Toasted Toaster...

There are so many titles I could give this blog. But since Jonathan cooked my toaster this morning, I decided on this title. My guilty cook has a pretty serious face in the picture below. I actually took this picture of him right after I took the picture of the toaster. The toaster isn't in the exact same spot I found it, I had actually tampered with the evidence a little bit to see what the exact damage was.

This morning I got up and had some phone calls to make. After I got off the phone, I went to check on the kids and change Jonathan's diaper. As I was changing him, the central heat kicked on in our trailer. I asked the kids, do you smell toast? They all agreed. They said it smelled good and wanted toast for breakfast. I wasn't planning on making toast but I was curious what would cause the smell.

I had Joshua check inside the vent in the kitchen. One disadvantage to central heat in a trailer house is it's easy to get crumbs in the vent. I thought that was where the smell was coming from. But he didn't see anything cooking inside the vent. So we didn't worry about it.

After I got up from changing Jonathan, I decided it was time to fix some oatmeal for breakfast. I started the water boiling when I felt heat beside the stove where the toaster was. The levers weren't pushed down on the toaster, I had seen that earlier, but I realized that the griddle had been plugged in.

When I came out of my room, I had seen Jonathan doing something in the kitchen but nothing seemed amiss. I didn't realize he was tall enough to reach the plugs above our kitchen counter. I had placed the toaster on top of the griddle yesterday after making the kids some peanut butter toast before bed. Jonathan had seen the cords this morning while I was on the phone and decided they needed to be plugged in. He just forgot that he's not allowed to touch them.

I'm just glad I found it when I did. The bottom of the toaster was melted to the top of the griddle. Even the toaster's plug was scorched. We had a fire hazard on our hands, but thankfully I was able to unplug it before any real damage was done. I called and told Scott about it, and he just laughed. He said that Jonathan must have wanted to fix us breakfast. The only problem is your not suppose to toast the toaster. But that's okay, Scott never really liked our toaster anyway. This will just give him a good reason to get us a new one.

And the lesson I learned from this: Never underestimate the height and abilities of a two year old. As Scott told me on the phone, "Nothing's safe now!"

120 Hours Worth of a 24 hour Virus

Your probably wondering how we managed to make a 24 hour virus last that long. Well, when you have 5 people that catch it, it adds up. We started with Ruth and Hannah getting sick Sunday night. They were sick all Monday. Hannah has deemed "spit-up" as her least favorite word and if anyone says it. She grumbles. I went ahead and took them with me to my doctor's appointment hoping that they were getting over it. Hannah wound up spitting-up in a bucket she brought with her in the car.

Then Tuesday, they were feeling a bit better but Jonathan got sick sometime Tuesday night.
So I had more sheets to wash on Wednesday.

Then Wednesday night Joshua "spit-up" in the bathroom sink. Then that night he spit-up in his bed which meant more sheets for me to wash. Also on Wednesday night Jonathan "spit-up" in his car seat. Then once we arrived home, he spit-up on my lap and on the floor at my feet. I'm not sure if he was more disturbed at spitting up on me, or just the fact that he "spit-up".

The kids were starting to feel some better on Thursday, but then sadly it was my turn. Thankfully I never did spit-up but I had another problem which lasted through Wed. night and all day Thursday. My stomach was in such sad shape that I couldn't eat much of anything. We all knew once we got to feeling better we'd be starved. The kids were perkier on Thursday, but I had to sleep the whole day, with brief bathroom breaks and breaks to solve problems for the kids. They got to watch a lot of veggietales. I was too tired to make them do much else.

Today, I woke up and told Scott, "I'm hungry!!" I was so happy to be feeling better. I'm still tired but I hadn't had the stomach troubles I had yesterday. The kids all greeted me with the same excitement this morning. "Mom, I feel much better!" Then came all the requests for all the foods they thought they could eat for breakfast. I decided to go easy and fixed them Cinnamon Toast.

Wednesday night, I called my Mom to thank her for all the times she cleaned up after me and my brother, and sister. If you haven't called and thanked your mom lately you should.

We're on the mend now. I just hope it ends here and that Scott doesn't have to go through it.

It sure has been a long week.

Snowy Day

The kids and I have been enjoying our stay with Papa and Nana. We will be going home soon, and I wanted to post their snowman picture.

We bundled them up pretty good this time. My Mom got out all their gloves and hats they had in a box in her room. They were a bit big on the kids but it kept the kids warm.

I'm looking forward to getting home. Scott will be there before us. We're getting a late start. We wanted to get all the kids clothes and shoes dried out before we take off.

We have a busy weekend. We'll be decorating for our "Love Your Neighbor" banquet. We'll also need to start cooking the brisket and side dishes for the dinner. I hope we have a few visitors come.

Now it's time to get packed and take our things out to the car. I'll try to post again soon. I now have batteries in my camera so maybe I'll have more pictures for my next post.

Peanut Butter and Gum in the Hair

Yesterday evening, Ruth had gum stuck in her long blond hair. I finally got a chance to test the remedy I had heard from a few people that using peanut butter will get the gum out of hair real easy. It took quite a bit of peanut butter. Well, maybe not as much as you would use on a sandwich, but enough to make a greasy mess in her hair. But it worked! She gets to keep her beautiful long blond hair.

She was near tears when she told me that she had gum stuck in her hair. She must have thought I was going to have to cut it out. Which would have probably been my normal answer. I just had her wash the peanut butter out of her hair afterward with shampoo. She came out happy that her hair was still in tact. Of course Hannah made a lot of wierd faces about me putting globs of peanut butter in Ruth's hair. I usually get onto her and Jonathan for making a mess like that. I just had to explain that this was for a good cause, "Ruth gets to keep her hair."

