7 Quick Takes (vol. 36)

#1 - We've been off work this week, and I immediately came down with a terrible cold. It's been cold outside, so snuggling inside has been a good option for most of this week. Snow, well, that's laughable. While the rest of the east coast seems to be under mountains of snow and ice, we got maybe half an inch on Monday (the girls were off school that day--President's day).

So they cancelled school for Tuesday. On Tuesday afternoon, we got about 30 minutes of a light dusting.

So they cancelled school for Wednesday.

Thursday was really cold. Like a high of 15 or so. So they cancelled school for Thursday.

And apparently (because admittedly this is a large county) there is still ice on the roads in some places (but not in town where we are), so they cancelled school for Friday.

To make up for four days of missed school. Kids have a half day of school on Saturday. Which is a joke because we've done Saturday school make-up days in this county before, and the kids will watch movies and do nothing of significance.

Did I mention we're off duty? Yeah...we are. And I'm glad. 

More possibility of snow next week though. Maybe we'll manage two weeks off in a row!

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#2 - One thing I've been doing while we're off (well, I started a few weeks ago, have just been finishing pieces this week), is doing a major overhaul of our house. We live in 400 sq feet. And while I'm not anti small-house living, it definitely does require some serious planning on furniture arrangements, etc. I finally got sorted through some areas that I've been avoiding doing for awhile. And then I made a list of what needed to be done to rearrange, remove, and create some more space in our little home.

13 item list. Which a few items of which were possible to do one step at a time, but most of which required moving Item A to point B, moving Item C to Point D, so that I can then move Item A to Point D....you get the idea.

End result, I love it. Two big pieces of furniture are now gone, a chest that was in our room has been moved out of the room, thus reclaiming some serenity space for my bedroom, and a new bookshelf is now in the kid's room, designed for storing toys in a better manner.

Everything feels a little more breathable, and I feel good with the large boxes of miscellaneous items now gone. Still have one more area to sort through, and then comes the next tasks of putting in some major work on catching up on my scrapbooks so I can get rid of the boxes taking space in my closet. Once I've caught up on these last few physical scrapbooks, I'm switching to digital only.

Goals!

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#3 - Also on my list to do this week: edit one paper for a grad student.

Several hours later: check.

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#4 -  This past three weeks (shift), has been crazy. Starting with jet lag fighting for about 10 days, combined with Zander's birthday, Valentine's Day, training sessions, and now I'm tired. I'm having a hard time registering that it's only been a month since we were in Thailand. Feels like a lifetime ago.

Oh, and did I mention that my daughter has been making steady plans about what she's doing the next time we're there? :)  bwa ha ha....the travel bug gene has been activated!

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#5 - Been doing some research on kindergarten. Cause my baby is old enough to start kindgarten this year. That fact frightens me. So, my main focus with kindergarten, because in reality I don't necessarily believe kindergarten is necessary, But on the flip side, Blue wants to be in school. So, hey, why not. Reading and writing is definitely on her priority list, so there's not reason it shouldn't be on mine.

Unschooling, while something I've considered, is not my style. However, Before Five in a Row has been fun this year, so I think we're going to take the Five in a Row route instead. I like the idea of learning to read with "real books" instead of readers that have no real story and get boring after the first time. I figure Five in a Row--with it's use of great kid's books, should be a good help in that regards.

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#6 - And there's my Baby Z, who is rapidly grown out of Babyhood and into Toddlerhood. His language skills continue to explode, and his sense of humor is hysterical. Everything is "funny" or "silly," and he looks for every opportunity to make people laugh.

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#7 - Two year old Birthday Party. Spoiled greatly. Apparently living in a house full of girls leads to much love.

7 Quick Takes (vol. 35)

#1 - The ending of last year and the beginning of this year has been quite full, almost like a crazy version of the 12 days of Christmas. 19 Christmas parties in 10 days, followed by three cases of the flu, Christmas visitors in the form of my big brother and sister-in-law, two friends dealing with tragedy, and a very long trip to Tennessee to help one of said friends.

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#2 - My harrowing trip to Tennessee went something like this: The plan - 3.5 hour trip with Z in time to arrive and watch two little girls while their mommy has a hard day. The actuality: sheeting rain followed by thick fog followed by an insane GPS that changed my directions in the middle of the craziness and sent me into the mountains instead of the direct route I intended to follow (apparently the normal road was under major construction). After realizing the turn I was on was not the one I wanted, I went ahead and took that route because it would get me there relatively close to the time the other path would have, just a much more windy route. All fine and well until the road stopped due to a major accident that stopped both directions of traffic. Long story short, my trip turned into a 6.5 hour trek complete with at least one moment of tearful breakdown....and one son who had one as well.

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#3 - Despite my own tiredness from the long shift and the exhausting drive, I'm glad I was able to go for a few days to help out Hillery. Her mother died just before Christmas. There's nothing more helpless-feeling inducing than seeing a dear one hurting and not being able to help. My ability to help here has still been limited, but going for a few days to be there, clean house, help cook, and generally try to be supportive was the best I could do. In times like this, what is one to say other than to give love.

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#4 - I will now spend the last few off days of this week packing and preparing for Thailand! Yayness! Seven years, it has been, since I've been home. I can't wait, despite the long flight we face with our two little ones. Lord help us and everyone traveling around us!

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#5 - I've been enjoying some Poirot recently. Netflix just released several new seasons, and it's been delightful watching his "leetle gray cells" at work. As these are all later seasons, I'm not as familiar with these episodes as I am earlier ones. The fresh mystery is always fun.

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#6 - This is the second Christmas in a row that Blueberry has come down with the flu around Christmas. I'm grateful that other than the coughing that lasted for quite awhile, both she and Z recovered relatively quickly and painlessly, and both were able to actually participate in and enjoy their Christmas year.  Favorite present--a tunnel and a small trampoline to keep my two bouncy children, well, bouncing!

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#7 -  

7 Quick Takes (vol. 34)

#1 - I am coming to the end of a much needed week of rest combined with successful completion of various jobs. We worked for four weeks prior to this week, so essentially most of March, and it was a very busy time. Being off my feet and focusing entirely on my home and family has been much needed.

