Over The Weekend

Saturday the kids and I were up at the hospital for Ann. She was having terrible ear pain and it turned out to be an ear infection. Now she is on antibiotics. She has been feeling MUCH better and wants me to stop asking about her ear. Apparently it is "annoying her" she said. She cracks me up!

Then we went to the Corps to bring Paul his lunch and to set up for Family First Sunday School before heading home. Paul and I had approved our Thrift Store Manager's vacation weeks ago, never knowing how sick we'd be. So, Paul had to run the store on Saturday with a 103 fever. Thankfully, our cashier who is battling breast cancer was able to work and Paul could just kind of rest. One thing about being a Corps Commmanding Officer.... THE BUCK STOPS HERE! While we are here to bail out our employees or congregation, there is noone to bail us out. I was feeling pretty bitter about that, until I noticed last week that my fab youth pastor and her family and a few other Soldiers did the following while we were laid up: put away every Christmas decoration in the Corps (there was a lot!), decorated for my Family First Sunday School, packed away over 200 leftover Christmas toys for next year, ran the church service we missed, preached my already written sermon (thank God I was ahead on that!), and got ready for a Baby Shower that I was to be mainly throwing this week. All without being asked!! What a blessing! That is the way church is supposed to be!! Everyone helping, not just a few select people. I don't know if our last appointments would've shown so much initiative, they were gifted in other ways.

Yesterday, Paul and I kept the kids home from church. There was still some coughing and Ann's ear needed to rest. So how do we pull that one off? Well, we have a system for when one or more of the kids need to stay home.... I go to the the Corps to open and teach Sunday School then I get the class going on something so that I can leave by 10:40am. I come home, tag Paul "you're it" and he goes and leads the Holiness meeting and preaches. We came up with that one in Springfield when David was 2 and had crup real bad. We end up doing that once or twice a year and it works great. I refuse to drag my sick children to church or anywhere. Their health is WAY more important than church.

So this morning, school is delayed for 2 hours due to the snow and ice we got last night. Will life ever get back to normal?? Roosevelt will be leaving us today. We've had fun with him, but I have noticed a distinct smell coming from his home despite frequent cleanings. I can smell like a dog when I'm pregnant.

Looking forward to going to tea with my friend tomorrow. It has been way to long. It's really hard for me to get out by myself so I soooo appreciate when I can! It makes me feel like a person again, not just somebody's mother or minister. But I'm not complaining... I have a great life and great people in it!

Off We Go!

This is the first morning we woke up to NO fevers!!! We woke up this morning and felt so good that we made a spontaneous decision to go to Portland! Yeah! I desperately need to go to Costco and the kids desperately want to spend some of their Christmas money at Toys R Us. We figure the kids can sleep in the car. I am so excited!! Everyone's wearing shoes for the first time in 8 days.

We're just waiting for Paul to get home from the Corps so we can leave. In the meantime, the kids took down the Christmas tree. I sat on the couch and wrapped up the ornaments while they brought them to me. It was a pretty good deal for me ;) I still need to get the rest of the stuff down that is throughout the house. It will feel good to put this all behind me and get on with the year.

Happy New Year!

It's a new year, a fresh start, a brighter future, new adventure and it still feels like any other day! There is a Twilight Zone marathon on so that makes it an even greater day! Paul and I stayed up last night watching it. Those marathons are addicting! We kept saying to ourselves... we'll go to bed after this one last episode.

Yesterday, after 7 straight days in the house, I went out. Paul came home and nursed the kids, I stopped at the office to pick up some things for Family First Sunday School to work on, then I went to Safeway to use my 10$ off coupon on a box of diapers. It was packed. Insane. I can't stores like that. Then of course, I ran into a couple of people from church so I had to stop twice to visit amongst the madness.

