Thursday......

Well, I guess it is Thursday! Where has the week gone?? I have spent the last 6 hours freezing my bejerby off at the zoo!! Brianna has a science fair project that she is working on and needed to do observation of the chimps. Her science fair is Saturday.

This is a picture of one of the chimps she has been observing. We have named her Sally (though I am sure the zoo has another name for her).



I have grown to think she is quite adorable!!!

I have been fighting a cold and hope that I win!!

My freaky girl has another freaky illness :) Bri thought she was allergic to something last weekend and when I asked to see the rash she had I thought it looked wierd. It was more under the skin than on it. On Tuesday she still had it and I called the doctor. They wanted to see her...of course :) We walked in apologizing because it was just a little weird rash and I was fankly pretty embarassed about going in.

Apparently it is a rash called a petichial rash (I'm sure I have mispelled it). They had a little freak out in the office because from what I understand it is a nasty rash to have. They did some blood work which apparently looked good enough to send her home and wait two weeks to see if it went away. They said her platelet count was on the low end of normal, but it was normal. Wanted to see her back if it spead or got worse. Yesterday it was looking better, but now today it seems a lot worse. It has spread to her upper thighs, some on her abdomen and it seems brighter. So...because of a lack of any other symptoms, I am going to give it until Monday (unless of course something else pops up). I would love to have some prayer sisters join with me in praying for this to go away. They just want to do some more blood work, but since her ton of spinal taps and hospital stay, she is terrified of needles. I thought she was going to pass out when they did her finger prick!!
I hate for her to have to have needless tests!!

Other news...It looks like Williams busy season is almost over!! It is nice to have him home more :)

Guess that is about it. I am going to thaw out with a hot bath!!

My Rant!!

In order to allow myself to breath easier, I need to vent and rant!! Feel free to bypass my post today if you don't want to listen to my whining :)

In case you have not figured it out, I homeschool my girls.

Now, let me tell you what that means for us. They get up by 6:30a.m. and both work on Latin. This is followed by breakfast, chores and then we have all of our other subjects until around 3:30pm. On days we have gymnastics, band or tennis, we go a little later. I am not one who thinks homeschooling is for everyone, nor do I have any ill feelings towards public school.

Brianna went to public school for a semester in 2nd grade and had the most outstanding teacher. The school encouraged parental involvement and was just an awesome school!! I adored having so many people interested in my kids and trying to help them learn. We stopped not because of any lacking on the school's part. We loved the friends that all of us made through her time in school. William and I both stayed on the board for the PTA 2 years after pulling them out of school. Public school was a very positive experience for us!!

In fact, our time there is what helped us to know that we were making the right choice. We were not running away from anything. We had a great school, the girls fit in great, there were awesome teachers, the principle was incredible!! It is just what is right for us.

It is by no means right for everyone and every child. There are days that I think I am either crazy or stupid for doing it!! Every summer I spend hours and hours reading literature to update myself on the latest methods in teaching. I have researched countless hours on how to teach grammar through reading and writing. I have researched standardized tests. Is the SAT better or the ITBS tests?? I spend lots of time and money to make sure the girls have access to some of the things that I can't offer them adequately...band, sports, chemistry!!

I take none of this lightly and am at times overwhelmed by the responsibility that we have chosen to take on. I also do not take lightly the things that I know they will miss out on...great teachers!! I read some of your blogs that are teachers and I am sad that the girls will not have many great teachers in school to influence their lives. I have tried to give them other teachers than myself to help with that, but I realize they are missing that.

I know that they do not interact with as many people that come from different backgrounds. Most of the kids they are around are middle class, Christian kids (public and homeschooled). I know they will have to deal with mean people in their lives, but if you think there are not mean kids at churches and that homeschool, you are wrong!!

My point is, we are doing what is right for us. Just us! I never try or intend to push homeschooling on people and I will never look down on all of the other outstanding choices.

I take this seriously and there is no way I would ever put my children in a situation just to get away from something!! Anyone who thinks so just does not know me or my children.

AAAahhhh, I feel better now!! Thanks :)

Happy Birthday Baby!

