Quote
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Sad
As anticipated, the morning is off to a hard start. I'm so sad. So sad for Wesley. Scared of all the uncertainly. Scared of the change. Sad.
Monday, August 2, 2010
1st Day of School and Rain
Because I need to start with something light-hearted, I will begin with the details of our first official day of school for this year. Then, I will move on to the "rain".
So, today was it! I'm proud to say it was a very good first day!! We started with devotion, Bible reading, and a character lesson. Then Luke and Grace did phonics together while Mary Ruth and Bella Peace enjoyed some play time. Next we all worked together at the table for a while on our bar graphs. I emailed a few of you to gather some data. They really had fun with this! After we had finished this assignment, we all stopped and enjoyed a quick break before Luke and Grace did math. Normally they do math separately, but today's lessons were pretty similar so we I put them together. Finally it was lunch time!! After lunch we went outside for a little vitamin D and exercise (and to let Bella Peace run off some energy before nap). When we were sufficiently sweaty we headed back in for some reading and "rock-rock" time. I "rock-rock" Bella Peace before nap each day. When she was down, the three big ones and I hit the science book. Then it was rest time for all!!! The only thing we had left on our agenda for after rest time was a little more individual reading. It was a very good day. So if you are interested, this year we will be doing Bible/character/scripture memory collected from a variety of sources, Abeka phonics (this includes reading, handwriting, spelling, and language/grammar, Bob Jones math 2 for Luke/math 1 for Grace, Apologia science (2 days per week), Abeka history (2 days per week), and some other extra activities including music, art, missions, etc.
For the past 2 years, we've gotten all dressed up, fixed our hair nice, and really made a fuss over the 1st day of school with lots of pictures to document the big event. This year I still took a few pictures, but we didn't get all dolled up for the occasion. Maybe it's because I'm almost 9 months pregnant. Maybe it's because things have been so crazy lately. Or maybe the new is wearing off. I can hardly believe we are starting our 3rd year of homeschooing! WOW! Anyway, here are the pictures and story behind the pictures that I did take.
We've been getting in a few school days here and there over the past couple of months. Grace had an assignment last week to collect data and make a bar graph. Of course everyone wanted in on this fun, so all the big kids made a bar graph.
Luke collected information on people's favorite color. Blue won with pink being a close second.
Grace's graph was on birthday months. June had the most birthdays by a long shot!
And finally, Mary Ruth's bar graph revealed that the classic ice cream flavors, vanilla and chocolate, never go out of style!
Bella Peace enjoyed feeling part of it all. She kept yelling, "blue" and "chocolate".
If you participated by providing info for us, thanks so much for playing! It was a lot of fun.
So now for part 2 of the post..."rain." Just as we were wrapping up for lunch, we got some unexpected rain, and I don't mean the kind that falls from clouds in the sky. Remember in my last post, I said when it rains, it pours. Well, yes, it was pouring on us again today. Today we were shocked and surprised by some very unexpected news. I'm going to be intentionally a little vague, because I try to be careful with the specifics of where we live in case some weirdo happens on my blog. So it may be a little hard to follow, but here's the story (and BTW I have Wesley's permission to share):
Wesley is an athletic trainer employed by the largest local hospital to provide sports medicine coverage to one particular local high school. There is one other local provider of sports medicine coverage in the area who works very closely with the other hospital in our area. These two are always in serious competition. Wesley has been assigned to the same high school for going 9 years. He loves the students, the parents, the teachers, and the staff. AND, they really, really love him. A brand new principal just started to work at the school Wesley is assigned to. Principals have a lot of power and authority. This new principal exercised his power today by making his first order of business in his new role to out Wesley. That's right, he ask Wesley to clear out as of today!!!!!! Now remember, Wesley is not employed by the school. He is employed by the hospital which is good and means that he does still have a job. I know it's confusing and hard to follow. This is something that hospitals and surgery centers often do as a community service and in hopes of getting referrals when injuries occur (as they so often do in sports). So again, Wesley is still employed by the hospital and is not in danger of that changing so far as we know. However, he is no longer at this school.