We've been so busy, I've missed a lot of posting. We had our Keepers of the Faith meeting last Friday. My parents came for a visit. My Dad spoke to the Contenders for the Faith which is the boys class. He was very impressed with the boys. They are all homeschooled children and very attentive and polite. Most people imagine a room full of 15 boys between the ages of 5 and 14 as chaos, but these boys are very well behaved and well mannered. They really enjoyed my Dad's presentation on hiking. They asked a lot of very good questions. They sat in the class for about an hour and a half before we broke for refreshments. Even remaining quiet for the prayer my Dad gave at the end. Then they played kick ball for the remaining half hour after refreshments.

Saturday, we had a Mom/ Son night with the Contenders for the Faith group. We had 5 pairs of Mothers and Sons meet at a restaurant and then another mother with two of her children came for the Live Concert we attended at the Liberty Opry. Everyone seemed to enjoy the Country Kidz Show. The singers were all young people under the age of 16. They had some amazing voices for being so young. They performed to the live music of the Liberty Opry band. Joshua enjoyed it so much that when some of the others were planning to leave after the first hour when they had a break, he wanted to stay. So I bought him a bag of popcorn, a sprite, and some M&M's and then we went back in and watched the rest of the concert. The Concert ended at 10 p.m. As we went home, I stopped at Jack-in-the-box and bought Joshua and myself a milk shake.

That was a night he'll never forget. Which was what I wanted for him. He got to order anything off the adult menu he wanted. It was a Mexican Food restaurant and he got excited over them having Cheese enchiladas. It didn't take him any time to make his selection.

Monday, I had a Doctor's appointment and our baby has turned head down. Jonathan was funny Monday night at home. In the evenings after one of the children gives their devotional, I sometimes let them see the baby kicking. Jonathan went right up to my tummy and yells, "WAKE UP, BABY!" Then he just cackled at himself. I just hope Jonathan doesn't wake the baby that way once he's born.

Tuesday, was our homeschool park day. It was very cold out that afternoon but we braved the weather. My daughters braved the weather more than I did. We arrived at the park and they informed me that they both forgot their coats. I had announced that they needed to remember them before we ran out to the car. But they forgot them anyway.

I loaned an extra light weight jacke I brought to Ruth and Hannah told me her Keeper's of the Faith teacher was going to bring hers. I asked Hannah what she would do if the teacher had something happen and couldn't make it. She could have worn one of her other coats. But thankfully her teacher came with her children and Hannah's coat.

We had fun despite the cold. The kids all passed out valentines and one of the mothers brought cupcakes for the kids to ice and decorate.

Then we came back home where we took a short break and then left for the kids' Karate Class.
Saturday there were belt tests. Hannah and Scott both tested. Hannah earned a yellow stripe for her belt. Her Karate teacher put her stripe on her belt at Tuesday's class. Scott will get his yellow belt next week. My digital camera had run out of batteries, so I couldn't get digital pictures of her getting her stripe but I did have a disposable camera and need to get the pictures developed sometime.

Today the kids and I plan to go visit my parents. Scott had a business trip this week and is at a Technology Convention. I sure miss him. I had nightmares Monday night, which was the first night he was gone. But then last night I tried putting some happy sounding music on and my dreams were much nicer. Okay, I was dreaming of Cinderella. LOL So you know the music had to be real calming. Cinderella dreams are much better than nightmares any day. I was almost afraid to go to sleep last night until I turned the music on repeat.

Hopefully a change of scenery at my parents will help the time pass a little quicker. I'm looking forward to Friday. We will be heading home and Scott will be heading home as well.

Then Saturday we'll be getting prepared for the "Love Your Neighbor" Banquet we've planned at the Church. I hope we have a few new visitors come. But it should be good even if they don't. It's the effort that counts. I made up invitations for our church members to give to family and friends. In the note I mention that this is our way of showing our appreciation for our neighbors in the community.

Well, I better get things ready for us to head for my parents. I just wanted to throw out a quick post before we leave. I need to get some more batteries for my camera so that I'll have some good pictures for my next post.

Mark 12:30-31 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this [is] the first commandment. (31) And the second [is] like, [namely] this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

Best Friends

It's funny the phrases I don't even know I've coined until I hear my kids using them. When I was a child people would call out in a sing-song voice, "Sta-cie?" and I would respond in the same tone, "What-ee?"

I realized that I have never stopped that even in my adulthood. Now it's "Mom-my?" and I unthinkingly respond, "What-ee?"

You're probably thinking, "Huh, big deal."

But it's only truly funny when you hear, "Josh-ua?" and he responds "What-ee?"

Even Jonathan if you call his name out responds, "What-ee?" It's really funny.

Scott shook his as he heard this and said, "It's not a real word!"

I just smiled and said, "Well, I guess it is now."


March is right around the corner. I have about 8 more weeks before our baby is due to arrive. I had a doctor's appointment yesterday. I found out that I had passed my 3 hour glucose screening, so I have nothing to worry about there. Although I did worry a little the week or two I waited to find that out. My blood pressure is good, and the baby's heart beat is good.

I just found out yesterday that my brother and his wife are expecting their 5th child. I told my kids about it and they are all excited. Their response was, "Now Elijah, can have a best friend too!" :) They have each paired themselves up with one of their cousins as "best friends". Joshua is the oldest of our set of cousins, but he matched up with Caleb, since Ruth and Lilia are the same age. So Ruth and Lilia are "best" friends, Joshua and Caleb are "best" friends, Hannah considers herself "best" friends with Micah, and Jonathan (even though he doesn't remember Andrew at all since he was just a baby when they left for France) was automatically paired with Andrew as "best" friends. Now we are having Elijah and I think the kids are the happiest to have a new "best" friend for Elijah, even though Elijah and the other baby aren't even born yet.

The truth of the matter is that my kids are their own best friends. They have other friends but they don't consider the fact that they are actually best friends with each other. When I mentioned that fact to them before they looked at me like I was crazy. "Mom! We can't be best friends, we live in the same house!"

