Saying "good-bye" to twirly skirts

I cleaned my nine year old's room this morning. I know she should do it herself, but sometimes you just gotta get in there and really clean out and organize things. I started by putting up all of her winter/too small clothes in her drawers and closet. As I did, I realized it was probably the last time I'd being pulling "twirly skirts" out of her drawers to put away.

This is my girly-girl who has loved to twirl! She has been the queen of the twirly skirts, and even this past year has still enjoyed them. But she is rapidly growing out of that stage of her life. Everyday she is leaving more of her "little girlhood" behind and becoming more of a young woman.

Her room is evidence of that. Everywhere you look there are evidences of her struggle to hold on to being a little girl while eagerly trying to embrace this new desire to grow up. Baby dolls and Polly Pockets sit alongside her iPod and Hannah Montana notebook. Her iPod playlists include silly, childish songs like Andrew Peterson's "Bears, bears, they got no cares..." as well as Tiao Cruz's "Dynamite." Then there's the princess dress-up clothes that are slowly losing out to the new, trendy styles of clothes with matching earrings, bracelets and necklaces. Now on visits to the mall, we need to stop by Claire's as well as Build-A-Bear workshop.

She still invites her little sisters to come in her room and play Littlest Pet Shoppe and "House." They still play with tea sets and pretend they are best Mommy friends with their babies.

When friends come over, though, I'm more likely to hear the (very) few pop songs she has blaring out of her room while they sing at the top of their lungs and dance.

Thankfully, she is much more innocent and naive than most nine year olds out there. And I'm just as grateful that her friends are as well. I'm sure homeschooling has a lot to do with that. People criticize home schoolers for sheltering their children. Yes, I'll admit to being guilty of that. I'll also say I wouldn't have it any other way! I'll keep her a little girl as long as I can and enjoy every second of it. I will protect her from the knowledge of the evils of this world for as long as I can. She'll have to learn about them soon enough, and she'll be a lot better off to keep her innocence for much longer than most kids.

But she does eventually have to grow up. That's my job as a parent--to teach her, to model for her, to mold her into what God has planned for her. That's a tall order. Parenting is tough stuff and the responsibility is huge! But she is already showing the evidences of growing in the right direction.

Her Bible lays on her bedside table. More nights than not, I walk in her room before she drifts off to sleep, and that's what she's reading. She lets me in on her prayers and the people she's prayed for when she prays alone. Her journal is filled with Bible verses that she's copied because somewhere in that nine year old mind, she knows that that would be a great thing to write down!

She's also learning the life lessons that so many children don't get to learn today. She's learning how to be a mommy, and she's very good at it! She's learning (hopefully) how to manage her time--although her mommy struggles with this as well--between work and play. She's trying to learn how not to be so self-centered, although this one is a hard lesson to learn!! She's learning to cook for a family; that a house doesn't magically stay clean; and how to serve your family, friends, church, community. All these things she's doing because she sees the importance of becoming a godly woman who will eventually be a godly wife and mother.

Yes, my oldest daughter is growing up. I'm so glad I have two more to enjoy behind her! I'm thankful that they have her as an example to look up to.

I'm so thankful and a little nostalgic about twirly skirts and tea parties. But I'm excited and ready for the ride as we discover together this whole new world of hormones, emotions, and other things that go along with growing up as a female. I want to be there and share every moment of elation as well as every bump in the road. I pray that I can be all she needs me to be as a mother and that God will cover up and fill in the holes of all the things that I most definitely will do wrong!

I look forward to the day when she and I will be true friends, as my mother and I are. It's not gonna be long now--the years fly!

Inspiration

Wow! Talk about an inspiration. I discovered a young woman today that has blown me away. She's doing something that most people would only dream about and never really think to actually do!! You can read her blog here and find out more, but I'll whet your interest a little.

This young lady, Katie Davis, is only 22 years old and is the mother of 14 orphaned girls in Uganda. Not only is she the mother of these girls, but she has started a whole non-profit organization called Amazima (scroll down and click on the icon on the right side of the page.) This ministry finds sponsors for the poorest of the poor children in Uganda. She's got 400 so far that are able to go to school, eat meals seven days a week, get medical care and learn about Jesus because of these sponsors. She was 19 years old when she went and started this!! She went for the first time at 16, again at 17, and then decided it was God's calling for her to do this. Amazing!

She not only has 14 daughters now, but she takes in needy and hurting mothers and children when they need it. She just does it all for Jesus. She truly has His heart. She's someone who needs our prayers and maybe even a donation!! I know I'll be keeping up with her now that I've found this. Make sure you click on her blog above and also on the Amazima link. They are two different things. The Amazima link tells more about her story and how she got there.

Hives

Well, something new on our journey through sickness this year. Yesterday around 2pm Shepley broke out in hives. We were in the car, and she told me she was itchy and had "bites" on her arm. We stopped to get out, and I took a closer look. Hives everywhere!! Her cheeks were beet red and her arms and legs had huge red welts covering them. There was nothing on her trunk which I thought was unusual. I knew if I took her to the doctor, they'd just say give her benadryl so I headed over to my chiropractor's office. I know some of you reading think that sounds crazy, but they aren't just chiropractors. They are a holistic practice so they know all about homeopathics, herbs, etc. I knew I could do my own research as well, but I wanted a little reassurance that I shouldn't rush her to the hospital. I wracked my brain to think of something different that she had eaten or been exposed to. When I got there, while I was waiting for Dr. Lindsey to finish with the patient she was with, the receptionist told me that another little boy had come in very recently with the same thing--hives out of nowhere. Then Dr. Lindsey told me that the other chiropractor, Suzanne, had stayed home with her 10 year old a couple of weeks before with the same thing. She tested her, and it was viral. She gave her some sulfur (homeopathics) and gave me a couple of antronex (because we had some at home already) and this stuff called Viralgraphis which is a huge capsule that I was going to have to open up and put in "something" to get her to eat it.

So we were headed to my in-laws anyway. We went there, and I tried to give her the antronex. It is a pill but not very big so I was going to see how she would do with it. She swallowed one but couldn't do the other. So I opened up the Viralgraphis to put in some applesauce for her. She freaked out with the taste. I've given her plenty of stuff like this before so I tried it in yogurt. She still freaked out. So I tasted it. It was the most awful thing I've ever tasted in my life!!! I couldn't get the taste out of my mouth!! So there's no way she'll ever take that. Plus, she doesn't seem to be able to swallow the other well. So I decided to research it. I researched essential oils for it--seems like a normal thing for a skin issue. I found that chamomile and lavender (and peppermint too, I think, but I thought peppermint could burn) are good for hives.

