Our Stressful Christmas

We talked in our Sunday School class this week about what, if anything, we would change about Christmas next year compared to this year. Good graceous, what all would I change?

Well first off, I would hope that next year my mother in law is NOT in the hospital up until 2 days before Christmas, with no clear knowledge until that very day that she wouldn't in fact spend Christmas on the neuro ward recovering from a somewhat botched brain surgery that left her leaking spinal fluid for weeks before anyone caught it. I mean, seriously, if you just did brain surgery on someone and they suddenly developed a runny nose, wouldn't you at least test to make sure it's actually snot and not spinal fluid before you sent them home? Apparently not my MIL's doctor! *sigh* Praise God, though, that she seems to be doing much better now. We are still praying for all the feeling in her face and her hearing on the right side to be restored.

The next thing I would change is the decorations at my house. I would like to actually HAVE some next year. A few weeks before Christmas this year we found out that Zollie had high lead levels. We had someone from the Health Dept come by and test around our house and all the miniblinds and windows lit up. Apparently vinyl miniblinds are terrible for lead. They use it to stabilize the vinyl and after a few years they start to break down and lead leaches out into the dust. Then your kids pull the blinds back to look outside and get the dust on their hands, and then put them in their mouth and BOOM, lead absorbtion. So the week before Christmas, while the boys and I were at my moms, PG was home replacing blinds and painting windows to keep the cracking paint under control. I guess this is what we get for buying a house that's nearly 100 years old. So, due to all the work PG was doing coupled with the fact that Christmas light wiring is coated in lead paint, all we put up this year was a wreath on the front door. *sigh* All of our extra Christmas money went into that project, so gifts were sparse this year, though no one seemed to mind. Which leads me to my next change...

I wish everyone else in our family would give sparser gifts next year. We seriously had 2 carloads of stuff to bring home between my folks and PG's folks. WHY does Christmas need to be about how much money we can spend at Walmart and Toys R Us??? I'm really starting to hate Christmas...doesn't that sound aweful? But I am! We hear all season from our pastors and Christian radio stations about how the secular world is trying to take the Christ out of Christmas. We are told to write our legislators to tell them that we DO want to be able to put manger scenes on public property and we are told to boldly say Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays. But then we turn around and buy right into the secular, humanist mentality that Christmas is all about the pressents. It really makes me want to vomit. My kids didn't need all that stuff. We had just weeded through and gotten rid of a ton of toys and they didn't miss them at all. I don't want to sound like I'm ungrateful. I'm not. I TRUELY appreciate the fact that our family wants to help us out and give us things. I LOVE the new pantry shelves my mom gave me. PG and I LOVE the new TV from his parents. And Ian loves all the stuff he got, too. But I just hate the commercialism of Christmas. I hate that I stress every year about whether we've gotten enough for so-and-so or whether we spent the same on both parents. That's not what Christmas is about! Or, at least that's not what it SHOULD be about. My mom buys stuff all year for us for Christmas, and then she still feels guilty about not getting us enough stuff. We don't need ANY stuff! I'm happy just to get to spend the time with her and watch her with my boys. The boys would be happy just to play with her and their grandpa without any gifts at all.

I also worry about what this is setting up in their minds as far as expectations. I do NOT want my kids turning into greedy monsters. In our home, we don't do Santa. Each child gets 3 gifts from mom and dad/siblings. If 3 gifts was good enough for our Lord, 3 gifts can be good enough for my kids. The Santa thing went over like a lead balloon with my grandmother. She couldn't understand why we would NOT do Santa. I can't understand why she would be upset with us for not wanting to lie to our kids. I will have to answer to God one day for the decisions I made when parenting my children, and I don't want to have Him ask me why I thought it was appropriate to celebrate His birthday with a lie. We haven't even told PG's family that we don't do Santa. I dread that about as much as I dreaded her finding out we plan to homeschool. Oh well!

I suppose that's enough whining for one morning. All in all, we had a very nice Christmas. We got to spend time with family, my house looks splendid after all the work PG put into it, and (other than Ian having 2 random pukes Christmas morning from eating too much junk food) no one got terribly sick.

Merry Christmas, everyone! Sing Happy Birthday to Jesus and make sure to tell your kids the REAL Christmas Story.

Praise: That my MIL is doing so much better and got to spend Christmas Day with us. She missed her grandbabies terribly.

Prayer requests: First, please pray for my step dad's uncle Emmit. He has CHF and was hospitalized Christmas Eve. They drew off a lot of fluid and he was doing a bit better, but it's still touch and go. Secondly, please pray for a cousin who is pregnant, unmarried, and getting very little support from her family. Please pray that she has a safe, healthy birth and makes the right decisions. I may write more about this later, as things develop, but for now I want to maintain her privacy so I will just ask for prayer.

The election

I've been watching for the past hour or so with a growing sick feeling deep in my stomach as democratic candidates from all different races in NC and the USA win one race after another. I just have a hard time understanding why God is allowing candidates who don't want to protect His ideal for marriage to win. I can't understand why God is allowing candidates who think there is nothing wrong with killing innocent babies during any part of pregnancy for any reason to lead our country or hold positions in our state. I can't understand why the people of this country feel that the economy, which has been bad before and always turns around eventually, is a more important issue than protecting the lives of innocent babies, the ideals of marriage, the very foundations of our country. Are they not able to look past the current crisis to the next generation that is being slaughtered before it is even born?