Here goes the blah, blah, blah of Rachel's head.... I don't know when the last time, if ever, I spent so many consecutive days in the house. I have a lot of thoughts about that. Here are just a couple. I love to be home, but 2 days is usually tops for me. My innermost fantasy is also my most often thought about "escape route" from the kind of life we live. To live out in the middle of nowhere, with just my family, and never have outside contact with the world. I know the reason for that is because my life is so much less complicated, stressful, and easier when I'm protected in my own home. After 7 days in the house it was wierd for me to go out yesterday and see that the world is just as I left it. Same old staff, same old church people, same old clients.... all with the same old issues and problems. Even with the flu, my life has been so simple the last week. I'm going to miss that but am not able to get around the many Scriptures that point me and my family to the world and not "hidden under a bowl" which, admittedly, I would prefer! The fact of the matter is that the kids and I are home way more than we're not but even a couple of hours with some of the people in our lives can feel like 50 and I have to really discipline my brain not to get sidetracked while I'm in my home! And no whining intended at all.... the other reality is that while we my put our roots down in our home for 3,4,5,or more years, there is always the knowing that we are in any given place for a short while. I try not to think about it, but each Christmas in our home brings us closer to our last one. When I pack up Christmas decorations or anything for that matter, I pack like we're moving. It's just a way of life that is just hard to explain, but God calls us and we choose it! That's why we make such an effort to build a strong marraige, a strong family and strong children. Only time will tell though how everyone turns out!! Of course, I'm almost 33 and still "turning out"!!

I'm hoping to go to Fred Meyer today. I'm thinking everyone's sleeping and/or have hangovers from New Year's Eve so it shouldn't be very crowded. The kids STILL aren't well enough to go out, although they are getting better slowly. I'm trying to get us back in a routine. We'll play some games today, for as long as they can sit up. I think Paul can start reading our Bible time again, but it is so annoying to have to stop to cough. I know I'm terrible, but his coughing drives me crazy, even though I'm sitting there doing it too! It's funny, I just hate annoying noises and his cough is one of them! I know, I'm so mean. That's why I'm definately not in the health profession.

The kids are freaking out that Hannah really outdid herself this time. I better go see the mess.

Doing Better

Well, most of us are feeling better today. I was able to get caught up on some chores. I'm trying not to over do but I suddenly want to turn the house upside down and inside out after being laid up for so long. The kids are still sleeping a lot but they are still fighting fevers too. At any moment, you can hear coughing throughout the house. We watched part of a movie together this afternoon and the volume was up LOUD just so we could hear it over the coughing. We were laughing, but that only causes coughing and misery, so we stopped. Even typing makes me cough.

For Christmas we got the family a WII!! I am no longer in the "hall of pride" for not owning a gaming system! (he!he!) It seems like a ton of fun and up to 8 people can play, so everyone is involved. (I think Paul and I wanted one just as bad) The boys hooked it up on Christmas morning in all their excitement. I think they've played it for maybe 30 minutes total so far. It requires a lot of movement which is not something any of us are into at the moment. BUT the kids were sooooo excited to open it Christmas morning! They were shocked and so thrilled! Paul and I had such a great feeling giving it to them. They are very good kids who genuinely try hard at being good people. (and we just think the world of them!) They have patiently waited and never even seriously asked for such a gift. Let the good times begin!!! (cough, cough!)

Also for Christmas, Paul and the kids totally surprised me with a digital camera! I am so happy! Paul talked about getting me one for my birthday, but now I have it early!! So now I can go back to being a crazy picture taking mommy AND now I can post some on my blog instead of emailing everyone.

