I want to put up a few links on the side bar of some of the sites I frequent. I don't have the time right now, as we have a full morning ahead of us. But I am at least posting about it, as a reminder to myself :-)
I am battling a sinus infection. Oh so pleasant. Quite frankly I have too much to do, and am trying to ignore it :-) I am going to make some eggs and toast soon, then we need to take off quick to pick up our milk. Then its back here to hook Jed up to his feeding and give the girls their next tests. We had a bit of a test crisis here yesterday. It was with the same child that had a crisis last week with her testing. With much coaxing, and lecturing, she was able to take the test in the appropriate way. So far they have done great with the testing. There was one short coming with one child, but I already figured that that part of the test was going to cause her trouble. So nothing that I didn't know already. It has been very encouraging to see the difference this year with the subjects that they had a hard time with last year on the test. We spent this past school year on those tougher subjects and the work has paid off! Now I know that we will keep doing what we are doing, and add some extra effort with the above said child's fear of being timed on her work. She had no problem with the actual work, just being timed!
The rest of our day will hopefully be productive in more cleaning. We got the general cleaning under control now, so it's back to some more spring cleaning. I am hoping to finish up two of the rooms so I can just cross them off the list altogether. We have a much quieter weekend ahead of us. I am looking forward to that. I am also looking forward to making some sourdough bread this weekend. I have been "brewing" a starter now this past week and tomorrow will be the first of two days of putting the bread together. I will be sharing the site that I got that off of, as she has a ton of stuff to share about with homemaking, homeschooling and such. And she has pictures of the bread process, which will be helpful.
Other than that Isabella wanted me to tell you all that she and her sisters will be attending the Father - Daughter retreat that our church is having the first week of June. They are SSSOOOOOooooo excited! Isabella asked me to make her a new dress for the occasion. She has been asking for a prairie dress for some time now. We ordered a pattern and already have the fabric on hand. We'll see if the pattern gets here in time for me to make the dress for her to wear to the retreat.
Ok, gotta go! Time's a ticking :-)
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
An wonderful Memorial Day
I have spent Memorial Day attending various picnics over the years. I have to say that of all the ones that I have attended, none of them made our veterans the focus. That changed yesterday! What an amazing call we were given by the veterans that spoke to us in the big huge tent. Seeing this nation going as it has sometimes gets me pretty depressed. But I think yesterdays speeches gave me a renewal of hope. Not hope because things look better than I thought, as that is not the case. But hope that hundreds in attendance who were hearing the same thing, being encouraged to fight for our country. One younger veteran spoke of how we have the opportunity that soldiers do not....and that is we are HOME with our children to train them in the ways of the Lord. We should not take that lightly! He told us that many soldiers family's fall apart in many ways due to the nature of a soldiers job. And how many of them and their families are not believers. Our freedom has come at a cost and we should be grateful for it and use it wisely.
I had been hoping to go to this picnic the past couple of years. Our other church held its own picnic each Memorial Day so it wasn't able to happen. I am very thankful to get a chance to attend (and be more involved in it as we are the church sponsoring the event). Jeremiah was able to meet Doug Phillips, president of the Vision Forum Ministries (www.visionforum.com). They have a lot of resources that you just won't find anywhere else. They hold to the Biblical truths of the nature of families. It is very inspiring. Mr. Phillips had two great speeches that he gave yesterday. Talk about rethinking how we have been doing things here in our home! Granted our thoughts have changed greatly over the last year, but yesterday was just a renewal of vision. He talked about George Washington and his indispensable men. Washington had four terms that had to be met in order to serve as one of those indispensable men. The idea of doing right for the sake of right, even if it meant detriment. There was just so much to take in. There was so much for all of us to learn yesterday. It was amazing!
There was also a lot of fun for the kids. They had old war jeeps and two hay rides going around the ponds on the property. Isabella was off helping to serve the veterans their lunch and I took the other kiddos on a jeep ride. Umm....yeah, they needed one of those signs that said this ride is not for people with heart problems or who are pregnant! I was ready to kiss the ground when we got back! I was hoping I wasn't going to go into labor that very minute! That being said the kids LOVED it. Of course :-) Later in the day I decided to take them on the more tame hay ride. That proved to be enjoyable, and SAFE :-) Jedidiah absolutely loved the hay ride as there was a big tractor pulling us! He just kept pointing to the tractor, babbling something, and laughing. It was too cute. When we got off he cried because he wanted to go again. By that point in the day I was ready to go home! On the way to the van we had to pass the area where the kids games where. They had brought out one of those large colorful parachutes that they where having the kids shake and run under. Of course the kids begged to play. How could I resist! I LOVED those parachute thingies as a child. The funny thing was they had all these colorful rubber chickens that they were bouncing around on the chute. Jedidiah had a blast running around picking all the ones that flew off the chute. He didn't want to be the one to put it back on so he would find another boy willing to do it for him and give it to the boy to do it. Then he would be off to find another chicken. It was hilarious! So after the kids were there for ten minutes or so it was time to go home. Jedidiah and I snoozed when we got home. Then there was dinner.....oh yeah, we still need to eat ;-) I was not feeling like making anything on my menu. I came up with scrambled eggs and corn bread. It worked, everyone ate it, and it was an easy meal. I put the kids to bed a bit early as they had a long day, and believe it or not the nap gave me enough energy to not be able to go to bed early myself. Bummer. I just hung out on the couch chatting with Jeremiah and crocheting.
Phew! That was our day. I wish I could be more eloquent in describing some of the speeches that we listened to. But you'll just have to trust me when I say....you should have been there :-) I hope you all had a great day. I am looking forward to getting back into the swing of things today. We have three more days of testing this week for Isabella and Moira. By the way they are doing very well so far! Then we have only three more weeks worth of official school work. Wow, the time is going fast!
I had been hoping to go to this picnic the past couple of years. Our other church held its own picnic each Memorial Day so it wasn't able to happen. I am very thankful to get a chance to attend (and be more involved in it as we are the church sponsoring the event). Jeremiah was able to meet Doug Phillips, president of the Vision Forum Ministries (www.visionforum.com). They have a lot of resources that you just won't find anywhere else. They hold to the Biblical truths of the nature of families. It is very inspiring. Mr. Phillips had two great speeches that he gave yesterday. Talk about rethinking how we have been doing things here in our home! Granted our thoughts have changed greatly over the last year, but yesterday was just a renewal of vision. He talked about George Washington and his indispensable men. Washington had four terms that had to be met in order to serve as one of those indispensable men. The idea of doing right for the sake of right, even if it meant detriment. There was just so much to take in. There was so much for all of us to learn yesterday. It was amazing!
There was also a lot of fun for the kids. They had old war jeeps and two hay rides going around the ponds on the property. Isabella was off helping to serve the veterans their lunch and I took the other kiddos on a jeep ride. Umm....yeah, they needed one of those signs that said this ride is not for people with heart problems or who are pregnant! I was ready to kiss the ground when we got back! I was hoping I wasn't going to go into labor that very minute! That being said the kids LOVED it. Of course :-) Later in the day I decided to take them on the more tame hay ride. That proved to be enjoyable, and SAFE :-) Jedidiah absolutely loved the hay ride as there was a big tractor pulling us! He just kept pointing to the tractor, babbling something, and laughing. It was too cute. When we got off he cried because he wanted to go again. By that point in the day I was ready to go home! On the way to the van we had to pass the area where the kids games where. They had brought out one of those large colorful parachutes that they where having the kids shake and run under. Of course the kids begged to play. How could I resist! I LOVED those parachute thingies as a child. The funny thing was they had all these colorful rubber chickens that they were bouncing around on the chute. Jedidiah had a blast running around picking all the ones that flew off the chute. He didn't want to be the one to put it back on so he would find another boy willing to do it for him and give it to the boy to do it. Then he would be off to find another chicken. It was hilarious! So after the kids were there for ten minutes or so it was time to go home. Jedidiah and I snoozed when we got home. Then there was dinner.....oh yeah, we still need to eat ;-) I was not feeling like making anything on my menu. I came up with scrambled eggs and corn bread. It worked, everyone ate it, and it was an easy meal. I put the kids to bed a bit early as they had a long day, and believe it or not the nap gave me enough energy to not be able to go to bed early myself. Bummer. I just hung out on the couch chatting with Jeremiah and crocheting.
Phew! That was our day. I wish I could be more eloquent in describing some of the speeches that we listened to. But you'll just have to trust me when I say....you should have been there :-) I hope you all had a great day. I am looking forward to getting back into the swing of things today. We have three more days of testing this week for Isabella and Moira. By the way they are doing very well so far! Then we have only three more weeks worth of official school work. Wow, the time is going fast!
Saturday, May 24, 2008
A productive day
I am wiped out. It's almost 9:30 and I am getting two of the kiddos in the shower. I wish I could say I am doing that patiently. But alas, I am tired of arguing with children today about who should be doing what! But, that aside, things went pretty well today. We have a very busy weekend, and today was spent inside trying to get my kitchen back in order. There's nothing like a surprise "visit" from someone you know to make you move quicker.
