a post on a thursday???

this week i've been sorting through all my baby clothes. now that i that i know a healthy baby is coming in february, i feel a little more comfortable going through things to see what will be seasonally appropriate for the new baby and what i can safely get rid of. my last three babies have been born in the summer, so i have an abundance of 0-3 month SUMMER clothes. they won't be any help to me in february! into the boxes they go!! i love sorting and organizing!!! but i overdid it monday with all the lifting and now my back feels like its falling apart. so now i have to drag boxes and sit and carry small armloads of stuff. i feel like i'm getting OLD!!

not much else going on. soccer season is over, so dustin is home now in the evenings. he is still looking for a second job, so i don't know how long the home in the evenings is going to last. i'll just enjoy it while i can! in the meantime i will try not to worry about money. i think that how those who follow God handle and think about money is one thing that sets them apart from the rest of the world and i am determined to not give into the worry of this world's system. i remind myself that even with one source of income, we are among the wealthiest in the world. and in a time where many can not find work, we are blessed to have a dependable job that dustin can go to and actually ENJOY what he does. so, no complaining here. just prayer and hope that he finds a second job that is just what we need. smack me upside the head if you hear me whining!

tonight is trick or treat. i'm still thinking on costumes for the kids. good thing i don't get too into it all. surely in all the basement dressups there's something that can serve them well for an hour walk around town for candy! if all else fails i can break out the old red raider basketball uniforms!

to do today: feed tik, clean kitchen, put in laundry, homeschool kids, clean office, make lunch, clean kitchen, laundry, nap, put on supper, put laundry away, find halloween costumes, eat supper, clean kitchen, trick or treat, wash kids, kids to bed, bath, read, bed.

mountaineer judah

judah went to his first mountaineer football game this weekend! he said it was the best day of his life! i especially loved just having him along, as its always special when i get to do something by myself with just one of the kids.

judah had all his clothes for the game laid out all week. he said he could hardly sleep for five nights just thinking about it. and even with all of his thoughts, i don't think he was prepared for the hugeness of it all! his eyes looked like they would pop out of his head when we entered the stadium. and thought just the drums were the band, so when the whole band came running out, he just said "wow". he loved that they made the shape of the state and must have asked me about 20 times "how did they do that?"

he says his favorite part was when "the west virginia put his arm out and ran away, and the connecticut tried to get him and couldn't catch him and he made a touchdown". he caught on quick to the rules and would inform me of when we were on offense or defense although he couldn't understand why connecticut would get a point for running to the end that says "mountaineers" (the endzone). his logical mind thought that one end should say west virginia and the other should say connecticut. that makes sense, i think!

as soon as we got in the car to go home, he was asleep. after nights of not sleeping from excitement, i think he was just totally worn out.

its a BABY!

i had my ultrasound on friday. i was trying to add them all up, and i'm pretty sure it was the 21st or 22nd ultrasound of my lifetime. although i pretty much know what to expect, i still get crazy nervous to lay on the table and see my baby on the screen. i guess i'm just the pessimist who is always afraid of bad news. but thankfully, this friday and this ultrasound, we heard nothing but GOOD news and saw a healthy, healthy baby!! all of the measurements matched my due date perfectly, and the baby was estimated at weighing 1 pound 3 ounces. we were undecided going into it if we wanted to find out the sex of the baby. dustin definitely wanted to know, and i was leaning towards not knowing. i thought it would be nice to have a surprise for my last baby. but, in the end, dustin won. he was insisting that he could find out and not tell me, but i wasn't so sure about that. then the ultrasound tech said she couldn't tell him if i didn't want to know. what the heck...i've done it both ways--surprise at birth and surprise at 20 some weeks, and there really isn't one thats better than the other. so besides knowing that the baby is healthy, i DO know the sex. and don't ask me, because i will NOT tell you. there isn't a bribe you can offer me that will drag the news out of me, so don't even try. (doug) unless of course you want to pay off my van loan or dustin's school loan.

