Caramel

Isn't she sweet?

This is Caramel loving on Farmer Boy.  She is our stray kitty Meg found and she's never left.  I guess we've had her about 6 weeks or so.  Mally couldn't be more thrilled.  She's wanted a cat for a long time! 

LB's Birthday Part 2

We like to take the birthday kid out to lunch.  Usually the little ones pick Braums and the bigger ones have more expensive taste.  We were very surprised to hear what LB picked. 

Sonic.  

Why?  Grilled cheese.  

So Sonic it was.  But that was nice too.  Heck, anything with her is nice.  

The little kids were chomping at the bit wanting her to open presents but we had to wait for Meg.  She didn't wanna miss it ya know.  

Later in the day G'ma and G'pa came, Meg was home, everyone was cozy and it was present time! 

And cards. 

And lasagna.  Yummy dinner!  

There was one more surprise, but I'll save it for part 3 .  As for now, here's LB and we are so grateful to have spent 15 years with her!  

LB's Birthday Part 1

Happy 15th Birthday to our sweet LB! 

We started the morning with a yummy breakfast of bread and gravy and peaches.  

Cleaned up. 

Now what?  

Well there's a feed store that we pass when we drive to our new house.  My kids had never been to a feed store before and I thought it might be a fun trip.  

Box fan hanging from the ceiling.  Classy! 

Jes modeling a shepherd's staff. 

Guess who liked this place more than any of us?

I was hoping there would be some baby chicks or bunnies or something fun.  Nothing.  In fact, this blue chicken was about it.  It was very unimpressive and not worth sticking around.

  

But......we just just minutes from Grandma's at that point so we stopped by for some hugs. 

Crazy!  This is a birthday post about LB and I didn't get a single picture of her?  Oh well more will come later when the festivities really begin.  This was just the way we spent the morning.  

Awana Week 3

My man is preaching this week and I was up at the church helping him put his sermon together.  I walked through the Fellowship Hall (I call it the lunch room) to get to the kitchen.  All the tables were still set up from Wednesday and I immediately smiled.  AWWWWW........My Awana kids.....

Sappy?

I can't help it.   They are truly precious to me.

My 3rd and 4th graders are super smart.  I usually have at least one helper.  This week I had two.  It was a great help as I have one guy who especially likes individual attention.  We talked about what it means to trust Christ as your Savior, worked on start zones, and had a conversation about not sneaking chips out of the lunch room.

I continue to have around 10 boys every week.  I love every one of them.  But I find that with so many I can't do everything I want to do with them.  (Did I mention this before?  I don't remember.)  It takes awhile to get through prayer requests or highs/lows and there is no way I could do both.   Hmmm....now that I think about it, since they behave so badly at games maybe we should just skip games and give me an hour of class time?   I have so much to say!!  Somehow I don't think they'd go for it.

Dinner is surprisingly uneventful, music is getting better, games are crazy, and class time goes way too fast.  

Preventing Boredom

I'm reading a new book I got on my Kindle last week.    It certainly wasn't the topic of the chapter, but somewhere in there....just briefly...the author mentioned "bored with life".

Bored with life?  "How can that be?", I wondered.  On the other hand I knew exactly.

I've noticed that I'm more in my element during a fast-paced stressful situation.  There's tons of work.  Super busy.  No boredom.

But at home during the day-to-day everyday my mind is often bored.  I never realized this or thought to put words to it like that.  The fact is I have plenty to do.  And even if I thought I ran out, all I would need to do is pull open an over-stuffed dresser drawer and get to work.

But its not necessarily work I want to do.

And why?  Because in my perfect world I rarely recognize the fact that I'm engaged in a spiritual battle.
I go about doing my same ol' - same ol' and forget its eternal significance.   I only see dishes...more of them and the magic laundry pile that never gets smaller.

Do dishes and laundry even have eternal significance?  I believe they do.  It is along the lines of service and loving my family and working along side my children to teach them good work ethic, a cheerful attitude, and the joy of doing all things to the glory of God.

It is selfish of me to think (or fail to remember) that life is "only this".
But I'm not talking only housework.  It's also the times when I'm having a mental conversation with myself instead of listening to when someone is talking to me.  Wasting time on the computer.  Or checking my Facebook while my 1st grader is reading.

Jonathan Edwards wrote that he...
"determined to never lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can."
and
"To live with all my might while I do live."

That is what I want.  To escape the boredom of life by giving myself fully to each moment.  Everyday.

First Box Packed!

A Little Bit Of Lately

A Happy Sunday To You!

And it's a VERY happy Sunday to me.  Ya know why?  It's DATE NIGHT!!
The first in a long time and I'm really excited.   I have no idea what we are planning yet but it doesn't matter.

Other than that.....
~My family has been sick sick sick.  Josh had pneumonia, Honey had bronchitis, and most of the rest of us had some variation of it.  Blah!  Everyone is getting better now though.

~3 weeks and 5 days until we move!  Yes yes YES!  I'm searching Pinterest for decor ideas for my new house.  Twice this weekend Honey mentioned that he needs to start packing.  I can tell he's excited because he's usually the last one to pack.  Oh we are ready....

~And the week after that is Meg's wedding.  It is all coming together rather nicely.  We did some shopping this week buying fabric, centerpieces, her veil, and some rentals.  We are renting a huge 60 cup coffee maker/dispenser.  Since I can barely work a regular coffee pot, I'm thinking we'll need to practice.
The first bride's maid dress is finished and I'm really happy about the cake.  It'll all be lovely I think.

~I'm needing to try some new recipes.  I'm thinking of a few different wedding/planning opportunities where I'll need to feed friends.