They went away within an hour or so. By the time we got home and went to bed, I wasn't really thinking about them anymore. But she woke up around 4 am covered again and so itchy. I tried to get her to take the pills again but to no avail. I had some lavender essential oil so I thought I'd give it a try. I just put the lavender right on her skin--didn't mix it in olive oil (which is what I usually do.) It helped immediately. Once I got it all over, the itching had stopped and she went right back to sleep. Good to know!!

So no more outbreaks yet. We'll see. Hopefully the other kids won't start--especially Cedar!! Poor thing. His little immune system is getting a great workout this first year of his life!! It's going to be a pretty strong thing! :)

Can I give it all?

"If I saw you on the street, and you said, 'Come and follow me,'

But I had to give up everything--all I once held dear and all of my dreams.

Would I love you enough to let go?

Or would my love run dry when you asked for my life?

When did love become unmoving?

When did love become unconsuming?

Forgetting what the world has told me.

Father of Love, you can have me.

You can have me.

If you're all you claim to be then I'm not losing anything.

So I will crawl upon my knees just to know the joy of suffering. 

I will love you enough to let go.

Lord, I give you my life. I give you my life!!

When did love become unmoving?

When did love become unconsuming?

Forgetting what the world has told me.

Father of Love, you can have me.

You can me.

I wanna be where you are.

I'm running into your arms.

And I will never look back

So, Jesus, here is my heart!

When did love become unmoving?

When did love become unconsuming?

Forgetting what the world has told me.

Father of Love, you can have me.

My Father, my Love, you can have me."

~Sidewalk Prophets

"You can have me"

These Simple Truths (album)

When I listen to this song I just want to close my eyes, raise my hands and sing it with all my heart. Most of all I WANT to mean it. The problem is I have a sinner's heart. Wow! When I think about that first verse, I have to ask myself, would I do it? Would I love him enough to let everything go? My prayer is that I would. My prayer is that nothing would stand in the way between me and my Jesus. My prayer is that I would live my life as a sacrifice to him--not my will but His. Not my choices or comfort or happiness but, as the second verse says, that I would know the joy of suffering. Oooo, that one's hard. Suffering is not exactly something that I want to pray to "know the joy of." And yet Paul talks about suffering a lot in the NT as something we should not only expect but be joyful about. In James 1:2, James says "Count it all joy when you meet trials of various kinds."

I want to say "I will love you enough to let go. Lord, I give you my life." I want my love for him to be moving, to be consuming. That's exactly what I want!! I want my love for him to completely consume me. I want to forget the world and what it says and just say, "Father of Love, you can have me."

This is why I worship best through music. I love music. I love how songs make me think about my Savior and God. I can do that through old hymns or new contemporary music. I can do that with someone playing the piano or at a Christian rock concert as long as the glory is all for Him!!

"I wanna be where you are. I'm running into your arms. And I will never look back.

So, Jesus, here is my heart!"

I'm staying home forever!

Okay, that's it. I just told Jon I'm never leaving the house again (as I prepare to go to the fair in about 30 minutes!) Seriously, though, I'm almost going over the edge.

Cedar has gotten croup, congestion, runny nose, etc. more than any of my other kids ever did as a baby. He also takes to wheezing when he's sick. Every time he gets anything, it turns to that. He has gotten it every time from Cama-Jane--who I know has gotten it from the nursery. Last week, without thinking, I put Cedar in the toddler nursery because there were babies in the infant nursery who were sleeping. Cedar has been crawling for two months and is very used to lots of kid activity so I figured he would be fine. He certainly was except for the fact that he got sick again on Tuesday!! (Not to mention that Cama-Jane started throwing up on Wednesday after being with someone on Monday who threw up that Monday night!) At least Cedar never threw up, but I'm not convinced that he didn't have a touch of that too because his "spit up" was much chunkier (sorry) than usual and he "acted" nauseated. (If that's possible, but he just wasn't himself! He seemed "sick.") So, anyway, to make a short story long.... he's been sick again and we're going on the second week of it now. AAAHHHH!!!!

So just as I was setting my resolve to not go back to the nursery, I just got an email saying that there was more than one confirmed case of head lice at our CC group yesterday!!!

NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Some of you know that we went through head lice about 2 1/2 years ago. I shaved the boys' heads. Trand still hasn't forgiven me. It took me five weeks to get it out of Shepley's hair!! I checked her every day, and every time I saw evidence, we started all over again!! Let me tell you, it took me an hour and a half to comb through her curly, thick hair with one of those little nit brushes!! She was 3!! The only way I got her to sit still was to put her in front of a movie and let her eat a stick of butter!! Yes, that's right--butter! It's her favorite!! :) But I have been scared to death ever since of getting it again. It's not just dealing with the lice. It's washing six (now seven) sets of sheets, pillow cases, etc. every night. It's spraying down the furniture and the car. It's putting away stuffed animals and decorative pillows in trash bags to store for a few weeks before getting them back out. It's living in fear for weeks that the dreaded little bugs will come back. I can't do it again. The last time I almost check myself into a mental institution!! I can handle a lot of stress. But that I can't handle!!

So please pray! Please pray that there is no lice in my children's head!!! I can handle all the colds in the world but please NO MORE LICE!!!!

Going overboard?

If you're a mom in the "birth world" or probably in any "mom world" at all, you've probably seen the new AAP guidelines for car seat safety that just came out today. I happened to be at Classical Conversations this morning in the nursery with not a lot to do so I was reading many comments on thestir. My goodness! I've seen many heated conversations on birth, vaccinations, circumcision, etc. but I've never seen quite the heated opinions on car seat safety. I guess it just goes to show that moms are passionate about anything and everything that has to do with their children!! Since seeing it there, I've seen quite a bit on facebook as well in a natural birth group that I'm in. It seems those Crunchy Mamas have a lot to say (about everything!) :) I put myself in that category as well--so don't get offended if you are there!! :)

So the new guidelines say that children should be rear facing until at least age 2 and in a booster seat until they are 4'9" AND 12 years old. Let me say here that these are GUIDELINES. This is not the law in any state--yet. From the comments on these pages, though, it looks like many people want this to be the law. I can't help but think that these people must only have 1 or 2 kiddos that they are strapping in.

I know that I am not the poster child for car seat safety, and maybe that's because I feel a little too safe in my big 12 passenger van. But I do kindof think that this is a little overboard. Oh man, I would so be skinned alive and burned at the stake for saying that on one of those boards!! A part of me wonders if, like everything else, some of this isn't about money for the car seat companies!! I mean, they are the ones doing the tests.... Someone figured it out, and in order to follow the guidelines, comply with weight/height regulations, and keep the "shelf life" of a carseat/booster seat in mind, each child would go through four car seats before finally graduating to being able to sit in the front seat at age 13. For me, that would mean buying 24 car seats throughout my kids' lives. Yes..... sorry, I have to wonder about the money thing for the car seat companies!!

