Breakfast
Cleanup
Dress one and all
Load up van(10:30am)
Doctor for Gracie
Pick up new computer at post office
Home for forgotten item
Preschool drop-off for James
Chiropractor down south
Preschool pick-up for James
Home for forgotten item
Choir drop-off for Gabe
Meet Richard at work to give him supplies
Choir pick-up for Gabe-late, thanks to snow & traffic
Home at last (7pm)
Dinner
Cleanup
Bed for Babies
School Reading for Gabriel
Daddy home
Babies get back up to swarm Daddy
Family time
Babies back in bed
Finish reading to Gabe
Send him off to bed
Post on blog
Unglue dead husband from comfy chair and drag his 6' frame upstairs to our bed
Sleep! (or possibly, walk on treadmill and watch tv---but most likely, SLEEP, lol)
This, my friends, was a long Thursday.

I love the randomness of a 3 yr old!  As I was snuggling with James putting him to bed this evening, I said to him, "You seem really happy to have your own room now: does that make you happy?" His face lit up with a big grin and he replied, "I brought crackers home with me from church!" Okay! From way out in left field, that must have been weighing on his mind.....LOL
(I went on to make sure he had permission to bring crackers home, which he did.)

Recently I have been reading a series of articles concerning not getting too busy to 'embrace the moments' with my children. I thought of this this morning. Last night, I stayed up until 2am folding a mountain of laundry, so this morning when the baby girls woke up early, I was very weary when I pulled myself out of bed to go change their diapers. I wanted to just set them up with a princess movie & their bucket of toys and go back across the hall to get a little more sleep. But then Gracie crawled up with her blanket and said, "Wanna sit in you lap, Mommy." Physically, my body just wanted to collapse in bed. But of course I would be heartless to refuse my baby girl wanting to sit in my lap. :) So I decided to just crawl up in her bed with her. She flopped her whole little self up over my tummy with the biggest, squeeziest hug, snuggled her little head up in  my neck, and exclaimed, "I love you too, Mommy!"--before I even had a chance to say 'I love you' first. :) It was worth embracing the moment for that memory. It definitely encouraged me to keep doing what I do best-being Mommy. :)

I was all pumped up about several things...until I heard the U.S.election results. Then I felt a little sick, with a nagging foreboding feeling. But truly God is in control. He knows what His plan is and is more than capable of keeping His people in His everlasting arms of protection. This is the time to live 'wise as serpents and harmless as doves'. That said, I might as well get back to my business of being happy with my day because there's nothing I can do to change the state of affairs in my home country.
I am SO excited about Christmas preparations. I have a million ideas buzzing around in my head to make Christmas special for my family and start some new traditions for years ahead. The kids are big enough now to join in and understand...so much fun! 
I just got back from helping Auntie shop for my kids. She asks me to go with her every year because she likes the company and because she likes to be sure that she's getting just what the kids would like/mom approved, etc. It's always a fun thing to go with her. Plus, it gives me a chance to sort of "preview" shop to find out what's out there, where, and what price. Just a great time all around.
So many ideas and projects......The special trip with Richard to choose the angel for our tree that will last for years & to hand choose personalized stockings for each of our kids, also to last for years....The project of making a front door Christmas wreath with the kids....Picking out paint and potpourri to make a new set of Christmas tree balls for our tree-my special project, two different kinds of color-coordinated balls....a dolly bed to make for Grace....a package of preemie diapers to buy, so the girls can use them for their baby dolls(much cheaper than buying dolly diapers!).....family photos to distribute with Christmas cards.....Where am I going to find the time to do all of these things? I have no idea, but I'm sure going to try! This is our 'family year', to start establishing holiday things for our family. So exciting!
Well, in order to begin these projects, my housework must be swept out of the way. So, while Richard is in the basement cleaning up junk, I'm going to go tackle the mountain of laundry on my bed--so we can SLEEP sometime tonight! :)

Tomorrow is the day after Labor Day, right? Because the settled routine that was supposed to start then is finally beginning tomorrow. No more sickness. Crazy traveling is under control. House is finally rearranged.We are starting fresh tomorrow as if it was September. June and July are going to be killers, but we'll make do. School has taken quite a few punches trying to get going this year, my goodness!
I have my whole school week and errands all outlined; sat down and did that this afternoon. Made my copies for the week of math. Have a general loose schedule to follow to establish a routine during the day. I'm praying that it will work! I NEED life to settle down now. Well, I have to run off to finish the last bit of preparations for tomorrow.

