Hi Ho the Dairy Oh......

......we finally made it home.

You know that you are truly desperate for your child to stop crying when you can make up endless verses to this tune hours on end.

After six hours there and back in the car by myself with my 2 year-old and 50 lb puppy, home is a welcoming sight. We made it home with little excitement but getting there and experiencing my family was, as usual, something to talk about.

We set out a week ago Wednesday and 2 hours into the trip my puppy threw up in the back seat. While I was on the side of the BUSY highway cleaning up the mess with baby wipes and telling my dog to not jump out of the car, my son picked up my coffee cup. It of course was easily within his reach because it was the only place to set it due to the large amounts of stuff in the front seat to entertain him. Although it had a lid on it he still managed to spill it into the toy bucket and just a little on the laptop sitting in front of him. This of course was put so close to play his DVD's so he wouldn't cry the whole way like he did last time we took a trip in the car for more than 3 hours.

The highlights of the trip included running endlessly around my mother's house trying to keep everything from breaking at the hands of the baby or puppy; watching my mother's little 12 lb schnauzer SCREAM in terror anytime puppy tried to play with her (I have never heard that sound come from a dog); pulling my son out of the disgusting backyard pond he fell head first into at the baby shower for my sister's new 4 week old daughter; getting my son to sit still for pictures in the front yard of my mother's house with his 4 cousins and not pull all the flowers out.  It may be time to rethink road trips.

(THIS WAS AN OLD POST I NEVER PUBLISHED FROM 5 YEARS AGO. MY LIFE HAS NOT CHANGED MUCH. THE DOG REFERENCED HERE IS OUR AUSTRALIAN SHEPHERD WHO IS NOW BLIND BUT STILL THE BEST DOG EVER. MY SON IS NOW 7.)

Being the mother of little boys is not for the weak...

..when you are greeted like I was this morning.  I will spare you any photos and I apoligize in advance to any weak stomach readers.  Really, don't read further if you are easily grossed out.

From bed this morning, about 6:30 am, I hear "Ow, ow, ow, ow, Mommy, owie, owie, owie, help, help" in a little voice (not screaming) from my 3 yo in his room.  This can mean a variety of things because "ow" for him means anything that is currently touching him that he does not like.  The dog, his shirt, a booger on his finger, peanut butter, really anything, and it is my job to rescue him apparently.

So, "ow, ow, help, help, ow, owie, owie, Mommy, owie, ow, ow"...on and on and on.  I finally give in knowing it will never stop.

I will pause to say thanks for the ingenious little child proof door lock thingy that I put on the inside of their door.  It means they can't get out when I close it.  It keeps them in at night because if they knew they could get out they would and have, all night long, over and over again.  I like my sleep so I "lock" them in.  Trust me, I can hear them if they wake up.  Besides the 4 yo one can actually open it

Okay, I go in to their room to see my precious little baby with hands covered in POO.  His shirt too and the 4 yo explaining that he had a poopy pull up so he changed it.  Had the lock not been there, I would have had that all over me and my bed. 

We are currently in the process of fully potty training the extremely stubborn 4 yo who would rather pee in his underwear and put poo on the floor than be bothered to go to the potty.  So I took his pull ups during the day away and take him to the potty, all the time.  He has yet to do it on his own.  Really, he just runs around in pee underwear until I catch him and make him change.  I would rethink it and maybe he isn't ready but he is 4 1/2 yo.  Come on.

So the poo is on the floor, the 3 yo, the bed, various toys surrounding the poo, pajamas, and the 4 yo.  I would like to say this is the first time he has done it.  It isn't.  I would like to say that he is the only one in the house that I wake up to in this state.  NO, he isn't.

The dogs have greeted me with poo presents lately.  Normally they are very good about holding it all night.  Lately, since the Jack Russell Terrier moved in on the other side of the fence they are a little lax about getting the business done at night.  Instead they stand at the fence and bark at him.  I have had to rearrange our feeding schedule to earlier in the day which I don't actually have time for and forget quite often so they will poop earlier and not on my floor.

Well, I got it all cleaned up easily.  Why, because I know all the cleaners and have a STACK of cleaning towels.  I mean the stack you get at Sam's that no one ever uses unless they professionally clean.  I use them all the time.  Mine are NEON GREEN so I can find them in a poo emergency.

So, later as I am getting out of the shower I am greeted with the 3 yo running back into the bathroom with the plunger.  He was "working" on the toilet in the other bathroom.  I could tell.  It was dripping on my bedroom carpet.  This is also the toilet the boys use and don't always flush.  They didn't this time either.

It was at this point I realized today was going to be an off day.  Just one of those days that everything seems absurd and you are in the middle of it.

