Quick Update

We had an awesome weekend at Women's Retreat.  I will share more about that. It deserves a post all of its own.

Stacie, if you're reading.... THANK YOU!! so much for blessing us Friday night.  What a help you were!  People out there... it is so nice to be loved and taken care of!! Just thought I'd share.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time with our neice, Paige. 

What an AMAZING young lady she is.  I pray my daughters "turn out" that good!

My parents got into town today and we are having a great time together.  Love, love, love them!!

And now I will leave you with the two most prominent words in my language this week

Harvest Festival...!!

(Come on down...Friday night at the Army 4-8pm)

Frantic, busy, overwhelmed, stressed,

but loving (most) every minute.

Thank you Lord!

My Bad

For my weekly update this week, I will be taking a look inward at "my bads".  If nothing else, I hope it makes you feel better about yourself when you think  "well, atleast I don't do that"

Let's start with Sunday....
Did anyone else know that last Sunday was NOT daylight savings???  Well, I had it stuck in my head that it was.  Saturday night I went around and turned all the clocks back, let the kids stay up a little later, and basically lived it up what with getting a whole extra hour in my day and all.  I woke up Sunday morning feeling all good and refreshed, poured myself a cup of coffee and sat my rump down on the couch since I had extra time that morning.  I said my prayers, ran over in my mind who might not be at church that day (because they usually get mixed up on Daylight savings), and turned on the news.  On our satelite tv you can see what time it is my pressing the "info" button.  They had the time put up and I felt all "high and mighty" that they had the time wrong but I got it right.  I was enjoying my high and mighty feeling thinking that all the news stations that I was flippin' around were wrong and that they must've forgot to change their clocks.  Then the through crossed my mind to go check the calendar... and WHOA!!  AAAAAA!!!!!  I was waaaay wrong!!  Daylight savings is Nov. 1.  So I made a mad dash around the house waking everyone up and apologizing profusely for my awful mistake.  We scrambled around and made a made dash to get to church. 

During the past week, I have also let myself get to bothered by an "energy zapper".   I can feel it fuming underneath my skin and have nursed to many negative, unchristian thoughts to where I feel worse about the person than I really should.  I really enjoy this person for the most part, but I think I know to much and therefore things just get way to weird between us.  I have some boundaries to re-establish, some extra love to offer, and some waiting on the Lord to do.

I blew my top the other night and yelled at my whole family.  Every single one of them.  You should've seen their faces!!  They were full of surprise, fear, and one was giggling (?!?!)     but my face, though, was just plain ugly.  Ugly, ugly  mommy at the end of her fuse.  Again, many apologies were in order... from me, and I am grateful to have children and a hubby with forgiving hearts.   I don't want to be ugly, I want to be lovely.  God help me.

I did the double whammy schedule mix up this week and thought the boys had early release on Wednesday (I did learn, though,  never fully trust an 8 year old). Right around the time I was supposed to be heading home, I found myself and the girls stuck at the store for last minute Women's Retreat Purse Auction Supplies.  So I called Paul and said... is there any way at all you  can get home to get the boys??  He changed his schedule for me and rushed home.  I get home a little later and there are no boys, just Paul sitting there in a big old empty house.  Ooops!

Mary is cutting teeth and wore me out this week with her constant waking up in the middle of the night. I am sleep deprived again heading into a weekend (Women's Retreat) of sleep deprivation.  I will be asking the Lord for extra traveling mercies.

I told someone I didn't like their shoes.  I know, weird.  But they asked my opinion and I seriously thought they were joking.  I felt bad, and again... "I'm so sorry!"

I know for sure there is tons more.  There always is.  Thankfully I don't remember everything, and most importantly, I am forgiven and God doesn't hold it against me, nor the people who really love me.
When I look at how messed up I can be due to circumstances beyond my control or just plain old sin, it gives me a bigger picture of others and reminds me to always give others the benefit of the doubt.  We can never really know where someone's coming from.

Our Butterflies

Caterpillars... Chrysalides... Butterflies... Oh My!

