On my mind

1. Home improvement projects: the holidays are coming up which means entertaining and family and cooking and kids off of school. Gary and Will just laid the new floor and new pedestal sink in our downstairs half bath. Now I need to paint the walls and trim.
   Other improvements that need to be done are:

• toe molding put in everywhere downstairs
• LR ceiling painted
• LR walls painted
• Baseboards put in the quiet room downstairs
• all trim and doors downstairs need to be painted
  
• tub and tile ripped out of the master bathroom
• new surround and tub put in to the MB
• old vanities and linen closet ripped out of MB
• new double vanity put in which includes rewiring, moving plumbing, and knocking down walls.

2. My Premier Business: I have had 4 people cancel their parties this month and I am getting very frustrated. I must keep the faith. I am trying to not let it affect me but October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. I decided to donate 10% of the proceeds of my parties to the Susan G. Komen foundation in my Aunt Sis's name since she is a breast cancer survivor. I was very excited about how many shows I had on my calendar to make this successful. It is more than just being upset about loss of income or new contacts. I was really happy to be giving to something greater than me. I wanted to do this for her. Aunt Sis lost one of her breasts and had to have reconstructive surgery. It was scary, it was hard, but she made it. How many people don't?

3. Gary starts working in Quantico, VA June 1st: Do we go? Do we stay? Do we sell our house? Do we rent down there? Questions, sooo many questions.

4. Sarah is looking for houses: My SIL lives next door to me. They sold their house, didn't know where they were going to end up, and ended up renting the house next door. Sometimes, our stress becomes each others stress. She is consumed with house hunting which means I hear about it all the time which shouldn't be stressful but she talks about us moving too with her or close to her. Since I don't have answers to my questions, this sometimes confuses and frustrates me.

5. I'm thinking about having another baby: There you go, I said it. No, I am not pregnant. I could list a million reasons why I am contemplating this but honestly it's none of cyberspaces' business! I am researching having a girl. I am completely happy with my 4 beautiful boys! I am content with my family. I feel that the Lord wants me to put my faith in him and try for a baby girl. Please think pink for me!

6. Gary is taking his last 2 classes for his Bachelor's: IF he finishes these 2 classes, IF he passes these 2 classes, and IF we don't kill each other in the process you are all invited to a HUGE graduation celebration!!! Not kidding! Mark your calendars!

7. I've been contemplating homeschooling: As if my life weren't stressful enough. I love homeschooling. There are a million reasons why I feel homeschooling is useful, valuable, and most beneficial for my children. I also miss my little guys when they are away. I want to protect them and make them happy and help them work through and deal with their stresses. However, I can say this is one answer I have gotten as of late. Gary and I both feel that they should stay where they are right now. We are both pleased and at peace with their elementary school and their progress. Prayer has helped confirm this in our hearts and I can now rest easy knowing that while my desire is noble, it is not the time. Zechariah has had some difficulties but he is working through them. He needed to learn how to deal with these frustrations. I am very proud of him.

8. My mom is finally moving! Mom has sold her house (well almost-closing is Nov 1st) My brothers and I have once again rallied together to help pack her up and move her out. Chris spent a weekend pulling stuff out of the shed and attic to see how much we were dealing with. Then Jason and Teri spent the next weekend packing like crazy and got most everything in boxes. They are amazing!!! I will leave next Monday to help direct the loading and moving of the household goods as well as clean the house before closing. I will drive down Monday, and be back Friday for Fall festival at school, Trunk or Treat and other Halloween festivities.

9. Where is Mom going to stay? Gary's Aunt Nancy invited mother to stay with her until she decides where she wants to be. I hope Mom will decide to stay up here but that choice has to be made by her. I offered for her to stay here with us but she kinda isn't looking forward to sharing a bathroom with 4 little boys. Why not? :) Still I stress out because I want her to be happy. And no matter where she goes, Aunt Nancy's or my house, I've still got A LOT of rearranging of furniture to do. When will I do that? UGH!

10. The holidays: I LOVE Christmas. But since the divorce it has been forever painful. Having my mom and dad together in the same room is like watching a time bomb go off. It's awful. Throw in that mix my Dad's wife, FORGET IT!!!
This Christmas, my sweet baby boy turns 8 and will be baptized.
All the family will be here. = drama
(I started to rant and rave further but have decided to delete and stop there-sigh)

So now you know. I've got a lot on my mind. So here it is cyberworld/ journal.
What do you think?

Discovery

Rebekah does not do well on nighttime meds of any kind.

I took Tylenol PM Cold and Flu last night because my head was about to explode due to this nasty head cold that I have. I even wrote a note to Gary and left it on his pillow as a warning(which he removed without reading). I did not want to be held accountable for anything that might happen during the night such as night awakenings by children, peepee accidents, robbers, etc. Night time meds knock me out and I am completely unaware while under their influence.



