Hy head is spinning...

I sat down to blog last night, and would you believe I couldn't even do it?! My head is about to explode it is so full of thoughts, questions etc. I've had an overwhelming response to my brother's situation. So many people are praying for them! There are also tons of ideas of how people want to help and so many QUESTIONS! I don't have the answers. I've talked to both Rob and Kim over the last two days, but only briefly and their brains are 100 times more full than mine, so at each phone call I can get one or two of the many questions answered. Apparently the link to the article that I put in my 2nd mass email was wrong and I also put the wrong home address. Too much going on and I'm having trouble getting things right. I'm avoiding sending a correction because I don't want to keep sending emails to hundreds of people. (I can blab all I want here because you are reading this because you chose to and if you want to stop right here you can and I'll never know!)

Anyway, I need to calm down because my head (and therefore my heart beat) is going a million miles a minute. I do however have two fairly calm guys in my family because Mike and Jonathan visited a Chinese Doctor yesterday and had their first treatment of accupuncture. Mike's for his general health, continued healing of his pancreas (if you don't know that story there is NO WAY I am going into it now), and ideally to eventually get off of the insulin. In addition to the accupuncture, Mike was sent home with some herbs and cleansing tea to take for two weeks. I fell pretty good about that because I didn't want to hear "OK, take this for the rest of your life"...there's got to be a better way. I also like that while this office is using Eastern medicine techniques, they don't completely discount Western medicine...I am a big fan of the combination. That is why we drive over and hour to see our pediatrician (incidently, this office is an hour away too). Jonathan is going back today. He should only need about 3 more treatments. He was referred there by our pediatrician because his thyroid is a little slow. Back in the archives of my blog there is a little info on this and it says when he was tested again it was fine. Well come to find out it is within normal limits, but not ideal. This treatment should CURE that (not just mask it, but cure it).




We are also heading to the orthodontist today for Madi's 3rd broken bracket in just over a month! She is really being so careful, I have no idea why this keeps happening! Too bad there is no accupuncture treatment for that (although maybe there is some way to get her to not be such a picky eater...and maybe it could also help with her "emotional basketcaseness"...the apple doesn't fall far from the tree).

Jake on the other hand has peed in the bed two nights in a row. When time and money start growing on trees he will have accupuncture for that. In the meantime I think he's going to spend his Walmart birthday gift card on pull-ups. Oh, and did I mention he fell asleep in the car on the way home from the accupuncturist and so I let him sleep in the car for the 30 minutes we were home yesterday before heading back out to the tree-lighting at the library. Well, we arrived at the library and guess what....WET PANTS!! So we dropped Madi off there with friends, picked up an extra child, and headed home for Jake's second bath of the day. Although, I guess it is a good thing he's peeing like this or with this crazy life, he might never get a bath (or change clothes).

Well now all of this is out of my head and into blog world, so I plan to start fresh this morning. I'll catch up on laundry, spend time with the kids, maybe even try to educate them, oh yeah, and babysit, go to the stressful orthodontist appointment, drive the stressful drive for the calming accupuncture appointment, and other things, I'm sure I'm fogetting. Thankfully my good friend (and would be neighbor if some meanies didn't put a stop to that) is taking Jake this afternoon and evening to see Santa at bass Pro Shop...thank you soo much!!!

I just re-read this (mostly because I forgot to put the pictures in), how does this all sound for our Christmas letter...it pretty much sums us up wouldn't you say?!

A call for help

I mentioned this situation a few time since it occurred, but today I feel really strongly about getting this information out there to anyone I can reach so here it is again, some of you will probably see it a few times as I sent a mass email and put it on facebook as well. Their biggest need is prayer...


Hi everyone,
As most of you know I'm not a big fan of the "mass email", but my brother Rob, sister-in-law Kim, and nephews Zack and John are in a terrible situation and I'm calling out for help.

On November 12th the man who lived in the apartment upstairs from them was threatening suicide (he ended up doing it) with a gun. Someone (I guess in his family, but I'm still a little unclear on the details) called in the police. Rob had left to pick up the boys from school (he was home on a month long furlough from work due to the difficult economic situation this country is in). Kim was home resting because she was to be working at her waitress job that evening. On his way back home, Rob met a police barracade and couldn't get back to his house. He called Kim to see what the situation was and when she went outside to look the police spotted her and told her to leave immediately (she didn't even have shoes on). There was nothing they could do, but go spend the night with relatives 30 minutes away. The next morning they learned that their neighbor had indeed died and in the meantime the police had thrown SEVETY FIVE teargas bombs into their 1st
floor apartment. Nevermind that there is no way to get from the 1st floor to the 2nd from the inside of the house or that the man held no hostages.