Well, I have some laundry to do.  I hope this story gives you peace and happiness that you are not me.  At least today.

Tomorrow they will do some brilliant and cute.  The 4 yo just came in to tell me his calculator is stuck in the neighbor's bush.  He said he got the calculator out of the tree.  Now I am curious what he means by calculator.  Off to the bush!

Facebook | The Daily Spurgeon: Gradual Decline

Facebook The Daily Spurgeon: Gradual Decline: "Remember, brethren, that decays in grace and backsliding are usually very much like the fall of the autumn leaves. You are watching the trees, forever now they are beginning to indicate the coining fall. They evidently know that their verdant robes are to be stripped from them, for they are casting off their first loose vestments. How slowly the time of the brown leaf comes on! You notice here and there a tinge of the copper hue, and anon the gold leaf or the bronze is apparent. Week after week you observe that the general fall of the leaves is drawing nearer, but it is a matter that creeps slowly on. And so with backsliders. They are not put out of the visible church all at once, they do not become open offenders all at once. The heart by slow degrees turns aside from the living God, and then at last comes the outward sin and the outward shame. God save us from falling by little and little! The devil’s little strokes have felled many great oaks.

From a sermon entitled 'Grey Hairs,' delivered September 13, 1868. Image by Chris Darling under Creative Commons License."

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I vacuum...

to relax. I know weird, right?  It has not always been like this but something about the humming and methodical moving of the vacuum cleaner back and forth that makes me feel better.  It also has the added benefit of getting the kids to run away.  They like to pretend they are scared of it and then find something else to do.

I woke up in what can only be explained as a "funk".  You know that unexplainable feeling of exhaustion that makes you feel like you are walking through molasses. It was Sunday and I was very grumpy, tired, and couldn't form words properly.  I needed to calm down so I got out the Dyson.  I vacuumed for 20 minutes and felt much better.  My husband, I am certain, was happy to have a functioning wife for a bit.  We made it to church on time but the funk returned later.

It is moments like this you simply have to "cowboy up" because whining doesn't help.  Your small children don't understand that you feel awful nor do they care.  Now I didn't fly through the day.  I am not that good of a cowboy.  I did feed them and get the important stuff done.  I finally felt better around 10 pm at which point I talked my husband into playing Wii Golf.  It is our version of spending time together which I find more fun than watching a movie.  This way we are actually talking even if it is trash talk about how much better I am at Wii Golf than he is.  He stayed up later to do training events so it won't happen again.  I thought that might be the end of my brief golf championship status.

A new day

I love the morning.  It holds so much potential and it is after all when the joy will come.  The previous day's events can be discouraging, or the lack of events.  You can be frustrated and worn down, but waking up often gives you new perspective and determination to overcome those obstacles.

I know each day is a blessing and I was recently convicted by the verse "Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth." Proverbs 27:1.  It came with a sermon by Jonathan Edwards titled "Procrastination" or "The Sin and Folly of Depending on Future Time".  I have not read far into the sermon because it is after all Jonathan Edwards, a well known Reformed preacher from the 18th century.  It requires much focus, a dictionary, and thesaurus for me to get through it.  You can find a copy of the sermon here, http://www.biblebb.com/files/edwards/procrastination.htm.  It was the title that really stuck with me because I had never heard procrastination described as sin or in that manner.

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)

Procrastination can take on many forms, but it means you are unwilling to do something that can be done today.  Although we may seem "busy" these days we often choose frivilous activities, and there are many out there, to occupy our time.  I will sit on Facebook looking at profiles and pictures of people I don't know because it entertains me.  My past largest sinful time waster was television.  This one is a huge weakness for me, more so than the computer. All the fictional stories developed by worldly writers often put me in a bad mood for reasons I am sure a therapist could figure out but getting rid of it altogether seemed more economical.  We do still have a television, but no cable.  I also had a huge problem with commerical and how they affected my children, even those on kid channels.  We have chosen to purchase shows and movies on DVD and some we watch on Netflix.  It has been almost a year since I turned it off and truly I do not miss it.  I did compensate by watching shows online which I still do but I have learned to do other things, like quilting, which makes viewing TV online not possible.  I do maybe once or twice a month watch a few favorite shows online, but for the most part I simply do not have time.  Inevitably even doing this requires I lose sleep or neglect something else.  I woud much rather be quilting or reading a book.  Both make for a better night's rest than an episode of Criminal Minds.

