April Showers Bring May Flowers

My life is full of blessings & I am ready to embrace them all. Since Big E was sick on Monday his day yesterday was spent just lounging & reading, not too hard for him to do. Well, Super Sweet was sick last night & dh stayed home today. I am so glad that this seems to only be a less than 24 hour virus. Yes, my boys aren’t moving around too much, but they are eating fine, laughing & so forth, just not bouncing off of the walls. Since Super slept with me last I didn’t get much sleep, but that’s ok too. I am here for that. Well, we were off to slow start this morning & lazy me decided that the bread truck would provide our breakfast. Children never mind the pastry for breakfast so that is good.
After breakfast I was reviewing sewing machines on the net, mine has been down & out for a few months. It works, just won’t turn off. Well, my father decided he would look at it before I bought one & I agreed to this. Don’t you know that it was a user error. That’s right. I had the plugs reversed for the light & motor. Sure am glad that the Lord sent my dad here for a visit before I spent the money on something I don’t need. But that wouldn’t last very long.
So, we headed to a couple of stores. Didn’t get to the bottom of my road & heard the metal on metal. Looked at my dad & yep, he heard it too. That’s not a good sound. I called dh who stayed at home with Big E (guy time) to call the dealership. DH called & got us a 2pm appointment, yeah! Only 3 1/2hrs to waste, not a problem. When we got to the shop early they took in our van & then let me in on the damage. Literally, the damage. Needed new rotors in addition to the brakes. Och, I feel that. But the van is safe & so are my littles.
I praise my great God that we had the money to pay for this, I praise Him that no one was hurt by the brakes going out, I praise Him that the parts were in at the shop & we didn’t have to wait days for the repair, I praise Him that my sewing machine wasn’t broken, I praise Him that my family is doing better, I praise Him that He loves us so much & that all things in our lives are important to Him, even the brakes on my van. My God is so great !

This past Friday morning I went for milk, as usual I left Big E & Super Sweet to man the house. I got home & Big E told me that Nonna was on the phone. Why? I asked is she calling at 330am her time. What was wrong, why was she calling? Well, it turned out she was calling to tell me that my dad was getting on the plane & would be here that night. Well, we headed to get him & got home at 1am. Talk about being tired. Needless to say that our Saturday was spent at home resting & getting ready for the Sabbath.
Sunday we went to worship & then to some friends for fellowship. We made it home by 10pm, another late night & it was worth it. While at our friends my children thought that because the sun was shining that it was ok to shed shoes, coats & common sense. It was a high of 59F, they were definitely out of their little minds. Yesterday was the real adventure day. We had to run out for some sugar & bread (remember my dad showed up 3 days early). Well, around 11am Big E started complaining about not feeling good. We met dh for lunch & Big E got sick, two times. Sure enough Big E had a bad fever. But after some medicine, sleeping, cool bath & a lot of prayer (the most important thing) Big E’s fever broke during the night. Praise our great God!!! He is still moving a bit slow, for him, but feeling much better. I told him this wasn’t the way to get out of school & he just laughed.
Tomorrow we hope to be back to somewhat normal happenings & make it to the store. If not, well that’s ok too. I have some sewing to do & Peanut is almost finished with her headcovering & is very excited.
Off to another day of laundry & thankful to have a break from school too. Just don’t tell my students.

There are so many things to be thankful for & right now I am thankful to not be living in the US during an election year. I know the TV, papers, etc only talk about the candidates & not much else. The candidates spend their time slurring & talking fancy & giving false promises but not much meat for us to chew on. The election isn’t about the country any more or what is best for it’s citizens, it’s a popularity contest- and it’s shameful what the runners will do & promise to win. What we as the voters should be asking is: How much money from the taxpayers has been promised to big companies & the like?
As a reformed, conservitive Christian I am deeply troubled by this years candidates. I knew Ron Paul would never make to the November elections because he didn’t have the money to, but why does someone need $10 million to run? Why, why why? I want to know why this money is being wasted so. There are people starving, some that need clothes, jobs, homes, medical help & we waste money on the elections? For what? I know that Ron Paul wasn’t perfect, but at least he is for the things I am for. He believes in perserving life, keeping our soldiers at home for self-defense (not bullying others), parents deciding how to best raise their children, every citizen able to defend theirselves, lowering taxes, Congress not being able to vote their own pay raise (my husband can’t do that).
John McCain made a great political move in choosing Sarah Palin as a running mate, but he is the one to be president not her & he isn’t for anything I believe in except anti-abortion. She may be a great person & do her job really well, but how much of it is worth the sacrifice of her family? As the voters we should be asking some more moral questions, not just cheering on the side lines because McCain picked a woman that isn’t afriad to speak out against the machine.

