Another Curve in the Road

Exactly 11 days after my last post, God threw another curve in the road of our life.  I never expected to find myself in the pediatric ICU with my baby boy, but that's where we ended up.

Fortunately the stay was short, just two days, but he left with a new normal - Type 1 Diabetes.  Came out of nowhere, really.  It doesn't run in our family, so we were a bit surprised that he should get this.  They say a virus can cause it to begin.  Who would have thought?

People have asked me how I knew.  Because there seems to be quite the occurrence of this nowadays, I'd like to share with you how I knew because the fact that someone had shared their story with me was lifesaving to my son.

My best friend from forever has a son who was diagnosed with T1 last May.  Over the summer we got together and she shared her journey with me.  Fortunately, it wasn't something that my overworked brain forgot.

I noticed on Saturday, the 23rd, that my son had gone to the bathroom two times within a short period of time.  This, for him, was not that unusual so I didn't think much of it at the time.  Later that night, however, I saw him get out of bed and go into the bathroom twice within about half an hour.  I had a quiet voice in my head tell me to pay attention to that.  I immediately thought of my friend's son.  I sat in bed with my kindle that night looking up the common symptoms of Type 1.

- Frequent urination   ✔
-  Increased thirst ✔
- Increased hunger  ✔
-  Fatigue ✔

Although I have to say that he didn't come to me and tell me he was thirsty and hungry, he just kept asking for more to eat and drink.  He had told me all of the week prior how tired he was.  My response?  "Try going to bed earlier!"

It wasn't until I looked at the symptoms all together and thought about the past few weeks that I saw the pattern.  Otherwise, life is life and you tend to ignore all of the "I'm thirsty" and "I'm hungry" statements.

While he didn't have the blurred vision or tingling hands and feet, when he came downstairs on Sunday, he did look like, all of a sudden, he had lost a lot of weight.  His face looked sunken in and his arms looked very skinny.  Just like that!  Some of the kids said they had noticed on Saturday how skinny he looked, but we hadn't.

I thought back to my friend and remembered her telling me about checking her son's urine for ketones.   I knew you could go to the pharmacy and get strips so after Mass we headed to Walgreens and picked up our first bottle of urine strips.  Once home we tested him twice.  Both times he tested Moderate/High.  Yikes.  I called my friend just to go over what was going on and she told us to head to the ER with him now before he started vomiting, which would be the next thing that would begin to happen.

It wasn't long before he was being admitted to the ICU and hooked up to his insulin drip.  At that point his blood glucose level was 524. 

Over the next two days we learned more about insulin, shots, glucose checks and diabetes than I ever wanted to learn.  We were sent home with a dazed look in our eyes.  It was like coming home with your first baby and thinking, "What on earth am I supposed to do with this kid to keep him alive".  

It's been quite the ride these past three weeks.  There's more to be said but, I think that, for now, this is enough.  Please keep us all in your prayers as we navigate this new normal for our family.

God Bless!
 

A Very Special Intercessor!

Merry Christmas to everyone!  I hope your Advent went well and that you had a beautiful Christmas with the people you love.  We had two days with nice weather, good food and lots of family, as well as a beautiful midnight Mass.  But this post isn't about Christmas.  It's about a story that I've been wanting to tell but just haven't had the time.  It's an intercessory story related to our move.

You see, in our history of moving we've never had an easy time.  More often than not, the first house we would set out to buy would become encased in some sort of turmoil or other and we would end up buying a completely different house.  This happened to us three times.  The last time we moved, we did so because we had lost everything and were moving into a rental.  Needless to say, God had mercy on us and there was no extra drama.

This time, however, we were buying again, and although we did not have a house to sell, I fully expected the experience to be like it had been in the past.  I expected to find a house, fall in love with it, have something happen with the deal, lose the house and then find an even better one.  After all, that's how it had been before.

But God had other plans.  Let me backtrack a bit.  For the past year +, I had been praying, along with many others, for Courtney Lenaburg and her family.  In fact, it was just one year ago that she died.  When she did, I cried along with everyone else.  After her passing, I had read stories of her intercession, one in particular about a family who wanted to move but needed a miracle with their septic field.  Through Courtney's intercession, that miracle occurred.  

That got me thinking that maybe I should call upon Courtney to intercede for us in this move since I really didn't want to have to go through what we've been through in the past.  

