A Thousand Bibles

Driving home from the library this afternoon, Kylie, commenting on some "problem kids" in the neighborhood, "We need to get them a Bible!" she said, and paused . . "Maybe a thousand Bibles!"

Hmmm.

Anyway, we had a hard time getting it together today. I let the kids watch a movie last night after we got back from church, so they didn't get to bed until 10:00. As a result, surprisingly, they're crabby today. Keri Lynn is trying to get over a cold, too. Kylie is starting to cough again. And when I went for a check-up today, my blood pressure was high -- enough for the doctor to up my prescription. THAT was really depressing.

I suppose I'm going to have to get back to my walking regiment and maybe even counting some calories. Earlier this year, I did what I do quite regularly. I set up lofty goals and, shockingly enough, didn't meet them. What I really need to do is go for the smaller more attainable goals and head forward not back. The problem with this "tortoise" mentality is that it takes a lot more discipline than just getting it all done in one speeding glorious shot. Sigh.

Make the Runaway Train Stop!

I'm having a hard time believing that November is coming to a close. That means that December is right around the corner, and perhaps there is a reason why Christmas decorations have been popping up all over the place and schedules are so full.

Keri Lynn and Kristofer are going to a youth weekend event at the church. Five of the kids will be participating in their Christmas choir program on Sunday. We've been invited to a neighbor's Christmas party. We're also supposed to go to a family night at our church on Saturday night. Meanwhile, I'm supposed to be working on the Christmas letter . . . HA! . . Make the runaway train stop!

This morning, I went to the end of the semester Bible study/Christmas party. I was looking for a place to sit with my Christmas brunch plate, when the Bible study leader saw me, called for me to join her at her table and introduced me to another lady as "the one who asks all those HARD questions." I've been SO IMPRESSED by how she has taught Revelation. That book is not exactly the easiest book to present, especially in our Left Behind Tribulation mentality.

Keith calls me his "little heretic wife" because I've got some off-the-beaten-path ideas in interpreting Revelation. The biggie being that I don't believe that the church will be raptured. I think that all of the text that would support rapture better supports simply Christ's Second Coming and the ushering in of the millennium. I also don't believe that Israel will be singled out in the end times, but that it represents the church in general, in that there are no longer Jews or Greeks, circumcised or uncircumcised -- we're all in it together! ANYWAY, I LOVE to debate these issues and I LOVE to talk about Old Testament and New Testament connections. God's Word is amazing! So rich.

I've recently discovered dictionary.com when I was checking on the definition of a word I wanted to use.. This is such a cool site. They'll send you a word for the day and I'm hoping to get some good use out of it, maybe even use it for the kids' school, as well.

November trees

God's majesty and artistry on display

Love, love, love the blue sky!

Typical Georgia trees

I just loved the shadows in this one.

Pines are about the only green we'll see until spring.

Mom and Rich's visit in November

Gabriel sacked out in the living room after a busy day at play.

Mom and Rich.

My Mom and her oldest grandchild.

I managed to get Gabriel to be still for 2 seconds for this picture. He's the little guy who fell out of a two-story window, and the Lord graciously spared him.

"You want a picture of me, Aunt Jackie? Me? Okay!"

Lola with Kathleen.

Kylie and Lola.

Konner and Lola

Kade and Lola

Whose kid is this?!

Lola is an exact replica of her Mom -- my sister Connie. I didn't see it before until I saw a picture of her at the same age. It was Twilight Zone weird!

Bonfire

Here we are at the deck watching Keith work his Magic Fire! One of the great things about fall is the firebugs, such as my husband, can burn leaves, brush, dead tree parts, all completely legally with one simple call to the county for a burn permit. The kids, as you can see from the pictures, were fascinated with the process.

Diaper Daze

Warning: The following is not for the weak of stomach . . .

I find it profoundly funny sometimes to think that I'm a mom of seven because I've never been good at dealing with diarrhea, vomiting, splinters and blood. Case in point . . .

