Saturday's Happenings

Today I cleaned and worked. Okay, more cleaning than working. I went through every toy we have and filled box after box for the church garage sale. Mike says I'm nesting, haha! It does feel like it's getting more crowded here though and the little one is still months away from arriving. Now at least we will have some space for him when he gets here. I will just move Rachel to Jenna's queen bed and the boys already sleep on bunk beds, so the crib will be ready. It's not like the baby won't be sleeping next to me most of the time anyway, but during the day for naps and stuff the crib sure is handy. I guess if we are blessed with more kids we may have to start looking for a 4 bedroom.

Jacob has been working on his skateboarding lately. He sure loves it. They had a judged competition today at the skate park, but he went and worked out with Mike at Aikido instead. I think he's a little young for that still anyway. They do have a 3-8 year old age group though, so maybe next year I'll feel better about taking him. We are trying to get to the skate park early now because the afternoons are really getting hot. At about 9 to 10 am it is perfect weather for him to skate and the other three to play on the playground. I thought there wouldn't be anyone there that early last time, but there sure was. I am really happy with how the older kids look out for the younger ones. I am also glad to see so many parents there with their kids and not just sending them to go by themselves. I think I have this picture thing figured out, so I added a picture of Jacob on Thursday morning. It still isn't where I want it exactly, but I'm getting there.

And, before I go, I will add a cute one of Rachel....which is REALLY NOT where I want it. Oh well, I'll figure it out eventually.

Odds and Ends

Well, nothing like a barking Golden Retriever to wake up a house full of peacefully sleeping children! Some of the things she barks at, sheesh! This morning it is the garbage truck in the alley. We stayed out quite late last night eating dinner with a few friends and the kids really need some extra rest. I feel bad for Mike the most though, he had to get up for work at 4:30 this morning. I really do appreciate how hard he works, shift work is not my idea of an easy job!

Today we are working on normal things (school) and preparing for our trip. We have been watching a Grand Canyon video I bought and reading over a book we've had for a while that was really the idea source for this trip. I can't wait to get there and see it. What a testament to the flood and to God's creation. Also it is a reminder of the fall of man and the consequences of our sin. The awesomeness of God never fails to amaze me!

I wanted to remember to write about our little laundry lady. No, we don't pay someone to come and do our laundry, we have a one year old who absolutely LOVES to put laundry in the basket. I just think it's sweet. No one around here can take of their socks without guarding them if they intend to wear them at all again that day. She spots laundry like a hawk, quickly grabs it up, laughs deviously, and runs to throw her prize into the basket. Maybe she'll keep this habit as she grows. Her personality is really starting to come through. I'm afraid (and I say that totally jokingly, of course), that we may have another little Mike on our hands, haha! She really enjoys seeing others laugh.

Dawn said the appointment for my sonogram will be around May 19th. A little later than I would have liked, but I have no complaints. We heard baby's nice strong heartbeat and I can now feel him moving quite a bit. He (or she, just not wanting to say " it") even kicked the doppler device they use to hear the heartbeat this last time. Sorry, I don't know the exact name for it, I'm not a medical professional, haha! I am increasingly wanting clothes that do not bind my waist in anyway. The weather is heating up quite a bit and boy is it going to be a loooong summer. I am going to check out a friend of mines website and probably order a jumper or two. They look so comfy and non-binding. She does a great job making culottes and skirts, so I'm sure her jumpers will be just as nice. If anyone wants to check it out it's at www.myculottes.com. And no, I do not get kick-backs, lol. I just enjoy her stuff.

Busy, Busy Monday

Yesterday was a wonderful day at church. We had visiting missionary W.A. Park (Mexico) and I must say that he was really a blessing to our whole family. Sometimes it really feels like we are alone in many of our more traditional beliefs and even some things that aren't so traditional, but we know now that we are not alone in our struggle. It was really refreshing to find someone who loves their children like we do and treats them not as liabilities, but as family pillars that have been given to us by God himself. Raising children has never been something we take light of and we feel that it is one of our most important duties as Christian parents. Many people fail to realize, or just don't care to realize, that what we raise our children up to do today will be how our society, churches, communities, families will be tomorrow. I could go on about this forever, but I'll just end this paragraph with renewed hope in the strength of the family unit, purposely moving away from the 20th century ingrained public-school-taught hyper-individulism and secular humanism.

