Good Friends

We had dinner with some good friends on Saturday night. It was a wonderful time of fellowship, and I got some one on one time with my friend while the kids were outside playing with the dads. She is a mother of soon to be four, and I used the time to ask for some advice about my attitude and problems with childrearing lately. For starters, it is always so nice to know that I am not the only mom who struggles. We put on such a brave front for the world that I think it makes us feel isolated when we are having a hard time and feel like no one can possibly understand. I want everyone to feel like having kids is so wonderful that I hide the fact that it is hard and challenging and frustrating at times.

I gained a good piece of advice that I am still mulling over in my head trying to completely understand. God doesn't approach us, His children, with the expectation that we will act perfect and be sinless. He knows we are going to screw up, require reproof, lead us to repentance, and restore our fellowship with Himself. This is a perfect picture of how He expects us to raise the children He gives us. Instead of approaching my children with the expectation that they will remember all the rules and obey every one of them, I need to expect that they will need reproof more often than not. That eliminates my attitude of frustration that they let ME down. My job is not to be disappointed and constantly frustrated with their sin, my job is to be ready to give reproof, lead them to repentance, and restore our relationship.

This is all easier said than done. I am still going to battle my own flesh that wants to get impatient and frustrated, but if I want my children to be followers of Christ, that relationship needs to start now with me showing them the love of Christ. I also want to make a more concerted effort to pray for the salvation of my children, that the Holy Spirit would begin to soften their hearts and dwell within them, leading them to follow Christ. Praying more often for them will help me to remember that they are not saved, and that I want nothing more for them than a life dedicated to the Father. There is no loftier goal as a parent than that.

Attitude

Today I am so disappointed with my attitude. It sounds so ridiculous to say it, but I find myself expecting Bennett to be a perfect version of myself. Not only is he only four, but he is human and will never be perfect. I have been told by more than one person that I really expect a lot out of him, and that is probably a true observation. I know that there must be a balance between requiring obedience with a good attitude from a child and realizing they will never be perfect. I have a hard time knowing which side to fall on.

Maybe the requirement of obedience is the right thing, but my frustration when he fails is where the problem lies. He is going to fail just like I fail, and we all fail. I know that I have good intentions. I want Bennett to learn to obey and respect his parents so that he will learn to obey and respect God, but God doesn't yell and get frustrated with us when we sin. I know that I am much more frazzled and tired lately, but I still need self-control over my actions.

How do we as parents balance Godly expectations of our children with the reality that they are a work in progress and will fail?

32 1/2 Weeks

I had my twice-monthly midwife appointment yesterday. I lost a pound which was no surprise due to the recent stomache flu, and she wasn't worried because I had gained more than necessary the month prior. It all evens out in the end I guess. I have gained 21 pounds so far. I need to look back at Bennett and Rachel's pregnancies to see how much I usually gain the last month or two, but I think I am on track to stay within the 25-35 pound range. The bummer about being pregnant in the summer is that it has been too hot to take many walks. I can't get out the door early enough when it is still tolerable out. By the time we all get dressed, eat breakfast and get out the door, it is starting to get hot. I have never been one to do much exercising while pregnant, but a little walking here and there is nice. I usually feel motivated to exercise when the baby is about 3 months old, and I look like I am still 5 months pregnant. By then it will be snowing out, so I will have to break out the workout tapes. I am not so much driven by vanity as I am clothing that is too tight. Waistbands that are cutting off my circulation really bum me out!

I had such an easy second trimester with this pregnancy that I hardly noticed I was pregnant. The realization has finally hit me that a baby is coming. (The constant indigestion these days is a reminder I can't ignore!) I am feeling twinges of nesting and starting to think about getting out baby clothes and blankets and burp cloths and all that fun stuff. It is strange how fast a pregnancy goes by when you have two little ones already. I haven't thought about it too much. I have talked to other moms with lots of little ones and they say that it only gets worse. You just are too busy to sit around daydreaming. My first pregnancy seemed to take forever, so I think I like it flying by better. I am afraid that these last 7-8 weeks are going to creep along at a snail's pace. I don't think there is any way to ever make the last few weeks go by fast. It is God's way of getting us to go through labor. Motivation!

Oh The Fun You Can Have

You can tell that between the severe heat and a whole week of the flu, we have been spending WAY too much time inside. Bennett has been having fun lately dressing up Rachel for various battles and games they are playing. This is how I found her the other day.


I am not sure what she is supposed to be, but she thought it was pretty funny.


Silly face.


Our little Rachel's dual personality. She is wearing her apron while playing at her play kitchen, but is packing heat while doing it.

