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Hi! It's me again. Only a week this time, so I'm getting better. I didn't mention it in my last post, but I've been having internet connection problems too. A few weeks ago, I was using the wireless connection on my laptop, and it suddenly stopped working. I kept hitting dead ends trying to resolve the problem. The computer actually said I didn't have a network adapter installed. What??? So after several hours of research online, which I achieved by plugging directly into the router, I found out that this is the first of many symptoms caused by a bad motherboard!!!! The warranty expired exactly a month ago and within that month the battery has gone bad, and I find out the motherboard is in the process of burning up! It is a $400 repair!!!! Oh no is right. But never you mind, because I talked to the nice, if very hard to understand, folks at HP and they are going to replace it for free in spite of the expired warranty. Hooray! The bad news, I have to ship my computer off to them to make this happen, so I may be having another little break from the blogosphere as soon as the pacakaging arrives. If you have an HP notebook, you may want to check your version of BIOS at the web site if you are not experiencing any problems yet. Apparently, they found a glitch and fixed it, but if you don't update soon enough, it may cause your computer to self destruct. If you are experiencing problems, you might want to check to see if this problem applies to you. |
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What good blogging friends I have! Y'all have been so sweet to stop by, in spite of my silence. I'll just warn you though, that this post will probably be a little bit of a downer--this being the summer of my discontent. That is the main reason I haven't blogged--too many things to complain about and an ungrateful attitude, so I'm going to get it out of my system and move on. First, the summer started with my prodigal teenager deciding he'd rather live with his father. He has actually wanted to try this for some time, and we have resisted, feeling like he just wanted more freedom to do his own thing. We didn't feel that was in his best interest, obviously. However, I began to feel the futility of trying to change the heart of a nearly grown young man. That is God's work to do and we seemed to be having no effect, so we let him go with heavy hearts. He will be in Germany for the remainder of his schooling The second big thing that happened this summer was actually good news: the Lord blessed us with another little one on the way! Unfortunately, I have been VERY sick with morning sickness and fatigue and then we thought I had lost the baby twice, so it has been a roller coaster ride emotionally. In fact, I went to the doctor this morning expecting bad news, only to be told that I have a very healthy 10 1/2 week old baby, who is thriving in spite of everything. They can give me no explanation for my trouble--there may have been a twin, or I may have been experiencing problems with the placenta. I will be going in every week for followup ultrasounds.  And then the third challenge (don't things always seem to come in three's?) was our renters in Mississippi deciding to move out of the house a year earlier than they had originally told us. We foolishly did not ask for a two year lease because we took them at their word and now we are stuck. We are having trouble finding renters and now have less than a year until WE are due to move back into the house ourselves, so our options are running out. DH may have to move the children and I back to Mississippi early while he finishes up his tour of duty here without us. He would have been a way a lot of our last 6 months here anyway, but it still will be hard because he will miss out on being with the new baby during the first four months. We are praying that he will make it there in time for the delivery. He has only missed one other birth and it was very sad for him! Okay, so now I've gotten all the whining out of my system, I am going to focus on the ways God has blessed us in spite of my ingratitude. 1. Teenager has not really caused us any major grief. We are heartbroken that he has turned from the faith, of course, but God has been merciful to keep him from any serious rebellion. He is still a wonderful, respectful (mostly) delightful son, and I enjoy our relationship very much. I am confident that God holds him and will bring about his conversion in His perfect timing. I have been blessed beyond measure with friends who are praying faithfully for him, even when I feel out of words. 2. A new life! What more needs to be said? Our cup runneth over. It is easy to lose sight of this when things have always gone so smoothly in the past, but God has used the uncertainty to renew our joy and wonder over this new little one. 3. DH was actually offered a job back in Mississippi just recently and we are going to be able to get orders for the Navy to move me back early. God is so faithful to provide. We had also recently gone on a tight budget to save up for our pending retirement and an extended trip we were wanting to take next summer and were better prepared to absorb the expense of two houses. I also am blessed with wonderful friends back in Mississippi who are making the prospect of moving back early exciting, in spite of the sadness over our separation from each other. Well, this is a really long post, but I wanted to get it done so I can move on to more cheerful stuff. We are going to spend the week getting ready for our first day of school (a week from today) so there should be some homeschooling posts coming. Thanks again for the comments and messages in my c box. They have been a real lift to me! |
(which is a really long way from California)!
