It's April Already

A year ago: I've got to blog more, at least once a week.
A few weeks after that: I HATE that I have't posted on the blog. I need to make that a priority.
A few weeks after that: Wow, we have alot going on. No wonder I haven't had time to post on the blog! Good thing our schedules are calming down. I should FINALLY have time to blog this week!
Months after that: Should I even try to compose a post to blog? So many events have passed and many more loom ahead. Maybe I should just give it up?
Just now: *trying to log in* Uh-oh. Can a blog be deleted due to inactivity???? Oh no! And I finally have time to blog!

I know it's not quite April yet, but it sure feels like it. As fast as our schedules are speeding along, we can now just skip days and jump into a yet-to-occur one. No, it's not a new type of super power or technology, it is merely necessity.

This April is a busy one. Our calendar is already filled to overflowing. Excitement and uncertainty mark this time in our lives, like none before it. Or this is how it seems and feels at the moment.

Ben- begins a new position at his current company on Monday. This new position will require more long distance travel (long distance being southern Washington to central Oregon. Some of you may be stifling laughter at this description of travel. For us, this is a HUGE change). Right now, his bachelors program counselor crammed him into two overlapping classes. That will be done this next week-end. THANK GOD! So, he is working full-time and double timing school. It makes for some interesting schedule conflicts. Ben has just begin getting into cycling as a hobby.

Me- I still have a job (this became a potential issue when I had to interview for my own position and when funding became slight. Many co-workers are or will be receiving lay-off letters). My manager has encouraged my pursuit of a bachelors, so I have enrolled in CH222, again (I dropped this course last spring when Zach became ill and was in the hospital). So, I am working full-time and taking 5 credits. Our 5 raised garden beds will soon become a hive of activity as I have already begun starts and planted peas and lettuce.

Es- is in her last semester of her Freshman year. This year has brought challenges with certain teachers. She impresses me with her attitude. "Well, I am learning how to deal with difficult teachers"- I haven't told her that this will not be her last run in with such a prediciemnt. =) She decided to discontinue playing violin as a school activity, but still practices at home during the week. Her attitude and viewpoints catch me off guard and her hilarious comments cause much joy in our house.

Sam- in his last year of middle school. He is still playing violin as a school activity and loves to listen to music and read. He's been practicing his basketball form and is excited to be involved with that during his freshman year. Most shockingly, he is now 5'9'', size 10.5 shoe and is all arms and legs (he's only 13!). Sometimes I mistake him for his Dad when I just hear his voice.

Zach- recovered wonderfully from pneumonia and played football last Fall. He is in his first year of middle school and enjoys math the most. He is in his first year of band at school and plays the baratone. He loves long walks on the beach (just checking to see if you're still with me!) anything to do with the outdoors and recently inherited Sam's old bike.

Joey- is in his first year of middle school and looks the most forward to Mr. Hays' class. This math teacher allows the kids to spend time in his class during the lunch periods to learn the algorithms of the Rubik's cube. Joe can now solve a messed cube in less than a minute. He likes anything to do with science and math and is also involved in band at school playing the trombone.

With everything we are involved with we tackle with determination and purpose. We get dirty completing jobs and having fun. But, isn't this is what life is about? Fulfilling purpose and cleaning up messes? At least that is what the fun and lasting bits to life are.

"God is the one who started this good work in you, and I am certain the he won't stop before it is complete on the day the Christ Jesus returns" Philippians 1:6 CEVD

So, expect another post from me in a week month….who knows when!

All that Jazz

 SPRING BREAK is HERE! Below is what I would have posted if I would have had time during the term. =)

The Experiment. Materials needed: kid, photographer, peanut butter, candies, and opinions.

 I took my first biology class this term and fell in love. Biology in now my minor and education my major. This is a photo of "Horace". He is our resident red tailed hawk that was the star of one of my BI papers. I received an extra point due to him! Thanks Horace!

Snow day! The first was taken on our first late school day due to snow. The last was taken this Thursday 3.22.12. The kids got a pre-spring break treat!

 The boys helping Ben construct our backyard fort. The last one is of the Twins playing Connect Four on my phone. Gotta love those aps!

We defiantly needed this break from routine. Since Ben began full-time school again we have had another morph of our schedule. And we will have another morph as my term begins next Monday. Whew! I am glad that we are completing this process now and not when the kids are in high school!
If you are anticipating your break enjoy it! And if yours has already passed you by I hope it was wonderful.
HAPPY SPRING!