Here we are three weeks later and Rob and Kim are still with out their home and "stuff". They are still staying with relatives. They are getting the runaround everywhere they turn. They spoken to some lawyers, but no one will really give them any informantion or take on their case. The town refuses to pay for any of it and won't work with them because they've spoken to lawyers (although they don't really have a lawyer). Sadly, they didn't have renter's insurance because money has been so tight for them. This tragedy happened through no fault of their own, but doors are being slammed in their face everywhere they turn. Apparently this was the most deadly type of teargas that was used and no one even knows how to clean it. So everything they own is still boarded up in the apartment, and they don't know how they will even get it.

They deperately need your prayers. If anyone has any ideas as to where they might be able to turn for help with this extrememly unusual situation, please let us know.

Thanks so much.
Blessings,
Julie

Christmas questions

I've gotten this email three times already this season and instead of doing the traditional email thing, I decided to just put it on my blog.

Christmas Edition of getting to know your friends.



1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Usually a little of both, we have tons of gift bags that I'm trying to use up this year.

2. Real tree or Artificial? REAL!! We do have an artificial one also that will go in the front window, but we always have a real one too...it's already up!

3. When do you put up the tree? Right after Thanksgiving, we did it little by little in between running around this weekend and finished last night while watching It's a Wonderful Life.

4. When do you take the tree down? Last year we burned it on Christmas night (we were going out of town) almost always before New Years.

5. Do you like eggnog? very little

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Probably my doll house, I wish we had it now.

7. Hardest person to buy for? I don't know everyone is pretty easy, maybe Mike's father.

8. Easiest person to buy for? the kids, Mike and my parents.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? yes, lots of them!!

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail, or hand them out.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I once received blue pastic gloves that had pen mark on them.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? It's a Wonderful Life!!! I also like Rudolph, Frosty, and Twas the Night Before Christmas with the mice.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Dec 26th?

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? yes

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Cookies, fudge...everything!!

16. Lights on the tree? This year we have small colored lights on the real tree and the fake one is prelit with white lights.

17. Favorite Christmas song? Silent Night.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay at home? Have to be HOME!!!

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Of course! Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, Blitzen and Rudolph...I copied this one from the last person who sent it to me, but the kids and I were talking about this yesterday...is it Donder or Donner??! I'll have to look it up!

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Usually an angel, but we bought a star last year.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Some on Christmas Eve, but obviously not the ones from Santa until Christmas morning...early!

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? That there was a shooting at a Toys R Us and someone got trampled at Walmart.

23. What theme or color are you using? I'm not sure I understand the question...red and green?

24. What do you want for Christmas this year? more hours in the day

25. Who is most likely to respond to this? surprise me!! ( especially if you read my blog and don't comment!)

Have a blessed day everyone!!

daybook

to participate go here.
FOR TODAY December 1st!...

Outside my window...it is chilly and breezy, Mike and I walked this morning.

I am thinking...about our Christmas letter which is finally in the works.

I am thankful for...health.

From the learning rooms...we're going to attempt to get back in the swing of schoolwork at least for the next two weeks...we'll see.

From the kitchen...chicken soup cooked in the crockpot overnight. I made chicken for a meal for later in the week and then I had the stock and limp carrots and celery to use up anyway, so I threw it all in and let it cook...I might have it for breakfast. We still have mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes from Thanksgiving, they will show at a few more times this week.

I am wearing...jammies (again) and a Tigger sweatshirt.

I am creating...a creative Christmas letter.

I am going...to have to call the orthodontist when I finish with this because Madi has another loose bracket.

I am reading...One Tuesday Morning by Karen Kingsbury...I'll finish today. Then I have A Shepherd's Prayer for our Catholic bookclub and Tuck Everlasting for mother-daughter bookclub.

I am hoping...that my house will do a better job of keeping itself clean!

I am hearing...I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas, Madi sang it at two different events this weekend.

Around the house...the tree is up and mostly decorated inspite of my desire to have the house clean before we got and decorated the tree.

One of my favorite things...It's a Wonderful Life, we watched it last night.

