Quick final post of the year...

I am making "Tuxedo Cake" this morning with an 8-year-old helper.  It's currently baking.  Also doing laundry.  The kids are watching "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" (Veggie Tales).  Zach got it for Christmas.  Tomorrow my Dad's side of the family has a get-together (hence the baking the cake).  I also should bake something for us...after all, I'll be starting to pack lunches again in 2 days!

Some people have lovely, reflective posts on the past year and/or anticipations for the coming year.  All I know is that this year has flown by and the only way I can remember what happened is by reading back on my blog or flipping through my calendar!

Right now in my spare time (the boys' "quiet" time), I've been working on a digital scrapbook of the year.  I'm ready to start the month of June.

I've been enjoying having my big kids home on vacation...but I'll enjoy the routine when they go back to school.

If we get through today with no major illness, we will have successfully completed the month of December with no serious illnesses....perhaps a record!  We do have sinus infections, but relatively minor ones.

I'm also starting to think about the upcoming Transport for Christ Banquet.

Maybe I'll take time to write a reflective post in the coming week or two....but for now, I'm back to the cake and the laundry....

Happy New Year!

Christmas Morning

We spent Christmas Eve with Karen's Family.

Then on Christmas morning, after breakfast, we opened our gifts as a family.

Here I am wearing the sweater from my mom and scarf from my sister-in-law (or someone in their family) and holding the lovely new saute pan the kids got me.

Micah opening a gift (tractor).

Zach with his tractor.  (Each of the 3 youngest got a new tractor.)

Mark

Autumn

Janae, wearing her adorable footy pjs from Grammy, opening a cooking set.

Josiah

Randy - I got him cast iron pans to use when we go camping.  But I've been enjoying trying them out here at home.  :-)

The rest of Christmas day was spent here.  We had chicken & waffles for lunch.  Randy & Josiah built Josiah's bed in the morning.  I was sleepy so not very motivated.  I did get some things put away that we had gotten at previous gatherings.  I also worked some on a digital scrapbook of our year (I'm still back in the spring).

Well, 2 little boys have joined me in the kitchen now so I need to go....

White Christmas!

Last night the snow started falling while we were on the way to Grandpa & Grammy's house.  By the time we left everything was blanketed with snow.  It's early here.  The coffee is brewing.  And it's beautiful outside (although kind of hard to see in the dark).  We've had a lovely weekend and stayed healthy for all our gatherings for which I'm extremely grateful!

Thursday evening the kids gathered with their cousins at Randy's parents' place to decorate the garage for Christmas.  Randy & I went out for supper and grocery shopping before picking them up.  Lovely!

Saturday we spent most of the day with Randy's family.  Also lovely!

Sunday morning was church and our church Christmas program.  We usually end with a congregational singing of the "Hallelujah Chorus" and this year was no exception.  Singing that is quite exhilarating!  In the afternoon the kids put together the legos they got the day before.  We went visiting in the evening and saw some friends from out-of-state.

Monday we did laundry and cleaning.  Then late afternoon we went to my parents' home to celebrate.  We had a great time.  Lots of laughter and fun!

Now it is Christmas Day.  In a bit the kids will get up and get their "stocking" gifts.  Then we will eat breakfast before opening the rest of the gifts.  I plan to make chicken & waffles for lunch.  We plan to roast hot dogs on the fire place for supper.  We'll see if all goes according to plan or not.  :-)

Anyway, it's a lovely day to celebrate our Savior's birth!  And now I'm going to drink a cup of coffee.

Merry Christmas!

Wednesday

The week seems to slowly be moving past.  I've been enjoying being home more this week.  Tuesday Mark had occupational and physical therapy.  Now we are taking a 3 week break from all therapies and will resume in January.  What will I do with all that extra time?!  :-)

This week we did a bedroom switch-up.  Josiah moved to a room in the basement.  He was very excited and took care of almost everything himself.  Randy's going to build him a bed yet.  Josiah built a desk at school.  Zach moved into Josiah's room.  Mark & Micah's room seems so spacious with only 2 boys in it instead of 3!  Everyone slept well last night and seems to be enjoying the change.  I'm hoping it will also be easier to clean/organize without everything being jammed in small spaces.

Today I'm working on cleaning up the house and laundry (as I do every day when I'm home).  The boys are playing nicely most of the time.

I'm very sleepy today...think I may have a sinus infection starting...so I'm drinking lots of tea.  :-)

Monday morning

Th e kids will soon be stirring...actually, Mark came out already and I tucked him back in bed for a bit longer.  Yesterday afternoon/evening we went Christmas caroling with our church...lots of fun.  Saturday night we stayed home and watched "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever"...love that movie!  :-)

Well, Mark's out here again...anyway.  This week is a fairly low key week.  Mark has OT and PT one day and we hope to go to MOPS one morning.  Otherwise we can stay home.  Oh yes, I did tell Zach we'll go shopping for Daddy sometime as well...

