Thankful Thursday 13

This looked like such a positive thing to do, I just wanted to jump in there! I hope I'm not breaking any blog etiquette rules or anything, but there are many invitations to join. Here goes! Besides, who could resist something with such cool alliteration? ;-)

Thirteen things I'm thanful for:

1. God. Apart from Him I can do nothing.

2. Himself. For the past 18 years he has solely shouldered our financial burden so I can be home with our babies.

3. Being home with our babies. So the oldest is now an adult, the middle is now a sophomore in high school, and the youngest is almost 11! My days are full and rich because they are in my life.

4. Our Home. I choose not to see the failing roof or failing drain field. I'm so happy to live here.

5. My friends. What a feeling to know help and encouragement are just a phone call or keystroke away!

6. Jack the Schnauzer. He just adds so much to our home, and I mean that in a good way.

7. Home school break! Too bad it has to come with humidity. We should school during the summer and take ALL of spring off! If it weren't for the classes I teach . . . .

8. 14 People currently in Mexico. I can't wait to hear of our church's youth group and their experiences in Mexico! Sunday can't get here quickly enough.

9. Medical Insurance. Understand, that I have been married 21 years and have only had insurance for the last 2! What a blessing it has been with broken arms, and now wisdom teeth removal.

10. My car. According to my son, it has the BEST stereo. I'm thankful it has air conditioning, four doors, and no oil leak.

11. Brandon P. This kid mows our lawn, but he does so much more than that. He makes my yard a beautiful thing to come home to. He keeps us moving forward with landscape design, instead of having to use all our (short amount of) time on maintenance. This kid does BEAUTIFUL work!

12. My church. It's our second home.

13. This laptop. It's opened a whole new world! Yes, I can go crazy now that it's summer, but not during school. I'm calling it "research."

That was fun, and a very good thing to do!

Jack's Landing

My friend Matt Snyder took this picture of our schnauzer, Jack. I'm sorry it's so tiny! Anyway, it perfectly captures his personality.



He's sitting on what we call "Jack's Landing," which is the landing of our stairs. We haven't opened the blinds for him, so he sticks his head between the blinds to get a good look outside. This is where he'll sit while we're watching a movie, then he'll bark and throw himself against the window if a dog or stranger goes by, which of course gives us all a heart attack.



How could anyone not feel safe with Jack on patrol?

Blog World

Man, there's a whole new blogworld being opened up to me. Unbelieveable! It puts myspace to shame!

(Actually, the only reason I have myspace is to keep tabs on the youth on our church. THEY invite ME to be their "friend" on myspace, which means I get to read what they write. Right?)

I wish I knew how to do all these cute blog things people do. Cute little buttons, adorable backgrounds, etc. I did find one site that has some nerd tips. I just need to find time to go through them.

Hey, I'm caught up with laundry and I've been cooking every night. I'm allowed.

Update: Look! I added a clock! I am so proud of myself!

Summer Scents

The girls and I were at the mall the other day. Bath and Body Works was having their semi-annual BIG SALE, so it was time to stock up!

I have my "summer scent" now; Coconut Lime Vernesia. It smells just like vacation and sun and exotic drinks with little umbrellas. Yum!

Kelly has a new scent, too. I'm not sure, but I think it's Brown Sugar Figs Passion Fruit. I can't decide whether to put her in a dessert or a fruit salad!

Glenna, however, uses whatever shower gel is in there and ignores all things lotion-y. She did find an American Girl pack on clearance (that's my girl) and bought that. It's impossible to describe the scent, other than "clean." I'll take that over "sweaty Glenna" any day!

Kelly, Glenna and I also went shopping for bathing suits. The mall is the WRONG place to do this, and so is Khol's, though we found one for Glenna right away at Sears. There were no modest ones in my size (unless I went over to the "plus size" suits, which I thankfully am not that size). The good news is, I am not a large. The bad news is, I'm wanted to give up bathing suits forever. I tried just getting a top to wear under a shirt, but I am at the age where string bikini tops cut through the flesh and I WON'T wear that, even if it IS under a top. Kelly kept asking if I was all right when she heard the hysterical laughter coming from my fitting room booth. By the way, don't you think "Fitting Room" is a misnomer? I tell you, nothing fit!

Kelly didn't have much luck, either. The only modest top we found for her was $52 (Land's End) and we still weren't sure it would come all the way to her board shorts. Arrrggghhh! We came home and decided to exercise, right after dinner and dishes. Trying on bathing suits will do that!

Yesterday, God directed us to suits fitting our sizes AND our wallets. Hooray for Ross! Hooray for TJ Max! Hooray for Beth Anne, who patiently waited and cheered on our efforts! We're now ready for our vacation, coming up in a few weeks.

Oh, we're no longer going to the cabin posted here. We're sticking to North Carolina, and found a cabin to share with the Liebert's. It's much cheaper than KOA . . . we may never go back! I saved a picture of it, but now I can't find it.

Blaze

It's hard to believe it's been almost a year since Blaze died. The house was so empty without her. It was too easy to walk from point A to point B without having to step over her, but it was too strange.

I don't miss the mess she made; hair everywhere, dirt everywhere, huge brown spots on the wall wherever she leaned against them, but I do miss feeling safe because she was around. No one came near our house without her letting us know. No one.

Of course, her last few months, this wasn't true. I once walked into the house, walked into the kitchen, and stood right next to her without her knowing it. She finally looked up with this startled glance as if to say, "Whoa! When did you get here?" Still, people would hang back when I opened the door because of her size. We never let on how sweet she was, though she WOULD take you out if you went after one of her kids!

Another thing I miss is the way she would put herself between people and her family. Everyone thought she was coming over for scratches and attention, but she would carefully stand between anyone and us. She did this all the time.

The one thing I never tire of telling, and the thing that endeared her to me forever, was when Glenna was an infant. John flew out to Florida to see his friend Steve (little knowing it would eventually move us here). That night, I looked all over for Blaze before I went to bed. I called her and called her, and I could hear her tail hitting the carpet but I couldn't find her. Finally, I walked into the nursery.

Blaze had planted herself under the baby's crib. I told her to stay so she'd stop thumping her tail and possibly wake Glenna! She did that every single night until John came home, then she went back to sleeping in the living room.

She was large, she was neurotic, she was a pain.

I miss her.

Sinful Cake

So Kelly and I made this cake the other day. It was so easy. We messed up several times (let's just say it didn't look like the pictures as we were making it) but it still turned out soooo good!

Yes, today I have a headache.

It was worth it, though.

I've tried many recipes off the same site and they've all come out good. I'm dying to make the cinnamon rolls!

Project

What is it about a man wearing a toolbelt?

I can tell you what it means to ME . . . . a project is closer to finishing!

John has been working on the wiring in the classroom. This makes me so happy. VERY happy. I pray I can teach classes without melting or freezing this year. Dare to dream!

This is the storage area, all framed and ready for drywall (or sheetrock, as they call it out here). No, it's not big enough for our storage. I'm trying to talk him into getting a shed. He's most reluctant.

Since the walls were to be covered anyway, all year I encouraged the students to write on them. The messages are so interesting! Song lyrics, movie lyrics, nonsense, even messages from one class to another have all been added. The students liked it so much, some who are returning next year have begged for a wall to write on. I'm thinking of using chalkboard paint, but it will be the wall at the BACK of the class. Too many students sit there, slackjaw, staring at the wall, not hearing a word I say. :-D

This is a flower that Kelly drew. I should have placed an item next to it so the size would be more obvious, but it's bigger than my hand. It's probably bigger than my head, even. Oh, and my congrats grad message to Ty. :-)

I also added a few family slogans, like the one I adopted from the president of DTS for our home school:

My kids like to roll their eyes at that one, but I'm telling you, it's sound theology all the way.

Below is one of my favorites, and it's for all you Anne of Green Gables lovers out there. Recognize it, Jess? I've posted it exactly as it was written.

