Updates

Laurel over at another blog gave a family update.  That reminded me that I haven't done that so I'm taking her idea and giving you all an update on our family as well.

Randy continues to have plenty of work driving his truck.  He regularly visits the Midwest and Ontario.  He's going on a Men's Retreat this weekend with a bunch of men from our church.

I continue to be busy at home.  The boys and I go to MOPS twice a month.  We attend a playgroup of foster/adoptive moms & children twice a month as well.  In addition to housework, raising kids, and chauffering little ones to appointments (therapy, doctor, dental) I squeeze in reading, music, and sneek Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs.  :-)

Josiah is growing to be such a sweet young man (***I will only be saying positive things about my family in this post...the negative will be left unsaid...we're all humans!)  He is on the Bible Quiz Team this year...fabulous experience!  They are studying sections of 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, and 1 Kings covering the life of King David.  He has been dabbling with the Bass Guitar and recently played during Sunday morning worship for the first time.

Autumn is a lovely young lady.  She loves to go shopping with me.  She enjoys school.  She's very organized and responsible.  She did a great job of helping me out when I was so sick a few weeks ago.  She continues to take piano lessons and plays at church for the prelude & offeratory periodically.  She also enjoys baking.

Janae is my social butterfly.  She recently got glasses.  She loves school and everyone and life in general.  She adores spending time with her cousin.

Zachary is doing well.  We are seeing increasing maturity and self-control.  He is no longer doing any therapies (although they may be necessary at a later point).  I love the spark in his eyes when he's happy.  He starts Kindergarten next year.  He loves to play and ride bike and wrestle.

Mark is my quiet one who has started exploding with words after nearly 2 years of speech.  And he is the focus of all the therapies at the moment (as I believe I mentioned in a blog post recently).  He loves to play and run and ride bike.

Micah is such a fun kid to be around.  He is growing up so fast!  He is very energetic and active.  We are "kind of" potty training him (as in, he goes when he wants to, and I don't push it more than that...although I really "should").  He loves running and toys and riding bike as well.

And going away with Daddy is a highlight for all of the kids.  :-)  Yes, of course, we have plenty of disobedience, whining, etc...but overall, we are doing well.

Book Review

I'm recommending 2 books today:

• "Desperate:  Hope for the Mom who Needs to Breathe" by Sarah Mae & Sally Clarkson
• "Never Mind the Joneses:  Taking the Fear Out of Parenting" by Tim Stafford

I loved both of these books!  I love the way they are not a "if you raise your kids this way then "x" will occur.  I found great quotes in both books that really spoke to me.  I appreciated the stories from the authors' lives and their parenting.  But my favorite part of both books is simply the freedom to do what works within your family and not to "parent by the book"!  I read tons of parenting info and feel free to take what works (or is practical) for our family...I love that these books encouraged that!  That differences in parenting are not necessarily wrong or right...they are just differences!

Anyway.  Get the books.  Or borrow them from me.  :-)

Another cloudy Tuesday

I see I haven't posted (other than the joy dare) since Thursday....

Friday I took Mark to the allergist.  According to the skin prick test, he is not allergic to anything.  I'm pretty sure that's not the case, but from what I read, allergies can be quite tricky...or it could be a sensitivity or intolerance which wouldn't show up.  For now I'm starting with taking out the artificial dyes, particularly Red 40, which I have noticed a connection to.  I've been limiting colors, now I'm going to try to avoid them...easier said than done.  :-)  It's even in the shampoo and bubble bath I've been using.

Saturday we worked around the house in the morning.  The girls and I went shopping during naptime.  I was thrilled to find 4 pair of jeans and a skirt for myself while consignment shopping.  Some friends came over in the evening and we played cards.

Sunday morning we went to church.  I so appreciated the message that our guest speaker preached.  So excellent...and really worth of a blog post!  :-)  Josiah is on the church Bible Quiz Team which quizzes Sunday nights.  They practice during the late afternoon.  The parents take turns providing supper and this week was our turn.  Randy was home for the day so he stayed with the younger 4 while Autumn & I went to watch Josiah compete.

