I find it difficult to believe that it has been 5 weeks since I have written anything here and yet, I completely believe it. This past month has been a whirlwind.
During the first full week of October, we helped out at a "conference" our church had. We help in any way we can. I help in the kitchen with some wonderful ladies, which makes it a delight. My daughter helps out there some as well but also helped babysit the secretary's young children. My boys help in the office and in the a/v booth. My husband comes by each day after work and helps in any way they need him too as well. Needless to say, it is a very busy week. But it is a huge blessing for the kids and I to eat 3 meals a day there and not to cook or grocery shop for home that week. In the past, we have gotten there after most everyone has eaten breakfast and stay until after lunch but this time we stayed pretty much all day, leaving after dinner.
After that week, it takes a few days to recuperate. Then we had this crazy week that started with grocery shopping, and out of the next 9 days, I was only home one of them. We had some fun and some work involved and then some just plain going here and there. It was nice to get back to normal, although it appears that my new normal is a little busier than before.
Because of the busyness of my October, I did NOT get much of my "Mega Memory Month" verses memorized, but I am continuing on. I prayed a lot about what to memorize and almost thought that I was going to do Colossians, but realized that was more pride and "biting off more than I could chew" than anything else. I finally settled on Psalm 91. I've been wanting to memorize this passage for some time and so now I'm working on it.
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in Him will I trust. Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers and under His wings shall you trust. His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night nor for the arrow that flies by day, nor for the ???pestilence that walks in darkness, nor for the ____that wastes at noonday. A thousand shall fall at your side and ten thousand.....
OK, so you can see that I've got some of it and you can see where I am working on it now. I will continue to work on this passage until I have it committed to memory. At this time and season in history, I believe it is ever important to hide these truths in my heart. I am also encouraging my children to do the same. You never know what will happen.
It is a shame that I cannot remember all the things I did in that crazy week and a half. Hopefully I wrote it down somewhere, as it really is momentous. LOL! I truly am a homebody.
On a different note, my mother, sister, and I have gone shopping one day each week for the past two weeks and now have the majority of our Christmas shopping done! Whoo Hoo!!! I'm tickled! Of course, since we shop together, we don't generally purchase gifts for each other while we are out and that means we will need at least one more shopping trip on our own. I still have a few stocking stuffers to purchase and my dear husband's gifts, Oh! and a thing or two for my oldest son. Since my oldest son is the one that usually will do Christmas shopping with me, and I have yet to buy his gift, he cannot go with me. So I talked to my sister and she still has her in-laws to buy for yet, so we will probably go together one day this week.
Well, I started this post on Friday and it is now Monday, so I will close for now. Except to say that we are finally making some progress on the addition again. My dh and his brother both had it in their own minds what needed to happen next and neither one was budging. So I impressed upon them both how important it is to me to have those rooms done by Thanksgiving, to which I get laughter, but at least dh gave in and bought the needed supplies his brother wanted to continue working. It is raining and cold today, so nothing is going to happen out there this evening, but I will definitely be cheering them on to keep progressing tomorrow and the rest of the week, except for the day it will be horribly cold, UNLESS they can do something INSIDE....like the ceiling rafters for example.
Well, I really must run now and make dinner. DH will be home soon!
Yesterday I purchased some noni (no-knee) juice from our health food store. I'd heard about it on Your Health with Dr. Richard Becker and his wife Cindy.
According to Dr. Becker, noni juice is a natural pain reliever, like ibuprophen and such, except that it is NOT addictive and not bad for you in any way.
My husband has been having bad headaches for the past several weeks. I decided to see if I could get some. I was surprised to find it.
I was having some excruciating cramps today and decided to give it a try, rather than take a lot of mg of ibuprophen, which they say can cause liver damage.
Disgusting!!! That is how it tasted BUT in fairness, Cindy Becker did say it was gross. She and her husband said that drinking water removes the taste from the mouth. I had to have something to eat to remove the taste from my mouth. They also suggested mixing it with other juice. I think I will chase it with juice next time because there will most definitely be a next time.
Within 15 minutes of taking this foul-tasting liquid, the pain was beginning to lessen. Within an hour, it was gone completely. I had taken 1000 mg of ibuprophen two days ago and it took 3 hours to relieve the pain. It is now many hours later, and the pain has not returned. Now in fairness, I do have to say that it doesn't always return (it is my prayer that it never returns) but some days it does.
I am very thankful that I found something natural that will relieve the cramping!!! I do not know what else this juice does, but I know that it took away my pain today.
We live in a 16x80 mobile home. We have 3 children and only 3 bedrooms. The boys are only 21 months apart in age, and have shared a room since the youngest got out of his crib at around 18 months old. They are now 17 and 15. Tiffany outgrew her bedroom about 8 years ago, when she was only 3. We have desired to add two bedrooms on to our home for quite some time (6 years or more but it has only be practical in the last 3½ years).