I guess I've been living under a rock, but I hadn't seen the recent studies, videos, etc. done on keeping children rear facing for so long. From what I've seen today, I guess these studies have been circulating. So, I just put Cedar in a front facing convertible car seat on Saturday because he's now over 22 lbs. That's what I thought I was supposed to do. Man, these ladies were talking about calling the cops on people who do that!! I'm really glad none of them has ever been behind me when I happen to look back and see one of mine hopping over the seat to sit with his/her sibling!! And all day today after reading that this morning I kept thinking, *someone is going to look in my window and see my [almost] 9 month old forward facing!!* So as soon as I have a chance, I will turn him back around. It is really a pain to have a rear facing car seat in a 12 passenger van--I can tell you. I was soooo looking forward to having him turn forward. It's so much easier to get him in and out plus, the only place for a rear facing seat is right in the middle of the front bench seat so whoever sits on the other side of him has to climb over his seat--not that kids mind too much, though. But it means another year and a half of me having to haul myself up in the back to strap him. When he's forward facing, I put him right behind my seat so I can just get in with him in the driver's side, turn around, and put him in. So much easier!! I tell you what--12 passenger vans weren't invented for families. Some car company would do well to make one that was more family friendly!! Because there are plenty of homeschooling, quiver-full families out there who have them.

So, I understand the safety of keeping the babies rear facing for longer. It's the "stay in a booster seat until they are 12" part that gets me! Are you kidding?? I like the comment that one lady made--that we should just wrap them up in bubble wrap until the are 18 because that's safer. :) Hey, maybe it would work--we could just line the insides of our cars with it!! But really, come on, people. I know someone who did make their kids sit in booster seats at 12 years old, and all the kids laughed at them (behind their backs, of course.) I mean, I can't even imagine telling my [almost] 8 year old now that he was going to have to go back into a booster seat. He would have a heart attack!! He and my nine year old daughter could actually (by weight limit) still sit in the convertible car seat that my 8 month old now sits in. It says "up to 65 pounds" for forward facing. Seriously? That would have to be one fat kid!! Because there's no way they could meet the height requirement. I don't know what it is, but I know their heads aren't supposed to be more that one inch above the top of the seat, and they, of course, would be hanging out both ends. I am considering, though, putting my 6 year old back in one. She is going to be so mad at me, but I do think it would be better for her. We'll see how that fight goes!

I just think the world over does it sometimes. There are plenty of adults who are 4'9". Do they need booster seats as well? I saw someone's comment saying that everyone--even adults--were safer rear facing, and she would be willing to try driving that way if someone invented how. Have we lost our minds? Are you kidding me? Can you imagine the day when all the seats in the car will be facing backwards and the drivers' side will have a head harness and safety straps like the space shuttle? And half of those people facing backwards will be puking because they are car sick. (Side note: I've always wondered how many babies are fussy in the car because they are sick to their stomach from being rear facing--just saying...)

At some point, prayer has to be enough. All the safety requirements, rules and regulations in the world will not be enough when it is God's time to call you home! I'm not saying live dangerously or recklessly or put your child's life at risk by holding him in your arms while your driving down the road. I'm just saying that somewhere along the way, we have to figure out how to live by faith. We have to trust God with our lives and the lives of our children. We do what we can and know is best for them. After that, we don't worry because all the worrying in the world will get us no where except in the hospital with stomach ulcers!!

Thank you, Jesus, that you have my kids in your hands--even when they are forward facing at 9 months or jumping over the seat in the van!! And please help me to be more diligent in making sure they keep their seat belts on!!

Pictures from the Keys

I gave updates on our Keys trip while we were there but didn't ever put pictures. Here they are if you are interested!

Here are the kids at Bahai Honda State Park

Here was the view from our bedroom balcony. Not like we were out there enjoying it!! :)

This is the view from the other side.

This was the front of our town house.

Trand being a dork.

Shepley modeling

At the turtle hospital

Stuff

We had a fun night last night. Cama-Jane came into our room (not unusual) and laid down on the floor to sleep without asking to get into our bed (very unusual.) I wasn't going to complain! Then Shepley came in and jumped right in bed with us. I was very thankful for this arrangement when I heard a choking noise coming from the floor and looked down to see Cama-Jane vomiting all over her little pallet down there and all over one of my nice decorative pillows for my bed. At least it was just her, and she was on the floor. Jon doesn't deal well with puke in his bed in the middle of the night!!

I got her up and put her in the tub. She was crying, of course, because she was scared. I don't think she remembers throwing up before. It's been awhile for her. We brushed her teeth and got her all cleaned up. Then I took all the gross stuff to the laundry room and got new stuff for her to sleep on along with a bowl in case she got sick again. Well, she did, and certainly not in the bowl! :) Do they ever at that age?? So we started all over again.

She seems to be fine now. Hopefully she's done. But then Breck woke up early not feeling well. He vomited as well about 8:30. He must have gotten it from her. I know she got it in the nursery on Monday. I got the opportunity to go to a luncheon and hear Phyllis Schlafley down at the Naples Beach Hotel. A very nice lady in our church paid for a couple of tables for young moms and dads (Jon couldn't go) to go and listen. She also paid for babysitters to keep our kids at the church. I heard from one of the moms that her daughter got sick Monday night. I knew it was one that Cama-Jane probably played with so I thought it might happen. But Breck didn't even stay in there. He watched movies across the hall because he was the only boy his age! :) So he must have gotten it from her here at home. Shepley has complained a little about feeling badly but hasn't thrown up yet.

Trand is supposed to have some boys over tomorrow night for his birthday (which was three weeks ago, and we've already had to cancel once!) If no one else gets sick, I'll conclude that it's okay to have them because it will have been over 36 hours since anyone threw up. But if anyone else does--especially if it happens tonight, I'll have to cancel. He's not happy about that!! Poor him! And little does he know, but poor me!! I'm ready for this night to be over with. Not that it's that big of a deal, but I'm tired of planning stuff just to have it not happen and have to think about it for the next week!! Plus, I've got a doula client due next Saturday so it's a real possibility that I might get called in the middle of the night that night.

So now that I've had my little venting session.....

Infertility: My Journey; God's Destination--Part II

If you haven't read "part I" do so first!