Stomache Flu Is Worse Than Death

Unfortunately I was not immune to the ever occuring stomache flu in the Markwort house this time around. Jeromy fell Friday, Rachel Monday, Bennett Tuesday, and I on Wednesday. I think it was of the 24 hour variety, so I am feeling weak but better. I have said all along that I didn't want to gain more than 25-35 pounds this pregnancy, but the flu isn't what I had in mind to accomplish that goal. Third trimester stomache flu is enough to bring on labor I am sure, but for now, baby is still safe inside although probably traumatized by what she heard and felt in there. Two sleepless nights in a row will take a while to recover from, but I did sleep well last night which is a total blessing! Thank you for your prayers. I am sure banking on the fact that having the stomache flu three times while pregnant should ensure that I don't get it again for the next decade at least! I will post again when anything more exciting than laundry happens around here. Have a great weekend.

Wow, What A Night!

There are a few moments in mommyhood that elicit pure terror, and I experienced one of those last night. I will preface this by saying that Jeromy came down with the stomache flu on Friday night and Rachel on Tuesday night, but I thought that Bennett and I would be safe because we have already had it twice this year, and they haven't had it at all. I was wrong. Bennett showed up at our bedroom door at 1 am letting me know that he had thrown up in his bed. Bummer, I thought. I got up and in the midst of asking him a few questions he got sick again, but it looked like blood. Panic! I yelled, "Jeromeeeeeee!" which caused him to shoot out of bed to see what was wrong. Jeromy assured me that the color was due to the bedtime snack of blueberries that Bennett had eaten a few hours earlier. Okay, I'll buy that, but my heart was racing a mile a minute by that time. I can't believe how frozen I became in that moment. I didn't usher Bennett right into the bathroom when he got sick, so the next half hour was spent by my wonderful husband scrubbing our very light color carpet to get out the bluberry stains. I went downstairs to survey the damage and unfortunately the bed was pretty clean, but a trail had been left from the bed to our bedroom. Our house reaks of vinegar this morning, but at least the stains are mostly out. We definitely need to invest in a carpet cleaner of our own.

Bennett finally stopped throwing up every 15-30 minutes at 7:30 this morning, so we are all really tired. Thankfully we will all take a good nap today. My poor little Bennett. He doesn't ever just get sick a couple of times and then it's over. He always is a stomache lining sort of guy. That will make for a sad future I think. I have to admit that through all of this I had a hard time not thinking about myself and how much I don't want to get sick. Twice is enough for anyone while pregnant, so I am praying, praying, praying, I am spared. My hands are raw from all the washing. We'll see, I guess. Now I just have to make it until naptime. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Blueberries and Dinosaurs

A friend of mine has a grandma that lives about 45 minutes west of us that grows organic blueberries. They offer U-pick blueberries for $1/pound. We couldn't resist the lure of fresh, organic (CHEAP) blueberries, so off we went to Zillah with hats and sunscreen in hand. It has been hot here, mind you. I mean 100+ degrees hot. We left here at 7:45 am, a little later than I had wanted, and started picking at about 9 am. There were quite a few people there when we started picking, but they finished very quickly thereafter. We were the lone pickers as the sun started scorching. We finished a little after 11 am (picking blueberries takes longer than I had anticipated!) We had two hot, tired little ones and two hot, tired mamas (my mom came with us as Jeromy came down with the stomache flu Friday night.) All in all, we picked 32.75 pounds of delicious blueberries. That is ALOT of blueberries. I have 4 gallon-size freezer bags in the second freezer, a gallon- size bag of dehydrated ones (that didn't work as well as the cherries. It was quite a mess,) my mom took several pounds home, and we have 2 gallon bags in the fridge to eat. Let me just say that at 31 weeks pregnant, that was too much work for me. I couldn't walk by the end of the evening. Hobbling around was all I could muster. I think I am ready to start taking it easy. I hereby claim that I am going to start reading more and am going to finish knitting the baby blanket I started while pregnant with Rachel. We'll see how the taking it easy goes. I am not so good at it.

Oh yeah, dinosaurs. There is a town called Granger that has built all sorts of life-size dinosaurs around the town. Granger has a park that we called "Dinosaur Park", I am not sure of its real name, where the kids can play on the dinosaurs and climb all over them. After we picked blueberries, we stopped by the park because we were all the way out there and let Bennett play for a little while. It was close to lunch time, so he only played for a little while, we could believe he had the energy to play at all. We found a yummy Mexican restaurant and ate a ridiculous amount of food before calling it a day.

I forgot the camera, so I don't have any pictures to document this fun day, so my narration will have to do.

Fun in the Sun

It has been sooooo HOT here this week. Over a 100 for several days with a couple more to go. Thankfully we have a shady backyard because the kids still want to go out and play. I bought them a little plastic pool, and Jeromy is much more fun than I am and put it underneath their slide. Bennett had fun sliding down into the pool for a while, but then wanted it moved. Rachel was too scared to go into the pool with Bennett sliding down into it, so she just ran around and watched. We have it in a different spot in the yard now, and Rachel spends as much time as Bennett does in it.