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#2 - One of the busy parts of the last month was preparing the cottage for a state inspection. We scrubbed and cleaned and examined parts of the cottage that have not been cleaned since I don't know when. True Spring cleaning. I am pleased to report that the inspector came on Tuesday and we passed very well. Such a relief. I feel one of the hard parts of Houseparenting for me is how much our actions, from house keeping to parenting, are always under inspection. It is nice to have praise and not being put down. It's far too easy for others to second-guess our actions, not having a full view of the day to day workings of this compilation of personalities and needs.

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#3 - In anticipating this week, Blueberry was making all sorts of plans. These included going to the bookstore to buy a new Clifford book, going out with Daddy on a date, buying a live animal, playing in the gym, etc. While the live animal has not happened, it was our pleasure to fulfill many of these wishes for her. After all, we refer to these weeks as our "fun weeks" and I am pleased that she embraces that idea. So often, depending on the season, her specific desires may or may not be fulfilled while we are working, so for her to know that she has these weeks to count on, is important. Tricky balance between not spoiling and providing fulfillment, but I think we are finding our way through that treacherous path pretty well.

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#4 - As I type this, I'm also watching Pride and Prejudice. It's been quite awhile since I've sat and watched this film through, and I am happy that it still is as satisfying to watch as ever. There is such grace and decorum in the expectations of that day. I sometimes wish I could pull more of those things into our lives today, as opposed to the flagrant disregard for boundaries and moral behavior so often seen today. Mind you, I type that and then look at the dresses they wear. Ankles be covered but bosoms fly free. I guess it's all really relative.

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#5 - I'm enjoying an evening of quiet solitude. Blueberry and Z are both asleep in bed and Chris is off at a hockey game with the boy's cottage. Such evenings are rarely come by for me, and I'm treasuring the solitude.

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#6 - I am counting down days until my parents arrive. 24 to be precise. They will truly fly by as 3 of them are our last days off this week, followed by three weeks of work. One of these weeks is a campus, week-long trip to Myrtle Beach. Am so looking forward to seeing the ocean, I can barely begin to explain it.

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#7 - One of the major projects I had to get done this week was to complete our taxes. Miserable business as always, but more so than usual as I have three separate states taxes to complete! So glad that's over with. And our refund should help pay off our new roof on our house in Springfield. Praise the Lord for that blessing!

7 Quick Takes (vol. 33)

#1 - Not to jinx it, but the last few nights have been luxurious. Baby Q has only woken up once in the night to be nursed and then has slept until 7 or later in the morning. Even though I still have to be up at 5:30 6:00 to wake the girls up for school, that's still a longer, more solid chunk of sleep than I have experienced in quite awhile. It's amazing how much easier the brain can function on even half-way decent amounts of sleep.

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#2 - Our latest work project in the cottage has been finishing off the one room in the cottage we were using as our staging grounds for our boxes, etc. I'm pleased with the result. We're calling it the Ladybug room (although there is not one single decoration of a ladybug in the room--but many live variants seem to believe it is their personal room in the cottage....), and it is intended to be a craft/toy staging area for the girls. They seemed pretty pumped about it when they saw it yesterday.

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#3 - Our next projects are to finish hanging up the last few decorations in the cottage and to give it a severe spring cleaning (state inspectors coming in a few weeks--gulp! Actually it shouldn't be too bad as we keep up with it pretty well, but it's getting the nooks and crannies that sometimes get missed in the day to day business of living--that's the key). The decorations are thanks to an amazing sponsor of the children's home. For our cottage Christmas present, she handed me a substantial gift card to Hobby Lobby. FINALLY made it there this week and had fun picking up pictures and the last few items we needed to really get the cottage completed. Took me several hours to figure out the best deals, but thanks to the wonderful discounts of Hobby Lobby, I think I spent our gift rather well!

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#4 - Continuing on the vein of cottage news for this Quick Takes, we're going to have an unusual few days around here. We've got a bunch of girls going on family visits for the weekend, and then another set of girls going to a school trip the first part of next week. Might actually be quiet for once! I'll take what I can get this shift as we've still got three weeks left (for a total of four weeks on).

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#5 - It's funny how my life is now broken up into three week thought patterns. Because of the length of our shifts, we get one full week off at a time when we are off. Which is great. You can take a mini vacation just about every month! With no stopping in-between or course. Back in December, my parents purchased tickets to come visit us in May. That seemed like ages away, and in some ways still seems quite a ways away, except for the part that I really only have one more off-time between now and when they come and visit us. That really changes my perspective of time! So close!

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#6 - When we first started working here, I wasn't sure if I would be able to handle these long shifts well. Truth is, I really love them. There is a sense of regularity and rhythm that is a part of our day to day lives here that was often missing where we were before when we worked for six days and were off for three. Its definitely easier on the kids, and feels less fractured for us. And even though, in many ways, we're responsible for more things here (we do all the cooking for one), I never feel as overwhelmed as I used to, partially because of not feeling like you're either just back on duty and trying to get back into rhythm or prepping to go off duty and getting ready to pass everything on to another individual. Of course, it's somewhat limiting in our timing ability, but that's okay. It feels better overall.

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#7 - Mind you, the flip side of working so many days in a row, is that if you have a rough patch of time, you can't look forward to being off or catching up on sleep any time soon. You have to just work through it. Which is really more like a regular family, I suppose.

For example, we have a little one in the cottage who has been fighting going to sleep at night. Last night, just for a change of pace in solving this issue, we went ahead and got her out of bed and had her sit and write sentences until she was ready to go sleep. Very boring and sleep inducing activity--even for a stubborn one! Problem being, by the time we actually got her to go to bed quietly (as opposed to wailing and waking up the whole house--the alternative), it was late. I hadn't had any down time for almost the whole day, and I still desperately needed my unwinding time. Which means that even with Baby Q being obliging in his sleep patterns the last few days (knock on wood), I still am up and feeling sleep deprived! Grrrrr... Oh well, one step at a time.

7 Quick Takes (Vol. 32)

#1 - Recently I wrote a post of confession about how I get frustrated with church sometimes in this stage of life, dealing with littles etc. I was uplifted to read this post "Dear Mom in the Church Nursery" from Intentional by Grace about how she struggles with similar feelings, but also the attitude she has taken about it. Nice to know I'm not alone, and good to hear this great viewpoint.

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#2 - Editing question...when one is referring to the title of a specific post on a blog, is it correct to put it in quotes? Or should it be italicized and the blog itself be underlined? And why do I care? Because I'm an editor, and such things bother me. Must be done correctly! I don't believe there is yet a blogging, style guide. Maybe that should be my future. And at last I shall make my fortune and retire from this life of crime.