I wish I would've thought to take a pic of the tiny little caterpillars that came by mail. It was fascinating for us all to watch them eat and get ready for their transformation. When it came time, after about 6 days, they hung themselves from the lid and began to transform into their chrysalide.

We gathered around them often to watch them "hatch". 

When all the chrysalides were formed (after about 10 days) I carefully moved them to their net and saftey pinned the 2 lids to to the sides of the net. (I needed so many hands to help that noone took pics... we worked great as a team though.) It was nerve racking to have to be SO very careful not to shake, bump, drop, etc. anything.

About 5 days later, they began to emerge! Talk about exhilarating!! We all had our eyes GLUED to the net!

We spread flowers out over the bottom and I dropped sugar water on the petals for their food.

We kept them in the net for about a week and just a few days ago we let them go out the backyard.  I felt bad keeping them in the net and didn't want them  to spend their whole lives in there.  They only live about 3 weeks.


Did you know???

that butterflies excrete meconium just like newborn babes? It is red and too gross looking to post.

that out of all of our 15 caterpillars, we birthed 12 butterflies?

that you should NEVER leave your 2 old alone with the delicate chrysalides in the container, because she will give them to her baby sister to play with in her super-saucer? (Yes, I FREAKED out!)

that before the caterpillars turn into chrysalides, they fill up their container with silk?

that you should be sure to tell your husband ahead of time NOT to move the chrysalides because it disturbs them? otherwise, he might just think it's a dirty glass out of the corner of his eye and shove it aside (Yes, I FREAKED out again!!)

that the darker the chrysalide, the closer it is to birthing a butterfly?

that this was an amazing informative experience for us all?

that we will be washing our net and ordering more!!

Making Home... Autumn Decorations

Our 4 1/2 yod, Ann, reminds me very  much of myself.  She is always trying to run the show, make sure everyone's okay, and goes around "mother henning" everyone.  She is in a big hurry to grow up and have a home, family, and ministry (she desperately wants to teach Sunday School) of her own. 

Just like me as a little girl. Well... now I've grown up (at least the calendar says so) and do

you know what one of the best parts about being grown up is???   Making Home! 

It's not pretend anymore, it's real! And boy do I LOVE it!

I love autumn and all the cozyiness and warm feelings it brings.

Here's a glimpse of our home during the fall season.

(Disclaimer-----

my home does NOT always look this good,

so don't you go leaving my blog feeling bad about your house! 

We're probably all in the same boat on this! ha!ha!)

 

It is so windy here in The Dalles that my porch decorating is minimal.

The first Autumn that we lived here, I decorated with about 20 cornstalks and some pumpkins.  When I got home later in the day, every single cornstalk was blown to smithereens all around the neighborhood.  The pumpkins stayed put though ;)

  This is the entryway table. 

Mostly I use it to keep my purse/diaper bag and keys.

We also have several coat hooks to keep coats, ergo, backpacks and such up and off the floor.

Kitchen rug, it is soft and squishy and so comfortable to stand on.

On top of the TV shelf.

Little corner area in the dining room.

Our neighbor supplied us with pears again this year.

This side table is one of my favorite peices of furniture.

When I'm hosting, I love to use it for beverages, table service, dessert and/or entree.

I also use this table for folding laundry!

The center of our home... the Family Meal Table.

In the middle is our napkin holder which also holds our family Bible devotion book. 

Daddy reads from it most every night while we eat and then gives a quiz. Mommy says the "application". 

We often do Mad Libs at the table too, which we keep in the napkin holder.  It is very funny! 

Almost a year ago, we also incorporated a talking stick that David made at school while studying Indians.  We found that on nights when everyone is trying to talk over each other, that we need to bring out the talking stick so everyone gets their turn.  It's a fun little tradition and makes it so everyone feels heard.

Also, do you see the leaf garland on the hutch?  It lights up and it looks so pretty in the evening. 

The family has come to expect it every year!

I wish I would've taken pictures at the Corps (Church) too. 

The Fellowship Hall is nicely decorated with paper decorations on the walls thanks to our Youth Pastor.

