I usually have made topical posts. I get these posts in my head on a topic...and never get them written down. So, I thought I would try to just write about a week at a time and what God is teaching me. That may help me to actually stay posting! So, this post will be a bit random;)
We taught Sunday School for the 2nd week. This week went well. There are some things that I need to get ironed out in terms of structure, but I'll get there. There were two things that happened this week that were notable to me. One of the 4 year old girls is just a riot. She is one of those "thinking" kids who sits back and considers things, then lets loose. For some reason I thought it hilarious when she spoke up and said, "do you know how old I was when I first realized I was a kid?" I responded, "how old?" She said, "2." I asked her what she was before that and she told me, "1" with a tone in her voice of incredulity that I wouldn't know that 1 came before 2.
We then gave out 2 craft sticks and had them color them to depict John the Baptist and Jesus. We modeled the Bible story through that. Then we let the kids just do their own puppet show with each other. It, as expected, morphed into random play. The girls really impressed me with making 2 craft sticks into "V," "T," and other letters. Then I noticed the boys. Two of the 3 boys did letters a bit while my son (yes, my son) turned his into a "scissors" and played that he cut my husband. That got the boys into playing "swords" with each other...sigh... The the above mentioned girl got into the fray heading for my son (again, it was my son) and he ran terrified of her and hid behind my husband. Yep, my son knows all about how to run from girls and make any object into a weapon. Who needs the alphabet?
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I have been gaining weight. Yuck. All summer I was on the treadmill 4 - 6 days a week for a hour and only gained weight. I had already been mostly sticking with a low fat diet for a year before that. So, I decided to bite the bullet and go on an official diet. I chose the Arbonne 28 day cleanse. Today is 1 week since I started the protein shakes, etc. However, I started the healthy eating part of it 4 days before that. So far I have lost 7 lbs. I am thrilled with that. Since I want to keep the weight off after the cleanse I am trying to figure out what the difference is this week. I have discovered 1 major difference and it made me puzzle out the "whys" of my eating habits (nothing can just be simple with me. I have to over analyze EVERYTHING!) My husband and I both grew up in homes with little money. Food was tight. For my husband it was even more so. They hunted and fished for their food. Squirrel, rabbit, deer, whatever. If they shot it they ate. If they didn't...they didn't. So, finishing the food on one's plate was important. We knew how hard it was to get food. For me we ate the pork, chicken, and beef grown from our farm (to this day I have trouble eating "bone-in" chicken...uggg). We ate the fruits and vegetables harvested from our garden. The food was directly related to the fruit of our labors. We appreciated the food. We ate the food. All of the food on our plates.
I realized that I have carried that over in some unhealthy ways. Having a family of 8 (2 who are very, very picky eaters) results in a lot of food that gets left on plates. I don't have a problem with leftovers, but leftovers already served onto a plate? Those usually aren't enough to save. If it is enough, we do save it and have the kids eat it for the next meal (especially when the kid won't eat it because "I don't LIKE broccoli!!" But, the food on those plates...I eat. Can't waste it can I? But I have just been "waisting" it. So, I have stopped doing that. Clearly it is making a difference. Apparently I was eating a lot of left overs!
The other thing the above insights about my growing up made me realize has to do with my canning. We do a lot of canning. We have a lot of canned goods. I don't use up all of my canning from one year to the next. In fact, it would probably force me into high anxiety if we did. After all, what if we didn't get any harvest the next year? How would we eat?!?! So, each year we can more, and more, and more. I can't stand seeing the fresh food go to waste either. So, if someone else has "extra" harvest they can't get rid of, I'll take it and can it. God grew that food, it should be preserved and eaten:) I get sad when I see all of the tomatoes that rotted on our vines with this cold and rainy weather...sigh... At least we take the apples that fall on the ground and feed them to the deer;)
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We are one of "those" families who don't believe in immunizations like "they" recommend them. That is not to say that we don't immunize, but we are cautious. In particular with JJ we have been very cautious. He was such a tiny and sickly baby that we didn't immunize until he was 9 months old. Then, when that weakened his immune system fighting off the vaccination, he got RSV within a week. May or may not have been related but sure did scare us. So, we didn't attempt another immunization until he was well. Well, he has been well about 2 years now so I finally got it back on my radar screen to do round 2. We got that taken last week. The woman in the office was appalled with me. She kept going over the rules about school and day care and his need to be immunized. I advised her that he had never been in either...so she stopped questioning me. That led to the actual immunization...
