"One day when you get little..."

This afternoon as we were eating lunch we had a family discussion around the table about fixing cars and how Daddy was teaching Joshua to fix brakes.

Hannah asked, "Daddy, will you teach me to fix cars?"

Scott assured her that when she gets a little bigger he'll teach her. Then Jonathan had the same question. And Scott told him that he'll teach him too.

Then we got to discussing how that when Jonathan is 13, Joshua will be 23.

We started imagining Jonathan calling Joshua up one day,"Hey, Joshua! Can you help me figure out this transmission?"

Joshua might reply,"Sure! I'll stop by right after work."

Then Scott turned it around and said, "I can even see Joshua calling Jonathan one day, and asking him for advice on building a tractor."

The kids found that was a bit of a jump for their imaginations. They were trying to imagine 4 year old Jonathan growing up and giving Joshua advice.

Joshua looked at Jonathan across the table and asked him,"So Jonathan, how would you fix a tractor?"

Jonathan just looked very seriously up at Joshua and with the most grown up air replied, "One day, when you get little, I'll show you how to fix tractors."

We all had a good laugh, even though Jonathan was quite serious.
I explained to the children that they all had their strengths and weaknesses, and that one day when they are older, that even the younger may have things they can teach their older siblings.

There is an interesting lesson that we can learn from Jonathan. Maybe Joshua would need to become figuratively little in order to learn from a brother that is 10 years his junior. It would require him to be humble enough to admit that he doesn't know something that his little brother knows.

Maybe that is part of what Jesus was talking about in Matthew 18:4. "Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven."

We need to be willing to admit that we don't know it all and turn to God for help.

Heavenly Father, help us all be little again.

Two Missing Teeth

Hannah lost her second tooth yesterday. Scott had bought each of the kids candy after karate class on Tuesday. Hannah bit into her candy necklace and her second tooth started to bleed. It was very loose. She was afraid to pull it that night, and I told her that it would be okay to wait until morning.

I had to leave early the next morning for a 3 hour glucose test. I couldn't eat or drink anything after midnight. I left before the kids were out of bed and Scott came home after his bus run to take care of them while I was gone.

I made it to my appointment on time. They took my blood and then gave me a red glucose drink. For those who have never had the glucose concoction imagine if you were to make kool-aide but added 3 to 5 times the amount of sugar than is called for on the package.

They tell you that you have 3 to 5 minutes to drink it. Now the trick is you can't throw it up or you have to reschedule. I used to have a harder time with it but now, I find I do best to just chug it down in about 1 minute. It helped that I was extremely thirsty and getting to drink anything was a relief.

Then I was sent to the waiting room to wait an hour. I tried to read a book during that hour but was so tired that I kept falling asleep. They called me back again and took my blood and sent me back in there to wait another hour.

The second hour, I gave up reading all together and used a stool that was in there to prop my feet on and just let myself doze. I didn't care what all the other women might think that came in. The nurse called me in and took the third blood sample.

I decided that I didn't want to sleep during the third hour so I played some solitaire on my tablet. I knew my time was coming when I heard the secretary ordering food for lunch. Finally they called me back for my last sample. Then they let me go.

First thing I wanted to do was eat. I went to a McDonald's and ordered a double quarter pounder value meal. It was good, but as I was eating it I felt extremely shaky. I finished eating and headed home, but I decided to stop at the next McDonald's for 2 apple pies.
One of those was supposed to have been for my sweet husband but something happened and it disappeared. I did make up for it by fixing dessert for supper.

When I got home, Hannah showed me how her tooth was missing. She told me that Daddy pulled it out with pliers. This is the first time that a tooth has been pulled by pliers in our house. I found it extremely funny and had to ask my husband about it. He said that the tooth was just dangling there and she assured him that she wanted him to pull it with the needle nose pliers so he rinsed them off and pulled the tooth right out.

I took the above picture of her with her 2 missing teeth tonight before she got ready for bed. Tonight, I got to join some other mothers for a Mom's Night Out. I enjoyed getting to visit with a few of the other Moms in our homeschool group.

It's getting late now and I should get some sleep. Scott and Hannah will be getting their new belts on Saturday. I'll be posting pictures of that in my next blog. Until next time have a good night's sleep. :-)

Count Your Blessings...

I kept planning to post about the karate belt testing this week, but am only getting that out today. Today after our normal Saturday karate class, we went home, ate lunch and then drove about an hour away to pick up the used van that we paid cash for.


I had to take this picture of what we do to stay debt free. Yes, we bought this used van with our eyes wide open. We knew it had problems and was being sold "as is". But my husband has researched this particular make and model and it shouldn't be too hard to maintain. However we need to at least get it home or to a brake shop. Whichever we can get the brakes to last long enough to get it to. We spent quite a few hours today working on this van in a parking lot less than a mile from where we bought it.