Anyway, so not much going on here....

Recent Cooking/Baking

Micah's Cake

The massive turkey we roasted/baked.  We needed to divide it into two roasters to cook it.  The legs and wings went in the oven in one roast pan and the rest went in an electric roaster.  Love all the meat and broth I now have in my freezer!

Micah's Birthday in Photos

Gift #1 of the traditional 3 gifts....totally did not think about all the other things these logs could be used for....Love the truck/idea...but those logs have been used for all sorts of other things!

Gift #2 - This has been stashed for a church activity

We love Richard Scarry!

Blowing out the candles.

Quick Post

It's a beautiful sunny Thursday here at our house.  Zach is with Randy on the truck.  One girl is playing computer games.  Several kids are outside.  Chicken Pies (bought from a fundraiser...delicious, incidentally) are in the oven.

Tuesday began our "last time of therapy per therapist" until next year.  We saw Zach's therapist Tuesday, and Mark's speech therapist Wednesday.  We'll see Mark's Physical Therapist and Occupational Therapist on Tuesday and then we start a 3 week period of no therapists (Christmas and New Year's Day fall on our regular therapy days and IU13 has a 3 week break).  Can't remember when I've gone that long without an appointment!  Hopefully it all goes well.

Several months ago we invested in a carpet cleaner (Bissell) since our carpets are horrible.  This afternoon I cleaned the living room and hallway carpets again...so much improved!  I should probably do those at least monthly!  This morning I did a bunch of errands.

Tomorrow's agenda:  Clean, Laundry, Bookwork (personal & business)

Tonight's agenda:  Have the house straightened up by bedtime so that tomorrow I can clean without having to spend all my time cleaning up.  The kids will probably be less than thrilled at the thought....oh well....necessary....things are simply more peaceful with a more orderly house.  Unfortunately, it's never quite as orderly as I aim for....but that's okay too....

Life

Haven't blogged since Wednesday (although did 2 prescheduled posts)...so I thought I'd catch up here.  This morning 2 neighbor boys were here for awhile while their mom was at a meeting so there were 5 boys ages 2-5...lots of fun!  I have bread in the oven and sticky buns rising.  Tackling the mounds of laundry and cleaning up the kitchen.

Friday we celebrated Micah's birthday.  We also roasted/baked a 35 lb. turkey overnight so Saturday morning we spent significant time with that.  I now have lots of cooked turkey and turkey broth in the freezer for future use in soups and casseroles!  In the evening we had a banquet with Randy's work.  That was a nice evening out.  My mom kept the kids.  Sunday we went to church and enjoyed the rest of the day at home.  Activities included Dizios, Othello, and watching a couple of "Little House" Christmas specials on DVD.  Saturday night Autumn went to a birthday party.

Pictures of Micah's birthday to come soon...the bread needs to come out of the oven in a minute or 2....

3 years ago today...

...we brought a sweet little baby home from the hospital...and began the foster care to adoption journey yet again....

Micah - 18 Days old

1 year old

Happy Birthday, Micah!

Happy Birthday to our youngest child!  Micah is 3!  And he has started to teach himself to use the potty so I have hopes to be down to 1 in diapers shortly....

Wednesday

Hoping to go to bed early tonight since going to bed late last night got me off track for getting up earlier than my kids which helps me have a more peaceful morning.  Make sense?  :-)  Last night I did enjoy spending some time reading.  But a couple of little boys didn't sleep so well so between staying up later and getting up several times, I ended up sleeping in.  See if I can get back on track tomorrow....

"Let's Eat Healthier"

Yes, it's that time of year again.  The time when I think that we really, really need to start eating healthier again.  That we're eating to much junk.  I'm not talking about doing any of the popular healthy things...that is, cutting out gluten or sugar or artificial sweetners/colors or eating sprouts or only dairy or no dairy or anything like that. Although those things may all be good.  Just doing a bit better than we have been...mostly in the snack department.  Specifically because in December we do eat more unhealthy foods, and so I want to counteract them....much better than actually giving those cookies up altogether!  :-)  We also tend to be sick more from November-April so perhaps extra fruits/veggies will help that as well.