We warned him ahead of time. I cleared my life for 3 full days afterwards. I expected a sick and grumpy child and wanted to be able to help him get better. He whined all the way there. My husband and I both went in with him to hold him down. He got them. He cried about 4 seconds. He then complained that his leg hurt and really "needed" that band aide on there. Then...he changed. Everyone in our family has noticed it. It is like they injected the kid with high amounts of caffeine. He never got sick but he sure has a LOT more energy! Whatever caused that... It appears we can now move forward with the rest of the immunization schedule and not worry that he will get sick again:)
I really, really, REALLY enjoyed having 3 days "off." It was great to get a break. Got some house cleaning done. And did a whole lot of nothing;) Life has been so insanely busy for...ever...that it was good:)
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I tend to write about JJ more because it is a "safer" topic. The other kids tend to just bring up issues of frustration, fear, and feelings of an utter lack of control. If I were to write about the actual issues we have with the kids most of it would just be complaining. So...if I can't say anything nice I just try not to say anything at all!!!
I will say though that because we are a home schooling family a huge chunk of our life revolves around educating our kids. The weight of educating 4 kids with learning disabilities and IEP's, another who should have one, and one who is able but utterly unmotivated is exhausting, frustrating, and many other emotions that I can not name. Mostly it inspires feelings of being totally out of control with no idea how to move forward. The school has been wonderful and helpful, respecting our choice to home school. They, too, are frustrated with the issues we deal with. It is actually a bit validating to know that it is not "just us" but instead that people who are trained specifically with those issues are also puzzled on what to try next.
Grace...ah...Grace... To be sure, she is MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH better on the supplements. I can't remember if I have actually posted many follow ups on the neuro chemical supplements we are using. Her behavior is less impulsive. She is off all of her sleep meds. She is more manageable. There are many things that are not improved, but that are probably as good as they ever will get. The arguing is the worse. She always has to have the last word. She will never...stop...talking/arguing. The other very hard issue with her are her numerous learning issues. I was very anxious about starting her in school this year. So far she is doing fairly well, as long as we sit with her and read things to her she is able to do well. She absolutely cannot decode words which means anything involving reading...and math...are struggles. Which is everything. But...she is amazingly creative and awesome as she makes up her dolls hair:) She wants to be a baby nurse when she grows up. If she can't handle that she would be great as a cosmetologist:)
We have started experimenting with Essential Oils. We shall see if results are worth it...
JJ and Beautiful are sitting here having a conversation that is going like this:
Beautiful: JJ, why are you so cute?!
JJ: Because I'm JJ! I have to be cute!!
Ah...a little humor:)
Beautiful is getting A's in her 2 college courses. The psychology course's professor is driving me crazy but we have learned the "system" that is used so Beautiful is doing well there.
I am very excited that we just got our new Blu Ray Clear Play machine! I love Clearplay but our DVD player died and we have been waiting for the Blu Ray machine to be released. We have been watching a lot more movies with the old kids so it will be nice to edit the unpleasant parts from the movies. Of course...I have to figure out how to set it up...and we all know my ability to work on electronic devices:( But once I have it figured out it will be great lol!
Well that about covers the week(ish). God sustains me. Trusting Him gets me out of bed in the morning. His insights help me to try to be better each day. Being disciplined by Him reminds me of all the ways I continue to fail and need Him. It's all good:)
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