This news was devastating to us all, but especially hard on Wesley. He's got a great reputation, is very well liked, works hard, and has done so much in his 9 years at this school. The principal assured Wesley that he had only heard great things about him, but that this was just a business decision. This principal just prefers to work with that other provider I mentioned above. There's also a great deal of politics involved in all this, and details that I may not be at liberally to share. But the bottom line is that as of now, Wesley doesn't have a school to report to in the morning. His supervisors plan to re-assign him in another school or another position, but as of tonight we have no idea of where that might be. It could mean a change of hours which might be nice. Or it could mean a big commute which would not be nice. We just don't know. At least we do know that he does still have a job. Additional, he's been showered by love and support from many, many coaches, teachers, parents, students, other school and hospital staff, and friends. Many of which want to go to bat for him and try to "do something" about this great injustice, BUT the fact is it's very unlikely that any one's noise is going to make a bit of difference. The principal seems to have his mind very made up!
Our kiddos were so sad for their Daddy. They all cried. Luke was upset that we won't be the tigers anymore. Grace was upset because we won't be the purple team anymore. They were all so sad at the thought of never going back to visit, never going back to Daddy's purple office (which is what they call it), not seeing the people at school anymore. We assured them that we can visit, but they were still so sad. They actually cried and cried about it for quite a while. Wesley was pretty emotional as well. He has literally watched kids grow to be young men and women. He cares so much for these students. He has even been planning to start a Bible study out at school. He really has their best interests at heart. That's what hurts him the most. This is a horrible week for this to occur. It's one of the busiest weeks of the year, and the students will suffer this week with such a big transition. He works so hard going over and beyond to take care of them as they practice in this terrible heat. It will be impossible for a new person to start tomorrow and be completely prepared for to care for them immediately as he was prepared to do. This doesn't matter to the new principal. He wants to make the switch immediately.
It literally makes me sick to my stomach, especially because I know there's so much politics and stuff involved. It hurts me to see how it's effecting Wesley, the kids, and others. It makes me sad to know that relationships will change. Sad to know that Wesley won't be just 15 minutes down the road anymore. Sad to know that he will have to start over, rebuild. I've grown to love so many people at that school also. We have so much history there. We moved to our current house to be close to that school. Change is hard. But, right now, I'm reminded that "the just shall live by faith".
I don't understand the timing of all this. We've been in a hard season of life for quite a while now. We've been challenged over and over again lately. It's impossible to make sense of it all. Maybe we will one day look back and see God's hand on all this. I'm sure we are growing from it all. This scripture comes to mind:
My brethen, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let your patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
James 1:2-4
Faith. WOW. I've said time and again that it's been challenged and tested for quite a while now. I will not be moved!! I will fight the fight. I will run the race. I will not quit. I will not give up. I will press on!!! Faith, such an appropriate middle name for our sweet baby girl who will be here in just a few more weeks.
A couple of interesting tidbits to leave you with:
1. As much as Wesley loves the people, we have been praying about a career move for a couple of years now. Again, he loves the people and many, many other aspects of his job. But there's been other motivating factors to lead him to look at other possibilities. However, the right doors have not been opened. Maybe this is God's way of bringing about that change. This is just not the way we expected it to happen. We were just unprepared and shocked by it.
2. Now this is odd, but here goes...yesterday after the service ended at church, a man came up to Wesley. He said that he was just visiting our church, and he noticed our family. He said that during the church service he believed that God gave him a word that he was suppose to deliver to Wesley. He said, whatever is happening in your life, God wants you to be encouraged. He went on to encourage Wesley that he was making a difference in the lives of other people. It was pretty strange for us, and the man said it was strange for him too. I assumed it was just all the car stuff and other recent craziness, but now I wonder if that was a word in preparation for today. Wild, right?
Who knows what tomorrow holds. Tonight I am going to try to focus on the things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, and praiseworthy. There are still a lot of those things in our lives.
I think that school will be hard tomorrow, because this is all so distracting. But again, I will try to take my thoughts captive and focus on the Lord and my many blessings and not all this other stuff.
Please pray with us!! Pray for Wesley. He wasn't able to completely clear out today, because he has accumulated a lot of stuff and big equipment over the years. Tomorrow he will have to finish clearing out his office of 9 years. Lots of memories. Lots of time, energy, and effort went into turning a junked out old portable building into a very, very nice health care clinic at his school. That run down portable became his very special "purple office". It will be hard to leave it all behind and say good bye to lots of special people tomorrow. He will also likely be facing the "new guy" which according to reports is actually a 20 something young lady. No fun. No fun at all. Additional almost as a side note in light of this new news, the hunt for transportation continues!!
