It’s been a week since I was here and can’t even begin to say why except that certain struggles have kept me totally preoccupied… It’s taking all I have some moments to just keep from going back to bed and burying my head…to just “do the next thing.” It helps to remember to “live for the moment.” Living for today only…tomorrow has enough of it’s own troubles w/out heaping them upon myself prematurely. (Matthew 6:34) What can I do/say/think/be/pray *today* that will make *this day* good?

I am David…groaning before God. He is my shield (Psalm 3:3), my refuge and fortress (Psalm 91:2), my strong tower in the face of trouble (Psalm 61:3).

I am Job…although God hasn’t taken *everything*, He is certainly emphasizing the fact that *everything is His.* “…the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21)

I am the afflicted woman clutching at the hem of Christ’s robe…in compassion and mercy He will make me whole (Matthew 9:21&22), lift me up and give me a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7).

He’s teaching me through the “Lord’s Prayer” as well. Particularly, the *daily* bread.

Needless to say, I haven’t felt like “talking” and things have been pretty much the “same ole same ole” anyway.

Today it is raining. Good. Force me to stay inside and complete a couple of projects before my mil arrives next week. Looking forward to her visit; although, she won’t be staying w/ us long as W.’s grandmother is in poor health and his mother will be staying w/ her mostly to take care of her/help her out.

Today we celebrate our 11th year of Holy Matrimony!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to us!!!

Decided to cut/paste Garden List here to keep it closer to the top of the page and easier to edit in the future. One lilac is indeed now out back and I can’t believe I forgot something else…my dear chives!!! Good thing I’m making this list…

Front yard – raspberries, rhubarb, irises, lilac bush (planted at the edge of the rasp. patch) (soon to have: Forget-me-nots [AK state flower!] and Hollyhocks)

Back yard – crabapple tree, strawberries, chives, mint, lilac bush

Garden box (in back yard) – squash, peas (soon to have: radishes, turnips, carrots, scallions, lettuce, fennel [never have grown it before but mil sent me some seed so we’ll give it a go], cauliflower and green beans.)

Deck – tomatoes, geraniums

Wild berries in the Fall…mainly blueberries and cranberries. (thinking of seeking out currants…)

Today I plan to systematically take control of the house again (as I was supposed to do yesterday). The bathroom floor is a wreck from dirty little summer feet running in and out of it. The rest of the floors need a good vacuuming too. We are rearranging/reorganizing the office area so the kitchen counter is cluttered w/ stuff. Can’t do much about that as it’s W.’s project at the moment. So, we will just do regular chores there… The laundry pile after the weekend is starting to look like Everest again so I need to get a handle on that. It’s a nice day outside again so I’ll need to break this off and get busy so we can go outside and enjoy it.

School has definitely moved into “summer schedule” which means lots of good reading mostly but also taking advantage of those teachable moments when they come along. Such as studying fish anatomy when we go fishing w/ grandpa or talking about (and looking up pics) how clams dig when we go digging w/ grandma…which are all on the agenda real soon because talking to my mother yesterday she said there are some good tides coming. Yippy! Look out you little clammies! Yum yum! 🙂 Back to the school subject…and math worksheets on occasion so they don’t lose their momentum there. You get the idea…

With that… Ciou!

ps – I’m going down a couple of posts down to edit. Have a “stutter” I need to fix and need to make the gardening list accurate.

Saturday’s (17th) hike didn’t go too well. It was windy all day and we were waiting for it to die down as we knew the valley would be even cooler…or colder. Finally, late afternoon (about 4pm), it had died down a little and we thought we’d go. If nothing else, it would be a nice little drive to get everyone out for a while. As we were heading out the door (literally – I had locked it and was walking down the steps), we had some unexpected visistors. My young cousin and a couple of her friends had been garage sale-ing and had picked up some things mostly for the baby but for the other children as well. It was a surprise as most 11-12yrs don’t really do those kinds of things any more do they?! 🙂 Anyway, after meeting and chatting briefly w/ the father who had volunteered to be the delivery/taxi man and the girls, we headed out.

So, here we are on the mountain at the trail head and the wind is gusting pretty good and it is cold! Brrrrrr. Wouldn’t you know it… I forgot my headband to protect my ears, forgot the front carrier for the baby and forgot to grap my hiking boots. Duh!!! Good thing it turned out to be miserable up there anyway. We did hike up the trail a little ways as the children were terribly disappointed they might not get a chance to “picnic” on their trail mix. 😉 We found a nice spot protected by the trails and let them snack-a-way for a couple of minutes until they realized this just wasn’t pleasant. A good lesson for them that wind blowing over snow makes the wind cold as the wind at the house was just annoying but didn’t feel like this! So, we packed up and agreed to try again the next day.