And then I realized...God is allowing this because He gave us free will. We can choose to follow Him, or we can choose to plot our own path. America has chosen to plot its own path, and we will reap the consequences. Sometimes a todler doesn't learn what "hot" means until they touch the stove. Tonight, America is reaching towards the burner.

I've been in prayer all day for our country. For the direction it has chosen. For the next 4 years. I've prayed that God will work on the heart of whomever is elected, because I don't think ANY candidate is perfect. I've prayed that God will protect us from fearmongering, from terrorism, from crushing financial strain. But I know that, just like any good Father, God sometimes steps aside and lets His children suffer the consequences of their actions and I have to believe that when a nation chooses a leader who believes so differently from what I see to be Biblical truth, there will be consequences to suffer.

God Bless America. Tonight this is more than a slogan, it is a plea.

Children are precious

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you...Jeremiah 1:4

Vote Pro Life!

Happy Birthday Zollie!

Zollie Isaac turned 1 on Tuesday, Oct 14! I can't believe a whole year has passed since his birth. To honor his day, I'd like to share our his abbreviated birth story (I couldn't abbreviate it TOO much...labor was only 5 hours as is!).

One year ago, on Sunday, Oct 14, 2007...We had spent the night with my in laws so that we could watch a football game together on Saturday. Oct 14 was my father in law's birthday, so we had planned to go out to eat on Sunday together. Zollie had other plans!

5:30am: Woke up with contractions. Woke hubby up and we timed them for an hour. They were about 5 min apart and getting stronger. Checked myself and I was about 4-5cm and very effaced with a little bloody show.

6:30am: Called my midwife and asked her if she thought we should head to the birth center. Midway through the call I said "Hang on, I'm having a contraction." She replied, "If you need me to hang on while you have a contraction, you need to come on in." She was right. Got our bag together while PG took a quick shower and mother in law made breakfast for us to eat on the way. We left Ian with them with promises to keep them updated via phone and have them head to the birth center when Zollie was about to arrive so Ian could meet him asap.

7:30am: On the road. The birth center is an hour away. PG and I spend the first part of the ride excited, and the last part pretty quiet as the contractions picked up in intensity and got closer together. By the time we were half an hour away they were every 3 min, lasting a min. I called the birth center and said we were almost there and to go ahead and fill up the tub for me. Decided we are definately having our future kids at home so I don't have to make that ride again!

8:30am: Arrived at the birth center. My mom and sisters arrived shortly after us. Contractions are pretty strong, I'm moaning through them. Midwife checked me and I was 8cm and fully effaced. Got right in the tub. Labored in the tub for an hour or so, then felt the urge to use the potty. Got out and dried off, went to potty. Heard midwife knock lightly on bathroom door and say "Vallere, don't have that baby on the toilet without telling me. I don't care if you want to have him on the toilet, just tell me first." We all laughed about that one.

Around 10am: By now I was back in the tub. PG was sitting on the side of the tub with his feet in the water. I was squatting in the tub, leaning over his legs. He was massaging my back and putting pressure on my hips. Felt the urge to push. Midwife checked me and I was 10cm and got the go-ahead. Sat back in the tub and pushed a couple of times. Felt baby moving down. Another push and my water broke. Baby was crowning. PG applied pressure to my perenium and Zollie was born into his hands at 10:24am. PG caught him and handed him to me while our midwife, nurse, and my mom and sisters looked on. Cuddled in the tub for a little while, then got out and into the bed for the placenta to deliver.

First nursing.

Around 11am: Mother and Father in law arrived with Ian and we sent everyone out of the room so Ian could meet his new brother. He was a little unsure at first but eventually was all smiles!

And here's our little man now!

Thursday and Friday rundown

Thursday morning, Great Worth met. It was just me and G. again, but we had a nice study about choosing to be submissive as wives and how that is in turn choosing to be obedient to God. The kids had fun playing and watching cartoons while we talked. I'm so glad God has put G. in my life. We are so similar in our parenting and religious beliefs, as well as our financial situations. It's nice to have someone close by who you can really connect with.

After Ian's nap, I sat down with him and helped him make a flower craft out of construction paper. He got to glue all of the pieces into place and that just tickled him silly! The flower went along with what he learned about at AWANA this past week. That is really working out well for us...Ian gets to go have fun for an hour and PG and I get to spend some todler free time together. Ian (without my prompting) drug his daddy over to the fridge to see the flower when he got home from work. Dave and Suzanne came over for supper (and he showed off his flower to them as well). Dave is such an excellent cook! We had a great chicken dish over noodles and steamed veggies while we watched the season opener of Survivor. I haven't watched that show in a couple of seasons, and I don't know that I'll keep up with it this season either. It just seems like so many recycled ideas at this point.

