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!


*****

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!

I will give you rest...Matthew 11:28

After lunch today, Goldilocks was being a bit cranky so S started to get her ready for her nap.

S: "Time for a nap, Goldilocks."
Goldilocks: "Noooooo."
S: "Fine. I'll go take your nap."
Goldilocks: "Noooo. My nap."

It worked.  She trotted off happily to get ready for bed, satisfied that she was saving her nap for herself. She has no idea who she is dealing with. :) Even though we smile at the antics of a two year old, how often do we fight the rest that is offered to us.

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light -Matthew 11:28-30

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!

Arm be broken...Job 31:22

S will be in 8th grade this year. He is also growing! He measured 60 3/4" inches this morning. His weight is 95 1/2 pounds, which he wants you to know includes his clothing. 

He fell on July 11 and injured his wrist. After a weekend backpack trip with The Man, I took him in for an x-ray on the following Monday morning. He is thankful that he is still young, growing, and flexible. His injury was "just" a greenstick fracture (If you don't know what that is--I didn't--go ahead and look it up.  I'll be blogging about it again in a few days.) and was given a wrist splint to wear for three weeks. As proof that time flies when you're having fun, we just now realized that he actually wore the splint for 4 weeks! 

Now that he's all better,  he's regaining his strength in his arm by mowing the lawn, washing the dishes, and all the activities that he couldn't do with the wrist splint.

(psst.  *I* know that you're reading, but I don't tell the kids unless you leave a comment.  I know it is a lot easier to give feedback on fb, but since I'm trying to get back into the blogging habit, please indulge us for a few weeks.  Let us all know that you're there. Thank you!)

Poison...James 3:8 (part IV)

Yes, again. Since I had to look back at my blog posts to see when the last time this happened and for med dosages, I thought it would be a good time to update the blog. Eh. We do still have some meds on hand from the last episode a few years ago, but we're contemplating what to do when they run out. Our vet is (surprise!) out of town for the weekend. The Man just got in touch with someone at the hospital who agreed to give him the needed meds, so he is off to get those.

So, update on us: New dog was added to our family the end of June. Weird story since I wasn't even looking to add another responsibility to our full-to-overflowing plates, but I clicked on a link late on a Friday afternoon, and then surfed, and somehow ended up on Petfinder.com. I punched in our zip just for kicks and a dog showed up that I knew needed a home. Any home. Not ours, because, of course, we didn't need another dog. I sent out a plea on facebook for someone to go get the dog. The Man thought it looked like a good dog and told me it was up to me if we got it.
First thing the following Monday morning I called the pound to get more information on the dog. Tuesday afternoon the kids and I went up there just to look. I took the Dog along, too, just in case I wanted to see how they got along. I still wasn't thrilled about getting another pet, but this puppy needed a home.

The lady at the pound said he was a stray that had been there 2 months! She said everyone that came to see him said he was too big, but he was a sweetheart that needed a home. He was a bit bigger than I'd anticipated. I was agreeable to taking him for a trial and the lady said she would waive the adoption fee since she wanted him to get out of the pound.

Since we got him for "free," it didn't hurt quite so bad to stop on our way home to buy a crate, dog dish, leash, collar, and harness. I told myself that even if we didn't end up keeping him, the Dog's 15 year old crate needed to be replaced anyway, so it would be too much of a waste.

The Man laughed at me when we got home. He seemed to recall me telling him in the not so distant past that I didn't want a big dog. OK, so this dog is pretty big. He tipped the scales at nearly 90 pounds. But he is a sweetheart...that runs like a horse...and should have been named something like "Houdini." Instead we named him Painter. No special reason other than it was a name that nobody especially hated, and when he wags his tail (often) he looks like a black dog that dipped his tail in some white paint and spattered it around. J also mentioned something about the amount of drool that comes out of his mouth, but that's kind of gross.

The vet has no clue as to what breed of dog he is. He was advertised as McNab x Hound, but the vet, we, and everyone else agrees that he doesn't have hound in him. The vet said he definitely isn't Chihuahua (hee-hee). The vet guessed that maybe he was McNab x Pyrenees. Possible, but he has short hair. The vet guessed he is probably between 2-3 years old.

I was hoping that he and the Dog would be pals. The Dog is nearly 8 years old, and with all of his poisonings, I don't want to think about his lifespan. The Dog tolerates Painter, but he was quite offended that we didn't ask his opinion before we brought him home. The Dog stayed under the van moping for the first two days after we brought Painter home.

