Update for Sept. 25

It's been a long week, and I frankly don't remember half of it.   Marriana has been down with a bad cold, which makes her very cranky.  Couple that with me being so close to delivery and the tiredness and back aches - just made for one long week.  Vannan and Joel both are sounding bad now - but Vannan claims her's is just asthma.  I'm hoping I don't go into labor until the colds are basically done....except I've got one now too.  I think all I've done this week is blow noses.... mine, Marriana's, and Joel's.

We made it to the midwife this week.  My bloodpressure is now borderline.  We are redoubling our efforts to bring it down and keep it there.  Because money is getting tight, we've not been eating like I should, so now I eat one thing, the healthy veggies and meats, and the family eats the yummy stuff.   I've even been forcing down eggs in the morning.

It's been raining so much, that I haven't gotten much sunshine or walking time to help with the blood pressure either.  And I've got to drink a lot more than I have been.  Sleeping more would help too.  There is just so much to do.  Yeah, I know, I unwind with a few minutes here and there with a computer game (facebook) - but really, all total, it's personally less than an hour a day.  

You would be surprised how much of the "game" time is Joel's.  He loves harvesting crops and feeding fish and cleaning tanks.  He also feeds the REAL dog - Toffee, takes out the trash (little cans), cleans his room and puts away his laundry, and he helps Vannan with her sweeping and making lunches.   Marriana has no idea that the mouse is really connected to the comuter, which I hope she learns once we've got the school computer back up and running.  But Marriana helps pick up toys, put things away, fold laundry, and helps Kendra with her chores.    The little ones feel important with a few easy tasks to perform.  Sometimes they help with putting away dishes, but not when they have colds!

Joel seems to be catching on to reading.  He loves to learn, and retains most of the new material and loves to review.  I have a hard time keeping him busy during the day.

Marriana learns very fast, but likes to do things her own way.  She is learning a great deal watching Joel and listening to the others learn.  She loves to cut and color (as long as she doesn't have lines to stay in or colors to follow), but she is still developing her motor skills, so I'm fine with that.  She loves her clay and playdough, and we try to paint at least once a week and glue once a week.

Vannan has had a slow week.  But she still got quite a bit of stuff done.  Kendra had a better week - she's picked up her pace and cranking work out at a nice speed, even on days that she gets off to a bad start.

The garden is about gone.  I can see a few banana peppers and small tomatoes that are growing, but we will probably turn the goats into the space in a few weeks to eat all the weeds and leftovers down.  I thought about trying for a fall/winter garden, but the weather is already cooler than normal and I don't think we have the time or energy to put into it.

Weather has been down to 60 at night, Vannan is freezing.  And today is the first day in a couple of weeks to reach into the 80's.  Lots of rain.  Fall is here, no doubt about it.  But since we live on a piece of property covered in evergreens ... not much change in color yet.  Some days I really miss driving in Colorado moutiains and all those yellow aspens.  We could look out from our back porch and the whole mountain looked ablaze with the yellows and reds of the trees changing.

Oh yes.  Pray for Tim.  He starts training for an insurance job on Oct. 5, the day after LaRue is due - and we hope she arrives between the times he has to be there for training, though Tim did tell them and they say they will work with us.  Now he needs a little road bunny that gets good milage, and we need a big car for the family.   And he's suppose to provide his own laptop computer.  Tim feels good about this direction.  It is the first really open door we've had in months - so we are proceeding with it until the Lord closes it or opens something else.   They think he will do very well after the training.