My husband's brother is one of those "everything" guys. You know the type that can do anything. He is actually self-employed and does construction for a living. He also paints some but prefers carpentry.
Anyway, my husband has been after him for years, but very determinedly for the past several months, to come here (he lives in another state about 10 hours away) and help him with some work AND add on our two rooms. Since he was looking for some work, he decided surprise us and come last weekend, which was the 11th anniversary of our move here from VA.
As I speak, he is on my roof getting it ready to shingle. The new rooms are framed in already. This was after waiting for materials to be delivered ALL week long!
This is my brother-in-law as he works on getting the wall framing up.
This is at the end of the second day of work (although it is only the first full day).
This is a view of the whole thing, so I had to stand WAY back.
Needless to say, we are all ecstatic. Well most of us. My husband is thrilled that he is getting his roof done, so that he won't hear the wind rolling across it any more. The kids and I are thrilled because they will each have their own room, with enough space to be comfortable. I'm super thrilled because Tiffany's old room will become the library/craft room!!! Whoo Hooo!!!! So, all the shelves throughout the house, will be moved into that room, thus decluttering every room in the house, including the hallway.
When all is said and done, the only two rooms in the house that will still need painting will be my room and the living room. I guess my room will probably get done after Christmas and then the living room, some time next year.
God is soooo good!!! I finally gave it over to Him, completely, as to the timing, and stopped trying to finagle how to get them. God did it and we even have the cash to do it. Now, having said that, my brother-in-law did give us an incredible deal to which I will always be grateful!!!!
I wish I had a working phone number for you, or that I'd have thought about it ahead of time and got your card in the mail, but alas . . . please know that I've thought about you today and have wished you a happy birthday! (Now, I only hope you see this!!!!)
And last time I thought it was crazy that I hadn't updated my blog in a whole month. This time it has been almost two months!!! Of course, I do have some really great reasons, first and foremost being the lack of internet connection for about 3 weeks and then poor connection for about 3 weeks after that. Then there was the birth of my dear niece, a full week late (and the day after my birthday), but that happened before the internet outage. Then there was two weeks of volunteer work at our church; followed by a week of recuperation.
I want to thank those who were faithful to stop by in my absence! I appreciate your dedication.
My niece weighed 9 pounds 12½ ounces when she was born. That girl was so big that she just could not come through the birth canal. After almost a full day of inducement and labor and about 45 minutes of "pushing", they realized that they were going to have to do a c-section. Of course, this was quite traumatic to the mental state of both my sister and her husband but in just a few short minutes, Macie Brooke was born! I'll edit this post within the next few days and include some pics of our crazy family hanging out ALL NIGHT LONG at the hospital waiting for Macie's arrival.
She does not look like she is only 7 weeks old now, she looks more like 3 or 4 months old, but that sure does make it more comfortable for all our guys to hold her in the beginning. When newborns are less than 8 pounds, the guys are more uncomfortable holding that little bundle, and to be honest, so am I. (My children were 9#8, 9, and 8#2.) The are so tiny that I feel like I'm going to drop them when they are smaller.
Well, I'll write more in a few days and get some pics up, some are really a riot.
I cannot believe that I did not post for about a month!!! Well that is how things get around April 15th every year; yes that is U.S.A. tax time. UGH! My husband is self-employed and I hate to do anything with the taxes but since I'm the number person in the family, I do it. And then every year I promise myself that I will stay on top of things this year but overwhelm myself and do not want anything to do with anything that remotely resembles taxes at all! So then I usually get behind again and it mushrooms. But true to form, I am once again saying, Not this year!
As you can tell from the ticker on the sidebar, my niece is due to arrive any time now. I really, really wish she'd come today, because the UHSE starts tomorrow!!! You see, we all go and camp out at the hospital the whole time she is in labor and for a while after the little one is born. My sister is the baby of the family, ten years younger than me, and is a very sentimental woman. She values traditions, family, and friends. She was an aunt at 15 and is really good at it. She brought the children valentines, Easter baskets, birthday gifts, and Christmas presents from the beginning. Since she is married, has children of her own, and her nephews and one niece are getting so old now, things are a LITTLE different but not much . . . her gifts changed as the children grew but she still gives them something for all those occasions, even though my oldest is almost 17 now. She is really considerate! to a fault. So we return the favor and make a really big deal out of her new arrivals. This is only her second, and she says it is her last, so it isn't like it is an inconvenience at all. We love her so much! Even my husband (we've been married for 21 years this year) takes off work, since he is self-employed, and camps out at the hospital with us. She says he is like a brother to her. So we are all waiting, with packed bags, for her to go into real labor.