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#3 - Speaking of blogs, when I was writing my recent post on my 2014 reads thus far, I faced a conundrum regarding a book I'm reading online, in post-by-post format. I mean, I certainly didn't record all of the blogs that I read on a regular basis. But this is technically a book, not just a blog, although it's also just a regular post that is part of a full blog about much more than just the book. And the author just happens to be Robin McKinley (see--one of my favorite published authors of many years). And since she is a published and even lauded author, should her book that she's publishing post by post (every Saturday--chapter by chapter--the torture is painful), count towards my books that I'm reading? Such a dilemma.  Oh, and for those who might be intrigued, the book's name--well, the post's name at least--is Kes.

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#4 -  Does anyone know where I can buy Kombucha online for an affordable price? I'm mourning my cheap Drug Emporium shop in Little Rock where I could buy it. And currently the only place I can find it is in the Whole Foods in Charlotte, but that's a good 30 minute drive away, and I just don't have time very often (good for the pocketbook, not good for my kombucha desires).

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#5 -  So I am taking on a desire I have had for many years. I have decided that it is time for me to learn to sew my own clothes--or my children's clothes as the case may be. I'm taking it slowly because my realistic side understands that I don't have a lot of time to be dedicating to major new projects right now. But there's another side of me that realizes that this is my life and if I don't grasp at some of these dreams now, I will never do them. And the job part of my life (especially given that we work for three weeks at a time!), cannot have full priority or I will lose my mind. So I'm consciously working towards giving myself time this year.

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#6 - What else does this include? Picking up playing the piano again. Striving to scrapbook regularly. And working on writing these blogs regularly--hoping that this will eventually lead to some more creative writing as well. Lots to do, sure. But the different things work nicely for different situations, which is  a bonus.

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#7 -  Chris and I have been working very hard this week cleaning up the last room of our move. There is a spare room in the cottage that could be a bedroom, but we're not going to use it as such as our numbers are eight maximum. The plan is to make it into a playroom (or possibly a crafting room is a thought I've had...), but for the last few months, it has stored the last of our moving mess. Getting it sorted and organized, and hopefully next week (although it might be a bit longer than that), and we can start redoing the room for utilization. Which of course means that we've been sorting through more boxes and stuff and getting rid of some things, storing others, and a few I've even put out in the cottage. After all, I hate for some of the things i love to just sit in a box for years because our little bitty house cannot hold them. So why not put them to good use for everyone to enjoy?

7 Quick Takes (Vol. 31)

#1 - I've been immersing myself in the language and thoughts of Madeline L'Engle again. Specifically, Walking on Water. There's just something about how she writes, how she sees the world, her call to worship through the creative gifts God has bestowed, that moves and inspires me. And I've been feeling the need for creative inspiration lately. Not even just creative inspiration...life inspiration. After all...

The questioning of the meaning of being, and dying and being....is part of the deepest longing of the human psyche, a recurrent ache in the hearts of all of God's creatures.

This ache, this question, is one for which I feel I have been hunting down an answer for years. And still do not have a full understanding of it.

However, what she spoke here, gives me a glimpse, perhaps, to understanding the why of this answer alluding me:

Plato spoke of the necessity for divine madness in the poet. It is a frightening thing to open oneself to this strange and dark side of the divine; it means letting go of our sane self-control, that control which gives us the illusion of safety. But safety is only an illusion, and letting it go is part of listening to the silence, and to the Spirit.

Letting go of self. My control. Making way for God's control. Now that truly is frightening.

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#2 - We are on day four of our week off. It is an amazing thing this having seven days off in a row. I've become used to the 6 on / 3 off schedule of our previous employment. I got to the end of our third day off here, and was energized and could be back on if I had to. Now I am basking in the beauty of time to just be, to focus on my two little ones without craving some aloneness that I so rarely get. I feel like I don't have to so jealously guard my ability to sleep in and have a purely lazy morning when off because there are seven beautiful mornings to chose from.

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#3 - In a similar vein of though. I must speak of how surprised I've been by my enjoyment of our 21/7 schedule that we are now on. When I first heard of 21 days on, I was, truthfully, afraid. And, in all honesty, if I were trying to work that schedule in the atmosphere/structure that we were in before, I wouldn't make it. I was always exhausted after just six days there. But here, we just did 21 of the craziest days (constantly having kids home, sickness, holidays, adding new kids in regularly, major kid battles, etc), and we went off duty Sunday night, tired, and ready to be off, but not exhausted. Not falling apart at the seams, can't handle one more conversation, ready to curl up and do nothing but sleep for three days. Rather, we were energized, tired, but looking forward to doing things in our time off. Seeking out adventure and experience. Even me, Queen of the Introverts, have not sought only solitude by hiding in my house. It's amazing how the difference in environment can change so much the energy and ability of the worker.

Now to translate that into the rest of my life where I have that control...

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#4 - So what have we done with these days off? Well, I've blogged for one. We've explored Charlotte (the town, not the daughter) a little bit--going to the Whole Foods there. We've tried a new restaurant. I've edited. I've worked on our supposed-to-be-Christmas-cards-but-turned-into-New-Year's-greetings-cards-instead-because-Christmas-cards-didn't-happen cards. Blueberry and I have baked.We've run errands. We've slept. We've watched movies. I've ready to my children. We've gone for walks. We've played. And we put clean sheets on the bed. Which is one of my happy things. It has been good.

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#5 - Baby Q's birthday is coming up in three short weeks. How is that possible? My baby boy turning one? Really? I've been trying to decide how to celebrate. So far I'm leaning towards a brunch type celebration (so that we don't run into nap time crankiness). And I'm envisioning a lot of pictures being printed off. But we'll see.

I admit some sadness that none of our family will be here, but we will survive.

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#6 - Blueberry, Christopher, and I went on a mommy/daddy/kid date to go see Frozen. I have to admit, it was really good. A very beautiful and surprising cartoon. I love the fact that they defied the norm throughout the whole story. Nice change of pace.

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#7 - I posted the following on facebook recently, but found myself rereading it again just today. This article speaks so clearly to me of where I am now, in my journey of mommyhood and beingness.

