One Month Left!

I just realized today that I'm on the last Baby on my Baby Ticker! For those who don't know what the ticker is it's the picture at the top of the page that shows which month the baby is in. It updates itself. I'm officially at 35 weeks! The baby can come any time this month and still be fine. I guess that does make me a little nervous but I'm ready. I'm really not afraid of labor being as this is my 4th child. All of my other children were born past their due dates so I half expect this one to throw us off and come before the due date.

This weekend my husband and I took our kids to the park. It was a lot of fun! We had a little picnic and then the kids all played on the playground while we watched. They are all getting so big so fast.

I started working on a baby blanket but haven't been the most faithful at doing it every day. I guess I need to get busy! I hope Jonathan likes yellow. The yellow and white yarn was so pretty to me. The yellow looked so bright next to the white! So I'm crocheting a pretty yellow and white blanket. Maybe after this blanket I'll crochet a more masculine color one for when he gets a little older. I know that yellow is suppose to be a neutral color but my older children all thought I should do blue. Oh well, I like the colors and will have a lot of fun making it.

I've been giving the children homeschool assignments. One of the things they do is memorize a bible verse for their class on Wednesday nights. They were told to pick one on their own for this next couple of weeks. Of course they were wanting to pick an easy one, but I'm insisting they rememorize Psalm 23. They still have it partially memorized from before but were starting to forget some of it. So I told them that they were smart enough to memorize a longer passage. Of course I've taken the fun out of their getting to pick their own verse but I'm sure they will thank me for it one day. Hannah is proud to be memorizing the verse 1. She says my turn after the other two are done and I help her quote the first one. She quotes her verse with a smile on her face.

I've also been printing off worksheets for them. Joshua is able to read his assignments real well on his own. It's been good for them to practice reading and following the instructions on their own. Ruth isn't quite as far along on her reading as her brother but she's not too far behind. She just doesn't seem to understand why I have her read it, when I'm right there and can read it for her. She'll eventually understand I'm sure.

Hannah has to have the same number of papers as her brother and sister. I have a table for her as well. She sits down there with her pencil, paper, and crayons and brings me her work just like her brother and sister do. When they finish a worksheet or have a question, they bring it to me and shortly after them comes Hannah saying, "Look Mom!" And I tell her what a good job she is doing.

Jonathan is even showing signs of being athletic. :) Hannah has a small soft football. Today she had the ball and I was sitting on the bed with her and the other children and my husband were sitting around the room. Jonathan started kicking and I took the football and sat it on the top of my tummy. We all had a good laugh every time Jonathan would kick the football and it fell off. It was so funny! Our little football player and he isn't even born yet!

Well, it won't be long and I'll have to get a sideways picture of me. We always get a picture of me sideways. It's also our family tradition to take a picture of my husband and children all standing sideways with pillows in their shirts. We always have a good laugh over those pictures.
It makes a nice memory over the years. I can see us telling Jonathan, "This is what mommy looked like before you were born. And this is what everyone else looked like."

Only 4 1/2 more weeks to go or so. I'm looking forward to getting to hold Jonathan in my arms. I'm also looking forward to letting my husband have a turn carrying him. I'll try to update pretty regular this month and let everyone know once the baby comes.

Psalm 23:1 "The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want."

Labor Day Weekend

I hope everyone else had a great Labor Day weekend. We had a wonderful time at my parents for the weekend. We enjoyed getting to visit. The kids enjoyed being spoiled a little bit. :)

I am blessed with wonderful parents. Of course for Hannah it wasn't enough. She woke me up this morning asking to see Papa and Nana. I told her we couldn't see them today but later. She was o.k. with that but she had to ask again later on. She is cute though. We were driving home and listening to a CD of Gold City singing "I'm goin' to read it again." Hannah was singing over and over "I wee 'gin, I wee 'gin". It took us awhile to figure out what she was trying to say until Ruth figured it out for us. Ruth said, "Oh, She's saying 'I'm going to read it again'." We all had to giggle over that one which of course Hannah loves the attention.

I plan to take the kids to the store for our Homeschool supplies this week sometime. This is the official week I plan to start them back on their more formal studies. So we will probably kick it off with a little shopping for supplies and organizing their "classroom".

I have a 3D ultrasound picture of Jonathan, that I was able to scan at my parents. It is amazing what you can see with modern technology like it is. Here is the picture.