Tonight, Keva filled her diaper. She did it up real good, too. The school had put on her last diaper, and someone had not done a good job, because the contents thereof did not actually get deposited INTO the diaper. Instead, it got down her leg and caked onto pants and limb with amazing bonding power. (Superglue had nothing on that stuff!) Anyway, it stunk to high heaven. I managed to remove her shoes, shocks and pants and stick her into the tub. She went SOME MORE in the tub -- Apparently, she'd been saving it up. I finally got HER clean, then while she soaked, I made my way back to her room wishing I was wearing protective gear and threw diaper and pants into a scented trash bag. I just could not bring myself to rinse out the pants. It was too gross. She had two pairs of pants the same color anyway. Now she has one. : )

Okay, on to more innocuous things.

We've resumed reading The Chronicles of Narnia in the evenings. We'd gotten out of the habit, there for a while, and then it occurred to me "Hey, let's start reading again!" So we're nearly through with The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. That series has got to be one of the richest children's literature ever.

Once we got started, the kids' imaginations flared. All of the writers got their notebooks out and started writing their own stories. Keri Lynn is always writing a story, so that was nothing new. (Her stories are usually about princesses and princes and horses and lots of other sweet things.) And Kristofer sometimes gets the writing urge as well. He'll write well into the night with much enthusiasm about Bionocle-type creatures, wars, action and lots of drams. Lately, though, Kathleen has gotten the writing bug. She tends towards more reality-based writing. And tonight Kylie showed me a story she had written about a trip to the mall to a Build-a-Bear Workshop. Too cute! It does my homeschooler's heart good to see a spontaneous writers workshop like that.

Kathleen and Kylie both are allowed to read until 9:30 each night. I encouraged Kathleen to move to a longer chapter book, Understood Betsy, and to stay with it even though it seemed boring at first. She came to me last night all excited, "You were RIGHT, Mommy! It's a really good book . . . " and then proceeded to give me every last detail of the story until my eyes started rolling back into my head. Kylie, who started with American Girl books, but got discouraged because they were too hard, is now reading by the chapter instead of by the page. I think she's finally got it! The fact that she wrote out a story tonight helped me to realize how much she has improved over this last year.

I'm pretty sure that Kade and Konner will never learn to read. I'll just rename them Konan and K'TArzan. We go through the phonics sounds over and over and over and over AND over again . . . Sigh. I guess they're learning SOME things, though. Each day (usually) we go through the books of the Bible (we've gotten as far as Ezra), reciting of months/days of the week, counting, going over address and phone number, their birthday, etc. The A Beka sales guy encouraged me to put them in the same first grade work this year, but I'm pretty sure that neither of them are ready for it -- especially Konner who could really care less about formal education.

Back to Business

Mondays.

A fresh start.

We're back to our routine after a visit from family (So nice to see Mom and Rich and Lola and Gabe), several rounds of coughs and colds, Thanksgiving, and a full week of vacation for Keith from work and for the rest of us from school. Even Keva had the full Thanksgiving week off.

Whew!

I'm tired!

Nevertheless, I've gotten back to business. Keri Lynn started one of three dishwasher loads for the day. I'm on the third of about 12 loads of laundry that need to be done. We're just finishing up lunch, so clean-up of the house will commence shortly. I'm plugged into my latest book on tape. And I've got a dozen plans for the rest of the day stored haphazardly in my head -- mostly having to do with bills, filing, room organization.

For vacation, we stayed at home and relaxed. I think this was an especially important rest for Keith who has been working very hard for quite a few months on his two-job schedule. His last vacation from Delta was only his second week on his new job at AAA Cooper. That timing was very important and allowed him to survive that first tough month.

We celebrated Thanksgiving just us. I got a smaller turkey this go-around. When we ate pie later on in the day, we all got comfortable in the family room to watch the Pixar movie, Cars. I hadn't seen it yet, so the kids kept interrupting to tell me, "Watch this, Mommy! This part's funny!" Then, when the kids were in bed, Keith and I settled back to watch The Matrix. It was definitely one of those days where you just sit back, breath out a big sigh, and appreciate the many blessings of life.

We needed that rest, because the very next day it was OFF TO THE RACES as we began Christmas shopping, cleaned up things around the house, and buying shoes for kids. We took over Payless for a couple of hours. (Got to love BOGO!) And left with 16 pairs of shoes and three purses for $180. Not bad, I say, considering three of the kids are wearing adult-sized shoes at adult pricing. We shouldn't need shoes again for another, oh, four months at least!