I got Zollie to sleep in his crib again last night, and he actually slept there until about 5am! PG said he got up early and heard him crying and assumed I would get him, but I never woke up, so now I am feeling really guilty that he cried himself back to sleep. I went in to check on him and he was sleeping soundly, but I went ahead and brought him in to bed with us. I didn't intend for him to have to stay in there and cry and I feel horrid about it. The door was closed to our room to keep the dog out, and I guess between that and the storm raging outside I just didn't hear the poor guy. The downside to him not sleeping with us is that by morning I'm full to bursting with milk because he doesn't wake to nurse as often when he's by himself.

This morning, Friday, we got up and breakfasted and watched a few cartoons. Ian knows all the words to the themesong of the Wonder Pets. It's so cute to hear him singing that along with the show! He's really talking up a storm now...and to think that at one point we were taking him to a speach therapist because we were concerned. Around lunch time we walked downtown so I could pay the electric bill and then went to see the fountain in front of Town Hall. The last time we were at it, we gave Ian a penny and told him to wish for ice cream when we got home and toss the penny in. Today I told him to wish for popcorn as I handed him a penny. He mumbled something under his breath and threw the penny in. I said "Did you wish for popcorn?" and he said "No, I wished for icecream!" The little stinker!

We then walked over to the Salvation Army where I found a cute khaki skirt for $1.70 and a couple of foam books to give Zollie for his birthday. Score! I can't believe, though, that my little baby is fixing to turn 1. We are planning to grill out and have a banana split bar for his party. I'll make him a little cake, of course, but I think banana splits will be so fun!

Once we got home, I gave Ian a tiny cup of ice cream and then put him down for a nap. He's passed out right now...though I don't know how...Zollie is playing in his room at the moment. That kid can sleep through anything! I promised him we could blow some bubbles outside once he wakes up, so I guess I better go get some housework done while I have the chance. Until next time!

Yay! I did it!

I got Zollie to sleep in the crib tonight! This is maybe the second time I've gotten him to sleep by himself EVER. He generally nurses to sleep in our bed and then is unmovable, lest he wake up. I love snuggling with the little monkey, but it'll be nice to fall asleep beside my husband (and only my husband) tonight! I'm sure he'll be waking up to nurse soon, and then he can come to bed with us. Better enjoy the extra sleeping space while I've got it!

The winds have settled!

We've had a blustery couple of weeks around the Shelton household! AWANA has gone great for Ian. I stayed with him the first night, just to see what all went on. He had a good time, but whined a lot. I think most of that had to do with me being there and also this being his first time in a structured environment. Last Wednesday I just dropped him off, and his teacher said he did great! I'm so glad he's having fun there!

We also made it back from our trip to Asheville in one piece. It was a jam-packed weekend! Here's a quick rundown of what we did:

We left Thursday around lunchtime and got to our hotel about 6pm. Ordered Papa John's pizza. mmmm! Let Ian jump on the hotel bed a bit. Went to sleep. Eventually.

Fri morning DH left to go to the conference. We slept in, played in the tub, and watched cartoons. DH came home for lunch and we went downtown and walked around. Found a neat little Indian cafe and had a super yummy lunch! Hung out at the hotel the rest of the evening while DH was in meetings.

Saturday morning I took the boys to the pool while DH was gone. DH had the afternoon off from lunch till about 6, so we took the boys to the nature center downtown. Ian was tickled pink! He got to see bears, a cougar, wolves, snakes, and all sorts of other animals. There was even a petting zoo! We hung out at the hotel the rest of the afternoon while DH went back to the conference to present his poster and do his fru fru supper with the big wigs. At least he brought me back leftovers!

Sunday morning DH had a meeting until 10. He came back and I had everything packed to go, so we loaded up the car and checked out. I had found a church I wanted to attend, and DH had been sitting all weekend so he decided to take the boys to a playground while I went. Here's the funny story from the weekend. The name of the church was Grace Tabernacle. It said it was nondenominational in the phone book. Well, we had a hard time finding it so I didn't get there until about 10 after 11. I walked in the front door and there in the narthex was a table. On the table was a menorah, a little arc of the covenant, and a horn of David. So my brain went into overdrive...."Um...is this a Jewish temple? The name IS tabernacle...but it said church in the phone book, I'm sure of it! But man that guy over there definately looks Jewish. But it's SUNDAY!" Total brain cramp! Anyway, I went on in and it was a WONDERFUL sermon! Just wonderful. The pastor talked about how Jesus kept trying to get the disciples to trust Him, but they kept being human and worrying...like in the boat during the storm. The pastor said don't fight the storm! Just make sure you have Jesus in your boat. Remember, the same waves that scared the disciples rocked Jesus to sleep. Talk about peace that passes all understanding! It was just wonderful! So after church we drove up the Parkway a bit and stopped at a campground. We pitched our tent and then hiked down a path to Crabtree Falls. I totally forgot to take my camera! I could kick myself! UG! Anywho, we got back, lit the campfire, cooked dinner and roasted marshmallows. It was Ian's first time camping. Monday we got up and cleaned up our campsite and then drove to a place called Gem Mountain in Spruce Pines where you can buy buckets of ore and sit at a flume with a seive and you keep whatever gems you find. We found TONS of stuff...rubies, emeralds, garnets, topaz, and all sorts of semi precious stuff like amethest and aquamarine. Just wish we could afford to get them cut! Then we made the 6 hour drive home with a quick stopover at my moms to eat supper.

