This is a test to see if I can post a new post after all this time. Much has changed in my family. We are still happy, but only by the grace of God. A month after the previous post, my dear husband was diagnosed with cancer and he is now in Heaven with God. The children and I have had many adjustments, but are now settled comfortably in a new home & life. God says He has a special place in His heart for widows and fatherless children....and He has proved this to us many times. His grace truly is sufficient in our time of need. Though I desperately long for the time when I can see Richard again, I know our Heavenly Father still has some plans for the children and I on this earth. Till we meet again, my love!

Today has been a quiet day. The kids and I have laid low, enjoying the next stage of our diet in which we can eat eggs. God is so good... you know how Jesus taught us to pray, "Give us this day our daily  bread"?...He did that yesterday. I had pulled the very last of the meat out of the freezer, and that is essential for this healthy soup broth. So is yogurt. Both of which I was out of. I didn't really have the means to move to the next step of this diet...until yesterday, out of the blue, God gave us the resources to be able to go to Co-Op, of all places, one of the best stores, and stock up on the good food needed to feed my family for the next bit. Praise Him! 
This afternoon, the kids played in the garage for some 'sort-of' outside time--at least, out of the house. They can play with bikes, skateboards, roller blades, toddler cars, etc. in there, and get good and dirty. It is warm in the garage, so I had to follow the trail of coats and mittens that they chucked on the way in. :) Meanwhile, I got some peace and quiet after the morning hubbub....Do you do that? There is the morning hustle, but after it is all over, everyone is fed & cleaned up & changed, I need a downtime retreat to gather my wits about  me and finish waking up. I am not a morning person, so I sort of stumble my way through all that hubbub. But after I saw them safely bundled up and playing outside, I grabbed a cup of strong tea to clear my head, my food, and headed for my desk to "Mommy's World"....check email, schedule an appointment, Facebook, call my husband, who I barely remember seeing this particular morning before he headed out. I normally get up to see him off, but this Mama was dead to the world this morning....I chose to stay up late getting the house clean and food prepared.....anyway, that time to myself helps me get my direction clear for the day and fully wake up. 
The kids finally decided to come in for lunch, so I --Oh, look! The sun's out for the first time in days!--so I fed them their broth, chicken, carrots, and tea. Then we had puzzle and storytime. Then, surprise for Gabriel, Aunt K stopped by to drop something off and asked if he wanted to go walk her dog with her. I casually said, "I'm sure he would like that", then went and peeled an extremely excited little boy off the ceiling, Lol! Get some fresh air?Go with Aunt K? Walk the dog? Time alone without little sisters and brother? Um, YES he would like to go! :D Considering what a huge help and responsible little boy he was all morning, he for sure deserved an outing. And sweet. Yesterday, he made me a card that said "I Love you, Mommy" and a bookmark that was my favorite color with little kitties on it for my book. He's so thoughtful. 
After he left, I put the little girls in bed with their baby dolls and some pretty piano music. Gracie planted herself by the door to scream, so I, sigh, went back  in there, tucked her back in with Grandma's special blanket and her doll from Daddy, and "shh'd" her to sleep, reminding myself that Auntie R said that the kids would be like this while their little bodies are detoxifying, and that they're sick, not naughty. I really think that 1)God is giving me extra grace & patience right now, because their fussing isn't affecting me that badly, or 2) the healthy eating is affecting my moods for the better, or 3)both! :) Either way, thank you, Lord, for patience! 
James began to be indignant that he didn't get to go with Aunt K too, so I whispered in his ear that I would spend some special time with just him. I was thinking, you know, we'll put all these puzzles back together, maybe color....then he came up with his own plan. "Let's drink tea and go watch a funny movie together!" Okay, then, that's we'll do. After all, it's your special time, buddy, I guess you should choose! :) So we drank tea and watched America's Funniest Home Videos for awhile. 
Well, I had to take a break and come back. Now Gabe's home, James is back down here trying to figure out the puzzles, and the girls woke up. I could tell they were still tired, so I turned on Nim's Island for them and fed them some yogurt. They ate it like it was going out of style and laid back down. 
Both Richard and I noticed that Gracie's eczema is all gone-she's not constantly scratching anymore! She's had that since she was born and no amount of hydrocortizone cream really ever took it away. 
Richard is scheduled for his first appointment with the naturopath tomorrow afternoon. He has had such a bad week, I'm glad Dr. B wanted to see him right away instead of waiting until after the colonoscopy. His boss is really supportive of him right now, which is such a blessing. He told Richard to do whatever he needed to do to get better. Praise the Lord that his job won't be in jeopardy over doctor visits!
Well, I really  need to go do some cooking and cleaning so I will sign off for now.  Have a blessed day!

