Whatever Comes To Mind...

Conversations with a Literalist

2009-11-06T22:39:00.003-05:00

Ladan is our resident literalist. Here are a couple of conversations we had with him today....

[On the way home from Kids' Night at the Smiths']

Ladan: Mom, I'm kind of hungry. I think I need a snack before I go to bed.

Me: Okay. Maybe we can get you some cereal when we get home.

Ladan: No. I was thinking about eating one of those twisty fruit snacks. [Referring to Clif Twisted Fruit--VERY yummy]

Me: Well, I don't think we're going to have any of those tonight. I told you when we got them that we weren't going to eat one every day. You've had one every day since we got them, so we're not going to have any tonight.

Ladan: Well, Mom, we didn't have one every day.

Me: We had one yesterday and one the day before, which is every day since we got them.

Ladan: Mom. [Read that with an "I need you to pay attention" tone] This is not a day. This is the middle of the night. We did not have one in the day, so we did not have one every day since we got them.

Me: [Laughing pretty hard but trying to keep it quiet]

Ladan: Mom, you should not be laughing at me. That makes me nervoused [yes, with an "ed" at the end]. You should stop laughing because I don't like that very much.

Me: Ladan, I like that you're five. This is fun!

-----------------------------------------

[As Chet was leaving the room when the boys were going to bed]

Chet: Goodnight. Sleep tight. Don't let the bed bugs bite. I love you. See you in the morning.

Ladan: But, Dad. There are no bugs in my bed.

Chet: Oh, that's right, Buddy. There are no bed bugs in your bed. That's just a saying. It means sleep good.

Ladan: But, Dad. There are no bed bugs.... Right?

Chet: No, there are no bed bugs. Sleep good.

-------------------------------------------------

A couple days ago I was talking to Chet as Ladan was quietly playing with cars on the floor. Here's how that went down...

Chet: I'm so tired today. I can't seem to wake up.

Me: I hear that. As soon as I hit the pillow last night, Claire woke up and needed something... twice.

Ladan: Why did you hit your pillow, Mom?

I love my kids! They're awesome!

Orphan Sunday--November 8

2009-11-04T23:32:00.004-05:00

Well, I haven't written in a LONG TIME, but this is just the reason to get back to it!

Did you know that this Sunday, November 8, is Orphan Sunday?

Did you know that it is Orphan Sunday ALL OVER THE WORLD... not just in our little American corner?

Did you know that my brother and sister-in-law started an amazing ministry called His Voice for Sudan several years ago to do what they can to help care for orphans in Southern Sudan? Since they started their ministry there, they have partnered with the Sudanese people to open two orphanages housing over 190 kids, employing 84 local workers, and providing education for 220 other community children. The Lord has been so faithful to raise up godly men and women among the Sudanese to help care for and teach the children. But they need help.

Did you know that you can participate in the ministry to the people of Southern Sudan? You can pray for the leadership of His Voice for Sudan. You can pray for the children and leaders of Sudan. You can receive e-mail updates and you can follow the His Voice blog. You can financially support their ministry. You can spread the word by telling others or by having my brother come and speak at your church or other organization.

Here is a short video showing some of the beautiful faces of the kids in Sudan....

His Voice for Sudan from Amber Burger on Vimeo.

And here's another really great Orphan Sunday video...

Orphan Sunday from Christian Alliance for Orphans on Vimeo.

Please take a minute to think about all that we have been given and determine if there is anything you can share. Maybe it's giving your time to pray. Maybe it's giving of your financial resources. Maybe it's giving your life to welcome an orphan into your family. I can pretty much guarantee that the blessings will far outweigh the costs.

What Do I Know?

2009-09-25T01:17:00.002-04:00

Things have been a bit busy around here. I'm still trying to figure out how to get into any sort of routine with a newborn again and with the addition of homeschooling. I'm exhausted most of the time. I'm struggling to get into a groove of spending regular, meaningful time with the Lord in His Word. Before Claire and homeschooling, I did this in the afternoon when Gabe was napping and Ladan was resting. That time is no longer free. I know that the best thing I can do for myself and my family is to take this time no matter what, but as soon as I think that's going to happen, one of said family members needs my immediate attention to clean up some bodily fluid, make them food, teach them, discipline them, proofread something, pay bills before they're late, etc., etc. So, rather than getting lengthy periods of time in the Word, I have to settle for shorter bits. And I have to realize that while they might not seem as meaningful as what I was getting, it keeps me going. I may only have a little bit of time to sit with the Bible open on my lap, but I can meditate all day long.

So, what have I been meditating on? In our community groups here at Redeemer, we're working through 1 John. What do we see in 1 John? The gospel. God's holiness. A reminder that our joy and our eternity rest on whether or not we believe the gospel and are being transformed to be more like Christ every day. Assurance that if we do know God and believe the gospel, we will be changed, we will have joy, and we will have eternal life. I'm writing it here like it's just that simple, and it is. At the same time, I'm sitting here looking at the words in 1 John with tears in my eyes because it's HUGE! Seriously, do you understand the weight of this? There is JOY and ETERNAL LIFE that comes with knowing God and growing in holiness! There is hell and destruction if we don't know God and grow in holiness. I want to KNOW God. I want to grow in holiness. I need to know what holy looks like.

I keep hearing the song "What Do I Know of Holy" by Addison Road on the radio, and it stirs my heart every single time. Just when I think I know who He is, I get a greater glimpse of who He is, and it brings me down to my knees. Really, what do I know of holy? More than I used to, but in reality, I know nothing. How's that for motivation to stay in the Word no matter what? Even if it's just little bits at a time that I can think about all day. In the event that someone else might be spurred on by this song, I'm posting it here. And if it's been a while since you read the book of 1 John, I'd encourage you to read it again very soon while this is fresh in your mind.

She's SMILING... and Ladan's First Painting

2009-09-20T15:40:00.005-04:00

Here are some photos of Claire in her little church dress. Actually, it's a dress that I wore when I was a baby. She's 6 weeks old, and she's SMILING!!!! All these girly things are so much fun!

Ladan Painting a Purple Pansy using Pointellism!

Well, Look at You!

2009-09-16T01:12:00.004-04:00

Gabe has been hilarious lately! This morning I had on an old t-shirt that my dad got me YEARS ago to wear as pajamas. It's basically an extra-large t-shirt with dolphins on it. When I got up from feeding Claire, I helped Gabe go to the bathroom. He was standing on the toilet while I washed my hands. He suddenly looked over at me and said in his very expressive voice, "Well, look at you! You got whales all over your shirt!" If you know Gabe's voice, you'll know how funny this was... and if you don't know his voice, I wish I had a recording for you.

When he doesn't like something that someone else says--like when you tell him to eat the chip in his mouth before he gets another one--he puts on his best stern face, points quickly to the stairs, and says in his best stern voice, "Go to yo' bed!" Today I told him that he wasn't going to be able to watch Tom and Jerry, and he promptly told me to go to my bed. If only I could have obeyed him! I needed a nap!

Other updates....

I took Claire to her one-month appointment last Friday, and she weighed 8 lbs. 8 oz. and measured 21.5 inches long. Still lighter than both the boys at birth with an extra half inch compared to their birth measurements. She's a skinny little peanut. She's growing just fine though, and the doctor didn't even mention her size as an issue at all. She had a lot of catching up to do after she lost nearly a pound in the hospital.

She's starting to lose the hair on the top of her head. We'll see if she loses the rest. She's gripping things pretty well and held her first toy today and waved it around all by herself for quite a few minutes. I can tell she's about ready to start smiling here in the next week or two. She's got these huge bright eyes when she gets excited, and today she was starting to move her mouth in the direction of a big fat grin... but it's not there quite yet.

Ladan is doing really well with school. Handwriting is not his favorite or best thing at all, but many of his lessons require quite a bit of writing practice. He's getting loads better, but we were both tired of spending so much time on this every day. So he does all the writing associated with his math every day. However, I decided to only do parts of the assignments in his phonics curriculum so that we could skip ahead to the parts where he's reading. Since he's already a reader, I felt like he wasn't being challenged in this way, was getting bored, and was getting a bit discouraged as well. According to my projections, it was going to take us through the end of October to get to read a book that he's already read on his own, which seemed crazy to me. So I'm going to rearrange the order of quite a few assignments in order to spread out the handwriting stuff and pull the reading stuff forward. It's working MUCH BETTER so far. I guess that's the cool thing about homeschooling... I can totally rearrange things to keep pressing ahead in areas where he's very strong and give him more time to work on the things where he needs more work.

I'd say that homeschooling is going very well so far. But there is not yet a pattern to our days. I'm so thankful that I didn't expect any kind of routine at this stage of Claire's life. I look forward to the day when things are just a little bit more predictable... and for now, I'm just fine with the fact that I may not get a whole lot done other than school, feeding my infant, playing with the kids, communicating with my husband, keeping the clothes and cloth diapers clean, washing dishes, buying groceries, preparing meals, paying bills, spending time with Redeemer folks, and reading the Word... oh, and sleeping occasionally.