Yes, today marks that day that my baby becomes an "official" teenager! She has anticipated this day with much excitement! Today she is the birthday princess!
Brianna,

When I think of God working on this earth, I think of you. When I write to you, instead of beginning at the beginning with your birth, I must begin with now. Why? Because you are all about now and the future. Honestly, I am hard pressed to find another person with your faith and you total commitment to God. I am inspired by you.

Your name means "of great faith" and boy does that suit you. You are in a constant walk with God that I find amazing. I am not sure that I can even find words to express in this letter how much I respect you. There is no pride in you, I have done nothing to make you who you are. You are strictly a priceless gift from God gently set down here on earth. I respect you! You have so many qualities that I strive for myself.

The older you get, the more I adore being with you. Half the time I have no idea what you are talking about. When you hit the word molecule, my brain goes on overload! But I love the passion that you have for your interests. I love the passion you have for other people. I am not sure of many other kids that would want a goat for their birthday!! We sure had Tori going on that one!!

At this point in your life, I feel that I don't have great amounts of wisdom left to give you. I can give you something though. Bri, I give you the gift of my love. Though my love will never be as whole and complete as God's love, the love of a mom is a very special thing. I will love your successes as well as your flaws. I will love you enough to discipline you as well as celebrate with you. When you are in pain, my body hurts for you.

I give you the gift of an example of a good, Godly marriage. Whether or not you ever choose to get married, you have been given the gift of a stable family life.

I give you a church that loves you. I can tell you, baby, that this gift is more important than you may imagine.

I give you continued pursuit of knowledge in the Word. Though there will come a time in your life that I or daddy may not be there with you, God will. The more you know His word, the more you know Him!

I give you the gift of many sisters. I am sure there are times where this does not seem like a gift :), but oh what a blessing it is!

Finally, the final gift that I can give you is the gift of letting go. One day you will be ready to go out into the world. God has great plans for your life, I see that! There will come a time when His plan will break off from the daily presence that we share now. When that time comes, I will let you go and not hold you back. I will pray for you and be here for you, but I will watch you from a distance as He transforms you into the woman that He designed you to be.

And I will be amazed....

Love Always!
Mom

Thanks :)

Thanks for thinking of and praying for Tori yesterday. God worked, but it was not in the way I had thought (can't believe He would have plans outside of mine!!:). First, He let me know that I needed to back off!! Let He and Tori work out her fear without my help :)

Second, she had a really bad meet. She did good on beam, then because she was so nervous about the back handspring she left out half of her floor routine. She did the back handspring though :) Floor was followed by vault. Of course she was upset about floor and that carried over to her vault and she did not even make it over the vault. She went from a 9.3 last meet on vault to a 0 this meet. I could tell she was devastated! She was able to pull it together though and do a pretty good job on the bars.

She was upset after the meet, but I told her it is easy to do good on every event on a good day, but it is really hard to stink on two events and then lift your head and go on to be successful on the next one. She thought that made sense and went on to have a good day. Her Mimi and Grampy brought her roses so that helped!!

Gymnastics has been good for helping Tori develop several, positive character traits and habits. Yesterday God was working on those and on my being a meddling mom!!

Please Pray for Tori

Guys, would you please say a prayer for Tori this morning??

She has her meet today and she has had a rough week. I would greatly appreciate it!!

Father,

I praise you because you are the one and the only! You are the power behind all of the things we see that are awesome! I thank you for the gift you have given Tori. God, I ask that you be with her today and help her do her best. I ask that if you want her not to do her back handspring, that you let her know and she use her wisdom to choose not to do it. But Father, if she it is fear that is holding her back, I ask that you push it out of her life. If this is Satan, I call on You, God, to surround her with your glory and your presence and shut him out.

Give her the strength and the wisdom to know what it right and to do it, either way!
Give me a heart of love and unselfishness!

All of the glory and honor goes only to You!!

Amen

Life Continues...In Our Typical Fashion!

Praise the Lord for this cooler weather!! I love Thursday's!! During the Christmas holiday's William would have to work late and the girls and I dubbed it Girls Day. We would have school in our pj's and that evening one of the girls would cook dinner and then we would all snuggle in to watch a movie together.