I can only smile to that. So I allow them to think that even though they rarely see their cousins except occasionally over Skype, that they are best friends with their cousins. They are so looking forward to when my brother and his family all come back to the U.S. for a visit. I picture them all being shy at first, but then warming up and playing like they used to do. I'm positive even Andrew and Jonathan will enjoy being "best" friends.

The above picture was taken sometime around May of 2007. Jonathan was born that November so he is the only cousin that is not in the picture. I plan to get another picture come April or May when my brother and his family visits. We'll finally have the "best friend" cousins together again to get another family picture. I want to get one with Elijah in it. They'll have to come back again sometime after their baby is born to get one with him/her in it. Either that or we'll have to plan a trip to France for that picture.

There is so much to look forward to this year. Last year was full of precious memories and now I am able to look forward to so many blessings ahead in 2010. God is so good!!!

"O give thanks unto the LORD; for [he is] good; for his mercy [endureth] for ever. "
(1 Chronicles 16:34; Psalm 106:1; 107:1; 118:1,29; 136:1)

Happy New Year!

I want to let everyone know that Scott has made it home safely. He had a really good trip. He didn't have any problems with any of his flights.

Scott had some really neat experiences. He preached just about everyday he was there. He fixed several computers. He even brought back a Guampa (pronounced "wampa" - a type of cup), Bombilla (a metal straw with a spoon shaped filter on bottom) and a Termo (a thermos), which he is continuing to use. The picture is of a guampa with the bombilla on top, and a morter and pestal type of dish which I believe they use to crush the leaves and herbs they use to make the terere. Scott even brought back some of the terere which he had taken a liking to since it's a healthy drink. However it hasn't caught on here in Texas yet. He has mostly been greeted with some funny looks like "You want me to drink that?"

In Paraguay they share the drink with others, kind of like a sign of trust. They put the bombilla (metal straw) in the guampa (cup), then they put the terere on top of the filter part of the bombilla. Then they just add cold water from their termo for terere. They do have a hot water version which is called mate (pronounced mah-tay).

They had a 4 hour Christmas eve service. Scott preached during part of the service, which ended around mid-night.

Scott also got to preach on the national radio there in Paraguay, he also preached at a women's prison there.

On Sunday, Dec. 27, he preached at the church in Paraguay which has their services at 8:30 in the morning.

Then he went over to a Chinese church that met at 10 a.m. He said that was a really neat experience. At the Chinese church he preached in English while someone translated his sermon in Chinese. Then after the service they ate real Chinese food which was prepared by the members.

That afternoon he and Bro. Barker visited a family of the Paraguay church who had a family member die. They do not embalm people there in Paraguay. On Monday, he attended the funeral and he said it sure made a bigger impact to attend a funeral where you can smell the loved one decaying.

Sunday evening they had to go through a couple of border crossings in order to go to the Church in Argentina. The traffic was bad and they actually made it to the service when they had just let out. But that didn't phase the people there a bit, they just said, "Hey, let's go back inside and have services all over again." So they did! They went back inside started the song service and asked Scott to preach.

Then Monday they attended the funeral. The family had prepared the body, and they had a service in their home and then a burial service afterward.

Then on Tuesday, Bro. Barker took Scott to Iguacu falls. Scott took some beautiful pictures which I'll have to get from him. He took a lot of pictures but they are on his camera. I didn't get them on my computer yet. When I do, I'll have to post some. While at the falls, Scott got pick-pocketed by a coati (a racoon looking critter with an attitude). The coati took his bread that he had in a bag on his belt. It ran off before Scott could get it back.

Wednesday, he preached again for the Paraguay church. I got to speak with him on Skype on Wednesday as well. He told me about how many computers he had fixed during those two weeks. He also learned not to touch any metal parts on the computers. He got shocked about 6 times during the first week, then he remembered to be careful.

Then Thursday, he got on the plane in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, and flew to the airport in Brazil. He had a 9 hour lay over there in Brazil where he worked on some of his Portuguese and was able to talk with quite a few people there.

Friday, Morning he arrived in the Dallas Fort Worth airport right on schedule. It was so good to have him back. He was glad to see me and my Dad in the terminal waiting for him to come out the door. He had been afraid he was going to have to call us and then wait an hour for us to arrive, but we had looked at his flight schedule and were there at the perfect time.

We came arrived back at our home Saturday evening. It's nice to be home and have our family all back together under one roof. I've started the kids back on their homeschool schedule and am working on my plans for this year. I'll try to finish my list and maybe in my next blog I'll post about my plans for 2010. Maybe I'll have some more pictures of Scott's trip by then.

Looking Back on 2009

I haven't written down yet my goals for 2010. Some of the things I had planned in 2009 came out just like I had in mind and some things turned out completely different. Tomorrow my Dad and I will be picking Scott up from the airport. I also want to sit down and write out my plans for 2010. I like that I blogged about this past year, since sometimes it's hard to remember what all took place within a year. So much happens that it seems like it had to be several years in one sometimes.

I was about to write a month-by-month review of what all took place this past year, but I realized that just one month would take up to much space so I'll just write a few memorable highlights from this year.

At the beginning of the year, the older three children were able to take a few riding lessons from a friend of ours at church. That was a dream come true for Ruth.

Hannah celebrated her 4th Birthday in March. She has grown a lot this year, from wanting to be Bibleman, to wanting to be a football player, and even a rough tough cow girl.

Joshua turned 11 in June, he's grown a lot in this year as well. His biggest lesson I think he learned this past year was to be patient with Hannah. Their personalities were always clashing. I helped them resolve their problem by having them work together on things. They still have their squabbles but at least Joshua has learned to be patient with his sister.

