Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Do you ever feel like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?   Meaning your personality quickly switches from one place to another?   For me, it does sometimes.   And there's nothing more sure to make my personality switch than a trip to the grocery store toting five children along with me through the aisles.   Such an occurrence happened last week.   Within a matter of 15 minutes, I went from being completely "normal" to an impatient yelling mess.   I don't know what happens or why on some days it seems that I can "handle" the minor inconveniences of children, but there are those times where it just sends me into overload.  

Have you ever taken those personality tests?   I guess I'm specifically referring to the Myers Briggs test -- the one that determines if you are an extrovert or an introvert?   When they state extrovert or introvert, they're not relating to whether or not you like to hang out with people, but where you gather your strength... by being with other people or in solitude.   Years ago, pre-children, I tested as an extrovert.   I loved being around people and would jump at the chance to get together with friends because that's where I would find my energy and strength to recharge.   About 2 years ago, I took the test again at work and it determined that everything was the same except for this one area.   I tested as an introvert.  I found it interesting because I think, now that I am constantly surrounded by people, albeit miniature ones,  I prize and treasure my time alone.  

I think that's the only way I can explain why I all of sudden get frustrated with the little things.   Usually my best resolve is to just spend some time alone!  I'm sharing this because I hope in some way you can relate -- specifically that I'm not the only crazy one out here :)   I guess I found that my other resolve is, no matter how short I think the trip in the store will be, I need to use the in-store child care!!! 

Funny note about this though.... I couldn't remember whether Dr. Jekyll was the nice guy or Mr. Hyde.   So I searched for it on the web prior to writing this post.   When I read this explanation I actually rethought my use of this analogy:   "The novella's impact is such that it has become a part of the language, with the very phrase "Jekyll and Hyde" coming to mean a person who is vastly different in moral character from one situation to the next.^{"   (Wikipedia)}  Made me laugh... surely I'm not referring to being "vastly different in moral character".   Well at least not in the way they refer... I guess I hope you know what I mean.

So onto other things....   the past week or two has been a difficult one.   Our family has never quite been in such financial straits that it really takes some adjusting to.   I have been all over the map in this one in terms of where I believe God has placed us and what His plan is for us.   I'm pretty sure I've sinned more than a few times too in not trusting God and questioning His character or at least how He's not living up to my expectations of Him.   But it's amazing how God is SO faithful through it all.   Our pastor spoke a message on Sunday that related EXACTLY to that point.   I have had expectations and a hope that God would be a certain way when we were in need and provide for us how I wanted Him to.   I've been sorely disappointed that God has not done it my way.   He really spoke to me through that message and used my husband later that day to speak words of wisdom to me as well.   I had a moment of surrender since then.    Then God showed today that He will take care of us, once again, in our current situation.   God has provided many hours of extra work over the next 4 weeks.   Words cannot express my thankfulness and relief. 

Sometimes I can be so short sighted.   I get so wrapped up in the momentary situation that I lose my focus on Him as my source.   I tend to doubt Him and get angry.   And yet... still... He is there.  

I'm starting to realize what Paul was feeling after being a Christian for many years.   You'd think after being a Christian for so long you would "be better" or "be further along"... but all I realize is what a wretched man I am (Rom 7:24).  

I write this post humbly today.   I hope that in my weakness, you will find encouragement as we all seek to find strength in Jesus, our true hope.   And as we try to be more and more like Him, we will continue to fall short.   But I find hope and cheer in this... He disciplines those He loves (Pro 3:12).

Love you all... hope you are having a fantastic week!

Thanksgiving Happenings

Wow, what a week!  We had a great Thanksgiving week in terms of spending time with family and relaxing.   We found out that my brother-in-law and family are expecting their fourth child.  After a year overseas in the army, I don't think anyone was surprised.   It was only a matter of time.   We are very excited for them and hope maybe, just maybe, this one will be a girl.  We also joke that it would be very funny if it were twins... just like our fourth child was. 