Can I tell you something?  St. Courtney came through with flying colors.  We began our search and had looked at a few houses when something (or someone :) nudged me back to the computer to look at the 90+ listings again.  There I found it, the house we had overlooked the first time through.  We went to see it and we loved it.  We brought our kids (who, being older now, had some very definite opinions about what they were looking for).  They loved it, too.  We put in an offer and at first it didn't seem like we were going to come to terms with the seller, but I called on Courtney even more and before we knew it, the sellers came down in price and then started offering us their furniture...at no extra charge!  We closed in 30 days!  30 days, people!  With not one hitch.

Many times when miraculous things happen like this, I often find that God sends me a confirmation that what I am seeing is real.  The moment this time was when we were at the closing (which only lasted about an hour) and our realtor said, "I don't think I've ever been at a closing that got funded that fast."  From past experience, I know that that was God's way of telling me that I've witnessed something grand.  

We moved into a great neighborhood.  Having not had neighbors for 12 years, and having 7 children and 5 cars, we were a bit leery of what having neighbors might mean.  Our neighbors are wonderful.  Even funnier is the fact that in our small subdivision of about 33 homes, 95% of the people are Catholic. God has chosen a wonderful spot to reintroduce us into communal living.

I write this to let you know, in case you don't already, that there are many saints up there in heaven just waiting for us to call upon them for their help.  There is no other explanation in my mind (based on our past experiences with moving) for how smoothly everything went other than her intercession.  Miss Courtney is up there calling for miracles and how happy I am that we have been on the receiving end of her powerful intercession.  Thank you, Mary and Jerry, for raising and caring for such an extraordinary young lady!  I've been recommending her to others in need, so I think she'll be pretty busy up in heaven for quite some time. 

St. Courtney, pray for us.

God Bless!

Our 30 Day Move

It has now been over two months since I've been here to my good ole blog.  It has been a crazy time of moving our family of nine from our rental house on five acres to our own home in a neighborhood.  In what became a rather fast-paced event, we began looking for a home, found one and then moved 30 days later.  Since I really can't do-it-all, some - no A LOT - of things had to go and anything social media like was at the top of the list.

We're moved now and all settled in so I'm back to share again.  I mean really, I had just decided that turning 50 warranted more blogging and look what happens?  Sheesh.  I'm still 50, though, so I guess it is better late than never.

There's so much to talk about that's happened over the past two months, if I can just remember it all!  Like I said, we were down to a bare bones lifestyle for awhile so I thought I'd share how we handled the whole "move your family in 30 days" thing.  And just to be clear, when our offer got accepted, we had not packed ONE box.  Not even one!  Also, we did all the packing and moving ourselves.  Here's how it went down.

1.  I knew that we needed to keep schooling as long as possible.  With two high-schoolers and two grade-schoolers, I did not want to take off too much time.  The high-schoolers kept to their schedule pretty well, it was the two younger ones that needed a revamp since much of what they did required me.  Right off the bat we put our non-essential subjects on hold until the second semester.  That included geography (which was taking up a lot of time), map skills and Latin.  That right there made a huge difference.

2.  My three college aged girls all have classes and jobs, so I knew they wouldn't be much help.  When they were home and free (about 20 minutes over 30 days :), they were required to help out as much as possible, which they did.

3.  My other four kids were an immense help, especially the two in high school!  We got into a great rhythm of doing our school work in the morning and then packing and moving things in the afternoon.  Because of their hard work, we only ended up taking two weeks off of school!

4.  I made a firm decision to add nothing new to our schedule.  We kept up with what we were already involved in but we rarely did any other activities or events beyond that.  Saying NO was not fun, but crucial.

5.  Once we got in the new house I spent the first week working like a mad woman to get it into a state of readiness.  I knew that that was all the time I had, so we worked morning till night that first week so that everything was put away and in order.  I knew that I wouldn't be able to function for very long with everyone wondering where things were.

So that is how we survived our 30 day moving adventure.  Being organized was crucial.  Also, the fact that I have decluttered on an ongoing basis made things  a lot easier.  That's not to say that we still didn't get rid of a lot of stuff!  There were MANY bags of garbage as well as multiple trips to the local Goodwill.  Hopefully everything that made the cut into the new house is stuff that we need and use and not much that is superfluous! 