Also in June we took a trip to Michigan and visited with Scott's family there. We had a great time and got to visit with a lot of his family there. The kids had a wonderful time over there. They got to go camping, fish, ride on a 4 wheeler, walk the dogs, ride on a motorcycle, and even got to eat birthday cake they had for Joshua's Birthday there.

Ruth turned 9 in July. She has grown as well in this year. The main trait she has worked on and is growing in, is not being too critical of others. She is a very smart and detailed young lady, but when things don't go her way, she can be very critical. I can tell she has been working on not being as vocal with her criticisms. She is a wonderful big sister and we all call her the second Mommy. Whenever I can't hold Jonathan, she's the one he'll go to for hugs and cuddles.

Jonathan turned 2 this year in November. When I look over previous pictures of him I think he has probably been the one to grow the most this past year. He is becoming so independent and vocal. I tell people, "We spend two years trying to get them to walk and talk and the rest of their life trying to get them to sit down and be quiet." He is definitely becoming his own person. He still has his moments copying Hannah but now he is throwing in his own ideas.

It was about the middle of July that we realized we were expecting our fifth child. We found out in October, that we are expecting a boy and we are naming him Elijah Scott.

I found out that two of my cousins are also expecting babies. I'm due in March, one of my cousins is due in April, and the other in May.

Scott took Joshua and Ruth hiking this year. I stayed home with Jonathan and Hannah. We set up an indoor tent, made from chairs and blankets. I even let them eat inside their tent.

I started coordinating the Contenders of the Faith class in a homeschool group in which we are a part. It's a Christian alternative to Boy Scouts. The Keepers of the Faith meet at the same time which is the Christian alternative to girl scouts.

Scott became a bus driver at the local school, and was offered a job in the tech department as well. We were blessed with a good price on a van, and we were able to get Scott a ticket for a trip to Paraguay to visit a Missionary there. Even though that meant having him away from us during Christmas, I was glad that he went and feel like it was good for him. I'm hoping it encouraged him as well as the Missionaries he visited.

Well, that was my brief overview for 2009. If you want a more detailed view of it you can always look over my past posts. I tried to post somewhat regularly although I tend to fall behind occasionally.

Well, it is now 2010 and I'm looking forward to seeing Scott in about 5 hours. I guess I should try to get a little sleep before then. I'm so excited to see him. My next post will be about my goals for 2010. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

This is My Blog, Not Dad's...

Okay, I left my computer open beside my Dad. I had to change Jonathan's diaper. So here is what resulted.

"Blogging, yes, yes, Its so good to be blogging!!!!! I am blogging while changing a diaper!!!! I bet there are a lot of you who could not do that!!!! Did I mention that I am blindfolded also. You see mother's from Texas can do most anything. The picture is of me and my children talking to Scott on Skype. We watched "Calamity Jane" starring "Dorris Day" now my youngest daughter wants to be a cow girl. She watched "Facing the Giants and wanted to be a football player. We are going to watch "Yours Mine and Ours" next in hopes we will have more than a dozen grandchildren, who will play football for the Dallas Cow Girls. "

Hmm... I think I won't leave my blogger signed in while changing a diaper anymore.
Although some of what he said was true. No, I didn't change the diaper blindfolded (I'm not that good.) And for that matter I wasn't blogging while changing a diaper. I was about to.

Hmm... The Calamity Jane part was true. Hannah was inspired. You already heard about the football thing with Hannah from another post so that wasn't anything new.

Let's see, I'm not sure if my Dad was talking about me having a dozen grandchildren or him having a dozen grandchildren. But with 5 kids it won't be hard for me to have a dozen grandkids one day. So who knows I may have some football players in there. Oh, he said that was my grandchildren he was talking about.

And we were talking to Scott in that picture.

Okay, well, now you've heard it all. Not much more to write about, except that you won't have to worry about this duo-authorship anymore. At least as long as I can keep my password secret from my Dad. :) Hope everyone has a Happy New Year! You too, Dad!

Two More Days...

Only two more days and then on Friday we'll be picking Scott up from the airport. I sure do miss him. We got to skype with him a couple of times. That was nice getting to see him online. I also check my facebook to see if he or Bro. Barker post anything about what they are doing.

This is a picture of our kids sitting on my parents couch this past week. They've been having fun. They're missing Daddy too though.

Sunday we enjoyed the services at my Dad's church. It has been a long time since we've been able to go to his church on a Sunday. I enjoyed his Sunday School and his sermon during the Morning Worship. Sunday Night their church had business meeting.

There was one funny thing that happened Sunday Night. Before the evening worship service, I gave each of the kids some change to put in the offering plate. They were pretty excited about it. Well, the usher didn't see that my children had money to give and they walked right past them. When we looked behind us and saw that they were taking the offering a few pews behind us, the kids were a little panicky.

They are normally very quiet and proper during services but I knew they would be sad to not get to put their offering in the plate. I decided to "unleash" them. I told them, "Okay, go catch up with the usher and give him your money." There weren't as many people present in the evening as in the morning or I would have never done it. But everyone in the audience found it funny. They all know how still my kids normally are.

My Dad did ask me what happened all of a sudden he's up on the stage and all he sees is his four grandchildren running wildly up the isle. But once it was explained he understood completely.

Monday a couple at my Dad's church invited us all out to eat at McDonald's. We let the kids play in the play place. They had fun, except for Hannah who was only brave enough to go to about the first level of the play area. She just wouldn't go beyond the steps. She decided she would go in it when she's older.

How does a girl that is brave enough to talk to anyone in a room be scared to go inside a play place. Well, that's my Hannah. I asked her how she could be afraid of that when she says she isn't afraid of anything. She said, "Well, I'm afraid of some things."

Today, we were suppose to have Lady's Bible Study here at my parents house, but Dad was feeling sick last night and was running a fever most of the day today. I hope he starts feeling better tomorrow.

