I have to tell you ladies what a wonderful day we had yesterday Well more of an evening.

I was out of sorts just kinda blah when waking ~ didn't expect anything too good for the day. Thankfully my mood wasn't causing me to yell or anything. So later like 4 pm I sat and read with the boys some phonics readers and then brought out some of the easy but fun workbooks we started way back but never completed.
Well my little trouble was so excited he listened pretty well to instructions and completed many pages older brother was happy to get out pencils erasers scissors and glue sticks and did several pages too with very little help. I was able to prepare dinner. Trouble even got excited about salmon and millet and ate broccoli too he didn't finish his plate but ate some of everything this is the boy that schemes constantly to sneak snacks or get me to give into eggs or cheese sandwiches etc ( his own menu ) He sat real close to me and told me how good his food was. Then later I could not believe that the baby was still snoozing and Lina was willing to be in her highchair and the boys sat talking for an extended time while I prepared a lasagna for today. They took a bath and we read some more Timmy even played a game nicely with Lina While I explained in detail to Luke about some insects we were reading about!!! We sat for 20 minutes doing lace up figures together. None of this was planned it just happened. We used to have days like this when the boys were younger. I want them now too.

NOW THIS IS HOMESCHOOLING it was late when we went to bed but we all seemed at peace and satisfied with our day. After a quick tickle fight!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: cindahomaker,

We're making good progress on the garage cleaning. We've been at it for about 2 hours now. We've got stuff to give to the thrift shop, stuff to take down to church to donate, and have about filled up a large trash bag of junk. The boxes that are packed are all stacked in a semi-organized way and we left a path so we can walk thru there when we need to. Now we just have to finish packing the tools and yard equipment that we won't still need to use. We might even finish by lunch time, but at least by the end of the day.

We finished the garage, and we did it before lunch time!! Everything is either packed, in the van to be taken somewhere, or in the trash. We left the tools and yard equipment out so we can still use them, but they're all in one area so it will be easy to put in a box after we're done with it all. This afternoon I'm working on laundry and whatever cleaning needs to be done around here, and I'm hoping we'll get a call for a showing.

This evening my husband and I are going out to dinner, just the two of us. We both need a chance to relax, and it will be nice to be able to talk about things without the kids around.

So glad you ended up having time for just the two of you. Have a great time!

It's so good to hear all the great chatting going on around here! What a blessing it is to have a place to come to share.
We've been predictably busy and stressed. Hubby hurt his back and we have some visitors from out of town. (Actually, Paul and Gena Suarez from The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.) We're also doing a few speaking things together this week, so busy, busy time.
Then, the holidays will be here!
But what a blessing to be busy and involved and blessed!
Let's keep chatting!
Christine

Way to go Jacinda!!! Isn't it great when we grab those teachable moments and make the most of them? that's where memories are made and minds are filled!!!
Lori, I'm so proud of you getting your garage cleaned, and so quickly too! I hope your "date time" turned out nicely.
Christine, Let us know how we can pray for you during your speaking engagements! What will you be presenting? I'm gonna check out this Old Schoolhouse Magazine! Don't get so busy that you forget us, LOL!!

UGH!!!
That's a one-word description of my day so far.
We were supposed to go to the orthodontist this morning. Instead, my youngest woke up not feeling well, has a headache, and thinks she's going to throw up. Since she's one that had an orthodontist appointment, I thought it best to cancel. It didn't seem like a good day to have someone poking around in her mouth! She spent the morning crying and whining and moaning "I don't feel good!" until I gave her Tylenol and sent her back to bed. She finally went back to sleep and hopefully will sleep for a while and wake up feeling better. The other two were very happy to go back to sleep, too. I plan to get them up at 10:00 so (maybe) we can start school and salvage part of the day.

I'm pretty discouraged this morning anyway. We didn't have any house showings this weekend, the one scheduled mid-week cancelled, so we haven't had anyone look at the house in over a week. My husband leaves on the 28th without us. Neither of us are looking forward to that. If we can at least sell the house before he leaves, we'll know about how long we'll be separated. But if we don't, it will be for an unknown period of time, which makes it even harder.

On the bright side, my house is clean, and I have two hours of uninterrupted time all to myself! At least those two hours will be peaceful and quiet.

