Happy 16th Birthday, Peachie!!

Sixteen years ago today I became a Mother for the very first time. It was one of the most wonderful days of my life - ranking right up there with the day I became a child of God, and my wedding day.

Kyle and I were so excited, we could hardly stand it. Peachie was such a wee, tiny baby - a friend loaned me preemie clothes and they were still a bit big on her. She was about three weeks early and when we brought her home from the hospital she only weighed about 5 1/2 pounds. I jumped into motherhood with enthusiasm and a solemn resolve to refrain from complaining about the tough times adjusting to a newborn. Some dear friends of ours had lost their baby girl just two weeks before Peachie was born. I didn't want to take the moments we had been given for granted.

I loved holding our new baby, showing her off to friends and relatives, and playing with her, bathing her, nursing her and spending time as a trio with her Daddy. She quickly had him wrapped around her tiny pinkie finger and he has remained there to this day. Have you ever seen the movie "The Father of the Bride", where the parents are helping the bride pick out a "Keck" (Cake) and she falls in love with the most expensive one? Well - the look the bride gives her Dad that causes him to melt and give in to the outrageously priced cake is a look that Peachie has down to a "T" - and of course Kyle melts like he has never had a backbone!

I could share so many memories, so many moments that are frozen in my mind. The months and years have gone by so fast, too fast. Sometimes I tell Peachie that she is a Mother's dream come true in a daughter. She truly is a joy to me and blesses our whole family in so many ways. She's a hard worker, an avid crafter, and a voracious reader. She rarely has idle hands - usually because she is always carrying a book! She's like "Belle" in "Beauty and the Beast" - walking around and singing while she is reading. She'd rather read than eat! She's so much like my own Mom that way.

So, Happy, Happy Birthday my Darling Peachie! I love you so very much - thank you for making me a Mother sixteen years ago. The journey has been a very Sweet Sixteen years!

~ Mom ~

The Valley of Decision (or is it Indecision?)

Sometimes I wish God would send an email, and tell us exactly what to do. When it comes to big decisions, I tend to want to freeze up and remain undecided. I can pick paper or plastic, I can choose between caramel or chocolate, I even know when to drink decaf vs. regular roast. Picking out a pair of shoes, or buying a new dress, is a little tougher for me, and when it comes to the BIG stuff, like whether or not we should move, I don't seem to even know my own mind.

Kyle is still waiting to hear on the job at the Moorhead Airport. We should know something within the next couple of weeks. So, by the end of this month, we'll have some major deciding to do. If we decide to move, we should give our notice here by November 1st, so we can move on December 1st. However, then there is the matter of coming up with the extra money for moving expenses - and December is Christmas, of course. Moving to Moorhead seems to make better financial sense in the long run, as we won't have the expensive commute any more. But in the short run...

As my sister would say, "I'm a teepee, I'm a wigwam, I'm a teepee, I'm a wigwam...I'm just two tents!! (Get it? Too tense? Read it out loud.)

Got it now? No? Okay, call me, and I'll 'splain it to you.

ACK.

On to more pleasant news. We are preparing for a visit from my dear Aunt and Uncle, who live in Roseau, MN. They'll be here tomorrow and will be spending the night. My Aunt is my Mom's youngest sister, and when I was a kid her youngest daughter was my Best Cousin. We used to have so much fun together, and I loved visiting them - we'd go to the pool, the roller-skating rink, and their town even had a movie theatre and a Dairy Queen! Then, by the time we were teenagers, they also had a Hardee's - can you believe it?!? Hey - I was raised in a small town in ND with a whopping population of 315 people. My graduating class was a big one - nineteen people in all. So a town like Roseau was huge to me. We would go to the fair with them in the summer, camping at Lake of the Woods, fishing on my Uncle's boat, shopping, visiting with other relatives and neighbors - it seemed the fun activities were endless. I'm excited to be able to return a bit of the hospitality they showed me in my growing-up years. I want to honor them here in our home. I've got a couple of special meals planned and need to do some house-cleaning and spruce up the bedroom they will be sleeping in. I hope they'll be comfortable here and that most of all, they will see Christ at the center of our home.