We got a chance to take a trip to the zoo.   We also went a few weeks back when it was sunny and warm.   It ended up being a little chillier last week, but we still had a great time.  

 

 

We also got a chance to go with some extended family members down town to see the Christmas lights.  

 

 

About a week or so ago, one of my four year olds asked when we would see a Lorax tree.   I told him, I didn't know, cause I was thinking "like never!"    Imagine my delight, when the mall's Christmas decorations looked like Lorax trees.   My sons were delighted as well!!

 

Lastly, we put up our Christmas tree.   Actually, I should clarify, the kids put up the tree.   All I did was get it down from the attic and put the lights on.   They put it together and hung the ornaments.   I was SO excited when they actually ALL worked together WITHOUT FIGHTING to put the tree together.   I even rewarded them with a piece of candy.  I was so impressed.   

 

Here's what happens when your four and six year old do the ornaments.   Eventually the bigger kids and I had to move things around and even out the tree.  

 

 

Hope you had a fantastic holiday week.   I am SO thankful for all of your friendships! 

 

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

You Raise Me Up

Wow, so much has been going on.   The past few weeks have been such a roller coaster ride for me.  

The obvious news is that Barack Obama was re-elected last night.   While I'm a little disappointed, I can't say I'm surprised.   I truly felt he was going to win months ago.   My perspective, I guess, is based a little on the fact that if we are truly in end times, something about America has to change.   At least that's how I see it.   The bible doesn't appear to mention the USA at all, even symbolically.   If we are the #1 nation in the world, I don't see how that could be overlooked in end times.   That just my opinion and train of thought though.   I guess time will tell.  

Our finances have been quite a roller coaster lately too.   We really need to depend on side jobs to pay our bills and put groceries on the table.   Side-jobs however are a roller coaster in and of themselves.  We've been working on ways to bring in additional income.   A few weeks ago I watched an episode of Extreme Couponing on Netflix and was somewhat inspired.   

Honestly, I think those people are a little crazy.  I mean who really needs 70 bottles of mustard, or 1000 tubes of toothpaste.  However, it did seem like an easy way to save $$ and only have to input a little time each week.   So off I went.   I have enjoyed finding some great buys!   I've also realized it takes a little more work to determine if your coupon is really a better buy than a generic brand or brands that you could buy at other stores.   To date, I've saved over $50 in a little less than a month!  

Homeschooling has been going okay.   I seem to stumble over my own failures rather than anything having to do with the kids.  My own impatience and lack of discipline make homeschooling the challenge that it is.  However the kids seem to be doing well and learning... that's the key :)  

Speaking of lack of discipline, my other disappointment lately has been the state of my house.   The mess, the piles of laundry, the unfinished parts of the house, the torn up couch, and so on and so on just have been eating at me.   Some days I feel SO motivated and then I have a string of days where I am just in a funk.   I wish I could figure out what makes me really motivated some days and bottle it!!   I want to be motivated every day.   So often I give into my flesh and "run away" from my "problems".   It just seems easier to leave the hard things.   Ah, but then when you return, guess what.... IT'S STILL THERE!   I pray often for the power to press on in spite of what I feel.  

Right now, the roller coaster is getting ready to crest another hill.   The pantry has food in it.   The bills are paid.   We may even scrape up enough to get new tires on the van before the month is out... maybe.   But all in all, I know God is faithful.   I'm SO thankful, He is faithful even when I doubt  and even when I'm frustrated.    I can honestly say I don't know where I'd be without Him.   He lifts me up and gives me strength.   Thank you Lord.

I hope you all are having a wonderful autumn season and that God's blessings are pouring out bountifully!  

Day 2 - No Power

Two days ago, a big hurricane hit the east coast of the US.   We were one of the less fortunate ones who lost power during the storm.  Luckily, we have a generator, (thanks to Y2K worries) so we are able to stay in our house.   We have the heat hooked up to the generator as well as a few other appliances such as the sump pump and freezer.   It actually hasn't been as bad as I would have thought.  

