The week in review

Last Sunday we had a church picnic. The weather didn't cooperate very well, but the majority of the rain held off until close to the end. After our picnic many of us headed to the waterfront for a baptism. Well, 4 baptisms. Josh and Zach were baptized. In God's pond. Pretty amazing.Can you say BRRR!?

Maddie planned on it, but after arriving at the water's edge and seeing how cold and rainy it was, she decided to wait for a nicer day. I really can't blame her. I thought it was pretty chilly myself, and I didn't go in the water.

Josh got his separators in for his braces on Tuesday. He definitely wasn't expecting his mouth to be sore, but it was. I got to go thrift shopping and made a couple of fun purchases.

Thursday was "a very bad day". You know, those days when nothing really goes right? We had one of those. Josh had to get the upper wires on his braces, plus have the upper and lower expanders put in. My poor husband used our personal bank account to pay for a very expensive work project by mistake, resulting in a rush trip to the bank to deposit funds from another account, phone calls for him to correct the mistake, and an overall not fun experience. It was also a day that things got dropped, broken and messed up every time we tried to do something. So I think it qualifies for a bad day label.

Friday was nice. Even got to go on a surprise date with my hubby. Ok, not really a date, but it was pretty close. Josh was at youth group, Zach and Maddie were at a friend's house, and we found ourselves with a couple of hours and only one child - not counting the one that I carry with me always. So we drove home to drop off his car, drove back into town, had a very nice dinner, went to pick up all the kids, and spent about 2 hours just hanging out with friends.

Writer's block

Apologies again for my lack of posting. I think I need a new blog name. I'm not so sure that I like the fact that my name is the blog address, because even though I currently have the blog settings to make it not searchable by google, I'm getting hits from parts of the country where I don't know anyone. So my thoughts are to change the name of the blog and the blog address to something a little more anonymous. So I'm thinking. Still thinking. Nope, nothing's coming to me yet. I'll keep you posted.

Updates

My oldest daughter recently informed me that my blog doesn't even know what's happening in my life. Guess I should fix that.

Here's what's been happening:

January - The kids reacquainted themselves with the joys of snow. Sadly, we had just moved back north and didn't get sleds. No problem. They used moving boxes. We had plenty of those.Kate left. Moved out. Drove 2,000 miles away to find a new home for her and her hubby.

February - We found out we're expecting a baby. Yes, #6 is on the way, due to arrive sometime in September. Yes, we're excited. And yes, we planned it. Kate's hubby returned home from Iraq. They get to FINALLY start married life together.

March - Kate and John came for a visit. Took most of our furniture back with them.

April - Celebrated my 3?th birthday. Celebrated Tom's 4?th birthday. Celebrated Emma's 1st birthday (she's still allowed to say how old she is.) Unfortunately, she wasn't feeling very well that day. Found out we're going to be grandparents. (Woohoo!) Kate and John are expecting a little bundle in December. Josh went to Driver's Ed. Josh spent most of the month battling the flu.

May - So far, so good. We're enjoying the beautiful flowers growing in our gardens. We're trying to get a good vegetable garden growing, but I do not have a green thumb. We're battling the black flies.

So now I think we're up to date.

Yes, They Did.

I really don't want my blog to become something that is all about our Government, but right now there is way too much happening to NOT comment on it.

1) Obama's inaugural address. It sounded like he quoted the Declaration of Independence. Sounded really good. Unless of course, you are familiar with the Declaration and saw what he said by not saying it. There's a good article that explains it pretty well here.
2) Obama signed an executive order re-establishing the use of federal funds (that would be taxpayer money) for organizations that provide or support abortions. So what does a Pro-life taxpayer do? Knowing that our tax dollars are being used to murder children creates a bit of a dilemma. We are bound by law to pay taxes, and bound by the Bible to obey the law, but the law is being used for something that is WRONG! Read more here.
3) Here's a video about the economic stimulus plans and who should receive any jobs created by the package and who should receive money. It pretty much speaks for itself. View it here.

Don't worry, the Government is in control

I just found something out. I mean it. Just now, like 3 minutes ago. And I HAVE to share it with anyone (all 2 of you) who actually read my blog. Remember all the toys coming out of China that had higher than allowable levels of lead? Remember all the recalls? Well, our government was concerned. Concerned for our children. Concerned for our families. So they decided to do something about it. They decided to pass the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008. According to the vote Roll Call, 25 members did not vote, the other 407 members of Congress agreed unanimously that this was a good law and passed it. Only 3 of our U.S. Senators thought it was a bad idea.