This weekend, our friends Denis and Crystal and their kids Noah, Alek, and Mikayla came Saturday to watch the ECU/NC State game with us. We lost. *sigh* Another year of getting pecked at by Wolfpack fans. Alas! We spent the evening and night playing games: the kids in the dining room and us adults in the living room. Much dead cow was consumed. It was a great night! They slept over and this morning half the house woke up with a bad headcold. We missed church so as not to spread the headcold love. Tonight, DH and I are just enjoying some time alone. I need to prepare some more things for school tomorrow and he needs to keep himself sane as he heads back to work. He's been working 10-12 hour days recently, and also on Saturdays. I can't wait for this rotation to be over with!

Praises! We seem to be ok moneywise right now. We were able to pay off a couple of small debts from a reimbursement check. Praise God! We are just trusting God to provide for us.

Prayer requests: Ian, Zollie, and I all have a cold. Please pray that we get well soon (especially Zollie...he's so stuffed up that he can barely nurse) and that DH doesn't get sick. He's working so much this month, he really can't afford to feel bad.

Getting off to a good start!

This is going to be a big week of firsts for me...Monday morning, Great Worth met for the first time at my house. Only one other woman showed up, G. , but to me that is success. G. has a friend who wanted to come, but Monday mornings didn't work for her, so we might be moving to Thursday mornings. I'm just so happy that it seems to be working out! I need this so much...having other Christian women who understand how I feel and why I feel the way I do. I think this is going to be a HUGE blessing in all of our lives!

Also, tonight I'll be going to the first HOME meeting of the year. HOME stands for Homeeducators Organized for Ministry and Encouragement and is our local Christian homeschool group. I'll officially become a member tonight since Ian will be old enough for co-op activities in the spring. I'm SO excited about this! Since we decided to homeschool, I've hardly been able to wait to get started. I know on one hand that is wishing his young years away to a certain extent, but he is so smart and I just can't wait to see how he flourishes! I know a lot of people who choose to homeschool feel like it is a conviction from God to do so, but for me (although I feel God will bless our homeschool), I don't necessarily hear Him convicting me of it so much as I just want to be there for all of my kids' firsts. I want to be the one to teach them to read and write. I want to see them light up when they have "ah ha" moments. Maybe that's selfish, but hey, they are only kids once, and I want to be there for their whole childhood. Granted, there are tons of positives about homeschooling...from the socialization aspect to being able to control what they are taught (as opposed to them being taught whatever the school board thinks is important, even if those things go against our personal beliefs), to not having to worry about school violence or bullying...but for me, being their teacher is the perk I'm looking forward to the most.

Another first...G. told me that a local church just started a 2-3 year old class in their AWANA program. So I'm going to talk to PG about that and see if that is something he'd be up for Ian attending as well. My home church had AWANA but didn't start until after I was older. My mom and dad are very active in their program and are always saying how wonderful it is. It would be great for Ian to have something like that to participate in!

Prayer requests: Please pray for our financial situation. We are in the red right now with a LOT of things upcoming (a trip we won't get reimbursed for for a few weeks, and lots of birthdays). Please pray also for my step-dad. There is an older couple who he sees as his second parents who he is VERY close with. He goes to see them every Sunday after church. The woman, Mable, passed away this week. I know they are all very upset. Her husband has alzheimer's disease and is living in an extended care facility and did not see her for about 3 weeks prior to her death. I don't think he understood just how sick she was and I am not sure if he understands that she is gone. Please keep them all in your prayers. Another request...we will be out of town this weekend, leaving on Thursday, and I am supposed to have a LLL meeting Thursday night. Please pray I can find someone to lead it for me so I don't have to cancel it!

Answered prayers: God has blessed Great Worth! I can't wait to see how it grows! I also praise God for keeping us safe during the tropical storm. We truely needed the rain, and the wind damage was very minimal.

So God wouldn't let me sleep...

You know the Veggie Tales Jonah movie? And the part where the little catterpillar has the Jonah plush toy that says "A message from the Lord!" over and over? That was me a couple of Wednesday nights ago!

During the summer we have Sunday School on Wednesday nights at our church. Our class has been studying Phillipians and that Wed night we were talking about how Paul was saying that if you are mature in your faith you will want to live like Jesus even if it's hard or uncomfortable. So we got on the topic of parenting decisions and how once you have kids you really rethink a lot of the decisions you make because you know your kids are watching, etc. I could NOT stop thinking about this all night. About how some of the decisions I've made recently have been hard (like wearing only skirts or not "doing" Santa) because that's not how the world says you should be. And how many other moms there have to be in my church who WANT to make those hard decisions, or even have made them, but don't tell anyone because they don't want to get laughed at. Or how maybe there were moms who were like me a year or so ago who hadn't even thought about making decisions like that, but would be interested in knowing there were other options out there than just following the culture.