Then, yesterday, we attempted a family picture at the fireplace. We decided to do it ourselves so that we could have Kody in the picture. (Places that photograph family pets are not places that we can afford!) Anyway, with ironing, dress-up, and mayhem, we completed that job before running off for The Greening of the Church. The Annie Moses Band performed as well. WOW! They were AMAZING! Once again, I really would like to learn the violin. Such a beautiful soulful instrument.

I suppose I should get back to my responsibilities! Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Coming up for air

Coming up for air . . . . We're still sick, me in particular, but getting better.

Kylie and Konner both, with the help of antibiotics, are doing much better. We don't all sound like a chorus of coughing. I sound like a dying whale, but don't feel horrible, at least.

Mom, Rich and Lola and Gabriel were here from Saturday night through this morning. I took them this morning to pick up a rental car for their continuing vacation up through Tennessee to visit friends there, a stop to see Beth in Illinois (right before she makes her way back to California) and then to see Rich's family in Wisconsin. I also took Keri Lynn to the airport this morning for her regular ortho visit in California. Then, I came home to settle everyone in before going to Women's Bible Study.

I'm TIRED!

But, alas, there is no rest for the weary. We did some clean-up, I've done a few loads of laundry, caught up with dishes and got a jump on some bill paying. (I LOATH doing the bills.)
The visit with my family went well. We got to take them to church on Sunday. The weather started out a little crisp, but by Monday and Tuesday it had warmed up very nicely. Even the trees cooperated with their splendor of color. Connie's kids had a great time. They both screeched at the dog for the first few days, but by yesterday, they decided he was all right, which was good because Kody was starting to get nervous!

Mom and Rich bought us five fruit trees and Rich planted them for us in the backyard. I thought that was a very thoughtful housewarming present! Mom has visions of canned fruits and warm apple pies.

Lola talked up a storm. She especially enjoyed playing in the "yarden." Gabriel hung out with Kade and Konner and got plenty dirty himself. He and Kade were missing at one point and I found them across the street in Mac's backyard playing in their sandbox. We also took them to our favorite park. Rich watched the kids while Mom and I stayed in a warm car with a sleeping Gabriel and talked.

We didn't end up going anywhere special in particular, but instead found it very relaxing to just hang out at home and let the kids play together. Mom kept commenting about how kid-friendly our house is. I figure, if anything, our house is as kid-friendly as you can get!

On Sunday, I cooked a Thanksgiving dinner for us to celebrate with family. Mom made her famous rolls and the turkey came out REALLY good! The next few day, we got treated to several meals out -- Taco Bell, El Charro, and Shanes Rib Shack. I also got to cook some of my "specialties" -- "Make your Own Tacos", french toast, homemade refried beans, and Granddaddy's Pizzas. We ate well.

I have to say that I'd forgotten how busy and messy and loud a four-year-old and a two-year-old can be. Konner is nearing his SIXTH birthday. My baby!!! My own kids do so much for themselves now, but I remember those days when it was all I could do to just make it to bed time! So to Connie, I repeat (as I've said so many times before), "Hang in there! They really do get older! Don't miss out on the sweetness of this busy, messy, loud season of life!"
It's been raining all day today. We're supposed to have severe thunderstorms tonight with the possibility of tornadoes. So, we'll have to keep the weather channel on tonight. I was hoping that perhaps our guests would get to experience a thunderstorm before they left, but they missed that one. Maybe it was just as well, since they had all of that driving to do.

Colds and Misery

I slept fitfully last night. I'm sure that when I was sleeping I was snoring like a locomotive. Keith wasn't bothered since he was having his own troubles sleeping. We're all sick -- every last one of us -- in varying degrees -- with a cold. 'Tis the season!

We figure we'll be at our apex of misery just about the time that Mom and Rich and Connie's kids come for their visit. We'll pick them up from the airport tomorrow night and cough all over them, first thing. Then we'll take them home to our germ infested house to completely finish them off. I'll cook. Should be loads of fun. Then, by the time we see them off on Wednesday morning, they should be good and sick for their drive to Wisconsin.

Sigh.

I was exhausted when I put Keva on the bus and decided to "call in sick" for homeschool. The good news is that Keva is feeling better, so those who don't get ear infections or bronchitis should pull through fairly quickly. As soon as everyone was settled in with breakfast and Keith had dragged his poor body out the door, I went back to bed and slept for 2 1/2 hours. Then, when I woke up to the sounds of "Kody peed in the hallway!" I got up and called the pediatrician.