7 Quick Takes (vol. 30)

#1 - The problem with Conversion Diary is that Jennifer Fulwiler (the author of said blog and originator of 7 Quick Takes) is that she is, while thought-provoking and insightful can also be hysterically funny. This humor, in and of itself, is not so bad until you're trying to nurse to sleep your non-compliant seventh month old and you find yourself shaking, trying not to giggle (and thus wake up the finally-falling asleep little boy). For a giggle yourself, have a peruse of this 7 Quick Takes.

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#2 - We are on day 13 of 15, again. Fortunately, knowing we were going into another long shift, we scheduled some time together while we were off last. So we actually had a date. Without either one of my children! Baby Q did okay--his first time without mommy for more than a short period of time. Fortunately, he randomly decided that bottles are not so bad, not his favorite, but he'll take them at least somewhat. And since we started doing some food a few weeks ago, he made it through. Although he did immediately give a shrill cry the moment he saw me!

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#3 - On the topic of Baby Q, I now I have sitting up and very mobile little boy. He's combining crawling with army-crawling, and is, frankly, a menace. I leave him one place, turn around, and 15 seconds later, he's all the across the house. Finding the one piece of plastic that is floating on the floor. Or pulling the kitchen garbage can down on his head....minutes before we're heading out the door to an appointment....sigh. I foresee a lot of running in my future.

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#4 - Doctor appointment--Baby Q is now 19lbs 7oz. That makes him only eight pounds less than his sister. Who's betting he's going to beat her before his first birthday? On the other side though, Blueberry is now on the chart for her weight!! A whole 10th percentile! Miracles do happen. Doctor is finally off my back though and is agreeing with me that she's just inherited my family genes--short and small. Best kind.

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#5 - To make this shift even longer, this last week we had a doctor's appointment EVERY SINGLE DAY. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. And one of the girls was home sick Wednesday and Thursday. Sigh. I love my job, but my down time during the day throughout the school year is huge. And when we don't get it, I get really tired. And truthfully, during six days, eh, a shift like that is annoying but not killer. When it's days eight through twelve of 15, you start losing your mind a little bit.

I think I could have done with a little less of the introvert gene and a bit more infusion of extroversion in my personality. It would probably help matters greatly on weeks like these when, by the end, all I want to do is hide from the world for awhile. Not that I'm angry with anybody or upset really, I'm just drained and needing some space.

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#6 - My arms are sore. And surprisingly they're not from lugging around Baby Q (for once). No, this time they are sore from playing a video game on the Xbox Kinect. It's called Fruit Ninja and is much fun. Slashing fruit with your hands like you're a Ninja. Except then you wind up with sore arms. Oh well, I needed a workout.

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#7 - Last night I read something that really made my day. Uplifted me, in fact. Robin McKinley has been one of my favorite authors since I was young teenager (I'm pretty sure I was 12 or 13 when I first read a book of hers--Beauty). She writes fantasy, and is just a fabulous writer. Her worlds are so alive and her character development is inspiring. My only complaint is she has a thing against writing sequels, and so has left several worlds with no sequels that are screaming out for another book!

Any ways, I read her blog, well, I used to. Then over the last year I've really had a hard time keeping up with anybody's blogs. Just recently (as in the last month/few weeks), I've been changing that again, and enjoying getting back into that realm of reading.

One of my complaints about reading her blog in the past was she could be sometimes a little depressing. She's not a Christian, and it sometimes shows strongly. Not so much in her language but just in the hopeless tone that sometimes would creep into her writing on her blog. She has also spoken pretty strongly against religion/Christianity a few times.

Well, you can only imagine my delight upon reading a post of hers the other day that stated "...this time last year while Jesus was gripping me by the back of the neck (rather like Southdowner with a recalcitrant bullie) and saying, You’re MINE now, get used to it."

I was startled. Excuse me? Robin McKinley talking about Jesus? Talking about Jesus claiming her? What?! So I did a search on her site for "Jesus" (love search engines) and just around the time I quit reading last year--SHE BECAME A CHRISTIAN!

I'm thrilled. I needed an uplifting. I'm feeling tired and discouraged, and even though I have never met this woman, as a writer, she has been one of those people who I have followed my whole life (I've even emailed her a few times with writing questions) and to see the Lord work in her, bring her to a relationship with Him, is so encouraging.

Thanks Lord for some good timing.

7 Quick Takes (vol. 29)

#1 - The internet is a curse and a blessing. Its a blessing in how connected it can make people who live thousands of miles away. Its a blessing in how much information is provided at your fingertips. Its a curse when it doesn't work well and you've learned to rely on it. And your work requires you to use it.

This curse has followed me around for the last few weeks and has been driving me crazy! However, as our connectivity seems to be up and running again, perhaps I can get back to doing those lovely things in life like checking emails and staying in touch with people. And blogging. And pinteresting. And yes, spending time on Facebook!

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#2 - Well, we're in full summer mode around here. Lots of trips to the local water park, lots of games, movies, fun trips to places, groups coming on campus and doing crazy activities with the girls, I love the summer.

Admittedly, I do miss my downtime during the days sometimes as having all the kids all day long can get really tiring. But not having to stress about school and grades and homework but being able to just focus on fun and bonding with the girls is an enjoyable experience.

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#3 - Talking about not having downtime. The first three days of this past shift, I was sick, Baby Q was teething (at four and a half months he's already popped out two teeth!), and Blueberry was sick. We did the sensible thing and actually took some sick time (I say sensible because frequently we don't wind up taking sick time when we're sick. It's complicated.).

Any ways, we came back to work on Tuesday and had a busy day. Then Wednesday our day went haywire as we (a) were told that our oldest girl was moving to another cottage on Thursday and (b) we are getting two new girls next week--a 3 year old and a 5 year old, sisters.

Wednesday and Thursday were spent in a scrambled mess of activity, including my house being invaded by an additional 8 teenage girls who were part of a group on campus needing something to do. I put them to work, got several projects that were desperately needing finishing up, and have everything mostly ready to greet our two new girls.

Sad goodbyes to losing our Tortoise; although, admittedly, she was definitely needing to be in a house with peers of her age. Now to take on my next challenge!

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#4 - We had a birthday a few weeks ago. And I have to admit, the cake was pretty spectacular, if I may say so myself without sounding too puffed up! What do you think? Pink and Black and White Zebra stripes!