It's good to be back here and, God willing, I hope to continue on a much more regular basis.  I say that, but we'll see what The Plan really is :)

God Bless!

A Birthday and A Give Away!

It is now officially a new decade around here.  In other words, I officially turned 50 last week.  I don't feel much different, and I certainly didn't feel old until I saw "50" printed on a birthday card.  Looking at it in print, for some reason, made it seem old.  Well, we'll just put those cards away now, won't we?

We did some good celebrating.  Life's been a whirlwind, what with starting school and celebrating big life events, not to mention all of the usual stuff that goes on.  We managed to sneak in some fun and A LOT of good food.  Not only did I get a year older, I got five pounds heavier.  Back to the old grindstone to work that back off.

So I needed to come back here to let you all know that coming soon I will be having a give away.  Now, in the past those haven't worked that well for me as something always seems to get messed up.  However, I am willing to try again and will be announcing the giveaway soon!

What's the prize, you ask?  Well, I just happen to have three copies of the "Life is Precious" unit study from American Life League.  We were privileged to get a copy of it to try out and some other copies to give away.  I love unit studies, especially if you're schooling a handful of kids.  This one is great and is very easy to do, so check back in and get ready to win.

This unit study will be perfect to add to your schooling for the month of October, which is Respect Life month.  

See ya' soon!

God Bless!

A Family Event - An Awesome Outdoor Concert

Having a large family on one income definitely makes things more difficult in a lot of ways.  What the world says you should have and do is far different from what is attainable (in most cases).  The other day I was reading a blog post about how one family paid off their debt of $150,000 in a few years.  The author made a great point about how, when doing something like this, it is important to realize that you still have to go out and do things that are enjoyable that cost money.

Sure there are lots of free things to do, and that should definitely be a priority in terms of planning things for your family if you are tight on money.  But every once-in-awhile you need to do something that you would all enjoy, even if it costs a bit of cash.

For example, we all decided a few months ago that we would love to go see The Piano Guys.  Who?  The Piano Guys.  Seriously, if you have never heard of them, you have to go check out all of their music videos on youtube.  They are incredibly talented musicians who love to have a good time with their music.

Anyhow, they were going to be playing at an outdoor music venue about 1 1/2 hours away from us, so we decided to get some lawn tickets and go enjoy them as an end-of-the-summer fling.

Having older kids who have jobs comes in handy, because one way to make things like this a bit more doable is to have those who earn an income pay for their own tickets.  That cuts down on the amount of money we are responsible for, which helps immensely.

It was a cool evening, with blankets and sweatshirts galore, but it was a great concert.  We were all so glad to have been able to do this together.  With school starting for everyone, and the variety of work schedules in the family, it isn't that often that everyone is home at the same time.  To spend the evening together outside listening to great music, sure was a nice way to start ending the summer.  We hopefully won't be ending it quite yet (although you can't tell by the weather we've been having), but I can feel that it is starting to wind down.

Be creative in your what you do for fun, try to find ways to do it cheaply, but realize that, even with a big family, sometimes it is just necessary to splurge and have a good time together.

 God Bless!

Deep Clean Day 1

Today began my summer-break spring cleaning fest.  We're too busy in the spring time to do the deep clean so I save it up for our summer break, which officially started today (WOOHOOO!).  We're having a party in two weeks so I set it as my goal to be done by then.  I wrote out a list of all of the rooms (basement not included...ugh, that takes a week in and of itself!), and am thinking that if I do one or two rooms per day that I have free, I should get the whole house done in time.

Now, that doesn't leave me much wiggle room, so that is assuming that I feel good (no dizzy spells) and am motivated enough and that nothing else gets in the way.  How likely that is to happen, I just don't know.

I decided to begin in the rooms that are less likely to be seen by visitors so that the ones that will be seen and used will be cleaned closer to party day.  That being said, I began today in my bedroom.

Deep cleaning meant vacuuming the window screens and washing the windows, vacuuming up all the miscellaneous cobwebs that seem to grow this time of year, moving furniture, cleaning out drawers and closets (they weren't too bad since I've kept up with them) and then tackling these two headboard too-easy-to-hide-junk-in type cabinets.