Progress

Yesterday was actually productive! If you scroll down to the picture of my desk, that HUGE pile of paper in the corner is now GONE! In its place is a pretty willow basket with a red liner. In fact, the pretty willow basket also had to be emptied. I about wore out the shredder and my allergies went crazy, but it was worth it!

John was wondering WHY I wanted pictures of my messy house. I said something like, "Don't you read my blog?" which brought snickers from Tyler. To quote: "Blogs are stupid." Of course, see the "That says it" blog to understand where he's coming from. :-D

I love blog. I love this form of creative expression! I like it so much better than myspace, which has a lot of filth on it. I need to learn how to add things more effectively, though.

Of course, once school starts in August I'll be on line less often. For now I'm planning and plotting for next year and getting summer reading from the library.

The band is coming over today, so I think we WILL hit the library and make ourselves scarce.

VBS Recovery

This is what VBS does to your home:

After a long morning of singing and acting, I am greeted by this when I come in the door.

Yes, I see you, portfolios waiting to be organized. I see you, desk that has no surface. I see you, last homework assignment that still needs grading for two English classes!

Stop calling me, Red Mammoth couch! I can't take a nap on you right now. Small dog, I know you haven't seen us and have forgotten what we look like.

Here sit the drums after the night at the bar. They're such a fun addition to the decor. Himself walks by and nudges them with his foot, as if that will magically transport them upstairs.

And here is the dreaded PS2, already spewing games all over the floor.

We've since made progress; the portfolios are done! Laundry is almost caught up! I've made dinner for my family!

For Phyllis

Phyllis, as much as I could figure out, this is Glenna, dressed as a babushka!

She took her apron and tied it up and over her head. She put on her sundress, her brother's shirt, and tied her Daddy's tie around her waist. Add Daddy's slippers, and viola!

You can see her brother and his friend coming in the door. They were quite puzzled. She later added some of Daddy's black socks and buttoned up the neck, since no self-respecting babushka would have bare skin.

How did she do? :-D

Kelly's PC Paper

I'm putting together the portfolios of my kids' work, due TODAY. I'm almost finished. I have a love/hate relationship with portfolios. I love to look back on all the work we accomplished, but I hate going through the piles of paper! One year, I did the portfolio work every Friday. I LOVED being current on them, and my kids HATED that I knew right away when they were ditching their work (only two of the three actually had anything to fear!). Tyler dubbed Friday, "The Day of Reckoning."

I came across this paper Kelly wrote and she gave me permission to post it here. The assignment was to turn a fairy tale into a politically correct fairy tale. She chose the Grasshopper and the Ant. I laugh every time I read it!

The Farmer and the Fiddler

by Kelly W.

Our story opens on a wide field of wheat bending beneath the wind, waiting to be harvested. An other-than handsome person named Mart was at one end of the field, laboring fiercely, harvesting. Down the road near where Mart was working went Jappedo, the fiddler. Jappedo loved to fiddle, and unfortunately that tended to block out the not quite large amount of genius in him. "Here we go again," mumbled Mart when he heard the merry tune approaching up the street. "Mart, my friend!" bellowed Jappedo. "Why must you work so when such a fine day has dawned?"

"Oh, Jappedo," Mart responded, "although I would find it narrow-minded and restricting to a person's free mind not to accept your view on working for food, I must suggest to you to do a bit of preparation for the cold days ahead as I myself do at this moment, instead of perhaps not using your time to the greatest advantage."

"HA HA!" laughed Jappedo. "Surely you must see me as dull! I shall survive by being joyful and fiddling the days away instead of cutting down innocent plant life as if they were soulless beings!" With that last remark, Jappedo continued to frolic down the road, fiddling all the while.

Three months later, as Mart ate a warm loaf of bread (with a smidgen of guilt from what Jappedo had said in the past about cutting down blameless plant life), he heard a gloomy song floating down the way. Following the mournful tune out the door, down his walkway, and along the path a ways, Mart met up with Jappedo and his fiddle by the road. Jappedo lowered his fiddle and admitted, "Perhaps I should prepare a bit ahead of winter, so I shan't perish from lack of food." Mart, who now felt terrible for destroying the lovely wheat plants, tossed down his bread and added, "Yes, and I must find a suitable diet that does not so impose on the beauty and pride of the magnificent nature of this earth." From that day forth, Mart and Jappedo opened up their minds to other views, and never again were they narrow-minded and intolerant.

:-D

Lisa

This is Lisa, my best friend from high school. I have about 20 pictures of her similar to this, where you don't see all of her face.

Right now, she's probably plotting my demise for posting it on my blog, but it's her fault for sending it to me. Man, I love her glasses. I want them. Badly.

This is the person who knows the entire Bagel story. She knows who the TBW were. She knows as much as I do about Uncle Bobby, now known as "Anthony." She's ridden with me in The Yellow Iguana, which later became my car and lasted until Ty was a year old. She even knows it wasn't yellow!

After 12 years of begging and pleading on my part, Lisa FINALLY has email! We've been emailing, and it's funny how differently we remember those two years of high school when we were inseparable. My take is: She was quiet and wonderful, I was loud and obnoxious. She was/is the smartest person I've ever known, I ditched homework like it was diseased. She plays the flute beautifully, I faked it and had an airy tone. (We both switched to sax for Jazz Ensemble, though! That was fun! Except for Danny Miller. What an oddball.)

We didn't have any classes together except for band. It took me years to figure out this was because she was an honors student; I just thought it was bad luck. I remember INSISTING that I type her report for her (this way I didn't have to go home so she could do her homework) and she probably had to do it all over after I left. I kept typing "perhaps" as "prehaps," and there wasn't a backspace or delete key on a typewriter!

Her Mom, pictured below, was so wonderful to me. She, too, will probably plot my demise after this. It's Lisa's fault!

That's it. I'm calling Lisa and Mary to come with me to pick out glasses. I can never find any this cool.

This woman let me stay at her house while they were scoping out houses in Ohio because I had a license and her sister (the adult with an adorable baby) didn't know how to drive a standard. THEN, she let me use her car. A convertible VW BUG! My dream car! I got to drive it to the beach and everything! I was supposed to have the idle checked while she was gone, but I never was good at homework assignments.

Anyway, I was always staying for dinner. She would say, "Are you staying? I need to know how many plates." She would make this big pot of spaghetti sauce, which is how I make mine now, and she wouldn't use a bit of salt in anything she cooked. I'm sure I highly insulted her when I asked for the salt and kept pouring it on, but she would smile and say, "I don't use salt." She would also have this counselling group over all the time, referred to as "the Sickos" by the rest of the family. I can't tell you how much I learned from her, especially about my own family. She taught me to see things from THEIR point of view, especially when it came to one of my brothers. It didn't make their actions right, but it sure gave me understanding, which allowed room for grace.

I used to call their house "early" in the morning (9:00) and they would pick up the phone and hang it up again. Thank God there wasn't caller I.D. back then! Here's where I first admit it was me, but I really only did it once. Or twice.

Two weeks after we graduated, Lisa's family moved to Ohio. I haven't mentioned the rest of her family because I'm already on the hit list of two of them. I'm sure one of the unmentioned has connections in New York and I should be very afraid. When I said goodbye to Lisa, I cried all the way home. Her Dad drove me and was so, so kind, allowing me some silence. I didn't want him to feel worse than he already did! I have been missing her ever since. Two weeks after she left, John moved to the desert (a 2.5 hour drive). I was completely lost, but I know those years were for my growth and I don't regret them.

I flew out for her wedding with Ty when he was 8 months old (she called him "The Sack"). I also ruined her honeymoon because I was too scared to call a cab, so they came and got me and drove me to the airport. That's the last time I've had a hug from her.

Now we're still pretty far apart, but the Internet puts her RIGHT HERE. I'm so thankful! She keeps me real. She puts up with me, has seen me at my worst, but loves me anyway.

I am and always have been thankful for her friendship. Now I want to introduce her to all my friends here, so they can know how wonderful she is, too.