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#5 - My minimalizing mission is going slowly. I just don't have a lot of free time while we're working (see #2); but it is coming together slowly. My closet is greatly reduced. And I've tackled most of the kitchen (still have a few areas that need cleaning out). I'm liking my much emptier kitchen counters. I'll never be a true minimalist, but hey, you've got to start somewhere, right?

Actually, in truth, true minimalist kind of creep me out. I guess it's commendable to have so few objects that you're attached to, but it always feels a little sad to me.

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#6 - This past month we had the pleasure of my baby sister and her husband for a few days. We've got a visit being planned for the end of July for one of my favoritest people in the whole world to come and see me (plus husband and her four kids!), and we're trying to figure out how to take a trip to Missouri probably in August. Anyone else want to come on down? Love to see you!

Baby Q with his Aunt and Uncle

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#7 - We've been battling bedtime for the last month or so. Blueberry used to go to bed so well, and then all of the sudden she just quit. Doesn't want to go to bed without fussing and making excuses to be out of bed a thousand times. I know, I know. Normal probably but still tiring.

We're finally back to doing a reward system with her. See if it works. It needs to because with four kids under the age of 5 in the house, I'm not going to have the time to be dealing with a squirrelly bed time girl. Please, dear Lord, let our two new ones be good sleepers!

7 Quick Takes (vol. 28)

#1 - One month old today. How in the world has it been a month since Baby Q was born? What happened to February? I'm serious, folks; I'm missing a month of my life!

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#2 - So in three days, my APs will be here for three weeks! Very, very excited. They've never been to our new home or seen our new job or any of this. Blueberry has been counting down the days with me for the last few weeks. She keeps talking about "Nana Papa fly airplane. Come see me. See my toys. See my room." Oh yes, this is going to be fun!

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 #3 -What is there to say?

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#4 -  Philosophical question: If someone has a vision or dream they see as coming from God, but that vision/dream clashes with another person's vision/dream they see as coming from God, how do you figure out who's vision is correct? And how do you explain to someone that they are so focused on their vision that they are in danger of losing the foundation for that vision because they're spending so much time focused on the future that they are failing to see what is happening now?

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#5 - My birthday was this week. Didn't do much for it; we were working and, as I told Chris, the bad thing about birthdays when you get older is that if you really want something for your birthday, you tend to have to do it yourself! I didn't want much....

Chris bought me a video game for my birthday. Now, this may not sound like much of a present, but as he explained it to me before showing me the game, it's about the experience. I will admit, I am an on-again/off-again gamer. I enjoy my share of video games; certain ones. But I can easily go months without picking up anything. I've been in a definite no-gaming mode lately, so when he said he had got me a game for my birthday, I was a little suspect. But it shows how much he knows me. He was right. This game, called Journey, really is an experience. The music is beautiful; the art work is beautiful. Its relatively simplistic in play, and really not very long at all, but incredible to play. Nothing really scary, but there are moments when you're completely tense. And it truly has one of the best endings of any game. Ever. It was a good present. He done good.

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#6 - Story of another present I recently received from my husband. For Valentine's day, he did a great job planning ahead. I did not. We got to Valentine's day this year, and I was like, "Oh, it's Valentine's Day. Um....I love you. That's as good as it gets today!" I thought he hadn't done a whole lot either, until I got a box of roses in the mail.

He ordered me 24 roses from ProFlower--which we've used in the past and normally is fantastic quality/service. Well, the only problem with the order (and the roses were gorgeous) was that only 12 roses came. And a vase. So he called the company and they wound up refunding a large part of the money and apologizing for screwing up his order. And hey, I still got 12 roses out of the deal.

Well, ProFlower has a 7-day warranty on their flowers. i.e. They will last at least 7 days before beginning to die. By day 3, my roses were already beginning to look a little sad. Day 5 I emailed the company to complain. They offered me a full refund or they would send a replacement order. I decided I wanted the flowers. And I had them schedule them to arrive on my birthday.

Well, imagine my surprise when I got the new flower box on my birthday and opened it up and discovered not 12, but 24 replacement roses inside! So for less than the price of 12 roses, we got 36 out of the deal. And these 24 are absolutely gorgeous quality.

Very happy with my Valentine's/Birthday roses!

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#7 - Epic parenting moment. My daughter. 7:30am Friday morning. Having eaten birthday-cake pancakes for breakfast, she helped to lick out the bowl for the actual birthday cake (not mine, one of the girl's--Reese's peanut butter cake with peanut butter frosting. I've been told it tasted fabulous. I have no idea because I couldn't eat any of it!).

The question is was this an Epic Fail or Epic Win parenting moment?!

7 Quick Takes (vol. 27)

#1 - No more sick kids! No more! We have had nonstop sickness around here for weeks. When we've got a child sick, both of us have to be here for number reasons, so it makes it really difficult to get anything done. We just came back on duty yesterday, had one day of no sick children (although Blueberry has been coughing), and then we wound up with another sicko this morning--strep no less. Sigh. Enough is enough! Oh, and since we were going to the doctor any ways, we took Blueberry in and she has another ear infection. Need to look into ear infections some more and see if I can find some more natural preventative stuff for them. The really bad thing about her ear infections is that she shows no symptoms. Never complains of ear pain. Has no fevers. Just gets a nasty cough which eventually proves to be triggered by the ear infection itself. Hard to treat when you don't realize its happening.

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#2 - In addition to the sickness, its been a dramatic few weeks here at the cottage. Between sicknesses, we had multiple court dates for a number of our ladies. One found out she will be staying here with us for a very long time, another two found out they are still stuck in limbo. That's so hard on a child not knowing if this is going to be home for a long time or if they are going back to whatever they came from before. And for some there is the tear of "I love my parent...but I know deep inside that this is safer for me." How do you balance those conflicts?

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#3 - So isn't the "why" phase supposed to start at age 3 or 4? Either way, we're in full-blown "why" gear around here. It actually started with Butterfly but little Miss Blueberry picked it up right away. "Why" has become very old, very fast. Although, I admit, I did have to laugh when I decided to reverse it on her the other day and asked her, "why", and she calmly looked at me and said in the most matter of fact voice possible, "Because."

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#4 - Blueberry has also begun saying, "Yes, ma'am" to things. As we do live in the south, it is a campus requirement to teach the kids to say, "Yes, ma'am" "No, sir," etc. Otherwise they are seen as disrespectful at school and other places. So she has heard it for the last year and apparently has decided it is high time to put it into practice herself. The most startling moment when I noticed it was when she was telling Doggie off about something (he's been a most disobedient stuffed dog lately) and she looks at him and says, "No, Ma'am!" very sternly.

