9-28-2011

And the days fly by.... It really does go faster as you get older. As a kid you can't wait to grow up. Now, I just wonder if it might slow down a bit.
I am up late which is sort of unusual at this point in time. With more things added to my daily ta-da list (yes, it says ta-da and not to do), there is not much time for the quick nap and I am going to bed earlier because I must rise earlier.
I am volunteering 4 days a week at our church The Kathedral. Still working on the weekends as an RN and then I have my mondays off. That is my day to veg out. If I am blessed, I do just that.

I doubt I will write much more at this time because I am getting a little sleepy.... so we shall see how long it will take to return once again. :)

Blessings!

Crazy Idea

Just looking back at old posts and had the crazy idea that I might actually write something on here.... why not. I haven't written for EVER. Really... The kids' account is actually 4 years old and I haven't written for 2 years. LOL Facebook really took over didn't it?

What's new? Really? Oh I guess, my kids are growing up. Ethan is 16 today. Eliz is 11 and Jesse is 10. Homeschool starts in a week. It's actually cool and feels like fall today after a summer that went by so quickly that it didn't even feel like I had a summer. I graduated with my bible college degree in ministry finally. Will be taking a class again this fall to work on the next degree.
Church has really had some things going on and changes taking place, but we are still there!
Work is the same stuff, but I am trying to have a changed outlook on my "work." I gained about 20 pounds over the past year and am regretting that! My daughter is really turning into a little lady and has a gift of gab. Ethan is way taller than I am now and has been gone all summer with his grandpa and working for him. Jesse....hmmmm is still Jesse but is really different from the other two. He cracks me up sometimes.

Let's see how long till the next post now. :)

overcome

I have been back in class again...studying Revelation this term. It has been very eye opening and sobering at the same time. There are so many things happening in the world today that make me think the time is near... yet, people have been saying that for centuries. Jesus is coming soon. No man knoweth the hour, but the wise one will know the sign of the times and they must, certainly, be upon us.

I think something that caught my eye this last class was this....
Revelation Chapter 6, verses 9-11

9And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
10And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
11And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

There is a sacrificial altar (Leviticus 4) where the blood from the sacrificial offering is spilled.... and here is sacrificial blood under the altar in Revelation... sacrificed from the martyred saints. They are killed for the Word of God and their testimony. How hard is it for us to make Godly choices now? and how much more in the face of persecution?

I think of our song we sing in church:

We will overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony, everyone overcome...

My van is in the shop finally getting fixed. Took long enough. Now I have to dish out the $250 deductible for something that I shouldn't even have to. I guess I should be thankful it's not $500.
I am driving a loaner that I also have to pay $12/day extra to drive because we have a large family now. It should be done in a couple of days. I do like the loaner. It's a minivan but seems more like an SUV - the passenger windows go down...and its wider than our van. I kind of like it.

Anyway, my life has been one test after another lately. So far I think I've passed..... but today I was definitely tired of it all. I am irritable and think maybe I should have some rights like everybody else thinks they certainly have....Like I think it was "Let's see who can stop in front of or pull out in front of Mrs Edgey day" all day.
My children were fighting in the back seat and I just grabbed the steering wheel and told them I was going to turn into Emily if they didn't stop. She laughed. I was shaking I was so mad.
Sometimes I just want to slam on the brakes and kick them all out so I can drive by myself.
They could just walk home or call their dad to come get them.

Our roommate......

Well, I'm feeling back to my old self again. Not quite so tired. I still need a nap once in a while but that is nothing new..... due to my schedules. I was up the other night till 3:30 a.m. playing a computer game that I enjoy called Westward. You have to make a old western town and put the people to work and go exploring for gold and make gold mining camps. Then the bandits start to come to town so you have to have a sheriff and deputies to hunt them down and they have shoot 'em up fights.... I think it's fun and semi mindless but challenging all at the same time... even if it is a waste of time. Oh well.



So this weekend, I am at work. It was great fun yesterday and everyone was laughing and having a great time, but today the patients are demanding and the others are losing their "fun loving" attitudes. So, today has not been quite as much fun.... but the dark chocolate m&m's are helping all of us.

Re: Gossip - Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.

I went and got an estimate on the van door. Sounds like it may be around $1200 or more. I don't think I'm going to get any money out of this guy so I will be turning it into the insurance company shortly. I wonder if they will pay for a rental while I am getting it fixed?

Anyway, life has been wierd since the camping deal. Elizabeth was sick and ended up with a sore throat that had horrible white puss pockets on them. Shortly after Ethan had it. I finally took them to the Dr. and Ethan had Strep. Yippeee...... got antibiotics for them. 2 days later, I get a sore throat and decide to go the Dr. and get an antibiotic too. Last thing I need is strep throat to give to my patients... :( They said my swab was negative. Made it through the weekend and was totally wiped out on Monday and pretty much yesterday also. I have been sleeping soooo much I can't believe it. It is so not like me. I am always up and on the computer and doing stuff. I can hardly make myself go to the store or anything I normally "like" to do. Jesse now has it.... he spent a couple of days throwing up and being tired.

He had his 8th birthday on Monday. We couldn't have a party for him because he was sick. Poor kid. We had to cancel his movie party and will have to reschedule for some other day.

It has also been quite the change to have a baby in the house again.... not that I don't enjoy it, because I do, but I forgot what all the crying is about. This one screams too - like a girl. She is just so darn cute. I think it will be sad when she goes because the kids have something else to play with besides the PS2. Jesse pretty much ignores her unless she is crying and then he keeps asking me, "Why do babies cry mom? It's irritating!" LOL
Elizabeth likes to play with her and Ethan likes to hold her and walk with her. He will be a good dad some day.

