon has been away before, but this time he's going for 8 days. I really could almost count all of last week as him being gone- he's been so busy- ok, well, he did still come to bed every night eventually :-) But this week he's headed to Indiana with the students for the whole week- including 2 Sundays. This will be a little different because he's taking all my normal helpers with him- my sisters, my friend that usually helps in church, the pastor and his wife- they are all going. And I'm staying. For several reasons this seems big to me,not the least of which is that I wanted to go too. But I've been helped by God to have a better attitude about that particular part of the plan- even if it wasn't originally what I would have picked. And, since I have been working on discouragement lately, I have a good chance to practice my new strategies this week while I'm alone. They have worked for other situations so far and I've been very encouraged at the results.

Here they are: (in no particular order)

#1. Avoid the normal reactions: avoiding the task or thing that needs to be done, escaping to a movie, book, or corner of the house, venting about my problem without seeking a solution or doing anything about it, staying in bed in the morning too late, staying up too late the night before.

#2. Apply Nehemiah 4: pray for help from God: Psalm 118:5, get back to work: Phil. 4 13, Avoid other discouragers: Neh. 6:2-4, Rest (avoid fatigue)- Neh 4:10, Remove time consumers: Eph. 5:16-17, work on removing bad habits: Rom:12:2, Don't isolate yourself: Heb. 10:24-25, Encourage someone else: Prov. 11:25, Remember how God has helped me in the past: Ps. 105:8, Remember he is faithful: Is.40:28-31.

#3. Practical helps that almost always help keep me on top of things: get up BEFORE the kids!, Go to bed early enough to get plenty of rest, have my devotions, take my vitamins, exercise, and don't eat junk food.

There! That's my plan for the week. Everything else that gets done will be gravy! Keep us in your prayers. :-)

Thinking out loud...

Lately I've been wondering about blessings. Sometimes I get into a little funk of wondering why my life can be so miserable and begin thinking that God must really either just plain hate me, or be trying to fix me, or tell me something, etc. It can be especially frustrating when I get to the end of my rope and find myself taking that frustration out on my family.

Have you ever been there? Feeling like your prayers are just hitting the ceiling and bouncing back down? Or perhaps just wondering why you should bother praying any more? I've been there for a while now and I've been trying to figure out what MY problem is. There are plenty of things around me that it's easy to look at and conclude that the culmination of all those contributing factors make it so that I am miserable. What might be those things that are dragging you down? Here's some of the ones that have been plaguing me lately, just so you know I'm not making things up:
-The kids have been especially argumentative a lot this winter and I feel like a constant referee.
-Brandon and I have both been so busy we find it difficult to communicate at a time when we are not both tired and that makes for some tough conversations.
-Financially our family has been cramped far worse than we ever have been in our marriage and every way that seems to be a possibility of relieving that stress seems to be a door that shuts almost as soon as we notice it.
- I've been having more problems with my skin condition- many days it's painful to use my hands at all, partly why I haven't been blogging much- because it actually hurts to type, or wash dishes, or cut vegetables, or write. My hands bleed after folding laundry, and cleaning things in the house makes them sore for days.
- I've been having back trouble. At first it was so bad that my lower back would spasm and I would hardly be able to walk. It's gotten better. Now it only randomly spasms when I least expect it and then it is sore for only about 3 hours.
- I've had trouble nursing, and even with unscheduled or scheduled, or formula, or no formula, or pumping, or herbal remedies (please don't email me all the ways I can boost my supply, that's not what this post is about)my supply has continued to diminish and Renna is almost completely weaned.
- I've tried to get back into some form of exercise, but each time I get sick, or get back pain, or kidney stones (not recently, PTL), or other joint pain and have to stop to heal.
- I can't seem to get all the school work that needs to be done completed in any given day- mostly due to interruptions, distractions, bad attitudes, or just inability for a child to grasp a concept in less that 6 hours!
- Many areas in the home I feel like a failure- I don't do my laundry (this is not an exaggeration- I mean Brandon or the kids do it), I haven't cooked breakfast regularly for more than a couple of years now, I rarely get anything cleaned up,and the list goes on.
- I try to lose weight and can't, I try to have devotions and they get derailed, I have a hard time sleeping and a hard time waking up... So...all in all...there are some real factors to feel discouraged about.

Trouble is that when all these things are swimming around, the more I focus on them as the problems, the more I'm focused on me. The more I focus on me, the more I see that others are not jumping in to help me, then I get irritated at them for not responding to my problem. Then I conclude that because they aren't helping, they don't really care about me and my needs. They don't really love me. They would notice that I was having a hard time and do something if they were really concerned for my well being. My husband would pour on the kindness and sympathy if he realized what a hard time I was having. My children wouldn't fight and would be more helpful if they knew how difficult they were making things, my friends would call or come by, or even offer to pitch in if they really cared about me.

