UnOrdinary Life - Homeschool Blogger

New home ...

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 18:34:00 -0500

Yes, we moved to the townhouse a month ago! Can you believe it's been a month? I can't. We've also moved our home on the web. You can now visit us at http://everydaytreasures.wordpress.com. See you there!

Imagination much?

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 19:44:00 -0500

“My hiney hurts!” Ian said while wincing and grabbing his rear end.

“Why does your hiney hurt?” I said not really even registering the words being said by myself or Ian because I was completely and thoroughly intent on getting the coffee from the bean state to the in-my- cup-drinkable state.

“Because I went down the steps soooo fast!” Ian said, still rubbing his still-burning tush and spinning in a circle al a Tazmanian Devil.

By now the intoxicating smell of coffee was wafting out of the pot awakening syntaxes and prompting them to actually connect so words held meaning once again. I shook my head and said with a giggle, “Well, maybe you shouldn’t go down the steps so fast!”

“I didn’t! My hiney chose to go down so fast … or maybe the stairs chose to make me go down so fast. Yeah! The stairs pushed me and that’s why I went down so fast!”

The King is ...

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 19:42:00 -0500

During Family Devotions, Daddy has been teaching us two new songs out of the hymnal every week to go along with our family favorites. Last week, one of the songs was The King is Exalted. Miss Emily was singing along with all of her three year old enthusiasm. I love to listen to my babies sing praises to our God. It warms my heart more than almost anything else out there.

However, this one night, I was warmed not by my heart but by the laughter that I had to keep buried while I straight facedly whispered to my Emmie-Doodle, “Doodle, it’s the King is Exalted, not the King is exhausted.”

Yes, if I was the king and had to put up with all of us crazies, I would be exhausted. But not our King! He is Exalted!

We've Got Self Control, Babycakes! Self Control!

Sat, 1 Aug 2009 19:31:00 -0500

Oh, how I love my sweet Ian. His heart is pure gold. However. Well. If you were to look up ADHD in the dictionary you would see a picture of him ... and his Daddy. ;) Self control has never been his strong suit, though something that we've been working on since he weaned. Just the thought of having to sit still in church a couple years ago would induce sobbing, shrieking fits.

He got a play sword for Christmas last year and was told that if he ever used it to hurt his sisters it would be taken from him. Well. He had it in his possession for a few hours before it was taken.

We returned it to him just a couple of weeks ago, with the same warning. One day he was playing with it and Emily came by and did something that he didn't care for. You could see the wheels turning in his head. You could see as he tried to grasp control of his actions. Finally, he threw the sword to the floor and said, "Daddy, you take it!" and walked into the other room to cool down.

Is that the perfect way for him to react? Not at all. Is it improvement? Definitely!

Frankenfoods, Blue Potatoes, and Sweet Fellowship

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:08:00 -0500

As we’ve been packing, our diet has been a bit different than normal. I just haven’t had the time to spend in the kitchen so we grabbed some “convenience” type meals that we could prepare quickly with little clean up. During one such meal prep, I emptied a plastic bag that had been waiting for me in a “complete meal” box into a glass baking dish.

Abigail, a bit skeptical, looked at me and questioned, “Is that … food?”

I grinned at her as I followed the directions and added the cup of hot water.

She said, “Oh. I see. You add water and it turns into … food?”

It was quite funny. Even though they were skeptical at first, everyone enjoyed that frankenmeal.

Thankfully, we haven’t been eating only frankenmeals. A wonderful, sweet couple from church invited us over one evening. This would be the same couple that came over and helped with the tire and busted me at Safeway with the German Chocolate cake. They taught the kiddos how to dig potatoes, carrots, and onions. We also got some really great green beans. The children were even allowed to feed the turkeys and chickens. We all had a wonderful time that night, filled with learning and great fellowship. We were even treated to some sherbet much to the children’s delight.

We had not only red and white potatoes, but blue ones as well. The blue are the children’s favorite. We used our potatoes, green beans, and onions and mixed with some kielbasa sausage to take to a long time friends that we haven’t seen for some time. They were stationed at McGuire the same time we were, they have four children with similar ages to ours, and are just great friends. They are in the area for training prior to going overseas to the Philippines.

