our new toy

Well we took the plunge last week. We got satellite TV. I never, ever thought I'd have satellite TV. When I think of satellite TV I think of the absolutely huge, massive dishes sitting in someone's backyard. It has certainly changed. Now it is just a little thing that sits on my roof. And, I think, it used to be very expensive. Now, at least in our area, it is significantly cheaper than cable. Anyway, we got tired of our 5 channels and I'm sure if we tried we would have been able to find a strong enough antenna for the "big digital change" coming in February, but, frankly we wanted to watch Food Network, Fox News and The Outdoor Channel. And it has been wonderful! We also got a DVR so I'm sure our children will be clueless as to how TV really works. I can hear them at someone else's house "why can't you pause the TV while I go to the bathroom?" We pretty much record anything we want to watch and then fast forward through the commercials. And, with ours, you really can pause live TV which comes in handy at bedtime. So our viewing pleasure lately has pretty much consisted of hunting, 30 minute meals, hunting, Diners-Drive-ins & Dives, hunting, NICK, and did I mention hunting? You know you've watch a lot of hunting when Joe says "I'm starting to get picky about what I watch on the hunting shows." Here's a shot of Joe introducing Nathan to the art of bowhunting:

my new appreciation

Do you ever have one of those days where you think "ugh, I must be in the lead for worst mother ever award"? I'm having one of those days. And the thing that makes this one really bad, at least in my mind, is that I was trying very, very hard to do the right thing. I prayed about it, sought counsel, and really tried hard to do the right thing. And then two hours later it became very apparent that I had, in fact, made a bad decision and the guilt started setting in. It wasn't an immoral decision or sin; it was just a bad decision that had consequences with one of my kids. As I was mulling this over in my kitchen, I gained a new appreciation for my Heavenly Father. He is all knowing and filled with wisdom. Every decision He makes is just and right. I don't have to worry about facing consequences of a bad decision that He made in regards to something in my life. Every single decision, no matter how big or how tiny, that He makes is right. And when you really think about it and ponder it, that fact is awesome and amazing. I am also hugely grateful for a child who trusts her mom and is so extremely quick to forgive when I mess up and don't trust her. Proving once again that sometimes it takes stumbles to really have an appreciation for my Savior.

The new animal species

I've been intending to sit down for several days and give you an update on what we did last week and on John's birthday (he's five--can you believe it?!), but I haven't gotten around to getting the pictures off my camera. Here's hoping that will happen tonight. But in the meantime, I thought I'd share Sara's project of the day for class. They were given three different animals and from those three animals they were suppose to design a new animal. She was given a sea turtle, a leopard frog and a woodpecker. She came up with a unique animal and named it Seapard Pecker. Now we know why Adam was instructed to name the animals. Try saying Seapard Pecker ten times fast.

Our record breaking week

Lots of records were broken for our house this week. Well, I guess I should define "lots"--maybe 3 or 4. But when you are breaking records, 3 or 4, is a lot of records. I mean look how famous Michael Phelps is and he only broke one record (yes, I will concur that it was a huge record to break!) Anyway, here's our record breaking week....let's just say I don't remember the last time I was so glad to see Friday get here:

1. I haven't heard the "official" word, but I just checked the temperature and am fairly certain we broke a record low last night. My poor, poor furnace...it has been chugging away all night.
2. It is the first time that an illness has gone through 4 members of our family (all the ones who still have their tonsils). I'm pretty sure it actually went through 5, but I can't absolutely definitively say that Ashley's spots on her face are related to the strep. Don't think I want to pay for a doctor's visit just to prove my point & the antibiotic cream is working great on clearing them up. So we'll just go with 4. That's still an impressive bacteria.
3. It is the first time my kids have missed 3 days in a row due to "snow" days. (Poor Sara didn't get to go to school all week because she was sick Monday & Tuesday.) I call it "snow" days because I think technically they missed yesterday and today because it was too cold--not because of the snow. In any case, it is still a record for my girls and I must say I wasn't prepared for it. And when you aren't prepared to have all four kids in the house without the ability to go outside, at all (due to record number 1), chaos can ensue. Today I'm hoping that the chaos will be a little bit more organized.
4. And, finally, it is the first time in my life I've ever had strep throat. Fortunately, I just got the really sore throat. My kids were gracious enough not to pass the vomiting and scarlet rash that went along with theirs. (And, BTW, Nathan does NOT like to vomit. Well, who does? But this was his first time, and it was not pretty--especially after he figured out what it felt like right before he was going to do it. Let's just say we have a runner...)

Well, my coffee is finished and it might get cold if I don't get it now!

my current realization

I just realized two things: 1. This is the coldest it has ever been while Joe & I have been married and 2. There is an 80 degree difference between inside my house and outside my house.

WOW! That's some cold!

Top ten signs that you had the flu...