So this is what I accomplished today:
2 loads of dishes, and many hand washed ones as well.
4 loads of laundry
cleaned the microwave
cleaned the inside and outside (including the top) of the fridge
cleaned and organized the pantry
vacuumed the kitchen
washed the kitchen and dining room windows
made three meals (pancakes for breakfast, egg burritos for lunch and noodles with parm. cheese and salad for dinner)
supervised Isa making the chocolate chip cookie bars
made potato salad for tomorrows church lunch
I think that is all. I need to make up a bunch of little hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls for tomorrow as well. I think I will put that together tomorrow morning. We are having church outside in the big tent. The kids are excited about it. Then on Monday is the big picnic. You can check out the link to see what it was like last year, which will give you an idea of what it will be like this year :-)
http://www.scottbrownonline.com/ScottBrownOnline/Memorial_Day_Celebration.html
I can't find the link that had a ton of pictures of the picnic last year. Oh well, this will give you the idea.
Not much else to report. Like I said it was a day of cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. Jedidiah is going through another round of, wake up early, and don't take a nap! Um, not a good combination. I am thinking it is teething related as I saw he had a molar just popping in. I will be glad when he goes back to the regularly scheduled program :-) Gotta go get Saoirse in bed, she fell asleep on the couch. Poor thing woke up early as well. Have a great weekend. I wish I would be able to take pictures of the picnic. Bummer.
So this is what I accomplished today:
2 loads of dishes, and many hand washed ones as well.
4 loads of laundry
cleaned the microwave
cleaned the inside and outside (including the top) of the fridge
cleaned and organized the pantry
vacuumed the kitchen
washed the kitchen and dining room windows
made three meals (pancakes for breakfast, egg burritos for lunch and noodles with parm. cheese and salad for dinner)
supervised Isa making the chocolate chip cookie bars
made potato salad for tomorrows church lunch
I think that is all. I need to make up a bunch of little hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls for tomorrow as well. I think I will put that together tomorrow morning. We are having church outside in the big tent. The kids are excited about it. Then on Monday is the big picnic. You can check out the link to see what it was like last year, which will give you an idea of what it will be like this year :-)
http://www.scottbrownonline.com/ScottBrownOnline/Memorial_Day_Celebration.html
I can't find the link that had a ton of pictures of the picnic last year. Oh well, this will give you the idea.
Not much else to report. Like I said it was a day of cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. Jedidiah is going through another round of, wake up early, and don't take a nap! Um, not a good combination. I am thinking it is teething related as I saw he had a molar just popping in. I will be glad when he goes back to the regularly scheduled program :-) Gotta go get Saoirse in bed, she fell asleep on the couch. Poor thing woke up early as well. Have a great weekend. I wish I would be able to take pictures of the picnic. Bummer.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Trying new things
After I wrote my post yesterday evening, Jeremiah and I (although, mostly Jeremiah) fiddled with my blog. We found different templates out on the net to try out. However we learned something very important. When you save the content of the code, it does not contain the code for the lists that you may have on your blog. Hence, my book and Spring cleaning lists had disappeared. I just put up the cleaning list this morning. I will put up my book list later.
So far only Isabella seems to still feel poorly. This week we have in store for us: Library run, making LOTS of cookie bars for Memorial Day, making bread, picking up milk, cleaning, focus on the Lord, minimal schooling (at least during this spring cleaning furry), year end testing.....that's all I can think of at the moment. My mind seems to be in overdrive this morning, making it hard for me to focus on any one thing at the moment. So off I go to make breakfast, read some Scripture with the girls and then dive into cleaning.
Ta-ta for now.
PS- did you all notice that the count down to baby is in now in the 50's!!!!! I mean didn't I just write how we hit two digit numbers (99) just the other day? It sure seems like it! Time is a flying.
So far only Isabella seems to still feel poorly. This week we have in store for us: Library run, making LOTS of cookie bars for Memorial Day, making bread, picking up milk, cleaning, focus on the Lord, minimal schooling (at least during this spring cleaning furry), year end testing.....that's all I can think of at the moment. My mind seems to be in overdrive this morning, making it hard for me to focus on any one thing at the moment. So off I go to make breakfast, read some Scripture with the girls and then dive into cleaning.
Ta-ta for now.
PS- did you all notice that the count down to baby is in now in the 50's!!!!! I mean didn't I just write how we hit two digit numbers (99) just the other day? It sure seems like it! Time is a flying.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Our Weekend
Busy, busy. We did a lot of work around here. Plus on top of it the kiddos got sick. Moira started it earlier this week. We have Isabella, Flannery and Saoirse with it now. Each one has varying degrees of it. Isabella is the worst, Flannery so-so, and Saoirse just has a yucky sounding cough. Of course that could change. Jedidiah has so far escaped the bug. I'm not sure how much longer he will hold out though. Due to illness we stayed home from church. But thanks to modern technology we were able to listen to all of the service online!
I have been tackling a bunch of the spring cleaning. I am making myself another list. It is my spring cleaning to-do list. I have it written out on paper, but the paper got lost once already (it was found though). So I am putting it on here as well. I wish I knew code, or HTML or whatever they use to do websites. Then I could make things different colors, or make a slash through the words when I am done with a task. But alas, it is not so. Someday maybe. It's just not on my list of things to learn at this moment.
We got the girls year end tests in. We are supposed to take them the last week of May. However I wasn't thinking about the Monday being Memorial Day. So I was going to push the testing up to this coming week. However, with Isabella being so sick, we can't do that either. Oh well. Not a big deal. I will just do some at the end of this week and then the rest the following week.
I had my appointment with my midwife this Saturday. All is well. My blood pressure was good :-) The baby is head down, and I am measuring on target. Which is a bit scary, as Flannery measured on target, and she was my biggest baby-8 pounds. I was able to tell her about some very unusual contractions I had two weeks ago, along with this really weird feeling that the baby was going to be born premature. I felt funny telling her, wondering what she could do about it. But she told me that this Monday she is going to pick up some herbal tinctures that help to hold off labor. Wow! I should have figured, as we used herbs to induce labor, that there would be herbs to stall labor. I am praying that we will not need to use them. The girls are all having a blast figuring out baby parts through my tummy. We are all getting good at distinguishing the parts. It is neat to see a knee go across my tummy!
I worked on Saoirse's blanket. It is coming along slowly. I think I may alter my pattern to make it a bit easier. I'm not sure how it will work out though. I will just have to try it out. I was not too keen on the colors (someday I will get a picture of it), or the texture. Isabella was laying her head on my lap this morning (she had a fever and felt awful) while I was working on the blanket. She felt it and remarked, "Oh, this is so soft and squishy, I like it." Ok, so maybe it is just me! As long as Saoirse likes it. I have also been working on a shawl, and got that finished this weekend as well. I have a hard time just working on one very sllllooooowwwww going project and like to see progress, so I put together this very nice shawl. Again, you'll have to wait for pictures, when we get out camera fixed.
I'm quite sure that a thousand other things happened this weekend, but I am drawing a blank. So I am going to type up my list and hit the hay.
I have been tackling a bunch of the spring cleaning. I am making myself another list. It is my spring cleaning to-do list. I have it written out on paper, but the paper got lost once already (it was found though). So I am putting it on here as well. I wish I knew code, or HTML or whatever they use to do websites. Then I could make things different colors, or make a slash through the words when I am done with a task. But alas, it is not so. Someday maybe. It's just not on my list of things to learn at this moment.
We got the girls year end tests in. We are supposed to take them the last week of May. However I wasn't thinking about the Monday being Memorial Day. So I was going to push the testing up to this coming week. However, with Isabella being so sick, we can't do that either. Oh well. Not a big deal. I will just do some at the end of this week and then the rest the following week.
I had my appointment with my midwife this Saturday. All is well. My blood pressure was good :-) The baby is head down, and I am measuring on target. Which is a bit scary, as Flannery measured on target, and she was my biggest baby-8 pounds. I was able to tell her about some very unusual contractions I had two weeks ago, along with this really weird feeling that the baby was going to be born premature. I felt funny telling her, wondering what she could do about it. But she told me that this Monday she is going to pick up some herbal tinctures that help to hold off labor. Wow! I should have figured, as we used herbs to induce labor, that there would be herbs to stall labor. I am praying that we will not need to use them. The girls are all having a blast figuring out baby parts through my tummy. We are all getting good at distinguishing the parts. It is neat to see a knee go across my tummy!
I worked on Saoirse's blanket. It is coming along slowly. I think I may alter my pattern to make it a bit easier. I'm not sure how it will work out though. I will just have to try it out. I was not too keen on the colors (someday I will get a picture of it), or the texture. Isabella was laying her head on my lap this morning (she had a fever and felt awful) while I was working on the blanket. She felt it and remarked, "Oh, this is so soft and squishy, I like it." Ok, so maybe it is just me! As long as Saoirse likes it. I have also been working on a shawl, and got that finished this weekend as well. I have a hard time just working on one very sllllooooowwwww going project and like to see progress, so I put together this very nice shawl. Again, you'll have to wait for pictures, when we get out camera fixed.