Hi Lori! (And everyone! lol) Sorry your day didn't go so well ... hope everyone gets better soon.

I've put my intro in the Introduction place, and quiver invited me here!

So here we go:

Last night we were all up late, shopping! We do laundry at my Mom's on Sundays, and that went a bit late, so the kids didn't get to bed until 10 (usually in bed before 9) and in addition to baby daughter having a cold, she had her 2 month doc's appt.

You got it. Mega shots.

So a few minutes ago, I had a very screamy baby on my hands. She was gassy, so very fussy, and she'd do the knee-jerk thing with the gas, and that would hurt her sensitive legs (DTaP really swells them up!!) and then she'd scream some more. Add that to the fact that she was ready to start her long sleep (I got lucky--she sleeps 7-9 hours per night!!) and wow. Yeah. She's asleep now, though.

Lesse, did we do any schooling things today? Not really. Kids played trains, legos, blocks, watched a movie, went to the appointment ... oh yeah. Read "Sleeping Beauty" while coloring what they thought Sleeping Beauty would look like. (Yes, the original fairy tale.) Read it through twice. That's about it. But you know, we're 80% unschoolers, anyway, so that's ok. They learned plenty today. And unschooling works very well with Wisconsin law.

What else? Oh, we're in the process of finding a place to move that is closer to my husband's job. Our lease is up Nov. 30th (we have a 3 bedrm apartment) so we're looking for something bigger ... so I am packing things up, slowly! You can't go too fast with a young baby around, anyway. I'm very glad we still have about 6 weeks left. But man, there are 25 boxes sitting in my living room waiting to be filled. * sigh * Oh well. I'll get to them ... umm ... some day.

"Delirious?'" version of "Majesty" playing right now ... so soothing! I love this song. Thanks, God, for awesome worship music. I'm sure it's better in Heaven, but we do try to come close, don't we?

Thanks for the invite, quiver! Talk to you all later. (Hope you don't mind, but I kind of treat online chats and such like I would a phone conversation. Lots easier that way.)

Bye!

Hi there Becka, so glad you made it!
I hope the baby's leg feels better soon... I tend to put off shots until later but I do know what you're talking about. Maybe a little Tylenol?

Lori, don't forget; part of the beauty of homeschool is it's flexibility. We're still praying about your house.

Ten yrs ago, Husband moved to Arkansas while I stayed behind in Missouri to sell the house. I was there for 6 months and finally moved even when house didn't sell. Long story but certainlly one of those character building periods in my life! The house finaly sold about one month after I moved. (whew!)

Today was good.

We had a wonderful Bible reading/discussion this morning after breakfast. We've only gotten through Genesis 25 and I really thought we'd be farther along by now but God is soooo good and HE has us right where we need to be. Showing how the Devil counterfeits God's plan with Ishmael's 12 sons and discussing Esau's lack of respect for his famiy and lack of self control, being ruled by his stomach/passions really hit home with my children today.

18s went to work early this morning so he could come home earlier to work on a paper for college.

14s worked with Husband in Algebra, (yeah! It's so good to have him home for a bit.)

12d REALLY struggled with math but survived. It's HER week and she thought she wouldn't have to do math... Nope!

10d finished work before noon!

8s only did reading today but is enjoying reading.

5d was interested in painting and I just didn't get to her today (that sounds really bad but she did help me make cookies and wanted to be my "little tomato" today.)

3s made it through the night with dry pants!!!!!!!!

baby will be 7 months old tomorrow and he is taking a few steps.

Yep, we didn't get much accomplished in the way of academics but lots of learning did take place!

Yesterday things did improve a little. My youngest slept literally all day long! She woke up at noon just long enough to eat some lunch, then went back to sleep until 5 PM. When she woke up she felt much better, and by bedtime she was just about her old self again. But the "bug" hasn't left us yet. Around 8 PM my oldest daughter started feeling bad, and by 10:00 she'd thrown up twice. She was up several times during the night, and sent her sister to get me around 2 AM. I was up with her for about an hour, then finally was able to get some medicine down her and she went back to sleep. She slept until 8:00 this morning and now is feeling much better, just very weak. Hopefully this is the end of the illness and it won't continue to make rounds thru the family.

