Lead me, O Lord...Psalm 5:8

It is certainly a rare morning that I am done with Bible reading AND the house is quiet.  I thought I would share a bit of what I gleaned from my study this morning...

I enjoy taking a whole chapter in the Bible and using my colored pencils (I use the Crayola erasable ones, by the way) to mark/shade/color/draw pictures of the words.  This morning I was studying Psalm 5, which the publishers of my Bible have titled "A morning prayer." It was a pretty straightforward chapter for me.  There was nothing new or surprising until I got to verse 8:

Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face.

...because of...
 
Can good come from evil? Yes, if we ask God to draw us closer to Him because of  it.

I don't watch the news, and I can barely stomach more than just reading the headlines on the news websites. There is so much evil in the world today, and I don't think it is a stretch to say that the evil is our enemy.  Ask God to lead us today because of the evil in the world!


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In family news...
"Toddler" S is 2 going on 16.
G is trying to learn to read (if only everyone wasn't too busy to teach him!)
S will be graduating from 8th grade this Friday night.
S and Sacagawea will be baptized Saturday afternoon.
J turned 16 last week and can now make some recognizable songs come out of his trumpet.
M is home from college until next week, then he'll return for a summer job working for one of his professors.

Whew. Yes we are too busy, but I hope to check in here more often!

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock...Revelation 3:20

Toddler mom tip:

Never leave the house without a house key.  

Never.  Even if children left in the house are capable of unlocking the door. 

Why? Because children old enough to successfully unlock the door may wander out on the porch to watch you put the dogs in their crates.  And just maybe the toddler will want to come outside, too. In her fumbling with the door handle, the door might lock.  

Then there will be a toddler inside, crying to come out.

There will be a boy on the outside, crying because he can't get in.

There will be a mama wishing her cell phone was in its case on her waistband instead of inside the house being charged.

The dogs were confused when I opened the garage door again and climbed over their crates while praying that the door between the house and garage was unlocked.

Whew!

I liked G's version that he shared with S when The Man and the older kids arrived home a bit later.  

I was crying because the door was locked, but then Mommy BURST through the garage door and unlocked the door.

It kind of makes me sound like a superhero or something.

The kids were happy until I told Goldilocks that we were done with outside and we all were staying inside.  She had put both of her shoes on and had one glove and one mitten on her hands.  Mean mama made her take them off and put them away.

I couldn't get too upset with G for leaving the house.  I seem to recall his mother did that once upon a time when her mommy went outside to get the mail.  The neighbor had to break a window in that case so her little brother wouldn't be left alone in the house.

All's well that ends well.  I need to come up with a good place to stash a house key outside.  It's probably just easier to spend some time teaching Goldilocks how to unlock the doors, but that could create a new set of problems.

Let his spittle fall down...1 Samuel 21:13

G is turning into a little man.  His maturity and helpfulness are such a blessing compared to the antics of some of his siblings.  The only real challenges with him are his allergies and his speech (which we suspect is allergy-related).  His big brothers are his translators when I can't understand him, but that is beginning to change.  Slowly, he is becoming accustomed to saying words with the correct sounds.  Sometimes I have to have him repeat phrases several times before I can put it together with the context and decipher the meaning.

Today after church we were sitting on my bed and he was telling me something absolutely hilarious.  At least he thought it was funny; I couldn't understand.  After about six tries I finally got it.  My immediate elation at finally understanding him was slightly tempered by the realization of what he said:

I like to slobber on my arm.  It is just like lotion.

I suppose maturity is relative.

Dwell together in unity...Psalm 133:1

Goldilocks turned 2 on Saturday. 