I'm quite sure that a thousand other things happened this weekend, but I am drawing a blank. So I am going to type up my list and hit the hay.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
It was one of *those* days
We all have them....at least I think we do....if not then it is just ME. It's bed time, at least it should be, but for some reason the girls are thinking of a gazillion reasons why they need to get out of bed. Oh fun.
So it started out at 4 am or so. Moira came into my room to tell me her throat hurt. Got up gave her Vit C. Then we got up at normal. Moira decided she needed to take pictures for her blog. We now no longer have a working camera. She had tried to put the memory card in by herself.....yeah, not a good mix. So if anyone just happens to have an extra digital camera lying around and feels so inclined to send it our way...I won't object. If Jeremiah locks down a job soon then we will get it fixed. If not then we will seriously need to borrow one as I don't want to miss out on pictures of our new born babe. We could buy a disposable. It "could" be possible. But then no one, including us, will see the pictures. I'm really bad about getting things developed. So my blog will be picture-less for a while. Boo-hoo.
Ok, off to my Bible study. That, thankfully, went well :-) But afterwards we needed to go pick up our milk. I had never traveled from the "farm" to get the milk. But I had looked it up on mapquest...like two weeks ago. Yeah, you know where this is heading. After traveling for some time, I realized we surely had to be on the wrong road. Turn around, cut our losses and go home.
Ok, we are at home. The place is a mess. No really, it is. Like big time. You see there just is not enough time to do spring cleaning with all the normal things that need to get done. I mean it wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to keep cooking, or washing clothes, ya know, things like that. But alas, children have small tummies, and they like to make that known :-) Ok, so the house is in the "it's going to look really, really bad before it gets better" stage. I sure hope it doesn't last long.
So there I am hanging up clothes in my room. Flannery comes in carrying Jedidiah (a no-no) saying, " Mommy, he's bleeding, he's bleeding!" Oh, yeah, encouraging words to be sure. Ends up that when he ran out of my room, he forgot to make a slight turn, and went face first into the end table. He now has a fat lip to go along with his bump on his head. Not to mention he fell while we were outside this evening, and got his leg scraped up. Did I say it's been one of those days?
Ok, go back to Moira. You may wonder why we went out if she had a sore throat. Well when she woke up she said it hurt a bit. But after having some water she said she felt great and her throat didn't hurt anymore. I assumed that her throat was just dry, as she didn't complain any more. Yeah, you know where this one is going too.....So this evening she tells me her throat is hurting again. Ok, I take a look. Um, yeah, can we say swollen tonsils? Not long after, she was complaining of her head hurting, of feeling cold. So far no one else has been complaining of anything....but time will tell.
Oh, and after our lovely little country side trip trying to get to our milk, we are home, eating lunch. I need to make the grocery list as shopping day is tomorrow. I also need to start thinking about what time to make dinner. And wouldn't you know that the couple of things left on our menu for dinners all had one ingredient missing? And not some little, we can do without ingredient, of course not as that would be too easy. So pile everyone in the van, head to the Dollar Store. Nothing like having to travel some 10 miles round trip for ONE ingredient. I think the amount of money spent on the gas to get there cost more than the ingredient! But we had a yummy dinner of corn bread, salad and homemade baked beans.
Did I say it has been one of those days? I'm just checking to be sure. I now have to get up and make some formula for Jedidiah's overnight feed. Not a big deal IF you have a container to make it in! All of our water bottles are "busy" right now and I have to find something creative to make his formula in. Did I say....oh never mind :-)
But in all of this we had blessings as well. Jeremiah has a lead on a job, that would be closer and is "permanent". There's still a long process to it all, but hey, I'll take any good news right now. We got outside for a bit. I got kisses, and smiles. We had full tummies, and clean water. I am grateful to be able to comfort my child even in a minor illness, with a hair rub. I got a lot of clothes put away, and I got my grocery list done. My children have a father who is passionate about their souls as well as those of the world. He feels called to minister in Africa. I said that I felt led to adopt from Africa, and he says, hey we can do both! We can adopt from Africa while ministering there. Now if I can only get my feeble mind around the logistics of it all....and somehow get over leaving this house, leaving life as we know it, leaving in general. God has some pretty heavy work to do in my heart I will tell ya! I'm praying that He will lead us to unity on this idea, as I like stability....and Africa, just doesn't sound stable to me, for some odd reason :-)
Ok, I need to get to bed. I don't know what Moira has, but I certainly need to be prepared to deal with other children or myself getting this (a scary thought to be sure), and need to get all the rest I can.
Have a great day!
So it started out at 4 am or so. Moira came into my room to tell me her throat hurt. Got up gave her Vit C. Then we got up at normal. Moira decided she needed to take pictures for her blog. We now no longer have a working camera. She had tried to put the memory card in by herself.....yeah, not a good mix. So if anyone just happens to have an extra digital camera lying around and feels so inclined to send it our way...I won't object. If Jeremiah locks down a job soon then we will get it fixed. If not then we will seriously need to borrow one as I don't want to miss out on pictures of our new born babe. We could buy a disposable. It "could" be possible. But then no one, including us, will see the pictures. I'm really bad about getting things developed. So my blog will be picture-less for a while. Boo-hoo.
Ok, off to my Bible study. That, thankfully, went well :-) But afterwards we needed to go pick up our milk. I had never traveled from the "farm" to get the milk. But I had looked it up on mapquest...like two weeks ago. Yeah, you know where this is heading. After traveling for some time, I realized we surely had to be on the wrong road. Turn around, cut our losses and go home.
Ok, we are at home. The place is a mess. No really, it is. Like big time. You see there just is not enough time to do spring cleaning with all the normal things that need to get done. I mean it wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to keep cooking, or washing clothes, ya know, things like that. But alas, children have small tummies, and they like to make that known :-) Ok, so the house is in the "it's going to look really, really bad before it gets better" stage. I sure hope it doesn't last long.
So there I am hanging up clothes in my room. Flannery comes in carrying Jedidiah (a no-no) saying, " Mommy, he's bleeding, he's bleeding!" Oh, yeah, encouraging words to be sure. Ends up that when he ran out of my room, he forgot to make a slight turn, and went face first into the end table. He now has a fat lip to go along with his bump on his head. Not to mention he fell while we were outside this evening, and got his leg scraped up. Did I say it's been one of those days?
Ok, go back to Moira. You may wonder why we went out if she had a sore throat. Well when she woke up she said it hurt a bit. But after having some water she said she felt great and her throat didn't hurt anymore. I assumed that her throat was just dry, as she didn't complain any more. Yeah, you know where this one is going too.....So this evening she tells me her throat is hurting again. Ok, I take a look. Um, yeah, can we say swollen tonsils? Not long after, she was complaining of her head hurting, of feeling cold. So far no one else has been complaining of anything....but time will tell.
Oh, and after our lovely little country side trip trying to get to our milk, we are home, eating lunch. I need to make the grocery list as shopping day is tomorrow. I also need to start thinking about what time to make dinner. And wouldn't you know that the couple of things left on our menu for dinners all had one ingredient missing? And not some little, we can do without ingredient, of course not as that would be too easy. So pile everyone in the van, head to the Dollar Store. Nothing like having to travel some 10 miles round trip for ONE ingredient. I think the amount of money spent on the gas to get there cost more than the ingredient! But we had a yummy dinner of corn bread, salad and homemade baked beans.
Did I say it has been one of those days? I'm just checking to be sure. I now have to get up and make some formula for Jedidiah's overnight feed. Not a big deal IF you have a container to make it in! All of our water bottles are "busy" right now and I have to find something creative to make his formula in. Did I say....oh never mind :-)
But in all of this we had blessings as well. Jeremiah has a lead on a job, that would be closer and is "permanent". There's still a long process to it all, but hey, I'll take any good news right now. We got outside for a bit. I got kisses, and smiles. We had full tummies, and clean water. I am grateful to be able to comfort my child even in a minor illness, with a hair rub. I got a lot of clothes put away, and I got my grocery list done. My children have a father who is passionate about their souls as well as those of the world. He feels called to minister in Africa. I said that I felt led to adopt from Africa, and he says, hey we can do both! We can adopt from Africa while ministering there. Now if I can only get my feeble mind around the logistics of it all....and somehow get over leaving this house, leaving life as we know it, leaving in general. God has some pretty heavy work to do in my heart I will tell ya! I'm praying that He will lead us to unity on this idea, as I like stability....and Africa, just doesn't sound stable to me, for some odd reason :-)
Ok, I need to get to bed. I don't know what Moira has, but I certainly need to be prepared to deal with other children or myself getting this (a scary thought to be sure), and need to get all the rest I can.