So, today was it! I'm proud to say it was a very good first day!! We started with devotion, Bible reading, and a character lesson. Then Luke and Grace did phonics together while Mary Ruth and Bella Peace enjoyed some play time. Next we all worked together at the table for a while on our bar graphs. I emailed a few of you to gather some data. They really had fun with this! After we had finished this assignment, we all stopped and enjoyed a quick break before Luke and Grace did math. Normally they do math separately, but today's lessons were pretty similar so we I put them together. Finally it was lunch time!! After lunch we went outside for a little vitamin D and exercise (and to let Bella Peace run off some energy before nap). When we were sufficiently sweaty we headed back in for some reading and "rock-rock" time. I "rock-rock" Bella Peace before nap each day. When she was down, the three big ones and I hit the science book. Then it was rest time for all!!! The only thing we had left on our agenda for after rest time was a little more individual reading. It was a very good day. So if you are interested, this year we will be doing Bible/character/scripture memory collected from a variety of sources, Abeka phonics (this includes reading, handwriting, spelling, and language/grammar, Bob Jones math 2 for Luke/math 1 for Grace, Apologia science (2 days per week), Abeka history (2 days per week), and some other extra activities including music, art, missions, etc.
For the past 2 years, we've gotten all dressed up, fixed our hair nice, and really made a fuss over the 1st day of school with lots of pictures to document the big event. This year I still took a few pictures, but we didn't get all dolled up for the occasion. Maybe it's because I'm almost 9 months pregnant. Maybe it's because things have been so crazy lately. Or maybe the new is wearing off. I can hardly believe we are starting our 3rd year of homeschooing! WOW! Anyway, here are the pictures and story behind the pictures that I did take.
We've been getting in a few school days here and there over the past couple of months. Grace had an assignment last week to collect data and make a bar graph. Of course everyone wanted in on this fun, so all the big kids made a bar graph.
Luke collected information on people's favorite color. Blue won with pink being a close second.
Grace's graph was on birthday months. June had the most birthdays by a long shot!
And finally, Mary Ruth's bar graph revealed that the classic ice cream flavors, vanilla and chocolate, never go out of style!
Bella Peace enjoyed feeling part of it all. She kept yelling, "blue" and "chocolate".
If you participated by providing info for us, thanks so much for playing! It was a lot of fun.
So now for part 2 of the post..."rain." Just as we were wrapping up for lunch, we got some unexpected rain, and I don't mean the kind that falls from clouds in the sky. Remember in my last post, I said when it rains, it pours. Well, yes, it was pouring on us again today. Today we were shocked and surprised by some very unexpected news. I'm going to be intentionally a little vague, because I try to be careful with the specifics of where we live in case some weirdo happens on my blog. So it may be a little hard to follow, but here's the story (and BTW I have Wesley's permission to share):
Wesley is an athletic trainer employed by the largest local hospital to provide sports medicine coverage to one particular local high school. There is one other local provider of sports medicine coverage in the area who works very closely with the other hospital in our area. These two are always in serious competition. Wesley has been assigned to the same high school for going 9 years. He loves the students, the parents, the teachers, and the staff. AND, they really, really love him. A brand new principal just started to work at the school Wesley is assigned to. Principals have a lot of power and authority. This new principal exercised his power today by making his first order of business in his new role to out Wesley. That's right, he ask Wesley to clear out as of today!!!!!! Now remember, Wesley is not employed by the school. He is employed by the hospital which is good and means that he does still have a job. I know it's confusing and hard to follow. This is something that hospitals and surgery centers often do as a community service and in hopes of getting referrals when injuries occur (as they so often do in sports). So again, Wesley is still employed by the hospital and is not in danger of that changing so far as we know. However, he is no longer at this school.
This news was devastating to us all, but especially hard on Wesley. He's got a great reputation, is very well liked, works hard, and has done so much in his 9 years at this school. The principal assured Wesley that he had only heard great things about him, but that this was just a business decision. This principal just prefers to work with that other provider I mentioned above. There's also a great deal of politics involved in all this, and details that I may not be at liberally to share. But the bottom line is that as of now, Wesley doesn't have a school to report to in the morning. His supervisors plan to re-assign him in another school or another position, but as of tonight we have no idea of where that might be. It could mean a change of hours which might be nice. Or it could mean a big commute which would not be nice. We just don't know. At least we do know that he does still have a job. Additional, he's been showered by love and support from many, many coaches, teachers, parents, students, other school and hospital staff, and friends. Many of which want to go to bat for him and try to "do something" about this great injustice, BUT the fact is it's very unlikely that any one's noise is going to make a bit of difference. The principal seems to have his mind very made up!