We've all slept in the family room since that is where the heat is.   We've played lots of board games to keep busy.   We've showered at the YMCA and our church.   We ate at the church and enjoyed a meal at Hometown Buffet.  

I've been reading a lot of Janette Oke books lately and many of her stories are back in the "olde" days when the fire needed to be started every morning, the items that needed to be kept cool were stored in a cellar and so on.   It's felt a little like being back then except that we get to escape every now and then to civilization.   The only bummer is that we have no way to cook food or even heat up water in the house so that has been a major pain.  

Right now, it seems like we will still be without power for a few days.   Our neighbor and our house are the only 2 on the street without power.   That means we are low man on the totem pole for getting fixed.  

So here we sit... in the dark...

Carving Experiments

When my husband was doing construction full time, he knew he didn't want to be fixing up houses forever.   We had talked about investing in a small CNC machine (computer operated cutting machine) to start to make cabinet doors and other wood objects.   We took a portion of our tax return and bought a machine.   Unfortunately at the time, it was on back order and wasn't expected to be in for a few months.   They had predicted we would receive it in May.   During the months that we waited, my husband got a full time job.   The machine finally arrived mid-May and we were so busy trying to finish up left over construction projects and starting a new job that we didn't have any time to dig in and play with it.  

Then my son and I finally decided to pull it out and try to use it.   We faithfully watched the instructional video and started to set everything up as needed.   Then, we realized we were missing the cutting bits... an essential piece of making the machine run.   My husband contacted customer support and had some replacements on the way.   Once we got the new bits, a few more weeks went by.

At last, about two weeks ago, we got it running.   We've essentially did a bunch of trial runs just to see how it worked.   Then last week we created something worthwhile to give as a gift to my cousin at her wedding.  Tonight we had our first SALE!   We made a plaque as an anniversary gift for our most faithful customer.... my mom. 

So... all that to say, here are some pics of our creations.....

(up)  Playing around with doing pictures.   Realized we need to use wood with a very light grain.  

(up) This is the untrimmed and un-edged version.

(up)  Ditto for this one.   Didn't actually get a picture of the finished product.

(up)  Our first sale!

Happenings

Wow, I hadn't realized it had been so long since I wrote.   Often I think of a bunch of stuff to write on here, but I seem to never make the time to sit down and do it.   Well today had a funny moment, so I'm here.   But, I'm going to save the funny moment for last.  Ha, just to hold you in suspense.

It's been busy as usual, but all in all things are going well.   My son turned 10 this year and since it's kind of a milestone birthday, we decided to throw him a birthday party with his friends.   He is really into Legos, so it was a lego themed party.   We had 23 kids present, which was kind of nuts.   We played lego themed games.... 1- broken up into teams, they had to scoop a cup full of legos and fill up a bucket at the other end of the drive.   The first team to fill up their bucket won.   2 - We packed legos into a jar and they had to guess how many legos were in there.   3- We had a building contest.  Who could build the tallest freestanding tower in 1 minute and then in 4 minutes won.  The kids had a blast.   We also made a lego cake, which came out really cute.   Thanks to my hubby who finished it when I got to the end of my nerve with it.  Here are some pics...

 

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We also started building a treehouse.   We cleaned out the garage and found some very long 2x4s that would work nicely with some trees we had in the back yard.   We also had some left over 6ft fence pieces that my dad has been hanging onto from our old house that would work nicely as the floor.   The kids and I were going to tackle it ourselves, but when I started asking my husband questions about what screws to use, etc.... he kinda got involved and wanted to be present.  Ha, funny how that works.   It's starting to take shape although we aren't done yet cause it definitely needs sides, but we let the kids get up there for a view.   With 4 boys in the family, how could you not have a treehouse, right??  