Have a great day!
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Another new feature
I'm just going to town reorganizing things, even here on my blog. I finally started tackling some of the spring cleaning here yesterday. Although I don't think it looked like it at first. It was in the "it's going to look messier, before it gets better" stage last night. But another half hour to hour of work before bed and it's starting to come together. So my new feature is a book list, it's over there on the right. I'm listing books that we are reading, or planning on reading. Some of the books are just for me and some are for the girls that we are reading out loud. Maybe I should break the list into two, one for me and one for the girls/family. Oh, well, maybe another day.
I was up at normal time, but I am starting to get to things earlier. So on my list of things to do next: Sort and start laundry, dishwasher (put away and re-load), then start attacking the spring cleaning for 30 minutes or so. By that time (9 am) it will be time to hook Jedidiah up to his feeding, and make some smoothies for the rest of us. Although I finally found a way for him to eat a smoothie, and he enjoyed one yesterday. So I'll give him some as well. Then I will do school with the girls. After that I will spring clean until lunch. Wow, I'm tired just thinking about all this :-) (jk).
I forgot to mention some more wonderful adventures we had over the weekend. We had two injuries. The first being Saoirse falling off a slide. She was at the bottom of it, but fell off the side of it and fell maybe two and half/ 3 feet. She started crying, and stood up holding her arm in the "classic broken arm" position. Oh no, I thought. Upon further investigation, and letting some time pass it appeared to be just fine. But she had us worried there for a little while. Even the next morning she was saying it hurt. But then she hasn't mentioned it again, and she's been using it just fine. Phew!
The second incident was on Sunday at church. Jedidiah was outside, running towards a girl. She didn't see him, and I'm not sure if he saw her either. He ran into her leg, but because she was also moving, her leg sent him flying.....head into the concrete. Thankfully he broke his fall with his hands. I personally didn't see it happen (Jeremiah was out with him). So Jeremiah comes in holding him to his chest, with Jedidiah crying. It's not good when your husband is concerned. Jeremiah takes things like this : observe first, wait, then get worried if need be. For me its: freak out first, then observe to see if overreaction was necessary. Ok, so he comes in worried! He said his skull was flattened. Um.....that doesn't sound good! But in the end I think from what I saw, the spot he hit (on his forehead) was swelling around the spot first, making it seem that his skull was flat in that area. Soon after the whole thing started swelling. We put on ice, gave him arnica and Tylenol. I can not say enough about arnica. I had heard about it, but never used it. It's supposed to stop swelling and bruising. I was expecting Jedidiah to wake up with a goose egg, all purple and blue. Nope, just a bit raised, and almost greenish. It does not stand out at all! Amazing stuff.
Ok, off to tackle my to do list.
I was up at normal time, but I am starting to get to things earlier. So on my list of things to do next: Sort and start laundry, dishwasher (put away and re-load), then start attacking the spring cleaning for 30 minutes or so. By that time (9 am) it will be time to hook Jedidiah up to his feeding, and make some smoothies for the rest of us. Although I finally found a way for him to eat a smoothie, and he enjoyed one yesterday. So I'll give him some as well. Then I will do school with the girls. After that I will spring clean until lunch. Wow, I'm tired just thinking about all this :-) (jk).
I forgot to mention some more wonderful adventures we had over the weekend. We had two injuries. The first being Saoirse falling off a slide. She was at the bottom of it, but fell off the side of it and fell maybe two and half/ 3 feet. She started crying, and stood up holding her arm in the "classic broken arm" position. Oh no, I thought. Upon further investigation, and letting some time pass it appeared to be just fine. But she had us worried there for a little while. Even the next morning she was saying it hurt. But then she hasn't mentioned it again, and she's been using it just fine. Phew!
The second incident was on Sunday at church. Jedidiah was outside, running towards a girl. She didn't see him, and I'm not sure if he saw her either. He ran into her leg, but because she was also moving, her leg sent him flying.....head into the concrete. Thankfully he broke his fall with his hands. I personally didn't see it happen (Jeremiah was out with him). So Jeremiah comes in holding him to his chest, with Jedidiah crying. It's not good when your husband is concerned. Jeremiah takes things like this : observe first, wait, then get worried if need be. For me its: freak out first, then observe to see if overreaction was necessary. Ok, so he comes in worried! He said his skull was flattened. Um.....that doesn't sound good! But in the end I think from what I saw, the spot he hit (on his forehead) was swelling around the spot first, making it seem that his skull was flat in that area. Soon after the whole thing started swelling. We put on ice, gave him arnica and Tylenol. I can not say enough about arnica. I had heard about it, but never used it. It's supposed to stop swelling and bruising. I was expecting Jedidiah to wake up with a goose egg, all purple and blue. Nope, just a bit raised, and almost greenish. It does not stand out at all! Amazing stuff.
Ok, off to tackle my to do list.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Sewing day
I got two of the three skirts done. I would finish up the third, except that we need to eat and run to the store. Then come back and get school done, and then dive into the mess that has taken over the house. I think aliens came in last night and had a party or something :-) Well one could hope anyways. You would hate to think that we actually made the mess. It was a busy weekend, and I am looking forward to getting my house back in order. But before I do I will share the pictures of the skirts. 
Here are the materials I chose to use for the skirts, they are cut out and ready to sew. They are folded in half here. There are only two pieces for the skirt bottom. It doesn't get any easier than that!
Here you can see the original pattern, in white. It was way too short for my tastes. so I lengthened it, and made it wider. I made one in jean material, and although it fits, it got a bit snugger. I had forgotten to factor in the widening hips. And not just widening due to weight gain, but in the last two weeks or so I noticed my hips totally widen due to the relaxing hormones, getting me ready to birth a baby. It's an amazing process to be sure!
This blue piece is one of four knit pieces that will be for the stretch panel at the top. You cut four total. It comes out to be two pieces wide, and two pieces thick. The thickness helps with extra support. The materials I chose this time are much lighter than the jean material I used. The brown with flowers I think is the perfect weight. It hangs nicely, not too stiff and not too light.
Here is the finished brown skirt, with a maroon stretch panel. I love this skirt!
Here is the skirt on me, I'm showing just how big my tummy has gotten as well :-) I got the blue skirt done as well, and I didn't make that one as wide at the bottom. I like the the wider bottom better, giving it more body. It still works, but I think I hit the right balance with the brown skirt. I cut the green skirt the same width as the brown, so it will be interesting to see how it lies. The batik fabric is much lighter, and doesn't have the same hang as the brown. I really need to keep a notebook on my projects so that I will know what type of fabric I used. I don't remember what type of fabric the brown is. Silly me.
Ok, off to make breakfast and then pile everyone in the van. I can tell this is going to be a long week. Lots of cleaning and lots of catching up on child training. Fun, fun, fun!
Friday, May 09, 2008
A busy day
It started like other days. We were on our way to doing stuff, getting school done early and what not. Then Flannery dropped her smoothie all over the floor, as she was trying to put the left overs in the fridge. It got in the fridge, on the floor, on her, on Jedidiah's feeding pump backpack.....You know, like everywhere. Ok, I thought, maybe this won't be a productive day after all. So we get to school, that goes well. Then we need to do a quick clean since the OT was coming. We had a productive talk, which I'll replay down below. While the OT is here I get a call from Jeremiah, who is at a conference put on by our church, that he thought I should try to make it for one of the speakers. Ok, I'm up for that. Then he calls back a few minutes later to say that he was going to bring some people home for dinner. Like a lot of people. Ok, think quick! Then a look around tells me that we will not make the conference as there were too many things to get done over here. We had to run to the store to pick up some stuff and on our way home we happened to pull up behind everyone who was coming to our house as they were driving down the road. We got to our house at the same time. We had 14 people over for dinner. It was WONDERFUL! Everyone was helping out, getting stuff cut, cooked, baked, etc. One of the families was from India, who just moved to NY not but a few months ago. It was pretty amazing that one of their dreams is to open an orphanage in Africa, something Jeremiah and I have just started talking about. They too want to adopt from Africa, like we do. Here are these people from across the world, that live still hundreds of miles away, that the Lord put in our home. It was a wonderful evening. We all headed to the conference for the last talk on marriage. We had a small scare, where I could not find Moira and Flannery. I was looking everywhere, calling for them. Asking if anyone had seen them (I was asking people from church who know us) and no one had seen them! There was one room off of the conference room that they ended up in and I saw them walk out of! I was just about to lose it. I mean, there weren't that many people there! And no one had seen them, not even other kids! Scary stuff. I am looking forward to going to some of the talks tomorrow. It was neat because one of the speakers is the author of a book I read a few years ago on modesty, Jeff Pollard.