Chet's been working like a mad man getting all manner of things prepared for when Redeemer starts having services every Sunday. We will finish up core team development by the end of October and begin weekly services on November 1. There is much to be done between now and then, but we have an excellent team, and things seem to be trucking along. While there's some work left to be done on our website, it is live now. Check it out at http://www.redeemerchurchcu.com when you get a second.

Exciting things are also happening with His Voice for Sudan, the ministry that my brother and Amber started several years ago!!!! Their blog is in transition, so they have two right now: http://www.sudanskids.blogspot.com and http://www.hisvoiceforsudan.blogspot.com.

Well, my bed is screaming my name, so I'm going to try to get there before my infant is screaming my name again.

Our Sweet Baby Girl--One Month

2009-09-10T00:32:00.008-04:00

First Days of School

2009-09-03T01:04:00.006-04:00

Ladan on the first day of kindergarten. We are homeschooling this year, and it's all an adventure. Ladan absolutely loves school! I'm so thankful!

Here are some photos of the boys on the first day of homeschool co-op, Sept. 3. They each have a class, and they both had a blast the first day! Ladan helped Gabe get his backpack on, which was super-cute. And I had the hardest time getting Gabe to stand away from Ladan to get individual photos. He just wanted to be next to his big brother!

Things I'm Thankful for Today

2009-08-16T21:42:00.005-04:00

Tiny baby bodies
The nap I got to take this afternoon
The fact that this is the easiest of the three c-section recoveries so far. I stopped taking the prescription pain medication on day 6 and have just been taking ibuprofen as needed since. Don't get me wrong. It's still not easy, but it's been so much better than the first two.
My husband. He's been so helpful, which is a huge blessing to me!
Chet's mom came to help us for 10 days!
Gabe is almost completely potty-trained and will even go when we're out somewhere strange.
Both the boys LOVE, LOVE, LOVE their baby sister! They take such good care of her!
I've been able to lay on my side for the last couple of days when I sleep (as opposed to only being able to lay on my back). This means that when the boys come downstairs in the mornings, they can lay by me on the couch for a few minutes.
I've lost almost 23 of the 28 pounds I gained... without doing anything except take care of our family and avoid a bunch of junk food. I do not necessarily expect that the rest will come off at the same rate or that my abs will be flat right away, but we'll see. It's not like I can exercise at this point. I'm still limiting myself to no more than two trips up and down the stairs each day, and we all know that two trips up and down the stairs is not exactly a good cardio workout. Speaking of cardio workouts, I was just telling Chet yesterday that I am so pumped that I should soon be able to walk briskly or even jog for longer distances again! I can't wait!
Our friends here are awesome! Their help getting things done before the baby came has helped so much now that she's here!
When Claire does that involuntary smiley thing that tiny babies do when they're just waking up or dozing off. She's so cute! I think it's the Lord's way of giving us the joy of seeing a little glimpse of what it's going to be like when they're smiling on purpose and even laughing!
Our neighbors blessed us with a bag of really awesome stuff for Claire tonight! Our power went out in a storm this afternoon, so we were all out on the front porches hanging out when they gave it to us. Linda (the wife) cried when she got to hold Claire. She's a grandma and a neonatal nurse, so she said she can't help it.
While we were out on the porch, the boys were running and splashing in the puddles of rain that blew up on the porch. I love watching them have so much fun in puddles. Usually I run with them, so Gabe said, "Come on, Mom! Run!" I explained that I couldn't run because my tummy hurts still. He replied, "Can you walk?" So I started walking, and he stood on the other side of the porch leaning over, clapping his hands, and saying, "Come on, Mom! Come on, Mom!" in his best encouraging voice. It was so funny!
Our laundry is on the second floor where our bedrooms are. At first I wasn't too sure that this was superior to having it on the first level. However, I can just barely make it up and down the stairs carrying my pillow and a few other miscellaneous items... clearly making it impossible to carry baskets of clothing up and down. Needless to say, it's great to have it all right there.
I finally get to have hot pink, lime green, orange, yellow, turqouise, and all manner of bright colors decorating a room!!!! It's not my own room, but it's a room in our home that doesn't have muted colors, and I LOVE IT! Anyone who knows me well knows that I thoroughly enjoy color and would like it everywhere. However, Chet prefers more muted shades (which I like okay, but I wouldn't choose them over bright colors)... and until we can afford new furniture and paint for our walls, we have a ton of beige everywhere in our house... but not in Claire's room. It makes me happy every time I walk past her door. I can't wait until she can use her room more!
There were quite a few things we needed from the grocery store last night. However, after a trip to the splash park and Campus Town to get ice cream on Friday and then swimming lessons and a visit to Target on Saturday morning, I wasn't exactly up for walking through the grocery store. So we went to the store as a family, and Claire and I both took our first ride around on one of those motorized scooter carts while Chet pushed the regular cart with the boys in it. It was lots of fun to go to the store together, and we actually got everything we needed without me doubling over in pain by the end of it! I'm always blessed when Chet and I can do something together as a team, and he absolutely hates going to the grocery store, so this was particularly fun for me!
They gave me an elastic binder to go around my mid-section when I was in the hospital, and it's amazing. It holds my muscles all together, and it helps keep things away from my incision. As I'm losing my baby belly pretty rapidly, it's starting to get a little bit less comfortable simply because my incision is right there next to it all the time, but it's still a DRAMATIC improvement over having my clothes hitting it all day. If any of you ever has a c-section, and they don't give you one of these in the hospital, you have to go out and buy one yourself (well, have someone do it for you). They carry them at Motherhood Maternity and Babies R Us for sure.
Cameras. I have so much fun taking photos of our family! I can't wait to post some of the recent photos I've taken of life around here. They're not all fabulous photography worthy of an award of any kind... but they will definitely be the type of photo that brings good memories in the future.
Claire is eating lots better, and I can tell she's filling out at least a little bit. She's still a sleepy little thing, which is very different than both the boys.
I just heard Chet go into the boys' room after the power was restored for the second time tonight. I'm pretty sure he was showing Ladan how to use the flashlight if it goes out again. As he was leaving the room, I heard Ladan say, "Okay! I can do that! I'll obey right away, Dad."

Well, there are many other things I'm thankful for today, but I'll stop with these for now. I'll try to post more photos soon.

Here She Is... Claire Ellise

2009-08-09T23:09:00.012-04:00

We are SO EXCITED to announce that the Lord has blessed us with a precious baby girl!

Claire Ellise was born August 6, 2009 at 10:02am.

She weighed 7 lb. 11 oz. and measured 20.5 inches in length.

She has tiny little features; dark blue eyes (we'll see if they change); long skinny arms, legs, fingers and toes; squishy little cheeks; a super-cute face; and two big brothers who ADORE her!

Here's the story....

We arrived at the hospital at 6am on Thursday. We were scheduled for 8am, but we had a slight delay because there was a woman who needed an emergency c-section ahead of us. I was that woman needing to bump someone else five years ago, so we didn't mind. It was nice to have the extra time, actually, because I had an allergic reaction to the antibiotic they gave me and needed some time to let the Benadryl take over. Here we are waiting.

Things were in good shape after they gave me the anesthesia and got me past the associated nausea and super-low blood pressure leading to cold sweats and lightheadedness. I know that those things are going to happen, so I warn them, and they have the stuff ready to remedy things and get me back to normal quickly. This photo was taken during the surgery. Kind of funny, huh?

And here is Miss Claire making her entry into the world! They invited Chet to look over the curtain when they had just her head out, but for some reason, he declined and waited until this moment! :) Seriously, I'm pretty sure I would have passed out on his behalf if he had actually looked over that curtain. Smart guy!

Ladan and Gabe were in good hands with Chet's mom and sister back at the house. They were very excited to meet their baby sister! Ladan was very quiet and reserved entering the room, because he knew what had just happened to me and that I'd be pretty sore. He crawled up into the bed with me very gently and asked if he could hold his baby sister. He is AMAZING with her! He holds her so gently, gives her kisses on her cheeks and forehead and tells her he loves her all the time. He will literally hold her for an hour, and he asks multiple times a day if he can sit with her. It's so great to see him protecting her and caring for her this way!

Gabe loves her too! He wants to give her hugs and kisses. He also enjoys messing up her hair and saying, "Crazy hair!" to her. He was thankful to hold this little dog that my mom sent for Claire. He took care of the dog while Ladan took care of Claire. It was really fun!

Here are some of Claire's visitors...

Aunt Megan, Keith Sparrow (Claire is the first baby Keith has held, and he was FANTASTIC with her!), and my mom (Stephanie)

Chet's mom (Glenna), and of course another one of Mommy and Ladan with Claire.

The sleeping girl. She loves to sleep, that's for sure!

We spent quite a bit of time like this in the room... me holding Claire with the boys at the foot of the bed eating a snack or watching a movie. In these pictures, they're watching Tom and Jerry for the first time ever. Ladan was belly laughing through much of it!

We were also blessed to have a helicopter pad right outside our window! The boys got to see helicopters lift off and land several times a day, which was great fun! As soon as Gabe would come into the room, he'd run to the window and exclaim, "I wanna' see a pretty cool helicopter!" Chet was at least as entertained by it as the boys were!