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My kids were having a discussion about a PBS kids show the other day. I was only half listening until they started talking about how the show was about changing fairy tales to get a different outcome. They seemed a little put out with the idea, so I asked them a few questions, then everyone chimed in with an opinion (of course). "They take perfectly good stories and change the endings!" "Yeah! And the new endings don't even make sense!" I asked for an example and was told that they took the story of the ant and the grasshopper and used some magic wand to change the words around so that the grasshopper now had plenty of food. The kids were outraged. After all they didn't change the fact that he wasn't working a lick! So my question is: If my kids get it, why can't the democrats? |
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Yesterday was not a productive day around here and we did nothing to remark on, so I will skip it in my photo journaling. Today was much more interesting. This morning we went to the free movie and saw "Jonah" (the Veggie Tale version). Believe it or not it was the first time we had seen it and we all enjoyed it in spite of the rambunctious crowd.  Popcorn for breakfast. Yum! Just kidding! We don't let Caroline have popcorn yet. She is eating what we call "Baby Trail Mix" consisting of cheerios, raisins, organic goldfish crackers and a few Kix thrown in for good measure!
Pretty soon afterwards, we headed to the horse barn for 13yo dd's riding lesson, and I got this great photo:
I love a good action shot! |
I guess if I can't manage to blog with words, I can at least photo blog.
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Here are the token pictures. Note to grandmothers: I'm already doing better with the picture taking this week! :D
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This will be an oh-so-quick update while I wait for DH to come back down from tucking the kids in. I wish I had time to load pictures. I wish I had actually taken some pictures. I think I got two on the day of the fourth. Hmmmm. I will have to be more diligent this week. Maybe I will document our new summer routine with a picture post at the end of the week. I'm sure my kids would LOVE for me to carry the camera around, snapping their pictures all week I have been having fun reading about everyone's Independence Day celebrations. We went to a church picnic Friday morning. Lots of good food, games, and uplifting conversations. Then we took our last $29 of grocery money (we are on the cash only system) and had fun seeing how much junk food we could buy with it and coupons. We saved $22 off a $56 bill, which still came to $34, but I "borrowed" $5 from my toiletries envelope--never made it to CVS this week anyhow. We got all the fixin's for banana splits and some grilling meat and watermelon, which we took home and turned into a second feast. We enjoyed the food while watching fireworks from our own backyard--my favorite way. I was able to drag the rocking chair out for Caroline and I to sit and rock in, which was a good thing because the show was delayed until after 9:30. And he's back--so I must go :D |
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Okay...let's try this again. I just can't seem to get back into the routine of blogging. I've been catching snatches of time to read everyone else's entries, but they really have been snatches--no time to comment or write an entry of my own. I'm not sure if I will manage to get back into the swing of things this time or not, but I'll try. I wrote down this great summer schedule for the kids, which we have been diligently working to implement. We are doing fairly well with it, but it keeps me a little busier than I thought--the follow thru part, that is. I have to make sure they are actually doing what they are supposed to be doing, when they are supposed to be doing it. I also planned our mornings to be spent AWAY from the house, which is unusual for us, but fun. We are big time homebodies and not used to living in town, so I'm taking advantage of several opportunities for frugal fun close to home. We are trying to get out the door every morning by 9 and back home by 12:30, so we are not out in the heat of the day and Caroline gets her nap time. Mondays-- Swimming at our very generous friends' pool (they live around the corner) Tuesdays--Park/Nature walk Wednesday--Free movie Thursday--Swimming Friday--Library We are using the after lunch time to do a little "maintenance schooling"--math practice, reading, and a unit study/lapbook about Ancient Rome. I'm getting up every morning at 4:30 to have my Bible study time, so I can get to the gym by 5:30 for my workout. I joined this crazy six week program