Ok, trying to round up children to get into bed, so I am not sure how much time I have to write about Jedidiah. Nothing really new mind you, just maybe a lead. We talked about his bad poopy smell, good bacteria, and how we have kept getting this same stomach thing for the past two years. I think we have had it now at least 7 or 8 times! Something doesn't seem right about that. So I called our doctor to see if he could run some tests for his gut. I missed the call back from the nurse, so I don't have details yet, but I do know from when I talked to her earlier in the day that she said our doctor was willing to send him for some tests. She was just calling to see what tests we had in mind. I told her our situation, and said that I wasn't sure what we needed to look for, a virus, bacteria, parasites.....Now I will have to wait till Monday to talk with her, but I feel productive in taking another step. The OT also said that she will be emailing me some info on a doctor who is in western NC, who comes to the Raleigh area once a month. Her expertise is in autistic children and helping them nutritionally. She thought it would at least be beneficial to talk with her to see if there wasn't something she could offer. We also talked about how it seems that we won't be needing her services anymore, the OT that is. Jedidiah is eating, which was our goal. Her job was to get him able to put food in his mouth and swallow without gagging. And we have been successful in that. We will probably have her come once a month for a bit, just to make sure nothing comes up, and for her to kind of consult with us on ideas that she has come across. I remember being so nervous about participating in this governmental program. But it has been such a blessing. Everyone we have worked with really went beyond what they needed to. And they actually *listen* to what I have to say, and think. They told me in the beginning that the program was designed on what the parent wanted, but to see that it was actually true was another thing!
Ok, so that was our day! The girls are in bed, and I'm headed that way too! Goodnight!
Ok, trying to round up children to get into bed, so I am not sure how much time I have to write about Jedidiah. Nothing really new mind you, just maybe a lead. We talked about his bad poopy smell, good bacteria, and how we have kept getting this same stomach thing for the past two years. I think we have had it now at least 7 or 8 times! Something doesn't seem right about that. So I called our doctor to see if he could run some tests for his gut. I missed the call back from the nurse, so I don't have details yet, but I do know from when I talked to her earlier in the day that she said our doctor was willing to send him for some tests. She was just calling to see what tests we had in mind. I told her our situation, and said that I wasn't sure what we needed to look for, a virus, bacteria, parasites.....Now I will have to wait till Monday to talk with her, but I feel productive in taking another step. The OT also said that she will be emailing me some info on a doctor who is in western NC, who comes to the Raleigh area once a month. Her expertise is in autistic children and helping them nutritionally. She thought it would at least be beneficial to talk with her to see if there wasn't something she could offer. We also talked about how it seems that we won't be needing her services anymore, the OT that is. Jedidiah is eating, which was our goal. Her job was to get him able to put food in his mouth and swallow without gagging. And we have been successful in that. We will probably have her come once a month for a bit, just to make sure nothing comes up, and for her to kind of consult with us on ideas that she has come across. I remember being so nervous about participating in this governmental program. But it has been such a blessing. Everyone we have worked with really went beyond what they needed to. And they actually *listen* to what I have to say, and think. They told me in the beginning that the program was designed on what the parent wanted, but to see that it was actually true was another thing!
Ok, so that was our day! The girls are in bed, and I'm headed that way too! Goodnight!
Thursday, May 08, 2008
A new feature
I am putting up a new feature to my blog. I really don't know how useful it will be, but it's there. It's on the right side bar labeled, "Labels". I am going to try to go back through at least this years posts, and put labels to them. So if I wrote about homeschooling, I would label it as such on the bottom of the post. Then later on if you or I want to look for something that I wrote on homeschooling you would click on the label on the right side bar and it will display all the posts that I wrote about homeschooling. I can put multiple labels on a post. There have been times when I was looking back through my posts for something in particular and thought this feature would come in handy. Anyways, just wanted to let you know. For all future posts I will definitely label them, but for the past ones, it will be here a little, there a little.
And has anyone checked out my baby on the right? Um, it says right now there are 70 days left till I am due. So that means tomorrow I'll be in the 60's! Ok, like it's panic time! I flipped my calender over to next month, checking for something and was totally overwhelmed by all I had written down to do. As in order my birth kit (check got that!), order my herbs, freeze meals...etc. This if NEXT month we are talking about here! Yikes!
And has anyone checked out my baby on the right? Um, it says right now there are 70 days left till I am due. So that means tomorrow I'll be in the 60's! Ok, like it's panic time! I flipped my calender over to next month, checking for something and was totally overwhelmed by all I had written down to do. As in order my birth kit (check got that!), order my herbs, freeze meals...etc. This if NEXT month we are talking about here! Yikes!
A catch up on pictures
I don't even remember all the posts I said I was going to put up pictures. I know that I can always look back through my blog, but that would require work :-) So I will just post a bunch, and if you've seen them before....well then you've seen them before :-) These are not at all in any order! But I don't have the time to lay them all out nicely.
Here is the fabric covering that I made. It is a large triangle. I just folded the 45 inch side of the fabric over to make a triangle and cut it. I did that with two contrasting colors, put right sides together and sewed all around leaving a small opening to turn it out to the right side. Then I top stitched it. I usually wear it hanging down, but that picture didn't come out, so here it is in a bun wrap. I like it this way. I like how the colors peek through.
Here is our purple glass of yummies. Or in other words our smoothie. This goes over much better than the green one below. The only difference is that one has blueberries (this one) and the other does not. They basically taste alike, but the color makes all the difference.
Here is the fabric covering that I made. It is a large triangle. I just folded the 45 inch side of the fabric over to make a triangle and cut it. I did that with two contrasting colors, put right sides together and sewed all around leaving a small opening to turn it out to the right side. Then I top stitched it. I usually wear it hanging down, but that picture didn't come out, so here it is in a bun wrap. I like it this way. I like how the colors peek through.
As a church we are memorizing the 8th chapter of Romans. As an aid, I drew up pictures to prompt us as we memorize it. The chapter is like 36 verses long! We are taking three months to learn it. These are the first 15 verses. We are currently up to verse 12. Below I have close up.
Here is the close up of the first 7 verses. It is at an angle due to the flash washing out the photo. So the first verse reads like this: "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit". The girls are doing great with this.
Here is our purple glass of yummies. Or in other words our smoothie. This goes over much better than the green one below. The only difference is that one has blueberries (this one) and the other does not. They basically taste alike, but the color makes all the difference.
See, we have a happy customer! Drinking up her purple cup of greens and fruits.
This is the green version. Not very appealing to the eye, but it still tasted great.
Around here we put them to work early! I had to make a new batch of laundry detergent and Isabella wanted to shred the soap. No, really, she did! It was easier to get a good angle by sitting on the floor, and that got Jedidiah's attention. So he came over and insisted on helping as well. It makes for a much slower go at making the soap, but hey, they were having fun. Thankfully you only need 1/3 of a bar of soap to grate.
And last we have the crocheted bandannas. They came out really cute. I don't think the camera catches their cuteness. I'll have to get a picture with one of the girls wearing one. They are sooooo easy and quick to make! And the pattern is free on the net. I got it here:
http://www.geocities.com/riverglorious/Patterns/wallkerchief.html
I also made one up in green from this site:
http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/lffunt/babushkas.htm
I made the first one (they have it in pink). It came out nice!
And in all my searching I found this great pattern that I really, really want to get to. It is a nursing shawl/cover. I was going to make the baby a blanket, and I still may, but this would be more useful. I have to get Saoirse's blanket finished first. No more making stuff until her blankie is made!
This is the nursing shawl I plan to tackle next:
http://crochetme.com/Apr_May_2005/patt_privacy_wrap.html
We have one child with a yucky tummy today. And a couple of us are feeling funky in the tummy, so I need to get some stuff done in case it gets worse. Please pray it doesn't! Have a great day!
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Things may not be as bad as I thought
Ok, deep breath here. After mildly freaking out that Jedidiah hadn't gained any weight in three weeks, my sister called. After relating to her the bad news, I went on to say how much he has been sleeping these past few days. She suggested that maybe he was going through a growth spurt and maybe his calories were being used for height growth and not weight growth. Oh, yeah, why didn't I think of that. Ok, so I go and measure him and sure enough he's much taller! At his 12 month appointment he was 5 bars below the curve (I am referring to the bars on the graph paper that the growth chart is printed on). Then at his 18 month appointment he was about three bars below. Well now he is only ONE bar behind! The first curve on the chart is the 3rd percentile. He was at the 3rd percentile in height at birth. Which means he is very, very, VERY close to FINALLY catching up in his height!!!! Our family doctor said that the first thing to go in a failure to thrive child would be weight, then height and then the head circumference. He's never lost in his head, he only gained and gained which freaked out all the doctors. He said that usually they will then gain back in the opposite order. So his head, then his height then his weight will be the last to catch up. So he is gaining after all, just not in the area that I thought he should. I am very much relieved! Now I am not going to totally have a party about it as I had Isabella holding his head still up against the bookshelf so that I could straighten his leg and get the measurement. I placed a piece of tape at the end of his heel so that I could measure him after I let him up. So there is still a small possibility that the measurement is not exact, but it didn't take me long to get the tape down, so there was little time for him to move from the bookshelf. But even if it is off, it couldn't be by much, so he is still closer to the curve than he was before. So things are better than I had originally thought. We will keep on with what we are doing, putting our efforts into getting him to eat his solid foods. I will hold off on increasing his volume, at least for another week.
