Our first Made for Trade Day

A great time was had by all at our first Made for Trade Day. I loved how they explained the purpose of the gathering. It wasn't about seeing what we could get, but instead how we could bless others. That was refreshing. There was something for everyone there. Even Jed had a blast playing with the kid toys on the porch. And then he saw "it". The green machine :-) They had a riding lawn mower that they attached two wagons to. One of the older kids was giving "tractor" rides. Jedidiah didn't want to get off. He cried when we picked him up! So after all the other kids got rides and the novelty wore off for the other kids Jedidiah was able to take a few rides in a row. He was just thrilled to pieces. We were one of the last families to "shop". They have a few families come in at time as there wouldn't be enough room to fit us all. The girls had a blast choosing items. They each got new earrings. Three of the got some cute purses. They also got some note cards, candy, a pincushion, and a plant. It was really fun.

I put Jedidiah on the scale today. I was afraid to do so seeing as how sick he had been all week. High fever for 4 days, throwing up, smaller feeds, and diarrhea all week. But he only lost 4 ounces!!! Praise the Lord! I was so happy!!

I was copying the next installment of the boot camp and loved this "just do it" post she had there. So check it out, it's very short, but to the point ;-)

I'm off! We have a bunch of cleaning to do. I have to make up a meal to take to church tomorrow for a family who will be having a baby soon. I'm making two new things, which I'm not sure why I do that, when I haven't even tried it myself. Silly me. But it sounds really yummy. Plus I need to clean out the van a bit. I am not sure how we get all that STUFF in there. Really, where does it come from?

Have a great day.

The headbands that Isabella made for the trade. They went like hot cakes :-)

Jedidiah, Flannery and Saoirse (with another little boy) going for a tractor ride.

Isabella checking out a hand drawn picture. Isabella is also wearing a headband that I made for her the other night. It is the same as one of the ones she made. But you can see how it is worn. It's very cute. This would have been great when she was growing out her bangs. Now her bangs are long enough to stay behind her ears. Oh well, we'll know a remedy for hair in the face should any of our other girls decide to grow their bangs out.

Moira was very excited to get some new earrings. They haven't changed their earrings out since they got them pierced in June. Moira made some yummy vanilla cupcakes for the trade. I didn't have time this morning to get a picture of them. They were not taken by the time we had left and she noticed :-( I do hope someone got them. There were a few families to shop after us.

Saoirse was enamored by all the neat things to buy. Here she is checking out a basket of handmade toys.

I was trying to get a picture of all the girls at the trade. This isn't the best of Flannery but here she is shopping for some candy. That was a big hit.

Just a quick post for now

I urge you all to RUN, don't linger, browse, or anything else, but RUN and read the first post in this LINK. Seriously! Then follow all her links in her post, and then read all of her pasts posts. I will be expecting a report from all of you so I know that you did this!!!! There are blogs that encourage me. There are blogs that are informational. There are blogs that I get fellowship from. And then there are blogs that totally convict you to your inner most being! Yeah, this blog is one of those. So please read at least the first post, I promise you won't be disappointed.

Things getting back to normal

Thank you all for your prayers! We truly appreciate them. Jedidiah is doing much, much better today. He has a head to toe rash from a reaction to the antibiotics (of course!), so we made a med switch, but he has been running and playing and eating like normal :-) That makes for one very happy momma! We have continued this week doing school. We have a read aloud time that I do Bible readings and also another book. On top of the book we are currently reading the girls asked me to read the Moody book. I am not sure if I ever wrote about the Moody series book by Sarah Maxwell. The books are really wonderful. When we first started reading them (there are 4 in the series) we had just gotten rid of our TV, so this was about three years ago. The girls really were not at all interested in hearing the story. But after the first half of the book they got more into it. But they were never asking me to read it. Then we got the second book, and they got more and more excited. Finally they were begging for me to read on and not stop. Now their reluctance to listen had nothing to do with the book, but more to do with my kids. These books are about a Christian, homeschooling family. It is a simple story, nothing flashy or fantastical. However it is great to have a story to read that you do not have to explain to your children that "this is not something you should do, or something we do not believe, or....". So they asked me today if we could re-read them. Hey, I'm all for it! One chapter a day. However I caught Isabella reading on into the next chapter after school :-)

I think I told you all that I was making some kombusha tea. You can find some great, easy instructions here. And if you don't have anyone you know with a SCOBY, you can go to a health food store and get yourself a bottle of some "live" kombusha tea. It will have a little bitty cute baby SCOBY floating around in there. Just make up the brew from the link I gave and poor the whole bottle in. You will need to let it sit for two weeks instead of one. By the end of two weeks you will have a wonderful SCOBY in there like the pictures in the link. Now if you, like me, forgot how long you had yours "growing" for, and it is too strong, just take out the SCOBY and add it to a fresh brew of tea. Then let it sit for only one week, maybe only 5 or 6 days depending on personal preference. I tried mine today and it was GOOD! Just like sparkling apple cider, just not as sweet. The girls were reluctant to try it, but after they did they literally ran to get their own cups! I was sorry to have to disappoint them and inform them that they could only have a few sips. If you are new to the drink you are only supposed to take a tablespoon or so of it the first day and work your way up to a cup of it a day. For kids, they should only get a half cup. I have heard this tea is great for all sorts of stuff and really wanted to get my kids on it, but was afraid I might have to plead and cajole them into drinking it. But not so, I will have to make sure they are not sneaking it! Ha, ha.

I also wanted to share a site with you all. I have this tape series called A Godly Home, from Charity ministries. I had pulled it out the other day because I wanted to go through it again. However Jed got ill so it has been on the back burner this past weekend. This morning I saw it and decided that I needed to set a time to listen to it each day (it has about 15 tapes to it). Imagine my surprise to see that Shannon posted about these tapes today on her blog. They now have the sermons available online to listen to anytime you want. I am starting with the Hidden Woman sermon, a must listen to! Then I will start from the beginning. Check them out when you have a chance.

It's been raining most of the day. The kids played out in the rain this morning. Right now we are having a break from the rain and they are out again. They got their schooling done and cleaned up. I was lamenting the fact that their bathroom was such a mess. I kept saying I had to start up their chore cards (Chore Packs from the Maxwells), and how I needed to teach them all their chores all over again. Now you may think this is totally insane (I know I did!) but I have been putting it off because it just seemed so overwhelming to teach them the whole routine. Ok, people, my brain really must be mush. Why did I think I had to teach them ALL of it? I realized that I could just start with one area, like their disgusting bathroom, and teach them that, going over it each day until it is second nature to them. I have always tried to go over their WHOLE chore routine with them, and we never get them all done. After a week of never getting anything else done around the house I had given up. Sometimes it scares me how clueless I can be :-P Oh well, better late than never! So we will have "Bathroom cleaning 101" class starting tomorrow!

I must be off. The baby will be waking soon. I will have to get the girls cleaned up as they are all wet and muddy. Then we need to go off to get our goat's milk. I have to do so before Jed's next feeding as I ran out of milk. I am going to have to buy regular milk for the rest of us and save the goat's milk just for Jed (freezing the rest for later during the winter when the goats aren't milked). I should have done so the past two weeks, but again, it's that mushy brain syndrome! You all have a great day!