But really, my outlook is just in the wrong place. I'm looking at me and that is all self centered and self focused. That's not what God is about. Recently as I've been crying out to God for answers I feel like He's been giving me little answers to my questions in bits and pieces. So I'm just going to try and pull the bits and pieces together here to get the bigger picture.
1. Why are my prayers hitting the ceiling. Perhaps he just isn't listening to my needs...
One of my friends recently mentioned a story of a man standing on a balcony representing God and a pile of people below asking him their most precious and important questions as though they were asking God. The man heard them. Just because he was silent didn't mean that he didn't hear.
Now in this example, perhaps the man was silent because he was a man and not God and didn't have the answer, but that's not the point. The point is that just because we perceive silence doesn't mean that God didn't hear us.
2. Why isn't he answering?
Well...a few weeks ago and then again yesterday I was reminded of all the prayers I pray...Please fix this, Please fix that. Please make this go away. Why do I have to be hurting, please let me do this right. Please, please, please.... If God is all knowing, He takes what prayers he knows come from our heart and has to prioritize them I think. For instance, if I ask the doctor to fix my broken leg, no matter what it takes and then I ask the doctor not to hurt me...which does the doctor choose? I might think that he wasn't answering my request not to hurt me- which seems unreasonable taken by itself, but in light of my other request to fix my broken leg it's really his love and answer to the previous prayer that causes him to hear my pain and decline to answer the second. More and more, with the truth behind me that I must believe that he hears, I must also believe that he is answering in the best way possible. A speaker that was here at Fairwood recently, Otto Koning, mentioned in passing one day that when he prays, he asks for a thing, but then recognizes that God might have something greater than our alternative as the answer and that we should just thank him for the answer right then. Hmm...good stuff. I can thank him for the skin condition because if he isn't healing it, then he has something greater in my life to do that he knows I will benefit from by leaving the skin condition as it is. I have no idea what it is, but I can thank HIM for the condition because it's exactly what he wants if it's still there. And so on with other things.
3. How can I change in areas where I feel I am failing? Well, as much as I hated to hear it the other day when a wonderful person said this to me, "You get discouraged, but then you don't quit doing the things that make you that way or keep you discouraged." Hmph! That wasn't a very loving thing to say when I was feeling down in the dumps...or was it? He was right. When I'm discouraged I sulk, I want to just roll over in bed and sleep longer, I want to get away, take a break, avoid the problem, cry about it, procrastinate longer, really anything that keeps me from facing that monster once more. But if my discouragement is a dirty house, none of those options get it cleaner. I may not be able to clean it all up that afternoon, but it didn't get that way in one afternoon either. Now be honest, there are some messes made in one afternoon that are big, but REALLY I always add way more to the list of things that are overdue for a cleaning SUDDENLY than what was done that day. So, I can't fix it in one day. I can do SOMETHING! And laying in bed isn't going to get anything cleaned up. Perhaps it's the kids driving me crazy- well, a break to calm my nerves might be helpful for a little, but in the end- the long range picture, structure, consistency, and discipline is what is most going to help. Of course, many times the flip side of the coin is that they are just as much hating me right then and I am them. :-) Perhaps a little grace for what they are having to put up with is in order.
One speaker recently was talking about problems and said we look at things: BIG PROBLEM here! god here! But God is a bulldozer with a pebble to move. And when you are watching a bulldozer move a pebble do you focus on that pebble or on the power of the bulldozer. Maybe the bulldozer isn't moving your pebble right now, but you still don't focus on the pebble, you are just all enthralled with the bulldozer and how mighty it is and powerful and big and how many pebbles it is moving.
4. Why aren't you blessing me?
Here's another one I've been asking God. I've seen him bless me before in ways that are incredible and yet lately I haven't seen much of that at all. It feels like a struggled out existence instead. Then our homeschooling curriculum told me to read the biography of George Muller to my children and I blindly obeyed. If you haven't read it or read it recently, put it on your list again. Wow! Then when I mixed George Muller with Perspectives speakers that I've been listening to and hearing about (Brandon is taking the class), I got a double dose of WELL, WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH WHAT I HAVE BLESSED YOU WITH ALREADY? When we weren't struggling financially as much I was having a grand time sharing and being generous and giving away and God is great and I love blessing others and blah, blah, blah. Now things are tight and harder, and I find myself hoarding. Hmmm...George Muller prayed for every single thing and was given more not so he could have a more posh life or get better clothes, or eat nicer food, but because he was a fabulous steward of God's resources and took it and poured it back into something that would further his Kingdom. God handed him a check for thousands of dollars and he didn't worry about what was on the table to eat- he felt God calling him to build an orphanage and so he did that. God gave him food to eat too, but he could trust George with blessings because he was using it to bless others- for real. Not just blessing himself and by doing that allowing it to rub off on others, but REALLY turning it right around and putting it where God directed him. So, I got that from the book and then I got doused with a good dose of God being on a mission in this world and it's not about us and our personal existence, but about HIS MISSION and all the nations coming to know him and how can we be a part of that. Then I got hit with God getting glory and how we as believers are about to please him and serve him and by doing that, bless him. It's about him sending us blessings that we then turn and bless others with.