 

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Last week, my son's friend's mom stopped by to see if we wanted an old electric 4 wheeler that they were getting rid of.   My husband and I had never been interested in them because we thought the kids should actually use their legs and muscles to get around, so we decided not to purchase one.   However, if someone's going to give it to us for free... well I'm up for that :)   Only 4 of our children are small enough to ride it and the battery doesn't last too long (takes 14 hours in between charges).  So that means each kid gets to ride it for about 6-7 minutes a day.   I don't think that will affect their muscles too much :)   They've been having a blast with it.   They gave us a really nice helmet with it also so everyone is staying safe!   We're thankful for the blessing/gift.

 

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The last update prior to my funny story....(Yep, still holding out)... is that we finally got everything moved around as I had mentioned in one of my previous posts (I love change).   Actually I take that back, there are still about 3 pieces of furniture to move, but we'll eventually get to those.   The nice thing is that we were able to get our "school room" in order and start using it a few weeks back.   It's been nice to keep the school books, etc off the kitchen table, so we can actually sit down and eat lunch without having to clear everything.   I also commandeered my father's white board that he uses occasionally for bible studies to the school room.    Unfortunately, I wrote on the board yesterday with a Sharpie!!!  ARGH!!   I've been working at it since then trying to restore it.   Luckily there were suggestions out there on the web for removing permanent marker!!   Here's a pic of the kids working- (pre-marker accident).

 

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And now to the story...   As I mentioned before, we've been doing  a bible study with our kids every morning.  Last week sometime, we started reading the Proverb of the day with them.   Well today being the 5th, we read Proverbs 5.   Word to the wise, maybe not the best proverb to read to younger children.   Within the first few verses, we hit adultery.  My son who was reading finished the verse, and I thought he would just continue, but he didn't.   He stopped and asked what adultery was.   I gave a very PG rated answer, something to the effect of people who are not in a marriage relationship doing things that married people are allowed to do.   Or people who are in a marriage relationship doing things with someone other than their spouse.   I kind of smoothed it over (although I'm sure it created some questions in their heads)... and on we went.    Much of the chapter is on the adulterous woman, so we didn't even have much to expound on.   Then we got to talking about the "wife of your youth".   Verse 19 was the kicker.... "Let her breasts satisfy you"... umm okay.   Let's have daddy finish reading the chapter and pre-screen the verses.    Then I opened my mouth at the end to try and offer some explanation and decided... nah, let's just let that one sit for now.    My husband and I were just looking at each other like "Okay... how did we get HERE!".   Ahh the joys.   

 

So I hope you got a little chuckle out of that one.   Also hope you like the pics as an addition this time.   Hope all is well with you and yours.....

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

School: Week 2 and Answered Prayers

Ok, so week 2 of school has come and gone.   It was another monumentally crazy week trying to get assignments done.   The kids started getting some graded stuff this week.   My kids are pretty capable of getting A's and B's, so imagine my surprise when someone got a D and an F on two separate assignments.   I was pretty shocked, so I went into "fix it" mode trying to figure out what was going wrong.   I'm pretty sure that all of the time being spent with the first grader who cannot read assignments was taking it's toll on the others.  I started spending more time with the boys to make sure they were understanding the lessons, etc.   As a result, my daughters assignments weren't getting all done.    Additionally, we went to the fair on Thursday, and the time counted towards school.   Which was great, except that we still had to "make up" the work for that day, which by Friday meant about 5 overdue assignments for my daughter on top of the 4-5 she already had for the day.   I spent Thursday evening in a kind of panic trying to figure out how we were going to make this work for us.   I was feeling strongly that we should switch back to traditional homeschooling (where we pick our own curriculum and drive our own schedule) but felt bad.   My husband said it wasn't  a "bad" feeling.   He thought I was being convicted in the other direction.   I just felt that we didn't give the e-school a fair chance.   But honestly, going a few more months and coming to the same conclusion was only going to put more of a strain on learning since we would have to switch curriculum mid-year.  