On a different note, today is a regular check up with my midwife, Dawn. I can't remember what time she said my appointment will be, but that's okay since I don't have plans to go anywhere today, just lots of school work and house work for me. Hopefully she has set up a sonogram date for right after Mother's Day next month. I am curious to know if we are having a boy or a girl. Ryan is convinced it's a boy and told everyone at church that yesterday, haha! I wanted to try a water birth this time, but Dawn said it's not ideal for me because I have babies too quickly. That's okay, I'm just happy I don't have to have the baby in a needle infested hospital where they take him away from me directly afterhe's born and then encourage me to give him formula, ICK! I'll be writing about the sonogram after we have it.

Shelby does have to go to the vet, but Mike is going to take her because everytime we put her harness on her she falls to the floor like a blob of jello. Last time the vet actually had to come to the van and carry her into the office. She weighs 50 pounds or so now and that's way to much for me to carry.

Scroll down to see picture.

I did my best for now. I will just have to come back and try and get the picture to print where I want it. Unfortunately, the picture is at the very bottom of the page. It's just one I had archived from last years' trip to Mustang Island (southeast Texas). It's Jenna, Jacob, and Ryan.

Battery Charger Located

I have found the charger for the digital camera. I am very happy about this. It is charging now.

We had a good short trip to Lubbock yesterday. I got a few nice used clothes for the kids and will finish hanging them and putting them away today. My mom is doing okay and was happy to see the kids. She says we don't visit enough, but I just can't handle the cigarette smoke. Not to mention if we are around each other too long we don't get along. At this point I'm happy with the strained relationship we have.

Mike is washing the cars today and the kids are enjoying the sun outside with him. It is really a nice day here. I am getting things ready for the potluck tomorrow at church and the continuance of our missions conference.

For now I'm going to try and publish one of the older photos I already have, just to practice posting photos. I know my picture isn't too recent either and I'll work on getting that updated as soon as possible. I do NOT like taking my picture while I'm pregnant though, so that one may have to wait a while.

Belt Test Day.

Today is a belt test day for Jacob. He has worked very hard and he will be testing tonight for his red belt with a black stripe. Jenna is now an orange belt. I sure hope to get this camera working soon, I would love to post a picture of it. For anyone who may not know, Jacob and Jenna are taking Aiki-do classes. We do not practice the humming and meditation type martial arts (like Karate and Tai-chu). They just go to learn self defense, as Aiki-do is taught to defend against attacks only. They are not taught any attack moves.

I saw the evidence of how this works at a birthday party a couple of weeks ago. Jacob was playing at the park with some kids we didn't know that were about his age. One of them threatened him and Jacob had absolutely no fear. He just looked at the kid and was waiting for him to attack, lol. I was glad that he didn't have to worry about the bully. I am still amazed at how calm and how well Jacob handled the situation.

I also wanted to tell everyone who hasn't seen Jacob lately about his experience Sunday at church. He was eating a cookie (we have been having a potluck every Sunday this month for our missions conference) and told me it had a rock in it. I told him to go spit it out in the trash quietly. A few minutes later he came back and showed me that he had realized that it wasn't a rock, but one of his front two teeth. He was so excited! Then on the way home his other front tooth was so loose that he easily pulled it out too. So now we have a very toothless Jacob. It took me a short time to get used to looking at him, but of course, I did. His new teeth are already growing in.

I have been getting everything ready for our day in Lubbock, so I don't know if I'll have time to type in the morning. We don't intend to stay overnight, so it's going to be a short trip.

School is going well and it looks like now we may even finish a few days early. I am ready for summer break. I am also looking forward to our new school stuff for next year arriving as I ordered it a couple of days ago.

No jury duty!

Well, these last few days have been spent wondering if Mike would be selected for jury duty. Yesterday we found out that he was not selected. Though it is our civic responsibility, I was not ready for him to miss our vacation.

We will be headed for the Grand Canyon the first week of May. I am excited. I enjoy getting out of here once in a while.

I talked to my mom yesterday and told her we would come visit her Friday. I am happy about being able to shop at Lubbocks' wonderful second hand clothes store. I haven't found anything comparable to it, anywhere. They really do work hard to ensure there are some well-kept used clothing on their racks. I can spend $100 and come home with a mound of clothing, NICE clothing. What a blessing to have this store so close!

My First Blog!

I finally started a blog. I hope to keep it updated as much as possible. I also hope that everyone enjoys reading about my average life.

Today we continued working on catching up with school. We had gotten behind because I was so tired in my first trimester (And I got extreemly ill). Now that we are going into the second trimester, I can really feel my energy starting to come back.

I also did so much research today on a new curriculum for next years' school that I feel like my eyes are crossing, haha! I think I have finally decided to go with Landmark Freedom Baptist. I think it will more closely fit our family than our current program. I guess we'll see over the next year.

I hope to write in the mornings from now on, I just wanted to get started. I am excited about having a blog.