A normal post
Is there a normal? I"m beginning to think not. Ok, first thing first, I want to say that I will be adding some additional comments about my last post. It is embarrassingly (is that a word?) inadequate! But hey, I never said I was a writer! I will attempt to make it more coherent. ok, so on to my day. I woke up and finished the last of the crocheted bandannas. They are really cute! All the girls wanted one, and they are very easy and quick to make. So I will show them to you all later as I am on our other computer and i can't access our pics from here. I was on a roll. So I decided to cut out my skirts from two of the three materials that I had. But the material needed to be ironed first. Hey, not a problem, I mean I have a nifty (although cheap) NEW (2 months old) iron to use.......yeah.....can we say "broken"? My iron does not work! Grumble grr... Ok, go do other things. Then it is time to get Jedidiah's feeding set up. But it's been a while (almost 2 weeks) since I last weighed him. I had a feeling I wasn't going to see 'good' numbers. Yeah.....shall I cry now? Or how about........NOW? The child hasn't gained weight in three weeks! Ok, between fighting back tears, and setting his pump up, I start going over and over in my mind as to WHAT is going on. Now it may.....may still have to do with his gut. His poopies are just getting back to normal, after that bought of bad smelling stuff he had a couple of weeks ago. Which I would really, really like to know what is up with that! But anyways, I rack my brain and the only thing that popped in there to try was to recalculate his calorie needs. I haven't done that in a LONG time. Mostly because we had been giving him more than he needed for so long. So I recalculated and come to find out he should be getting 9.5 ounces at each feeding instead of the 8 that he is getting now. This shouldn't be a huge deal as that number is based on ALL calorie needs, and since he takes in solid food he should just be meeting that number. However, if his gut is not up to par yet he may not be absorbing all his needed calories which has put him at a stalling point. So I did what i didn't want to have to do....I increased the amount in his formula feeding. At this point there is no way to MAKE this child eat more on his own that what he is willing to take, and at three weeks of no gain, I don't want to keep holding out that it's going to click with him that his body needs more calories. I have been having allergy problems, and got a cold. If he gets a cold we are talking about a set back, so I can't fool around with waiting too long for him to take care of this on his own. Although I have to RAVE about that X-Clear that my sister told me about! I'll write more on that later. I would feel better about holding out for this child to eat more on his own if he were at least on the growth curve. But he isn't there yet. This is SSSOOOO difficult. I mean he needs to eat more on his own, but he isn't. Waiting it out may mean loosing weight, which puts him at risk for a number of things. His energy levels have been great! And I would hate to see that suffer as well. So for now I am just going to play it safe. I know we will have to take that plunge at some point, of letting him take over feeding himself, but I am not ready for the "fall" before the "rise" just yet. Especially since we have a baby coming in only 2 months!! I would hate to fall into a really bad pattern right now with his weight and sickness before the baby comes. Which means unless Jedidiah suddenly decides that he is ready for this on his own, we will have to wait a few months till after the baby. I was hoping that we could make a difference before the baby came, and maybe I am giving up too soon, but I certainly don't have a crystal ball and I don't know what we will have to deal with if I decide to take the higher "risk" path. Maybe I need a few days to think about it. But for now I upped his volume and we will have to see where that takes us.
Ok, now that i am done spilling my emotions....I have to tell you all about this product called X-Clear. I have tried many, many, many...did I say many(?) things in my life for my allergies. And EVERY nasal spray I have EVER tried made things worse. I'm not talking about that they just didn't work, but they actually made things WORSE. I assure you this seems almost impossible, seeming as I don't even try something until it is really bad. So I bit the bullet and tried this product. Now my nose got a bit worse, just in terms of running for about 10 minutes but then, THEN oh my goodness I could breathe! I wasn't having the intense itching and sneezing from my allergies that I have been having! This is nothing short of a miracle! I say run, don't walk to your nearest health food store for this stuff.
Alright time to get some schooling done. Then we need to tackle that laundry I talked about the other day. It's going to over take the house soon if I don't get to it! Hopefully I will be able to post pictures later tonight.
Ok, now that i am done spilling my emotions....I have to tell you all about this product called X-Clear. I have tried many, many, many...did I say many(?) things in my life for my allergies. And EVERY nasal spray I have EVER tried made things worse. I'm not talking about that they just didn't work, but they actually made things WORSE. I assure you this seems almost impossible, seeming as I don't even try something until it is really bad. So I bit the bullet and tried this product. Now my nose got a bit worse, just in terms of running for about 10 minutes but then, THEN oh my goodness I could breathe! I wasn't having the intense itching and sneezing from my allergies that I have been having! This is nothing short of a miracle! I say run, don't walk to your nearest health food store for this stuff.
Alright time to get some schooling done. Then we need to tackle that laundry I talked about the other day. It's going to over take the house soon if I don't get to it! Hopefully I will be able to post pictures later tonight.
Monday, May 05, 2008
A Different Sort of Post
Ok, I'm gonna get real on ya'll. Not that I haven't been real in the past, but today is a blah day and this post may reflect that. I have a few different topics that I thought I would post, but didn't get to, and so now they will be rolled into one.
This may not be of interest to my non-believing readers, but this is where I am right now with some things. I have a new conviction that I would like to share with you, but first I'll get to the really depressing stuff. Well at least it depressed me, which isn't saying much due to my high maternal hormones at the moment. And of course anyone who knows me, knows that I am a worse case scenario person. I mean when Jeremiah told me he was losing his job, I jumped clear to the worst end, thinking about having to move. Ok, so the depressing thing was our sermon yesterday. I absolutely love our church, and have really been enjoying this break from studying the book of Romans for a series on child raising. However, yesterday's sermon was depressing in more ways than one. It was a heavy topic (as child training in general is to be sure), on imparting an inheritance. We are not talking monetary here, but spiritually. Wow, do I feel inadequate! Which I am sure is where the Lord wants me, as He would rather I turn to Him and not my own strength. However, he hit on some topics that have been swimming in my mind here and there, and just brought me to my end (of hormonal sorts). The sign of the times. You see, God makes it clear how He wants us to live. He also makes it very clear what will happen when we don't. This is spelled out for individuals and nations. You see our nation has every sign of being under God's curse. Let me tell you people.....this ISN'T good. BAD things happen when people do not turn from their sins and repent as a nation....BAD things. Now God can bring about a revival....or He can hold His hand of wrath out to us instead. Again, God's wrath is a bad thing. It's good in that it is meant to bring people to their knees and turn to Him, but that means a lot of bad things need to happen to make people turn from their wicked ways. So here we were being encouraged to train our children for this future. We need to prepare them for the possibility of living in a country under God's wrath, as that is the sign of the times. And if we repent before that happens, well our children will be stronger for it. But I have a hard time getting excited to train my children for persecution, destruction, poverty, and the like (please remember I am worse case scenario here). It is hard to school when you have to think in this manner. It has me in a "why bother" attitude. Which I assure you is the absolutely WRONG attitude to have! I never did say I was perfect! But that is where I find myself today. So I encourage you, entreat you, beg you.....to get on your knees for our nation! Call out for God's mercy, to turn back his hand of wrath. To instead impart the grace to transform people's hearts to turn to Him. Our nation is in a sad, sad state, and it will indeed take a miracle to bring this change about. Thankfully God is still in the business of miracles.
Ok, enough depressing stuff. I don't even remember what I was going to write next! Silly me. Oh, ok, I reread the above and that made me remember! Now before I write the next thing, which goes hand in hand with praying, I want to make something black and white. Now granted, I do believe the people who have to most difficulty in thinking I come to some of these decisions on my own and have not been forced by my husband don't read this blog. But they do have the link, and in case any of them stops by, I wanted to put this in here for them. As an example, homebirth. I can't tell you how much arguing..um, I mean discussion it took about the safety of homebirth before Jeremiah would think about it being a possibility. It was something *I* wanted. He was totally not on board. So I can totally seeing this issue fall under...."He's (Jeremiah) is making Kerri do this...." And I assure you it is not. Although this time I didn't' spend a lot of time arguing. This is a conviction on what the scriptures say about a woman praying. Here is the passage that is "at stake":
1 Cointhians 11:1-16
IMITATE me, just as I also imitate Christ.
Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you.
But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.
Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head.
But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for that is one and the same as if her head were shaved.
For if a woman is not covered, let her also be shorn. But if it is shameful for a woman to be shorn or shaved, let her be covered.
For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man.
For man is not from woman, but woman from man.
Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man.
For this reason the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.
Nevertheless, neither is man independent of woman, nor woman independent of man, in the Lord.
For as woman came from man, even so man also comes through woman; but all things are from God.
Judge among yourselves. Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?
Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him?
But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her; for her hair is given to her for a covering.
