Where does the time go?

Can you believe that tomorrow is 2008? I, for one, cannot. I am still wondering where 2007 is. As I sit here and think about a new year, I reflect about the year that is closing and try to remember if I did everything thing that I was supposed to. Did I do all the things that I wanted to? Did I do any of them?

Let's see...

Did I spend enough time with my family? Well, we homeschool so there was lots of time. But what kind of time was it? Was it time that was full of listening and understanding sprinkled with grace and love? Was it time that was spent really getting to know each of my family members and who God made them to be? Was it sweet time of quiet and rest? Or was it time teaching them life lessons seasoned with wisdom and knowledge given by the Giver of all good things?

Did I accomplish something important this year? Hmmm. What do you mean by important? Did I cure some disease, or feed the hungry, or house the poor? Did I bring about world peace? Did I make lots of money and build up my empire? Did I listen to the heart of my children when they were in trouble and needed help? Did I listen to the heart of my husband during a fight?

Did I acquire enough things? Are you talking about a new widescreen t.v.? Or maybe new shoes and a matching purse? Are you talking about new furniture? A new house? A new car? A new wardrobe? Did I acquire love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control? Did acquire a deep and abiding love for the Word?

Did I have enough me time to figure out who I was and what I want? Did I pass up opportunites to minister to someone because I just needed some down time? Did I miss the golden moment with someone ready to accept Jesus because it was my turn to pamper myself. Did I figure out who I was only to realize that I didn't like who I became? Did I figure out that what I want isn't anything that I have? Did I ask the One who made me to figure out who I was?

I am afraid that I would have to say no to a great many of these questions. I can look back on the year and decide that I didn't do enough, say enough, get enough and be upset by it. Or I can be realistic and see what I did right and what I did wrong weighed by the Word and pray for wisdom for the upcoming year.

I would love to make resolutions that are grand and glorious. Ones that would impress everyone. The fact is, I can't. Well, I could actually. I could think of some wonderful things to say, they just wouldn't happen. My Maker knows me and He knows that I would probably not follow through on those things with any kind of meaning. They would be just a check mark on a page. So, I think that for this year I am going to keep it simple. I am going to endeavor to fall more in love with my Saviour. If I can do that then all the rest of those things that I am 'supposed' to do will fall in line and happen.

Do I know what those 'supposed to' things are? Well, I can venture a pretty good guess about a lot of them. I guess I will just have to read my Bible and start figuring it all out.

Have a blessed new year and my His pursuit of you come to fruition.

Here's to good friends!

If you have visited my blog before you have noticed that it is rather boring on the sidebars! That is because I know nothing about how to change it as is very obvious by my last post! But, thanks to an online friend, Lisa from SHS, I DID IT!!! I can now, maybe, change and add some more things to my blog. When I get the time!

WOOHOO!

Select All, Copy, Paste...WHAT??

I freely admit that I am a computer dork! I can barely type a letter in Word without screaming at the computer for doing something that I didn't want it to!! Seriously. I do not understand why Word takes things and makes them into bullet points when I just want a simple list of things. Aren't computers supposed to do what I tell them to? Well, they don't. Not by a long shot!!!

Now, here is my problem. I wanted to join a group of fellow homeschoolers on an adventure during the new year where I would post a picture EVERYDAY of the year. Big challenge for me, right? But I really want to go for it. So, I signed up and then it tells me that I have to go down to this little box thingie and right click and Select All. THEN, I have to click on copy and go and insert it into the 'CORRECT PLACE' in the HTML code on my blog. That is the funniest thing I have EVER heard in my life.

First of all, what is an HTML code and why do I have one, am I supposed to have one and what does it do? Where is is located - oh, there it is. COW DOG! What are all those letters and funny shapes in that box? I can't read any of it. Is it English? It can't be, can it? Okay, maybe it is; but, how do I know where to put this little code thingie that is now hovering in the nowhere land of my computers Select All/Copy/Paste place?

I am scared! Do people really mess with all of these symbols and strange words? They must because I have seen some of their blogs and they are soo cool! I want to be cool, too! :))

Alas, I am afraid that it is my lot in life to be a true computer illiterate who is afraid that her computer really is out to get her and is just waiting for her to try something new so it can mess with my mind! :)

A Thorn in My Flesh

I will just put it out there at the beginning and I hope you will forgive my honesty.

I am struggling. There I said it. It's out there for everyone to read.

I am not usually a person to struggle in this way. I have seen some very tough things in my life and God has always seemed to protect my heart through it all. But, now, it seems that this is going to be allowed to burden my heart and make it heavier than I have ever known it.

As I write, it seems so trivial. I read other accounts of people who have very ill children and I think that I am being a wimp and then I don't say anything about it. But, as you can see, I haven't written in a while and it is because I am...depressed.

It started about three months ago when I started gaining all the weight back that I had lost. I was exercising and eating right and still gained about 20lbs. The Dr. visit came next that said that my thyroid levels and my calcium levels were wrong. So, they upped my medicines and off I went. Then, while I was seeing the Dr. for something totally unrelated, he dropped the bombshell on me. Hypocalcemia/Hypoparathyroidism is a life-long chronic problem. He said that at 6 months out from surgery, someone would have about a 5% chance of recovery. However, since I am going on a year and a half, there was no chance of recovery and now we go to survival mode. I didn't ask any questions, I just tried to get out of there before I started blubbering like an idiot. I did that on the way home and on the phone with dh.

Now, for some of you who don't have any idea what I am talking about, I will give you a very brief idea. I had my thyroid out in August of '06 and somehow my parathyroid glands were jostled and shocked. The parathyroid glands control the levels of calcium in your body(blood calcium) and when they don't work right, you don't store calcium you just use it up and then are depleted. What happens after that is very painful and debilitating.

When you don't have enough calcium in your muscles, they don't work right. They start contracting and they don't stop until the body pulls calcium from somewhere else in your body. So, the muscles contract and that causes the hands to curl around on themselves and the arms to curl up on the body rendering them useless. The toes can curl up or down depending on which way they were used last. The neck can pull down and forward, or to either side, or to the back. The face can also contort into unrecognizable features. The jaw can also lock open or shut. All the while the muscle feels like it is in a perpetual charlie-horse. It is very painful and after it is over you feel like you have been working out for a week and the muscles are sore and tired.

I have tried to have a good attitude about all of this when it has happened in public; but, people look at you differently when your hand is curled up and looks gnarly or your face is in a constant angry stare. It is very hard to drive with out the use of your fingers and the tag office will not sign your check even if your hand is cramping so hard that you can't get the pen out of it for an hour after using it at their office.

I digress! This has been going on for a year and a half and I think that I have dealt with it pretty well until now. Now when there seems to be no hope of any relief. I am not in despair. To despair is to turn one's back on God. I am not there, yet. I am sinking deeper into wanting to stay home and be by myself and around my dh and kids who will not look at me weird or with looks of pity in their eyes when the crisis is happening. I am starting to pull away from people and trying to guard myself from them. I don't really want to, it is just easier than dealing with people feeling sorry for me. Logically, I can see that they are people who care and want to help. But, my heart is embarrassed and angry.

I am not very good at asking people for help. I will usually do things on my own rather than bother someone else. It is very hard for me to admit that I can not do something and even harder to impose on someone else. I am struggling.

I am out of words at the moment. My heart is heavy with concern at the effect this is having on the kids and especially with the way I am handling it. I know that there are opportunities for them to grow and learn more about God and His provision---I am just not there, yet.

If you see me on the street, I will tell that things are fine. If you push, I will tell you about some other things that are going on right now. But, I will not share this with you right now. It is just too tender and raw.

Just because someone says that all is going well doesn't mean that it is. We should listen to the Holy Spirit and lift those people up when He prompts.

Enough of my whining. I have some great pictures of school, our Christmas tree, and other things, I just can't find the cable to connect the camera to the computer!!! So, when I find it I will post them. :)

She loved it!

Mom went to the concert and she LOVED it!! Yeah. :) They did the 'old' stuff at the beginning of the concert and then they changed the set and did Christmas the second half. She was quite impressed that they read from the Bible and didn't edit out any words about God of Jesus. I was in tears as she was telling me about it. I am so glad that we were finally able to do that for her.

Oh yeah, my step-dad enjoyed it as well! ;0

Well worth the wait!