Around the same time that we got the news that the last round of artificial insemination didn't "work" we also found out that Jon lost his job. He had been working at a new business with some men that he really respected from our church, and they had gotten in a sticky spot (in other words, they lost all the money they put into it!) and there was no money left to pay employees. So we gave it two months. If he got another job, great. If not, we were moving to Naples.

Well, I guess you know how that turned out! So August 2000, we moved down to Naples--temporarily, of course! :) I never planned to be here this long. I wasn't happy about moving when we first started talking about it, but I really prayed that God would change my heart. He did. He not only made me "okay" with coming down, He actually got me excited about it.

As soon as we got here, I got a Bible Study going with some of the younger moms that I knew/had met. It is called Motherwise by Denise Glen. It is probably the best Bible Study that I've ever done on mothering and definitely what I needed at the time. I've done it three times, and I was just thinking recently I need to do it again! :) In the first video, Denise shares that she struggled with infertility as well. Of course that struck a chord. She talked about how she was consumed with it--hmmm, sounded familiar. So a Christian counselor told her that she needed to pray, "God, it's okay if I never have any children. All I want is you." To make a long story short, she did pray that prayer, and she had three kids. Okay, obviously a whole lot more went on there, but this isn't her story! :) But I felt a tug on my heart to pray that prayer. I was under no illusions. I knew that praying that prayer didn't assure me that I would have more children. After all (as everyone so kindly kept pointing out to me) I was already a mother to one.

I knew I really wanted to MEAN that prayer, but I knew I couldn't mean it just by praying it. So I began to pray it anyway, and I asked God to change my heart. I knew he was the only one who could make me mean it! I don't remember when I started praying that prayer, but I prayed it everyday--along with the part about asking God to help me mean it!! But I do remember the day, in September 2001 in my bathroom while drying my hair, when I finally meant it!! It just hit me. I knew that my life was his--totally and completely and that it really WAS okay if I never had another baby. I could honestly say all I wanted was Him!! I literally fell to my knees crying then got as prostrate as I could. You know there are only a few times in your life (well, in mine anyway) that you feel that close to God and completely in His presence.

I didn't expect to take a positive pregnancy test the next month. I didn't expect anything. I really just wanted Him!! Little did I know that at that time that for about a month He had been knitting together a Masterpiece perfectly fitted for our family in someone else's womb! I'm sure there are many reasons why she was born in someone else's womb and not my own, but I do know one!! Liza-Hill's birth mom came to know Christ through her relationship with Covenant Care and placing her baby for adoption. She shared that at one of their banquets, and I was thrilled to be able to share that with Liza-Hill when she was old enough to understand!!

So from September 2001 to March 2002, all was pretty quiet on the fertility front! :) I gave my testimony at our Women's Retreat at church, and I had faith that it wasn't complete yet. Although I continued to live by faith day in and day out that Jesus was all I needed.

Well, the rest of the story is history. I shared a bit of Liza-Hill's "birth story" the other day. She came to complete (or so we thought) our family in March 2002.

Six months later I thought I had a stomach bug. I threw up for three days and couldn't figure it out! Pregnancy didn't cross my mind, but out of the blue I thought to take a test. You can imagine my ultimate shock when that test showed positive!! "Elated" cannot begin to describe my emotions!!  I was about 7 weeks pregnant, and my baby had just turned six months old!! Breck was born in April 2003, 6 weeks after Liza-Hill's first birthday!!

A year later, almost to the day, another pregnancy test showed positive, and Shepley was born in January 2005--20 months later. It was at this time that I had three babies under three years old, and I prayed within five minutes of her birth for God to please give me 2 1/2 years before my next one! :)

2 1/2 years later--to the month--my sweet Cama-Jane was born. And almost three years after her, our precious Cedar made his entry!!

So out of the last nine years, there have only been 3 months that I haven't been pregnant or nursing!! And I've loved every minute of it (well, maybe there were 3 or 4 minutes that I didn't love!) :)

I know not every person who struggles with infertility ends up with this story. (They probably don't all want to end up with this story!!) :) But I'm so thankful that God chose to bless us over and over with His precious children. They are the only blessings (besides our salvation) that are eternal. They are the only things we can "take with us" when we go!! :)

As for my journey through infertility--well, I wouldn't have it any other way!! God knew exactly what I needed. He knew my heart. No, wanting to have a big family is not a bad thing. But He showed me that I wanted that more than I wanted Him. I was making my family an idol. ANYTHING that we want more than Him is idolatry and sinful. He loved me enough to make me get that out of my heart before giving me the desires of my heart. If he hadn't, I would have never known how to truly love him with my whole heart. He knew what it would take to break me--where my passions really ran deep. And He proved to me that if I can trust him with my family, I can trust him with anything--because if you know me, you know they are my heart!

Yes, he's had to "remind" me a few times! I don't live continually where I should be--completely in his presence. But I know what it's like to be there, and I don't ever want to stray too far!!

Infertility: My Journey; God's Destination--Part I

I decided to write about my journey through infertility because so many people who know me now didn't know me when I was going through that time of my life. "Infertile" is about the last thing that probably runs through peoples' minds when they see me marching into Target or Jason's Deli (two of our favorite places to frequent) with all my kids in tow. And yet about ten years ago I heard "You have less than a 2% chance of ever getting pregnant again" from an obnoxious, pompous fertility doctor with a major god complex!

This story starts long ago--way before I ever met Jon. As a little girl and through my growing up years I always knew I wanted a big family. I don't know why! I never played with baby dolls or barbies. I didn't come from a big "immediate" family (although both of my parents were one of five.) But somewhere in my heart, God placed within me a desire to be a wife and mommy and make a career out of it! So that was my plan!

When I got pregnant the first time at 22 years old, it wasn't that difficult. Nine months later our sweet first born little boy was born, and I couldn't have been happier!! This was what I had always dreamed of. Everything was happening according to "plan."

Well, we never used birth control again, but somehow a year later then two years later, I wasn't pregnant again. We decided to go to the fertility doctor in Chattanooga (not the above mentioned Dr.) He put me on some fertility drugs for a few months, and those didn't work. Then I had to give myself shots everyday for awhile. During one week of the month I had to have some pretty major shots to I let a nurse friend of mine give them to me. Those hurt like crazy!! All these shots made my hormones do the craziest of things--which I shudder now to think about!! We tried two months of artificial insemination, and after those didn't work we decided to quit. We were young and poor!!

It was at this point that I was definitely at my lowest. I believed God had abandoned me. I questioned God over and over about how he could do this to me if he loved me. My claim was that all I ever wanted was to have lots of children to raise for him. How could that be a bad thing?? I couldn't get my brain around it. I had someone point out to me Romans 8:28, that "all things work together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose." While I believe that this verse is completely correct, let me tell you that it is not the verse to quote to someone who is hurting. They will figure it out on their own all in good time!

