Let it not be said my life is dull..........

So we are visiting the folks...

All is well......

and then Tayler, poor Tayler, had to go and tell me she was sick..........

She was having pains in her abdomen. ( no not THOSE kind... sheesh...) But the kind that start a mom thinking their kid might have appendicitis..... oh yeah, you read that right...

SO....... like i said we are visiting the folks...... Amy is not feeling well, mom has to take care of dad, so now Tay is sick and i have to find somewhere to leave the boys so that i can take her to the emergency room ( just the thing i wanted to do on a Saturday night) you say, just leave the boys with your folks...........

Clearly~~ you do not know my boys..... if i had left them here.... they may have torn down the house!

My friends Ken and Christine, offered to watch Hunter and Jeremiah along with Evan that had already been at their house since the night before.
So i bag and tag everyone, and load them into the car, and off we go....

After dropping the boys off and bribing them with rides on the 4-wheeler to get them to not cry when i leave......
Tayler and i are off to the ER

After registering, and sitting with the nurse that hears the world complain, about all their aches and pains and probably thinks that we are all just hypochondriacs.... we make it in to the back to see a Dr.
the doctor, who introduces himself as Harry, listens to Taylers woes.... he too is thinking appendix...... Tayler is now getting freaked out at the thought of surgery. I am trying to remain calm.... like i do this sort of thing every day... like there are no worries..... in my head, i am screaming............ "ARE YOU KIDDING ME????!!!!!!?????"

Harry orders some LOVELY tests for Tayler that no 13 year old should EVER have to endure..... and after some severe tears and trauma from getting her blood drawn and an IV inserted..... she now has some good drugs on board and is feeling no pain..... ( ... i was just wishing they gave some to parents for our misery.... but alas, no such luck, I had to stay sober)
After a CAT scan, and obligatory urine samples and blood tests..... her appendix is healthy and happy, but she has a cyst on her right ovary.... this is the culprit of all her pain....

For now she is doing well, has some good drugs for the pain..... and we will be headed to the "lady" doctor when we get back home.


oh yeah... poor Ken and Christine with the little boys.... they had them for 4 hours and were wiped out!..... between hunter announcing that he was headed for the pool..screaming at the top of his lungs....." i don't know how to swim..but i am going in anyway!" and nearly giving them a heart attack.... Jeremiah eating bubbles in the bath tub, Hunter coming out with a athletic cup over his nose and mouth and asking " hey, what kind of mask is this used for?" ( yes, ken made him go wash his face) Jeremiah walking around and licking everyone like he was a puppy...... they were extremely glad I was the one with the 2 and 6 yr old....and NOT THEM!

see.... i tell you.... my life is NOT dull!

Well, i have been away from the computer for a bit.... we traveled south to visit my folks. We made the journey this time in ONE day...
oh that reminds me... i don't think i told everyone about the LAST time we tried to travel down to CA...

Indulge my reminesince....