Some things I do a great job of blessing others with. If I haven't had people here for a while, I can play the awesome hostess and "bless" those people. But what about when I'm tired and want a nap? Um...maybe not so much. I can make an awesome meal for someone when I have the time and energy, but what about when I wanted to eat something special and don't have extras? Am I willing to give that awesome meal to someone else and make something easy and simple for us to eat instead? Not really. That's not how I want to be, but it is how I respond. Of course, we can burn out from trying to meet every need and fit in everywhere, but I'm talking about the things that God lays on my heart. He puts a little finger there and it's uncomfortable, it puts me in a place where I have to deal with unknowns and his supply and creativity and exhaustion, and oh yeah...trusting in HIM to meet my needs AGAIN...which he can and will do or... he has a greater plan for that which he is going to accomplish.
5. Why don't I have victory in so many areas?
Welp....that one was answered in an unexpected way. I was hoping for the Holy Spirit to finally just zap me out of bed in the morning and MAKE me exercise. Or give me laryngitis so it was impossible to yell at my children. OR just stop causing them to wake up in the night so I could sleep and thus be more pleasant. Instead, I got 2 things. Weapons and a check on how I spend my time.
First, I was reminded of the weapons of our warfare, again from Otto Koning. The ones that most stuck have been rejoicing and resisting. And I use them at the wrong times. I'm suppose to rejoice when the problem or frustration comes. And I am supposed to resist the Devil when struggling with temptation or distraction. Instead I tend to rejoice at the distraction, calling it a "break", and resist the problem. So I was convicted that I should be thanking God FOR THE PROBLEM on a more regular basis. I'm such a whiny prayer. God help me. I can't do this. Please fix this. Help these people...Really, if I was my mom, I would say, "Can't you be happy about anything I do?" I don't want to hear it anymore. Just come up with something you like, anything, just one thing. I would love to hear one time when you were glad I did something!" I'm glad God doesn't yell that from Heaven, but I think he did a good job of pointing it out to me anyway. Thank you...I'll try to work on that. And then, the resisting part. I don't HAVE to put up with the Devil. I think sometimes we give the Devil too much credit, but sometimes how do you know? That's what Otto asked, "How do you know if it's the Devil or just a fleshly response or desire? How do you know whether you need to resist the Devil and he will flee, or put away a fleshly desire?" When he asked everyone thought and no one spoke. Then he said, "well, why don't you just eliminate one of them." Huh! Now that's a different idea. So what if it gives the Devil credit- it's all evil! If I resist Him and he flees, then hey! That was an easy problem to fix! If it doesn't get better, then I can dig in and work on it. But I can get him out of the way first! Why don't I do that more often? Because it's awkward. It feels weird, funny, other people will think I'm crazy or feel uncomfortable. Maybe it isn't the devil and nothing will happen and I'll feel silly in front of others, or my children. WHOOPTY-DO! The bottom line is, if it does work, it was worth all that! Get over it and try it, life just might get easier then. I tried it this morning. I felt silly, but the whole house was a big pile of noisy chaos. I stood in Brandon's office feeling ridiculous and just said, "I resist the Devil in the name of Jesus." expecting that I would have to add some spankings or something to back it up, but you know what, as soon as I said Jesus' name, at the same instant, Jonathon up in the kitchen- who knew nothing of what I was doing, turned to his siblings and said, "Stop it right now!" and they all did and got quiet instantly! Now I say, it worked! If it hadn't worked, then I could have started in with my dealing with the flesh tactics, but I didn't have to!
The other temptation for me is distraction and I've been working on that. It's so easy to come up with reasons I need to relax or take a break. Sometimes are ok. Breaks can be good and refreshing, but too many can lead to times when I could be getting something done and I'm not. Hulu has been a struggle for me, just as television would be. I've found some things on there that I enjoy watching and find that it takes no effort at all for me to find a reason why I need to relax, sit down and enjoy some show, but it just causes me to detach from reality and then it's still there staring at me when I return. I'm not making a case that hulu, or TV is bad (that's not what this is about), I'm simply saying that I get sucked in little by little and go from one thing occasionally, to getting hooked on a show, to seeing another show and getting hooked on that one, and another and another until most of my evenings are full of show watching and while that's fun and relaxing, and maybe they aren't even "bad"- I'm not trying to make a case for or against that- I'm just saying that I did all kinds of things and all kinds of energy for stuff before I had the option of sitting in front of the screen. Now, I don't think that any of that has changed except for the availability to sit down and be lazy. Even if I just played a game with Brandon instead of watching something. That at least causes us to interact with each other in a way that watching something does not. Now I'm not saying that I'll never watch anything again, but I did feel a check in my spirit that I should cut back. SO I have stopped for a while, to give myself a fresh start and bend the paper the other way, so to speak. And in doing so, I've found time to research some interesting health options, make Joseph's birthday present, wash the dishes, go to bed and get real rest, connect with other people and a host of other options. And as far as being blessed so I can be a blessing to others, I don't think that is accomplished very well by sitting there night after night. If God is blessing me with that time, then how can I use it to bless others? I'm sure I can come up with a better way. Sometimes it might be sitting and watching something with someone else or seeing something so that I have a connection with a particular person. It's not the easy thing to do, and sometimes, not the most fun thing to do, but if I'm suppose to be blessing others with what I'm given in order to be a good steward, then I'm going to at least try to do it more often...and as I'm willing, he gives me plenty of ideas...

