A great mail day...

You just HAVE to love getting the mail when you get 12 pieces of mail in ONE day and not ONE of them is a bill but ALL of them are Christmas Cards!!!!! That was a good evening to sit and 'read' the mail!

Quite the week!

This week has been sort of boring for us...but I'm so tired, regardless. :) We (the boys and I) have spent most of the week working on cleaning and school. But that is typical. I'm just doing more cleaning than normal.

Brent has been sick this week...just a sinus/head infection. It's made his voice a bit croaky and he's been coughing a lot, but I think he's feeling better.

During this time of Brent being sick, Clayton has helped out more with the emptying of the dishwasher. The other day, he and I were working on it together and he asked me to do something for him that he couldn't reach. He said, "Thanks mom. You know, we're supposed to do nice things for each other, that's why I'm letting you do me this favor." LOL He was so serious, but it was so funny.

This morning, it was a typical Thursday morning for us: CRAZY! Thursdays are so busy that we have to literally hit the ground running. Well, I got the trash bundled, got Terry's lunch and breakfast done, got dressed and was sitting down to check email, when I heard 2 cars start outside. So I looked out the window....Terry had my van pulled up in front of (and facing) his car with the hoods up on both. He was having to jump his car.... :( So I went outside and asked what happened and he just turned and looked at me and said, "Thanks a lot!" See, I had borrowed his car last night for church (it was already warmed up) and apparently I didn't turn the lights off completely. The switch was almost to the off position. So, his battery was dead. :( So he got to scrape off his car AND my car (which I thanked him for!) before he could leave for work. Well, off he goes and I hear him drive away. Then I hear the lock on the front door...he's coming back in. He had stuck MY van keys in his pocket and drove off with them! Of course, he HAD to bring them back...we were leaving in less than 30 minutes. Argh! What a morning.

Well, it gets better. :) We had ice coming down tonight and so everything was covered over. I asked T when he got home how bad his car was covered tonight and how hard it was to get into. He just grinned. Apparently, he tried opening the door and nothing. He kinda pounded on the door to break the ice. Nothing. He used the edge of his key to cut into the ice on the edges...Nothing. He finally held the handle and put his fingers at the top and just pulled with all he had. Still nothing. Hmmm. He said he finally decided there had to be something wrong, but to be sure, he would check the locks. He had never unlocked it to begin with!! The poor thing has had such bad luck with cars today. :(

(And really, I'm NOT laughing at all!)

I better go get the kids to bed. I need to get my contacts out and hit the sack myself.

Christmas at Thanksgiving

Last weekend was a full one for us! It started on Thursday morning with Terry and I going to see his mom in Chesterfield. I had made her some fried chicken adn we filled a sandwich bag FULL of it...she ended up eating the entire thing while we were there. I had estimated that there was about 1 to 1 1/2 chicken breasts in there...so she had a substantial amount of protein! We were all thrilled that she was eating, and so was the staff at the facility. :)

We came home and had Birthday dinner for D and got the kids ready for bed...afterall it was 'Christmas Eve' for them. They got their new PJ's from Grandmas and went to bed...they were ALL asleep within 30 minutes, which is odd for them....they all like to lay in bed and talk and play and giggle. But that night, they went right to sleep.

The next morning was Christmas for them. Below are some pictures:


Mom helped us get our decorations out and she and the boys put the tree together.


Left: Clayton was so intent on getting the branches just right! Right: Clayton opened his stocking to find a gift-card attached to a cute frog! All the kids got gift-cards with different animals attached.


Above left: Brent got his first chapter books (Magic Tree House). Above right: He received a remote control truck from his cousins. VERY cool! Left: He is SO excited to receive his FIRST Bionicles. Obviously, he's a bit excited! LOL

Anyway, we had a blast and played many games. Terry still spent a good majority of the weekend in bed, since he couldn't sit in the chairs for too long a time. hehe But in the end, we were all ready to end the weekend. Between exhaustion and illness, it was time for us to all go our 'respective' ways...mine was straight to bed that night! LOL

I hope you all had a GREAT Thanksgiving!