This is what I had "hidden" away:

Years worth of old scapulars, medals, religious stuff you get in the mail but feel guilty throwing out so you hide it away, and loads and loads of pamphlets and catalogs.  After sorting through it all I ended up with A LOT of old scapulars that we can bury in the yard, a bunch of medals and rosaries and such that I will bring to our Adoration chapel, two bags of holy cards and prayer/novena cards that I will either leave in the back of churches, give to other people, send in the mail with correspondence or things like that, and a ton of outdated pamphlets and catalogs that I promptly tossed since all of the info can be found online.

Whew.  That felt good.  One room down, about nine more to go.  The countdown is on.  If they all go as well as this one did, the house should be looking lighter and brighter very soon.

God Bless!

What I've Been Up To

It is absolutely amazing how much time can fly by without me ever even visiting my own blog, let alone writing on it!  Seems like lately we've been busier than even the bees.  Let's get a rundown on the past few weeks, shall we?

I really do wish that I had photos to share, but alas, I do not.  I got to be the 2nd shooter at our friend's daughter's wedding over Memorial Day weekend.  I've known her for most of her life, so it was quite an honor to be a part of it.  They are a beautiful, Catholic family so I knew how important their 2 hour Mass was to them.  I spent a lot of my photo-taking time taking photos of them during that Mass. Unfortunately, I had to turn over all my photos to the main photographer as he is doing all of the editing, so I didn't even get to see any of them.  I am eagerly awaiting the finished product - to see if I can tell which ones I took :)

My son got to be one of the nine servers for the Mass.  It is always so wonderful to see him in his serious-serving posture.

Here's the lovely couple.  (My daughter took both of these pictures, by the way)  If you look closely you can see me in the upper left with the camera in front of my face (I'm behind the other guy with the camera!).  

Right before the Mass it began to rain buckets.  After awhile we had this 10 minute respite so everyone ran outside and threw rose petals.  It was quite lovely.

That same afternoon, during the Mass, my mil had emergency surgery so my husband actually missed this part of the day.  She's doing a little better now, just slower on the recovery end of things than they were hoping for so any prayers on her behalf are greatly appreciated.  

During this same time, we also had a short, somewhat last minute visit from Ms 23 yo's boyfriend.  He came in to see her before she starts her new full-time job this coming week!  Yay!

The weather has been quite the roller coaster ride around here.  We've gone from cold to hot and humid and back to cold again, all with a lot of rain.  With the rain comes water leaking (ok, sometimes pouring) into our basement which means the mold goes into overdrive.  We're discerning what we need to do about all of this mold business.  Hopefully we can come to some clear direction on that VERY soon.

School is over (YAY!!) and I am ready for summer.  I started my summer-time to-do list; you know, all of those projects which I hope to complete at some time over the next three months, but probably won't.  I'm hoping to get to at least most of them.

This week Ms 11 yo makes her Confirmation.  She is taking the name Colette.  This I will have pictures of!  Prayers for her, please, as she takes this important step.

Essentially, June will be like the last two weeks have been.  We have so much on the calendar that it will be gone before I can say...well...June.  I will try to post updates here as much as I am able.  If I'm not here, I'll be out enjoying that crazy thing I call my life.

God Bless!

Lessons from a Semi-Incapacitating Virus

This past week has taught me a few things.   You see, I've had this bothersome virus since last Wednesday that has made me dizzy and nauseous - a really annoying combination.  It has prevented me from doing a lot of things; important things like moving around, driving and eating.  So here's what I've learned

1.  To be grateful for my good health.  It's only when you can't do something that you realize how much you take doing that thing for granted.  As much as I hate to drive a lot, I realize how much my family and I depend on my being able to drive.  I had to have one of my kids drive me to the grocery story last week.  Thankfully one of them was available.  If this turned into a common occurrence (which I know it is for some people), it would make the already dreaded grocery shopping trip into something even more dreaded.  Not that shopping with my kids is something I dread, mind you, but depending on them to be around to take me would be dreaded.

2.  To pray more for other moms who suffer from some kind of chronic illness that impacts their ability to function as a mother.  I know from some of the mom-facebook groups I'm in that there are a lot of moms out there who suffer like this.  Trust me, after this minor stint at being somewhat incapacitated, I will pray even more for you when you ask me to!