Tomorrow evening will be midweek service. I don't know what we will do Thursday, but Friday morning is the day we pick up Scott. That's not too far away. Please pray for him that he has an easy trip and makes it safely home to us.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and are looking forward to a blessed New Year.

The Night Before Chirstmas...

I let the kids open one present before bed tonight. I thought it would be nice for them to get to sleep in their new pajamas. They all love to dress alike and I was thrilled to find pajamas where they could be "twins".

The only problem with spending a couple of weeks with my parents is that my Dad beats me to all the pictures. So yes he has a picture of the kids in their pajamas on his blog as well.

We had a Christmas Eve Candlelight Service at my Dad's church tonight. It was real nice. Couples went up and read through the Christmas Story from Luke 1 and 2. We sang carols between the readings. Then at the end we all had candles that we lit at the end. Jonathan was especially excited about the candle. I let him sit in my lap and hold the candle with me. He was really good and didn't touch the flame which I knew was incredibly tempting. Then I let him blow out the candle at the end.
We all had fun.

Well, it is now Christmas. Merry Christmas everyone! I guess I better get busy with a little bit of last minute wrapping.

Scott's in Paraguay

I took this picture of Scott right before he went through the security at the airport. My Dad took us over to the airport Monday and we watched as Scott went through the process of checking his luggage, and getting his tickets. Then we watched until we couldn't see him any more. We did see that he passed through the security line without any problems, so I was glad that it all went smoothly. He called me from his plane in Florida, before the plane took off. That was Monday night and he said that he wouldn't be able to call me on his cell phone after that. So I was glad he called and let me know he made it that far.

Then Tuesday evening he e'mailed me to let me know he had made it safely and would write more later. Which I also read a message that Bro. Barker, the missionary Scott is visiting wrote to say that Scott had arrived safely and they enjoyed him playing on his ukulele at a meeting in Paraguay. So I knew Scott was having a great time.

I talked to him on Skype this afternoon. He is doing well. He had preached at a prison in Paraguay and I think he attended another service. He will be preaching on the radio tomorrow. He will also be attending a Christmas Eve service in Paraguay. It will be a 4 hour long service. I can't picture any services here in America running that long. I'm looking forward to his getting back with pictures and telling us more about what he is doing. We have 3 hours time difference. When it was 8 o'clock here it was midnight there. Tomorrow sounds like it will be pretty busy for him. He is starting the morning by going to the airport to pick up the luggage that was lost in transit. Thankfully he had all his personal items as carry-on. We are hoping there won't be anything missing from his checked baggage. It was mostly items that we had bought for the missionary and his family.

The kids and I are doing well. My parents invited us to stay with them for the two weeks Scott is away. Monday night was the hardest for me. After I talked with him on the phone I felt sad, because I realized he really will be gone for two weeks and we hadn't been apart that long before. Normally I would have gone with him rather than have to miss him for two weeks, but since I'm close to my 7th month of pregnancy I didn't want to be that far away. I also knew Scott would have an easier time going from place to place without worrying about my health and keeping me comfortable. I guess if we keep busy enough maybe the time will pass quickly.

Tuesday night my parents took me and the kids to see the Christmas lights in Athens. They were really pretty. Then today we had Wednesday night service at my parents' church. My parents even brought refreshments for everyone to enjoy fellowship after service. Tomorrow we will be having a Christmas Eve candlelight service. Also my sister and brother-in-law will be coming to visit us on Christmas Eve. So tomorrow should be pretty busy. And then of course we will have Christmas on Friday at my parents house. I'm hoping maybe Scott will be able to join us on Skype. That would be nice. I'm not sure exactly what they have planned for him that day. So I guess we will see.

Well, I was going to try to post two more pictures but for some reason my browser isn't letting me. I guess I'll just have to blog again tomorrow with those pictures. Maybe Blogger will cooperate better then. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas Eve.

Our Texas Snowman...

My brother posted on his blog some beautiful snowy pictures in France. Sooo... I decided I would post our picture of the snowman Joshua made a couple of weeks ago. (Don't laugh all you Northern Folks. Okay, you can laugh a little.)

This is actually a handsome snowman for down here. I remember making a snowman when I was a kid, that was just a lump. Mainly because the snow didn't stick that year. So this snowman was actually quite nice, and he's even dressed in his own leaf apron. (He's a modest snowman.) And how many snowmen do you see able to stand in such green grass. :)

Joshua made this snowman on a Friday night and we took this picture the next day. The rest of the snow had melted around it. By Sunday our poor snoman had a shrunken head, and he was dearly departed by Monday. But at least we got this picture before he was completely gone.

Our colds are still lingering. Scott sounds the worst. I think it is because he has to use his voice a lot more than the rest of us. Hopefully he'll be feeling better over the weekend. He only has to work a half day tomorrow, so maybe his voice will be fine by Sunday.

Sunday, we have a Christmas Skit planned with the children. Hannah will be Mary, Jonathan will be Joseph. Ruth will be an Angel, and if there are any other girls present, they can be angels too. Joshua and Andrew (a boy at our church) will be shepherds. I'll be reading Luke 2 and they will sing Christmas Carols between each of the sections of the skit. We have a doll cradle that we are going to use as a manger and we will borrow some hay from someone at church. We would like to use their new baby goats for the cattle but I'm afraid that would be a little too messy. The goats would probably steal the show or at least the hay. I'll try to take pictures.

Then after the services, we plan to have a Birthday cake for Jesus. I am hoping to make the cake on Saturday. I'll try to get a picture of the cake as well.