I hope you like the title because that is how I am feeling today. Children running around not hearing my voice, my thoughts scattered about the village & someone in the bathroom needing help. Are we at bedtime yet? It’s only 928am & I am so ready. Our winter weather seems to have already arrived & I don’t know if I am prepared yet. Maybe I just need a few things for Super Sweet & all will be right in that department.
Big E is trying to teach Super how to walk, the boy doesn’t even pull up, sit up or other things without help except eat. Too funny. Super Sweet does dance though. He is so sweet sitting there bobbing along to his music. Peanut won’t stop taking pictures of anything. Yes, the toys are included in that. Last weekend was our village fest/kerb & on Monday it was the children’s day. Mine went & petted sheep, rabbits, fed goats, & held guinea pigs, rode on ponies & bounced around. Needless to say they had a good time. We’ll be doing it again next year I’m sure.
We are trying to get things moving with our homeschool group so that is keeping me a bit busy. I am also on a new schedule with Big E & it seems to be working really well with him. I am so thankful for that. We were having a hard time for a few weeks, but God is great & faithful & showed me what I needed to change to help him. As always, change in another must start with self.

There are numerous books that are considered classics, some should not be on the list at all. The Catcher in the Rye is one of those that should be off of the list. All I could remember from reading this in high school was the main charcter’s name, something about boarding school & someone getting hurt. Well, I saw it at the bookstore a few weeks ago & read the first two pages. Awful. The language was horrible & the writing was style was seriously lacking. I don’t recall if I liked it in high school or not but it is one that I won’t put on the children’s reading list. I don’t understand how it ever made it on the list. Maybe it was the foul language that attracked it to so many critics because it was edgy or something. But it surely hasn’t helped the youth in the past 60 years. It was first published in 1945 & it obviously has done nothing good for our culture. It is one of those books that has helped the children of our country plunge further away from the Lord. If only we would re-capture our children, our culture, our country then maybe our God would turn back to us. I suggest we get back to reading material that edifies us stop supporting the garbage that taints us.

So, my days are usually very crazy on a slow day. I love my children & the fact that I get to teach them & be the one they tell everything to. There are down sides to it of course, but in the end their souls are so worth my personal sacrifice. My ear started hurting the other day & last night was bad so dh told me to go to the doctor. Yuck. Well, I went to the one on base. Now the fun begins. I tell the littles before we enter the ground rules, for the thousandth time. NO running, hitting, kicking, screaming, biting, lying on the floor, snatching, etc. I get called by the corpsman (like a nurse) to check my vitals. The guy gives me the therometer & then asks, “Did you take the kids out of school today?” First, I call my children children, not kids but don’t answer because I am starting to get used to this. I tell him that I homeschool. His words, “I’m sorry.” I thought he didn’t hear me so I repeated & so did he. Then he tells me that school is great. Free education, free daycare. He would have strangled his because they don’t listen. I had the therometer in mouth remember. Once it was done I just told him that I enjoy it & left the room. I went against the grain & kept my mouth shut. I just wanted to tell that man that it is people like him that I have chosen to keep my children at home. Then one lady commented to another about how she can never get her daughter to wear a dress. This was brought on by my girls wearing a dress. My girls wear dresses, period. I just turned around & told them that I trained them as babies. She was very surprised at this approach. Again, I decided to restrain my words. What I really wanted to tell the lady was that she doesn’t have to buy her daughter pants if she wants her in dresses. But I guess giving in to the little girl’s whims is very important. I am not saying that a girl has to wear a dress every day to be better, it’s just the route that dh & I have taken to encourage our girls to be girls. My girls want to wear dresses too. The longer & twirlier the better. I know, I just made up a word but I am ok with that. Ok, so on to other things.

