This Year's Big Family Christmas Present . .

 . . . Passports!

We look like some defiant mafia members, eh?  We all trooped to Costco on Monday to get these lovely gems taken.  These are definitely some "neutral" faces!

 

We are planning on all going over to the post office tomorrow morning to apply, so I spent a good deal of time today gathering documents, filling out and printing online forms, and making copies of our driver's licenses.  When gathering documents, I realized that I never got around to ordering a birth certificate for Drew.  Oops!  I did that today too.  Also, it appears Bob's birth certificate and old (expired) passport have run off together, as neither one is anywhere to be found. So we need to order a new copy of his birth certificate, and I guess we can go in again for Drew and him. 

 

We've talked about getting passports for awhile now, but we just couldn't stomach the idea of spending over $1,000 at one shot.  But we're still hoping and praying we'll be able to take a space-a military hop over to Hawaii in February or so, and it is really prudent to have a passport when hopping OCONUS, since you never know when a flight might be diverted, or whatever.  So, what better time that now to get passports?!   Merry Christmas to us!

Chemistry Lab

This week's chemistry lab involved a series of reactions, and creating balanced equations from those reactions.  My preparation started last week, when I started looking around for the "copper wool" that was needed for the lab.  I didn't think it would be hard to find--just like steel wool, right?  It turns out that it was NOT that easy to find, however.  After running around to several stores like Home Depot and WalMart, where I expected to find this elusive product yet had no luck, I went home and googled.  It turns out that, should you ever need copper scrubbers, you can buy them at Walgreens.  Not other drugstores, like CVS.  Don't be ridiculous!  Only Walgreens.  So that problem was solved.

The next issue was a broken crucible lid.  Last week we had lab on Monday, since I was helping at the other co-op on Tuesday morning.  As soon as lab was over, I had to leave to take Anna and Grace to gymnastics, so I just left everything on the counter to cool.  When I got back, it was apparent that someone had climbed the step-stool and clapped the crucible lid on the granite counter a few times, shattering it.  (We all suspected Nathan or Luke immediately--ha ha!)  I ordered another crucible set right away (2 actually, LOL), but I forgot that yesterday was a holiday.  When I checked the tracking over the weekend, I found out the new crucibles were not scheduled to be delivered until this (Tuesday) afternoon.  Oh no!   Panic ensued, as I scrambled around to find another lab.  Then I more carefully looked at the lab--and discovered that although we needed to heat the copper wool in the crucible, we didn't need to cover it.  So, that problem solved too.  Whew!

Last night I stayed up WAY too late making sure I could accurately make a 6M solution of sulfuric acid, and a 6M solution of sodium hydroxide.  I had done the calculations, but they weren't agreeing with what the guy on the DIVE cd was saying, and besides, I did not need to make a liter of the stuff--I only needed around 25 mls of NaOH, and only 5 mls of the H2SO4.  So I was stressing out about being accurate with making such small amounts.  Finally, at around 1:00, I decided this really was a qualitative lab, as opposed to a quantitative lab, and I could probably just wing it without worrying so much about solution accuracy.

But I still didn't sleep that well, because I was really quite worried about actually MAKING the solutions.  What happens on Tuesday mornings is I take only Caleb, Jonathan, and the 3 girls to TNT, then pick up the McC boys and head back home, where we immediately start chemistry class (well, as soon as I change the poopy diapers and clean up other random messes that have ensued since I left the house not that long ago).  This doesn't leave any time to make solutions up, and I certainly was not about to make the solutions up in the morning before Micah and Drew got up, and then leave these strong acids and bases on the counters where Micah might cause any number of problems with them while I was gone!  But making them up as soon as I got back home was not a great option either. Who makes up strong solutions with a crawling infant and a toddler hanging onto one's legs?!  This sort of situation just doesn't seem like it would happen in any other lab, LOL.  I gave the Rivendell boys a quiz over polyatomic ions while I worked, and I put Drew down for a nap before I started, so that at least got one little out of the way.  Fortunately Micah chose to play very nicely by himself in the playroom right then, so that was nice, although he did come back in the kitchen later to watch the proceedings.  I guess I should get him his own set of little goggles, LOL.  Still, it is a somewhat stressful situation for me.  Again, just not something most chemists have to deal with!

But the lab was a lot of fun, and we didn't have any spills or accidents!  All that worry for 1 1/2 hours of chemistry!  They are such a fun group of boys.  Today was "Tie Day", just because, LOL.  Such trend-setters!  Definitely on the cutting-edge of lab fashion, for sure! 

Drew

Drew had a big day on Friday--he took his first steps!  He has been standing well for quite some time, but his feet have remained firmly planted on the ground.  If he had to go even the slightest distance, he would immediately drop down to his hands and knees and start crawling.  But at Bible study on Friday, during snack time, he had a cookie in his hand, and he took a step toward me!  I was so surprised, and I think he was a little surprised too, LOL.  He immediately fell down to his hands and knees.  But then he got back up and tried again.  After we got home and I nursed him, he took 6 or 7 steps in a row!  Unfortunately, Nathan and Bob missed these first steps, because they were off at a mens retreat for our church.  Drew walked a few steps for them today, but not quite as many in a row as Friday night.  I think Grace is the only one who hasn't seen any steps. 

I am also pleased to announce that Drew has finally figured out the magic of a straw!  The kids all use "straw bowls" from WalMart for cereal in the mornings (they really cut down on wasted milk!), and now Drew can use one too!  He's still working on spoon and fork use, but it is so worth any mess he might make for me not to have to feed him.  I'm still watching to see what hand he is favoring, but so far it doesn't seem like it is the left.  I guess it will still just be Jonathan and me as the lone lefties!

With all these accomplishments has come some poor sleeping, all of a sudden, though.  Drew had a terrible night Friday night!  He woke up at 12:30, and I nursed him.  He fell asleep as he was finishing up, so I thought he was good to go, but instead, as soon as I laid him down in his pack-n-play, he immediately sat up and started crying.  I thought he would settle down and stop crying pretty quickly . .  but alas, no.  After another half an hour of him just sort of fussing around, I went in and held him for awhile.  He was laughing and kicking around, like it was the middle of the day!  I, however, was tired, so eventually I put him down and resolved to just leave him there.  He fussed around off and on for a good 30 or 40 more minutes while I dozed.  Eventually we both did fall asleep--only for him to wake up crying again at 4:15!  What on earth!  So I nursed him again, and then we both fell asleep.  I woke up at 5:30 with my arms asleep, realizing I was still sitting up, with my neck in an awkward position, LOL.  I put him down again, and this time he did stay down and sleep for while.  I was so tired yesterday, though!

And again last night, he was up at 12:30 to nurse!  I was worried, but this time, he did go back down and stay asleep.  Still, hopefully just a growth spurt that will pass quickly.  I am NOT a fan of these midnight feedings he has reinstituted!