A very LONG day

Yesterday was a very long, long day. We believe we finally have some answers for what Jedidiah has. He ran a high fever all weekend (in the evenings getting to 105). Monday morning it was 104 and he was in a lot of pain. Of course we didn't know what was painful as he can't tell us. Jeremiah took him back to the doctors. He got the x-ray results....NORMAL. And he got the in depth blood work info.....NORMAL (no food allergies according to the test they did). Ok, so my child can hardly walk, but his x-ray was normal. He said the doctor thought it was muscular....I just *knew* that was not right. The doctor also said to definitely not give him any more Motrin. Jedidiah had some bleeding from his tube. One time was after it was pulled the other was after waking up, and I was not sure if it had been pulled or not. However his doctor felt that the bleeding was from the Motrin. The doctor gave us a prescription for an antibiotic. and anyone who knows Jed's health issues knows this will be yet another step backwards for him as he will get diarrhea. But the meds are obviously needed in this case. We were told that if his fever did not let up by night we were to take him in to the ER by morning. Now that was a pleasant thought! So Jed comes back from the doctors and was just crying and crying...in obvious pain. We gave him Tylenol. After an hour he was still crying in pain. We caved and gave him Motrin. He cried for another hour until the Motrin took hold. We had taken him outside as that is his most favorite thing to do in the whole world. He would not get down to play!! I knew something was seriously wrong with him to not even want to get down to walk around outside. He would not walk all morning and afternoon. Let's just say that I was more than a little freaked out! He took an earlier nap, but didn't sleep long. He woke up to more crying and crying. With more meds he started feeling a bit better. The nurse called around 4 pm to see how he was doing. Jeremiah had just laid Jed down to change his diaper, which set him off to screaming and crying . The nurse asked if that was Jed crying. Um, Yup! He's pretty much been crying all day like that. I told her we gave in and gave him the Motrin as that is the only thing helping with whatever pain he was in. It was very frustrating as most of the day he wanted to be held, but he would cry and push away from us or arch his back. But if we tried to put him down (thinking he didn't want to be in our arms) he would screech! So there's Jeremiah changing Jed's diaper and he remarks that his pee really smells. LIGHT BULB MOMENT!!!! I remembered that the night before sitting up and nursing Jonah (Jed was sleeping in our bed) and I could smell his pee. I thought that he was just dehydrated and so the urine was concentrated. However both times (in the night and Jeremiah changing him) he had a full pee diaper. All of a sudden the puzzle pieces were coming together. So with all these pieces we believe that Jedidiah has a bladder infection, that went to his kidneys. So a kidney infection would explain all of his behavior, the arching his back when held, his limping etc. By evening our little guy finally got up and walked. He even gave me a few smiles! Thank GOD!!! Seriously, I was so very relieved to see him act even a tiny bit normal. The rest of the evening he was completey cool, although he was being given Motrin and Tylenol. However before even with the meds he would still have a very low grade fever. He watched a movie, and fell asleep early. I have a picture of where he fell asleep. He had gone over to read a book by his bookshelf. Right behind him was the baby bouncing seat, and he leaned back on it and fell asleep. Poor guy!

It is now Tuesday morning and Jed has been very agitated, in pain still. Although the pain can be expected for the next day or so. But he is up and walking around, reading books and such. He really wants to go outside right now, but it is raining. It was a very long day yesterday, and it is looking to be a long day today. We did start school yesterday. I know, that sounds absurd with all that was going on. However I NEEDED the girls to be occupied. And after reading to them for a few minutes they were off doing their school work. That gave me some time before lunch with them busy.

Here are a few pictures. I did get the apron done this weekend (when both Jed and Jonah were sleeping). Today I plan on having the girls do school. Plus some cleaning up. Then some needed outside time. And of course tending to our sick little guy.

Ou poor Boogy!

The coordinating aprons. I was hoping the smaller one would fit a 6 year old, but it will be more like 10 and up. Oh well, this is my second attempt to alter a pattern, and I am pretty pleased with the results even if it didn't come out the size I had hoped.

Isabella and I modeling the aprons. I'm thinking I need to make me up some more for us!! :-)

OK. gotta go check the radar to see how much rain to expect today.

A quick update

What a day/night! We took Jedidiah into the doctors. I am glad we did. Jed probably has a virus that has been making its rounds around the town. Apparently that is where he got it int he first place---the doctors office! Oh well. The fever did get very, very high-105! I was able to hook him up and give him water through his tube as he did not want to drink. That alone did wonders in bringing down his temp. Jed always gets a small fever when he is dehydrated. So being dehydrated and already having a fever I think brought it up really high. He is doing better now.
About his limping. Having him wearing his shoes really helped to see better what was going on. It appears to be his hips-both of them. The doctor was quite unsure what to think about it as he said it really looked to be hip displasia. We were sent for an x-ray. We won't know anything until Saturday or Monday. I thought that hip displasia was only something babies had. My sister told me that that was not true. With Jedidiah's growth problems it is possible for this to have happened due to not growing at the right rate. At this point we really don't know what is going on, but these are possibilities. We did get his blood tests back and everything was normal! There were a couple of numbers off, but I guess they indicate hunger, and he did have the test taken when he should have been having a feeding. So no findings there. I do need to ask what the food allergies came out like. He was just quickly glancing over them, looking for anything highlighted by the lab, and I am not sure what the food allergies showed. I'll ask them when they call about his hip. I am not sure how painful it is for Jedidiah to be walking, I do know it is "painful" for me to watch him walk. All I can say is it is just NOT right the way he is walking. Some people freak out when they see blood. Blood doesn't bother me. However broken bones do bother me, makes me want to loose my stomach. His bones are not broken, but they aren't working in the right way and it just freaks me out! Please pray we figure this out quickly, like I said I do not know how much discomfort Jed is in. But all of this could mean seeing ANOTHER specialist!
Speaking of specialists, we had Jedidiah's OT and care coordinator over today. We discontinued OT! But we are now possibly picking up another specialist, a speech therapist! We are saying goodbye to one therapist and will be seeing another one soon. It is always sad to say goodbye! Really, it is, as his OT was so wonderful. She really helped him a lot, and was always going above and beyond to help him. We will be having Jedidiah evaluated for speech therapy. He is really behind in speech. How behind I am not sure at this point, but the evaluation will tell us. His coordinator told us he should at least know how to say 50 words (even if they are not 'real' words, but he uses the same 'word' for the object, and we know what he is 'saying') and he is supposed to be putting at least two words together. I counted up his words and I got 16! Assuming I have forgotten some, we are assuming he knows maybe 20-25. And besides the ONE time he said "bye-bye baby" he has never put two words together. I have been listening to the other two year olds at church and I was very surprised by how "behind" Jedidiah seems to be. Now I really don't think anything is wrong with Jedidiah. I feel that he just needs a little help in this area to help him communicate better. I was telling his coordinator that he understands everything, and can point to the correct item if I ask him to (ex: point to the cow on this page...), but she said that at this point when there is a big discrepancy between understanding and being able to use his words then that is a problem.