Okay, my mom has loved the Oak Ridge Boys for as long as I can remember. Truly. When I was in grade school, she called in to a radio station during a contest and won a bunch of stuff from them. She has treasured those things for years. She has never been able to go and see them. Either they did not come near the towns we lived in or the tickets were too much. Well...fast forward to this year. I saw a commercial for them that said they were going to be in my town in November. My sister and I found the website and realized that if all of the siblings pitched in we could get two tickets for the concert. OH MY WORD!! You would have thought that we were going for how excited we were!!! LOL

ANYWAY, since the concert was in November, we had to give them their Christmas present early. Like November 11th!!! It was soo cool to see Mom's face when she realized what she was holding.


The anticipation was almost too much as she opened the envelope!

It took her a full minute to realize what she was holding in her hands!!



It was so wonderful to see her face when she finally did realize it.



I wish I would have taken a picture of our faces when she opened it! We were squeeling and giggling almost as much as she was!! She has waited a long time for this; let's hope they are still good!! LOL

It isn't called 'CRAZY' for nothin'!

November 14th, my last post. Do I even remember that day? It was so long ago and so much has happened since then. I am not even sure that I can remember everything. :) I will try.

I finally am well, mostly. It took almost 4 weeks to kick this bug; but I did it. Okay, okay, I still feel congested and tired-that will go away eventually!

I found out that my calcium was way too low -again. If it hasn't come up by now, it probably won't and I will have to take massive amounts of calcium every day until Jesus takes me home.

I also found out the same day that my thyroid was way too low also. That accounts for the extra 15lbs in the last month. :( So, they upped my dose almost to the max and I go back next week to have it checked again. Here's hoping that it will level out and stay there.

We have fallen behind in school due to my illness(s) and I am getting cranky trying to get them caught up before Christmas break.

Dh has been given a promotion that should have been his years ago ( IMHO) and things are looking much better for him now. YEAH!

We had craft day at my house and my sister came. She hasn't been to my house in many years. We had a great time doing Christmas cards while the men did home improvement projects around the house. I still haven't put all the crafts away!!

Dh and I went to KC for a weekend getaway. WOOHOO! It was wonderful and relaxing and a good time of getting back to us as a couple.

Dh was told by the surgeon to have a steroid shot to see if that would help calm his shoulder down. The surgeon did not think there was a tear. That is good news. The bad news is that the shot isn't helping as much as they said it should if it wasn't a tear. SO...he has to go back and maybe they will do a scope and scrape the bursa sack and the bone to give the bursa more room to move and look to see if there is a tear at the same time. We are hoping that the shot is a little slow on the uptake!

We finally got to Thanksgiving. We went to dh's family on Wednesday night and had Mexican food. It's a little strange, I know. But it really does help with not getting burned out on turkey. We had taco ring, quessadillas, caso w/chips, and taco salad. We had a great time visiting with everyone. Dh's youngest brother and his wife were able to come and we had a wonderful time catching up with what the Lord is doing in their lives.

We went to my mother's on Thursday night and had turkey day on Friday. It was a long couple of days filled with staying up too late playing games and trying to cheat to win and way too much food that tasted way too good! ;) We had alot of fun and the kids got to watch more tv than ever before!

Black Friday my mother and I went to Wal-Mart at 5am because they had ONE thing that I wanted to get for Christmas. When we got there, the parking lot was FULL. The whole town showed up and was crammed inside this little store. We finally made it in and we seperated to find it sooner. When she called me on her cell phone because we couldn't get to each other, she informed me that the one thing I wanted, they had never received any - their store wasn't big enough. AAAGGGHHH! I was so frustrated. I hate shopping anyway and I just wasted all this time and sleep for nothing. Oh well. I later went online and ordered it and had it shipped to our store for pick up! Got to love the internet. LOL

It snowed Friday night and we were stuck (I say that with a smile and a wink) at my mother's for another night. When we came home my dh got ready to go and sing at church this weekend. It really never ends. At least it has given me some time to catch up with my posting, right? :)

Life really is crazy. But something that is even crazier is that God still loves us even though we fail Him time and again. He is so patient and forgiving. What a gentle and loving Father to wait for us and let us make our own mistakes, yet be there to catch us when we fall. Do you know Jesus? Do you know He loves you? He does. Talk to Him, He will listen.

Officially Speaking

I am officially sick of being sick! I am on my fourth round of antibiotics and my second round of steroids. I am done. I want to be well and have energy and not cough up a lung whenever I laugh or walk up the stairs. I am not sure I remember what it was like to not need a nap right after breakfast! LOL I am also not sure what it was like to hear my normal voice and not the squeeky, crackly one that I am talking with now. It is either that or I sound like a guy with a very low voice. My children find it quite amusing!

Someday I will feel better and things will get back to normal, right?

Caught in the Act!

I found her under the table after it had been quiet for a little too long!! She was being so careful to be quiet.









When she looked up at me, I could see what she was doing. Do you see what is in her hands? She was still trying to be very quiet about eating my snack!

When she took this bite, I told her that it was her last bite because she had already had enough of the candy bar.







So, what did she do? She shoved the last of it in her mouth and chewed for the next 5 minutes!!!

There goes my snack! :(

The end result

The end result of putting my child through orthodontic pain will be worth it, right? Our 8yodd started her 2yr ordeal a couple of months ago and we went back in today to get the second appliance put on the bottom teeth. She just sobbed with her mouth open while they worked away! It was soo sad. :( She didn't move or bite the Dr. She just had huge tears rolling down her cheeks. Aren't we supposed to rescue them from pain? AAGGHH! It was so hard to just stand there and watch.

We are already seeing the movement of her teeth and that is exciting. Hopefully by the time they put the brackets on the front teeth in January, she will have enough movement of her top jaw that she can have that appliance taken off and be left with just the bottom one.

I am really not looking forward to tomorrow or the next three days. I may have to adjust the menu to account for some soft foods for her to eat!

I will try to get some pictures of the appliances - if she will let me!! :)

Do I realize how blessed I am?

There are many blessings that I think about often. Such as this house, my husband, my children, living in America, having food, being able to pay bills. I have a lot to be thankful for. And I am. But something was brought to my attention some time back that I think I took for granted.

Here it is:

My mother and step-dad LOVE our children. I mean they really like having them around. If they don't get to see them at least once a month they are calling and asking to see them. They also call and ask if the kids can come and spend the weekend with them. We have to say no to them quite often just to have the kids at home sometimes!! This is the way it has always been. I don't remember a time when they weren't asking to keep them overnight or to just come and babysit so dh and I could have some time alone. They have actually driven from over an hour away just to babysit for a few hours and then go home again so we wouldn't have to pay a babysitter. I have never known a time as a mother that I could not call and get immediate help and relief from a trusted source.

Now the confession. I did take this for granted. It was just part of my life, it was normal. I didn't realize that other grandparents didn't do this! I assumed that all grandparents were like this and so when I ran across some friends who had NEVER had a weekend alone since their children were born (over 7 yrs ago) I was amazed. I asked about the grandparents and they had never even offered. I was incredulous. How could they NOT want their grandchildren for the weekend, and especially to give the parents a break and time with just each other? This family actually had no one willing to take the kids for any length of time to give them a couples time together. No, the kids are not bad, they are great kids.

Enter another couple I know. They have three great kids and have to practically beg the grandparents to take the kids overnight and then arrange for all kinds of activities to keep the kids occupied at the house. They also have to be on a tight schedule as to when they will leave and come back home. I am sure they are grateful for the time away, but is it really restful to have to watch the clock like that?

Countless other couples I have come across look at me like I have grown a new head when I tell them that the girls are gone again to my mother's. I hear constantly that they don't have anyone in their lives they can call to take their kids and not have to pay for it. I am starting to feel guilty about this.

Really.

But, it got me to thinking. Not only about the blessing that I have in this situation, but about the families out there going it alone. Where has the older generation gone? Where are all the substitute Grandma's and Grandpa's that used to litter the church and come along and mentor the young families? I had several sets of 'adopted' grandparents when I was growing up. I remember that they would babysit us and we would go to their houses constantly while our parents were working or what have you. They would sit with us in church and if they saw us doing something we shouldn't, they told us about it. Where are the grandparents who will call up the new parents and volunteer to sit with a baby so the momma can sleep or run errands or go on a date with her husband? Why have we lost this connection with the past? How can we get it back?

If parenting is the hardest job in the world, why are we backing away from those in the trenches? How many of us volunteer to watch someone else's kids to give them a break? How many of us come along side of a new mother and guide her through the wonderful and painful adjustment period of becoming a mother? What about a new dad, does anyone even remember him? Where is all the wisdom of the years that our older generation has gleaned from years of experience and why are they keeping it to themselves?