In the few weeks leading up to her birthday she has been gearing up for what many call the "Terrible Twos." She is a wonderful, sweet child, but she does have her moments of testing her independence and limits. Fortunately for her, we won't have any of it. She has tried, without success, to share her obstinate attitude with everyone. She is learning that it is much more fun to sit pleasantly in her highchair and eat than to sit on her bed during suppertime. The consequences for hitting, biting, and (a new one this week) pinching aren't fun either. G was having a hard time with her pinching the other night and I had to explain to him that even when Goldilocks chooses not to be nice to him, he still needs to be nice to her.
 
Home/office schooling is going.  I'm not sure how well, but we're plugging along. Even though The Man wasn't in the office here in town today, the rest of us went in so I could take care of some things. Before lunch a child wandered into the office area quite offended. Someone had not been nice to the child. Poor child. G overheard the lamenting and went over to the child.

"I want to tell you something," said G. "Mommy said when Goldilocks is not nice to me, I can still be nice to her. I think you should be nice to ____________." Offended child and I tried hard to keep our faces straight while offended child nodded and agreed with G.  

G will turn 4 at the end of this month. I am so happy that he was not only listening to me, but he remembered and was able to apply the principle to another situation!

Bear ye one another's burdens...Galatians 6:2

We are home! The weather was perfect for the church backpack trip.  G walked the entire two miles to the campsite.  Goldilocks was carried most of the way, but she did enjoy getting down and walking with The Man.

She chose her own outfit, by the way.  She convinced someone to put the orange one-piece romper on her when everyone else was getting dressed.  Before long she was back with the denim jumper on asking someone to button it for her.  A few minutes later she returned with a pair of jeans.  I drew the line there.  We are still potty training, and I didn't want too many layers to deal with!

The Man's pack weighed over 70 pounds, but that was before Goldilock's pack was tied on there (G had a backpack, so it was only fair that she also had one).

Not only did G walked the entire way, but he became an expert at pointing out the horse poop along the trail.  In case you are wondering, his pack contained a pillow, a blanket, Curious George, a toothbrush, two pairs of underwear, and a harmonica--all important wilderness essentials!

Don't feel too sorry for The Dog, he practically crawled from the vehicle to the trail head with his pack of dog food.  After showing off his puppy dog eyes, the pack was removed from him and put on Painter, with J carrying the chain for Painter.  The Dog is no dummy. 

Especially since once the dog food was eaten and we were ready to come home, the pockets on the doggie pack were the perfect size to hold the diapers and underwear of Goldilocks that didn't stay dry.

It was a beautiful trip, but I was glad to get home, and Goldilocks is happy to always be within a 10-second sprint of the bathroom.

The beast his food...Psalm 147:9

G: "Chip, chip, chip, chip...[Robot voice] I am a chipmunk."

After several seconds of repeating the above line he realized no one got what he was try to convey.

G: "Chip, chip. I am a chipmunk. Someone please give me a chip."

S: "You are a silly boy."

G: "No, I am a chipmunk!"

Happy Monday!

His good promise...1 Kings 8:56

Goldilocks just reminded me of another word that she knows: moon!  We just came outside to wait on the rest of the family to get home. I'm so glad it cools off so well in the evenings.  She's picking a bouquet of tea roses, watching the birds, and scolding the dogs.  "Dogs! No, no, no!"  I'm not sure what they've done that she thinks is so terrible. They are just lying in the yard waiting for the van to drive by and into the driveway.

 

Tonight is the last installment in the 8 Steps to Wellness program our church has put on the last several months. This morning I thought I was well enough to go, but about lunchtime I figured out that I only wanted to spend time in bed or on the couch.  Right before they left I took some mediation so I could be upright and take care of Goldilocks while they were gone.  The Man is one of the presenters tonight, so I didn't think it would work out well for him to take her along.

We don't have as many helpers with this month's program so last night I was asked if I had any thoughts for a centerpiece.  The meal has a oriental theme, so this morning I got up and made these (yes, I'm fully aware that the origin of these is here in America).

They are "promise cookies" and each one has a Bible verse tucked inside. 