On our way home Sunday morning!

And here we are at home! The boys were sporting their "Big Brother" t-shirts that my mom sent them, and they were ready to greet their baby sister as soon as we arrived!

While we were in the hospital, Claire lost quite a bit of weight--10% of her original weight--but she was on the uphill climb by the time we left. We took her to the doctor today, and she had gained back another ounce. She isn't in any danger of jaundice, so that's great! And it seems like everything else has checked out okay.

While this c-section has been difficult just because of what it is, my recovery has been better than the other two for sure. There seem to be several reasons for this. I didn't have to labor like I did with Ladan, and Claire wasn't gripping my insides like Gabe was. They also gave me a binder to wrap around my mid-section in the hospital, and it is an amazing help! I didn't have anything like this with either of the boys, but I so wish I had! It really helps to keep things off my incision and holds my muscles in better position so that they're not constantly being strained all day. I'm very thankful for this band of elastic!

We are more than grateful for the extra help we've had! Chet's mom is here with us for a total of 10 days, which is a huge sacrifice for her at this point (though she would never ever make us feel badly about it). She's taking time away from work and from getting her own home back in order after the tornado that went through a few months ago. She's excellent help! After she goes, my mom and then my stepmom are coming to extend our help for an extra week and a half or so. Not everyone has this kind of help, and we are not taking it for granted!

Well, I'm off to try to get some sleep! It's a good thing I'm on pain medication that requires me to sleep. Otherwise, I'd probably be overdoing it right now!

(For some weird reason, I cannot get Blogger to follow directions when I return down to start a new paragraph... and I also have no energy left to continue trying just so it looks perfect... so thanks for bearing with me!)

The Last Five Months... In Photos

2009-08-04T22:13:00.029-04:00

OUR NEW HOME--MARCH 13

EASTER AT CHET'S GRANDPA KERMIT'S FARM--APRIL 12

THE GARDEN WE BUILT--APRIL 25

Phil and Jim, some Redeemer folks, came over to help us build it.

The finished product. Good work, men!

THE SLED DOUBLES AS A DIRT BOX, AND THEY LOVE IT--MAY 5

AT AN ILLINI BASEBALL GAME--MAY 8

CHET'S GRADUATION WEEKEND--LOUISVILLE--MAY 13-17

After four very busy years, Chet finished his Master of Divinity degree at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. The Bonuras are some of our super-great friends from Louisville, and they hosted us so we could go to the ceremony. What a great weekend!!!!

The almost-five-year-olds and their superhero capes!

The Daniels and Bonura men playing their frontyard football game...

Graduation day...

The pregnant mamas...

Evening story time with the dads...

Daniel and Ladan. Are they a great pair or what?

The Bonuras have the BEST yard for boys! These kids had a BLAST together!

Of course, the weekend wouldn't have been complete without some home repair projects for Joseph and Chet. Don't you love the look of concentration on their faces!?!

PIZZA!!!!!!--MAY 19

FUN IN THE BACKYARD POOL--MAY 20

The boys thought it was great fun to shoot me with their waterguns as I sat innocently reading my Bible! Needless to say it was a not-so-quiet quiet time!

GABE'S GRAND ENTRY AFTER NAPTIME ONE RANDOM DAY--MAY 26

LADAN'S 5th BIRTHDAY PARTY (A FEW DAYS EARLY)--JUNE 6

Balloon hat Keith made for Ladan.

The ridiculous fire... and a fireman to the rescue

Chet and Meghan, our neighbor, who has been a huge blessing to Ladan.

Ladan with his football cake made by Mommy and Kayla

Opening his football, uniform sets, and cleats...

We were so excited when we got this Mizzou set, because it features the number that our friend, Craig Heimburger, had when he played at MU. Super-fun!

STUFF GROWING IN OUR GARDEN--JUNE 9

PUTTING A SHELF TOGETHER WITH DADDY--JUNE 10

LADAN WITH HIS READING CURRICULUM AFTER HE FINISHED IT...

AND WITH THE FIRST BOOK HE READ ON HIS OWN (THE FOOT BOOK BY DR. SEUSS)--JUNE 12

FIRST DAY OF SWIMMING LESSONS AT THE YMCA--JUNE 13

LADAN'S FIRST EVER SUCCESSFUL DENTIST TRIP--JUNE 16

MY BIG BELLY AT 7 MONTHS AND ONE WEEK--JUNE 23

A DIAPER BAG I MADE (WHICH I ALSO TEND TO USE FOR NORMAL STUFF TOO)...

AND A NURSING COVER I MADE...

ONE OF THE SPLASH PARKS--JULY 12

MY BIG BELLY AT 8 MONTHS--JULY 17

THE BUTTERFLY RELEASE--JULY 26

We did a science "project" and grew butterflies from caterpillars in our home. It was really great! We started off with five caterpillars. All went into cocoons, but only four came out. And one butterfly died before we were able to release them. It was great for the boys to see all of these aspects of creation right in our home! They also had a really great time releasing the butterflies when it was time! They were Painted Lady butterflies.

Gabe was pretty sure that this butterfly wanted to eat a leaf.

There are a few other photos from the other camera that I need to download and add in a separate entry. Hopefully tomorrow!

Ladan's 5-Year Photos

2009-07-30T02:42:00.005-04:00

Well, I finally took Ladan out tonight to take some 5-year photos. I had to get out some new jeans for him... size 6 (slims cinched in about 6 or 7 buttons on each side of the adjustable waist, of course). He just turned 5, for Pete's sake! He's pretty much a giant and looks to me like he's about 9 in some of these photos. Here are a few.

(FYI--I'll be posting backlogged photos here in the next several days... really... unless I go into labor or something, which is HIGHLY unlikely.)

Decisions, Decisions: Vaccines and Homeschooling

2009-07-19T22:30:00.005-04:00

Well, I've had it on the radar to get caught up on photos and thoughts on here... and it hasn't happened yet. But I've had a few requests to write more about what we've decided regarding homeschooling and vaccines, so I'm going for it. I'll have to catch up on the other stuff later.

With regard to vaccines, our basic approach is to do most but not all of them and to do them in a bit of a different order than the normal pediatrician's routine. There are a couple of things that we've considered when approaching this issue:

1) We would prefer not to inject certain ingredients into our children, including cells from the remains of aborted fetuses, animal cells, and large amounts of metals and chemicals that can be harmful.
2) We would like for our children to have an opportunity to let their immune systems work for them when it's not necessarily a huge big deal for them to go through an illness.
3) We want to take care to consider the public health risk involved with NOT choosing certain vaccines, not only for us but for others who are higher risk in the community around us.

Based on these things, we've had to do a good deal of research. One of the most helpful resources we've used is The Vaccine Book by Dr. Robert Sears. It's fairly well-balanced and is easy to read, offering a host of additional resources for further research. After a bunch of research over the course of the last couple years, I think we've come up with a plan that leaves us feeling mostly comfortable.

We are planning to use Dr. Sears' adapted list of vaccines as a starting place (the one in his book that still gives the kids all their vaccines but adjusts the schedule of vaccines so as to avoid many harmful side effects). For example, he suggests waiting on the Hep B series (which starts in the hospital at birth for a baby) until age 2 1/2 UNLESS the mother, father or other close family member is a Hep B carrier. He never schedules more than two vaccines at a time, because the normal routine of sometimes four to six vaccines in combination is a whole lot for a kid's system to handle. And he delays some other things until later.

Using this adapted schedule as a base, we will take out the chicken pox vaccine for sure because it was developed from a cell line extracted from an aborted human fetus... and because we don't mind if our kids actually get chicken pox as kids and develop lifelong immunity that way. We will also almost certainly not give any girl we have the HPV vaccine for a variety of reasons.

I struggled with the MMR vaccine because the rubella strain used to manufacture the vaccine was taken from an aborted human fetus (they basically just keep using this cell line as it reproduces in a petri dish somewhere). There are also more chemicals in the vaccine than many others, and there is a long list of side effects. The main public health issue in our area is rubella in that it can cause some major birth defects if a pregnant woman is infected with the virus. While I'm rubella-immune (they do a test when you're pregnant to let you know), there are many people around who are not. In the end, we made a very difficult decision and determined that we'd give the kids the MMR vaccine, reasoning that it is definitely bothersome that the rubella component comes from an aborted fetus which is ridiculously awful but that it would seem even worse if one of our kids was a rubella carrier, passed it on to a pregnant woman, and caused some major birth defects or death to a baby who still has a chance to live. Not easy. I'm praying that the drug manufacturers will find another way to make this vaccine, that's for sure.

One great thing about The Vaccine Book is that Dr. Sears outlines the ingredient list in each vaccine produced by each drug company. For example, if there are two manufacturers of the same vaccine, one might produce the vaccine with animal products and the other might not. One might use more aluminum or formaldehyde than the other. You can know what you want and ask your pediatrician to order the one that is better for your child. This can be VERY helpful information.

So that's the short end of the vaccine discussion.