I've been using kind of "mismatched" Autumn colored tablecloths and table-runners to give it a grandmother's-home feeling. 

In the Chapel, I used some gold, greenish, reddish leafy vines on the Holiness Table, Piano and Organ. 

Also some simple fall colored flower arrangements.

We will go whole hog decorating when it comes time for our Annual Harvest Festival in a couple weeks.  Watch out!

Friday

I spent a much needed day at home today. Plus I didn't want to be out and about and crying. I hate crying in front of people. One of our saints called me yesterday to see how we were doing. It meant a lot to me because as an Officer, I often feel "on my own" to deal with hard things. Like Jackie (homestead wannabes) said though, blogging really is kind of therapuetic, (although I really shouldn't blog about some of our other heartaches and try to be careful not to let those "peek" through!). I got a lot of nice condolences on face book too, so thank you all so much. I certainly don't mean to bring down anyone's day, I want to lift up your days, but life is life and I choose to be as real as I can, like it or not.

So... anyways... today I got caught up on chores, played with the kids (we're addicted to Yahtzee lately, thanks a lot grandma and grandpa!!),

I made home-made fudge (my lovely MIL recipe)twice. I had to make it twice because during the first batch cooking, I was multitasking by thawing out some leftover potatos in the microwave which is above the stove. I reached in to break them apart better and several of them decided to jump in the fudge. Naughty potatos. I thought I'd just keep cooking and hope the potatos (cheesy nonetheless) would kind of blend in but then I realized that whoever the lucky winner was to get potato in their peice of fudge, may never eat my fudge again. So I started a second batch which I ended up cooking over an open flame when the potatos left under the rings caught on fire underneath the fudge. Right when the flame was at it's biggest, the boys walked in the front door, up the stairs and into the kitchen and started yelling at me that there's a fire. DUH!!

I also worked on building a giant file cabinet which I am beginning to despise. I made 2 memory verse boards for Family First Sunday School this Sunday, and cooked up a yummy spinach turkey casserole with cheesy potato topping (not the ones in the fudge). Elijah had soccer practice and David had guitar lesson tonight. I am glad that Paul runs them around for that. It gives me time in the evening to clean up from dinner and give the girls baths and bedtime and get ready for the next day. That way I'm all Paul's when he comes home. I think we'll be watching a movie tonight, he planned to stop at Redbox on the way home. I won 2 free movies from buying a pop the other day.

Tommorow I will bring the boys and Mary with me to the Corps in the afternoon to run the Game Room for a party. I don't mind though, I need to finish preparing for our Corps Review and the boys like helping set up and wire up all the video games, which I have no clue how to do at all.

It's getting chilly here. The air is crisp in the mornings and cold wind blasts us throughout the day. We've been runnning the heater at night and Paul is all excited to start building fires soon (in the fireplace). Men and fires. I've started getting out the sweaters, long sleeve shirts and making sure we have all the snow apparel we need; boots, coats, snow pants. I'm looking forward to not being pregnant this snow season. That means I can use the new sled I bought on sale after snow season last year. We have the best hill 2 houses up from us.

The leaves are turning colors and if you were to drive down I-84 through the Columbia Gorge you would see some of the most beautiful sights ever. It's a tunnel of orange, red, yellow and gold trees with parts of the Columbia River peaking through. I really want to head to Portland soon before I miss it. Soon the trees will all be bare.


Well, I better make like eggs and scramble. I've got some little girls that need tucked in to bed and I promised the boys dessert when they get home.

Good Bye Buster

Buster died today.  We are all very, very sad.

Paul and I always say he was our "first". 

We picked him out of a litter to be our very own and raised him since he was a pup of about 3 months old.  He has been such a good dog. 

We miss him so very much.

Buster the best dog ever.

July 17, 1997 - October 1, 2009

Paul buried him in the backyard, beyond the fence.  We had a funeral for him, sobbed like crazy, and laid fresh flowers on his grave. We remembered all the good times and annoying times we've had with him that are now just plain funny memories.  All through the day there is someone crying.