So on we plod with these unknowns. The good news (at least it was good news before he got sick as that changes everything now) was that I weighed Jed the other day and he had a new high weight-20 lbs 12 oz! I am sure being sick has changed all that, and we yet again find ourselves taking one step forward and two steps back! But at least we know that he can gain on the new formula!

Ok, off to bed, I had a bit of insomnia and need to hit the hay! Poor chunky monkey has been fussing all day, and he is not sleeping well tonight. He has been sleeping 7-8 hours for the past few days, and before that he was going 5-6 hours regularly each night. Not tonight! Oh well, this too shall pass.

Please pray

We are in need of some prayer. I need it for my overwhelming fear and worry, especially about Jedidiah. Jedidiah hurt himself yesterday. We didn't see what happened, but after nap he was limping. After probing it seems to be his left knee. That in itself is not a worry. However he woke up at four a.m. with a fever. He has not had any other symptoms. My mind is of course going to worse case scenarios (it always does), but with his pale skin of late it has me very worried. Then Moira came to me as soon as I woke up complaining of itching everywhere. She and Isabella are covered with bites! They did give our dogs baths yesterday and maybe they are flea bites? But they are all over their abdomen, back, underarms and some on their legs, they said they even have a couple on their scalp! They already had what I thought to be chicken pox two years ago. So I don't think that is it. And since they came down with it at the exact same time......Although the other two girls were outside with them as well, but just weren't playing with the dogs, except for a petting or two. However they were hanging out around the dog house, where the dogs lie around. I would think they might have had some. Although the fleas (if that 's what it is) may have been jumping ship since they were being "drowned". And to top it off Flannery asked for some vitamin C or allergy meds. The past couple of days she has been complaining of itchy eyes and what not. This morning she has a runny nose, so she may be getting sick. Which may explain Jed's fever, I just wish he had some cold symptoms to go with it. All of this I got this morning!! I'm not a happy camper. Please do pray. I really feel this is more than just physical, I do believe there is something spiritual going on. Can';t explain it.


Thank you!

PS-Isabelle, thank you for bringing up the geneticist. He was seen by one and they took a lot of blood and the results were that he was a normal boy. She said, just in case we had any doubts if he was a boy (knowing he came after 4 girls) she said, do not worry he is DEFINITELY a BOY :-)

Kathy- I am sorry to say that we lack proper documentation of Jedidiah's science experiment. Shame, shame. Maybe next time :-)

Jonah's first well child visit

It was pretty amazing to see the numbers on the charts today at Jonah's visit. Jonah is in the 90th percentile for everything (weight, height and head circum.). He weighed in at 10 pounds 7 ounces, he is still 22 inches long and his head was 15 3/8 inches around. My cute little chunky monkey! He is a healthy strapping boy! Nothing really to report on him. The doctor and I did talk about Jedidiah. Like I said I have had the feeling that our doctor has been getting a little nervous about Jed's condition. He asked for me to get his blood retested. I was at first a little hesitant, not knowing what we would find now that we didn't find out before. However I was quite disturbed to find that as far as he knows the hospital did not recheck his thyroid. When our doctor did the initial blood work, no one could get blood out of his arm (my hesitation for going again for a redraw, although it's been a year), and had to do a heal stick. Now that could have altered the thyroid numbers. (thyroid problems can cause growth problems) The report that he received from the hospital was that everything was OK. But there was no record of them doing the test again. It may be he just didn't receive them, although he said he received a bunch of paper work. So after hearing that I was of course all for another blood draw. The lab tech was great, she got a stick on the FIRST try! Oh, did I ever send praises up to the Lord! However, Mommy, was a bad mommy and I didn't have a firm enough of a grip on his arm and he twisted his arm. Not much mind you, but enough to "blow" the vein. Ugh!!!!!! I cried, yes, right there and then. Poor Jedidiah's arm started swelling up. Thankfully that didn't last long and now his arm is just fine. But I felt like a total loser mom! I am just it will be a few days before we will hear anything. The doctor is also having it tested for some food allergies. And of course we will be able to find out if he is anemic (again, something that has been concerning me is Jed's paleness). After all of that fiasco we went to spend a wonderful afternoon with my good friend Melody. Everyone had a great time. And later that night I went to a homeschool meeting for Moms who follow the Ambleside online curriculum. It was a great time, although poor Jonah didn't think so as he was totally overstimulated from a too full day! Poor kiddo. I left early and that baby slept for 8 hours straight!! Speaking of sleeping baby, today I have purposed to start to teach him how to go to sleep on his own. I had been waffling on this for many reasons, but the past few days have settled the issue. Yesterday in particular the baby was up from 1 pm to 7 pm, either eating or fussing and sleeping only for 5 minutes at a time. He was again overstimulated as he never could get into a good sleep. With us starting school next week we won't be able to get anything done if he does this on a continuous basis. So he starts school this week :-) Sleep school!

I will have another post about Isabella's birthday later. On my list of things to accomplish today is: Vacuum and mop floors. The house is clean already!! Get kiddos outside for a while. Print up new chore cards (after rearranging a few of them). And if I have time to plan out the order of their school subjects. I know I will not get everything done by Monday (first day of school) that I want to, and although everything in me wants everything to be perfect I am making sure to have realistic expectations :-) Have a great day!

The Science of Baby Food

Yes, like I have said in the past we like to start our kiddos off early in this whole homeschooling thing. Of course the title of this post could have also been: What happens when a bored two year old is left unattended with a jar of baby food. Yeah, that would have been good as well. So after telling a certain older child to sit with said two year old I went to take care of the newest baby. Upon returning to "real life" I find two year old alone in the dining room (he was hooked up to his tube feeding) and a BIG mess. Really BIG. But I am sure he was conducting a very scientific experiment. I am not sure what hypothesis or goal he started with as I have not had time to compare notes. I am sure though that he was trying to find out how much pressure one must put on a table smeared with pureed baby food to make the said baby food travel the desired distance to hit it's mark ( in this case it was the wall, my sewing machine on the floor, etc.). It obviously took him many tries to get the desired outcome. Many tries. So this is what I am assuming he learned during his experiment. I on the other hand learned other lessons, like baby food is much harder to wash off a wall that is only primed rather than painted with a washable painted surface. It also is very hard to get off a window, if said window happens to be in the direct sun. The sun "baked" the food on to the window. And I learned that baby food can travel amazingly far! So you see, one experiment, two different learning outcomes!

A lot to write about!

But no time to do it right now! Ha, ha. I will get to it.....later. I have to jump in and get the house in order. I have to say that I think I have been doing pretty well these last few weeks, with a new baby and all. With our good friend Bob staying the weekend I was glad that our house was guest ready with just some picking up. However, with the weekend, plus being out on Monday for the first time with all the kids, PLUS being out of the house ALL day yesterday....weeeellllll things need a bit more than a pick up. But hey, at least it's not in war zone mode!! Anyways! So I will be focusing on that for the day. But I do have a lot of things to write. Some funny, some sad, some just normal life stuff. But for today I thought I would just check in here and leave you with this great link. I checked out my sister's blog and followed the two links under her favorites (I'm not one of them :-(, she must not like me, after I told her she was my favorite sister and all! For those who don't know, she's my only sister :-)) Ok, anyways I didn't have time to read them as I have all this work to do, I just wanted to see who these wonderful women were. So a picture of some boots caught my eye. And low and behold she has a link to the Bootcamp!!!! Chautona has it on her blog, but this other person has all the links for the first 6 weeks. I "know" Chautona from Hearthkeepers. I haven't been there in a year as I didn't' resign up when they moved their board. But some wonderful ladies there. So Chautona has a 56 Day Bootcamp Challenge. They are almost finished, but hey, I just plan on starting on day one and do the 56 days in order. So don't delay, go HERE now! Our first day of school is Monday, and I was just saying to a friend of mine how I feel that although academics is important, that we as a family need to focus on other things first. I just said that this morning and then came across the challenge. Was it coincidence? Luck? Or a divine encounter? :-) Ok, enough, must go and get ready for the work day!!