So, I'm not sure I'm completely out of my discouragement cage yet, but I think I'm headed there. I don't think it's going to all be instantly better, but I do think a lot can change by just how I look at it and how I approach my life in light of God's mission for the world. As another speaker that I enjoyed last night said, "It's not about praying, "God please bless me in my busy day today." It's about accomplishing HIS mission and "How can I best glorify Him and use the resources He provides me to share HIM and his greatness with all the nations"...or at least the people around me.

"The Huge Huge Trip" (Jeff's title)

We just had a grand vacation...Brandon wrote his version about it...only including some minor fictional points. The itinerary was Wed- drive to Ohio and stop to see Niagara Falls in the middle, Thursday- see the Creation museum and then drive 14 hours straight through the night to Oklahoma where Roy and Bekah were getting married. We arrived Friday morning. Rehersal was that evening and as Rachel was part of that, we went. Went to dinner afterwards and had some yummy catfish and saw my cousin Christine- which I haven't seen in ages! Saturday we went to a park in the morning where the kids played while I cleaned out the van of all the car food, then that evening was the wedding- it was beautiful and short!:-) reception followed as usual and we relaxed and visited with people. Saturday evening we packed up and then Sunday morning we drove to Dallas to drop Jane and Amy off at the airport and meet up with Melissa Brown for a lil' visit. We chanced to be there during the Texas state fair and walked around that a bit and checked out another "free" science museum (thanks to some cool membership pass we have) Had some good smokehouse BBQ for dinner and then drove to Longview and spent the night in a small hotel room. Monday we drove all day to Alabama and the highlight of that day was the gas station that we stopped at in some small town in Mississippi that had several men standing around "shootin' the breeze" and after listening to them for a least 5 minutes or so, I realized that their Southern Accent was so heavy that I couldn't really understand a word they were saying! Sorry Dixie...I've been away too long indeed! The beach was our home from Monday evening until Saturday morning. We had a blast- the waves were perfect for our inexperienced-in-the-water kids. The pool was 3-5 ft deep and that gave the boys the courage to try all sorts of things. We also took a trip to Mobile one day on an auto ferry, saw the USS Alabama battleship, and the USS Drum submarine and a smattering of planes.
Saturday we drove to Georgia and parked at "Dani's house" as Rachel declared it. Most people would consider it "Joe and Alouette's". That week was primarily to prepare for the Georgia reception for Bekah and Roy. I had lots of fun and was pretty exhausted by the end, but Fritha and I had a blast! We had a good time visiting with plenty of friends, family, and generally trying to relax in between cooking efforts. Saturday was the reception and went really well. I think we had almost 150 people come over the course of the day. That was really exciting! Sunday we packed up AGAIN and after church and a nice "covered dish dinner" and went to South Carolina where we stopped to see our new little Aldrich neices Aeralind and Bronwyn. Cute little girls! Rachel and Joseph had a grand time with them and we enjoyed visiting with Derek and Melissa for a bit. We stayed overnight in a hotel nearby and then drove the other 16 hours home on Monday. That was a long day, but my favorite part was the very end when it was after 9pm, the kids were all sleeping in the van, Brandon was driving, there was quiet music playing and I got out of my seat, scooted over onto the cooler and we had some quiet time talking and enjoying a couple of precious hours of time- just the two of us. We got home around 12:30am and went directly to bed.

Tuesday afternoon I went to a followup for kidney stone analysis and discovered that my whole problem in the past is that I've been basically dehydrated long term and that everything in all the tests points to the fact that if I just doubled my urine volume it would be almost impossible for me to create stones. Good to know, easy fix, inexpensive, and I think I'll try it. Wednesday we got unpacked, Thursday I had my back fixed at the chiropractor from all those long hours of driving.

There you go...that's it. For the first time in our family's life we had a completely uneventful trip! No disasters, to big car problems, no sick kids...I kept waiting for the bomb to drop and it didn't! Praise the Lord! we had TONS of happy moments, plenty of fun with the kids, and lots of relaxing time. Hooray.

And now for those of you who feel like you got jipped out of a good story...here's a top ten list to pacify your addiction.

Top Ten Favorite Memories from our Vacation

10. At the beach, Renna was asleep on a T-shirt and rolled over and did a face plant in the sand getting it in her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. I rinsed her off for several minutes before I discovered that the entire time a jelly fish was bumping into my leg and I had almost rinsed her with it!

9. Trying to eat dinner at the condo- spaghetti- while watching Animal Planet- specifically a show on some giant stupid snake having eaten a crocodile and was now rupturing...I requested a channel change even though the kids (and Brandon) were completely fascinated.

8. Dani hearing Renna awake in our room and going to check on her. I found her leaned over Renna patting her back in her little bed. :-)

7. Eating the fish that the boys caught at the "Fishing Grandpa's" house and listening to fun stories which included such phrases as "that was so good I could eat it in my sleep"!