Buster has lived in Arizona, Nevada, and Oregon and was an avid traveler in between. 

He loved to eat, run out the front door, make smellies, chase frisbees, and sniff babies.

In his younger days he swam in lakes, jumped out of a boat, ate our Christmas tree twice, ate Elijah's gingerbread cookie from pre-school, ate Paul's chicken off of the counter-stirofoam wrapper and all, and was even known for getting his tail tangled in the dishwasher rack.

He leaves behind 2 grieving parents and 5 grieving children.

Thank you, Lord, for the wonderful time we had with him

and if at all possible,

may we see him again in heaven please.

A Peak in Our Week

Saturday morning, I was sitting on the living room couch with Hannah while nursing Mary and BAM-  a pheasant flew right into the living room window.  Gave me a heart attack, well almost.  Hannah and I went out front and saw the big ol' bird lying there.  I thought it was dead, so Hannah and I hovered over it to get a good look and BAM it jumped up and ran away.  Gave me another heart attack.  You should've heard me scream, (everyone else did). Hannah cried because it scared us both so bad and then Mary joined in.  Thanks a lot bird.

While at a trip to Fred Meyers on Sunday, after we did church at a nursing home, a lovely little old lady stopped us in the frozen food section to tell me how nice my children were, comment on my big family (I only had 3 with me?!?) and ask me about my Uniform.  As we were chatting I commented how she looked so nice and dressed up too so I asked her "did you just come from church?."  She replied "Oh, honey, I used to go to church but now I can't hear what the h*** the preacher's saying anymore".  GASP!! I started giggling and exchanged looks with  David because he sure heard it!  THEN she used a few worse profanity's to tell me how she went to a wedding a few weeks ago in England and got accused of "chatting up the preacher" by a bunch of "beepity- beep- beeps" (fill in the blank with the worse words you can think of), right in front of the kids!  We are still laughing over that one!!  So once again I am reminded you cannot judge a book by it's cover! This lady looked so classy and grannyish and safe.  Owell, maybe she was just having an off day.

Elijah's soccer team got CREAMED at his last game but he was still on top of the world that he gets to play.  A very good lesson for me.

Hannah was sick with a fever and laying around syndrome for the better part of 4 days, but has snapped out of it and is now running us ragged again.  Thankfully, Paul and I were able to "tag team" a lot of responsibilities this week.

Mary cut her two bottom teeth, is sitting up, scooting all over the place and began blowing rasberries at all her brothers and sisters.  Currently, she is more entertaining than Mythbusters, Clone Wars, Life After People, Blues Clues and computer games.  We gather around her in the evenings.  Spoiled... YES!

My usually "even keeled" hubby got a *wee* bit upset with me for butchering a tree/bush in the front yard into nothingness.  (The girls and I still found a spot to hang the birdhouse).  But that's okay because now we're even.  He hung one of those sticky fly tape catchers over the dining room table and when I was wiping down the table one evening, I get ALL my hair caught up in it.  What a mess.

After diligently working all morning to finish about 60 Harvest Festival Donation asking letters I ended up chasing exactly 20 of them up and down my street.  I had left the office with 20 of them in a file to give to *N* when I saw her at Shari's the next day for a Home League Brunch.  I stuck them on the floor of the car, ran a bunch of errands and came home in time to beat the school bus.  While I was unloading the girls and groceries, the wind blew them(the letters, not the girls) ALL OVER.  I ran and ran and chased every single one down, (not easy to do after 5 kids and the "tinkle" factor). And if that wasn't bad enough, I turned around a block away from our house to see Hannah, my 2 year old running after me stark NAKED!  She was going to "help momma" (she was a witness to the frenzy) after I asked her to change her clothes, company was coming.  Oh my, what must the neighbors think.

And, as I finish up typing this, Ann brings me an empty sippy cup, lid and all, and asks me to squeeze some milk into it so she can feed Mary. I tell her "no Ann". She says "pull up your shirt, and I'll do it."   Ha!Ha!Ha!

Better get upstairs and start the day!  Thank you Lord for your new mercies.