Since the food served at the wellness seminars is always vegan, I followed/adapted this recipe.  The instructions didn't say anything about them not being crisp!  After a few trials and temperature adjustments I got something that looked like a fortune cookie, but they had the texture of a crepe.  A gummy crepe. A few were crisp.  A few were too crisp. It was agreed that they need more experimentation, but considering I've probably only eaten a dozen fortune cookies in my life, I don't think we'll spend a lot of time on it. 

It's a good thing they are just for looking at.  They are edible and quite tasty.  However, with the broad range of textures, none of which resembled a fortune cookie, I told The Man to forewarn everyone that they may not wish to actually eat them.

"Are those for me?" asked G.  So, when I was finished with the ones for the centerpiece.  I threw together a gluten free/flax free/soy free version of the vegan fortune cookies for G and J to eat or not eat.

Sometimes we joke that we eat food with nothing in it. Heh.

The dogs tell us the rest of the family is home. Good night!

Youngest son...2 Chronicles 22:1

Here are G's stats: 32 1/2 lbs and 39 inches tall.  It was more convenient to weigh and measure him since I'm helping out in The Man's office today and all the measuring stuff is handy to the computer.

He is still behind on his language development, but is slowly catching up.  His vocabulary is fine, but it is uncomfortable for him to make some sounds. With a lot of practice and a bit of bribery, he is developing new habits.  Sacagawea's real name is now pronounced in 3 recognizable syllables instead of the 2 he had been using for a while.  The current consonant sound we are emphasizing with him is the hard g sound.  He can say "giggle" when we ask him to, but it isn't a all-the-time habit yet.

We can usually decipher what he wants to say to us, but it is a challenge.  Sometimes we can understand Baby S easier than G. However, more and more he is able to explain things rather than just crying about them.

He came in crying the other day because "I picked up a stick and a bumble bee stinged me."  I thought the most likely culprit was a honey bee or a yellow jacket, but he seemed to be fine after I removed a splinter from his finger. 

G and I just got back from a walk to the bank to make a deposit.  It took longer than usual because G wanted to stop and smell all the flowers in the planter boxes lining the sidewalk.  So we did.  On the way back from the bank we stopped by the post office and picked up the new camera cord I'd ordered off of ebay.  Hopefully that means I'll actually transfer more pictures to the computer promptly and you will get to see more pictures here!

Some new thing...Acts 17:24

Still crazy busy. Too crazy. Too busy. We're trying to remedy that situation. I've been recording most of the little things the babies are doing on facebook and not here. I really need to change that since the blog is much easier to find things later.

"Mommy, did you know M used to have TWO lizards????" G had heard this juicy bit of news from S and that was very exciting.

"Yes, G, I knew that." I was tickled that he thought it would be news to me, but then I recalled that the last one had died over six months before G was born. No wonder he doesn't remember them!

M has been gone from home for the last few months. We'll be seeing him this weekend for his last few days of childhood. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with an 18 year old baby.

Seventh month...Leviticus 23:39

I came to make this post and realized I had a few unpublished posts waiting to be "touched up" before I posted them. Obviously that didn't happen, so I published them tonight as-is. Check the previous posts if you want to see what little I had time to write about the past few months.

7 month stats for Baby S...13 1/4 pounds and 25 inches long. Please don't be too hard on this mom of six who neglected to do 6 month stats. Baby S really gets around now with her rolling, scooting, and even some up-on-the-knees crawling. She started eating solid food on Sacagawea's birthday, April 12.

G is talking! He's says "Mama" and "Dad-DEE" and all sorts of other lovely words. He actually has a very broad vocabulary, but it is hard for most people to understand him because he tends to leave off the beginning consonant sounds. I even have him on video calling his baby sister "Eew-ie." That should be worth something someday!

Sacagawea turned 9 years old and three days later M turned 17. Seventeen? Yes. Wow. I'm starting to think I'm getting old. Seventeen. We were in the store yesterday and I heard a song on the loudspeaker. "That's an old song," I told him. "I remember it from when I was a kid."