Could it be that this generation of people think they already know it all? We have all the books, have seen all the DVD's, and listened to the experts with the letters behind their names; so, Grandma and Grandpa, thank you but no. We have been fed lies for so long about parenting and family life that we can no longer even see the side of Truth. If you have just started on this journey of parenting or marriage, how can you have all the answers already? That is just dumb.

Am I the only one who thinks this way? I miss having older wisdom around me. I want my children to grow up hearing the stories of days gone by and knowing that you get wisdom by life experience and that no matter how much you think you know, you still need the Lord. I want young families to be supported by the older generation. I want the Church to support the WHOLE family and not just cater to the kids. Am I asking too much? I usually do!

Ahh, Homeschooling...

I am not sure if I have ever really posted about Homeschooling or not. Maybe in general terms and in with another post; but, this one is all about Homeschooling. :))

I really enjoy teaching my children at home-really. I enjoy seeing that light in their eyes when they get a new concept or when they figure out that the letters on a page mean something and they can sound them out and then read them!! That is amazing to me. Our 5yodd is in this process right now. She is learning to read. It is so exciting to see everything click for her. I can't imagine sending her to school one day and she came home able to read and I missed it. That makes me sad just thinking about it.

I love the fact that we can stay in our jammies all day and do school on the bed, couch, floor, or where ever we want to at the time. We can go to the backyard and do school. It truly fosters an open dialogue with the kids that I don't think I would have if they were gone all day.

We have also been able to incorporate practical living skills into everyday life that I don't think I could do if they were gone all day. Such as, I taught my dd's how to make a certain muffin recipe, tater tot casserole, grilled ham and cheese, and other things in the course of daily living. They are now self-sufficient at making their own breakfasts and lunches and will soon be responsible for some simple dinner menus as well. They are learning practical life skills as they come up through-out the day at teachable moments and it is priceless.

We do have the standard 'three r's' that we do every day and we actually enjoy those most days as well. The girls are able to get most of their work done by 11am and then have free time until 1pm or so and then we start the fun stuff! Art, science, history, reading, etc. I get to be right there with them when they are learning and discovering. What a gift.

I think the most important thing that I love about Homeschooling is the character training I get to do with them. It is a continual thing and it never stops. ;) I control what influences they are allowed to be around and I am very choosy. I want them to grow into the kind of women that God wants them to be and to prepare them for His purposes and so the responsibility falls to me to control who is shaping the character of my children. Do we hide in our house and church and never associate with other people? Absolutely not!! My children are VERY social and are comfortable in almost every public setting. They have no problem in carrying on conversations with other children of all ages and with adults. The difference, I think, is that they are not influenced by the worldly standards that say you have to have the newest and best to be liked. If someone has a different value system than I do, then I will limit the exposure that my children will have with that person. Why should that person have more time to shape my child than I do? They shouldn't-in my opinion!

Enough of the rant. LOL Homeschooling works for us-we love it. We struggle through some days and some days we give up and wait until the next day all together!! For the most part, I absolutely love being with my kids and I think they are really fun to be around. I can't imagine sending them away for eight or more hours a day and they come home significantly different than when they left.

I am going to try and put a list on the side of the curriculum we use. I will try. Most days I am doing good just to get a post to show up!! The computer is not my thing. LOL

Can you see them?

I took this picture in July-obviously from the date stamp!!-but then I never really went back and looked at it. I was looking at it on the computer last night and magnified it. If you look closely, you can see the water droplets in front of her face and arm all the way back to the water. It is sooo cool. I really hope it comes across for you to see. If not, I am not crazy you'll just have to trust me! :)

I just tried it and you have to click on the picture to make it bigger-it's soo cool!!

Book review

I finished 'Summer of Light' by W. Dale Cramer and I have to say that I just loved this book! It was very well written and I thoroughly enjoyed the characters.

The premise is: A family of two parents and three kids are set up pretty well with the normal school/daycare/work for both parents routine, when the husband has an accident at work and can't work any longer. He ends up staying home with the kids and finds out what it is really like being a stay-at-home mom/dad! It is truly funny and had me laughing so hard at times that I thought that I would wake up my dh! It is true to life and down to earth. It has a core theme of God pursuing us through out the whole book and it is believable. I won't give away any more of the details, they are too fun to discover for yourself! I highly recommend this book. It is very engaging and easy to read. A definite feel-good book!

I am going to search more books by this author and I will let you know!

Updates and more sickness!

We received a call on Friday morning about dh's shoulder and it is a torn rotator cuff. They said the tear was small, but we still have to go to the surgeon on Friday to see what he says about it. We have done some research online about it and it sounds like since he injured it about 4months ago that the best thing is surgery. ??? I guess we will see. Me on the other hand, I am on my second atibiotic for a sinus infection and bronchitis and now I think I may have strep and my sinus infection is coming back!! WOOHOO!! And fun times were had by all. LOL Dc's are doing great and are all healthy at the time of this writing. That doesn't mean that when I am done they will be; but, for now it's all good! :)

Dragging

We have been in the midst of sickness here. First it was the 2yodd and her UTI's. Then she had a minor surgery with more testing to be done next week. Then I got a sinus infection with bronchitis. I have been hacking for a week and not getting much sleep since when my head is any other position besides upright, it pounds and throbs and causes my left eye to twitch and water!! I am very lovely right now! LOL My dh is also undergoing tests to see if he tore his rotator cuff while we were roofing our house! We are just a bundle of health and vitality right now. LOL I think a heard of elephants just entered the house upstairs-I had better go tame them!!

Dancing update!

Well, I realized that I had never posted about our 8yodd's decision on whether to do ballet or not. She decided not to. Yeah!! I think. :) She decided on soccer and is really enjoying it. We have the two older girls on the same team and the 5yodd is playing as well. They do AYSO and it is working out very well. We also figured out that if the 8yodd wears her glasses during the games that she can track the ball and her eyes will work better. Go figure!

Anyway, I will try and post some pictures later from a game or two.

What a day! I blew it.

Have you ever had one of those days where you knew from the beginning that it wasn't going to be good? That was my day today. I had decided that we would take a lazy approach to our day and just start the day snuggling my 4 girls in my bed. It was wonderful-for about 5 seconds! Then came the 'Ouch, you did that on purpose', or how about 'That's MY spot, Mom make her move from my spot'. Wait a minute-I thought this was MY bed. Next it moved into the 'Don't touch me' category. And before I could blink it sailed right through the glaring looks into the 'If you touch me again, I am going to hit you' phase. So in less than 5 minutes I went from this warm snuggly idea of all my girls curled up with me on a cool fall morning to being kneed in the groin and stomach, and taking an elbow in the 'fleshy' part of the chest. My hair was being ripped from my scalp as the 2yodd tried to crawl away from her big sister who was scaring her and laughed hysterically at my pain. The 5yodd seemed to think that I was a body pillow and would not remove herself from on top of me. As I was under the blankets and she was on top of them-I was essentially a Mom Burrito with no way to defend myself. The 8yodd found the humor in that but not in the fact that her 5yo sister had just breathed on her. Speaking of breathing, I am getting hot under the 50lbs of squirming girl. Ouch, another knee to the groin. Peels of laughter-none of them mine. The 2yodd leans over my face and asks if I am okay and as she does, some spit falls out of her mouth onto my face. Remember, I am the Mom Burrito and have no way to defend myself from this onslaught of bodily fluids. At least it fell on my cheek! More eye rolling and moving away from the offending 'breather'. The 2yo pushes the 9yodd off the bed and the 9yo is so positive that she did it on purpose that the 2yo is crying and saying, 'I'm sorry sissy, I didn't do it on accident'. Then the 5yo actually touched the 8yo. Can you imagine such a thing? Four kids and a mom in a full size bed and someone actually got touched by someone else? Call the newspaper or something! The 8yo heaved a sigh and got out of bed, the 9yo followed saying something about the 2yo not letting her back in 'her' spot, the 2yo followed the 9yo asking to be tickled, and the 5yo is still on the Mom Burrito. She has decided that it is a warm and toasty spot and wants to stay. By this time I am getting claustrophobic and I am sweating, so I push her aside and uncover gasping for air. I did not realize the force I had used and she ended up on the floor!! It took a full 5 minutes to convince her that I did not do it on purpose. Now that that is over, let's go make breakfast and do school, and oh yeah-get the house ready for couples Bible Study! WOOHOO!