I have started potty training Rachel this week and it hasn't been going well to say the least. I don't know whether to persevere or to wait a few weeks and try again later. Does anyone have any good potty training advice for me?????

Trusting God With Your Fertility- Part 2

I left off in Part 1 just having read, "Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions." That night I went home and told Jeromy about everything I had read and showed him the facts about how the Pill works. We made the decision that I would go off the Pill immediately. That was an easy decision for us, but the next question was a little harder, "So what do we use now?"

I researched Natural Family Planning online and decided to order their book. I am not one that is really in tune with her body or knows what is really going on in there. I have never been all that intersted, and the whole charting aspect of NFP didn't really appeal to me. It seemed like alot of work and stress to make SURE I didn't get pregnant. Of course they say that you can also use the method to get pregnant as well, but I didn't really know anyone that used it for that reason.

The same time as all of this was taking place, a co-worker was preparing a Bible study in Genesis and came to work with all sorts of crazy ideas about being fruitful and multiplying and filling the earth. The Bible study started taking on a new direction and was affecting the co-worker's ideas about fertility and allowing God room to be in control of the childbearing aspect of marriage. The Lord was beginning to speak to me as well with all the Scripture that was being discussed and wrestled with. I came home daily with these ideas to talk to Jeromy about. I am going to copy the Bible study below for you to read and post comments about if you want. In Part 3, I will discuss the thought process that God took Jeromy and I through to get us to the point of complete surrender and finally freedom with our family plan.

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT BIRTH CONTROL?

First Scriptural Principle (A basic truth or standard of personal conduct):

• God controls the womb!

1. Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.”

2. David speaks clearly of God’s active involvement in creating life; Psalm 139:13, 16, “For you have formed my inward parts; you have woven me in my mother’s womb. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me.”

3. Genesis 29:31, “Now the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.”

4. When Rachel then complains to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die,” Jacob accurately responds, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” (Genesis 30: 1,2)

5. Ruth 4:13, “So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife, and he went in to her. And the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.”

6. Deuteronomy 32:30 tells us plainly, “It is I who put to death and give life.”

Scriptural Principle #2:

• God highly values fruitfulness.

1. Genesis 17:2, the Lord says to Abraham, “I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly.”

2. Genesis 17:6, He goes on to say, “I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come forth from you.”

3. When God wanted to bless His people, He promised fruitfulness. He told the Israelites in Leviticus 16:9, “So I will turn toward you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will confirm my covenant with you.”

4. In Deuteronomy 7:13, 14, Moses promised the people, “And He will love you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb…You shall be blessed above all peoples; there shall be no male or female barren among you or among your cattle.”

5. Not only does God value fruitfulness…He commands it. In Genesis 1:28 the first command ever given to man was, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it.” God’s dealings with Adam are representative of His dealings with all of mankind!

6. Genesis 9: 7, 8 & 9, “And as for you, be fruitful and multiple; bring forth abundantly in the earth and multiply in it.” Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying; “And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you.”

• With your descendants (seed) includes all of the human race

• Nowhere is God’s covenant rescinded concerning fruitfulness in regards to children!

7. In our culture today, fruitfulness is viewed as a curse rather than a blessing, are we thinking Scripturally as we PLAN our families, or are we thinking as the world does?

Scriptural Principle #3:

• God says children are a blessing.

1. Psalm 127:3 says, “Behold, children are a gift of the Lord; the fruit of the womb is His reward.”

2. Psalm 127:5 says, “How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.”

3. Psalm 128:3,4 declares, “Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine, with your house, your children like olive plants around your table. Behold, for thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord.”’

4. Do we truly believe what the Lord is saying? Are we acting as if we believe that children are always a blessing from the Lord? Is the Lord truly the Lord of our life in all ways?


Á cry in the wilderness” by Keith Green

• Let’s face it, children are a lot of trouble and a lot of work! They cry, they fight, they mess up the house, they interrupt our sleep, they need tons of assistance, they need patience, forgiveness, and love. Children force us to become more Christ-like if we are going to be successful in raising them up to follow Christ.

Scriptural Principle #4:

• Our bodies are not our own.

1. Romans 12:1 says, “I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”

2. The Apostle Paul continually refers to himself as a “bond servant of Christ Jesus.” A bond servant is a believer who voluntarily takes the position of a slave to Christ and has no rights of his own. He does always and only the will of his Master. For His part, the Lord binds Himself to care for His servant.

The Heart of God portrayed in Scripture is one that embraces life, children, and fruitfulness rather than voluntary barrenness!

I believe we’ve been too cavalier about family planning and leaving God out of our decision making.

In John 10:27 Jesus says, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”

Proverbs 3:5, 6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”

Colossians 2:8, “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.”

Cherries, Cherries, Cherries!

