8 years.... 4 of 'em wonderful!

Today is my 8th wedding anniversary! I went and met Tim for lunch. I love my honey, he's my best friend and aside from the fact that he occasionally drives me nuts, I couldn't ask for a better husband. He always makes me laugh, even when I'm mad at him, and he's a great father to our children.

Our marriage wasn't an instant success, and it wasn't easy getting to where we are now, but I would do it all again in an instant to have him as my husband and best buddy like I do now. And I'd do my part a lot better the second time around. The more time I spend around other people, the more I treasure him. I thank God for Tim, even though Tim doesn't yet know the Lord, I can see God working in his life. I pray continually for the day that Tim will be reconciled with his Maker.

To anyone out there who happens upon this blog and doesn't have a blissful marriage, I cannot recommend the book Created to be His Help Meet strongly enough. The God-given wisdom that Debi Pearl has passed down in this book has transformed my heart and attitude toward my husband and marriage. We're very much in love now, which I could never have honestly said in the early years of our marriage. You don't have to agree with everything that is said in the book in order to benefit from the Biblical wisdom that is contained between its covers. God has redeemed my broken marriage to an unbelieving (still) man. Let Him be praised!

Butterflies, Science and Fish

Well, our butterflies all emerged from their little chrysalis homes, and 3 of them successfully flew away. One of the butterflies had what looked like 2 proboscises (straw like mouth thingy) and they were kinda freaky, each going its own way and neither would curl up properly like the rest of the butterflies. Another one got injured in the release process. Neither of them could fly, so I just placed them up in a tree and let nature take it's course. Bummer. The other 3 flew off into the tree tops and the kids were happy with the experience. What a wondrous thing to witness. :)

We had to release them last week because we were going on vacation! Yay! I love vacation! We went to Oklahoma City's Science Museum on Saturday and then to the Aquarium in Tulsa (er Jenks to be precise) on Sunday. We all had a great time. I can't wait for our next trip! Not sure where we will go, but I hope we go somewhere before too long. I really enjoyed doing things as a family.
The Science Museum was lots of fun, but if you happen to visit, skip the cartoony Imax movie about bugs in space... it was just awful. I also could have skipped the Science Live show we went to and been no worse for wear, though it wasn't bad, it was LOUD, and Jace had to turn his hearing aids off in order to tolerate it, which means he didn't learn anything, anyway. Rachel liked it, though.

The aquarium was neat, but short. It only takes about an hour to see everything and take 350 pictures (trust me). The special lighting made it difficult to get good snap shots with my camera, so I deleted about a hundred of the ones I took. Yay for huge memory cards and extra batteries!

See huge alligator gar to the left, opening it's mouth right by Jace's head, lol.

One of the highlights of the trip for the kids was running through the dancing fountain at the River Walk next to the aquarium. They got thoroughly wet and had a blast. Only problem was that this caused an unforeseen shortage of clothing for the kids, which got a little sticky when we had a bladder control issue on the ride home from Tulsa. We managed, though, and as I said before, the kids totally loved it, so it was worth the trouble. Note to self: bring lots of pants next time.

Tulsa is really pretty. At least the east side where we stayed is really pretty this time of year. Big, expensive houses in hilly, established neighborhoods with big trees and manicured lawns. Wonder what that is like... *sigh* It was very pretty. Wichita is UGLY. Ughly. Ughhhhly. It's flat and there are only trees near water, which is muddy, polluted and scarce, except when it rains buckets and everything floods. THEN the water is everywhere. It's in your dining room in the carpet because a pipe on the roof came loose from it's seal. It's in your basement because the ground is saturated. It's blocking streets, creeping up hills and ominously looming just outside of houses. I digress. Tulsa is pretty, but driving in Tusla is awful.

One thing I was thankful for when we got back to Wichita was the street signs. In Wichita you get advance notice of upcoming exits. Usually you get 3 signs warning of a junction or even just a regular off-ramp onto a city street. In Tulsa you get 1 sign and it's about 300 feet before the exit. We had to turn around 3 or 4 times just getting across Tulsa because we missed our exits! Ugh. Never again. I told Tim we should get ourselves a GPS for Christmas.

/J/.../J/...Jumping up and down in speech therapy

I am so excited! Today was Jace's first appointment with his new speech therapist. The hospital has been trying to hire a full-time pediatric speech pathologist for about 6 months and they finally got one! Jace LOVES Miss Caitlyn! She's very animated and up-beat and the woman knows her stuff! I am SO thankful.