~I bought a new game.  Ding!  It isn't the funnest game ever but it's pretty good.  8 people can play at the same time and even my younger kids caught on pretty quickly. Since it's the only game we currently have, I'm guessing it'll get a lot of play time in the next 3 weeks and 5 days.

~School.  School is going well.  But I find myself getting more and more frustrated with our lack of table space.  It is hard doing school sprawled all over the place....I'm about done with it.   3 weeks and 5 days.

~There's a kiddo waiting in line to play Spore. I bought it for them from a friend of mine.  They love making the creatures and watching them move.   It was also part of my plan to help my kids use the computer more for school this year.  Well, it is in no way educational but it is incentive to finish school in a timely manner with no drama.   

~Does anybody use Switched On Schoolhouse?  I bought the 5th grade History and our video card went out.  Now we have a new one but I'm not so eager to install it.  I'm so intimidated by this, but I think my boys will love it.

~My mother-in-law's b-day is next week.  It's so nice having them in town.  I'm thinking of surprising her with birthday stuff and lots of kids on that day.  Some balloons, flowers, a fun cake, and lunch.   After that...AWANA!  Ought to be a fun day!

Decorating Pillows

Little Man loves catching me make my bed.  

He always asks, "Can I decorate your pillows?"

He will rearrange them several times. 

And fluff them up. 

And make them just so. 

And admire is work. 

Ta Da!!

Yet Another Blog...

I thought it would be fun to keep a bloggy record of our homeschool goodness.  Hop on over and check out my work in progress if you have some time....

My kiddos will be posting their writings and I will be blogging my scattered momma thoughts.

My New Favorite

I love this smoothie.  Besides my chocolate one, this one is my other fave.  Super nutritious and pretty too.

Did I mention easy.  Really really easy...

Fill 1/2 your blender with frozen mango/pineapple (Sams sells this in a big bag.)
Add 2 ripe bananas.
Fill the blender the rest of the way up with some sort of greens.
Pour in water until it reaches the top of the mango/pineapple.

Blend until there are no more chunks.  YUMMY! 

Goodbye Mr. Oliver

Yesterday Honey and I went to a beautiful funeral honoring the life of one of our neighbors.

Mr. Oliver was 86 years old.  He had such a full and interesting life, including being Chief of Police for many years and investigating the assassination of JFK with the FBI.

There were many people there and the pastor noted that at most funerals of older ppl there is a small crowd.  Their friends have passed away.  But Mr. Oliver was busy investing in others until the very end.

He was married to his one wife for 65 years.
He taught Sunday School for 40 years.

Such a testimony to a life well lived.

I came away looking closer at my own life trying to determine in what ways I'm wasting it.
How am I spending my days....hours, minutes.  Am I actively investing in the lives of others or just doing the next thing until the day is over?  What should I be doing differently?

You Don't Understand!

Yesterday Savers had their 50% off sale.  I love that sale.  I wanted to go look for something to wear for Eldest's bridal shower.  Nothing.  That's ok b/c I have more than enough clothes as it is.  But I did find some vases and decor items for the wedding.

There's a nice lady that works there.  She has helped us before when we've been in there with all our kids.  I struck up a conversation with her in the checkout line and told her I was buying for my daughter's wedding.

Her:  "Good for you!  You're finally getting rid of one!"

Me:  "Um no.  I'd rather keep her around."

Her:  "Well it's gotta help to have at least one gone."

Me:  "Actually it's the other way around.  She is a great help to me."

Her:  "Then too bad you can't switch out one of the little ones in her place!"


Lady!  You just don't get it!!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my sweet grandmother!

I am certainly celebrating her life.  She is so special to me.  I talked to her today and she is feeling a tad better than she has in awhile.  I'm thankful for that.  Still sad that she hurting though.

Please pray for her!

What Works?

....Augh!  I meant to post this on my RA blog but posted it here instead.  I don't know how to switch it and blogger isn't letting me just copy and paste.  Boo.   I'm not willing to type it all over again so.....here it is in the wrong place.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I've been feeling so much better these days than I have since I was diagnosed.

And one day...!  Get this.  I had no pain AT ALL.  That's the first pain free day in almost 2 years.
I wasn't perfect.  I still had stiffness and that acute "awareness" of my joints.  But nothing hurt.  It was a good day.

I wish my hands looked as good as they feel.  Most days I can make 2 loose fists as soon as I wake up. As the morning wears on, everything loosens up and my fists are tighter.

So many ppl in my house have been sick and I haven't been able to depend on a long night of uninterrupted sleep for a couple of weeks.  Still I'm feeling good.

My shoulders and elbows aren't great but aren't terrible either.  And they are hurting differently than the usually sharp jab of RA.  More of a dull but throbbing ache that usually wakes me up at least once in the night.  I still have full range of motion, I just do it slower.

One thing I've noticed is that I'm SOOO tired.  No matter what time I go to bed and no matter even if I take a nap.  I hate that!  It makes me feel old.  Actually I feel great in the morning but I'm done by lunchtime.  That's a problem.   I've read about RA fatigue quite a bit and I've been glad to avoid it for as long as I have.

When I tell ppl how great I'm feeling they usually ask, "what is working?"
Honestly I don't know.  I would love to say that 1 green smoothie a day and a handful of supplements do the trick.  The fact is, when I was first diagnosed I did everything at the same time.  Every single thing that I read might work.  Every thing that anybody even suggested that helped their neighbor's cousin.  I was so desperate.  And while I've not kept up with all of it, my diet and supplements haven't changed too much.

So my answer is The Grace Of God.  I'm so thankful for continued healing.  I'm so grateful for a God who remembers me even though I am nothing.  And I will continue to pray for complete healing and wisdom to know what to do next.

I Haven't Been Doing This Lately..

"address one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ."  Eph 5:19-21