Don't deny it, Lisa. You da bomb.

And you need to blog, so people can see how funny you are when you write, and they can laugh out loud like I do. One of my favorite Lisa lines on a letter she sent referred to the scented pen she used. She wrote, "Does this smell like dungeon moss and rotting chains? It's supposed to smell like grape."

VBS Day 4

After years of keeping it away, a Play Station 2 has entered my home.

Tyler told me that's one of the things he was going to get when he turned 18. It was such a funny day as I tried to discourage him from buying one all during VBS. I reminded him of how well we've done without one and how happy he's been.

"Play Station will make me happy, my life will be complete."

I thought his friends would confess that video games take up too much of their time, cost too much, didn't make them as happy or their lives complete, etc. Paul chipped in with, "I was always happy before I had video games. Then I got a video game, and I was much happier." :-D

So, we went into the "den of sin" and he bought the PS2. He got a really good deal, some games, blah blah blah. He was giddy! He couldn't wait to get home to set it up, but then he had to go to work.

John pretended to be yelling about his horrible choice from his office while Tyler was showing it to him. "Son! How could you! This is awful!" However, I was close enough to the office to also hear him say quietly, "Sweet! Let me check it out, dude!"

The girls made sure they got their comments in as well. We were teasing Ty about how he was going to hell in a handbasket. Hard rock music, staying up all hours, playing at a bar (another story), buying a PS2 were all sure signs of his demise. Kelly piped in with, "Mom, Dad, would this be a good time to tell you Tyler has a girlfriend?"

We all laughed so hard!

He doesn't.

At least, I don't think he does.

No.

He doesn't.

I think.

Tomorrow's the LAST day of VBS! I woke up this morning so tired and so DONE with VBS. I just didn't want to play anymore, know what I mean? Thursday is always the hardest. The kids are used to the routine of VBS and are harder to handle. Everyone's exhausted. It's also the day they hear the gospel message, which explains why it's so rough on everyone. As far as we know, 10 children wanted to know more about Christ and pray. That really makes it all worth it!

Still, I'll be glad when tomorrow is over and I can get some serious sleeping in, laundry, and cleaning done. I also need to do the dreaded school portfolios, due Monday, so I can vacation at last!

Actually, I need to get Tyler enrolled for fall semester at Valencia. THEN I can relax.

VBS Day 3

First off, I want to give a shout out to a famous (in my mind) and award winning film maker in New York. I always liked you, you know! Good thing your family never broke your habit of not living in the real world, I say! ;-) He-man, anyone?

Today's VBS went well, but it was pretty hard. It's supposed to be for kids from 4 years old to 6th grade, but all these teens (and adults) keep showing up to "help." Problem is, we can't have just anyone working with the kids because of insurance, liability, and needing to do background checks on everyone. Anyone who shows up has to be approved and screened first, which needs to be done ahead of time and not on Monday, the CRAZIEST day of VBS registration. Pastor Ron had to tell the teens that if they have not been approved, they can't come. :-( I wish I could just let them all stay with me, but that was given the "no," too. Not only do they eat the food put out for the kids, but it becomes more of a "youth" event and we really want to focus and love on those younger ages.

SO, do you hear me, you terrific teens??? Register early next year and get checked out! Come to the meetings so you know what we're doing and hear all the rules! Ok? That will make it all better, I guarantee!

Highlights today, but also from yesterday -- an aspiring drummer, age 11, came up to Ty for advice. Tyler ended up taking his broken kick drum home, fixing it, and showing him how to tighten things properly.

Paul sat in on guitar since Jeremy had to work. He did such a GREAT job! Now I know, Paul. . . . I'll be calling on you in the future!

Kelly took over Jake's group and had such a blast. She just LOVED tuning in to those kids and lovin' on 'em. She was made for stuff like that.

There were no major sound meltdowns, and I actually remembered the skit!

I wish I had some cute pictures to show. I'll have to wrestle the digital camera from Himself tomorrow.

VBS Day 2

What a blast! It seems like there were so many more kids there today. I actually made it through the skit with Shane and didn't forget any lines (the hardest part for me). Snyder was so good on bass today!

Highlights: I'd been complaining to the band about the tempos being too slow. One of the songs, they agreed, was "ridiculously" slow! We were ready to start a song in the afternoon and they purposely started it twice as slow as it's supposed to go, waiting for my reaction. :-D They should know better than to mess with my mind like that!

One of the JVers actually started asking me a question during the afternoon session (a BIG no-no and rule #1: Don't talk to Mrs. W once we start!). I looked at him and said, "You're TALKING to me???" The look of horror on his face when he realized what he was doing was so priceless! I proceeded to beat him with the papers in my hand and hollered out to his mother, "I'm killing your son!" He ran out of reach pretty quickly. [heh heh]

VBS Highlight, Day 1

Day One of VBS is always chaotic, but it wasn't so bad today. I kept telling the JV "STOP TALKING TO MEEEEEE!!!!" and they finally got the hint. There's so much for me to memorize and do that when all 40,000 JVers come up and ask the same question, it really wears me down. At the end of the day we regroup, I assure them that I love them, remind them of the rules, and off we go!

Today's highlights:

While I was in the craft/snack area, I looked over to see Zach sitting next to this little kid. The little kid was beaming like you wouldn't believe because the GUITAR PLAYER was actually talking to him! Zach's got such a great heart.

Josh Harris dressed like a sherriff and threw Tyler in jail. About 20 kids came running up to me with, "Mrs. Welsh! Mrs. Welsh! They threw Tyler in jail!" I finally decided to go over to the "jail" and added some teen-embarrassing drama to boot with, "No! Say it izn't so, son! Tell 'em! Tell 'em you didn't dew it . . . tell 'em yer innocent . . . . "
Tyler looked me square in the eye and said, "Lady, I've never seen you before in my life." :-D I love that kid!

I also found out I'm horribly out of shape. I was sweating like a pig up there! I feel sorry for Rebekah Rigel who has to hug me during a song, but she's such a sweetheart, she'd never say anything.

The Scarlet Letter(S!!!)

I want to be well read. I do. I want my girls to be well read, too. (I think Tyler gave up reading when he picked up his drum sticks.)

So far this 2007, I've read Uncle Tom's Cabin and The Diary of Anne Frank. I read them for content before I pass them on to Kelly, and Glenna gets such classics as Carry On Mr. Bowditch, Farmer Boy, The Bronze Bow, and Strawberry Girl.

I'm about 20 pages into The Scarlet Letter and I've realized something; the man is babbling.

I kid you not!

He rambled on for at least three paragraphs about his friend's fond rememberances of delicious dinners. Three paragraphs! I have learned from past experience that just because something is labeled a classic in literature, I can't just hand it over to my daughter to read. I read through them, put little sticky tabs on the places she should avoid (and she does -- she trusts me), or I tell her to skip the book all together. But this book -- this book is driving me crazy with all the babbling! Yet, every reading list recommends it for high school.

It's not making my job easy.

Last Convention photos

Here are some last photos from the Home School convention. The girls had plenty of time to walk around while John and I were at the graduation meeting, then we had to wait until 7:00 for the graduation to start.

This is Steve Demme. For the last 9 years, we've been using the Math-U-See curriculum. Each week the girls watch Steve Demme on their math DVD, then do the lesson for the rest of the week. On the DVDs he has some hair! This guy is brilliant and saved my life by writing this math curriculum. Thanks, Steve! (I also worked in the booth next to him one year in Jacksonville. He's a hoot!)

Not to leave her out, I also had the girls stand with Sherri Seligson! Talk about brilliant! Sherri is a marine biologist who left her profession to become a stay at home and home school mom. As each of her children reached certain science levels, she invited other home school kids to join them. A couple of years ago she wrote the Marine Biology edition for Apologia Science curriculum!