I knew things weren't really jiveing with the last pathologist, but it was free and our best option at the time. Miss Caitlyn read a story with him and got him to say some parts of the story back to her to evaluate him, and she was really surprised at how well his /r/ and /l/ sounds were, since these were the sounds we were most-recently working on at home. She noticed his /j/ sound sound was coming out a lot like /z/. She modeled a correct /j/ for him and he picked it up really quickly. He was struggling with not making the /z/ sound at first, but he was self-correcting when he said it incorrectly. Miss Caitlyn seemed impressed.

She pulled out some cards with words from the story they read together and taught him about syllables. Then she gave us some cards with single-syllable /j/ words to practice at home and gave me some ideas on how to make it fun. We also need to get /ch/ down still, but, apparently /ch/ is the same as /j/ but without vocal involvement. Miss Caitlyn said once he gets /j/, the /ch/ will come easily.

I'm just so thankful. We only have about 12 or so appointments left, but I think it will be enough. God is good and He provides all we need. Amen!

Rent

Rent bites. I hate paying rent. I've been itching to buy a house for years. Our apartment is small and we don't even have a patio for the kids to play on. We've stayed here our entire marriage because it has been cheap, but I got a notice this morning that the rent will be going up again on August 1st.

I'm praying that we can qualify for (and find) a humble house to buy. We don't make a lot of money, but I'm not incredibly picky. I would be happy with an older house in a relatively quiet neighborhood with a few key features. I prayed for God to provide me the right church (with a few key features) and He did, so I am going to pray for Him to provide us a house, too.

I'm praying for a house (cheaper than our rent) with a basement (for safety in tornado season), a fenced back yard (because Rache' would spend all day outside if she could), 2 toilets (trust me), 3 bedrooms + (2 kids), central air, and non-carpeted floors would be nice (for Tim's allergies), as would a garage ('cause who likes scraping windows?), but not absolutely necessary.

God has always been good to me, and He's got cattle on a thousand hills, right? His will be done, and I will happily accept whatever situation we end up in, but this is my prayer. Praise the Lord!

Working Moms

My mom was a stay at home mom. My mom was also a working mom. I was homeschooled for several years, and I was also publicly and privately educated for many years.

My mom was a great mom and she was very involved in our lives. I hated being a latchkey kid when she was working. I'm not saying that a working mom is bad or absent. Stay at home moms, especially if the kids are home, are around their kids more than working moms. This doesn't mean that stay at home moms are by default good mothers, nor are homeschooling moms. It's very difficult to express my thankfulness for my situation without offending those in different situations, especially when it touches on emotional subjects, like family.

I have very few friends who are stay at home moms, and far fewer who homeschool. I have reasons for the sacrifices our family makes so I can be home with the kids, and they home with me. My husband isn't a Christian. My kids aren't allowed to attend church. My son wears hearing aids and can't hear well in noisy environments like a kindergarten classroom. He also has a speech and language delay. These things plus public school would equate to a bright child at the bottom of his class who can't effectively communicate with his peers and would be taught godlessness and humanism by everyone except his mother for the few hours I would see him each evening.

I am not a very maternal person. I don't like babies. I don't really like children. I love my children, and I know my ultimate responsibility as a mother is to train them up in the way they should go. "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth" (III John 4).

My plan, when I had Jace, was to go back to work when he went to school (and then when I had Rachel, I added a year to that). I went back to school, I was ready to go back to work, but we found out about Jace's disability. Public school just isn't the best option for him. I didn't want to homeschool, but I spent the entire Fall and Summer before Jace started school researching and praying. The answer to my prayers was clear.

To the working mothers, and all other mothers out there, I do not know what is right for you. You can be a fantastic mother and work, or a crappy one. You can be a fantastic mother and stay home or you can be a crappy one that your children wish didn't stay home. I'm just trying to be obedient to the voice of my Master. I didn't mean to offend anyone in my zeal for master meatball recipes and cheap laundry detergent. I will look over my original post again and see if maybe I worded some things poorly. I was really just happy to find a site to help me learn and teach my daughter how to run a household and save money (which we need to do on one income). I figured someone would probably take offense, but my reasons for my choices are legitimate, and I would have to pretend they aren't in order to not offend someone.

When I speak of my life, I'm not criticizing you for your choices, I am simply thanking God for my life, for His help, His guidance and provision. Sorry for rambling, my thoughts aren't always organized.

I also have to say that I do believe it is best for children to have their mothers at home (as long as the mother isn't a terrible, abusive mother). No one else has as vested an interest in their child's success, well-being and happiness. No one. I know not everyone can stay home, but I do believe it is the best thing for young children. I know that will ruffle some feathers, but it is a harsh reality I had to face before I committed to staying home, myself.

Reminds me of the lyrics of a song:
"promises are only mercenary troops. They bear no real allegiance to the soil. When they fight they always look around. They have never really been in touch with the ground..."

