The Car LIVES

Tim picked up our car and dropped off Dad's for minor repairs and detailing today.

He is spending the night with his folks to help with the annual run that his dad hosts at their house. It's a 7K over 7 hills .... um.... lots of 7's in it. The first one he did, at least I think it was the first, was the day we got married - July 7 and 19 years ago. Has it really been that long?

Seems there was a loose connection to the battery. Dad also mentioned that the spark plug wires were pretty worn and should be replaced soon.

We continue to have electricity in the upper end of the trailer. This is both a blessing and a concern - we are enjoying the light .... but since we did nothing to reconnect it, there is a short in the line somewhere, we had thought it was completely disconnected after nearly 3 months without it. We pray daily for God's protection on this trailer he gave us. So far there has been nothing life threatening happen here - other than Joel falling through the bathroom floor ... which has been fixed.

And please keep us in your prayers. We are dealing with so much stress right now and it is wearing us down. Tim needs a job, we need a safer and bigger house with room for our dog and our goats, an uneventful home birth in a few weeks - my first without my mom, school starting, arranging the house to accomodate a baby, bigger reliable car (we are figuring on at least an 8 passenger).

And of course everyone misses Grammy around here. Some are having a more difficult time adjusting than others - and some just show it more than others. There are days I'm sure I'm not going to make it to the end of the day. But God somehow gets me through and the sun goes down and we all go to bed. Some nights are filled with endless nightmares. Some nights I get up every hour or so to make sure everyone is still breathing. Some nights Vannan still cries herself to sleep. Some nights Joel sadly mopes around endlessly repeating, "I miss my Grammy, I loved my Grammy." Marriana has become very concerned about either Tim or I suddenly disappearing and each morning has to be assured that Papa is at work and will come back that evening. She was only with Grammy for 3 months and I don't think she really understands - but is having problems with people disappearing ... otherwise Dad and I have been pleased with her settling into the role of baby sister around here, and that she is acting like she belongs. I'm never sure about Kendra or Tim. I've caught Kendra crying a few times, but mostly she just moves forward ... like me, and I wonder if she, like me, is just hiding it really good. She wrote a poem and plans to put it on her blog when she gets a chance. I saw that she hung it over her desk next door.

Dad wants us to use the school room for our school next door - which should allow us to shift enough around to put up a pack n play and some drawers for LaRue. I'm still not sure where to put up a closet rod.

But one big plus to the new DSL, I'm not limited to finding a telephone jack to decide where my computer should go. I'm not sure WHERE to put it, but I can put it in a better location than where it is and no telephone wires. We are talking about shifting nearly half of the furniture in our living room at least, and maybe more. I've also got to find the larger mattress and the extended springs for Joel's bed so he has room to stretch out. I do wish I could move it out of his play area, but not sure at all how to do that.... especially since it has drawers under it for his clothes.

I keep praying and repeating verses for strength to get through the days. God will not forsake us - even when we are in the shadows and cannot feel the warmth of his smiles and love. That's walking by faith - knowing that the view in heaven is worth the trip here on earth. Reminds me of a hike Tim took me on about a year after we were married. We hiked up a dull, very steep trail for close to 2 hours. It was a hot sticky day and quite miserable. But then we came out at the top of the trail - on the edge of a rocky outcropping overlooking the whole valley. It was breathtaking and well worth the hike.

Hope you don't mind more serious turnings today - I've had a very bad day after a very bad night and my nerves are buzzing.

Oh ... I almost forgot - the baby I posted a few days ago near death with heart problems has come out of the SVT and is doing a whole lot better. You can check out his continuing story at My Charming Kids on my Sidebar.

Chlorine in Your Baby Carrots

Chlorine in Your Baby Carrots: "Chlorine in Your Baby Carrots


The small cocktail or “baby” carrots you buy are made using the larger crooked or deformed carrots which are put through a machine which cuts and shapes them into cocktail carrots. You might have known that already. But what you might not know is that once the carrots are cut and shaped into cocktail carrots, they are dipped in a solution of water and chlorine in order to preserve them.
When a baby carrot turns white (“white blushing”), this causes the bags of carrots to be pulled from the shelf and thrown away. To prevent this consumer waste, the carrots are dipped in chlorine to prevent the white blushing from happening."


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Interesting - and we buy these nearly every week! I knew they were misshappen carrots that had been cut down, but it was nice that they were small and easy for the little ones to eat.

Be sure to click on the title for the full article.

Update July 30

First - Happy Birthday Avery!!


Today we got DSL - there are faster services - but as slow as my computer goes anyway - this is amazing. It will certainly reduce the amount of time I'm on the computer hunting for school stuff. But we were without a phone most of the day before because the line flooded with all the rain we've been having.

Tuesday's trip to the midwife was a little less glowing than normal. We went early in the day and my numbers were a little off - too much protien and PH too acidic. Basically, as I understood, I need to eat better and drink a LOT more. Thankfully, as much stress as I've had lately, my blood pressure was still in the normal range. I'm going after lunch in 2 weeks, so hoping for more stable numbers.

Our car is STILL in the shop.