Today my husband is off work to take care of some things before he leaves for Texas. His van is in for servicing so he's driving mine this morning to run errands. He should be home soon, then I'll go run my errands (since I really need to get out of this house for a while!) When he's off work we usually don't try to do school, but if the girls are feeling up to it they do have a few things they need to work on for their co-op classes on Thursday.

Right now my oldest daughter is resting and watching TV, the other three kids are all still sleeping, and my husband is still out running errands. I've finished my morning house cleaning and everything is quiet. Hopefully this will be a better day than yesterday and by tomorrow things may be back to "normal".

I'm so sorry this bug is going through your family right now. Maybe ya'll should just rest for the day.
Most of mine are still asleep. I wish I was since I was up with a playing baby most of the night. He woke up again around 6 and is STILL going strong! At least he's in a good mood and not cranky!

Hi ladies,
Sorry I haven't been keeping up ... We've had several different kinds of computer services problems lately and I also rearranged our main rom to get more space out of it.

Sorry for the sickies Lori
Becka nic*/eto see y*/ou /here */I *just repli*ed to =/u*-*-*/ your intro
( my 2 yo just helped me type ! ) **

Please pray for my dh he hurt himself at work last night lifting 50 plus pounds at work ~ repetitively.
Anyway seems to be a hernia or hemroidal pulled muscles
So he is off to the fam doc. We haven't needed to see for over a year!

Quiver, hey, I sure hope a nap for baby comes soon even if you don't get one my 2 yo. kept waking from dreams last night she doesn't do this normally.

An extra prayer concern. Totally off topic!
When dh goes to the doc I'm so hoping for a positive reply to a request I recently sent him in the mail for a proof of pregnancy for our dd 3 mos.
LOng long story here but see came into the world at home with just daddy and family as witnesses. I'm having a hard time obtaining the birth certificate ~ didn't have to be so hard but I have a way of making things more difficult.

I have to have a dentist doc nurse chiropractor or midwife just write a brief statement and sign with their licensing number.
I saw none of the above during or after the pregnancy and birth. And now I can't get anyone to see me period. What a wonderful way to be penalized for having little money no drivers permit or second vehicle and no friends or family to help me! Now we may have no way to get a s.s. card ~ so no ins. for her or tax breaks etc.. I'm hoping like Pollyanna to be glad dh is needing to see this doctor, ifykwim.

Sorry for the ramble but I sure am praying !!!!

We are having some school time and then maybe I can paint my half finished walls!

I am hopeful that today will be a better day. My oldest daughter seems to be over her illness. She's still pretty tired and weak, but didn't get sick any more yesterday. She's taking the PSAT test this morning so hopefully that will go well for her. She's 10th grade so this one is just for practice. I told her not to stress over it at all, just to do her best and not worry about it. She tends to stress out over little things but seemed to be doing okay with this today.

My husband's van is still in the shop so he drove our son's car to work this morning. In a little while I'm taking my son to work, then will come home to wake the youngest two so we can get some things done here (school maybe?) I'll pick up my oldest daughter at noon, then we'll be home this afternoon. I have to drop the girls off at church at 5:00 and pick up my son from work at 5:30. Somewhere in there I'll take my husband to pick up his van, then everyone will have their own vehicles back again.

If we don't have a house showing today I plan to spend the time I have at home cleaning and getting caught up on laundry, and getting the younger girls through some school work. We really have no schedule anymore, just take it day to day.

Some cut and paste updates

For whatever reason my dh didn't come back with a slip for lighter duty doctor agreed that some muscles were badly strained.
In talking to Mike more I found out the sacks of salt and sugar were at least 50 lbs and having to be picked p in a complete squat as they were at a low level ~ almost to the ground.
This lady that supervises is an Attila the Hun type ~ She nearly gave a guy a heart attack a few weeks ago. He went to emergency room after being worked too hard and yelled at. The doc said if he would have waited to just leave the abuse he would have had a coronary!

So today EARLY I'm suppose to bring Sophia in ......????

I'm glad the doc is willing to see us, but not at the same time.

He is already misunderstanding some things ....

First he never replied to my personal letter and info I sent him.
I did send a lot but didn't expect him to even read it all just have it in reference to my position, He said I sent him about 50 pages to go through LOL maybe 25 in my estimate and if it was too overwhelming to speed read and get a general overview of he's in the wrong profession !! He should be reading always to be updated and give good care to patients.