I won't even go into how the rest of the morning went. Let's just leave it at I lost my cool and everyone else lost all movie privileges for the entire weekend. I didn't think that one through since the t.v. and dvd player are downstairs with two bedrooms. It is kind of hard to think rationally when you have a 2yo, a 5yo, an 8yo, and a 9yo screaming and crying at the top of their lungs how they didn't do it and why do we have to clean, isn't that your job anyway? That was so not the right thing to say! They should be thankful that my mind was so frozen with a red hot fire that I couldn't think of anything else to do to them at that moment. It was not one of my better parenting days. Not by a long shot!

We'll see how tomorrow goes. If it doesn't go well, they can always go to Grandma's!! I want to see them try this stuff with Grandma just one time. LOL I can see it now, that head whipping around and the finger coming out to a point, the other hand on the hip. Next comes the stare. The look that slices right through you and looks at you from behind! ROFLOL I would almost pay money to see the looks on my kids faces if they tried that with her!!! A girl can dream, can't she?

It really happened!!!

Well...We actually signed the papers and sold our house today! I am doing the dance of joy right now! LOL I didn't think it was going to happen, really. After everything that went on. For the last week, I was really feeling burndened to pray for the other couple and we got to meet them today. They are our age and have had so much financial trouble as well as personal trouble that they were terribly greatful for the house and how patient we were with all the problems that came up. We were able to look at them and tell them that God had blessed us so how could we not bless them? It was really neat. They were surprised at how calm we were about all the problems and just kept thanking us for hanging in there so they could have the house! I am hoping that God is using this to show Himself to them in a mighty way.

WE ARE SOOO EXCITED!! :) Oh, and because we had to make one more house payment on the old house, our closing costs were less than we thought! WOOHOO!! Now, we just have to wait to close on this house until next week when the sellers get back from vacation. Then, this house will officially be ours! God is so good. :)

How far is too far?

I just finished reading another book by Ted Dekker called Showdown and I must find somewhere to vent about this. I have read House and thought the same thing about that book. I also read Blessed Child and its sequel. I thoroughly enjoyed Blessed Child and the sequel, I was not, however, impressed with House or Showdown. I was left wondering, 'How far is too far'? I felt like I was reading secular fiction again and found myself unable to sleep. I finished the book because I needed to find some closure to the characters in the book.

The books have been well written and the characters intriguing. I also think that the story lines are interesting. What I am having a problem with is that I can't tell the difference between this 'Christian' writer and some of the other things I have read in the past that didn't claim Christianity. Does it really make it a 'Christian' book if they mention God and some of the characters believe in Him? Does it make it a 'Christian' book if there is a struggle between clearly defined good and evil? How about having one character who is 'pure of heart', does that make it 'Christian'?

How far is too far? Is it too far to describe in detail violent acts that a character is thinking of but never actually does? How about leading a reader down a thought path that leads a certain way if you have 'been in the world' at all, but doesn't actually say it. Is it too far to get them to think those things, to dwell on them? Is it too far to invite fear to creep in through 'Christian' writing that has its toes dangling over the edge of an abyss?

I am really asking because I can be pretty black and white about a lot of things and I think that this is one of them. I think that these writers are going too far. It is not a 'Christian' book to have one character come to the realization that there is a God. Satan believes that. Talking about God in a positive manner and touting His good qualities does not make it a 'Christian' book, either. How do these books edify the body? How do they bring glory to God? How do they show that we are set apart? Do they draw people to the Christian life? I have to wonder.

I think that this subject is a lot like the movement that is sweeping the Church-the 'Seeker-Friendly' movement. To say these words in my house means you better be ready for a good argument! I think that this movement is dangerous. I think that there are some good points to it; but on the whole, I think that it is causing the Body to change who God has called us to be so that the world is no longer offended by us and is more comfortable in church. Isn't that what these books are doing? They are taking what the world likes and just throwing God in the mix and calling it 'Christian'. Now I want to say that there are a great many churches out there that are doing it right and still have their focus on Jesus Christ. I just have to wonder if we are missing the mark that is right in front of us.

Who's job is it to win souls? Who's job is it to get people to come to church? God's. Jesus saves, we can't. The Holy Spirit pursues and convicts, we can't. It is not our job to look pretty and shiny so that no one will be offended by us, our job is to have changed lives that make people want to know why. How can we be set apart if we look the same, sound the same, and act the same? Aren't we supposed to be different?

"We have to use the technology that is out there today to get the kids to want to come to our church. If we don't do that then they won't come." What is church about? Is it catering to a dying world or teaching them about the Living Water that satisfies every longing and desire? How can we satisfy their deepest need if we cover it up with the 'tools' of the world? Have we forsaken the simple message of 'Jesus saves' with the glitz and glamour of the jumbo-tron and theatre seating? Shouldn't you feel like you have 'been to church' if you have been to church? It shouldn't feel like going to a concert, should it? Shouldn't it feel like you have been at the foot of the Cross and faced with your own reflection in the mirror, you found yourself dirty and wretched and knowing you need someone to save you from yourself? Shouldn't we be telling people every week how to yield to salvation, how to yield to Jesus' Lordship, how to die to self?

Are we? Or are we saying that if you have any questions, go see so and so somewhere else? Are we afraid that the Gospel message is offensive? It is. It is supposed to be. How else would a stiff-necked people ever believe that they need a change? It is offensive to me when I get a speeding ticket. But, obviously I needed someone to tell me that I was doing something that was wrong and dangerous. Do we care enough about the lost people of the world to tell them that they are doing things that are wrong and dangerous? Do we care enough about each other as brothers and sisters in Christ to tell each other the same thing?

What if in our quest to 'win more souls' we have taken on a responsibility that we cannot handle? When we try to make church more appealing to the lost world, what are we really saying? What it looks like to me is this: It really isn't that great to be a Christian. No big deal. It really looks a lot like what you see everyday, just prettier. You can come and feel good about going to church and don't worry about conviction, we don't really talk about that much-that is for your small group. We want everyone to feel comfortable here so we just take a middle of the road approach-no hard lines here. In fact, you don't have to change much at all, you will fit right in, because we look just like you.

It scares me that our churches could be mistaken for anything other than what they were intended for-to tell people about Jesus and to bring Glory and Honor to the Maker of Heaven and Earth. If we would do that with our lives we would be different and people would be running to our churches to find out what we knew. God is the one responsible for bringing people to Himself. I am just a clay pot. I can't be of much use if I try to be a golden goblet.

Now, back to the books!! LOL If a non-Christian picked up this book, what would make them want to become a Christ follower? I don't know. Can God use one of these books for His glory? You bet! "Our God is in Heaven, He does what pleases Him." But, I wonder if these books please Him if they cause people to have lusty thoughts, or fearful thoughts, or violent thoughts, or any other thought that could cause them to stumble. When I finished the last word in the book, I was not worshipping the One True God, I was not brought before His Throne, I was asking Him to help me forget the things I had just read and praying for old thoughts not to come back again.

It will be a LOOONG time before I read another Ted Dekker book, if ever. I don't think my husband appreciates the debates as much as I do! LOL So for now, I am reading an apologetic book and a fiction book called Summer of Light by W. Dale Cramer. I will let you know how it goes!!

So far, so good...

We heard from our realtor last night that the underwriters had okayed the purchase of our house for the buyers and the appraisor would have his paper work in on Monday. It looks like everything is a go, for now anyway!! We are set to sign the papers on Tuesday afternoon. Then we will not sign papers to buy this house until the following week. I am trying not to get pessimistic about this. I am trying to keep a positive attitude and still be realistic at the same time.

On an up note, the people we are buying this house from called and said that we are not moving out of this house. They truly believe that God wants us to be in this house and they will help us get that done. Can you believe these people? What a blessing they are and how faithful they are to God's call on their life. An example for sure.

Here's to hoping for Tuesday!! LOL

Another contest entry!!

I entered to win the writing instruction program MY Access! Home and the SAT Prep Pack on the HSB Company Porch!

I love entering contests!!

Still Waiting...

Well, we are still waiting to sign the contracts to buy and sell. Can you believe it? Last week it was the lender changing underwriters. This week the lenders discovered that the buyers have had over 60 hits on their credit in the last 60 days. They didn't do any of them, so they think that it was identity theft. It will take approximately 2-3 months to get them all cleared off their credit. So, we are going to rent our house to them and we are going to rent this house. It isn't a great solution, but it works. We are just waiting to sign the renters contracts to make it official. I am really frustrated and trying to keep focused on the fact that God brought us this house and it is His will for us to be here. I firmly believe that He will work it out for us. I'm believing God.

Old Schoolhouse Contest

I just entered a contest for a whole series of books from The Old Schoolhouse magazine. You can enter too!! Here's how:

Enter to win the complete set of Terrestria Chronicleson the HSB Company Porch!