But if anyone seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God.
Now there are many good articles out there that would explain this much better than I, so if you are interested, you can Google the topic "Christian head covering". I don't' have a lot of time to devote to an explanation right now, so I may not do it justice. But we will start way back, some 7 years ago when I read this passage for the first time. Whoa! I never heard about this before. I brought it up to Jeremiah who said, (in short), nah, it's not for us, that was for their culture. Oh, ok, then. But I had a hard time getting around the verse that says "because of the angels". As far as I know angels are still around, not just in their culture. So years went by. We have had a few women here and there in different churches who would where a cover (could be small, bandanna, or shawl type covering). At the church we are at now a couple of other women wear a head covering during the service. I didn't say anything about it, and then one night Jeremiah came home after having conversation with one of the woman's husbands who covers. He brought it up, said we should look into it again. We did, and it seemed very clear that it was something that was to continue today. But that last verse kind of stumped us. That was 6 months ago. And then I had something weird happen to me. Jeremiah called me from work last week and needed prayer (you all know he's losing his job, and this can make some days more stressful than others). So I went into my bedroom to pray for him. I had this absolutely overpowering need to cover my head as I was calling out to God. This was not some little thought in the back of my head. This was a "I had to stop myself from pulling the bed covers over my head" kind of thing. I couldn't explain it. But after praying, that night I reread those 1 Corinthian verses. By golly it is hard to get around. I mean, if our hair is our covering (as the last few verses *seem* to say) then that means our men need to shave their heads as they are not to have a covering before God. Ok, so what does this mean? Well it means I have been searching the web for a covering to use during church and other prayer times. I am making one right now. One with cloth and another I will crochet. I plan for now to have a bandanna type covering. I found a crochet pattern on line to make a bandanna. And I have fabric here to make a bandanna style covering.
Now in light of that I also want to make this very clear (as I have seen many women get upset about this), covering your head is an obedience issue. It is not one that will make you more spiritual, or Godly. There are many, many other issues in the Bible that are by far weigh in with much more importance. This is just a time when God chose to bring this matter to my attention and to ignore it would be sin for me. I am sooooo bad about knowing the exact scriptures (something I am trying to remedy), but there is a scripture that says something like this:
For someone who is convicted that something is sin and does it anyway, it is sin to them. But for others who do not, it is not sin.
I am sure I butchered that scripture. I hope my hubby can point the right verse out for you all. Ok, we got schooling done, and lunch done. Right now it's time for Jedidiah's nap and some massive cleaning. Although the girls are really, really hoping to go to the dog park today and they have taken it upon themselves to clean up. So there is a lot less work to be done. But the kitchen is a mess (my fault), the laundry room is multiplying clothing like bunnies, and the floors need some vacuuming. So have a great day. Sorry if this was such a heavy post, but hey, this is supposed to be about our life, and this is where life finds me today :-)
PS I talked with Jeremiah briefly as he literally called right after I wrote this post and I know there are some additions I need to make to better clarify. Also you just HAVE to check out Jeremiah's blog (Sola Deo Gloria on the right side bar of my blog)! He has an amazing post on entertainment. Ha, ha, if you think MY posts are heavy......I'm a lightweight!
This may not be of interest to my non-believing readers, but this is where I am right now with some things. I have a new conviction that I would like to share with you, but first I'll get to the really depressing stuff. Well at least it depressed me, which isn't saying much due to my high maternal hormones at the moment. And of course anyone who knows me, knows that I am a worse case scenario person. I mean when Jeremiah told me he was losing his job, I jumped clear to the worst end, thinking about having to move. Ok, so the depressing thing was our sermon yesterday. I absolutely love our church, and have really been enjoying this break from studying the book of Romans for a series on child raising. However, yesterday's sermon was depressing in more ways than one. It was a heavy topic (as child training in general is to be sure), on imparting an inheritance. We are not talking monetary here, but spiritually. Wow, do I feel inadequate! Which I am sure is where the Lord wants me, as He would rather I turn to Him and not my own strength. However, he hit on some topics that have been swimming in my mind here and there, and just brought me to my end (of hormonal sorts). The sign of the times. You see, God makes it clear how He wants us to live. He also makes it very clear what will happen when we don't. This is spelled out for individuals and nations. You see our nation has every sign of being under God's curse. Let me tell you people.....this ISN'T good. BAD things happen when people do not turn from their sins and repent as a nation....BAD things. Now God can bring about a revival....or He can hold His hand of wrath out to us instead. Again, God's wrath is a bad thing. It's good in that it is meant to bring people to their knees and turn to Him, but that means a lot of bad things need to happen to make people turn from their wicked ways. So here we were being encouraged to train our children for this future. We need to prepare them for the possibility of living in a country under God's wrath, as that is the sign of the times. And if we repent before that happens, well our children will be stronger for it. But I have a hard time getting excited to train my children for persecution, destruction, poverty, and the like (please remember I am worse case scenario here). It is hard to school when you have to think in this manner. It has me in a "why bother" attitude. Which I assure you is the absolutely WRONG attitude to have! I never did say I was perfect! But that is where I find myself today. So I encourage you, entreat you, beg you.....to get on your knees for our nation! Call out for God's mercy, to turn back his hand of wrath. To instead impart the grace to transform people's hearts to turn to Him. Our nation is in a sad, sad state, and it will indeed take a miracle to bring this change about. Thankfully God is still in the business of miracles.
Ok, enough depressing stuff. I don't even remember what I was going to write next! Silly me. Oh, ok, I reread the above and that made me remember! Now before I write the next thing, which goes hand in hand with praying, I want to make something black and white. Now granted, I do believe the people who have to most difficulty in thinking I come to some of these decisions on my own and have not been forced by my husband don't read this blog. But they do have the link, and in case any of them stops by, I wanted to put this in here for them. As an example, homebirth. I can't tell you how much arguing..um, I mean discussion it took about the safety of homebirth before Jeremiah would think about it being a possibility. It was something *I* wanted. He was totally not on board. So I can totally seeing this issue fall under...."He's (Jeremiah) is making Kerri do this...." And I assure you it is not. Although this time I didn't' spend a lot of time arguing. This is a conviction on what the scriptures say about a woman praying. Here is the passage that is "at stake":
1 Cointhians 11:1-16
IMITATE me, just as I also imitate Christ.
Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you.
But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.
Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head.
But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for that is one and the same as if her head were shaved.
For if a woman is not covered, let her also be shorn. But if it is shameful for a woman to be shorn or shaved, let her be covered.
For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man.
For man is not from woman, but woman from man.
Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man.
For this reason the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.
Nevertheless, neither is man independent of woman, nor woman independent of man, in the Lord.
For as woman came from man, even so man also comes through woman; but all things are from God.
Judge among yourselves. Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?
Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him?
But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her; for her hair is given to her for a covering.
But if anyone seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God.
Now there are many good articles out there that would explain this much better than I, so if you are interested, you can Google the topic "Christian head covering". I don't' have a lot of time to devote to an explanation right now, so I may not do it justice. But we will start way back, some 7 years ago when I read this passage for the first time. Whoa! I never heard about this before. I brought it up to Jeremiah who said, (in short), nah, it's not for us, that was for their culture. Oh, ok, then. But I had a hard time getting around the verse that says "because of the angels". As far as I know angels are still around, not just in their culture. So years went by. We have had a few women here and there in different churches who would where a cover (could be small, bandanna, or shawl type covering). At the church we are at now a couple of other women wear a head covering during the service. I didn't say anything about it, and then one night Jeremiah came home after having conversation with one of the woman's husbands who covers. He brought it up, said we should look into it again. We did, and it seemed very clear that it was something that was to continue today. But that last verse kind of stumped us. That was 6 months ago. And then I had something weird happen to me. Jeremiah called me from work last week and needed prayer (you all know he's losing his job, and this can make some days more stressful than others). So I went into my bedroom to pray for him. I had this absolutely overpowering need to cover my head as I was calling out to God. This was not some little thought in the back of my head. This was a "I had to stop myself from pulling the bed covers over my head" kind of thing. I couldn't explain it. But after praying, that night I reread those 1 Corinthian verses. By golly it is hard to get around. I mean, if our hair is our covering (as the last few verses *seem* to say) then that means our men need to shave their heads as they are not to have a covering before God. Ok, so what does this mean? Well it means I have been searching the web for a covering to use during church and other prayer times. I am making one right now. One with cloth and another I will crochet. I plan for now to have a bandanna type covering. I found a crochet pattern on line to make a bandanna. And I have fabric here to make a bandanna style covering.
Now in light of that I also want to make this very clear (as I have seen many women get upset about this), covering your head is an obedience issue. It is not one that will make you more spiritual, or Godly. There are many, many other issues in the Bible that are by far weigh in with much more importance. This is just a time when God chose to bring this matter to my attention and to ignore it would be sin for me. I am sooooo bad about knowing the exact scriptures (something I am trying to remedy), but there is a scripture that says something like this:
For someone who is convicted that something is sin and does it anyway, it is sin to them. But for others who do not, it is not sin.
