A Day in the Life--Tuesday

Up bright and early today...heard a child coughing at 3:30 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep, so I did some work in the kitchen for awhile before making some coffee.  But not just any coffee...Anchor Bay Roasts coffee!  I just have one cup, so I use my cute little French press.  Real cream from real cows and local raw honey make it extra yummy.

It's Tuesday, Bible study day, and I have one more day of homework that I need to finish.  So, after the coffee is ready, I sit on my comfy bed and work.  I keep my planner with me for those wandering "Oh yeah, I need to..." thoughts.

After showering it's time to wake up my little honey bear to nurse.  It still amazes me that I have to wake Zaden up for his breakfast every day!  After he's finished, it's time to make breakfast for the rest of the crew and herd us out the door to church.  We zip along, amazingly leaving the house a bit early.  Good thing, because there's a detour and we have to go out of our way to get there!

These lovely ladies are at my table!  Jackie, the lady to the right of me, is our table leader, with Candie, front right, as her assistant.  A couple of ladies are missing.  I love these women and appreciate their wisdom and insights!  Meanwhile, the older kids are working on independent school assignments while the younger ones are in child care.

Lunch time!  Zaden is so excited to have banana mush!

After some kids have finished wolfing down their food, all who remain at the table are the slow eaters (i.e. the readers), to include myself at times, as it may be the only chance I get to glance at the paper.

While I clean up the lunch mess, Lucan makes a "bee-yoo-tee-ful" tent.  ("Beautiful" is one of his new favorite words.)

Meanwhile, Zaden is having all kinds of fun on the floor!  He's especially happy in this picture, because I just changed a huge poop that resulted in an outfit change as well.  And it was double "doo-ty," since Lucan also had a poopy diaper.  Sigh.  I really need to get that kid potty trained.

After I put the little boys down for their naps, the older kids and I go over their school checklists from the morning.  We check everything except their Story of the U.S.A. workbook, which we'll go over together tomorrow (I hope).  Charis needed help remembering how to figure out the circumference of a circle, but once we reviewed the formula, she was good.  Arden did well with his digraph practice in his phonics book--hooray!  The little bit of instruction I gave him before we left stuck in his brain!

Today was my day to get milk from the farm.  I totally forgot to take a picture while I was actually AT the farm, so these 5 jars will have to suffice.  I also dropped off a couple of stamp club orders when I took Julia's cooler of milk to her.  (We trade off...a milk carpool, if you will.)

 And of course it wouldn't be a very fun day (for the boys) if some kind of video game weren't allowed!  They each turned in "media chips" to play games on my computer.

The older kids spent time playing outside (except for Charis, who stayed inside to knit and read) before dinner.  Don't let this picture fool you--we have been eating most of our meals at the smaller table in the kitchen, where most of the chaos is, but it was easier to eat here because this table was completely clear!  Normally our table area looks like we're trying to eat and do school all at the same time!  I call this dinner Easter, Part Two...leftover pulled pork and squash bake from Sunday, plus steamed green beans and almond flour biscuits.

While I'm cleaning up dinner, I hear Lucan saying, "Here, Baby Zaden...here, Baby Zaden...here, Baby Zaden..."  And when I peek in the family room, I see that Lucan is very kindly handing Zaden every single toy from his toy basket!

My friend Jen H comes over to visit for a bit in the evening, and it is so nice to have another adult to share the evening with!  Before too long the three littles are in bed, the boys are playing in the basement, and Charis is curled up reading on the couch where Jen and I are visiting and making plans for the homeschool convention we'll be attending together next week.  (Charis didn't have rehearsal tonight--the past several Tuesdays she has been at the theater in the evenings.)

Since Jen is here, we forego our read-aloud time, and I shoo everyone to bed shortly after 9:00 so I can get Zaden to nurse one last time before turning in myself.

Good for the Soul

This pregnancy has been the absolute WORST as far as my commitment to exercise!  I spent the first trimester feeling nauseated and extremely exhausted...not to mention it was COLD outside, making me less than excited about opening the door to go for a walk, let alone a run (which I did frequently in the early stages of past pregnancies).  Before the end of the first trimester, we began a new diet, which made me even more exhausted because of all the work involved, but at least my nausea disappeared.

The cold weather, however, lingered.  And while I attempted to do P90X Yoga with Ted now and then, I found getting up so early to be so much more difficult than it had been in the past.  I finally gave up and resigned myself to a flabby pregnancy, hoping that our new diet would help offset my lack of exercise.