Fireworks

What fireworks? I didn't see any professional fireworks this year.... I only saw the fireworks on my own street and several in the hood while I was driving home Friday night from the campgrounds. Maybe I should back up a bit.
This week Edgey took off work on Thurs. and we all packed up and went camping out by Stuart. The campground was boring to me. I couldn't see anything except grass and campers and gravel road. I couldn't see the lake that everyone kept wanting to go fish on and the park was like a mile down the road. They did have a little swing for the kids up by the bathrooms, but nothing exciting.
So anyway, we got there Thurs morning and unpacked/set up the camp. Then everyone tried to fish and caught nothing but moss and sticks. Edgey's dad came from Nebraska and stayed with us along with Auntie and Em & Lisa. Jesse was bored the first day then he found a friend to hang out with, but that is another story. Elizabeth got a headache that she had the entire camp stay and layed around in bed and was a bump on a log except to go fishing.... but that doesn't require a lot of effort either.
Thurs night was my favorite part because all the meal is put away and it gets dark and the stars are beautiful and the campfire smells good. The boys all went to bed early so they could go fish early in the a.m. The girls were squirrelly and stayed up really late talking and goofing around in the tent.
I just sat by the campfire and enjoyed it for as long as I could until I got too tired. Then I went to go to the camper and there was snoring (loudly) at both ends of the camper. Auntie on one side and Edgey on the other.... So I went to my van and put the seat back to sleep in. The only problem was that a couple of hours later I woke up freezing and had to go to the camper for a blankie. So back to the camper, shivering, I went. Got in bed and had no pillow because someone had taken mine.... someone gave it back because I was shivering so bad that he woke up too.
Then it took a while for all the snoring to lull me back to sleep. I was the only one that slept in that next morning. Most of them went fishing. Emily was the omelet queen and made everyone omelets for breakfast. It was so filling, I didn't eat again until supper time.
Friday Elizabeth was a bump on a log again. She went to sleep in the camper. Jesse was bored and I took him to the mile away park and to Casey's to get an ice cream treat. At the park he ran into his buddy Joel again and was having lots of fun until it was lunch time. At that point, Joel and his brothers and sisters loaded up in their van to go back to the camp. They looked really familiar and it took a minute for me to figure it out, but Jesse had been playing with one of the "famous septuplets." The played with legos and guys pretty much all day. Joel also tried to teach Jesse how to ride a bike. He really needs to learn how to ride a bike! I was very thankful.

We all played games and then we had supper. I had to leave to come to work on Sat. Bummer!

So Saturday comes and for once this year, they actually put me on a mandatory call. I was excited and thought, well maybe I will go back out to the campground. But when i called, there were 4 patients in my area so I waited around to see if I would get called in. It would be my luck to drive 45 min away then have to turn around and come right back to work. Aunties pancakes were sure calling me, but I stayed home. I took a nap, did some errands and then was going to go out to the camp after stopping at the Dollar store for some coloring books and bubbles and stuff for the bump on a log to do. I was in the Dollar store when I hear somebody saying, who's silver van is that? Look at that! I'm thinking, O Great, I have a silver van. I went to the front window of the store and lo and behold but my entire drivers side door is completely smashed in.
There were 3 witnesses outside and someone had called the police to come. Some idiot parked his vehicle in front of a no parking lane and ran into the Tobacco shack to get some smokes and his bronco rolled backwards. The girlfriend in the passenger seat had no clue how to put on the brake (HELLO!) and my van was the lucky stop. Then he proceeded to get into the bronco and when one of the witnesses said, "I hope you have insurance" he took off to his residence to "find" his insurance. Yeah right! So the cop gets there and takes the statements. I give him all my info while we wait for the guy to come back with his insurance. Finally he sends another car over to find the owner of the vehicle. Thank God someone got the licence plate. So the other cop goes over there and finds the bronco ... with the smashed back end.... starts honking the horn hoping someone will notice. Finally they get an actual address and he goes to the apartment and gets the guy..... Guess who doesn't have insurance??? Guess who doesn't even have a valid drivers license????? duh! So guess who is going to have to pay for someone smashing in her door? At least I can still drive the van... but the bummer is that the frame is bent so badly that it will not seal and I had to pretend to be Red Green and use duct tape and plastic to seal the door since it is supposed to rain/storm tonight. I have to get in and out of the passenger's side.
What a mess!

Daddy/Daughter Dance

Edgey recently was honored at a Teen Challenge graduation ceremony for being an alumni for 19 years. He still goes to Teen Challenge to help out when they need a substitute or to help take some of the guys out on an outing. We recently had one come stay for a week or so.

Anyway, when we went for the ceremony, the kids went with us. It was a full church service besides the ceremony, so it was very interesting. But the main thing was that Elizabeth heard they were having a daddy/daughter dance.... so that is all we have heard about for the past 2 weeks. Edgey got tickets to the dance and they went tonight. He dressed up and even bought a pink tie for the occasion. Elizabeth was adorable and daddy bought her a corsage. I took a few pics before they left.

I guess it was entirely unexpected.... They had a DJ come in and play music.... but it was secular. I can't see my husband dancing with my daughter to "Brick House" .... then they had a few snacks and pictures. They are supposed to mail them out in a couple of days. The girls got a frame to put the picture in that has "Daddy daughter dance" engraved on it. The Dads got a book "She Calls Me Daddy" by Robert Wolgemuth (Focus on the Family).