Pictures

So yesterday I finally got pictures taken of the kids.  The last time I had a group picture of them all was when Faith was right before she turned 2--before Micah was born, for sure.  Then sometime around Micah's first birthday, I got pictures of the 3 girls and him.  I wanted to get these pictures taken this summer, but (and this is totally silly . . .) I could not figure out what all of them could wear.  We just do not have many coordinating clothes for 9.  Not even similar color schemes!  Eventually I thought of flag shirts, because my friend Lynnea has some cute pictures of her girls in matching flag shirts.  But then I was stymied by the fact that Anna outgrew her shirt and passed it on down to Grace, and well . . . pictures never happened. 

A week ago Tuesday, however, something happened.  Neissy's daughter, who is Anna's age, wore a RED FLAG SHIRT to co-op!  After Rivendell was over last week, it dawned on me that I could ask Neissy to borrow it!  Ha!  So I looked up Portrait Innovations, where we've gone for pictures the last several times, and tried to make an appointment . . .  except, come to find out, it had closed.  Really?!  That was not supposed to be the sticking point!  Coordinating outfits were the problem! 

So I stewed on that a few days, and then I went back on their website and found a different location.  It's a little farther, and more of a hassle to get to, but we went ahead with a Wednesday afternoon appointment.  Nathan and Luke have their online history class Wednesday morning, and then they are not really all that productive the rest of Wednesday, so I figured it was a good day to waste!  No one was very thrilled with the idea of getting pictures, especially Luke, but I told them they were doing it for me, since I was the one who would be all alone eventually (*cough* only 17 more years), with only pictures left . . . (cue sad music). 

Our photographer was really nice, and most people were relatively cooperative.  Micah did not have a full-out tantrum, my big fear, even though he wasn't all that into big smiles.  Drew was absolutely not smiling.  Everything the poor girl did was met with a studious, concerned look.  He did eventually smile at this big red ball--but only if he was holding it up to his face, LOL.  So the pictures of the 2 of them aren't the best, but they both have at least neutral expressions! 

I also found out that the location we used to go to only closed a few weeks ago!!  If only I had been more on the ball!  Oh well.

I am really hoping to get family pictures (including Bob and me) outside, like I see my friends getting on Facebook, next summer, along with some senior pictures of Nathan.  The last formal picture of us as a family was over 10 years ago when Jonathan was a 3 month-old baby!  It's probably time, LOL.  So I have 9 months to start thinking of coordinating outfits.  Knowing me, it will take that long, at least!

Finally, A Real Celebration!

After school in the morning, Caleb baked his own cake.  I'm not actually a cruel slavedriver--Caleb is my child most interested in cooking/baking, and he really wanted to make it himself!  While it cooled, we rushed off to get pictures of the kids taken.  That ended up taking longer than I expected (because I am a starry-eyed optimist, LOL), so when we got home, Caleb and I quickly mixed up a batch of Mrs. Harner's yummy frosting.  We had talked in the van on the way home that he wanted to make a fall-themed cake.  While we were waiting at the picture place for our pictures to be printed, we walked around outside.  It was an absolutely gorgeous fall day, with a blue "Colorado" sky and trees with fall-colored leaves, so that was his inspiration for his cake. 

It is so wonderful that he wanted to decorate his own cake, because that freed me up to make dinner!  Caleb requested "chicken packets", and they are a bit of a pain to make because you have to make these filled packets out of crescent rolls, dip them in butter, then cover them in breadcrumbs.  It's not too bad if you are just making 8, which is what the recipe calls for, but I made 24, so it definitely took a while.  That is why it had to be a birthday dinner request, as opposed to something just on the regular dinner rotation, LOL.

As soon as we ate, we cleaned up quickly, downed some cake and ice cream, and opened presents.  We were in a hurry because Nathan and Luke were headed over to the McC's to watch "To Kill a Mockingbird" with their literature teacher.  There's always something else going on!

Anyway, Caleb got a Lord of the Rings lego set from Bob and me, as well as a small one from Jonathan, which was really sweet.  He also got this cool lab set from Grandma and Grandpa B.  He and Jonathan made a glow-in-the-dark bouncy ball last night after the girls went down.  Oh, we also got him a double set of cards, since he is always complaining that when they want to play a card game, the only decks we can find are missing tons of various cards, thanks to the girls and Micah also playing "games" with them.  He is keeping these new decks up in his room! 
 

Happy Birthday, Caleb!!

Caleb is 12 years old today!!  We are so thankful for him, and all that he adds to our family.  He really loves little kids, and he can't wait to be able to help in the nursery at church.  He's a huge help with Drew.  He also loves to give back rubs, and hey, I will always take a back rub!  We love forward to what the Lord has in store for this year for Caleb!

He was fortunate to have his birthday on a Tuesday, and a Tuesday where I was helping at TNT!  I was assigned to lead his tier (grades 5 and 6, Caleb and Jonathan) around to 4 different stations for the 4th of 5 weeks in the South America unit.  Neissy truly has outdone herself with this unit.  Each week has been so amazing!  I was glad to spend a day over there--I learned so much myself!

For opening ceremony, Neissy invited our assistant pastor over to speak about his visit about 16 years ago to Angel Falls, the highest waterfall in the world (3,212 feet), located in Venezuela.  Hunter is a really engaging speaker, so his tale of the trip first by 737 zooming around tepuys to land on a dirt strip,then by canoe 30 miles, and then hiking the last bit, swinging on vines over ravines and whatnot, all guided by Indians, certainly kept everyone's attention.  The kids had a million questions.

Then we started off on the 4 different rooms.  My tier went first to the "movie" room, where they watched several short youtube videos on different aspects of South American culture, such as the history of piñatas, some different kinds of South American music, and a fascinating clip on the making of semana santa carpets for Holy Week processions.  Wow--I had no idea these even existed, and they are simply amazing!  And we watched this totally great video of the Venezuelan Youth Orchestra playing Bernstein's Mambo--these guys know how to totally have a fun time! 

Before we started watching the videos, we all sang "Happy Birthday" to Caleb, and then we passed out rice krispie treats that Caleb had made for everyone.  Yum!  (We also sang at Rivendell, but we will have our *actual* celebration tomorrow, with Caleb's birthday dinner, cake, and presents.  Prolong the celebration!)

Next we went to the "craft" room, where the kids decorated piñatas that the ladies in charge had painstakingly made out of paper bags!  You can see Caleb's on top, although he was not really enthused about how his final product turned out, LOL.  The kids had fun--lots of glue spread around!

Then they went to the "teaching" room, where a mom talked about different areas of South American culture, such as music, celebrations, language, and so on.  Again, it was so interesting!
 

We finished up in the "games" room with Neissy, where she taught the kids several games, including one where the "it" kid dressed up with another item of clothing each time after the other kids chanted something, and then after he put the sombrero on, he was ready, so he chased them around!  Here is Jonathan, all gussied up.