In general, we have snacks 3 times a day and meals 3 times a day.  Our rough schedule is:
6:45-7:00 (or later) - Breakfast
9:00-9:30 - Snack
11:00-11:30 - Lunch
3:10 - Snack (any time the kids are home this is at 2:00 or 2:30 instead)
5:00 - Dinner/Supper
7:30 - Snack

Our snacks have been heavy on granola bars and cereal bars that I bought cheap at the discount store.  I've stocked up on fruits (apples, pears, bananas, clementines), Veggies (carrots, celery, red sweet peppers), raisins, and string cheese to give us some healthier options.  I also bought pretzels and tortilla chips (I canned salsa in the summer) for some salty options.

I also went out on a limb and bought a spaghetti squash (which half of us hate).  I'm hoping that in a different recipe we will find it tolerable...or maybe not....

I do want to cut back on the processed and artificial stuff too...but that's a bit harder since I love sweet stuff...and I'd probably starve if I went one of those popular "raw" diets!

Breakfast - we frequently have eggs (scrambled, fried, dippy, omelets) either alone or as egg sandwiches.  Sometimes (maybe once or twice a week) we have a side of bacon, scrapple, or pork roll.  I'm a big fan of starting the day with protein!  Sometimes we have cereal or oatmeal, but several of the kids are not big cereal fans.  Some days we have pancakes.  Very occasionally we have french toast.  I'm thinking it would be a good idea to substitute fresh fruit in place of fruit juice several days a week.  We usually have fruit juice and/or coffee/tea/hot chocolate

Lunch - I just need to make sure we are getting a balanced lunch and not lopsided on the carbs & dairy...include fruits and veggies!  We usually drink milk.  I'm contemplating going back to raw milk.  I've also gotten slack in the bread department, going back to eating cheaper white bread instead of better (and more filling) whole wheat or honey wheat bread.  Probably homemade would be better...but that's going to stay in the "rare treat" category...at least for now!

Supper - Same thing...work on keeping it balanced....We usually drink water at supper as well as in between meals.  We usually have canned fruit and 1 (homemade) cookie (or sometimes 2 if they are small) for dessert.

For our bedtime snack....somewhere along the line we've started eating ice cream more often...I want to cut that back again to once or twice a week and instead have things like pretzels & cheese or sliced apples or something.

We rarely have soda or flavored drinks...generally keeping them for special treats (after the debacle of Josiah's teeth being horrible when we went for his first dental appointment when he was 3).  Candy...well, right now candy and gum are treats for successful potty use....we'll wait to cut back on that until we have this under control.  :-)  I'm thinking I should cut out my (artificial) creamers for my coffee and switch to real cream or milk and sugar...or drink it black like I do tea.  Maybe next year.

Right now I'm just focusing on healthier snacks and remembering the vitamins...one step at a time...

Therapy, therapy, therapy....

I took Mark for his Physical Therapy (PT) evaluation this morning.  Yes, he definitely needs some help!  Right now we are tagging it with his Occupational Therapy every other week.  But the therapist said he should really have it more often.  I'm hoping IU13 will also approve PT for every other week so that between the 2 we can have weekly PT.  She said we can meet less often if we have a good at home program.  So we will be starting to work with him at home as well.  First on the list is to strengthen his core (should be good for me as well!).  I need to figure out what part of our day this will work best and schedule it in...I really don't want to run to the therapist more often if I don't need to do so!

Our current therapy schedule:

Zach

• Therapy - every other week

Mark:

• Speech Therapy - Weekly (on the IU13 schedule which operates year round, but the same amount of days as a school year so there are periodic breaks).
• Occupational Therapy (through insurance) - every other week
• Physical Therapy (through insurance) - every other week immediately after OT (if he can handle this)
• Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy at home through IU13 - to be determined at the IEP meeting in January.

All that being said, we will have about 2 weeks the end of December with absolutely no therapies due to Christmas and New Years....will be lovely to have the break!

Tuesday

I've been trying to get back into my "getting up before everyone else" routine...and now I'm remembering why I haven't blogged nearly as much this year.  Love having this extra 45 minutes alone before everyone starts emerging!

Yesterday I had a great morning with my sister-in-law as we shopped and talked and ate.  Lovely break!  And my shopping is done...I think.

Today Mark goes for his (private--as opposed to IU13) physical therapy evaluation.  Hopefully he cooperates.  He tends to be rather clingy.  Yesterday he bit through the edge of his tongue.  Hopefully it is better today as it seemed to really bother him last night.  I think tongues heal quickly?!

I'm trying a new coffee creamer (I know it's healthier with NO creamer)....anyway...Salted Caramel Mocha.  Different, but I like it.

I also need to do lots of laundry today since I didn't get much done yesterday.

One of my favorite Christmas books is When Christmas Came, by Barbara Rainey.  Barbara Rainey talks about Christmas by taking the words of John 3:16 and discussing them line by line.  She illustrates the book with beautiful water colors.  Lovely!