So in the end, we made the decision to switch back.   I sent an email to the teachers and the asst principal explaining why we were leaving and initiated the withdrawal from the school.   Much to my surprise, all of my angst was for naught.   Two of the three teachers replied back with understanding and wished us well on our endeavors.   Almost didn't seem like a big deal to them at all.   They must have a bunch of first time families that leave within the first few months.  That's the only thing I can figure.  

So we filled out our notification forms and ordered some curriculum and we'll be well on our way.

Speaking of ordering curriculum... I have some praise reports to announce.   Much of the decision for going to an e-school was financially based in the fact that we didn't have any money for curriculum.   Then early last week, we were approaching the end of the month and some of our bills were not paid yet for August.   My husband has a full time job, but unfortunately that money does not cover all of our necessary living expenses.   He does side construction work to make up the balance, but the timing of those payments arriving can be sketchy at best.   I had planned in late July for what money I expected to come in and it had still not arrived by early last week.  

Additionally, my husband had this job left over from when he was doing construction full time that he had still not received full payment for because the home owner had outstanding issues with the work.   I didn't even count on that money because I had already counted on it twice before in June and July and it had not come through.  

As I mentioned in my last post, we started a bible study with our family and to end each session we lift up our prayer requests.   We have prayed with the kids before and seen answers to prayers, but we wanted to show them more formally on paper that God was indeed providing for our family and answering our prayers.  One of the items on our list was for new tires for our 2 vehicles. 

I'm sorry I'm bouncing all over the place, but I'm trying to set the stage for the awesomeness of what happened.   So many things all came together in this one week it's kind of crazy.   So bear with me....


We needed tires for the vehicles last winter and couldn't afford them, so we squeaked by and did not get them.   When tax money came (which is how we usually make bigger purchases), winter was practically over and we needed the money for other things.   So we didn't buy them then.   But we really DID NEED them this year.   There wasn't going to be any squeaking by this year.   It's been in the back of our heads, but like I mentioned we added them to the list of our prayer requests just two weeks ago.  

I also received prayer for the money to come in from a Monday night book study group that I was going to.

On Wednesday, just two days after receiving prayer from the ladies, we got a check for a job that would cover the August month bills.   We were also able to pay for swimming lessons for the kids which was also on our prayer list for the fall season.   Then on Friday, my husband received his normal paycheck.  I mentioned to my father that we would have money for him (we live in their house and pay rent), he acted surprised.   I realized that it was not quite September yet, and then realized this was a third paycheck for the month.   We budget on two paychecks a month, so a third is always some "extra" money.   We always hope for "extra", but it never seems to end up that way, so we hardly ever count on it ahead of time.   Well this unexpected surprise ended up allowing us to purchase some curriculum so that we could make this switch in schooling.  

Then today... it FINALLY CAME TO AN END!!!  Hallelujah!   The never-ending job is finished!!  We even collected $$$ for it.   We lost quite a bit for a number of reasons... but we still walked away with enough.  This money will allow us to put tires on one of the vehicles.

We still have one more outstanding invoice, which we were told should be paid early next week.   My husband also has 3 jobs lined up for September.  We'll have to figure out the best timing and what money should go for what, but it appears as though by the end of Sept we will be able to afford tires for the other vehicle as well.   It almost feels to good to be true.  

Well there it is... quite a long one.   Hopefully you stuck around for the ending.   I feel so blessed.   Even when things are bad I know that God blesses us and is an awesome God, but it really is easier to say when things are going well.  

My favorite line from a song is "Every blessing You pour out, I'll turn back to praise", which come from the story of the 10 lepers cleansed in Luke 17.   So I praise Him for every blessing he has poured out!!!

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OK total side note.   I think I'm going through puberty again.   LOL, okay not really, but seriously... I have had major cramps again... I thought those weren't supposed to come back after having kids??   And my face definitely looks like that of a teenager???   Could this be pre-menopause????   Seriously don't know what's up with that, but I'm considering going to a dermatologist AGAIN!!

Ok enough ranting.... back to praising...

THANK YOU LORD!