I'm still having bouts of this on and off throughout the day, so hopefully whatever it is will take the fast train out of town soon!  In the meantime, I will pray for those of you who suffer on a daily basis!

God Bless!

Blogger, Instagram, Facebook...Oh My!

The other day my daughter wrote a blog post about how difficult it is sometimes to live without envy when you have nothing but sunshine and roses all over Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram...you name it.  Everywhere you look, people are posting about the good things in their life.  Don't get me wrong...I'd rather see a lot of good things than all the bad things.  That's not the point.  What is the point is that this thing called the Internet sure does make it difficult to live our lives without comparing ourselves to others.

Her whole post got me thinking about how glad I am that the internet only came into my life when my kids were a bit older.  I remember being ecstatic when Ms 23 yo was one year old and I got a computer and put it in my bedroom so I could do my graduate work on it and not have to go out!  That was living! 

I remember getting our first cordless phone when the first two were little and feeling as if I had been set free.

But beyond those exciting advances in technology, my life was not full of distractions that came in the form of snapchats, sound bytes, posts and pictures.  I didn't have to fight the temptation to browse one more time instead of paying attention to the littles around me (and I know it would have been a HUGE temptation for me).  I didn't have quick access to how everyone else was raising their kids so that I could compare myself to them (it was hard enough not to do that with friends or acquaintances I saw in person).

Again, don't get me wrong. With everything bad about the internet, there are good things, too.  I'm just very glad I didn't have to deal with it for the majority of my life so far.  Now my kids are older and more self-sufficient and so I actually have some time to myself (shocking, I know!).  That's when I can post and snap and share pictures without feeling too guilty!  I also know what a strong pull it all has on me, even at this age!

There is one thing, however, that I really think I would have benefited from while raising small children....my Kindle.  Man, how many times I'd drop a book while trying to read and nurse a baby at the same time.  How many times said book would drop and startle a sleeping baby! To be able to prop my Kindle up and just do a little flick to turn a page and not the gymnastics I used to do; that would have been beautiful!

I can't wait to see how my children balance their internet usage with their families.  They've been involved with digital devices for most of their lives so they have a different view point of them then people "my age".  It will be interesting to see if they struggle with it when there are tiny tots running around.  

In the meantime, I'm going to shut this thing down, plug in my android for the night and tuck away my Kindle so that we're already for another big day tomorrow!

God Bless!

Roll With It Thursday

Welcome to "Roll With It Thursday" where we just roll with whatever the day brings our way.

I was supposed to have my carpets cleaned, and I did, or at least a small corner of one room before they had an equipment problem.  They'll be back tomorrow to finish, or I guess really start, the job.

I was kind of cornered in my kitchen because of all of the main rooms being in disarray so I did what everyone who is stuck in their kitchen does...clean out the cabinets and drawers.  I didn't really throw away a lot or put much stuff in the give-away pile, but I did succeed in getting rid of all evidence of our winter, furry friends (those of you who live a in rural setting will understand).

We went to noon Mass since the carpet guys had left early enough.  That was a nice surprise as I didn't think we'd make it based on how slow things were going.

All day long we've been under the threat of severe weather.  The first of one of the season. There's something that I find soothing about thunderstorms so I was kind of hoping for at least a little bit of banging and booming and flashing.  At the same time, though, I have a daughter who doesn't like bad weather, let alone driving in it, so as her mother, it does add some stress to me, too, when I know she will be out during a storm.  So on a disappointing and yet not disappointing note, the severe weather seems to have totally disappeared...at least from our area (not sure about farther north).  Yet again they get everyone all hyped up only to be let down.  

On another unexpected note, Ms 19 yo just got home from school and took everyone to the library so here I sit, in my clean kitchen next to my partially cleaned carpeting with my patio door open to the warm, sunny day, breathing a sigh of contentment.  Except that I just saw what time it is and realized that I need to get up and get dinner started.  Oh well, it was pleasant while it lasted.  Hope you've been able to roll with whatever kind of day your Thursday has been.

God Bless!

The Noises of the Morning

This morning was a mix of things.  Husband and son getting up early to get haircuts and get to Mass.  Four girls (two of mine and two extras) getting up early to get to an all day Miles Christi girls' retreat.  One girl getting up early to get to work.  