Long time since I have written. I went on a writing binge for a short time, then what happened?
I have been very busy since classes have started back up.... teaching on Wed nights seems to take a lot of preparation for me (not a bad thing - just time consuming). I also taught a sign language class to Elizabeth's Keepers group on Tuesday morning. That took a lot of prep also. I haven't had to use sign language for a long time, so I had to brush up, plus go through the requirements for the girls. I had a jewelry party to attend on Monday night for Auntie. She had some women from her church there. I saw the wife (and her mother) of Edgey's best man at the party. I hadn't talked to them in a LONG time.... since the other gal with the 2 kids was living with us....wow. She still looked exactly the same.
We had our 15th anniversary. My big present was a ring with 5 diamonds for another 5 years of putting up with a certain person.
Edgey's birthday is coming up next week. I think I might get him Josh Turner tickets for the fair. The other thing he wants to do is go to "Speed Racer". I suppose that will make him feel young again. LOL. I actually want to go see the new Indiana Jones movie... I don't care if he is old.
I had Mother's day off from work. I actually got to go to church and my kids mauled me all day. We went out for lunch too.
I took the girls at work Dairy Queen for their mother's day presents. Theywere all having chocolate cravings.
Ethan has a karate demonstration this Sunday that he needs to go to. He is getting too tall for his current uniform, so I am going to have to get another shortly.
I went out to the college today and typed some more on a syllabus. I spent 6 hours (on my day off) out there typing. I didn't get much running around done today. I did go see "Expelled" tonight though. I thought it was a pretty eye opening documentary. I wonder how many Darwinists will actually go see it, since it is so controversial. I was the only one in the theatre tonight, by the way.

The coolest thing I have learned lately is that the signs of the times are pointing to a soon returning Messiah! Nothing new for some of us, but there are more and more signs being discovered. I am getting excited!

Today I woke up to a vase of 15 flowers..... The note said thanks for putting up with a blooming knucklehead for 15 years. They smell good. I put them on the dining room table.

The two younger kids got up early so they could get school done quickly and play their game again. They played it for 4 hours yesterday before I made them stop. They had a blast. Today I stopped it at 2 hours. I give them an hour apiece and since they are playing doubles, they played for the 2 full hours.

Ethan had a hard time waking up this a.m. I tried to get him up to do his schoolwork so it wouldn't drag out. I had a "nursing home care planning conference" this morning with my mom and nursing home and Mary (grandpa's live in). They call her Mrs. Smith. They never got married. Why do I have such a hard time with that?

Anyway, he is not making any more rehabilitation progress and they say he has reached a plateau. So medicare quit paying and he has to move into the locked alzheimers side of the building.... we took a tour and they all looked like a bunch of discarded old people. The kind that are sitting, staring and drooling. It, once again, was sad. I just can't see him with those people and getting better or thriving. Whatever God. Once again, not my choice, but I am not in charge of the plans.
The steps of a man are ordered by the Lord.

I got up to go for my walk this a.m. and it was raining. :( Maybe I will have to buy myself a rainsuit. I saw some at Sams club the other day.... if they still have giant size available.

Yesterday we took the van to be looked at. It keeps making a funny noise and losing power. I have to stop, turn it off and then back on. The power steering acted up a couple of times too, and I couldn't turn the wheel.
I guess it has to do with a compressor and the air conditioning (which I haven't even been using yet) and is going to cost somewhere around the $800 range to fix. :(
The guy said I can drive it, but when it goes out, it will freeze up and have to be towed from wherever it stops. He gave me his cell # to call in case I need the tow. We will have to save up for a couple of weeks to fix it. Didn't we just pay an arm and leg for Edgey's truck?

Shall I remind myself?... count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience." James 1:2-3 ...

I am soooo excited. I just realized I am finished with required school (150 days) for the year! YAY!!! I am not telling the kids. They have been doing such a good job getting things done.
They actually got up early this a.m. to get done because they want to play a playstation game I just got them (The Bible Game). I played for a while last night to see how it was. It was kind of fun, but I got bored pretty fast, so we will see how long they play it. It has bible trivia and challenges that are related to bible stories. My favorite one was "The Red Sea" challenge. You have to run across the Red Sea on the dry land while avoiding the pinching crabs and sea anemone and rocks and if you get too close to the wall of water it sucks you into the water and spits you back out. LOL

We usually do school all through the summer. I am just not as strict about what gets done.

My husband made me coffee this a.m. and left me 15 chocolate kisses in the shape of a 15 because our 15th anniversary is this week. Wasn't that sweet?
Yesterday he left me a gift card with enough to buy 15 vanilla cokes at the QT. It might take me a while to use that one.
Can't wait to see what is for tomorrow. :)

Yesterday I went for a walk around the lake again. It was the first time this spring. What a beautiful day! It was windy and I held Jesse's hand to make sure he didn't blow into the river.... I was teasing him about flying him like a kite. He thought that was funny.
We met my mom and dad there and Elizabeth walked slowly with grandma and Jesse and I walked with grandpa. Ethan took his roller blades and took off... He went around about 3 times.

I didn't notice too much exciting wildlife except a group of birds... my dad said they were Coots. They swim in the water like ducks but they are not ducks. They were acting more like chickens and scratching in the grass. I don't think I have ever seen them before yesterday.

The other thing that I was thankful for were the daffodils coming up!! They were all around the north side of the lake path. I am soooo ready for spring.

We went to Elizabeth's Keepers of the Home group yesterday, in the morning. They learned all about birds and bird feeders. We melted beef fat into suet and all the girls got to take home different kinds of bird seed.

Next month is my turn to hostess and I am going to be doing Sign Language. I took some signing classes in junior high school and also went out with a deaf guy for a while. Oh yeah, and I learned a few things on Sesame street too. :) I don't remember a whole lot of signs but remember some of the important ones; letters, numbers, and few others.....

I went to see my grandpa yesterday and he didn't talk at all. It was very sad. He was slumped over in his wheelchair and slept most of the time. They had taken him to the activity room and they had a program with some guy that came and sang old songs to all the people. Lots of big band and 40's songs. I remembered some of them.... like Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree and Glenn Miller band, Yankee Doodle Dandy, etc. He played a song that my grandparent's used to sing to me... Oh, you beautiful doll, you great big beautiful doll. Let me put my arms about you, I don't want to live without you.... He woke up for just a minute and looked around when I said, Grandpa, You're supposed to be singing this to me.... I can't figure out if he is just giving up or what.