I see potential in this van and see it as a blessing that we were able to pay cash for it, plus have enough money to go to an auto parts store twice and go practically next door from the auto place and buy everyone $1 double cheeseburgers. :-) See I found 3 blessings right there.

Another blessing is that it wasn't raining while my husband was working on it, and we made it to a nice big parking lot that was pretty much empty. Two more blessings right there. That makes 5.

Anyway, you get the idea. :-) It can be hard to find blessings in certain circumstances but God's grace is sufficient. Scott mentioned to me once we were home, how that as he was showering to wash away the grease and dirt, he thought about how blessed we are and how that if we didn't have any problems then we wouldn't appreciate the good times as much.

We finally gave up for the night and left the van behind hoping it will be okay until Tomorrow afternoon. Then we're going to attempt bleeding the brakes again. If nothing else we'll try to find a good brake mechanic to fix it.

I better tell about belt testing now.

Saturday morning, a week ago, my husband, Scott, our daughter, Hannah, and our son Jonathan tested for their next level of belts in karate.

Jonathan is on the little kids' belt system and tested for an orange stripe that was added to his belt. He is really proud of that stripe.


Hannah tested for a green belt and did an excellent job.
She is happy because she will soon be matching me, Joshua, and Ruth.


Scott tested for a brown belt. He also did an excellent job. I didn't get as many pictures of him since I was mostly videoing his part.


Scott's reaching brown belt level is an amazing accomplishment. It not only shows how much hard work and dedication he put forth to achieve that level, but it also shows how long we've been living in this area. Scott has been pastoring the church we're at now for about 4 almost 5 years now. Time sure goes by fast.

We moved into the parsonage when Jonathan was a baby. And while here God has gave us Elijah our 5th blessing and we will soon be welcoming our 6th blessing. And I'm sure God will help us get the van in tip-top shape by that time.

Philippians 4:19 "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

Vacation, Potty Training, Lost Tooth... What should I title this blog?

This has actually been a relaxing week despite the busy title. Scott went to a tech conference that lasted the whole week. I decided that taking a break from our normal schedule and visiting my parents would be a great way to help the week go by quickly. I called it an early Spring Break.

I mentioned that I would get a picture of the kids with their build-a-bears. I took this one before getting the kids to bed at my parents' cottage.

I got this picture of Joshua on his new skateboard at my Mema's house. He hadn't been able to ride it until Tuesday. So he was extremely happy to have the free time to ride on the good old oil roads of East Texas.

The kids also enjoyed playing with my cousin's children. It's nice being a close knit family. I had the opportunity to explain first cousins, second cousins, and third cousins to my kids. Hannah still thought it was confusing. :-)

Elijah started going "poo poo" in the potty this week. He has surprised us with his understanding of what he is supposed to be doing on the potty. We haven't gotten super serious with his training yet. We are just letting him try going when he wants to. Serious training will commence when we start using real underwear instead of disposable training pants.

Okay, only 6 minutes left to publish this blog this week. :-) Yes, I'm blogging late again. But let me share this picture of Hannah with a missing tooth.


She has been really proud of that tooth this week. I was impressed that she pulled it herself without a lot of squealing. She's growing up so fast.

A Short Summary of this Week

This week has gone by so fast! I only have one hour to write this blog before I miss posting this week. I only said that my goal this year was to post one blog a week. I didn't say which day. :-)



Monday, I decided to stay home and not go to a homeschool meeting that I could have gone to.

Tuesday, I got up early and took Scott to work so that the kids and I could go to my doctor's appointment that morning. Elisabeth's heart rate was good and the doctor told me that everything looked great on the ultrasound. I was glad to hear everything was fine.

After my doctor's appointment I took the kids to Walmart and bought a few groceries and other items we were needing for the week. Then we had karate class that evening.

Wednesday and Thursday were normal days. Scott, Hannah, and Jonathan will be testing for their next belt level a week from now. Hannah is pretty excited that she will be testing for a green belt which will be matching me, Ruth, and Joshua.

Friday, I took Scott to work again and then came home and after my mornings Bible reading I fell back asleep. It's time for my Glucose screening and I originally planned to get that done on Friday. It doesn't require an appointment since I am only taking the one hour screening. I decided to skip that appointment and after lunch the kids and I went to their Keepers of the Faith meeting. Then we got a tire replaced on the van.

Today, we had a large group of visitors in our karate class. We had a lot of fun. After we left class we went out to eat at our favorite restaurant. The picture above is Elijah enjoying his meal.

Once we finished eating we went to the mall. Scott told the kids that he would let them each buy something for their allowance this month. Ruth got a Build-a-Bear with clothes. Hannah and Jonathangot clothes for their build-a-bears that she had gotten in the mail this week. And Elijah got a build-a-bear puppy. Joshua got a new skateboard. I'll take pictures of them with their new toys tomorrow.

I could write a lot more but I only have about 15 minutes to make my deadline on this post. So I'll try to have a better post tomorrow. :-)