Technical Question

Does anyone know how I could keep the post of Destinee at the top of my blog - without having to change the post options every day to do so?

Praise God

We are praising God tonight! Our evening could have been so different. After second service, we decided to go the Rec pool for one last fling before the season ends.

They were out of children's life vests. We got in and commenced playing. At one point I took Stacia and decided we'd go see if we could make one of the bigger life vests work. I reached up to grab the vest, turned around, and she was gone. The life guards that were not in the tower were dealing with a little one who had picked up a mesquite thorn. I said, "Where's my baby?" when I couldn't find her.

I scanned the pool deck and she wasn't there. I noticed Mike swimming rather purposefully and FAST from the deep end. I continued to look for Stacia. Mike came up for breath and yelled, "grab the baby," and went back down. He kept this up from the deep end to the shallow end. I ran for the pool. One of the young men (a lifeguard) ran for the pool. Stacia was under water. We both jumped in. The lifeguard reached her a second before I did. She was spurting water and shaken. After he determined she was o.k. the lifeguard collapsed on the side of the pool. He said, "I'll just lay her a minute if that's o.k." It was his first save. I was very thankful and proud of him.

God was so gracious. Mike is the human hero of this story - and the lifeguard. IF Mike hadn't seen Stacia slip into the pool, he wouldn't have raised the alarm and the guard and I would have taken longer to find her. She had been treading water the whole time - but her head was under water.

There were some frustrating things about this - when the shock eased up. The lifeguard in the tower SAT THERE AND WATCHED THE WHOLE THING! She watched Mike swim across the pool, yelling to grab the baby at each breath, she watched the lifeguard and I run for the pool and jump in....she watched.

There were SEVERAL adults an arm's length away from Stacia - they all watched too. I even heard one lady say "Look at that baby treading water," and not one of them moved to help - even with Mike and I yelling "grab the baby" and the lifeguard and I sprinting across the deck.

I pray that if I'm ever in a similar situation where a child needs help, that I will think quicker on my feet. One of them DID give me a child's sized life vest to wear (see photo above).

Here are a couple more photos of our last day of the season at the pool...it WILL be open tomorrow, but my family seriously seems to be phobic of big crowds.

I Like Daddy


Last Sunday when Michael got up in the service, Stacia began to say, "I Like Daddy". She says this with a variety of intonations. She says this with glee....loud and soft. All week she's been telling us, "I LIKE Daddy". Today in church she began again. Cute, huh?


What makes it really special is that she didn't know Daddy when he got home from his deployment. It's taken 5 months, but she has decided that she LIKES Daddy. I told Mike it would come - and now she runs to meet him when he comes home, cries if she can't go with him, and declares to all that SHE LIKES DADDY! It's a turning point for our family. I think it means the deployment is over. ::snort::


She's been running around all night saying, "I like Daddy, Jamin do you like Daddy".....She is asking this question of the older three boys - the big guys in her life until "Daddy" came home. It's late and I realized I could capture it on video - so she isn't fresh but this is her little voice. And of course, when the camera starts, Zander starts....and this was the 5th try so you hear us telling Alex to hush. ::blush:: but WE LIKE DADDY!

Saturday

This was the day of friends.

I got two long distance phone calls today from friends who have moved. Wait - THREE - Charly called twice. ::snort:: Charly's daughter does these amazing history fair projects. This year's project is on "conflict and compromise". They are going to use Queen Esther as her historical character. She needs four sources for information - original are best. We brainstormed. If any of you know of good resources...please leave them in the comment section. The book of Esther in the Bible refers to the "Book of the Medes and Persians". Has anyone located this book?

Julie H (as opposed to Julie O) also called. What a joy to hear from old friends....we were in AK together. She and her family are going to GREECE for two years! An ACCOMPANIED remote assignment. They offered for Michael and I could fly out for a second honeymoon sometime in the next two years.

This evening Michael took Jared and his friends: Matt, Steven and Mike out for a few rousing rounds of paint ball. What a dad! Steven and Mike are the sons of my friend, Debbie, whose husband deployed last week. She came over and visited, with the younger ones and I, while the older ones fought it out.

Stacia cracked us up yelling at her birthday bird. She was telling it to "stop it" and "no" and "quiet" and it kept parroting her. That had all stopped by the time I remembered video...but here is the infamous birthday bird.

Friday

Curves. No produce co-op. Michael's day off - he only went in for 3 or 4 hours. ::snort:: Actually, he had a suspense that needed to be met - that's the way life is in today's short manned military. There is talk of taking some time off next weekend. We'll see what happens.

In school the younger ones made "snake throwing sticks". It was another great day with paint. I need to buy some varnish and then we'll play a game with our snake sticks. This activity was a God-send. I'd been praying in the a.m. that I'd like to find some games that were played in Ancient Egypt. I've not had time to really read TOG. I didn't want to order more things. Arielle was thumbing through *Old Testament Days - an activity Guide* by Nancy Sanders, and asked to do an activity. The activity was to make snake sticks and there are directions to play an Egyptian throwing game. We've enjoyed all the things we've done in this book to date. We talked about how Moses would have grown up throwing snake sticks and how God later gave him confidence by telling him to throw his stick which turned into a real snake. (Note to self - buy new wooden spoons). Stacia covered herself in GREEN paint on Friday.