When I thought my heart would break

There was nothing I could do. Her struggles I could only imagine. Though I have a great one, imagination does little to ease reality. Responsibilities at home, at school and at church pressing on this young heart. Trying to figure out who you are is difficult enough. Add newly protruding body parts and the unpredictable human chemicals called hormones and this is a recipe for.....what exactly?

The day was dark and stormy. I mean, it had been a long, hard day for me at work. It was evening. We were putting away the dinner items. The water was steaming as it rushed out of our kitchen faucet, and I was checking the kids' homework progress (or lack there of in some cases). Trudging up the stairs to check her work for the umpteenth time, I hoped for better news than before. Wondering why her work was so slow in coming forth, I asked why. She'd been texting instead of completing homework. NICE.

The remorse only came when I held my hand out for the phone. No words were needed. She knew. I knew. Knowing doesn't really help. Not unless you make a choice to back up the knowledge will change happen. As she walked away her phone screen illuminated with notification of a new text. Wondering, I slid it open and looked at the incoming message. This was our deal when she received the phone. Without warning, peering at texts and phone records by parents was a way we thought would help to ensure innocence would not be lost. Pfffts. Right.

The message was nasty. Filled with written words of filth and hurt. Gulping down the fear rising into my throat I selected the option to read her outgoing messages. These messages were doubly hurtful, nasty and full of four-letter-fowl-words. I must have selected the wrong folder. n.o.p.e.

Reality is an interesting concept. My reality will look, smell and taste different from your reality. My past memories and hurts as well as my joys will influence my perception of my reality. Yet, there still are high and poor quality choices to be made regardless of perceived reality. Truth is there. Waiting. Though sometimes truth slaps you upside your head and kicks you in the pants, it is necessary. This was not what I had planned for my reality that night.

So, I stood, bracing myself with the frame of my bathroom door jam. Reeling from the reek of the stench that had poured out of her. Through her fingertips. I began to see double, yet the tears stayed held.My tears needed to wait. There was a mission to be completed - questions to be answered. Maybe there was a reasonable explanation for this. I bet she fell during PE today. That's got to be it. She's fighting a concussion. She answered the questions I presented in an emotionless, forthright and professional manner. No apologies. No remorse. No....what? Reason or recognition. She was found guilty and she didn't seem to care. I walked out of her room, helpless and broken. The words exchanged were not tense. Nor were they elevated. We had both been calm. As I descended the stairs a realization hit me.

I was disappointed. In my daughter. The baby I dreamed and planned for. The toddler I instructed who's sparkling eyes held me in such esteem. The little girl who was sure she'd marry her daddy one day and broke her arm falling from a slide when she was five. Who over corrected her brothers and "policed" the house constantly. Those issues seemed very diminished compared to the current information. I prayed. Ben and I talked. We prayed. We cursed and pointed fingers at oursleves. In the end, there was still a confused girl waiting in her room. Waiting for the worst. Waiting to hear that we disapproved, that I was disappointed. That she was.not.worth.it.

I found myself walking back to her room an hour later. Instead of condemning her poor choice, I told her a story. The princess in the white dress story. She messed up her pretty dress and tried to fix it herself, but that just made the problem worse. She needed help. She needed love. She needed hope. She needed, redemption.

Really, this is what we all need, what we all CRAVE. We need hope. We need help. We need redemption. We were not meant to figure this life out on our own. To wash our used-to-be-pretty-white clothes takes more than one.

She knew better. She made a poor choice, and it didn't taste good deep down. She began to cry. Yes, there were consequences for her poor choices, but changes are evident. In the time since then disrespect has risen again and again. We have been learning how to deal with this new stage and we are all working together better than ever now. Today she is more dear to me that she was previous to this event. She has grown.....so have I. Who knew? ;-)

The road is bumpy and long sometimes. But we often fail to take a moment, pause, look behind us and see the beautiful vista. That really does make the, sometimes, vomits journey worth the pain and broken hearts.

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: REJOICE! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything....." Philippians 4:4:6a

the lighting was great

so I put my reading off, grabbed our o.l.d. camera, and took advantage.

My view of the 2.5 acre park behind our house.

This one I asked the kids to show me how family "looked". Voila!

When life throws you down, have surgery and get back up!

Oh, where to begin? Weeeell. We were all doing fine, great really. Ben has been going to class every Monday and Wednesday night. The kids are involved with church and, of course, school. I have been attending college full-time this term. We are also looking to purchase a new car and sell our old Honda (I use the term "we" very loosely here as Babe is the one who is accomplishing this for us).

