STACIA DISCOVERS ‘STRANGER DANGER’

Well thank God that it didn’t manifest before 2 Jan when Grandparents and sisters were here, but in addition to her new tricks described at the start of the week, Stacia has decided that all strangers are bearers of danger. In fact danger could lurk at any spot on the planet other than Mommy’s arms or Mommy’s hip!

This began Tuesday evening. I left her home while I attended Bible Study. I called to hear how things were going and could instantly tell that all was not well. I called back in 10 minutes and things were still rather loud. Mike agreed that it would be good if I came home…which I did. The fussing when not on my lap, in my arms or in my direct line of vision has continued. I’m wearing out and my arthritic wrists which were getting better are beginning to act up again. We are going to have to figure out how to nip this new trick right in the bud.

It was sad at the retirement ceremony. She’s always been one to let folks pass her around and smile at them etc and this time….so many tried to take her so I could eat etc and she was having no part of it. For those who had a child with extreme “stranger awareness” like this – how long did the phase last? I suppose I’ll have to dig out the mothering book and look this up.

This is not a trick endorsed by Mommy.

Protestant Women of the Chapel (PWOC)

Another first this week was that our local PWOC began a Bible Study. They haven’t had a Bible Study for a bit of time (at least since we arrived). Before they quit the study they had 3 or 4 attending.

We wondered what the turn out would be on Tuesday night. There were 14 women who showed up to begin studying “Breaking Free” by Beth Moore. Shannon, another chaplain’s wife, is leading it. I’m excited to see the rebirth of a study on the base.

In other news I did finally agree to provide leadership for our local group. I hate the “labels” but yes, I’m the President. However, Emma has agreed to stay on as treasurer. Shannon is teaching and I am actively seeking for other team members. I love to build teams and mentor leaders, so we’ll see how this goes. I know that God has a vision for THIS group and that is what we are seeking. I want our team to join Him where He is working rather than asking Him to bless OUR plans.

Lest those of you who know how over-committed I got in AK begin to worry….let me share that I’ve set BOUNDARIES this time (thanks Lynn). At this point I believe 10 hours a week is what I have to give. That means that we may grow a bit more slowly but I will not end up needing to give 30 – 40 hours a week to support a program while we wait for volunteers to step up. If I begin teaching, I will not do a lot of other organizing etc. Yes, I’m logging hours and yes, Mike is in agreement with 1. Me stepping up and 2. Me setting boundaries. {grin} The poor man has been very patient while he waited for me to decide to step up. I find it very ironic that after deciding in my new role as “Sr Prot’s Wife” that I would not take leadership positions in PWOC God would lead us to a base where the “Sr Prot’s Wife is ALWAYS the President”. What a hoot! I took that as a confirmation that God wants me to continue to use the gifts He has given me regardless of Mike’s position.

Hey Lynn, those boundaries are wonderful things. I have begun to see that being on a schedule that forces us to be done with school at a certain time or out of the house at a certain time stresses us out. I’ve said no to three “good opportunities” this week. It’s getting fun to say no….I have a strange sense of accomplishment as I say “NO”….because it allows me to say “YES” to those things that I know He is calling me to do…like leisurely schooling and mothering…and PWOC.

BTW I’m trying to come up with a catchy name for our PWOC newsletter. I know, I know….I’m living with PWOC for a NAME of a group but can’t we be a bit more creative than “PWOC NEWSLETTER”???? {big grin} I thought of “PWOC Connections” as that ties in with the PWOC USA mission as well…but noticed that our services newsletter is called that. I’ve thought of “PWOC Reflections” but now see that our local homeschool support group is naming their year book that. I’d love some ideas…..I’m even willing to steal names from your women’s groups. {big grin} Please share ideas.

That’s my new thing for the week.

NOLAN BEGINS SPEECH THERAPY

YES! Nolan began speech therapy this week. He will be seen privately twice a week. His therapist seems to be a very nice lady. He likes his time with Miss Natalie. I talked with her on Thursday about giving us some things we can work with at home.

I’ve been taking Arielle and Stacia with us to speech. Stacia has slept through both appointments – which has been a blessing! – and Arielle and I have used the time for me to listen to her reading. She astonishes us with the way she picked her pace up the last few months.