For about two weeks, I truly questioned God's existence and goodness. (I know my mom is going to fall over that I'm actually writing that and admitting those feelings!!) :) But it's the truth. Jon was quite scared that lightning was going to strike me down. But God had other ideas in mind of how to get my attention.

We were living in Lookout Mtn., GA at the time, and it was spring--my favorite season there. I remember it just like it was yesterday. I was driving down the mountain noticing the stark difference between the gorgeous blue sky and the newly bloomed deep green leaves on the trees. Out of nowhere it came--caught me completely off guard. I heard it in my heart, but it was as clear as if someone had screamed it in my ear--"Who do you think made this?" Well, I'm not stupid. I know that there's no way this amazing creation could come from nothing. And as soon as I heard that question, I heard another--"Who do you think made you?" Ah, that was the question that deserved an answer. And I knew the answer. I had always known. But as I thought about what I really believed I knew there was no way I could believe that this creation, these creatures, complicated human beings could just evolve from nothing into the mystery that astounds even the most brilliant scientists. I knew God was real. And I knew he made me. And I knew if God existed, he was good, and that's what I had to believe by faith.

God took me home and took me straight to the book of Job. I read it all the way through that day. As I got to the end, God gave me quite a pounding with

"Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
   Tell me, if you have understanding." (Job 38:4)

and

"Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place," (Job 38:12) 

You get my drift here. Read the last few chapters of Job starting at chapter 38 if you aren't familiar with it. It will put you in your place if you are questioning God about anything going on in your life!! :) On and on I read, and more and more I understood that this was not in my hands. This situation was in the hands of the God of the Universe. I didn't understand it, but it wasn't time for me to yet. And I've learned through the years that we never understand it while we're in the fire! It's only on the other side that we are able to see the "why" (even if he allows us to at that point!) So I had to be content to wait. I'm not really good at that!!

At this point Trand was 3 years old, and I seriously thought that having children this far apart was just about the worst thing that could happen!! Jon and I both felt God leading us toward adoption. We knew we didn't want to go into debt with fertility treatments that could lead nowhere, and we knew that there was a baby out there that God planned for us and our family. So we started looking at agencies.

We chose Covenant Care in Macon, GA mainly because I had grown up in the same church as the director there so we had a connection. We started the process, but in the meantime we had moved to FL. We also (for some reason) made a visit to the afore mentioned fertility doctor who told us we had a 2% chance of ever conceiving again! Ha!!

Over the course of the fourteen months span between our initial decision to go with Covenant Care and the day we got our little girl, God grew me up! He did a number on my heart that could only have been done through infertility. I know that now. I know that that was the ONLY way to get where he needed to get in my life. So I will post Part II of my story very soon, but now I need to get to bed!!

A Messy Boy!!

Tonight I had a meeting with a doula client. The rest of my family was at Jon's parents' house eating supper before celebrating Liza-Hill's birthday (once again.) When I came in, this is the baby that I saw sitting in his high chair.

Needless to say, I wasn't about to pick him up and take care of that mess when I wasn't the one who let him get that way!! So Jon was in charge of getting him in the bath tub--which he did very nicely. 

Playing with Papa after he got cleaned up!!

I love this!! He was totally cracking up at Papa!!

Mommy's happy, handsome boy!!

Happy Birthday, Liza-Hill

My plan this year was to write each of the kids' birth stories on their birthdays, but so far this year two have passed me by without me doing it!! So I'll start with my most unique "birth" story! Most of you who know me "in person" know that nine years ago today, we had no idea that Liza-Hill was even out there!! We had been struggling with infertility and had decided that adoption was something that we wanted to pursue. So although today is the day she was born on this earth, my sweet Liza-Hill was actually "born" to us eight days later! For years I didn't offer Liza-Hill's birth story. We were told when we adopted her that we shouldn't really proclaim that fact. It was for her to decide when she got old enough. The fact that she was a white American baby (and who happens to look just like us and totally fit in our family!) made that very easy. But in the last couple of years, she not only accepts the fact that she's adopted, she completely embraces it and tells everyone she knows!! :) She makes being adopted look so special and fun that my six year old laments the fact that she wasn't adopted!! Liza-Hill is the eternal optimist and sees every glass half full!

On March 15th the adoption agency called our house and left a message to call them back (back in the days when people didn't regularly call cell phones or even have your cell number!) I didn't get the message til after 5 pm so I was going to call on Monday. They called me Monday morning at exactly 9 am to tell me that we had a baby girl, and by that time she was five days old!! We had no idea that anyone was even looking at our profile because her birth mom wanted it that way. We still had to have one last thing done for our home study so the case worker here in FL graciously finished that up on Tuesday. We left for GA on Wednesday. And we had our baby girl in our arms on Thursday!! It was a whirlwind of excitement. 14 months of waiting to adopt was over! Five years of waiting for another baby in our home was over!! As I looked at her, I knew she was the child born in my heart. I had loved her and prayed for her for so long--even before she was conceived.

Here we were nine years ago. A new family of four!! Trand was so excited to finally have the little sister he had been praying for!! And Jon's beard cracks me up every time I look at these pictures!! :)

My sweet Liza-Hill, you have brought so much joy to our lives and so many smiles to our faces!! I cannot imagine life without you!! I love how you have embraced your adoption. I love that you think it's the most wonderful thing in the world!! I love how you proudly announce that you have been adopted twice--by your parents and by God! You are a wonderful example of God's faithfulness and love for his children. You light up a room with your smile, and my heart sings with your giggles!! I love you, my precious promise!!

How many is "too many"?

Everyone has a different answer, I'm sure. For some, two is perfect. For others, they only want one or maybe they want to break the status quo and go with three or even four. And then there are those crazy few who want five, six or even more. So how many is "too many" for you?

If you haven't guessed by now, I'm talking about children. Those precious little blessings that enrich our lives in every way imaginable. Don't worry. This isn't going to be a long diatribe about birth control or letting God have control of your fertility--although I do have a pretty firm view on both of those issues.  I am writing this post in hopes of helping some family--maybe even just one--before it's too late.

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about our eight month old and how different it is this time around. I've been thinking about how having another one wouldn't be so hard. It really is true what they say--the more you have, the easier it gets.

I say that to reinforce the truth in it. I know many couples who have three or four little ones, and they feel like they are drowning. It's so hard to see past the diapers, feedings, constant discipline, endless laundry, and no time together as a couple. They think, "We can't do this again. It's too much!!" So they take their fertility into their own hands, and make the decision to permanently cut off any future offspring. I've heard them say, "If God really wants us to have another one, we know he can give it to us. A vasectomy isn't going to stop Him." But God doesn't usually work that way. If we ask for blessings to be cut off from us, that's usually what's going to happen.