Then we all went back into the big room, where we had a special presentation by Neissy's brother.  He is a musician, and he has a big collection of instruments from South America.  After he introduced and demonstrated a ton of instruments, he let some of the kids come up and play in a little orchestra!  Anna and Jonathan both got to go up the first time.  Anna is playing a little guitar-like instrument that used to be made out of armadillo shells, and Jonathan is playing a pipe drum thing with 2 holes made from bamboo.  So fun, and such neat sounds!  It was a great morning!

Then it was on to Rivendell at our new church building.  We all ate lunch and got set up for classes there before I ran over to vote (grrrr).  It was a good thing I stuck around, because we set up in one room we have been using, only to have it be taken over!  We had to scramble to find another room with good enough internet.  Everything is still in a state of flux over at the building, so we are hopeful that in a few weeks, we'll be able to sort of "claim" a few rooms and use them every week.  It is already a hassle to have to set everything up by moving tables and chairs, getting the computers going, etc., and then to have to move everything again is stressful!  There is plenty of room, but unfortunately the building was built with good old 1960's cinder block construction in the children's wing, and steel studs in the adult wing, making good internet connections practically impossible in the vast majority of rooms!  The day was especially stressful because Micah and Drew had also spent the whole morning at TNT with me, and they were absolutely fried.  Micah had several loud tantrums, and Drew didn't melt down, but he was soooo tired and crabby.  Fortunately I only have 1 more morning at TNT, and that isn't until March.  I'm glad another Tuesday is over!

SAT Essay-Writing

Nathan took the SAT for the second time this morning.  He was predictably not thrilled about an early and long morning, but he is glad to have it over!  His least favorite part is the dreaded essay.  I am so glad I didn't have to do an essay back in the day when I was taking the SAT.  Our literature teacher, Megan, has been diligently working with the boys on how to produce an SAT essay.  It turns out that the graders (who only have 90 second per essay) are not looking for brilliant, creative writing.  They want a "fast-food essay", where you churn out something that meets their expectations.

Someone on the Well Trained Mind board posted a link to an interesting Slate article on the problems with the SAT essay called, "We are Teaching Our High School Children to Write Terribly". 

Les Perelman, a retired director of an MIT writing program says, "“What they are actually testing,” he says, “is the ability to b--s-- on demand. There is no other writing situation in the world where people have to write on a topic that they’ve never thought about, on demand, in 25 minutes. Lots of times we have to write on demand very quickly, but it’s about things we’ve thought about. What they are really measuring is the ability to spew forth as many words as possible in as short a time as possible. It seems like it is training students to become politicians.”

Great!  More politicians!  And accuracy does not matter in the least.  In fact, as the article points out, if you spend time trying to remember a pertinent event either in your life or in history or literature, you are at a disadvantage!  Better to just make something up on the fly, use lots of big words and varied sentence structure, and *voila*!  A "12" essay!  One SAT tutor did exactly that, and he writes about it here.  Here's his masterpiece essay--one that indeed scored a 12! 

Should we look to our elders for wisdom?
With age comes experience. As we navigate the vicissitudes of life, embracing its challenges of quotidian living, our naivete is replaced with sagacity, our illusions replaced with truth. One who is younger and less experienced would be wise to learn from the older and more experienced.
Throughout history young leaders have taken their cues from older, more experienced mentors. For wisdom does not magically appear; it is transferred from one generation to the next. In the 17th century a young man by the name of Martin Luther King Jr., a young pastor from Cincinnati, took his cues from the venerable Abraham James Lincoln, a seasoned lawyer from Ontario. Young King learned from Lincoln’s personal trials and tribulations, absorbing gems of wisdom from his enlightened teacher. The young acolyte molded his style after that of his mentor and eventually went on to embrace the mantle of civic leadership, typifying the qualities of his older, more experienced teacher.
At our peril do we ignore the lessons of our elders. Who can forget the tragic case of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, failed leader of the Saxons of New Brittany? In the height of the Ostrogoth revolution, young Kennedy rejected the advice of his elder council and impetuously invaded the fortified stronghold of the neighboring Lilliputians. The elder council convened and vehemently protested the ill-designed strategy, but Kennedy was obstinate and would not be moved. The elders were powerless to influence the young Saxon leader. Kennedy invaded Lilliput and the whole of the Ostrogoth army was annihilated, leaving the nation vulnerable to the waves of marauding invaders from the east. This clearly illustrates that we ignore the counsel of the older and more experienced at our peril.
One example of a man who embraced the wisdom of his elders was Barack Hussein Obama, famed revolutionary of the Basque region. Young Obama unified the Basque populous, seeking to overthrow the tyranny of Franco, nationalist, totalitarian demagogue. Obama, during his 6 months he spent in jail after this first failed coup attempt, came in contact with a seasoned revolutionary, Winston Churchill. Churchill had seen decades of failed revolutionary attempts and offered his insights to Obama, his willing disciple. With Churchill’s support young Obama was able to unify the masses, instigate a popular revolution and liberate the Basque nation from Franco’s control.
The clearest path to success lies in following the well-laid tracks of our wiser, more experienced elders. We must learn from our elders, embracing their insights and teachings if we are to achieve the greatest successes in life.

Ah, yes, that tragic Saxon leader, John Fitzgerald Kennedy.  We've learned so many lessons from his folly!  Ha!

So I don't think Nathan actually made anything up this time.  He told me he used examples from The Christmas Carol, and Steinbeck's The Pearl.   He was confidant on the rest of the test, only leaving one math problem blank.  I guess we'll see how it all turned out for him in a few weeks.

In the afternoon, we went to Luke's football game.  His team lost, although the quarterback (who got carted off to the ER a few weeks ago and ended up hurting his shoulder significantly, if not breaking it) was actually back today.  Luke was glad to not have to be quarterback, but having so much change probably was unsettling for the team.  Who knows?  Luke was actually glad that the season was over.  He's tired of all the practices and hitting!  He hurt his lower back several weeks ago.  He's been icing it and taking a lot of motrin, but he really needs some time with no one hitting him for it to actually heal.   And then basketball will start up!

After dinner, we had ice cream anyway, to celebrate the end of a good season!  Drew gobbled down an ice cream sandwich in no time at all and really wanted more.  Look at that pleading face!  Alas, he got no more, and instead had to be cleaned up, leading to more tears.  Poor baby!

Starting the Celebration

Caleb doesn't actually turn 12 until Tuesday, but hey, it's November now, and it's never to early too start celebrating!  We brought dessert to Bible study tonight and sang Happy Birthday to him.  Caleb picked the desserts, and he decided not to have cake (yay!).  He picked mint-frosted brownies and frosted banana cookies (which you can't see in the picture).  He made the cookies all by himself, and they were delicious!

The other exciting part of our day was when our next door neighbor, Dr. Joe, rang the doorbell this morning.  He brought over a gallon Ziploc bag with their leftover Halloween candy that they didn't pass out, along with some peppers and tomatoes he had rescued from our garden before the last freeze.  So for anyone who was worried that our kids missed out on candy by not trick-or-treating:  fear no more! 