What did I discover?



Apparantly they also make me talk in my sleep! Gary said I was talking all night long and he couldn't sleep b/c he thought I was trying to talk to him. Luckily, he couldn't understand anything I was saying. :) Weird, so now you know. Nighttime cold meds make me loopy, knock me out, and make me talk in my sleep.

And I will take it again tonight b/c I felt so much better today! :)

Ammon is 3!

My little Ammon turned 3 on September 20th!

What a crazy weekend before this little guy's bday. Gary got home from being away on TDY for 5 weeks on Saturday afternoon, I had a jewelry party that night, and my Aunt Sis and cousin Drew came into town on Sunday for a quick visit. So on Monday, I let Zech and Gabe stay home from school, forced Gary to take the day off, and we all went to Cosca Park for Ammon's "Star Wars" birthday party. I invited some friends from church and we had a lovely time. This park is great and I can't wait to take full advantage of all the cool things it has there!

OK, I have tried 4xs now to load pics and place them where I want on this page and can't figure it out. I'm frustrated and will finish this later. I almost made a muvee but I want to print this out and build a book and my movies won't work for that goal! UGH! Someone blogger savy (Beth) tell me how to place my pics!

Angels at Ryan's

I will confess that I do not write in a journal. Yet, I have felt a strong desire to write down or blog about something that happened to me on Labor Day, the day I went to D.C. with Uncle Gary. I know, it's been a month. Sue me!

Uncle Gary wanted to take us out to eat after our lovely time at the American History museum. I was pressed for time because I had signed up to feed an elderly couple and their family that night. We probably could have made dinner had the following not transpired:

• my "experienced" navigator (Uncle Gary) got us turned around and we drove around and around and around D.C.
• 
  

• I hesitated in a turn lane and ended up pulling out in front of a motorcycle cop and pissed him off (I totally had enough time and space! He was just mad at my audacity!)
• I had to sweet talk said cop, win him over, and enlist his immense knowledge of the area to direct us where we needed to go.

Needless to say by the time I dropped Uncle Gary off, I had to rush home to heat up the casserole I had made the day before. I then took it over to the family's house and was just too spent/exhausted to go home and make my own dinner. The kids were hungry and tired and so was I but I did NOT want McDonald's. It was Monday and I thought I would go to Ryan's so everyone could get their heart's desire and I hoped that the kid's could eat free.:) FHE anyone?

What happened next is still deeply personal and so special to me. I walked into Ryan's with my crew. It was packed. I was going to turn left b/c I can ---eat your heart out Zoolander------but felt I should go right. I found a table and sat my crew down. There was a elderly couple in the table next to me who asked me if they could watch my kids while I went to get their plates. Immediately, my Wonderwoman kicks in and I say I am fine but thank you so much for offering (but I don't know you from Adam and this is D.C. and there are crazies everywhere and these are my babies! etc etc)
Then it dawned on me: How in the h*ll am I going to carry the baby, hold onto my lunatic 2 almost 3 year old, make their plates, and carry them to the table??? No sooner had this terrifying thought entered my mind when a sweet couple came from around the wall where they had been enjoying their dinner and asked me if my husband was deployed and could they help. I told them he was TDY for 6 weeks. They said they could spot a military wife anywhere and wanted to lend a hand since they too had served 23 years in the military. Well, I nearly lost it right there! I mean, really? Angels? in Ryan's?!? 2 sets of angels??? The wife sat with my 2 little ones while I took the 2 oldest to fix their plates and got food for the little ones. She then sat with all of them and fed Elijah while I fixed my own plate! After I returned, she left. While I was gone though the 2 tables beside me had black families that had been watching all this transpire and had gotten to know my kids too. They were making eyes with Eli, talking to Zech and Gabe, and playing games with Ammon. All throughout our dinner, whenever I needed anything, there was another person sent by God ready to serve me and my family.

Why was this so important to me? Because the depression bug had bit my butt big time and I was struggling with my faith worse than I have ever done in my life. I wondered if God cared. I mean, I knew he loved me but did he care what decisions I made as long as they were good ones? Did he care that I was busting my butt trying to hold my little world together?

This day, I received a HUGE answer to those questions. Not only did God care about me. He cared enough to send other people to care about me. Little tidbit: my love language is "acts of service". There was NO clearer way God could have sent his message to me that He loves me and cares for me than through these angels who chose to Serve me and God that night at Ryan's.

So there you have it. For all posterity and my little blog followers who do not read or post comments :) This is my journal entry, my testimony.