Our kiddos were so sad for their Daddy. They all cried. Luke was upset that we won't be the tigers anymore. Grace was upset because we won't be the purple team anymore. They were all so sad at the thought of never going back to visit, never going back to Daddy's purple office (which is what they call it), not seeing the people at school anymore. We assured them that we can visit, but they were still so sad. They actually cried and cried about it for quite a while. Wesley was pretty emotional as well. He has literally watched kids grow to be young men and women. He cares so much for these students. He has even been planning to start a Bible study out at school. He really has their best interests at heart. That's what hurts him the most. This is a horrible week for this to occur. It's one of the busiest weeks of the year, and the students will suffer this week with such a big transition. He works so hard going over and beyond to take care of them as they practice in this terrible heat. It will be impossible for a new person to start tomorrow and be completely prepared for to care for them immediately as he was prepared to do. This doesn't matter to the new principal. He wants to make the switch immediately.
It literally makes me sick to my stomach, especially because I know there's so much politics and stuff involved. It hurts me to see how it's effecting Wesley, the kids, and others. It makes me sad to know that relationships will change. Sad to know that Wesley won't be just 15 minutes down the road anymore. Sad to know that he will have to start over, rebuild. I've grown to love so many people at that school also. We have so much history there. We moved to our current house to be close to that school. Change is hard. But, right now, I'm reminded that "the just shall live by faith".
I don't understand the timing of all this. We've been in a hard season of life for quite a while now. We've been challenged over and over again lately. It's impossible to make sense of it all. Maybe we will one day look back and see God's hand on all this. I'm sure we are growing from it all. This scripture comes to mind:
My brethen, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let your patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
James 1:2-4
Faith. WOW. I've said time and again that it's been challenged and tested for quite a while now. I will not be moved!! I will fight the fight. I will run the race. I will not quit. I will not give up. I will press on!!! Faith, such an appropriate middle name for our sweet baby girl who will be here in just a few more weeks.
A couple of interesting tidbits to leave you with:
1. As much as Wesley loves the people, we have been praying about a career move for a couple of years now. Again, he loves the people and many, many other aspects of his job. But there's been other motivating factors to lead him to look at other possibilities. However, the right doors have not been opened. Maybe this is God's way of bringing about that change. This is just not the way we expected it to happen. We were just unprepared and shocked by it.
2. Now this is odd, but here goes...yesterday after the service ended at church, a man came up to Wesley. He said that he was just visiting our church, and he noticed our family. He said that during the church service he believed that God gave him a word that he was suppose to deliver to Wesley. He said, whatever is happening in your life, God wants you to be encouraged. He went on to encourage Wesley that he was making a difference in the lives of other people. It was pretty strange for us, and the man said it was strange for him too. I assumed it was just all the car stuff and other recent craziness, but now I wonder if that was a word in preparation for today. Wild, right?
Who knows what tomorrow holds. Tonight I am going to try to focus on the things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, and praiseworthy. There are still a lot of those things in our lives.
I think that school will be hard tomorrow, because this is all so distracting. But again, I will try to take my thoughts captive and focus on the Lord and my many blessings and not all this other stuff.
Please pray with us!! Pray for Wesley. He wasn't able to completely clear out today, because he has accumulated a lot of stuff and big equipment over the years. Tomorrow he will have to finish clearing out his office of 9 years. Lots of memories. Lots of time, energy, and effort went into turning a junked out old portable building into a very, very nice health care clinic at his school. That run down portable became his very special "purple office". It will be hard to leave it all behind and say good bye to lots of special people tomorrow. He will also likely be facing the "new guy" which according to reports is actually a 20 something young lady. No fun. No fun at all. Additional almost as a side note in light of this new news, the hunt for transportation continues!!
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Starting School
First, how do you like the new blog design? (Thanks, Katy for the help!)
Tomorrow we start back to school full time. We've done a few days over the summer, but not many and not every subject everyday. I've just finished up a few details and need to get in bed soon, but thought I would jump on her real quick. I really mean that tonight. :)
Luke starts 2nd grade. Grace starts 1st grade. Mary Ruth is doing some pre-K work. And Bella Peace has a few special activities too. She calls them her "cool work".
I'm excited to start back. It brings a sense of structure to our days. But, summer isn't over, and we there's still plenty of spontaneous fun to be had!
As cliche as this sounds, all of life really is a classroom. I've been getting "schooled" lately myself. Guess we all are, all the time.
One cool thing I learned today is this:
"The just shall live by faith" appears 4 times in scripture.
I love this simple reminder of how we should live. By faith. So good!!