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#5 - Christmas presents and shopping are going pretty well. Not quite done yet, but we're on our way. Just a few more things to tie up and I can't write that off my list. For our cottage girls, we finally decided to do a mini picture book for each of them of the last year. Having a love of my camera, I tend to take lots of pictures, so putting all of them together into scrapbooks for each of the girls has been fun. Course it takes quite a bit of time, but I think the end result is worth it. And with all the good deals out there on photo-books, it ends up being relatively affordable (which is important when you're looking at 7 kids). Sure the girls get presents from sponsors and other people, but we like to give them something directly from us. Its just hard knowing what to get that isn't just another generic gift.

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#6 - OK, I just had a laugh at a very apropos sight. I'm sitting at the computer eating my lunch, typing this, and I glance to my side and see my nativity set sitting up on the bookshelf. Its a very pretty set, complete with the typical wise men, angels, Mary, Joseph, the Lord Jesus, and, in our case, a cough drop. GAH! The sickness is creeping in everywhere! Make it stop!

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#7 - Its my big brother's 35th birthday today. Somehow I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around this--he's 35? Seriously? I remember when 35 sounded so old, and while it feels young now, my ingrained perspective of many years is that 35 is ancient and decrepit!

Any ways, happy birthday big bro. I love you. You are amazing and talented in so many ways. I'm honored to have a big brother that I can look up to and admire so strongly after all these years. Take a break at some point today.

 "Unca Jon" and Blueberry

7 Quick Takes (vol. 28)

#1 - So this week has been a turbulent week in several respects. Busy just because it's time for parent/teacher conferences, and when one has seven children in grade school or higher, that means seven parent/teacher conferences to squeeze in. Plus several doctor appointments, which take up time (and always seem to be at rather inconvenient times!). In addition, Friday is the last day we have with our Busy Bee for at least a few months. She is going somewhere else for awhile to see if they can help her out. So we've spent the week dealing with a very melodramatic Bee--always exhausting. Its hard to see a kid go, but in this case, maybe they can help her in ways we can't?

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#2 - The other complication of the week has been that our personal cell phone is dying. Its been having issues for awhile, but its been getting steadily worse and worse the last few weeks. I can't talk unless I use the speakerphone option (awkward if you're trying to have a personal conversation!), texting seems to be in and out, the camera no longer works, and lately its taken to turning itself on and off at random times! New one coming soon, hopefully, but in the meantime, good luck getting hold of us on that phone. Really it has done very well. It's an OLD phone, and has been chewed on, dropped, dunked in water, and toddlerized (similar to terrorized but occurs by toddlers) on a regular basis.

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#3 - 
So I woke up this morning with the following advertisement streaming through my brain:

Who needs drugs? Simply get pregnant and you too can experience psychedelic dreamland without the addition of dangerous cocktails in your body. Technicolor, 3D, movie like experiences come featuring adventures like being on Survivor, turning into a shark and having to outlast and outwit the other sharks (or be eaten), getting kicked off survivor to be on preggo survivor (don't ask--I ran out of time on that one), or being a gangster and stealing items that you purchased from a souvenir shop, being chased over invisible bridges, shooting up Vienna, and getting lost on the moon.

Need to go to the bathroom? That's okay. Hit pause, you can get up, be awake for a good 15 minutes, and the second you go back to sleep you'll just jump back in where you left off!

Ah, pregnancy is fun.

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#4 - I ran across this last night. Was trying to get through some shredding that has been piling up for longer than I will admit in writing, and so was catching up on my blog-reading at the same time. Found this fantastic recipe from food.com. Seriously great stuff. And the reviews are even better :)

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#5 - Another challenge from this week has been Blueberry and nap time. Its taken her awhile to readjust to nap time after our vacation. Lots of protestations regarding having to take a nap at all (the problem being that if she doesn't take a nap she because rather beastly to deal with from about 5pm on). Finally seems to be settling back into the concept of taking a nap--to the point where she took a beautiful two hour nap yesterday afternoon. Parental bliss.

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#6 - We are seriously putting some thought into getting Blueberry a Kindle for Christmas. Now, I know that on the surface this seems like a bit of an over the top present for a 2 year old; however, she LOVES my Kindle. We have games on there she enjoys playing (puzzles, number games, animals, coloring, you name it), as well as being able to download (in color) children's books for her to read through. Apparently Kindle is coming out with this new thing called FreeTime which is a way to lock and limit access time to the Kindle in general for kids. It also locks down internet access better than what is currently on my Kindle. Plus, it'd be nice to actually be able to use my own Kindle sometimes instead of hunting down where she's squirreled it away at this time! The whole trip to the UK, I brought one book. And a bunch of books on my Kindle. Problem--reading was hard when you can't get hold of your Kindle at airports, etc because it's keeping your tired and cranky kid quiet.

I've done some research into the cheaper kids options, but the problem that I immediately identified and have had confirmed by other people is that kids like the better quality, higher graphic, wider variety offered by something like a kindle than what is available through these "kid reader" type things. I like the idea that she has access to lots of books, without having to drag a huge bag of toys with us. And if the Kindle will just shut down after x amount of time, that will keep her from getting on there overly much as well. I don't know if we will, but its a thought. I can't fight the fact that my kid is a child of the 21st century. She "texts" on her play cell phone, she takes pictures and expects to see the immediate result, she's rapidly understanding computers and e-readers. It's a little frightening!

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#7 - One of my APs sent me the following poster a few months ago, and I find I keep going back to it. For those who aren't introverts and want or need to understand how we work, read below. For those who are, take comfort--you aren't alone!

Quick Takes (vol. 26)

#1 - The last month has been crazy. Non stop sick, non stop shifting of people, and non stop irritants. This past week is the first week in awhile where I have felt positive about a lot of things in life. Not to say that life is all gloom and doom, but when your head hurts, you can barely swallow, you've got frustrating situations and people cropping up every day, it becomes really easy to be pessimistic.