Oct. 31--Halloween

The girls woke up this morning saying, "It's here!  It's finally here!  It's Chuck E. Cheese Day!!!"  We've never done trick-or-treating with the kids, but when we lived in Colorado, we started going to Chuck E. Cheese with the L's every Halloween.  The tradition continues--although Nathan did point out to me yesterday, "You know, Mom, Chuck E. Cheese isn't really that much fun.  I used to think it was the second best day of the year after Christmas!"  Ah, yes, my son . . . you are growing older, LOL.  I told him now he could have fun watching his younger siblings have fun, especially Drew and Micah!  He and Luke were lots of help in walking around with them.  Micah was quite entranced by all the games, as well as by the screens on the wall by where we ate dinner.  I couldn't even get him to look at the camera!

Nathan did say his Mario Kart score has improved since he started driving.  Ha!  When Faith was playing this game, Amy P. said Grace was crouching on the floor, holding down the accelerator for her.  Teamwork!  It's good to see such cooperation.

Drew was also enthralled by all the lights and sounds.  He ate a ton of stuff, and then he crawled around for awhile, pushing whatever buttons he could find.  I'm reading a fascinating book (that I will post about once I finish) about our societal lack of (intestinal) microbes and how that is affecting our allergy rates and rates of autoimmune disorders, so I didn't worry at all about him being exposed to tons of stuff everywhere!  (Like I would have been worried anyway, LOL--I've never been called a germaphobe.) 

So everyone had fun, we came home with the usual assortment of cheap candy and knick-knacks "bought" with our tickets, and now the little over-stimulated ones are all in bed.  I'm looking forward to the time when all the kids are old enough to play games all by themselves, and Bob and I can just hang out at the table the whole time, chatting with our friends!  At least I wasn't heavily pregnant this year, making a thousand trips to the bathroom, like last year!

Oct. 30--Work Day

This morning Nathan and Luke had their online history class, and the rest of us did school and got the house back together from Tuesday.  When we come home Tuesday around 5:15, everything just gets dumped everywhere, and there is mad chaos as we try to get Nathan and Luke off to CAP, everyone else fed, and Micah and Drew down as early as possible since they are absolutely fried from the long Rivendell day.  Hey--I am too!  And totally exhausted, so nothing gets really set back to rights until Wednesday morning.

In the afternoon, Christine came by to pick up the boys to take them to the church so they could help our church administrator, Brian, with yard work.  The church is on a largish piece of property, with a lot of trees and bushes, so there was plenty to do!  The boys were absolutely thrilled to be using Brian's equipment.  He also has a landscaping business, so he has lots of cool stuff.  For example, the boys did not rake.  No, they used these cool backpack leafblower things, as well as one big powerful thing that was different but also blew leaves (in an even cooler fashion).  Obviously, I didn't get all the details, but much fun was had, and Luke even said he thought they should go help Mr. S. every Wednesday afternoon!  Plus, they got Dr. Peppers at the end, so that was just icing on the cake.

Christine and I had to work out this complicated way to get the boys where they needed to be, because even the big van is no longer big enough for all of us!  She came over to our house, left Elena to play with the girls, and took all 8 boys in our big van.  She dropped off 7 of them, then took Isaac to meet someone for a Boy Scout thing.  Then she came back to our house, dropped off the big van, and took Elena plus our girls back to her house to play.  Then I went back in the big van with Drew and Micah to pick up the boys, dropping the McC boys off at the their house and picking up our girls.  We can no longer take the McC boys in the big van with all of us--we only have 2 open seats, even without Bob being there!  We're not moving up to a 15 passenger van though.  There's no storage in the back at all!

After dinner, baths, and putting down Micah and Drew, Bob and I went out to buy new shoes for me.  I've had the same pair of running shoes (which I don't actually run in, of course, although I do a lot of walking, LOL) since November 8, 2007.  That means I have walked in them through 3 pregnancies!  They have been very faithful and comfortable shoes, but alas, they are finally giving out.  I bought another pair of Asics, also with purple and white.  The only difference is that while the old pair was a size 8, the new pair is an 8 1/2.  So now my feet, which were size 7 or 7 1/2 up until I started having kids, are now officially at least a whole size bigger.  Oh well. May this pair last another 6 years--I hate shopping!

Oct. 29--Dwarves

Nathan and Luke had a party at Civil Air Patrol tonight.  Usually there are 4 Tuesdays in a month, and each Tuesday has a different theme--aerospace education, emergency services, character development, and physical training.  When there is a 5th Tuesday, like this week, the squadron does something special--like a Halloween dress-up party! 

Our younger kids love to dress up, but in general, the older ones don't, really.  We're not the particularly creative type either.  We participate in things like CAP, where there are uniforms, so we DON'T have to be creative with clothes! 

But Nathan and Luke needed costumes.  They wanted to do something "Lord of the Rings" themed, because they are hoping to be able to dress up and go to the midnight premiere of the new Hobbit movies when it opens.  We shall see . . .  They decided to be dwarves, so we hit the party store on Sunday to try to put together an outfit.  We got these lovely wig/beards, which were so realistic and natural looking!  LOL  I spent plenty of time last night braiding them, which was interesting.  The feel of synthetic "hair" in a cheap wig is unique!  Fortunately my Aunt Claire and Uncle Jim gave Luke the "Official Guide" to the making of the Hobbit last year for Christmas, so we had lots of pictures to go by.  The costumes turned out fine, and they had a good time.  Take a good look:  hopefully you will never see so much hair in the house again, real or artificial!

Here is a picture with Helena, my friend Lynnea's oldest daughter, who is also in CAP.  We carpool on Tuesday nights, which is SUCH a blessing!  Helena was an elf, which fit right in with the LOTR theme.  So it was a fun time, but I can't say the boys were sorry to come home and take off the costumes (and the hot wigs)!

Oct. 28

I only have a few minutes for blogging--it's late, and we have Rivendell/TNT tomorrow!  I spent too much time tonight making desserts and braiding dwarf hair for Nathan and Luke.  Hopefully there will be pictures tomorrow, although I can already sense reluctance, especially on Luke's part, LOL.

My day started off with breakfast in bed, courtesy of Caleb and Jonathan!  They made me pancakes, and then they made pancakes for everyone else too.  I'm definitely living the life of ease around here!