William will not be able to join us, but we have decided to keep this, at least 2 Thursday's a month. We are calling it Christmas Thursday! We will do no additional activities on this day. No phone calls or running around. We get to stay in pj's all day and then snuggle in for a movie and fun that evening. We have always had family night on Friday nights with pizza and movie or games, and that will continue, but Thursday feels different! Maybe it is the fact that we still run around on Fridays??!!

Anyways...William, Bri and Tori went yesterday to Texarkana to visit his grandmom in the hospital. When he walked in the door after the trip home the phone rang and it was his brother. His other grandmother had a stroke and was in the other hospital in Texarkana! Typical us!! Then last night after church Brianna got sick to her stomach and started throwing up :)

Brianna is fine this morning. I think she must have eaten something that did not agree with her. Sometimes I honestly have to laugh when stuff just keeps piling up! Praise God that we don't have to carry ourselves through life when things get rough!!

***Breaking News...We have survived another day***

Well, Tori just has a bone bruise, whatever that is:) The doctor told her she could compete, but to do whatever is comfortable for her. She was thrilled! (quick prayer request: Tori has worked really hard the past year to master a round-off, back handspring (or something like that :) for her meets. She was able to do it in the first meet and has only gotten better. Last week she froze and decided she was scared to do it. She has done it since, but only with her coach standing next to her. I was mean to her (whole other post!) and then apologized. I think I made the situation worse (that's what happens when you are mean...duh me!!). Now she is very worried and thinking way too much about it. Please pray for her to find the confidence to do what she worked hard to master!...Thanks) (Let me tell you, I took bad mothering to a whole other level with this!! Praise the Lord that there is grace and forgiveness!!)

On to Williams grandmom. She is out of surgery and it went well. We will go and see her tomorrow. Yea God for another answered prayer!

So...we made it! Thanks for the thoughts and prayers!!

Yup, The Holidays are Over!!

Oh yes sir, we are back to "typical" life around here. My poor little freaky family :)

Took the girls to the dentist today for their cleanings! No cavities (of course except for my poor Emi). This was Kalli's 2nd visit to the dentist. She let them do the full cleaning!! Have I mentioned they have an AWESOME pediatric dentist???






They took xrays of Bri and wanted to do another set to confirm that the dentist was note seeing somthing she thought she might be seeing! Sounds like trouble to me...especially when you are dealing with my Bri!! Of course it was what she thought she was seeing, Bri has what she called a small tumor in her gum. It is not a tooth, but made of tooth-like stuff. It was not there 6 months ago, but it is there now (of course:).

She is going to have to have it removed, but they hope to hold off for 2 years. She has 4 wisdom teeth that are coming in and they would like to just do it all at one time. They are going to xray it again in a couple of months to check for growth. If it grows they will have to remove it then. Ouch, It sounds like it would hurt. They will have to go in from the side. Bri said I was not being very supportive :)

Poor baby also has some type of birthmark that they were waiting to remove and now is the time :) The year of the knife!!

Tori fell a few days ago doing gymnastics and fell on her head, pushing her chin into her chest. She has been compaining that her chest hurt since then, especially when she breathes. She is having xrays done tomorrow to see if she broke her sternum. From what I understand, they would not do anything for it if it is broke, but she would need to sit out of her meet this weekend.

Then....William's brother called and his grandmother has fallen and will be having surgery tomorrow night on her leg/hip. She is in her 80's and has been in great health. So she is in the hospital :( We are going to make our plans for heading down there after we figure out how Tori is.

Gotta love real life!!!

The Maxi Mobile (the only car with Wings!!)

Okay, maybe if I put my Christmas tree back up and pretend it is still December I can find the slower pace of Christmas??? Naw, I don't think so either!

It's been crazy here, as usual, but I wanted to say hello and share a story :)

On Wednesday I had to take Bri to her band practice and flute lessons. Since I had a bit of paperwork to do and I had a phone call that I needed to make I decided to just sit in the car for the hour of her lesson. I packed up toys for Kalli and Emi to play with, loaded my papers and we were off!

All was well! The girls were playing in the back-seat, I was in the middle of my phone call. Boy was I a good Planner!