Well.  I have now become part of the Varicose Veins club, and the discomfort behind my right knee drove me to do a bit of research.  Surprise!  Exercise is supposed to help.  Sigh.  I just couldn't bring myself to get up and do a DVD or Wii workout, though.  And days upon days of rain meant going outside happened only out of necessity.

Early this week I began thinking about the few mornings the week before Ted left for training that I had gotten out for a morning walk.  (He was on leave, and we were taking it easy with school, so I didn't have to get up at a ridiculous hour; plus, I didn't have to worry about what was happening with the kids.)  I really, REALLY enjoyed being outside in the fresh air, seeing the sun rise and some early signs of spring (which didn't seem to last long, as the cold weather and rains came roaring back...thank you, La Nina).  It made me feel energetic again, even if I wasn't running--and I found I really was missing being able to run!  It's not so wise to take up running at this point in one's pregnancy, however, so I gave it some thought and prayed that the Lord might help me do SOMETHING in the way of exercise.  I know I need to take care of myself...it's going to be a looooong year ahead of us, and I have to stay healthy and sane!

So, yesterday and today both I got up at my usual time--and that's the kicker!  I've been waking at 5 a.m., but somehow "haven't had time" to exercise!  I decided it would be too depressing to wander around the neighborhood in the dark, so I did my usual hot-tea-and-quiet-time routine and THEN headed out.  Yesterday I walked about 15 minutes, then poked my head inside the house to make sure all was still quiet, then went back outside for another 15 minute walk.  Today I just stayed out for 30 minutes.

The walks were wonderful!  I'm hooked!  Best of all, the Holy Spirit prompted me to bring the little spiral note book I got for the purpose of Scripture memory.  I had written out Psalm 145 at the beginning of the year, intending to memorize it, but as life became more complicated, I set aside that project.  However, I have now discovered a wonderful way to exercise my body, mind, AND spirit...I've been working on memorizing the verses as I walk.  I'm already about halfway through the Psalm!  Praise the Lord!

"I will exalt you, my God the King;
I will praise your name forever and ever.
Every day I will praise you
And extol your name forever and ever.
Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise;
His greatness no one can fathom.
One generation will commend your works to another;
They will tell of your mighty acts.
They will speak of your glorious splendor,
And I will meditate on your wonderful works.
They will tell of the power of your awesome works,
And I will proclaim your great deeds.
They will celebrate your abundant goodness
And joyfully sing of your righteousness.
The Lord is gracious and compassionate,
Slow to anger and rich in love.
The Lord .... [??  Forgot this line!  Arg!  And it was one I didn't think I'd forget.]
He has compassion on all He has made.
All you have made will praise you, o Lord,
Your saints will extol you.
They will tell of the glory of your kingdom
And speak of your might,
So that all men might hear of your mighty acts
And the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom;
Your dominion endures through all generations."

That's as far as I've gotten to this point, and I typed it from memory after not having reviewed it since this morning. :-)  Check me and see how I did!

Seven on Sunday

1.  Temps are above freezing!  The ice/snow around us is melting, and it's supposed to be in the mid-50s this week.  The sun is shining.  Life is good.  I look forward to leaving our cave this week.

2.  We've been living in a sick house the past week.  Lucan started last Sunday with a fever and only yesterday began acting like his normal self.  Tobin has been miserable the last few days and in fact missed the Avs hockey game with Ted and Arden Friday night, choosing to stay home and go to bed early.  Arden has been hacking the last few days as well.  And since Charis has had a stuffy nose for going on two weeks now, that leaves Kenna, Ted, and me the only unscathed people thus far.  Here's hoping things get better so we can enjoy the good weather...

3.  A paradoxically frustrating and encouraging thing:  the boys are apparently experiencing a "healing crisis."  Both Tobin and Arden have experienced a relapse, which has included a lot of coughing, wheezing, and needing to use their inhalers.  This is normal and to be expected as their bodies have been undergoing detox.  So far my own detox symptoms only seem to involve sneezing!  Odd, but it was mentioned specifically in the document I read, and I can't explain my sneeze attacks any other way!

4.  I'll be 12 weeks along with this pregnancy on Tuesday.  Hard to believe the first trimester is almost over.  I'm trying not to be concerned about the fact that I haven't felt any movement yet.  I know it's fairly early, but I felt the last 3 babies by 11 weeks.  Ted thinks I've just been too busy...I don't know.  I'll feel a lot better after I hear the heartbeat at my next appointment, which is February 22.