This is my sunny, funny, dd#2. She can be quite challenging sometimes!! But that is only because she is soo smart and discerning about things. She 'gets things' much quicker than most kids her age and she is alot of fun to joke around with. She has a great sense of humor and is quite the little actress! She has a great nack for taking care of babies and it is so precious to watch. She is a treat to have as a daughter.

Stunning!

This is another picture that I happened on. It is of our first dd and my dh caught the sunset in a different picture by itself. Then dd popped up out the car and he caught this magnificant picture. This is her disposition most of the time. Beaming. She is a true joy to be around. What a blessing she is to us.

A Treasure

This is a wonderful picture I happened on of our third dd. She received this scarf from my sister who was just newly home from the war in Iraq. Dd decided that this must be the way they wear these over there and wanted to try it out. I thought that this picture was just lovely and it reminded me of how her beauty takes my breath away sometimes. She is such a sweet spirited soul. What a treasure she is to all who know her.

Our new house!!!

This is our new house that God gave us. He brought it to us and completely blessed our socks off with it. It is more than we could have ever dreamed of and we are incredibly grateful.

That is the 'Formal Dining Room' IT HAS A BAY WINDOW!!! I have wanted one for years and now God has given me one. Someone has also given us a new china hutch for the dining room that we will get in the next few weeks. Notice the dh again! He is following me around. LOL

This is the 'Formal Living Room'!! This is the first room you see when you walk in. It is bigger than this, I just couldn't get it all in the picture. On the wall to the right in the photo we have our piano. And the good looking man in the picture is my dh!!

This is our Kitchen and 'breakfast nook'. It has a ton of cabinet space. The stove top is in the island with cabinets underneath and the stove is on the wall to the right in the picture with more cabinets above and below it!!! It is a wonderfully big kitchen!

This is the pantry that is on the wall beside the oven. I am sooo excited by this that I just open the door and turn the light on and look into it!! there are shelves top to bottom. There is another storage room on this same wall that I didn't take pictures of; but, it has shelves in it and it is is big enough you can walk into it and turn around and not bump into anything else. LOL

This is the hallway looking from our bedroom to the main bathroom. Can you tell who that head is? Yup-my dh. He really was following me around! Along this hallway on the left is the coat closet, dd#3 and #4' room(they share), and the spare room. Yes, I said a spare room. We can actually have overnight guests that don't have to sleep on a couch now. I guess we better get another bed!

This is the main bathroom. It has a whirlpool/jacuzzi tub thingy. And that is the technical term for it in our house! I tried it out tonight and it felt great. I can tell that I will be spending a great amount of time in there! LOL It also has a window in it that lets in wonderful sonlight.

This is the downstairs. I have a basement now!! I almost can't believe it. There is somewhere to send the kids when I am trying to do my quiet time or am on the phone! WOOHOO! This is looking across the room from the stairs and the computer and desk is on the left and there is a bathroom on the right. We have a fireplace on the far wall.

This is the school room! TAADAA~It had the shelves already in it. We can also fit in a futon, a desk and a computer in there. Then there is still room for them to sit on the floor. It is truly a blessing to have somewhere to put all the school stuff and not have it spread all over the house. (It still kind of is, we just have somewhere to put it now!)

This is the bedroom for dd's #1 and 2. This room is big enough that they each have their own twin size beds, two dressers, a dressing table and a couch in it!!!! The also have closet spaces of their own.

They think the closets are soo cool!

This is almost the best part. This is our backyard. It has actual grass that we can walk around in barefoot!! It also has a patio that is big enough that the girls can ride their scooters on. We are really enjoying the grass. There are no stickers to be found in this yard-anywhere. I don't think that we will take grass for granted ever again.

Another day, another nit-picking, arm-poking opportunity

Where did my angelic children go? Where are the kids that would play together and not fight? Where are the kids that obeyed? Where are the kids that would look at me with such love and devotion that it would make you cry? WHERE??? I tell you that the body snatchers came in the night and took my sweet children away and left these, these, whining, crying, fighting, cranky, stinky, snotty, rugrats!!! AAGGHH!!

This used to be us! It was soo easy to take them places and do things. They did just what they were told and followed me like I knew everything! Then...

They decided to gang up against me and get their own personalities! They all have their own ideas about what to wear, what to do, what to say, and where to go. Who said they could do that? I surely didn't. I never remember saying that I was not in control anymore. Did I give them permission to be their own person and not just do exactly what I say and think what I think?


Oh, yeah, I guess I did! Would I really want it any other way? Well, maybe on some of it. But I still really like the idea of that first picture and I hold it fondly in my memory of what I think it used to be like!!!

We're HERE!!!

Well...We are in our new house! We moved on Saturday-all of it! We had at least 20 people show up to help us move and we moved our ENTIRE HOUSE in about 6 hours! We could not believe that it went so fast. Then we had so much help that my mom unpacked and set up the entire kitchen and friends helped set up the beds. Everyone had a bed to sleep in our first night. We ended up needing only three beds because two kids slept in beds with other kids! Oh well! Everyone was safe and happy.

We are loving our house! It truly is a blessing from a Father who cares for every need and want that we have. We are in awe of His lavish love every time we look around at what He gave us. There are almost no words that describe what we are feeling. How great is the love the Father has for His children!

We are having a little drama in that the closing has been delayed until next week. The FHA inspector couldn't get to our old house in time for the closing this week. It shouldn't be a problem unless he says that we have to do some major repairs or changes. Oh YEAH-I think I forgot-we have termites at the old house. We have to have that treated before we can sell it. That was wonderful news last week!-NOT. I cried so much that my eyes were almost swollen shut! Then I had someone remind me that God was in control and He would make it work. He did. The termite guy is giving us a HUGE discount and we can cover the price he gave us. Another blessing and provision from God! His goodness will never end.

For now, we are on our way to the old house to do some painting and ground work before the inspection. No school today! The girls are thirlled with that!! ;0

A sweet moment

I just wanted to share this wonderful picture of our youngest! Isn't she beautiful? Can't you just see the 'ornriness in her eyes? She is FULL of mischief! She is also a great kid. She is very smart and loving.

Oh, yeah, I did not jump into the future and snap this photo and come back somehow! The batteries fell out and I didn't even notice that the date was wrong. LOL

Has it really been that long?

I can't believe that it has been this long since I have posted! Life has been quite crazy here what with all the packing and such! We have also had other things in life going on(imagine that!).

We have moved a few things over to the new house!!!! We are finally getting excited about it. However, the buyers still haven't had an appraiser come to the house and that has to be done in order for them to buy it. We are getting nervous about that. But, God is in control and we will rest in that.

We take dd#3 back to the Ear, Nose, Throat Specialist on Wed. and hopefully she will let them do what they need to do so we can find out why she has hearing loss.

Soccer starts for dd's #1 and 2 tonight. We got them on the same team this year to save one night of practices and crazy times on games days. We'll see how it goes to have them together and if they drive each other, the coach, and their teammates crazy!

Dd#3 starts soccer on Friday-the same night we have a family picnic for our Homeschool group! So we have to decide which one to go to-there is no way to do both.

We also have to be completey ready to move the whole house on Saturday morning at 8am. That is when everyone is showing up to help us move. Being the OCD person that I am-EVERYTHING has to be done before anyone shows up! I think I am going to drive the entire family crazy this week.

PLUS----(like there needed to be anything else) We are doing school and starting a new curriculum this week!! WOOHOO!

I think I am certifiable!! What do you think? On second thought, don't answer that!

My straight laced daughter!!!

This is our 9yodd. Usually she is very sedate and does not like to be in the spotlight. She danced like this for about 3hours!! I put the camera on the table and pretended not to be taping her! This is too precious of a moment not to have taped it!

Our new house!

This is the house we are moving into in a few weeks. Isn't it beautiful? Notice the green stuff in the front yard? It's called grass and it is all over the front AND back yards!!! LOL At our current house we have stickers, sticker, and more stickers. We have already gone over and walked around barefoot! WOOHOO!! It has everything we have ever wanted in it. It has a schoolroom and room to grow! It has a wonderfully large kitchen with two pantries and tons of cabinet space. What a blessing this house is and we have already agreed to use it to host the people who help out with our camp for get togethers! I can't wait to see what God does through us in this house!

This is our Monarch butterfly that we found as a chrysalis and watched it hatch! It was so much fun for the kids. We waited for two hours while he tried to get out!

He finally got out and flew away. It was truly beautiful!

Crazy Busy!