Apparently Emi and Kalli decided that they would clean out from under the seats of the car (very scary thought, but hey, if it kept them entertained I was for it!). I am on the phone trying very hard to listen and understand what the lady on the other line was teaching me (it was a sort of training call).

Now we are parked in the middle of a parking lot at a strip mall type place where Bri is at. There are people walking by constantly, especially teens.

I happen to look back at Emi and Kalli and nearly have a heart attack! It seems as if while cleaning under the seats, Kalli found a feminine personal product (must have fallen out of a purse). She had unwrapped it, took the sticky strip off and stuck it to the window of the car! It must have been there a while because she had gone on to play with something else.

I nearly died! While trying to stay mature on the phone, I was also climbing over the seats to get to the "window dressing" and get it off. Kalli became upset that I would dare remove her artwork, I am trying to maintain the phone conversation. My main thought was that I had better get that off before Bri walked out with her friends!

Can you even imagine the horror!! She probably would have walked right by the car and denied her family!!

Anyway, after the fact, I thought it was pretty funny!!

Hang On!!!

Well, here we go, back into reality :( I have really enjoyed my month of being a hermit, but I guess it is time to jump back on merry go round of life.

Ever feel like that? Like life is just spinning on and the best you can do is to just hold on tight and try not to get thrown off or puke everywhere. I do sometimes. Especially with being a mom and a wife. Sometimes I feel like my days are full of the same things over and over. You know, laundry, feed and dress everyone, laundry again, lesson plans, teach, laundry, feed everyone again, laundry!! And then the next day it starts over again.

I have to admit that I am much better at my homemaking skills than I was when William and I first married. I remember our basement having a hill of dirty clothes and I threw a sheet over it all when people would come over!! I remember one time I brought the groceries in and laid them in the entry way of our house. I put up the perishables and the rest just sat there for a couple of days! Instead of taking care of the logistics of running a household, I played. We went on walks in the snow, played dressup, watched Barney. I remember spending hours playing with Brianna climbing in the tubes when Minot finally got a McDonalds play land.

Now I am much better at running a household. I keep up much better with our laundry. I unload the groceries as soon as I get home. I have a schedule, a menu, a cleaning schedule and even a free time schedule.

Then Christmas comes! It actually starts the day after Thanksgiving!! I chuck my schedules. I let laundry pile up a bit, the house gets a bit dirtier, but hey, no one minds, its Christmas and everyone understands. I watch movies with the girls. We all cook together. There are many games to be played and snuggles to be had.

I, like Lynn talked about, always feel a bit down when it is time to peak out of my hole when the festivities are over. I have always felt like the week in between Christmas and New Years is like a warm-up to getting back to real life.

Maybe real life is not what it is suposed to be. Maybe I need to find a middle ground between all of my schedules and to do lists. Is it possible to keep the house functioning and orderly, yet take time out to just be.

Maybe my girls need me to play and snuggle more and organize and plan less!! I think it is hard to find the balance, at least for me. I am an all or nothing type of person. I either do it all the way, the best I can, or I don't do it at all.

I read about how life is like a record playing. You can stand towards the outside, no the fast track, or you can stay towards the center. Find your center and save yourself from the extra running and fast pace. Let God be the center and just hold on.

I would like to spend time this year staying more towards Him, in the center.

Dentist :)

Two of my girls have bad teeth! Just so you know, they got that from their Daddy! William is the most meticulous brusher, flosser and rinser I have ever seen and he still has tons of problems with his teeth. Me, well, I brush, but I am terrified of dentists. I remember that my first appointment was when I was 11 to see a "cheap" dentist (Thanks Dad!!). Anyway, I hate to admit that I am not a regular visitor to the dentists office, though we have an outstanding, honest dentist!! (I highly recommend him).

Okay, back to girls. Though I have a dental phobia, I started all four of my girls getting their teeth cleaned when they were 2. Well, like I said, 2 of them constantly have problems and Emi is one of them!! She went for her cleaning a few months ago and they found a couple...no, a few...no several...okay to be honest, she had a TON of cavities (how they could pop up in 6 months I have no idea)!! They were all small, but they needed fixed. Well, it costs another TON to have that many cavities fixed so we made the appointment for Feb. to allow some time to save some $$$.