So, a little over a week after we brought Painter home, we left on a 3-week trip. I know...getting a new dog right before a long trip was NOT one of my smarter moments. I marveled at my own stupidity. He did have an excellent dog-sitter while we were gone, and I know he was better off than being caged (or worse!) while we were gone. I don't know how much longer the pound would have kept him!

Our 3-week trip involved leaving home at 7 pm on a Thursday night, driving straight through to arrive in Walla Walla for an 8 am appointment at the college, visiting friends and the Whitman Mission, taking M & J to summer camp, visiting The Man's aunt and uncle, camping in Idaho, back to pick up M & J, camping under the stars in Montana, Little Big Horn, Crazy Horse, Mount Rushmore, Wall Drug, Andrews University in Michigan (and visits with Grandma & Grandpa, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends), Indiana (another Grandma, Grandpa, aunt, uncles, cousins, and friends), more family in Kentucky, college visit in Tennessee and then we were ready to go home! We left Tennessee on Wednesday morning and drove straight through to the Grand Canyon. We arrived there about 3 pm on Thursday, left at 5, slept about 2 hours at some dinky rest stop between Las Vegas and Reno, and arrived home about 2 pm on Friday. Whew. That last paragraph deserves several blog posts of its own, but considering my blogging habits lately, that will have to do!

Life is too crazy right now to even sort out more blog posts.

I took this video of S yesterday. I dare you to watch it and not smile.

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!

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?

Hold fast...Job 27:6

We went to the city today to pick up S's new retainer and to get impressions made for J's next retainer (some molars coming in made his old one unusable). I was surprised to see S's...it looks just like this one. Out of all the choices, he wanted one just like J had. Awwwww. J was still getting his impressions made when S joined me back in the waiting room. I asked why he had chosen J's watermelon design.

"It was the only food design, but it doesn't taste like watermelon," he said with a hint of disappointment in his voice. Somehow with all the conversations he'd overheard of other people talking to J about his retainer, he had gotten the idea that it actually tasted like watermelon.

J said he had picked out a glow in the dark retainer. I don't even want to think about it!

Teeth...Deuteronomy 32:24

Guess what? S got his braces off today. Exciting news, isn't it? I just realized that I never told you folks in blogland that he got them on in the first place. I've been such a slacker with my blogging! He and M both got braces the same day. It's been over a year. I would tell you the exact date, but I'm too tired to go in the other room and retrieve my appointment book to find the date. Somewhere I have some "before" pics, but I'm just too tired tonight to go to the other computer and dig find them. Another time! Anyway, here are his pictures from today...and then I'm going to put my tired self to bed!

Before he left for his appointment...
A few minutes ago when I told M to go get an after picture...
He has to go back in next week for his retainer. Hopefully his will be more useful than J's was while waiting for phase 2 of his treatment. J had to quit wearing his last summer when some of his molars came in. Today the orthodontist decided he needs another one to keep what he has in place. We're still waiting on the rest of his molars before starting phase 2 for him. Good night!

Beast of the field...Genesis 2:20

Can you stand two posts in one day? Since all of the kids just went to bed, I have a moment to report some very sad news. Just before S got in bed he checked on Gerald the Gerbil and found that he died sometime today. Tomorrow morning we'll have a nice burial for him out in the field where he belongs. The little rodent will be missed by most of us. G never was too keen on watching him roll around the living room in his ball.

We've only had him a little over a year, and most sites say the lifespan is 2-4 years. However, the lifespan can be decreased by obesity caused by a diet high in sunflower seeds. Yep, that was Gerald's favorite part of the food dish. Also, gerbils kept alone don't typically live as long. Maybe next time we'll get 2 gerbils. Did I say that out loud?

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.

Began to make excuse...Luke 14:18

I almost stole my last post title for this one...we have been busy...but four months? Yes, it has been nearly four months since my last post. Dreadful. Terrible. I am ashamed. I am so, so, so sorry. Please forgive me.

I really don't have any good excuses, other than my limited computer time has been spent over on Facebook. Most of that is while I'm feeding G, so I really can't type a blog post. I should be doing something else right now, so I'm just going to give really quick updates. Ready?

G: The sweetest baby. Really. He is so intense, and smart, also. No, I'm not biased a bit. Since I've last posted, he started rolling, crawling, got his 2 bottom teeth, standing on his own, and any day now he will start walking. Whew.

We are still waiting for the remainder of his second round of blood tests we had done for allergy testing. He's had a rash for several months, and after ruling out all other factors, we had the blood testing. It turns out he is allergic to a lot of the things that I eat. So, until he quits using me for his main source of nutrition, I'm not eating: soy, wheat, gluten, oats, eggs, cashews, almonds, and peanuts. That's a small list, but I quickly discovered that those items are in almost everything I (used to) eat.