With regard to homeschooling, first of all, we've decided to go for it! After earning my degree in education and being trained to teach kids according to the "traditional" or "progressive" methods (the most common approaches in most public schools and MANY private schools), I wasn't completely satisfied with the way kids were being taught. After some extra research and investigation over the course of the last 8 years, I've become pretty committed to providing my kids with a classical education if at all possible. Please stop for a second and read the information at the link I provided if you don't know anything about classical education. The end result of classical education is that students can typically think more clearly and critically in a more organized fashion and have better tools for problem-solving later in life than students who are taught according to the methods used in most schools in modern America. In a public school, there may be honors courses designed around a classical model, but they are often still so disconnected from other subjects that the experience of these students is very different from those receiving a completely classical education.

That said, the classical model of education seems to stand out as the way to go. There are no classical schools in our area, so that wasn't even an option. So homeschooling, here we come! After a bunch of research and a lot of talking to more experienced homeschooling parents, we decided on the following curricula for Ladan's kindergarten year:

1) Veritas Press Phonics Museum. Since Ladan already knows how to read, we're doing the K-1 Combo Kit, speeding through the parts of the kindergarten portion that he knows but making sure to stop and work on the things that he hasn't mastered from that portion of the curriculum. And then we'll see how much of the Grade 1 curriculum he gets through by the end of the year. Maybe all of it, maybe not. It's GREAT because it includes a ton of history, art history, and art appreciation right in the content of the reading/handwriting lessons. For example, the letter flashcards show the capital letter, lowercase letter, and a piece of classic artwork to depict something that starts with the letter (i.e. a classic painting of apples for the letter "Aa"). So you get to talk about the piece of art, the time period, the style of art, and the artist if you want... and if you don't do all of that in detail, at least they're being exposed to great art while learning letters.

2) Saxon Math (Grade 1). Apparently, Saxon Math curriculum is designed so that most kids can typically start at a grade level above their official grade level if there are no issues requiring remedial help. I really like the way this curriculum is laid out. It's very easy to get organized and seems like it will be very easy to follow. And there are lots of fun activities using manipulatives that make it VERY exciting for Ladan. He has been asking for weeks when we can do a "real" math lesson!

3) Bible. We'll work through the Catechism and Scripture Memory Program that Ladan started at Clifton Baptist Church when we were still in Louisville (we're using this with our Redeemer Church kids here in Illinois as well), Chet will do some Bible lessons with him, and he'll probably help Ladan start creating a Bible timeline of sorts.

4) Science. We'll do just a few fun, totally random science experiments throughout the school year. For example, right now we're growing butterflies from caterpillars here in our home. We're observing the changes each day and recording them in a science journal. We'll also try to incorporate a few fun field trips throughout the year. Nothing too formal at all this year. We'll add more next year.

So that's the plan. We're not required in our state to school our kids until they're 7 years old, which means that I'm not required to abide by any rules regarding minimum number of days, etc. However, I've decided just to go ahead and do school for the full 176 days that will be required in the future. That way we can all practice getting into a routine while we're only doing a few subjects instead of waiting until we're doing 6 or more subjects and trying to go to school longer all at once.

Chet and I sat down over coffee a couple days ago and reviewed the school calendar I had roughly developed. We determined that we'll start school August 31 with just Bible and math. I'll still be fairly drugged and exhausted after my c-section by that point, but the math curriculum is so well laid out that Chet and I will work on it together with Ladan. That way, if there's ever a time during the school year when I'm struggling to get everything done or if another one of our kids needs more care, Chet will have been introduced to the math curriculum and can teach Ladan his lesson. I'm planning to take over math completely and add in the Phonics Museum curriculum starting September 7 or 8 if possible. This schedule should provide room in the school year for a couple of breaks and still allow us to finish our 176 school days somewhere around the beginning or middle of June.

Until we start the reading curriculum, I'll have Ladan read me a new book at least every other day to keep developing his skills. By the way, he's read at least eight books all by himself to date: The Foot Book, Green Eggs and Ham, Go, Dog. Go!, a few of the readers from his Phonics Museum set, and a couple others that I can't think of off-hand. Thankfully, he has a reading log, so I don't have to remember them all! :) We record the date he read the book, the title, the author, and his favorite part about the book. It's fun to hear what he says is his favorite part! He said his favorite part of Green Eggs and Ham was that "the guy thought he didn't like green eggs and ham, but then he tried something new, and he DID like it!" This has been very helpful for Ladan to consider as he's been asked to try some new things at meals lately. He sometimes thinks he's not going to like something, tries it, determines that he DOES like it... and then lets me know that he ALSO likes green eggs and ham. Who knows about that last part, but at least he's enjoying his reading and finding that it helps him in everyday life!

Hopefully that helps lay out the basics regarding why we're doing what we're doing in at least two areas of life. If anyone has additional ideas, please let us know.

Transformation

2009-06-26T18:18:00.003-04:00

Today has been an interesting day. We started off the day with no power, so the boys woke up very early due to the fact that their fans weren't blowing in their room and they were really warm. We've been potty training Gabe this week, and he's been getting better and better every day. He woke up with a dry diaper this morning, which was pretty exciting! He had just a couple of little accidents on his way to the potty, but it was just because he didn't make it in time. For the most part, everything has gone in the potty for the past two days. So that was really great!

I think, however, that the early rise left both of the boys feeling a bit cranky. Ladan in particular was talking back quite a bit and just kind of being rude in general. We had several discussions about it throughout the morning. However, by the time early afternoon rolled around, he was NOT responding well to anyone or anything. I asked him to go sit on my bed and wait for me to come talk to him. Chet was in our room working on church stuff (his office area is in our bedroom), so he would be the one to administer correction. But I had to tell him what happened. So I started recounting with Ladan the things I was noticing about the way he was handling situations. He was listening pretty intently.

He then said, "Mom, I want to say, 'Sorry.'" I let him know that he could definitely do that but that he would still have to have discipline. He responded, "But discipline is..." (he usually inserts the word "mean" in this spot). Before he could finish, I interjected that the Bible describes that we will discipline our children if we LOVE them and that it's not mean because we are responsible to God for training Ladan and teaching him. Here's how the rest of our dialogue went.

Ladan: "Because I need to be transformed."
Me: "What do you mean by that?"
Ladan: "I need to be transformed and change from a person who sins against God into a man who loves God and obeys God. So I have to have discipline."

And that's when Chet took over. He called Ladan to his lap, and Ladan went without an argument... almost as if he was somehow seeing the value of what we were saying even though he knew that what was coming wasn't going to be completely enjoyable. They talked for quite a few minutes before and after Ladan received his discipline. I don't know how their discussion went, but at the end of it all, Ladan promptly came down the stairs and gave me a big hug and said he was sorry for disobeying. He said, "I love you, Mom," and then walked over to play with some toys while I prepared our lunch. Back to life as usual.

Both boys are napping now with the hope that they'll wake up ready to interact with the world around them in a more reasonable fashion.

It's so great to hear the things that Ladan is saying these days! And I'm SO THANKFUL we don't have to send him to childcare all day, because it means that we're the ones who get to hear him say all these cool things. What a blessing this time is with our kids! It's hard some days for sure, and it definitely takes discipline on our parts to maintain any form of consistency. But the Lord is faithful to help us.

Just recently, one of our friends said that his dad talks about raising children and says, "We did the best we could. It's not like you guys came with an instruction manual." Our friend's response to that is to be thankful that his parents did their best... but he doesn't agree with the part about the instruction manual. He's right on! What a gift the Word of God is to us as parents!

Happy Birthday to Daniel Bonura!

2009-06-05T23:08:00.002-04:00

Ladan was pretty much hilarious tonight! He doesn't always take a nap, but he slept long and hard this afternoon, and as a result, he was SO FUN!

We decided to go ahead and attempt to bunk the boys' beds tonight to see how Gabe responds. My main concern with doing it right as he was learning to stay in his own bed was that it would be even harder for him to obey and that it would possibly be more dangerous for him. He's a daredevil, so I don't think this was overly cautious. Anyway, he's not perfect at staying in his bed all the time, but he's loads better than he was 10 weeks ago. So we went for it.

Ladan is SO EXCITED that he gets to sleep on the top bunk again! He had been sleeping on the top bunk in Louisville for quite a while, and he was ready to get back to it.

Well, after moving the beds around, vacuuming their room, and picking things up, it was pretty warm in there. So we opened the window. The screen from the boys' room had fallen out in a wind storm before we moved in and suffered a small tear in the process. So we haven't put it back up yet. Which means that we very rarely open the window at this point, and it's only for a few minutes while we're in there. This was actually the first time the boys were in the room while the window was open to even notice that they could stick their arms and heads out. Don't worry... we were standing right there.

Ladan had a blast hanging his head out the window. At one point he shouted, "This is fun to have a new home!!!" And then he started giving the "sound your horn" signal (the one you give truck drivers if you want them to sound their horns) and shouting, "Whoo, whoo!" to every car that drove by. And then it got better! Ladan's good friend, Daniel, turned five today. Ladan didn't have a chance to call him to tell him happy birthday, so he decided he'd scream it out the window. He was yelling, "DANIEL BONURA! WHERE ARE YOU? HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DANIEL BONURA!" Keep in mind that it was about 10pm, and my previously super-shy four-year-old son was hanging his head out the window yelling all of this at the top of his lungs. It was GREAT!