Our regular pediatrician wasn't in, but a stand-in doctor saw us right away. I brought in the two sickest -- Kylie the Cough-o-matic and Konner the Snotster. The doctor couldn't have been more than 4 1/2 feet and looked about 12 years old, but the pharmacy accepted her prescription, so I'm guessing she's legit. I'm supposed to give Kylie a nebulizer treatment every night and spray both of their noses with some medicine for the congestion.

After the pharmacy, I gave in to Taco Bell cravings, having not had breakfast yet, and brought home food for the starving minions for lunch. Kody right away decided to sample some of Kylie's nachos which she had foolishly left on a stool. (Sometimes we have to learn wisdom the hard way.) They are finishing up while I type away.

After everyone is done eating, we'll head off to the park for a homeschool Park Day that we've all been looking forward to all month. Park Day is usually twice a month, but last time we were rained out. We've only been to this gathering once, and today the weather is GORGEOUS! And the trees amazing. Hopefully we won't cough on too many people while there or we're going to hear a buzz when we come next time, "There's THAT family that made us so sick last time!"

Politics

I'm a little down today about the elections. It looks to me that the Republicans have not only lost the Congress but the Senate as well. I'm hoping that in another two years, fickle voters will be so sick of the Democrats messing everything up again, that we'll see a resurgence in Republican votes.

I can't understand why ANYONE would want to vote Democrat. I don't get it. I especially don't understand why any CHRISTIAN would vote Democrat. I'm not saying that Republicans are the essence of all things good, but there is at least some moral fiber in the Republican stance, whereas with the Democrats there is a moral void.

I stayed up until midnight to watch election results. I'm proud to say that Georgia came out looking a nice shade of red. I'm slowly learning names and faces of political figures here. Even the local races are interesting. I need to get my satellite radio hooked up so that I can get caught up on talk radio. CNN and CNBC made me want to go throw up last night in their utter glee at the Democrat "tsunami" -- gag, cough. Meanwhile, Fox News people tried to keep chins up!

I've got ten minutes before I need to start gathering everyone together for Wednesday night stuff at church. I love Wednesdays, with all its hubbub.

Jackie

Vote!

Don't forget to VOTE, everybody! I'm still getting tons of campaign material from California. I have to say, California has THE most exciting political hubbub! Still, wherever I vote, I pretty much use the same method: Vote for all of the Republicans (unless one is particularly disgusting) and vote against most bond/tax measures.

Keith tried to vote early before going to work, but there was a huge line. He's not going to get another chance today and is bummed about it. The voting place is way out there in the middle of nowhere at a fire station.

Kade came walking out of Kylie and Kathleen's room, sobbing.

"What's the matter, sweetie?" I asked.

"I'm a boy and Kylie's a girl!"

"Umm, Oh," I said, and thought to myself, "Isn't that the crux of the matter!"

Kylie is doing quite well with her unobstructed nose. Whenever I ask her about it, she gives me a beautific smile and breathes!

Keri Lynn remembered a babysitting job that she has tonight, so we rescheduled her ortho appointment for next Wednesday/Thursday. She'll come in Wednesday morning, have the appointment Wednesday at 1:00 PM, and leave for the airport sometime Thursday morning. This hopefully will be her second to last ortho appointment. Her smile is so sweet.

Last night, I dropped off Keri Lynn and Kathleen to see a musical at Newnan High School. Keri Lynn has several friends from the youth group in it. It was a Dr. Seuss musical. The writers blended a whole bunch of Dr. Seuss books and put it to music. I would have liked to see it, but decided it was best that Kristofer not stay home with the rest of the kids for too long on his own.

When I picked up Keri Lynn and Kathleen afterward, they talked about all the fun Dr. Seuss characters and were surprised at how familiar I was with them. Who did they think read them all those Dr. Seuss books, anyway? I was able to recite one of their favorite books to them from The Foot Book:

(excerpts:)

Left foot, left foot, left foot, right
Feet in the morning, feet at night
Left foot, left foot, left foot, right . . .
Up in the air feet, over a chair feet
Here come 24 four feet
Here come more and more and more feet!
In the house and on the street,
My, how many, many feet you meet!

