A bevy of boys...

E got glasses! 

Caleb is running for county attorney... here is a photo...

My brother-in-law Micah told me about http://www.artsreformation.com/records/.  It has old kid's records on mp3.  He found his and Caleb's favorite record from their childhood:  Drakestail.  He downloaded it and then burned it on CD for his kids and ours.  There is enough there to keep them listening for months!

I found my old childhood record:  Alice and Wonderland.  The B side  was Why the Sea is Salt and it always scared me.  My boys really like it.  I guess it wasn't much of a story for girls.  ???  I've made several CD's for the kids to listen to during rest time.


My kids are asking me, "What do you mean 'B side?'"  Records are just not in their lexicon.  They are big black CD's with a hole in the middle, guys.  B sides were the second sides, guys. 

I feel old.

Undoubtedly, one of the joys of reading is leaving one’s world and visiting others: seeing the world from another’s eyes and experiencing things that we ourselves cannot experience in our lives. /What is the What/ is the wonderfully written story of a young boy’s life in Southern Sudan in the 1980’s. The story chronicles his journey as one of the “Lost Boys of Sudan” (more than 27,000), orphaned by civil war who walk in groups of thousands to Ethiopia and then to Kenya. With nothing except the clothes on their backs, the boys, who have recently seen their families killed, face starvation, disease, attacks from soldiers and lions and more. Ultimately, the main character, Valentino Achack Deng, arrives in America.

/What is the What /brilliantly contrasts the difficulties of the war with the difficulties Valentino faces as a young African man with no family in America’s suburbs. Valentino is attacked and robbed in his apartment in Atlanta. He describes the baffling encounters with his assailants, the police and the hospital’s ER.

Beyond a fascinating, heart-rending visit to another part
of God’s world, there is more to learn here. Thousands of Lost Boys
(3800) have been settled in the U.S. since 2001, many in Kansas City.
Jesus said, “Whatever you have done for the least of these my
brothers, you have done it for me.” In what ways could we minister to  these young men who lost everything as young boys? Has the church become their new family? These are questions that ran through my mind as I finished /What is the What/. Dave Eggers has written a marvelous story and has shown how many and varied are the opportunities right around us to do for the “least of these.”

Amy Mumford and I had a blast decorating Caleb's new conference room/ library.  Need help decorating? Amy's website is http://amystageright.googlepages.com/

Family Life has been broadcasting on aggressive girls going after pre-teen and teenage boys.  I have found that to be our experience with a middle schooler and want to recommend the article on it. 

Last Monday, Caleb happened to go out to the barnyard moments after our first calf had been born.  He sent up flares, so to speak, and we all ran out there with the camera.
The calf is all wet here having just been "borned" , as the boys say.
So cute!

It's name is Samson.
Nursing the first time


And here are our goats:
Their names are Muncher and Fireball.

Finally, here is my view from my computer desk. 

I'm always asked variations on this question and I never know how to answer.  Here is a picture of life with 5 boys:  We came home from church yesterday with 4 or 5 palm branches.  The boys pulled all the leaves of all the branches and spread them all over the living room floor.  Then they turned the branches into swords and fought with them until they were pulverized.  That is what it is like.

Here is proof Q is a real two year old:
He found an open bag on Hershey's Kisses and went and got the nursing stool by my rocking chair, carried it over to the table the bag was on and started eating,  When I discovered him (I don't think he'd had more than one or two), I told him no and took the bag and put it on top of the fridge.  He cried and wined.  He then carried the nursing stool over to the fridge (these stools are only a few inches tall) and tried to reach the bag.  I told him no again, (he's crying all the time) and picked him up only to have him start hitting me and yelling, "Mama!  Mama!"

His class at church has a sign outside the door which reads "Terrific Twos."  Apparently someone of his brothers has read this sign to T (age 5) because on Sunday when we picked Q up, and he happily ran out to us laughing, T said, "He's always happy when he comes out of Amazing Twos!" 

We now have three Herefords!  Two are pregnant.  Here are the answers to the most FAQ:

1. They are for beef not milk.
2. We are going to butcher the non-pregnant one and then use the calves that are not yet born for beef also. (It sounds better to say "butcher" than "kill" for some reason.
3. We will have a bunch of beef to sell.
4. The mom cows will then be used to have more babies next year.
5. We will probably use artificial insemination, not a live bull.

Yesterday, I was completing my Aldi run with four children, I realized at the checkout that Q had a dirty diaper.  I asked the checker if they had a changing table in their restroom- no.  I did not want to put him on the floor.  (NOTE to all business owners who want to attract parents of small children:  Please install a diaper deck in the restroom.)  I took the kids and the groceries out to the van and began to change Q on the floor.  The temp outside was 22 degrees.  But Q did not grumble or complain about the arctic air on his bottom.  I reached for the wipes I keep in there and they were frozen solid.  I tried to pull the top one off to no avail.  I mulled over my options.  I live quite a ways from Aldi but I have several friends in the area- one who would surely be home with her littles napping and have wipes.  I called her.  No answer.  I packed everyone else up and drove to another friends house who probably wouldn't have wipes, but would be homeschooling.  Bingo.  Little Q got his diaper changed with wet paper towels and he was cheerful the whole time until it was time to leave- they had a double trike thing that he desperately wanted to play with.  So the moral is, always bring your wipes inside when it is below freezing.

On another topic, my dear cousin-in-law and college cohort has started a blog here.  Check it out.