Some of this and that

Just a few things to share today. First I would go and read this post. So encouraging!!! It has been amazing to see God working in my sister's family. I think I like it better to be the outsider looking in, than the insider :-) My insider story is below, but my sister has a neat lesson learned from, of all things, plants. Lucky for you she is much better at writing than I am, so it is not a novel :-)

We have seen some wonderful changes in Jedidiah! For example he got up on the table yesterday and started eating the butter. Yes, the butter! Straight! Hey, I wasn't going to stop him. Then he ate what I would call a normal 12 month old portion of pasta and meat sauce last night for dinner. He was picking out the meat and eating it! Plus he ate the noodles. This child has also been seen running (RUNNING) to the table when I say it is dinner time. These events are nothing short of miraculous in my eyes. His doctor called yesterday (the nurse, really, but on the doctors behalf) to check on his weight. They call once a month or every three weeks or so. Then they called back to say that the weight I gave them was the same weight they had him at two months ago. The doctor was concerned. However the number they had was him being weighed in full clothing, I weigh him without clothing. I get the feeling that our doctor feels a bit uneasy right now. Not sure why as there has been so many changes in Jed. Of course I know his doctor is looking for numbers right now, and although we are getting some decent numbers it can be a bit unsettling to compare those numbers to where he "should" be. We can only press on, and continue to search for answers. I have not received a call back yet from the NAET practitioner. I will have to call again today. I am very pleased at the changes I have seen. Will they last? Will he relapse? Only God Almighty knows. And truly I am just going to be thankful for the changes we see today.

Our friends that we visited the other day gave us a catalog for health supplements. I have seen this company before. I have read some outstanding things about their vitamins for women. You can check them out, Beeyoutiful. I have a bunch of things circled to order. I do not want a repeat of last winter, where we kept taking two steps forward only to take two steps back. So I thought I would be more proactive this year! Last year I figured, hey, we got the flu already, we should be done for the season! HA! If I only knew! We were hit by every other bug out there after that!

I must be going, the children are all hungry (are they ever NOT hungry? :-)) I thought I would share a pic of Jonah. He was so alert last night I thought we would get a picture with his eyes open. None of them came out well, but you can get the gist:

GI appointment

Just a quick update as to how our day went. We had a wonderful, wonderful time with friends this afternoon before we headed to the doctors appointment. And for anyone who thinks WE have a lot of children, this wonderful family is getting ready to welcome their 12th child into the world soon. The visit came to an end all to quickly. We headed to Duke. We had a long wait. Basically his GI doctor thinks he is doing great and that we are doing a great job at everything. He couldn't recommend anything else. It was good to find out that his g-tube is not infected. He said that it just looked irritated and that a lot of kids tubes get that way. If the pinkness really starts to get out of hand then we would need to come back, but basically he thought it was probably bothering us (Jeremiah and myself) more than Jed. We just got home and need to tidy up. We left in a hurry this morning and things got a little messy here.

I have a very, very long post in the making, a testimony of sorts. I have been working on it the past couple of days here and there. But you know, these babies, I tell ya! They have a knack to know just when you plan on sitting down for a breather :-) Hopefully I'll get it done soon. I have to make Isa an apron for her b-day which is next Monday. I also have to make the child's coordinating apron for the last Saturday of this month. So I've got a few things I'm trying to get done at once.

Off to clean.

A testimony of God's faithfulness

Sit tight, grab a cup of tea, coffee, or soda this is going to be a long one! I felt the desire to share this testimony for others to be encouraged by. It was spurred on by what someone else wrote, and then as I was sitting there thinking on it I thought, hey I need to "hear" this again as well :-) Plus with things being the way they are now, with prices high, it may be even more needed. This is the nitty gritty. This is personal. However, there are times and places to share deep, hard things and this may be one of them.





As a background, my husband and I became Christians about the same time a year or so into our marriage. We had some pretty tough times then as well, but we were so overcome by joy and new hearts that we didn't care. There were times when we were looking for change under the couch cushions to buy some groceries. And I am NOT joking about that. Two things made it a bit easier to deal with (aside from the spiritual), one, I was working and I felt we were doing all we could to keep afloat, and two, we didn't have children at the time. Fast forward 6 or 7 years. There were quite a few poor financial decisions made. I in no way want to bring disrespect to my hubby, so that is not my intention of sharing this, but I do share this so that you might not make the same mistakes that I have. I was very unhappy (read-fuming mad)at many of his decisions. Not happy at ALL! Being on the other side of this story and seeing what God taught us and brought us through I have to say that I really regret how I handled myself, especially in regards to my husband. I went kicking and screaming all the way! Ladies, I share this because you may be in that same position. It is not easy being on a sinking boat, especially when you seem to be the only one to know that it is sinking. I shouted, and pleaded and cried etc. Now I wish I had been quiet, offering my counsel and sat back to watch God's hand at work. So the scenario we found ourselves in is I was pregnant with our third child. I was a nanny at the time, taking my two children with me to work. That was a huge blessing. I however, really wanted to be a stay at home mom as come the fall time I would be starting to homeschool. I had been praying about it, and it didn't seem to be a possibility. My hubby said there was no way that we could afford for me to stay home. Two months before the baby was due the family I worked for called me to say that once I had the baby they thought it best that I stopped working for them. It was a very friendly "split". It was hard since I had been with them for 8 years and at the same time I was excited to think of staying home. My hubby said I had to find another nanny job right away. However that is not possible when you have three of your own children. I decided to look into in home day care, which would have been a huge decrease in pay. A couple of days later my husband lost his job! He got a short term position and then that was over, so we found ourselves with no income. After the baby was born and she was a few weeks old I took on two children to care for in my home. Can you say, disaster? Jeremiah stayed with them a few hours the first day and he said, "NO way is this going to work!" I stuck it out the rest of the week and then told the mother that it was not working. We still had no income. We went on public assistance. A note here, as this can be a controversial topic. My hubby sees PA sort of as an insurance. He (and I)paid into the system, and during this time of need we needed that money "back". He was very actively seeking employment and the moment he got a job we went off of it. He did indeed get a job, in another city. We had to move away from all our friends and "family". This was extremely hard. We were losing our house and so we had to move. Our realtor, a God send, found out about our situation, told her church and brought over at least 6 paper bags full of groceries that were a gift from the congregation. I hated to be in the position of being in need. However there was no way out at the time. We moved to another city and even though my husband was now working I wasn't, and we had a ton of bills. It was decided that I would stay at home and we would somehow make it. This is where our convictions were tested. It is one thing to say you believe that a woman should stay at home to care for her children and another to follow through when all the world around you is saying that you are being absurd to do so. During this time both our vehicles were repossessed. Thankfully we were about to get our tax refund so we were able to get a used vehicle (paid in full) before the second care was taken. It is not a good feeling to have a law enforcement officer come to your door to deliver you papers for repossession. I felt like a total looser. I think the guy who came to take the vehicles was very relieved that I wasn't putting up a fuss. I could tell he came ready to "fight" and was very surprised when I just quietly handed him over the keys and told him to have a good day (I said that in a very pleasant voice). I think he was ready for me to be yelling at him or something. So we are down to one vehicle. But God saw fit to go above and beyond that. Someone at my husbands work said that he had a car that he wasn't using and gave it to my hubby to borrow. He let him borrow it for a year!! We were able to save up some money during this time to buy another used vehicle.