I could not go to sleep. I laid in bed from about 10 till 2 just rolling all this around and God kept telling me I need to start a Bible study/discussion group for moms so we can dig in deep and learn what the Bible says about what kinds of women/mothers/wives we should be. That it should be a place where we can pray for each other, our marriages and our kids and where we can support each other in making the hard decisions. God did not let me go to sleep Wednesday night until I got up and wrote a letter to invite people to this. I know this was all from God because even though I was up until 4am or so, when I woke up Thursday I was not tired at all.

I was all set to get a list together of who to send invites to Thursday but DH hadn't been able to pay the phone bill on time so it got cut off (along with our internet) and eventually a couple of days had passed and all these doubts are setting in. Should I really do this? What if no one comes? What if everyone I send invites to thinks I'm a freak and starts avoiding me at church? Do I even have time to take on one more thing? Ug! I knew it was the enemy trying to keep me from doing this, but it still made me doubt.

I've never even been to a Bible study before, so I don't even really know what I'm getting into. I envision it being very relaxed, so everyone will feel comfortable enough to talk about serious issues. I want them to have the option of bringing their kids, because I don't want childcare to be a reason not to come...I would host at my house so they could all play. I thought about it being more like a coffee house. I wanted to send out a list of possible topics on the invite to see what people would be interested in...like modesty, what it means to be a submissive wife, praying for our husbands, maybe a study on Bringing up Boys/Girls by Dobson, talking about the media's influence, Natural Family Planning vs birth control vs Quiverfull...all sorts of womanly/mothering/wifely topics. I decided on the name Great Worth from this verse:

Your beauty … should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. 1 Peter 3:3-4

I had expressed my doubts and fears on a forum I'm on and one of the women said that maybe God doesn't even intend anyone to come...maybe He just wants to see if I will obey be willing to step out of my comfort zone to start this. So I spoke with my pastor and my husband and they are both supportive. I'm going to send out an invitation to a bunch of women and see what a good day and time would be...or maybe it will just see if anyone is even interested. I'm getting excited again, and I think that is a good thing. I'm still scared though, but that's ok.

Prayer requests: Pray with me as our church looks for a new youth pastor. Pray for a relative who is dying of cancer. Pray for Great Worth and that it will be a good ministry.

Praises: Praise God for providing food for us to eat every day. We always have enough, even when we are completely broke. Praise God for 2 healthy children and a husband who has gotten so much more healthy in the past few months.

Busy Weekend

We've had a fairly busy past few days around our house. First and foremost, Zollie has officially made the jump from crawling to walking. I keep telling him he's too little to be walking, but apparently he thinks that whatever will get him caught up with his big brother faster is a good thing. He's so funny to watch...he walks with his hands out in front of him like Frankenstein's monster, all wobbly. Then he'll get proud of himself and start clapping and grinning! He's so cute!

Ian is a bit frustrated that Zollie can catch up to him faster, now. Zollie follows his big brother around like a little puppy, and Ian isn't real pleased with that a lot of the time. He doesn't like having his toys taken away, his food grabbed at, or be tackled whenever he's sitting on the floor, but Zollie sure loves it. You can definately tell they really love each other...they are always falling and sitting on each other, squeeling and sharing toys. We are so blessed!

Saturday we decided to rearrange the house. We got most of it done and I'm really pleased at how the living room looks now. It doesn't necessarily look bigger, just different. I need different every now and then. That afternoon PG went to the gym to work out with Dave and I took the boys to a playgroup for residents' spouses and families. It was so nice to meet other people living a similar schedule to me, and I also know a few of the moms there share some of my crunchy tendencies...I talked cloth diapers and breastfeeding for a while...that always makes my day!

After the playgroup, we went and picked up PG and headed to the home of the chair of his department for their annual cookout. So much good food! And so many kids! There are really a ton of young kids in the department now and it was great to let them all play and roam together. While we were there, we heard squeeling tires and a crash on the street in front of his home. Of course, everyone went running to see what had happened. The call for "Is there a doctor in the house?" went out and everyone laughed...I guess if you are going to have a wreck, that was the place to have it. There were probably upwards of 20 doctors mingling around. Luckily no one was hurt, though a mailbox did seem to get demolished.

Sunday morning we went to church where PG was worship leader. He looks so good in his suit, especially now that he's lost so much weight! He's down 45 lbs since Zollie was born. It's amazing! I'm so proud of him for the dedication he's put in to working out and jogging. After church, his parents came over and we had a nice lunch, plus they got some playtime in with the boys, which they always adore. They were astounded to see how well Zollie is walking and also to hear Ian counting (he's up to firteen now!) and singing the ABC song.

My inlaws left after a few hours and we had a bit of time to rest and take a nap, then Suzanne and Dave came over. We fixed a great supper (Suzanne shocked me with her cooking prowess...the fried eggplant was delicious!) and watched some Shark Week.