I do wonder when others find the time to watch television.  I stay at home with my children.  I have 3 dogs, more than the average family, and I homeschool.  But I only have one child of homeschooling age right now and he is easy to teach.  I have one real hobby which is quilting and I don't have time for it that often, maybe 2 hours a week, tops.  We get sick less than most because we don't go out to public places as often and I don't go to a gym or exercise at all.  I should but I don't have time.  Now I admit to being a procrastinator but I don't procrastinate enough to make room in my schedule for even an hour of TV.  It seems like you really have to neglect your duties and ignore the needs of those around you to actually watch TV shows these days.  Of course this is my opinion, and I pray others are better at it than I am.

I am truly a weak individual, driven by my selfish desires.  My desire for more sleep because I didn't control myself and get in bed on time makes mornings annoying.  My desire to sit on the couch or buy that pretty thing I just saw online I wrestle with daily and I almost always regret giving in to.  My desire to have a moment of silence when all my children really want is to play while I watch them leads to raised voices and grumpy kids.  All these desires are self-serving and require that I neglect my calling as a Christian, wife, and mother.  It is obviously backwards from what we are told by every facet of communication and most "experts" these days.

I would elaborate more on this but I have cookies to make and my son wants his hair shaved off.  I am working on my sin of procrastination.  I have only been promised today and I will take advantage of it.  It isn't even lunch yet and this new day still has so much potential.  What will God bring you today?

My First Quilt Class

I took my first quilt class this last summer.  God answered my prayer of learning to quilt by putting me in a rent house we found online that happened to be next door to an expert quilter.  I have been hoarding fabric for over 10 years and slowing buying supplies, unwilling to give up hope that someday I would make a quilt.  It took me many months to get to know my neighbors.  I was overwhelmed with the deployment, the move, and having no friends.  I also decided to switch from the church we had first visited and joined when we arrived to one more suited to our family and beliefs.  That was difficult but a blessing and what led to the opportunity to have the quilt class.

This is Mildred and I at the end of the second class.  I gave this one to my oldest son who named it his "Blankie Quilt" and sleeps with it every night.  He begged for weeks for it to be done.

It was a passing conversation with my new friends at church and Mildred happened to be free for the summer class.  It was providential in so many ways and the blessings keep coming.  First, I am absolutely hooked on quilting.  "They" say you either get obsessed or forget about it altogether.  Well I am obsessed.  If I am not quilting I am looking at quilts, reading quilt blogs, pricing quilt tools online, and estimating how much cash I need to save up before I enter another fabric store.  I have to very seriously talk to myself about budgets and not spending more than I should when I need to go into a fabric store.  It goes something like this, "You need one thing, go fast, and get out.  NO you can't buy anything else just get it and get out.  You KNOW you will be so mad at yourself if you overspend...."  This dialogue keeps going in my head as I make my way to the cash register.

This is Rita's quilt, a wonderful little baby quilt.

Second, I have some wonderful friends from quilt class that I would not have been able to get to know as well in another setting.  I got to know Mildred 10 times better and I love that.  She is wonderful and supportive.  Always willing to come help me out of the mess I made of the quilt or the sewing machine.  I have learned so much from her and love to have such a wonderful neighbor.  She is also alone with her husband in a nursing home.  I feel so blessed to be able to support her when she needs it or help her lift something if needed.  Not that she needs it often.  She is seventy something and always goes.  I pray I will be that active at her age.  I pray I can be that active at my age!  She has been such a blessing from God.

I also was able to meet my new friend Jackie.  We mainly email but that is all we have time for.  Jackie has been a blessing from God in so many ways.  We both have been dealing with deployed husbands and have small children at home. I have 3 little boys and she has 5 (3 girls, 2 boys).  During this time we have both faced health issues that were daunting and still had to homeschool and maintain households.  We both think we did poorly but God had a plan in there somewhere.  Neither of us can see it yet but I know we both have faith that it all happened for God's glory.  We are both praying that the deployment stuff is over soon, at least in the short term.  In the mean time we email, a lot.

This is Regina and her cute quilt.  She gave her's as a gift to her mother and she loved it.

Third, it gave me a distraction I desperately needed this last year.  With DH gone I dreaded each night and I had something to occupy my mind.  Getting your points to match is a fantastic way to distract yourself from the nagging loneliness.

This is me, my first born on his first Christmas, my mother, grandmother, and great grandmother.  Aren't they lovely?

Finally, it has given me the inspiration to document my great grandmother's quilts and her story.  She is still alive and mentally present to convey her story.  I am so excited to find all her older quilts and preserve them for our future generations.  She started quilting over 80 years ago when she was 14 years old.  She lived through the depression and still loves to laugh.  I won't be able to get to Texas until May and have already started preparations to speak with her.  She doesn't do much but she is still able to live with her daughter and not in a nursing home. She is excited about the project as well and I can't wait to see her again.