"So," he replied, "are you saying you're old?" Ummmm...

We're all working to get an actual garden in this year. Lots of seedlings are started and the garden area is tilled.

Going to go to bed now...I've got to sleep while the babies are sleeping!

Remember how short my time is...Psalm 89:47

5 month stats for Baby S...24 1/4" long and 12 lbs, 4 ozs.

G has enjoyed using his potty chair the past few weeks.

Too tired tonight to write more, but I wanted to get these milestones posted!

End of the year...Exodus 23:15

No more apologies for not writing more here. When I'm at the computer I usually only have one free hand to type, which doesn't make for effective blogging. The Man has taken Baby S to be changed and put to bed. As soon as she's asleep, I'll put myself to bed, so hopefully this will be a short post!

I suppose it is trite to say that I don't know where this past year has gone...but I'm not even sure what happened to yesterday. Twenty-ten has been a very eventful year for our family. I hope that 2011 brings more time to enjoy the everyday pleasures.

I'll try to give an update since my last post. All of these items are very deserving of their own separate posts, but that's not going to happen...

M: Got the results for the PSAT he took in November.
> > BRAG ALERT < <
He scored in the 99th percentile of juniors who took the test. That was his very first standardized, non-mommy given test. I've always known he was a smart kid, but it is nice to get some valid confirmation of that. I was quite relieved that I haven't totally ruined him academically by homeschooling him.

J: Almost as tall as me now. He's been told he can no longer wear my garden shoes to make quick runs outside since he's been stretching them out.

S: Backyard Ballistics was finally available to be checked out from the library. There are PVC weapons in the entryway and I found two potatoes under his bed when I vacuumed today.

A: The Man made her a loom for Christmas so she's learning the fine art of weaving. She LOVES singing and rocking her baby sister to sleep.

G: Cute, cute, cute. And he knows it. Very smart kid, but he still isn't talking. He got a Candy Land game for Christmas so we could "teach" him his colors. He beat me yesterday. I guess he already knew his colors! He absolutely adores his baby sister. Unfortunately he hasn't learned the difference between sharing a doll with her and whacking her on the head with a doll. "Gentle!"

Baby S: Smiling, giggling, cooing, and sleeping well through the night. She is a very sweet and happy baby. I can't believe that she is quickly outgrowing clothes that were swallowing her up a few short weeks ago. She had her first bite of real food yesterday. She was sitting on my lap next to G's high chair. While my head was turned G stuck his spoon into her mouth. Wild rice soup seems to agree with her!

The Man: Over the course of a few weeks, he replaced some rotten boards on our bridge so we had to drive through our pasture to get to the road. He still has a bit more to do, but it is functional.

The creek started flowing again on Christmas. It has been rather wet the past month. A bit of snow is still on the ground outside and it has been getting down into the teens the past few nights. Brrrr.

I still hear Baby S, but I'm yawning and ready to go to bed anyway. May you have a blessed and happy new year!

Found him in the temple...Luke 2:46

We have often joked that now that we have more than 2.34 kids, we have to count to make sure we have them all with us. For some reason adding kid #6 seems to have made that a necessity.

This past week I took all six kids to the big mall in the big city. Whether that makes me brave or insane is still up for debate, but we spent 2-3 hours there. There are quite a few new stores since we were last there about a year ago, so we spent a lot of time perusing the new shops. As we wandered out of one store and down to the next store I looked over the children and realized that one was missing. Sacagawea wasn't with us! I remembered that she had been looking at the antique dolls so J ran back to the store to find her. She had just realized that we weren't with her, so she was starting to look for us in the store. Fortunately J found her before she realized we were lost!

Whew!