The time leading up to this mess was a huge black hole, spiritually speaking. We were both backsliding in different ways. Bringing us to another city, cutting us off from everything, and taking everything away really, really got our attention!! We have called this our desert experience. The Lord always brought the right people along to steer us in the right way. Not to say we always went that way, but He was faithful to point us to the right way. Sometime after everything was taken away (granted we still had a LOT of "stuff", compared to many in the world we were still rich!) I came across a site called The Blessed Mother. Shannon still has the main page up, but has switched to blogging. You can see her site on my side bar. Now this may seem silly to most, and if not it may just change your life, but as I was reading and devouring Shannon's words I learned or rediscovered a very, VERY important principle. You can take God's word as it stands! In other words you can trust the very words and nature of God revealed in His word. Again I know that sounds very elementary. I would have told you prior to that knowledge that "of course I believe God's word and what it says." I think a lot of us say that. But are we living like it? I don't think I can adequately express just what I mean by all of this. I started to make some changes though, and after I did so some amazing things started to happen. I had always prayed "in my head". I only sang praise songs, or hymns....in church. When I was praying it was "asking" for things. There are way too many things that I learned in those months to write here. But one idea that really stuck out to me as I was meditating on the Word was that God WALKED with Adam and Eve in the garden. I had never 'seen' that before. To me God was this big impersonal being in the sky. And I realized that I was totally wrong! His desire is to walk with us, to know us, for us to know Him. He put Adam and Eve in a lush garden which would meet all their needs. And here I was putting in "orders" like one would at the drive thru window at a fast food joint. So I started praying out loud to the Lord. This was huge for me. For some reason saying my words out loud really forced me to think about just who I was talking to. It made it very real that I was actually speaking to God Almighty. Not only that but scripture says that His sheep "HEAR" his voice and follow Him. So I started praying that I would hear His voice, and I started listening for it. Sometimes I had to remind myself to keep my attena up to be able to hear from Him. I also started praising Him without "asking" for things. The Psalms are a wonderful place to just start using the words to praise Him. And a big key was to pray scripture. If we are to be in his will, and pray for His will, how much closer can you get than to pray scripture? Again, all of this was new to me, even though I had been a Christian for some 7 years. I can't remember exact passages, but I had been praying that our time, and finances would be redeemed, like it says about the locusts coming to devour but that the Lord redeemed the harvest. I started praying for my marriage, by using God's words. I started walking with God, not just visiting Him on Sundays. I also started to hear from Him. I had total peace that he was going to bring us out of our situation, only because He told me He was going to. I had no idea how He would do it, as it seemed impossible. So a few months later when my hubby came home in the middle of the day, I was not surprised when he told me that he just lost his job. I just looked at him and said, "Oh, OK." He stood there waiting for the news to sink in and for me to start crying! But no tears came, I was totally HAPPY. I happened to be pregnant with our 4th child by this time, so I am sure he was waiting for a flood of tears! But you see the Lord already told me he was going to redeem our situation. I had been praying for freedom from our bondage to sin, from our bondage to debt and so forth. Which is why it was no surprise that we were going to have a girl (even though we hadn't had an ultrasound) because after praying about a name for our unborn child the Lord gave it to me! It was Saoirse, which means....Freedom!!! I had total faith that my husband was going to find another job that was better than his last one. And he did, THREE days later, AND it was in the city we had previously moved from!!! So we were going "home"!



The rest is sort of history! We had an amazing birth in our rental home. The Lord brought us through a few more interesting things, all of which I had peace about. Now after all this you may be asking why I have been so worried about Jedidiah these past months. Because faith is a day by day thing. Not the faith to be saved mind you, but the faith to believe God's word. I have been fearful because I have not been walking close with the Lord. Just worshiping Him, just singing praises to Him, just laying at His feet, just listening to His voice and just waiting for His peace to take over. I have spent most of this time steeped in using my energy to figure out what we should do next. I have been impatient. I want answers now. The silly thing is that I probably would have had answers and definitely peace by now had I just been praying all along. Instead I have found myself more fretful, and more worried. Which is why I said I needed to "hear" this testimony myself! I do believe that is why the Lord tells the Israelites again and again to remember and to tell the next generation about all He had done. It is so easy to forget His faithfulness and mercy and grace! We are no different than the Israelites were. We are prone to forget. So if you find yourself in a hard time, in fear or worry, go back and remember all His past provisions. Then remind your family of them, or tell them the first time to your children. And then fall at His feet and wait for Him to provide the way through your current troubles. This is not to say things will be easy. By no means!! Although His burden is light, and it will seem light if you are walking with Him. Enjoy your time with your family, with your church family and with your neighbors. God is bigger than our finances and medical problems. I have personally wasted so much time worrying. Instead I could have been making memories with my family. Money seems to make the world go round, but that is not what God's word has to say. Health is important and certainly makes this life much easier. However God is bigger than our son's health issues. I don't know about you, but I am ready to have the Lord's peace in my life. I'll keep you updated in my walk.

I hope this has been helpful to someone. I am sorry it is long, and probably not very well put, but I know that God can EVEN use my meager writings to encourage someone else :-)

Have a great day/night.

Funny pic

This is my second post for today so make sure you look below for the neat contest going on till tonight!





Ok, I told you about the funny picture I have. Do any of you remember that silly thingy we used to do as kids that went something like this:





Hi, my name is Chubby. My momma calls me Chubby, my papa calls me Chubby, EVEN my dog calls me Chubby. One day we were driving down the road.....





Ok, do you all remember that? If not then maybe this will remind you:

Ok, we were laughing just too hard about this. Actually Jonah's face was really puckered up, but by the time I got the camera and took this picture he had moved his hand and his face is just a little bit puckered up. Too cute!! Hope this gave you all a chuckle, have a great day. I need to go and do something productive now :-)

Another contest!

I can't seem to get enough of these really wonderful contests. I never win anything, but hey, it's a lot of fun to meet new people and have a chance :-) This one is for a book called:

The Apron Book: Making, Wearing, and Sharing a Bit of Cloth and Comfort
by
EllynAnne Geisel

You just need to go visit Mountain Morning to enter. So don't delay, go here for the details.

I really wish I knew how to just type in the word "here" and it be a link, so all this goobaly glop doesn't take up so much space :-)

Here is a picture of not only me, but of Isabella and I in our aprons, holding up an apron I just made the other day (for Made for Trade day). It's like the one I am wearing only different colors.