I can have rice, corn, apples, oranges, potatoes, tomatoes, yeast, and cow's milk (although I'm slightly allergic to that!), and black beans. We just found out today about the black beans and we are still waiting for the results for other beans, seeds, and nuts.

Sacajawea has lost her two front teeth and has them mostly grown back in now. She has taken up crochet and will be happy to make a hat for you if you send her the size of your head. Color and style will be her choice!

S is thrilled that we actually TOLD him to dig in the front yard. We've spent the last 6 years telling him not to dig in the yard since he has 50+ other acres in which to dig! He helped dig out around some pipes that needed replacing. He also got braces in April.

J's mouth is now metal-free (for now), including his retainer, since some other teeth grew in. We'll re-evaluate his situation in six months.

The biggest news of our summer is that J made the decision to be baptized. The Man baptized him in the same pond in which M was baptized on July 11 surrounded by friends and family. It was a very special day as G was dedicated the same day.

M is growing taller. He's still working doing lawn care for the same place he worked last summer. I can't believe he'll be in 10th grade this year. We are in the midst of ordering all of our books for the new school year.

The Dog is now living outside. He got sent to the back porch when I was painting the inside of the house. Since then, G's blood test also showed he was allergic to dogs, so...sorry, Dog!

We're in the middle of Financial Peace University at our church. The county fair starts next week and our church will once again have a booth there.

I really hope to get photos up of our summer, but the battery in my camera is dead right now. Hope you all have had a good summer, thanks for being patient waiting for an update from us!

I shall be safe...Psalm 119:117

S bought an add-on for the gerbil cage and an exercise ball for Gerald when we were up in the big city yesterday.
We thought this was the safest way to introduce Gerald to The Dog since The Dog likes disposing of Gerald's distant cousins. The Dog sniffed around the ball for a bit then he tried to pounce on it.
We think it is best if Gerald's future exercise sessions take place while The Dog is outside. Gerald agrees!

Beast of the field...Genesis 2:20

I'll go ahead and state the obvious, just to get it out of the way.

I'm crazy.

There. I said it.

S has had birthday and Christmas money burning a hole in his pocket. A few weeks ago he announced that he wanted a new pet. At the library he checked out books on hamsters and turtles. Hamsters? As in, rodents? No way. I had been there and done that.

The Man and I have been up in the middle of the night trying to catch an escaped white mouse (who had been given to M) before it found one of the mouse traps intended for wild mice who found their way inside our house. In that same house, I clubbed a stunned rat to death so it wouldn't crawl off and die in the wall. Actually paying money for a rodent to live in a house with us? That would be wrong. Very wrong. Rodents need to live outside in the fields.

Thus, I tried steering S away from the hamsters and encouraged the turtle. After all, we still had the fish aquarium where Tails and Scales lived. We did a bit of research on prices and concluded that he had enough money for the turtle, heater, and other supplies he would need. He also stated he was willing to commit to this particular pet for the next 50 years, should it live that long.

Yesterday while we were up in the city for M's music lessons we stopped at the pet supply store. It was then that we discovered that the pet supply store was actually an empty building. Poor S. He had his heart set on bringing home a turtle. I hadn't planned on making a trip up to the big city yesterday, but we went anyway.

Since G was sleeping, just S and I went into Petsmart. We found the reptiles. Eek. The cheapest turtle was $99, and the other one was $199. That was a lot more than he had available. Hmmm...the rodents were a lot cheaper. J came in at that point and said G had woken up. I went out to the van to feed G and sent M and Sacagawea in to stay with J and S and look at the rodents.

I suggested that S name his new gerbil Turtle. The kids thought that was one of the silliest things they had ever heard. S chose Gerald.
S thinks he looks like the best pet ever. Notice the soap dish in the background. I thought it was prudent for them to be acquainted in the bathroom just in case Gerald decided to try to escape.

Gerald slept at the top of the cage last night. This morning he has explored around the rest of the cage and now seems right at home. Since S had so much money left over, he is already planning which add-ons for the cage he'll buy on the next trip to the big city.

News...Proverbs 25:25

We are doing fine, but we all haven't quite mastered the art of multitasking. Between feedings, diaper changes, and much needed rest periods, blogging hasn't been a priority.

At one week, G's weight was back up to 7 lbs., 8 ozs. At two weeks he was 7 lbs., 14 ozs., and last Saturday he weighed 8 lbs. 4 ozs. We did take him to the hospital a week ago on Sunday to have his bilirubin checked. It was over 15 with the scan and blood test. Very high, but not high enough to start treatment. His color has improved tremendously. I may stop by and have him scanned again today while we are up in the city just to see how far it has come down. (The preceding paragraph is more for my own information than yours...this may the closest thing G will have for a baby book!)