What a weekend. It was very busy at work. I was an hour and 1/2 late getting out of work last night. After work I had to go pick up Jesse from Aunties. Edgey had taken Elizabeth and Ethan to the Superchick concert in Earlham. It was part of Elizabeth's birthday present. She loved it. She knows most of their songs. KJ52 was there and a couple of other bands too.

I rented Waterhorse last night too. I was so wound up from work that I knew I wasn't going to be able to sleep so I watched it. It was a cute movie. Edgey will be watching it with the kids tonight.

My kids are squirrelly today and I am about ready to pull out my hair. It is too early in the a.m. for this! They are whining about not having pencil lead and not wanting to use a regular pencil. Where did that come from??? I think that is called spoiled brat and unthankful..... hmmmm
They only want to play with the dogs and not do schoolwork.....

Ethan keeps whistling and Jesse keeps making mouth noises.... boys

God, I need some help here.

I just have to start out by saying God is Faithful.....
If you notice my last post, I had been crying and grieving for my grandpa and his salvation and feeling guilt, etc...
My mom and dad came to see me yesterday and had good news. They had been to the nursing home to see my grandpa. The story goes: They wheeled him in his chair to some church & song service on Sunday night. Some guy names "Payne" was all he could remember. He wanted to know if my mom and dad had ever heard of him.... some reformed church. Anyway, grandpa actually listened to him.... more like he actually "heard" him.
As soon as he started talking about church, my dad went over and sat close to him. He grabbed my grandpa's arm and told him that Jesus loves him and died for him. My grandpa said, "He didn't die for me." My dad said, "Oh, yes he did." and asked him if he wanted to say the sinners prayer. He actually did it! after all these years......... I cry every time I think about it. Grandpa even told my dad that he was walking in the hall with my dad and Jesus the night before. Wow. Whatever works. I am just amazed... although I shouldn't be..... because for me, this is an unbelievable miracle. How many years have we prayed for him? Since his mind was going, I was praying for God to make him a new creation with a new mind and a new heart, etc... to put people in his path to lead him to Jesus..... God is faithful.

Today is supposed to be nice outside. I think I need some sunshine. I have been weepy this a.m. I woke up early to use the bathroom and couldn't go back to sleep, so I have been up baking for my little party tonight.
So what is wrong with me? I was having a dream about my grandpa back at the farm and I wanted him to fix my car (one I have never owned or seen) and he couldn't get it fixed.
I guess what you have to understand is that my grandpa was like a dad to me. He taught me how to play checkers, to drive a car when I was about Elizabeth's age - I would sit on his lap and steer while I drove with him to different towns for his job (before car seats and seat belts), to take care of the farm animals, to shoot a gun, to drive a stick shift, to check my oil and car fluids, to operate a riding lawn mower, how to ride a horse...... etc. I tried to spend every minute I could with my grandpa. I was his little princess. He took me out to a restaurant practically every weekend. On valentines day I always got a corsage to wear. He bought me my first ring and my first pair of diamond earrings. He paid for my braces in high school and helped pay for my college, bought me my first car and worked on it all of the time.
I owe most of what I am today because of this man.

It is killing me that he has to be in a nursing home. I went to see him yesterday with the kids and he would hardly talk.
So I guess I have started my grieving process and I have been crying on and off since last night when I was driving alone.
When my grandma (his wife) was dying, I did the same thing. I know God was preparing me for her passing. So that makes me cry even more, because she at least believed in God. My grandpa blames God if not denies him.
How do you explain to your kids that only God knows if grandpa is in heaven or hell? Many times I have tried to talk to him about God and why he doesn't believe....
One little glimmer of hope a couple of weeks ago, he was talking about his sisters that died. One was only about 20 when she died. She used to play hymns on their piano or organ and he actually remembered some of the words to the song she played. It was an old hymn.
He was also talking about how the oldest sister who died a few years ago; He didn't understand why she was ok and at peace about dying (she was saved). He is definitely not at peace, but he won't listen about God long enough to find peace.
He used to go to church and be a member of the methodist church.... but he became bitter because he was the treasurer and had to keep sending most of the money received in offerings to the main headquarters instead of being able to use it to help the people at the church who really needed it. He still gets angry when he talks about it.

My aunt decided to stay until Monday to see how he progresses.

Kids are waking up. I guess I better get ready for school.

Edgey took Elizabeth out for breakfast this morning for her birthday. They had coffee and bagels. Then she came back and opened her birthday presents. I got her a mini american girl doll and book set and an american girl paperdoll/magnetic doll set. She has been asking for them for a long time. She was very excited and playing with them until I made her do school.
I am so mean. Not even a day off for her birthday. :)
Today is her last 2 pages of her 2nd grade reading book and workbooks and she will be on to the 3rd grade. She is happy about that too. I can't decide whether to keep her going on the same series or let her read some other books and let Jesse catch up to her. He is on the 1st second grade book. He keeps taunting her, "I'm catching up with you."
I think she might enjoy some other things like the American Girls series, Little House series and maybe some other history books. I might enjoy some other things too.... I haven't gotten to do much girl stuff yet.

My daughter's birthday is tomorrow. She can't quit talking about it. She wants butterflies at her party which no one knows if we are even having one, depending on my grandpa. I suppose I will just have family come over here on Saturday for cake and ice cream... or leftover desserts if I don't have too many people coming for my jewelry party on Friday evening.
I have not had many RSVP's.... so I am hoping a few more show up. Oh well. It will be good fellowship anyway. :)

My Aunt had put in applications to several nursing homes and finally decided on one about 2 blocks away from me..... north of the bulldog track field. I guess that is ok. I feel bad that he needs to go into a place like that and I can't just take care of him. But, I am not in charge of the deal. I keep thinking... reap what you sow. My mother is already getting sort of "lost" sometimes. I guess I mean mentally. She forgets what she is doing or talking about and can't make decisions... the decision part is nothing new, but the other stuff is disturbing. The older folks in our families have always been pretty sharp on their toes till they go. My great grandmother always did crossword puzzles every day to keep her mind sharp. If you don't use it you lose it. I think of it like a foreign language. I had 4 years of French. I have dreams in French and understand all of the words, but to actually speak it... It would be like pulling money out of you know where. Weird huh?