I am knee deep-literally-in boxes and papers! We are in the process of moving. We close on the 13th of September and we move the weekend before! I don't have a lot of time to get everything done and dh has been on jury duty all last week and part of this coming week. Plus all of the other stuff we have going on right now. I am still trying to find time to post about everything that has been going on and get some pictures posted. LOL We will see when that happens!!

For now, back to packing!

So much to say...

I haven't posted in a while because I am still processing everything that happened at Royal Family Kids Camp and life decided not to wait while I recovered! Camp was WONDERFUL! As always. It is a camp for Foster Kids. Some things happened at the beginning that made it very challenging; but, we figured it out and things went pretty smoothly. We did end up having an intestinal bug move throughout our cabin so that 6 of 9 people were sick off and on all week. It made it very interesting going into the bathroom stalls! We would go into the stall and find little 'gifts' floating and waiting for us to discover! Eventually during the week, we discovered a pair of panties in the toilet with a gift! We later discovered an extra special 'gift' for us when we tried to fix the toilet. When we opened the tank lid, we discovered a floating 'gift' for us there. We really aren't sure how it got there; but, we are pretty sure that someone had to have put it there. Then when we got back to our rooms on another night I was checking my bed for spiders and lo and behold-a wet spot!! Someone had let a girl sit on my bed to get her toenails done and she couldn't wait I guess. So in the middle of the night we are waking people up asking for extra bedding! We laughed until almost 2am about it. We also had one of the counselors in my room have a positive TB test while we were at camp! Then on Friday, I found a tick on my stomach. I PANICKED and just pulled it out and the head was stuck in there. SO, I had to go to the nurse's station and she had to dig around in there to get the head out. OUCH!

There are so many more things that happened on a personal level with the kids that there is just not enough room to write them. One instance though that is typical is this: One of the boys was asking a staff member if they had any pets and she said that they had had a few the last of which was a dog that they got rid of because it bit the baby. This precious little boy looked up and said that if it had been his mom, she would have gotten rid of him. And she did.

These kids are soo special. I cannot believe that I get to do this each year!!

Ethics 101

The Thursday before we went to camp we went to a movie for family night. Now, we have a theatre that shows the movies that are just about to go to video and so they only charge $2 a ticket. We love this theatre!! It is a lot cheaper for the tickets, however the snacks are still INCREDIBLY expensive. Sooo, we bring our own snacks that we buy at Wal-Mart. Our children have never said anything because doing it this way we get much more of a selection and then we can buy 2 drinks at the theatre. It has always worked out great until, our 8yodd asked us this particular evening if we were supposed to be bringing in our own snacks. I was honest and said "No, but..." I thoroughly explained that if we did not do this we could not get snacks and maybe not go to the theatre sometimes. She looked up at me with her big blue eyes and said, "It's still wrong though, isn't it?"

Now why did she have to go and be my conscience and all that? I will never be able to go to the theatre again and feel comfortable with bringing my own snacks. I really hate it when my kids actually listen to what I said and then bring it up to me later!!

Happy Monday!!

Well, to start off my Monday it is the first day of our school year and I have to go to the Dr. to be tested for Lyme disease and TB. It is a VERY long story; but, I had a tick on me for about two days at camp and on Friday we discovered that my co-counselor had a positive test for TB. WOOHOO!!! So, now I get to have the tests done-I hate needles! I will have all four kids with me so let's hope that I don't pass out when they start poking me!! Wouldn't that be a site!

Anyway, I really will post about camp and all that has happened since my last post-just not today! Maybe I will post tonight and have another pity party while I rip off the bandaids!!

We're Back!

Well, we are back from our week at Royal Family Kids Camp. It is a camp for foster kids and we get them for a week and teach them about Jesus and do lots of crafts and swim and just be kids. It is wonderful!

Before that, blogger thought that my blog was spam so I could not post!! They fixed it, so I will try and catch things up in a few days. For now, I am going back to bed to catch up on sleep!!

Stage Mom or Encouraging Mom?

I have to write this just to get it out. My 7yodd has been taking ballet since she was 4 and she is quite good at it. Well, we just rec'd the papers about next years classes and the teacher has decided that she is physically ready to move up to the class that prepares them for pointe shoes. She has been talking about this for several years now. I thought she would be excited about this and be ready to go now...she is not. She wants to quit ballet and go with soccer. I am torn between getting her to do ballet because she has a talent for it and letting her do soccer because she just wants to. Soccer is cheaper but I don't want that to be the reason we let her do that. I also don't want to push her to do something if she really doesn't want to. AAGGHH!

What to do, What to do!! We still have a few weeks to get our money back from soccer if she changes her mind again!

This top picture is of her when she was 6yo(by two months). She got a part as one of the Lullaby dancers! She was the youngest performer in the company!

A new day!

Aren't you glad that we get a fresh day every morning? I was soo cranky with my children last night as I was alone with them again, that I was worried that they would still be upset with me this morning. It was not one of my proudest moments as a mom! :(

Well, this morning we all woke up in great moods and they forgave me. What a lesson I can learn from them. They are really great kids.

Today while I was teaching, the other teachers children were getting a little crazy and my two oldest dd's stepped in a took over distracting them and caring for them. They did this w/o being asked to! Then the other teacher paid them for having done it! They were sooo excited about having had their first paying babysitting job! That really made them feel grown up.

The other good thing that happened today was I got my review at work and it was a good one. Then my boss asked if I could fill in for her tomorrow night for her classes! Two more hours will make up for what I lost last week when the youngest dd got sick. Praise the Lord! My boss also asked if I could pick up one more evening class during the fall, so then I would almost 6 hours of work a week. It doesn't sound like much; but, it really does help with the little stuff that comes up. And it made me feel good about what I am doing and that always helps! LOL

Now it is time for the youngest dd to take a nap and for me to do laundry. Maybe I will join her!!

Something calm and serene!

I thought that maybe after my ranting in the last post that I should post something that is beautiful and calm!!LOL I took this picture on our way home from vacation. I took it looking straight up through the windshield!
Isn't it wonderful? Couldn't you just imagine Jesus appearing through clouds like these? That gave me goosebumps just thinking of it!

I'm just wondering...

Do you ever wonder if you are obedient? I mean truly in all things. Or do you just obey what you want or what you think will get you in trouble? The reason I am asking is I am a black and white person. It is either wrong or right-it can't be both. I am working on this because it gets me in trouble, alot! LOL My sense of justice is freaky high as well and that can cause my blood pressure to rise to dangerous levels. So I really have to work to not lose my temper on a daily basis if I go out and mingle in the world!!

The reason I ask is because I am seeing a tremendous amount of people who no longer stop at stop signs. It has become 'socially okay' to slow down only as much as you have to and then roll right on thru. But is that obeying the law? No. Does anybody seem to care? I wonder. What about turning left when it is posted 'No Left Turn'? Is that wrong if nobody catches you? What about the people behind you that have to wait while you are more concerned with yourself than obeying the law? Yes, I believe that is what is at the core of our 'little discrepencies' like that. Selfishness. Obviously you can tell that these are BIG issues for me; but shouldn't they be for every Christian? If we are to obey the 'law of the land' isn't that in the small things as well? Can we say that we are obeying if we go the obligatory 5mph over the posted speed limit?

I am struggling to not be hypocritical with this. I do go the 5mph over the posted limit; BUT I always stop completely before proceeding. Does it really matter though if I am not willing to obey in all things?

Do I approach God the same way? Do I do this with the things He asks me to do or not do? The small things that I don't think matter I just bypass and try and coast by. Meanwhile the big things get harder to obey.

Where do we draw the line in a society that believes in relativistic truth? I think as Christians we hold the line and live to let everyone see us obeying in the little things so that there is a standard to strive for. Is it easy? NO. Do I always want to? ABSOLUTELY NOT! Do I have to try? ABSOLUTELY YES!

Thanks for letting me rant!

Did she really?

I just had to post this picture of our 2yodd. She really did fall asleep like this! It was way too precious not to get a picture of!!

Maybe next time

Well, the deal for our house fell through. The buyers couldn't get the funding because of bad credit. So, we are back to showing the house again. I am pretty bummed about this as I was gearing up to pack and dreaming about the schoolroom in the other house. I know that God is in control and it will happen in His time; but I would really like that to be now!!!

We had someone look at it tonight. We are also changing real estate agencies. Our agent is moving agencies and so we will go with her which means that we get a new MLS number and that means that it goes out new all over again and maybe will generate some new interest. That with the new floor and the landscaping, maybe we can get some more people interested.

For now, we are trusting God for His timing.