This verse was a special one to us as we began school last year:
"So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." Psalm 90:12
There are several that stand out to me in regards to school this year. Here's a few:
"Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge." Proverbs 23:12
and this passage:
Proverbs 2:1-11
1My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;
2So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;
3Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;
4If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;
5Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
6For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
7He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.
8He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.
9Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.
10When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;
11Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee
Since Luke started kindergarten we've memorized an entire Psalm each year (along with other verses). This year, we may just have to consider that passage about for our memory selection.
Well, it's time for bed. I know many of you are also starting school tomorrow. I will be saying a bedtime prayer for us all!
(BTW, scroll on down. I've got several new post up.)
Tomorrow we start back to school full time. We've done a few days over the summer, but not many and not every subject everyday. I've just finished up a few details and need to get in bed soon, but thought I would jump on her real quick. I really mean that tonight. :)
Luke starts 2nd grade. Grace starts 1st grade. Mary Ruth is doing some pre-K work. And Bella Peace has a few special activities too. She calls them her "cool work".
I'm excited to start back. It brings a sense of structure to our days. But, summer isn't over, and we there's still plenty of spontaneous fun to be had!
As cliche as this sounds, all of life really is a classroom. I've been getting "schooled" lately myself. Guess we all are, all the time.
One cool thing I learned today is this:
"The just shall live by faith" appears 4 times in scripture.
I love this simple reminder of how we should live. By faith. So good!!
This verse was a special one to us as we began school last year:
"So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." Psalm 90:12
There are several that stand out to me in regards to school this year. Here's a few:
"Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge." Proverbs 23:12
and this passage:
Proverbs 2:1-11
1My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;
2So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;
3Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;
4If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;
5Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
6For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
7He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.
8He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.
9Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.
10When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;
11Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee
Since Luke started kindergarten we've memorized an entire Psalm each year (along with other verses). This year, we may just have to consider that passage about for our memory selection.
Well, it's time for bed. I know many of you are also starting school tomorrow. I will be saying a bedtime prayer for us all!
(BTW, scroll on down. I've got several new post up.)
Under Construction
The blog is once again under construction.
Here's a cute picture just for fun...
This girl is a MESS!!
Here's a cute picture just for fun...
This girl is a MESS!!
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Here's What's Happening In Our Neck of the Woods...
**Pictures posted at the end**
I noticed that my background was expiring and not knowing what exactly that meant, I thought I'd better "grab" something else really quick. Since I was here already, I thought it appropriate to give a quick update. Before I get to the update, let me just say that this background is temporary. I really did just grab something new quickly. I don't have time to work on it right now. So for the update...
I'm pretty sure this has been one of the craziest, busiest, most hectic, stressful, summers of my life with the past week being the height of it all. It definitely ranks very high on the list at minimum. You've heard it said, "when it rains it pours." Well it's been pouring on us!!
The biggest thing has been the fact that 7 weeks ago today our van died. It had been on it's last leg for quite a while. We had decided that when the next thing happened, we would not do any new repairs requiring more than just a few dollars. It is/was a 1994 white (my favorite color for a vehicle) Nissan Quest that was given to us 5 years ago. It was perfect for our family, not a lot of bells and whistles, easy to get in and out of, decent cargo room for a mini-van, and more. We did not fully appreciate it like we should have. It's not completely dead, but the repairs will cost more than it's worth. At 260,000 miles in it's current condition it's valued at like $500. Whoo Hoo!!! Another thing about this mini-van is that it would for sure not fit another child. That fact surprises a lot of people, but with car seats and booster seats it just won't work. So, it wasn't going to work after Elizabeth was born anyway.
SO, last Monday we set out to buy something new. We truly expected to come home with a new vehicle that day. I had done an extensive amount of research. Wesley had done an extensive amount of research. Wesley had also already done some browsing on his own. We had a good idea of what would and would not work. We set a budget. We printed blue book prices. We had several print outs of actual vehicles to go and see with a set of map quest directions to most. We packed a lunch and planned to be home with a new car for dinner. About 10 hours later we returned home. Ragged. Worn out. BUT, driving possibility # 1. It wasn't perfect, but we were willing to settle. All we needed was a clean bill of health from our mechanic. Wesley had to put in a few hours of work on Tuesday morning, but then he planned to swing in to the mechanic and head back to the dealer with a check. An hour later he called with a pretty bad report from the mechanic. It wasn't that the dealer had been dishonest. He told us that he had just received this vehicle as a trade in the day before and it had not been check out. That fact was obvious as it was pretty lived in. You know, what I mean? So, we took it back. Wesley took off the rest of the day and we decided to hit the roads again.