Our big point of stress today was a computer problem we actually noticed yesterday but didn't have any time to worry about.  On one of our laptops we have 3 "users".  Well, yesterday morning when we started it up, we couldn't log on under the name we usually do.  It gave a message like "This user profile can not be loaded", and then it would log us back out.  So right there I was stymied.  It's hopeless!  Fortunately, Nathan has been doing a lot with computers lately.  He's on the "Cyberpatriot team" for CAP, which has to do with internet security, and he usually has been the one who solves our computer issues lately (before we always had to call my brother Dan, which is always a good option, and definitely still our back-up plan, LOL).  I thought Nathan could just make us a new account, but that didn't work in so far as we still couldn't access the documents on the computer. We couldn't even do that from the administrator account.  It was frustrating.  While I was taking the girls to gymnastics and running errands, it came to me that we needed to google the phrase that was coming up and see what advice we got.  When I got back home after picking up the girls, Nathan came outside to tell me he had fixed the problem.  He googled it and found the solution!  Hey--great minds and all that.  I am very thankful to have someone here as our personal IT guy!  Now we must keep training them, so we always have someone on hand . . .

Oct. 27

So it was another Sunday, and today proved we are definitely under attack on Sunday mornings!  We decided to try something different, and so Bob didn't take any kids to Sunday School except Drew.  Drew is teething or growing or something, and he's been waking up in the middle of the night again, as well as early, and he's been really crabby.  So he was ready to go early, and I was ready to have him gone!  I handed him and the diaper bag off to Bob at 9:00, and they drove away to church.

The rest of us got ready, and it wasn't too stressful.  I did have to run down to the basement to find a bigger pair of pants for Micah, who also appears to be growing, and Grace had a small meltdown over tights, but things were resolved in a timely manner, and everyone was ready to go, with shoes and jackets on, at 10:15.  As we were preparing to walk out the door, I went to get the big van keys . . . and realized with a sinking feeling, that both sets were in the end pocket of the diaper bag . . . which was of course with Bob and Drew . . . who were already at church.  Sigh.  What can you do?  It's almost funny!

The reason both sets were in there is because yesterday morning I gave a set to Jonathan to open up the van so people could start getting buckled while I made sure everything we needed was in the diaper bag.  By the time I came out (literally not more than 2 minutes later) and asked Jonathan for the keys, he looked blankly at me and couldn't find them.  After a fruitless search for a few minutes, I ran back inside to get the other set of keys, since we were later than I had wanted to be, and I didn't want to miss Caleb McC's race.  Of course, as soon as we got to the meet, Jonathan announced that the keys were in fact in a DIFFERENT pocket then the one (?!) he had checked, so I put that set in the diaper bag as well.  And then I completely forgot about big van keys and never gave them another thought!

So Bob had to come back and rescue us after his Sunday School class was over, and we ended up at church around the same time as we have been lately--significantly late.  At least this time Bob took Micah to the nursery!  We'll see what tactics Satan uses to frustrate me and make us late again next Sunday . . .

After church, Nathan and Luke mowed the L's yard, and then I took them to a store to try to put together dwarf costumes for a Civil Air Patrol social event on Tuesday.  That was a lot of fun!  Then I took Nathan and Anna to get basketball shoes.  We got Nathan's shoes at Sports Authority, and I was going to take Anna to Payless, but the one near us closed at some point without me ever noticing.  Oops!  This necessitated a trip to the mall.

I don't think Anna has ever been to the mall that she remembers, anyway.  I avoid the place like the plague, and if I do have to go (Bob and I went right after Christmas last year, and I think that was the last time), then I certainly don't bring the kids!  Blech.  So anyhow, the mall was a totally new experience for Anna.  To say she was completely enthralled would be a total understatement, LOL.  And the shoe store!!  We have been so incredibly blessed to receive hand-me-downs from very good friends, including shoes, so I have very rarely even had to buy her new shoes.  She has definitely never been in a shoe store (and this is only Payless we are talking about, LOL).  We found basketball shoes for her in short order, but she had to look at each individual pair of shoes in her size, as well as the sizes above and below, just to oooh and aww over them all!  She kept saying, "There are SO many shoes here!  It's amazing!"  After we got home, she told anyone who would listen (and even those who really weren't all that interested) about all the wonderful pairs of shoes she had seen.  It was so funny!  She has always had a thing for shoes . . . I must be a sad disappointment for her!  I think she will grow up to be one of those women with a closet full of shoes, unlike me, who has only a few pairs of shoes, and I regularly only wear about 4 of them!

Oct. 26--Sports Saturday

Nathan had a cross country meet this morning.  It was the home meet for his team, so Bob worked as a finish marshal.  The rest of us got there a little before Nathan's race.  It was a lot windier and colder than I was expecting!  I made everyone wear hoodies, long pants, and socks, so I thought I was doing pretty well, but it turned out that I should have had them wear their heavy winter coats and gloves!  Poor Drew only had on a baseball cap for his bald little head (well, he had it on once he accepted his fate and left it alone).  He was definitely not enjoying the wind. 

We had an interesting time right when we got there.  Parking was in a huge field, and there really were no other cars coming in when we got there.  In fact, there was a race going on right then, and runners were coming around the far end of the field.  We recognized Caleb McC in second place (he ran an earlier race than Nathan because he's 14), and the boys saw Daniel and Joel far away who were cheering Caleb on.  Daniel and Joel started running back toward the finish area, which was a good distance away.  I was strapping Drew into the backpack and getting him on my back, so I didn't see anything.  Jonathan took off running after Daniel and Joel--right into a car that was driving out from a few rows closer.  Luke had a good view, although he was back by me, so not close enough too do anything.  The lady wasn't speeding or anything, but Jonathan had not looked at all where he was going--he just was running.  If she had been just a split second later, she would have definitely hit him.  Jonathan was just fine--not hurt at all--but really shaken up.  He was crying and saying he was sorry.  The lady looked like she had seen a ghost, and she was apologizing.  I'm sure she will have nightmares, poor thing!  Jonathan actually have another brush with death when he got fished out of a hot tub (by a total stranger, since Bob and I didn't even know he was near the hot tub at all) at a hotel near Yellowstone back in 2007, on our way back from my cousin's wedding in Utah.  His guardian angel has had quite a job with him--the Lord must have a special purpose for him!  I will say that we went over parking lot rules again with everyone ("Even fields are parking lots!"), and Jonathan stuck close to me and held my hand during all the walking around during the actual race. 

So Nathan had a good race.  His time wasn't as fast as his last meet, but the course was hillier, and it was pretty windy too.  At least it wasn't raining!

The kids and I came home before the awards ceremony at the meet so that Luke could get ready for his football game.  Fortunately, he was picked up by his teammate's mom, so I didn't have to worry about getting him to the game while I was trying to get everyone lunch.  Drew desperately needed a nap, and no one else was all that excited about going out in the cold and wind, so Nathan stayed home with them, and Bob and I went on a date to the game!  We didn't get there until the end of the 3rd quarter, and the score was tied at 0-0.  But we got there, and things started happening!  The other team scored, but Luke's team blocked the extra point.  Then Luke led his team down the field, and they scored, but they didn't convert their extra point either.  Then there was a flub with the kickoff, and the other team scooped up the ball and ran it in for a touchdown.  That was demoralizing, but Luke's team again blocked their PAT, and then they marched back up the field and scored again.  Luke even had a beautiful pass on the drive.  Then Luke passed for the extra point conversion, so they won by one point!  It was very exciting!  This was the last regular season game, so now they are headed to the play-offs at 6-1.  This is so amazing, considering how few players they have had, especially these last few games.  Today they again had only 11 players, but this time no one was injured, so they ended up with 11!