What does the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 do? Well, have you heard of National Bankruptcy Day? No? Its February 10, 2009. Coming right up. You see, the effective date of this is February 10, 2009. You know, this act that will protect our children. What happens on February 10, 2009? On that day, all products sold to be used by children under 12 must be tested for lead and phthalates to make sure the product is safe for our kids. Sounds like a good idea, right? The burden of testing is not on the supplier. The burden is on the manufacturer and the seller of these goods. So if you are a stay at home mom and you make some dresses for little girls, you need to test the material for EACH dress you make to be sure it doesn't contain anything bad. Nope, you can't test just once and be done. You have to test each batch you produce. So if a batch is one dress, you have to test the material for that one dress. Children's books? Yep, they have to be tested. DVD's? Those too. So you see, pretty much every single thing that is sold for children must be tested. And the cost to test? Well from what I can see, it's pretty expensive. I've seen numbers online ranging from $300 to $5000. Per test. That's for each product. Pretty much puts every small business out of business. Oh, and this applies to thrift stores as well - resellers must take responsibility for testing unless the "product" is donated along with a certificate stating that the product has been tested. Theories abound that not only will many businesses file bankruptcy, but the cost of products will skyrocket to cover the new cost of doing business. There's a good article that explains things a little better here.

Boy, I'm so glad our government is on top of things and they're protecting our kids. We won't have to worry about our kids having any toys with lead in them, but then it doesn't matter. After this law goes into effect, no one will be able to buy anything anyway. Our economy will be in further turmoil, but our kids will be "safe".

A Walk to Remember

Today, I got to spend time alone (yes, ALONE) with my husband!! Emma was freshly fed and changed, and my hubby invited me to go for a walk. With him. Alone. Josh, Zach and Maddie stayed home, Kate was out running some errands. So Tom and I suited up (yes, getting ready for an hour or more outside when its about 20 degrees and slightly breezy requires the donning of much apparel that is oddly similar to a knight suiting up for battle), and walked out of the house. Alone. Did I mention that we were alone? We started out just walking to the field hidden behind our home. Then we walked to the far corner of it, following a TON of deer trails, and looking at the fruit trees, and just dreaming about the possibilities. Our quick walk turned into a little bit of an extended walk - all the way around our land. I'll say it again for good measure - Our Land. A lifelong dream, finally came true. We have woods, we have streams, we have fruit trees, we have a field tucked away behind our home, hidden from the view of any passersby. We have perennial gardens, blueberries and raspberries. This is a little slice of long awaited paradise. I can only imagine, after dreaming of this for SO long, and enjoying it SO much, what it will be like when we finally, after dreaming of it for so long, arrive in Paradise. Oh, the anticipation!

So today, my husband and I walked around Our Land for the first time. Alone. Truly a Walk to Remember.

Christmas Eve

It's Christmas Eve, the day before the second most celebrated holiday for Christians. The stockings are hung, the tree is strung with lights and decorated, there are presents wrapped under the tree, whispers and secret comings and goings, closed doors and smiles of anticipation all around. Katie and I are finally baking Christmas cookies - yes, its late, but its better than nothing. Josh will be heading to church early to practice one last time for tonight's Christmas worship service.

We all still seem to be searching for that elusive peace that Christmas time is supposed to bring. Instead we've found the busy-ness that so many of us discover during this season. We've been shopping and wrapping and cooking and driving and preparing and unpacking and settling in to our new home. We've been so busy that the day has sneaked up on us. I guess we weren't looking.

It makes me think about what's really important.

The day we celebrate Christ's birth on doesn't matter, but HOW we celebrate it does. It's not about the presents, or the cookies, or the lights. It's about realizing that God sent us His Son. He sent him to earth as the most helpless creature we humans can be. Its also the least intimidating form we can ever be. Who could ever reject a precious baby? And yet, that baby grew to be a man who died for us all and that's when He is rejected. How sad. So many celebrate Christmas and yet reject the One its about. It doesn't make sense to me. Its like celebrating someone's birthday whom dislike, or care nothing about. Who does that? All He asks of us is that we give Him our lives in return. We don't need to just believe in Him, but we need to live for Him. So simple, and yet so hard for so many.

I'm so grateful for my husband and my children, and my new son-in-law. What precious gifts they all are. Each one unique, each one loved. I'm even grateful for being busy. The inner peace is there, the outer peace will come in January.

May the joy of Christmas be with you all, and if you don't have peace yet, stop searching so hard - He's right there, just waiting for you to chose. God's grace (grace - a gift we don't deserve) is there for the taking. Once you take it, open it. And may Grace and Peace be with you.

New Surroundings

I had all sorts of amazing blog posts planned. Photos of our old view vs. our new view. Blogging from the road on our journey to our new home. Photos of the moving truck delivering our "household goods" (mover term for "stuff"). Photos of our new home. Yep, lots of things planned, but not much actually happened.

For the record:

We left Texas on Friday, Dec. 5. Drove for three long days and arrived up north on Sunday, Dec. 7 at 9:00 pm.