And then there is the line that Keith and I use after we say a particularly simplistic statement (which we do very rarely, of course!):

"I do not like green eggs and ham, I do not like them, Sam I am!"

Something up her nose

Keri Lynn is preparing for her next trip to the orthodontist in California, probably Tuesday, if all goes well with her flight and will probably return Wednesday. (Stan, I hope I'm giving you enough heads up!) The time for her appointment comes around so fast! And last time, we thought we'd be extra efficient and have her leave early and return late on the same day. However, it only ended up making both of us extremely tired for two whole days, since we didn't get a good rest for two nights.

Meanwhile, Mom and Rich and Connie's Lola and Gabriel will be coming to visit us next weekend and a little into the next week! We're very excited to see them. Mom and Rich came through for just a few brief hours only a week after we'd moved in. So now they can see our house all moved in . . . Well, sort of moved in. We've still got painting to do, a few more pieces of furniture to get, and all of the landscaping and work in the basement . . . just a few things, really!

Tomorrow (Monday) will make a whole year that we've been in our new home. I can't believe it. It still doesn't seem real when I pull up to our driveway. I think, pretty much every time, "I can't believe we actually live here!" We are so blessed. It's especially poignant when the weather is severe since California weather is always so moderate. It's getting really cold (for us anyway -- not talking freezing north) and the leaves are falling in spectacular colors. I'll step out to take the dog for a potty break and remember, "Oh, yeah! I've got to get a jacket, and gloves, and maybe sunglasses to protect my eyes from the wind!"

This evening, Kylie came up to me with her ever-present sniffling nose.

"Mom, I've got something stuck in my nose. It's been there for a long time, maybe since I was two. It feels like plastic."

I looked at her pretty much disbelievingly, wondering why she would chose to complain about it now, but thought about all of the times she's forever had a gob of snot in just that one nostril. Keith was sitting next to me watching TV, so I told her to tell Daddy all about it -- gross nostril things are his specialty -- really! -- and they disappeared to the bathroom for surgery. Next thing I knew, Keith was back with a pair of tweezers sporting a disgusting looking piece of what looked like chicken bone. Kylie had indeed gotten something stuck in her right nostril for a VERY long time. Keith cleaned it off and kind of uncrumpled it, and we found that it was actually a small rectangular piece of plastic.

I asked Kylie if it had hurt having it taken out. She said that it hadn't and had a HUGE grin on her face. She felt great! Good grief! I'm just glad Keith was home to take care of it! Keith wants to know why the pediatrician never spotted it, but I figure she's always had congestion when she's gone to see the doctor! Anyway, I then asked her why she hadn't mentioned anything to me about it before, and she said she had, once, about a month ago. Time doesn't have much meaning for an eight year old, though. She could have said something to me a month ago, a week ago or a year ago, for all I know. All this time . . . Gross, gross, gross!

Keith figures that her breath ought to be better now, too, because the thing stunk to high heaven. I'll be interested to know if it affects her asthma, as well. Only a kid would run around day after day and not worry about something stuck up their nose. I repeat . . . gross!

Long Live Taco Bell

The weather is getting cold again. It's supposed to be freezing tonight, right in time to freeze Keith and Kade as they go on a father/son camp-out. Keith, who wears beanie on his head to bed in a heated house, packed nearly all of his clothes, and was still not sure whether or not he'd keep warm tonight. (He is, after all, missing his personal human incinerator -- as he likes to call me.)

Kade has been looking forward to Camp Kaleo for WEEKS now. He told me excitedly that his good buddy Carson is coming, too! It will also be a good opportunity for Keith to connect with some of the other men from church. It's been especially hard for him in our move, leaving his buddies. It takes men a lot longer to really get to know other guys, I think.

With two of the family missing, it feels like a huge gaping hole. It's always like that, even with just one kid is gone. It's the weirdest thing. You'd think two out of nine would not make that big of a difference, but it does!

I got KFC tonight for those of us "stranded" at home. I had to go by church and lock up Keith's truck that he'd left at the church parking lot. Keith called me on the way to Camp Kaleo from the church bus saying that I needed some time to myself away from the kids and would I please go and lock up his truck. What a thoughtful guy! Anyway, Kathleen wanted to come with me, so we went ahead and locked up to truck, got gas and then KFC. I was looking for an excuse to buy dinner anyway. Kathleen talked THE WHOLE TIME. It's amazing how much that kid can output. Not being a huge talker myself, all I had to do was throw in my two cents worth, and she was happy as could be.