Time to prepare

Well, it is Tuesday and we have worship tonight (instead of tomorrow night) so that only leaves me a few hours of today to work on the house. Hmm....what should I do first? Laundry? Clutter? School? LOL There are so many to choose from and NOT enough time!

Most of the family will be here on Wednesday night (mom and dad) but Sis and her family MIGHT be here in the middle of the night tonight. I will know more about that in a few hours.

I need to get a few things done before church tonight: organize food list, a few loads of laundry, and make supper. Then tomorrow I have 2 Dr's appointments (9 and 11) and need to wrap presents sometime before D & K get here. Then tomorrow night for dinner I'm making fried chicken so I can take some to Janice on Thursday. Plus in the middle of all that, I need to get back to the store to finish buying the perishable supplies that we'll need. I really am not sure when I will get it done. LOL

Oh, and then someone needs to clean up the basement for the kids so they have a place to play over the weekend. Hmm.....wonder who will end up with that job??

Oh and have to thaw the turkeys...did I mention I have over 34 lbs of turkey this year??

Plus, there are still presents that haven't arrived. Grr....I do NOT like the idea of not having the gifts here when we open the rest of the presents.

Okay, I have to go get busy. The boys need lunch and I need to swap the load that just finished washing. Sometime this afternoon, I need to sit down with my lesson for Bible class....the ladies class on Wednesday nights has started studying Revelation and I'm SO excited! WE just started last week, but I really think this will be a good and fun study.

More later....hopefully some pictures to share! (Which reminds me I need to charge the digital camera batteries! LOL)

It's gonna be a FUN weekend!

I simply can't wait for this weekend! Mom and I are going to the Arts and Crafts Fair that is this weekend....at 3 different locations! I am so excited! There is so much to look at and some of it is really cool (while some of it I can't see how ANYONE would pay money for it....but that's me!). LOL We went last year and are ready to go again this year.

After that, we will most likely start the process of food shopping for next weekend. I need to get the turkeys and some of the food bought so I don't have so much to do next week. Then there are presents to wrap and food to make. So much fun!

While we're gone, Terry and the boys plan on getting the fixings for homemade pizzas....and then making them for us all for dinner! The boys are excited to get to do something like that with Daddy....they don't EVER get to cook with their dad. :)

Great video...

I have seen this video before and thought I had posted it here, but can't find it. So am posting it now. I get chills everytime I watch this. It is labeled as "The Mission" Lifehouse's Everything Skit.

Slow start to the week....

Well, it's Monday. And I'm already tired. LOL We had a VERY busy weekend of getting all the Christmas decorations put up. Mom and dad helped us and we got it all done in about 4 hours. :) The boys had a lot of fun helping (I think) and are very pleased with all the lights in the house. :) (Then again, the Budget Man isn't so happy about all the lights!)

We had a busy day on Sunday of church, naps, and church. LOL

Then today, we did some school and worked on laundry and getting some things organized. Tomorrow, we have several appointments and places to go, so we may not get as much done. But that is okay. LOL

We have Christmas/Thanksgiving next week with my family and I'm working on getting everything around so it will be an easy and fun filled weekend. I have several places to go and several phone calls to make...not to mention gift shopping. :) I LOVE that part! :)

Time to go cuddle my boys....

Lord, thanks for the reminder

This week has been a depressing week for me. :( I had a Tupperware party on Monday night that was a bust...1 person showed up! I was so very depressed. Then I found out that something was going to be happening tonight (Friday night) and I wouldn't be able to attend. Then I check my email and see a post in a chat group that is virtually identical to one that I had posted earlier in the week. But this person gets rave reviews about their post, while mine went completely unnoticed. So, let's just say that by Wednesday afternoon I was feeling pretty sorry for myself and having all sorts of pity-parties for myself. Ugh.

Terry came home for lunch ....which if you know our situation, you know that he NEVER comes home for lunch, especially on a Wednesday, cuz it just takes TOO much time from his day and makes it harder for him to get to church that night, but the Lord sent him to help me. I believe this. .....anyway, we got talking and I told him how I was feeling and he said: "You know, it seems that with everything we know of going on with this family (won't mention names) and then with this person's dad, and now with how you're feeling....it seems that Satan is really working hard to attack Christians right now. Maybe now that you know that, you'll feel better." I told him that I was almost afraid to go to church that night cuz I didn't want to ADD to my feelings of being an outsider and end up feeling worse. But, I knew I would go, cuz that was the right thing to do.