Today is Monday...

My tentative plans for today (tentative - as I never believe something will actually occur until everyone is up and at their destination without being sick) is to spend some time shopping with my sister-in-law while my friend/cousin keeps my little ones.  Very exciting!  This afternoon Josiah has an orthodontist appointment.  Or should it be orthodontic appointment.  yes.  Maybe.

Potty Training News coming up...so stop reading if you really don't want to know!

In other news, Micah is fast on his way to becoming potty trained...all by himself.  He figured it out and usually tells me...at least as far as the "wet" part goes.  Still needs to figure out the "dirty" part...but he'll get there.  Mark is still clueless...but I doubt that it's his fault...I think his body just doesn't understand what's going on.  Here's hoping that going to OT will help that aspect as well.  I'm very much hoping for NO MORE DIAPERS by summer.  Hoping...not counting on it!  :-)  Actually, I think I'm going to stop buying diapers and totally switch to pull-ups.  Easier for Micah and Mark's getting to big for diapers anyway.  Micah will switch to undies when he learns the bowel part...I really hate cleaning up messy underwear!  (unless of course I discover that I need to take that step to get him to use the potty.)  So many variables!

Last night we watched "Buck Denver asks...Why Do We Call It Christmas?"  Loved it!  Covered why it's called Christmas, Santa Claus, Christmas Trees, Stockings, Why December 25.  My favorite part was in the intro...mistletoe being toes that shoot missiles   Josiah and I got all silly over that...which made some others mad because they couldn't hear.  :-)

Okay, the young ones are stirring...gotta run...

O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!

Setting it in place...It's so tall that it touches the ceiling and bends over!

Stringing up the lights...

Some ornaments.  We don't have any pictures of the madness of us all decorating....because we were all decorating!

The completed tree (except for the candy canes which I still need to buy).

"Micah, Don't Touch!"  :-)

We finished the evening by watching another favorite Christmas DVD..."The Grinch That Stole Christmas".

Making up for lost time

Blogging more again!

Every year I buy a Christmas DVD, Christmas CD, and Christmas book for our collections.  I forgot the book this year.  I did, however, end up buying 3 DVDS - "Buck Denver asks...Why Do We Call It Christmas?", "Little House on the Prairie:  Christmas At Plum Creek and A Christmas They Never Forgot", and "VeggieTales - It's A Meaningful Life".  I got the CD "Tobymac Christmas in Diversecity".

We're looking forward to enjoying both these additions to our Christmas season as well as old favorites.

Baking Cookies

I love to bake cookies around Christmas.

The kids had off school on Monday so we baked "Sand Tarts".

Janae, Micah, Autumn

Mark

Zach had already gone outside when I got the camera out.  Josiah preferred to play with his neighbor friends.

Take a walk around my house...

I never pretend to be very creative or elegant.  I don't have a particular style or theme.  Things are frequently pretty much the same year after year as I don't update much....but it is what it is...in our house, at this time.  We did most of our decorating on the Friday after Thanksgiving (as usual...unless we're not home in which case I do it the Monday after Thanksgiving).

This year Autumn helped a lot with the decorating.  Particularly she took care of all the little houses and associated decor for me while I did the other things.  Usually she complains that I don't let her...and that's true....I do like to be in control of "MY" decorations.  :-)  But this year I let her and she did a fabulous job!  Perhaps if I let her do a bit more each year, eventually she'll do it all!

Here's some of our decorations:

Top of the corner cupboard in our dining area

Above the kitchen cabinets....

Several (many?) years ago Randy started buying me houses and winter scenery from time to time as Christmas gifts.  When we built our addition, I was thrilled to have the space above the cabinets to display them.

Top of the stairs coming up from the garage:

Living Room

Front Door

Basement:  Originally the bigger tree was at the top of my stairs on the landing...didn't work so well with little fingers.  The 2 smaller trees used to be in kids' bedrooms...but that didn't work very well last year so I'm trying this arrangement this year.  I'm not decorating them much so all the little fingers shouldn't matter to much.  We will open our gifts in the basement by these trees.

We hope to get our Christmas Tree this weekend.

I neglected to take photos of our bathroom.  It's very minimally decorated this year (and for a few to come until those little ones get a bit older).  I did get a new decoration for it though.  A Scentsy Plug-In Warmer...."Silent Night".  It's beautiful!  The "Christmas Cottage" scent is delightful as well.

Janae's Birthday

Better late than never, I guess.  Here's a few photos from her birthday.

a gift from Grandma & Granpa

She'd been asking for "her own" Bible, and was thrilled with this one.