So, if grandpa pulls out of it a bit, he will be going to that nursing home. It is also a an "alzheimer's" facility. I think Ethan could probably ride his bike over there and visit grandpa. My grandpa really loves Ethan. Hopefully he won't forget who he is. He already calls me his daughters' names. He will probably call Elizabeth by my name. :(

We are almost done with school. The kids all got up early this a.m. by themselves. It is nice to have it done and out of the way. Then I may take them to go visit grandpa. My mom was bored at the hospital yesterday and begging me to come up there.

Another dusting of snow this morning. April fools on us. Supposed to be spring. This is the day the Lord has set before me.... I will rejoice and be glad! I am going to have to repeat that one a few times to get it in my spirit.

My grandpa is still in the hospital. My aunt who was visiting from California decided to stay another week to see what will happen. They are not sure if he will snap out of it this time or not. He may end up in the nursing home if cannot stand by himself. He keeps trying, but is not doing very well. Extremely unstable.
To top it off, his "girlfriend" who has been living with him for more than 13 years, fell too. My aunt took her to the hospital to find out if she had a stroke, but they could find nothing wrong with her. She is more unstable than my grandpa.


I have been thinking a little bit about trying to do a small garden this year. I ran across an article this a.m. that talked about growing potatoes in a garbage bag. I might actually try it! It might be a bit unsightly but it sounds very easy and at least I know where they are coming from.
I think I want to do tomatoes too. I'm not sure what else I want to plant yet. I need things that are not going to take up a huge amount of time. Hopefully I can get past my childhood memories of being forced to pick green beans and weed the garden with no help....then getting yelled at when we didn't get everything to perfection.... :(

I had a good weekend at work. We only had 3 patients on my side all weekend. There were some in the triage area but I didn't really have to deal with that. So I had fun with the patients. It was really nice, because all of them were really nice and had a good sense of humor and wanted to chat sometimes.
Since there were so few patients, the regular weekend staff was put on mandatory call, which means they were forced to stay home and get no money. I don't think they were too happy about that.
On my down time I did some computer stuff we had to get done. Talk about falling asleep...

Elizabeth is still trying to beat her cough. Jesse has a bit of a runny nose and Edgey has had a headache and is crabby and feeling like he is getting something...... so I get home last night and what does he do???? He kisses me! I don't want the crud. What is he thinking?
We started watching a movie... Gameplan with the Rock. I haven't seen it yet. I got about 20 min into it and passed out in the chair. Edgey watched the whole thing and thought it was cute. I will have to finish it later when I have nothing to do.

Elizabeth's birthday is this Thursday. She will be 9. She is very excited and still keeps asking for a pig for her birthday present. She wants a pot bellied pig. I told her we already have 2 pigs and pointed to Buddy and Sammy who were lying on the couch snoring. :) She said that they were Jesse's and it didn't count.

The ground was finally soft enough to put my bird feeder up. The family bought me the shepherd hook poles (to put into the ground to hang up my bird feeders) and bird feeders for Christmas. It has been too frozen to put them in the ground. Last week I got one of them in. Hopefully will be able to put up the other one this week.
The birds are definitely chowing down. It is fun to watch them. I have seen the cardinals that have been around here for years...

Well, I hear somebody awake, so I better get busy.

Elizabeth woke up with the crud on Wednesday. She whined around thinking it was going to help her get sympathy. I slathered her with my essential oils.... the one I use is called Thieves. It is antibacterial, antiviral and anti whatever. It is called thieves because back when the black plague was around and people were croaking, this small band of thieves put these oils on themselves while they went to rob all of the dead people. They never got sick. So... when they got caught, their sentence was lessened if they shared the recipe/mixture of the oils so everyone else could protect themselves also.
It has some strong stuff in it so I dilute it a bit with olive oil and rubbed it all over her neck and chest and back. Then she was complaining of leg pains so I put one called pan-away on her leg. That seemed to help. That is one that also has helped Edgey with his aches and pains... he asks me for that one whenever he has something going on. We also use melaleuca (Tea Tree Oil) on cuts and scrapes rather than other types of medicines. Edgey uses that regularly too since he is usually the one that gets those injuries.
I diffuse an oil into the air called Exodus II and one called Purification. Exodus is from the biblical formula Moses used to protect the Israelites in Exodus 30:22-31. It is a blend of oils such as Frankincense, Myrrh, Spikenard, Hyssop and others. So far we have been pretty healthy this winter season.
Ethan has always had allergies and asthma problems. Well, the lady that got me into these oils sent an email with testimonies about allergies. I thought, what the heck, I can at least try it on him. Normally his eyes water and nose runs pretty much most of the day and he drives me crazy wiping his nose and eyes and sneezing during school time. I tried one called Valor which was given in the testimony, and it worked. It really worked. He took one drop and rubbed it on his nose and where his mustache is coming in and he didn't have any problems allllllllll morning. We put some more on late in the afternoon and again in the morning when he woke up. I have only heard him sneeze a couple of times in the past 2 days. Yay!! What a difference. He is totally thrilled.
I use Peppermint oil for headaches and anytime I start getting stuffy. I think I am allergic to my job.... LOL I usually start sneezing and eyes watering when I get to the hospital. So I have started using the peppermint there. Our floor at work is doing an aromatherapy study on the patients and the long timers are asking for the peppermint because it helps them with their sinuses. It is great. The cleaning lady bought 4 bottles of the stuff to give to her friends and to help her. I think a lot of her problem is that she has to use all of those hospital chemicals to clean and it is affecting her. She went for a long time unable to breathe and stuffed up until I let her try the peppermint oil. She was shocked but extremely happy.
I use it in my tea or coffee. I also use Lemon oil in my hot tea. I can't remember where I read it, but it said somewhere that it takes more than 200 bags of peppermint tea to equal one drop of the peppermint oil. I could go on and on, but I won't.