Teachers, day care providers, therapists, paras, non of them are about your child's success like you do. They do their job because it is their job, and many do it well, but none of them have your child as the highest priority.

The Lost Art of Homemaking

On one of my internet bunny-trails (meaning I don't remember how I got there, or from where) I stumbled upon this site: FutureChristianHomemakers.com and I was reading through some of the lessons. I am SO excited about going through them with Rachel when she's a couple years older! I would love to start up a FCH group in my area, but even if that doesn't work out, it will be great to incorporate these things into our school days, as a sort of home ec.

I wish I had learned more when I was young. I had to pick things up as I went, which resulted in a lot more work, less tasty food, and messier house. My parents got divorced when I was 8, so my mom had to go to work. Plus, being a child of the 80's, homemaking as a "career" choice wasn't very popular. At the height of women's lib, homemaking was viewed as demeaning and undesirable. I didn't grow up planning to be a homemaker, but I am so thankful to God that I am one. I want to be the best homemaking wife and mother that I can be, and I hope someday Rachel will get to be a homemaker, too. I'm glad that women have the rights to have careers outside the home. I'm glad for our status in society that was brought about by women's lib, but I believe, when you have children at home, it's best to be there for them. This is part of why I homeschool... it all flows from the same source: I want to be the one to raise my children. My own, personal convictions keep me home (that and God's great mercy and grace), but I don't expect everyone to. I don't even expect Rachel to, but I hope she does.

Road trip!

I'm itching for a road trip this Summer. The kids are old enough, now, to be able to make it to the next restroom without having an accident in the car, and they're mature enough to appreciate some of the neato things you see on a road trip - and remember them.

I have several destinations in mind, but in reality, we will probably only make it to 1 or 2 this Summer. Money is an issue. I 'd like to take the kids to see the Oklahoma Aquarium in Tulsa, and the Science Museum in Oklahoma City. Then there is a really cool petting zoo at a bed and breakfast in Nickerson, Kansas. They have all kinds of exotic animals that you can get up-close and personal with at a reasonable price. Rachel keeps asking if she can ride a horse, and I think they have pony rides there, too.

In the recent past I have strongly objected to long road-trips (sorry, Honey), but my views have really changed, lately. I think it has been a combination of seeing photos from other people's trips, and seeing my children's curiosity bloom from doing things hands-on. I'm also starting to remember the road-side attractions that my family visited on long road trips when I was a child. Someday I hope to take them to places I remember, like the Giant Redwood Forest in northern California. Everyone should see those trees in person before they die.

Since we homeschool, we can take these trips whenever we want and make a lesson plan out of it, but I like to have Tim go, so we have to work around his work schedule. I wouldn't want to take the kids without him, it's just not right making memories without Daddy.

On a side-note, all of my caterpillars have morphed into chrysalids, and will be butterflies in about a week! Isn't that cool? The appearance of their shells changes every day. The kit says they will get darker and darker, and I have noticed some new, iridescent spots on them! What incredible little creatures God has made for us to marvel at! I had a hard time picking up the iridescence with the camera, but you can see it a little in the goldish spikey things. Very scientific description, there.
Here you can see them in their "Butterfly Habitat" enclosure. Don't forget to click on the pictures to enlarge them for detail! They're really neat!

Update on butterflies

Just this morning my caterpillars were all fat, fuzzy and mobile. This afternoon, 3 of the 5 are chrysalids! I tried to get some good pictures, but my camera battery died, so I will try to get more later on. Maybe the other 2 will have transformed by then!

Transformation

Two new updates:
1. Our painted lady butterfly larvae are getting fat and ready to transform. They're starting to hang upside down, which means they will be forming chrysalids soon. Here are some pictures from May 28th and from today (June 1st). Look how much bigger they have gotten!


The 2nd update is that my Central Park Hoodie is almost complete. I have finished the back, fronts, and sleeves. I blocked the back a while ago and am blocking 2 of the other 4 pieces right now, but I ran out of pins, so I have to wait to do the other 2 when these ones are dry. I really hope it fits. I will be able to sort of try it on once the blocking is done. I wish I could find my other box of pins. Here are some pictures of the front panels and sleeves, blocking and pre-blocking (the unblocked pieces are lying on top of the blocking pieces in the first pic):




For those who don't knit, blocking is a technique that usually involves getting a piece of knitted fabric wet, pinning it to the desired shape, and allowing it to dry. This relaxes the fabric, helps even out the stitches, and in natural fibers, it can help set the shape. My yarn for this sweater is only 20% wool, 80% acrylic, so I don't think blocking will do much to hold the shape, but it did give the fabric a nice drape, evened out my stitches and made it "grow" to the correct dimensions. Can't wait for this to be done! All I have left to knit is the hood and button band! Woo hoo!