January 14, 2007 - Another day, another word.

Well, it is time for another blog. The weather has been frightfully cold around our place and since only God knows where our winter jackets, hats, mitts and such are, we are trapped in the house. Everyone is getting bored out of their minds and on each other’s last nerves. Silas is miserable while teething. He has discovered that he can scream as well and graces our ears with the melodious sounds of which I wish only dogs could hear. He knows the word no and if he feels like being non-compliant after being told such a command, he yanks on hair, throws his pacifier, or whacks the spoon full of food (which ever object was being referred to with said “NO!”) Tomorrow he goes to see the pediatrician and we will hold our breath with excitement about his weight gain. We are now using size 3 diapers so I know that he must be growing. It is just so hard to tell when I see him all day everyday and it will be nice to have some confirmation.

Speaking of growing, our 5 year old, Jerusha, reached up to the cupboard and while on tipee toe got a glass from the shelf, a feat that when we moved in on Nov. 1 still required a stool. And the clothes I bought her the day after Thanksgiving? She looks like she is waiting for a flood. My goodness where did my baby grow?! (Pun intended) She is awfully lonely now that the older two have started school and I’ve been looking for some sort of . . . I don’t know. Maybe a playgroup or something for her to look forward to once or twice a week would be nice.

Savannah, nine, continues to amaze everyone around her with her amazing abilities. Her new teacher told us about a program they have to encourage reading. After so many books per month, the kids get a coupon for a personal pan pizza. Savannah received her coupon for this month after less than one week of school. She is absolutely enthralled with her new sewing machine as well and is well on her way to being a fabulous designer seamstress. Perhaps she’ll be famous before her tenth birthday. . . You never know!

Micah, twelve, is loving his new teacher who is excited about history and sports. Since these are of great interest to Micah this teacher’s excitement was to us, the biggest selling point for the school. Micah likes history so much, and the civil war era in particular. He actually gets to go on a five day civil war camp trip with the Young Marines this summer. They will go to Gettysburg and get to see all the places we studied about when we were homeschooling (thank-you Sonlight curriculum!). We have discovered that he is also quite the salesman. He is in second place for selling the most entertainment/coupon books in the unit to raise money for the Young Marines.

Albert is still working endless hours, but it is getting better with the help we’ve hired. Taking care of the Adult Foster Home is extremely time consuming and we don’t have time to do much else. We need one more person to work one day a week and then we should be okay.

We are remodeling the three bedrooms in the addition part of the house (fixing drywall issues, texture to hide the unevenness of the walls, paint, new floor, and new fixtures) and it has been crazy around here. My brother starts a major remodel on the master bath in a couple weeks and I can’t wait to crawl into the new spa tub with Silas. His tub so far has been the sink and it requires a meticulous scouring beforehand to get it ready for him and then a thorough sopping up afterward. He likes to take a bath so much that when I try to lift him out of the sink he throws a fit . . . even after I’ve drained the water!

My parents are doing better without the stress from selling the ranch and the demands of the new owners. They took off to go visit my mom’s brother in Yuma where a bunch of family is meeting up for a little reunion. I hope it is a refreshing time of peace and relaxation for them. To those of you who said we should write a book about our experience in the NICU, I’ll let you know that my mom has started compiling all our updates for a book. She will do a fabulous job as she has had years of experience turning people’s oral histories into written stories with the historical society. (If anyone is interested, ask me to show you “Turning the pages of Time” a two volume history book my mom helped compile from our hometown of Nampa, Alberta. It is beautiful.)

Dad’s arm is healing nicely and didn’t need surgery (praise the Lord). I don’t think he’ll be crawling onto any more roofs soon although I did offer to get him some Aflac coverage just in case. They are all moved into their house at the coast and have procured a house for my brother, Caleb, and his family as well. It is going to be lonely here without all of them. I am missing them already.

Anyway, I am going to sign off with an interesting conversation I had with one of my children (I’ll let you figure out which one).

Child: “Mom, I just love the erection.”

Mom (trying to choke back shock and horror): “The erection?”

Child: “It was the most beautiful gift God could have given us.”

Mom (wondering who she was going to kill for corrupting her child): “Really?”

Child (wistfully): “Yeah. Don’t you think so?”

Mom (about to be sick): “Well, I am not sure what you mean.”

Child (a bit exasperated): “You know; when Jesus was killed and put in the tomb and then on the third day he was erected and went to heaven where He’s building us a mansion? That was the erection and I just love God’s gift to us.”

. . . The people who invented the English language should have talked to a child before deciding which words meant what! RES-erection, Honey, you’ve got to have the RES in front of it!

~Tanaya~