Janae loves her Scentsy Buddy, and had requested a baby Buddy to match.  She was quite pleased!

She was also thrilled to have her own White Board.

I was not feeling overly creative....so her cake simply sported a very large pumpkin.

Where to start??

I looked back and I'm way behind in blogging this year!  The last 2 years had 300 or more entries...this year I'm barely over 200.  Of course, I think this year is going incredibly fast.

Okay.  Some random thoughts.  And hopefully a few more posts with photos this week.  And did I mention that I absolutely LOVE having an extra week between Thanksgiving and Christmas?  It happens so rarely, but it's great!

I last blogged on Wednesday.  A quick overview since then:

• Thursday - We enjoyed spending the day with my family.  Before going to my parents' house, though, we did a thorough "clean-up" of the various toys scattered hither and yon.  It's always fun to get together with my family.  The cousins play well together.  The food is delicious!  We laugh a lot.  And some uncles usually take some kids down to the woods for a hike.  We read all the ads in the paper whether we were shopping or not.
• Friday - Autumn woke up with a nasty rash.  I guess when she fell in the woods she came in contact with some poison ivy or something.  I went out for breakfast with 2 of my favorite friends.  :-)  Then we did a bit of shopping at K-Mart before going back to our families. The kids put up the train for the first time in years.  We made those little candies that are pretzels/hershey kisses melted slightly with m&ms pressed on top.  Laundry.  etc.
• Saturday - Can't remember....laundry, cleaning up, cooking, etc. I guess...babysitting in the evening.
• Sunday - Church, relaxing, movie watching in the evening.
• Today - Baked Sand Tarts and Chocolate Pinwheel Cookies and did mounds of laundry...need to go switch some around now for that matter.  Some lovely flowers showed up at my door from my sweet husband...just because.  :-)

Tomorrow the kids go back to school and "normal" life.  Currently my sink is overflowing with dishes from the baking I did (need to empty dishwasher and refill).  I'm still doing laundry because just when I thought I was done (washing...still have plenty to fold and put away), some little boys emptied a detergent bottle all over their blankets (and the living room floor).  Thankfully the bottle was closer to empty than full!

Good night!

Thanksgiving Thoughts

I've done nothing "Thanksgivingish" this year....well, very minimal.  No leaves adorning my windows with things we're thankful for.  No Thanksgiving story reading time.  Only a couple of the  Thanksgiving coloring pages.  Somehow this year I feel like I'm running a month behind!

I did decorate for fall (back in September).  At evening snack time we've discussed things we're thankful for.  I have assorted friends who are faithfully posting daily what they are thankful for.

Today I baked a lovely Chocolate Praline Torte for our Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow and made Cranberry Jello Applesauce as well.  The kids have a Thanksgiving feast at school.  Some years I go to the little program afterwards, but opted to stay home today.

I'm working on cleaning up the house....

So...a "Thankful" List for the month....I should just go back and look at the Joy Dare items from earlier this year before I got sidetracked from that....

1. Our Father God and Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit which dwells in each believer...One God, yet 3-in-1.
2. Randy
3. Josiah
4. Autumn
5. Janae
6. Zachary
7. Mark
8. Micah
9. Gehman Mennonite Church
10. Our children's education
11. Clean and Hot Water
12. Fresh Air
13. A lovely home
14. Music
15. Life, both on this earth and everlasting
16. Books
17. Piano
18. Giggles and Laughter
19. Plenty of delicious food
20. Chocolate
21. Tea and Coffee
22. Our wonderful therapists...Miss B, Miss S, and Miss L
23. Our van that fits us all + friends + groceries
24. Sunny Days like today.
25. Cloudy Days that make me more appreciative of Sunny ones.
26. Electric
27. Internet
28. Photos
29. Woodstove and Wood
30. Our extended families
31. Our neighbors
32. Our friends

Okay....I'll stop now...  :-)

Woo hoo!

Today Zach's occupational therapist had me join them to review his most recent testing....and for the most part we are "typical".  So today was Zach's last visit with Miss B!  (Of course, we can resume seeing her if needed in the future.)  Zach will continue to see Miss L. biweekly to work on some other issues.

Zach

It will not be my last visit, though, as Mark will be taking over Zach's spot on the schedule starting in December.

I am very excited at the way it all worked out because I was a bit apprehensive about adding some extra therapies for Mark and how having Mark and Zach doing therapy back to back was going to work out...and now it's not an issue.  Another thing to be thankful for this month.  :-)

I've been planning to do the "I'm Thankful for" post all month....hopefully I'll get on here to do that, if not, "Happy Thanksgiving!"

Today's the day

we lose a carseat in our vehicle!  woohoo!  After 5 years of having 4 carseats in our vans, we are now down to 3!