I have class every Tuesday and Thursday and I work Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I woke up Thursday feeling under the weather and that feeling just continued to worsen as the day wore on. I checked on the kids and was on my way back upstairs when it "clicked". I was having a hard time pulling my right leg up to the next stair. Huuuh. It's almost like I had overworked my abs on just the right side. But I only had run 4 miles the previous day so I knew that wasn't it. The only other thing I could think of was.....appendicitis. But I was supposed to vomit with that right? Or at least be nauseous. I wasn't. I laid on the bed and pushed my lower, right abdomen. Wowzers. Yup, that hurt. When Ben got home he didn't even ask, he just helped me down the stairs and took me to the Immediate Care up the street. After 20min there they urgently requested that we go to the ER for an appendectomy.

By 12.30pm that next day (Friday 2/11/11) I was in recovery from surgery and by 6pm HOME! YAY! Modern medicine has it's perks. My entire operation was only 28min. Katie, my recovery nurse, said the speed was due to my "small body" and the enlarged organ. Nice.
Today is Monday and I am dressed and wearing a little make-up. I have been off pain meds since Saturday afternoon and I almost feel myself again! Now, back to life!....and homework!

Hopefully minus anymore surgeries.....

Virtual Constipation

I guess that's better than physical constipation. =D Well, it's time to clean this virtual 'body' out! I've been wanting to post but I've also been doing the needed things so my blog has gotten....backed up. At least it has in my brain.

*sigh* As I sit and type, the kids are watching their last of Saturday TV; we've got a full day. As most Sat. go, we're cleaning the entire house. But today we'll also be aiding Ben by organizing the garage and cleaning the back patio. This will be a gift to the Mamma. I love sitting and chatting with Babe at days end as we sip our wine. The treat will be to have that experience seated in front of an outdoor fireplace.....it's a beautiful thing and I CAN'T WAIT!

School is going good for us all. The kids LOVE their teachers and the new schedule. Babe will be taking a much needed break from college next term (he's taken math all 6 of his consecutive terms....ick). I'm taking Math 211 and Writing 121 and completely love my instructors. Both my teachers have earned doctorates in the classes their instructing. Dr. Nolan (MTH) is a quirky, random, grampa man (it shocked me at first but I'm learning this style keeps me on my toes)who is hard of hearing and Dr. Sanders is super organized and linear (which I dig). Mid terms are in about 10 days. Yay.

The remaining will be updates via photos.....I just can't get over the joy in our lives. God is good!


Our new toys. Ta-da!


The grasshopper before its legs and wings were mysteriously
"amputated". Zach.



Our house can hold company! This is proof at
how good Anna and I have it.




The before and after.

The process.......he was exited at first. Then came the chewing and brushing pain. =/

The jog-a-thon yesterday (aka the kids' marathon....=). Since Ben completed the Portland all the kids were in on the process. Pace yourself. Breathe. A few days before the 'thon Joey came to me and wanted to make sure they get their "carb load" the night before the big race. Yup. Oh, and I just look ticked. I'm not really. =] Totals: Es and Sam-2 miles; The Twins-1.75 miles; Mamma-4 miles.

This morning. Awww. I love catching them

in acts of kindness.

All this peace and activity = weight loss. Ben has lost around 20lb's and I 10. We'll see if it continues but we're happy where we are.

Switch-o Change-o

OH. BOY.

We're moooooved. We so very much ENJOY our new spot on this round ball. I didn't realize how much havoc surrounded our other place.

There are several reasons why this spot is one of peace for us.
1- It's larger. We aren't tripping on one another.....ever.
2- It's on a quieter street. THREE days went by before we heard a siren. WOW!
3- I haven't see a single illegal transaction. Serious.
4- The kids school is a brisk, four minute, walk from our place.
5- The Quartet's school begins one.hour.later. and since we're closer.....it's just a beautiful thing. Our mornings are not longer filled with MAJOR time management. We still watch the clock but not as strictly.
6- We are a quick three minutes away from our church. We googled it and found it would be a 23 min. walk and a 7 min. bike ride. LOVE IT!
7- The way this house is laid out is perfect for our family. It's been added on to about twice (in 60 years) and I think God had us in mind all along! The boys room is large enough to house all their items AND to be used as a play room as well. The Four all have a space to complete homework away from distractions. This has been a HUGE advantage. We have a fire place again!
8- Our Land Lady is across the street and a DEAR. She's the one we've told the kids to run to if there's an emergency and we aren't home.

