No, I'm not pregnant!

 I'm just screaming busy. I promise to update tomorrow....or Thursday at the latest.

Love ya all.....

SATURDAY NIGHT UPDATE

It's 9:15 and I'm falling asleep at the keyboard....I've been up 16 hours.

I have all but the resource handout and two of the spiritual gifts test/summary sheets done. I have to stop as I have no clue what I may type when I fall asleep. BTDT.

Mike worked on some projects around the home today. What a guy. He and the boys spent hours vacuming the dust and spiders {G} off the popcorn ceiling in the living room. Yuck - I want a home without celings. He also installed the flag pole for me and I was able to hang our new flag. He and the boys went for a 4 mile run. Josiah is working.

I went to Sam's club with Adrienne today. Amy called and said my new sling is ready. I'll pick it up tomorrow.

I made yummy, "good" crepes today for Breakfast. We also made a triple batch of ice cream and a single bath of pure peppermint ice cream with Baker's chocolate shavings in it. Adrienne is talking about buying carob chips, melting them down and adding sweetner to them. I'm not sure WHY - chocolate seems to be pretty much the same....I'll have to do some research on this.

Jill, our RE called about snacks for Zander tomorrow. She's going to go buy whole milk. I'm taking animal crackers for the class. She is going to take that classes treat in to them and they won't be out where the other treats are. She asked me what to do about the big Easter party they will be having....still trying to think on that. I'm going to miss Jill. I need to begin praying for a new RE to pcs in or something this summer.

Bought another gallon of local cotton honey...yum! We've NEVER gone through that much honey without it crystalizing....

I didn't get the software figured out for the co-op. I need to set it up with each member having the opportunity to go online and input their own orders. I DID get the SAGE newsletter out.

I can't think of anything else we did...and I need to give up and get some sleep before tomorrow.

Saturday Morning...

It's now 8 a.m. and I've typed up my 4 page syllabus. I also quickly made a student syllabus with blanks for key answers. I've made several hand outs: Bird's Eye view of Motivational Gifts, Distinctions Within the Seven Motivational Gifts, and a Summary sheet for the gift of perception/prophecy - characteristics, problems, Biblical examples. I have 6 more summary sheets to go and a resource sheet.

I'm making the summary sheets/tests as obviously the material isn't arriving in time.....it turns out I like my sheet better than theirs anyway - more concise - less paper to shuffle. {G} I ordered tests that would be "objective". They will have all the characteristics mixed up so you don't know WHICH group you were testing for when you take the test. Since they aren't going to get here in time, I'm simply doing it by gift. Oh well. If someone really wants to skew results and be one gift or another they can figure it out on the objective test too. {G}.

I'm not sure we'll have a big turn out for this but this would be an excellent thing for a Mom and Me group, ladies retreat - or a big study - or a youth group/children's group...marriage retreat....I'll be sure to save my notes. They actually have tests for various ages of children and youth...that's what I broke down and ordered this a.m.

Well...that's my update...and now the kids are waking up. I'm ready for a nap. {bg}

*Discover your God-Given Gifts” by Don and Katie Fortune.

Yep, still preparing for Tuesday’s Spiritual Gifts seminar….and discovering that 2 – 5 a.m. is the BEST time for me to currently find quiet time for study. {g}

This book is a gem. It does not deal with what the authors term the Manifestation Gifts (I Corinthians 12) or the Ministry Gifts (Ephesians 4:11). The bulk of this book deals with the Motivational Gifts of Romans 12.

The 7 motivational gifts are listed as perceiver (prophecy), server, teacher, exhorter, giver, administrator/leader, compassion person (mercy). For each gift we are given a description, a test (based on a list of characteristics), a list of 5 “problem areas”, and Biblical examples of those with the gift. All is supported with Scripture (contextually sound).

As I prepare for this seminar (1 ½ hours) I’ve once again manifested my teacher/administrator gift mix and compiled more info than I’ll ever use. I’m helpless. I’ve even ordered a ream of more information from Heart2Heart ministries – the Fortune’s ministry - on children’s gifting, the Manifestation Gifts and the Ministry Gifts. Last time I taught similar material, I used the Breakthrough test, which tested for all three gift types and had the advantage of testing for both “traits” and “experience” – but it WAS a 2 day retreat…this is not. I’ve struggled to figure out how to organize all the material I have collected. I was given some material that also organized the gifts into motivational gifts; but I didn’t like the fact that verses were taken out of context to make points the author wanted to make and that we were given “Biblical Examples” with no verses to support the opinion of the author.

After going through this book again, I think I know where I’m heading. I will briefly mention the three categories and have a handout with verses listed for further study. I will also make a hand out showing the speaking/serving distinction in the motivational gifts. Then we will briefly describe a gift and test for the gift. I’m still not sure we will be able to cover this in 1 ½ hours. I think I’ll have Mike and the older boys take the tests so I can see what sort of timing to expect. What will I do with all the excess info I’ve compiled…anyone whose been in one of my classes KNOWS the answer…I’ll make a handout listing “additional resources”. {g} For blog readers: this is my goal for the day – compile handouts for seminar.

I would recommend this book for a 12 – 13 week topical study or as the basis for a 2 – 3 day retreat. I also recommend it for individuals to read alone. I think it helps as we seek to serve in the Body of Christ, could help marriages and in parenting as well. In fact, I plan to order their book on Children’s Spiritual Gifts. Tests and profile sheets are available to order here for $2.00 each.

OH NO – this is hilarious – a problem of a teacher listed in the book is that they are easily side-tracked. According to the authors they start out looking for “transistors” in an encyclopedia and stop to check out “tape recorders, technology, television, theater, thermometer, thermostat, tide, tornado” until they’ve almost forgotten what they set out to do and find “transistors”. I turned on the computer to begin creating hand outs…I’ve ordered more material from Heart2Heart, checked to see where I can find the Children’s Gift book cheapest (Amazon), saved a picture of this book, looked for a picture of the other book I finished this week and couldn't find it, decided to go ahead and quickly write a book review for this book, and will now post this to the blog…and oh YEAH – that’s right, I need to create hand outs! Another funny: The children have grown up hearing me ask Mike “What’s the plan?”. I don’t care what the plan is “sleep in until noon and then read the paper” I just need to know that we have a plan. This would fit right into my gift of administrator/leader….so last night when a plan for the day still hadn’t materialized and the day was rushing to a close I was able to communicate “you know WHY I need a plan? I’m an administrator. I need to KNOW the big picture.” We communicated. {G}

*Warning: from their brief mention of parenting style, I don’t think I’d gel well with it. BUT this book was great!

ODE TO THE SLING

Here's the picture that wouldn't load below. {G} I already mentioned how I figured out the sling...I thought I'd share a few more thoughts on this contraption.....I've been assured that my sling is a bit short for me and that when I receive the new one I won't feel quite so "confined". That would be my only complaint.

Other than that, I've seen positives. Stacia loves the sling. She can watch the world from my viewpoint. She gets to travel faster than she can when left to her own devices. I am constantly rubbing her head for her and patting her tush too. I've long noted that Stacia has a storm before she gives up and goes to sleep. During the storm it helps if I hold her tight and she slips off to sleep. The sling makes this a natural. She simply lies her head down and sleeps. She wasn't a very cuddly baby and so this allows me to feel that we are cuddling. I've missed nursing with Stacia but since I'm wearing her a LOT of the day now I feel as close or closer to her than I did my nursing babes. My hands are free while I wear her...this means I can carry more, put on makeup and do my hair while I hold her....it also means that we've had no more scares where my wrists give out as I'm holding her.

Wearing Stacia is SOOO much easier for me and my wrists than trying to carry the infant carrier. It is also so easy to go shopping when wearing her...I have two hands to shop and corrall Zander with...and am never leaving Stacia sitting in a cart while I chase someone else down the aisle...not that that has EVER really happened to me. {vbg}

Thanks to Adrienne for introducing me to slings...and Becky for giving me this one....and Julie for finally helping me to "get" how to put the thing on...still thinking of the barrio mama's of my youth in the Philippines...wish I'd remembered them much earlier.

BTW my arthritis symptoms are gone most days and I attribute that to the new diet and eating tons of pineapple and coconut oil. LOL (4 loaves of bread in the oven and 8 buns rising - want to see if the same recipe will work for both....and this is a NEW recipe....blew the top right off the Bosch).
Had to edit this: not sure if this is a positive or negative...but wearing Stacia allows her to reach up and plant her wide-open-mouthed-wet kisses on the side of my face any time she pleases. {G}

QUICK UPDATE

{picture won't load} The star of the day! Today Stacia finally had her 4 month well baby check – at 7+ months. The PA who saw us was giving me trouble about that and I was telling him the story. Finally he asked “are you the chaplain’s wife?” I said, “yes – one of them – well I mean I’m a wife of one of the chaplains”. He then noted that I need to be meaner with Tri-care. I seem to have a reputation after the thumb thing and the well baby thing. ANYWAY – I told him that if she’d not been doing well I would have insisted on getting her in. He then checked her out. She’s in the 95th percentile for height….may yet be 6 feet tall……and the 75th for weight. She’s fine. He noted that she has a unique shot record. I told him that we’d cleared all that previously with Dr. Carroll.