Secondly he is alarmed about my concerns about vaxing He really wants to talk to me about the possibility of the girls getting Polio ( scare tactic already ) My reading shows virtually no known cases in the US in years.

Third He wants to see Sophia, the appointment was made for her ( by the doc ) yesterday for 9:30 am this morning I tried to make it clear in my letter that * I * need the proof of pg that Sophia can see the Health Dept Nurse for FREE and confirm live birth

Having her seen by a doc when I can't get ins. for her ***because I have no birth certificate*** and no SS # for her is something I can't pay for.

He says he is always open to discuss things in his office but is he really saying I only have time for you if you PAY me for an office visit?? I won't reply to any other correspondence.

I was writing to him just as much for him as I in that he could have the time to think about what he was reading before making decisions/ comments.


So please pray for us this morning Mike is still in pain and suppose to work this afternoon I'm soppose to get everyone ready early in the morn when we NEVER get going that early and I have to articulate things I can't always say but have mommy instinct going off on iykwim.

Most of all we need that proof of Pregnancy and a slip for lighter duty work for Mike.

Looks like it's gonna have to be a real Godsend to get either.


Sorry it took so long to post again!

I am having an off day headache and such but at least I have good news.

I haven't quite figured this doc out but I do have a slip from him for proof of pregnancy and a slip for dh to have lighter duty for a week.

I couldn't sleep well last night / early this morn nerves I guess and then I dozed off nursing Sophia and oh boy I woke with a start
We had a half hour to get ready !!! Everyone was sound asleep
We managed to get everyone dressed and teeth brushed but no breakfast.

We had a normal wait at the doc office with several sickies coughing around us but

Praise God they understood the appointment needed to be changed to be for me after I handed the new patient papers unfinished back to them and said we had NO ins to cover a visit for Sophia.

I was a little thrown off that the doc entered the room with the usually What can we help you with like he didn't JUST see Mike the day before ???
So I swallowed my confusion and explained that I still needed a proof of pg per my request via my letter.
The kids were behaving VERY well and I was able to make a joke about not expecting him to read all the material I'd sent him just sincerely wanting him to have some back round on our decision making process. And that I didn't feel right about just showing up for an appointment expecting a proof of pg with out explanation.

He flipped me out saying they have had several patients deliver at home. And he was okay with that as long as the parents knew they were taking that responsibility and were informed of risks etc...

I would suspect that he did try to do all testing etc ... during the prenatal visits though.

He was very adamant about vaccines being less dangerous than contacting the diseases.
He asked me if I'd ever met a person that has had polio and could I look at myself in the mirror if one of mine suffered that way etc... I said no and agreed with him that it is a VERY big decision to make etc... Not to be taken lightly. And that my perspective was from knowing people that suffered greatly from vaccinating and also my experience with my son Luke loosing all speech development after the MMR was given taking years to thankfully catch up in that area but at one point thinking a real possible level of autism existed was very painful to us.
He didn't have much more to say about it after I expressed that except that I should be very careful about the sources I get my info from and that he is sitting in front of me putting his reputation as a local doctor on the line verses some far off millionaire that wants to sell me a book or product so they can go to the bohemia's. I told him briefly about Dr Mercola's credentials and research and Shonda Parkers credentials and research. And if he'd like he could easily visit their sights he made a little noise that indicated to me it wasn't likely he would.

But a real paradox here he ended the chat by saying he had no problem giving our family care as long as I understood we wouldn't always see eye to eye and he would always give his opinion and let me be the decision maker whether to follow his recommendations.

I thanked him heartily and said I appreciated that. As I've known other doctors to just turn families out of their practice for disagreements.

Still very glad to have not gone while pg next time I will have the confidence to go to him if I feel the need.

Jacinda,
We greatly delay our vacs. (14s is the last to have any except the hep. due to my mother having hepitits) If any docs question us, I tell them,

"Thank you but we choose to delay until after breastfeeding."

We just don't tell them that it's YEARS after breastfeeding. LOL!
************

I attended a different church's Bible study this evening... It was nice to be in a small service.
I'm in a real delimma over my wonderful church's woman's ministry and my Husband suggested I go over to this other place just for tonight. I don't like to "church hop" and that's not my intention but my heart yearns for something other than a "hen party" mentality...
I'm looking for a Titus 2 ministry!