While most of the pessimism-causing factors cannot be discussed here, I can share one particular aspect of it all. Monkey and Parrot are no longer with us but have been moved to a different situation. 34 days to pour into a child's life--I pray it was enough. Watching them leave was hard. Yes, life is simpler without three kids under the age of 5 running around in addition to 4 kids over the age of 5, but when you spend 24 hours a day loving, disciplining, nurturing, and caring for a child--you tend to get attached pretty quickly.

For the last few weeks we have, therefore, been back down to 5 girls (counting Blueberry). However, yesterday, we added a sixth child to our little family. Our newest addition is older--in fact only a few months younger than Mama Bear who is the oldest of all the girls. Haven't come up with a nickname for her yet--still feeling that one out. She will definitely provide a unique challenge--that much is for sure!

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#2 - Trips are coming together. We are formulating specific plans for a trip to England in the fall (yay!) where we will meet up with my parents as well as spend time with my British half. We have a potential trip in April to hang out with some friends in Eureka Springs (if we can pull that one together). And we are trying to figure out a good time for a trip down to Texas in the very near future. People we want to see, need to see, and simply must find a way to make it happen.

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#3 - In Blueberry news. Oh where to begin?! Well, for starters, I have to proudly announce that my clever little girl went potty in her little toilet today. Who knew I would care so much about that! But I do. We bought her a training potty last week as she has begun to show some signs that got us thinking she might be at a good point for starting potty training. For the last few days she's just sat on it, diaper on (generally when I've been going to the bathroom because she will not be stopped from coming with me). She showed her true genes by her immediately bringing a book in with her to read. And then today, I stuck her on it (sans diaper), and she went! And I was so pleased. So we'll see how it goes in the long run. But either way, that was happy.

And then a few hours later she introduced her baby doll to going potty. Of course baby doll wouldn't sit on the seat very well, so her legs wound up sticking through the hole in the seat, but Blueberry was determined to see her through the process.

She also continues on with her love of cleaning. There is an empty spray bottle in one of kitchen cupboards, and she will frequently get it out along with one of my kitchen towels and clean off the front of the fridge and the stove (one of the chores the older girls does in the cottage). Blue also loves to dust and will walk to the laundry room door, look up to where the duster is hung, and demand "dust! dust!" persistently until you hand her the duster and let her walk around dusting everything. Sometimes I think she does just as good a job as the girl whose actual chore it is.

In truth, she wants to do whatever we or the big girls are doing. When it is homework time, she will stand up on a chair at our huge dining room table and color away for quite awhile while they work on their homework. When it is time for chores, unless I've taken her away to get ready for bed, she is generally underfoot, wanting to help everyone. She mommy's her dolls, and as the cottage was recently given a toy kitchen, has been enjoying "cooking" food daily.

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#4 - Other Blueberry news--her word explosion continues. She is beginning to piece together sentence (albeit, sometimes half-spoken, half-signed sentences they are!). "Baby walk" (when pushing her baby doll in a stroller). "Lala 'nack", followed by frantic signing for "please". Her attempts at her name have come out as Lala and 'nack (snack) is one of her favorite words currently. Although "oof" (food) is also being used more frequently. Apparently she is slightly dyslexic with this whole backward food thing "oof" for food and "oosh" for shoes. She also loves "walk" (as she very much wants to go on frequent walks), "Bible" and "Book" are rather interchangeable. And in general she is just mimicking sounds of words constantly--unless it's a word that she apparently doesn't care to learn or be bothered with because then she just says garbled syllables of her own devise and expects you to be satisfied with that.

She will have whole conversations (or read entire books) of which we have no idea what she is actually saying, but she is quite a conversationalist when she wants to be. Of course when she sees anyone she doesn't know well, she'll freeze us, stare at them, not say word, and its hard to even coax a smile out of her. One of the women who works in the administrative office is currently attempting to bribe her favor with suckers. It appears to be working--slowly.

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#5 - I was pleased to get our taxes done yesterday (not pleased about the whole "taxes must be paid" thing; however, that's a totally different conversation) and get a refund check on its way to us. I was even more pleased to look at our budget and with a charming 20% discount being offered by the hospital, we realized that we can take care of yet another of our large bills this month. That's the second one we'll have paid off in the last six months. And then by the next six months we should get the third "smaller" one done. $15,000 in one year! If we continue to save and budget (which we plan on doing--after all, we're used to living under a tight budget and even with a little more wiggle room built in, we're trying to continue that careful living method), we foresee getting all my student loans and all Chris' student loans squared away in the few years which would leave us with the house to pay off--which could actually happen in a decent amount of time! All in all, a very encouraging status to be looking at. Both Chris and I have a dream--to be out of debt completely. And we want to do so as fast as we can. God willing, it's going to happen soon(ish).

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#6 - A few weeks ago we took a trip to Little Rock for the first time since we've moved here. Went to the local Whole Foods (yay for living near to one!) and even more exciting--went to the local Gluten Free (and soy free and a lot of dairy free) bakery! Yummy. Their bread is some of the best gluten free bread I have ever had. Totally indulged in a number of tasty treats--worth every delicious morsel. Fortunately they are an hour away, so it's not something we'll be indulging in that often. But I do foresee regular trips to the Dempsey Bakery when we are in Little Rock. Oh, and they serve lunch--so that's an added excuse :)

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#7 - And just because--two of my favorite pictures from Valentine's Day.

7 Quick Takes (vol. 25)

#1 - Happy 2012 to all! I hope your new years eve celebration was better than mine. Mine consisted of sending the girls to bed at 8:30 and crashing early myself. I'm getting old. I hate to admit it, but its the truth.

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#2 - I feel that my first post of 2012 should be full of wit and intelligence--deep thoughts, you know. So allow me to pontificate on Kung Fu Panda 2 which I finally saw for the first time and absolutely loved. Good story, draws you in with some great comedy--both verbal and physical. Finally a sequel that actually worked, with more to come apparently. I read somewhere they have a story arc of 6 total movies? That would be great if they'd pull it off.

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#3 - In cottage news, I'm exhausted. Well, recovering from exhaustion. We're in the middle of our three off days, and they didn't come a day too soon. We got two new children in the cottage--a 2.5 year old and a 4 year old (soon to be 5). For the sake of this blog, the little one I shall call Monkey (because she is a monkey and climbs on everything). The older girl I think I have settled on calling--Parrot. She is very intelligent, picks up on new ideas and concepts quickly, flits around the house quickly, and talks nonstop if you let her!