Well, let me tell you. The LORD showed me a thing or two that night. I learned of a family that afternoon (my next door neighbor) who is dealing with a cheating husband and facing divorce....and they have only been married about 6 months. They have a daughter who is only 10 months old (okay, so they put the cart before the horse, but NO ONE deserves this....) How weird! As I was typing this, she came over with the baby to 'vent' and chat. :) So glad she felt like she could come over...she said she would do it again. Well, anyway, he is not willing to reconcile and she is finding herself in a situation that she never dreamed she would be in. When she married him, she thought she was marrying for life.

Then at worship that night, we were going over prayer requests before beginning class and one lady brought up the family who is local that has recently had a multitude of problems come their way...

1) they are young (22 and 25) and have 7 kids already, 2 of which (the most recent) are twins. One of those twins had issues in-utero and they knew she would have problems on the outside. She ended up in St Louis in the hospital, on a ventilator and the Dr's told her she had to make a decision about continuing life support....so the mom calls the dad who ends up leaving the other 6 kids with her dad so he can help in the hospital.

2) Something happened with their heating and he was using a wood stove (the young dad) and apparently it wouldn't light, so he threw on some gasoline.... Yeah, you know what happened. He is now in St Louis hospital with 70% burns on his body.

3) Shortly after that, the mom is home with the kids and she hears
something from one of them about a lighter...then a neighbor pounding on the door about flames coming from the second story windows... Well, there are oxygen tanks in the house (for the sick baby) and she starts throwing them out the window while trying to get 7 kids out of the house. The house is old and apparently is GONE before they can barely call for help.

Then 4) while she is cleaning up the kids from the soot and such from the fire, she starts finding bruises and marks on the children....after an examination, she is told they have been physically (and most likely sexually) abused by her father...the one who was caring for them while mom and dad were in the hospital in St Louis with the little baby.

SO! Needless to say, this story completely put my 'woes' into perspective and I thank GOD for my problems....knowing they could be much worse. I am humbled and blessed and I'm sorry it took me all of this to realize it all yet again. God helped me push Satan away once again, and I'm thankful to Him.

Terry is doing much better...he's been working this week and only comign home when he needs to....well, when he needs to have the bandage changed. I have to do that, obviously. He is still having to have me put his socks and shoes on in the mornings, but I can deal with that. He just can't bend over or lift things yet. But he got all the 'packing' removed on Wednesday and he says it feels much much better not having all that gauze in there. !!!! We will both be so thankful when this is all completely over and we hope and pray it won't happen again.

We are decorating for Christmas this weekend.... I KNOW, it's not even Thanksgiving yet. But this year, we are having Christmas on Thanksgiving weekend...at my house, so it HAS to be decorated. Not that I'm complaining. Hehe. An extra couple weeks to have my house decorated and I'm thrilled! :) Mom and dad will be here this weekend to help me, so I don't have to do it alone this year. That's a blessing. :)

I better go finish cleaning the kitchen and get some supper started.....

Beggs Family Farm

A couple weeks ago, we went to Beggs Family Farm with our homeschooling group and got to go on a hayride, pick a pumpkin, play, and go through a corn maze. It was so much fun! This is truly the NEATEST pumpkin patch I've been to! Here are pictures from the day:

Homeschooling thought for the day...

It simply amazes me sometimes how ignorant some people/parents are about homeschooling. And believe me, I used to be one of them! LOL That is one thing that I LOVE about HSLDA....their goal is to educate the public about homeschooling and let them know (prove to them) that homeschoolers are getting a GREAT education and are VERY well-accepted (and coveted) in the colleges and society in general.

I was talking last night with a lady who seemed to look down at homeschoolers and worry about them being able to 'defend themselves and their beliefs' to the outside world (she was talking religiously and morally)...and I assured her that even at the ages of 6 and 5, my boys have had plenty of opportunity to defend their faith and their beliefs simply in the circles of friends we have. They have NO troubles being able to do this and are actually MORE firm in their beliefs because they haven't been so confused in the last few (formative) years by so many outside influences.