Where are the older women? where are these Godly ladies who are supposed to teach the younger ones to love their husbands? To stay home and love their children? To be happy at home? At 42, I suppose I qualify as "older" but I still have little children at home... My ministry is my home. I'm looking for encouragement from still older ladies who have BTDT and proven themselves worthy to be mentors.

I need to get off of my soapbox.

Quiver,
I can relate. I've felt that way for so long, and I'm praying I'll find it at our new church after we move.

Today is my on-the-road day. This morning two of my girls take co-op classes so I take them to class at 9:00 and pick them up at 2:30 this afternoon. In between I'm home with my youngest, or running errands. We'll probably get groceries on our way home, then try to stay home until time to get the girls. Later this afternoon we're off again, to take the youngest two to dance class. That's a 40 minute drive there, one hour class, then 40 minutes' drive home. My oldest daughter goes along and we have mother/daughter time during the class. Usually we just sit in the van and talk, but sometimes do some shopping. She loves it, and I love that she'd rather come along and talk to me than stay home and do whatever else she might want to do.

Because of dance class we won't get home until at least 6:30, which means a later dinner than usual. Sometimes my husband cooks dinner for us, other times we have soup and sandwiches or something else quick and easy. I don't know the plan for tonight yet.

Still no calls on the house, but praying for that phone to ring! I keep having dreams that the scheduling agent calls and we get three showings in one day, followed by a bidding war. Aren't dreams great?

I'm feeling very discouraged today. My husband leaves for Texas in 8 days. Still no offers on our house, and Sunday will be two weeks since we've even had a showing. I'm so afraid we've had all the showings we're going to have until Spring! I realized a while ago that today was supposed to be the day we were all leaving for Texas. Maybe that's why I'm feeling so down. I thought we'd be on the road today, but instead we're still here, trying to sell the house. I know God is in control. I know the house will sell in His timing. But today I'm having a very hard time with that.

My oldest daughter's 16th birthday is next week and she's having some friends over tonight to spend the night to celebrate. Tomorrow they're going to the mall together, so that should be fun for her.

Other than that, not much is going on here. School hardly happens anymore, but I'm hoping to get the girls thru a little bit of work this afternoon. Maybe that will at least make me feel like we're accomplishing something.

Hi Ladies

Lori sorry you're a bit down, I'm okay but haven't been drinking enough water and BOY does that effect me I get headache and lack energy kinda a vicious cycle for me If I get real busy then this happens. We were able to get the info off to the Health dept but I ended up having to ask a neighbor to come with me and sign an affidavit ~ the lady at the dept called and said she realized at the last minute that I would need an outside the family member to sign a particular form.

Baby Sophia is actually really cranky the last few days. I think my eating broccoli and cauliflower has started effecting the breast milk Oh how I love those veggies We like a lot of veggie stir fry type meals.....

Our new windows are having a problem that needs to be serviced right away!!!! Oh bother as POOh Bear would say.

My dh is worried about doing a job on our garage roof soon. He really isn't experienced but we have to get this fixed before the weather really changes. So probably in the next few weeks he will do this dangerous job I think he's most nervous because we had a friend get injured badly doing a job on a roof. He fell.

Really rambling here lol

Quiver I wanted to comment on your post about finding a ladies group. I think it very rare to even find one Titus 2 woman in a lifetime I don't mean that to be a discouragement and I really hope for better but just like really good friends I think we're real blessed to experience that once in a lifetime.

I actually have this little thought in my mind that goes like this if some one has btdt before me regardless of age they fill that Titus 2 spot for me even if imperfectly / not fitting the exact Biblical description iykwim. Sometimes I discern a lady to be off in some area but if she is used to shed some light in another area and the Holy Spirit gives a nudge of approval than I follow what I learn from her.

I so much miss close fellowship with other ladies that are believers .... I really almost threw off all reality last Sunday and asked my dh to take us on a whim to a church I think we might find compatible with us, it's only over an hour away lol and we'd only be able to visit the eve service and everyone would be tired and cranky especially on the way home I just had such a strong desire well up inside of me I just wanted to jump in the van and go! I really enjoyed serving the Lord in the church but it just isn't my season.

I spent years searching and praying for a Titus 2 mentor and then I realized I had BECOME one.

Blessings,
Christine