6. Having a chance to talk to Frank about his vision for work after school and being completely amazed at his goals and cool ideas and ideal job...I want a smart house! And I really LOVED seeing him.

5. Having plenty of late night talks, and early morning talks, and middle of the day talks with Fritha. And spending 30 minutes just explaining ourselves back and forth and no one was irritated about it...well no one who was involved in the conversaion. :-) My guess is that there was a bit of amused eye rolling behind our backs. :-)

4. The Andersons sleep number bed and awesome big cozy tub...ultimate comfort and relaxation.

3. James coming down in the middle of the night and the conversation went like this:
mama: James, what do you need?
James: Um...I'm...just looking...for...a bed.
Mama: Oh, well, ok. Do you need to go to the bathroom?
James: No.
mama: DO you want me to walk you back to bed?
James: No.
mama: Do you need anything else?
James: No.
mama: Ok, well, goodnight again.
James: Mmhm. (and walked back to bed)

2. Listening to the children laugh while listening to Bill Cosby, then later hearing one of the kids quote him, "But Dad! We can't go to sleep unless we've had a good beating!"

1. Watching Brandon give the kids baths by sitting in the tub in his swimsuit and play with rubber sharks with them for a while before bathing them down. Super sweet!

So there you go.

The very small nutshell of the very huge, huge trip.

Dr. Visits Galore

This week was all about things medical. It began Sunday evening with Jonathon needing a trip to the Emergency Room for a technical problem - He couldn't pee. He was able to drip some out, but that was it. Since I don't like 3 of the 4 urologists at the local band aid station- I mean, hospital, I decided to take him up to Dartmouth where there is a pediatric urology team. You might think I'm just picky, and maybe I am, but of the ones I don't like, one seems gay, one is REALLY cocky, and the other has no appreciation for the patient wanting to maintain modesty during an office visit. I've never met #4, but it seemed pretty risky to go and expect to get them.

Anyway, I'm glad I drove an hour and a half to the other place so I could get in with the pediatric team anyway. They are so much more sensitive to the overall needs of the child. Both the medical side and the emotional side. They did a great job of trying to make Jonathon comfortable and happy as well as take care of the actual problem.

So, yes, I spent the hours of 10:30pm to 4:30am in the emergency department and then we were transferred to a room in the peds wing. The ER was a little frustrating because the drs there weren't very sensitive at all to the emotional side of things with Jonathon. They just wanted to jab, poke, and everybody take a look. At one point I decided that if someone else wanted to "take a peek" then they were going to have to come up with a pretty good reason why they too needed to see the problem. It's not the same as some cut on your arm- really! And I wish that people in the ER would recognize that and be a little more sensitive that it is a very private area of the body and Jonathon likes to keep it that way.

They also tried to insert a catheter at one point- which is a nightmare for a little boy on a good day, but he was stopped up, so to do that REALLY hurt and bled and kind of freaked him out. To top it off, when it wouldn't go in, they wrote on his chart that he did fine with trying to have it inserted, so later a dr. came in wanting to try again soon and wasn't willing to sedate him before doing so. I was really irritated. First off, Jonathon was obedient and did willingly try the first one. He also didn't cry until the end when it was really hurting, but the poor kid didn't know what to expect and was trusting us to be honest with him about what was going to happen. They did give him a couple of drugs to make him a little loopy, but I'm not convinced that they waited long enough for them to actually be very effective. The other thing the nurse made the mistake of doing was she told him that they wouldn't do it that way again. Then the dr. came in and said the exact opposite. I was MAD. Watch mama bear roar! Ok, I didn't roar, but I was pretty ticked and I let them know it. He's 8 for crying out loud, and you want to just go stuffing tubes up his little thing and then expect him to be ok with it- especially after someone just told him that they wouldn't do it. Hmph!

I knew he was hurting more than he let on because after the attempt failed to get the catheter in, Jonathon went to the bathroom and cried his little heart out. "Please can I just die and be in heaven right now?", he said. "I just want to be in heaven now." I almost melted in to a little puddle right there on the floor. After I finished explaining that he couldn't go to heaven right then, we went back into the room and waited for EVER to be transferred upstairs to a room. Jonathon mercifully went to sleep. I mercifully paced the hall most of the time. They had a very lovely rocking chair/glider thing in the room, but I'm convinced no one had ever bothered to sit in it before it was purchased because it's obvious why no one sits in it now. Note to self: to keep furniture looking nice, pick things that no one would want to sit on. If they would rather stand, it won't get dirty! I've never come across a straight back rocking chair, but that's what it was. Straight up and down from tailbone to the top of my head. I attempted to sit there and rock Renna- who was just along for the ride...well...and the food. I tried a number of slouchy positions and in the end determined that all my efforts were just adding to my chiropractor bill and doing nothing for me in the restful department. I was SO glad when we got moved.

Up to floor 5 they wheeled us. Jonathon in his bed asleep, Renna also on his bed asleep and I just walked along beside anticipating what wonderful chair was waiting for me in the next room. I was pleasantly surprised. When we walked into his room, he climbed into bed and I did too. There was a fold out bed already made up for me to lay down. Renna and I took that spot and we all crashed for about an hour before people came poking and prodding.