All in all, they are both beautiful little girls, bright, sweet, and desperately in need of some stable home life. Monkey is, well, two and a half in all respects. "Mine" is her favorite word, and she doesn't take "no" for an answer with much grace. Pretty well behaved though for the most part--fortunately. Picking her up has been a bit of a shock to the system as I'm used to teeny, tiny Blueberry. And fortunately she and Blueberry are getting along pretty well. A few "mine" squabbles here and there, but for the most part, they do well together.

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#4 - Christmas was nice. Busy, but nice. I finally really am beginning to feel at home here, and a large part of that is definitely due to the onslaught of guests who came over Christmas. Having friends and family around really helped me feel like this is still us--just a new location. I don't know if that makes sense, but there you have it.

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#5 - And while Christmas was nice--I'm definitely ready to get the decorations down. Hopefully can get that accomplished this upcoming shift. In between myriads of doctor appointments that Monkey and Parrot have (all the newbies on campus have a lot of appointments initially). I was just really settling down into our house, and I'm ready to finish that acclimation for ourselves. I'm surprised it's taken me this long, to be honest--but we're getting there in the end.

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#6 - Tonight was another big step to the acclimation process--at least it was for me. We found and explored the Asian market in town. Didn't even know there was one (had actually looked it up and hadn't found information on one) until I happened to meet a Thai lady and her daughter who were part of a church Christmas party for our kids here on campus. She told me about the market. I found green papaya and pretty much every other necessary ingredient to Thai food. Score! Such a relief.

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#7 - Talking about doctor's appointments, finally got Blueberry in for her 15 month appointment (ok, ok, a little late). A bit frustrated. She is perfectly healthy in all aspects except her weight, and that is still painfully slow to go up--to the point where they are calling it "failure to thrive". Which I find a little odd as in all other respects she is definitely thriving. She's developing normally in terms of motor skills and verbal skills, she sleeps well (did I mention that she's FINALLY sleeping 12 hours through the night on a consistent basis with no waking up? Yes, there has been much rejoicing at this development. Not to get myself to bed earlier to take full advantage of these full nights of sleep...), her eyes are clear, she's constantly active, and rarely sick.

In looking up what the phrase actually means, the only thing that matches their definition is just the fact that she is not putting on weight quickly. Of course their recommendations all included things like giving her Carnation and Pediasure--all of which have dairy in them. So we're having to try some other methods to get her to put some weight on a little faster than she is. So far (thank you Hillery), we're attempting the no liquids with her meals (or too close to a meal) trick, which does seem to be helping a little bit to get her to eat more. Tried making a shake the other day with coconut milk and fruit...we'll see if she gets into those--didn't drink much of it. I thought it tasted good, but sadly, I'm not the one needing to gain weight.

Part of my problem is how do you get an active 17 month old to eat more if she doesn't want to? We try to feed her healthy meals and snacks, and frankly, she eats quite a bit, just not a lot at one time. And she just doesn't put on weight. It makes me wonder if there's something else underlying all of this--inability to absorb food is one of the common things I've found mentioned, and which her doctor did mention. Problem is, she's not showing any of those symptoms either (other than the slow weight gain symptom).

Sigh. Very frustrating. And in truth, scary. I want the best for my kid, and the very phrase that she's not thriving is frightening. But at the same time, as I stated earlier, I'm having a hard time accepting that phrase when I look at the rest of her development.

We do our best and that's all we can do, I guess.

7 Quick Takes (vol. 24) - Pictures Style

My December Thus Far--In Picture Summary

My little helper....complete with temper tantrum-prelude face.

#1 -

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#2 - Had a birthday party first thing this month. Like my Hello Kitty cake?

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Decorating for Christmas with decorations you've not bought is interesting. One never knows what might be lurking in a box. Both good and bad.

#3 -

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There is a beautiful botanical garden in town covered in Christmas lights. Blueberry was charmed by the "duck"

#4 -

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#5 - Yes, that is my child in a cage. No, we did not put her there. It just happens to be one of her favorite places to play. Calista, fortunately, does not protest sharing her space.

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Blueberry at a band concert for one of her "big sisters". Little Miss Independence insisted on sitting on the bleacher steps a few seats away from us, and spent the whole concert munching on her marshmallow, clapping at the end of songs, and showing everybody her "pretty" in her hair.
#6 -

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We celebrated our 10 year anniversary this year by all three of us getting sick. Fortunately we have a better celebration planned for later in the year; although, it would be nice to get a date night one of these days. Need to find a babysitter here.

Picture is thanks to my Mum who actually has scanned lots of old(er) pictures into her computer and is nice enough to share. One of these days I shall get our wedding photos scanned. Until then--here we go!
#7 -

7 Quick Takes (vol. 23)

#1 - Well the Christmas season is getting into full swing on campus here. The inside of our cottage is decorated, the first Christmas party for the kids is tonight (I had my own first Christmas party yesterday--the ladies on campus all got together). Still need to decorate the outside of our cottage, but the Christmas spirit is in the air. Started on our Jesse tree last night. I think I'm going to enjoy this advent concept. Well based in Scripture but with the fun of putting Christmas decorations on the tree--what's not to love?

I will admit, I was saddened last night as we started talking about Christmas and the advent season. I began by asking them what Christmas is about. They all made the connection to Christ--but they all made it with Christ's resurrections or even Revelations! It took them awhile to come up with the answer of the birth of Christ. The basics--that is what we teach.

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#2 - On other cottage news, we're getting a new girl in a few weeks! We've been comfortable with our four girlies so far, but we're excited to have the challenge of taking on some new blood.

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#3 - Bad week for sleep. Lots of restlessness. Not entirely sure why, but it seems to be contagious throughout the cottage. We had a good prayer time before bed last night with the girls, and that seems to have settled Blueberry down at least and the other girls. I'm still not sleeping well though. Sigh. I have a sneaking suspicious it's dairy.....sad.

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#4 - It's December 2 and I already feel like I'm behind. No Christmas presents planned yet and need to get a Christmas card out. Sigh. Is it possible to ever catch up? Just curious.

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#5 - Progress continues on the house. Bit by sometimes painful bit, it comes together. With a sigh of relief and comfort with each portion that does get completed. It's amazing how much a few decorations and pictures can make living quarters, home.

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#6 - Have you seen this video? It makes me happy.

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#7 - Just because....Blueberry and her ever present Doggy.