It was a short visit but just what the doctor ordered. Even short spurts of fellowship can be so medicinal!

Sunset Walk

Tue, 7 Jul 2009 08:36:00 -0500

Little Big Girl

Sun, 5 Jul 2009 08:31:00 -0500

It's an interesting Sunday morning here. Yesterday I was driving down the road when our car started to shake violently for a split second. The violent shaking stopped almost as soon as it started, the car dipped to the right, and I heard a grounding noise. Something caught my eye out the passenger window.

That something, I quickly observed, was my tire. Rolling down somebody's drive way. Several good samaritans, a few bewildered police officers, and a knight of a father in law later we were back on the road. Going no more than 30 miles an hour. Home. And only home.

Last night my Tommy started to fix the tire only to have the jack collapse and fall on his foot. A friend came to the rescue with a bigger jack only to encounter about 300 other problems before my Tommy threw the towel in for the night and came in to cuddle sleepy-sad babies.

This morning our friend came back over so that he and my Tommy could finish in time for church.

I had everyone's clothes laid out and told the girls to go take a shower. I really only meant Abigail and Emily. Katherine saw them grab their clothes and head for the shower. She grinned a grin only a girl on a mission can grin and grabbed her pile of clothes as she ran (as much as a 19 month old can run) to catch up with her sisters.

She's our little big girl, every day joining a new big kid activity to leave her baby ones behind.

From My Womb ...

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 23:46:00 -0500

I've started another blog just so that those that would prefer not to listen to me grieve, vent, and sometimes just all out sputter nothingness don't have to.

So many people told me that they were encouraged by reading what I shared after we lost Anna, that I didn't want to make it private. So here is the address for those that may be interested.

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/FromMyWomb/

14 Weeks

Wed, 1 Jul 2009 23:22:00 -0500

For 14 weeks I was given the immense joy and pleasure of carrying a new life even while God Himself was busy knitting the new creation together. God chose me, and me alone, to hold this baby. I am so grateful that I was given this time with my creator and the baby that He gave me for such a short time.

Sunday I began spotting and Monday we went to the hospital. We were given an ultrasound after many hours of waiting. She moved the wand around and poked a lot of buttons but never said a word. Finally I asked if she had seen the baby, if there was a heart beat. She said that she wasn't able to tell me, that if she did she could have lost her job. I tried my hardest to hold it together but the tears came anyway.

She then turned the sound on and I thought I heard the baby's heartbeat so I was overjoyed. I saw the screen just a bit and was able to see the beautiful profile of a tiny little face. However, there were no little fists swishing by that tiny profile. I saw where the fluttering of a little heart should have been, yet there was only stillness.

I was hoping beyond hope that what I thought I saw and what I really saw were not the same. I kept thinking back to the swooshing heartbeat I heard and just waited for the doctor to come in with good news.

When she came in, there was no good news to be heard. The heartbeat I heard was my own. The tiny baby's heart had stopped beating at least a week ago.

I knew that this little one was already at the feet of Jesus and with our little Anna, yet I still held him within. I begged for her not to do a d&c. I know that it may sound bizarre and even a little morbid, but I longed to hold him within as long as God would allow.

My Tommy's parents allowed us use of their beach house as a retreat to lose our baby in privacy. After many hard hours he came this morning. I've never forgotten how beckoning Anna's tiny hands were. Benjamin's were just the same. So tiny, yet they looked like they were just waiting to curl around my finger even though they will never be given the chance. So tiny. So tiny, but so real.

My Tommy and I are so blessed to watch our living children grow and play, yet each new achievement, each new experience brings grief knowing we will never experience those new things with our tiny Benjamin. We'll never get to hear him cry, nor will we get to comfort that cry away.

Tomorrow we will bury him at sunset and we would covet your prayers.

Help Me Love Summer Contest Winner!

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:15:00 -0500

Thank you all for contributing! I do love all of the things that you listed ... I just wish that we could enjoy them without heat and humidity. LOL!

I was going to scientifically choose a number by having the kids draw numbers that corresponded to the post number, however the kiddos are fast asleep. So, I used an online random number picker.

The winner is: Bethany! PM me your address to get your oh so cool prize!