I never used to wear an apron (I currently own just one), but this past year I have really desired to wear mine more often. I would wear it all the time, but it is the only one I have, so I am trying to make it last longer :-) I have been looking online for just the right pattern. When I saw this contest I almost jumped up and down I was so giddy! If I don't win I will have to buy that book. Something really does happen when you don an apron. Can't really explain why, but it is true. It's kind of like putting on a uniform, it is time to work. I have found myself spotting aprons all over the net, taking mental notes on their construction. I would really like to have, oh, about 20 more aprons! Hee, hee, I'm joking, 19 will do ;-) I like a full apron as I seem to have the knack of getting my shirt and skirt wet or stained while cleaning. Seeing as how my wardrobe was limited this pregnancy I needed to preserve the shirts I did have! I have a bit more selection now, but not by much, so my apron is serving me well. We had a lot of work to get done today and I put my apron on early this morning to get the inspiration I needed to get it all done. I have to say it is working as the house is taking shape!

So stop reading and get going to enter yourself in!!!

Edited to try out my new found knowledge (thanks to Brandi), on how to put a link with out all the goobaly glop :-)

bag give a way

Here is the link to the contest for a really neat reusable bag! No really, they are so cool. It's called a flip and tumble bag. Go here to sign yourself up to possibly win one:

http://mammaofmany.blogspot.com/2008/08/flip-and-tumble-giveaway-1.html

Just some snippets

Just thought I would put the link up for the NAET that my sister left in the comments. And YES I would LOVE to go for a consult! I was about to say just give me the name, and realized that I can get it off the site you gave to all of us! (insert a big rolling eyes smiley) Here is the site: http://www.naet.com/



Someone asked how Jedidiah was doing. So far so good. I have given him about 2 ounces of the new homemade formula at each feeding (along with his Alimentum). Today this child actually ate! He gobbled up a load of strawberries. I'm not sure how many, but for him it was a ton. I was so shocked. Then later on we all went out to the soccer fields for the kids to run around. Pour Jedidiah was running full speed, tripped and fell. I would say he did a face plant, but his forehead is so big it hits the ground first. He has a very interesting design on his forehead now :-( Poor guy! We went and grabbed some Wendy's. We decided to get Jed his own little kid size frosty. We were just going to have him share with his sissies, but I really didn't want to hear any screeching. He ate the whole thing, along with a french fry or two! Pretty amazing. The only down side for the day is that his tube site is looking worse. It's still just pink, but instead of the pinkness being just at the top of the tube it is making its way down the sides of the tube. I was about to worry about it, but decided not to. That in itself is pretty amazing as well :-) I will be making up a new batch of formula for tomorrow with the proper molasses. The recipe calls for black strap molasses and I had just regular molasses. Plus we were able to get hemp oil, which is supposed to be the only oil that has the proper 3:1 ratio of omega fats. I put the coconut oil in with his formula this morning. Which was a silly thing to do. Coconut oil is solid at temps below 76 degrees. So I had to warm up his formulas at each feeding before I could put it in his pump. Here is something interesting. Not sure if it is bad or not. Way back when, as an infant and he was nursing, if you were to give Jed a kiss he tasted very salty. That went away after he was on formula. Now he is getting a bit of breast milk again and I gave him a kiss today and he tasted a little salty. Not bad, like when he was little, but my mommy radar started beeping! Again, not sure what to make of it.

On other boy news I decided to weigh Mr. Jonah. Hey, its been a whole week since I last weighed him. And this time I knew he didn't need to be weighed as it is obvious that he is gaining. But that was why I wanted to weigh him....because it is so obvious! I wanted to see just how big this chunky monkey is. Drum roll please......drum, drum, rat a tat tat........He tipped the scale at 9 pounds 5 ounces! That is like a pound in one week! Wooo hooo. Grow baby grow.

I took some time today to respond to all the comments that I have received over the last three weeks. So if you are interested you can go back and see what I had to say. I would have put my responses in all one spot, but that was too much for me to handle. It was easier to just respond right there on the spot. Call me lazy :-)

I'm off to enter my name in a drawing for a neat bag. I'll put a post up (to earn an extra chance at winning) about it. I have in mind to do a bit of a blog roll introduction. I really need to add a few people to my side bar. Here is something neat. I have been having the bug to decorate, to beautify my home.....it reminded me of a wonderful blog that I had come across almost a year ago. It was such a beautiful blog. Her life and family are so beautiful. I have learned a lot about homemaking on the net, but from this woman I got the inspiration to make it creative, beautiful.....anyways about three weeks after I found her blog she decided to go off line. I literally cried. No, really I did, I'm not joking. So today I was looking at a post about aprons on the Shed and someone linked to her site. I thought maybe someone pulled up an old post, because this person isn't blogging anymore. Oh wonder of wonders she is back online! Some of you may know her already and if not you should go and check out her site. Her name is Jewels and her site is:

http://eyesofwonder.typepad.com/

Ok, must be off. Need to get some sleep! I am hoping to share with you a really funny picture I took of Jonah today. I'll save it for tomorrow as I don't have it loaded onto my computer.

Jedidiah news

Two posts in one day. The children are all sleeping. It was a very stressful evening. For one reason.....Jedidiah. I had talked about starting Jedidiah on pureed real foods a few weeks before the baby was born. I knew I couldn't start then and so I waited...until now. I pureed some of our dinner and put it in his tube at lunch time (left overs). It clogged the pump! That is not good as I had to throw the bag away, ugh! I was about to cry, really I was. I dumped out the rest of the pureed food down the sink. About 30 minutes later I realized that we could try the bolus method. That means you put the liquid in a large syringe and let gravity pull it into his tummy. I was nervous about trying it. To my amazement it worked!!! However about 15 minutes after his feeding he was playing and threw at least half of it back up! Yes, this time I really did cry. I was totally seized by fear. Fear I hadn't had since he was in the hospital. His pale skin has had me concerned, and this just put me over the edge. It didn't help that both Jeremiah and I were totally upset by this event. Usually one of us keeps our head in such a situation. Jedidiah has his GI appointment this coming Monday. Again, I really don't have any hope that we will get anywhere with this appointment. So we are taking matters into our own hands (something we've been doing for a long time now). I went online to look for homemade infant formulas. I found one that won't take me hours to make. That is a plus! I can only pray that he can tolerate it. I may have to work it in slowly. And then go with the pureed foods idea when we get him switched over. The pureed foods need a liquid and I wanted to use the formula or even some juiced veggies. But the store bought stuff is truly junk food. I knew that from the beginning and had looked into homemade infant formula before. But the process was long and the ingredients foreign. Maybe this isn't the top of the line homemade formula, but certainly it has to be better than what he is currently getting. I did weigh Jed a couple of days ago and he did indeed pass his last highest weight, by an ounce. But with his throwing up today and yesterday he won't keep that weight for long. Jeremiah is going to the store tonight to get all the ingredients we will need to make the formula. I will be adding a few extra things to it as well, like his supplements and maybe some coconut oil. We will see where this takes us. Besides this I think our next option will be to look into the doctor who does NAET. I wish I knew what that stood for, but I don't. I just know that it did wonders for my sister. You can visit her blog and look up her second blog to see her story.