This morning, I decided to go ahead and finish moving furniture around. I wanted the piano to go in the front hallway and figgured that since it had wheels, it should be pretty easy to move. I was wrong and now I have some seriously pulled muscles in my lower back. UG! Getting up and down out of a chair, much less off the floor, is a royal pain...literally! I think PG might have tomorrow off, which would be great, because I don't know if I'll be able to even get out of bed. I know these things are usually worse the second day.

Prayer/Praise: Please pray that my back gets better soon and that PG has tomorrow off to help me. Praises for my two smart boys who are learning and growing each day. My prayers go out to my friend Carli who lost her mother to cancer last week. Pray also for this coming weekend when my sisters will be moving into their new appartment and that everything goes smoothly.

Six years together!

Six years ago, on July 4, PG and I were married. It's hard to believe that it's been six years already. We've been together as a couple for a whole decade. Wow. We were thinking back to when we met...my sisters were 8 and 10 years old. Now they are a freshman and junior in college. We met 2 days before classes began my freshman year. My friend Crystal and I (who had just met and become fast friends the night before at the Wesley Foundation open house) were walking through our dorm trying desperately to figgure out how to translate the bus schedule. Crystal spotted PG down the hall and said a sentence that would change my life forever: "Hey! He looks like an upper classman. Lets ask him!" I don't think my mother in law will ever forgive her...*snicker*

I was dating someone at the time, but PG - with all the suaveness of a future psychiatrist - convinced my boyfriend to break it off with me. Granted, my boyfriend had confided in PG that he really had liked me better as a friend and wanted to be free to date in college, but I was not told that part of the story for years to come. PG jumped in as my rebound guy and assured me that he was "only looking for a casual relationship...nothing long term". 10 years and 2 kids later, I love to remind him of that.

Where would we be now if we had never met? Well, at the time I was planning to be a medical missionary in Africa or some other far off land. I was so head over heels in love with PG by the end of our first semester, though, that I bunked my plans to transfer to a divinity college and just stayed at ECU so I could be near him. Apart from living worlds apart, we also wouldn't have our beautiful boys, so I guess God works everything out in the end.

To celebrate our anniversary this year, we invited Crystal (who I'm still best friends with) and her husband and children over to spend the night. We ate delicious food, and then watched the fireworks here in Farmville. I love to pretend they are shooting them off just for us. Then we got the boys in bed and played D&D until the wee hours of the morning, went to sleep, woke up Saturday and played all day. We had a blast. Who needs an expensive trip or gift to celebrate your anniversary? We spent ours with our match maker and our families and enjoyed every minute of it (besides, having company over is great motivation to get the house clean!)

Happy anniversary, dear. My prayer is that we have MANY more ahead of us!

Fresh Fish!

Last year, as some of the moms in my church were planning to start a private homeschool together, I was asked to teach science for them. It ended up being 5 girls, all middle school aged, and we had a great year. It was a lot of fun to teach them, because we had the freedom to do lots of hands on activities and field trips. I've been asked to teach for them again next year, and I'm really looking forward to it.

One of the girls that I taught lives on a big farm. Her father plants a gigantic garden every year and told all of the teachers that he always plants way too much and can't eat it all, and invited us to sharecrop with him. We can go to the farm and put in time hoeing, weeding, and helping can stuff as it comes ripe, and in return we get free produce. My husband and I, who were already balking at how expensive food is getting, jumped at the chance. So for the last few weeks we've been going out to the farm a couple of times a week and spending an hour or two hoeing. Things have started coming ripe, and we've had so many delicious salads recently! There is a big stocked pond right beside the garden, and we had also been invited to fish there if we wanted. Today was the first day we had an opportunity to take them up on that.

At about 2:00, my husband, my sister Suzanne, her boyfriend Dave and I loaded the boys in the car and headed to the farm. We weeded the two rows of potatos (2 rows! We'll have potatos all year!) in record time with three of us weeding while Suzanne watched the boys. Then we headed to the pond, where we realized we had nothing to use for bait. Suzanne quickly caught a grasshopper and I found some crackers in the diaper bag that we crushed and tossed in the water, and we were off and running. Time ticked by with lots of nibbles but no bites. We decided we needed better bait.

After a bit of mourning the fact that we didn't have a net (because plenty of tiny brim were swarming at the surface to eat the cracker bits) I realized that I had a ring sling made of Solarveil in the car and hey, that's pretty close to a net, right? So we unstrung the sling out of the rings and lowered the center section into the water, sprinkled a few crackers over it and waited. In no time we had caught a little fish, the size of the palm of my hand! Ian thought it was super cool. He rubbed it and told me about its colors. Then we led him away while "Uncle Dave" chopped it up into bits for bait. PG and Dave fished for another hour or so with no luck. A storm was rolling in, so we were getting ready to pack it up. PG was reeling in his line so we could go when BAM! something hit on it! He reeled it in and had hooked a big bass, about as long as my forearm! We were just tickled pink! Dave cast his line out where PG had caught the fish and within minutes he had hooked something big as well. It took his line and pulled it out under the dock and snapped it right off. What a disapointment! The one that got away! The storm was getting closer so we tossed our things in the car, grabbed some potatos, squash, and onions from the garden, and headed home.