She fooled all of us, including herself, last Thursday. She was having contractions every 8 minutes and just knew it was the real thing; it hurt bad enough. But she wanted her 2½yodd to get a good night sleep and since she had an early Dr. appointment, she did not call and go to the hospital. Well, her doc politely told her she was exactly the same as last week! HUH!?! She was fuming mad and took all of her restraint NOT to jump up and smack him senseless. LOL So she walked the mall for 3 hours, trying to keep things going, but NO CONSISTENCY!!! Oh well there was SOME consistency, 8 minutes apart three times and then nothing for 30 minutes! UGH! She even went to another mall and walked, the next day, for two hours and nothing, not even inconsistent contractions. So now, she has had two nights of good sleep, when she'd really rather be in labor and delivering this child, as her feet and legs are swollen. We all have our bags packed, got to have enough entertainment with us for a full day of hanging out in the waiting room, and are patiently waiting.
So, I'm guessing the baby is waiting to come on her due date. LOL My brother-in-law works on dental equipment and has some to install early next week, so of course, it would be an inconvenience to be at the hospital instead. LOL Then there is my conference all week! LOL Praise God, I will still be able to hear it all even if I end up missing some part of it live.
Another reason we all want this baby to be born in April, is because my birthday is in the very beginning of May and begins our MAY MADNESS which stretches until Independence Day. Let me give you the low down: Week 1 May—my birthday closely followed by Mother's Day, Week 3 May—my dad's birthday, Week 4—my dd's birthday and Memorial day, which we usually spend together as one big happy family. Week 1 June—my mom's birthday and then we get a week break, then Week 3 June—Father's Day, Week 4 June—my wedding anniversary, Week 1 July—my oldest son's birthday, closely followed by Independence Day! Whew!!! We then skip a week or two and then Week 3 July—my parents' anniversary. Then we breathe again as we begin thinking about Christmas (lots of stocking stuffers are obtained at yard sales) more in earnest. So you see, this new niece of mine, needs to be born the last week of April or she will upset the careful balance we have established. LOL
One a different note, my daughter just started her own blog. She came up with the idea herself, so she is really excited about it. We'll see how it goes. She wants to put the information that she learns, on it. I think it is a great idea and know that if I had suggested it, it wouldn't have been met with near as much enthusiasm. Visit her at http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/softheart/ and I'll try to put a link to her blog on my sidebar . . . as you can see, I've not done a whole lot with that part yet.
Last night I was sitting in my computer chair and telling my dh that I wasn't feeling right. I was achy and blah. I leaned my head back on the chair back and I felt my sinuses drain. What? Allergies already?
I looked outside and this is what I saw. Yes, those are my daffodils and irises coming up. They had started a bit before the last snow but I just thought I didn't have them planted deep enough. But then I saw this.
That is one of my Bradford Pear Trees. The other one is already leafing. I love these plants and trees. They are my first sign that Spring is here! My Redbud Trees will be next! They are beautiful. I went back in the woods to check on them, but they are not budding at all yet. See? And how do I know THIS is a Redbud? Because when they were in bloom last year, I put that orange tape/ribbon on them. See it? So, the reason I needed a nap today was because I was being bothered by allergies again today. It is OK though; I take psuedoephedrin and ibuprophen and am fine. It is a small price to pay for the beauties of spring.
It is odd, when I was on the Blood Type Diet, I didn't have ANY allergy symptoms at all!
This was the beautiful sight to which we awoke Tuesday morning. Our front door faces due south and this is obviously looking east.
My children couldn't even get out the front door; they had to go out the back door. By the way, this is an answer to prayer. Let me give you the background.
Where we live we usually get a few inches of snow, a couple of times during the winter. It generally goes away within 1 or 2 days. Also, most snow that does come to our area, stops or fizzles out by the time it gets down to us, so the northern part of Tulsa gets a good bit of snow and we, south of Tulsa, Oklahoma, get next to nothing. I spent the first 14 years of my life in Ohio and do love the snow, for a few days anyway.
We live way out in the country at the top of a very big hill. See!
We love to go sledding down this hill and the last snow we had did not give us enough snow to do so. Consequently when I saw on the news that Tulsa and south were to get snow Monday night, I prayed. Tulsa was to get 1-4" and further south and east of where I live was to get 4-10". I simply asked God to move that line of snow over top of us, so that we'd get about 6-8", but that we wanted enough to go sledding. He is so Awesome!!! (I'm sure it helped that I didn't have to fight my dear friend Joyce's prayers, this time. For 8-9 years we lived next door to each other and we would pray FOR snow and she would pray for it NOT to snow. LOL. At least this time we were in agreement. LOL!!!)
My dd was up and dressed to go out in the snow by 6:30am. I let them go out after the sun came up, after 7. I proceeded to make some banana muffins for my dear family. When they were finished, I took the mini muffins outside and they ate their breakfast on the hilltop.