where I have to work with a trainer two mornings a week. She's a maniac. I'm completely worthless by supper time. This is week four, so it should be over soon. I will probably still get up to exercise, but I will not be killing myself two mornings a week anymore. She has pushed me to the point of throwing up twice! (Sorry if that is too much information. John MacArthur's broadcast today was especially good and I'm convicted that the reason I'm probably not as joyful as God commands me to be is because I'm not really taking Him at His word about some things. Hmmmm. I could write a whole post on this, but I've gone on long enough already. I will try to share more on that later. I'll end with a Caroline funny, just because she is too entertaining to keep to ourselves: She has started a new little game this week of making all of her stuffed animals talk to us. She will hold them up in our faces and use funny little voices. I "have" to greet each and every baby or teddy or duck that might have "slept" in the crib with her when I go in her room in the morning. Well, she was playing with big brother's Legos this morning and discovered a Lego skeleton (ick!) She brought him over to me, held him up to me and said in this really high pitched baby voice, "Mommy, Mommy, I sooooo hungry!" LOL I'm wondering what in the world God has in store for this little girl. She is definitely not your typical one and a half year old!
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If anyone is still reading this, I thought I would "pop in" and say hello. Daddy Hoss just went back to work yesterday and we started our summer school schedule. I'm also doing a fitness challenge at the YMCA, which is using up any energy I might have left. I had planned to post last night, since DH had duty and was sleeping on the ship. I wanted to go around to everyone's blogs and leave comments telling you how much I've missed you..... HOWEVER, when I sat down at the computer, I noticed the strange sound of water running. Hmmmm. I thought it might be raining and ran outside excitedly (it's extremely hot right now), but it was not rain. ANOTHER broken pipe in the irrigation system. ANOTHER frantic search for a flash light. ANOTHER trip to the shut off valve. ANOTHER night without water and reminding the kids not to flush the toilets until it becomes unbearable. At least this time, I have my sweetie here to fix it. I guess the laundry monster will have to wait. AND it is a good excuse to feed the kids popcorn for lunch (free movie Tuesday, you know). And I sure am glad the Y has showers, even if they are cold! |
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I'm waiting for the phone call to tell me Seth has arrived safely in Germany and Jim has duty and is sleeping on the ship, so I thought this would be a good time to update. I'm a little sleep deprived, though, so I can't promise anything coherent. Jim got in safely and we had a wonderful reunion. That is the first time I have been part of the crowd meeting the ship, since in the past he has been flying an airplane off and we were able to meet him in the hangar. MUCH smaller crowd. There are 3000-5000 people on an aircraft carrier, so you can imagine how many people were waiting on the docks. I wasn't sure how we were ever going to find each other in that sea of people, so we just picked a spot towards the front and waited for him to find us!  You can't see the crowd of people in this picture because we are too far back, but if you look closely, you can see the two gang planks and the endless stream of white uniforms coming off down each one. Lucky for us the officers' hats stand out. That helped narrow it down a bit.  Parker is enjoying Daddy's lap. The best seat in the house! Aren't they cute?  Shelby had put off her birthday celebration so her Daddy could be a part of it. Here was her exciting present. She has been wanting this tea set from Vision Forum since before last Christmas.  Jojo blessed us with two beautiful new outfits from Hannah Andersson. Here she is modeling them for us. Shelby loves both outfits and I do too! Definitely a good call, JoJo.   And here is Teenager. The life of the party. We are going to miss him! In case any one is wondering....Caroline went right to Jim and latched on to him for dear life. This is quite a switch from the other kids at that age. They always needed a little time to warm up to him after he'd been away. Unfortunately, she has turned on ME instead, as if I am to blame for her precious Daddy not being here. How can this be fair???? She just about came unglued today when she realized he wasn't in the house AGAIN. I have had to ban the word "Daddy" from being spoken in her presence until he comes home again tomorrow. She has to be the quirkiest toddler ever.. |