So, happy birthday Daniel! Hope you had a great day!

Claire Ellise

2009-05-29T23:11:00.006-04:00

Below is a copy of an e-mail I sent out to some folks tonight to provide an update on Baby Claire after today's ultrasound. When we had our first ultrasound in mid-April, the only "issue" was that she has an echogenic foci (described below). They were checking today to see if it was gone yet and just to check to see that everything's still in good order otherwise. So here's the update...

I am 28 weeks and 6 days pregnant today. Claire weighs 2 pounds 14 ounces, which is right about average. She has hair on her head (we'll see if she keeps that or if it falls out and refrains from growing back for a year and a half like her brothers' hair). She does still have the echogenic foci, which shows up as a tiny shiny fleck in her heart on the ultrasound. About 1% or less of babies who still have this during the second trimester end up having Down's syndrome, which is really the only possible connected condition to the echogenic foci. So far, there are no other indicators that she has Down's, and the doctor today didn't even mention it. When he said, "Her heart looks good," I asked him if the foci was gone (because I was pretty sure I saw it about 5 different times during the ultrasound). He said, "Oh, well, there is a note here that it's still present, but there's almost no chance that it will turn into anything. We'll just let the pediatrician know, and that's about it." So, of course, we're not making assumptions that she's perfectly healthy with absolutely nothing to think about, but there's really no reason to research anything further at this point. We'll see what happens when she comes out.

There is one other issue to consider.... She probably actually has a greater chance of being born with whiplash than Down's syndrome! Today during the ultrasound, the tech was trying to get a 3-D image of her face, and she kept turning her back on us. I pushed up on my belly from the underside three times, and what we saw on the screen was HILARIOUS! Her head was thrown back and forth three times just like she had just been through a car wreck and they were replaying it in slow motion over and over again. She looked like a crash test dummy! We all cracked up laughing! I wish we had it on video! Praise God for allowing these babies to grow in a safe environment where they're protected from crazy moms! :)

Anyway, she's growing well, everything looks normal (even the echogenic foci is often considered a "normal" condition in that it shows up fairly regularly in healthy babies), there's just the right amount of amniotic fluid in there with her which is a sign of a healthy baby, and she's moving around plenty! At one point, she yawned really big, which was pretty funny. I started thinking though. Isn't it crazy how God designs for babies to develop in this strange fluid, breathing it in, swallowing it, and moving around in it... and if they come out too early, they can't breathe air well and will die? And then, once they're done developing, something happens. They're born, and as soon as they come out, they need to be cleared of all the fluid immediately, because if they're not breathing air, they'll die. In an instant, their means of survival changes to something so completely opposite. It's just wild!

I've included a couple of the ultrasound photos. Her cord was floating in front of her face, so we couldn't get a complete 3-D shot of her face... but there's definitely enough that you can see her pretty well. Keep in mind, of course, that things are a little bit distorted because of the fluid she's living in and because she's still got a lot of skin to grow into, so she's not likely to actually come out with a wrinkled face and droopy cheeks!

I have a whole list of things that I'm wanting to write updates about, but for now I'm going to call it a night. I'm planning to wake up "early" (which for me will be about 7am) to go to a used homeschooling book sale tomorrow. I've identified the curriculum I'd like to use with Ladan this next year, and I'm hoping I can find a good deal on at least a couple of the items. We'll see how it goes!

Getting Settled

2009-03-20T23:48:00.003-04:00

Well, we made the big move last Friday. Before we left, I was able to have a couple of girls' night outings with some of my best friends, high school age and older. My friend Jessica and I got to pretend we were college students one night when we went to Denny's at 11pm and came home at about 2:30am. Of course, the fact that we were two pregnant ladies sitting in the corner booth probably gave away the fact that we're a little older than 22! :) Ladan and Gabe did get to play with some of their friends a couple of times for extended periods of time during their last week in Louisville. I was very thankful for that as well.

We had SO MANY friends help us pack, load up, and clean in Louisville, and we had plenty of help once we arrived in Champaign-Urbana. Talk about a relief! We rented from the sellers here for a week and closed today. So now we're officially homeowners... or at least the owners of a hefty loan that tells us the home will really be ours when we're finished paying the bank a ridiculous amount of money! As long as the government recognizes us as homeowners when it comes time for tax returns/credits, we'll take it! We're definitely thankful to have this part of the process all finished.

We've met several neighbors, some with kids and some without. There are LOADS of kids in our neighborhood, which will be a great way to find friends for the boys and a great way to meet the adults! The other folks who don't have kids all seem to have pretty great gardens and/or homemade composters, so as I attempt to plant a few things myself and compost yardwaste, I'll have a good reason to talk to them and get lots of tips. There are also people from many different countries and backgrounds living in our neighborhood. For example, Chet met the man who lives across the street. He's from Bangladesh. All of the houses are pretty close together, which makes for easy opportunities to meet people. There's also a small neighborhood park at the end of the block. Chet and the boys met a mom and her two children (9 and 3) the other day at the park. She's in the process of a divorce and is staying with her parents who live a couple blocks down our road. Our neighbor his a strong Christian who works for a mercy ministry in town as a financial advisor for people who are struggling to make ends meet. And the people behind us are a chemistry professor at the university and a lawyer. It's really great to be in a place where there are so many different people! We're excited to see who we run into once spring and summer really start in full force and people are outside even more than they are now!

I was able to get signed up for health insurance and scheduled my ultrasound and doctor appointment. Also this week, we hooked up the internet, started our trash and recycling services, met with some folks, unpacked a lot, took a couple trips to Menard's and other stores to purchase necessary household items, went to church at Twin City Bible Church to visit and see what's it's like (it's one of the churches in town with the largest student populations), talked to some neighbors, let the boys play outside some, and located various necessary businesses/stores around town. Chet applied for jobs at a few places and will hopefully hear more on Monday. We're really praying hard that it will work out for him to get a job at the Starbucks right by campus. We'll let you know more about that when we find out.

We moved Gabe into his big boy bed a couple of days ago. We started with naptime and had a pretty hilarious experience. The boys are sharing a bedroom now, and both have bed tents on top of their beds. We got Gabe all settled into his tent and closed the zippered parts. There is a flap door that is held on with just a couple of velcro strips, so he can get out if he wants to. And of course, he wanted to. He had to be corrected a couple of times for escaping. After about the second or third time, Chet decided to sit in the room with him to see if he was getting up. Since Gabe was in the tent, he had no idea Chet was still in the room. Chet said he popped out through the tent flap, looked up and saw Chet, and DOVE right back in through the tent opening. Of course, he had to be corrected again. At this point, he stayed in his bed, but he kept using his tiny little toes to lift the tent flap just high enough to look out and see if Chet was still there. Can you just imagine his tiny little face with his big eyes peeking out of that? Chet had a hard time not cracking up at him! He's a smart kid, that's for sure. After Chet warned him again not to try getting out again, he finally got it and went to sleep.

I had suspected that we'd deal with this sort of misbehavior from him repeatedly for days on end... but we've only had to correct him just a few times for getting out of his bed. It's been AWESOME! I'm so thankful! Whenever he gets out of his bed, his brother is right there to call for us through the monitor and tell on him. Not that I want to encourage tattling, but in this case, I don't complain when Ladan volunteers the information.

I thought the bed tent would help, but I wasn't sure it would be this great. It helps both the boys not to be distracted by one another while they're trying to go to sleep, and it gives Gabe a boundary, which is very helpful. I think these tents are probably the smartest Christmas gifts we've bought the boys so far! The boys love them, they're practical, and they preserve our parental sanity. Perfect!

At some point during the first or second day here, I overheard Ladan talking to Chet. It went something like this:

Ladan: "Dad, this is our house! We get to live here!"
Chet: "That's right, Buddy. This is our house."
Ladan: "We have soft floors here!" (Falls down on the floor on purpose, which he would never do on harder floors for fear of hurting himself) "Look, Dad, we have soft floors!" (Stands up clapping) "I'm clapping because I'm so happy!"

At various points he's wanted to move back to Louisville, and then sometimes he really enjoys our new home. When he talks about these things, we try to explain that he'll likely have these different feelings for a little while. He's very anxious for his friends to come to town. He keeps asking when Maddie, Asa, Harper and Addison are coming to our house. He doesn't really understand the timeline very well, and since there is no official timeline for the other families to arrive here, I can't explain it very well either. He's also regularly talking about his other friends from Louisville telling me about things he remembers and things he enjoyed with them. There are some boys his age just a few houses up the street who we met the other day, which will help but won't take the place of his friends.

Honestly, I am so thankful that Ladan misses his friends. A year and a half ago he wasn't super close to his friends and was really just as content to play by himself. I think it's a great sign that he's opening himself up a bit and is loving people around him enough to care when one or the other is not around anymore. It also gives me great confidence that he can meet good friends here.