He looks pretty healthy from the picture. :) You can see his chubby arm on the left side of the picture. On the left side under his chin is just part of the placenta. The Ultrasound technician told us that it is rare to get that good of a picture. She said that 80% of the time the baby is either in a bad position or has a foot or hand in front of his face. So we got one of the few babies that cooperated with the Ultrasound. :) My husband was able to get off work in time to be there for the ultrasound which made it extra special. I had felt bad about him missing out on the first ultrasound we had done. But this time he got to see the whole thing. It was pretty neat. Hannah kept growling though. She thought that the baby looked like a little monster. So she probably thinks the baby is a monster in my tummy. Aren't 2 year olds cute sometimes. :)

Well, that's most of the latest news thus far. My husband has gone back to work and has been getting quite a few calls for preaching appointments over the weekends. So we keep pretty busy. Maybe the time will pass by quickly 'til the baby is born. The last month is the month that is usually the longest. But maybe I'll keep busy and it will go by quickly. I wonder if Jonathan is going to come early or late. Scott will sometimes ask if he can help me carry anything and my usual response is "The baby." He just smiles and says he would but I get too nervous when he tries to pick me up! I guess he's right I'll just have to wait until October.

Mar 9:37 Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me.

I'm back!

Sorry about the long delay in posts. It seems that summers are already so busy and then to add moving to the summer just made it busier. We managed to get moved about 2 months ago. Everyone made it safe and sound. My husband has settled into his new job quite well, and now that he is being reimbursed for his gas mileage we are actually able to start saving up a little bit for clearing a spot and building ourselves a new home to live in. That will include getting electricity run and water hooked up.

My husband has sure been learning a lot about construction. He comes home just about everyday telling me of something new he has learned. Which will be real handy for getting our new home finished.

Since my last posting in May, the baby has been kicking up a storm. He stops and rests of course but he seems to be a night owl at this point because he especially likes to kick when I either sit down to rest or lay down to sleep. Oh yes, and we found out that we are having a boy! We are naming him Jonathan Paul.

We have had a good summer. I started taking a writing course in June. I really have been enjoying it. So far I have turned in two stories to my instructor. I read them to my older two kids, since the stories were written at their age level. They were actually impressed. Joshua told me, "I didn't know you could write like that. It sounds like a real story." I'm not sure who they thought wrote the other "real" stories. I guess they just didn't think that mom could write real stories too.

Our other 3 children have been having fun. I'll be starting Joshua and Ruth back to homeschooling next week. I found a homeschool group that do activities together in a nearby town and we joined the group. I'm hoping that our kids will be able to have some friends that are also homeschooled and still get to learn a lot in the process. As long as we can keep our vehicles going, I plan to take them on a lot of field trips and activities. Hannah of course won't be left out.

Hannah, our 2 year old, has finally figured out that baby Jonathan is in my tummy. We had a 3D ultrasound of the baby, and Hannah growled a bunch because she thought that the baby looked like a little monster. She is also putting more and more sentences together. She still has a little trouble pronouncing every word right, but she is so cute in how she says things. I'll try to keep a post of her new anecdotes on here. I can't think of many examples right now, but if I were posting more often, I would have plenty to write about.

So I intend to keep up my blogs. I hope no one gives up on me too completely. I'm going to post some links on the side. Since I'm going to be starting the homeschooling again, I thought everyone might like to look at some links to some of the resources I like to use. I'll probably put more links up as I go along.

Two more weeks!

Well, only 2 more weeks, before we move. We have been in our present location for about 5 years or so. However we are looking for to living closer to family and friends. Thankfully my father and brother will be coming down to help us. We will have to move our travel trailer and a trailer with a car on it. I was really dreading that long drive with 3 kids in the back and having to tow a vehicle on the back of our 15 passenger van. But my brother is used to hauling trailers so I really am appreciating his taking time out of his busy schedule to drive all the way down here to help us. Isn't family a wonderful thing?

We have been getting ready. We plan to take our kids to visit some of the sites around here and kind of get to say "good-bye" to the places we will not be able to visit again. They are looking forward to the move though. Since we homeschool, they will not have to change their routines too much. I'm sure I'll give them some slack at first, but I've already made arrangements for them to start in the Library's reading program in our new hometown. So they'll be having fun learning again.

Today, we bought a "fancy" lawnmower. I was tired of our other lawnmower stalling all the time, so I talked to my husband about it and he agreed with my idea of a new lawn mower. We now have a lawnmower that doesn't require gasoline, no motor, no oil. All we have to do to start it is push it. My son is the most excited, since at almost 9, he is actually able to start this one. All he has to do is push. After plenty of warnings about being careful for the blades, he was able to mow one side of our yard by himself. He was so proud! I'm amazed at how big he's getting.

Violin lessons are going well for Joshua and Ruth. Our goal is to get them able to hold their violins up without groaning and moaning at their lessons and during practice. Hannah is doing pretty well copying her brother and sister with her little violin. She can groan and moan just like them. They're getting stronger though. These lessons have been good for them. Our next trick will be to find them a new teacher, once we've moved. By the end of this month they should be able to play "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". That would really make them feel good.

Well, the baby hasn't kicked yet, despite my coaxing. But who knows any day now maybe I'll feel something. It still a little early I guess.