5.  Last week I joined a ladies' evening Bible study for a short time.  We are studying Max Lucado's book Fearless.  I saw the announcement in the bulletin and figured it was appropriate, given all that I'm facing this year.  The study just runs 6 weeks.  The group meets on an on-going basis, but I can't really commit to a long-term evening study.  I was blessed by the first meeting I attended last week and look forward to getting to know these ladies better.

6.  Yesterday was the AWANA Bible Quiz Team competition, hosted by our church.  Charis had been on the team last year and worked hard only to have the event canceled by bad weather, and it just couldn't be rescheduled.  So I was glad this year that both she and Tobin were able to participate.  As a whole, our (rather large) team didn't fare so well, but I think it was great that so many kids were involved.  Charis did win a "High Honor" award, and she and her teammate placed 4th for their book division.  Though Tobin was really not feeling well, he did pretty well, and I'm proud of him for participating.  (He was a bit reluctant at first!)  Next up...the AWANA games, and Arden will get to be part of that!

7.  I have a princess "par-tea" to plan.  Our little Kenna turns 4 in just two weeks!  She has requested a princess themed party, so I plan to recycle some of the activities we did for Charis's 5th birthday and make Charis my official Party Helper.  We will send the boys out for some fun and enjoy hosting a few dressed-up little girls for some games and tea time!  It will be fun and challenging to come up with treats that even our guests will enjoy, given our current menu options, but I look forward to baking something fancy and even more to helping Kenna celebrate her special day.  She has been looking forward to it literally for months. :-)

Celebrating Purim

The ladies' Bible study group I'm in has been going through Beth Moore's new study Esther: It's Tough Being a Woman. Awhile back when I was looking through my planner I noticed that Purim was March 10, and since our group meets on Tuesdays, I thought that was a fun coincidence. Linda took it a step further--her husband is the pastor of a church body that meets in the building belonging to a Messianic Jewish congregation. She checked into what they would be doing, knowing that they had a special service the evening of Purim, and said that we could go and visit!

We met at Sweet Tomatoes for dinner beforehand, where the ladies surprised me with a ginormous baby gift: a new swing for Baby J! Our original one made it through 4 kids and just had to go when we last moved. I also got a gorgeous hand-stamped baby card that is definitely a keeper!!

We arrived just in time for the service to begin, and I loved every moment of it. I love Jewish culture, and being with Jews who believe Jesus (Yeshua) is Messiah and also continue to celebrate their heritage is something that just gives me goosebumps! Having done studies recently involving the Patriarchs, the Tabernacle, and the Psalms of Ascent, it was awesome to be in their place of worship and see the Hebrew banners celebrating both Old and New Testament concepts. I also loved hearing the Shma in Hebrew--our kids memorized Deut. 6:4-9 recently, and that passage is especially meaningful to me as a mom.

From what I understand, it's traditional for kids to act out the story of Esther. This year the young people in the church put on a puppet show, complete with stage and paper-sack puppets that looked like the Fandango characters! It was darling! We all had noise-makers that we were to shake at the names Esther (or Hadassah) and Mordecai while cheering and also at hearing the name of Haman, but he got booed, of course! The kids did a great job, and I loved the humor they incorporated into the storyline.

Example: During the first banquet with Esther (YAY!), Xerxes, and Haman (BOOO!), the latter comments, "This is great! What is that ball floating in the soup?!" LOL!

Later on, the hangman hums a little tune while he's working: "This is the way we build the gallows, build the gallows, build the gallows, this is the way we build the gallows so late in the evening!"

Haman's (BOOOO!) suggestion for the man the king wishes to honor: "Let a man go before him shouting, 'The king thinks this man is tight! He ROCKS!'"

During the scene changes and general backstage shuffling, we were treated to lively and beautiful Jewish music by a very talented man playing what looked like an electric violin (is there such a thing?!). There's really no other way to describe it--this was a FUN performance!!

After the service some women ran a bake sale for a fundraiser, at which they were selling "Haman's Ears," a pastry that is traditional at Purim. The recipe for these is in our Bible study book, so we were familiar with them. I bought a dozen to bring home to share with the family--but of course Ted and I sampled one before bed. :-) They are good--not too sweet, but a nice compliment to coffee...too bad we don't ever make coffee, ha!

I am SO thankful that I was not in labor or in the hospital!! I would have really hated to have missed that experience. I will remember that for a long time, and I think it would be a great addition to our annual family traditions. I can just see my kids putting on a puppet show of their own...