On a more positive note, Quentin was more himself. Seemed to be teething (!!!) of all things. Had started chewing on his fist which up until now he took little interest in (unlike our other children…thumb, fingers, pacifer suckers all!). Sure enough. There were two red swollen lumps in the bottom gum where the eye teeth come up. He’s only 7wks! I’ve heard though that teeth can come “up and down” before they eventually emerge. So…we’ll see what happens.

Sunday (18th) was again windy. Did church at home w/ a Doug Wilson sermon – Christ Kirk. Then, we putts around working on projects. Again, late in the afternoon, we decided to attempt a hike. Loaded up – without forgetting anything this time – and to our favorite spot we went. Again, it’d be a nice drive if nothing else. At the trailhead, everyone buddled up warm, baby in carrier, off we go. Made it to our “first stop” when it’s berry season and settled there for our “picnic.” Girls run up and down the slope for a little while, W. layed back in the tundra to relax and I kept track of everyone. Being up and aware made me the first to notice the hardy souls that hike up into the crevasses to snowboard or ski. They were way the h*ck up there! Not me my friend. Imagine mountain climbing just so you can take a couple minute ride down. Hmmm. If I want to ski, I’ll go where they have a lift and save the mountain climbing for nice warm days…it’s hard enough then. LOL Anyway, despite the chill, it was a pleasant outing. We had a movie and Subway to top it all off when we got home.

Quentin was now back to his normal self again. Napping regularly again, etc. Although, he still has those two swollen “bumps.”

Monday (19th) finally no wind! (Figures as it’s not the weekend any more and W. has to work…) Nice sunny blue sky day. Played outside all day! And, boy does my house show it! I set the laptop up on a table on the deck but there was a short in one of the extention cords and it kept shutting off. So, I wasn’t getting done what I wanted to there either and bagged it. I did get the eBay link taken down at our site (it didn’t sell 😦 )and the cart link put up so that was good. Before we knew it, it was dinner time and then I read to the children for a while and they to themselves and then it was bedtime. Fast day.

Our two older girls had their first “sleep out” last night!!! They had been begging to sleep out in the yard w/ a tent but with the bears around we just were not going to let them do that. We thought about doing something w/ a tarp on the deck…but the bears again. So, they came up w/ the idea of sleeping in the loft area of the shed…well, M. did after she read a story in which the children spend a night in a barn loft. So, since W. had cleaned it out the other day and there was room we thought, “Why not?”, and let them. We were of course expecting them in “soon” 😉 but they were little troopers and made it the whole night! It’s still chilly at night but they had hats and warm sleeping bags…plus two waterbottles, er, I mean cats! 🙂 So, waaaah, my little girls are that much more “grown up” today. I like to see them becoming such capable young ladies but…ouch. It hurts my poor mother’s heart sometimes. No matter how big they get, they are always and forever our babies…right?! sigh.

Yesterday was a slow day. Quentin just wouldn’t let me lay him down to sleep. He nursed practically all day and insisted that I hold him between times. He would fall asleep nursing and then I would attempt to settle him in his usual places for a nap but he would wake a minute later just squalling. I mean squalling. I tried to let him cry it out a couple of times but when I peaked in at him he was wide awake and mad and obviously not going to go back to sleep on his own. sigh. So, I’d hold him and walk around w/ him and try to get something done with him but it wasn’t happening. I have a front carrier and a sling but I find myself always bumping the baby into something. Plus, with my “bad back” it gets terribly uncomfortable fast so I just didn’t think to put him in there. We’ll see what today brings. W. was lounging in the recliner a little while ago and I wanted to do this so he was holding him and he fell asleep and W. laid him down in the recliner and so far he’s quiet… Now that I’ve thought of it, I”ll use the sling or front carrier today if need be.

Speaking of which, W. said we may all go hiking today. Yay! The first hike of the year! 🙂

Ok, quiet time is over. W. is out of the shower and the girls are stirring (they already came in from the shed earlier and I had settled them in my bed) and it’s time to get on w/ another busy, fun-filled day! 🙂 Blue sky and sun always helps! 🙂

Well, that was a nice summer we had! [kidding] What’s with all the rain? It’s been raining off and on for a few days and was overcast for a few days before that. Oh, right. Spring showers. Usually it’s starting to get nice about this time. Instead, we’ve had our nice and now it’s not. Interesting interesting weather these past few months…