We've picked names! If we have a boy we plan to name him Jonathan Paul, and if we have a girl we plan to name her Joanna Lynn. So now to wait and see which it will be.

James 1:3-4 "Knowing [this], that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have [her] perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing."

Things My Mother Taught Me

I have learned a lot of valuable lessons from my mother during my childhood. In fact, I'm still learning from those subtle lessons that are now more important than ever to me as I work to raise my children. I just want to share some of those wonderful things I learned as a child from my mother, and now as an adult trying to teach my own children.

When I was a child my mother taught many lessons of what is right and what is wrong. I remember my mom switching the TV channels and explaining how to know the sound of a Soap Opera verses another movie. She made sure we knew at a young age that Soap Opera's were not good for us and to switch from a station that sounded like that. (If anyone wants to know why Soap Operas are not good, let me know and I'll be willing to talk with you about it.)
She also taught us not to watch certain cartoons. She didn't just simply forbid us from watching something, she always explained why we shouldn't watch it and what the problems were with the cartoon or show.

My mother was also the one who taught me not to say "bad" words. I didn't get in trouble the first time I came home from off the school bus and asked my mother what a word meant. She simply asked me where I heard it from and explained that there were certain words that were considered bad words and that if I didn't know a meaning of a word that I shouldn't say it unless I look it up. So then she had me go to the bookshelf and look it up in the dictionary. That day I knew what to do with words I didn't know.

I learned so many other things from my mother. I learned to be quiet in church. I learned to be respectful. I remember several times my mother taking me aside and adjusting my attitude problem. Even though I may not liked it, I knew she was right. She always explained why I was being disciplined.

She taught me to be generous and giving. My mother would give of her time and money to many good endeavors. I knew she loved people by how much she did for them. She showed her love to us kids by giving us things we needed and quite often the things we wanted. I realize now that we may not have needed everything that she gave to us children, but that it was her love that made her want to give it. I don't remember very many things she bought for herself. She always wanted to spend her money on her children and now she enjoys spending her money on her grandchildren as well.

She taught us, how bad divorce was. We may not have known exactly why divorce was such a horrible thing at the time, but we knew that it was a cause of a lot of problems. Now as an adult I realize why divorce is so bad and am greatful to my mother for teaching me how to be committed to my husband and to talk over problems that we may have. My mom was always committed to my Dad and I knew she loved him and would back his decisions whenever they had to be made. She would give her opinion on a matter but always let him decide. He was always good about listening to her opinions on those matters and between the two of them, they would make the best decision possible. I learned a lot from her on how to be submissive but always willing to give advice in a loving way to my husband when it was needed. I am so glad that I have been able to learn from her great example. My husband and I are the best of friends, because of my parents' example.

Probably one of the most important lessons I learned from my mother, was the value of prayer. I learned that God wants to hear from us and no prayer is too small to be important to Him. I can even pray for a bad hair day and He listens. Although that doesn't mean he will always answer the way we want, but many times He will. For me prayer is quite a comfort when I am having a problem that I cannot solve on my own. I know he will listen and help me with whatever the situation may be.

Now that I am grown, I'm still gleaning from those and many other lessons I've learned from my mother. As I get older I find myself asking her for advice on life and how she handled the situations that I may be facing now. She has always been a patient ear ready to listen to my questions. I love my mother, and hope that I am able to pass on these valuable lessons to my children as well.

Proverbs 31:28 Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband [also], and he praiseth her.

Growing Up and Special Moments!

My children are getting so big! I'm amazed at how much they are learning and growing.
Joshua and Ruth have been taking Violin lessons for about three weeks now. The teacher said at the beginning that she may not have them actually bowing their violins for a few weeks. But they have been working hard and practicing exactly what she tells them to, that she has started them playing two notes with their bows. I'm so proud of them.

When Scott takes the other two to lessons Hannah and take time to do something special together. Today, I fixed up her hair and helped her get all dressed up pretty for going to Wal-mart. Ok, maybe most people don't get all dressed up for going to Wal-mart but for a two year old it can be as exciting as going to a theme park for a teenager. The dressing up and getting to take her own dollar to spend makes it extra special.

After we fix her hair and she picks out the dollar she wants to take. I help her put her dollar in her little backpack and then I help her put her backpack on. Then we head out to the van. Then we walk into Wal-mart and I smile as people tell me how cute my little girl is. Then of course I have to spend 50 cents to let her ride the bulldozer ride inside the store. (I remember when rides like that were only 25 cents.) She picked out a water gun in the toy section and we got some small ones for her brother and sister.