Monday Mark's IU13 physical therapist came out for the first time and we worked on stairs.  Today I took him to Physical and Occupational Therapist.

Joy Dare - Feb. 18-24

Monday - 3 gifts on paper

• the pleasure of a day at home
• neat stacks of laundry
• chicken nuggets and leftovers

Tuesday - 3 gifts that were 'Plan B'

• Zach's graduation day from therapy
• Miss L.
• This past year of working with her

Wednesday - a gift at breakfast, lunch, dinner

• Randy making breakfast (scrapple, fried egg sandwich on an english muffin, coffee, juice)
• chocolate covered cherry (Christmas candy - deeply discounted)
• completed tasks

Thursday - 3 gifts White

• MOPS friends/discussion
• delicious buffet breakfast (at MOPS)
• Micah going to his class without crying

Friday - 3 gifts that changed today

• Mark's allergy tests being negative (although I'm sure he has sensivities and/or intolerances to something!)
• Homemade Fasnachts from the wife of a man who works with Randy
• Randy coming home

Saturday - a gift of tin, glass, wood

• Having nieces overnight last night
• Baking
• Friends and Cards

Sunday - 3 gifts before 11am

• Worship in song at church
• Fellowship with friends
• A fabulous message from a guest speaker

Another Thursday

This morning we went to MOPS.  Had  a lovely time...and enjoyed our speaker, Bonnie Greiner, who has a blog called Mom By Example.  Bonnie has 8 kids (the first 4 were all boys and came in 5 years).  And she showered us with lots of good advice about raising our kids.  As a side note, if any of my local readers need a speaker for your group...check out her web page...she has a list of topics that she speaks on.  She has a book "Recapturing the Joy of Mothering" and if you have a Kindle you can get it for $0.99.

Anyway.  tomorrow I take Mark to see the allergist.  Josiah had an allergic reaction to something again this morning so perhaps I should make an appointment for him!  I'm anxious for Mark to see the Dr...but apprehensive of keeping a 4-year-old occupied for a possibly 3-hour long appointment.

Not much going on here...it's been a nice quiet week...that will change next week, but I've certainly enjoyed this week!

Monday

It's a lovely, cold summer day.  The boys have been in and out today.  They want me to come out, but it's a bit chilly for me.  I've been doing laundry and baking today.  A lovely coffee cake, frosted peanut butter bars, and caramel-chocolate-oatmeal bars.

We had a nice weekend...nothing much doing.  Randy & I went out for supper Saturday night.  Church Sunday morning.  Hanging out at my parents' house on Sunday evening.  Josiah had quizzing Sunday evening as well.

This week looks lovely as well...only 2 appointments and MOPS.  Next week, however, is a whole 'nother story.  Poor Mark....his therapy really starts as the IU13 therapists will now start coming...so he will have Occupational Therapy and Physical therapy x 2 (private and IU13) and speech therapy (IU13).  It will take about 6 weeks to get his IU Physical Therapy on a different week than the private Physical Therapy.  Net result - 3 occupational therapy sessions/month, 4 physical therapy sessions/month, 4 speech therapy sessions per month.  The IU13 ones will vary some as they work on a school schedule stretched out to provide year round coverage...resulting in random breaks (like this week).