This is one of my favorite times of years for the very reason of............ CHERRIES! The house that we just sold had a cherry tree, and we were sad to move before we could harvest them. What is better than having your own cherry tree in your front yard? Friends that own a whole orchard! A family from church owns a cherry and apple orchard, and they blessed us on Saturday by inviting us over to glean the leftover cherries. We came home with a ridiculous amount of cherries! I put up 6 gallon size bags in the freezer and am working on my second dehydrator full of cherries right now. We have given some to my parents, two sets of friends, and Jeromy's work. We still have a ton leftover to enjoy fresh ourselves. We are in cherry heaven!


Mmmmm, cherries!


Two big shopping bags full of Bing cherries and one of Ranier cherries.


Two 5-gallon buckets full of Van cherries. One is half empty because they were dehydrating.


The dehydrating operation. Jeromy was very generous to help me load the dehydrator. I pitted the cherries, and he cut them in half and loaded them in.


Boy, this is alot of work, but totally worth it! My kitchen looked like it had been splatter painted when we were finshed. It was a sticky mess!

Heyburn State Park

We had a great time camping with Jeromy's parents for a few days. They camped in Yellowstone for 5 days before heading west to meet us at Chatcolet Lake in northern Idaho. The weather was wonderful and much cooler than the Tri-Cities (110 today!) and the kids had a blast at the lake. We borrowed a friend's kayak, and Jeromy's parents brought an inflatable one, so the kids as well as grownups spent the days paddling around. We enjoyed the usual campfires in the evenings, smores, and relaxing. We met a family that was camping next to us that had a 4 year old son as well, and he and Bennett played any time they were both at the campground. Jeromy, the other dad, and their oldest son also spent one night leading us in worship around the campfire with their guitars. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and fun to meet some other Christians. It is always so neat how sharing that bond makes a fast friendship.


Our camp. Yes, we have the world's largest tent! It is one of the two-room kind. It makes it hard to find somewhere to set it up sometimes. We had to use the driveway this time. Mark and Beverlee parked their trailer behind it.


Pop and Popgrandma.


The dirtiest boy ever! We were laughing at our little "Pigpen." When he ran around, he left a trail of dust behind him. Thankfully the campground had showers!


Pop and Popgrandma brought Rachel birthday gifts. She had so much fun with her hula hoop and was getting pretty good at it.


A cool marshy area near our campground. There were lilly pads and lotus blossoms and all sorts of wildlife.


Hiking around.


Chatcolet Lake.


It was hard to get Bennett out of the kayaks. He would have been happy to stay in all day.


Rachel was happiest playing along the shoreline and not going in too deep!


Bennett liked having on all of the flotation devices at once- water wings, life jacket, elmo floaty, goggles and anything else he could get his hands on. I think he thought that the more he had, the safer he would be. It was pretty funny. He got braver as he spent more time in the water. Last year he was comfortable floating around by himself with just a life jacket on, but it is going to take a little more work to get him back to that point again.


Rachel kicking back with her dad. She would get so relaxed floating around that she looked like she was going to fall asleep.


Naptime on the way home. Poor Bennett has a rough time sleeping in his new booster seat. There is nowhere to rest his head like in a carseat, so he has a hard time getting comfortable. At one point, I held a pillow under his head so that it stopped whiplashing forward. He must have a sore neck today.

Camping

We will be gone for a few days. Post pictures when we get back. Enjoy your weekend and the 4th of July. Use the day to remember God's Providence in the creation of this great nation. He was the reason the first settlers came to this country. We should be thankful to live in a country where we are free to worship the Lord, so think upon that as you are enjoying the day off!

Trusting God With Your Fertility- Part 1

Brianna, this series of posts is for you.

This subject is something that I talked about alot a few years ago, but the Lord basically gave me a few years of living it without talking much about it except to those others that I had it in common with. By "it" I mean what is now called being "Quiverfull". It means that Jeromy and I don't use birth control of any kind and are trusting the Lord to plan our family the way He sees fit, whether we have 3 children or 20. It means that we trust that only the Lord knows our future- where we will live, how much money we will have, where Jeromy will work, our physical health, so only He can plan how our family should look.

I was asked to share how we came to this belief, and with much forethought, that is the purpose of this series of posts.

Jeromy and I did not come to this belief easily. It wasn't something that we grew up believing or brought into our marriage with us. A little history of us will be a good foundation to this discussion and will help to see how God got us to where we are now.

I grew up in a Christian home, went to a Christian school through 6th grade, then switched to public school. I was not saved, had never completely given my life to Christ, and didn't live a life that was pleasing to Him. I didn't make that decision until I was 22. Those years of living an unsaved life shaped my worldview and left me a pretty feministic, mainstream Christian. I had lived with a man I wasn't married to for 3 years, looked at having a child as a huge inconvenience at best, was very career focused, and didn't quite know how to mix all these things together with Christian living. A large number of churches these days are having the same struggle for identity (Biblical values vs. secular/watered-down Christianity), and I didn't receive much guidance. I did get to the point where I believed that I would one day have a family, after I established a career, and would even stay home until they went to school.