Then we window shopped in the maternity and baby sections. Then we happened by a display table with samples of Dark Chocolate M&M's! So we shared the five M&M's in the little sample cup. I have had a terrible chocolate craving the past couple of weeks to make up for any non-sweet cravings in my earlier weeks of pregnancy. So I had to get 3 packages of M&M's since they were on sale. Then Hannah handed her dollar to the cashier, and we checked out and carried our bags to the van. At home we ate chicken nuggets and went outside and shot the bouncy horse with water guns. I finally coaxed her back inside with M&M's. So we split a bag of M&M's. Then I had her take a nap.

Scott and the other two children arrived home by that time and I got to hear about their lessons. Then Scott went to work and during the second hour of Hannah's nap, I took a nap.

Today may have seemed like a simple day and like not much took place for it to be so special, but sometimes even the simple things in life can be fun. It's all a matter of perspective. Now my husband is coming home from work and is bringing me a milk shake!


Ecc 2:24 [There is] nothing better for a man, [than] that he should eat and drink, and [that] he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it [was] from the hand of God.

The weather is finally starting to warm up. The cold front kind of caught us by surprise last week. All three of our children became sick last Wednesday. I was hoping it would be just a 24 hour virus or something. But they continued to be sick on Thursday as well. I didn't get much sleep either of the nights and Thursday night, I decided that if they didn't improve then I would take them to the doctor the next morning.

Well, after very little sleep, one hour before the Doctor's office opened, I was praying that the kids could hold themselves together for one more hour. Well, they did and I loaded them all up into our 15 passenger van, and took them to the clinic. Of course, since it is a walk-in visit, we had to wait for a while. While we waited, we looked at magazines, I cleaned up after my middle daughter who spit up. Then I directed my son, to where he could go to the restroom.

Finally, their names were called, and after Joshua returned from the bathroom, we were able to see the doctor. Joshua's fever had already gone down, he was now left with a throat infection and diarrhea. Ruth, had throat infection and a high fever (103 degrees) and congestion. Hannah had a high fever, an ear infection, and congestion.

The Doctor called in prescriptions for each of them. We then stopped by the laundry mat to see my sweet husband, who knew I hadn't had time to do laundry all week. So he had gotten up early enough to go to the laundry mat, before he had to run off to work. I then took the kids to the house to let them all use the bathroom, get something to drink, and a light breakfast. Then we went back to the laundry mat to pick up the clothes.

On our return trip to the laundry mat, I smelled the van was overheating. So, I called my husband who had left for work and told him about the smell. I still needed to go to Wal-mart to pick the kids' prescriptions. He said for me to just drive slow, and not push the van too hard.

While I was paying for the medicine at the pharmacy, my son, suddenly shrieked that he needed to go to the bathroom. Too late, it was already coming, the pharmacist's assistant said that she would hold the medicine for us, and I rushed off with the kids to the bathroom, grabbing paper towels I found along the way for my desperate son. I felt so terrible for him. I'm not sure how embarrassed he really was, but I was embarrassed for him. He ran into the bathroom and I posted Ruth, at the door, to let him know, if he came out before I got back that I was getting him a change of clothes. She was a very willing guard. So I took the youngest with me to the van, I was so glad that we had just picked up clothes from the laundry mat.

Thankfully, my son changed, and we bagged up the dirty clothes, and went back to the pharmacy. The pharmacist gave me a run down of all the medicines, and I finally took the kids home. I have an index card system of who took what when. A tired pregnant mother can't rely on her memory all the time. The system has been working and each child has been getting the right medicine at the right times so far.

Who says, being a mother isn't exciting. Thankfully, after much prayer they are now feeling much better, and I'm finally getting some sleep.

Luke 5:31 And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick.

I hadn't written in quite a while. I guess by the end of the day, I would be tired and just felt like reading other's thoughts, or chatting with my family. But now, I'm back and ready to start back where I left off. My thoughts may not always be as deep as they sometimes had been. I'm not going to be trying to think too hard at the end of the day, as I was before. But I'm sure my deep thoughts will just come out on there own without my having to think about it, right?

Well, some things in our home are the same, and some have changed quite a bit. We are still living in the Travel Trailer. We are still happy with our trailer, although the older our three children are becoming, the more cramped the space seems to get. We are in the market for a futon bunk bed, to hopefully help on our space. So as soon as we find a good one, hopefully that will take care of some of our space issues. Our son will be able to sleep in the top bunk, while the two girls sleep in the bottom bunk. Then we will have a couch by day and bed by night.

One of the changes that have taken place in our happy home, is that we are looking forward to having to find space for a fourth child. I just had an appointment with my Doctor this week and confirmed that I'm expecting a Baby. According to the Doctor, I am at about 8 weeks. We're so excited! My son, wants us to have a boy, my daughter wants us to have a girl, my 2 year old just thinks we're talking about baby dolls.

Oh, there is a lot to tell about, and talk about, but that can wait for another blog. My dear husband is home and I want to visit with him. So check back. I intend to be more prompt on writing. I'll try to keep everyone posted on how our lives are growing and changing.