In the end, the first attempt to catheter opened things up enough for him to pee on his own and the dr. left him like that to observe if it would continue. So we stayed at the hospital for an ultra sound and couple of urine tests and watched a Sponge Bob marathon, played the Wii, ate peanut butter and fluff sandwich for lunch, and generally had some good mother son bonding time. Jonathon and I have never played the Wii before and I've decided that my coordination skills are severely flawed. Some Mario Brothers game had you using two controls at once and that was more than either of us could handle. So, he jumped and I moved around. We were a great team. In fact in 1 hour we managed to catch all three bunnies. (I think this was just one of those bonus areas in a world, but oh well...we were good!) I got home on Monday at 6pm and was ready to collapse.

Tuesday I spent on the phone making calls about all things dr. related. I also threw in some family vacation planning phone calls too since phone calls were the theme of the day. I tried to make every single phone call I could think of. Get em all out of my system in one fell swoop. Then later that day I took Joseph to his scheduled dermatologist apt. He has an excema problem on his hands and feet and has had it since birth. Recently it's been getting bad enough that it needs some more attention and I was starting to thing he might have some serious allergy or something. We did find out he's allergic to dust, but I don't really think that's why he has the trouble he does. And besides, DUST??? Do you really think I can, as a mother of 6 young dirty rascals really keep a dust free house! HAHA! Get real...and spin the wheel again. Pick a different allergy! Seriously though, the symptoms don't seem to coincide with that allergy very well. We did encase his mattress in plastic and his pillow too. He cried when we took his other pillow away and gave him a new one. The new one is too poofy. And I don't blame him, I would think it was too poofy too. So, we saw the dr. and he gave us some antifungal cream to use and some extra thick grease to moisturize with and an oral steroid. It always takes me a while to remember that oral steroids make my family VERY cranky. I remembered yesterday after Joseph had been taking it for three days and I was ready to kill (figuratively) the kid! We'll see how he goes for the next couple of weeks.

Wednesday we had no dr. appointments, but Jeff managed to add a medical thing in there anyway by bashing his head open on the tractor. Based on the story Rachel told, Jeff was either standing on the tractor and fell and hit his head on the steering wheel, or he was standing on the steering wheel and fell and hit his head on the tractor. Based on the nature of the person, I am tempted to guess the later story. Whatever it was, there was blood everywhere, and he now has a little larger than an inch slit in his head just behind his right ear- which he doesn't have. My daddy raise me well, however and I was able to pull out all my first aid knowledge and determine that I was pretty sure he didn't pass out, his eyes were the same size and not dialated, and he had a nice goose egg, so probably no concussion inside. And once I shaved the hair away from the wound, washed it, iced it and got it to stop pouring blood everywhere, I determined that I could just close it with a couple of butterfly band aids and avoid taking him to the hospital for stitches. So, that's what we did. I love those little butterfly things. They have helped us avoid stitches a number of times. Later that night we got to clean him up again because he picked at it and the blood faucet went full swing again, but thankfully the band aids were still intact. Later someone suggested to me that I could just put a knit hat on him to help him leave it alone. So, I'll tuck that one away for the next head wound I deal with.

Then Thursday I went to the chiropractor where she made me feel like a new woman. One place in my bad was so tight that for the first time, and adjustment REALLY hurt. She said it was aggravated by slouchy nursing and would I please only do 5 things while I fed the baby instead of 8. I thought that was pretty realistic advice, so I took it. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I have nursed and cooked before. I have nursed, cooked and talked on the phone before. I have nursed, cooked, talked on the phone, and zipped up the toddlers pants before. And one time I remember nursing, cooking, taking someone to the bathroom, talking on the phone and answering the door bell pretty much all at once. So, bottom line, it was good advice to cut three tasks out somewhere. I also took Jonathon to his follow up visit with the urologist that day. We discovered that things were going along ok. He has a good stream right now and doesn't need immediate surgery. So we'll go back in a month and see where things stand then.

Friday was vacation day from the doctors. No visits, no ER, no head wounds. Just clean up around the house, gardening, laundry, and good times listening to cute country music songs with my husband that evening. Whew! What a week.

This next week is going to be all about school prep. We are planning to start on August 4th and the week before that it a little family vacation time, so, this is the week to prepare for the school year! Here we go again.

A Foggy Day

Seems like my titles lately relate more to nature and the weather and less to real life. Perhaps that's because the weather seems to be invading my personal comfort level these days. Actually, I don't mind WEEKS of rain on a personal level, but my children are going to die soon if it doesn't stop. (Just kidding- don't go reporting me- it really is a joke!) Anyway, they are restless. We've been outside every day we can and the kids have been out on plenty of the rainy days too. They come back in sopping wet from stomping in puddles- which I don't mind really until the fourth time they change clothes in a 2 hour period- then I mind.