I am going to go to bed early. Tomorrow is a new day with God's mercies renewed!

thoughts

This is sort of a response to my sister's latest post on her blog (which reminds me I really need to get on the up and up and put her blog on my side bar, along with some others!). You can go here first to read what she had to say:

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/thetravelingfamily/570576/

I wanted to make a comment to her, but then my keyboard wasn't working. So we went outside for a bit and that gave me time to really think about what she wrote. And then I had a whole novel in my head and decided I would just respond to her here, and then ramble on with my thoughts.

First off, it was a truly beautiful, heartfelt post. I am not sure if it is just because I know her so well and can even "hear" her saying all she said as if in person, but her heart was just pouring out. She and her family have been going through a lot of changes. Some harder than others. But some have been just amazing. I love what she had to say on joy. Wow!!! Took my breath away. Probably because I have been in the same boat as she has, and probably because the Lord has been speaking to me on this through various means. The point she made about how she always equated joy with her circumstances. Ouch! (that was an ouch for me, not her!) I have let my joy slip away from me over the years. And in the last few days I have been "bombarded" with reminders that I need to get that joy back. I used to have that joy, way back when, oh about 12 to 13 years ago. Believe it or not it was some very hard circumstances that brought me to my knees, seeking the Lord, and my heart being changed, becoming a follower of Christ. That change brought me joy, even in the midst of hard circumstances. We have been reading through Matthew as a family and the parable of the seeds scattered on the different soils got my attention. Some of the seeds are thrown onto soil that they can actually grow in, however weeds come up and choke them out. The weeds are a symbol of the cares of this world. And the cares of the world choke out any fruit that the seeds otherwise would have had. That is exactly where I feel I am. I will be praying that the Lord will weed this garden of mine! I too, like my sister, don't want my children growing up to remember me as a tight lipped, gloomy mommy. So what is a grumpy mommy to do? First and foremost, pray. But I think it needs to be more than a thought that passes in my mind. I mean really PRAY, the get down on your knees, flat on your face, crying out to God kind of praying. The other thing that I want to change is my words. Again, something my sister wrote spoke to me on this. I am a negative person. No, really I am. Again, this goes back quite a few years, with the start being many small circumstances that have added up. Some of you may be familiar with Nancy Campbell, who writes Above Rubies. If not, then go here to check out some very encouraging articles:

http://rubies.articledirectoree.com/

Nancy has a lot to say about how we speak, and the words we use. I wish I had more time to go into it, but I have a baby who wants to be held---a lot :-)----and I just don't do the one hand typing thing very well. So I have a moment while he is resting on the bed, but not for long as I hear him making noises. Anyways maybe one day I will get into it more, but for those who have read Nancy's things, then you know what I am talking about. So what does this mean for me? Well, like I said I am a negative person. I don't usually say kind, loving words "just because". I think in regard to my words I have been in "survival mode". I have 6 children, 5 of which need direction. I find myself in a catch 22 sometimes. We did not train them in obedience when they were young (speaking of the older ones), and so now it's like I spend my time putting out fires. In order for our children to want to willingly obey, you need to have their hearts. For me I know that will involve speaking kind words to them. I need to just spend time enjoying them, playing with them, sharing the things they love, and sharing the things I love with them. The catch is that trying to do these things when you have a house full of fighting, whining children can be hard. Not to mention that it is not natural for me to speak uplifting words to my children. I really love the idea of imparting a blessing onto your children each day. But it seems so fake to me to speak a blessing over my children. I have spent years now speaking things like: "No", "You can't do that...", "Why can't you....", "I told you to.....", "how many times must I say..." etc. But that will be my goal, even if it will seem totally fake at first. I want to be joyful and loving and kind. And certainly this would be a step in the right direction. I know that the process of sanctification takes time. However I sometimes think that I just coast, thinking it will happen without any work on my part.

Some other things that have been resurfacing.......homemaking. I have come across some sites, and have been in some homes that have brought those deep rooted, long ingrained moanings and longings to be creative up to the surface. But it is something that I wrestle with. Right now I have white walls. And not any white walls, but white primed walls. Let me scratch that and say.....DIRTY, used to be white, primed walls. We have a hodge podge of furniture, hand me downs, freecycle, etc. I yearn for beauty. Now I am not talking about going out and buying new furniture sets, on the contrary. It is amazing what some paint and fabric can do to transform things. But here is my struggle. Scripture says that the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. And so I wonder how much time, money etc. should be used to make my home beautiful. On the other hand the Lord took the time to make our world very beautiful. He didn't have to make flowers, and when He did, He could have made one kind. But there is amazing beauty in God's creation. There is order. There is purpose. I feel like my days should be patterned in like manner. But to what extent? I feel like I am about to burst if I don't get to be creative with my home or yard. And because we have nothing here in our home that lends to my goal of being creative, where do I even START!!! Yikes! Ok, I think I got all that off my chest now. Phew! Deep breath in, deep breath out :-)

Of course maybe all this rambling can be chalked up to hormones! ha, ha! I don't think so!!! I must be going. We need some cleaning done (imagine that!), then lunch, then some little guy needs a nap! etc. Have a blessed day!

Outside time

We have been spending a bit more time outside. It may have to do with the fact that Jedidiah won't be swallowed up by the jungle....:-) Mr. Jonah was being a fussy muffin this morning. Nothing major, just wouldn't stay asleep for his nap. He finally was too tired to possibly stay awake. We went out this morning before breakfast and again right before lunch. Jedidiah was acting really, REALLY fussy this afternoon during his feeding time so I unhooked him, gave him a quick bath and whisked him off to bed. So the two littles are sleeping. I'm taking some time on the net while the girls have a snack. Then I will dig into the Word for a while. I also want to read to the girls. We have been reading about chickens as of late. We are hoping to get some in the near future and I want them to all know something about how to care for them. I was able to finish the adult apron, and will hopefully be able to start on the child size apron sometime today. Lets see, I also have to send off another grocery list. I forgot to send the hard copy with Jeremiah today. Oh well. Below are some pictures I took while we were out this afternoon. Have a blessed day!

Strollers are for what? Pushing babies in? We think not! Here is Isabella as the "horse" and Moira as the "driver". My kids are really, really, really into playing animals. I am sure some day I will look back fondly on that fact, but most times it is very irritating for them to be crawling around and barking half the day!

I had one of the girls bring Jedidiah's dump truck outside. We tried to show him that he could put stuff in the dumper and then dump it out, but all he did was push it around. Hey, he was happy.

Me experimenting with the sepia mode. Unfortunately taking pics in sepia mode outside in bright sun does not give good results. I did get this one that came out pretty well. Flannery preparing to be the "horse".

Snapping one of Isa and Moira on the rock.