When I start feeling like I might get sick, I take a hot bath with Epsom Salts and Tea Tree, Eucalyptus and Peppermint oil in the tub and soak. It usually fends it off.
Let me know if you are interested in any of the oils to try. If I have something, I will let you try some. If I don't have something, I can order it. This is not a sales pitch, but I do sell the oils also... but I only got the wholesale thing so I could get them at wholesale prices. They sell themselves.

Elizabeth was doing better today and was eating again. She still has a cough, but the crud is coming out. Thank God.
My brother has had the crud for 3 weeks now. He finally went to the dr. to get some antibiotics. He is pretty much anti- go to the doctor....so it must have been pretty bad. They told him he had chronic bronchitis. Well they gave him a Z-pac (Zithromax/Azithromycin) to take and he had an allergic reaction to that and ended up in the ER because he was in so much pain in his ankles and wrists and joints that he could barely button up his pants or turn a steering wheel. ER didn't do much for him. Just gave him some Ibuprofen and told him not to take the Zpac again. DUH!! Who wants to pay 100 bucks just for that info. I asked him if he took benadryl to counteract the reaction and he said no one told him to do that until today. Should've called his sister......I could have told him to take benadryl, ibuprofen and not to take the Zpac again.... and I wouldn't have costed him $100. They kept asking him if his throat or tongue was swelling. I told him to make sure he lists that as one of his allergies now. He said he asked them if that was all they were going to do? He wanted to ask them "and you went to school for this?" Today he is finally starting to feel better... he said his wrists are still hurting but at least he can button his jeans again. That is pretty sad. I asked him if he told the ER he couldn't button his pants.... of course not. You have to speak up for yourself when you go to the hospital! Nurses cannot (are not supposed to) diagnose and we can only tell the Dr.'s what you tell us and what we observe. We can also share what we think if we feel led to take a beating.....well that may depend upon the dr. too.
On another medical note: My grandpa fell today and is now in the hospital overnight because he hit his head and has a bruise on his brain. They were coming out of a dr. appt. when he fell. He dislocated his shoulder also. Got some morphine to pop that back into place after an xray. His lip was all bloody and big bump on his head.

Jesse had his first check up after the surgery this morning.... early. The dr. said that everything went perfect. His vision is even a tiny bit better than it was, but they will have him do the patching again to try to build up that left eye. He may get to a point where he does not need glasses. I am still crossing my fingers for that. The only thing I have noticed with his eyes are a couple of red spots that are bulging. When I asked the dr. about that, he said that was where the stitches are and the body is trying to get rid of the stitches (somewhat like a splinter) so they are inflamed and red. We will get to finish up the $75 eye drops for that. Jesse was not thrilled about eye drops for another week. The dr. asked him what he would rather do, get an eye drop or patch the eye for 4 hrs a day...... he chose the patch. That's how much he loves eye drops. :)



Beyond that I have been in a cleaning frenzy... mainly getting rid of things. I went through the homeschool closet and cleaned out 2 large boxes of things to sell or get rid of. I am done with teaching ABC's so there was a lot of that type of thing; workbooks, puzzles, matching games, phonics, kindergarten stuff basically. We are past that!! Yay!! There is a homeschool stuff sale in April that I think I am going to get a table for.... and try to sell most of it.



I also went through Elizabeth's clothes again to get some of the spring clothes out and get rid of the small stuff. It is sad to see certain things be too small. She is growing up so fast. Within a year and 1/2 she has gone from size 6x to 10slim. Wow. She still has some size 7 skirts and shorts and stuff that she thinks still fit and doesn't want to part with yet, but I think she will by summer time. She is so tiny.... and she still only weighs 58 pounds.



I went through some of my things and Jesse's things and have a couple of bags of stuff to send off also. Not sure where to take those.



I am sooooo glad it is finally warming up. It's very windy today, but at least the sun is out and it is warmer than freezing. :) I am so ready for warmer weather.

I had a very busy weekend! Work was like a revolving door..... and it was all the people that you go "duh" about. To explain that... they came in because they had been doing something they shouldn't have been doing... hmmm... you know that song "Things that make you go hmmmm"??

These people should have been in that song. I can't give details, but I would love to.

I am glad it was busy though, to some extent. I was put on call last week because we have had a low patient census for a few weeks. I certainly did not want to be on call last Sunday although I enjoyed being able to go to church. That means I will only have a 1/2 paycheck again. Once in a while we can plan for a 1/2 check, but 2 very close together are not good. :(

Today is St. Patty's day. Ethan went with Auntie this afternoon to meet another homeschooled kid his age... his mom is Auntie's age though (middle 50's). They went to go to some St. Patrick day event at the historical building. Hopefully he will have fun and they can become friends. Auntie and the mom go to church together. He gets to do his school work when Edgey gets home tonight....

Heartfelt Thanks

I wanted to say thank you to everyone who prayed for Jesse this week. He had his eye surgery (strabismus) and everything is well so far. He had a lazy eye, which runs in my side of the family. I have a weak eye and my sister. It seems to run boy, girl, boy, girl.... My dad and his mom, etc... My left eye is weaker about 1 whole number.

Jesse's eye was a little crossed and his brain decided that the strong eye would just take over and he was starting to lose his sight in the weaker eye. So, we patched the stronger eye every day for several months and it did help a little bit, but not enough that the dr. was happy with it.
Monday, he had surgery. They cut the muscles in both eyes so they would have to learn to work together in order for him to see again and hopefully will be able to use both of them from now on.