Well, even in the midst of illness, we can still have a good laugh! While filling out Richard's medical history form for the naturopath, we ran across the question, "Have you ever had parasites?" I asked him, and he said, "No." I said, "Are you sure?'Cause sometimes people have them and don't know it..." He snorted like I was dumb, "No! It's not like I've had a bunch of airplanes flying over me!" I was speechless. "WHAT are you talking about? Airplanes?" "Yeah,"he said."You know, those airplanes that fly around spreading parasites to kill all the bugs." I died laughing, yes, AT him! "Those are pesticides, not parasites!" Then he died laughing too. And gave me permission to post this 'funny'. And asked me what parasites were. :D

Hello, All! 
It's been a few days since I've been able to write, so I had to take a scroll back through facebook to see what little things have been going on the last bit. I forget if I don't write them down. I would say facebook is like my little jotter notebook and the blog is the expanded story form....unless I'm in a hurry, then I just copy/paste from facebook. :)
So let's see....
Our van and Alero have both finally bitten the dust. On the way to church last week for the Lord's Supper, the van performed it's dying moments, it's last gasping breaths for life. Four or five false stops on the way to church and then it slid into the church parking lot for the last time. It must have died happy, because church was its favorite place to be. We called the junk towtruck to haul off the van from church and the alero from Richard's work on the same day. Goodbye, faithful cars! Praise the Lord Richard had the foresight to buy another car just before that seated 7 passengers, or we'd have been sunk. So, we are now a one car family, which is the economical thing to do right now anyway. 
I have to say, though, I'm having a bit of an adjustment not being able to 'hop in the van' and run errands.  It is good: it provides a little more stability for school and housework. But by Saturday, I have cabin fever. This past Saturday evening I couldn't stand it anymore. I called my friend at 8:30 pm and said, "You wanna go for coffee?Please?" After a relaxing visit to the Good Earth coffeeshop down the street, I felt much better and was able to return home a sane woman. It's not like I can't go anywhere during the week evenings...it's just that Richard's been so sick lately that he only has strength to go to work and come home and go to bed, and it's not like we have a nanny to watch the kids while I 'run off somewhere'. I do have to be a responsible person. :D So Saturday I waited until the kids were in bed and Richard was well enough to oversee and then I had myself a coffee break.  
I have spent the last couple of weeks learning how to drive all over again...stickshift. I think I'm finally getting the hang of it. I have driven myself and the kids to church alone twice now. My previously mentioned coffee friend is also my 'driving instructor'. You would think that with my husband being a car guy that he would be the natural one to teach me. NOT the case. He and I lasted 15 minutes together. His instructions sounded as understandable as Klingon to me, but all the while I could feel him being nervous that I was going to burn the clutch out of his new car, Lol. We were simply not connecting....so he suggested that I ask my friend. She was more than happy to help. She took me out to a deserted parking lot and used girl terms. I heard things like "tap, tap, tap" and "teeter-totter" and my Mommy brain was able to compute this into driving the car. To start moving in first gear from a complete stop, I need to teeter-totter between the clutch and accelerator-makes perfect sense! :D Richard telling me about the engine "dropping" sounded like it was going to fall out of the car! (I'm not a car person, can you tell, but I'm very familiar with the playground.) So lately I've been driving more and more on my own. Sunday, my friend rode with me while I drove to nursing home services, following the other cars from church also going there. Well, their route led me to a stoplight on an uphill....oh, goodie! we hadn't done this before. I went to go forward on green-and rolled backward, causing the car behind me to honk in panic right before I hit them! What was that? I hadn't experienced a hill before. :) She tried to tell me what to do, but I was so flustered I couldn't go anywhere. Everyone just kept coming right up behind me, even with my hazard lights on. In short, we stalled traffic for ten minutes and ended up doing a Chinese fire drill so she could get us off the hill. I would've been happy not to drive anymore that day, but she forced me back into the driver's seat for the ride home. 