Finally, our temporary housemate, Kayla, will move in tomorrow. We have her room all cleaned out for her. I have a few other things I'd like to get in order before she gets here, but we'll see how that shakes out. The biggest things are done. We're excited that she's going to be able to stay with us for a while as she transitions as well.

I'm sure I'm missing a million things, but that's always the case. I'll try to upload some photos as soon as I locate the card reader. We have much to be thankful for, particularly for those of you who have helped us in practical/physical ways and for those of you who are praying for us!

Man vs. Woman -- No One Wins In This Competition

2009-03-05T15:03:00.005-05:00

I was just sitting down to take a quick break from packing, and I thought I'd check my e-mail. I get the daily feed from the Desiring God blog, a ministry of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, MN. One of today's entries titled "Over My Dead Body, Son" was written by John Piper. In response to the fact that a girl is going to the MN state wrestling championship for the first time, Piper provides an excellent call to those of us parenting boys (and particularly to the dads of boys) to help our sons think and act in a God-honoring fashion, specifically in the sports arena. After all, it can be a training ground for all of life. Here are a couple of excerpts, but you MUST check out the entire entry here:

"Come on, dads, have some courage. Just say, 'Over my dead body are you going to wrestle a girl.' Of course, they will call you prudish. But everything in you knows better.... Give your sons a bigger nobler vision of what it is to be a man. Men don't fight against women. They fight for women....

... This is not about courageous commitment to equality; it's about wimpy fear of criticism for doing what our hearts know is right.

... we should raise sons to think of themselves as protectors. Tell them they should lay their lives down to protect girls. Help them know that God designed them to grow up to be a picture of Jesus in their marriage. Nurture the instinct of a boy to fight for girls not against them."

For us, this training has started at the toddler stage. The boys are simply not allowed to wrestle or tackle girls. And even when they play football with me, we're helping them learn the difference between playing gently with Mommy and getting to go all out with Daddy. When we wrestle or tackle, they know they need to be gentle because I'm a girl... and because they're protecting the tiny baby growing inside me. And even then, we tell them over and over again that they cannot for any reason tackle or wrestle with another girl. Hopefully it sticks.

When I was in high school, there was a girl wrestler at one of the other schools in our district... and she was really good! I can't remember if she made it state, but she made it very far, that's for sure. Piper is definitely right to talk about how we can train our boys to care for and protect girls, but as a female myself, I think there is also something to our role in not trying to defeat the men around us. Talk about setting these guys up for total humiliation! Any guy who got beat by this girl was completely embarrassed to even walk through the halls of his school.

As women, there will be plenty of "manly" things at which we may excel... but it doesn't mean that we have to exercise all of those gifts in a competitive way. After all, if we do this, we're in danger of squashing the God-given desire of the men around us to love and cherish us, to honor and protect us. OF COURSE this does not mean that we are incapable of taking care of ourselves sometimes or that we have nothing to contribute to the world around us or that we can NEVER play a game of basketball or soccer against men/boys.

However, there is a certain way to handle ourselves as we enjoy these activities without crushing the men around us. For example, before my c-sections, I used to be able to hold Chet in my arms (under his back and legs) and swing him in circles. I could have flung him across the room I guess, but that wasn't the point. It was just fun, and we both thought it was fairly hilarious seeing as how he was at least 80 pounds heavier and 7 inches taller than me. I would have crossed the line if I had swung him around, flopped him down on the ground, pinned him to the floor, stood over him shouting in victory, and then told all my friends and the newspaper about how weak my husband was compared to me. Visualizing that picture makes me laugh in one sense because it's so ridiculous. But in reality, if I was actually capable of doing this and really carried it through with a heart to defeat this man, can you imagine what that would do to destroy our relationship and his ability to adopt his God-given role as leader of our home?

I definitely think it is fair to say that a woman should never try to wrestle or box or otherwise beat up a man with a heart of competition in any situation outside of protecting herself against an attacker. So, parents of girls, I guess that's my encouragement to you. Don't let your daughters manhandle the guys around them. Help them learn to respect and honor men, and help them learn to receive love and care from the men around them. This is honoring to the God who created us, and it is a real picture of the interaction between Christ and His bride, the church.

Now, back to packing!

Transition Time

2009-02-27T00:23:00.002-05:00

We're still waiting to hear from our lender if our closing date on the new house is March 13, but so far as the realtor knows, that's what we're still shooting for. So we've reserved the truck, and we'll just change it if we have to. I'll be thankful to know for sure what we're looking at as a closing date... and at the same time, part of me will want to have a heart attack because it's all coming up already! :)

Saturday night some of our good friends are having a going away party for us and the Prestons. It's a little bit strange to think about the fact that, in just a few weeks, we won't be seeing all these people every week or more. There are SO MANY people we will miss terribly! While it's very sad, on a different level, the fact that we literally have hundreds of friends with whom we've connected in less than four years is an AMAZING blessing from the Lord! I cannot even imagine what our lives would have been like without our church family here! There is also a certain level of comfort that comes from knowing that our time on earth is short compared to the eternity we get to spend in heaven with these brothers and sisters in Christ!

Quite honestly, I think I would be crying every day if I wasn't so sure that we are indeed following the Lord's call on our lives and if we didn't have such a great team to labor and share life with as we plant this church.

Ladan has started clinging to his friends even more over the last few weeks. He does well with transition in most cases, but he's definitely going to miss his friends and his teachers at church. It's sad for me to see him have to leave his friends. The great thing is that he will likely be the one telling me that everything is okay! I would like to try as hard as I can to get the boys together with at least a few of their friends for a fun play time before we go... a time when it's focused on THEM having fun (as opposed to them having to be "quiet and controlled" while the adults get to have fun). Now we just need to pray for a decent weather day so we can give them some room to run!

As I've been packing and sorting through things, I've gotten rid of some of the boys' things. Before I get rid of each item, I let Ladan know what I'm doing and why we're getting rid of that particular item. Today, I was throwing away this random project he made one day, and when I told him what I was doing, he asked what was wrong with it. He asked if it was dirty. I told him it wasn't dirty but that we just needed to get rid of it. He suggested that I get rid of part and save the other part. I explained that it wasn't really going to work that way, and he quickly and happily agreed, "Oh, well, that's fine. Just throw it in the trash." I mean, seriously, he's awesome! It's like he just appreciates knowing what's going on and why, and that's all he needs. I'm not taking it for granted, that's for sure! He is LOVING the process of packing and is a great help to me! He brings me boxes, hands me things that are out of my reach to put in the boxes, gets me the tape/marker, and gives me a high five or a huge hug every time we get another box packed and closed.

Gabe has been really great too. He is clearly addicted to the movie, Cars. I know my two-year-old should not be addicted to a movie, but if you were moving and could see the way his face lights up every single time he gets to see it, you might not argue about it too much either. He has memorized many parts of the movie and recites them before they're coming up. He also plays with his cars at other times of the day and acts out scenes from the movie. Speaking of reciting movie lines, one of his favorite things to do is recite the entire Ring of Fire scene from Finding Nemo with Chet. It's hilarious, and I MUST get it on video!

When he wakes up in the morning, he plays quietly in his bed for a few minutes. As soon as I open the door, he jumps up and down in his bed and screams, "Mom!" Then immediately says, "Change diaper." While we're working on that, he says, "I wanna eat oh-mee-oh an miwk" (oatmeal and milk). And while we're working on getting that ready, he says with great excitement, "I wanna watch a voovie" (movie). He's still learning what it means when I say that we can do that later. As soon as he hears me say "We can do that...", he starts cheering and jumping up and down. And then when he's sitting there eating and I'm still not turning on the movie, he's emotionally destroyed and starts crying. Thankfully he gets over it quickly. I'm trying to balance being patient--considering that he's still learning the meaning of somewhat abstract concepts--with training him not to argue and complain when he doesn't get what he wants.

He has started saying, "I wuw [love] you, Mom!" more often and has been giving the best hugs lately. He squeezes his arms around me and pats me on the back. He's a cutie, that's for sure! These kids are fantastic!

My belly is growing at a much faster rate than it did with the previous two, but I'm gaining weight a bit more slowly. I ordered a new pair of maternity yoga pants when they were on sale last week, and they came the other day. I'm fairly certain that I'll be living in these pants for the next few months. They're AWESOME!

Chet and I took a break the other night to watch Fireproof. It was really an excellent movie--very encouraging! The bonus features were definitely worth watching too.

How's that for another random assortment of thoughts and updates? I'm sure my posts will resemble this pattern for the next little bit.

Short Snip-its of Life

2009-02-21T01:18:00.005-05:00

Okay, over the last few weeks, I have had about a million random thoughts, and quite a few things have happened. Here is an effort to bring you up to speed without taking an hour to get it all down. This list will be in no particular order of events or thoughts, because that's not how my brain is operating right now. So here's a glimpse into my head...

We are buying a house in Champaign-Urbana, IL so we can move hopefully within the next several weeks.

There's a lot to do in the next several weeks.