You know you're getting through to your kids when you overhear things like this from the other room: James, stopping in the middle of playing to lead Grace in this prayer, "Dear Jesus, He'p us be dood for Mommy today. In Jesus' name," and they both shout, "AMEN!" Completely random and voluntary, this shows he gets the idea that praying is just talking to Jesus. :)
That was a happy little happening from earlier today that warmed my heart. 
On a different note, I have conglomerated in my brain several thoughts/principles that stand true: 
1) "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God."
2)Some people really don't care what God, their Creator, thinks. They just want to live like they want to without ever having consequences. 
3)A wise person(which we all as Christians should strive to be), whether he rage or laugh, whether he answers or doesn't answer, will not get through to a fool(see point one). You just can't win for losing. Your logical answers gently showing God's wisdom are flouted back in your face with foolish, illogical arguments.
4)At some point, after you have gently stated your point, you have to graciously bow out because there is simply no point in continuing a discussion with a foolish person. 
5)You just have to pray that some of God's truths, not your own opinions, will stick and ring true in their ears at a later date when they need something to grasp. Because, seriously, God will hold them accountable for that one time someone presented the truth. I've been there, I've been the one not listening. But the truth was always there, in the back of my brain, and helped later. However, about today, it isn't a nice feeling, it's discouraging, to be put down for standing up for what's right! :{ It's like stating your piece and then being attacked like you're in the midst of a bunch of vicious hyenas. You just have to hope you pleased God with how you told someone about Him; hoping you had the right attitude and spirit and words. 
I say all that because I got in a discussion with some people about the issue of abortion today. When it comes to innocent lives of babies, I don't sugar coat or pull any punches. I state it like it is-respectfully-but I don't beat around the bush about it. Those babies need someone to stand up for them! I actually had an uncaring person encourage an abortion with one of my pregnancies. Of course, there was no question whatsoever in my mind--I met that person with a shocked look and a resounding "NO!Never!" Whatever decisions I had made in my life to get me to that point in time, it was my job to own those decisions and face up to the responsibilities. It was not the fault of that innocent, unborn child inside of me that life was not looking too convenient for me at that moment! God is the giver of all life, planned or unplanned. When I finally handed Him back the control of my decision making and placed my hand in His, He was able to lead me along a brighter path. HE is the One Who blessed me with that beautiful boy, and He has taken care of us every step of the way, even when we were all alone. Eventually, God put all the pieces together and blessed me with a wonderful husband and three more beautiful blessings. So when the subject of abortion comes up, I feel like shouting out for the babies, "NO! Whatever else you've done, abortion is not the answer! Value life, respect that baby's rights!"
 

Ah! I can feel it-we are getting better. Sigh of relief. I am so sick of being sick. Yesterday, I pulled a classic "Hey, I'm better" and jumped in full swing trying to clean and do school and, and, and. Only to land myself back in bed most of the day. But with lots of rest, I'm actually much better today. I took the kids out this morning for a couple hours to do some unavoidable errands. The kids behaved  beautifully. And it didn't wear us out. We came home and completed a full day of school. Richard is bringing dinner home and we are going to move furniture around in the basement to make room for his NEW PLOTTER! Yes, he finally got it, a nice big one that will greatly cut down on his time for completing side jobs so he can spend that much more time with the family-and not wear himself out from working such long, hard hours.
 So last night was Halloween, and we usually hang out in the downstairs den watching movies or make plans to be elsewhere so we can avoid the trick-or-treaters. (We don't celebrate Halloween) We would have normally been at Wednesday night prayer meeting. But we're all sick, and we were very much home, upstairs, with the lights all on. In fact, my cabin feverish wild children, who didn't LOOK sick o

n the outside :D were climbing all over the couch looking out the big window to see what they could see. I knew that the trick-or-treaters would definitely be coming by, and I didn't want to seem like the bad guy with no candy and risk any teenagers' nasty tricks as a result. So I posted a sign on my front door"No candy here, Sickness in the house, One recovering from pneumonia, We won't open the door, Don't want to get you sick" Which was all very true. I mean, who wants to reach their hands into a candy bowl from a house that has been coughing, nose-blowing, sneezing, & just returned from the hospital?--And then, the doorbell rang! Huh? I looked over and my neighbor was motioning wildly through the window. I opened my door a crack and rasped out(because I can still barely talk) apologetically, "My kids are all sick..." But he held up a bag of candy and said in his broken Romanian accent, "For YOUR kids, because they can't come out!" Aaw! What a sweet gesture. I accepted it graciously for the kids and told the kids later they'd have to make him & his wife, a nice little Romanian couple from across the street, a big thank you card.

I have done it-bought my first Christmas present and first Christmas 'supply'! Bows were the first thing out for Christmas for $1 a bag, so I bought two bags. We are starting from scratch for almost everything Christmas this year, as most of our cheap old Christmas stuff wore out and died last year. Of course we still have the beautiful family decorations from both sides. But, the cheap stuff-bows, wrapping paper, garland, balls, that sort of thing-is all starting fresh. And it is a momentous year--the year to carefully choose a lasting angel for the top of the tree. I think we used a makeshift light thingy that was about to expire last year. But we both want a beautiful angel this year. 

Well, the honored individuals who will be the recipients of the First Present Bought are: my baby girls. :) Gracie enjoyed her baby doll stroller so much last year, she literally used it to death. It died last week. It bore baby dolls, stuffed animals,and....brothers and sisters. Yes, I think the brothers and sisters did the poor contraption in. In fact, the girls, being almost the same age and interests, had many, um, "discussions"-"differences of opinion"-"disagreements"--oh, bother, forget what adults call their arguments!---they had many plain, ole fights over that stroller! :D So, Richard and I decided the most peaceful plan was to get them EACH a stroller this year, especially since they're both such good little mommies and will truly love them. And, today, for some reason, I found them extremely inexpensively priced at WalMart---the exact same quality, as far as I could tell, as the one we got last year. $7.94 apiece! I had Gabriel distract the babies in the toy aisle while I hid them amongst the groceries. The first Christmas presents will be wrapped and topped with new bows by tonight! Merry Christmas, everyone!---Oh, wait, half of you haven't even had Thanksgiving yet, Lol! :D