This meant alarms, many of them, going off at all different times.  I heard the one at 5:30.  I heard another one at 5:50.  I heard a third at 6:00.  Different rooms, different sounds.

When I heard the one at 6:15, I wondered whose that would be, as by then everyone should have been up that needed to be.  To make matters worse, they weren't turning it off so it was just chirping and chirping away.

Ugh.

It was then that I rolled over and realized that the sound was not coming from within the house but from outside.

God's alarm clock was telling me it was time.  Birds chirping...Yay!  It's been so long since I've been woken up to that sound that I forgot what it sounded like.  

So I rolled over and slept for another 1/2 hour.

God Bless!

Going to the Movies on a Sunny Afternoon

A lot of the blogs that I've followed for the past many years seem to be falling into the same routine as I have been; namely - not posting but once a week if we're lucky.  I pondered that for awhile and I realized that I had started following these blogs back when all of us had younger children.  Back when packing everyone up to go out was a monumental event so we just stayed home and had a wee bit more time to do homey things...like blog all the time.  Now that the kids are older and far more mobile, it seems as if we aren't ever home anymore. I check my blog feed and I see the same post headlines that were there the last time I checked...two or three days ago.  At least I'm not the only one. 

So what has kept me busy this past week?  Well, one of my children had her Spring break last week (it really is difficult when everyone is on a different schedule!) and she talked me into going to the movies with her to see "Cinderella".  I went grudgingly for a few reasons:  1.  My back had gone out that morning and I was a tad uncomfortable at the time (although not as uncomfortable as I would be after sitting in the theater for 2 hours!) and 2.  See above.  I really didn't want to leave the house again.

Alas, as mothers, we must die to ourselves and go to the movies with our daughters on occasion (cue the mournful violin music) .  I'm glad I did.  It was a very enjoyable movie.  I cried multiple times.  Since then all of my daughters have seen it and not one of them cried.  Not once.  Really?  Cold-hearted they are.  My eldest said that crying at movies must be something you acquire when you become a mother.  I think she's right.

You've already read a ton of articles, opinions and reviews on this movie so I'll just chime in and say that yes, you should go see it because it really was as Christian as everyone said it was, the cinematography was beautiful, the acting was great and the storyline was wonderful.

When we were watching the movie, there was one line that just jumped out at me.  It is when the fairy godmother says "The greatest risk we will take is to let others see us as we really are".  I don't know why, but it stuck with me.  Even more so than the "have courage and be kind" line (which is a good one, too).  I think that between the two lines, you have a pretty good guideline about how to live your life.  You should be kind to others, have courage in all things, and be yourself, even if it means taking that risk with someone.  I just really appreciate when the person I am getting to know is being who they really are and not acting as someone they aren't.  I want to get to know the real person, not just the facade they put on because they think they should be acting a certain way.  We've always tried to be that to others, too.  Yes, we're crazy and loud and kind of goofy at times.  What you see is what you get.  It hasn't scared too many people away, yet (I don't think!).

I'm so glad the prince still wanted to marry Cinderella even though she wasn't what she had seemed to be at the ball.  It really was a beautiful moment.  I'm pretty sure I cried. 

Go see "Cinderella" with your daughter, you'll be glad you did.

God Bless!

Love Languages, Temperaments and Pigenholing

A lot of people I know over the years have gotten into reading about and learning about the different temperaments.  One of the favorite books on this subject is "The Temperament God Gave You".  

We own it.  I've tried reading it.  I've tried learning about the temperaments from other sources.  You know what?  It never seems to stick.  I cannot remember what traits go with what temperament.  No.matter.how.hard.I.try.

Then after awhile, I just gave up trying because I started to see something happening that I didn't like.  Pigeonholing.  I can't stand to be told that the reason I'm doing something is because I'm choleric or phlagmatic or whatever it is that I am.  Guess what? I'm also an oldest child, an extrovert and am governed by my love language: Acts of Service.  

I really do think that you have to take all of those things into account.  In our house, I think the introvert/extrovert comes into play a lot more often than the temperaments, at least in the area of conflicts.  Within the family, I also see how the love languages play an important role.  I finally understand the ins and outs of the introvert/extrovert thing (pun intended :) and I really like the love languages because those are much easier to remember than the temperaments!