Today, as many Sabbaths, we were the last to leave church. M had been sent to the van to warm it up while I strapped Baby S in her car seat. The rest of the older kids got on their coats and headed out the door while I helped G get on his coat. Then I looked down the hallway and saw The Man's coat hanging on the rack. I went to retrieve it for him while he gathered up the rest of his things. I had my bag and J came back to the church to carry the car seat to the van. The Man locked the church door and we got in the van. M had only driven us a few feet when Sacagawea announced that we didn't have G with us. Oops. The Man went back to the church and found G playing contentedly in the Cradle Roll room. He hadn't had a chance to miss us.

I was stunned that we almost left a child behind, but I guess I'm not the first. Jesus' parents left Him in the temple for 3 days. I guess 3 minutes isn't too terrible! Hopefully that will be the last time!

Two full years...Genesis 41:1

Happy Birthday, G!
(sorry, pics are being uploaded on another computer...I'll add them later)Done!
G turned TWO on the 25th! His big brothers and sister are trying to teach him to hold up two fingers, but he holds them all up.

Since we had meetings at church on Monday night, we didn't get around to actually "celebrating" his birthday until Tuesday night. He didn't seem to mind since it just extended his birthday an extra day.

We had this gluten-free coconut flour apple cake. Everyone enjoyed it. Not exactly the best we'd ever tasted, but as gluten-free recipes go, this one was very good. I think the texture would have been better with real eggs, but since that is also one of G's allergies, we used egg-replacer.

G got his very own big-boy bed for his birthday. The Man and boys are making it.
So far it is just a wooden box to hold the mattress. After he learns to stay on the mattress at night, the legs will be added. He LOVES it. It's a good thing since Baby S will be needing the crib in another month or so.

Let brotherly love continue...Hebrews 13:1

We snapped a few pictures of Baby S after her bath hair appointment tonight. Having a baby with something more than peach fuzz on the head is new territory for me.
It was really hard to get these pictures. It was!
G just kept getting in the way.
He thinks Sissy S needs lots and lots of kisses. I suppose she does.

Tomorrow we're venturing to the big cities for M's music lesson (postponed from last week) and groceries. I'm a bit apprehensive. It's been a long time since I've ventured into Costco with a newborn and toddler.

Waiting...Proverbs 8:34

I was hoping all the posting I did during the month of July would give me the momentum to keep blogging. Oh, well...I had good intentions!

Baby is growing just fine. Hopefully we will get to meet baby soon. The doctor says any day (hour?) now.

The kids are all doing ok. J and S had sore throats and fevers last week, but seem to be all better now. The Man came down with the sore throat and fever within the past few days and even stayed home from work today (rare occurrence). Tonight he did a strep test which was positive. I'm praying the rest of us stay well.

M is now a few weeks into his junior year of high school. Pre-calculus and Chemistry are the new courses for the year in addition to the standard English, History, PE, Music, and Spanish. He spent a few hours this week with a missionary from Costa Rica to practice his Spanish dialogue and vocabulary. We need to get him over to the local high school soon to sign up for the PSAT coming up next month.

We are still easing into all the subjects for the 3 middle kids. We are trying to work on a routine that enables all the kids to get the varied help from me, the very pregnant mama, while keeping G out of all the "fun" stuff the older kids get to do.

J is in eighth grade this year. S is in fifth grade and claims he loves school more than any of the other kids do. Sacagawea is in 3rd grade and doing very well despite the fact that she has so much more work this year than in years past.

G has tins of cars, animals, blocks, and puzzles that had been in storage. These "new" toys are keeping him quite occupied while the others do their school work.This is the first time we have had a single toddler while trying to full-time homeschool everyone else. It is a new learning adventure for all of us.

Given my most recent blogging history, this is likely to be my last post as a mother of 5! I will try to get pictures up of #6 as soon as possible. They will probably appear over on facebook before here, and we've already promised grandparents that they get a call before info goes on facebook!

I'm trying to decide whether to go to bed now or stay up timing contractions...how's that for a cliff-hanger?

