Thursday, January 22, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Random Thoughts
First, thanks for the encouraging words yesterday. And, to set the record straight, I also have a pile of clean laundry on my couch - not folded. It's been there for 3 days now. And, Melissa, please come hang out with me for a week so you can see I am SO NOT perfect. Not anywhere close. :-) But glad I fooled you at one point! :-)
I had a long chat with Old Man last night about my frustrations with schooling one of my children. It has been a constant battle to motivate this one for a while now. I won't get into the whole thing, but let's just say that with 5 kids, I cannot spend 3 hours waiting for one to finish math (while she wants me next to her, holding her hand). She is smart. Stinking smart. More than capable and I cannot afford 3 hours for MATH! Hello, we have many other subjects to cover, clothes to clean and fold, floors that are filthy, kids who want to eat, bums that need to be wiped, etc. I had to admit to him that I am going to have to be more scheduled. Now, for some of you, you're thinking "DUH!?!" But you have to understand that to me, schedule is a curse word. Every time I write out a schedule, I fail at it. FAIL. Another curse word. I'm a perfectionist. Some people work very hard if they are perfectionists. Me, I just don't do something if I'm no good at it (unless forced to). See, that way I never fail! :-) Convenient. Too bad it isn't working anymore. I'm going nuts here. I actually cried when I admitted to Old Man that I'm going to have to be more, gulp, scheduled.
The main point of all this is to share with you the e-mail my dear, sweet husband sent to me today. You will see why I adore him when you read this:
"I know what you mean about failing. You WILL fail when you put together a schedule and goals. I make lists and goals constantly – and constantly fail. We need to get past the notion that failure in and of itself is bad. The point is, when we fail in the context of our schedule and goals, we fail in the direction of meeting those goals – even if we never get there. For us, we just need to make sure that as a family we are failing in the direction of the Lord (v. the world) and that we do it together.
I had a long chat with Old Man last night about my frustrations with schooling one of my children. It has been a constant battle to motivate this one for a while now. I won't get into the whole thing, but let's just say that with 5 kids, I cannot spend 3 hours waiting for one to finish math (while she wants me next to her, holding her hand). She is smart. Stinking smart. More than capable and I cannot afford 3 hours for MATH! Hello, we have many other subjects to cover, clothes to clean and fold, floors that are filthy, kids who want to eat, bums that need to be wiped, etc. I had to admit to him that I am going to have to be more scheduled. Now, for some of you, you're thinking "DUH!?!" But you have to understand that to me, schedule is a curse word. Every time I write out a schedule, I fail at it. FAIL. Another curse word. I'm a perfectionist. Some people work very hard if they are perfectionists. Me, I just don't do something if I'm no good at it (unless forced to). See, that way I never fail! :-) Convenient. Too bad it isn't working anymore. I'm going nuts here. I actually cried when I admitted to Old Man that I'm going to have to be more, gulp, scheduled.
The main point of all this is to share with you the e-mail my dear, sweet husband sent to me today. You will see why I adore him when you read this:
"I know what you mean about failing. You WILL fail when you put together a schedule and goals. I make lists and goals constantly – and constantly fail. We need to get past the notion that failure in and of itself is bad. The point is, when we fail in the context of our schedule and goals, we fail in the direction of meeting those goals – even if we never get there. For us, we just need to make sure that as a family we are failing in the direction of the Lord (v. the world) and that we do it together.
1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Isn't he great!!!!!! So, now you can pray that I am willing to fail at the schedule thing. Because I will.