I have a hard time considering leaving some of my best friends in the whole world behind. But I'm thankful for the phone and internet and cars that get good gas mileage.

I'm going to miss taking long showers and not running out of hot water ever. I think that's the only thing I can think of right now that I'll miss about this apartment in particular.

I'm excited that the only footsteps I'll hear overhead are from people I have let into my own home.

I'm also excited that I won't have to hear the same song being played repeatedly (did I say REPEATEDLY?) on another person's piano at strange hours when it's not very convenient.

I'm looking forward to being in a place where the ground is flat enough that I can see the sunset on a more regular basis.

I'm going to miss going to the river and just sitting there to collect my thoughts. I'm sure there will be some other place I can find to do this kind of activity.

My belly is becoming larger by the day! I was hoping to hold off on getting the maternity clothes out of storage before we move, but I'm thinking it's not going to be possible. I am thankful I can still wear my regular jeans (not even my size larger regular jeans), but I'm thinking that's going to end very quickly.

It's going to be great to have Chet home at night and awake during the day. However, it's going to be a bit of a transition for me not to have my couple of hours every night when the boys are asleep and he's gone at work to get my own stuff done in peace and quiet.

Times like moving make me miss my dad more than normal. He helped me/us move several times. He was a workhorse and would get the job done well and efficiently. He never got mad at me for doing something that didn't make sense (like putting a box down right in the middle of the walking path), but he did make plenty of jokes about it! When I asked him to do something, he'd always say in his monotone voice, "Yes, dear," and tried to communicate to Chet that this was a helpful thing to say. I wish my dad could help us move into our first house and that he could see the boys get really excited about their new basement, back yard, and bedroom. I wish he had been able to meet the boys in the first place. He'd be really excited for us, I'm sure... that is, if "excited" is the right word to describe my dad at any point! The Lord knows best. I think Dad would for sure be proud to know that we used the money he left us to get through seminary and that we're starting a new adventure without any debt (aside from that massive home loan we're taking on, anyway).

I finished a book called Always Too Soon to Quit by Nancy Bramlett last week. It was good. It was also nice to finish a book.

I need some time to shape my eyebrows. I feel like they're taking over my forehead. I'm thankful I don't have a unibrow, or I'd be in trouble.

I love my family. I'm really proud of Chet. Ladan is getting huge (he's grown another 2 inches and gained 5 pounds in the last few months) and is so smart and thoughtful. Gabe is still tiny, and I'll be glad when his cuteness factor wears off a little bit more so I'm not constantly second-guessing myself when I'm giving him direction or training him.

I'm very THANKFUL that Amber (my sister-in-law) learned that kids like Titus (my nephew) and Gabe who are super-active often have skin issues because their bodies use up all of their vitamins when they're running around and they have nothing left for basic health. They apparently also need extra omega-3's. So we put Gabe on an immune booster and an omega-3 supplement on top of his Flintstones, and within 2 weeks, ALL of his eczema and weird wart things were TOTALLY gone!

Gabe then got a bacterial skin infection somehow. He had to be put on his first antibiotic (well, if we wanted him to be able to be around other kids instead of stuck at home for 2-3 weeks). It's been 3 weeks, and it's almost all completely faded. Within the next week, he should be back to that baby-soft skin kids are supposed to have... as opposed to alligator- or snake-like skin.

I get very irritated that the Sports Illustrated swim suit issue is displayed at the check-out counter without the paper "modesty" cover it used to have. For the next month at least, please beware. It's everywhere! And it's not at all helpful for any person to see it.

Thanks to Judy, I got my chocolate-covered strawberries last weekend!!!!! Excellent treat!

We had a great time serving dinner at the Ronald McDonald House with our small group a couple weeks ago. If you've never done it, you should give it a shot. If you have done it, you should do it again. Good times!

I don't really like that my dreams seem to get crazier and more vivid when I'm pregnant. I could really do without that. It kind of freaks me out.

I've had fun figuring and refiguring our finances during the last few months. Excel spreadsheets are my friend. (FYI--I know that last sentence isn't grammatically correct.)

I've had the incredible urge to ride in some sort of topless vehicle (convertible, jeep, whatever) with the radio turned up... singing loudly with my friends. Monster ballads would be fun!

For some strange reason, I kind of want to watch the Oscars this year... even though I honestly haven't even heard of at least 60% of the movies, and I think I've only seen two of them on the entire list of nominated films. And I probably would get annoyed with it anyway. I just always think it's fun to see someone be recognized for hard work, especially work that I am not cut out for at all.

I'm thankful for the group of people who is committed to our church plant in Illinois. So far we have 12 adults and 8 kids (soon to be 10 kids). It seems like we'll be a good team!

I'm 15 weeks pregnant and feel MUCH better now that I'm out of my first trimester. My gall bladder is even behaving. Sure makes moving and doing all of these other things more reasonable!

This is nowhere near a million thoughts, but you can get a picture of life around here for the last little bit. We'll keep you posted!

"Amen" to "Jump Snacks"

2009-01-30T01:01:00.004-05:00

We had a super-cheap and easy dinner tonight... pancakes. That's all we had. It's great, because the boys would eat pancakes every day if they could, so it's always a treat! Tonight, we sat down to eat our pancakes, and here's how our conversation went:

Ladan: "Yay! We get to eat pancakes!"
Me: "Yep. We love pancakes!"
Gabe: "AMEN!"

Hilarious.

Later, the boys took turns taking showers, another one of their favorite activities. When Ladan was finished with his shower he asked if he could have a snack. I said, "Maybe you can have some applesauce." He replied, "No, I don't think I want that right now." I'm thinking at this point that he's going to ask for some fruit snacks or something, so I say, "Well, you can't have any junk food right now. You have to eat a healthy snack." He says, "I'm just hoping for Life cereal. That's not a jump snack."

On Sunday, he also came home after church and told us about how the soldiers put "horns" in Jesus' head. He was easily corrected, but it was very cute because he was speaking so confidently about what he knew.

I love it when my kids say funny things!

A Long Overdue Update

2009-01-20T14:19:00.004-05:00

Well, a lot has happened in the last few weeks! We went to Missouri for 10 days to do our Christmas marathon of visiting family. The boys started the trip sick with colds and ended it sick with the flu. But we had a great time visiting with everyone and were able to see most of our family members and even some friends, which was great!

While we were gone, Megan (Chet's sister) helped me identify that the unusual symptoms I was having were likely related to gall bladder problems. So when I got home, I started researching in my Smart Medicine for Healthier Living book and found several natural remedies. Since I'm in the first trimester of pregnancy, the only one that my doctor wants me to try is the olive oil and lemon juice combo. The book recommended 3 tbsp. of olive oil mixed with the juice of one lemon, which is to be ingested right before bed and then again in the morning before breakfast. I did this for a couple of days...

and then I got the stomach bug that the boys had! Needless to say, I didn't attempt to drink olive oil and lemon juice at this point! In two days of having the flu I lost 4 or 5 pounds and was not in good shape. My gall bladder did feel better because I was eating absolutely no fat (or much of anything for that matter), but as soon as I ate a slice of cheese when I was better, the gall bladder problems came back.

I went to the doctor today for my first OB appointment, and we talked some about the gall bladder issues. She's ordered an ultrasound of my gall bladder, and we'll decide what to do from there. When I came home a friend had sent me directions for a different (more intense) version of the olive oil and lemon juice cleanse. So I'll run that by the doctor to see if I can try it before the ultrasound or if she'd rather I wait until after. I'm really hoping it works! I'm not exactly all that interested in having an unnecessary surgery, particularly if something like olive oil and lemon juice can take care of it.

On a more exciting note, there was a 5-day discrepancy between when the paper dating wheel they use in the doctor's office said I conceived and when my temperature changed (signifying ovulation if you don't know anything about the fertility awareness method of charting). The doctor likes to do c-sections one week early, and so the 5-day difference could be big one way or the other. In order to determine my exact due date, she had me have an early ultrasound during today's visit.

According to the ultrasound, I am exactly 10 weeks and 2 days pregnant, which means my due date is August 15, 2009. The baby was moving around like crazy. It has only one head with developing facial features and has two arms, two legs, tiny little fingers and tiny little toes. There is a very strong heartbeat racing along at 169 beats per minute. They say faster heartrates can indicate that it's a girl, but I'm not counting my chickens, because Ladan and Gabe both had fairly high heartrates as well.

As the ultrasound tech was trying to get around my uterus to see my ovaries, I was watching the baby jumping all around doing something like jumping jacks. I said, "Can you even believe that people throw these babies in the trash can like it's nothing?" She said, "I have never been an ultrasound tech who is pro-abortion. I just look at these tiny little bodies and how early their hearts beat and everything starts developing and have no idea how someone can discard them as nothing important." Seriously. This is why it is so great when crisis pregnancy centers can have ultrasound machines right in their offices.

I was bummed that Chet didn't get to see it (he's sitting in a philosophy class all week), but he'll for sure get to see the later one, which will be even more fun!