Jeromy didn't become a Christian until he was 25. He did have very rapid maturity in his Christian walk and was truly a seeker of God. He was so engrossed in the Word that I was embarrassed how much more he knew than I did, even though I had grown up hearing about the Bible. He wanted a wife and a family, but had the same feelings that I did about it. You get married, work a few years, get used to being married and then decide when you want to have a baby. We didn't know there was any other way. No one talked about God being in the equation at all. It wasn't a question of whether we should use birth control, but which one will work the best for us.

Jeromy and I got engaged when he was 30 and I was 24. We were both in college, each having at least 2 years left. No one said, "What happens if you get pregnant," or, "You shouldn't get married until you are ready to have kids." What we did get is counseling that asked us if we had decided on a method of birth control. Of course we had. I didn't want to have a baby, I just wanted to get married. I quickly went on the Pill and we got married 10 months after we had met.

Life was great, we were settling into married life when I picked up a pretty inconvenient book called, Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions? by Randy Alcorn. I was on staff at the local Crisis Pregnancy Center as a counselor, and I had heard a little about the possibility but always quickly ignored it. I read the booklet in a day and knew I had a problem. The answer to that question is, YES, it can cause abortions. I am adamantly against abortion, so I had a definite problem on my hands.

The journey was about to begin.

The Week Modified

I think that I was being overly drastic in my last post. Since being more aware of the problem between the kids, I have been able to do more to correct it, even admist regular life. I am still going to do the tomato staking, but instead of dropping my life to do what the kids want, they will be following me around instead. I will be making a better effort to "play" with them in order to teach them to get along better. It is crazy how a whole day can go by and I realize that I didn't interact enough with them. Since they have each other, it is easy to just send them off to play while I do my thing. I hope to make that a priority this week.

On the issue of potty training, we are going camping soon, so I think I should wait until we get back. I don't want to make a hundred trips to the bathroom with a newly potty trained 2-year-old.

I feel better with this plan for the week. We have Jeromy's parents coming to stay the following week, so I really can't let everything go this week. That is a scary proposition. We also wouldn't have any clothes to wear. Laundry doesn't care about child rearing issues! I am probably just feeling better because I am not facing potty training in the morning, but whatever the reason, things are looking more positive!

Caught Up With Life

I just can't seem to stay on top of things lately. Well, let me actually say that all I can seem to manage is the everyday minimum that it takes to run a household. Cleaning, cooking, shopping, and a mild amount of child rearing. I really hope that it is just being in the third trimester of pregnancy. I am someone that is usually really good about getting everything she wants done, done, but lately I just can't seem to get there. I have had several friends that I have wanted to call recently and chat and invite over, but I can't seem to make phone calls.

My children are a whole other topic, but something drastic will be taking place soon, hopefully. I want to take next week off to devote time to them. They have been bickering and fighting non-stop for weeks now, and something must be done! I am not going to do all the housecleaning as usual, and we will be eating simple meals or things brought home by Jeromy. I am going to practice the art of "tomato staking" my children (raisinggodlytomatoes.com) and keep them with me all day every day until the fighting turns into something much nicer. The theory is that children need to be staked (to me and Jeromy) or else they grow wild and out of control and their fruit drops all over the ground and rots. Pretty good mental picture. I did it with Bennett when he was about 18 months and constantly seemed to be getting into trouble when out of my sight and it worked really well within a few days. I am hoping that the kids just need to be trained to play together, share and just generally be nice to one another. Bennett needs to learn to respect Rachel's personal space, wants and desires and Rachel needs to have that example to follow herself. She has just picked up on his bad habits it seems, but she has now learned to fight back. It isn't pretty!

On top of that, Rachel needs to be potty trained. Not just because she just turned 2, but because she has been ready for quite a while now. I am so gun-shy about doing it though because it has been such a struggle with Bennett. I just don't mind diapers all that much. I know that I need to do it now before the baby comes or it will be a long time before I get around to it. I had said I was going to do it once it got warmer outside and it is definitely warmer. I need to start praying now for a large tank of patience because I really struggled the first time around. Supposedly girls are supposed to be easier, but time will tell.

That's all for now from the Markworts. Have a great weekend!

Rachel's 2nd Birthday Party

The birthday girl had the pleasure of sharing her big day with the Dad's this year. We celebrated everything at once plus my brother's girlfriend's birthday was the weekend before, so we threw that in as well. We BBQd hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken and had a big spread. Rachel was happy with her hot dog and potato chips!


She got a big bunch of balloons that she happily played with all day long!


Isn't she adorable!!


She delicately opened up all of her gifts. No ripping and tearing open for her.