On another note, anyone have a clue how to get a 5 year old boy to keep his hands out of his pants? And then out of his mouth? GROSS.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
One of Those Days
Yep, it's one of THOSE days. One of those days where I am ready to quit my job and run away. One of those days where the house is a disaster, chores are not done, school has been awful, kids have been disobedient, I have lost my temper. One of those days where I think about all those "perfect" homeschoolers out there and hate them. Yep, hate. I'm sure they never yell at their kids, their houses are clean, chores are done ON TIME, they have a perfect schedule that they adhere to perfectly. One of those days where I yelled "I QUIT" at my kids and they started to cry. One of those days where I feel completely inadequate, unprepared and not wanting to do this job that God has called me to do. One of those days where I'm weeping at my desk, crying to Him to let me do something else, rewind the clock 15 years and let me start over again, rewind the clock and let me start the day again. One of those days I'm sure I'm producing an axe murderer in my house instead of children who love the Lord. One of those days where I need God's grace, mercy and love to pour all over me. One of those days where I need to stop, slow down, pray and beg Him to work through me instead of trying to do this job by myself.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Update
Thank you for your prayers! Little Bit woke up this morning with a temp of 100.3 - that's the lowest it has been after 4 hours of medications in a few days. Praise God the antibiotics are working (actually, I think it has more to do with prayer). I'll give more details of my day yesterday. :-)
When Little Bit woke up yesterday, her temp was 102. She'd had Motrin only 4 hours before! So, as I was getting her ready to go to the doctor, I tried to give her some Tylenol. Well, she puked all over me after the first drop! Not a good sign. Old Man called and told me to not go anywhere - a bit of a blizzard going on. So I decided to just go to the acute care clinic 5 minutes from my house vs the pediatrician 25 minutes from my house! Since I was only going a few minutes away and thought I'd only be gone an hour max, I left the 2 older girls home to get chores done and school started. Well, I was gone 2-1/2 hours and hadn't written out my entire cell phone number. Poor Dawn tried to call me 4 times to ask about math. Thankfully Daddy called and chatted with her and I called in between the doctor and getting the prescription filled. While we were at the doctor, we were sitting there, just waiting for her to pee. She was bagged, so we were watching and waiting. I looked at the boys and said, "boys, let's pray that she pees quickly." They prayed and 2 minutes later she peed! I love it when we can show our children that our prayers are answered. Even little prayers like "help Little Bit pee!"
We got home and attempted to give her a dose of antibiotics. First drop in her mouth, gag, puke - everywhere. I'm sitting in a chair, covered in vomit, tring to figure out what to do next. Do I get up, clean us all off and then attempt the antibiotics (knowing this was going to be a messy thing anyway?). I decided to sit there, all gross, and finish the antibiotic. At one point, Dawn comes up wanting to show me something. "Mom, look at the recipes Anne and I made!" Umm, Dawn, LOOK at me. I mean LOOK at me. She looked at me, her eyes got huge and she made some comment about how gross this was. I just told her I would have to look at the recipe later. :-) I tried to get the antibiotics in Little Bit, but didn't feel very successful - lots of it she drooled out.
Next dose, right before bed, I decided to have Old Man hold her while I dosed her. We went real slow, real careful, tried to make sure it all got in her little mouth. It went GREAT! Until the very last little bit. Put it in her mouth, she gagged and puked all over Old Man. I just have to say that I got puked on TWICE and didn't utter a single curse word. Not Old Man. :-) He didn't appreciate being vomited on at all. Seriously, ladies, what is his problem? :-)
My point of all this is to say that I'm not sure she got a huge amount of antibiotics in her yesterday and yet she is obviously much better today. Thank God! Now I have an appointment scheduled for next week and we will have to get some testing done to see why she had a UTI at such a young age.
When Little Bit woke up yesterday, her temp was 102. She'd had Motrin only 4 hours before! So, as I was getting her ready to go to the doctor, I tried to give her some Tylenol. Well, she puked all over me after the first drop! Not a good sign. Old Man called and told me to not go anywhere - a bit of a blizzard going on. So I decided to just go to the acute care clinic 5 minutes from my house vs the pediatrician 25 minutes from my house! Since I was only going a few minutes away and thought I'd only be gone an hour max, I left the 2 older girls home to get chores done and school started. Well, I was gone 2-1/2 hours and hadn't written out my entire cell phone number. Poor Dawn tried to call me 4 times to ask about math. Thankfully Daddy called and chatted with her and I called in between the doctor and getting the prescription filled. While we were at the doctor, we were sitting there, just waiting for her to pee. She was bagged, so we were watching and waiting. I looked at the boys and said, "boys, let's pray that she pees quickly." They prayed and 2 minutes later she peed! I love it when we can show our children that our prayers are answered. Even little prayers like "help Little Bit pee!"