Not much else to report today. Mike has all but Stacia, Zander and Jared at Mr. Gatti’s for a farewell party. I simply didn’t feel right taking Zander to Gatti’s twice in one week. Jared didn’t want to go. Josiah has to work. Mike needs to get our muffler fixed…which IS under warranty but once again there isn’t the shop here that warranties it…I love moving all the time…think we should quit getting the warranties…this keeps happening with the vehicles. Zander and I made another batch of “healthy cookies” – which can’t be to healthy. {G}

I’m preparing for a Spiritual Gift Seminar that we’ll be having next Tuesday. As always I have about 3x the notes I need….but they are starting to organize themselves. I simply need time on the computer when it is QUIET to get them all into a hand out/test type form.

OH big thank you to Charly, fellow FG mom, who told me that Papa Johns is on the FG program. I didn’t even know we HAD a Papa Johns in town…and I can order ONLINE…which I did. That takes care of Friday night Pizza and a movie….and the revolters will be happy as I ordered their favorite “Hawaiian Pizza” – you know Canadian BACON and pineapple…..I was excited to see that they eve have spinach alfreddo pizza at Papa John’s. It takes small things to excite me these days.

Now – Stacia is napping after her big date. Jared and Zander are playing a computer game…and I’m going to go make some bread and hamburger buns. OH – a couple more things….I’m so thrilled with our RE coordinator – and she’s leaving in May – bummer. She emailed me to ask what we could do for Zander’s class for treats at Sunday School. Is that great or what? I appreciate knowing that she will help me police him at chapel.

I figured this sling thing out when a friend from high school wrote me after reading the blog. Julie is great! She told me to go back to my roots. She told me to picture the little Barrio mama’s with a baby on a hip and a sarong over their shoulder. When I pictured the sling as a sarong it worked the very first time. I’m fast becoming quite adept at this sling thing. There is a lady in town who is making me a pretty one. I got to go pick out the colors and it was fun…not sure it is subdued enough for chapel so I may have to get another one made…but have to find a place to order the sling rings….so far no luck.

The bread is screaming to be made now….still looking for a tortilla press….they don’t carry them any longer at HEB.

SCIENCE FUN!

We are excited about this experiment. We are studying flying creatures in our science book. This has proven to be MUCH more interesting that *I* was expected. The kids begged to try to incubate some eggs when we studied egg development. I had to give this some thought. We’ve tried this once before and got no chicks….but WHAT would we do with the chicks if we got some? I was not sure I wanted the kids to have the educational lesson of incubating an egg and then letting a chick die. Our book recommended links to buy incubators. We chose a small one from Home Training Tools; it came with 4 quail eggs. Quail live in the wild here. IF we get some quail chicks and raise those to the age that they can survive….we can let them go in the country….but our best option is some friends who live out in the country.

Last night we set up the incubator (see pictures below). We discussed the need to keep water in the incubator and to turn the eggs every 12 hours. The eggs come all wrapped p and there was the possibility of two different kinds of quail. We all hoped for the brown speckled eggs, as they take only 17 days to incubate. The drama built as we unwrapped the eggs and discovered 4 brown speckled quail eggs. Now it’s a matter of waiting, and watering and turning.

We’ve started gathering the things we’ll need for the box right after they hatch. We are even now talking about buying a bird cage and we need to do some research on WHAT to feed them as the booklet that came with the incubator just mentions “food” but not what.

All good science experiments begin with an idea from Mom, and know-how from Dad.

Our brown speckled quail eggs
Dad and three youngest scientists

We’ll have to guard the eggs!

Munchin

Stacia discovers she likes to eat the plate best of all! She's like a little puppy these days and chewing on everything!

Zander is sure to join the fun....but he prefers whole wheat "healthy" cookies to munch on!

The BACON Revolt!

There is nothing seriously wrong. It’s simply that after 5 ½ weeks of doing well with drastic changes some of my children staged a mutiny. It began with wanting bagels (which I’m looking to learn to make), then wanting store bought tortillas (which I make), it continued on until it became what we are calling “The Bacon Revolt”. I’ve explained that I am NOT trying to dictate food choices outside of the home. Some things are not good for them but it is their choice what they will eat when I’m not around….BUT in the home I want to keep things healthy. I want every food here to be safe for any family member to eat. This all sort of happened as they began to mournfully haul box after box of “good food” out to the van so that I could deliver it to a friend who needed it more than us (and who says that she doesn’t mind eating junk). I, myself, was shocked when moving the pantry to see how many of our favorites were banned….I’d implemented Feingold but cooking from scratch and hadn’t looked too much at some labels. So….lots and lots of baking things went, cereals, refried beans, etc. I did make some compromises. I bought some garden burger sausage patties….and some turkey bacon. I don’t like the long list of ingredients on either….but maybe it will help. Maybe not. I also told them that if they need sausage etc they should go to IHOP….or that I could have one day a month where I cook whatever they want….

Today was busy making all sorts of things to get in the freezer so that they can “grab” the whole foods. I made a double batch of refried beans…and froze them in individual serving portions. I cooked 5 lbs of hamburger and put it into 2 lb packages for quick meals. I made a banana cake (changed the recipe to have freshly ground flour, butter and honey instead of all purpose flour, shortening and sugar. It turned out good. Then I topped it with strawberries and a dab of cool whip. We had tacos with homemade tortillas (and some bought ones), homemade refried beans, the dessert, salad, cantaloupe and rice. Hey Kelly, I sound like your blog. {vbg} My goal was to have a meal that I could feel “ok” about, that was on the FG program, that the big boys would enjoy too. They ate huge amounts of rice and beans and such….and even big amounts of cake…..I thought the cake was fine, the strawberries and cool whip made it sickening sweet to me.

My goals for tomorrow: update the blog with pictures and such. Do school. Speech and a PAC meeting. Oh – the AETC chaplain is here and so we have a “real dinner” for Mike and me to go to tomorrow. Continuing to make GREAT tasting food that is familiar enough that my boys will join the revolution instead of staging further Bacon Revolts.

WINDS DAY

As Pooh would say, this was a WINDS day. Mike and the boys installed the weather station a couple of weeks ago so we know for a fact that our house was getting wind up to 45 mph. {G} The wind made a very strange sound. What did we do with the windy day? We went to the park and played for a bit of time. Nolan conquered his bike this weekend. He was excited to be able to ride his bike with his friends at the park. I get such a kick out the close friendships that my boys and Adrienne’s boys have formed. Life in TX suddenly is wonderful in their eyes. God is good to have sent friendships in “due time”. Zander begins telling me about 10:30 each morning that he wants to go see his “other brothers”….these would be Caeden, Coby, Jordan and Cian. {G} It was so windy that Janae (petite 2 year old) was blown right off her feet. Stacia slept through it all snug in the sling. Heather, Adrienne and I got to talking homeschool curriculum at the park. I think I may have a Tapestry Tea. I would LOVE to see the DVD and I think I have to have 5 guests. Surely I could find 3 more who are interested if I advertised through our local homeschool group?

We celebrated Zander’s accomplishments at Mr. Gatti’s tonight. Or we went to “The Game” as Zander says. This is a Chuck E Cheese imitation. I was so glad that he totally avoided the mac/cheese (dyes), the pudding (dyes/flavors), jello (dyes/flavors) and dessert pizzas!!! Yippee! He had two pieces of cheese pizza. We added tomato based sauces back in last week….so we’ll see how he does. He had a blast. His favorite game was playing air hockey with Mike.

Just ended the day with finding some subs for items that are out of stock with the co-op. I want to make my own 7 grain blend and needed oat groats and millet. They were out of the 5# bags…so I got 2 28 oz packages of each….surely more money…but I must have my 7 grain mix….I’ve waited long enough. LOL

Now – I’m falling asleep at the keyboard and must call it a day. Oh wait – Cy won’t be home from work for at least 1 ½ hours….

Miscellaneous Monday Type Thoughts

Mondays have gotten so much better around here now that Zander is on Feingold. Thank God for that missing puzzle piece.

A week or so ago we had the smoke/fire microwave popcorn incident. Mike is hoping to be able to fix our microwave. At this point it is out on the back patio. This means that when the kids want to heat up lunch left-overs they carry their plates through the dining room, living room, library and out to the back porch. I’m still not used to seeing the parade of food. Sister Val’s daughter Nikki would certainly say this is “ghetto”. Shoot….I commented over the weekend that the neighbors send wonderful smells of steak through the neighborhood when they cook out – we send the smell of burnt popcorn wafting through the neighborhood. {vbg}

Zander was told yesterday that if he would (hmm no nice way to say this) poop in the toilet we’d take him to Mr. Gatti’s. This is a place he loves to go and we’ve not gone to it for months…it isn’t on Stage One of Feingold. Would you believe he DID it last night? Again this a.m. I guess I don’t have to cook tonight and we’ll see how he handles the pizza sauce. The good thing is that he doesn’t eat much there – he really likes the GAMES – in fact he calls the restaurant “The Game”.