Now, a few years later, I'm hearing those same couples lamenting that decision. Mommies are longing for another baby in their arms. They are realizing that things wouldn't be so hard this time around. Things change. Children grow up. They don't stay in diapers forever. They don't need our constant attention for too long. And if we are doing our jobs, even a little, they are learning some responsibility and what it means to help out as part of a family.

Secondly, children looooove babies. I hear it ALL the time--children begging their parents to have more siblings for them! My kids just assume that there will be another baby. They talk about him/her usually on a daily basis as if it's just a given that there will be another one. Once children get old enough to feel this way about new babies, they are old enough to be a huge help with that same baby.

It took me until this baby, my 6th one, to see this. I had heard it from others as well. But the difference between the job of taking care of my 5th and the job of taking care of this one is vast. I marvel at how much help my children are. They are in love with this precious little brother! They "ooo" and "goo" over him constantly! He lights up when they are around. The girls use him as their real life baby doll to play house so that I can clean the kitchen, get schoolwork done with another child, or do whatever else needs to be done. Or if I'm lucky, they will clean the kitchen, do the laundry or whatever else while I get to play with the baby! :) My oldest girl is just turning nine this weekend, and let's be honest--they are usually the ones who help out the most in the domestic areas anyway. So while my oldest is 14, most of his expertise is spent doing the outside work, but he does help out with the baby for sure!

Yes, I'm still the one who gets up with him at night. But if I need an extra hour of sleep in the morning, there's always someone willing to get up and play with him so that I can get it. They change diapers, dress him, love to feed him his solid food, and entertain him all day long!

All of this makes this Mama heart of mine soar! Babies bring families together! What could bring the same amount of joy other than this pure innocence and newness of life?

I say all this to encourage moms and dads of lots of little ones to please wait! Wait before doing something permanent that you may regret later. I'm not telling you to throw caution to the wind and have a baby every year (although if you breastfeed on demand for at least a year your chances of doing that are VERY unlikely.) I'm just saying, don't do anything permanent. If you have a few little ones and things seem crazy, I completely understand your pain. When I had my 4th, I had three children under three years old and an 8 year old that I was homeschooling!! Within five minutes of her birth my prayer was, "Lord, please just give me 2 1/2 years before the next one." We never 'tried' for a number five, but she was born exactly--to the month--2 1/2 years later!! Is God awesome or what?? When we trust Him and His timing, we know that He will give us exactly what we need. I didn't give God a time frame for the next one. I didn't really think I'd have anymore (that's what my husband said anyway.) But God had other plans, and I'm so glad He did. Three years later our little Cedar was born. Our family would have missed out on so much joy that Cedar has brought to us! I'm so glad that we didn't do anything permanent--and we still won't.

My girls are learning first hand how to be Mamas. They are learning how to run a house, school children, and take care of a baby all at the same time. No, things aren't perfect. Our house is no where CLOSE to perfect!! But that's not the priority right now. Yes, I wish I were better at teaching them that. I wish I was more disciplined in that area so that they had a better example. I'm working on that with lots of prayer and practice!! But they do see that it can be done and done happily (usually.) And at the end of the day when Daddy comes home, they see an example of how to be a wife as well. Once again, not always perfectly but they see it coming from a heart that wants to serve.

I don't say any of this to toot my own horn. I promise--no horn tooting here!! My husband and I struggle with our decision to let God have the reigns in the area of our fertility after every baby. I hate being pregnant!! I struggle with losing weight after the birth. I do sometimes think how nice it would be to just pick up and go away with him for the weekend. He worries about finances. He stresses about time to spend with them. We both think about the fact that we are getting older with every baby!! I was 23 with my first, and I was 36 when this one was born! But in the end, we both rest assured knowing that He's in control.

If you know me, you know that I struggled with infertility for five years between my 1st and 2nd child. I've often said that God kept me from having babies to put my on my knees, and now he continues to give them to me to keep me on my knees!! God knows this Mama's heart. He knows that I'm a pretty strong lady, and it could get easy for me to think that I was doing things on my own!! I think He gives me these precious little ones to be my constant reminder that His grace is the ONLY way I can do it!

So don't sell yourself short. Don't miss out on the opportunity to give yourself and your kids more of the greatest blessings you could ever know!! And if you have already done something permanent--there's always adoption. Expensive? Yes. But pray about it. If God gives you the heart, He will provide the way.

Best pretzels ever

Seriously, the best pretzels I've ever eaten--gluten filled or gluten free!! (and I was not paid for the advertisement!) :)

Even better, try dipping them in organic peanut butter....mmmmm, so good!!

Making Salt Scrub

Shepley has been wanting to make soap so I told her we could. After researching a bit on the internet, I think I need to research a whole lot more, figure out exactly what I need and be ready with lots of time!! Maybe this summer! In the meantime, I decided making a salt scrub could be good enough! :) They had lots of fun doing it today, and they now have a fun treat to give a friend.

Ingredients:

1 cup fine sea salt

1/2 cup almond or grape seed oil

(we ended up using more because I like mine oilier)

5-15 drops of essential oil of your choice

(we used lavender)

funnel with large hole

(we ended up using a larger one than is in this picture.)

jars of your choice

Mix all ingredients in a bowl.

Use a funnel with a large hole to fill jars of your choice.
We ended up having to make two batches to fill all six jars.

Add some cute ribbon, a little label, and voila!

The label says, 

"Lavender Salt Scrub handmade with love for you from Liza-Hill and Shepley"

Running the Race

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it."  ~1 Corinthians 9:24

"Therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us."  ~Hebrews 12:1

Do you ever get tired of running?

I, for one, don't really enjoy running physically for exercise. I used to run some in college because it helped me lose that college weight really fast and easily. But as I've gotten older, whenever I try to run it hurts! My chiropractor told me that it's really not good to run--especially for women--because runners usually have lots of orthopedic issues later in life. So I use this as my excuse, and I don't run!

Obviously, the physical act of running is not what this verse is about. This verse is about running the race of life. Paul and the writer of Hebrews (some think Paul wrote it, but it's not known for sure) are telling us that this race is important.  We are to run (or live) this race (or life) that is set before us, and we are to do it in a way as to get the "prize."