Anyway, yesterday she told me she could feel a cavity with her tongue, I looked and Oh My Goodness, her tooth was broke!! (Obviously this tooth could not wait until February and did not understand the importance of saving to pay cash) So she went in this morning and they fixed her tooth.

All of this to say we have an absolutely AWESOME pediatric dentist!! She is honest...when Bri was in 2nd grade, I along with other people, were convinced she needed braces. Dr. Allman said to wait and give her mouth time to grow and low and behold, they straightened out!! Her office is fantastic! It is an underwater theme. There is a huge underside of a boat attached to the ceiling (the ceiling is painted to look like you are underwater and looking up out of the water). She encourages parents to sit with the kids while they have work done, if they want to. My girls LOVE to go to the dentist!! Emaleigh even said today that she can't wait to go back next month and get the rest of her teeth fixed.

She got there and they gave her Hannah Montanah medicine (Demerol and phenegran), then they play in the waiting room for a while to let the medicine take effect. This is followed by a trip to the treasure chest where they get to pick a "flavor" of gas mask (grape, bubble gum, orange and cotton candy). There is a tv in the ceiling so the kids can watch a movie while the dentist works. They are wonderful about informing the child of everything they do, though they have changed the technical terms to fun terms (instead of saying I am about to poke a needle in your gums, they say they are putting a bubble under the gum).

Then they gas 'um up and get to business. I have begged them to take me on as a patient!! (no luck there)

If anyone ever needs a GREAT ped's dentist, just let me know!!

2008 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy New Year to YOU!!

I spent some time last weekend reading through my blog postings from last year. I can't believe I have been blogging for a year now :) I got the idea from reading Lynn's blog. I had kept an online journal when I was pregnant with Kalli and had really enjoyed having that. So after reading Lynn's and seeing how easy it was to start, I started!!

Blogging has been a blessing to me. No...really!! I have gotten to know many people outside of my usual circle through blogging, some really GREAT people!!

I think I was almost as excited about Heather, Brooke and Rachel's pregnancy announcements than I was of my own!! Now what makes this even neater is that I don't think I have met Brooke or Rachel in person and I have only met and got to know Heather in person because of blogging!! But I know and can pray for them when they feel less than stealer! The more people I have become involved with in blogging has added more instances of laughter and happiness to my life.

I have laughed about Krystal and her ranch dressing! I nearly fell over laughing about Heather's post regarding Daniel and his vacuum's. I have cried reading about Lynn's struggles after her accident. Becky inspired me with her writing of simplicity and challenged me with her ability to know that a pair of pj's was missing (you see, I had no idea what pj's we had, and never would have known one was missing!). I rejoice each time I see pictures of Brooke's new baby and little J.D.

I have experienced lots of fun adventure's in the Philippines with Amberly! I am relaying stories I read from her all of the time. No one would ever guess that I really did not know her that well before she moved! I have remembered the feeling of the first time you feel a baby move with Rachel :) Just recently I read the adventures of Amanda and Dara up in Colorado and was able to pray for safe travel.
I have learned to appreciate people more through blogging!

One instance of that is Stephanie! She does so much for our church, yet I did not know her very well. Now I can pray for her as she brings up a sweet baby boy! I know that she really likes to win Trunk or Treat :) I, through blogging, have realized that Becky is the editor of our awesome women's newsletter! She also taught an incredible class on Simplicity at church within weeks, yes, you heard me right, WEEKS of having a baby!! I have kept up with minister's from my church and was able to see them more as people instead of the unrealistic perfect view we sometimes have.

I have rolled in laughter upon reading Kim's journal! I find it awesome that someone who I always saw as so profound would be so funny as well!!

I have also been able to keep up with lives of my friends as they go out of town, like Stormy! And see pictures of their celebrations and pray for their struggles.

I have appreciated input from others when I have questions and prayers when things have popped up! You have ooooed and aahhed over my pictures and encouraged me when I was down!!

I have prayed for quads that I have never met, triplets that I have never met, but can look at their tender faces at church! Sweet children that I am able to keep up with their lives and struggles and mom's battling diseases that they should not have to!

Yes, blogging has been a huge blessing to me this year because of YOU!! Thank you for sharing this year and your life with me :)