D.C. with Uncle Gary

It was Labor Day. Gary was out of town and I had been very depressed but desperately wanted not to be. On a last minute whim, I decided to get out with my beauitful boys and enjoy the nation's capital. I love living so close to D.C. It is such a blessing to live here. (As long as I do not listen to the news!) Anyways, I packed everyone up into my huge truck and I was on my way. Then the thought came to me to call up our Uncle Gary who lives in Alexandria to see what him and his girlfriend Joyce were doing. Maybe the would meet us for lunch. Uncle Gary did even better-he said he'd come with us! So, we headed to D.C. and much to our surprise it was totally dead! There was noone there! We got an awesome parking spot right next to the Mall and didn't pay a dime. Sweet! We decided to go to the American History museum since we had not gone there yet. Originally I wanted to do the spy museum but it isn't free and Daddy wanted to go too. The American History museum was awesome! They had tons of fun stuff for the kids to do. I mean, as soon as we walked into the place, there was C3PO's costume from Star Wars. Uncle Gary loves to shoot pics so here's a bunch from our festivities:


By the time we were done, I had tired out Uncle Gary and the kids. But we had a splendid and wonderful time!

Back to school

Zechariah started 2nd grade this year and Gabriel started Kindergarten. Here are the handsome boys on their first day of school. At Zech's open house, his class was supposed to write a note to their parents. The first line was supposed to state, "Thank you for coming to my open house". Zech refused to write the line and got in trouble with his teacher. When the teacher's aid asked him why he wouldn't write it he said, "Because it's not my open house. If I write it, I have to own it!" His aid tried to control her shock and amusement but let me know that she thought it was very insightful of him. He was right! It wasn't his open house. He wasn't even invited! The next line to us stated, "2nd grade is kind of a bossing zone". Ok, that made me laugh! Zech loves to make other people follow the rules but he wants to decide if, when, and which rules he will follow. Oh well, he's mine and I love him like crazy!
Gabriel LOVES school. He is really coming into his own too. Our little neighbor is in his class and says he is hilarious and talks a lot at school. I am so glad! He is quite shy until he gets comfortable with you. Hearing that he is joking and talking at school makes me happy that he is comfrtable and thriving there! He is gaining self confidence and his own his personality is really coming out.

The day before school started I threw a back to school party. Everyone had a great time!

I made cake and let the kids decorate their own slices. Ammon and Eli truly enjoyed the treat!

See my sign? I totally ripped this idea off of my amazing SIL, Cortnie. I was so proud of myself!

The crew! Unfortunately, Gary was away at Advanced training in Ft Lostinthewoods, MO but Uncle Will graciously stepped in to give the kids their back-to-school blessings. Thanks Will! It is so nice to have family right next door.

My SIL, Sarah is homeschooling her oldest this year and since her youngest 2 are not old enough to go to school, she's got them home too. We have worked out a pretty good system to help each other out with school. I take her little boy, William, to school with Zech and Gabe and pick them all up. If my babies are still asleep in the afternoon, I leave them with her while I go get the kids. Since I have had some significant back problems and am currently in physical therapy, Sarah watches Ammon and Eli 2x a week while I go to my apts. It is a life saver! I would never be able to do this if she weren't here! Thanks Sarah!

Next post: Fall soccer! We love it!

More catch up: Gabriel's 5th birthday

Since we were out in Ohio at Cousin's Camp for Gabriel's birthday, I wanted his birthday to be fun, special for him, and educational too. I called up the local fire department and scheduled a tour for 13 kids under the age of 1o and 4-6 adults. I didn't expect much. After all, this was McConneslville we were talking about. As Zechariah said about how to get to Nanner and Grumpa's, "Just drive forever and ever in the middle of nowhere until you see the yellow house on the hill". He is pretty much right!
Was I ever surprised! The fire department was HUGE!!! And it was GORGEOUS!!! They had every single truck our books ever told us a department may have. What was most amazing about it was that every fireman there was a volunteer. Chivalry is not dead folks! These brave men do it all. They cover over 400 miles including farms, woods, swamps, hills, and a major river. We had a fabulous time touring their facilities, learning what they do, exploring their fire engines, and trying on their gear.

After the tour, we came home for some fire engine cake decorated beautifully thanks to the ever so talented, Emily Griesmyer. The cake was made out of Rice Krispies. We had celebrated David's birthday the day before and Emily had made him a lovely red, white, and blu cake so I wanted something a little different. The kids LOVED it! Yay me! :)

Gabriel is truly "my very special boy". I call him my angel. He makes me smile. He makes me laugh. He is tender hearted and so funny. I look forward to seeing more of his own personality emerge as he comes out from Zechariah's shadow. This past year was good for him since Zech went to school and he went to half day PreK. The played together and are still the best of friends, however, having time away really helped Gabriel to develop his own confidence. He is discovering his own voice and sometimes he uses it, LOUDLY! :) I love him with all of my heart and soul. He is my angel.