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We're home from vacation. I'll post pictures later. We had a great time in Maryland!!

And now that we're home, its back to business, and I am going to make an online list of my "House Needs/Wants" as of today, August 23rd, 2009. I have done this before, and it is always fun to go back and see how the items have come to be crossed off--some we save for, some just appear, some mean that friends or relatives have come to our house to build or help, some show miraculous and supernatural provision, some are great deals that i come across at just the right time. But, some way or another, it seems that every time I make one of these lists, within two years all items have been crossed off!! :)

Here goes...

House Needs/Wants --August 23, 2009

1) roof

2) garage door

3) Simone mattress & bed frame--frame received from Cassie 9/18/09

4) girls' closet doors--mattress purchased--new bed complete!

5) basement carpet and padding for toyroom/future girls' bedroom--march '10 basement bedroom for girls complete!

6) refrigerator

7) toilet seat--bought dec '09.  yessssss...

8) kitchen stools--awesome deal on sturdy sturdy stools.  purchased from scot's boss.  jan '10

9) ceiling fan for bedroom

10) sliding glass door with screen for dining room

11) screen for front window

12) locks for all doors--dec '09 bought lock for one door

13) vacuum

14) futon frame

Thats all I can think of for now. Good night.

Vacation

This weekend the Turners will be on vacation. On day 1 we will drive four hours and then take the kids to eat at an over-priced pizza place with ridiculous games and dancing animals. . Then we will sleep. Then on day 2 we will take the metro to the Smithsonian followed by a picnic lunch at the Washington Mall. If there is time, the kids would also like to meet the president. No problem, right? Later on day 2 we will most likely relax on meme's patio and watch the kids play in the yard. Or maybe we'll go fishing. And then some more sleep (yay!). On day 3, we will return home, stopping along the way at the Fossil outlet for a new purse and the Stride Rite outlet for Tik and Simi shoes.

I am also thrilled to announce that we have a new member in the Turner household--a 4 month old Jack Russell. He and Nala (big sister dog) are GREAT friends, and I hope and pray this will make her want to stay HOME. I think she's always wanted a little brother. I do not have any pictures of Nala and Pup together, but I will post some others...

Good morning Virginia! Since you are one of my #1 fans, I will honor YOU this morning by posting a picture of one of the most adorable babies that I know! Its been almost a year ago that you conceived this little miracle. What a ride, huh? I remember the day I woke up and could NOT stop praying for you to conceive and bear a child. I will never forget the morning I drove in a near panic to Morgantown--convinced that I was going to hear horrible, horrible news, only to be surprised with the news that you were 6 weeks PREGNANT! I can recall the exact moment I saw Lily's heart beating on the ultrasound screen--it was like time stopped, and the faithfulness of God became almost tangible in the room. And Lily's story is just beginning... Enjoy your day with her. :)

A Name

Dustin, my valiant fighter.

Cana, pure in all her ways.

Judah, praised gift of Jehovah.

Eden, delightful and radiant.

Simone, a child who is an answer from God.

Nadia, hope made flesh.

Each name holds special meaning. The power of a name is amazing. Do we become our name or can a name truly come from the heart of God and be destined for a person? ?The second is possible I suppose if we believe that the same God that knew the prophet Jeremiah before he was in his mother's womb also knows each one of us. Is it a coincidence that the name Levi Abbott means "a man united with God the Father" and was given to my son who now rests in the spirit of God before we ever knew his flawed body would be incompatible with life on this earth?

I wonder about this life that is now growing in my womb. Who is he? Who is she? What name will this one carry?

School Postponed

I'm three days late getting started on our school year. Start date was Monday, August 10th. But upon my morning review of my bank account, I discovered three unauthorized charges that had to be dealt with. I spent three hours on and off the phone with the bank and the "company" that is charging me nearly $100 for a mystery "subscription". It all ended with a cancelled bank account and the customer service guy for this fabulous company telling me that he is "sorry" i'm so "stupid" and "its not the 70s anymore". yeah...nice.