i pray now for a continued healthy pregnancy and uncomplicated birth here in a few months. we throw around the name Jehovah Jireh--God my Provider--when it comes to money, but there are many things more important than money. its in those things that I can rest in knowing that Jehovah Jireh, God that Provides, is the one who sees ahead and makes a way for me and for the life in my womb!

the weekend must have thoroughly worn out the kids. its nearly 8:00, and i am still sitting in the kitchen alone. i haven't heard a peep from them. so, i'll just enjoy the quiet and my coffee.

the slumber party/fashion show/dance off/ birthday party was a success!! i promised cana i'd post a picture. its not even technically her birthday yet, and she's had a friend party, went on a "date" with dustin and me, and shared a birthday gathering with her baby cousin. i hope the actual day doesn't come with let-down that most of the excitement has already happened! perhaps she'll want to pick out something special for supper on Wednesday. i suppose the double-digit birthday does deserve a weeklong celebration!!

in other news, if there is one thing i've learned from being a mom for (only) ten years, its that there just is rarely a black and white/right and wrong way to raise a baby/child. i was talking with my cousin the other day about things i said i'd never do when cana was first born. things like use a crib tent, bottle feed, homeschool. also, i would never ever ever let cana get messy. but...things just change. ten years later, i've used a crib tent (simone), bottle fed (all), homeschool (older three), and sometimes i have to think back to when the most recent bath was (mostly eden). when i'm in a group of mothers--old and young--i do a lot of listening. i have so much to learn, and i hope that someday my experiences can guide other young moms into lives of parenting grace. all i know for now is that there is more than one way to skin a cat. whether in a grocery cart or a baby wrap--in my bed or in a crib--educated at home or in the public school--i pray that above all else i would be able to teach my children to love God, to love people, and to love LIFE.

tonight's the night

if you think i'm a planner/list maker, you should meet my daugher, Cana!!! she gets it honest--thats for sure! for at least 11 months now she's been planning her 10th (double digits!!) birthday party. she has practically an entire notebook full of lists...lists of games, friends, ideas, foods, decorations, etc, etc, etc. and tonight is finally THE night. after school my house will be invaded by nine and ten year old girls. they were each instructed to bring their best dress for a fashion show! cana has arranged for someone to come at 6:00 to do hair and makeup, and then the show will start at 7. i have let her plan the entire event herself, so i am looking forward to the surprise of it all! she's made all the phone calls, shopping lists, and arrangements all by herself.

i find it all comical because i remember turning ten and still thinking that i was still at least half boy. i was wearing boys high top tennis shoes and carrying a Go-Bots lunch box to school. in 4th grade is the first time that one of my friends came to school with a bra on, and i thought that i would rather kill myself than to EVER wear a bra!! i had a red trapper keeper that i wrote J.D. Hog on the front of because i thought it was so cool that my initials were J.D. yeah...so it is absolutely amazing to me that i have produced a daughter that plans fashion show slumber parties! she is exquisitely feminine, and that makes me happy. she is beautiful and confident, and is 100% sure that her friends are about to attend the "best slumber party on their lives".

titus turner

i don't think i've posted about one of the best additions to our family!!!! in august i got a baby jack russell! i've always always always wanted a jack russell, and it just never worked out for us to get one. in august my friend was trying to find a home for her JR pup, we took him for a "trial" run, and he's been here ever since. i just love him sooooo much. his birth name was colby jack, but we re-named him titus. i've always liked the name titus, but we could never use it on a child b/c of the alliteration. it fits him perfectly. titus turner. and dustin calls him titus timothy turner.

sadly, about a month ago, titus fell down the basement steps and broke his leg. it was one of the most sad, pathetic things i have EVER seen. he just sat with sad, sad eyes and cried. dr. meckley got him all fixed up in a neon green cast, and tomorrow is the 4 week mark at which time he will get his cast off. the first pictures are the day he came home from the "hospital", and the last one was taken this morning--the last day of the green (now brown) cast!

oh...and the one is of him "smiling". he is so excited to run to us that he smiles the whole time. its hard to capture on camera, but this is the best picture i've been able to get so far.

and...the one of him laying on his back was when he was bored with the mountaineers getting beat. he sat all interested for the first two quarters, and then he got mad and went to the floor in protest.