Then Sunday night after our service we will head to my parents. We will be taking Scott to an airport on Monday. He'll be visiting Missionary Ted Barker and his family in Paraguay during the Christmas Holiday. Bro. Barker had invited him out a few months ago, and I encouraged him to go ahead and go. He loves helping Missionaries. He would have like for me to come with him, but I wasn't sure if I was quite ready to go with him on a trip that far away so soon, and also the fact that I'm entering my Third Tri-mester in my pregnancy. I would hate for something to happen while I was in another country. He understood and I told him that I would go with him another time, after the baby is born. I sure will miss him though.

The last mission trip we went on was to Ukraine in 2006. We spent 2 weeks over there with a group that was formed by Bro. David Smith and X-STREAM global missions. Before that we hadn't been on a trip since right before Joshua was born. Before we were married Scott had taken several Mission trips. I find that it is good for him. It gives him a chance to use his language skills that he doesn't get at home. He also enjoys being able to help and encourage missionaries.

Pray for him while he is on this trip. Also pray he doesn't have problems with the climate change. It's going to be in the heat of Summer there in Paraguay. We'll be cold here and he'll be melting there. Sure sounds odd.

The kids and I will be spending Christmas with my parents this next couple of weeks. We are all looking forward to it. I'll try to be a little more prompt at posting while we're there.

Dr. Hannah

Hannah caught a cold Friday evening. She had gone outside in the snow and got too cold while she was out there. I noticed her cough on Saturday. I asked her when she started coughing and she told me that it was while she was playing in the snow. "I'm allergic to snow," she explained.

Monday morning she still had a cough. She asked me if she could have oatmeal for breakfast. "I need some hot oatmeal. And I'm not going to blow on it because hot is good for your throat," she told me, "and I need some hot tea too."

I told her that I didn't mind her having some tea, and oatmeal as long as she didn't let it burn her mouth. So hot tea and oatmeal was the breakfast of choice yesterday morning.

Hannah is amazingly good at giving us all a good laugh. She turns into the little expert about everything.

I let her feel our baby kick. Babies are a facinating thing for 4 yr olds. She asked me, "Mommy, do I have a baby in my tummy?"

I explained that she did not. And that she had to grow up and get married before getting a baby in her tummy. Then she asked, "Does Daddy have a baby in his tummy?"

I guess in her mind Daddy is grown up and married. I did explain that Daddies don't have babies in their tummies only Mommies can have babies in their tummies. Thankfully that seemed to have cleared it all up for her.

Yesterday, I had a Doctor's appointment and had the kids all ready to go for my appointment. Hannah announced, "I'm going to be a Doctor when I grow up!"

Of course a sibling had to ask, "I thought you wanted to be a football player."

I came to her rescue though, "Ah, so are you going to be a football playing doctor?"

She just smiled. The picture above is one I took yesterday. Hannah wanted to wear her stethoscope to my Doctor's appointment. And I had to take a picture of her all dressed up to go.

Our "New" Van

We've had the van about two weeks now. Time sure goes by fast. Here are some pictures of our "new" used '98 Dodge Caravan. This van has really been a blessing. The previous owner took really good care of it.

We originally thought we would have to save up money and find something in February before the baby was born. But the Lord blessed and through a coworker Scott found out about this van for sale at a really good price.

This week was busy, besides what I mentioned in my last post we also went on Tuesday evening to see a replica of the Vietnam Memorial Wall. It was a great learning experience for the kids. The only other change to the weeks plan was finding out that the singing had been canceled. However the pastor and his wife of the host church invited us to visit in their home. We had good fellowship with them.

Today Jonathan was helping Scott fix a computer. I remember when Joshua was that little. Besides the pictures of the van, I'll include a couple pictures of Jonathan helping Daddy.

Jonathan's 2nd Birthday

Jonathan turned 2 last Wednesday and I'm only now coming on here to post some pictures in the few minutes we have before church.

Here is Jonathan with his birthday cake. I made cupcakes and iced them all together to make them look like a big cake. I put smarties around the outside cup cakes as a border and sprinkles on the top. He liked it. Hannah liked the football cupcake wrappers. I think he was probably indifferent about that part. :)

The second picture is Jonathan holding his new teddy bear. It's belly and head glow in different colors when you press it's hand. I got if for him thinking it would ease his transition into his new big boy bed. We wound up ordering the bed after all and he hasn't got that yet. I did buy him sheets for his birthday but without the bed they aren't as exciting. So I hadn't introduced those to him yet.

We were originally planning to give the boys the bunkbed and giving the girls twin beds but Scott looked it over and decided they would be better off with both having bunkbeds. Since the girl's room will be smaller with the baby bed in it.

So the boys should be getting their bunkbed sometime this week or next. Well, it's 5:30 p.m. and we need to get over to the church. We have business meeting tonight. I'm kind of hoping it will be fairly uneventful, unless we have a lot of good motivational ideas happen tonight. :) I guess we'll see.

This week will be another busy one and I'm not sure how often I'm going to post. I have a Doctor's appointment on Monday, Homeschool Park Day on Tuesday, Wednesday Bible Study, Thursday is Mom's night out with other homeschool moms, and Friday a singing in the evening at one of the churches in our Local association. I will try to take sometime in there to post pictures of our van though. We'll be in it enough this week.

Miss Mary Christmas...

"I want to sing the Miss Mary song!" was Hannah's announcement the other day.

I asked her if she was talking about "Miss Mary Mack" which was a song I taught the kids that went back to my childhood. It was a song we used to jump rope to and do a hand clapping rhythm to.

"No, I want to sing the Christmas one!" was her response.

We got her to sing a phrase for us, "I Miss Mary Christmas, I Miss Mary Christmas..."

Joshua and Ruth figured it out for me at that point, "Oh she's talking about 'I Wish You a Merry Christmas'!" So they sang it the correct way for her.

That was the song she wanted but she now sings it, "I wish Miss Mary Christmas, I wish Miss Mary Christmas, and a Happy New Year!"