The surgery went well and was fairly quick. We did have to wait for a long time, but once it happened we were heading home within about an hour. He had a few bloody tears, but not the way I thought.

He slept most of the day on Monday. Woke up and wanted a little bit to eat so he had about a 1/2 sandwich and juice. Watched his sister play the PS2 for 1/2 hour then came running out into the dining room and launched his lunch all over the dining room floor. It was red juice by the way. Then he went and layed down on the couch and fell asleep again (with the puke bucket next to him). I spent the next 45 min. cleaning up and mopping the entire floor and wiping down the table legs. I wonder if he didn't have a touch of motion sickness or something from watching the tv???

When he woke up he was fine. The hardest thing has been putting in the eye drops. Wouldn't want to waste those stinking things.... $75 for a tiny little 3ml bottle of antibiotic eye drops. Somebody is raking in some money for those.
He is getting better about it after 3 days. Only 7 more to go...... :)

more health info

If anyone still has questions about diet pop... you MUST read this. Unbelievable.

Victoria Inness-Brown’s family was addicted to diet soda. After researching the effects of aspartame, she strongly believed the artificial sweetener might one day lead to their illness or even their early deaths.
So she decided to perform her own aspartame experiment -- with 108 rats for 2 years and 8 months. Daily, she fed some of the rats the equivalent, for their body weight, of two-thirds the aspartame contained in 8-oz of diet soda.

For details of Inness-Brown’s amazing experiment, click the link below.

My Aspartame Experiment

Inspiration

Watched a great movie on Sunday night after dinner. It was called Saving Sara Caine. Produced by Michael Landon Jr. Taken from the book by Beverly Lewis called The Redemption of Sarah Caine.
What a great movie. Edgey was tired and didn't think he would be able to stay awake through it, but he really got into it and watched the whole thing.
I let the kids watch it yesterday and Elizabeth wants to buy it now so she can watch it whenever she wants. :)
I went to a homeschool HEED meeting last night. It was very encouraging. The lady that did devotions at the beginning of the night had a great example of how we should be doing our schooling.....

There was a quote from Andrew Carnegie that went like this:
"Men are developed the same way gold is mined. Several tons of dirt must be moved to get an ounce of gold. But you don't go into the mine looking for dirt," he added. "You go in looking for gold."
She was saying that we should adapt our thinking to be this way with our children. Teach them to look for the good qualities and what they are capable of and remove the dirt along the way.

She also had several scriptures that were good to remember. She picked a new one every year as their "goal" and kind of mission statement.

Deuteronomy 6:5-9 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
(when we homeschool we have this opportunity all day long )

Matthew 11:29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.
(we can learn from God)

2 Samuel 23: 3-5 3 The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. 4 And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain. 5 Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow.
(this one was for herself mainly because she ruled over her children and wanted to remember to be just and have the fear of the Lord)

Proverbs 9:10 10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

Psalm 119:102 I have not departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me.
(she prayed for God to teach them because she was tired of teaching them that year)

Isaiah 54:13 And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children.
(pastor prays this over us all the time)

She also talked about a chinese bamboo tree. How you plant, fertilize and water the first year. Nothing grows. You fertilize and water the 2nd and 3rd and 4th year. Nothing grows. Then in the 5th year in 6 weeks it grows 90 feet with is almost 9 stories high. WOW.
We have to persevere and be persistent with our teaching. Someday we will see how the fruit of our labors is worth it, even if we don't see it for several years. :)

Very inspirational evening for me.

I read my last post and have almost the same thing to start out with! Stinking snow. I guess I should just shut up and be thankful. Another 4 inches through the night. It was beautiful out yesterday. I don't know what the temp got up to, but all I needed was a sweatshirt to be comfortable..... and let me tell you, I am sitting in my dining room right now and I have a sweatshirt on and I am freezing!

God has been good to me the past couple of weeks. Even though things have been difficult, I can see things are also progressing. I finished a fast that lasted 18 days. I thought about going the full 21 but I don't think I would have had grace to finish the last 3 days.... it would have been my own doing and not God's. I was fasting for several reasons. I had a healing conference I was asked to sing at on Friday and wanted to be ready for that. I have been feeling my relationship with God is not "up to par" so to speak, and wanted to get closer. I have also been feeling cruddy in my body and just tired of feeling tired and achy, etc, etc.... praying for Jesse...

The healing conference was great. A minister from my class at the college put it on down at the Polk County Convention Center. It was an all day ordeal. I was asked to sing in the morning session. The worship was awesome! Some guy named Randy Bixby led worship the morning and afternoon sessions, then he had a complete band there for the night session. He has a ministry called KHOP (kingdom house of prayer). Layne would have loved the guitar solos.

Anyway, the person had asked me to sing a specific song and said there would be someone there to back me up on it.... well, Mr. Randy didn't know the song..... so I had to do it acapella that morning. That was not fun, but I was obedient.

My college professor taught the 3rd session and another lady, Linda Schreurs who has a ministry called Intimacy with God spoke at the second session. Wow, was she on fire!
I heard my professor's testimony which was great but made me sad at how her life used to be. It certainly changes a person's outlook when they hear anothers testimony.

The whole conference gave me a different perspective of where I am in this time of my life. I don't think I am necessarily "lukewarm," but there are times if I compare myself to some of these other ladies that I see that are "on fire," it makes me sad that I am not like that too. I repented.

My only word for the weekend was..... it's time. I don't know what it's time for or what that exactly means. So now I am just waiting to see what God wants to begin. Time for what?

When I got to work on Sat morning, I had to be in charge.... haven't had to do that for over a year. I kept thinking, "Is this what you mean? it's time for me to step up?" I still don't know.
So if you feel like praying for me, please pray that God will reveal to me what he means by that.