Hmmm...what else? Richard's wellbeing goes up and down daily. One day he seems almost his normal self, the next, he's in pain with no energy. He has an appointment for an extensive check at the end of the month. But in the mean time I am scheduling him in to start seeing a naturopath. We are hoping we can help heal his body as naturally as possible..in essence, help his body heal itself-with God's help, of course. He's the Great Physician! :) Richard is too young and energetic(normally) to be taken out with health problems now. 
And....life with the kids: they have taken their turns with little coughs and fevers and sore throats, but nothing seems to be turning into anything serious. Staying away from Playland may be a big part---Germ City. :( There were a couple days last week that we took off school for sick days. One day, it was supposed to be a 'sick day'. But all of a sudden, while Gabe was taking a nap, James, Grace, and Jane all crowded around my desk asking to 'do school'-it makes them feel important to call it 'school' like their big brother. :) I didn't have a plan. We just started coloring and talking and the following list became our morning:
God made fish and bunnies; 
Fish don't have hands, they have fins(I showed them how fishies swim with their fins and tails. They enjoyed 'swimming' like the fishies); 
Jesus loves me ALL the time: when I get dressed and when I eat breakfast...; 
God cares about me; 
He makes pretty flowers and trees to enjoy;
Robin's eggs are blue; 
God made LOTS of egg colors-blue, white, brown, & green;
Monkeys have tails;
No, Curious George doesn't have a tail, because he's an ape;
Counting to 10;
The colors Red and Orange;
Laugh-a-Lot Bear is a girl, not a boy, sorry, Gracie, my mistake!
Circle the biggest, Cross off the smallest;
Color, color, color;
Play an ABC matching puzzle game
Sing the ABC song;
Learn to take turns;
Share the coloring table;
Screaming gets you sent to your room, but being sweet lets you play!
It turned out to be a very pleasant morning.
Last night, I went to say goodnight to Gracie. She said, " 'Nuggle with me, Mama!" and held out her arms. She was so very sleepy. She pulled my face close. "You're my Princess Mama!" Aww! "You're my Princess Gracie!" I said. She can be so sweet.
Another funny snuggle story: I was snuggling Jane-Jane down in her  bed for her nap. She finally stopped protesting naptime and relaxed in my arms, so I whispered in her ear, "Mommy  loves you. You are Mommy's little baby; you will always be my baby." With her eyes closed, she sleepily murmured, "I'm gorgeous." Lol-If you could hear her say it, it would crack you up-she says it like a Southern belle: "Ah'm Baby Go'geous!" Don't worry, she's not really conceited: it's just matter of fact. Mommy told me I'm gorgeous, so I just am! It's because she likes the sound of that word. Beautiful, adorable, lovely, pretty.....nah--gorgeous? yes. That used to be one of my favorite words when I was a little girl too. Pollyanna said it and just about everything Pollyanna did was what I wanted to do! :)
I don't know if this makes me a bad mom...???...:D:D:D....but the other day the girls were having 'coffee' with me. Seriously, only like a tablespoon of coffee fits into their tiny teapot, and we filled up their cream and sugar pots, and the girls sat down at their tiny table. Gracie did the honors and 'poured'. I wished I had the camera!
James had his moments this week too. He saw me looking at facebook posts of people from church with some photos and exclaimed, "Mommy! You have CHURCH on da COMPUTER?! Dat is SO neat!"
The poor little guy wasn't feeling so hot Tuesday, with some sniffles and a headache. After I gave him some Tylenol, he crawled up on my lap in the rocking chair. While I rocked, he fell asleep with one hand in mine and his other hand on my face. So sweet....I actually found a poem on Pinterest that reminded me of this: 

TWO AND A HALF

Hold him a little longer

Rock him a little more

Tell him another story

(You've only told him four)

Let him sleep on your shoulder

Rejoice in his happy smile

He is only two and a half

For such a little while

~author unknown~

Whether 3 1/2 like James, or 2 1/2 like Grace, or 1 1/2 like Jane....or even 8 yrs old like Gabe, this poem is so very true!