We are hoping to start school the monday after next - if I can get a school space ready for everybody. And I still have no idea how to arrage any space for LaRue. Some days, it is all I can do to get through the day with a civil attitude, and the only thing that keeps us going is the routine and God and lots of prayer.

On a HUGE blessing side, our electricity for the upper end of the house has mysteriously started working again - even though the door was slammed several times today. I'm praying it stays on long enough for me to get some cleaning done in the room, now that I can see the mess. It's hard to clean with a flashlight or lanturn, although the kids seemed to like it since I'm far enough blind that I couldn't see the spots they missed! And Joel loved bathing in near dark. Too funny.

Up a Tree

We let Kendra have a blog - mostly to share with her family and friends - to encourage her natural writing ability.
Vannan has one too - to encourage her writing.

These are the pictures we took of Kendra for the Title of her Blog.

She picked out the 3rd one.

If you are a friend or family member and want a link to the blogs, just email me and ask. We decided to not publicly publish them for safety reasons, but I suspect we have readers that are not in my address book.

And Kendra wants to know if you like the picture she chose. She keeps giggling over my shoulder.

Good Movie - The Inn of the Sixth Happiness

We watched this movie the other day as a family, checked out from our Public Library.

There were quite a few places where Joel was upset and hid ... the beheading was unexpected.
Not that you SAW it, but Joel knew what happened.
And he also did NOT like the war scenes where the planes shot up the village or soldiers burned and pillaged at the onset of WWII.

But ....

the girls were mesmerized. Even Tim got hooked.

It is set just before WWII - a young lady is denied becoming a missionary because she does not have the right credintials.
So she plans to go without a mission board and gets help from unexpected places.

The story is amazing, from her first days experiencing China, to her adopting children that were unwanted.
And then as the war starts, she rescues 100 children, marched them over a big mountain in November, where the mission board was waiting for the children if they could arrive in time.

We think it was at least as inspiring as Sound of Music.

And it is based on a true story.

Love is .... Reading With Daddy

Joel's New Friend

I found this little guy at Mardell's.

He was $50 ... and marked $45. BUT he had a tag for 50% off. AND everything in the children's side of the store was 20% off.

I paid LESS than $20 after taxes.

Joel had about that much in his birthday money.
His FP3 player has mysteriously stopped working, and Joel was not happy about that.

Joel loves that when his Thingamapet is running, there is a red heartbeat.

http://www.thingamapets.com/index.htm

It only holds 128MB of files.
BUT that's 2 hours of listening to songs and stories.

It's super easy to load. And shuts itself off when the songlist is finished.

You will never guess what Joel named his new friend....






His name is MP. Wonder where he came up with that?

Pounding Coasters

Marriana LOVED doing this too.

She was often distracted by other things going on - but that hammer never slowed down.

and if she was looking at what she was doing - she almost never missed.

She did a pretty nice coaster and brought it home to Papa.

Making Leather Coasters

Last Wednesday at church, the activity was making designs on Leather Coasters. Kendra blogged about hers on her own blog.

So this one features Joel.

The hammer was very cool and only smashed fingers a few times.

He made the one on the left. I made the one on the right with his instructions.

Both faded after they dried.

Anybody know what to do to make the designs really pop out even when they are dry?

After a Storm Sky

These are pictures Steve took about the same time that I was taking pictures about 15 miles north... maybe less.

Steve loves weather.

And this is the color I was seeing at my house too - but a lot more purples and reds.

Beautiful.

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Oh, on a very good note - Tim got a call last night from the phone company and we are now on the second list - waiting for actual hook-ups to be processed. And it's not going to be a long wait - only until Thursday bright and early morning!
Tim is planning on running my connection through a router in his office, so I hope I really can be on at the same time that he's online.
It ought to make his flying sessions tons more fun.

And I should be able to put up better pictures.

Beauty in a Stormy Sky

I sometimes wish for a better camera.

I should also post a few my best friends husband took about the same time at his house.

Tons more color.

Visiting a friends small farm

Vannan was on cloud 9. Can you tell?

Sparkler Fun at Church Patriotic Party

This is an annual event at our church.

First we eat and talk.

Then there is usually a devotional or sermon.

Then games.

Then sparklers!

It had rained all afternoon so the smoke just hung in the heavy air, but at least it wasn't 104 that day!

I forgot to sent the camera with them.

Next came the Fireworks.

Miniture Golf Night with Church

Tim started to fill out the score card and then looked at the group he had. 3 small boys who had never played before. So he stuck it in his back pocket, abreviated the rules, and had a blast.

The girls were on the far side on the other set of holes.

So these are the only pictures we got - well, one more, but it wasn't very good.

Joel saw the pictures and said, "I liked that game. You hit the ball until it falls in the hole!"

The Balloon Man at the Library

Most were entralled - but a few were more interested in shoes.

Making Curious George while blind folded.
Joel loved this and when he saw the picture started yelling, "Monkey!"

He had a "monkey" song playing and every few minutes would hold it up and say, "Monkey?" and the kids hollared back, "NO!"

He used a big blow dryer to blow up this huge balloon -
and then he climbed inside, loosing his pants, and acting very shocked about it.

All part of the act.

You should have seen Joel's face!

One of the first acts was this static electricity dog sculpture.