Sherri is just one of the examples of how God provides for our children's education. Tyler studied Biology, Chemistry, Marine Biology, and Physics with this family. Kelly has taken Physical Science so far, is signed up for Biology next year, and will hopefully do Marine Biology the following year. Fortunately, Sherri also has a child Glenna's age!

Here we are in the lobby of the Rosen Shingle Creek hotel, waiting for graduation to start. My Mother-in-love had bought me this home school comic book as a present for graduating my firstborn. The comics were hysterical, but probably only to home school families. (Zach and Kaley read them and didn't even smile; Kaley isn't home schooled, and Zach either doesn't understand what his mother goes through or has no sense of humor.) ;-D

Here's Glenna with her Grandma! For all of you who know us, this is the woman that lived an entire year (to the day!) in a teepee with five kids and a large dog. She has fought more battles than I would ever care to! Now she's working for a company selling crypts, funeral plans, and viewing places for urns after cremation. Ask John for all the jokes; he's got a million of 'em about this. Mom calls them "plans and properties." Sorry you didn't meet her on Sunday, but we were all exhausted and stayed home from church.

Graduation!

Here are some comical attempts at trying to get pictures of Ty's FPEA Graduation experience.

All the boys were told to wait in this room. We're not sure if Ty's in here or not. The girls were in a different room.

Some Mom snuck in there. Let him go, Mom . . . . let him go. . . .

This was the "line" the Family was asked to stand in. The doors to the ceremony are actually to the right. We were surprised that no one in Orlando, the line capital of the world, knew how to use velvet ropes to make orderly lines for a crowd! Tyler's friends came! Jeremy has some problem with his tongue, as you'll see in later pictures.

Ok, we're safely inside and seated! This is as close as we could get to the grads walking down the center aisle. See the banner? Fortunately, they had a camera and huge screens showing the grads during the processional.

At this point, the camera became useless. Tyler was on the END, in the BACK, and not 50 feet from us, but we could not get ONE DECENT PICTURE of him! I had Zach and Stephen getting up from their seats (a big no-no according to the parent meeting), running up to an empty seat that was closer to Ty, trying to take his picture. As you can see above and below, all in vain.
Finally, we resorted to getting pictures AFTER the graduation. You can tell by our expressions that we're extremely tired and hungry at this point! It's 10:30, we haven't had dinner, and we're not sure where we're eating yet. We still need to catch the shuttle bus back to our cars!

There's Jeremy's tongue problem again.

All in all, it was an experience. He seemed pretty happy about the whole graduating thing!

I love how Glenna's peeking around her brother on this one. She was/is SO proud of him! She beamed the whole evening.

Soon

I keep dreaming of our upcoming vacation. I can't wait to get away! I can't tell you how welcome this break will be. Here's a picture of the cabin we'll be staying in. We'll be in the one on the left, and the Scarboroughs will be in the one on the right. The Lieberts will be right down the hill.

For years we've camped together every July 4th at Fort Wilderness, Disney. We'd haul all our camping equipment (which grew into a larger and larger pile every year) and sweat it out. It was actually a lot of fun; riding bikes around the Disney property, swimming, fireworks, etc. Two years ago, however, we'd all had enough.

Last year, we went to Ashville, NC and stayed in KOA Kabins. This year, we've decided to see what Tennessee is like! Poor Kelly gets to drive up to Tennessee and back with us, then up and back with the youth group a week later. It will be her "summer in the car" experience!

Home School Convention

Well! Another home school convention is under my belt! As predicted (and hoped!) I have come away renewed, recharged, and convicted. I AM doing this because I feel God has called me to home school my children. He WILL NOT expect me to do it without His help!

One of the major "jewels" I came away with (and the strongest conviction) was that I have lost sight of my original goals for home schooling. I brought my children home to school because I wanted to start our day with the Lord and point them to Him all day. I wanted them to love learning. I wanted them to receive an excellent, one on one education.

We've had some great experiences over the years, but the minute I joined an umbrella school for record keeping, it was no longer about learning but about GRADES. Granted, high schoolers need grades, but Kelly and Glenna certainly didn't! I became the Mom who ranted, "Finish the book! Finish the book!" instead of taking the time to LEARN the material. This is so hard to admit!

Since Glenna will only be in 6th grade, I can still get away with not giving letter grades to her. She will get a "P" for Pass or a "N" for Needs Improvement. That's it.

Kelly will still have to get letter grades, but it will rightfully be on the work she has accomplished, NOT the work I have planned by the minute and maybe she didn't get to!

The students in my class, however, will get letter grades. ;-) Or maybe they won't, if they're not in high school! High schoolers will get the worst of me when they don't turn in assignments on time. [heh heh]

Coming soon: blurry pictures of Ty's FPEA graduation ceremony!

The Price of Disorganization

Today, I'm cleaning out "that pantry." How many times have I walked past "that pantry" and pledged to clean it? It's in the same area as our washer and dryer, so it had begun to spill over into the laundry area, which made it difficult to get near the washer. I found myself leaning way over to put clothes in or to switch the laundry. How frustrating! How silly to continue that way.

I have prided myself on my care of the family food budget, and thus is the key to my downfall: pride. I've discovered today that I'm not as careful with our budget as I thought! My cheeks were burning as I thought of tribal missionaries carefully counting each item to make sure they had everything they needed until the next plane drop. I thought of my grandparents living in the coal mining camps of New Mexico, waiting for their water and coal to be delivered by wagon. Don't get me started on the relatives who lived through the Depression!

I have THREE same-sized bottles of white vinegar. I have FOUR bags of lentils, and I rarely make anythiing with lentils since they're not John's favorite. THREE bags of black beans sit next to the container of white, powdery substance (is it flour? Is it pancake mix?). I KNEW I had a jar of Dijon mustard; I KNEW it, but I couldn't see it, so I bought more. RATS!

The buck stops here, and I take full responsibility. I would dearly love to blame the kids because they put the groceries away and toss things willy-nilly, but it's my responsibility to train them and follow up on their work.

I will also take another look at my spending habits at Costco. Do I actually have room for those bulk items? Do I NEED to have three gallons of bleach at one time? Am I hording, and not trusting God to supply my needs? I'll admit, this is a long habit from the days of John's self-employment. We never knew when we would be paid, so I would buy when I could and stock up. This is no longer the case.

How much of it is laziness and not wanting to go to the store when I need something? This comes from having to cart young children to the store with me. This is no longer the case. Granted, I certainly don't want to get into the habit of running to the store for every little thing, either. There must be a balance somewhere.

A Two-fer

I know I already posted one blog today, but here's another.

We are finishing our 9th year of home school this month! Ty wants to move on, and here he has THREE celebrations of his graduation. One for our church seniors, one for State Home School graduates, and one for our umbrella school. Man! I wish we had all just taken the month off. He seriously is only going through with everything for me. Nice kid.

At the end of each year, I take a few minutes to ponder the "regrets" of things I didn't get to, the celebration of our accomplishments, and the resolution to "do things differently" next year! My sincere hope is that our school room will be finished by the time school starts next year, so there will be less mess in our home and I'll have everything in one place.

*[School room update: the part needed for the nail gun finally came in the mail, and John's putting it in right now!]

I'll miss Tyler, but I certainly won't miss having to home school him. We would get along so GREAT during the summer, then struggle the rest of the year. This year was our best year yet with his efforts and attitude, for which I am so grateful.

I hope to focus more on Glenna. Kelly's such a great self-starter and I never have to worry about her finishing school, while my sweet Glenna is the one I have to constantly pull out of the tree or dirt and call her back to task. We had one glorious semester where she would do all her school FIRST, then spend the rest of the day being a kid. I loved that! This year, teaching the English classes here was a new experience. I'll know more of what to expect.

The home school convention is next weekend (along with Ty's graduation ceremony). I look forward to the encouragement and recharging I get each time I go! I love getting the things I need for next year (without paying shipping!) and talking to other home school families. I'm reminded again and again WHY we made this most difficult choice to bring our kids home and teach them ourselves. It's the hardest thing I've ever done; it's the best thing I've ever done.