Speaking of Baby Jane, she sure gave us a scare Sunday night! Sunday afternoon, we all went for a rest, Richard & I in our room, and all four kids snuggled securely in the room next to us watching a movie. Nice and close. We went to get the kids ready awhile later to go back to church....and we couldn't find Jane! Casual "Have you seen Jane?" turned into urgent "I'll go see if she slipped downstairs" to panicked "Look to see if she crawled under the stairs and got stuck in the suitcases!" We literally turned our house upside down, all three floors, looking for her. We looked in the garage, in the car(did we forget to unbuckle her when we got home because she was sleeping quietly?--no, she for sure was right there in the room with the kids watching the movie). I nauseously checked to see if she fell out the one open window(heaven forbid). She doesn't know how to open ANY of the doors-how did she escape?....shudder--was she stolen?....all these thoughts went through our panicked minds. I pulled on boots to go running down the street, but before I roused the neighborhood to help me look, I ran upstairs to the movie room to do one last check. We'd checked everywhere in there, even under the bed, but just to be sure.....I got right down on my tummy and let my eyes focus under the bed. There, waayyyy under the bed, surrounded by dust bunnies and stray toys, my baby girl was laying on her tummy, fast asleep-not even aware that she was "lost"! I almost cried with relief, obviously very shaken up. She has slid under the bed, committed a poopie diaper(lol!), and fallen asleep. I don't know if she got stuck or just got tired, but she was perfectly alright. We had actually gotten scared to the point of calling Pastor at church, and he had a quick prayer meeting with those at church for her. That was really scary! Praise the Lord none of those horrid scenarios were the case!

Gabriel is starting to do really well in school. He's at the stage where he's having to learn how to write paragraphs and put his thoughts down on paper. And they are quite often funny, as is his spelling. Yesterday, he had to pretend to be an object in the room and write a paragraph of what 'it' might write in it's journal, life through it's eyes. He decided to be a picture on the shelf. Here's what "It" wrote: 

"Gabe was sing JESUS Luves me on Momday. Jamse was Playing ONO ON WENS-

day With TRISTEN.

Grace was Toking With hr Fend Delilah To go on a piknk

Delilah sed YES & Grace & Delilah did"

He is learning all about Vikings and Inuit(Eskimos) in school. He really enjoys learning about people and finding them on our new globe(compliments of Auntie Rochelle!). Animals are his strongest point. He loves wildlife. He'll sit there and watch National Geographic videos for hours. Another thing that I let him have freedom with is his science experiment kit. He catches on to his science concepts quick as a wink. He hates math but loves science. Tinkering around with his science kit also keeps him busy for hours. I have  taken to teaching him the concepts out of the books, but handing over the 'science guy' dvd and experiment box to him to do alone. He seems to like being given that 'hands on' freedom, and he does great!

Well, all of my children are awake now. I was up early to have breakfast with Richard. It was hard to initially climb out of bed, but I'm so glad I did. Richard and I got to enjoy the quiet and some prayer together before the kids were up. It pains me to see him hurting so and yet having to go off to work. My heart goes with him in prayer. He is such a good man and I'm privileged to be his wife. :) 

I'm off to make some more soup, catch up on housework, study with Gabe, and somewhere in there take a nap, cause I'm getting sleepy!

Wow, it seems I'm figuring out a whole bunch of things that are not healthy to do lately. I'm done with indoor playplaces because once again my kids are sick.  Sore throats, fevers, nausea. 
We're changing our whole diet and way of thinking....it's probably hardest to change for me because of my sweet tooth. I think I'm afraid to commit, lol. Richard's in such pain that he's doing whatever it takes to feel better. Having to rethink milk & eggs & meat & good fats vs. bad & yogurt & ousting all processed foods.....it's a lot to think about! But I'm sick of everyone feeling terrible, so it's worth it. Trying to get Gabriel to drink soup broth with 'floaties'(spices) or onion tea when he's not feeling good...well, it's about as easy as cutting his hair or trimming his nails or pulling a sliver out of his hand.  I'm afraid he's kind of 'not brave' when being messed with. :)
Well, James is feeling a bit better now and requesting to do some school. And Grace wanted to do her Care Bears workbook. And Jane wants to do her counting puzzle. All at the same time. So, I guess it's time for some preschool! :D

Some little clips from the last few days, as posted on facebook...:)

I love that my girls are 'girlie'...yesterday afternoon, we had a tea party with our special china while watching Little House on the Prairie....just us girls!
...and a couple hours later: Okay, scratch what I said about 'girlie girls'....I just slipped a delicate, pink flowered shirt over Jane's head, and she said, "Dis my muscle shirt! I'm Supermaaan!!!" Lol

With my New Year upcoming, I just have this incredible urge to organize everything! 