I am sure I butchered that scripture. I hope my hubby can point the right verse out for you all. Ok, we got schooling done, and lunch done. Right now it's time for Jedidiah's nap and some massive cleaning. Although the girls are really, really hoping to go to the dog park today and they have taken it upon themselves to clean up. So there is a lot less work to be done. But the kitchen is a mess (my fault), the laundry room is multiplying clothing like bunnies, and the floors need some vacuuming. So have a great day. Sorry if this was such a heavy post, but hey, this is supposed to be about our life, and this is where life finds me today :-)
PS I talked with Jeremiah briefly as he literally called right after I wrote this post and I know there are some additions I need to make to better clarify. Also you just HAVE to check out Jeremiah's blog (Sola Deo Gloria on the right side bar of my blog)! He has an amazing post on entertainment. Ha, ha, if you think MY posts are heavy......I'm a lightweight!
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Grocery list
Ok, so here is my grocery list that I took with me shopping today. This list is for the next two weeks worth of meals. Except that we do make another run for fresh produce after the second week. And this list was made based on what meals I planned, that are listed in my last post.
This is what I bought at Walmart, again this is for two weeks:
popcorn x2
cornstarch
rosemary
parsley
mushrooms x2
bacon bits x2
dried beans (white x2, pinto x2, black x2 and red x1)
canned pineapple x3
brown rice x4
pizza sauce
lime chips
egg noodles
molasses
Dijon mustard
golden raisins
baby food (2 packs x16)
Paul Newman's Italian dressing
" " Ranch dressing
buttermilk x3
butter x3
mozzarella cheese (large block)
eggs x5 (this is for one week, as we don't' want to keep eggs for two weeks)
frozen corn on the cob x2
frozen fruit (raspberries x3, cherries x3, pineapple x3)
4# chicken thighs x2
ground beef, 3#
ground pork, 1#
strawberries x3 packs
3 pack paper towels
kleenex x2
Total: $160.14
This is what Jeremiah bought at BJ's today:
Dog food
Vitamin C
bananas X8 bunches
toilet paper
cheddar cheese x2(block)
maple syrup
olive oil
avocados
frozen blueberries x2 bags
frozen strawberries x2 bags
Danactive yogurt drinkables
Total was about $170
This is what I bought at Harris Teeter, where we get our produce:
green leaf lettuce x2
red leaf lettuce x2
turnip greens (bulk)
tomatoes x3
cucumbers x2
red onion
yellow onion x2
oranges x4
tangeloes x6
bread x2
honey
pears x4
celery
bag of apples 3#
green onions
spinach x3 bunches
Total: $52.80
So there you have it, feeding a family of 7. I will have to get a few more things as I just found out that our church is planning ahead for our Memorial Day gathering. They invite the community, and we provide the food. So I will make a couple batches of cookies and whatever else they will be serving. But that is outside of "our food". And next week we will make another run to Harris Teeter for the following weeks produce. The grand total so far is 382.94, which when broken down for two weeks is 191.47 per week. That will go up of course next week, but that is the general idea. This of course can vary each pay cycle as sometimes we need diapers, or shampoo, etc. And this is not including Jedidiah's formula, which we have in a separate category altogether. We will be saving a LOT of money once he is off the pump and formula....to the tune of about $500 a month! Formula is EXPENSIVE.
On other notes....I made keifer for the first time today! Yeah! It;s not very pleasant, but it will be put into smoothies to hide the taste. For some reason when we drink the goats milk plain, it tastes exactly like cow milk. But when we make the keifer or it gets "frozen" in our smoothie we get that hint of "goatiness" to it. Very weird. Although the kids haven't said anything about it, so it's not bad, but it's there.
Have you all taken a look at that baby ticker on my side bar? I remember it getting into the two digits, and now we are in the 70's! Yikes, the time is flying. I feel great, the baby is active, which the girls all love. Jeremiah is picking up a birth kit tomorrow. Someone on our homebirth loop had to transfer to the hospital at the end and didn't use it and was giving it away! That is like $40 worth of supplies.
It is getting very late here, I finally got all my wheat ground (I decided to hop on here as I waited for it to be ground), put my pancake batter in the unheated oven to soak overnight, and now I am tired and want to go to bed. We have had some really neat discussions (Jeremiah and I) about some interesting topics in the Bible. I will have to share about it sometime. And just for the record, in case you are wondering who this Jeremiah person is, it's Jerry. You see he introduced himself to me (15 years ago) by the name of Jerry. For almost two years that is what I knew his name to be. Until I met his parents for the first time, and they kept calling him Jeremiah. What?! Who is this Jeremiah person they keep talking about (I'm being silly here). But he went by Jerry, and that's what I have called him all these years. Since I am really tired I won't go into why he's decided to go by his real name now and not his nickname. I will say I like the name Jeremiah better than Jerry, but it is having a hard time coming out of my mouth! Habits die hard! So when you see this Jeremiah person mentioned on my blog....it's just my hubby :-)
Ok, now I really need to go to bed. Goodnight all.
This is what I bought at Walmart, again this is for two weeks:
popcorn x2
cornstarch
rosemary
parsley
mushrooms x2
bacon bits x2
dried beans (white x2, pinto x2, black x2 and red x1)
canned pineapple x3
brown rice x4
pizza sauce
lime chips
egg noodles
molasses
Dijon mustard
golden raisins
baby food (2 packs x16)
Paul Newman's Italian dressing
" " Ranch dressing
buttermilk x3
butter x3
mozzarella cheese (large block)
eggs x5 (this is for one week, as we don't' want to keep eggs for two weeks)
frozen corn on the cob x2
frozen fruit (raspberries x3, cherries x3, pineapple x3)
4# chicken thighs x2
ground beef, 3#
ground pork, 1#
strawberries x3 packs
3 pack paper towels
kleenex x2
Total: $160.14
This is what Jeremiah bought at BJ's today:
Dog food
Vitamin C
bananas X8 bunches
toilet paper
cheddar cheese x2(block)
maple syrup
olive oil
avocados
frozen blueberries x2 bags
frozen strawberries x2 bags
Danactive yogurt drinkables
Total was about $170
This is what I bought at Harris Teeter, where we get our produce:
green leaf lettuce x2
red leaf lettuce x2
turnip greens (bulk)
tomatoes x3
cucumbers x2
red onion
yellow onion x2
oranges x4
tangeloes x6
bread x2
honey
pears x4
celery
bag of apples 3#
green onions
spinach x3 bunches
Total: $52.80
So there you have it, feeding a family of 7. I will have to get a few more things as I just found out that our church is planning ahead for our Memorial Day gathering. They invite the community, and we provide the food. So I will make a couple batches of cookies and whatever else they will be serving. But that is outside of "our food". And next week we will make another run to Harris Teeter for the following weeks produce. The grand total so far is 382.94, which when broken down for two weeks is 191.47 per week. That will go up of course next week, but that is the general idea. This of course can vary each pay cycle as sometimes we need diapers, or shampoo, etc. And this is not including Jedidiah's formula, which we have in a separate category altogether. We will be saving a LOT of money once he is off the pump and formula....to the tune of about $500 a month! Formula is EXPENSIVE.
On other notes....I made keifer for the first time today! Yeah! It;s not very pleasant, but it will be put into smoothies to hide the taste. For some reason when we drink the goats milk plain, it tastes exactly like cow milk. But when we make the keifer or it gets "frozen" in our smoothie we get that hint of "goatiness" to it. Very weird. Although the kids haven't said anything about it, so it's not bad, but it's there.
Have you all taken a look at that baby ticker on my side bar? I remember it getting into the two digits, and now we are in the 70's! Yikes, the time is flying. I feel great, the baby is active, which the girls all love. Jeremiah is picking up a birth kit tomorrow. Someone on our homebirth loop had to transfer to the hospital at the end and didn't use it and was giving it away! That is like $40 worth of supplies.
It is getting very late here, I finally got all my wheat ground (I decided to hop on here as I waited for it to be ground), put my pancake batter in the unheated oven to soak overnight, and now I am tired and want to go to bed. We have had some really neat discussions (Jeremiah and I) about some interesting topics in the Bible. I will have to share about it sometime. And just for the record, in case you are wondering who this Jeremiah person is, it's Jerry. You see he introduced himself to me (15 years ago) by the name of Jerry. For almost two years that is what I knew his name to be. Until I met his parents for the first time, and they kept calling him Jeremiah. What?! Who is this Jeremiah person they keep talking about (I'm being silly here). But he went by Jerry, and that's what I have called him all these years. Since I am really tired I won't go into why he's decided to go by his real name now and not his nickname. I will say I like the name Jeremiah better than Jerry, but it is having a hard time coming out of my mouth! Habits die hard! So when you see this Jeremiah person mentioned on my blog....it's just my hubby :-)
Ok, now I really need to go to bed. Goodnight all.
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