Stuff

Hooray! I'm getting some cleaning and laundry done today!

Yesterday was the first band practice for VBS. It went well, as far as first practices go. Beth Anne says they always sound horrible and then sound great at VBS time. True.

I got a little frustrated with the guys. I'm trying to talk and they're playing guitars. I'm trying to get them to listen to music and they're talking to each other. I finally got after them (I don't need to listen to the songs, THEY do! I already know them!) and they were better.

I appreciated Tyler so much! He kept the guys in line for me and kept things moving. He even offered me some comic relief that only I saw, which I'll treasure! I just feel the music this year is of the quality that we really could make it outstanding if they put effort into it. I pray they go home and listen and practice. We'll see. I'm so excited to have Kelly and Aleah helping with vocals! They're really listening to their parts and working to figure it out.

Graduation stuff: Really ready to ditch it all. It's not so bad, but I don't want to forget anything and let people down. I hate that more than anything. I feel like I'm spinning dishes on poles, or trying to keep six volleyballs underwater at once. I know something's going to get away from me and I'll have to chase it down. I can't wait to see my Dad and his wife, and I'm so looking forward to John's Mom being here!

Causes of stress

Maybe this is simply a perfectionist tendancy, but I don't necessarily feel busyness is a cause of stress. I think activity keeps us vibrant and alive, especially if we're doing the work God has cut out for us!

No, the stress comes when busyness doesn't allow us to do things the way we really want to. This is especially true if we find out we have let down people who are important to us because of a crazy schedule and lifestyle!

Case in point: Daniel Halladay's graduation celebration. I had this on my calendar, I told him we'd be there, I was so looking forward to celebrating his accomplishment after praying for him for so many years. Thursday evening, I remembered it. Friday morning, I absolutely forgot it. I can't tell you how much this sickened me.

Another case in point: Making a nice dinner for my family. I'm not talking about throwing some meat in a pan and boiling some pasta, I'm talking about having something green and healthful with the main course, sitting down at the table, and enjoying conversation with each of them. Each of us has a different schedule now, so this is getting harder to do. When I know someone's grabbing a PBJ or the pizza man is called, it stresses and I know I missed the mark.

I want to send out a general bulletin to all my friends and family: If I said I would be there and I'm not there, CALL ME. It means I forgot! The embarassment of having you call me is less than the horror of forgetting all together. I won't always be like this, but at this time in my life I could use a little help!

Now, off to train myself to look at the calendar as often as I look at the clock.

Classes Ending

My last English class was today! Now I have a few easy papers to grade, two tests to give out, and I'm DONE until August!

John's out of town, Ty's working, Glenna has been sent to bed, and Kelly has crashed on the floor at my feet. A peaceful, quiet home is actually an enjoyable one. Kelly and I are both frustrated that our home is never "company perfect," but Kelly and I agree we have a family that loves each other and doesn't snap at each other over things like housework. I'll take that over a spotless home any day.

Today I headed up to Ty's room. I ended up sitting on his bed while we listened to music and he shared different bands and songs with me. It was so nice to sit there without any agenda or school work or schedule and just chill. I needed that.

I don't know about anyone else, but the fires around here have wreaked havoc with my allergies. I am SO stuffed! Sinus headaches, aching ears; it's enough to drive me batty! We could use a few more rainstorms to wash everything clean.

Murphy's Law, Welsh version

Here are some random observations:

If you have clean laundry on the couch, including underwear, that's when the band comes over.

If you don't put your make-up on because you'll "just be working at home today," you'll have to run errands or drive your kid somewhere.

If you say something you shouldn't and then try to fix it, you'll just make it worse.

If you work all morning and get a ton of stuff done, but then sit down at the computer to take a 5 min. break, that's when your husband will come home.

When you don't feel like talking to anyone, the next five phone calls will be for you, AND, your kid (pick one) will have a question every five minutes or less.

If you go to sneak the last piece of cake, you'll find someone beat you to it.

If you put off cleaning the bathroom until "later," three guests will come and ask to use it. (If one of them in Cindy Pilling, you'll also be out of toilet paper for some strange reason we've never figured out!)

If your evening dinner plan is to just throw stuff together so your family won't starve, you'll end up feeding the youth pastor, also. (He must think I'm the weirdest cook, ever.)

If you're feeling grouchy, your kids will make you smile by the end of the day (at least mine do)!

Concert

Last night's concert went really well! There were about 140 [?] people there, so a lot of funds were raised for the mission trip to Mexico. The visiting band, Beth, was great, and I heard Year After Year for the first time (the drummer is 14 and plays really well!). My boys, of course, were excellent, but this concert was a true test of their "professional" skills as musicians and showmen.

Everything was going GREAT and the guys sounded fantastic. I didn't see what happened next, but somehow Jeremy did a guitar fling-thing and ended up hitting Zach squarely in the mouth. Now, I hurt for Zach, but I felt so badly for Jeremy! He chipped Zach's front tooth pretty badly and knocked Zach to the ground.

Amazingly, Zach kept playing his guitar, got up, and kept playing. Ty mouthed, "Are you all right?" to him, but then Zach showed him his teeth. All three of them were pretty shook up at this point (I don't know when Brendan finally knew what had happened) but they all KEPT PLAYING. Zach talked to the crowd like he always does, but kept his mouth hidden or turned away from them. He had to sing three more songs! He would put his upper lip on the microphone to keep it over his teeth while he sang. Zach told me later he was so scared about what his mouth would look like (he picked the piece of tooth up off the stage) and all he wanted to do was get off that stage, but he FINISHED. I was so amazed at that kid, all of them, really - but Zach's got game! He said it would have been much easier to do if Aleah hadn't been freaking out in front of the stage! (Proof that Aleah loves her brother, Zach! LOL)

Anyway, I just love their new stuff and they sounded so fantastic. I talked to one kid in my English class who was "strongly disappointed" because they only played ONE of their old songs and he didn't care as much for the new ones. I know this is because he's not familiar with them . . . if he had a chance to hear them, he'd love them. The guys are eager to get some songs out as soon as possible so people can start hearing them and learning them. Let's face it; fans like to sing along!

It's so hard (and not humble) for me not to go on and on about Tyler. I know I'm his Mom, but I just love to watch him play! He's so talented and skillful (I warned you)! When he plays, there's not a bit of nervousness or akwardness about him -- he's completely in his element and thoroughly enjoying every minute of it! I love talking to him afterward to hear what's going on in his head while he's playing. He gives us the comical insights to the band and the performance, plus any areas where they may have struggled.

It's truly my hope that they'll be able to do more with their music, especially now while they're young and don't have wives and children. I think it would be great to go on at least one tour. Beth (opening band) plays at many different venues and hopefully, now that they've heard Evangelin, will want to do some shows with them. It will be exciting to see what God's will is in this.

As for Zach's tooth; he'll probably end up with a crown, but it's highly fixable. We teasingly called him "Bubba Zach" for now. He'll have his beautiful smile back in no time.

If you give a bird a feeder . . . .

I found this cute bird feeder at Khols. It looks like a little yellow cottage and it's hanging in the backyard tree. So far, I've only seen a bird eat out of it once! It's usually being raided by a squirrel, hanging upside down with his toes clinging to the roof, throwing the seeds about. This brings me to my observations:

If you hang a bird feeder, it will attract a squirrel.
If you attract a squirrel, it will attract a cat.
If you attract a cat, it will attract a teen with a paintball gun.
If he paints the cat (AND the squirrel), the cardinals will come!

He had a great shot, too, from the upstairs window. I was impressed! No cats or squirrels were harmed, but a few of them are walking around with yellow paint spots on their heads. Don't worry. It washes right off and is non-toxic. Hopefully, it discourages them from using my back yard as their potty stop!