Day 2 left in the afternoon. Returned home without a vehicle bedtime. Only the second day had been WAY more taxing that the first. The kiddos were tired of riding around in pursuit. They were basically in the truck (borrowed Expedition from precious friends) ALL DAY LONG for the second day. They were tired, hungry, bored, frustrated, whiny, fighting with each other, and driving us crazy!!! Right before time to call it quits and come home, another precious friend called my cell phone to check on us. She could hear the stress and tension and the crying and whining (them and me) over the phone and offered to take the kiddos overnight for us. We quickly agreed!!
Day 3 I had an appointment with the diabetes control center to monitor how my diet and sugar levels were doing. Wesley went to work for the morning again. After my appointment we decided since we didn't have the kiddos, we would try again. Day 3 ended with us picking up the kiddos late and returning home again at bedtime with still no vehicle!!
Day 4 Wesley really had to take care of a few details at work, and I had a big meeting to prepare for that night. So we kind of took the day off from car shopping, but not really. I still was looking at all the used car sites and finding new prospects.
Day 5 Wesley went to work in the morning then drove a couple of hours to look at a very promising prospect. Me and the kiddos stayed home to recover. I knew enough about this vehicle to know what I'd be getting. We both fully expected he would drive this one home. We started making plans for how we could get both his car and the new/used one home. This one was from a individual seller, so we wanted to have a mechanic look it over. Wesley took it to a local place, and guess what. It also received less than a good report. It was an older model and based on the report, we just felt it wasn't going to be reliable.
Today was day 6. By this point we were just scratching our heads trying to figure out what next. We are weary. No, not weary. Exhausted!! We did set out again with kiddos in tow. BUT, once again we returned home at bedtime empty handed.
For us "summer" kind of ends tomorrow meaning that we start back to school full time on Monday. Wesley's schedule also gets cranked up starting Monday. All his athletes will be back and 2 a days start Monday. We both said last Monday that we couldn't start this coming week without a vehicle. BUT, that's exactly where we are at. We do have at least one other prospect, but again it's with a private owner so we will need to take it to a mechanic. It's also an hour away. Oh, boy. And don't forget I said that this is just the biggest thing that's happened recently. There have been others. I just don't have the time or energy to write about all of them.
On another note, Elizabeth is doing great!! I went to my OB at 32 weeks and all was well. I go back this coming week at 34 weeks. I can't believe how close it is to her arrival. And I know I say this like every post, but I can't believe how not ready I am. Everything feels a mess. Everything is out of order. I'm wondering how I'm ever going to get caught up, especially after this past week. But I also know that it's all going to be fine. Sometimes I'm really, really stressed about it. Other times, I imagine holding this sweet girl in my arms, touching her, smelling her sweet baby skin, looking at her and it's in those times that it feels all is right in the world. I get really, really excited about just meeting her. Then all this other "stuff" just doesn't seem to matter!
OK, so for fun here's a few pictures...
32 weeks
Grace mothering Bella Peace who is sucking on a baby doll bottle and riding in a doll stroller.
Our garden
Sunflowers that Grace planted as part of her birthday wish in April
Sweet and silly Mary Ruth with a watermelon from our garden.
My husband the funny man with a huge zucchini squash from our garden. This one just might hold a record!! Hey, I just realized we took all these pictures this week!! The ones in the garden were taken after getting home one of those car shopping nights. We managed some good times after all!! :)
Practicing his technique for Elizabeth
Now, what's been happening in your neck of the woods??
I noticed that my background was expiring and not knowing what exactly that meant, I thought I'd better "grab" something else really quick. Since I was here already, I thought it appropriate to give a quick update. Before I get to the update, let me just say that this background is temporary. I really did just grab something new quickly. I don't have time to work on it right now. So for the update...
I'm pretty sure this has been one of the craziest, busiest, most hectic, stressful, summers of my life with the past week being the height of it all. It definitely ranks very high on the list at minimum. You've heard it said, "when it rains it pours." Well it's been pouring on us!!
The biggest thing has been the fact that 7 weeks ago today our van died. It had been on it's last leg for quite a while. We had decided that when the next thing happened, we would not do any new repairs requiring more than just a few dollars. It is/was a 1994 white (my favorite color for a vehicle) Nissan Quest that was given to us 5 years ago. It was perfect for our family, not a lot of bells and whistles, easy to get in and out of, decent cargo room for a mini-van, and more. We did not fully appreciate it like we should have. It's not completely dead, but the repairs will cost more than it's worth. At 260,000 miles in it's current condition it's valued at like $500. Whoo Hoo!!! Another thing about this mini-van is that it would for sure not fit another child. That fact surprises a lot of people, but with car seats and booster seats it just won't work. So, it wasn't going to work after Elizabeth was born anyway.