Well, Mr. OneMore will be here soon, so I need to get a few tasks done and make a couple lists for jobs for the kids. Do you do that? I'm a big list person. You'll find lists all over my house. Shopping lists, to-do lists, wish lists, prayer lists, the list goes on and on...ha! I even like the word, "list" - isn't that a cool word? Makes me want to say it out loud - "list". Go ahead, say it. I know you want to, too. Anyway, I was shopping the other day with a friend and she asked me, "Where's your shopping list?" and I said, "Up here" while I tapped on my forehead. I know, scary. But I have the aisles of Wal-Mart pretty much memorized and I was buying bulk items - flour, sugar, rice, baking stuff, etc. - and I knew in my head what I needed. But that's another post...

So dear reader(s), lol! Please pray for us, that we'd know God's mind on our upcoming important decisions, that we'd have a lovely visit with my relatives, that I'll get the stuff on my lists done in the next day or so - miracles do happen!!

New Appliances! Woohoo!!

Earlier this week there was a knock on the door. It was our maintenance man, telling us to clear out our refrigerator, because our new one was about to be delivered. (Our property managers decided to buy new appliances for all their duplexes.) The kids were so excited - it was like Christmas around here! We flew into action, taking out the food (and throwing the "must-gos", as Kyle calls them) and cleaning off the top. We had a basketfull of stuff on the top of our fridge!! With barely enough time to clean out underneath and behind the old appliance (yuck - how does this stuff accumulate?!?) our sparkling new refrigerator had arrived. How nice it looks - and how clean!! :) Later that afternoon our very nice new stove was delivered. It felt so good to clean out behind the old stove, wash the walls, cupboards and floor, and put in a brand-spanking new appliance. We were all doing a happy dance! And the new appliances inspired me to deep-clean the rest of the kitchen and dining room and give the floor a very thorough scrubbing!

One of my kids in their excitement said, "It's going to seem so easy to keep the kitchen clean now. And I don't think we'll have a problem keeping the appliances clean!" Ah, but I know better. The newness of these appliances will wear off. One of these days I'll go into the kitchen and won't smile about how nice it looks. I'll forget the newness of it all. Soon they will be just a stove and a fridge. It's our human nature to want to go on to the "next thing" and it can be very hard to be content with what we have.

That is what I am struggling with these days. Kyle is on the verge of a potential job offer, and we are still not sure if we will stay here, rent the house in Moorhead, or possibly buy a house in the spring. I'm not fond of change, mainly because I don't like the "up in the air" feeling of not knowing what is going to happen. I can be so fickle!

After Kyle looked over the new appliances the other day, he said, "They are making it very hard to want to leave here!" Indeed. This place has become home to us more and more the longer we live here. We really do love it.

So we need to, once again, hurry up and...wait. I'm glad God is sovereign and knows the outcome. It can be hard to prayerfully wait on Him but that is exactly what we need to do.

I hope this lovely fall day finds you with a deep feeling of contentedness, resting in Christ for the outcome of all your decisions. Even if it is as mundane as buying the chicken or the beef.

In His Care ~ Beth ~

Things I Wish I Could Ask My Parents

Most of you probably know that both my parents are gone now. It's a surreal, lonely feeling at times. I had my Dad until I was thirty, my Mom until I was 39. Often I wish I could call them on the phone and ask them questions or get their opinions. Even though there were issues that we disagreed upon, I'm going to miss having them a phonecall away as long as I live.