These verses often pop into my head as I am feeling weary and ready to give up on being a good mom, wife or home maker. The Holy Spirit whispers it in my ear as I am thinking, *This just isn't worth it!* I will admit that there are plenty of times that I think that! Is the prize really worth it? How can I know this for sure? Sometimes I'm just so tired I want to give up. Sometimes my children are so stubborn and difficult that it seems that no matter how much I do or endure, I'm doing nothing worthwhile anyway. Sometimes after a night with only a couple of hours of sleep followed by a busy day out, I come home to mounds of laundry and housework, and it feels like I'm drowning--certainly not running!

There are some who have labeled me a Supermom. There could be nothing further from the truth! Yes, I have six children whom I homeschool, and I am running that race which has been set before me! If you don't already know, please let me be the one to inform you--there is no such thing as a Supermom! She is NOT to be found. So please stop trying to live up to her unrealistic expectations! I am not her nor do I know her, and if I did I am sure I wouldn't like her very much! So I'm so glad she's just a figment of our guilt ridden imaginations! Yes, I'm guilty of comparing myself to her as well--that perfect image of the put together woman with all her children submissively in tow, doing [whatever it is that makes her *super* to you.]

I think this is what makes running the race so difficult. We are running against imaginary racers. We are racing against people who don't even exist. We talk about grace and giving others grace, but do we give ourselves any? Do we understand the grace that God gives us? It is in this God given grace that we are free to run. Yes, we will make mistakes. Yes, we will falter and fall. Some of us may even have to go back to the start a few times! But we need to understand who or what we are truly running "against" in order to run the race set before us.

Hebrews tells us that we are running against the "weight and sin which clings so closely." So God's not up in heaven, rolling his eyes at me saying, "Look at Jill. Why can't she get it together like her friends who discipline better, train their children to work better, pray more, have better attitudes, have cleaner houses, iron their husband's work shirts?" And the list goes on.... God is not in the business of comparing his children. He desires for us to run this race against our own sinful desires, our own flesh, our own willfulness.

You see, we are justified at the moment of salvation. Right then and there our hearts are pure and clean--just as if we had never sinned! This is the free gift that we are given. But we all know that we don't live that way. We continue in sin because we continue to live in our flesh. Therefore God spends a lifetime sanctifying us. Every hurdle in the race, every bump in the road, every obstacle that gets thrown in our way, God uses for our sanctification. Yes, we are running this race to get the big prize, but there are all sorts of little trophies along the way! Those are the daily prizes that keep us going. Learning to be a little more patient with the 3 1/2 year old that just won't potty train; keeping your cool with two busy toddlers running in and out of the clothes rounders at the mall with all sorts of people staring at you; having the discipline to clean one more toilet, clean up the kitchen before falling into bed, pack for your husbands' business trip just because it would show him how much you love him....all of these things are examples of our sanctification. Yes, they are purposeful choices, but we can only choose them over and over because of God's grace.

We aren't getting "better" to earn our salvation. We've already got that! Nothing that we could do could make God love us any more or any less than he does right now or than he did at the foundation of the world! This race isn't about that. It's not some moralistic competition to see who can be the "best" Christian. It's much bigger than that! This race starts the moment we admit that we are sinners, repent of our sin, turn from it and ask Jesus to take it as far as the "east is from the west." This race will culminate on that glorious day when we will see our precious Jesus face to face and he will say, "Well done, good and faithful servant." Oh what an amazing day that will be! But all this time in between is what now we must endure. This is our race. Each of us have a different path set before us. We're not all on the same road. We all have different terrains that we must learn to run over. We may encounter some of the same obstacles, and we each have to figure out how God wants us to deal with them and what he wants us to learn--because he's going to teach us all different things even from the same experience sometimes.

Remember you are "surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses" so stick to the narrow path; stay on the steady course. Run the race set before you in a way that is pleasing and honoring to your Savior. Run with integrity. Run in a way that will point others to Jesus. These things will bring you great joy in the midst of the race.

Yes, sometimes I get tired of running the race that has been set before me. But my Jesus is faithful even when I am not. He is my rock and my fortress. He is my salvation. He is my shield and my defender, and he is my strength. And he promises that "they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." ~Isaiah 40:31. So I will continue to run, and I will claim my prize that Jesus is saving for me--my crown of righteousness--on the day that he tells me "Well done, good and faithful servant." I am SO excited for that day!

Our adventures in the Keys Day 5--Saturday

Cedar did so much better last night!! He slept in his pack n play and only woke to eat twice--which is pretty normal when we are vacation! So hopefully he's getting back to normal. The other kids stayed in their beds again as well. I think CJ needs a permanent bed mate!! She never stays in her bed at home!

We got up early, packed everything up and headed down to Key West. We figured being as close as we were we might as well take the kids down while we had the opportunity. I had never been to Key West either. My main goal was to have a picture taken of all of us at the "Southernmost point"--the 0 mile marker. So we found our way around on Jon's iphone, parked, and headed down to famous Duval St.

Let me just tell you that I was wishing that I had never taught my kids to read as we were going by some of those store windows with dirty t-shirts out front!! My kids are so naive that I knew the little ones wouldn't get anything from just reading them--but the pictures were another story!! And I wondered about Trand, but he is seriously so oblivious to everything that I don't think he even saw them!! I kept watching him, and he really never even bothered to look at them. He's certainly not worried about being "cool" or knowing what's "in" so he seriously doesn't care! :) When we got back in the car, and Jon and I were talking about it, Liza-Hill (my little nosey one) asked us what we meant. I said something about how some of those t-shirts had things on them that I didn't want them to see. She said, "Oh, you mean like bad words?" I said, "Yes, like that." She said, "Like the one that said, 'I pee in pools'?" I totally cracked up!! I said, "Yes, honey, just like that one!!" :) If that's the only one that infiltrated their minds today then we are doing great!! :)

We ate lunch at Margaritaville for the experience. It was fine, but walking in there with a family of eight was kindof funny. We had plenty of stares! But I have to say that we also had two nice compliments from people as well. That's always nice. Trand was supposed to go to a paint ball thing with the youth group today, and he said when people asked him why he wasn't there he was going to say, "I was at Margaritaville instead." :)

We walked down to Mallory pier, and the kids were totally bored. We still couldn't find the 0 mile marker. There's not a lot to do in Key West if you don't want to get drunk! Liza-Hill had seen a hammock store that she wanted to go in. We went back to that. They had a hammock chair on sale for $99 that I really wanted!! I may order it still. It would be great for the lanai. After we felt we had worn out our welcome in the hammock store (as soon as we walked in, all the kids dove for a hammock, rocked, spun, twisted themselves all up, etc.) we decided to let Jon walk the rest of the way to get the car and we waited for him to pick us up.