I’ve got bananas and grapes in the dehydrator now….hoping I can eventually get those yummy banana chips (think most of them have a coating on them to crisp them up – and I KNOW that most the brands I’m finding have artificial flavors)….as for the grapes…well they were cheap at Albertsons a couple of weeks ago but they just don’t taste as wonderful as the co-op ones. I ordered another case of fresh ones to eat from the co-op. thinking these might make nice raisins for park day or granola.

The phone keeps ringing today and ARIELLE shocked me by reading Thomas A. Edison – Wizard of Menlo Park and Little House to Nolan. School got done with very little help from me this a.m. This certainly not what I want to do every day but it was nice to see them carry on.

SUNDAY SUMMARY

We had a different sort of Sunday. We didn’t have RE (Religious Education) this past week at the chapel, due to spring break. I wonder if most churches take off for this. We have found that so many in the military travel during these breaks that it is very common to take the week off.

ALSO – this Sunday was the one year anniversary of the start of the Gospel Service. We skipped the service we normally go to and went to this one instead. It was a great service. They had a pastor from down town here and he was so REAL. He spoke on the verse from 2 Corinthians that says to “examine yourself and see if you are in the faith”. Wow – he was good. He shared what he personally found when he examined himself. His level of honesty was refreshing. I have been examining myself since yesterday afternoon and realize that I need to keep a close rein on “apathy”. There is really no excuse for apathy. Sometimes I feel like I should be excused for it because we are ministering in a setting that has unique services, blessings and challenges…but we all serve the same God and I dare not let apathy take root in my spirit and heart. Even if we don’t have all the facility and programs that some off base churches have.

Sunday night we sat out on the patio together watching a thunder storm. We are still new enough to this area of America to love the storms. The little ones and I huddled under a blanket on the porch swing and the big ones just sort of toughed it out. The rain began to really come down hard – I love that. I love a gully washer over incessant drizzle any day of the week.

Mike helped me figure out why I could NOT get the SAGE order to agree. The Composite order was $150 higher than the totals from individual orders. It turns out that I had somehow messed up the formula in one column on one order (happened to be OURS) and so the order total was reading $150 instead of $300 and something. Mike downloaded the software from the Shop Natural site for me to be able to order via the internet. That was cool…and much quicker than setting up the Composite order each month. I need to read the book that will get here eventually and figure out how to set up accounts for each of our members. Then THEY can input their own order and I will simply put them all together into one big order.

Whooeeee!

I have to share with you, my dearest friends, that I woke up this a.m. and my whole house smells like onions. {G} I filled the dehydrator with onions before bed last night. It's not a bad smell, just a strong smell. I much perferred the "apple pie" smell from the past week. Yum. I have done several batches of apples...sprinkling them with cinamon and leaving them until they become CHIPS....removing some earlier for those who like the traditionally chewy dried apples. {G}

That's all for now....Nolan is wanting some fresh waffles....which means grinding some flour.

Updates!

FRIDAY – Stacia finally got her first tooth to pop through. She’s been fussy this week with the impending arrival of said tooth. Maybe things will settle down now.

De’Etta’s Dr. Appointment – thumb nail still in tact. I opted for “wound cleansing” rather than a tetanus shot. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? It turns out they clean with hydrogen peroxide and salt water. Ah well…I avoided the needle once again. {G}I’m to keep it wrapped. It only bleeds and throbs when Stacia grabs it or I bump it. While in the office I took the opportunity to ask for a new migraine prescription. I now have a new med and hopefully will NOT have to use it. Dr. Woods loved Stacia’s sling. She was the belle of the clinic for that brief moment.

Mike took Nolan to speech while I was at the doctor.

PRODUCE – lots of fresh produce. I had to laugh when I received 11 heads of Green Leaf Lettuce. We didn’t order any the time before. I REALLY wanted some. It keeps longer from the wholesaler. I DID tell Heather that she could add to my order because I wanted the lettuce. I think it will last. We’re eating lots of salad – but we usually do. I’ve never been in a produce co-op like this. We all get to say exactly what we want and then she tries to make cases. You don’t always get what you want – but we seem to the majority of the time. The choices are so nice….but I feel for Heather because I know the incredible amount of work it has to be to figure out these cases every two weeks. Invariably the wholesaler will be out of the variety you order or the size you need. I think the Natural Foods co-op will be easier for me to organize….things won’t go “out of season”. {G}

My sweet husband bought me a Belgian waffle maker. It’s like the ones we saw at the breakfast buffets in hotels along our trip. I have wanted one but have been patiently waiting for the $5 maker to die. Last week I dropped the lid and broke the clip that holds the top and bottom together. I told Mike this and he was ready to buy the Belgian one. THEN Jamin remarked that he’d fixed the $5 maker. Aw MAN. Mike said to go ahead and buy the Belgian maker anyway! Yippee!

Stacia was up ALL night long. I discovered Saturday a.m. that her second tooth had popped through.

SATURDAY – I made wonderful waffles this a.m. {G} with fresh ground flour and honey….and maple syrup to top it off. YUM. I made a quadruple batch (not really impressive I need a double batch for one breakfast anyway) and made up the rest to freeze for breakfasts next week. Arielle, Nolan and I also made “healthy” cookies. Shoot - the Nestles, Wal-Mart and Sam’s brand chocolate chips all have artificial flavors in them. We chopped up some semi-sweet Bakers chocolate. We are determined if nothing else. We made a batch for now and put balls of dough in the freezer for the next time Zander needs an Oreo or a treat to take somewhere. We will take some cookies to church tomorrow for him.

Mike began rearranging my pantry. It is currently in the garage. We’ve been trying to come up with a way to move it inside. I hit on the idea of using the entry closet (currently our game closet) for the pantry. We moved the craft supplies, games and school games etc out to the garage pantry. We’ll need to get some sort of lock on it so that Zander doesn’t have free access to the supplies and game pieces. I headed out to buy shelving while Mike continued working on the move. We took the opportunity to sort through the food in the pantry and kitchen and pull out everything with synthetic flavors, colors and BHA, BHT and TH…something or other. Shoot….our refried beans had both BHA and BHT. I nearly cried when I had to put the giant box of graham crackers in the give away box….and all the chips, almond bark that I bought on sale a couple of month’s ago had to go. I wonder HOW to make Christmas goodies without almond bark. All the food dyes etc – gone. I did keep the Gatorade and I have no idea why. Its Mike’s favorite. It’s full of yellow dye. Zander loves it. I think Mike will take both giant cans to the office. The shelves look bare but I have a co-op order coming on the 27th. I bought 5 more buckets while out yesterday for things that are coming. I think I need to buy one of those bins for storing potatoes and onions and put it in the kitchen. Having the food in this closet will make things easier and will also keep the food cooler with summer coming.

In my spare time I worked on the first SAGE order. I have it all compiled now and only need to double check it and then enter it all onto THEIR form.

Late in the evening, Mike and Jamin moved several things up to the attic and we sorted through a couple boxes of books that were in the garage. I’ll have several new ones to post to my Paperback Swap bookshelf. OH - go the 8 minutes in the morning book – guess I’ll soon be loosing 2 lbs a week. {Vbg} I also got notice that *Patches of Godlight* is available for me. YES!

That brings the blog current. I've been asked to make waffles....think I have some red wheat I could use....

Like Mother; Like Son

 Zander is the ultimate symathazier...."Mom, you SHOULDN'T cut FINGERS!"

He cracked me up by getting his own matching towel....and the grimaces were very convincing! {G}

Indians, Co-ops, Parks

Hmmm….what did we do WEDNESDAY? We did school. We continue to study the Plains Indians and the transcontinental railroad. One legend told how the Sioux nation came to be. Seems there was a god who had 5 sons. He named the North, South, West and East and the youngest one was Whirlwind. I could relate. {g}

After school we went to the park. I worked on setting up Excel for the new natural foods co-op that I’m organizing – or trying to organize. Back at home I began to slice and dice a pile of veggies for a stir fry dinner. The young boys were watching me and I began to show off the ability of my new knife to quickly chop….doing the Ginsu thing. That’s when I chopped my finger. I had been complaining that my butcher knife disappeared during our move. I finally bought a new knife. It certainly was sharp enough. {G} We waited an hour for the urgent care on call doctor to call us back. She thought I’d be fine to wait and see the doc Thursday a.m. I went to sleep at mid-night with my thumb still bleeding. I cut the top ¼ th of the nail off – damaged the nail bed, shaved the top of the rest and the tip of the thumb. Ouch. I KNOW I had a tetanus shot in San Antonio. During the accident time I realized how different it is to have an accident surrounded by 5 boys and a husband…with no GIRLS around. {g} If Mike ever leaves the chaplaincy these guys can take their act on the road. From Josiah, “You know it’s going to be a bad dinner when the cook is beside herself”. From Mike as he holds pieces of my former thumb came a SONG “I wanna hold your hand”. Nuts. We laughed hard. I can’t remember the rest of the comments. Zander stole my heart by grabbing a towel and joining me to moan about his hurt finger. He kept saying “you should NOT cut fingers, Mom”. (Picture later - won't upload).