We had just found out that Dad was diagnosed with Cancer and was going to have a biopsy on his brain... so we changed our travel plans and came to Ca for Christmas. We were supposed to be here before the day he had the biopsy.... and then it snowed.
not normal snow.... crazy crazy snow. Snow in places that it doesn't snow kind of snow. The week before Christmas.... we decide to leave on a Monday... the road out of the state of Washington.... it was CLOSED!!!... so we didn't leave on Monday. Little did I know that this was soon to be a sign as to how this trip would go....
Tuesday... we are up and out of the house fairly early.... road that was closed with crazy snow... is now open, nice and plowed... i am in a 4-wheel drive suburban.... NO PROBLEM. I decide not to take HWY 97 south since the snow was so bad and lots of places on that road are not plowed. So flying down 84 i go... straight to Portland.... this is a piece of cake... i also decide that i will drive over to 101 and take it all the way down since HWY 5 has been a chain manditory from Portland to Redding.... i figure Hwy 26 over to the coast is going to be pretty easy..... lets just say i was WRONG!!! that road was a white sheet of ice that was so not plowed..... so we inch our way over the pass and get to 101 above Tillimook. I am a basket case at this point, the three kids are cranky... the baby is fit to be TIED... and i am fit to tie him to the top of the truck! So we stop for the night in Girabaldi............ next morning Wednesday, now we are on the road again after a nice breakfast and heading on down the road.... then there is a strange noise... and it comes and goes.... so i start to talk with the hubby on the phone and he is offering suggestions, mostly ones that consist of, it's fine.... just keep going.
this advice i decide to whole heartedly ignore (sorry honey.... this time i had too) so i pull in to the first town that looks like it has more than 15 people living in it... and into a Les Schwab, thinking that this is something to do with my 4-wheel drive. I am informed that it is my rear end... not my personal rear end mind you, but the one that make the STUPID TRUCK GO!!!
are you seeing how Monday was begining to be a sign?
Through lots of prayer, help financially, a small shop that dropped everything to get my truck fixed, and a motel with a kitchen and indoor swimming pool we manage to get the truck back on the road.... on Friday.
We eventually got to Castro Valley by Saturday afternoon.....and that was just because someone threw up with motion sickness, and it got dark.... and the baby had been tied to his carseat for 12 hours straight... i had to let him out to eat dinner.... and there was NO possible way to get him back in that seat with out someone in the parking lot calling CPS because he would have screamed so loud....... so yeah... we got a hotel and let the poor boy run around for awhile.

So when i say that we got here in ONE day this time... now you can fully understand the joy and excitement in that statement!
~oh yeah~ and no one barfed!

Good news from the farm....
i suppose i should catch some of you up.... because you may not know...

we farm with another family here in Kennewick. They have about 2 acres, and all the animals... i grow lots of food... and we share.

SO... back to where i started... good news from the farm

Our first trip to the farmers market was very successful. Chera nearly sold out of eggs. We go back again on May 23rd and we expect to sell all 40 dozen that she will take. Things are moving ahead for the first of the meat chickens too... (in the farming world they are called pastured poultry, because they are raised outside, and without hormones or antibiotics in their feed. and they actually get to eat bugs and grasses...unlike the chickens in the store...)
we hope to sell at least 80 birds.

The coolest thing i think, is that one of the laying hens actually hatched a couple of chicks. She is a bantam hen and Chera put a few eggs under her because she was broody. Two hatched... so she is off to a good start as a new mommy to two full sized chicks. Some of the other hens are getting broody too, she was going to let them set, so we will see if we can get more chicks to help with the egg production!
The other cool thing is the turkeys! A couple of months ago Chera and i loaded 4 kids and two huge buckets into the back of my suburban and drove toMilton Freewater, at town just south of Walla Walla... to pick up a pair of breeding turkeys...... The turkeys loaded very nicely into their tubs and Henrietta sat nice and quiet. Thomas... not so quiet. We didn't get to the end of the road before we stopped to set the spare tire on top of his tub. We had visions of a full grown turkey loose in the truck with the three kids in the back seat.... screamin up a storm..... God was gracious and the tire worked and we were able to drive back home uneventfully.
Thomas and Henrietta don't really like their house that was so lovingly built for them.... they would rather wander around the yard. So we got a bit nervous when we didn't see Henrietta for awhile. We thought she had run off. Seeing as how Thomas had started taking up with this cute wild brown turkey that lived nearby.... Ryan was out fixing some fence and he stumbled on Henrietta... and she was setting on a clutch of eggs!
Yesterday or the day before they started hatching! Chera counted 4 pullets under one wing and that was all she got to see...we are guessing that there may be a few more... just going to have to wait and see when she starts to take them out around the yard.