PG left shortly after to go on a hiking and camping trip for the weekend with some of our other friends. Suzanne played with the boys while Dave and I cleaned the fish and got dinner going. What a great meal! We had bass filets cooked with onions, garlic, and rosemary, boiled squash with onions, and cheesy mashed potatos. Everything tastes better when you grow it yourself! We can't wait to go fishing there again. Maybe Dave will catch that big one next time!

Praises/Prayers for the day:

Praise God for good food to eat and good times spent with family and friends. I praise Him for sending people into our lives who will share their bounty with us. We can rest in the knowledge that if things get really bad, or grocery money is not there, we can go to the farm and have food.

Please join me in praying for PG's safety this weekend, as well as our friends who went camping with him. They are planning to hike and camp for 4 days in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. They will be back country camping in tents for 3 nights. I'm praying that everyone comes home healthy and with great stories.

God Bless!

Neighbors helping neighbors

We had a tragedy on our street this week: the home of one of my neighbors burned down. This family - husband, wife, and 1yr old son - live about three houses down and across the street from me. Sadly I don't know their names. We've lived this close to them for 3 years now, but have only waved to them in passing. What a horrible way to meet your neighbors, huh? I stopped and talked to them for a moment yesterday as we walked home from Wednesday night church. The poor woman was just in tears in the front yard. How hard it must be to know you lost everything material that was important to you. Baby books, picture albums, old Mother's Day cards, family heirlooms, wedding dress...all gone in a flash.

Thankfully, no one was hurt. The father is a fire chief and was in Hyde Co fighting the wildfire there, and the mother and son got out safely. I do believe the lost their dog, though. Poor thing. When I talked to her yesterday and asked her what they needed, she said everything...towels, sheets, clothes. What must it be like to not be able to take a shower because you don't have a towel to dry off with nor clothes to put on afterwards?

I've put the word out to my Natural Mamas group and my church to try to find some things for them. I was hoping I would see them outside again today so I could talk to her more in depth, find out her name, introduce myself properly, and get more details about what they need and where to take things. I don't know these people, but it just seems like the neighborly thing to do. It's what Jesus would do, right? Do unto the least of these. This family, newly homeless, without anything of value but their lives. Do they know Christ? Do they have His peace through this? Or are they feeling alone and vulnerable? Will they see His Light through my actions?

There are opportunities to help our neighbors all around us: volunteering at the soup kitchen or the local Boys and Girls Club, teaching Sunday School or VBS, donating food to the food pantry, or just helping gather items for a family in need. We are poor, we can barely pay our bills, but helping the least of these doesn't require spending money. Sometimes it just requres good listening skills or a bit of time or willingness to get dirty. Being a Christian isn't about sitting back and saying "Oh those poor people...what a shame", being a Christian is about helping pick up the pieces and comforting the hurting, even if it makes you uncomfortable. I'm very bad at confrontation...and I always get nervous when I am talking to someone I don't know. But I'm going to push through past my comfort zone and go talk to this family. Offer my help and a supper or two, find out their needs, and hopefully show them the love of Jesus through His willing servant.

Prayers / Praises for the day:

Please pray for this dear family as they try to rebuild their lives. And Praise God that they were not injured!

Praise God that my husband got a great report from his doctor today...he's lost over 30 lbs and his HDL went from 14 to 40, while his LDL went from 120 to 80-something!!!

God Bless!

Ahhh...me time

A rarity in our house has occured...both boys are asleep at the same time! I've been mildly productive: vacuumed and mopped the kitchen and pantry, washed a load of diapers and hung them to dry, and I'm fixing to wash the kids' clothes as well (right after I finish up here and get myself a bowl of much deserved ice cream!).

Last night my husband and I had quite a bit of fun as well. One of the residents he works with is finished with her program and is moving to South Carolina to work. She was having a going away party at her house and, knowing that eating at her house meant the promise of homemade Indian food, a herd of wild horses couldn't have kept him away. She has two small children who kept Ian entertained nearly the whole time, and my hubby and I got to enjoy adult conversation and excellent food while the rest of the residents played "pass the baby" with Zollie.

Father's Day is coming up this weekend. I never care much about the fact that we are barely skimming by money wise until a holiday comes up. I don't want to be rich, I just want to be able to buy nice gifts for my loved ones to show them how much they mean to me. What I really would love is to be able to buy a new computer or a bunch of camping gear or even the new D&D books for my husband. He is so wonderful, a hard worker, loving, and such a great dad...he really deserves it. But I'm stuck with about 10 dollars to do something with. I'm wanting to do a special dinner for him, and the boys made him a card, but that just doesn't seem like nearly enough to show our love. What's a poor woman to do?

Prayers/Praises for the day: Praise God for healthy kids and for the little bits of time I get to myself (Zollie just woke up...)

Praying that our meager Father's Day celebration will be enough to show my husband just how much we love and appreciate him.

God bless!