Last night at the table as we were having our evening meal after church. She announced, "I'm going to marry a football player!" Scott had a brief concerned look cross his face, but then he realized this is our 4 year old talking.

I asked her if she was going to marry a good football player that went to church. She agreed he was going to be a Christian football player. She said "and when I'm a Mommy I'll give him my football, because I won't need it when I'm a mommy."

She must have felt a little sad at the thought of not getting to play football anymore when she's a mommy, so she added, "Of course, some Mommy's can still play football, right?"

Joshua and Ruth both agreed with me when I told her that she was going to make a very interesting Mommy one day. They just giggled at the thought of what it would be like having her as a mommy. She wouldn't be the mommy on the sidelines at a football game she would be right in the middle of it.

Scott said he could see her dressed up as a football player, hiding around the corner of the house waiting to tackle her husband when he got home from work.

The first picture above is of Scott throwing a football with Hannah and Ruth one evening after he got home from work. That's Hannah throwing the football dressed in her football outfit.

The second picture is of Jonathan dressed up as a football player with a Soccer ball in front of him. He loves to copy Hannah.

The last picture is of Joshua mowing. Joshua was mowing that same day I was taking pictures of them playing football. After he had finished mowing he was also throwing the football. I had gone inside when Scott told me that Hannah had tackled Joshua and he went flying. He didn't even have the ball at the time.

I'm going to be praying hard for Hannah's future husband. :)

Surprise, Surprise!!!

I had an ultrasound yesterday. I appreciate my parents coming to help with my other 4 children. Dad and the kids waited in the waiting room while Mom and I went in to see the ultrasound. We found out that the baby isn't a girl after all. He turned out to be a healthy baby boy.

You should have seen the surprise on my children's faces when I came into the waiting room and I announced, "Y'all are having a baby brother!" Joshua was the most excited obviously.

Jonathan doesn't yet understand any of this going on. He will point to my tummy and say, "Baby?" but I think he just thinks that's the new name of my tummy. Ruth and Hannah were a little disappointed. They got over the disappointment pretty quickly though and Ruth even picked out the sweetest little boy card to give to Daddy when he got home from work.

Ruth did tell me we will have to have another baby so we can use the name Elisabeth. Obviously our children don't mind us having a big family.

Here is a picture of our ultrasound. Since I know some might not appreciate the view of the bottom "stamp" that shows whether it's a boy or a girl, I'll not post that one. When she took this picture the technician asked me, "Doesn't he have a handsome face?"

I wanted to say, "Um, he kind of looks like a skeleton in this picture." But I just smiled and said, "Yes!"

Scott finally got to feel the baby kick last night. I had to really move around and rub my tummy to get the baby kicking, but once he finally started poking me in one spot I had Scott put his hand there. I think the baby just wanted us to leave him alone and let him go back to sleep. :)

Busy Week in Progress...

This has been a busy week and it's not over yet. Monday was a normal day. Scott worked at the school as a Computer Tech. The kids and I spent their day working on their lessons. I've been pretty proud of them this week. I'm not sure what happened but something clicked in their head that the more they concentrate on their morning's lessons the more free time they would have in the afternoon in which we might do something fun. My son has been wanting to mow so bad, that that was one of his motivations to get his work done early.

Tuesday, we had park day with our homeschool group. It had been raining most of the weekend and Monday, so that it was nice to have it slack off for a few hours to allow the kids to play outside. I enjoyed getting to visit with the other parents while we watched our kids having fun. My son has a friend he made their and at our Contender's meetings. They were having so much fun they were even yelling instructions back forth from our cars while we were trying to leave about what they should bring next Park Day.

Wednesday, Scott had the day off. It was exciting because he was able to go with me to my Doctor's appointment. I really like my doctor and the experience we had at the office. I did learn that Wed. were probably the busiest days because a lot of mothers are scheduled that day for Formal ultrasounds. I've been scheduled for a formal ultrasound next Wednesday. I'm looking forward to that. We did have an informal tableside ultrasound yesterday. I was happy that she let us see our baby since my husband and kids were able to be there too. It was pretty exciting. We asked her if she could tell whether we were having a boy or a girl. She said, "Well, don't go out and buy pink just yet, but I'm thinking your having a girl." We should be able to find out for sure next Wednesday.

Wednesday evening we had bible study in our home. We didn't have anyone come for it but we always enjoy sitting around discussing the Bible lesson Scott presents. Afterward we have tea and some refreshments. Yesterday we fixed up French Bread that we bought for the occassion.

Today, Scott has gone back to work and will be having a pocket survival class in the evening. The class will be at the same school he's been taking his Russian classes. I'm so glad he has been able to take these classes. This class on Pocket Survival is a two part class. This part is a sit down class where they talk about pocket survival, then Saturday will be a field trip where they will see the practical application of the techniques they learn in class.

As for me and the kids, today I was able to figure out a problem Joshua was having with his math and get it corrected. They were suppose to add two column numbers with carrying. For example: 24+59= He was getting the answer 213. I just couldn't figure out looking at it myself what he was doing to get such an answer. So I asked him and found out what he was doing. Can you figure out how he came to that answer?

Think Abbot and Costello if you've ever seen any of their acts.

Yep, he was adding 9+4=13. He knew to carry the one so that makes 1+2+5 in the next column. He wrote the 3 down carried the one and then added 13+1+2+5=21 So he had already written the 3 and he just wrote the 21 in front of it. I got him straightened up on that though. He told me that it's a lot easier the right way.

Tomorrow is Friday, I've scheduled an appointment to take the kids in to see a pediatrician about their ringworm. It's mostly the ringworm in their hair that is giving me the most concern. Scott told me to make an appointment this week, so we'll be doing that tomorrow morning. Hopefully we can make our home ringworm free before our baby gets here.