It makes me so thankful for the support I do receive in my homeschooling journey....from family and the few friends I have that don't look down on me for doing so. God is good!

Laughing Preemie

I was looking for a picture on Google Images when I came across this picture below. I am just intrigued by the whole thing and had to post it....

Oh, and the link for it is: Neonatology

Update on illnesses

WOW, I just realized I haven't updated in a few days. Sorry bout that! I ended up sick as well and Terry and I have basically spent the last 4 days in bed moaning and groaning! LOL

Okay, read on at your own risk....some will have turned stomachs from this next description, so don't say I didn't warn you! :)

Terry's surgery went really well. The abscess was HUGE and the surgeon and nurses were completely amazed at his pain tolerance with this. Apparently, it was over 3 inches in depth....the surgeon cleaned out all the bad tissue and then just for kicks to see how big it was, decided to stick his finger in the hole. He said he couldn't' even touch the bottom of the abscess with his finger!! They said that with this sort of thing, the average person would be in the hospital begging for medication from the pain, while Terry's pain scale was at about a 5 on a 1-10 scale.

Anyway, I got him home and he went straight to bed. By then, I was feeling really weak and tired and needed a nap, but I called and contacted all those who needed to know about it all and then I went to bed. On Thursday afternoon, we went to see the surgeon so they could repack the wound....they gave Terry a prescription to use at the hospital until Monday to have the hospital people repack the wound each day...they don't want me having to do that as deep as it is. (And believe me, I am thankful!!) I have to replace the outer bandage periodically through the days when they get saturated, since the wound is still draining. But even that (if I look at the hole) is enough to make me nauseous. I simply can't look at it....his poor skin is pretty bruised up from it all. And it just looks gross.

We see the surgeon again on Monday afternoon and he will determine at that point how much longer we will be packing the wound.

Mom and Dad came down on Wednesday night and Mom took the boys Trick or Treating....I am SO THANKFUL for that! They got to go out and I didn't get sicker in the process! :) When they got back, they helped hand out candy to the kids that were still coming to our house. We got pretty tickled at Clayton with the last ToT'er to come to the door. C gave him the last 2 pieces of candy and said, "Sorry, that's all we have for you. If you want more candy you'll just have to go somewhere else!" LOL My innocent and honest child! :) I did manage to make my yearly Halloween Chili for dinner that night....I haven't missed a year since the boys were born. It's tradition around here to have chili on Halloween and I just couldn't break that tradition, even for illness and surgery!

Well, as for me, I am very croaky and have lost my voice for the most part. My throat still hurts, but I'm on meds and know that I will get better. It's pretty amazing, isn't it, that when everyone is sick Mom takes care of them...but who takes care of Mom when she is sick? At this point, no one. :) I have been slowly doing things around here...dishes, cooking, taking care of kids, breaking up fights, etc. And have actually gotten better in the process! (But we haven't gotten ANY school done for the last few days....but hey, somethings gotta give!)

My poor boys have lived on cereal, sandwiches, fruit, snacks, and Halloween candy for the last 3 days. I feel bad for them, but I just couldn't cook healthy meals for them. Like tonight is nuggets and tots. Let's see....ketchup with them...so that's a vegetable, right?? LOL They have watched alot of movies and shows and have occupied themselves for the most part...they really are very good boys and I'm thankful they are old enough to do this!

Hopefully, the next time I update this, things will be better. I know the boys and I are going to worship in the morning....Terry hasn't decided yet. He would have to stand for it all and he hasn't figured out if he wants to do that. We shall see!

Till then....

Surgery tomorrow

Terry is having surgery tomorrow on his cyst. We saw the surgeon today and he agreed that it has to come out...but it isn't gonna be as simple as we thought. We had originally figured it would just involve numbing the area and draining the cyst or lancing it. WELL! They are going to knock him completely out! General anesthesia. So since they are going to just 'fit him in' to the schedule, they are going to call us in the morning and let us know what time to be at the hospital.