We got home and attempted to give her a dose of antibiotics. First drop in her mouth, gag, puke - everywhere. I'm sitting in a chair, covered in vomit, tring to figure out what to do next. Do I get up, clean us all off and then attempt the antibiotics (knowing this was going to be a messy thing anyway?). I decided to sit there, all gross, and finish the antibiotic. At one point, Dawn comes up wanting to show me something. "Mom, look at the recipes Anne and I made!" Umm, Dawn, LOOK at me. I mean LOOK at me. She looked at me, her eyes got huge and she made some comment about how gross this was. I just told her I would have to look at the recipe later. :-) I tried to get the antibiotics in Little Bit, but didn't feel very successful - lots of it she drooled out.
Next dose, right before bed, I decided to have Old Man hold her while I dosed her. We went real slow, real careful, tried to make sure it all got in her little mouth. It went GREAT! Until the very last little bit. Put it in her mouth, she gagged and puked all over Old Man. I just have to say that I got puked on TWICE and didn't utter a single curse word. Not Old Man. :-) He didn't appreciate being vomited on at all. Seriously, ladies, what is his problem? :-)
My point of all this is to say that I'm not sure she got a huge amount of antibiotics in her yesterday and yet she is obviously much better today. Thank God! Now I have an appointment scheduled for next week and we will have to get some testing done to see why she had a UTI at such a young age.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Prayer Request
Sorry I've been missing here. We've had a yucky cough going around. Little Bit's been sick for over a week now. She got a high fever on Saturday. Took her to the doctor this morning and she has a very bad urinary tract infection. Since a uti in a baby this young can be an indication of other problems, looks like we'll be seeing the doctor a bit more frequently than normal! Please pray that the antibiotics work quickly, that she starts to feel better very quickly, that the dr will have wisdom and that I can get some rest! I'm exhausted.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Anne
Anne has become a writer lately. She started by writing Christmas letters and notes to me. Lately she even writes out prayers. If you know her, this is an interesting side to her. She is very very quiet usually. Definitely been my hardest child for me to figure out and get to know. Here is what she wrote last night (I'm including all the misspellings - they are so cute!).
A Little Prarer,
Dear Jesus,-
Thank you for my family. Pleas help them to not feel sick, pleas help them to have the frut of the spiret. Pleas help me to have fun with them, and that they will have a fun time with each oter. Amen.
On the back, she wrote:
The frut of the spiret.
The frut of the spiret is - Love - Mom
Joy - Little Bit
Peace - Dawn
Pashents - David
Kindnes - Joseph
Goodnes - Dad
Faithfullnes - Little Bit
Gentelnes - Joseph
Self Controll - David
Now, I'm not sure if she's saying we HAVE those traits, we NEED those traits or SHE needs those traits towards others. Oh, and she wrote their real names. :-) Every time she writes something, I tear up. She's showing such a sweet side of herself - a side we don't get to see all that often! :-)
A Little Prarer,
Dear Jesus,-
Thank you for my family. Pleas help them to not feel sick, pleas help them to have the frut of the spiret. Pleas help me to have fun with them, and that they will have a fun time with each oter. Amen.
On the back, she wrote:
The frut of the spiret.
The frut of the spiret is - Love - Mom
Joy - Little Bit
Peace - Dawn
Pashents - David
Kindnes - Joseph
Goodnes - Dad
Faithfullnes - Little Bit
Gentelnes - Joseph
Self Controll - David
Now, I'm not sure if she's saying we HAVE those traits, we NEED those traits or SHE needs those traits towards others. Oh, and she wrote their real names. :-) Every time she writes something, I tear up. She's showing such a sweet side of herself - a side we don't get to see all that often! :-)
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Family
I have decided that the worst thing about having family visit is that they have to leave. We had a great time with family and miss them terribly! Of course, if you ask David, all he really wants is "to wide a motocyco" again. Little Bit got spoiled rotten, so has wanted me to carry her nonstop. The other bad thing about having family visit is that they shared germs, so all but 2 of us are now sick!
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