On that note, I'd like to direct you over to my daughter's blog where she is running a series on The Five Love Languages.  I wrote the first guest post on Acts of Service.  We're a lonely and misunderstood bunch.  I hope if you have an Acts of Service person in your household, you'll read this post so you can understand them better :)  Throughout this week she also has other guest bloggers who will write about the other 4 languages.  It looks to be a very interesting series, so I hope you'll hop over there and check them all out.

God Bless!
affiliate link included, thanks!
  

 

The Beauty of Snow

It finally happened, and it least it was the beginning of February before it did.  It really is beautiful, you know.  I mean, God created it, so it must be beautiful, right?  It's just that...well, when people have to DRIVE in it, it becomes less beautiful.

However, let's focus on the beautiful and the fun.  While it was snowing yesterday, and before it got to the blizzard stage, some of the kids and I went out to play in the snow.  We found the big berm in our neighbor's yard and crawled through the bushes and underbrush to the top and then body-slid down the steep incline into the snow at the bottom.  Definitely fun, although I might be a tad sore from my aging body hitting that steep hill.

Yesterday morning we got up and took some photos. I always take the same shots, mainly because it is the only place I can take photos outside and still remain inside.  No matter, it is still beautiful.

I left these unedited because they show you how gray and snowy the day was.  Later on it was much more white; mainly because the winds picked up and you couldn't see much through the blowing snow.  Ms 22 yo had to work the 3 to 11 shift last night but fortunately she works at a hotel so she booked a room and just stayed there.  Good thing, too, because my husband said that this morning there were quite a few cars stuck on the side of our main road.  

This morning proved to be just as beautiful, and much brighter.  

This is a beautiful sight :)  A man and his snowblower, clearing the long driveway for his family!

The roads are slowly improving.  Once you get into town it isn't bad.  It's just that three to five miles before you get there that can be hair-raising.  Well, I guess it's all just part of February in the Midwest, right?  I'm trying to focus on the beauty of it and not fret over all of us having to drive in it!

God Bless!

Turning 50

Last week my husband turned 50.  Typically he doesn't like too much fuss made about his birthday, but we decided that this was a milestone and deserved some fuss.  We, of course, being the extroverted people in our family who are old enough to keep secrets.

Speaking of secrets, I am glad that I do not make a habit of keeping them.  It takes a lot of emotional and mental energy to keep them.  My biggest problem is NOT saying things.  I'll be talking to my husband and as the next thought in my head is about to roll out onto my tongue and out of my mouth, my Guardian Angel slams that mouth shut so as not to give anything away.  I don't know how people keep secrets for the long term and stay sane!

The day of his birthday was the coldest day of this winter season.  Blistering wind chills and whipping snow did not stop us from going bowling.  Normally we are too competitive of a family to enjoy things like bowling or board games, but the rule of the day was that no one was allowed to get a rotten attitude because they weren't winning or doing well.  Fortunately, I beat my husband in two games of pool and one game of bowling.  This insured that the day was good!  Good thing he's such a good sport and understands my primal desire to beat him in things like this.

After the bowling fest, we bundled up again and went for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.  We've only gone there twice, but mmmmm mmmm, it is good.  At the end of dinner I was able to let go of one secret in the form of his gift.  He was surprised and pleased and I was relieved to have one thing off my brain.

In addition to the actual day, we had planned a surprise party for that weekend.  The last time I surprised him for his birthday (25 years ago) he just about knocked his brother out because he was so startled.  We decided to be a bit more subdued this time.  In fact, I labeled the party as a "somewhat surprise party" because I didn't know how far I would actually carry the surprise.

Well, that day things were falling nicely into place and so we kept up with the surprise part.  We were pretty certain he didn't have a clue.  Guests were due to arrive at 7:00, at which point he was going to be down in the basement working out.  I was planning on waiting until a group of people arrived and then calling him up from the basement.  Did you catch the important part??  "I was planning".  Turns out it didn't matter what I was planning because at 6:30, the end of a pipe sticking out into our laundry room, which is right off of the kitchen, burst open and started spraying water everywhere!  We panicked, but the girls talked me out of telling him about the party, even though we had to turn off all of the water.  We were expecting over 30 people in less than 1/2 an hour and we had no water.  The dirty dishes hadn't even gotten done yet.