THURSDAY bright and early I called Tri-care. The gentlemen told me that they had no appts for Thursday or Friday. I told him that the urgent care doc had wanted me to be seen. He told me that it wasn’t “acute” and asked if I could call back Monday. I asked if I could make an appt for Monday and he told me I could call back to see if they had an opening on Monday. Keep in mind that I really did NOT want them to 1. Give me a shot or 2. Remove the remaining nail (a possibility). Mike was quite upset when he heard what they’d told me. I was once again told that I had to be more forceful when dealing with tri-care. I should have insisted that they find something for me THAT DAY. He emailed the doctor who is our PCM. That doctor called him and said this was totally unsat. He says that he is looking into it and will get to the bottom of it. That someone on the appointment line is NOT qualified to be giving medical advice. I was told I needed an appointment and they should have given me one…not told me that it wasn’t acute. I HATE confrontation and I hate my name associated with this sort of thing. I know that someone is going to get their tail chewed…I THINK he was active duty….and I have no idea WHO he is…so there will be someone out there who I don’t know who dislikes me. UGH. I have an appointment for 1:00 TODAY. I realized that my records were lost when we moved and so they will have no record of my tetanus shot. YIKES! I will do all in my power to dissuade them from the removal of said nail….it’s feeling better and I do not want to go back to all that blood and pain again.

In other news on Thursday – we finished school. Read some really gross stuff, read some interesting stuff, ordered an incubator and 4 quail eggs from Home Training Tools, mailed packages to my parents and the girls, took the little ones to lunch and Josiah to work. THEN we headed to the park again. {g} We needed to give Adrienne money for Friday’s produce co-op. Yippee…more fresh produce.

Zander had a hard day in the park. This month he’s gone from being totally anti-social to thinking that every child at the park should want to play with him. This led to a big brawl in the sand box when one little boy did NOT want to play with him. Being this is my 9th child, I don’t tend to get real worked up about these things, but other parents do. Enough said. Walking out to the van I was talking and fell off the curb. Now I was just thrilled that I’d twisted my ankle…there was a reason for this fall and my leg didn’t just give out. {G} I did have Stacia in the sling and she got a scratched up finger. I got a twisted ankle, scraped knee, hand and elbows….to go with my bandaged thumb. I’m a sight. Heather offered me the chance to stay home and she’d bring me produce to the house in the a.m. but I really enjoy visiting with these ladies.

The night ended with a PWOC board meeting.

OUCH

 i cut the end of my thumb off - cy is running to the store for steri strips and gauze. mike is racing home from work - sure that i must go to the er. yuck. ouch.

Momentum

It’s been a fairly momentous Tuesday – so busy that I didn’t blog. {Sarcasm here folks}

I set up an account with Shop Natural. I wanted to be SAGE but both the other groups in town are SAGE – SAGE Buying Company; SAGE Co-op…..so I told them our name was S A Groceries Etc – and I’d think of ANOTHER name. The lady asked if I didn’t have ANY other names that I’d considered. I admitted I had considered GASEOUS – she laughed at the name but did not find my motto humorous at all: GASEOUS – if it gives you gas and tastes like dirt – it’s good for you! BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD. She offered to send me software that will allow each member to upload their OWN order and I’ll compile them all and send them in. That way the company will make invoices for each member and I just have to add the splits and $1 fee. This month I’ll have to do it the “old way”. She was surprised that more clubs aren’t using the software.

Arielle, Nolan, Zander, Stacia and I went to the lake today with Charly and her children. This was a first. Charly and her family attend the chapel. We’d wanted to do this before but both Mick and Zander are “handfuls”. Both have been on Feingold for 3 weeks so we tried it. I thought it went fairly well. Sure – they were boys and there were discipline issues…but Zander was actually SOCIAL – playing WITH Mick and not having melt downs when Mick touched him. Both boys responded when disciplined. We were able to visit a bit. This was cool.

I lost one more pound this past week. OK – so not incredibly momentous – but in my life it is fairly significant. Ah but what IS momentous is that I fit into the jeans a size smaller!!! These are the ones I wore when I got pregnant…so they aren’t my all-time-skinny-jeans…but I’m working my way back into the depths of my closet.

I suspect Stacia has a tooth under the surface. I got a glimpse when trying to get antibiotics in her mouth. She’s on to us. I used to wait for her to scream and shoot it down the back/side of her mouth – causing her to involuntarily swallow the nasty stuff…..but now she clamps her mouth shut the minute you put her in the “medicine hold”. {bg}

Bible study was good. Beth Moore was talking about God’s unfailing love. She talked about Mark 12:28 – 30; my life verses. I do enjoy Beth’s lectures.

At home I was already getting orders and splits for SAGE. SO….I had Mike teach me how to use excel while we waited for Josiah to get home from work. I think we may have to tell Chick Fil A that he can only close 2 or 3 nights a week. They have him closing 5 nights a week….and that is getting tough for a kid in high school. When they hired him they said they “hoped” to give him 15 – 20 hours – the amount he wanted. He’s been getting 20 – 30 each week….probably 35 this week. We KNEW once he got a job the employer would realize what he had and he’d get lots of hours. {G}

That’s Tuesday – now on with Wednesday.

Tarantulas and Buffaloes!

As Mondays go, this one wasn’t ½ bad. {G}

I’ve scheduled Mondays and Tuesdays to be our heavy history days. We try to get most of our history reading done for the week by Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest. This schedule insures that the kids KNOW what we are discussing the rest of the week in their writing assignments, hands on assignments etc. We do divide our literature readings into 4 or 5 days. Mike is scheduled to have Friday off. He doesn’t usually take it, so it was a rare treat when he had both Friday off and TODAY off. He is going to another AFB on Friday with the Wing Chaplain and so it was suggested he take today off. We LOVE having Mike home but for some bizarre reason the kids simply don’t buckle down to school with Dad in the house. Every time he walks through the room I can see their attention follow him. {G}

Today was also slow for school as I tried to gather info for organizing the new Shop Natural co-op, made a few PWOC calls, fielded a few more PWOC calls, worked on my produce order for Friday, chatted with new friends who called on the phone….and THEN I finally realized it was time to just “do school”. We did. Mike went for a run and came home determined to work on taxes.

One of our history books for this week is *Buffalo Hunt*. We read 3 chapters out of the 5. Sometime during the reading I remembered that there are Bison at the state park up the road. I suggested we all go to the state park for lunch and visit the Bison. Mike suggested that I take the little ones on the adventure so that he could work on taxes in peace. Josiah had to be at work this afternoon. Jamin and Jared had no interest in seeing Buffalo! I couldn’t believe it. I even asked Jared if he wasn’t learning about Buffalo this week. He agreed he was. I said, “Then why don’t you want to come with us?” He informed me he’s seen Buffalo before. Hmm….well the four younger ones and I headed for the state park. The Buffalo are usually right as you enter the park. They were GONE. I asked where they were and when they’d be back. The gate keeper told me that they had to move them because of construction. Then she leaned closer and told me which roads to take to the acreage where the buffalos were. She said that if we were lucky we may find one near a fence. We saw about 3,000,000,000 Prairie dogs. Zander and Nolan noticed right away that they resembled the “Whack A Mole” game at Chuck E Cheese or Mr. Gattis. We also saw one buffalo. Arielle was timid to approach him, but finally did. I had Stacia in the sling, the camera around my neck (discovered the strap makes a good teether) and I was chasing wild boys who were trying to “whack a mole” all over creation. They had no fear of the buffalo. Nolan told Zander all he had learned from the 3 chapters in school. I love how personal God can be. What a blessing to have the time and chance to bring history alive for them today – all for $0.00. I also had quite a chuckle over something that Tricia, Adrienne and I had discussed one day at a different park. Zander and Ja’nae were having a blast putting gravel on the slide and then sliding down and pushing it off everywhere. Adrienne and I were fine with this. They were having fun. We were watching. No one was getting hurt. I shared a story about being at a park with my little ones and a group of first time mommies who were very uptight about their children playing in a park. No sooner had we laughed at how much more laid back we are these days – She has 7 and I have 9 children – than children with Mommies who didn’t like gravel on the slides began to arrive. TODAY we were the ONLY ones at the play ground. There were big rocks throughout the sand pile. Zander and Nolan took a lot of time hauling them all to the slide and then sliding down. An elderly gentleman (host?) came out and said, “Boys, I want you to put all those rocks back when you leave. They can’t be by the slide.” My boys were perplexed, but took great care to scatter them back into the sand box instead of piled beside the slide when we left. {G}

Back at home it was discovered that the taxes didn’t go as well as expected. BUT I did gain a new filing system out of the ordeal. :::snort:::

By the time we were ready for dinner it was way past a decent hour for dinner. No one was thrilled with the home made tortilla chips. SOMEONE is eating the apple chips (dryer than I meant them to be but they are a nice potato chip substitute) so I plan to make more. They all were satisfied with making a sandwich on one of my home made rolls. Thanks again to Adrienne for this recipe and for the tip to bake double and freeze them for sandwiches. The boys have noticed that they eat less when it is the whole grain stuff that I bake. In fact – I heard a comment to the effect of my “gut buster bread”. I’m not SURE that was a compliment…but I’m going to choose to think it was. {G}

*Dean & Me* by Jerry Lewis/James Kaplan

I’ve long been a Dean Martin/Jerry Lewis fan. I grew up watching the old movies and the telethon. When I saw this book at the library I knew I had to read it. It was a fascinating read. It will be fun to watch some of the movies again, knowing the background of what was going on.

