Settling In

So it's been a long month of unpacking boxes, throwing stuff away, trips to my favorite Swedish furniture store and then hours of putting together the fun stuff I find, and lots of fun adventures getting used to a whole new life for us. Why is it so new, when all we did was move? Well, we're in a totally different part of town, which means our grocery stores and our gas stations and the places we run to for a quick unhealthy bit to eat--all these have changed. So we're just getting used to it all. The creaks our house makes or trying to make our house smell like us like our old one did. We've had 2 rodent adventures (those of you who know me know how much I hate rodents). We've had a couple falls down the stairs. We've thrown out a ton of stuff and will be having a massive garage sale soon. Anyway, that is why I haven't blogged for the whole month--each time I sit down, I'm too tired or I hear a box calling my name.

We have a jam packed summer of fun activities. I probably overbooked the kids, so we'll see how well we all do. Mimi almost broke her nose yesterday, we're waiting it out today to see if the swelling goes down. If it does and her nostril is still plugged, then we have to go see the dr. about fixing it! Never knew VBS could be so violent! The funny thing is it's at our old church--we jokingly told each other it happend on purpose to get back at us for leaving! That's funny because it's not true, but it has been bittersweet going there everyday. As much as we know God wants us where we are, and as much as my husband would rather eat dreaded pineapple everyday than go back there, I still miss it. I miss a lot of the people, I miss the smell of the place, I miss our pastor. But I also know it's not good for me to be there and I need to obey God and my husband, and part of that obeying is not bellyaching about missing the old place or bellyaching about the people there that still hurt me or get to me. Either I commit to God's plan for our family or I live in a state of constant rebellion, which is no fun. So this whole year has been a HUGE learning process and I'm anxious to have some down time at some point this summer and reflect on where we've been and where we're going.

I'll try to be more regular about posting-but for now, I"m off to enjoy the 90 degree weather!

First post from the new house!

We're in! We're not settled and there's lots of boxes in my house still, but we're in. The kids are doing so much better; we've met a lot of new neighbors and they seem very friendly; I've found a dead mouse in my Tupperware (I knew our old house still had mice in the garage!); and I'm not getting any sleep! But each day we love it more and more and we're getting used to all the sounds this house makes and trying to make it smell like our home.

Two nights ago, I made my first full dinner here. Ben, my 7 year old, came in the door and said, "MMM, something smells good!" (Oddly enough, it was chicken and rice, which 20 minutes later he promptly turned his nose up at it because he doesn't like chicken or rice, but I think it's only my chicken because he eats chicken nuggets, baked chicken breast, KFC, etc.!) Anyway, I heard him go into Madeleine's room and say, "Mimi, I don't mean to be rude, but our house hasn't smelled at all like our house until today. I walked in the door and it smelled like our home!" Isn't that sweet?

Also, today, Sophia, my 5 year old, came upstairs and saw me putting clothes away. She dropped what she was doing and said, "You do not need to do this alone!" then proceeded to take 9 trips up and down the stairs, bringing me clothes from a box. This from my "uncoordinated" child who dislikes running or sweating! She then dressed up in my old prom dresses, at one point wearing a velvet short jacket, no shirt, a black cape, a Batman chest thing, and put a rose in her mouth and struck a pose. We saw her change almost into a different kid from her last day as a 4 year old to her 5th bd! Its' been so cute and fun!

I'll try to update on Teddy's mom more later, and also fill in the details on Disneyland later.

WHOOSH!!

That's all I can say about our life lately. We arrived home from Disneyland late on Tuesday night, only to take my MIL to the dr the next day and then to sign papers on our house today! My MIL also had surgery today, and we will move on Saturday to our new house! YAY!!

Disney update will be saved for later. For now, here's an update on my MIL--

She has been diagnosed with Stage 3 Cervical Cancer. Surgery today showed no evident cancer in her lymph nodes! She has already begun chemo and will be undergoing 5-6 weeks of radiation. Her prognosis is much better than we originally thought, with hope that she can be completely cured. Of course, that diagnosis only comes after a treatement regimen followed by 5 years of cancer free appointments, so we realized today that we are on a long journey. However, my husband now has hope that his mom will be here for the next holiday, and that alone has comforted him. My kids are doing okay. They saw her after her surgery today, only because she wasn't hooked up to a lot of machines--she just looked like she was in bed sleeping. However, Ben got really sad for her and began to cry, so we knew it was time to leave.