The dr said that for most people they take a couple days off work for this simply for the discomfort. Terry's trying to figure out how he will sleep....he's a back sleeper. We shall see what the next few days bring.

Now, I've got it!

Ugh! I started getting a headache in church yesterday morning and felt bad all afternoon. Didn't go back last night...

Then woke up this morning with a scratchy throat and just don't feel well. I'm trying to boost my vitamins and see if that helps. I really don't want to get this crud that's been passed around my house!

:((

WE are doing school right now in the floor of the living room....then we'll watch a movie together while I fold laundry. Then there is TKD later this evening. The boys both say they want to go....I will make it, I"m sure! LOL

At least I have gotten the dishes done, laundry going, the living room cleaned up and school going. Not bad, I think! I still have to change the sheets on everyone's beds, but that won't take alot of time, just alot of effort!

Another day in Sick-dom

Terry stayed home again today...he simply cannot move with the cyst on his backside! (I know he'll appreciate me telling the whole world this!) It's got us concerned, cuz he saw the doctor for it yesterday and saw a quack basically. The guy just said it was staph and that he should use a warm washcloth to 'bring it to the surface', then gave him 14 days of antibiotics. Well, there are two things wrong with this: One, you can't diagnose staph without a culture and even then you would prescribe a month's worth of meds for it, not 14 days. We've been there, done that. And Two, if it is staph, AGAIN, why has he gotten staph 4 times in the last 15 months? Why can they NOT seem to get rid of it for him? It's really wearing his body down.

Then there's Brent. He was doing so good today, playing and eating. No biggie... The doc didn't do anything for him either yesterday, just gave him a cough syrup to take at night. Big whoop. I was really aggravated by this because I knew Brent had a sinus infection and most likely an ear infection and I wanted meds for it before it got too far. I know my child and this has happened before and I wanted to nip it in the bud. Anyway, tonight as we were sitting down to supper, Brent says his ear hurts really bad....his left ear. He complains about it all through supper and then some more after supper. We'll most likely end up at the quick-care place with him in the morning....so aggravating. Terry wants to figure out a way to bill this other doctor the quick-care bill since he should have caught this in the first place. Argh!

But on a positive note, I made Antibiotic Soup today. I used a whole chicken (from last weekend's leftover food! :)) and boiled it and got my own chicken broth. Then I smashed through 2 whole heads of garlic and got them cooking while I chopped 2 leeks and several carrot sticks (also leftover from last weekend!) and just let the whole thing simmer for a few hours. I did add a broth and flour mix to thicken it all up a bit...but it was DELICIOUS!!! Even the boys ate it and enjoyed it. I hope it does us all some good.

Well see what the morrow brings!

A day off

Well, Terry is sick and Brent is home sick as well. So needless to say we will NOT be doing any school today or States Study with our homeschool group. :( Brent was sad about this as he's been looking forward to it all week.

Clayton keeps trying to tell me he's sick too, but then he runs around like a crazy boy! LOL He just wanted an excuse to stay home with Daddy. :)

We are supposed to be going to a Tae Kwon Do tournament this weekend, but with everyone getting sick, I"m not sure what will happen. ?? There will be another one in January and it may be best for us to just stay home and get well.

This weather is killing me!! It has been rainy all week so far (up to 3 inches in some spots!) and the winds has been crazy. It's blown 2 of my plants over and even blew the hose-house off the porch!! I mean it's not REALLY heavy but good grief! I didn't think it would blow it off completely.

Oh, and on the diet front. (What diet? you may be asking...) Well. I went to the dr last week to see if he could give me some idea of why I can eat healthy, exercise some and still not lost weight. It's been so frustrating. Well, he asked me to start journaling all the food that goes in my mouth. So I started on Monday and the first day I ate really well. I ate when I was hungry and didn't try to eat low-calorie. I still ended up with a 2200-calorie intake for the day. Which, isn't great, but I didn't htink it was bad for me. Well, on Tuesday, I ate cereal for breakfast and then PB&J with the boys for lunch. I about had a stroke when I realized how many calories I had consumed with those two meals!! Cereal is a diet killer! So I started paying attention to calorie count when I would pick my foods for each meal and I am amazed!