Recently I read that some are comparing our economy to the difficulties that were experienced in the Great Depression. I can't help but think that those who actually went through the Depression are probably offended at the comparison. I wish I could ask my parents what it was really like - Dad was born in 1928, Mom in 1933. Even if they don't remember their own experiences as young children, I recall them talking about what their parents went through, during the 30's and then WWII. Gas lines. Sugar Rationing. Small Blessings such as shared garden surplus or a box of hand-me-downs. My parents were the kind of people who knew exactly what "Needs versus Wants" meant.

I think that is one of the biggest problems we face in this fast-paced society. We want things to be quick and easy. I'm guilty too. Right now Kyle is possibly going to get a very good job offer. In my mind I'm already praying we won't run ahead of God and take a leap that could be detrimental to our family. We've hoped and dreamed for so long of a better job for him (although we have been very thankful for the stable job he currently has) that now when it is a very real possibility I find myself thinking of buying a house, wondering what is next. I've had to pull my own head out of the clouds and remind myself to be content with what we have. The way I do that is to think about all the things we love about where we are at. Counting our blessings, so to speak.

I can't count how many times in the last weeks I have wished I could give Mom a call, tell her our latest news, share the funny things the kids are saying and doing. She would be excited for us, proud of Kyle, she'd laugh at what the kids are up to. Better yet, I could visit her and make her coffee, maybe go shopping with her. She loved Wal-Mart almost as much as I did. Okay, maybe not. But she did love the JC Penney catalog!

I pray that today I'll be content with what God has provided, that I'll trust Him and wait on Him for our future. I was praying early this morning that I do not want us to get ahead of God and find ourselves floundering. We've been there before - we don't want to go there again. I'm so much like Peter it's scary. "Hey, I wanna walk on the water too!! Okay...maybe not - HELP!!!" Some days it seems like I don't even know my own mind.

Anyhoo, I hope you will have a great day today. I plan to enjoy to the fullest the fabulous weather we have been having. I don't remember weather being so ideal in the summer and fall as it has been this year. One more blessing to count...

In His Care ~ Beth ~

It's All In The "CO"

Punkin', our fourth-born child, can be described in one word: Precocious. Not "precious" - although she is that too - but her own personal descriptive word is pre-CO-cious. Ah, the "CO" says so much about her! If you look up that word in the dictionary, her picture is next to it. Really.

Punkin' was born the week my dear brother was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer. We found out his fatal diagnosis on a Monday. I was standing next to my washer and dryer while my sister told me the awful news on the phone. I called my doctor and asked him if he would consider an induction, because my brother's prognosis was dire and he had very little time to live. I needed to be with him and my family. My doctor agreed, but it turned out it would not be necessary. The stress I was under put me into labor the next day, and my baby girl, all 8 pounds of her, was born the following morning. I called my sister and she asked me, "What are you doing?" and I said, "Oh, having a baby!" Punkin's birth in the midst of all our family's devastation over my brother was a breath of fresh air.

Punkin' and I bonded so strongly the moment she was born, I practically grabbed her from the doctor and started to check her over myself. I asked him if she was going to have an extra chromosome like Peanut and he said "No, she's fine". I was so relieved I burst into tears. I don't think I realized until that moment how much I actually did worry about that possibility.

Our first night together, when I finally let the nurse take her to the nursery so I could get some much-needed rest, I was awakened to Punkin's loud cry as the nurse brought her down the hallway to me. She handed her to me, and the crying stopped instantly. My fourth baby and I still stand in awe of the strength of the mother-child bond. I will never forget that moment. The nurse said, "I've been trying to get her to stop crying for over an hour so you could get some rest!" I was torqued. What's up with that? This was the same nurse who gave Pickles a bottle of formula in spite of my explicit instruction that he was to have NO BOTTLES. It was written in his chart and I put a sign up in his bassinette. Perhaps this nurse could not read, and she must have also been deaf - because I told her when I agreed to let her take Punkin' to the nursery that if she cried at all I wanted her brought back to me. I know the nurse knew I was stressed, I know I needed my rest after having labored the night before - but who lets a newborn less than 24 hours old cry for over an hour?!?