So, since the 6th of August we:
Signed the lease*Moved*Unpacked*Found all the school supplies*Kids stared a.new.school*Had Peso partially fixed*Katy started a new job*Cleaned old house*Walked through old house*Reinstated our library cards for this county*Run in a new and multi-hilled area*Purchased this terms collegic text books*Had several margaritas and made oh-so many memories already.

I truly cannot describe how blessed I feel. At this point I'm not even sure there are words in existence to describe.

Thank you for praying. Thank you for helping. Thank you for supporting. Without you all.....there wouldn't be a THIS.

This is a test of the emergency broadcasting system. If this were an actual emergency....

I heard the familiar voice and bleeps then read these words the other day. I chuckled when the confused kids asked why this was on the t.v. HA!
This summer has been full. Full of laughs and new plans. Full of growing kids with big questions. Full of movies, camping in the back yard and sleeping in beds (swapping beds basically). This is my favorite time of year. The salads, the bbq's, the lemonade, the warmth and NO SCHOOL!

Okay, this year that last one is only partly true. Ben and I are both taking Advanced Algebra through the summer. Babe's class is online and mine is MW, 9 to 12.20 (with and additional 2-4hrs of HW each week). Suck-o-rama. I didn't realise how much this class would cramp my summer style. I will defiantly ready to be done in 2.5 weeks.

This summer has been one of discovery. I've learned, even more of, what's important to me. I've learned that my kids are amazing. They're still kids, but they're my very most favorite on the planet. I've learned the sacrifices of living without A/C in our home and vehicles. I've learned to live without a dryer. I've learned which neighbors smoke mair-high-wanna. I've learned when to be more gracious to myself and when to push. I've learned what a wise Man I'm married to.

With this learning comes change. The first is that we'll be renting for a longer period that we thought. We could push to buy, but since we have a sm. emergency fund and very little down payment it would be unwise for how. We're hoping to move closer to the kids school to save time and $$$. This is proving to be a challenging feat. We have our self imposed rent restriction amount and we want a certain size indoor and out. These ideals don't always match to the craigslist postings! We figure we can stand to live here another 6 months at most but ideally would prefer to move before fall. Only God knows! This is all due to Ben's amazing financial wisdom. Thanks for working so hard Babe!

Another change is.....dun....dun.....dun.....I am possibly NOT running the marathon this year. When I first started thinking this way I was BUMMED OUT but it is just not fitting with our life right now. The kids still need me alot and then there's HW and my own school. I'm still running (I ran and walked a total of under 8 miles today) I just am not pushing myself nearly as hard. I'm still trying to gradually increase but just not nearly as quickly. Let me tell ya. Once I resigned to the no marathon life.....I was more at peace. YAY! Thank God.

What's in store for fall? School and work; that's all that is certain! Oh....and fun, fun, fun 'till daddy takes the t-bird away! I hope he really doesn't....I love that car. =)

Between Now and Then

Holy COW. Have I been pc shy or what? Hmmmm. Technophobia? Not really since that would mean a fear of technology. Maybe flogaphobia??? (facebook/blog fear) HA!

What? You think I'm stuck on phobia's or sum'm? Well, I am. This is the Greek root of the day. We study one every few days. Our goal: to finish the first set of 100 by summers end. Yeah. We'll be doubling up.....

When Ben and my school let out we busted out'ta town to visit Ben's family. Then we said "SEE YA!" to the kids and headed to the coast for our anniversary get away. Below is evidence of how rummy we got on the 6 hr. drive.

After our 4 days hiatus from the kids Nadine brought the kids to the coast (THANKS MOM)! This is one of our excursions to Hug Point. SUPER cool.

This one was taken above the little falls.

So very, very COLD. I was reminded how much I enjoy warmth while taking these. Yes, the water drowned my feet several times getting some awesome shots.

Sis celebrated her 11th year there. What? Yup. She'd been planning her day for months. No joke. Coffee. Pancakes. Gifts. Taco Smell. =) Movie. Play. Fried chicken, green beans, mashed tatoes and strawberry shortcake. More movies. Whew! It was a good one!

This was the second to the last night. We invited anyone who wanted to come and watch the sun set. Sam was the only taker. We had a sweet time with just him and us.


After 8 days away we were ready for home.

The tooth puller.

The I didn't-ask-you-to-make-the-salad-I-needed-to-make-for-the-dinner-with-friends-but-thank-you-SO-much Girl.

This summer has already been full and a blessing! The best part is.....it's NOT OVER! Babe and I are taking math over the summer but it's do-able. Now we've just got to fit in two camping trips, another trip to the beach and another trip down south! YEEEESSSSS! We are blessed.