The farm is busy in the spring... new baby goats, new baby chicks, new turkeys.... exciting stuff.
No matter what is going on..... God manages to show us through nature that births and deaths are parts of life.... and time keeps marching on... He is the keeper of it, not us.

yesterday, my youngest walked up to me and hugged my leg... when he did, he said... beh fren... in two year old... it translates to best friend. How cool is that.... I decided to let him live the rest of the day....

now we won't discuss today...
he is still breathing tho.... barely....

Raising Children with Integrity. What does that mean?


It can mean, raising them and having integrity in the process OR... it can mean, raising children to have integrity.
the dictionary defines it as :
noun
1.
adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.


This is INCREDIBLY hard. Number one as a parent to have consistancy.... let's just be honest here for a minute... IT IS HARD... not a one of us does it right every day all of the time. I am very thankful that i have the Lord to go to for forgivness when i mess it up. Without Him, the guilt would be overwhelming. Number two.... am i even doing this right? I think that all of us as parents have asked ourselves that on more than one occasion. Again i am grateful for the map that is laid out for me in the Bible. Proverbs is full of Godly wisdom that has not changed through the ages and doesn't change with the wind like the books on parenting you see on shelves.
It tells us how to train them and teach them... it tells us to do things in a certian way. Why? because if we do it will cause our children to ask us "why do we do that mommy?" and we can tell them it is because God tells us to, and we are supposed to be different from the rest of the world, because we are HIS people.

I am glad that i don't have to do this alone! I pray to God daily for the guidance to raise children that will honor and serve HIM, and do it with an integrity that will be molded by Christ's character, more than my own.

This past weekend was as crazy as most during this time of the year. We were up early and out to the ball field to watch Tayler play. She is on a 14U competitive team, and she is their catcher or third baseman. She really enjoys playing and that makes it fun to watch. There were three games on Saturday. Two on Sunday. She had a rough time at bat on Saturday, and was getting very frustrated with her inability to connect with the ball. Sunday however was quite the different story. She had two games one at 8 am the other at 9:45am. She was the only person to score any runs in those two games. She scored the first one on a hit that was a stand up triple, and they overthrew, so she went home. The second one will be the fish story she will tell for the rest of her life! One major hit..... over the center field fence by about 10 ft. She floated around the house most of the rest of Sunday....

There is something that you can pray with us about...

Jody has been going through the process to become a US Border Patrol Agent. He has, as of this time, made it through the testing process and the only thing that remains is the background check. If he is offered the job we are discussing moving to the training location as a family to keep us as close as possible while he goes through the Academy. Please pray with is over this decision. If we do not move he would be away from the family for over a year, and we are sure that going through that long of a seperation is not what God intends for families to do. God has provided Jody with this opportunity, and we are praising Him for it. We also want to honor Him in our decisions that surround this new possible opportunity.

Return to Reality

well, after yesterday's quiet. I am home and life is quite back to normal. How do i know it is back to normal?
I sat down at the computer to turn around and find my 2 yr old participating in a wonderful art project.
He had decided that the living room needed new decor. His chosen medium was Talc. You can see where he encouraged the other children, the ones that can spell... to participate. He made a shadow drawing with his feet.

and like any good kid who is thinking that they are in trouble..... he hid his identity.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH the joys of raising children!! Do I have to tell you how hard it was not to laugh out loud!!??!! Just so you don't think the joy of the day ended here.... i went to find him and he was in my bathroom. He had tried to flush my car keys down the toilet, and rescue them with daddys razor that was left on the counter.
Right now.... i am glad that he is taking a NAP!

beautiful Lord

I was afforded the opportunity to escape the chaos of home and spend a day with my husband in Spokane yesterday.

The reason for our visit there was a job interview for him ( he wore a suit... it was truly a historic moment!)

I was able to sit and do some bible study and enjoy the surroundings of this beautiful and historic hotel that we were in. I was in awe of our God and how He created us with such talents to make beautiful ordinary wood and glass. I sat and listened to music that was soft and soothing. What a great and wonderful musician God is, and how blessed we are that he created us with the talent of making it.

It was just a great time for relaxing and worshiping how great God is!