We have this hose in the front yard that drips a little bit. I bought a terracotta saucer and put it under the hose drip -- instant bird bath! I have been rewared already by watching the cardinals drink and bathe from it. They also love the little bird feeders that look like picnic benches placed where the squirrels can't reach them.

So far, I've only seen cardinals, bluejays, and mourning doves. I know there's got to be more bird types in Florida! Oh, I've seen them all disappear when our resident red-shouldered hawk comes by. That's one beautiful bird.

AWANA

Last night was our last regular club night for AWANA. Now we just have the AWARDS night and that's it! I can start focusing on VBS.

I know that AWANA, unfortunately, will have to be an area I cut back next year. I will gladly participate as a leader, but if there's no Trek director, there will probably not be Trek. I won't do this again where I sign up as leader and I'm expected to do everything a director does. I feel so badly for the kids because I was only able to give them about a 70% effort! I didn't do half the things I usually do with them, such as a Lil' 500 night, Focus Dinner, and Church-In.

I suppose doing SOMETHING is better than doing nothing, but I know home schooling is my priority over AWANA and my home school year did not go well, either, especially for Glenna. She slid so far under the radar -- it will be interesting to see her test results this year!

Ty has his last Valencia final today at 1:00. He got up early to study but has crashed on the couch. I'll wake him up soon.

Three Blogs in One

Who has time to read a long blog? While busy with the tasks of the mundane, my mind is free to ponder. I've three separate subjects and numbered them, so you come back and read them at your leisure.

1. Concert
Ty's band, Evangelin, practices here. Usually Wednesdays ends up with the girls and me locked in a room somewhere. It's a great time to do some spring cleaning! I'm glad they practice here because I love to hear what they're working on, and sometimes I get to feed them snacks or make them dinner. I love it.

However, I don't always get to go to their concerts! Largely, this is because it's not cool to have "band parents" around. Actually, the band Dad is cooler to have than a band Mom. I can respect that.

Imagine my momentary pleasure when Tyler informed me I was personally invited to their concert on April 30th.
"I am?" I gushed.
"Yeah!" grinned Ty.
"Wait a minute. . . isn't that the benefit concert for the Mexico short-term missions.?"
"Yeah!" grinned Ty, even more broadly.

Sigh. I'll take what I can get.

2. Overloaded
This year I definitely took on too much. It nearly killed me (not literally, but it sure felt like it).

3 English classes - this was for added income, but was basically a part time job when you include the grading of papers and preparation.

A US History class (see above, just not for income).

A Weekly Bible study. I didn't have to prepare to teach it, but I did have to do daily homework.

AWANA - I specifically said I couldn't play the director role this year, but no director stepped up. I did the planning and teaching as much as I could, but I know I wasn't able to give it 100% this year. Coaching the Bible Bowl team was especially a killer! HOWEVER; I love JV so much. It's such a pivotal age in a person's life when they're trying to discover who they are and who they're going to become. This is where they test the boundaries and see if lightning WILL strike them the instant they sin, and when it doesn't, they don't think about the consequences down the road.

Homeschooling my three - Glenna had the least of my attention this year. God have mercy on her education! I'm so thankful Tyler's graduating so I don't have to fight with him about school anymore.

SAHM - For those of you who don't know the term, it's Stay At Home Mom, Cooking, cleaning, laundry, driving kids around, etc. You can tell when we've had a GOOD SAHM day OR a good school day! Rarely am I able to do both!

Sunday school teaching - one quarter only, but it added to it.

VBS -- it's coming! I don't have time to prepare! Arrrggghhh!!!!

I was chatting with my pastor last night and without going into the details, I confessed I took on too much this year. He asked me what I was going to cut back on NEXT year . . .

Lord help me, I honestly do not know.

3. Mugs
At last year's women's retreat, I had an interesting conversation with Debbie B. about mugs. I'll try to shorten it as much as possible, but basically she likes all of her mugs to match. She says no one really likes the gift mug from Uncle Edward; it just kind of gets pushed to the back of the cupboard and is ignored.

I have mugs that match for formal occasions, but I like mugs that DON'T match for every day. I asked Debbie how everyone keeps track of their mugs throughout the day if they all look the same? Her simple and amusing answer was, "Mine has a chip in it."

Ha!

Still, there's something to be said for ditching the ugly mugs. We all have them. Most of the time, the kids love them and keep using them while the mom hates them and wants to toss them.

How do I keep individual mugs while still adding beauty to our home?

I came upon the brilliant solution of getting different mugs, but making sure they have a similar THEME. I love red, so I thought if I had mugs that had some sort of red to them we could all keep track of our mugs and yet still have some uniformity. I wouldn't mind a black or white mug, either, since those go well with red! Ta-Dah!

I present this idea to John and Kelly. The response?

John - Whatever. I'm keeping the mug that reads "DAD" all over it.
Kelly - I want the mug with the pigs! I know it's kind of lavender, but I love that mug. I want that mug when you guys die. It will be part of my inheritance.

I haven't even talked to Glenna about tossing her Winnie the Pooh mug, plastic, with the handle completely broken off.

I did, however, throw out a mug I myself had purchased from Lakeshore learning. At least, it's sorta thrown out. it's sitting on the counter, WAITING to be thrown out.

That says it.

The suburbia-living citizen has succumbed to this means of daily informational indulgence that has pushed the social limitations of moral and dignified communication. -- Tyler Welsh

Drat

I am sick.

It feels so strange to stay home from church. It always seems that when my family is sick, I care for them. When I am sick, they abandon me! They say they're "letting me rest." I appreciate that, but would love to not have to get up for the phone or juice!

I walked out of the sick room (John's office with spare bed) after John woke me up. He had this smiling, trying not to laugh smirk on his face.

I've seen my hair. I know why he's laughing. I just don't appreciate it.

So I hear Ty home and he wants to take my car to House of Blues to see Maylene and Haste the Day. Jeremy's here with him. I quickly grab something, anything to put on my head. A blue knitted beanie!

Kelly has this smiling, trying not to laugh smirk on her face when she sees it. Ty speaks his mind with, "You have a beanie on your head." He pats my hand sympathetically. Jeremy is eager to leave.

I hate being sick.

Sickies

Glenna was sick on Monday, and now Ty's knocked out. He did get up and head to Valencia to turn in his paper, but he didn't stay for class. Poor kid. I hope the rest of us are able to avoid it!

Glenna got her cast off yesterday! It's sooo good to see her arm again. As soon as they said we were finished, we headed to the bathroom and broke out the scrubbie and shower gel. She had been "cleaning" her hand with Q-tips as far as she could, so she had (grossness alert!) this thick ring of dead skin around her wrist. She said a scrubbing never felt so good!

John's in Miami for a trade show, but he's supposed to be home (hopefully) today. I miss him when he's gone, but I get a lot of work done! I'm caught up on laundry and dishes, and now I need to finish grading papers (how DOES Kathy Robertson do it?). Kelly stayed home from AWANA last night and cleaned the kitchen top to bottom, cleaned the dining area, and baked a banana cake. I'm going to leave that girl home more often.

Keep praying

Please keep praying for Ellie. They have her heavily sedated to try to get her body to recover enough to find out why she can't breathe on her own. Pray for her parents and her entire "team" to get some much needed rest!

Oh yeah . . .

I guess I should have mentioned that the guys in the pictures with Ty are his bandmates. Go Evangelin! Can't wait for Cornerstone!

Tyler's 18th Birthday!

My firstborn is a legal adult today! How I thank God for my son and everything he has become. I can't wait to see what God has planned for him!

Below are some pictures of him and his friends. (THANK YOU, Jessie!) He's the one in the brown, button down dress shirt.

Happy Birthday, Ty! You are loved!

From left to right are (Standing on fountain) Haylee and Aleah, (standing in front of fountain) Brendan, Ty, Jessie, and Zach, and (seated) Jeremy and Tali.

Please Pray

If you read this, please pray for Ellie Skees (see link at right). She's 8 years old and has been fighting cancer, and since Wednesday she's been fighting for her very life due to complications with infections, chemo, and radiation. Please pray for her parents, John and Sarah, and her little brother, Ethan. They could use every prayer!