This book gives an insider view of the “golden age” of Hollywood. It is interesting to glimpse. It also portrays a friendship that spanned many decades. I learned lots of interesting things. Just a few, I’d never realized that Jerry Lewis is Jewish. That certainly made some of the sketches I’ve seen him do make a bit more “sense”. I’d also thought Dean Martin was a total LUSH but that isn’t how he is portrayed in this book.

All in all it was an interesting read. It makes me wish now that I could have seen their act live….my mother in law has emailed that she did just THAT in San Francisco back in 1952. How cool is that?

Ice CREAM night!

Pictures to go with the account above. Here Zander enjoys his milk and honey from the dasher.....


Ah....dedicated to the last drop!

SUNDAY

We’ve had a rather lazy Sunday. Chapel went well. Stacia DID make her presence known. First, chatty away with Mike when he began to speak as if they were the only two in the room. He looked at her after a bit and said, “Yes, Stacia” and she quieted down. THEN later in the cry room (non-sound proofed room separated from sanctuary by glass window) she howled her displeasure at waiting for her meal and I’m told all in the service could hear her.

We had several options for the afternoon but settled on lazing around home. Mike played some games with Arielle, Nolan and Zander. The older boys played computer games and read. We made ice cream. Nothing big or fantastic.

If I don’t discover any hidden fees or regulations when I call Shop Natural tomorrow, I will be organizing a food co-op. We’ve spent some time trying to figure out what we want to do with this. When we ran the produce co-op we got free produce for our family. We don’t think we want to make $ on this endeavor…mainly we want enough people doing this that we can all buy our groceries at member prices. We ARE trying to think of all the hidden costs as we don’t want to end up LOSING money either. We’re trying to come up with a catchy name. We had some friends whose last name were Rath who set themselves up as *Raths of God* but *Pickles of God* or *Gherkins for God* just doesn’t have the same ring. We’ve though of acronyms….GASEOUS …but really we aren’t coming up with any good ideas. I suppose we could do what most do “co-op” and just put the account in our personal name – but that doesn’t sound like fun. We welcome all suggestions. {G}

The gentleman who allows his son to play with guns on a playground called today. Mike had faxed him two more estimates to fix our van. We told him we’d go with the lowest estimate. He said he didn’t have the $. We told him we’d take whatever he can send this week and then monthly payments that he can afford each month until he’s paid for it. We’ll send him a receipt because he wants to be sure we fix it! We’ll pay the difference between the lowest offer and the offer from the reputable place.

That’s our day. Next week is spring break around here. We don’t plan to take the week off of school. Josiah is scheduled to work 30 hours – which probably means 35 as he always gets extra time when they close. We may not get a full week of school done. We’ll see.

*Homesick* by Jean Fritz

This was a fun book to read. Jean Fritz is one of our favorite children’s history writers. I got a kick out of reading how boring her teacher made history. {G}

Jean grew up as a Third Culture Kid in China. She was 13 before she saw America and her grandparents. I found the glimpse of life in China fascinating. I also was able to relate to her feelings of patriotism for a country she didn’t live in, homesickness for a place that wasn’t yet home, and defensiveness when she DID arrive home on behalf of the China she’d left behind.

If you like Jean Fritz’ books, or are interested in China or growing up as a Third Culture Kid, I think you’ll find this a quick and worthwhile read.

SATURDAY -

It's been a very wonderful day.

The day began with an early morning run to Wal-mart and Sam’s club. I've been looking for a tortilla press - no luck. I also needed to buy laundry soap so that I could have Josiah’s uniform ready be 3 p.m. He’s been working lots of hours. The first week it was the Stock and Rodeo Show….this week I’m not sure why he has extra hours. Next week is Spring Break and he’ll probably be picking up extra hours…but it will need to slow down after that. {G} He’s doing well keeping up with the schedule. They have him closing most nights this week and I can tell that he is getting worn out.

Mike took me out for lunch. We went to Logans – where we can throw peanuts on the floor and listen to old music on the juke box….and always bring home 1/2 the meal. {G}

We came home and Jamin took Zander for a bike ride. Wow – he was a hero. Mike put training wheels on Nolan’s bike and Nolan spent some time trying to conquer the bike. We are dreaming of family bike rides.

Mike and I got some chores done around the house.

Arielle, Stacia and I went to Janae’s birthday party. This is Adrienne’s 2 yo daughter. It was cute and fun. There was singing, dancing and even a cake shaped like a music note.

While we were at the party Mike took the boys to get Jamin’s hair cut. He wanted it spiked again. I think it will be very cool when he gets it all done.

Mike and the boys arrived at the party and we visited “just a bit” with Kwame and Adrienne and headed home. We are so enjoying the time we have to get to know this family.

I’m seriously thinking of organizing a co-op here in town for dry goods type of things. Shop Natural already delivers here. I will call them on Monday. I can’t see any hidden fees or costs but want to talk with a person before I sign up. There appears to be a $250 min order amount…and I think *I* could make that most months alone, but several others are interested in it as well. I’m trying to figure out what other hidden time thieves may be inherent in this plan. Mike and I have spent considerable time today trying to find the co-op brochure I had made when we had the produce co-op in San Antonio. I can’t find it. ARGH.

The day is done….I didn’t get my folks called. Mike did call his. I didn’t get the ice cream made today either. I’ll do that tomorrow as well.

Family Night

Evidently this is how *I* watch an episode of Hogan's Heroes. Yikes - I'm turning into my mother. {vbg}

Round Up Time

It’s round up time again in West TX. THIS is ONE round up that I’m going to pass on. It’s Rattlesnake Roundup time. After “almost” convincing myself to contact Julie and have her dh teach me how to hook a snake, I woke up to see a big picture of a boy hooking a rattler….ARGH.

I’m serious. This is a 4 day festival complete with a parade, a snake-charmer pageant, a snake meat-eating contest and snake-handling demonstrations. There’s also a demo on how to skin a rattler in preparation for cooking or to use the skins.

There was a man waiting with 1200 lbs of rattler to turn in. Evidently you get $5 per pound of rattler and this is to help control the rattler population out this way. It’s become a huge economic booster as people come from all over the states and other countries to view this.

Oh my – I think my geocaching days are DONE FOR!!!! If you don’t believe me click here…then type “roundup” into the site search.

The Lake

FRIDAY – PART TWO 

Mike got two more estimates – the lowest being $375. He’s going to call the man in Midland about the van again. We’ll see. We’ve learned a lot. By NOT filing a report we are probably stuck this time….unless we want to go to small claims court. Live and learn.

When Mike got home we took the speed boat out to the Lake. It was a gorgeous day here. I know it’s snowing in EUGENE and SPOKANE but it was in the 80’s here. We had fun with Josiah’s boat and Nolan’s “stomp” rockets. Josiah had to get to work so we dropped him off at home and then we went on Lake. We fed the ducks, geese and other such birds. We tried to put bread on the boat and feed them…but the boat scared them. {g} We discovered that Stacia will steal the apple right out of your hand….that girl likes her food.

We came home and got a few more jobs done (baking, apple treats in the dryer, Mike checked smoke alarms, we switched out car seats because Stacia doesn’t WANT to recline…) and now we are going to veg out and watch an episode of Hogan’s Heroes.

I’ve begun reading “Dean and Me” and now I want to watch a Martin/Lewis movie.

We made Heather’s Sweet Potato Taco seasoning oven fries…and they were a HIT. That’s about it for today.

FEINGOLD UPDATE

 It’s been three weeks of Feingold for Zander (and all of us). The first two weeks went fairly easily. Last Saturday I decided that I’d treat us all and get a few “off program” add ins for our home made ice cream. Sunday Zander had a cookie or two at Sunday school, ½ a doughnut, ketchup (natural salcylates – not a stage 1 food), soda (full of everything bad I’m sure), and then the splurge Sunday night. All were in moderation. This was great progress. HOWEVER…it’s apparent that moderation isn’t going to work for Zander at this point.

Monday was bad, the first bad day since about day 4 of the program. Tuesday was better. Wednesday at the park I found him with a family who were eating happy meals. The father was feeding him handfuls of goldfish. I couldn’t believe it. I wanted to cry. I have thought it over and if this ever happens again I need to be sure the adult knows that it isn’t good to feed strangers children. Of course Zander was being a pest I’m quite SURE! He loves those…but really we were just recovering from Sunday. It’s obvious that those yellow little fishies are full of artificial color to say the least. Thursday was hard but we survived.