So, it's wet again today. The kids are desperate for fun and have more energy than I could get out of 10 cups of coffee! We did the painting thing this morning- paint with water, that is- on those preprinted paint sheets. They wanted to do all of them this morning, but I cut them off at two a piece thinking I might need some back up for the next three days when it's supposed to be raining some more. We've read, rearranged furniture, done housework, colored every Cinderella picture you can find online for free, used charcoal to draw with- that was MESSY (and I don't recommend it unless you just have a strong desire to torture yourself with the massive clean up involved), and a host of other things. We dug Chutes and Ladders and Candy Land out of the attic. The kids played that until they realized that the older kids play with "rules" and that doesn't "let" the younger kids win, so they don't want to play that way. We've pushed the baby stroller in the rain, pilfered the umbrellas- all 2 of them that actually work. (I might go snag them before we are down to 0 that function.)

So, what else do you do? Besides plop them in front of a movie? I tell ya, I even have a list of things to do with kids on rainy days (you'll find it in my new book soon) and I've gone through the list. Well, it's been 2 weeks and then list wasn't really designed to keep kids busy for that length of time.

I don't think Renna likes the rain either. She seems more fussy when it's gloomy outside. It doesn't allow for bright, shining, sun in the house. It makes things inside feel damp and cold- like wet fish. AND MY HAIR WON'T DO A THING IN THIS WEATHER!!!!!! I think I'm missing my happy feelings I get from plenty of sunlight as well.

Don't get me wrong, things are going well, but I'm stuck in a cycle of procrastination, looking out the window, checking my inbox, coming up with something for the kids to do, cleaning up the previous activity, and thinking of ways to spend money, then remembering I have none to spend, then coming up with a different idea that involves no money, but involves time and effort and that's not appealing- so I scrap it- all to come back to procrastinating and looking out the window at the rain...and sometimes the fighting children.

I think I'll sign off here and go get a cup of coffee. Then maybe the kids and I will do some more house work. After that, I may have to cave in for a movie for them for lack of another brilliant idea!

Here's to the concept, "The Sun will come out...tomorrow..."

A Pleasant Whirlwind

What a day! What a week! Lately, things have been going really well. I'm so glad God gives us times of joy and relaxation to offset the hardships. Of course, not everything is perfect, but lots of things are great and I am rejoicing in his goodness.

Jonathon (8) and James (6 1/2) are really growing up. Today they worked really hard for me helping clean up the house. We started having "30-min clean up time" a while back and recently I've realized that if I'm enthusiastic about it, the kids really will work hard, with Jonathon carrying the pack. James is right there with him usually, both having a good attitude after the initial discovery that they have to work. So, in a very short time this afternoon we got the living room, dining room, kitchen, hallway, entryway, and school room cleaned up. We also got some garbage emptied, the toilets and counters washed in the bathrooms, and Rachel watched Renna. All in 30 min. The only thing I did was sweep the floor under the counter and then spent the rest of the time keeping everyone else busy. They did a great job!

Then, this evening, we went out into the garden for a little "forced family fun" (as one friend called it this evening :-) and weeding. I hoed around a bunch of the plants and Jonathon worked on his garden- pulling weeds. He has corn and okra. I sure hope that okra grows! I wanna eat some. Anyway, he worked on his plants and James weeded around the pumpkins. Then the two of them went to town on their weeding. They had little cultivators and they ran them up and down next to most of the corn rows, and cleaned out the weeds in the broccoli! Most of that time I was ignoring them. Only when they asked, "What do we do next, Mama?" did I have to pay attention. Rachel happily pulled out little grass slivers all over the place. Jeff worked on the carrots (that's "his" garden) and Joseph got by with only stepping on a few plants. We spread old grass clippings around the tomatoes and peppers and then the boys helped Brandon- when he came home from working elsewhere- with fertilizer. They were especially eager to help because we were spreading "Dried Blood" around- which is apparently a nitrogen source. They thought it was cool that we were feeding our plants "BLOOD!!!!" Anyway, by the end of about 1 hour, the entire garden had been hoed or weeded, the fertilizer was down, the grass clippings all spread, and the children good and dirty.

To top it all off, they salvaged the treasure chest from the broken fish tank and buried it in an unplanted part of the garden with grand plans to come back tomorrow dressed as pirates and dig it up! Now if that isn't fun, I don't know what is!!!

I had a good dentist appointment today- so thankful for good teeth! Much of it has nothing to do with my faithfulness to brushing and flossing- it's just genes! But I'm glad for that!

I also got my workout in this afternoon. I'm really enjoying this new workout. There's a different workout for every day of the week, so it changes up a lot! I've worked muscle groups in the last 3 days that I had forgotten I had! But it feels good. Right after the workout I feel like a blob of Jell-o wobbling around. But I've discovered that if I drink a glass of Emergen-C with electrolytes in it, the shaky stuff goes away pretty quick. I can't explain how good it feels to be sore and sweaty, but it's awesome. I'm super tired, and yet at the same time I have energy from somewhere. I think it's helping me sleep better, eat less, and be more productive overall. I forget every time how much it helps until I'm in the groove again and then I can't imagine why I let it go. So, it's pretty awesome.