I don’t really have a plan for the day yet and it’s 9am. Our routine has been haphazard lately because of W.’s schedule and I’m just weary (mentally, emotionally, physically – still some stiffness/soreness – for a few reasons). Anyway, we were all up late last night so I’m letting the children sleep. Hoping I can formulate some sort of plan for the day while they are. I know I’m going to start w/ a shower. Have already nursed and changed Q. so I’ll be able to w/out him waking and crying…he should be going back to sleep soon and I’ll take my opportunity then. Other than that, I’m not sure. Of course, there is always the usual housework… Not sure what order I’ll attack everything in is what it comes down to. It looks like the rain has stopped and some blue sky is showing. Hmmm. Might turn out nice today after all. I suppose if I read the paper I would know what the forecast would be. I just can’t bring myself to though. Quit a few years ago because it either makes me angry or sad and I don’t need either. My news is filtered through W. and if I wasn’t happy w/ that I’d change it. (Although, I do listen to the radio on occasion. But, I can’t stand the media bias in that medium either! Bleck, bleck. :-P)

The tomatoes and geraniums will be happy if this indeed turns out to be a sunny day. They have been surviving just fine in front of the sliding door but… The tomatoes are getting really tall and I think I’ll need to stake or cage them soon. All of that would just be so much easier if they were stationed on the deck to stay. The geranium blooms are so pretty. I’ve managed to keep these particular plants alive into their third year! Yea! Looking back over my past entries, I can’t believe I left my lilac bushes off my gardening list. They were the first things we planted when we moved here. (The rhubarb was already here.) So, here is an updated garden list (mostly for my own benefit so I won’t be forgetting what we have going on out there! ;-)):

Front yard – raspberries, rhubarb, irises, 2 lilac bushes (one W. may have transplanted out back but until I’m sure I’ll list it here.)
Back yard – crabapple tree, strawberries, mint
Garden box (in back yard) – squash, peas
Deck – tomatoes, geraniums
Wild berries in the Fall…mainly blueberries and cranberries.

Well, better get that shower. Maybe some of this muddle-headedness will be washed away and I’ll be able to make a coherent plan…

Had my final apt. w/ the midwives today. Everything looked great and normal. Haven’t lost any more weight. I’ve been the same for the last couple of visits. Bummer. Really need to get hiking to lose this pudge. Went ahead and had them draw blood for thyroid testing as well a celiac. We’ll see what comes of it…

Day has been pretty much the same as any other except for the above. Up, chores, bible time and got ready to go. Apt. was a little after 1pm and we stayed there at least a couple of hours…was a layed back day at clinic plus there was a lady there for a prenatal who coincidently (not! Providential? yes!) has celiac as does her father and mother (who was diagnosed 2 wks ago.). She said her mother was also experiencing very bad joint pain (!) and now it’s better from her dietary changes. This may explain my hip/joint troubles…which really started way back in high school… So some time was spent talking w/ her. Also, the children were enjoying the trampoline, etc. Anyway, the afternoon was pretty much gone by the time we got home so the children changed their clothes and went outside (read some books first for about a half hour.) They are out there now and I’m finishing this and thinking about what to make for dinner.

With that, I’m outta here…to stand in the pantry and twiddle my thumbs…oh, wait. Quentin is telling me he’s hungry…so that’s first. 🙂 (Btw, he’s up to 13 lbs. now. And, he’s over the snuffles.)

Hey…what’s the deal? I can’t see the images I put up. First they are there and then they aren’t. I’ve checked the code…it’s there and right. Can anyone else see them? Is this a Blogger glitch?

I had a lovely Mother’s Day on Sunday (11th)! Thank you Lord for giving me such a wonderful group of people to live with and care for! Ah. Family! 🙂 They served me a wonderful lunch of BLT’s and fruit and ice cream! They also gave me that wonderful first chime my husband made! Lucky me to get the “first edition.” 😉

Yesterday, Mon. the 12th, was spent catching up chores that tend to slide over the weekend. Monday has always been termed “Recovery Day.” Not in the sense that one gets to sit back and “recover” from anything…but rather the house recovers…or we reclaim it…we attempt to put everything back to normal (whatever that is!) so to speak…if you kwim?! Well, anyway, that’s what we did! LOL Plus, I figured since I was so busy in the basement w/ the laundry and packing away/getting rid of out grown things, I might as well extend that. I’ve been “clearing up” and “clearing out.” Listed some things that were particularly nice on eBay, half.com, etc. Plus, I put up Wayne’s newest creation:

Then, I did some updating at our website. Whew. All this in between nursing, changing diapers, nursing, supervising chores, nursing, refereeing, deligating and protecting my offspring from the bears. Did I already say, “Whew.” 🙂

Speaking of bears…if you recall, I said the bears were back for the year. Here’s a great pic:

And, you can go here Our Backyard (and Beyond)to read more about it.

Yes, I’m up late. Or, up early. Depends on how you want to look at it. Had dinner clean up to do as it didn’t get done after dinner as Wayne didn’t get home ’til late and the children wanted to eat with him. And, I had some other things I wanted to do while it was quiet. I’m off to bed now. Just wanted to stop in here first and blog this stuff before I got too busy and/or forgot.

Nighty-night. Yawn…