Leaving...

We are going away on Sunday and will be back Wednesday. Hope to have some fun pictures!

Am I doing the right thing?

Today was the last day of school for Alicia, Katie and Garrett. Next year they will be all mine! I am so excited about that but scared, too. I know there are a ton of families who home school all their kids and I have done it, too..for 2 years. However, the last 2 years Alicia and Katie have gone to public school and Garrett went to ps this year. They did great in school. Alicia is a little scholar and got all A's and awards in every subject. She also scored super high on her IBS tests. Katie has improved so much. She is reading and writing well and is still a science brain. I had a hard time with Katie for Kindergarten and I am nervous. I know that it is the right thing for us. God wants unified families...families that are together and growing spiritually. Only through the grace of God can I do that. I pray I don't try to do things with my own strength...I will fall flat on my face. It has happened before! I have gotten so burned out that I didn't think I could continue. I want the Lord to be first in my children's lives...everything else is nothingness. If they don't know Him they have nothing. This world is failing...it started rotting away as soon as Adam and Eve sinned. I want to focus on relationships...first God and then our family. That is why I am bringing them home.

Please continue to pray for my Grandma. She is still under hospice care but may be released into my Aunt's home and they (hospice) will take care of her there.

Name game...

I found this fun game here....One thing....

Feel free to purloin it for your own site and amusement!

Rock Star Name: (1st Pet’s name & current car) ~ Cookie Suburban

Fly Guy/Girl Name: (1st initial + first 3 letters of your last name) ~ R Bee

Detective Name: (Fave color & fave animal) ~ Purple Panda

Soap Opera Name: (Middle name & city/town born in) ~ Lynette Gladewater

Star Wars Name: (First 3 letters of last name + first 2 of first name) ~ Beero

Superhero: (”The” & second fave color & fave drink) ~ The Green Lemonade

Nascar Name: (1st names of grandfathers’) ~ Elmer Andrew

Witness Protection Name: (Mom & Dad’s middle name) ~ Kay Larry

Weather Anchor Name: (5th grade teacher’s last name & a city which starts with the same letter) ~ Baker Baltimore

Spy/Bond Name: (fave season/holiday & fave flower) ~ Autumn Zinnia

Cartoon Name: (fave fruit & article of present clothing + “ie” or “y”) ~ Watermelon Sweatie

Hippy Name: (What you ate for breakfast & fave tree) ~ Pancake Maple

I love my weather anchor name...sounds right out of a movie:)

As for the Star Wars category...I could be Jabba's sister...Beero the Can!

Fun and mess..

The upstairs is a disaster right now. We are throwing away Colton's bunk bed (it is junk) and moving Julia's bed into his room. Then Alicia and Julia are getting Garrett and Thomas's bunk bed (turning them into 2 twins). That makes for a lot of chaos upstairs. I don't know when the bathroom work will start, possibly this week.

Continuing to enjoy Bible Study. I am learning so much about God's grace and it makes me extremely thankful. Our human minds cannot even begin to comprehend the grace of God, it is beyond our reason.

My friend, Bonnie, just had her 2nd surrogate baby for an infertile couple. That is God's grace working through her. She had a little boy for them first and now a little girl 18 months later. What an incredible gift to give someone.

I continue to watch all of the crazy things happening in this world. I have mentioned Bible Prophecy Today before. It is a good pro-Israel resource with lots of contributors.

Nursing..

Wow, I am still really having a tough time nursing Anna. She is just not loving it. I haven't had this much trouble since Colton was a baby. I weaned him at 9 months (my ob told me to) and both him and I were happier. If he had not told me to wean I probably would have struggled with it for as long as I could. Anna will not nurse on the right side...I try the different positions and holds and it is just not working. I end up pumping on that side. Jesse said that she is probably ready for solid foods. I am one that usually waits and doesn't go by the recommended "schedule" for feeding. But, I may try to give her some cereal and see if she is happier. She has been a difficult nurser since day 1 but have managed to get to 7.5 months. I am going to keep trying. I really want to make it to a year if at all possible. I love to nurse my babies for 2 years but it may not happen with her.

Remodeling..

It appears that we are going to be putting in a bathroom upstairs. We have gotten by with 1, but with everyone home for the summer and everyone being home-schooled next year, it will be a wonderful blessing. Right now there are 4 bedrooms upstairs...the one we are converting to a bathroom is very small and will be perfect. Noone sleeps in it currently. It is Garrett and Thomas's room with their dresser and bunk beds. Garrett sleeps in Julia and Alicia's room, and Thomas sleeps downstairs with Jesse and I. The bathroom will have a toilet, sink and shower..no bathtub. We bought some items for it last night....faucet and knobs for shower and sink, vanity with attached sink, tile, grout for tile, adhesive for tile...that stuff cost almost $400. We haven't even bought the toilet or shower yet...from what we've seen to go cheaply it will another $600. We are not doing the labor ourselves...it will be rather complicated. We hired a man that has done work for us in the past.

Colton came home from working on the church with a bad sunburn. Our church is converting an old National Guard Armory and it will be a ton of work. They are doing everything themselves. Julia, Alicia and Carlina also helped today. Jesse helped yesterday but had to go to work tonight.

Tomorrow is Memorial Day but we have no plans. Jesse works the next 4 nights and then we are going to take a small trip. Going to the zoo, amusement park and camping for 3 nights. We are planning on leaving Sunday.

Mom is coming home from Grandma's on Wed. Grandma will stay in hospice unless a miraculous healing occurs. She is stubborn about taking her pain medicine causing her unnecessary pain.

Summer day..

It feels like it, even if summer isn't actually here until June. Jesse and the 4 older kids went to work on the armory that our church is converting to a new church. It will be lots more space for us. They are working on it all through Memorial Day weekend. It will be wonderful for Awana, VBS and lots of other ministry opportunities. Not to mention lots of room for all the kids that attend church (and there are a lot!).

I haven't heard from my mom today; she called yesterday and said Grandma was sleeping quite a bit and in pain. They have been giving her morphine and may need to up the dosage. I remember my dad telling me that when his mom was dying from colon cancer (in the late 1970's), they wouldn't give her anything for the pain and it was agonizing. They (the medical staff) were worried she'd get hooked on morphine, which didn't make any sense at all. He said it was awful to watch.

I will miss my Grandma when she dies. I never was able to live close to her but saw her every summer (for 2 weeks) as a child. We would fly out as soon as school ended. We always had a wonderful time. She had a big, beautiful yard and the fragrant peonies were blooming when we came. We also got to see our Aunts, Uncles and cousins who lived in Western Pa as well. The last time I saw Grandma was in 2004 when she flew to Florida to attend my cousin's wedding. I am sad that I haven't gotten to see her lately but thankful that one day we will have a wonderful reunion where there will be no pain, despair or illness.