Worst Christmas Ever

Well, we're here. I think we're going to live, though I had my doubts. For Christmas, we all woke up with the flu. Every one of us. A few of us were already quite sick by Christmas Eve and by morning we were in bad shape. We opened up presents between coughing and puking and very high fevers. Then we collapsed into heaps in the living room and stayed for days. I think we were in and out of comas. If the Health Department had discovered us, we would've been put out of our misery for sure and quarintined for a year. We only got worse and worse but starting yesterday could move around more. Paul and I are feeling like we might actually be kicking this thing, although we are wiped out, exhausted and have terrible coughs. The kids are doing better, going longer without fevers and we're all starting to eat again. I am still upset that Christmas was so ruined. All of the gifts are hardly touched. We froze the Roast Beast for a later date, but I don't know when. A few of our Soldiers did church for us. We haven't left the house for 5 days, expect for Paul who had to do payroll this morning. I vacuumed today, knocked the wind out of me and cooked french toast so the kids would eat. They look so skinny with big old heads on top. I told them they could eat whatever they want, they just need to eat.

Christmas Eve

I feel so yucky. I just don't get a good night sleep when I'm prego. I sleep solid through the night maybe once every three weeks. It's draining. The Doctor says it's hormones. I also have a bad sinus cold. I am so tempted to take a Sudafed. I know the side affects for baby is drying out amniotic fluid and a raising of blood pressure. But I'm convinced that if I just double up the water it should be fine. I have good blood pressure anyway so what harm would there be in a slight elevation. See how I just talk myself into stuff. Hopefully I can make it through the day without. I also start missing family at Christmas. Everyone else is out frolicking around with family, we're just home. But at least we have our own big family for lots of festivities, loudness, and merriment AND we get to stay in our jammies all day on Christmas! Okay, enough complaining...

I have lots of baking to do: sugar cookies, bagels, gooseberry pie (thanks for the gooseberries Mom!), fudge (my mom-n-laws family recipe). The kids will roll out and decorate the cookies while begging if they can eat one yet. Paul will snitch fudge all afternoon when he gets home and then play innocent. I will lust after my gooseberry pie until tomorrow when I can finally dig in.

On Christmas Eve we open 1 gift. Ann has been begging to open a gift since 6am. I'm sure this will last all day looooong.

Paul and I still have some wrapping to do. WARNING: After tomorrow I will officially fall from the throne of "exalted motherhood". (ha!ha!) The pride of my peaceful, "uncontaminated home" will blissfully be gone for good! I will fill in the details tomorrow, but just thought some of you might want warning so that you can turn away now and save yourselves. What we're about to do tomorrow has taken us a year to decide (and save!), and I am most excited about all the family FUN we're going to have!!

Happenings

Yes, Roosevelt is a guinea pig! He is so fun! We're thinking of a nice Christmas present to get him. I want to get him a ball to run around in, but Paul is thinking those are just for hamsters. I bet I could still stuff him in one.

Church was great yesterday. We still had over 40 people come, despite the bad weather. We would just not want to cancel Christmas Sunday even though we got a lot of phone calls! Still some of our church family couldn't make it in like those in Dufur or those whose neighborhoods that didn't get plowed. We missed them.

Saturday was the Church Christmas party. We had close to 100 hundred people packed in our little chapel and fellowship hall. Everyone always turns up for the parties. If everyone showed up on the same Sunday for church, we'd have the same attendance for that too. I read in my Christianity Today that only 15% of Christians go to church every single Sunday. The majority go to church once a month or less. "Let us not give up in meeting together" Hebrews 10:25

After church we went out for lunch at Denny's. The kids love that place and we still had an errand to run. Why drive back and forth. We had the place practically to ourselves so we could be as loud as we wanted. The kids ate like pigs. They have been. I think the cold weather and all the snow play has made them hungry hippos. Then we went to Fred Meyers to buy our Roast Beast and other fixings for Christmas Dinner. The stores are not getting their shipments because the roads have been closed between here and Portland. There were many empty shelves. Plus it was packed, soooo busy. I'm always telling the kids to line up so we take up less room. But this time Paul was with us and he doesn't like being told to line up (he!he!).

We had a great late afternoon of sledding. Hannah LOVED her first ride but after that she was crying the whole time on the other rides. Ann screamed her head off, just like me ;). The guys were using a snow pile for jumps and they were literally flipping over. I went down only once with the boys because David steered us into a snow pile and I caught air. Not good.

It was a great full day.