Tomorrow is Zach's last day with Miss Laura (his trauma/attachment therapist).  We are having a graduation celebration.  While he still has a way to go in his behavioral skills, he's come a long, long way in the past year that we've been working with her.  I'm a bit scared to go through the transition to school without her; but I'm thrilled about having that extra day available in my schedule, particularly since we have these extra therapies with Mark now...Mark's turn to be focused on.  :-)

Joy Dare - Feb. 11-17

Prompts for this Week:

2/11 - 3 gifts in Working
2/12 - 3 Hard Eucharisteos
2/13 - 3 gifts behind a door
2/14 - 3 ways you feel the love of God
2/15 - a gift in loving, finding, making something
2/16 - 3 gifts in shadows
2/17 - 3 gifts found giving/serving

Gifts:

• a sofa to rest on
• lots of pillows to prop up my congested head
• letting go of all that needs done (because I'm to sick to do it)
• feeling better, bit by bit
• Doctors
• antibiotics
• breathing easier
• sense of taste
• ability to breathe without thinking about it.
•  
• Simple Valentine's plans (necessitated by no motivation/being sick)
• Red Jello for supper
• little boys and fresh air and playing out-of-doors
• Randy coming home
• Feeling so much better
• getting things cleaned
•  
• Night out with Randy
• Time to read a book
• Relaxing
•  
• Church - Encouragement
• Delicious Lunch
• Seeing my parents, sister, brother

Happy Valentine's Day

It's Valentine's Day!  We don't celebrate to much here.  And being sick for a week certainly doesn't help that.  I usually do something special for supper...tonight it will be leftovers and Red Jello in Parfait Glasses.  Perhaps Soda in a Goblet.  :-)  I have a stash of stuff that I pick up cheap on clearance and such so I scrounged through that and came up with an Eagles Notebook for Josiah and a DVD for each of the others.  Janae took Valentine Cards to school.  The older 2 are "to big" for that sort of thing.  :-)

I continue to feel a bit better each day.  I still get some shortness of breath, have some nasal congestion, and am very tired, otherwise, I'm back to normal.

We canceled all plans this week so I can just work at getting the house back in order.

Better...little by little

Day 2 on an antibiotic.  I'm definitely feeling better...but get so very tired so quickly.  I've been trying to catch up on all the laundry today...but now I'm ready for a nap.

My sister-in-law sent food back for supper.  So nice not to have to worry about that!  And my mom sent back homemade donuts.  Yum!  Except that my sense of taste seems to have been altered...everything tastes kind of metallic.  Hopefully that will change soon!

Okay, going to switch the laundry around again and try to rest (amidst the little boy interruptions).

Joy Dare - Feb. 4-10

2/4 - Monday - 3 gifts found when bent down

• a free day at home
• laundry washed, dried, folded
• down time

2/5 - Tuesday - a gift stitched, hammered, woven

• Zach graduating from seeing Miss Laura (in 2 weeks)
• Randy home
• Glasses for Janae

2/6 - Wednesday - 3 gifts found outside

• Boys playing (mostly) nicely together while I'm sick
• Micah feeling better
• light dusting of snow

2/7 - Thursday - a gift at 11:30 am, 2:30 pm, 6:30 pm

• requested library books in at the library
• lots of rest and reading
• a nice bed

2/8 - Friday - a gift broken, fixed, thrifted

• Randy home
• Time with him (even if it's going to the allergist)
• My big kids doing what needs done when I don't feel well

2/9 - Saturday - 3 surprise gifts - unexpected grace!

• Iced drinks
• Randy doing "my" work since I'm sick
• lots of movie time

2/10 - Sunday - 3 times you heard laughter today

• for Randy contining to care for us as I continue to be sick
• enjoying my favorite movies
• feeling slightly better by evening

Still sick

Me and the 2 little boys are home from church this morning.  I still feel awful.  Micah is starting to feel better and Mark just started with it.  Hoping to feel better soon...this has hit me way harder than it hit any of the kids!

Out of the Loop

I've been feeling kind of down and out the past few days.  Monday and Tuesday I had a headache.  Wednesday I felt awful.  Thursday morning I woke up feeling better so we went to MOPS, but by Thursday night I felt lousy again.  Same with today.  I manage to keep myself going somewhat with Tylenol and Advil.  But by evening I'm very tired...but not sleeping well what with that nasty nasal drainage and horrid sore throat.  Oh well, I'm sure it will run it's course soon...