We woke Monday morning to a balmy 7 degrees, drove to our bank an hour away to get the cashiers check for closing, but we still didn't know the amount we needed to bring. Sat in the parking lot for a bit while we tried to get the right number, and then we guesstimated it because we were running out of time. Drove 45 minutes to our new home for our final walk through - a little difficult because the people we bought the house from were still moving out. Not their fault - their movers showed up late. Drove back to our temporary living space to pick up Kate and Josh, and then dropped them off with Zach and Maddie for lunch while Tom, Emma and I went to go sign lots of papers. Well, Tom and I signed them, Emma tried to eat them.

The movers came at 8:15 Tuesday morning, Dec. 9 and delivered stuff "household goods" all day, finishing the delivery on Wednesday by noon-ish.

By Thursday night we had most of the beds assembled, the living room was pretty much together, and pictures were hanging. Since then, we hung Christmas lights, picked up our tree and decorated it and finished some Christmas shopping. Whew! It's only been two weeks since we bought our house!

The dog has rediscovered the joys of a woodstove, the kids have all discovered the joy of sledding down our hill on broken down moving boxes, I've discovered the LL Bean Outlet store (great for boots, gloves, etc.). I have a new appreciation for a dryer since our electric one won't work and the gas one we ordered won't be in for another week or so.

Winter greeted us yesterday and all night last night with a wonderful Nor'easter. Our unofficial snowfall total in our backyard is 17 1/4 inches. Zach and Maddie are having a BLAST! Good thing Tom picked up a snowblower yesterday on the way home from church!

Texas Sky

 We had a cold front come through the other day. Ok, it was a "cold" front. Texas style. Took us from about 75 degrees down to 60. Brrr! I'm gonna miss the weather here! The clouds were really pretty, so I took a couple of pictures to remember it. The sky really is bigger in Texas.

Laughter is the Best Medicine

If this doesn't make you smile, nothing will.

Non-Stop

Katie is flying home today so she's here for Josh's and her birthday. She scheduled a non-stop flight out of Portland Maine. It was a little late (an hour) taking off, but we weren't concerned because it was a non-stop flight. So I just pick her up at the airport a little later than planned. No big deal. EXCEPT.... I guess US Airways didn't use the same dictionary as the rest of the English speaking population. The non-stop flight that Katie was on, stopped. In Philadelphia. And it was planned. Kind of makes you go, "Huh?" Not only did it stop, but it stopped late. And the flight that was supposed to continue to DFW left on time, so she and about 5 other passengers missed their connecting flight (don't forget, this was non-stop) to DFW and are rescheduled on another flight to arrive about 5 hours later than they should have. No, Katie didn't make a mistake. I have her itinerary. No this wasn't an unscheduled stop. Apparently that's the way this flight works from Portland to DFW. So, are we the only ones who now completely understand why the airlines repeatedly receive such poor customer service ratings?

Sorry, no cute pictures. I need to get a new battery for my camera. The rechargeable ones don't seem to work anymore. Recharged too many times?

Stretching

A rather fitting title I think.

Its been a long "stretch" since I last posted. No, it didn't take over a month to get my computer back. The Mac came home safe and sound. By some miracle, I lost absolutely nothing on the computer, but we did purchase an external hardrive to back up everything - especially those priceless pictures that I don't have backed up anywhere else, just in case the "Click" happens again. I really don't want to experience that heart failure of fear again.

Other ways I'm stretching: First a definition, courtesy of Webster.

Stretch (verb) -
to extend in a reclining position. Nope, doesn't really apply.

to reach out. Well, yeah, this one applies. Our family is stretching - Kate's marrying John. John's in Iraq. Kate's moving this weekend to make wedding plans. Yep. We're stretching out our family.

to cause to reach or continue (as from one point to another or across a space). Oh! That's a good one. See, we're reaching to another point. Moving back to New England. Yep. That qualifies.

to pull taut. Now we're on to something! You see, the reason why we're moving is for my amazing husband's job. Except that his employer isn't very forthcoming with information regarding the move, the job, the money, etc. Also, I'm trying to be there for my oldest daughter, you know, to help her plan her wedding. But I have this cute little almost 4 month old baby who demands some attention. Oh, and I have 3 other children who occasionally like to be noticed, and whose education is entirely up to me to provide, so I need to pull together our school curriculum for this year knowing that we'll be moving at some point during the semester. And I need to make it easy for me so I actually keep up with it and interesting for them so they actually do it. It needs to be accepted by college admission departments for the one in high school so he has a decent chance of getting into the college of his choice should he choose to attend college and that way he won't blame me for the rest of his life for not teaching him something really necessary. And then there's the task of preparing the house for sale. In a down market. Where every bit of clutter equals $1000 less and an extra month on the market. And I really didn't think we'd be moving, so I have a lot of stuff. (Come on, what homeschooling mother of 5 doesn't have a lot of stuff?)