Happy Birthday, Janae!

We will celebrate tomorrow when Daddy gets home!

A beautiful Wednesday

It's lovely.  The boys are having fun outside.  I should call them in for their "quiet time" but I think I'll let them have a little longer unless a fight breaks out.

I'm boiling some water and plan to enjoy a nice pumpkin spice cappuccino here shortly....along with some lovely chocolate.

Little boys (and maybe big ones too!) and dirt/mud are nearly impossible to keep apart...although I do hear that there are a few that avoid dirt as much as mine embrace it.

Mark is scheduled for a PT (Physical therapy) evaluation on Friday afternoon.  IEP (Individual Education Plan) meeting through IU13 tentatively scheduled for January during Speech Therapy.

I was thinking about the past year as I soon plan to finish our yearly letter that we mail to friends who are out of the area....maybe I should just refer them to the blog and discontinue the letter?  But I enjoy getting real mail so maybe not.

I was also thinking of how Thanksgiving is next week and somehow I've not gotten to doing any of my "normal" Thanksgiving stuff....we usually learn about the Pilgrims and Thanksgiving in November....guess there's still time....

Tomorrow Mark & Micah have their turn to have a day with Grammy so it will just be Zach and I until the school kids get home.  We have MOPS in the morning so I just need to decide what we're doing from then until the kids get home.  And I think we might go to the library right after school since the books are due.  We'll see....so many options!  :-)

Have a lovely day!

Another quick post

It's sunny!  Lovely!  Woke up to the sound of rain but it cleared out.

Random and quick since Zach and I soon need to go see Miss Laura.

We had a good weekend.  Extended Family gathering for Sunday lunch.  Introduced Autumn to the movie "Princess Bride" this weekend.  Josiah had a Jr. Youth Fall party Saturday night.  Janae & Zach went to a cousin's birthday party this weekend as well.

Yesterday I got a tooth filled.

Yesterday Mark had 2 OT (occupational therapy) evaluations...1 private and 1 through IU13.  He needs PT (physical therapy) evaluation(s) yet as well.  Trying to work on his coordination/muscle tone/flexibility.  Waiting for reports and insurance to see what works out.

This morning a couple of moms joined my for our foster/adopt playgroup...love this group!

Roast Beef in the crock pot for supper.

For the dinner on Sunday I got back into doing something "Fun" instead of "quick and easy"...although this really was pretty easy as well.  I found a layer cake on the Kraft foods recipe website called "Tuxedo Cake".  Chocolate layer cake with cream cheese icing topped with a chocolaty glaze.  Went over quite well!

I'm trying to take the time to do some things I enjoy; so often I feel like I'm just rocketing through my life doing whatever rises to the top of the priority list and drowning in laundry and dishes and retreating to a book at the end of the day when I'm tired and there is still plenty of work to be done.  Actually, reading a book is very relaxing for me so I do try to make that a priority as well...just not to many and at the wrong times.  :-)

Okay, gotta run....Miss Laura and the grocery store are next on the list....

On a side note, Randy got home around lunch so I don't need a babysitter this afternoon.  Love having him home for the rest of today and tomorrow morning!

Sunday afternoon

A gorgeous Sunday afternoon here.  To beautiful to spend on the computer!  But I did notice I haven't blogged for nearly a week so thought I'd touch base.

Gotta go stop the boys from putting the garage door up and down repeatedly....check back later!

That promised update

Okay.  Haven't really updated since that whole power loss issue a week ago.  So...update in random fashion.

First, the storm.
We fared pretty well other than loosing electric for 39 hours.  We have a generator so we could run our sump pump, freezers, fridge, and crock pots.  Periodically I would unplug the fridge and plug in my wireless (different spot, so I couldn't plug the wireless into the power strip) and check into the internet world for what was happening.  Having the laptop was a great diversion, as the kids could occasionally watch a movie and then I could charge it again on the power strip.

Our Life since then.

• Thursday I attended MOPS...lots of fun to see the ladies again.  We also got to have the boys' youngest bio. brother in our home for several hours.
• Friday evening I took all the kids shopping...always interesting.  The youngest bio. brother spent an hour with us again.
• Saturday evening we went to a fall party at church...lots of fun.
• Sunday we attended church including a fellowship meal afterwards.  We stayed home the rest of the day.  Played some games.

Tonight was a highlight for me.  The boys' birth siblings and some of their current families came to visit.  It was so great to see the kids together.  And the older kids got along well with my older ones.  It was precious.  I value the times we share.  I got some great photos (which I can't share).

And that's all for tonight's installment.  I really need to get to bed.  Tomorrow is Parent-Teacher Conferences so I'll see how the kids are doing in school.