SO, last Monday we set out to buy something new. We truly expected to come home with a new vehicle that day. I had done an extensive amount of research. Wesley had done an extensive amount of research. Wesley had also already done some browsing on his own. We had a good idea of what would and would not work. We set a budget. We printed blue book prices. We had several print outs of actual vehicles to go and see with a set of map quest directions to most. We packed a lunch and planned to be home with a new car for dinner. About 10 hours later we returned home. Ragged. Worn out. BUT, driving possibility # 1. It wasn't perfect, but we were willing to settle. All we needed was a clean bill of health from our mechanic. Wesley had to put in a few hours of work on Tuesday morning, but then he planned to swing in to the mechanic and head back to the dealer with a check. An hour later he called with a pretty bad report from the mechanic. It wasn't that the dealer had been dishonest. He told us that he had just received this vehicle as a trade in the day before and it had not been check out. That fact was obvious as it was pretty lived in. You know, what I mean? So, we took it back. Wesley took off the rest of the day and we decided to hit the roads again.
Day 2 left in the afternoon. Returned home without a vehicle bedtime. Only the second day had been WAY more taxing that the first. The kiddos were tired of riding around in pursuit. They were basically in the truck (borrowed Expedition from precious friends) ALL DAY LONG for the second day. They were tired, hungry, bored, frustrated, whiny, fighting with each other, and driving us crazy!!! Right before time to call it quits and come home, another precious friend called my cell phone to check on us. She could hear the stress and tension and the crying and whining (them and me) over the phone and offered to take the kiddos overnight for us. We quickly agreed!!
Day 3 I had an appointment with the diabetes control center to monitor how my diet and sugar levels were doing. Wesley went to work for the morning again. After my appointment we decided since we didn't have the kiddos, we would try again. Day 3 ended with us picking up the kiddos late and returning home again at bedtime with still no vehicle!!
Day 4 Wesley really had to take care of a few details at work, and I had a big meeting to prepare for that night. So we kind of took the day off from car shopping, but not really. I still was looking at all the used car sites and finding new prospects.
Day 5 Wesley went to work in the morning then drove a couple of hours to look at a very promising prospect. Me and the kiddos stayed home to recover. I knew enough about this vehicle to know what I'd be getting. We both fully expected he would drive this one home. We started making plans for how we could get both his car and the new/used one home. This one was from a individual seller, so we wanted to have a mechanic look it over. Wesley took it to a local place, and guess what. It also received less than a good report. It was an older model and based on the report, we just felt it wasn't going to be reliable.
Today was day 6. By this point we were just scratching our heads trying to figure out what next. We are weary. No, not weary. Exhausted!! We did set out again with kiddos in tow. BUT, once again we returned home at bedtime empty handed.
For us "summer" kind of ends tomorrow meaning that we start back to school full time on Monday. Wesley's schedule also gets cranked up starting Monday. All his athletes will be back and 2 a days start Monday. We both said last Monday that we couldn't start this coming week without a vehicle. BUT, that's exactly where we are at. We do have at least one other prospect, but again it's with a private owner so we will need to take it to a mechanic. It's also an hour away. Oh, boy. And don't forget I said that this is just the biggest thing that's happened recently. There have been others. I just don't have the time or energy to write about all of them.
On another note, Elizabeth is doing great!! I went to my OB at 32 weeks and all was well. I go back this coming week at 34 weeks. I can't believe how close it is to her arrival. And I know I say this like every post, but I can't believe how not ready I am. Everything feels a mess. Everything is out of order. I'm wondering how I'm ever going to get caught up, especially after this past week. But I also know that it's all going to be fine. Sometimes I'm really, really stressed about it. Other times, I imagine holding this sweet girl in my arms, touching her, smelling her sweet baby skin, looking at her and it's in those times that it feels all is right in the world. I get really, really excited about just meeting her. Then all this other "stuff" just doesn't seem to matter!
OK, so for fun here's a few pictures...
32 weeks
Grace mothering Bella Peace who is sucking on a baby doll bottle and riding in a doll stroller.
Our garden
Sunflowers that Grace planted as part of her birthday wish in April
Sweet and silly Mary Ruth with a watermelon from our garden.