Today – Friday Zander found the countraband Oreos left over from Sunday night. I quickly told him we’d make “real cookies” for him. We discovered we were out of eggs. The older boys were doing school and I told the younger kids to load up and we’d go buy eggs so we could make some healthy cookies. Zander came out to the van with Oreo crumbs around his mouth. {Sigh} I learned from this that I will not be able to keep countraband food in the house….he finds it. {G}

We headed for HEB. I was hoping to find Rapadura. I didn’t. I then headed to a health food store. They had Turbinado. I bought it. The lady said that really Sucant, Turbinado and Rapadura are all the same…who knows…but it had to be better than refined white. I need to research this issue some more. While there I found Newman O’s – Oreo look-a-likes made with NO preservatives, artificial flavors or colors. I bought some. I also bought some licorice (that I loved and the three kids hated). They LIKED the strawberry fruit leather…then I realized that it may be organic but it had “strawberry flavor” added…..so definitely not good.

I finally finished baking the cookies tonight and was excited when Zander said, “Dad – come here – these are GOOD cookies”. I wasn’t sure they’d eat them. They had freshly ground wheat, turbinado, real chocolate (not the cheap stuff with vanillin) and oats in them. Thanks, Becky, from SHS for the recipe.

I also sliced up a bunch of apples, sprinkled them with cinnamon and started them in the dehydrator.

We are noticing that each time Zander goes off the program it takes about 2 – 3 days to regain the ground we’ve lost. It’s amazing to watch. He really, really does much better on the program. He is able to reason. He isn’t running to his room in anger. He’s wearing clothes. He isn’t chewing his clothes. He isn’t totally rebellious. He is self-controlled. He is potty trained (except for the bm part). He isn’t having melt-downs. He’s not even saying any of the mean things he’d begun to say to me. Ok, to be totally honest, it’s been 3 weeks since I’ve heard “I hate you” and I’ve got to tell you that any amount of extra work is worth the change in him.

It was so encouraging to me today to hear Mike and Jamin talking about the change they see in Zander when he is on the program. We are all determined to make this work for him. Mike even said that he wasn’t so sure about (well the gist I got was ) “my organic kick” but he had to admit it made a world of difference for Zander.
I'm training Zander and the other kids not to say "the food makes him bad" but the fake food makes it "hard for him to be good". He's still responsible but we are doing all we can to make it easy for him to respond.

We’re sold. We’re committed. I’m now trying to figure out what to order for the next co-op day. We order from Shop Natural. What makes it tough is that looking for “organic” isn’t enough…it has to be preservative free, artificial color and flavor free….and BHT and MSG free…..but things are much, much better. I’m wondering if it would be worth my effort to order direct from Shop Natural so that I don’t have to mess with driving to another town to pick up….but it is nice to be able to split big things with someone else….

Zander just came and found me and said, “Alright Mom, there’s something I have to tell you! I like your cookies.” Ah. A mommy moment.

Bird Watching at our House

Friday’s are Mike’s day off. He’s not usually home on Fridays but he is today. We try to arrange our school schedule so that we have flexibility on Fridays. The older three boys are all busily working with the goal of being done by lunch. The younger ones got a bit done.
We noticed this “bird” at our feeder during breakfast. He’s the funkiest looking bird in West TX. The boys have long since referred to this little guy as the “possessed squirrel”. He does act a bit “different”.

Zander had been promoting a game of Mouse Hunt all morning. His day was MADE when Mike suggested they play a game.

Not sure what else we’ll do today...probably get another estimate to get the van repaired. I’ll update later.

VENT

 This is a vent; and only a vent….I will pray this through and I will not go postal…though I would love to hear what others of you would do in these situations. {G}

Have you ever wished you could just “take off the Christian label” for 10 minutes and give someone a piece of your mind? Of course, this isn’t right. Of course, I would not really want to take off Christ – for any amount of time…but ARGH.

I shared that our van was shot a couple of Saturday’s ago (story and pictures at about 25 Feb). The man quickly noted that we are Christians, that Mike is a “pastor at the base” and that he is a pastor himself, as well. We got TWO estimates to repair the damage that he ADMITS his son caused to our van when he wasn’t watching him in a city park. The estimates are approx $400 because this is a 2005 van and Ford puts a clear coat under the paint to prevent rust. To properly fix the van, since the hole goes to the medal, the clear coat will need to be replaced and the whole door painted. This man didn’t have the $ to pay $400. We agreed to take payments. We faxed him the estimates. He called and wants to pay $75 – 100 PERIOD…because we are wanting to do too nice of a fix it job, because he has some “Christian” in Midland who said it can be fixed for $75. This man has NOT seen the van, doesn’t know the year, doesn’t know what damage was really done and does NOT live in the same city as we do. I can’t believe this. We may well have to take further action with this man and we WANTED to simply be nice, accept payments and be done with it. Really, a parent should be teaching their child to be responsible for their actions…and that would include the parent paying for the damage caused. I’m totally shocked by this situation. I can’t believe that he actually believes that he is RIGHT to suggest we put a bit of putty on it and give it a few sprays of paint. Then again he saw nothing wrong with a 4 year old playing on a play ground with a loaded BB gun. {sigh}Since the incident we’ve learned we SHOULD have immediately called the city police and he would have a nice fine and other repercussions to deal with in addition to fixing our van. He can’t seem to understand that we are being fair and nice.

THEN – TODAY – our new dentist called. I had asked them to be sure to call United Concordia and get pre-approval for our cleaning. They said they did. Our last cleaning in AK was 26 May – our cleanings here were 29 Nov. I repeatedly asked if they had gotten approval because I thought we needed to wait until 2006. Yes, they insisted it was fine. I just got a notice from them. “Oops….your last appt WAS 6 months ago but the May was the second appointment in that year so they won’t pay for it”. So now – at a tune of $50+ per person I have to pay for it because THEY SAID they had pre-approval but seemed to have only looked at the dates and DIDN’T call to get pre-approval.

In both these situations the fact that Mike is a Chaplain/Pastor was brought up. Of course, I need to be Christ-like in ALL situations – regardless of my marriage to a minister…but I’m really wishing I could give someone the left boot of fellowship here….What does being a pastor have to do with either situation? Does being a pastor mean that business offices can do a sloppy job and stick you with the bill? Does being a pastor mean that kids can take pot shots at your van and then refuse to fix it?

On the other hand, I would HATE to think that my actions over something as trivial as auto body work or dental cleanings would turn someone sour on my Lord. ARGH….Why can’t life be simpler? Reading back over this I can’t help but think how chilling the thought of taking Christ off really is. I would be so lost without His grace and mercy in my life. I desire to show grace and mercy to others. I simply desire them to treat me fairly as well…..of course, Christ wasn’t treated fairly. Who can help me with my angst? PASTOR’S WIVES UNITE! {vbg}

**If anyone here locally knows a dentist they’d care to recommend we may well pay the bill and find a new dentist…because I asked them repeatedly to check with United Concordia and they assured me they had. The kids also were not really taken with the “chair side” manner of this dentist.

OUR ORNITHOLOGISTS

I love it when God sends little bonus’ to our school days. We began studying birds at Jared’s request. I thought it was a strange time of the year to study birds; but we were done with Astronomy and needed something to do for the next ½ of the year! {g}

Wow – I was not thinking TEXAS when we began the study. We have had a LOT of birds in our yard. We have a tree in the backyard with bird nests.

This week we are studying nesting. I kept thinking it would be fun to look up close at one of the nests but our text book talked about the federal laws on collecting nests and so we hadn’t investigated.

We’ve had quite a wind-storm last night and today. The kids discovered a nest blown out of the tree….yippee! We didn’t “collect” it – we simply observed it before picking up our yard. It was a cup nest and made with all sorts of interesting things from our yard….dog hair, red yarn, plastic streamers, ribbon….

You can see our science book here

Guaranteed Weight Loss!

I continue to work on this - and it continues to be harder at 42 than it was at 22. {g} I lost 2 lbs last week - yippee! I am now firmly into the 150's...and I thought I'd have to grow old at 161.



BUT my problems are now over. Paperback Swap has let me know that I am being sent the book *8 minutes in the Morning - a simple way to shed 2 lbs a week - GUARANTEED*! That's it. I've been looking for a guarantee and found it. I wonder if I have to read the book or actually do anything????

FIRE ALERT!!!

Another “real” homeschooling moment brought to you by *me*. {vbg}

I was aware when Mike left for work. I’m usually up. I knew I should have gotten up. I rolled over and caught about 20 more minutes of sleep.

Zander woke me up “Mom – its GROSS in the kitchen”. By this time I could smell that something was UP. I walked out of my room and the kitchen and living room were full of thick smoke. The alarm didn’t go off. We began airing it all out. Discovered that Zander must have been on a hunt for contraband food (he’d checked the cupboard above the fridge!!! – previous chocolate hiding spot of mine). In his search he found a package of microwave popcorn. He’d put that in the microwave. There were 56 minutes left on the timer when I turned it off. The GLASS is black in the microwave. The popcorn was a rectangle piece of charcoal….ugh.

Now on with the day….

Answer to prayer

No, I don't usually post emails from my girls but this one says it all. From Bre:

"It went really well! We were majorly real with them about issues that they deal with and it impacted. The administers had a meeting right after we left and asked us to come back with another assembly in two weeks! So if we do that (and I'm guessing that we pobrably will)- we'll be busy crafting another assembly in the next couple of weeks and preparing for another one that we already had lined up....so yay!"