Monday Morning

Today has been a humdrum day so far. The boys woke me up at about 7:30. Ian loves to run in and yell "Mama! Mama! Downstairs now!" So down we went for diaper changes and breakfast (cereal and juice) and a cartoon. Then out onto the back porch to play in the kiddy pool before it got so oppressively hot that even water wasn't refreshing anymore. Today doesn't really feel like a Monday, though. My hubby had to work yesterday so it feels more like midweek, which will come back to bite me on Wednesday or Thursday when I feel like the week should be over already.

This coming weekend will offer no respite either, as we will be back in my hometown for my sister's highschool graduation. That will be bittersweet for her, I'm sure. She'll be leaving all of her friends behind and moving three hours away. It's great for me, though, because she'll be here! And convienent for my parents...all three of us will be ECU grads/students, so she only has to worry about buying accessories for one school. Highschool is one of those weird things...as a teenager you think that these people are your BEST friends, those that will be with you for the rest of your life, and then you graduate and fall away and never speak to most of them again. Oh well, I guess that's what Facebook and Myspace are for, right?

I had a ephiphany last night that I would like to share. We just went through a trauma at our house...Ian lost Blue for three days. Blue is his blanket. I crochetted it while I was pregnant with him. He's had it since (literally) the day he was born and it's really a part of him. Trying to get him to sleep without Blue is nigh impossible. Blue goes everywhere with Ian. So when we tried to find it for bed a few nights ago and couldn't, panic insued. We searched the house for Blue, but to no avail. I tried to substitute a yellow crochetted blanket, but my husband said he found Ian sitting in bed a bit later, quietly saying "where Blue go?" over and over. It was pitiful.

So a couple of days ago when I popped my head in the living room to find Ian snuggled up with Blue, watching cartoons, my heart leapt. I asked him where he found it, and he took me to the dining room and pointed to his kitchen set (we had looked in the kitchen set at least three times by three seperate people). But life in our house is markedly calmer now. Ian will take naps and go to bed without fussing, and there have been far fewer tantrums.

What I realized last night is that God is a lot like Blue. He's always with us, He's our comfort and our stability. But we take Him for granted too much. Just like Blue we drag God around through the dirt and leaves too often, and only turn to Him when we need something like comfort or warmth. We leave Him behind when we get busy doing our own thing and sometimes it's easy to forget that we really need Him with us all the time. I think that far too often we only realize how important God is in our lives when we try to do things on our own and fail...just like Ian trying to go to bed without Blue. We whine and complain and everyone around us is made miserable. Only when we seek Him out - in His Word, in church, in our prayer life - do we go running back into His arms and realize how much we missed Him.

Let's all strive to give God the important position He deserves in our life.

Prayers/Praises for today:

Praise God that we had enough money in our account today to pay a bill that we bounced a check on last week, and that the person we owed was graceous enough to be understanding and not to charge us a late fee.

Praise God for our new neighbor, who seems really nice and friendly. I pray that we will get to know him better and that he will see Christ's light shining through our family.

I'm praying that God will lay His hand on our finances, as we have recently had a lot of medical bills come due.

God Bless!

Vallere

Hi! I'm new here!

Well hello everyone! I'm new to this whole blogging thing, so I guess the best way to start is to tell everyone a bit about myself and my family. My husband and I have been married for almost 6 years. They haven't all been easy years...the first couple were spent with me working full time while my husband was in medical school. The last couple have been spent with him working 60+ hours a week in residency while I stay home with the boys. We are poor, but blessed. God has provided for all our needs and even a few of our wants.

So far we have two sons: Ian Gray is 2.5 and Zollie Isaac is almost 8 months. Both boys were born at the Women's Birth and Wellness Center...a freestanding birth center in Chapel Hill, NC. They were both wonderful experiences, and I'm a huge advocate for natural birth now that I've had two of my own. Ian is full of energy and enjoys anything that involves splashing in water or throwing a ball. He's smart as a whip, too...he already knows his letters and numbers, shapes and colors. I can't wait to start formally homeschooling him and seeing his little mind work! Zollie is my high needs baby and needs a lot of being held, though now that he's getting mobile, he's happier to play on his own or chase his big brother around. He's already walking behind push toys (and he's not even 8 months old yet!) so I think he'll be an early walker. Ian is definately more interested in him now that he can interact more, though lately Ian has become more clingy, and wants me to "put Zo-yee down!" and hold him more. It's always hard when that's not immediately possible (like when Zollie is nursing), but I know it's very important to meet all of Ian's needs as well. At least we have a big recliner that will hold all 3 of us!

My hopes for this blog are to have a place to just chronicle my life. To be able to keep up with all of the silly and annoying things my kids do, to write about our homeschool journey, and to encourage other families who share similar interests or are just curious about what those crazy, crunchy, Christian folks do all day. So right now I'm going to go do some living: Ian's hungry after his nap, Zollie needs a diaper change, and my hubby is fixing to help me get some ribeyes soaking in marinade so we can grill out later. Talk to you soon! God Bless!

Prayers/Praises for today: I praise God for the time I got to snuggle with my boys today. I praise him for a husband who works hard to provide for us (even when he has to work on Sundays) and for a pantry that has food in it. My prayers go out to a friend who just lost her baby a few days ago and for my stepdad's boss who just found out he has a brain tumor. May God's peace rest upon those families.