My husband assessed the situation and decided he could go to Menard's and find the part he needed to fix it so off he went - 5 minutes before people started showing up.

By the time he got back, there were many cars parked in our driveway, so at that point the surprise was up.  He came in, handed the part to Mr 14 yo so he could fix the pipe, donned his party hat and commenced having a good time.
 

So now we are post birthday and all the secrets are out, the pipe is fixed, and a good time was had by all.  Phew, I'm exhausted. 

It doesn't matter, though, because today we started planning for my daughter's book signing party at the end of the month.  At least this one isn't a secret.

God Bless!

12 in 2014

I'm linking up today with Dwija for her 12 in 2014 Year in Review post.  This past year has been a challenge in the blogging department!  I was skimming through a couple of months of posts and I realized that most of them were "catch up" posts because we spent a whole lot of time just being busy.  I'd like to change that for 2015 so, let's see what happens, shall we?  Anyhow, here's 12 pictures that pretty much sum up our year.

January 

January was full of school, basketball and snow.  It was tough to have so many drivers on the road this past winter.  The stress of worrying about everyone took a lot of the fun out of ALL THAT SNOW we had.  We did have basketball games, however, and those were fun.  I am not a good sports mom.  Too competitive for my own good.  I need to work on that :)


February

I began teaching a photography class for a local homeschool co-op and two of my kids got to take it.  It was a lot of fun for all of us.  We also had our annual Father/Daughter Ball (the highlight of the winter!).  My hubby and oldest son went on a snowmobiling weekend with my bil and mil and they had a great time.  And, you guessed it, we had more snow.  A LOT MORE SNOW.

March

More snow.  Ms 18 yo and I went on a Miles Christi retreat.  It was her first and my 7th or 8th (I can never remember how many exactly).  The highlight of the month, for me anyhow, was my impromptu escape trip to Arizona.  It was just what the doctor ordered.

April

This month brought around our participation in the production of "The Seven Last Words of Christ".  It pretty much consumes Lent, but it is always a blessing to be a part of.  We also got to introduce Ms 18 yo's friend from Ghana to the art of coloring Easter Eggs.  That was a special treat!

May

My mom and dad celebrated 50 years of marriage this month.  Like any marriage, it wasn't always easy, but it was beautiful to see them celebrating this milestone.  We finished up our school year and Ms 16 yo participated in her first Quinceanera.  I got to be the photographer for the event, which was beautiful and a lot of fun for all of us.

June

Mr 14 yo graduated from 8th grade.  Wow, hard to believe that it's gone by so fast.  I did a lot of photography and we went to a lot of parties.  That pretty much sums up June.

July

Ms 16 yo and I redid our living room.  It was such a fun time for both of us and we were ecstatic with the results.  Six months later and I still can't believe we pulled that off and it looks so nice.  My husband's cousin had an art project of his displayed in a nearby town so it was fun to share the day with him and celebrate his success.

August

We had our staycation for the year.  Did some biking, some water-parking and some water skiiing.  Even if we can't "get away" somewhere, it is always nice to spend the time together.  Soccer started up at the end of the month with three of the kids playing this year.

September

School.  Two high schoolers and two grade schoolers.  We had the blessing of being involved in a writing class (which was awesome) and a science class taught by a wonderful man who is very knowledgeable.  Hubby and I went to my cousin's wedding at Sox park (very fun) and Mr 14 yo started flag football.

October

October was essentially a continuation of September...school, soccer, football, school, soccer, football.  You get the picture.  At the end of the month, however, we went to a relic display with over 100 relics of Saints displayed in one room.  Definitely the highlight of the month.

November

We headed slightly south for a family wedding.  We had a blast and took some fun family photos along the way.  Football finished and "The Conversion of Scrooge" rehearsals started up.

December

"The Conversion of Scrooge".  That is all.

Like I said at the beginning, life just keeps moving faster and faster and it seems as if all anyone can do nowadays is just manage to keep up with the basics and the necessities.  It is frustrating at times to live this way.  I'm not sure what we can do about it, except maybe hang on and enjoy the ride the best we can.  I'll be praying about changes that maybe need to be made to make 2015 a little more manageable, but we'll see how it goes. 

I hope and pray that all of you have a had a memorable 2014 and that your 2015 will be even more blessed.

God Bless!