Where was my Faith?

Even though I prayed this morning for God to work out the retainer thing, I just didn't really believe He would. I just assumed we would be out the $240 for a new one, as they had told me on the phone. Shame on me!! The orthodontist is not charging for a new retainer, and he is having them make the next one twice as thick this time.

:-)

Psalm 62:8

Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us.

This and That

This morning I have been crafting with my littles. Tonight is Goofy Glasses Night at AWANA, and so of course they must have goofy glasses. I seriously thought about going to the Dollar store and trying to find some, because I am lazy and not very crafty (and we have to go to town anyway), but then I thought again. I mean, $3 for glasses isn't really alot, BUT teaching them to make do with what we have is something that I think is important these days. Besides, just because I don't like to do crafts, they do, and so I have to do that kind of stuff with them once in a while. Pipe cleaners would have been nice for the handles, but we didn't have any, so straws substituted. We also have lots of beads, stickers, cardboard, etc., sooooo here they are:

Here is Jackson making his "cool face".

At the beginning of the year we had to start paying for some of our health insurance. Then they cut some of Ralph's overtime. Then this week, they cut the rest of the overtime. So, guess we will be tightening our belts around here a little more. That's ok, God always supplies. :-)

~

I talked to Ralph's mom yesterday and she is still waking up in the morning a little confused as to where she is. Please keep praying for that to go away and for her to completly recover. It's going a little slow. It will just break her heart if she isn't able to return to work. That's all she thinks about is how soon she can go back to her job and "her" kids. (She runs a highschool student store, which is an offshoot of the cafeteria, and she has student helpers.) She's been doing it for almost 40 years and she has no intention of stopping.

~

Well, we're off to Cara's orthodontist (the one I never wanted to see again thanks to Jackson). I have to not only see him but talk to him about Cara's retainer. Her's snapped in half and it is going to be $240 for a new one, and I just think that thing was flimsy to break so easy, so I want to have a little talk about how I don't think we should have to pay for a new one (which I don't really think will get me anywhere), and also about getting one that is a little sturdier this time.

~

That's all the news around here for now.

Thankfulness

Sometimes I think too much. I think of where we are heading morally as a nation, and it scares me. I think about the financial crisis we are facing, and it scares me, because I wonder if my family will be the next one to lose our income. I worry about losing our freedoms to worship as we feel led, and I worry about losing our children to an ever encroaching government. I worry about the future my children will have to live in. So in an effort to live in the now, and not worry about the future I so dolefully imagine (because I know that God has things in His control, anyway), I thought I should list some things I am thankful for.

~~I am thankful to be able to worship God freely. To be able to pick from a long list of local churches, and worship in the way God calls me to. I am thankful for a loving church family and for a houseful of Bibles, more than one for each of us.

~~I am thankful that God has always supplied our every need, and he promises to do that in the future too. He is not surprised when the economy is bad, and He owns the cattle on 1000 hills, and so I don't have to worry that we won't have everything we need.

~~I am thankful for a healthy family. I am also thankful for health care when we need it, and asthma medicine, because it's really nice to breath. :-)

~~I am thankful for a hardworking husband who gets up each day long before daylight, and works so hard, so that we can pay our bills and have the things we need, and so that I can stay home and be a mom to our children. I am thankful for the way he is always willing to drive the kids where they need to be, takes them camping, and loves us. I love the way he calles me every day to let me know when he will be home from work.

~~I am thankful for the blessing of our 7 children. The world may say that children are a burden, and even some in the church seem to feel that way by their actions and statements, but I know that God says children are a blessing, and a gift. I am thankful for the blessing of spending my days with these little, and not so little anymore, people who will soon be out in the world, hopefully and prayerfully serving God where ever he may place them. I am thankful we can start our mornings reading God's word together, and then end our school days in the afternoon snuggled together drinking lattes or eating a snack with a good read-aloud book. I am thankful for the freedom to teach them at home, and talk to them all throughout the day about the things of the Lord (Deuteronomy 6:4-7).

~~I am thankful for the cars we drive, the house we live in, warm beds to snuggle into at night, clothes to wear, and plenty of food on our table.

~~I am thankful that God gave me wonderful Christian parents to raise me and teach me about Him. I am thankful they are still around to enjoy and learn from.