Oh yes, and November is National Adoption Month.  I want to try and do a post about that before the month ends a well.

Politics

My one and only little chat about politics...before I do the promised update post.

Elections always remind me what my one high school teacher said....something along the line that we have a unique opportunity in this country that every 4 years we can have a legal coup, and do it in an organized fashion.  I think he was the same teacher who taught us that elections after a first term of a president are about whether or not to vote him out, not whether or not we like the alternative candidate.

• I'm tired of all the phone calls soliciting or surveying.
• I'm thankful for caller ID
• I'm tired of the polarization that each side is perpetuating, both among itself and against each other.  Only the most radical opinions of each side is aired about as if everyone of that persuasion believes that way.  I really doubt it.
• I don't believe much of what any politician says unless s/he has a record to prove it.
• I believe everything can be twisted and taken out of context.
• I believe that part of what makes our republic (yes, we are a democratic republic, not a democracy...learned that in high school too) great is when we can learn from each other.  A difference of opinion can show us an area of an issue that we are weak in.  Sometimes the answers are not one or the other but something neither of us has thought of yet.  By working together and looking for common ground, we can get a little further.  Often the answers are "both/and" not "either/or".  But sometimes, the issue simply cannot be resolved.  And I'm not sure what the answers are for those issues.
• The country cannot spend more than it takes in for very long.  Most people agree with that.  We just disagree with how to solve the problem.
• I find it interesting that if I don't support a specific position (whether within a party or from the opposite party), then I'm "WRONG".  Perhaps I agree with the principle but believe there is a better or different way it could be handled.
• Therefore, do your civic duty.  Vote according to your beliefs and conscience.  If you are a Christian (or any other religion), I'd recommend voting along the lines of what your faith or religion teaches.  After all, my opinions are just that, my opinions.  I defer to God's laws, regardless of my actual opinion.
• And I don't believe in arguing on my blog.  These are simply my opinions.  You can comment if you like, as long as you are polite.  :-)  Any rude comments, I'm free to delete.  Because, after all, it's my blog...and we're allowed to have differences of opinions in this country....for which I'm very thankful.

On a side note, I did one of those online surveys for which candidate you match up best with...the options were simply ridiculously radical extremes.  I ended up putting "neither" for nearly every question.  But at least it covered a multitude of issues unlike some surveys....

Okay.  Enough about that.

Still here

Yes, I know I haven't updated recently...and yes, we are all doing well.  I'll try to update more soon!

Power is on...

....and I am catching up on laundry and enjoying plenty of light.  :-)

We're currently enjoying seeing some of our neighbors as we hand out treats for "Trick-or-Treat".

Storm

Quick post as the battery in my laptop is getting low.

We lost electric around midnight last night, discovered it around 2:00 a.m.  Thankfully only a bit of water in the basement during that time, easily taken care of with the shop-vac.

The generator is powering the fridge, freezers, and sump-pumps.

Randy helped get the tree off the neighbors van.

Okay, I'll check in later...

Storm

Thought of this song a lot last week...now it comes to mind again as it's raining and we're expecting lots of rain and some wind from Hurricane/Tropical Storm Sandy.....

We had a good weekend.  As I mentioned, our basement floor is cleaned up.  Our woodstove is hooked up and working nicely (we just replaced our old one).  We have plenty of candles and an oil lamp or two.  I'm sure there is a flashlight or 2 around.  We have our generator ready.  We're prepared so the storm may not be as bad as predicted...but just in case...  Since we have city water, we typically have water even in power outages.

The kids have off school.  Most schools already have cancelled for Tuesday as well but ours has not (yet).  So far they're playing nicely....

Anyway, back to our weekend.  Saturday night we visited my parents.  Sunday morning we went to church (message:  God Speaks part 1-through the Word/Bible).  Sunday evening some friends came over for supper.  The guys played cards (Haus).  Lots of fun!

Now we are watching it rain.  Older 3 kids playing legos, little boys entertaining themselves (I should probably check...)  I'm doing laundry and cleaning up the house.  May do some baking, or scrapbooking, or meal planning (that's what I SHOULD do).  Maybe I'll just drink more tea or coffee and watch it rain.  :-)  Randy is back at the shop doing truck maintenance.  I'm glad he's in the area since we're not sure how the rain's going to affect us...

Potential Storm coming..

Today we're gearing up "just in case" we get the bad storm that may or may not hit us in here in the mid-atlantic.  Last I checked, we're in the 4-8" of rain area...but it may have changed since that was last night.  But, just to be safe, the generator was checked and is working, everything that soaks up water is off the basement floor (except the glued down carpet).