He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out...Psalm 105:41

After church and potluck last week we headed for the mountains and the water! The water was kind of cold, but it was enjoyed by the humans and canines on such a hot day! The waterfalls created such a nice, cool mist. G even found a puddle on a rock that was warm enough for him to have fun splashing.

Here is a little butterfly that stayed with us for awhile.
It even let G pet it!

Shall thirst again...John 4:13

G is almost 19 months old now. He still isn't inclined to speak other than a few choice words. I call it "Fifth Child Syndrome." Another friend has referred to it as "Little Prince Syndrome." Why speak when so many people will do or get whatever you want in answer to a point or a grunt?

S has been consistent with using some sign language with G, and G uses those signs quite frequently...sort of. The sign for water is 3 fingers touched to the lip or cheek. However, whenever G wants water, he smacks himself upside the head. It reminds me of the old "could've had a V8" commercials. He doesn't do it only when he wants someone else to get him water. Sometimes he will be sitting by himself on the couch looking at a book. He'll smack himself on the head, look around, spy his sippy cup on the floor, and get down to get himself a drink. I think that is just his way of talking to himself!

Here is a short video M took the other night while we were waiting for The Man to run an errand in the hospital. S is egging him on to try to get him to "say" water, hence all the giggles.


He will also make the sign when he wants to wash his hands or when he sees a lot of water, like at a water fall. Those times he will smack his head with BOTH hands.

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Everything else is going ok, just busy! I'll try to post a pregnancy update later.

Faith comes by hearing...Romans 10:17

Just a quick post to let you know about a fun resource we came across. Faith Comes by Hearing has hundreds of audio Bibles for free download or online listening. They have several English versions from KJV to dramatized versions (and M did laugh quite a bit at the wise men's accents). Almost any language we could think of was there. Russian? Yes. Burmese? Yes. Especially for the Dr. Rabbit fans, there is also Karen. If you are interested in developing an ear for a certain language, this is great since you can easily follow along in English.

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Since today marks not only G's 16th month, but also my nephew O's 4th birthday, I'll take this opportunity to say Happy Birthday to the boys! They both keep getting more and more handsome.

Family...Esther 9:28

Thought I should do a quick update of our family. We've been crazy-busy...really. You probably wouldn't believe half the stuff I could tell you, so I'll just hit the believable items.

G will be 15 months tomorrow. He is continuing to grow and develop as he ought. He's not saying many words except "Hot!" (complete with the spread-legged stance with outstretched arm toward the word stove), "dog," and the sign for "milk." He definitely understands what we say and can follow simple commands. He loves playing with Benjamin and Rachel, the dolls formerly known as Shue and Da, and all of Sacagawea's play dishes. She thinks that G is almost as good as a baby sister since he likes playing with all her stuff.

Sacagawea is my eager learner. She is days ahead and her school work. She is already planning the type of cake she wants for her birthday in April.

S celebrated Gerald's belated-birthday last week. Yep. Crazy stuff around here. He enjoys talking to relatives on the webcam. He is always checking to see who is available for him to call, and trying to do the math to figure out what time it is in their time zone.

J keeps checking the thermometer to tell us how many tenths of a degree the temperature is falling. He is hoping the intermittent snow and rain we're having this morning changes to just snow and we'll get some of that 20-40" of snow that we were promised by the weatherman last week.

M is continuing to improve his driving skills. I'm eager for him to be able to drive without me putting a death grip on the passenger door handle. I'm contemplating how much it would cost for us to have brakes installed on the passenger side of the van, especially since we'll have to do this a few more times after M. Speaking of the van, we are one of those families now. Yes, it is white (most of the time).

We just started another Depression Recovery Seminar at church. Another health series is due to start immediately after that.

That's about it for the believable stuff! Give us a call if you need to know the rest! I will make an effort to update here more often. Since I've gotten out of the daily/weekly habit, it's been hard to discipline myself to jump back in regularly.