Then Saturday will be pretty normal for me and the kids. Scott will have a class on Saturday but will be home after that. I keep thinking eventually things will slow down. Now I just wonder when. :)

Crazy Hats, Football Hannah, and Preacher Jonathan

I wanted to get a better picture of my kids with their crazy hats but I'm going to go ahead and post this one. Last week we made crazy hats for a fun concert some friends of ours put on each year. It was a lot of fun. As one of the activities they had a crazy hat contest for the girls and the ladies. Of course Joshua and Jonathan didn't want to be left out of the fun, so I let them make a crazy hat too. Jonathan wasn't wanting to put his hat on for this picture so the kids just decided to hold his hat for him.

During the girls' contest they were to get up on stage and describe their hats to the judges. I never talked with the girls about how to describe their hats. I simply let them decorate them however they wanted. I simply helped with the hot glue.

One girl had gotten on stage with a hat that had a light bulb on top. She was letting her light shine. Another girl had a skunk hat and the theme of her hat was "little stinker." Another girl had a hat with a phone on it and they described her hat as "can you hear me now." Then Hannah got up on stage and very proudly announced, "My hat is a HOMEMADE hat. My mommy made, my brother made it, and I made it!!!" She then smiled real big and turned to let them see all the cotton balls and beads and ribbon on her had.

Ruth came a couple of girls later and said, "It's a hat I made?" The only way she could think to describe it. I was happy that Hannah won 1st and Ruth 2nd place. Probably because they obviously designed their hats themselves.

In this second picture, Hannah is dressed up as a football player. She put balls up in her shoulders for muscles. She thinks the football player's shoulder pads are their actual muscles. She wants to wear her "football uniform" (pictured) constantly. One day I wanted her to get different clothes to put on after her shower. She told me but I want to put these back on so I can be a football player. I had to explain to her that even football players had to have their uniforms washed sometime. They don't wear them all the time, only when they are actually playing. It took quite a bit of convincing, but she finally relinquished her uniform as long as I gave it back to her as soon as it was clean. If you notice in this picture that she has her foot on is actually a basketball. She kicks it around like a football though. She also likes to do the football exercise where the boys stomp their feet and fall flat on their stomaches and then get quickly back up. She'll do that about 10 times in a row. I don't know where she gets the energy.

I don't have a good picture of Jonathan preaching. I did get a video, but I can't post it on dial-up, so that video will have to wait. I will tell you the story though. I was sitting holding him in my arms and asking him, "Will you always be my baby?"

Of course, he smiles shakes his head and says, "No."

One of the times I asked him that, he smiled shook his head and then said, "No. Daddy!"

Then he immediately jumped out of my lap and started marching around the room with his finger over his lips saying, "Ssshhh... Ssshh..." Then he started singing at the top of his lungs. Of course after a short bit of singing he started yelling at the top of his lungs and marching around the room pointing at everyone. It was hilarious. He even pointed and yelled at imaginary individuals. After making sure we all understood what it was he had to say, he started singing as loud as he could again.

I showed the video to Scott and he said, "Wow, I never knew I preached quite like that."

The only part I can really understand is his "sh..sh..sh..."ing everyone. We do that to him a lot during Scott's sermon. Scott never has to shoosh anyone, but me and the kids are always trying to get Jonathan to be quiet during the sermon. So that was where that came from. I've never seen Scott yell at the top of his lungs in the pulpit or even out of the pulpit. I don't know about that but it was funny seeing his idea of Daddy's preaching. Joshua, Ruth, and Hannah just loved it. We had such fun watching him preach at us. I guess Scott made some kind of impression on his young mind. After watching the video Scott had to sit down and give his little boy trying to be like Daddy a hug.

They're, Their, There ...

I am tired of my children bringing me their papers with the wrong form of their, there, or they're on them. So I gave them those words along with our, hour, and are. Which are three other words they are constantly getting mixed up. I know my kids are country but that's not "are" car. It's "our" car. So the focus of this week has mostly been their, there, and they're. We have touched on the other three but the focus will go on those next week.

I've tried to explain to my kids that if you can't say "They are" in the sentence where they put "They're" then that is the wrong word. "That is they're car" would be wrong because you wouldn't say "That is they are car." I think they get the point but aren't the craziest about now having to stop and think about it before they write the word. Watch me mess up on my blog. :) My sister would be the first to let me know.

Other exciting events in this week. I gave Jonathan a thorough shave this week. He is now practically bald but you can see his peach fuzz a little bit. Joshua was concerned about it, but I reassured him that Jonathan's hair would grow back. This is one of my efforts at getting rid of the ringworm on his head once and for all. If I can't get all signs of it to disappear I'll be taking them to a doctor for a prescription. I want to try one more time to keep their heads clean and put medicine on them for one or two more weeks before I go ahead and take them.

Jonathan's head really doesn't look too bad as far as the ringworm spots go. In fact I almost think they are gone, except for the bald spots that is left behind. People that saw his bald spots before thought that he got ahold of some scissors and he or Hannah tried to give him a haircut. So I decided to shave his hair and let it all grow back together. It will be easier to see if it is clean while short as well.

I gave Joshua a haircut as well but not that short. He doesn't want his head bald. I told him that if he washes his hair good each day, then I won't have to shave it all off. But if it starts looking real bad, I may. I think he plans to keep it as clean as he can.

Hannah's hair is about the same, I scrubbed her head real good today. I don't plan to shave her head. She only has one spot and so far I've been keeping it at bay. She doesn't want any medicine that stings. I use one antifungal cream on her head and trying other medications on Joshua's since his is worse. If I find one that does the trick, I'll use it on her whether she likes it or not. Joshua doesn't mind my putting the different medications on his. He figures the more it burns the more it must be working. I'm not sure if that is always the case but it makes him feel better.

And what are the kids doing in the livingroom while I'm working on this blog? Well, they're working on their math in there. I guess I better go in there and make sure they're still at their work. :)