Home from Iraq

This was a welcome home for my brother after he came home from Iraq. The Patriot Guard came and honored my brother and our whole family.

Here they come down the street! We could hear them for blocks before they got here. Then we saw the first one with a flag and then all the rest came and the tears started flowing!

They presented his with a banner and a plaque thanking him for his sacrifice. We were all crying and soo proud.

Isn't this beautiful with all the flags? There were so many of them that they filled the entire block! What a ministry that they are preforming for our soldiers. Our family is grateful.

Back and Forth

Well, we got a contract on the house on Saturday night-a verbal one at least. And on Sunday evening they still hadn't signed because their lending agent keeps adding fees and changing things on them. We hope/pray that they will change lending fees and we can proceed with the contract. Meanwhile, we are signing the contract on the house we want to buy on Monday night.

I have 17 days to pack and move our entire house. We also have inspections to go through on this house. That's a little scary because you don't know what they are going to say and ask for.

The baby is better and now dd#2 is sick with a sore throat and a wet cough. YEAH! That is why I am up so late/early. I have been up most of the night anyway, so I thought I would post.

EEWWW GROSS!!

Well, on my way to work this morning, my 2yodd threw up all over herself, her carseat, the diaper bag and the carpet. My other dd's had to clean her up(as well as the chunks!) while I turned the car around and went back home. We have sprayed Lysol ALL OVER the car and I hosed the carseat off in the front yard. What a way to start the morning!!

I guess now I can sit and prepare my lesson plans for the start of our school year! Funny how God slows you down sometimes, isn't it?

This could be the day!!

We finished the wood laminate flooring in the music room over the weekend and finished up the trim on Tuesday evening. We have shown the house several times in our varying degrees of work and now, we have an offer. We got it late last night. It is not a great offer. They came down 5,000 and want us to pay over 3,000 in closing costs. So really we would be coming down over 8,000 and then we would have to bring 6,500 to closing to get out of the house. There is no way in this world that we can come up with that kind of money. We also have to think about closing costs on our other house. So, we counter-offered and we will find out today if they are willing to accept the offer. IF they do, that will give us 30 days to move and get our other house. On top of that, dh and I are leaving to volunteer at a camp for foster kids for a week at the beginning of August! Everything could be happening all at once.

I guess we will see if they accept the counter-offer and we will take it from there.

What a day!!

The actually started Friday night at about 6:00pm with ripping up the carpet in the music room. We stopped for dinner and a movie, then I went back in and pulled up the tack boards and the staples. We did not get to bed until about 11:00pm. We woke up at 6:30am and got ready to be at Lowe's at 7:00am. We got our supplies and then we came home and realized that they flooring store did not give us enough padding. AAGGHH! We figured out what to do about that and got the saw set up and mapped out what we wanted to do. By 9:30 we were on our way and it was really going fast. We were about 2/3 of the way done and we had to stop to go to lunch for a birthday. We came home and we finished with the flooring about an hour later. We then went back to Lowe's to find the trim and threshold pieces we liked. We had a VERY difficult time agreeing on something but we finally found something, but weren't sure if it would work. It did and all the trim pieces will be beautiful! I will stain them in the morning and we will put them all down, move the furniture back in and be completely finished with the room. YEAH!! Hopefully that will help sell the house.

We also discovered that there are hard wood floors in the living room and hallway. That can only help as an incentive, right?

Now it is time for some sherbet and a movie-Batman Begins!

These are from my other blog:

Jul. 12, 2007
It's just my luck!!
After I got home from work today we set about having a leisurely lunch and I was checking my email while the kids made macaroni and cheese. The phone rang and they wanted to show the house at 1pm-TODAY!!! It was 12:07 when they called. I had done the dishes before we left, but that was the only thing we had done. The table had not been wiped off and there were things strewn all over the kitchen counter as well as the family room and dining room. Also, we let the dd's make a club house in thier room yesterday and they were planning the afternoon around it. They were terribly disapointed and wept bitterly at the thought of tearing it down and having to clean for a showing again. They begged me to call and cancel-I couldn't. We struggled to get things picked up enough and looking okay before the 1:00 showing. I did have to leave a note telling them what was going on in the master bedroom(ie the carpet) and I threw in a plug that we were going to put wood laminate down in the music room this weekend. I don't know if that was helpful or not. Hopefully the realtor can give us some feedback tomorrow about what people are thinking.
For now, I have to go drag carpeting and padding out to the garage! Yuck
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Jul. 11, 2007
What was I thinking-Oh, wait, I wasn't!!
Well, in my impatience to know why our house is not selling, I decided that it had something to do with the carpet in our bedroom and started ripping it up this afternoon. WHAT WAS I THINKING? PTL there is actually nice looking wood flooring under there. Dh got home and saw the mess(the carpet was half up) with most of our stuff in the hallway and our bathroom and just changed his clothes to go mow the yard w/o saying a word. I don't know if that is good or bad!!LOL While he was outside I took the mattress and box springs off the bed and pulled the carpet and pad from under it-call me She-ra-and by then I was so tired that I couldn't move the enormous pile of carpeting from the middle of our bedroom! So to get in to our bedroom we have to walk around the dresser in the doorway, a small dresser that is blocking dh's closet and the pile of carpeting and padding in the middle of it all. I am such an impatient dork. How will ever have it ready to show tomorrow if anyone calls? AAGGHH!! At least I have clean sheets on our bed now! My poor husband is sooo patient with me and my whims of pretending that I know what I'm doing and then coming to my rescue!
I should be sleeping now, but the smell from the padding is starting to make me angry(I have a thing about smells!) so I can't even lay in bed. I am working tomorrow morning and I won't have time to do anything before then except the dishes I neglected because of the obsession with the carpet. Will the insanity ever end? No, I will just wait a while before I do something like this again. My hands are so sore from gripping the carpet that it hurts to type!!!!
Time to make my bed on the couch and sleep for a long day of hauling carpets and stripping and refinishing a wood floor are ahead of me. (Now how do you do that again?)
Blessings,renita(who really is that big of a dork!)
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Jul. 10, 2007
Remember that party I had a last week...
I am going to have another one this morning. I wanted to have it last night only there was not time.
All right here goes:
My husband and I leave for a camp we volunteer at for foster kids in three weeks and I am in charge of the decorations and I don't have anything done.

I am teaching a class for our homeschooling group starting in September and I haven't called the other mom to set up a time to plan the class.

I am in charge of getting the yearbooks from last year to the printer and I lost the title page in our effort to declutter to sell the house.

I haven't even started planning for school for us for this coming year and we start school three days after I get back from camp.

I can't fit into any of my clothes because I have gained 30lbs since last year(after my surgery), so I don't have any clothes for camp.

The house is a mess and I don't want to clean it! (nothing different about that one!!)

Then to top it all off, after we got home from the YMCA-I got to workout,yeah-I went to check my email and the computer desk was completely wet. The roof was leaking down onto the computer, the hardrive, the bills, and my palm. And was my husband home? Yet again, NO. I was one cranky momma. I called and yelled at him about the situation and hung up, then yelled at the kids and sat down and pouted. I got about 5 good minutes of pouting and then it was bedtime.

I did snap out of it enough to pray with the girls and managed to send them to bed with a smile and some lovey time. Then dh got home and I only talked to him when he asked a direct question. I am having a hard time deciding if I should say something or not. I want to be supportive of what he is doing, but I am tired of being home alone all the time. More prayer.

Now it is time to do the dishes and the ever growing pile of laundry. Has anyone heard of disposable clothing? I think I would really like that for the 2yodd who is potty training. :)

Thanks for listening and let me know if you're having one and I will bring the chocolate!!
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Jul. 7, 2007
Family Time
Well, on Thursday the girls and I headed to my Mom's to spend our traditional 4th of July weekend camping in their backyard! We pitch tents around the pool and picnic tables and spend 3-4 days hanging around and eating so much food that we can't do anything but float in the pool! So far, we have gotten sunburned on our backs only!! TEEHEE Now we will have uneven tans-and for me a tan is an accomplishment! All of us blondies' hair is turning green and we smell like chlorine. It has been glorious. For the first time in about 15 years, my brother is joining us for our camping excursion. He has been in the military and away for all those years and after serving in Iraq, he is home for good now. I will try and post pictures when we get home.(maybe my dh can help with this!?)