I'm not sure if you really want to know what Saoirse is doing here. I suggest you don't look too close, but she is attempting to give a proper burial to a squished frog. They discovered it on our driveway, I am sure it was a night time hit and run :-) The other girls decided that having a burial right there on the driveway was not proper so they took him off to the side, buried him and even made a cross to mark the spot. Now if we could only get them to take that concern for animals and gear it towards their siblings instead. We would have one very peaceful home! I had to give Isa a little lecture today on serving the Lord. I told her some people have to care for loved ones who were seriously ill, some taking care of older ailing parents. I explained very briefly the work involved. I then told her we could be thankful that Jedidiah's condition wasn't so serious, but that it did bring extra work. And that work is to be done as unto the Lord. As I said earlier Jedidiah was very tired. I had Isabella reading to him during his feeding time. However Jed wasn't being very cooperative, and Isa wasn't being so patient. Hence the lecture. Now to give myself my own lecture! Dying to self...die to self, lather, rinse, repeat! Seriously, that is what it comes down to, dying to self. Which is why I need to be in the Word, because dying to self is not something that comes naturally. Off to feed on the Bread of Life.

Chunky Monkey

We have a little chunky monkey on our hands. Jonah is doing really well. He did have a rough time of it today with his tummy. I am sure it is something that I ate. We went to church today for the first time in a month! Some people who came last week to drop off a meal could tell that he has gained weight. What a wonderful feeling! I had been up last night nursing Jonah in our bed. I was looking between him and Jedidiah (who sleeps on the other side of the room). I was at first overcome with guilty feelings about Jedidiah's condition. I just couldn't get over how beautifully that Jonah is nursing and gaining, and the contrast of Jedidiah across the room who is thin, pale and for some reason in the past few days his head seems rather large to me. I know Jed's head has always been disproportionate to his body but he must have had a growth spurt in length as he seems thinner and his head bigger. I know he isn't thinner due to weight as he has been catching up to his last highest weight (and may have surpassed it by now), so I am assuming he must have sprung up in height. So anyways here I was just feeling awful for not knowing in the beginning that there was something wrong with Jedidiah. I felt like I should have known something was wrong, that his nursing was wrong, that his gagging was wrong, etc. I realized though that it was foolish for me to think that way. I might as well be mad at myself for someone coming up to me on the street and speaking Russian to me, and then being mad at myself for not knowing what that person was saying! If you don't know, then you don't know. It is one of my primary goals to figure out what is wrong. My sister and I were talking about him yesterday. We were discussing his infection around his tube, which isn't worse, but not better either. It may come to a leap of faith and having to have his tube pulled (I don't think that would happen soon, but it was the matter being discussed). The longer he is on the tube the harder it will be for him to eat like a normal kid. However I was telling her that I feel there is one small puzzle piece still missing. I'm not sure why I feel that way, nor do I have any idea what that small piece is. Maybe an allergy, or another sensitivity. Can't put my finger on it, but would want to look into that feeling of mine a bit more. My sis says there is a doctor who does NAET. It is a way to rid yourself of allergies through various means. There is only one here, out in Chapel Hill. I think when the baby is a bit older, ready to go out into the world, I will look into seeing this doctor. Sometimes and alternative doctor knows more about things like yeast, or allergies.

I have a few pictures to share. We got some wonderful handmade gifts from some girls in our church for Jonah. I have to go snap some pictures of them if I can. I also got a cute picture of Isabella holding Jonah. Other things that went on today- We had a visit from Jeremiah's parents today, getting to see their sixth grandchild for the first time. I was able to iron the material for the aprons I will be making. I put together a kombusha tea starter. I read that you can buy a bottle of the tea and make your own SCOBY (the "mushroom") from it. I am soooo excited about trying this. I have heard that kombusha can do amazing things with your health. When I poured the bottled tea into the large container of black tea and sugar I saw this itty bitty baby shroom. Too cute! I put it in my cupboard, and have to leave it there for two weeks. Kombusha tea is supposed to taste like sparkling apple cider. I tried a tiny bit from the bottled stuff and it did taste like apple cider. I didn't get a big drink of it, but from what I could tell it was pretty good stuff. Tomorrow we have a bunch of cleaning to do. Things always get out of order on Sundays. I also want to put my keifer grains into some lactose free organic milk. The fermenting of the goats milk seems to bring out the goaty taste in the milk. So I want to try cow's milk. I am hoping that my keifer grains are still viable after their long vacation in my fridge. They are supposed to last for a VERY long time in cold storage. That's all on my list of things to do. It is shopping day tomorrow, and I need to send a list with Jeremiah. I won't be doing the shopping for probably the next couple of weeks, again just trying to stay healthy. As it is in the next two weeks we have two doctors appointments, one at Duke the other with our family doctor. So the less exposure to the outside world the better. Good night everyone. It is late, little chunky monkey may be going through a growth spurt as he just wanted to eat and eat and eat today! I was not able to pump because I had to feed him from both sides at each feeding. I am hoping tonight I will be able to pump some milk for Jed.

Here is the failed attempt of the spoke wheel picture. Saoirse decided to break down after Isabella told her that she could not touch the baby, and then Saoirse saw that Isabella was touching the baby, and she broke down. Jedidiah was all smiles until I stepped up on the step stool, and then he decided that he wanted to climb up the step stool too. I am thinking I will not be getting a spoke wheel picture anytime soon. I may just go for the "all children lined up on the couch" picture instead.

Here is the cute picture of Isa and Jonah. It looked like he was sucking his thumb. Just so sweet.

This is the handmade shirt and burp cloths that we received today from a wonderful family at church. One of their daughters made us a cute keepsake book, and I am not sure who made these, but someone in their family.

Here is the back of the shirt. I love this pattern. I think I have a similar pattern that I made for Isabella when she was under a year old. I should dig it up.

Here is the shawl I made ages ago. I think our camera was broken by the time I finished it. You can't see the edging detail, it has little picots along the sides. I love, love, love this shawl. It kept me cozy when I wasn't feeling well recently. I used it as a nursing cover up today at church. The holes give plenty of ventilation, but they are small enough that people can't see through. And it kept Jonah warm when the AC got a bit cool today. And presently Saoirse is sleeping with it as her blankie. Wow, talk about multi purpose!

Good night!

Made for Trade

I just thought I would stop in and post about the Made For Trade that someone from our church started. They had their first one this month, which we missed due to illness. The next one is coming up quick, on Aug. 9th. I am hoping to make an apron to bring. I have a really easy pattern. Today we have to go and get Jonah's birth certificate processed. On the way back I will make a run into Walmart to get some fabric. It will be nice to work on something, have some sort of project to look forward to. I already have my next project in mind for September's Made For Trade, a crocheted shawl. I really want to start on these things much sooner than the week before! Anyways, go to the following link to check out how the first Trade went:

http://www.madefortrade.blogspot.com/

Not much else is going on. I would love to take some more pictures soon. The girls have been busy with their paper dolls. I made up a whole menu for the MONTH. Since Jeremiah now gets paid just once a month I figured we better hit Walmart with the whole months list (except for fresh veggies). Nothing like getting to the end of the month and having had things come up and nothing left in the pantry. Been there done that, years ago. We also will be ordering most of their homeschooling books today. Only 4 more weeks till we start the new school year.

Off to eat some lunch and hopefully have a little rest. Mr. Jonah has been pretty regular as to when he has his night and early morning feedings. However every other day he decides to stay awake after his 5 AM feeding. I assure you I am thinking he needs more shut eye! I am not ready to wake at that hour. Here's hoping he will still be napping after I eat my lunch!