Been working on a book- a list book. I've been working on it off and on for about 6 years now and I'm finally close to printing. Today I worked on some illustrations that I've had in mind for a while. The text is off for editing and I'm going to work on chapter arrangement and pricing issues while it's gone. I'm super excited to be getting it out. I hope it will help other people as well!

I love that the kids are loving Renna, by the way. She's 1 month old now and up to 8.2 lbs. I'm glad she is starting to look like she has something besides skin and bones! The last couple of nights she has been sleeping better too. She sleeps in her cradle half the night and then in our bed for the other half. We're working on getting her to go back to her cradle, but she just loves our bed. Sometimes I feel a little trapped. No matter how I position her, she always manages to squirm her way back over to me and for reasons unknown, nuzzles her head up under my arm and seems to sleep best with her face almost in my armpit! I shove her over to the middle of the bed time and time again and she just quietly wiggles back to her spot. Sometimes I've found myself almost falling off the bed in the morning! But she's happy.

Back to the kids thing- they take great care of her. All of them except Joseph can carry her without making my heart stop. Joseph has gotten her and brought her to me, but I'm not sure I like it too much. He's cute with her and so far hasn't dropped her, but she's almost as tall as he is and I think he's just a bit unstable when he's lugging her around. Rachel is just the little mama. She holds her, rocks her, sleeps next to her, carries her, walks her around while patting her on the back. She just has a brand new doll, only a live one. The older boys are great too. The best part about their help is that James LIKES changing her diaper and Jonathon can feed her a bottle unassisted! Jeff is good at getting her from her bed and bringing her to me in the living room. Ah...I LOVE having kids old enough to DO SOMETHING!!!!!!

It's just been great...
-this past week we discovered that they like baked beans for dinner!!! Bring em on- they're cheap!
-Jonathon and James have been working on their math- just to keep it fresh- and doing well.
-Jonathon is writing thank-you notes for his birthday gifts for the first time this year. He's got 2 to mail and 2 left to write. I'm so proud of him. One friend gave him a little set of notes that have a picture to color and the words, "Dear _____, Thank you for the ______. I like it a lot! Love, ________" I LOVE IT! It's perfect for him! He can write the important parts, color the picture and not be overwhelmed about doing 8 of them! What a great thing to help a little kid be successful with showing gratefulness!
- Jeff loves to cook. He's helped me make a number of things lately and one of the things he does best- better than his older brothers- is crack eggs. In fact, most of the time he can get less shell than me. He's really careful. He loves to stir things on the stove and does it so well that I can leave him stirring something and work on something else and know it won't burn. We haven't gotten into chopping yet, but he can peel vegetables. He has peeled his finger, too, but only once.

Joseph is a MESS. That's a southern "mess". He is frequently "messy", but most of the time he is just a "mess"! (You say it like "mae'-yus") Anyway, he makes us laugh all the time. He scares visitors when they come too- and we laugh cause we know better. He has a little chair to eat in that is attached to the counter and he loves to stand up in it, turn around, curl his toes around the seat cushion and lean over the back upside-down! We know he can do it. He has fallen on his head a couple of times, but apparently it's hard enough that it doesn't phase him a bit- he just keeps right on doing it. He hasn't fallen anytime recently, so we just ignore it, but it makes others' hearts stop! :-)

I wish you could have seen him the day he made mud puddles in the front of the house and then poured the muddy water all over his super blonde hair. He was grinning from ear to ear and was pleased with his dirty self. He loves to go fast on his trike. I've never seen a kid go so fast on a cheap trike that I thought didn't actually move. The plastic wheels are so tight they hardly turn, or so I thought until he made it go! He just careens down the driveway like there is no tomorrow and then down the road around the corner and down the church sidewalk. He's make it all the way past the main house, down the hill, past the garage and to the golf course if I would let him. It's down hill the whole way and a child's dream for a trike ride. Brandon was out with the tractor and trailer today and came home with no less than 5 riding toys in the trailer from various children riding down the hill. (Who wants to ride up?) I have no idea what we'll do with our kids when people come and our family has to act like the rest of civilization and avoid running over old men and pregnant women. Just beware of that little blonde headed two-year old. HE STOPS FOR NO ONE....except machinery...he always stops for that. It's WAY cooler than a trip down hill!

Brandon is just staying in his usual rut. He likes it there. Every once in a while I did him out of it for something like a movie, or going out to eat, but ruts are his vacation. He's still bookkeeping, mowing lawns, paying bills, rough housing with the kids, working in the garden, and helping me out with the laundry and dishes frequently. Did I mention that he MAKES BREAKFAST 6 days a week!!!!! I LOVE HIM!!! And, he regularly keeps up with the laundry. If I could just fold it and get it put away! He's been riding his bike more this summer. I'm glad- he really does a lot around here and gets out very little. I'm glad he's getting the exercise, the time away, and the fun...plus awesome brother Jeff gave him his old Ipod and he's been loving having something to listen to for his rides and while he works. He seems pretty happy and I like that.

Well...that's us and the kids and us lately.
Yeah...kind of gag-reflex happy, but then I'm not complaining about it!