My husband the funny man with a huge zucchini squash from our garden. This one just might hold a record!! Hey, I just realized we took all these pictures this week!! The ones in the garden were taken after getting home one of those car shopping nights. We managed some good times after all!! :)
Practicing his technique for Elizabeth
Now, what's been happening in your neck of the woods??
Monday, July 19, 2010
Unloading
So I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed! I've got about 9 weeks until Elizabeth arrives and SO VERY MUCH TO DO better she gets here. We've got so many projects we need to complete, clothes to unpack and wash (haven't quite figured out where I'm going to put all the baby clothes and gear), we're about to start back to school full time, and so much more. Plus we still don't have a new (by new I mean new to us) vehicle that will fit us all. AND, this whole sugar things is stressing me out!! The first couple of days went well, but since then it seems that my sugar is still a too high even though I'm following the diet exactly! The frustrating part is I'm questioning myself a lot and wondering if I missed something or if I'm doing something wrong. I have another appointment with the Diabetes Control Center next week for them to check my food journal and blood sugar readings to evaluate how I'm doing, but that seems like forever away. I'm spending a lot of time, energy, and thought into planning my meals and measuring out everything, but it seems it's not working. On top of that, I feel like I'm getting bigger by the second (probably just my imagination, but the diet they have me on does require me to eat more than I was eating before) and am starting to worry about Elizabeth coming early or being really, really big when born (these are the two major risk to her with gestational diabetes). So as you can see, I've got a lot on my mind! I go back to my OB doctor this Thursday, and I'm really hoping that he can put my mind at ease a little. Of course I know that the only true source of peace in through the Lord, so please pray with me! Thanks for allowing me to get all that off my chest. Now, I must get busy.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
I'm Addicted!!!
Yes, it's true! After just one time, I'm so totally addicted to couponing!!! I'm saving money, but also it's so fun!! So here's a look at some of my best deals!! There's more, but some we've already consumed and others I just didn't feel like rounding up. These are from more than one outing, but all within the past week. I forgot to take pictures before I started putting things away.
This pictures shows around $100 worth of merchandise. I paid about $35, plus I have CVS bucks in my wallet for next time!!!
These next pictures are some close ups of the merchandise.
Those Huggies diapers and the wipes you see in front of them, were COMPLETELY FREE!!!
I paid less than 50 cents for everything you see in the picture below!!
In the next picture I feel bad admitting that I spent almost $1 per bottle of shampoo which is funny, because that is still a good deal. It's also our preferred brand for Wesley and the kids! The rest of the money out of pocket came from the Pampers which were a deal, but not as good as some of the other things. Also I paid tax on the full amount which makes up a good bit of the total spent.
Lots of this stuff was totally free. This last picture was my favorite deal. Just because it was fun. First I got the contact solution, totally free, plus CVS bucks which resulted in me getting the energy drinks totally free plus CVS bucks which then got me the diapers TOTALLY FREE!!! Now I wear glasses not contacts, but I know plenty of people who could use the solution. And we will no way drink the crazy energy drink, but again know people who would. BUT, getting those items was the method to getting the free diapers. UM, yeah, I think we just might be able to use those!! :)
Now if I could just get faster with this process!! For all you girls who have already been doing this a while, please pass me your tips!! I can't wait until my next outing!! Oh, the life of a housewife and mother!!!
This pictures shows around $100 worth of merchandise. I paid about $35, plus I have CVS bucks in my wallet for next time!!!
These next pictures are some close ups of the merchandise.
Those Huggies diapers and the wipes you see in front of them, were COMPLETELY FREE!!!
I paid less than 50 cents for everything you see in the picture below!!
In the next picture I feel bad admitting that I spent almost $1 per bottle of shampoo which is funny, because that is still a good deal. It's also our preferred brand for Wesley and the kids! The rest of the money out of pocket came from the Pampers which were a deal, but not as good as some of the other things. Also I paid tax on the full amount which makes up a good bit of the total spent.
Lots of this stuff was totally free. This last picture was my favorite deal. Just because it was fun. First I got the contact solution, totally free, plus CVS bucks which resulted in me getting the energy drinks totally free plus CVS bucks which then got me the diapers TOTALLY FREE!!! Now I wear glasses not contacts, but I know plenty of people who could use the solution. And we will no way drink the crazy energy drink, but again know people who would. BUT, getting those items was the method to getting the free diapers. UM, yeah, I think we just might be able to use those!! :)
Now if I could just get faster with this process!! For all you girls who have already been doing this a while, please pass me your tips!! I can't wait until my next outing!! Oh, the life of a housewife and mother!!!
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