I just can't begin to explain how comforting it is to know that we have more hope than we thought in this! I do, however, request prayer specifically for her spiritual well-being, as well as that of the rest of the family. Also, I request prayer for reconciliation between certain members of the family, including my MIL. We will be talking with some of these people over the weekend, filling them in on the situation, and we can only hope that hearts will soften and forgiveness will be abundant. Lastly, I ask for prayer for my MIL for her treatments she will need to undergo. SHe is a very private person, not liking anyone to see her partially naked or anyone waiting on her. Some of the procedures related to radiation are going to be extremely hard for her to endure and I would pray that she would be calm, comfortable, not feel any more than she needs to and also that she would be at least partly agreeable towards her dr's and nurses! But I also pray that she would have fantastic dr's and nurses (mostly she has so far) and that they would be people she looks forward to seeing--the more she likes them, the more likely she is to let them work on her!

Okay, that's enough for now. Probably the next time I post, I will be doing so from my NEW house!! YAY!!

A sweet and sour journey

THE SWEET: We leave for Disneyland in 8 hours! Well, our plane leaves in 8 hours. We leave the house in 6, which is why it's crazy that I'm still up. But I've been doing some last minute stuff for the house and the loan and what-not! Anyway, we'll be there for 7 days, so think of us every once in awhile over the next week and when you do, go ahead and be jealous. Go ahead. It's okay. :)

THE SOUR: I switch now to a very somber mood, however. Details can follow later, but for now I can share that my mother-in-law found out Friday night, through a dreadful ER visit, that she has cancer. We don't know for sure what kind yet, but it's of the womanly nature in the nether regions. Piecing the puzzle together with all her symptoms and with what the doctor did say, as well as some friends who are nurses, we kind of have an idea of what's going on but not the severity or the exact kind. It's been really hard on my husband, and hard not telling the kids when they wonder why daddy's crying in the bathroom. It's hard on me too, not knowing what to do for him to help and not letting myself think too much about what this means because I need to be strong for him.

Anyway, there's a lot more that could be said, but all I ask for at this point is prayer for her healing, both physically, emotionally and spiritually, as well as these same things on a lower level for all 3 of her kids, her husband and her grandkids.

I'll post an update and some Disney pictures in about a week!

WE GOT A HOUSE!!!!!

I've been so absent for a few reasons.

1. The house situation was looking bad. Hopeless, in fact. Then last Tuesday, when we thought we could get no lower, we got bad news and felt even worse than worse. Then, after a reality shifting night at Ladies Bible Study, we had a miraculous thing happen--most of this is a story for another time. Anyway, we got a tremendous answer to prayer and WE FOUND A HOUSE!!! Yay! More on that later.

2. I've taken a furlough from Weight Watchers until after we get back from Disneyland and move into the house. I have had a hard time losing/keeping it off since Pennsylvania and decided that instead of spending money to gain weight, I'll just try to maintain what I've lost and enjoy myself in Disneyland. Then I'll joyfully go back to the program the first of June!

3. I've not felt like blogging. But now I do. So now I'm back. Not that I have many readers. But to those of you who do check in on me--thanks. Hopefully I can spread a little joy and no more negative mojo!

That's it--pray for Spring weather to come soon! This weird stuff is the pits! :)

It's not that I'm missing..

it's just that nothing really good has been happening in life and I've been really negative. I don't want to spread that kind of mojo around, so I haven't been writing.

Update on Weight Watchers--well, let's just say that the pounds are creeping back in, I haven't really been following program since PA, and we've decided to stop paying for me to go until after Disneyland. I have been trying to get back the 16 pounds down that I was before we leave, but that may just entail having anorexia for the next 17 days. It's very discouraging.

Our house situation--just yesterday, we found out we lost our 5th house we've attempted to buy. Sucks. Badly. Our kids are not doing too well. Having meltdowns, behavior issues. They are tired of living at my mom's. So am I. I desperately hope that we can find a house by this week that someone actually wants to sell. It's not a buyers market.