today: New Year is being spent getting stuff going....Richard and James just headed off to retrieve good parts out of our two dead cars, the girls are pretending to take a nap, I'm cleaning house and teaching school, and Gabe is diligently adding and subtracting up a number ladder.....starting our year out with hard work....our family gathering will be on Friday with Richard's brother and sister. :)

LOL: No words were spoken in the following conversation. I assigned Gabe 12 subtraction problems, subtracting to the thousands' place, while I went to make a pot of coffee. After several minutes, he silently brought me his math paper. No problems were done. Above the math problems was this message:"I cannot do it becus it is to hrd for me bi my self." Slightly annoyed, I wrote back, "Yes, you can. DO IT!" A couple minutes later, he returned the paper. "Mom you r not mi." (I had to pause and think.."I am not your WHAT?--Oh! that says 'me'. ") Going around the corner to suppress a smile, as it was getting rather amusing, I wrote back, "You could have had them all done by now!" Managing not to laugh, I silently handed the paper to him and went back to my coffee. He, also trying not to laugh, brought the paper back with this message, "OK Mom i will do it." Then he proceeded to finish all 12 problems in five minutes! Little stinker. :D

So, right now it is 10:35pm on New Year's Day. I did get much accomplished, still some to do before I can retire, hopefully not too late. James took this incredibly long, incredibly late nap, so he's WIDE AWAKE. :) He came to me at 9:30pm and asked to 'do school'(his preschool workbook). I shrugged my shoulders and said, "Why not?" So he voluntarily did four whole pages of shapes and concepts. Gabe did double duty on math and language arts today, yay! It will make his tomorrow easier. Well, I should sign off now, as Gabe is needing me to read to him...kind of late, I know....but it's a holiday. :) Happy New Year!

I have been loving watching the children with their Christmas presents. Everything they got seemed to work together with the theme that I chose in my own presents for them: something to help each of them learn and grow in some way. For Gabe, it was spiritually. For James, it was motor skills. For Grace and Jane, it was learning to help and take care of things. Of course, they got several 'just for fun' gifts, too. 
Gabe has been voluntarily reading his new Bible that we got him. It is a neat kids Bible, with big words and pictures. The pictures match the Bible storybook that he reads aloud for Language Arts in school, so he really enjoys finding those stories in the Bible. He also loves listening to the Patch the Pirate music and his Adventures in Odyssey cds while he is going to sleep. His theme for his whole year, it seems, is learning manliness through godly heroes and character building. It is posted all over our school wall. And his Christmas presents go right along. The Odyssey series is "Heroes", his Jesus coloring book is about Good Manners; his Jesus pencil says, "Jesus is my Hero!"....get the picture? :) Since turning 8, he has started becoming more responsible. He has gotten his own room, started doing his own laundry, has had to learn to be responsible for remembering his own personal property through trial and error. He is very proud of his new Bible; it has seemed to spark a new interest in growing with God.
James is fun to watch with his  new toys. He picks a costume for Larry the Cucumber (Veggie Tales), and then sets Larry somewhere. Yesterday he was a cowboy and he set him by the barn for the horses. He plays in his imaginary world with his road building set, or with his big diesel car -loader, or has conversations between his tiny animals. :) His new favorite movie is Free Willy, which he watches over and over. He also meticulously keeps his new toys in his new room and keeps the girls OUT. And when they come in, that's how he says it to them..OUT! While teaching him to 'walk in love'(Ephesians 5:2)LOL, we are trying to teach the girls to respect his space, which he keeps so neat. :)
And those girls!-what fun they are to watch with all of their new 'housekeeping' items....a Minnie Mouse vacuum that 'turns on' when they 'help' vacuum, dolly strollers, dolly beds&blankets, new dollies, 'groceries' for their little kitchen, etc. I walked around the corner last week and found Gracie vacuuming with her little vacuum right next to Daddy with his:it was too sweet. And Janie and  I put her groceries away in her fridge. They rock their babies and put them to bed and take them on walks. I hung up their little clothesline this morning and they 'did laundry'. It is hilarious to watch them put their purses over their arms, step into their princess high heels, and clomp around the kitchen pushing their baby strollers!
Well, I've got to help Gabe with the rest of his schoolwork, get the venison roast out of the oven for dinner, and get everyone ready for a special church service this evening. Have a Happy New Year one and all!