fel·low·ship

fel·low·ship : The companionship of individuals in a congenial atmosphere and on equal terms.

I enjoyed SUCH blessed fellowship last night. My MOPS' discussion group (5 of us form the group anyway) met for coffee and dessert. It was a blessed event for me.

Nathan came home from work and told me to do whatever I wanted-he would be cooking dinner, so I could my night was free to do whatever I wanted. I decided to retreat to our room and use the entire 2 hours, slowly getting ready to meet my friends. It was so nice to take a shower with only the amount of hot water in our water heater as my deadline. It has been so chilly out, that it just felt wonderful to just STAND under the hot water with no rush at all hurrying me. I got ready a little, then I would sit and read a little. It was absolutely the BEST start to my night.

When I finally made my grand exit, I actually felt like a female. I even managed to squeeze the last few, tiny mists out of my favorite perfume that has been evaporating in the bottle for the last 6 months. I drove to the place we were meeting and I enjoyed listening to some great praise music on he way. (I love singing at he top of my lungs in the car!)

When I got to the restaurant, 3 ladies had already arrived. I love the low-lit, but very relaxed atmosphere of the place we met. By the time the last of our party arrived, we were already laughing and having a great time.

For having only known most of these ladies for a few weeks, I really had a great time of fellowship with them. We were all relaxed and pleasant. There was no precociousness or putting on of heirs. Most importantly, there was NO COMPETITION. It was just good fellowship. There was such comfort in that. We shut down the place and I didn't get home until after 11pm.

Thursdays are my hardest days as Nathan has a full day of classes and work. Today I felt very refreshed and revived from my time last night. It is amazing to me what good companionship in the Lord can do for your spirit.

Thank you, sweet friends, for being genuine and loving women of faith. I am already looking forward to next month's get together!

Is it really Monday?

After getting the kids dressed, feeding them breakfast, making Graycen's lunch, taking Graycen to school, meeting Nathan at the gas station (he had my card), giving Annagail a breathing treatment, organizing the kids' rooms, loading and unloading the dishwasher, washing all the towels and a load of clothes, reading a few books to Annagail and Ella, giving Annagail another breathing treatment, cleaning the bathroom, teaching homeschool assignments on pennies and clocks, helping the kids assemble their "numbers" books and certificates, sweeping the floors, explaining to Cooper (AGAIN) that he does indeed have to learn to write more than just the letters in his own name, making lunches, clipping coupons from two papers, getting the toilet seat replaced (you don't want to know!), making a tea (for me!), sitting in carpool line, picking up my smiling Graycen, hearing the entire download of the day (my pleasure), having to give Ella a much-needed nap for continually waking up Annagail, overseeing Graycen's homework, helping Cooper write & spell the names of each of us in his family (he somehow decided that those were all letters he may need to learn also), cutting and stapling Ella's doodle pages into a "book" (she wanted to have homework too), searching for a decent chili recipe, realizing (after the fact) that it wasn't that decent and needed improvising, fixin' the chili, going out front to hide from Nathan with the kids (they love surprising him when he gets home), feeding the fam chili-spaghetti, having to send Cooper to his room for the night & have a 2-parent talk with him about his behavior. bathing the kids, giving Annagail her final treatment, saying night-night prayers & singing our goodnight song, cleaning up the kitchen, chatting with Nathan, doing a little facebookin', & looking for teaching aids for one of my lessons for Sunday, I was sitting here trying to figure out why I was so tired already on a Monday night. Then, I remembered!

Thank you, dear Lord, for the strength you have given me. You are TRULY my rock and my refuge. I could not get through the blessing that is my day without You! My cup runneth over...



Goodnight :o)
~Angela

*photo: Ella (3 yrs old) playing at the playground :o)

Check out this video. It is VERY good and worth the time spent watching and listening.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpsdKUQ1nKA

Enjoy!

Why I am not and never will be an Obama-Mama.

“Property is the fruit of labor…property is desirable…is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built.” ~Abraham Lincoln

I found this quote and it resonated with me regarding this election. Soak on it for a while and then think on Obama's platform. I probably wouldn't even be considered "middle class" in income, but I can see how Obama's plan will hurt our economy in incredible way. The stock market ebbs & tides based on projections and inference. Fear is a big motivator of the markets' slumps. "Big business" is what fuels those ebbs & tides and when they are facing major financial crises, you can BET the market will see a drop of momentous portion. If the "upper class" (250K and up) start to get hit with increased taxes AND mandatory health care standards, that wallop will be felt, first, in the lower income brackets, because we will be the ones losing jobs to make up the difference.