Yep, I had the flu and am still in recovery mode. Well, I didn't go get a blood test done or anything so I'm can't definitively say that it was technically "the influenza". But if it wasn't "the flu" then they should change the definition of what "the flu" actually is because what I had should definitely be classified as "the flu"! So here are what I deem the top ten signs that you have "the flu" (in no particular order):

• Even though your hips are killing you, you don't want to turn over in bed because you know that you will freeze to death because the other sheets will be cold.
• You go through 5 t-shirts in one night because the fever keeps breaking and then coming back.
• You know that the toilet seat must have been set outside in the 20 degree snow because it really feels that cold!
• You are tempted to blog at 2am because you are convinced that maybe that will take your mind off of how horrible you feel.
• You start thinking about all the phone calls that your husband should be making when (not if) he takes you to the hospital.
• You wonder why the electric throw blanket that you always think is waaay too hot feels not hot enough when it is set on high--it must be broken.
• You never realized that there were muscles in your pinky toes that could ache.
• You need your husband and you call him on your cell phone even though you are in bed and he is just down the hall in the kitchen.
• You didn't realize that death was going to be so painful because you are convinced that you are going to die.
• And you know that Monday existed, but other then vague recollections like you get from a bad nightmare, you really don't remember much.

John World

John spends much of his time in a different universe. We affectionately call it "John World". I've never been to John world, but from what I can tell it is full of cowboys & indians, race cars, submarines & sharks, dinosaurs, wild animals to hunt, guns, bows and arrows, houses made of Lincoln Logs and robots made of Tinker Toys. There is only one problem with John World. When John is in John World communication with earth somewhat diminishes. In fact, if you didn't know that John World existed you might think that John had gone deaf. So this last week we've been working on an effective communication system between earth and John World. It seems to be working with only a little bit of static. All I know is that John World seems like a really cool place and I'd like to visit sometime.

I know it's true...Ashley told me

We have a breakfast bar in our house. According to John it is called a breakfast bar because there are "bars" on the "bar" stools that sit at the breakfast bar (the support bars at the bottom of the stools). We had a five minute "discussion" (aka argument) concerning it because of John's statement "I know it's true...Ashley told me." I'm not sure what it says of me as a mother that my son trusts his older sister, who happens to me 6 (okay, almost 7), more than me.

Happy New Year!

Yes, I am slightly late sending my New Year's greetings. My kids didn't go back to school until today, so my "real" 2009 didn't start until today. Until today I was still on 2008 Christmas vacation. I was going to end my 2008 Christmas vacation on Sunday, but then I got the stomach flu (courteous the Snow side via John). So I decided to delay the official start until I felt better which happened to be the same day the kids went back to school.

On New Year's Day as we were traveling back through the woods and over the river from Grandmother's house, Joe asked me what I had planned for 2009. I said what I normally say when Joe asks me such questions. "I have no idea." Joe is a verbal thinking. He talks while he thinks. I am a silent thinker. I don't talk while I think. And so while I haven't talked about it in the last 6 days (and I'm sure he is shocked that I even remember that he asked the question), I have thought about it. Maybe it would be good to set some "goals" for 2009. I would call them resolutions, but I'm more of a "goal" person than I am a "resolution" person. Strange as it may sound, I am more likely to accomplish it if I set a "goal" than I am if I make a "resolution". Now, in order to be encouraging to myself, I have learned to always set at least some goals that are very easy to attain. So, while you may chuckle to yourself about some of my goals, just remember that I am accomplishing something. Here are some that I thought I'd share with you:

• Read through the Bible in one year...I'm pretty sure that between college (OT & NT surveys) and years of reading my Bible that I've read all of it. But I would like to just once read it all in a year. I've already got a head start on this goal as I actually started reading through the Bible in December.
• Live healthier...okay, let's just be honest I'm going on a diet and I'm going to start exercising again. The goal is healthy living but I would be sorely disappointed if I didn't lose weight.
• Take the kids to see Yellowstone this summer...well, I guess I should say "take Joe" as well since he has never been either.
• Get my blog printed into book form...I found some software that will do this.
• Make my bed everyday...I don't think I've done this since I lived at home. I came to a realization last month that it probably is unreasonable for me to ask my kids to make their beds everyday if I don't make my bed everyday.
• Submit an article to be published..YIKES! I can't believe I put that into print so that someone can actually hold me accountable! I've wanted to do this for awhile and have some ideas.
• Get satellite TV...yea! This one will be easy since it is already ordered. We are just waiting for them to install it. We will go from a whopping 6 channels to over 40. Now we will have 40 channels to flip through before we determine that there is nothing on TV.
• Read some brain stretching material. Joe got me Paradise Lost for Christmas so I will start there. If I get through it, it will be one of the only books that I have read that Joe has not read.
• My last goal is pretty much out of my control, but I would trade in not accomplishing any of my other goals in order to see just this one accomplished. I want my neighbor to find Jesus and experience His love, forgiveness, and peace.

May this year bring you blessing upon blessing from our loving Heavenly Father.

Christmas at the Horns

Well, we have arrived home at this point. I've been trying to gather all my scrambled thoughts and so the blogging has taken a backseat. After we left the Snow Christmas celebration we headed south (not real far south, mind you) for the Horn Christmas celebration. I would share a few photos with you of our celebration, but in the New Year excitement I forgot my camera at the Horns (the Indiana Horns, that is). So, I'm afraid, you will have to use your imagination. It was days filled with food, movies, lots of wrapping paper, sharing in our nephew/cousin's first Christmas, skyping with the Uncle, Aunt, and neice/cousin overseas, lots of doing nothing and ringing in 2009. I almost made it this year--I stayed up until 11:30. I just couldn't do it the last 30 minutes--lame, I know.