Anyway, I'm getting irritated all over again just thinking about that, but those moments set the tone for the next nine months with our new little baby. She never wanted to be apart from me. And I was clinging to her for comfort as much as she needed me. I know that much of it was due to her feeling the stress I was under as my brother's health rapidly declined. He died just five weeks after she was born. I'm so thankful he got to see her and to hold her.

Peaches was one of the only other members of my family who could calm Punkin' when she was crying. She developed colic and it was very difficult at times. She had a very good set of lungs and could scream until I think even her angels must have been tempted to plug their ears. I tried very hard to be thankful for her cries - because Peanut almost never cried. She didn't cry after she was born, she didn't cry when they were digging around in her arms to find a vein, she didn't cry when she was hungry. Peanut was too content, if there is such a thing. I remember thinking, "I just want her to cry!" Well - I sure got what I wanted when Punkin' was born!

Speaking of Punkin's guardian angels, she has kept them very busy in her soon-to-be-8 years. One of my favorite stories to tell about her is the time she fell through the hole in the floor. When she was very little (about two or three) we were renting an old farmhouse and in the hallway there was a broom closet that she and Peanut loved to play in. They would go inside, shut the door, and giggle and giggle, thinking they were hiding from the family. One Wednesday night as we were getting ready for church they were playing inside the closet, and we heard a loud crash, then Punkin's scream. I dashed to the closet, but the only one standing there was Peanut, looking bewildered. I could hear Punkin' crying, but I couldn't see her. The broom closet was attached to our bedroom closet through the side, so I thought perhaps she had climbed inside our closet and something fell on top of her. I ran into my room, threw open my closet door, and started to pull boxes and clothes out as fast as I could. Punkin' was still screaming, and we could not find her!! WHERE WAS SHE?!?!?!? I began to grow more and more panicked, I considered calling 911, and then suddenly Kyle realized that THERE WAS A HOLE IN THE FLOOR. Right where my darling little girls had been standing. At this point I began to scream and cry, I thought perhaps she had fallen into the old cystern that was underneath the house. Talk about scared!! I think I was feeling the same desperation to reach her as she must have felt as a newborn, screaming for me in the nursery while some stranger attempted to comfort her.

Kyle ran for a flashlight while I stood there like a raving maniac and when he flashed it down the hole he could see her walking around in the basement. He ran to the basement door and down the steps, and instantly Punkin' stopped crying and said, "Oh, hi Daddy!"

The miracle of it all is that Punkin' did not have one single scratch, bruise or scrape on her. She had fallen eight feet onto solid concrete, through a hole that had been cut years prior for a stove pipe. Our landlord had just put an old thin metal sign over the hole - and the sign crumpled under her weight. It had sharp edges, so that if she had fallen onto it she could have been very seriously cut or punctured. Not only that, if Peanut had been the one to fall, she would likely have been seriously injured due to her low muscle tone. In my mind I can just see one of Punkin's angels softening her fall. She was just fine.

I was not. I was in hysterics, practically having a nervous breakdown. I gathered my children around me like hens gathering her chicks and blubbered something about never allowing them to leave my side as long as they lived. To this day I have a phobia about kids playing inside closets. You just never know when there might be a hole in the floor!!

So, that is a little bit about my Punkin'. She also has a sense of humor a mile long - very much like my Mother's. One of her comments when she was little was, "Mama! I hurt the elbow that's next to my foot!!" (She meant her ankle.) I'd write more about her hilarious "Punkin'-isms" but this post is already too long.

I hope God gives you something to smile about, and to be thankful for today. I woke up thinking about this - and just wanted to share it with you.

~ Beth ~

Happy Birthday Kyle

Today is my Honey's birthday. He is 42 today. I remember when he turned 35, a (very young) friend of ours told him, "If you live until your 70, you are half dead already!" ACK.