the smell of chocolate

this past weekend our good friends from hershey, pa, came for a visit. i love love love having guests in my home!!! we were supposed to go see them this summer, but our vacation did not work out. so it had been almost a year since we had all been together. we ate a lot of food, let the kids play, did some crocheting, the guys went to see a movie. they were able to experience the great Red Raider alumni parade in middlebourne! not much that can beat that! kaycee and i took amanda on a b/deer drive to the middle of nowhere. she wondered why the deer don't run away from cars but rather stand and watch them. we told her thats just what west virginia deer do. we thoroughly discussed life, god, kids, work, and took naps in the afternoons. it was an awesome weekend.

yesterday my week began with a shopping trip!!! to me shopping is like going out for the hunt. i'm like the woman in proverbs 31 who is anointed to find bargains, and yesterday i brought home the kill!! i got four summer dresses for the girls for $3.50 each, had a coupon for $20 for old navy so i got judah some jeans, and they had cream of potato soup (the kids favorite) at gabes for .99/can, a whole .50 cheaper than in the regular stores.

oh...and my little animal girl, eden, had another animal adventure this weekend. a chipmunk crawled into her hand again. except this time, it came to BITE her!! she was so shocked because she was so sure she was the chipmunk whisperer! poor little thing. she had two tiny teeth marks on her finger. but i think it hurt her heart more than it did her finger!

and now a talkin' tik

nadia has been my latest talker. i blame it on simone's advanced vocabulary and excessive amount of words. nadia has had no reason to talk. simone thinks and speaks FOR her. however, in the past week, i have had to start curbing some of simone's talking so that nadia can get in some words. with five kids in the house, i guess i have becoming like a crossing guard when it comes to talking. we all have to take turns.

so, for this week, its been so fun to see nadia's thoughts be made into words! now, if you ask her "nadia, how was your sleep?", she will look up in the air and say, "ummmmmm" and just grin. she says book, baby, mama, dada, cana, kaycee, mo-mo, yes, no, please, thank you, all done, night night, kitty, ok, uh-oh, woof woof, meow, mooooooo, eateateat, up, puppy, and i'm sure there's more, but this is all i can think of right now. its so funny to me that i was concerned about her ability to think and speak, and here all this time, she's had all these thoughts and just not had room to get them out!! wow. i definitely learned a lesson!!

never a dull moment

for those of you who love a good kid story, i can't resist posting this. hopefully eden will read it someday and laugh!

she came out of the shower this morning, wrapped in a towel, with a profusely bleeding lip!! i said "eden! what in the world did you do to your lip????" she said "i was shaving", wiped her lip off, and went to get dressed.

later, i explained that women (most women) do not shave their faces. to which she replied in astonishment, "daddy uses a PINK razor???" ahhhhh eden....you're a funny, funny girl.

animal rescue

last week eden came upstairs holding a bathroom towel in a wad. she had a sheepish look on her face. i said "eden??? whats with the towel?" she was reluctant to show me. eventually what i saw in the towel was a baby mouse with its neck sliced...bleeding...barely alive. with tears in her eyes, eden said "i am saving his life." now for a mother, this is a very delicate situation. what do i do so that i protect my daughter's tender heart and at the same time be able to get a bleeding, dying mouse OUTSIDE of my house??? so, i thought quickly and said, "well eden, i think the baby mousie's mommy might be looking for him. and he is hurt and scared and would feel better if he could be WITH his mommy. so why don't you take him to the garage and lay him down." so she did. towel and all. within minutes the towel was empty, and the mouse either ran away or fell prey to our cat once again. eden says the mommy came and took him home.

then tonight simone came running in shouting, "mom! mom! mom! eden caught a "chickmunk"! come see!!!" i went outside, and eden had captured a chipmunk and had it contained in an empty catfood bag. she said she once again rescued a poor animal from the jaws of our cat, and decided that it would be safe in the bag with a few bites of cat food.

so, this week eden has rescued a mouse and a chipmunk and has also decided that she will dress as an "animal doctor" for halloween. i'm definitely seeing a future in this for little edie.