~~I am thankful for an extended family that loves each other and gets together several times a year, just to be together.

~~I am thankful my children genuinely love each other and most of the time get along together, and help each other. I am thankful for the way Jackson runs up to Danny each morning before he leaves, to get his hug and a kiss. And for the way the little ones generously save all their candy from Awana together in a box, so they can take it out and share it with the whole family, like they did tonight after dinner. Not because the rest of us need the candy, but because it shows their love and willingness to share the things that God has blessed them with.

So there's just a small list of things I can thank God for everyday. He is so good!

Happy Valentines Day!!

Wow, what a crazy weeks it's been. On Thursday, Gerda took another turn for the worse and had a terrible night so Ralph took Friday off of work to spend with her. Then today Ralph and I went down to see her and she was really doing good today. I think she is really on the mend now. I never really knew what terrible things anesthesia could do to a person's mind. We took her Cake Balls (see below) which she loved, and she was her own usual self the whole time we were there, so we just pray there are no relapses tonight, as night is when it gets worse. But Ralph says this was definately her best day, so praise God!!

In other news, last night we were supposed to go to a Valentines Banquet at church. The older kids were going to serve tables, the little ones were gonna be hanging out with a youth volunteer babysitter, and Ralph and I, of course, were going to be at the dinner. But...well, the power was out all day and the snow kept falling, and so it was cancelled. But no matter, we had our own little Valentines Banquet right here in the Houseful of Blessings. We had Papa Murpheys pizza, and these little treats the kids and I made together called Cake Balls. They are like little tiny balls of cake dipped in chocolate. We dipped half in white chocolate and half in milk chocolate. And Daddy bought the kids all some M&Ms and he bought me a cute little valentine basket. We bought Daddy some white chocolate and this shirt that has Grumpy from the Seven Dwarves on it and it says "Does this shirt make me look grumpy?" I don't know, for some reason we thought it was "him".........

Oh, and even though the power came back on, we ate by candle light. The guys just don't get the candle light thing ("Why are we eating in the dark when we have perfectly good power?"), but they have to humor us girls once in a while. :-)

So that's all for now. I have to get some little ones tucked into bed.

9 Things about Joey

1. He loves, loves, loves to read!!

2. He knows alot of interesting stuff and is always teaching me something new. (See number 1.)

3. He also likes to play outside.

4. He loves peas. I mean, he really LOVES peas. :-)

5. He's learning karate and is planning on testing for his yellow belt soon.

6. He can tune the whole world out no matter how noisy it is or what is going on. We say he is in Joey's world. I am sure his brain is working overtime when he is in Joey's world, and maybe someday he will invent something really important!

7. He's recently starting learning piano and he seems to be learning really fast. I think he may be a really good pianist someday. Time will tell, but he seems to have a talent.

8. He loves to do science experiments.

9. He was my sweetest, most easygoing baby of all. He's still a good guy. :-)

Update on Gerda

Ralph's mom is doing much better today. Still not normal, but much better. And her hip xray was good, so she didn't damage it when she fell.

So thanks for your prayers. It looks like she'll be back to her spunky, slightly ornery, but lovable self soon. :-)

Which is how we like her. :-)

Not much to update yet

I haven't gotten any updates about Ralph's mom today yet. Ralph said he would call me as soon as he heard from his sister, and I guess he hasn't heard anything yet.
I wanted to go down there, but Ralph keeps telling me to stay home for now, until she comes out of her stupor. He says the way she is (or at least was last night when he left her) she won't even know I'm there. She is truly in her own world. Some of the stuff she was saying, it's just so weird. She was seeing all kinds of things that weren't there, cooking breakfast for Ralph's dad (who died about 11 years ago), asking for people to hand her invisible pots, calling Ralph names when he wouldn't get her her bag so she could leave.....you name it. Sometimes she is calm and sometimes she gets agitated, and she is constantly trying to get out of bed but she can't. So they have a male nurse just sitting there and when she tries to get up, he tells her, "You can't get up now." I just pray she got some rest last night and she comes out of this soon. They say the anesthesia or the pain meds can do this in elderly patients and it usually goes away. I hate that word usually though, because what does that mean? Sometimes it doesn't?
They were supposed to take her at 8:00 last night for a cat scan and hip x-ray and then move her to another room where she is supposed to be watched at all times. But I haven't heard anything at all about that.
So I'm just sitting here waiting for a call. I can't call Ralph's sister because I don't know her cell phone number and so I wait.