So that brings us to the next part of the definition -

to cause the limbs of (a person) to be pulled especially in torture. Oh yeah. I'm there. Torture. Like on a medieval rack. Crank. Crank. Crank. Yep. The joints are getting ready to pop. Fortunately for me, there's yet one more part of this definition of stretch:

to become extended without breaking. Ok. So I won't break. God promises me that. So, knowing that He's on my side, I can get through this. Hopefully maintaining some grace and dignity. And sanity. But I'm not sure I have any sanity to maintain. I lost it all long ago.

I think Zach and Maddie illustrate pretty well how I feel.

Click

My computer died. On Sunday afternoon, I turned around to look something up on the internet (what in the world did we do before Google?). I searched, got a few options that looked like they potentially had the information I was looking for. Clicked on a couple. And then... Click. Just like that. Click. The computer shut down. It even made that noise. Click. No power outage. No power surge. Just a simple little Click. I tried to turn it on again. I unplugged it and re-plugged it and tried to turn it on again. I tested the outlet to make sure it still had power. It did. I unplugged it for an hour, plugged it back in and tried to turn it on again. Still nothing. I called the tech support line. The tech's answer? Unplug it, leave it off for about 20 seconds. Then plug it back in. Gee, and you get paid for this? (By the way, it didn't work even when the official tech-guy told me to do it.)

So, we had to take it in to the store for service. That was on Monday. They kept it. Its Thursday. I miss my Mac! I'm sitting here trying to use a PC for the first time in 2 years. Its so unfamiliar. And once upon a time I hated Mac's and thought PC's were the only option if you were serious about computers. I admit it. I was wrong. Once.

Still waiting for the call to pick it up. The service guy at the Genius Bar (can I work there? I love that. Genius Bar.) said it would take 3 - 5 business days. Its been 3. I want my Mac back. Now, please.

Summertime Fun (Unless You're a Bug)

Zach and Maddie went outside yesterday to play with one of the other neighborhood kids. They were out there for HOURS - I love that. All kids should play outside for hours at a time - in fact, maybe there should be a law, but that's another topic. Anyway, hubby comes home from work, and they're still out there playing. When he asked them what they were doing, Zach tells him they're burning bugs. With his magnifying glass. Maddie excitedly pipes in, "Yeah, and one of them caught on fire! So we spit on him!" Oh, the joys of summer. Unless you're the bug.

On a side note, Zach ended up with a killer headache when they came inside. We couldn't figure out why. Turns out he was looking at the bright light the magnifying glass made on the bugs. Ok, so I never said my kids were bright. (No pun intended.)

The Things I Should Be Doing

I woke up at about 4:00 this morning. I say "about" because my alarm clock is set a little fast to try to keep me on time, but I can't remember how fast it is, so I really have no idea EXACTLY what time I awoke. Emma was up, and wanted to be changed and fed. The last two days she's developed this sweet little habit of smiling at me when I change her diaper. Really smiling. And sometimes she talks to me, too. So I changed her, snuggled her close, fed her and went back to bed to get a little more sleep. Sleep didn't come. So I got up, came downstairs, put on the coffee for my dear husband who gets up at 5:00am every morning to leave the cave and kill something go to work. Then I decided to make muffins. Not just any muffins. Apple Cinnamon Streusel Muffins. YUM! Thanks Betty Crocker! I wanted them to be done before hubby left for work, but alas, that didn't happen. I'm a slow baker. Plus he needed me to fix a button on the shirt he wanted to wear today, which is probably the reason why I was up so early - he needed me to sew for him. So I started out on a roll, I mean a muffin (sorry), but things quickly fizzled out. I should have accomplished much by now. There are a TON of things I should be doing:

• Washing Zach and Maddie's sheets
  
• Washing diapers
  
• Dishes from making muffins
  
• Finding the PERFECT curriculum option for us
  
• Cleaning the bathrooms
  
• Dusting
  
• Figuring out what to make for dinner
  
• Watering the flowers
  
• Planting the rest of the flowers
  
• Paying the bills
  
• Cleaning up the library study sewing room
  

But instead, I'm checking blogs and praying for celebrating this new life born this morning to a family I only met briefly once at a homeschool convention. I'm eating muffins with my two middles, who used to be my littles until my littlest was born. And I'm doing this:
And I'm trying to lock into my memory exactly how she feels, how she smells (very nice), and how she sounds because all too quickly they grow up. So if you come to visit me, please forgive me for the condition of my home. I'm enjoying my baby, and watching my middles because before too long they'll be much bigger and these days will be over.