And then this afternoon we took a field trip to Cabella's.

Enjoy your weekend!

Wednesday.

Wednesday....


Well, we got through another funeral today.  I was thinking about it how as life goes on there will only be more of them...after all, I will attend funerals for my loved ones, family and friends, and everyone has one.  Some people have weddings, some people have baby showers or bridal showers or housewarmings, but everyone ends up with a funeral.

We got their early for the viewing (not sure if this is a familiar thing for people in other areas of the country?).  Since we then had an hour and a half before the service started we ran out and got some coffee before returning for the service.  It was beautiful, but very difficult to get through...always harder for me when there are little children left behind...

I discovered that I have a purse dressy enough for a funeral and large enough to hold plenty of kleenex...a whole box even.  :-)

The pianist who played prelude and postlude did a fabulous job...at first I thought I'd practice to be like her, and then realized that I will need to be content with playing as well as I do.  :-)

As normal, the music always gets to me.  We sang When Peace Like a River, The Love of God, Blessed be Your Name, and Mighty to Save.  The eulogies were touching and the message was comforting and thoughtful.



The church was quite full.  We did not stay for the "interment" (or burial, as I call it).  My sister-in-law who kept our younger boys blessed us with a pumpkin pie for dessert tonight.

Since the funeral I had last attended had been for Randy's aunt who was from a conservative church, I couldn't help but compare the two a bit in my mind and realize that both provided comfort and rituals that help bring peace in their own way.

****
After coming home, Randy left to get back to work.  I picked up the boys and came home.  We played and read books.  I wasn't to motivated to do anything...I'll make up for that tomorrow.  I got to play the piano for a little while tonight which I always enjoy.  Now everyone is tucked into bed and fast asleep.  I should go soon too...tomorrow's another day....

My day...Monday

Today I

• did mounds of wash (which reminds me, the last load needs to go in the dryer).
• baked brownies
• Had bird issues...as in, a bird flew into our patio doors and died.  I needed to take care of that.  Dead birds freak me out (for whatever reason).  Thankfully a neighbor was walking the dog and his wife volunteered him to take care of it for me.  Very thankful here!
• 2 little boys were giggling in their bedroom at naptime.  Upon checking on them, I discovered both were diaperless and their was poop everywhere.  Yuck.  So add washing bedding for 2 beds to my laundry pile.  And I had just washed their sheets on Friday.
• Last night we had a fire in our fire pit.  Zach threw a piece of wood in this afternoon and it started smoking.  So, since it was still hot, we added some more wood and cooked our supper over the fire in pie irons.  Delicious.
• Spent the evening sitting by the fire catching up with a neighbor while our kids played.  Fun!
• listened to lots of music...my therapy when my heart is sad....

Okay.  Blogger let me add a picture of Randy from the other weekend now.  :-)

Camping at Camp Hebron - Photos

Pictures of our time at Camp Hebron - I took the first 4, Autumn took the rest.  For some reason Blogger is not letting me upload any photos of Randy...weird!  I'll try again later!  Interspersed with thoughts that Pastor Josef shared this weekend (in my own words) at our renewal meetings focused on grief & comfort.

 

Micah

 

"If you live long enough, you lose everything."

 

The kids had a good time fishing.

 

" Life is short....whether you live 90+ years or briefly in the womb...life is short, like grass in the field or a leaf on a tree."

I was fascinated by the leaves against the blue sky.

 

 "Questioning and/or complaining to God is not sin, Complaining about God is rebellion."

Our Mark

 

"God is God, I am not."

One of Ruth's fabulous breakfasts over the fire.  We ate breakfast separately, but when Randy saw this he needed to eat a 2nd breakfast.  :-)

 

"Kids feel alone in their grief often as they deal with it again (and again) as they mature and realize things on more mature levels.  They often feel alone and that their parents have moved on and don't care (even though the parents may simply not be talking about it anymore and still be in pain)."

This is the only photo of Ruth that I have from the weekend.  She loved to cook in cast iron pans over the fire....and made delicious meals!  Her husband, Mark, is on the left.

Zach with Mark & Ruths 2 older children.

Autumn

 

"the 4 men who brought their crippled friend to Jesus, Those who surround the grieving person can lift the hurting ones to Jesus as they may be hurting to much to come to Him on their own."

Josiah

 

"When someone who is older dies, you lose your past, When someone young dies, you (feel like you) lose your future. "

Janae

 

Can't remember what else he said that I was going to type....

 

Love this photo Autumn took of the trees reflecting in the water, the leaves on the water.

 

If you are grieving, consider going to www.gehmanmennonitechurch.org and finding the services on line to listen/watch.

Me and Micah.