Of course Beau, our Sheltie, thinks he is getting one too. LOL Beau loves the snow. He chases the sledders down the hill and back up too. He was designed for working out in cold temps, by our wonderful Creator; it is a shame he is stuck here in hot OK. But we love him!!!
Here, he noticed that one of his flock were heading down the hill, so off he went, right by her side. Our hill has two natural 'exits'. I usually take the first 'exit' so that I don't have to walk ALL THE WAY back up this excruciatingly hard to climb, hill. (I'll put that picture further down.) Here my middle son is ready to start down, since my daughter and Beau have made it to the second 'exit'. Beau realized that a second sledder is trying to escape, so he is back to work, chasing this sledder now. (I zoomed way in on this pic so you could see it.) Uh Oh! Another sledder is off! Beau will not be left behind. LOL!
Will a fourth sledder sneek by Beau? No. But wait! Somehow I got turned around, something tells me this is not the safest way to go down this hill. LOL Thankfully, I exit here pretty quick and only have about 1/3 to 1/2 of this hill to climb.
Here's a picture of one of our cedar trees, to give you an idea of how much snow we really got. I did shake the snow off, after I took the pic. I wouldn't want my beautiful cedar to break! After all, it did survive the ice storm last December!
And here is a picture of our pond. I didn't take one of the whole pond all at once, but you can see a bit of it through here.
Oh! I almost forgot! We saw some deer tracks in the snow, on the way back to the pond. And this is where we followed them to . . . Across the pond on the left side, we found this . . . where the deer must have laid during the night.
Well, I hope you enjoyed my little tour through our morning in the snow. As it turned out, we were outside for a couple of hours. Then my dear husband and oldest son, went on into town to work, at which point, the other two children and I did an abbreviated school schedule. It was a great day. I guess you could say, we had an extensive PE program that day.
(Me and my dd, Tiffany on an easy to climb tree limb on vacation in VA in 2007.) These are my ramblings on homeschooling and whatever else comes to mind.
Counting Down
We are starting school, so it's time to look forward to the holidays!
This is at the end of the second day of work (although it is only the first full day).
This is a view of the whole thing, so I had to stand WAY back.
She was fuming mad and took all of her restraint NOT to jump up and smack him senseless. LOL So she walked the mall for 3 hours, trying to keep things going, but NO CONSISTENCY!!! Oh well there was SOME consistency, 8 minutes apart three times and then nothing for 30 minutes! UGH! She even went to another mall and walked, the next day, for two hours and nothing, not even inconsistent contractions. So now, she has had two nights of good sleep, when she'd really rather be in labor and delivering this child, as her feet and legs are swollen. We all have our bags packed, got to have enough entertainment with us for a full day of hanging out in the waiting room, and are patiently 
waiting.
Yes, those are my daffodils and irises coming up. They had started a bit before the last snow but I just thought I didn't have them planted deep enough. But then I saw this.
And how do I know THIS is a Redbud? Because when they were in bloom last year, I put that orange tape/ribbon on them. See it?
So, the reason I needed a nap today was because I was being bothered by allergies again today. It is OK though; I take psuedoephedrin and ibuprophen and am fine. 
My children couldn't even get out the front door; they had to go out the back door. By the way, this is an answer to prayer. Let me give you the background.
We love to go sledding down this hill and the last snow we had did not give us enough snow to do so. Consequently when I saw on the news that Tulsa and south were to get snow Monday night, I prayed. Tulsa was to get 1-4" and further south and east of where I live was to get 4-10". I simply asked God to move that line of snow over top of us, so that we'd get about 6-8", but that we wanted enough to go sledding. He is so Awesome!!! (I'm sure it helped that I didn't have to fight my dear friend Joyce's prayers, this time. 
Beau loves the snow. He chases the sledders down the hill and back up too. He was designed for working out in cold temps, by our wonderful Creator; it is a shame he is stuck here in hot OK. But we love him!!!
Our hill has two natural 'exits'. I usually take the first 'exit' so that I don't have to walk ALL THE WAY back up this excruciatingly hard to climb, hill. (I'll put that picture further down.) Here my middle son is ready to start down, since my daughter and Beau have made it to the second 'exit'. 
Beau realized that a second sledder is trying to escape, so he is back to work, chasing this sledder now. (I zoomed way in on this pic so you could see it.) 
Uh Oh! Another sledder is off! Beau will not be left behind. LOL!
No. But wait! Somehow I got turned around, something tells me this is not the safest way to go down this hill. LOL Thankfully, I exit here pretty quick and only have about 1/3 to 1/2 of this hill to climb.
I did shake the snow off, after I took the pic. I wouldn't want my beautiful cedar to break! After all, it did survive the ice storm last December!
And this is where we followed them to . . .
Across the pond on the left side, we found this . . .
where the deer must have laid during the night.