A few plans for the rest of the week:finish cleaning and decorating (is cleaning ever finished?), babysitting, attempting to educate my kids, driving to and from Theatre, AWANA, Youth group, Church Christmas Eve play rehersal, Christmas walk on Friday and Parade on Saturday and in the middle of those two things we are supposed to take part in our neighborhood yardsale Saturday morning...yes we are crazy!

Here is picture thought I am sharing...My parents at the big light up event...a Christmas tree lighting in the "sunshine state!"

A busted radiator hose, the ultimate Thankful Thursday, and cock-a-doodle-doo

I'll begin with the continuing saga of the van and our anniversary. Remember how the police rang our doorbell at 2:30 on Wednesday (maybe it was to prepare us for the roosters, but I'll get to that later). Well maybe if they hadn't told us, our battery may have been dead in the van in the morning, and I'd have taken the much more reliable CRV to take the kids to get their Christmas picture taken. But alas, the battery was alive and well, so we headed out of town to get the kids pictures taken. First off what self respecting homeschooler brings her kids to get their pictures taken on the day before Thanksgiving, when all of the "building school" kids are there...but again I digress. Anyway we made it through the madhouse of the portrait place and got about half-way home when smoke started pouring out of the hood at an alarming rate, and the temperature gauge soared past the H!! I panicked, pulled over and called my husband to rescue me and the kids. Thankfully, he was able to come to our aid with a roll of duct tape and a big bottle of antifreeze. It was a frigthening ride back home (and we had to pull over and re-tape a few times), but we made it to the garage safely.


We had a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving with my parents, some friends of theirs, way too much yummy food, and a few lively games of "oh crap".



Sadly, by the time someone got around to taking a picture of the turkey, this is what it looked like...


My parents live on a quiet street in a nice beach community. A few weeks ago the man across the street rescued two roosters who were going to be killed (although I'm sure he eats chicken). When my parents first told me this, my response was, "Oh you mean chickens, like for eggs?" No just two LOUD roosters. Now these two roosters have the run of the quaint beach street and cock-a-doodle-doo-ed their heads off to wake us up the last two mornings long before the sun rose-- just after 5am this morning! I am really tired today!

14 years ago today...

I married my best friend! Happy Anniversary Honey! I love you more today than yesterday, but not as much as tomorrow!

So here it is our anniversary and I'm blogging at 3am...why? Because 30 minutes ago our doorbell rang. It was a police officer saying there have been kids opening car doors and stealing stuff and our van overhead light was on and the glove compartment was open. Mike went out and checked and it doesn't look like anything was taken. I guess no one wanted any kids' meal toys, crumpled up paper, stepped on books and scripts, jackets, shoes, or trash! Actually I don't think anyone even tried, Madi went out to get something out of the car last night and she must've left the light on. The glove compartment opens on its own because the car is a 1995 and falling apart little by little.

That's why I am up and blogging in the middle of the night. If you're up and reading this in the middle of the night, or even in the middle of the day when you're supposed to be doing something else...you might want to go to my friend's blog and read about what great friends we are blessed with.

I'm realizing that I need to explain things to my kids more than I do. I've noticed lately situations where I didn't tell them what was going on just because I thought they should know. I probably do this with everyone and not just my kids. For example on Friday evening the kids had an extra hour of Theatre to practice for up coming "performace troupe" events. When Mike and I got there to pick them up, Jake was just milling around the Theatre ( I don't usually use that word "milling", but it seemed to fit here.). He didn't realize that he was supposed to be learning the songs and dances too because I don't think I even told him specifially what was going to take place. Then yesterday I read the beautiful thing that OBM wrote about Madi and her friends to Madi and later she said something about what was written on "Mom's blog"...I just read it to her, I never told her who wrote it. I need to stop assuming people know what I'm talking about (or not talking about as the case may be).

Well now it's 3:30 and I'm still awake. Mike was sneezing and blowing his nose a ton last night and Jonathan has gone from blowing his nose every second to coughing...tis that time of year!

The kids are getting a Christmas picture taken tomorrow, and our Christmas cards arrived yesterday. In about 4 days I've gone from being way behind on Christmas to being (dare I say it?) a little ahead of the game.

Have you noticed I'm using words and phrases that I don't usually use? I guess that's what happens when you blog in the middle of the night.

OK, I guess I couldn't wait!!