We've had a possible change in our daughter's soccer "career" and it's been hitting us hard. Not a lot of detail to offer up here, but we feel like everything has been changing lately, why this?

Our daughter is also feeling friendless, which happens to be a side affect of homeschooling, I know. She has friends, but our life so dumb lately that it's not really easy to keep up those friendships and no one is really knocking down her wall (or our phone) to invite her over. So it's a sad catch 22. Not a lot I can tell her to comfort her, as so often I also feel the same way she does.

That's about it for now. There's a lot more going on, but really, we just need a house. Badly. Quickly and badly.

One positive thing--Teddy and I attended a Real Life Marriages Retreat (Homeschoolers Edition) this weekend and it was awesome! We are so glad we went! It's put together and run by Jay and Heidi St. John, who run our co-op, as well as Steve and Jane Lambert, who are the publishers and writers of the Five In A Row curriculum. If you ever have a chance to go--DO IT!!

We survived...

Oh how to summarize our trip? It was a long, exhausting trip there, leaving the house at 4am with very excited kids and arriving at our Aunt and Uncle's house in Newville, PA by 11pm PA time (which is 8pm WA time). We were so done with each other and with traveling at that point!

The trip had it's ups and downs. One major up is that Uncle Warren isn't dying, at least not that we or the Dr's can see! It would appear that all the prayers for him worked! He is very energetic and even spent a whole day at Hershey Park with us!

Another up is that I re-connected with my Cousin Brandon and fell in love with his adorable baby girl, Madyson. We hadn't seen or talked to each other in many years--16 to be exact--but I still felt close to him and had this overwhelming, unexplainable love for him, almost like how I think long lost siblings would feel or something. I don't know, but I do know that I hope my future includes more frequent visits with him and that he's often in my thoughts, as with any of my cousins and half-siblings that I care so much about.

Another up--we loved seeing the Amish people (Sophie especially--she really wants to be Amish!); we loved Hershey Park and Chocolate World; and we enjoyed Gettysburg immensly and even though I don't necessarily believe in ghosts, I will admit that Gettysburg is a bit haunting and I've been indulging in many books on ghosts and weird happenings there.

There were a few downs too, but many were quite personal and can be left unshared. I will say that the trip itself was very stressful, all around, for many different reasons, but it was very good to see family and to say that we've been to PA. Ben experienced some very negative behavior while there and got physical with me a few times, and upon being home had to see his pediatrician about a few things. However, we think we have come to a diagnosis about some of his behavior problems and are seeing a new psychologist next week and will know more then.

The trip home was eventful! Our American Airlines flight was cancelled, but because we were there early, we were able to get on a NW Airlines flight. With 30 minutes to make the flight and no breakfast, we got selected for extra screening at security. They took my brand new Body Shop Grapefruit lotion because it was over 3oz. :( We made the flight though and it took us to Detroit, where we had 45 minutes to get about a mile away and catch a flight to San Francisco (with a sobbing 4 year old!). We made it to our flight. Our luggage did not, but we did not know that yet. We then waited at the San Francisco airport for almost 5 hours, while unbeknownst to us, the Olympic torch was arriving there and leaving from there as well! We finally got on our flight and by this time, the kids were about done. Ben was bouncing off the walls, Sophia was melting down and actually fell asleep over Northern CA, and Madeleine was grouchy. BUTTTT---we made it home to Daddy and were giddy with delight, until we realized we had no luggage! They did locate all 7 pieces though and we got them within 24 hours (thank you Alaska Airlines!)

So, with all that, we left chaos to go to chaos to come home to chaos! We leave for Disneyland 4 weeks from today. I gained 2 more pounds. Our house thing is moving a bit slower than expected. We've had some stress with some soccer stuff, and with baseball starting, and with the next 3 weekends filling up.

But, here's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking that it seems the last 6-9 months have been a drought period for us. We are having some very hard times, and I truly believe that at the end of this long drought, we will have many blessings to be thankful for. For tonight, I'll end with that thought, as I think I'm still on PA time! I haven't stayed up past midnight since I've gotten home! Next post, I'll share some pictures and explain more about Ben's situation.