Heard from Krista this a.m. and she agreed that it all went well. Thanks for your prayers.

IDITAROD POSTERS!!!

Big thanks to Darshia from Anchorage who made my boys’ week. She sent us two copies of the Anchorage Daily News with Iditarod coverage – complete with posters. Nolan has already mentioned we should cover (laminate) these like we did the Narnia posters. His poster from last year got torn. Ah – moving is the pitts but friends that stick with you through all the moves are the what Cherries along the way????

Thanks, Sis.

TUESDAY – WEDNESDAY

Tuesday: is one of our busy days. We have to finish school early so that we can run to speech. Josiah wasn’t working this Tuesday so he came with us and ran to the library while Nolan, Stacia and I went to speech. Tuesday night I led our PWOC Breaking Free Study. This is the first study I’ve led since last May. It was fun. I made some fresh bread. I was trying Adrienne’s new recipe and used 2 TEAspoons of salt instead of 2 TABLEspoons of salt. The bread rose beautifully and then sunk in the middle. Bummer. We saw some lingering “challenges” that I think we can trace to our “splurge” with Zander’s diet on Sunday night. I’m going to have to get to a health food store and see if they have some really good things to add to ice cream that don’t have the artificial flavors added.

Wednesday: I started the day with a burst of inspiration. I made home made hamburger buns and planned to grill for dinner. We’d add a fresh salad and I have 20 lbs of white potatoes from co-op so thought I’d make oven fries. I didn’t have a lot of faith that the kids would enjoy this food – but it’s a meal they are familiar with that I could “make healthy”. An hour later I was up to my elbows (literally) in lots of bread dough but I did make over 50 buns. We’ll use them for sandwiches too. Thanks to Adrienne for the tip.

The afternoon found us enjoying the local park. I know it sounds like we are doing this all the time. I told someone a week or so ago that we are park deprived after three years of AK winters…..and the other factor in our current schedule, is that I KNOW it will soon be to HOT for sitting in the park….I’m making a conscious choice to get us to the park to PLAY.

While at the park Zander found a family to socialize with. Aren’t we always worrying about isolated homeschoolers knowing how to socialize? NOT. Anyway – the boy went and joined a family who was EATING….and helped himself to their left overs. I was humiliated. I couldn’t believe they LET him eat their food. He had his cheeks crammed with goldfish when I found him. Adrienne told me about a store in town that may have some of those substitutes that we could give him. Yes, they would still be processed but we need to find a few treats he can enjoy from time to time too. God has blessed me with ladies on SHS and Adrienne and Heather who can give me GOOD TASTING recipes that are healthy….which is really a key. I don’t mind extra work but I want our food to taste good.

The evening found us executing my dinner plan. We ran out of propane. Plan B was the broiler…I dropped a burger in the bottom of the oven and grease splattered everywhere from the broiler. I hate grease! This meant all the windows open and fans blaring air through the house. Nolan told me the hamburger buns “weren’t really any different than Burger Kings” – this was a compliment. Zander ATE the oven fries. Arielle contented herself with two carrot sticks, an apple, peanut butter and one fry. I keep praying she will EAT. Stacia amused us all by enthusiastically eating her rice, a jar of green beans, some sweet potatoes and chasing it all down with the JAR. Some notes about the photos.

Yes, I feed her topless as much as possible….saves on clean up. Yes, I was using CANNED baby food – because after I bought tons of bananas to make her yummy fresh and she hated them I thought it would be wise to try small jars and see what she likes before I buy fresh stuff and steam it and have her hate it. {g}
And this is what our eating machine did when she realized there was no more food…haven’t we all felt like this at one time or another in our lives???? I believe this was my very expression after finishing the last bite of Andes Mint Cheesecake at Christmas. {G}

Iditarod

 Day 4 and Doug Swingley from Lincoln, MT is out in front. Dee Dee is number 4 or 5 - you GO girl! I’m sure you all knew that! We are missing it this year. They don’t even have coverage of it down here…but we can trace it through the Anchorage Daily News’ page. {g}

I was informed by a resident of our new home town that our new neighbors wouldn’t appreciate us following tradition and leaving our Christmas lights up until the last dog reached Nome. I have INSISTED on leaving my Snowmen out however….through WINTER…though it IS 87* outside. A friend at the park told me she had no trouble picking out our home because it was the only one in TX with a snowman out front. This is not true…Jill has a big snowman in her front yard too. Anyway, I’ve alerted my family that I will conform. I will take the snowmen down when the last dog reaches Nome.

Prayer Request - for my girls!

Wed at 9:45 a.m. PST the girls are in a big outreach to a local High School. They will be performing a Human Video that has a girl making good and bad choices...cutting, rape, eating disorders...they both have up performing parts and are possibly nervous about that...the whole team is feeling an "intensity" and asks for prayer. In fact Krista called this a.m. to ask who I had praying.

They have a final tomorrow. Both girls made A's last semester. They are doing well.

They had a purpose weekend last weekend and have both prayed through and worked through what their passions are...Bre towards the local church; Krista towards military youth...they are praying about the next step for next year.

Swim Suit Dilemma

 No Photos - YET! {g}

It’s been in the high 80’s for the last week. It was 87* yesterday. I had to admit that I will need a non-maternity swim suit. I HATE looking for these things.

I’ve heard that one piece is modest…but when you have a pre-school boy that goes into the bathrooms with you….really a two-piece would be much more modest…easier to get into and out of as well. Sam’s Club had some two pieces that looked like they met in the middle…tankinis I think they are called. I bought one. I had no idea what size to buy. What do you do when your bottom is a size 14 and your top is a size 6? Hmm…split the difference? I bought a 14. Of course I am going to either have to find non-water soluble toilet paper to make the top fit….or well….they were only $20. I think I’ll go buy a size 6 and wear the top and buy some of those little shorts to wear over the bottoms…..but those bottoms may be so tight they cut off circulation….Maybe I can find a friend who needs a size 14 top and a size 6 bottom…..of course I’ll feel a bit strange scrutinizing every lady I meet at the pool. “Excuse me maam, I couldn’t help noticing…”

In addition to the size problem there is the whole modesty issue. I grew up in swimsuits. We swam non-stop in the Philippines. I’ve never thought a thing about wearing a nice modest suit…but now I’m thinking even modest is a bit much….so either I need to find a vintage suit…you know with the Capri like bloomers, long ruffled sleeves and the ruffly swim cap…or I need to buy a pair of swim shorts to wear over the bottoms of these….

I’ve forgotten about sun screen and spring in TX but we CERTAINLY need some already.

Thus ended my big shopping excursion. I don’t regret the Sam’s club swim suit. They never look right anyway – and this saved me from trying on a zillion suits…..but I am wondering what to do with the plastic swim suit model that your suit comes on….WAIT….I could cut out the top ½ and WEAR it under the suit…..that might work! Sort of a plastic - form fitting - girdle. Can't be much worse than Gram's old whale bone one.

LOOK

Look who can sit up without ANY help at all!

She seems to be telling Nolan to leave her alone - she do can do it by herself thank you very much!!!

MONDAY – Further Update

At the doctor office:

Tech - thrusts ear thing in Stacia’s ear - reads 96* "oh, she doesn't have a fever". She was feverish and still was. (She WAS - 101* when I got home)… obviously the thing was too big for her ear....

Enter Doc - "you're an old hand at this" (great female-mother-doctor who LIKES healthy food and raw milk) "What do you think is wrong?"

Me - ears - maybe virus but I don't want to spend another screaming night without knowing what we’re dealing with.

Doc - which ear is she tugging?

Me – right.

Doc - right is fine, let's see left

Doc - terrible infection

Me - dyslexic?

Doc - Why haven't you been yelling that you can't get an appt to bring her in for well baby? (She’s not had her 4 month check and is now 6 ½ months).

Me - I've called since November and can't get in....brought her for some delayed shots figured she was doing fine..growing, developing on schedule...

Doc - I love experienced moms but you are TOO NICE with TRICARE - yell at them next time...

She handed me an appt for 2 weeks for well baby and they'll recheck ears....and Tri-care told me this a.m. there were no appts left in march.

Got home - dealing with meds and young ones...city pound "officer" shows up - my dog is out...when they chased her she ran right to my driveway and stopped and sat....:::Snort::: must teach her to run to the neighbors...right after I get the phonics digraphs taught to Nolan....

That’s about the way the whole day went…I’ll spare you any more details.

Quick update

I GOT AN APPT FOR STACIA. I have 3 hours. I wonder if I can get bills paid or school started or if I should try to get a nap. I'm tired....I bet I can get bills done before I leave for the base.

Living the Life

Yes, I HAVE been up all night. Stacia is fussy and has a very low temp. I want her ears checked. I'm now hitting redial and listening to the message: " You've reached the medical group after hours"...no it ISN'T after hours....and usually when you finally get through the appts are filled....and people want national healthcare????



Hope to get school done, bills paid and a run to the library. . . and a doctor appt. for Stacia?