So it was an exciting day, and when Bob and I came home, I gave Drew and Micah a bath.  Micah kept saying, "Pee" in the tub, so I thought he needed to go.  After I got him out, he looked uncomfortable, so I put him on the potty, and he peed!  (Note to new moms of boys:  I put my boys on the big potty facing backwards.  This way they can hold onto the tank, so they feel more secure, and also it spreads their legs so that everything is pointing in the right direction:  down.  When they sit facing frontwards, it is easy for boys to just sort of spray out.)  So that was VERY exciting, since he has previously been VERY resistant to the idea of even sitting on the potty, and he certainly has never produced anything!  There were celebratory M&Ms for all, and everyone is hoping he repeats his successes tomorrow!  It was a big day for everyone!

Oct. 25

Today we cleaned.  That is because tonight I hosted a spaghetti dinner for the moms in our elementary co-op tonight, and, like my friend Anja says, we only really clean when someone is coming over!  Not that we're living in filth or anything, but my house is not normally one that looks like it belong in a magazine or anything.  It's the kind of house where people come over and say, "I feel so . . . comfortable . . . here", or "Your house looks so . . . lived-in . . ." Tonight I heard someone one say, "It looks good in here considering there are 9 kids running around!"  which is the same sort of compliment as "You look great for having 9 kids", LOL.  But it's good to have people over because it forces us to get the couch cleaned, and shred papers and clean under things and so on!  Luke especially gets motivated by people coming over, and then he marshals the troops and really stays on top of everyone.  I had to run to Walmart and Sams this afternoon, and when I came back, the place (well, main floor, anyway) was spotless!

We had a small group for the meeting--only 13 of us moms.  Usually we have this fall pasta dinner on a Sunday evening, and people always complain because it makes Sunday a long day, there's AWANA and evening church, and so on, but it turns out that a lot more people come on a Sunday night than on a Friday night!  I made a big pot of spaghetti sauce, as well as noodles, and everyone else brought bread, salads, desserts, or drinks. We had tons left over.  Cooking for 13 is only 2 more than I normally cook for--I could have just made the whole meal!  But it was nice to have a small group--more chance for individual conversation.  It was a really nice time!  The kids are happy because there was a lot of left-over dessert, which people left here, so they are looking forward to great eating tomorrow, after the cross-country meet and football game!

Oct. 24

 We got our big couch back when we lived in Ohio.  We were discussing it last night, and there was some question about exactly when, so I looked in my scrapbooks.  It appears we got it around the beginning on March, 2003, right before we went on a trip down to FL for a TDY of Bob's, where we stayed with the L's, who were stationed there at the time.  And now I remember leaving for that trip, and having some new friends of ours house-sit, but for some reason, the middle section (which is a hide-a-bed) was not delivered, so the cough had a huge gap in it while the Andersons were there!

Anyhow, this couch has served us very faithfully.  We knew we needed a bigger couch, but back then it was just the 6 of us--good thing we went REALLY big, because we still all fit on there, with room to spare!

But this poor, faithful couch was starting to look a bit . .  grimy.  Too many dirty hands and feet have been on it, and too many babies have spit up after nursing on it!  Over the past 10 years, we've spot-cleaned, but it was clear something more drastic needed to happen.  Actually, Bob has pushed for the most drastic step of all--getting a new couch--but I think we should wait a few more years, until the littlest mess-makers are older.  Why ruin a new couch?! 

So Bob called Chem-Dry, and they came out and cleaned our couch this morning.  That meant that last night, we had to take it apart and clean under it.  The last time we took it apart was almost 4 years ago, when we got new carpet in the family room, back when we thought we were PCSing to Guam and would have to sell.  There was quite a treasure trove under there this time!

We found a grand total of 108 writing utensils.  No wonder it seems like I am always buying pens and pencils at WalMart!  Our couch has been eating them!  It is really impossible to get between the 2 sections above without disconnecting the couch, and well, who has time for that, LOL, so that is why that area is particularly bad.  I even found my long-lost purple mechanical pencil with the 0.5 lead that I loved!  There were lots of other puzzle pieces, coins, magnets, lego pieces, and other random junk.  It's a good idea to clean out from under your couch every 4 years!  I'll make a note of that . . .

Chem-Dry did an excellent job, and the couch looks a good 10 years younger!  Maybe it will last until the younger kid is 5 or so after all! 

Oct. 23--Random Thoughts

1.  Nathan got his Forsus Appliance put in today.  He now has 2 slinkies in his mouth!  If he is a bit grumpy, you'll know why, LOL.  He has been taking motrin, and he says it doesn't so much hurt right now, as feel like his jaws don't fit right.  It's hard to chew, and the springs are in the way.  We had ice cream tonight, but it was a small consolation.  We're hoping this thing works quickly!

2.  We definitely need a new mattress.  I have been very deliberately and faithfully sleeping on my right side only for the past 2 weeks, and now my right hip is hurting!  I do not relish searching for a new mattress, that is for sure.  Sigh.  Why can't things last forever?!  I loved our mattress for years!  Makes us look forward to heaven . . .

3.  Luke and I are agreed that bananas just aren't our favorite fruit.  He thinks they are "slimy".  I don't mind the taste, but only if they are just barely ripe--they still need to have a hint of green on them.  Even then, if I don't have peanut butter (or nutella!) on it, then by the time I'm almost done eating a banana, it makes me gag.  But the rest of the family usually loves bananas, so I buy humongous quantities.  Until they all of a sudden go on a banana strike.  We had 2 full bunches of bananas turn splotchy this past weekend.  Even Drew, who was gobbling down bananas, started just smooshing them all over his high chair tray instead of easting them.  For Rivendell on Tuesday, I made a banana snack cake in my giant "casserole dish" (a 17 1/2 by 11 1/2 buffet serving pan from Sams) using 7 bananas.  I was glad to use them up!  Today I gave Drew chunks of banana while he was sitting on the kitchen floor (as a distraction from him hanging on my legs and pulling down my pants while I cooked dinner), and he did eat all of that.  So maybe he was just protesting being in his high chair while eating bananas, LOL.

4.  Bob took Jonathan, the 3 girls, and Micah swimming tonight.  Every so often we join our local rec center for a month.  It's $84 for a month-long family membership, so that is certainly worth it for us! 

5.  Grace has finally mastered riding her bike without training wheels!  Faith just picked it up while we were at White Sulphur Springs for the Wright-Pat retreat in September, and Grace really wanted to learn, seeing as how she is older than Faith, but she just was a bit too timid and wouldn't ride her bike fast enough to stay upright!  But this weekend Bob helped her a lot, and she finally got the hang of it!  So most afternoons now she and Faith are outside, riding their bikes around the cul-de-sac.  Yay, Grace!