Night times are pretty good with G usually going down between 10-11 and waking up at 2-3 a.m. and again at 5-6. Last night he went down at about 11 and didn't wake up until 5:30.

This is a photo I took this morning of S and G. Obviously some of us are learning to multitask...
G is awake again and wanting to eat. Hope you all have a Merry Christmas (just in case I don't get back here before then!) and a Happy New Year!

A cake...Numbers 15:20

Happy Birthday, S!

He's nine years old today! We won't be celebrating until tomorrow and the weekend. He still hasn't figured out exactly what kind of cake he wants. His last suggestion was a 2-layer strawberry and chocolate cake with "I Am 9" written on it. He better make up his mind soon!

Crying out...Malachi 2:13

One of our children has heard the story about the boy who cried wolf many times. Last weekend he stepped in a squirrel hole and twisted his ankle. He cried. Sometimes it is all better and he can run on it just fine. Other times (like when he is asked to do a chore) it starts bothering him again, even to the point of tears. Big, big tears. Almost every day this week he has been reduced to tears over some sort of supposed injury. I am tired of it. I've explained that it is ok to cry if he needs to, but crying just for the sake of crying is tiresome to everyone that has to listen to it. I've tried telling him that when he really is hurt, nobody will come running just because he is crying.

For instance...

This morning the kids were up early. M and Sacagawea were outside first to care for the chickens, then J and S went outside to take care of the horse. A few minutes later we heard crying and wailing. "Is that S or Sacagawea?" I asked The Man. The Man thought is sounded like Sacagawea. Just then Sacagawea came inside, but the crying was still going on outside. "Oh, it must be S," I said casually. I then shared with The Man about his daily cry-fest and how I couldn't believe he was starting it so early in the morning. Neither one of us rushed outside to see what was bothering him...until M came inside and announced that S was hurt. "Really?" I said.

"There's blood," stated M.

Hmmm. The Man went to investigate and came back a few minutes later asking where all the suturing materials were. Apparently S and J decided that instead of promptly returning to the house after taking care of the horse, they would hide behind the van and jump out at M and Sacagawea as they were coming back to the house. (sigh...yes, we had a chat about that). A natural consequence was that S, in his excitement, ran right into the post in our front yard that has all the telephone company stuff inside and split open his leg below his knee.

Photos courtesy of J and Sacagawea... Another view... "Woe is me..." Three stitches later... He's been running around just fine all day. He did complain at noontime that it was still numb from the shot The Man gave him.

The good news? His ankle hasn't hurt him all day!

Falls...and rises again...Proverbs 24:16

Spring has arrived! The snow is gone (other than a few flurries that haven't stuck), the daffodils are blooming, and the fruit trees are ready to bud. We hope that we don't get another hard freeze after they bud as we did last year. Another big sign of spring is that the children have put away the snow sleds and have been able to ride their bicycles again. Yippee!

A few weeks ago I looked out the kitchen window and saw S pushing Sacagawea around on her bicycle. I noted that the training wheels weren't on and was trying to remember when they had been removed. I certainly didn't remember blogging about such a momentous occasion. Then, I saw it...the pile of training wheels. S had just taken them off for her!

I watched them play while I was fixing lunch. S gave her a running push and she pedaled down the hill. Just before the bike stopped she would put her feet down and jump off the bike. It would fall over, then she would pick it up and take it to the top of the slope again.

When they came inside I sent S back out to reattach the training wheels "just in case she wants to ride when you're not outside." It wouldn't be good for her to fall when she was by herself. I couldn't believe he took them off all on his own, but M & J could.

A few days later The Man took the wheels off for good. She's doing a great job at riding on her own, even when she doesn't start at the top of the slope. She is also perfecting her stopping technique. She discovered that trying to jump off before the bike hits the ground doesn't always work out as planned.

A dear friend (who really needs to start her own blog) has requested that we remove a certain object from our yard so she won't hurt herself. I can't imagine Sacagawea attempting that, but I will have a talk with her about it.

She is doing a lot of things on her own now, including picking out her own clothes to wear.
Hmmm...short-sleeved tee with snow boots? By the way, she does own a helmet. We'll dig it out of the closet when we put away the snow boots.

Days of thy youth...Ecclesiastes 12:1

S had, what looked like, a fairly straightforward exercise in his reading workbook this morning. It was simply a series of questions in which he was to circle the correct answer.