SUNDAY – SUMMARY

Every Sunday begins with Religious Education (Sunday School in the Civilian World). Mike and I are team-teaching a class on the book of Philippians. This is a first for us and we have yet to really hit a “stride” in the endeavor but we are having fun.

Zander DID have a melt-down when he saw the snack food in his RE room. He arrived before the others….he thought he should have the whole box. Poor Jill. She handled him great. We are realizing that it is NOT the sugar that Zander has to avoid…it’s the preservatives and the artificial flavorings and colors. We’ve been trying to figure out how to handle Sundays. It doesn’t seem fair to say that he can’t have any and must watch while everyone else eats. It’s not realistic to expect a whole RE department to change their treats because of one 4 yo. BUT we are realizing since we made the ice cream that we can find solutions, I think I will MAKE some chocolate chip cookies or such for his class and for the “doughnut” hour. Then he will have a treat without all the stuff he isn’t supposed to have.

After Chapel we delivered 8 giant red peppers to Becky and her family (from the produce co-op). I had ended up with 14 and she had 2. I had no clue what to do with all the peppers. I’ve had one in a salad. Becky gave me recipes to roast them and to make a salad dressing with them. I’m open to other ideas.

Our family nights on Fridays aren’t going to work with Josiah’s work schedule. We think we’ll make Sunday the Family Day…still praying and thinking how to make it work. We don’t want to give up a set aside time for family fun….but Sundays are usually very full with chapel events and fellowship.

The kids asked for bowling and so off we went. UGH. The music was LOUD on base this time. It was crowded and noisy but the kids enjoyed it. (See pictures below). We headed for the park for an hour after having our fill of bowling (See story below). We ended the night with “Milk and Honey” (story below) and 2 episodes of Hogan’s Heroes.

Stacia began fussing…screaming for an hour before going to bed – but no fever or anything. Can’t figure out what this is….

SCENES FROM BOWLING ALLY

SATURDAY SUMMARY

The day began early with Mike and the older 3 boys heading out for the paint ball fields on base. (See Story below). The younger kids and I picked up around the house a bit. We then all drove out to the paint ball field to visit with spectators and snap a couple of shots. We had the field reserved from 9-11 a.m. and a couple of squadrons had the place after us. Mike was the chaplain for one of the squadrons and was invited to stay so the boys and he stayed and played a few more hours of paint ball. They were sore on Sunday. {G}

Meanwhile, the younger four and I ran to the commissary. We were armed with a healthy recipe for Minestrone from the La Leache League cookbook. Our goal was to buy ingredients and rush home to start it simmering. We made enough to have some for us, a gallon to take to a friend who just had a baby and another meal’s worth in the freezer. We found all but the barley at the commissary. This meant we needed to visit another store. Albertson’s had red grapes on sale for .88 a lb…so we tried there.

I realized that taking Zander into a grocery store makes the Feingold program much more difficult. He’s been without lots of overtly “bad” foods for two weeks, and is doing fairly good on the program. We’ve noticed changes. He’s more in control of himself. He’s 90% potty trained. However, seeing the chips and Oreos and such reawakened his desire to EAT them. I did buy a package of Oreos for our ice cream.

By the time we arrived at Albertons I was tired, grouchy and ready to be home. We pulled into the parking lot and I began to unload children. Zander immediately noticed a big red motorcycle in the parking lot. I told him to stay right by the van and went to get Stacia into the sling. Turned around and he was ON the cool motorcycle. Ugh. We DID buy our grapes and find barley.

We arrived home and were unloading groceries when Mike and the boys showed up. Jamin and Mike helped chop veggies for the soup, Cy got ready for work and we progressed. With the soup simmering we began to make some “healthy ice cream”. (See story below). We delivered the soup, ate our own, ran four little ones through the bath, ironed clothes for Sunday, finished lesson prep for Sunday and wearily called it a day around 11:30 p.m.

We did let Zander have one Oreo. This was off the program but certainly better than his former habit of sneaking the whole BAG of Oreos for himself. He seemed satisfied with one. I’m not sure how he’ll handle Sunday treats now that he’s been so deprived all week. {G}

PARK

After bowling we went to the Park for “one hour”. We had 5 water guns in the back of the van (not sure where the 6th went) and a big bottle of bubbles. Adrienne and her children were at the park. The kids love to play together.

I’m not sure how we managed to miss getting pictures of the water gun war….but here are some photos of bubbles.

THE EXCHANGE

Mike began a tradition with the children years ago. Each year the first person to find that year’s penny receives a $5 bill. He is SURE that the children have taken advantage of his forgetfulness and more than one child has collected each year. {G}

Over the years the tradition has developed and currently this is the plan. The first child to find a 2006 penny receives a $5 bill. Exchanging Lincoln for Lincoln. All other children will collect a $1 bill when/if they find a 2006 penny before the end of the year.

Josiah has passed up hundreds of the pennies that have come through his till. He waited to find one – which he did while cleaning up at Chick Fil A. {G} Mike wanted this well documented so no other child claims the $5 reward. He thinks this is the earliest that anyone has ever found a year’s penny.

Watching all the hulabaloo, Zander asked me, "Mom, WHAT? Is this Sixty Million dollars?" {vbg}

*PS - it sure bugs me when these are out of order...but I'm not sure what to do about it. {G}

MILK & HONEY (ICE CREAM)

It’s been our family habit to have ice cream (Moose Tracks) once a week – Sunday night. Over time we’ve noticed that Zander is like a child possessed every Monday. Since going on the Feingold Program we realized that all the food that is off program on Sunday is probably a big contributing factor to Mondays.

After listening to Adrienne, Heather and Becky talk about their home-made ice cream I began to wonder….but our homemade ice cream never turned out REALLY good. It was always a bit runny or rock solid…..Adrienne gave us some of her vanilla and carob ice cream to taste. YUM.

In preparation for Sunday Night’s treat we made our very own ice cream. It is GOOD. I never really understood why the Israelites would be thrilled by a promise of God to give them a land flowing with milk and honey. After making and eating this….I get it…I believe He was promising them a land flowing with home-made, all-natural ICE CREAM! By making our own even Zander can enjoy. No artificial flavors or colors.

Recipe: (for 6 qt maker – makes a gal)

1 ½ C local honey
6 C light cream (non-homogenized)
6 C heavy cream (non –homogenized)
1 T pure vanilla (used 2)

Dissolve honey in 1 ½ C of light cream over very low heat, stirring until well blended. Cool. Pour all ingredients into ice cream maker, stir and process for 30 – 40 minutes. Spoon into a plastic container, cover, and place in freezer to harden.

All agreed this was good. I let them have their favorites add ins (cookie dough, Recees cups, Oreos, hard shell) but will be looking for substitutes of the same things without the artificial flavors, colors and preservatives. This truly was a case of having our cake and eating it too.

Anitcipation begins to build Sat. night

Jamin dishes the ice cream - Sunday night

Pay off for hard work - YUMMY!

Paint Ball Bash – FINALLY

The boys were finally able to have their birthday paint ball bash. Unfortunately, with all the rescheduling due to schedules and rain, one good friend wasn’t able to make it. They had a great time. The day was wonderful. Warm with a bit of breeze…but not ungodly hot or raining.

It is impossible to get great pictures of this since they will only let you get so close as a spectator – but here are a few shots between rounds. Thus ends our birthday celebrations until May/June.

Like Father/Like Son

Jared & Patrick

FRIDAY – FRESH PRODUCE

Today was Produce Day – yippee. This is our co-op’s second order and we have twice the minimum order needed for the company in San Antonio to send the truck to OUR TOWN. Cool. The truck arrived 2 ½ hours later than we were expecting…..it was an early a.m. for no reason…but it was FUN to visit with other moms who were waiting for the truck to arrive. I met one lady whose dh is the director of our town’s nature center. She offered a personalized tour – her 6 yo will show us around. She also said that her husband could give us a class to teach us how to “hook a snake” – I think that is what she said. This is supposed to give me confidence to keep geocaching in the summer. We’ll see.

Jamin went with me to produce pick up and was a great help unloading the truck, carrying ladies boxes and baskets to their cars etc.

The day was complete when our family went over to Kwame and Adrienne’s home for dinner. The kids had a wonderful time. The adults had just as good a time. Have I mentioned that there is a chance that this family will be moving to ALASKA???? Good grief! We’ll just keep praying for the best for all involved…God’s will. It’s hard to pray that way because the friendships with this family have helped us all to put “roots” down in Texas…..


The white baskets and sack are some of our produce...we also got 1/2 a case of baby red potatoes, a case of tangelos, a case of apples and another box full....gotta get those 5 servings a day. {G}

STACIA DANCES

Still pictures don’t do this justice but I had to try. This is Stacia “dancing” to Cy’s “KJ52”. We now have a respectable stereo system. Josiah like’s to crank the music….and Stacia LOVES it. She squeals, laughs, smiles….she gets up on her hands and knees and sways side to side, rocks her head, lays on her tummy, rolls etc. She had a new move today…on her tummy….legs kicked out to the side and cycled around in circles in time to the music. She’s the best entertainment since moving pictures!