Leapin' Lizard

Yesterday, I went out to plant a lavendar bush. When I went to water it, there was a cute lizard peeking out of the spout of my watering can. I shook him out, filled the can (lizards all over the hose) and continued my chore.

Back inside the house, I kept feeling something strange at my waist. Have ever worn something with a thicker band of elastic and tried to roll the elastic down, but it keeps rolling back up? That's what it felt like.

I finally lifted up my shirt and pulled down the waistband of my sweats, and there was this little lizard face peering back at me. I'd like to say I calmly grasped the lizard and gently released it back outside, but that's not what happened.

"EEEK!!!!"

I tried to flick the thing away from me but didn't see it. I stripped off the pants, shoes, and asked Kelly to "Help ME!" laughing the entire time.

There's now a note on our dry/erase board that reads, "Tyler, there's a lizard in the house somewhere. Feel free to escort him OUT."

When will I sleep again?

Having to miss my son's performance during Battle of the Bands last night --

Disappointing.

Staying up until 1:30 am while he went over all the details with me --

Priceless.

Sleep's overrated. I'll sleep when I'm an empty-nester. ;-D

Everyone who was at Battle of the Bands says Evangelin did an amazing job! I could have told them that, I hear them practice every Wednesday in my living room. I'll get to hear/see their full show next week when they play a concert at Trinity Baptist. Josh invited me to bring the whole AWANA JV, so here we come!

I'm thinking I could possibly catch a nap Saturday or Sunday. If not, I'll just have to sleep during my next English class . . . .

Glenna Meets Paramedics

Glenna had quite a thrill Wednesday when she finally got to meet the paramedics who helped her! Will (Left) and Chris (Right) invited her to the firehouse and gave her the grand tour of the three year old facility. Note the other firemen in the background, sitting in the truck!





Here she's touring the trucks. When you call 911, they instantly read everything being said on their truck's computers. All the dialogue prints out on the screen, so they knew that Glenna's arm was
"grotesquely angled." Since the 911 call was placed on a cell phone, they were able to pinpoint her exact location on the GPS system.




Here she's relaxing with them in their lounge area. Will sat in the chair and it instantly fell over, so he's trying to keep it balanced here for the photo! They have a TV in here with X-box; we brought them a thank you basket with crossword puzzles, sudoku, treats, etc, since we know firemen usually have quite a bit of down time. They work a 24 hour shift followed by two days off. This particular station has three shifts; A shift, B shift, and C shift (these guys are B shift). Each shift has a separate pantry in the kitchen. They go to training and classes, and chores are scheduled on certain days, so if their shift lands on floor scrubbing day, they scrub the floors, etc.



It was all so very interesting! They even showed the computer room where they wrote up the report on Glenna's arm, the speakers where the alarm went off when 911 was called, on and on. They usually wait to go to bed until after 11:00 pm, because almost nightly they receive a phone call from RDV sportsplex!



We're watching the Liebert's dog for them while they're on vacation. He's such a cute little guy! He's very much like a toddler, though, and we're constantly chasing him down, taking things away from him, getting plastic out of his mouth. Our schnauzer plays with him for a while, but then he goes into his kennel to get a break from him.

Hobbs is the fuzzier one. :-) I love schnauzers and hope to get another some day, but it has to be when I have time to devote to training! Jack is such a great dog, but Hobbs has brought back to memory all the things destroyed when he was a puppy (including one of each of Glenna's shoes).

The Funniest Thing

I have declared myself to be on Spring Break. I should have had a US History class today, but 3/4 of the students went to Tennessee to compete in a Bible Bowl competition. Go Team!

So, I took a shower this morning, and THAT'S ALL. I put on some comfy clean sweat pants and a clean t-shirt. (Don't ask me why I'm emphasising the fact they're clean. I don't put on dirty clothes . . . anymore.) I brushed out my hair and let it hang, figured the cyclical red bumps on the end of my nose could use an airing away from make-up, and put on my glasses. Presto!

Then Glenna asked if we could go to Blockbuster. I also needed to stop at Publix, so we hopped in the car.

On the way out of Blockbuster, I noticed a well dressed man getting out of the car next to mine. He looked at me and looked like he wanted to say something, but I looked down. When I looked back up he was still looking, so I said hello.

"Hello! How are you?" he smiled.
"I'm well, thank you!" (It bugs me when people say "I'm GOOD." I always use "well.")
"You LOOK well, you know it?" he replied, still smiling.
"Excuse me?"
"I mean, look at you. You're outside, not a lick of make-up on, and a naturally beautiful woman. God bless you!" he said, his smile widening.
Laughing by now, I gave back a "God bless YOU!" and chuckled all the way to Publix.

Probably won't go to the store without at least covering the blotches on my nose again, though.

Too Sweet!

The paramedics who helped Glenna when she broke her arm stopped by today! She's going to be SO disappointed that she missed them. They were shopping for their supper at Publix and decided to come by to check on her!

They gave me directions to their station. I'm going to take Glenna by on Wednesday, since they had offered at the hospital to sign her cast once she got one. John and I just thought they were being nice, but they were serious!

Nice to know nice people are still around!

Dementia

I just found out my father has been diagnosed with dementia. He's in denial about it, and in fact refused to tell me. His wife's daughter-in-law sent me an email and requested I call.

My grandmother, his mother, had dementia, and he hated that about her. Now it's ironic that he has it, too, though Grandma's was brought on by a brain hemmorage. I hate that it's a 21 hour drive to get to him in Arkansas! He says he's happy in AR, but here's not anywhere near where I could help out. I called him on the phone and he never said anything about it. :-(

Update

After a three hour wait at the orthopedist, we were thrilled to hear Glenna will need no further surgery! The bones are still in place. They put a hard cast on her, and she returns in 3 weeks. Hooray!

We're so thankful. We're thankful for so many, many things through this!

1. For God's watch-care over us.
2. For our friends and family who pray for us, and who take the time to make cards and gifts for Glenna.
3. For the tax return that should cover anything our insurance doesn't.
4. For John's timly installation of a shower head with a spray hose!
5. For the bathrooms downstairs finally being repaired!
6. For the right orthopedist on duty that night in the ER (we've been finding out just HOW good he is through others).
7. For Glenna's speedy recovery! She's now going her second day without any pain meds or dizziness!
8. For Glenna being able to move her fingers. :-) The only one we're a little concerned about is the thumb, but the ortho today was able to get her to move it correctly, and now she has instructions to keep practicing.

I could go on and on!

Broken Arm

While I have a moment, I thought I'd jot down info on Glenna's broken arm.

Tuesday night she went to music practice as usual with Dad. Kelly and I were determined to do some much needed house cleaning, so we stayed at home (Ty was at work). I received a phone call around 9:30 from Mark Liebert, saying my little girl had broken her arm and an ambulance had been summoned. I didn't even ask questions, just said I was on my way.

Since I was "practically in my jammies," I rushed around to get dressed, put the dog away, etc. My beautiful daughter, Kelly, stopped me by grabbing both of my hands, took a deep breath, and then began to pray for her sister. I am so thankful she did that! It was exactly what I needed. Her prayer was so sweet I began to cry . . . not because of Glenna's arm, but because I realized my Kelly had a REAL relationship with her Abba Daddy. My heart was so full! I was instantly calm.

We arrived at the church to see all the grim faces waiting for us. The ambulance and paramedics were already there. I went into the Fellowship Hall and saw my little girl on the ground with her arm at a gruesome angle . . . she had broken both ulna and radius bones in her right forearm, and they were almost at a 90 degree agle. Glenna's fingers were blue (no circulation) and they had given her nitrusoxide (sp?) to help her breathe since she was hyperventillating. I was so thankful John didn't try to take her to the hospital himself. When this happened to Ty, Patty was able to slip a book under his arm and tie it with a t-shirt so I could take him myself, but there was no way we were going to move this arm ourselves. (Patty wasn't there, LOL! We tease her that she would have duct-taped it and sent us on our way. Margaret B. suggested the ambulance.)