Oct. 22

Bob and I went on a hot date to pick up Nathan, Luke, and my friend Lynnea's oldest daughter Helena from Civil Air Patrol tonight.  You may be thinking, "But don't you have a 16 year old son?  Shouldn't he be getting his driver's license, so you don't have to do all this running around?"  Why yes, we do!  And yes, he should! 

A few years ago, when 16 year olds we knew didn't not immediately get their licenses, I just couldn't understand it.  What could possibly take so long?  Just make it a priority!  Ha--NOW I understand.  It is really, really hard to fit in a ton of extra driving time.  There.  That's really and honestly the truth. 

Nathan registered for the online class late this summer, and he started doing all the modules.  That counts as the "classroom" portion of driver's ed.  He's done 4 of the 7 modules, so he's coming along there, but the program times the pages, so each page stays up these arbitrary (long) times, like 15 or 30 minutes, depending on how long they think it will take you to read and absorb whatever concept is there.  But it's not exactly rocket science, especially if you in fact already have your learner's permit, as Nathan does, so he will read the page, then go off and do something else while waiting for the time to be done, and then forget to go back for awhile.  So it has taken awhile to get this far.

Once he finishes that, then we can send in the printed off pages showing he completed each module, along with proof that we homeschool and some other forms that either Bob or I will fill out, and the DMV will send back something that says he or I can be an approved driving instructor for Nathan.  Then we will have to do about 12 hours of formal in-the-car driving, like the kind I did in the car with the little "student driver" sign on the top.  I'm looking ahead, and I'm just not seeing where this kind of time is going to fit in!  It doesn't seem like much, but each session is supposed to consist of 50 minutes of him observing me driving, and then 50 minutes of him driving (at least 50 miles).  Umm . . . I don't have 100 minutes to toodle around town right now, much less times 7!!  But I most likely have more time than Bob would. 

Along with this formal driving training, Nathan has to drive 45 hours with us, including 15 hours of nighttime driving.  You can start that as soon as you get your permit, which Nathan got back in February, so we are doing well in that area, especially since we drove to Ohio as well as to White Sulphur Springs a few times this summer. 

This is really once again an area where the oldest kid is at a complete disadvantage.  We should have had Nathan doing the computer coursework as soon as he got his permit--or even before!  Then we could have done the formal part during the summer, as well as worked on his 45 hours of practice.  I predict that Luke will get his license in a quicker manner, simply because we will know what we are doing!  Nathan technically could get his license mid-November--as soon as he has held his permit for 9 months--but he won't be anywhere near done with all the requirements.  I am hoping he gets it before basketball season ends in March, since he is going to coach Caleb and Jonathan's team, as well as ref games for the house league he used to play for!  It would be lovely if he could get himself there!

Oct. 21--Becoming a Family of 11

When Bob and I got married, we didn't set out to have a big family.  I was still in college, and just a few months after we got married, I had a blood clot in my right arm that resulted in me being hospitalized for over a week while doctors tried to dissolve it.  After that, I was put on Coumadin, a potent teratogenic drug, so I was on birth control pills, so I would not become pregnant while on the Coumadin.  (Ironically, now that I am off the Coumadin, no doctor will ever put me back on the Pill, because of its increased potential for clotting!)  I had surgery to remove my right first rib (which was constricting the vein, causing the clotting) 2 years later, right before I graduated from college.

 

The surgery solved that problem, but combined with our PCS to Colorado a month later, my body pretty much shut down.  I had always just expected that I would be able to get pregnant whenever I wanted to, in this case, now that I had graduated, so it was a bit of a shock that it wasn't happening, and I was at a bit of a loss as to what to do with myself.  Bob was stationed at Cheyenne Mountain, and he was working this weird schedule of all 3 shifts, a different shift each week, with an 8 day work week.  Since he rarely had regular weekends off, and I wasn't working, we got to do a lot of fun things like camping when it wasn't very crowded, and it was a good time for our marriage.  I did worry that maybe we would never be able to have kids, though, since I was really having no cycles whatsoever.

 

Anyhow, a little over a year later, Bob was selected to be the aide for a vice admiral, the deputy CINC of Space Command.  With that new job came a more regular schedule--and lo and behold, I got pregnant a month later. 

 

After Nathan was born, we weren't too serious about any kind of birth control, since we had so much trouble getting pregnant, so it was a surprise when I found out I was pregnant with Luke right after Nathan had his 1 year birthday!  I figured my body had sort of been shocked back into working or something. 

 

After Luke was born, I stopped nursing the earliest with him (6 months) because he was so small.  I also was not really interested in becoming pregnant again right then, so we used birth control if we thought about it, LOL.  There is an over 2 1/2 year gap between Luke and Caleb, so something worked. 

 

I got pregnant with Caleb right after we moved to Ohio.  He had all the allergies, so I stopped nursing him at 9 months because I just couldn't deal with the "no dairy, wheat, eggs, or nuts" cooking rule for myself too.  And I got pregnant later that month!

 

A month after Jonathan turned 1, we moved to Virginia.  The first year after moving is always hard, when you are trying to get established, and it was definitely hard with 4 little boys running around.  I was tired and emotionally drained, and I was absolutely not interested in being pregnant.  I was definitely thinking at that point that babies were just coming all the time, whenever I wanted them, and I did NOT want one.  I remember telling Bob, "Don't even touch me!" 

 

But a little while later, things settled down, and I started thinking that maybe it would be nice to have another one.  So we stopped using any birth control . . . but no pregnancy happened.  In fact, it kept on not happening.  I eventually started charting my temperature and fertility signs each morning, and I discovered that I was having there really long (greater than 40 day) cycles, with only a very small (less than 2 day) fertile window.  I guess babies weren't just happening whenever I felt like it!  Not being able to get pregnant made me realize that I really did want another baby very much.  We were very happy to find out in July 2005 that we were expecting again--and we definitely didn't take it for granted!

 

After Anna was born, I was completely and totally shocked to discover that I was pregnant again, and that I had gotten pregnant when Anna was about 4 months old!  I know people can get pregnant nursing, but that had never been my experience.  I was always fertile right around the time I stopped nursing!  At that point, Bob and I both really realized that we were totally not in control of this area, much as we might like to think we were.  Clearly God was giving us children when he thought we needed them, to force us to depend on him and look to him. 

 

After Grace was born, we just sort of gave up on any birth control.  We were lazy about it to begin with, and God had shown himself to be faithful.  Since her, I have only gotten pregnant as I was nursing less/the previous baby is around a year old, so that definitely IS my body's pattern--God just reached down and sent Grace to us as a special gift!

