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<title>We Were Ugly Ducklings But God Transforms Us Into Swans - Homeschool Blogger</title>
<description>Wife of Gary &quot;Knocker&quot;  since 1989.
Mom of:  Logan, Adam, Luke,  Sophie, Callie, Jesse, and Levi.</description>
<link>http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/wifeofknocker/</link>
<language>en-us</language>
<generator>Homeschool Blogger</generator>
<pubDate>Thu,  9 Oct 2008 21:09:00 -0500</pubDate>
<lastBuildDate>Thu,  9 Oct 2008 21:09:00 -0500</lastBuildDate>
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<title>The Simple Woman's Daybook</title>
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&lt;div align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;FOR TODAY, &amp;nbsp;October 9th, 2008...&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;OUTSIDE MY WINDOW&lt;/strong&gt;...&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;It is lightly misting.&amp;nbsp; The window shutters are open in the&amp;nbsp;mudroom and I am feeling the gentle, cool breeze&amp;nbsp;blowing in.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Several of my children are filling up old plastic containers with&amp;nbsp;water&amp;nbsp;that is dripping from the gutter spout of the&amp;nbsp;outbuilding.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;One red headed daughter in particular is completely drenched and has mud from head to toe.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I AM THINKING OF&lt;/strong&gt;...&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;my first born son, Logan, his birthday was October 7th and he would be 12.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;I wonder what he is doing up in heaven right now with&amp;nbsp;Jesus?&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; I am also&amp;nbsp;remembering the circumstances of his birth.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;The uncertainty if we both would survive it (The event was labeled later as HELLP syndrome which basically was&amp;nbsp;a&amp;nbsp;severe toxema&amp;nbsp;along with&amp;nbsp;these conditions:&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes,&amp;nbsp;dangerously low platelets.&amp;nbsp; Additionally, I experienced kidney failure requiring dialysis,&amp;nbsp;and heart catherization to monitor the dangerously high&amp;nbsp;blood pressure)&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Miraculously we did survive the birth but, Logan later died of&amp;nbsp;brain and spinal cord cancer at the age of 3 and a half years old after fighting it's effects for&amp;nbsp;11 months&amp;nbsp;(and probably longer)&amp;nbsp;.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I AM THANKFUL FOR...&lt;/strong&gt;A husband who just went out and bought me an exercise mat because he saw me doing Tao-Bo exercise video on the hard wood floor.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;FROM THE KITCHEN...&lt;/strong&gt;..&amp;nbsp; &lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;Breakfast:&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;Homemade whole wheat bread slices with butter, apple slices, and a yogurt drink.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;Also, decaf coffee&amp;nbsp;for my husband and I.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;Lunch:&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;WASA rye crisp crackers&amp;nbsp;with a layer of cream cheese and turkey pepperoni on top.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; More apple slices, and bananas and milk.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Left over homemade barbecue chicken pizza for my husband.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;Supper:&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;Brown rice penne pasta&amp;nbsp; with a&amp;nbsp;red sauce.&amp;nbsp; I created a delicious but crazy sauce.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; I will probably will never be able to&amp;nbsp;duplicate the recipe again.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Because, it started with&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Asian&amp;nbsp;eggplant (from my Mom's garden) sauted in olive&amp;nbsp;oil and Asian flavored turkey burger (left over from when I made Chinese steamed buns) to which I added cans of tomatoes and can of paste and spices.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;(Just so I won't forget&amp;nbsp; it...The Asian spices in the turkey burger include:&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; wheat free tamari, sesame oil,&amp;nbsp; sliced green onions,&amp;nbsp; sucanat, ginger root diced, garlic cloves minced)&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I AM WEARING...&lt;/strong&gt; my favorite light green apron over my old clothes which include a faded light blue long denim skirt with off white leggings&amp;nbsp;and of course, in &amp;nbsp;bare feet.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I AM CREATING....&lt;/strong&gt;bloomers for myself out of off white muslin.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; I just took a sewing lesson from a friend (I brought&amp;nbsp; her family a meal along with my 10 year old son to help watch her boys and 2 yards of muslin to 'gift' her)&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I AM GOING&lt;/strong&gt;..to sleep eventually.. but, I'm trying to adjust to our new&amp;nbsp;schedule.&amp;nbsp; We moved several months ago.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Previously my husband would drive off to work each day.&amp;nbsp; But, now he works from home&amp;nbsp;9-5 for his employer.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;After several hours of family time in the evenings, he stays up late every night to work on his sermon.&amp;nbsp; (His second career is the teaching pastor of an age integrated&amp;nbsp;church plant we started several months ago.)&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; I usually stay up late to get my work done and spend a little time with him.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; We sometimes enjoy&amp;nbsp; a little snack&amp;nbsp; together (icecream, oatmeal flax chocolate chip&amp;nbsp;cookies)&amp;nbsp; and our best husband/wife interactions&amp;nbsp;tend to be at this time when our children are all snug in bed and the house is silent.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I AM READING..&lt;/strong&gt;mostly homeschool helps...phonics blend ladders with my 5 year old K daughter,&amp;nbsp;and&amp;nbsp; phonics readers to my 6 year&amp;nbsp;daughter.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Also, today I helped&amp;nbsp;my 7 year old son to write a simple little descriptive story about the life cycle of a butterfly.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I AM HOPING&lt;/strong&gt;...our house will sell.&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I AM HEARING&lt;/strong&gt;...the sound of silence..&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;AROUND THE HOUSE&lt;/strong&gt;...&quot;The ants go marching eleven by eleven Hurray, Hurrah!&quot;&quot;&amp;nbsp; This year, you can't walk very far outside without finding an ant hill.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;A very large&amp;nbsp;colony&amp;nbsp;invaded our home and there were thousands marching all over&amp;nbsp;the kitchen.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; My husband has been doing serious battle with them.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; First he offered them ant bait which they ignored completely.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; So, he invented a system of destroying them...by rolling them over and sticking them to&amp;nbsp;a lint roller.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Then,&amp;nbsp; he noticed how they loved my raw honey.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; So,&amp;nbsp;he mixed the honey with the ant bait and they are going for it.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Lots of dead bodies and slow ones everywhere.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Sadly, our two year old keeps repeating..&quot;The ants are killing their babies!&quot; (which is true actually).&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ONE OF MY FAVORITE THINGS...&lt;/strong&gt;going on family walks&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A FEW PLANS FOR THE REST OF THE WEEK:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;Finishing my bloomers,&amp;nbsp; pulling weeds&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;HERE IS A PICTURE THOUGHT I AM SHARING&lt;/strong&gt;...&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;Reminder to myself to put time in God's word FIRST!&lt;/div&gt;
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<link>http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/wifeofknocker/602521/</link>
<pubDate>Thu,  9 Oct 2008 21:09:00 -0500</pubDate>
<guid>http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/wifeofknocker/602521/</guid>
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