I baked a lovely cake to have with supper (chocolate bundt, with chocolate frosting and marshmallow filling), I'm making one of Kyle's favorite meals, and the kids made him cards and pooled their pennies and bought him one of his favorite candy bars. PeeWee was counting out money and lining it all up, trying to decide how much he had and if it would be enough to get a present for Daddy. I thought that was pretty sweet.

Kyle has an interview at the Moorhead Airport for a manager position this coming Tuesday. He has always had a deep love for all things Aviation. When I met him in 1986 he was working on his Pilot's licensing, and over the years has worked his way up to Commercial Pilot. He talked to his Dad this afternoon and told him that ever since he was a little boy he has dreamed of a job like this. Will you pray with me that God will give him this position, if it is His will?

I can't think of a better birthday present for my sweetie. ~ Beth ~

Am I Becoming A Morning Person?!?

Something is wrong with me. I have been waking up early - sometimes too early - and I've been able to get up and going long before the children wake up. I used to savor the time I had after they went to bed - in fact, I savored it so much I often ended up staying awake until the middle of the night. But something must have happened to me when I turned 40 because when I see 9 or 10 pm my body insists on going to bed. And if it reaches 11pm my body thinks it's exhaustified. Hmm - there must be a correllation between going to bed early and waking up early...

This morning I woke up and thought it was still the middle of the night. Nope - 6am. I thought I smelled coffee so I went to the kitchen to investigate - I figured Kyle had made some earlier when he left for his 5am shift at work. Nope, no hot coffee. Oh well, I just went ahead and made some and right now I am enjoying it (with flavored creamer - French Vanilla - I might add.)

I think perhaps one other reason I'm able to be so bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in the morning is that I am feeling so much better after having lost 75 pounds. I am off 2 of the 3 blood pressure medications I was on and I'm going off the third. I can take a walk or bike ride without needing oxygen, I don't get sluggishly tired every afternoon, and I am sleeping so much better (less snoring). The health benefits have been so wonderful. I do need to keep losing, still have a ways to go. Over the summer months my weight loss has slowed but that's to be expected. I'll get there - I've come too far to turn back now!

Besides Mr. OneMore, I have a friend coming over today so we need to get some housecleaning done this morning. Sometimes I feel woefully inadequate when I am having company over. Okay, most times I feel woefully inadequate. I often say that if you are coming to visit me, drop in anytime. (You might wanna call first, I am a tad busy with all these kids.) If you are coming to see my house, give me a 24 hour notice. And if you inspect the closets or under the furniture you'll find something, all right. If you have the audacity to bring a white-glove mentality, I'll bust your kneecaps, at least in my mind I will anyway. Because I've had a white-glove house - BC that is. Before Children. I can still clean like that, it just doesn't stay that way for more than, oh, an Olympic minute. I get my living room all nice and neat, dusted and vacuumed and decorated and lovely - and out come the Magentix and My Little Pony set and the Lincoln Logs. This is why I have home decorating magazines - I can see what those fancy living rooms are supposed to look like. But when I pine away for something like that, then I hear my Mom's voice saying, "You're gonna miss those smudgy fingerprints and sticky Koolaid splashes and toys on the floor sooner than you think!" My dear Mom was the epitome of the 50's housewife. Spotless, beautifully decorated house, incredible meals, able to sew or craft anything - yet when I visited her and Dad in their new Arizona home with my first baby when she was just 9-months old, Mom left the smudges from her pudgy fists on the floor-length bedroom mirror for a very long time. She could not bear to wash it off - she was so overjoyed to have my baby girl in her house!

Well, I reckon I need to waken the troops soon. We have a busy day ahead of us, today is Math, Spelling, Geography/Social Studies/History, and probably some Grammar. (I love diagramming sentences. Seriously.) Oh, and Homemaking 101. I might even bake a loaf of bread today - I found a recipe that my family loves. They can devour a loaf so quickly it's shocking. I wonder if there is an Olympic event for that?

Have a dandy day ~ Beth ~