Speaking of buying dinner, we've gone to Taco Bell twice this week in celebration of its grand reopening. Our Taco Bell -- the ONLY one in Newnan -- closed down after a grill caught fire and destroyed the restaurant. That was long long months ago, July 1, and finally reopened earlier this week. The local paper had a front page article stating that Taco Bell sold 11,000 tacos in its first three days! Whenever I've driven by, the drive-thru line wraps around the whole building. It's insane. At least we're not the only Taco Bell Devotees!

We've got our Taco Bell run down to a science. I can get dinner for all of us for under $20! Personally, I think this is sensational considering that my big kids are voracious eaters. Kathleen alone ate a tostada, a nachos supreme, and two bean burritos last time we got Taco Bell. Never are my kids as quiet as when the blessing has been said and the kids dig in. I think that our new Taco Bell ought to put up a plaque in our honor. I think part of the beauty of Taco Bell is that all of the kids like it. That's saying something with a big family. For instance, tonight, I knew that Keri Lynn would not be at all pleased with KFC, but that Kristofer would be ecstatic. That's the way of things, though. We don't always get what we want.

Keva rides a horse

Every Thursday for the next six weeks, Keva and her class go horseback riding!
Here's Keva with some of her aides and a fellow student.

The Halloween Debate

We don't do Halloween, but this year we did get one set of trick-or-treaters that didn't get the hint from porch light and driveway lights out. Each year, my kids want to know why we don't celebrate Halloween. Kade, particularly, wanted to know, so I asked him, "When you see Halloween stuff, what kind of things do you see?"

He thought about it, and together, we made a list:

Ghosts
Dead things
Skeletons
Black cats
Witches
Spells
Goblins
Dark things

So my answer, after the list, was simple. We don't celebrate Halloween because we don't want to dishonor God by participating in a holiday that glorifies those kind of things. I'm sure many of you agree with me on this at some level but are fine with the more innocuous Halloween alternatives. And maybe you think I'm taking too hard of a line. That's fine. I'm not picketing at anyone's house that celebrates Halloween. I'm just stating what and why we do what we do as a family in response to it.

Tonight, we headed off to our usual Wednesday night activities. One of the neighborhood girls, Christiana, usually comes with us, but she couldn't this time. However, sisters Annie and Molly from down the street came with us instead. It's a riot to add an extra kid or two to the group.

Kristofer volunteered to be on the tech team in his youth group. He helps in the sound booth with lights, video feed, sound, etc. -- and LOVES every minute of it. He talks on and on ad naseum to me about it on the way home. I understand about 5% of what he's talking about, but I'm thrilled to see him involved in this way.

I hang out with Keva at either Kristofer or Kathleen's choir practices for 45 minutes and then for the next 45 minutes, Keva and I hang out at the Warehouse, the building across from the church where the youth meet. Each week, Fred Wheeler, one of the adult youth workers, blows up a balloon for Keva to have. Tonight was no exception. Keva regally received her balloon and was happily playing with it, when a little girl (about 15 months) came walking toward her. Keva immediately turned her back to the little girl. I watched as the little girl got closer, and Keva promptly took herself and her balloon to the other side of the room! She was NOT going to share HER balloon with THAT kid.

Keith gave me the "Let the Kids do the Laundry" lecture earlier this week. This is all good and well in theory, but it's very hard to put it into practice. I don't want boys working on girls' laundry and visa versa, not to mention that I also don't want all of my whites turned pink. So Keith said to let each kid do his or her own laundry. Then, we have the problem of a lot of little loads that take up a lot of washing/drying time. However, I think what I will do to honor Keith's wishes is to start having Keri Lynn and Kristofer do their own laundry. (I know I've said this before, but this time I really really mean it!) Keri Lynn already does her own laundry when she's desperate for some clean clothes. At this point, all of the kids, with the exceptions of Keva (for obvious reasons) and Konner (because Kade does it for him), bring their clothes to the laundry room and later put their clothes away when laundered. For me, this works, but eventually, I suppose, they all do need to do their own laundry. I would be appalled if a kid of mine went to college unable to do their own laundry.