I was just looking at the pictures on my cell phone and decided to transfer these pictures from April and tell the story that goes along with them.
One Thursday we went up to the big city for M's music lessons. We got a rocky start as we were leaving the driveway and I noticed the turn signal sound sounded a bit odd. After a quick check it was discovered that the front left turn signal was not working.* I decided to drive the rest of the way since M still has his permit. When necessary, I rolled the window down and used hand signals, but we were able to get up to the city without further incident. We ran our grocery errands and then went and dropped M off at his piano lesson. As the rest of the children and I were leaving to visit the library, the ABS light came on.** According to the manual, that meant the brakes were still working, we just didn't have ABS capability. OK, I could deal with that as long as nothing else went wrong...
When we arrived back at M's piano lesson to pick him up, I got out of the van to go inside. Hisssssssssss. I walked around the van to verify that I was hearing what I was afraid I was hearing. (sigh) I did a closer inspection and saw a nail sticking out of the tread of the tire. I put my finger on the nail and the hissing stopped. I removed my finger and the hissing started again.
"Hey, boys! Would you like to change a tire?"
They've watched and helped change many more tires than I have. I got out the manual and read the instructions just to make sure they were doing it right.
This is where I'll say I'm thankful for my big boys who actually don't mind getting dirty.
By the time the boys got the tire lowered and released from the underside of the van, M's piano lesson was over and he and his teacher came outside to see what we were doing. Since we figured it would take us several more minutes (at least) to jack up the van, take off the damaged tire, and put on the spare, M's piano teacher graciously offered to drive him over to his violin lesson.
We got all the lug nuts loosened and the van jacked up by the time the piano teacher returned. None of us could budge the tire. Even the piano teacher gave it a tug before her next lesson. I walked across the street where two men were mowing the lawn for the university. They came over and tried to remove the tire. Then they insisted it was the wrong type of rim and it should have never been put on in the first place! Ugh.
I called the tire store chain where we purchased the tires. They said they would be happy to come over and remove the tire...for $80. Since we do have roadside assistance with our auto insurance (which we know to be very, very slow from experience), I didn't want to pay money for them to do it. The man suggested we hit the tire with a hammer to loosen it.
I finally got a call back from The Man. He said what the two men from the university had told me was ridiculous and just do what the tire store man said to do: Hit it!
So, I got the handle from the jack apparatus and started banging on the tire from under the van. Yes! I was finally able to pull the tire loose. Yay! The boys helped me lift the tire down and then they put on the spare. We made it over to pick up M just as his 1-hour violin lesson was ended. Whew.
The tire store fixed the tire for free, although we never put it on the van. It was late enough in the year that we went ahead and took off the studded snow tires and the regular tires went back on. M and J helped change those tires!
*Even though I bought a new bulb the same day, it took us a day or two to get around to trying to change it. Due to some creative auto repairs by the previous owner, it was determined that it was going to take a long, involved process to simply change that particular bulb. It spontaneously started working a few weeks later. Perhaps it was just a loose wire.
**Again, probably just a loose wire as it works fine most of the time now.
I know a lot of people enjoy 3+ day weekends, but it just throws my whole week off. All day today I'll have to keep reminding myself it is Tuesday, not Monday. I like routines. Breaking up my routines tends to just confuse me.
So, I'm sunburned on the lower half of my legs from the afternoon on the lake. It really doesn't look too terrible, and I'm not sure why it is so painful. I know I'm not the only one who got sunburned last weekend. Commiserate with me and I'll think of you when I wake up in the middle of the night to reapply aloe vera gel.
On a positive note :) I added 9 more jars of jam to our apricot preserving count for the year. So far we have 111 qts. canned, approx. 20 qts. frozen, 4 qts. dried, and as of last night, 27 c. of jam. I'll have to get a picture of the cupboard. It is nice and pretty with sparkly orange jars! We still have 2 1/2 boxes of apricots in the refrigerator that we'll freeze and eat fresh. I may try to get another batch of jam done, also.
We would like to at least get some pears, peaches, and blueberries to preserve this summer. This fall (about the time the baby is due) we'll be trying to get as many (free) apples as possible for apple sauce. We ran out last year. I think we have enough jars, but I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed thinking about where we'll store everything. Right now, the empty jars are in the garage, but I think it gets too cold out there in the winter. I'll have to talk to The Man about possibly storing them in boxes in the well house since we keep a heat lamp on out there to keep the pipes from freezing.
Maybe instead of trying to dig to the Indian Ocean, I can talk the kids into digging a cellar in the hillside. Hmmmm.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." ~Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776.
It was quite a week at our church. Last Tuesday evening a sweet couple made a public commitment to one another in marriage.
Yesterday they made a public commitment to their Lord and Savior through baptism.
"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Galatians 5:1
Hope you have a happy 4th of July. Remember those that have lived and died for your freedom!
Just in case anyone is wondering why we would leave all five kids at home by themselves, I don't really have a good answer. Up until a few weeks prior, I had never done such a thing, except for a quick trip to the store or post office. Even though M is very capable of handling things now that he is 16, I had never really had a reason before. The day after Memorial Day I was called for jury duty. I decided to go and serve my time, but due to miscommunications and other reasons, the court sent everyone home until the next Tuesday. However, the night before we found out the case was canceled and I didn't have to go back.
The following week after that, The Man had to go to court. He was going to be on the other side of the jury box. When we first found out over two years ago that he was being sued for malpractice, it didn't occur to me that I would go to court also...and two years ago I probably wouldn't have. After talking it over, we decided if the kids could stay home while I went to jury duty, they could probably handle it while I went to court with The Man.