I noticed there are a lot of grandmothers who watch their grandchildren while their daughters and daughter-in-laws work. One of them kept quite an eye on us and asked a few leading questions. Finally I told her outright (as I could tell it’s what she wanted to know) that we homeschool. It turns out her daughter teaches at the local school and her son is the President of one of the Jr Highs or High Schools. She said she had found it interesting to watch me teach my daughter. Hmm….maybe we’ll take coloring books next week. {grin}

Happy 12th Birthday to Jared!

Today is the day. We’ve ordered a big balloon bouquet that we’ll go pick up. We have decorations, presents and such. We plan to spend the day celebrating….wow…12 years. Seems like yesterday he was born in the hospital beside the park in Hardin, MT. He gave us quite a scare when he developed RSV and it was back to the hospital at 4 weeks old. Times does go fast. He is maturing into quite the young man. He loves to run with Jamin and has begun lifting weights (low pounds and well-supervised) with Josiah and Jamin. He loves the Lord. He’s a good kid/young man.

We’ll post pictures later….

Back on 7 January.

Wednesday went well as far as birthdays go. We have the week off of school; an extra celebratory bonus for Jared. {grin} Early in the a.m. Josiah drove to retrieve Jared’s balloons.


As Cy came in the back door, I called Jared and told him I wanted a 12 year old picture….it was funny that he was posing in front of the French doors leading to our library and Josiah and the balloons were in the background unbeknownst to him.


After finishing a couple of projects at home we headed for Kids Kingdom on the Concho River. This is the favorite park of the younger children and I had promised them last weekend when we were down there geocaching that I’d be sure to bring them back this week. We all went. Jamin took a book and found a secluded nook. Josiah went to the downtown library to return books for me and Jared watched the little ones. Have you noticed that 12 is a great age for sitters because they still like to PLAY??? When we walked up we saw a boy that reminded us of Craig, a friend from AK. This got me to wondering if school was out or if there were homeschoolers at the park. It turns out that there were two homeschooling families there. The moms popped over to the shade where I was encamped and I stayed and visited with them. They had babies nearly the same age as Stacia. In fact, one little girl is only 2 days older than Stacia. They had planned an informal park day for Thursday and invited us to attend. After speech, we did just that. The kids are excited that they may have made some new friends. Even the older boys were able to visit with a 17 yo who sort of “understands” them. Andrew’s father is retired military. He just finished seminary and has moved here to be the assistant pastor at a local church. They homeschool. God taught me a lesson on this one…I was stressed that my list of “projects” was being put off for park days….but a greater prayer for friends may have been answered…who would guess we’d find families at the park with children who range from newborn to out of the home – just like us????

The evening found us eating at Jared’s choice of restaurant :::drum roll::: International Buffet. We then went home for gifts and our family’s famous signature ice cream cake. Was there ever a family as sold on ice cream as this one???

Jared was excited to have received a paint gun (so he is no longer Cy’s target practice), paint gun “stuff”, a sling shot and a few other odds and ends.
I forgot the “pig hat” girls…but the pig will live in TX once again. {grin} I think he’ll live again AFTER my birthday. {smirk} Yes, I regretted the noise makers but at 8 for a dollar after New Years who could resist??? I did save them for the remaining 4 boys birthdays coming up. Finally Jared called ENOUGH PICTURES! {grin}

My Misadventure Last Night

Have you ever wished you could relive a moment in history? Have you ever wished you could go back and act differently? I had one of those moments last night (3 Jan). I was heading to Bible Study with JUST enough time to arrive at 6:15 as I’d agreed.