Well, it snowed last night. AGAIN! At least a good 5 inches at my house. It took forever to scrape and brush the snow off the van this a.m. Jesse had an eye appointment this morning. It was his pre-assessment for his eye surgery. That will be in March in a couple of weeks. The Dr. is supposed to be the best in Iowa..... but I am wondering why God just couldn't heal his eye without the surgery? We keep praying for him. The Dr. did say it had gotten better since last time, so that builds my faith a little bit. He was a little freaked out today when the Dr. was talking about it. He even gave the Dr. a hug. It was sweet.
Anyway, the roads were cruddy. I slid around and was thankful several times that no one was in front of me at some lights, because I probably would have rear ended them. It was just sheets of ice except on I-235 and the sun was melting some of it. This is the time I would have preferred to stay home.
I think I have class tonight. Only a few more left. I will have mixed emotions when this class is done. I usually am bummed out that they are over, but this time I will be glad because I feel somewhat overwhelmed by the whole thing. It is just a lot to cover..... all the prophets.... and the homework is very time consuming (more than usual). I keep thinking, I am not getting anything done on my goals and that is frustrating for me. I am trying to just roll with it.

ATF was good for the most part. The teens were fun. The speaking and drama was good.... and Michael Gungor was awesome as usual as he did worship. I wasn't too thrilled with the bands Fireflight and Nevertheless, but the guy Phil Joel that used to be in Newsboys was great too. He had a good message and I liked his music. His hair was way long!!! like longer than any of the girls in our church.... except he didn't flip his around as bad as Fireflight. They looked like a bunch of squirrels flipping their tails. LOL
I guess the thing I got out of it the most was about not letting your dreams be stolen away. Ron Luce spoke about that. Then there was another guy that talked about being a fish out of water and how we go back and forth between God and the world. We thrive in the water (God's presence) and suffocate without it. It was a very good analogy and he actually had goldfish that he would take out of the water and let flop around to get the message across. Poor fishy.
Although we did not stay in a hotel, I got to sleep in a comfy bed instead of on a cement floor. That was a plus!

I really don't know what to write today. My week has been full of things..... Worked this past weekend.
I was really excited because the new Knight Rider was showing.... dumb! I was totally disgusted within the first few scenes. I suppose that is the catcher scene to draw everyone to watch or not. But TV is just disgusting! The first few minutes showed Mike in bed with two different women. Oh boy what a stud. Whatever loser. Then the next couple of minutes showed the chic cop saying goodbye to her "friend" whom she had only just met the night before and the "friend" was another chic!
I should have guesssed it would be up to worldly standards. Good old David Hasselhoff (looked old and used up) had his 5 minutes on there too.
I don't think I will be watching that again. Very disappointing!

Monday was freezing. Had to clean from the weekend.
Tuesday was freezing. Had to make appointments and study. Also did some decluttering, but it's still sitting in a pile until I can decide what to do with it. Sound familiar?
We also had class last night. The teacher called a few hours before class to see if I could fill in for the sermonette, but I am so not a spur of the moment kind of person and gave her that lame excuse. The person that was supposed to do it was staying home with a sore throat. What is wrong with me? After I hung up I just started to kick myself. Here I should be jumping to have the opportunity but I didn't have anything ready and felt like I don't have anything to share that will be refreshing. lame. Most of the students are already pastors and have their masters degree.... So then I had to ask God to forgive me. We just had this lesson on Moses. How he felt inadequate and thought he "couldn't do it" and here I am doing the same thing. If he can use a donkey, I'm sure he could use me to speak something....(oh, I forgot, I am a donkey) :(

Today is Wed. I need to call my grandpa in a 1/2 hour (make sure he's awake) to see if he has an appointment today. I hope not because it is supposed to be even colder today. I didn't check the news but MY thermometer says -10 outside. Brrrrrr!
My shower is not frozen. That I am thankful for. My wash machine worked this a.m. too.
Tonight I teach kids at church. In one sense I am excited because I am enjoying it, and in another, I am bummed out because I will miss the main message tonight. I think they are talking about my spiritual gift tonight. I guess I can get the cd. I listened to the last one and was cracking up by the end of it because I know plenty of people who fit into the scenarios he was describing. LOL.
If you missed the message last Wed., make sure you listen to it. It was great. I think the biggest thing it helped me understand was the motivation behind how everyone acts. Once you understand the motivation, it makes the relationship with the person much easier. It is kind of like the love languages.... when you understand a person's love language, it is easier to make them feel loved. If you don't know how they feel loved, you can try all you want and they are still not going to feel that way. I suppose it is the same way for the motivations. It definitely showed me a couple of things about my husband. He was teaching on his gift last week.... Mercy. Definitely my husband. That is why he hugs everyone and wants deep friendships not just surface stuff... because his motivation is relationship.

Just another reason to homeschool...... This would be like my daughter coming to school and saying she was now a boy. ugh. The class will receive counseling. Unfortunately, I imagine it will not be godly counsel.

8-year-old boy returning to class as girl

I would think this child would really have some things going on in his head to not want to be what he was created to be.
I remember at that age wanting to be a boy so I could pee outside and not have to go back into the house to use the facilities.... I think I have written that somewhere on here before, but I don't remember just hating being a girl. I'm sure there are many reasons someone could hate themselves....shame, abuse, etc...

God says he knew us before we were even born, before we were in the womb... created specifically to be who we were and for a purpose.
We are talking about Adam and Eve in Wed. night class.
Gen. 1:26-27 says God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness.... So God created man in his own image, male and female created he them.

Because of Adam’s disobedience, we have all inherited sin and a distorted image. We have to fight fleshly weaknesses and urges that are not in line with God’s original intention or purpose. God discusses sexual practices that were an abomination to him—adultery, incest, homosexuality, and bestiality. (Leviticus 18:6-23)
God also specifically forbade portraying oneself as a member of the opposite sex for immoral purposes. (Deuteronomy 22:5)