Anyway, we are staying up way too late watching Bridge to Taribithia and eating fried ice cream. I am telling you we almost always gain about 8lbs!!! My clothes are getting tighter as I type. It's getting to the good part in the movie, better go! I will write more when I get home.
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Jul. 4, 2007
Update on that party
Well, my party was cancelled due to the overwhelming lack of support. Believe it or not, I could not get any of my family members to join in on the fun and no one would bring food. What were they thinking??
I guess that was fine because we ended up spending the morning in our jammies and reading a book aloud. After two hours of reading they graciously let me take a shower and wash my hair AND shave my legs. I must have been in there a good 6 minutes before someone needed something! Oh well, at least I am not offensive smelling anymore. We finished our book up at about 3pm(yes, the whole book)and got a call that they wanted to show the house from 5-6pm that evening. (we are trying to sell it) GREAT-right in the middle of supper and I am gone for the evening at work which means my dh will have to take the kids(4) and the dog all by himself and figure out what to do with them for an hour! TEEHEE Sorry, did I snort? THEN, we get a call that someone else wants to see it from 6-7pm. BWAAAAHHHHHHAAAAAA Oh my goodness, did I say that out loud?
I was a good wife and mother and prepared dinner and fed them before I left for work-ran away was more like it! When I returned home after work and after the showings I was informed that it was hard work keeping all of the kids occupied and the dog controlled for that long. Really? I wasn't aware of that. Surely it isn't that hard to take them to the park for a couple of hours?
This was a perfect way to end the pity party! By watching my husbands!!!!!!!!!
Maybe I will try one again another day-shall I let you know when?
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Jul. 4, 2007
Maybe I should have figured out how to use it first...
I am such a dork when it comes to computer things. I use it check my email and do very few other things that I know almost nothing about it. So...when I tried to upload some pictures to my blog it denied me about 100 times. Okay, maybe not 100, but it was at least 10 and to someone like me that can feel like 100!! I did get one picture uploaded-I am not sure how so I can't repeat it!! I will try again later after I have stopped saying bad things to my computer. ;)
This picture is of Hannah. Isn't she beautiful? She is such a precious soul. She is thoughtful, inquisitive, funny, and determined. She is soo much more than that; but it is hard to capture Hannah with words you just have to meet her and experience her!! She starts Kindergarten this fall and already she is wanting to know how to read. I guess we will start school before we start school! I am excited to teach another of the girls how to read. I love to see the light bulb go on when they get it. I cannot imagine sending them somewhere else and missing it.
Anyway, sorry it is sooooooo big-I don't know how or if I can resize it. I will try and figure it out if I can unless I throw the computer across the room first!
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Jul. 3, 2007
Pity Party at my house
Would you care to join me in a pity party? I am having one at my house for as long as the Lord and my family will let me!! Which will probably only be for about another 5 minutes; but until then I am going to enjoy being miserable.
Do you ever have those days when you just don't want to do anything else because everything seems to be going wrong? If I were really spiritual, I would say that I was being tested; but... I am NOT feeling really spiritual so it feels like I am being picked on. Before you start thinking that I am saying that God is picking on me, remember, I am having a pity party.
This all started last Friday when I had to take the cat in to the vet b/c it was sick. My husband couldn't go and so the 4dd's (9,7,5,2)and I took her and while the Dr. was examining our female cat that we have had for 2 1/2 years he discovered a number of ailments that were very expensive to treat. He also discovered something that wasn't treatable-our female cat was really a male cat!!!!!! This was VERY shocking to us as we thought we were an all female household except the King(daddy). Well, we could handle that-it was kind of cool, really. But then the Dr. told us that she/he had FIV(feline HIV) and that we could treat it but it would be pretty expensive and with all the other problems that she/he would be pretty sick for a while and then with the FIV a long term on and off sick. We are trying to move and on a tight budget and so we had to put the cat down. Please don't think we are heartless-he was really sick and we did not have the money to treat him.
So...Friday and Saturday were spent mourning and not doing any house work. We actually had a pretty good weekend until dh came home and said that his car was broken. The front end was leaning down almost on the front tires. WOOHOO! Okay, we can deal with that. Yesterday while I was cleaning the oven and the house was incredibly hot from the oven self-cleaning, they called to show the house. AAGGHH! It was a mess from our relaxing weekend. We had an hour to clean it up and get it ready. We did it; but in the meanwhile I had to quickly shampoo my bedroom floor from a spill and my oldest dd discovered a leak in the laundry room coming from somewhere in the furnace. Is my dh there so he can help me...? NO, he is mowing the lawn at the house we want to buy and then going to church for a meeting and then to the studio to record more on their album. Since he had the one and only car, the girls(four of them), the dog(a big one), and I were going to have to walk around the neighborhood for an hour while someone looked at our house. What fun! I did call dh and made him come home and get us so we could have a car-it made him upset that I was upset! I didn't care at that point, I was beyond reason! By the time I went to bed after dh came home at 10pm(he left at 3pm) I had a terrible migraine.
Now for today!! Dh woke me up at 6:45am and said that if I wanted a car I needed to take him to work. Yeah-I get to go out in my nighty with my bed hair!! How did I get so lucky? I was going to go back to bed but when I got home everyone was up and ready for breakfast! Now I realize that I am out of cereal and milk. Is this going to another one of THOSE days?
I know that when I get a little perspective that I will see this in light of God's grace and mercy and with a little sense of humor. I am just so not there yet. Hopefully I will get there in the shower that I have been waiting to take for three days. (yes, I said three days-I really stink!!)
So...off to the shower after making breakfast for everyone and getting them in the bathtub, and chores, and getting the house ready for showing, and school, and...hopefully today; but maybe tomorrow!!
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Jun. 21, 2007
Already
Well, the day started with me waking up 4 minutes before my alarm went off at 4:45am. So, I laid there for four agonizing minutes trying to decide if I would get up and go exercise or stay in bed and go back to sleep, then feel guilty the rest of the day. I got up and went to exercise. When I got there, I put my mp3 player on my arm and started it but no music was playing--someone ran down the batteries and didn't replace them or tell me about it. Then, the instructor for the class I take was late making me late getting home to fix my dh's breakfast. When I got home I realized that I didn't have a house key, so I banged on the front door and then the back door for 5 minutes until the dog went and got dh. Meanwhile, I took my phone out to call the home phone to realize that my phone was deactivated. I forgot to add minutes! AAAGGGHHH I tried to reactivate and add minutes online and about 2/3 of the way through the process, there was an error at there server and it kicked me off. So, I called the 800 number and went through all the promps then was told that they were not even open, please call back later. Now, it is time for the kids to wake up and I haven't showered, eaten, done devotions, and I still have no phone.
I hope this day gets better!!
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Jun. 20, 2007
WOOHOO!!!
Okay, I admit it, I completely underestimated my children. They got their homework done and we get to go swimming!! I think that I am more excited than they are. They are doing their chores now and then the house will be ready to show and we can go and have fun. Tonight we will do history with Dad and have a little fun studying Pocahontas! Thank you, Lord.
Oh yeah, I also had a little more patience today. ;)
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Jun. 20, 2007
I should be sleeping
I laid awake most of last night worrying about everything. I tend to do that alot. I worry that we won't ever get school done this summer and we will just go right into the next year without a break, I worry that our house won't sell, I worry that these extra 30lbs will NEVER come off. I'm sure there's more things to worry about and when I think of them, I will worry. I try not to, I try to be good and let God handle things. I'm just not good at it and I end up taking it back from Him several times before I finally have had enough and give it up.
I am going to try and not yell at the kids today to get their chores and schoolwork done. I am going to try and be patient and gentle in my speech. I am not praying for patience, mind you, I just going to try and be patient!! :) I am going to reward them with swimming at the outside pool at the YMCA this afternoon if we can get school done this morning. We'll see how it goes. For now, I am going back to bed since I was up at 4:45am to exercise!
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Jun. 19, 2007
Well, Here I go!
I am not sure what I am doing exactly, I just really wanted to get started blogging! It is only 9:18 in the morining and we are already in melt down mode. We took a break from school three weeks ago to go on vacation and put our house on the market and now I am having a monstrous time getting them back on track. My second oldest dd got her cast off her arm yesterday and she won't use it or move it. The wrist is healed and she only needs to use a splint for a week; but, she is being a total baby about using it. That sounds harsh, doesn't it? Well...it kind of is; but it kind of isn't. If we don't push her to do things that she is uncomfortable with she will just sit and do nothing and then get angry and sulky. Also, the more she doesn't use her arm, the more it stiff it will get and then she won't be able to use it. I am really not that mean of a Mom-really!
Well, I had better go and get the Math started. I am REALLY NOT looking forward to this. I am starting to plan next years schoolwork and we aren't even finished with this year-something is wrong with that picture. :0
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