 

The question people always ask (or at least think, even if they are too polite to ask, LOL) is, "Are you done now?"  And we always say, "Who knows?"  (or if you're talking to Bob, "We'll see what the Lord has in mind!")  I'm 40 now, and life is really busy now that we have high schoolers (although that conversely makes it easier to have babies, since I know what I am doing there, and have help so I can actually enjoy the babies more!)  Before I had never really been able to see "being done", but now I am easing into the idea.  At some point, it will be nice to get rid of all the tubs of children's clothes and shoes down in the basement--we'll have so much ROOM down there then!  But we're not going to do anything drastic, that's for sure. 

 

And for those who think that they really DO have this area under control, then I'm sure the Lord will use some other area to remind you that he is higher than your plans, and you don't have all the control in life that you think you do!

 

Oct. 20--Sundays

Today was Sunday, and I made it through the day.  I even debuted my new Bible cover, which Bob bought for me from CBD!  My old one we bought back when I graduated from college, and Bob bought me my NIV study Bible.  It has served me faithfully these past 18 years, but it was starting to split, so it was time to say goodbye.  I knew I wanted one that had handles like a purse because my old one didn't--it had a handle along the spine of the Bible.  When people went to pick up my Bible, but it wasn't zipped up, then everything fell out all over the place.  Hopefully that won't happen anymore.  I love this new cover!  I think it's so pretty!

Otherwise, though, and I'll just be really honest here--Sundays are really hard days, and I always feel the most defeated and like the biggest failure on Sunday mornings.  It's especially hard on days when we're transitioning seasons, like right now.  Everyone is clamoring for long-sleeve church shirts, black shoes, tights, and so on, and that is when I remember that I actually threw away a few pairs of black girls church shoes at the end of last winter because they were falling apart, and no one can find things that fit.  The girls ended up wearing long-sleeved dresses with their summer sandals/flip flops because that was all we could find.  Oh well, we have never made any claims about style. 

Since we merged churches a few weeks ago, we've started up a Sunday school program, now that we have classrooms.  Bob is volunteering this month in the 5th/6th grade class, so he has to be there at 9:15.  Usually he takes the 4 older boys as well as the girls, just leaving me Micah and Drew, which is what happened today.  And everything seemed to be going fine--Micah didn't even have a meltdown during breakfast or getting dressed, which has been one frequent source of stress and lateness.  St 10:05, both boys were dressed and ready to go, so I thought we were in surprisingly good shape--maybe we won't be late, like we always are!  Then I asked Micah to get me his shoes.  "Here it is!" he happily said.  "Where's the other one?"  "I dunno!" 

I wasn't too worried because the one shoe was in a pile in front of these shoe shelves we have, so surely the other one wasn't far off.  I searched and searched, growing more and more frantic and harried, but the other shoe was absolutely nowhere to be found.  At 10:25 I had to declare defeat and go downstairs to the basement to find him another pair of shoes by digging around in my big "box o' boy shoes".  Fortunately I was able to eventually find him a pair of shoes even the same size, which begs the question of "why did I even have 2 pairs of size 7 1/2 tennis shoes?"  Most likely, I had one pair at one time, lost it for awhile, and had to buy a second one, but then found the first one.  Sigh. 

So we head off to church at 10:30, for a service that starts at . . . 10:30.  Significantly late again!Getting to church, I still have to get Micah and Drew signed in and dropped off at the nursery.  Micah skipped merrily down the hall, talking about seeing his little friend Amara, but as soon as we got down to his door, he wouldn't go in, and he pitched a huge fit, disturbing the tenuous peace of the nursery.  I sat down in a classroom down the hallway to wait him out, because last Sunday I went over to the sanctuary, but then they paged me to come back, although by the time I made it back, he had settled down.  Once again, he settled down after about 5 minutes of loud crying right by the door, so I then went to the service, which was well underway, and totally full.  So I sat outside for a few minutes, until all the kids were dismissed for children's church, and Bob found me and showed me where they were sitting.  I kept thinking, "I should have just stayed home.  I detest Sunday mornings."  But the sermon was good, as always, and it reminded me that I go to church to stay grounded in my faith, "keeping myself in God's love", as it says in Jude 21 (we're going through Jude right now).  It's a discipline.  It was a good reminder.  So I'll keep on slogging through Sunday mornings, and if you see me, you can say things like, "Hey, at least you made it here!" because that is literally how I feel. 

I keep telling myself--eventually Sundays will be easier.  In the meantime, I have taken myself off the nursery roster because I really couldn't deal with another thing making me feel like a giant fail on Sunday mornings, and there my being late was actually affecting others.  You know, I used to never be late.  Never.  Or unorganized.  Sigh.

All this reminds me of something I shared on Facebook a few weeks ago.  It's really good--read the whole thing, even though this lady is obviously gifted in completely different ways than me, LOL.  Here's an excerpt:

As I look back at my life I can see that almost every time that there was something that I felt good at, or capable of, or confident in, God would give me a wonderful opportunity to lay it down. There is a way of looking at it that says, “God just keeps not letting me be happy! He just makes the conditions perfect for me to be miserable! He knew that I need a certain amount of alone time every day and He keeps not giving it to me!”
But this is the way that I see it. Those things that I consider part of my personality – loving to decorate, loving to cook, wanting things to be beautiful and organized and perfectly crafty and satisfying. I believe in these things. But I believe in them as things that I can use to honor my Creator. Back in the days when I wasn’t being challenged, these things came naturally, and I believed in them because I could cobble together reasons that they were good. But they primarily came from my own strength. I could be that way without really any pushback. So God brought the push back. He made it take more than the capacity I think I have to do these things. He said to me, “I know you like it, and you think you believe it. Now I’d like to see you do it without yourself.” God isn’t interested in my strength. He is interested in my obedience in weakness. Do you hear that? God said enough with my hobbies and my preferences. Lets see about her obedience and her faith . . . Anything that I felt capable of doing,  God will both make it seem impossible and simultaneously ask me to do it. And there I am – in the sweetest place you can ever be – relying on Him. Walking in faith. Living in joy.
This broken feeling is only broken if it stays there. If it stops in self-pity. If it wallows in grief about the lost emotions of our journaling days. But this is richer. When we seek His joy instead of our own, when we lay our best on His altar, and we have nothing left for ourselves, that is when we are truly accomplishing His purpose in our lives.
We are not broken. We are being healed. We are not alone. We are in His hands. We are not overwhelmed. We have a champion. We are not stupid. We are being made wise. We are not weak. For He is not weak. We are not hopeless.  For we are His.

So there is hope.  And there is even hope in the rest of Sunday.  This afternoon there was a ladies tea at church, and it was so wonderful to just sit and visit with friends.  I had a lovely time!  Then I came home and did some more cleaning.  I wasn't as productive as I was yesterday, but I did throw out one thing I thought I should memorialize here:

This pair of size 3 tennis shoes was worn by all 6 boys!  Now the Velcro doesn't really stay down anymore, and they're just done.  When I was downstairs rooting through the shoe box, I found the size 4 pair of tennis shoes for Drew, so I brought those up.  I officially retired these to the trash can, but I did take a picture first!