I had a gluten/dairy-free success with the chocolate pie I made! It was so tasty that everyone tried some. Rachel liked her new cel phone so much that I couldn't get her to put it down even for dessert!


Rachel playing with her new toys. She got a stroller, high chair and other feeding toys for her baby dolls. She also got a new purse, cel phone, a new outfit and a bunch of jewelry. The next morning was hilarious seeing Bennett walking around with pearls on, a pink purse over his shoulder and a little girl baby doll in his arms. He has been having as much fun as she has with all the new baby doll stuff. It is about time that Rachel gets to play something besides guns or tools!

Our Two Year Old

Our favorite little girl turned two yesterday. She has been so much fun ever since she was born. She slept through the night by 3 months old, she was never fussy, and she always had a smile for us. (Not for anyone else though!) She loves her brother dearly, and wants to do whatever he is doing. She is so goofy and makes us crack up with her funny faces and things she does and says. I can't imagine a sweeter little girl. She will make such a great big sister, and I know she will a big help. Her favorite song is "Jesus Loves Me" and she sings it quite well! She has become quite the talker, albeit later than her brother, she is making up for lost time. One of her biggest accomplishments is that she is finally growing hair! Yay, we can finally use barrettes and put in pig tails. We are so thankful that God blessed our family with Rachel, and our prayer for her is that she continues to draw people in with her sweet spirit, her generosity, and her love for her family. Happy Birthday, Sissy!

Salmon Bake

We had a really fun time again this year at the Salmon Bake that Jeromy's work, Battelle, puts on in the summer. We go primarily for all the fun stuff for the kids to do, but this year the food was pretty decent too. We had salmon, coleslaw, pasta salad, corn, rolls, hot dogs for the kids, all you can drink soda, beer, wine, water, and for dessert, frozen treats from Schwans (popsicles, fudgsicles, ice cream sandwiches, and drumsticks). They had a bounce house, a boxing ring with those funny huge gloves for the kids to wear, a bounce house obstacle course with a slide, pony rides, clowns making balloon swords, dogs and bunnies, and games where you receive tickets for all sorts of prizes. With their tickets, the kids got kites, water guns, books, sunglasses, and misc. bobbles. A fun time was had by all!

Internet Woes

I have been on a forced internet fast since Tuesday. Our server was having problems and it has taken days to fix it. It was painful at first, but I started to find other things to do besides read blogs and surf the web. Imagine that! Anyway, I am back and will post a more interesting blog soon. All is good here.

Settling In

We have been at the place where we are about 80% unpacked, but that last 20% has just been staring me in the face begging to be dealt with. That was one of my desires for this weekend. The annoying part is that I can't just get it done myself. I need Jeromy to do most of the work because things have to be moved up from the basement and into various rooms and closets. The other thing that has needed to be done is to buy a desk that Jeromy and I both like so that I can unpack my office boxes. We decided at 7 pm on Friday night to drop the kids off at my parents and to go searching. We found one that was a possibility at a furniture liquidation store near our house after Jeromy got off work, but in our usual style, we felt like we needed to exhaust ALL possibilities of finding a better one first. 4 stores and no desk later, we got the kids to bed at 10 pm.

Saturday came and I spent the first half of the day cooking gluten-free belgian waffles for the week (the kids and I eat them for breakfast all week) and two batches of banana muffins, one with fresh blueberries and one with walnuts. Jeromy mowed the lawn, weedwhacked, and cleared out a flower bed next to our back door to be replanted later. He then went and picked up the first desk that we looked at on Friday night. It is one of those desk armoires that has doors that close all your mess into. I liked that idea, but we weren't sure about the color of the wood matching anything else that we own. The other question is what you do with your desk chair once the doors are closed? We have just been putting it to the side which works because there really isn't any seating for us when we are downstairs with the kids. Jeromy put the desk together, and we were pleasantly surprised with the results. The color is a darker honey finish than we had anticipated and it matches an oak bookshelf that is downstairs perfectly. I unpacked my office, unloaded a bin of books to a bookshelf downstairs and had Jeromy rearrange some furniture. All in all, it seemed quite productive.

Before dinner, we ran to Home Depot where I spent way too much money buying plants for the flower bed that Jeromy cleared out for me. After dinner, Jeromy buzzed his and Bennett's hair to a nice, short summer length, and I spent the rest of the night lamenting over my aching back (ironic since Jeromy did all the heavy lifting!)

Sunday after church we went over to my parent's house, played Pinochle, ate dinner and left the kids there for the night. I get to spend the day doing all the things I normally do on a Monday, but by myself. I needed a recharge and am thankful to have my parents so close to give me a little reprieve.

We have a busy week ahead of us.....Midwife appointment, Bennett's first dental visit, Jeromy's baseball game, my brother moving to WA, a family party at j's work, Rachel's second birthday and father's day. Why some weeks are so empty and others are so busy, I'll never know. I can't seem to get things spread out evenly.