For example, this morning, I ate oatmeal for breakfast and knew I would want something sweet in it (my favorite is Maple and Brown sugar!) so I looked at the syrup bottle forcalorie count. There are 210 calories in 1/4 cup! That's a lot of syrup! So, a 1/2 is 4 ounces of liquid, making 1/4 cup 2 ounces. Well, I only needed 1 ounce of syrup (yes I measured it to see), only giving me 105 calories for the syrup and 73 calories for the oatmeal itself. Less that 200 calories for the entire meal. :) I was so excited when I realized this! Anyway, I just wanted to share...hopefully it will make a difference in both my choices AND in my weight!

Out of the mouths...

The other day, when all the girls were here, all the little kids were playing in the basement. My nephew came up and asked if he could play with the darts that we have downstairs. I told him he could. I said, "Oh, and be careful of the little ones and where they are..." Before I could get all of that out, he said, "I know, I have a B.B. gun." I just laughed and said, "I know..." And he laughed and said, "Yes, I understand. A mother's love demands it."

:-)

What a conversation!

We had a very interesting conversation with Brent the other night. He asked about being baptized and why he couldn't take communion yet. We went through the discussion of what it means to be baptized and the commitment behind it. We talked about why a person would be baptized and what ages we were (Terry and I) when we were baptized.

He was asking such big questions and didn't seem to understand what we were saying or why he couldn't. I finally asked him, "If something bad were to happen to you and you died, where do you think you would go?" He answered, "Heaven." I told him that because of that answer, we were positive and sure that he would go to heaven and that it wasn't time for him to be baptized.

We encouraged him to talk with us ANYTIME he had questions concerning baptism or when he was just thinking about it. It just amazed me what he was thinking!

A glorious weekend!

Well, we had a wonderful weekend with the ladies...just the ladies. No hubbies, no kids! We all needed a break and it was awesome!

It started really on Thursday for me and my sis. We did the shopping and got the house ready. In the middle of the night, the girls got here (3 of the remaining 4) and we all slept in the next morning! When we finally got ready, we left for Kimmswick, MO and did some shopping with the 4th member to come (for a total of 6 of us). After doing some shopping, we left for St Louis and sort of saw the arch...I got us lost (sort of) and we ended up in Illinois! LOL Anyway, we saw the arch and then went to dinner at a Brazilian restaurant...Yemanja Brasil.....A truly wonderful and delectable experience! It wasn't in the best place of St Louis, but it was worth it! HA!

After getting home that night we played games till the wee hours and then slept in again!

On Saturday, we went to Crown Valley Winery and toured the facility and tasted some wines. WOW! I found some I really like! :)

After we got home, we ate supper and played more games. On Sunday morning we had a small service here at the house and then everyone started leaving.

Poor K ended up with her rental car breaking down on her about 20 minutes away from my house, so G and J and Dad went to take her to the airport. She made it fine and all is well.

We are so blessed to have friendships that will last time and distance....AND blessed to have husbands who allow us the joy of getting together to renew old friendships! We're planning this again for 2 years from now...I can hardly wait!

EDITED 10-25-07
I saw a sign this morning on the way to preschool with Clayton that said:

Blessed is he who finds the beauty when on a detour.

LOL I just thought this was too coincidental NOT to put it in here! :)

Innocent Prayers

I forgot to post this last week. But when Janice was on her way to St Louis in the ambulance and her BP bottomed out, they took her to Washington, MO to get her stabalized in the ER before going on. Well, we were on our way to Tae Kwon Do when we got the call and before we went in, I had the boys come to the front of the van with me to say a special prayer for Grandma Niecey.

Clayton said his quick prayer and then Brent prayed this:

"Dear God, we know that it might be the end for Grandma Niecey right now and we know that it will make everyone sad if she goes. But we ask that you please be with her and the doctors right now and help them do good for her. And also please be with Daddy and Aunt Darlene and Aunt Donna and help them know that if this is the end that they will be okay and that Grandma will be in a better place...and just help them not be sad."

I had tears in my eyes and chills on my arms.....his prayers are so innocent, so sweet, and so intuitive.