We've been doing well overall.  Watching a lot more DVDs than I normally allow!  The laundry is piling up...but it's washed and dried, just needs folded and put away. 

So, I'm off to shower and go to bed early again...one of these days I'll feel better...Zach was shivering tonight before he went to bed so I think he's coming down with it now.  Micah was sick earlier in the week.  He seems to be better now but has flushed cheeks so I'm wondering if he has Fifth Disease or if it's what I have. 

Good night....

Updating

So I messed around with updating the look of the blog.  I imagine I'll keep doing so until I settle on one for awhile!  The current "trend" in the templates does not include a photo at the top...but I like having one there.  So even though it doesn't fit quite right, I guess that's how it will be...for now anyway.

Speaking of the photo at the top.  That's one I found from when Randy took a trip to Washington (State).  I think he said it is in Montana, but I'm not postive.  I'm working on scrapbooking this past year and came across it.

Okay.  Tired.  Going to bed early tonight.  I think...

Joy Dare - January 28 - February 3

1/28 - Monday - 3 graces found in friends

• a listening ear
• a word of encouragement
• hard truths

1/29 - Tuesday - a song heard, a soft word, light seen

• 10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord, O My Soul)
• "everything looks good" (for 2 of my kids...at the dentist)
• sunshine and warmer weather

1/30 - Wednesday - 3 old things seen new

• Fisher Price Little People...they had been packed away for awhile and we got them back out today,  The 3 preschoolers have been playing together...nicely...for awhile now.  :-)
• Being thankful for the 6? years that my neighbors lived next to us while sad that they are moving.
• a day off from appointments to putter around doing housework...love it!

1/31 - Thursday - a gift on a paper, in a person, in a picture

• Snuggling with a sweet baby (babysitting today)
• interacting at MOPS
• Photos of baby S.

2/1 - Friday - 3 gifts red

• Randy coming home
• Pork sandwiches
• (mostly) contented children

2/2 - Saturday - 3 gifts on paper

• the pleasure of a cleaned up home
• trying a new recipe (Giant Cookie...made in cast iron pan)
• better health

2/3 - Sunday - 3 gifts found in writing

• Worship Service
• Fellowship (Potluck) Meal after church
• Watching Josiah quiz
• Hanging out with friends this evening

**As always, prompts listed, but not necessarily followed.  :-)

Friday

Yesterday we enjoyed having the boys' youngest biological brother for the day while his foster mom was at work.  So fun...but I can't share any photos since he's in foster care.  Anyway, we enjoyed it.  We also went to MOPS.  Always fun to gather with the other moms...and good for my boys to spend a couple hours with someone other than me sometimes.  I kept baby with me though.  :-)  At yesterday's meeting we learned some photography tips.  I'd like to say that all the photos you see will be much better...but I know that probably won't happen...

Today Janae is home with headache, fever, and achy legs.  Hopefully she feels better soon.

Today is also Josiah's birthday.  We now have a teenager!  I'll try to post some birthday photos later today.

And, best of all, Randy will be home today.  He's been gone since Monday so we are all ready to see him.  :-)

I finally finished reading through the Bible in chronolgical order (took me 2 years instead of 1).  So now I'm thinking about what I'm doing next.  I'm leaning towards focusing on 1 book a month for the rest of the year...subject to change.  :-)  So, for the month of February I'm going to focus on one of my favorite books, Phillippians.  Then the book of John (another favorite) for March (Lent/Easter).  Then Genesis for April...and we'll go from there.

Tonight Randy is going out with some friends for supper.  Josiah has quiz practice.  Tomorrow should be an "at home day" other than Josiah having another quiz practice.  Sunday is potentially very busy, but it really depends on how Janae feels and if the rest of us escape getting sick.

Now, I need to get off this and go spend some time with God, drink some tea, and clean up/clean the kitchen.  If I don't get back here this weekend...Have a great one!

This is post #998...2 more and I hit 1000....interesting...