I was driving Mike’s Honda. I pulled off the loop and onto Christoval road. This road is a bit dark at dusk and the speed limit is 50 or 55 mph. A silver truck was nearing me and then…..I’m not sure what happened. It sounded like hundreds of rocks had been thrown at the wind shield. I was trying to process this (have I been shot?, what could I have hit that would throw that many rocks up – was it a dump truck that lost it’s load…no it was beside me not in front of me) and I glanced in my rear view mirror in time to see the car behind me do a u-turn and give chase to the pick up. At this point my conditioned flight response kicked in. I thought “get to the base so you don’t get mugged”. It was only later that Mike figured out what I should have immediately figured out. The passengers of the truck had thrown something at the Honda. The windshield is FULL of those dings with spider circles and pits all from one side to the other. He reminded me that the best course of action would have been to pull over and dial 911. I could only think “do I also give chase or run”? I chose to run. I did call the police (OK MIKE called them and put me on) and told them the story. They said I did well not to follow as there is no telling how those situations end up. They also said that if the second car turns in a report they will call me back to be a witness.

I’m praying future Bible Studies do not begin with this much excitement nor end as abruptly as mine did last night (Stacia calling me home). Oh and for those wondering, I’m not teaching this study. We are studying Breaking Free and there were 14 women present!!! YES….we’re off to a new start in the New Year!

3 January – PROJECTS

As previously noted we decided to delay the start of school until the second Monday in January. This is our typical start date as Jared’s birthday is 4 Jan. This year we are using this date to finish a few school projects as well as home projects.

Are you surprised to hear that I made a master list? The list has things from “polish term papers” to “play at the park”. I know….sad, sad, sad….but it isn’t that I’m an over the top list lover….it’s that my memory is going. I FORGET that I promised a play at the park if I don’t write it on a calendar or list somewhere. I’m making a deliberate effort to strengthen my memory this year. I’ve begun by working on memorizing Scriptures.

We had hoped to get one big project done a day…but we excelled on the 3rd. We began speech therapy (I’ll write some thoughts on that later); Josiah and Jamin cleaned and prepared the pop-up to go back into storage now that its stint as a guest bedroom is over; the older 3 boys moved a monster shelf out of the main garage area into the pantry and loaded it; Jared raked our yard; Arielle and Nolan helped with a VARIETY of household chores – most notably they sorted through Zander’s dresser in preparation of blessing another family; we went birthday shopping; we wrapped birthday gifts; I cooked dinner and headed for Bible study. Back at home Mike and I corrected rough drafts of research papers; studied (him for a sermon and me for my power-walk. {Grin}) And called it a long and profitable day at 11 p.m.

What did Zander and Stacia do during all this activity. Stacia played and Zander…continued to play with his favorite Christmas box. He told us all he was playing “Dog in the Box”.

This has proven Mike’s contention that no matter what toy you buy the kids will set the toy aside and play with the box. I suspect he’s making plans to reduce the Christmas gift giving budget for next year in keeping with this observation. {Grin}

STACIA RINGS IN THE NEW YEAR!

Stacia rang in the New Year with a few new tricks.

She woke up 1 Jan blowing raspberries. She would blow; look at my response and then laugh. This game has continued for three days now.

Stacia loves to roll. However, she wants to go places. She rolls to her stomach, pushes her head and chest up and looks around and then gets MAD. She is frustrated that she can do nothing else. Often she begins to fuss at this point. I thought it hilarious to walk into the living room one day and find her on her back with couch pillows on either side of her. An enterprising older brother had decided he’d keep her from rolling to her tummy and having to listen to the resulting frustration. Hmmm…parenting by straight jacket? {big grin}. We are all looking forward to Stacia being able to do something other than face plants on her tummy. On 1 Jan she rolled from her tummy to her BACK. Now she CAN roll and get places but she hasn’t quite figured that out yet. She always seems to be surprised to find herself looking up at the ceiling….but soon I suspect she’ll begin rolling across the living room. This calls to mind Arielle’s first Christmas: She couldn’t crawl but she would roll across the room to get into the gifts.

Stacia’s third trick manifested last night when I was at Bible study. She actually had this “trick” in months past. She switched to the arsenic hour – as our pediatrician calls the nighttime for colicky babies. She’s not done this for several weeks. She cried so long and hard that I was finally called home from Bible Study….not a good trick but a trick nonetheless.

An “almost new trick” is sitting. She leans way to the front so we aren’t counting this yet. We are in no hurry for this little girl to grow up. {grin}

Stacia Stats: slightly over 4 months old; approx 17 lbs; aka as “Sugah”, “Lady Bug” and “Sugah Bug”.