As soon as Glenna saw me, she asked if her sister was there, too. I took one look at the arm and decided I didn't need to look at it again. I stayed at her head and kept her calm while they braced the arm and got her fingers pink again (whew!). Between gasps Glenna told me her "Green Monkey" (a gift from Allie and Kelsey Linduff when Glenna was 5) was in the JV room, so he was immediately fetched. We've decided we need to write an adventure story about Green Monkey . .. . Green Monkey Goes to the Hospital or something like that! He rode with her on the stretcher, stayed with her through x-rays, was tucked next to her side when they sedated her and set the arm.

I wonder if we would have received such fast attention if Glenna hadn't been brought in on the stretcher? Granted, we were there from 10 pm to 4:30 am, but there were 6 children waiting for Glenna's bed when we checked out. Ty had to wait in the overflowing waiting room for 30 minutes. When they finally saw him and realized he was in danger of losing his hand, they moved us along. I wonder how long Glenna would have waited?

Everyone we were in contact with at Florida Hospital South was wonderful. They used the live-motion x-ray while they set her bones -- they looked beautiful when they were done. We go back on Wednesday for her hard cast, and we'll find out at that time whether she'll need further surgery or not. This is our prayer! She left in a wheelchair with gifts from the hospital; a teddybear and hair ties and bands.

Mary and Danny Gines were SO wonderful! They came to the hospital with a bag of snacks and water for us. Mary called people for prayer right away. She even sent an email to her parents in Israel, so Glenna had people around the world praying for her! When Mary came, she brought love notes to Glenna from herself and Bekah and Barb Walter. I read them aloud to Glenna and she sleepily mumbled, "I LOVE my church." (Glenna recognized that this is the body of Christ reaching out! Taking care of each other like we're supposed to.)

The difference between Tyler's recovery and Glenna's has been remarkable. Ty's bones weren't even set for a week, and then he had to recover from surgery. Glenna can already dress herself and do most things for herself. She walks around with her arm in the air to keep the swelling down, so the running joke is to say, "Yes, Glenna? Question?" Swelling is our biggest concern. I'll be thankful when her hard cast is on and she'll have even more mobility. They also feel her nerves were stretched but should recover; her pinkie and half the finger next to it felt "rubbery."

I'll try to get a picture of "arm girl" after John gets home, as he has the camera.

JV Games!

I had so much fun with the JV at the Trek 24/7 Games! We placed dead last on our circle, but we had clean runs of every game, great attitudes, and tons of laughs. When line judges come to me after the games to say, "You have some GREAT kids, Coach!" it's all worth it to me, especially when there were some poor sportsmanship displays around us.



















This is us with our gansta "JV" sign. (See it? The "J" and the "V"? I made it up myself.)


I don't know if I've had a better time and lost so badly before! LOL









In Bible Bowl, we were felled by an article and a conjunction; "the" and "and." When Timothy got up to say a LONG verse, I tracked it carefully in my own notebook. To me, he said it word-perfect, but two judges and the quizmaster said he left out "the," so I had to accept their decision. Jessie left out "and" in the Micah 6:8 verse. Those two little words cost us 80 points and first place! We were dropped down to 7th, and our other team placed 6th. It was all so interesting since none of us had ever quizzed on this material before. I was thankful to see I was on the right track for writing questions for quizzing. There were only a couple I hadn't covered.


A very tiring but VERY good day!

Plumbing

I know there are people in other countries who would love to have my plumbing situation.

We have three bathrooms.

The upstairs bathroom is fine, except the kids use it exclusively and I hardly go in there. When I do, I faint, get out the gloves, and start scrubbing! Once in a while they stay on top of it and it's decent.

The other downside is, well, it's upstairs.

Downstairs are two bathrooms; a full bath and a 3/4 bath. In the 3/4 bath, the shower has never never worked. We use it for storage. :-) In the full bath, the toilet doesn't work. For John and myself, we use the toilet in the guest bathroom (and sink) then use shower in the full bathroom (and sink). I can't tell you how many days I've wanted to take a sledge hammer to the wall between the two so I would have ONE complete bathroom. (The only thing stopping me is not knowing if it's a load-bearing wall.)

Today, my darlin' decided to fix the toilet downstairs.

I'm still laughing about it!

He took the toilet completely off and discovered (drat!) tree roots, which means there's a break in the line somewhere. He then went and rented a root-cutting plumbing snake and went to work on the drain. Comically, a few times his rubber gloves got so twisted up in the snake, his wrists were bent inward and he had to holler for us to come and reverse the snake to untwist his hands! (hee hee!). He soon went to leather, which doesn't help with the wetness, so that problem was solved.

Things looked good, water poured down the hole in the floor went down without problems. He told Kelly to go and flush the "good" toilet downstairs to see what would happen.

Bad idea.

Water went everywhere in BOTH bathrooms, and we discovered that his aggressive use of the snake knocked a hole in the bottom of the OTHER toilet!
Pondering what we would do for a bathroom at this point, the girls and I had the following conversation.

Kelly: Good thing we found your gardening shovels, Mom.
Glenna: Kelly! That's gross!
Mom: Oooh, good point, Kelly. Of course, it's awfully cold outside to have our behinds hanging out.
Dad: You guys are freakin' hilarious.

Now, he's off to price not one, but TWO new toilets.

:-D

Contentment

There's gotta be something wrong with mornings. Or maybe there's something wrong with late nights that make mornings so wrong? Either way, one of them is the pits.

If I want to have any meaningful conversations with my teens, I have to stay up well past 11:30. I remember my friend Martha being so tired all the time because she had been up until 3 a.m. talking to her teen. I remember thinking that would be so hard to do!

Actually, the staying up part is easy. I love talking with them, hearing their thoughts, laughing at their daily antics shared with me, sharing some of my own. I get wonderful insight on who they are and how they process the things happening in their lives. I come away with such peace because I realize . . . with God's help . . . they're going to be all right. They're good kids, and they're making such wise, yet sometimes difficult, choices. I am blessed!

No, the staying up part is easy.

When the alarm rings, that's when it's hard. I still have one that's not a teen and she wants a part of me in the morning! I have a spouse who tries not to talk to me or, heaven forbid, wake me before my alarm goes off. Sometimes, I'm unable to get much sleep at all and I'm just coming to bed two hours before he gets up (why does God think it's so funny to pair a morning person with a non-morning person?).

My favorite evenings are when I'm tucked in bed with jammies on, and all three kids are piled all over the bed or on the futon in our room. John falls asleep quickly while we laugh and talk, waking periodically to ask why "all these people" are still in his room, add some input, and drift off again. Tyler has us all laughing when he shares the odd experience at the track -- he puts such a humorous spin on ordinary events. Kelly gets us rolling with her witty comments and input. Glenna tries to be a quiet little mouse so no one will notice she's still not in bed, or she gets poked and tossed around by me or her siblings (she LOVES that). We all start to giggle when John snores, wakes himself up with a particularly loud one, hears us laughing, then rolls over while mumbling, "Why are all these people still in my room?"

As for me -- I take it all in and take mental "snapshots" to treasure later. This is MY time with them. There's no one I love to be with more than my husband and my children. I know it's so important to soak it all up before God sends them off for His purposes! My newborn son is turning 18 in April. My baby girl will be 15 this summer. My infant daughter will reach "double hockey-sticks," eleven, in July. I praise God for the women He placed in my life who constantly encouraged me to slow down, enjoy them, and soak it all in. Nothing is more important, nothing has any urgency. I thank God for His conviction to home school so they could be with me even longer! It's the hardest thing I've ever done, but also the best thing I've ever done.

My house isn't spotless. My desk is a wreck. I feel I always could use more sleep. However, and I believe this is a big however; we are content. God is good.