It should be fun and hopefully I will get pictures of most of it to post soon!

Our Return Trip from Minnesota

Okay, okay, this will be our last MN post. We left Rohnda's house at around 12:45 to drop off two of her kids for a playdate before we headed to the airport. After a potty stop (for me :p) we got to the airport a little over an hour before departure time. Rachel slept for about an hour in the car, and I was torn whether or not to let her. My hope was to have an extra seat and she would sleep the whole plane ride. She was exhausted though and there was no way to keep her awake!

I got my HUGE suitcase checked in and again was not hassled for it being too heavy (yay!) We got through the security checkpoint with no problems. My kids are such pros with putting their little backpacks in a bin along with their shoes. They bravely walk through the metal detector heading toward the scary looking person on the other side. It is so nice that they can get on their own shoes too. Huge help for me!

We had about a half an hour before our flight was boarding and found a play area for the kids to get out some energy before the 3 1/2 hour flight. I was hoping to feed the kids before we took off at 3:30 because we would be in the air during dinner time, but there was only a sit down restaurant which we didn't have time for. Luckily I had a backpack full of snacks.

We boarded a full flight yet again and had the middle and aisle seat to share for the 3 of us. I think the under two year old lap infant was not based on a child the size of Rachel. For those of you that don't know her, she is gigantic, an enormous 23 month old. She is off the charts tall. Anyway, the three of us squished into our seats and settled in for the flight.

The return flight home was not nearly as easy as the flight to MN. Rachel was a bit out of control due to being tired and Bennett was less than tolerant of her because he too was tired. Thankfully the lady sitting next to the window was very kind to Bennett as he was tying her arms to the armrest and rapid firing questions at her. I fed them snacks for over an hour which did occupy their time, but eventually they didn't want anymore. Bennett and I played a game of UNO (which he won) and then boredom set in. They didn't want to read books or color or do any of the things I had packed for them to do. It was a long 2 hours! I was very happy when we landed in Seattle and was shocked when the pilot announced it was 90 degrees outside! It just doesn't get that hot there, and I knew that it must be ridiculously hot further east where we live.

Our luggage arrived, and I somehow managed to get it off the carousel by myself (man, is chivalry dead, or what?!) We waited for our shuttle back to the hotel where we left our car, and I contemplated spending another night there and driving the 3 hours back home in the morning. We had an early 5 am wakeup that morning, and I was so tired! When we finally got to our car, I just wanted to get home and decided to power through (with the help of Starbucks!) It was 5:30 when we got on the freeway and were met by bumper to bumper traffic. It took us about 15-20 minutes to get onto our freeway, but we just swept over to the carpool lane and cruised past the creeping traffic.

We had four more stops before finally heading home, Trader Joes , Starbucks, dinner and gas. I found the Trader Joes before I could find dinner, so I cruelly made my children wait even longer to eat. After stocking up at TJ's, I tried to find somewhere to feed my kids (I got the Spicy California Rolls at TJ's). We were in a town I had never been to before and there were so many trees that you couldn't see what was behind them. It was like a town was built in a forest. Very cool unless you are trying to find somewhere to eat. Of course all I could find was McDonalds, and I had to convince Bennett that he could eat the chicken nuggets even though they have wheat in them. He was upset, but ate them anyway. After all of our stops, we finally got on the road at about 7:30 pm. Rachel fell asleep immediately after she finished eating, but Bennett didn't. He spent the whole ride thrashing around, trying to get comfortable. He is in a booster seat now which isn't nearly as comfortable for sleeping as the carseat. I think he finally fell asleep about 45 minutes from home. We somehow made it. I didn't even need to stop for a bathroom break which is a miracle unto itself. We got home at about 10:15 pm. A very long homecoming, but the trip to MN was so much fun that it made it all worth it!

Thank you again, Monroys for such wonderful time!

Memorial Day at the Mall of America

We got to the MOA right after it opened, hoping to beat the crowds. It wasn't very busy which was nice. We walked around the rides to show Bennett and Rachel and see how many they wanted to go on. They were bursting at the seams to get started, so we went to buy tickets for the kids. Rachel had never been on rides before, so I wasn't sure if she would be scared or not. She did great! She went on most with Bennett, and they had a blast. We ate lunch once the tickets ran out and then did a little shopping before heading home. It was a fun day!

Minnesota- Last Few Days

Saturday was kind of a down day, lots of relaxing, magazine reading, and videos for the kids. We did get outside for a while to play. Rohnda put up a swing last week on one of her trees, and the kids have enjoyed taking turns swinging on it. (Rachel hasn't enjoyed the taking turns part, but it is a good skill for her to start learning with the new baby coming!) I wish we could have gotten footage of two moms trying to throw a rope over a really high branch. I got it over on the first try, but we decided it needed to be moved over, and I was never able to get it over the branch far enough for us to grab it again. My last attempt ended with me twisting my ankle. I am very coordinated!