There is a problem with our country's economy. Obama is not the answer. He will be, essentially, cutting off the arms of the people bailing the most amount of water from the sinking boat. Not to mention that he refuses to answer the question of when he thinks a baby receives the rights of a human. His answer is that it is, "above his pay grade". This President will, quite possibly, have 4 Supreme Court resignations to replace. The person making those appointments should have an answer to that question. I agree with Dobson's reply when he said that if Senator Obama thought that this question was "above his pay grade", then perhaps the job is as well.

Fall Festival Costumes

It is THAT time of year again and I am starting the kids' costumes. This year the theme that they had to choose from was "The Animal Kingdom". I have to say that I have my work cut out for me. The girls are pretty easy.

Here are the pictures they found to show me what they want to be:

Graycen

MaryEvelyn

Ella

Annagail

And then there is Cooper:

Who is insisting on being a grouper. I have spent a week trying to show him the most gorgeous pictures of any and all fish that I can find. He is sure he wants to be a grouper.

So, my creativity is being challenged and I am off to the sewing machine! I actually have some ideas in my head, but I will post the pictures of the costumes on or after Oct 31st!

Stay tuned...

Has it REALLY been 3 weeks?!?!?!?!

Graycen's track out ends today and tomorrow morning will find us back in the carpool line. I have so enjoyed this time and am sad to see it go. I haven't been very good about posting during her track out, so I thought I would post a pictorial catch-up of some things we have been up to during this time. ENJOY!!

This is how we greeted Graycen in the carpool line on her last day of school!

Graycen loves to cook and bake, so we made this recipe out of her Alaskan cookbook that her Grandparents brought her from Alaska.

While it was baking, Graycen and I sat down for some tea.

This was Graycen's first-ever cup of tea. I am looking forward to many more "tea times" with this sweet face!

We made "Happy Fall!" cards and gave them out everywhere we went where someone was helping us (or NOT helping us, for that matter.) The kids had a great time giving these sweet, hand-made cards to people.

We were all sick for this last week of track-out, but it was good to be home and just rest.

We spent some time cleaning out Graycen's things from track 1 and I wanted to share this picture of what I found.

Never underestimate the power of even the smallest gestures you do to remind your children of how much you love them. When I was cleaning out her MOUND of things from school, she had EVERY SINGLE note that I had ever put into her lunchbox or backpack! She said that she liked to keep them in her desk, so that she could read them and feel like she was with me. (sniff, sniff) I have to admit that I was thinking I would cut back this time around, so that I didn't embarrass her. Now, I know that she has room for MORE!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!!

Things that make you go "Hmmmmm......"

We were sitting at a red light and I saw something that struck me as odd. In front of us there was a man with a small child (maybe...10 yrs old MAX) on the back on his motorcycle. I looked back at my children and it struck me how odd it is that we have laws (and rightly so) that would give me a BIG FAT FINE for not having each of them strapped and harnessed in to the heavy, steel-framed, Suburban we were driving. Yet, it is perfectly alright for this man to put a (relatively) small piece of fiberglass over this child's head and weave him like a speeding bullet in and out of traffic with nothing even holding him onto the bike, except for his little hands clutching the back of the seat.


Hmmm.............................

Strep Xs 6

That is the tally so far. I know have 5 large bottles of Amoxicillan in my fridge with 5 different little plunger-thingies. Two of the girls had ear infections also. All that said, most of them are acting fine. Annagail has cried all day and is finally asleep in her crib now. She has an ear infection though and she is still itty-bitty. I told the Dr that I suspected an ear infection by the way she had been so upset for most of the day.

So, now I must go type up a dosing chart to go on the fridge. Five kids, five bottles, 5 doses, twice a day, PLUS my own one pill 3 Xs/ day...WOWZA!!!!!! I definitely need to write this down!!!!!

Sooooooo, I couldn't get the kids in today. They are being seen tomorrow. I saw my Dr. He said that everything points to strep EXCEPT for the rapid test (which he did and then threw away--pretending that he never took it, so as not to charge me :o) He didn't want to send away the culture on it, because it would cost "hundreds of dollars". He gave me meds, as if I have strep as he really feels that is what it is. He gave me a huge discount and it cost me a whopping 50 bucks.

The kids SEEM fine, so tomorrow is really just a precaution more than anything else. Fortunately, we found out that they did qualify for sate coverage that I applied for the day after Nathan lost his job. That will cover them tomorrow and until we are off of this waiting period.

All of this running around has me late for dinner though, so I am finishing up dinner and getting it on the table STAT!

It has been a while.

We are all going through something here. We thought it was the stomach bug, but it looks like it might be strep. I am not sure what it is and we are currently in a waiting period for insurance. I am hoping to get the kids and I in to see a Dr tomorrow morning. As much as I fear these bills will haunt us for a loooong while, I can't risk this turning into something even more serious.

The Lord has CONTINUALLY blessed us. This time will be no different.

As always, I appreciate your prayers.
~Angela