So, a week ago today Big E lost the other front tooth. I had made an appointment for him to get it pulled, but God was gracious & saved us the trip. The littles were playing with the empty water bottles & Bean hit Big E right in the face. She felt really bad, but we were glad for the accident. Well, that thing still didn’t want to come out so dh had to pull it out. It still looks a bit bruised, but there aren’t any complaints so that’s good. Last Friday I got a call telling me the mattresses were in, only 2 weeks early. Another shout for joy. The night before dh & I had put one of the bunks together in hopes to not be overwhelmed once the mattresses did get here. We didn’t know, but the Lord did. Since Monday was a holiday the whole family went to get the mattresses, in two cars of course. Me, Super Sweet & Big E in the van with those 4 big things blocking my rear view & dh with the girls in his little coupe. He even stopped to put the top down for them. Silly girls. As soon as we got home he pulled up behind us & Big E dove into the front seat to ride to the end of the cul-de-sac for the turn around. He reminded me of the Dukes of Hazard with his feet hanging out. Too bad my camera wasn’t near by. The boy was wearing shorts, t-shirt & rain boots. See what happens when I don’t help with the dressing process. Oh well, children need to choose for themselves at times. Peanut is riding in the car with a booster seat now. Wow! I remember wondering if she would ever reach 20lbs so she could face front. Now she is edging towards 50lbs. Before I know it she is going to want drive! Maybe I can ball her up & pretend she is little. If only she would change a poopy diaper.
Our weather is cold & rainy for the 3rd day in a row, but I don’t mind. I saw the first yellow leaves on a tree today as well. It made me long for the beautiful colors that will line the mountain road in a few more weeks & then think of the neon green that shows up in the spring. This is truly a beautiful part of the world we live in. I was looking at pictures of Switzerland yesterday & recalling all of it’s beauty. I hope we get to go back there before leaving here. That place is undescribable. Our former pastor said that it has to be the closest thing to heaven on earth as far as beauty goes. I agree with him. It is so amazing to think that the mountain we live on may not have existed before the flood but the Swiss Alps probably did. And the creek that runs across from our house can’t be near as old as the earth either. I think that we take for granted that the entire earth has changed since sin came into the world & then the flood destroyed so many things & new things formed out of the flood. The only thing consisitant through it all has been the Creator Himself. Always there to provide, help, encourage, forgive, love. It makes me so ashamed of my actions when I think about how Great He is. How Wonderful, Merciful our Lord really is indeed.

Just for fun, I saw this on 2 other great sites & thought I’d play along.  In honor of Labor Day, it’s about…well, labor.  And not the kind you get a day off for, either. Enjoy!

How long were your labors? 

#1, 11 hours, then the dr. decided to go with a c-section, (my babies don’t come out) 
#2, 15 hours, but I never felt a thing, turned into c-section #2 
#3, I just showed up at the appointed c-section time.
#4, don’t know really. After a night of bleeding & contractions it was off to section #4 

The girls, 2 &3, were the easiest by far.

How did you know you were in labor? 

#1, water breaking. 
#2, water breaking.
#3, I just showed up for the procedure
#4, bleeding & increasing contractions. Only child I felt contractions for too. 

Where did you deliver?

With all of them, at a hospital.  Where the drugs are.

Drugs?

Since all 4 were c-sections I had the drugs. Of course it wasn’t done right for the first one so I actually felt them cutting me. Yikes! He was/is so worth the pain though.

C-section? 

I am a professional at them.

Who delivered?

The doctors did of course. I did try to do some work for the first one though.

If you want to play along with this meme, just cut and paste the questions into your own blog, and leave your link below.