With regard to our move to Champaign, Chet's been working HARD to get things in order. Our good friends, Logan and Allison Preston, and their three children are making the move with us. There may be others who decide to go as well, which would be awesome! There are already 5 people in Champaign who are committed to the church, and there may be more before we even arrive... thanks to Jim Smith, our good friend there who is working from that end. Chet is applying for jobs, and we'll start talking with lenders to determine if we'll be able to buy a home at this point. We still have enough in savings, but since our future income sources seem a little bit all over the place, they may require that we get there and get established a bit before buying. We'll see how it shakes out. Anyway, once Chet gets a job and we find a place to live, we'll make the move. It's a bit of a whirlwind, that's for sure!

I'll end with a little story. The other night during small group, one of the high school girls was watching the kids. Apparently, Ladan had a very hard time obeying and was openly defiant several times. She explained the situation to me, so before I left to take her home, I told Chet that Ladan would have to have discipline when they got home. Chet took care of that, and I was putting Ladan to bed a while later. I talked to him for a few minutes about how it made me sad to hear that he had disobeyed Cali and had treated her and the other kids poorly. I reminded him that this is sin and that it is what separates us from God. I reminded him that this is why we need Jesus, to save us from our sins.

After that quick talk, we moved on to our story. We just happened to be on the story of Zaccheus in his Jesus Storybook Bible. The story talks about how Zaccheus didn't have any friends because he was stealing from people. This was disobeying God, and he was a sinner. Jesus came along and rescued Zaccheus from his sinning. He forgave Zaccheus and gave Zaccheus a new heart. Zaccheus wanted to obey God after that.

We prayed after the story. Ladan hasn't wanted to pray out loud for a little while for some reason. He likes to just close his eyes and listen to us pray. But this time, as I was thanking God for sending Jesus to save us, he interjected, "Thank you, God, for saving me from my sinning." We went on to pray that God would help Ladan understand what Jesus did for him when He died and rose again and that God would help Ladan believe and trust in Him and want to obey and love others well. I was so thankful that he was owning his sin and that he is able to verbalize that he needs to be rescued from it. The Lord is working in his little heart!

Oh, one more thing. You'll never believe it....

CHET HAS A FACEBOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Family Photos

2008-12-29T15:54:00.011-05:00

Well, I've been really exhausted and nauseous lately, so I haven't done as well as keeping up as I thought I would after the semester was over.

A couple of weeks ago we had a friend meet us to snap some photos of our family. It was a FREEZING cold day, so despite our three or four layers of clothing, Gabe had tears streaming down his face the entire time... not because he was crying, but just because it was so windy and cold. That means that he didn't smile more than once the entire time! The good thing is that, because it was so cold, he didn't try to run around! He wanted to stay as close to us as possible! And Ladan made some really funny faces, so without further ado, here's your entertainment...

Can Anybody Figure This Out?

2008-12-11T22:12:00.006-05:00

Do these provide any clarity?

If that's not enough, how about this?

August 18, 2009.

Hairy Arms, Burping Bottoms and Other Fun Stories

2008-12-07T14:24:00.005-05:00

Here are a few funny stories from recent days...

One day Ladan was trying to open something that was pretty hard to turn. He said, "Wow, Mom. This is really tough to open." He looked down again at it and said with determination, "Well, I do have hair on my arms, so I must be strong enough to open it." He gave it another try and got it opened... then yelled, "Aaaaahhhhhhh!!!!! I did it!!!" FYI--Ladan has a few clear pieces of hair on his arm that can't be more than 1/8 inch in length. Nevertheless, it is there, and apparently it makes him strong like Daddy.

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Last weekend I was watching the MU football game with Ladan. They lost. I told Ladan what happened, and he said, "Well, I guess they'll praise Him." Have you seen Facing the Giants? There is a line in the movie where the coach tells the team that if they win, they'll praise Him [God], and if they lose, they'll praise Him. When Chet came home, Ladan told him that the Missouri Tigers lost and were praising God. Let's hope they were!

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Just yesterday he woke up from his nap and was playing with Gabe. He accidentally tooted. He announced, "Whoops. I just tooted." I asked him if he needed to go to the bathroom. He responded, "No. It's kind of strange. It's almost like my bottom just burped." Nice observation. I replied, "Yes, that's pretty much exactly what it's like. And yes, it is kind of strange."

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Our neighbors are moving back to California and are leaving town tomorrow morning. We're so sad to see them go. I don't think I'll ever take for granted the days we've had with them right next door. Over the course of the last few days, their two little girls have been playing at our house a lot so Glen and Jessica can pack. Ladan and Hannah (who will be 3 in February) have been playing a lot of house. Ladan has a small tent set up in his room right now. It's a 3x3 foot tent with mesh walls so you can look in easily. They have the kid-sized lawn chairs set up inside the tent. Many times over the course of these days, Ladan and Hannah have gone into their house to sit together. It's really funny because they just sit there for up to 15 minutes at a time just talking and doing nothing else. It's like they're an old couple just chilling out on the screened-in porch chatting the day away.

They have taken their "kid" (a small snowman made out of a tube sock) to school. Hannah sits on the little riding toy holding the "kid", and Ladan pushes them to school. They drop the kid off, and then come back down the hallway to do something else for a while. Inevitably, they remember their kid and go back to get her from school.

At one point, Gabe tried to walk into the tent while Hannah and Ladan were sitting in their chairs. Hannah said, "No, Gabe. You can't come in the house right now, son." Awesome!

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We put our Christmas tree up after we ate our Thanksgiving dinner. Ladan has been so excited about it and keeps shouting out, "It's Christmas in our house!" He tells me regularly that he just loves Christmas and is so glad that it's Christmas in our house.

Amber, my sister-in-law, made us a set of ornaments last year that have different names of Jesus on them. Each one has a name that Scripture uses to refer to Jesus as well as the Scripture reference where we can read about it. There are 25 of them, so we do one each day, reading the scripture and talking about what it means when we refer to Jesus as ___________. Ladan has been having fun trying to read the names of Jesus on the ornaments. He gets some of them right off, and some (like "The One Mediator") are a bit more challenging.

One of the ornaments reads "Man from Heaven". It was the first one we did. When Ladan woke up the next day and came to the tree to try to read it, he said, "Man... (insert long pause) who goes to college." I helped him figure it out and he now gets it every time, but I thought his original version was pretty great!

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Gabe has been pretty funny lately too. He's starting to use all kind of fun phrases. Today I was wiping the oatmeal off his chin, and he said, "Oh my goodness. I'm messy."

When he does something wrong to Ladan, he says, "Foddy, Nanan" (Sorry, Ladan).

His favorite game is to wait for someone to get up from his/her seat, RUN over, climb into the vacated seat, and yell, "You get out of my seat!" This game NEVER gets old for Gabe and is a constant source of entertainment for him.

We got the following message from one of Gabe's Sunday School teachers a few weeks ago:

"... one of the parents asked us if we were teaching the kids to kneel or bow down when we pray...if you have noticed your kids wanting to do this when you pray at home it is not because we have taught them to do this. Although, at some point one of the kids just decided to lay face down when we started to pray and the power of influence on kids is I guess pretty big, because when we pray in Sunday school, most of the kids will now lay face down. So if you are wondering what your child is doing, that's the explanation!"
Can you even imagine a room full of two-year-olds laying face-down on the ground during prayer time? I so wish I could see it!

Well, that's all for now! Chet finished his classes for the semester, so I'll try to get better at posting more regularly again. Please be praying for us as we make all kinds of decisions in the next little while!

The Pot Pie Recipe

2008-11-20T00:01:00.002-05:00

Here it is!

Ingredients:
14 oz chicken broth
1/2 cup water, and another 1/3 cup water
4 medium carrots, thinly sliced (about 1 1/2 cups)
3 medium red potatoes, scrubbed and diced (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups quartered medium mushrooms (I don't use these)
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 cup frozen peas
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 refrigerated unbaked piecrusts (for 9-inch pie)
2 1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. (If you use a glass or dark metal pie pan, may need to decrease heat to 400 degrees)

2. Combine broth, 4 oz. water, carrots and potatoes in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes.

3. Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add mushrooms (optional) and onion; saute until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in broth mixture and peas.

4. Whisk remaining 1/3 cup water into the flour until smooth. Then whisk it into vegetable mixture. Increase heat to medium-high; bring to a boil.

5. Grease pie pan and line it with one of the pie crusts.

6. Stir chicken into the vegetable mix. Then transfer it all into the baking dish. Just heap it all in there. It doesn't need to lay flat.

7. Lay the second pie crust over the top. The edges of the top crust should overlap the lower crust. Tuck it around the top of the bottom crust (inside the pan) and pinch it around the edges... so that it creates a seal around the filling.

8. Cut some fun or pretty shape out of the top using a knife or cookie cutter.

9. Bake until filling is bubbly and crust is browned, about 20 minutes.

*You may want to add salt and pepper, but I tend to just allow each person to doctor his/her own food.

I don't have the photo on this computer, but if you want to see what it's supposed to look like, click here.

(FYI--I got the basic idea from a sample recipe my grandma gave me from Easy to Bake, Easy to Make and made several changes.)