Please pray

Gerda (Ralph's mom) had hip replacement surgery last Thursday and she isn't doing well. She has been really loopy and not cooperating and not herself at all. So I just got a call from Ralph and she fell. I don't know the details yet--how it happened or if she hurt herself or damaged the new hip, but we may need to pack up the school books and go down to Citrus Heights and stay for a while, so I can be close enough to help keep an eye on her. Ralph's sister can't do it all by herself, and Ralph has been going to see her every day, but he has to work, so anyway, if we disappear, that is where we will be.

Thanks for your prayers.

P. S. While you are praying, you can also (please) say a prayer for MY mom. She fell last May and shattered her leg and is still in a wheelchair. We are praying for her leg to completly heal so she can walk again.

Why I can never, ever show my face in the Orthodontist office again as long as I live.....

Did I ever tell you about the time Jackson totally and completely humilated me? Well, one of the times, anyway. Here is how it started.......
Once in a while I get nice comments about the kids. Someone might say, "Your kids are so well-behaved," or "You have a nice family," or some such compliment. Well, Cara has been going to the orthodontist since she turned 12; that's a lot of sitting in the office waiting for her. And in the beginning, I took all the kids, since I really had no choice, and it was fine. They brought their books and read, and shared seats if we crowded up the room too much. So one day I got this letter in the mail from one of the ladies that works there. It was a really sweet note about how lovely the children were, and how well-behaved, and how it was nice to see a such a nice family. So, I thought, yeah, I must be doing something right........

The VERY NEXT TIME I went into that office, I got taken down a couple--ok about 10--pegs. And here is how it all went down.

In the office, they have this bulletin board on an easle type stand. I happened to be sitting by it. Well, little Jackson had learned how to walk (I'm thinking he was maybe 18 months or so), and he wasn't into sitting on Mom's lap anymore. Ok, so he's got alot of energy, and he's been harder to tame than the others (or I went soft, which could be likely, I admit it), anyway, I let him down to go talk to his siblings who were nicely sitting with their books on a bench across from where I was sitting (by the easel thingy). Then I call him back to me, only he doesn't come back to me, he comes over and grabs ahold of the easel board stand and pulls. So the stand tips over and the board comes off and smacks onto my head. I'm sitting there trying to keep the thing from hitting the ground, so I can't grab Jackson, cause my hands are full of this bulletin board in one hand and the stand in the other hand. So I look at my kids who are staring at the whole thing and doing absolutely NOTHING, and sweetly (or maybe it wasn't so sweetly, I can't remember...) say, "Could I get a little help, please". As soon as those words left my mouth, is when things took a horrible turn.........

You see, this orthodontist is only up here one day a week. So his office is kinda a temporary office set-up with false walls. I don't know what you call those walls, but portable walls you can set up where ever you need them. Well, just a little behind me was a wall. And just behind that wall was the orthodontist working on a patient.

Oh, yes, he did.

Jackson pushed the wall over onto the orthodontist!!!!!

I stood up, righted the easel and stand (an office lady was rushing over to fix the wall), apologized profusely, and grabbed my children and walked out. What else could I do??

I will never forget the look on that orthodontist's face as long as I live.

Oh the shame. Because you see, MY kids aren't supposed to act like that in public. That is reserved for other people's kids.

Needless to say, we all wait in the car for Cara now. It could be 100 degrees or 30 degrees (and even though Jackson does know how to sit quietly for the most part now), it doesn't matter, we wait in the car! One day soon, I will have to face Dr. Brizendine again, cause Nick is due for braces, and I will have to take him in for a consultation. Let's just hope he won't remember me. Maybe I'll get some dark sunglasses and a wig?

~

I wonder how many times the Lord looks at the stuff I do and says, "MY daughter shouldn't be acting like that." How many times do I shame His name with my temper, selfishness, lack of self-control, complaining, and the list goes on and on? And yet, he still calls me His own. Not because I deserve it, that is for SURE, but because I am His child and He loves me. I am His child because of His grace.

Thank You, Jesus!