Michael came home and decided he needed to get me out of the house for a bit. We went out to lunch and then on to Sam's club.

Mike had missed *Facing the Giants*, it came out when he was deployed. We watched it last night. Then we set up for Hogan's Heroes. I went to get into jammies and came back and they had on WALTONS!!!! What a fun surprise for me. They watched Hogan afterwards and I went to bed.

We are getting a very late start today. I did make crepes. We'll see what else the day brings.

Palacsinta (Palacheeta- Hungarian Filled Pancakes - Crepes)

Palacsinta (Palacheeta - Hungarian filled Pancakes - Crepes) Given to me YEARS ago at Malmstrom AFB by Sarah H. 

 5 eggs 1/2 C sugar (honey, rapadura, agave nectar all work- adjust liquids) 1 tsp sea salt 1 tsp vanilla 2 1/4 C Flour (I use soft white wheat - but any would work) 2 1/2 C milk Beat eggs. Add sugar, salt, vanilla. Beat well. Add flour and milk gradually beating until smooth. In a lightly greased pan put 3T batter, rotate pan to cover evenly. Brown on both sides. Keep crepes warm until all are fried. Serve with jelly, fruit, butter/Cinnamon, Peanut butter/Syrup, or cheese filling (authentic choice ::snort::) Cottage Cheese Filling 1 carton cottage cheese 1/2 C sugar 1 egg 1 tsp vanilla pinch of salt Mix well. I wouldn't know what the cheese filling is like - we've never tried it. I have no trouble keeping these warm, they disappear as fast as they are done. Horrors - my children LOVE these and I've not made them for quite a bit of time. Nolan asks for them every Saturday and often during the week. I decided to make them and couldn't' find the recipe. I thought it was on the blog and it wasn't - now it is. And now I'll go make some crepes for breakfast. Thanks for sharing your old family favorite with us Sarah, it's become one of our family favorites. And to think those little kids running in base housing are now GRADUATED adults. LOL

Thursday - Funschooling...

Jodi introduced me to the term "fun schooling" vs. unschooling to explain how we school. (If you want a great glimpse into funschooling read Jodi's blog. I get lots of ideas from watching her school. LOL) I've been working all week to get the books that TOG recommends into our home. Somehow, I felt we were behind because we didn't have the right books. BUT education is taking place....everywhere.

This is a glimpse of what funschooling looks like in our home.

Stacia continues to be incredibly jealous of the older children's school time...

Math U See blocks continue to be a favorite!

I sort of "plant" books.....and they find them and ask if they can read them. I tell them in a sort of reluctant tone, "O kayyyy.....but save some for school". ::snort:: Today our younger 3 students (4th, 3rd, and K) began reading A Place in the Sun, finished Bill and Pete, they thumbed through several books on Ancient Egypt, made pyramids from leggos, and we made Egyptian Paddle Dolls. The only activity that required me was making the dolls. Normally, I WOULD read with them - but today I was still trying to find used books. ::snort::

Painting always makes it a special day

Stacia tastes the paint (she won't do THAT again) then

Stacia wears the paint

Arielle's paddle doll (the boys decided THEIR MAN dolls didn't need hair! Middle aged, I guess! ::snort::)

Stacia insists on trying her hand at beading too

Group Paddle Doll photo

They began learning the vocabulary for studying Egypt, they learned a bit about the Nile, about cobras, Egyptian toys, pyramids and the afterlife according to the ancient Egyptians,....and we're off. We reviewed last year earlier in the week by tying and hanging our history quilt. They've been doing math and spelling on their own. They are picking up books to read. Zander really needs hands on projects, so we'll be doing lots of those again this year. They'll outgrow them eventually.


The older boys are also funschooling - but their idea of fun has changed over the years. Jamin wants to graduate early. He loves writing and so he is doing a LOT of writing and filmmaking, graphic design, Movies as Lit .... He also spent a good amount of time today offering his services to do free book reviews at various magazines and newspapers. No takers yet. He may begin a blog to publish his reviews and such - it's part of a class we are creating. Jared wants to attend the Air Force Academy. His fun is lots of science and math and the Civil Air Patrol leadership/ aeronautical science courses. College has got to be the ultimate funschooling - I don't know why anyone would go if they didn't WANT to be there for some very important reason. ::snort::


Hmmm...though I say we have five students this year, it appears that Stacia is determined to be counted in the mix.


After school we ran to the airport and spent some time with our friends the H family. Steve found out Tuesday that he would be deploying today. Debbie, is the one who took me out monthly while Mike was deployed - you may remember her earlier appearances in the blog. Shoot - Michael was missing last Christmas and Steve will be missing this year. We're sad for them, but oh so very proud of all our troops!!!!!


We had a bit of time between the airport and having to run Jared to Civil Air Patrol. Michael and Nolan worked on rockets.

We had dinner in the Fellowship Hall at the chapel. Michael and Jared are still on base. It will be another late night.


Zander insisted on helping with the windows (Oh yeah - I cut his hair!)
We're about to end the night with another chapter of *Boyhood and Beyond* and a couple more chapters from, "Peter Pan in Scarlett".