The first week, our church was doing VBS. Since M was being counted on to play the piano for that, we decided that I would go ahead and take the kids to VBS in the mornings and just go up to court in the afternoons. The lawyer told us on Monday evening that they expected jury selection to take place Tuesday morning with opening statements in the afternoon, there would be no court on Wednesday due to state budget cuts, testimony on Thursday, and maybe a verdict on Friday. Great expectations!
What really happened: Jury selection all day Tuesday and Thursday morning. I arrived at the court house on Thursday afternoon to find out that there were major juror issues. The judge ended up canceling court in the afternoon due to an undisclosed emergency. By the time I arrived in court on Friday afternoon, the jury had been sorted out and the lawyers gave their opening statements. The plaintiffs also started their case.
The next week (last week) I spent all day with The Man in court. I'll just say here that the judge had a nice chair. The jurors had nice chairs. The plaintiffs, defendants, lawyers, bailiff, court reporter, and clerk all had nice comfy-looking chairs. The wooden benches that the rest of us observers had were not comfortable. Pregnant women should not spend all day sitting on wooden benches. Just so you know. Next time (ha!) I'll at least take a cushion.
Although it wasn't exactly a pleasant experience, I am fascinated by the judicial process. Watching (but not talking to!) the jurors, the banter that went on when the jurors were not present, the reactions of the jurors to different things that were done or said...that part I liked. I didn't like sitting there trying not to stand up and yell, "Liar, liar, pants on fire!" The nice, legal way of saying that same thing? "Objection, Your Honor! Misstatement of the evidence!" A "Sustained" means the judge happens to agree. Fascinating.
The Man's new favorite phrase is "Assumes facts not in evidence." That one was also heard quite a bit through the trial. I have a feeling I'll be hearing it a lot from now on.
By Tuesday afternoon all the witnesses had said what they were going to say. Wednesday morning the jury instructions were ironed out and the plaintiffs' lawyer gave his closing statement. After lunch The Man's lawyer gave his closing statement and then the other lawyer got to say a few more things. Then, finally, the case was in the hands of the 12 jurors. Were they paying attention? Could they see through all the testimony that the plaintiffs didn't have a good case? Through the case we had prayed that all would be to the glory of God, no matter the outcome. Of course, we had our hopes as to which way we preferred the verdict to be.
We left the court house and went for a walk to buy J's birthday gift (his birthday had been the day before). As we approached the store, the lawyer called and said the jury had a question. We went back to the court house to hear the question. The reporter said it would take her until the following morning to locate the parts of testimony the jurors wanted to hear again. The judge gave instructions for them to keep deliberating.
We left the court house again, but this time I forgot to turn my cell phone on as we left the court room. We made it to the store, bought the gift, and as we were leaving the store, I remembered to turn on my phone. At that point I got the message about Sacagawea's bleeding head. I called and talked to the kids as we drove up to a park near the court house to wait. As I was still on the phone with the kids, the lawyer called The Man again. The jury had a verdict.
We went back to the court house to hear the verdict: Not negligent. Since only 9 of the 12 had to agree on a verdict in a civil case, the fact that they didn't have an answer to their question wasn't a big issue.
That was it. I was telling The Man later that it was very anti-climatic after all the stress and angst of the last few years. Oh, well, I'll take it over the alternative. I have a lot more thoughts on the situation, but those will have to wait for another time as this post is far too long.OK, post #2 for July is now done! Post #3 is all set up and should post automatically in the morning. I'm on a roll! Is anyone else joining me?
I've been challenged to write a blog post every day for the month of July. Ha ha ha hee hee hee ho ho ho...well, it just might be possible if I catch up on all those bloggable (does that have one g or two?) moments I was too busy to blog about the past few months years. Anyway, here is post #1!
I don't have any pictures to show you of the latest news at our home since Sacagawea made me promise not to blog the pictures I took of the gash in her head. Apparently she (1) knows that mom likes to post pictures of wounds and (2) had the foresight to forbid such a posting even though I hadn't blogged in a loooong time. Maybe if I catch up and post about her birthday she'll let me show you the pictures!
The Man and I were both up in the city and the 5 children were left home alone. S, the only child up until that point that had received stitches, was somehow involved in the wounding. Exactly how is still up for debate, but playing around in the living room resulted in Sacagawea hitting her head on a bookshelf. By the time I returned the voice mail M left on my cellphone (less than 5 minutes after he called), the bleeding had stopped.
When The Man and I arrived home he briefly checked her head, saw that it wasn't bleeding, and we got ready for the midweek church service in our home. After everyone left, The Man did a more thorough exam and cleaning of her head and discovered that the 1"-1 1/2" gash on the back of her head went all the way down to the bone. The Man said the good thing about that was he could actually stick his finger in and make sure there wasn't a fractured skull. Ewwww. I hope he was kidding.
I parted the hair and clipped it out of the way so The Man could sew it up. I wasn't much help beyond that except for checking her shot records to make sure her Tetanus was up to date.
Since the 5 stitches were put in a week ago last night, The Man said he would probably take them out this Saturday night. Hopefully Sacagawea has learned that jumping on S's back isn't always a good idea.
p.s. She was a VERY brave girl!
Check back tomorrow to see if I actually make it to post #2!
They've watched and helped change many more tires than I have. I got out the manual and read the instructions just to make sure they were doing it right.
By the time the boys got the tire lowered and released from the underside of the van, M's piano lesson was over and he and his teacher came outside to see what we were doing. Since we figured it would take us several more minutes (at least) to jack up the van, take off the damaged tire, and put on the spare, M's piano teacher graciously offered to drive him over to his violin lesson. 
The tire store fixed the tire for free, although we never put it on the van. It was late enough in the year that we went ahead and took off the studded snow tires and the regular tires went back on. M and J helped change those tires!