Which is longer? day year

Which is colder? ice water

et cetera

He read the first question out loud, "Which is longer? A DAY!" Then he circled the corresponding answer.

"A day? Are you sure?" I questioned.

"Of course! I'm on Venus today!"

We had a short discussion about how, yes, the days on Venus are longer than a Venus year, but the workbook publisher is on Earth, so they probably are expecting an Earthly answer.

Fine. He erased his circle and circled the correct answer.

"Which is colder? Ice??? What is ice? There is no ice on Venus."

Fun facts about Venus:

Venus orbits the sun about once every 225 earth days.

A Venus rotation takes 245 earth days (so the day IS longer than the year).

The temperature on Venus remains fairly constant due to the heavy cloud and gas cover. The range is between 447-477 degrees Celsius.

Find out more about our planet of the day here.

Eight years old...II Kings 22:1

Happy 8th Birthday, S!

8 years ago this morning I woke up with a familiar feeling. I had felt the same way 4 days previously on Tuesday, The Man's birthday. I was sure you, S, would share a birthday with your daddy, but it turns out I had a case of the stomach flu...The Man had it too, so we were pretty sure it wasn't labor. I laid around for a few days surviving on nothing but Saltines and Gatorade. By Friday morning I was feeling better and went to my last visit with the midwife at Kaiser. We had switched to Kaiser insurance after J was born, so we were somewhat limited in our hospital/provider choices.

The midwife said everything looked great, except for my weight loss due to the special diet I'd been on that week. She even mentioned that she would be in the hospital that night, so I was welcome to come on in and have the baby. We still weren't sure which hospital we wanted to use. We had 2 Kaiser hospitals about the same distance from our home. One had a brand new L & D with great rooms. The other wasn't as nice, but it had my really nice midwife. And then there was the fact that they were both quite a distance from our home.

In rush hour traffic, it could take up to 45 minutes to get to either hospital from our house. Since we only had one vehicle at that time that The Man used to get to classes 20 minutes from our house, it could take about an hour to get to a hospital if he happened to be away from home when I went into labor. We decided it would be a good idea to be prepared in case we didn't wish to try to rush off to a hospital.

After my appointment with the midwife on Friday morning, I wandered all over the Kaiser complex trying to find the right person to give me the right forms to get J's hospital and ambulance bills paid from an out-of-state visit the prior month. The ambulance company was getting understandably cranky and Kaiser was not paying the bills or mailing me the forms. When that was taken care of we drove to Wal-Mart where I once again did some walk :: ouch :: ing to get some things we :: ouch :: needed.

We finally arrived back home and I rested the remainder of the day. I was still pretty weak from my recent illness. When I woke up early on Saturday morning, I was sure I was having a relapse. It was the same queasy feeling. I tried to relax and go back to sleep. It didn't work.

After an hour or so I figured out that I was actually in labor. I woke The Man up and informed him of the developments. He got up and decided that yes, I was probably in labor. He made a few phone calls and took M & J to some friends that lived around the corner from us. It was only a five minute drive...

During those five minutes I discovered that my contractions were a lot more comfortable if I pushed through them. The Man wasn't thrilled when he arrived back home less than 10 minutes later to find me pushing. "It's too soon! You're not ready!"

Yes, I was. We quickly decided that a homebirth was preferable to a carbirth somewhere along the 10 freeway. Less than an hour later you arrived. The Man went and got the big boys to meet their new little brother. A few hours later I sent them off to Sabbath School and Church while you and I stayed in bed and rested. I am glad he called between Sabbath School and Church to check up on us. I was in the middle of a crisis. I couldn't find where Daddy had put the diapers, and you were in need of your first diaper change.

Here you are, just a few days old (Notice the empty Gatorade bottle). Daddy put you in the bouncy seat on the kitchen floor. J is sitting there "reading" to you from a board book. This morning, eight years later, you and J were sitting in the rocking chair together as he was really reading to you from one of the new books you got for your birthday.
You were 7 weeks old for your first Christmas. All of you enjoyed wearing Great-Grandpa's Santa hats.
S asked for a banana cake with whipped topping and fruit for his birthday this morning. We had it for breakfast. "It was yummy," says S.

He got a tool box of his very own with lots of tools. He made a mailbox to put Mommy and Daddy's cards in, so The Man creatively wrapped each tool (including a box of Curious George band-aids) and put them in the mailbox. He loved all the gifts he received.
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Ahem...Yes, this post WAS written on November 6. Today is December 6. What can I say? As usual, it has been a b-u-s-y month. More on that later.
I love you, S...even though I was late publishing your birthday post! Happy 8 1/12 birthday!