Sunday we went to church and were supposed to have company for lunch, but they had to cancel. Rohnda made chocolate soymilk popsicles and peach juice popsicles and my kids have been in dessert heaven. I need to buy some of those popsicle molds when I get home, although our new freezer is so small, I might not have room for them. Jeromy, I am officially lobbying for a second freezer. Can we please start looking in the classifieds and free ads? Not a fridge/freezer, we don't need the fridge part, just a freezer.

We were planning on going to the Mall of America on Tuesday, but at the last minute we decided to go on Monday, even though we were worried that it would be a madhouse because of Memorial Day. Wow, that is a big mall! It is four stories of stores wrapped around the amusement park rides in the middle. It really wasn't crowded and we had a blast! The kids all did great and got to ride rides and have lunch and walk around for a bit. I will do a full post with pictures when I get home. Iphoto is so much easier to use than Rohnda's program, so I am going to wait until I get back to my Mac.

Today, Tuesday, we are doing major pick-up and housecleaning. Man, 5 kids, 2 dogs and 2 adults can sure make a mess of a house in 12 days. I need to do some laundry and organizing to get everything to fit in an already really full suitcase. Rohnda's husband, David, comes home on Thursday, so she is trying to get a start on a clean house.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, Rohnda and the kids will take us to the airport leaving here at about 1 or 1:30 pm. My flight leaves at 3:30 pm. My kids have been napping from about 1:30-4, so no naps should be fun tomorrow on such a busy day. I am praying that we will have 3 seats on the return flight, and if we do, Rachel will at least sleep the whole way home. When we get to Seattle, I am planning on a stop at Trader Joes to stock up on all the things that we miss by not having one in the Tri-Cities. My in-laws have been bringing us cases of jelly (organic, 1/2 the sugar, raspberry) when they visit, but it will be nice to get all of our old stand-bys. I think we should get home around 9 or 10 pm, which for us will feel like 11 or 12 pm, so pray I can stay awake!

We have had a wonderful time visiting with our dear friends and have made many memories that we will be able to hold onto. We are looking forward to seeing Jeromy and are bummed that we will get home so late on his BIRTHDAY! What a bad family we are to not be with him, but he said that we could celebrate it after the fact this year.

That's it from Minnesota. I will post later this week after we are home and settled back in.

Friday- Otsego Park

Friday the sun finally came out, although it was a little chilly until the end of our outing. We were happy for the outdoors and enjoyed the beautiful Mississippi River. There was a nice big playground, and the kids enjoyed throwing rocks into the river. Bennett didn't fall in, so the excursion was successful! We spent more time playing outside in the Monroy's beautifully landscaped 2 acre property after my kids took a nap (they just bought the place, so didn't have to do any of the planting themselves. They just get to enjoy it! That's the way to go!)

Thursday Trip to Cabelas

Since it was supposed to rain for the third day in a row, we decided to go on an indoor outing to the local sport's superstore called Cabelas. This is more than just a normal Big 5. This place was about the size of a Home Depot but 2 stories tall. It had huge displays of taxidermy animals on mountains, on safari and a large aquarium of local river and lake fish. My kids were pretty impressed! Rachel has a cold, but doesn't seem to be bothered by it. Bennett is healthy, although he doesn't seem quite right still, hopefully he is just tired.


This was us in front of the huge mountain display.


The mountain had deer, bears, mountain goats, a moose, and various other small creatures on it to look at. Bennett and Rachel thought it was pretty neat. There was also a pond that the Moose was standing in that had real fish in it.


Me with all the kids, minus Jonah who was at school, in front of the safari display. This had all the normal safari animals and many animals that I had never heard of. A picture of Mt. Kilimanjaro is in the background of the display which is very fitting, as David leaves Barafu Hut in a few hours to begin his summit climb. They had 5 hours of rest from their hardest day, 9 hour hike yesterday, before leaving camp at midnight for their 6 hour hike to reach Stella Point (18,700 ft). They will get a short rest before the next 1 1/2 hour hike to the Uhuru Peak. After reaching Uhuru, they will get a short rest and then head back down to Mweka camp, to spend the night. The next day they will head directly for the park gate where a noon pickup will take them back to their hotel for a welcome shower and celebratory dinner.


Bennett with his new popgun sitting on a moose chair. Cabelas had a whole furniture store upstairs with outdoorsy, cabin-type furniture.


There was a large shooting gallery on the second floor as well. I won't tell you how bad I was at hitting the targets. It was embarrassing, especially because Rohnda was so good at it! I thought that maybe I was shooting with a bad gun, but Rohnda tried it and it worked just fine. Bennett had a great time and Rachel got in on the shooting as well.


5 years is too long to have not seen such a special friend. I am so grateful for this time to spend with her.