Why not start school on the 11th? I don't know...just something weird about starting on a Tuesday. So0000...I guess we'll start NEXT week. :) Thats the beauty of homeschooling, although not an advantage to be abused. Thankfully I am anally scheduled, and I will make sure we get all of this year's work completed. I was starting early so that I can take a month off when Baby is born. Obviously my baby break has just been reduced by a week.

Just the fact that I CAN homeschool is something for which I am soooooo grateful. I'm not paranoid about the bad kids at public school. I have no gripes with the teachers or the "system" of education necessarily. I just want to be with my kids. For this time in their lives, I desire them to be HERE at home where they can combine school work with life skills--academic learning with emotional learning. They are being socialized in our home--learning how to work together with siblings and to appreciate the value of a family. They will spend the majority of their lives being husbands, wives, mothers, and fathers, and in my opinion there is not better place to learn about those roles than right here at home. There is no great debt that I owe nor promise of wealth that would cause me to leave home during these years. I even hesitate to say its my "sacrifice" to be a stay at home mom as I often hear other women saying. Its my calling. Its God's gift to me.

School will start next week, but training is everyday.

Our God Who Heals

One of the first miracles I witnessed in the life of one of my children was after praying the 128th Psalm. At 4 months old, Cana was a very small 10 pounds with poor muscle development in all of her body. At 6 months, she was referred to a physical therapist who came to our home to work with her. There was not much improvement in the next 6 months. At a year old, her pediatrician suggested that she could have a mild form of cerebal palsy. We came home that day feeling defeated and discouraged. Dustin took out the Bible and prayed the 128th Psalm, and we prayed that Cana would come to be like the olive tree--that she would sit around our table--vigorous and healthy. Within about a week, Cana started crawling. In less than a month, she was standing. In just a few more months, she was walking, and soon she was running!! I would just watch her in awe. Months of physical therapy and very little progress. Within weeks of praying for God to do the impossible in her body, she was nearly caught up to what a normal child her age should be doing. Today she walks and runs...dances and spins...and sits around our table--vigorous and healthy! She remembers this God who healed her tiny body many years ago, and today SHE is the one who believes for teeth to grow in so the dentist won't have to cut slits to make room for them, for her siblings' sniffles and earaches to be healed, for mamas who couldn't conceive to bear children, and for babies who are born with holes in their hearts to live and be whole. Praise to Jehovah Rapha--our God who heals.

The 128th Psalm

How happy are those who fear the Lord
all who follow his ways
You will enjoy the fruit of your labor.
How happy you will be. How rich your life.
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine,
flourishing within your home.
And look at all those children!
There they sit around your table as vigorous and healthy as young olive trees.
That is the Lords reward
for those who fear him.

May the Lord continually bless you from Zion.
May you see Jerusalem prosper as long as you live.
May you live to enjoy your grandchildren.
And may Israel have quietness and peace.

Little "Shits"

No...I'm NOT talking about my kids. Yes, turnersaroundthetable IS a reference to all of us Turners that gather around our table several times a day...for games, to eat, to read, to sit, to do schooolwork, etc, etc. However, the title of this inagural blog is NOT a reference to any of those darlings but rather what one of them said this week.

I took the kids out to the big Tyler County Fair on Monday night. We skipped the barn and went directly to the rides. Big kids on big rides. Little kids on little rides. Same ones over and over and over. At 9:00 I left to take Simone and Nadia home to Daddy so they could go to bed. I could not visit the fair without going through the barn, so we made it our last stop of the night. Simone dearly loved the bunnies and the chicks. She thought the horsies were "soooo cute". But, a cow mooed at her--terrifying her and ending the night.

Fast forward 24 hours to all of us sitting down at the table for last night's supper. Dustin asks Simone, "so, what did like best at the fair?" Simone's eyes got wide, and she said "I wuv the whittle shits...the whittle brown shits were sooooo cute". Dustin nearly choked and said, "the WHAT?", to which Simone replied, "the whittle SHITS". Obvious to ME, she is saying that what she liked best at the fair were the LITTLE BROWN CHICKS.

You never know what you might hear with all the turnersaroundthetable.