As we were driving out of town, at the very south end (which we didn't realize at the time) of the island, we drove by the "Southernmost point" and the 0 mile marker where I had wanted our picture taken. There was no place to park that wasn't going to take 15 minutes to walk over there, and then there was a line of people waiting to take pictures. I knew the kids would not be happy about doing it, so I snapped a quick shot from the car as we drove by! Oh well!

The ride home was good. The kids had fun laughing and playing together. I love to hear them doing that on trips! I posted on my FB status that it was a good thing they had good memories from family vacations because we couldn't afford souvenirs!! That's the truth!! :) They each got a little something from the nature museum that we went to, but that was it.

We stopped in Miami at a McDonald's. It was actually a nice place for Miami. If you are from Miami or love it, please don't be offended. But it makes my skin crawl to be in that city!! Every time we go there I just feel dirty being there. Maybe I'm in the wrong places. I know there has to be some nice places because I know lots of rich people live there, but I haven't ever been to those!! It's a scary place, and I hold on to my kids a little tighter and lock my doors a couple of extra times when I'm there!!

So we made it out of there safely and got home to a kitty and a dog who missed us very much!! We are all exhausted, but we had a great time!!

Our adventures in the Keys Day 4--Friday

Last night's update: The good news is that all other children besides Cedar stayed in their own beds. That always makes the night easier. CJ slept in the same double bed with Breck so I think that's what did it. As long as she is next to someone else's body heat, she's fine! :) Cedar, on the other hand, used me as a constant drinking fountain all night! :) I'm amazed at how God created a woman's body to just never run out of milk! He stayed in bed with us all night, but didn't seem to moan and groan like the night before. He also seems to be clearing up a little in the nasal and congestion area. I think it must be the GOOT! He hasn't cleared up this fast the other two times he's had this. There's still some coughing going on, but all in all he seems better.

When I took Jon to work today it made me laugh. The city of Marathon is very serious about their school zone. The hospital happens to be right in the middle of it so I've been through it everyday. Now, the zone is only about 100 yards long--I'm completely serious. I pictured a football field to measure, and I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt!! But to cover this 100 yard space of school zone, they have three police cars!! I've seen someone pulled over every morning and two other cops just waiting. Cracks me up!

We went over to another resort today, Hawk's Cay, to see the dolphin "show." I didn't want to pay the money to go to the dolphin research center. It would have been $80 for me and the kids, and from what I saw on the internet they couldn't have really done anything unless I paid a whole lot more once we got in! So we had heard that there was a show at Hawk's Cay. It was a very nice resort with a nice beach area, but I certainly wouldn't go back for the show! :) It was fine, and the little ones got to see some dolphins up close, but it left much to be desired for sure!!

We went back to our resort and got our bathing suits on. I had told the kids that I would take them to the Tiki bar at the beach to eat so we did that for lunch. There was so much wind that our plates hardly stayed on the table. Breck tripped and spilled his first drink and had to get another. Then Trand's drink blew over in the wind. Liza-Hill got mad that they didn't have any chicken so she went back to the room. I sat Cedar down in the sand to play because he was having nothing of me just holding him in my lap. He started shoveling sand in his mouth as usual, and Trand chastised me. I told him I couldn't stop him from doing it. So he kept commenting about how I was letting Cedar kill himself. Cedar started to cry a little so I picked him up. Trand looked at him and yelled, "Mom, LOOK!" I looked down, and he had a mouth full of brown seaweed. It really was disgusting!! I started digging it all out of his mouth with my finger. I looked down around us and said, "I don't even see any seaweed." Trand said, "Yeah, that's because Cedar ate it all." :) Oh, he keeps me on my toes! The bill was a shocker!! $65 for lunch, and Liza-Hill didn't even eat. Cama-Jane didn't either because she had eaten pizza in the room, thankfully. Because $65 was all I had taken out there!! Tip was added in, of course, but still.... The drinks were like $3.50 each, I think. They didn't have drink prices on the menu.

Afterward, I took Cedar back to the room and put him down for a nap. Trand stayed with him there while I took the others to the pool. They ended up playing there for a long time. I didn't think Cedar would stay asleep so long so I didn't keep up with the time. But he slept forever. Maybe seaweed is a natural sleep enhancer!! After he woke, we went back in to see that we had 35 minutes to get ready, pick up Jon, and make it over to the turtle hospital by 4 pm for our tour!! The turtle hospital was right beside our resort so it wasn't a long trip.

The kids loved the turtle hospital. Shepley especially! Liza-Hill took about 400 pictures. I have to admit it was pretty cool. I'll be posting pictures as soon as I can get them uploaded onto the computer. The tour was about 90 minutes and very informative. In Classical Conversations on Monday, the kids are supposed to be "the teacher" for their presentations. Shepley is going to teach about sea turtles. She's very excited!! We have to get a few pictures developed for her to take.

Afterward, we went back to the room, picked up Wendy's to eat, and got packed up and ready to head out Saturday morning!!

Our adventures in the Keys Day 3--Thursday

Last night was even worse! Cedar nursed FOUR times during the night!! He is just miserable at night. He stayed in the bed with us after the second time he got up. He'd sleep for an hour or so and then just moan and be so pitiful until I nursed him again. At one point then, Cama-Jane came in to get me as well. Jon tried to go lay down with her, but she kept crying that she wanted me so in order to keep the rest of the kids asleep, I went. When I got back in our room, Cedar had been crying for me as well. Oh, at those times I truly long for my own bed and my own house!! The worst part is that all the floors are tile. At home I can just tell the kids that whomever wants to can sleep in our room, but sometimes somebody has to sleep on the floor. Sometimes the floor is covered with throws, blankets and pillows in the morning. But who cares? Everyone got to sleep, and everyone was happy. I can't make her sleep on a tile floor!! So we have two more nights!! Cedar is still coughing, but it's not croupy anymore so that's a good thing. He is just so snotty--just like Cama-Jane so both of them have noses just like faucets! I need to make it back to the health food store and get some pulsitilla. I didn't get any the other day because I have that at home and hated to spend more money, but I guess I'll use it sometime anyway.

So after I took Jon to work, we sat around after breakfast for awhile. I got Cedar down for a nap and tried to read some to the kids. They weren't really excited about it. I used to be able to read to Trand for hours, and he was totally still up for it today! Usually the other kids like it, but today they were ready to get to the pool. I let LH and Breck go over without me because there were other people there, and I knew they would watch each other. The pool is literally in our back yard. Jon couldn't believe I did that, but I told him I had six kids--one of whom needed naps and such--and one of me!! Later, Trand took the little girls over. What respite. I had about 45 minutes all to myself to pray, dry my hair, check facebook. It was great! Then he came back and said, "I thought you were coming!!" I didn't remember saying that, but whatever... :) I went over for a little while then brought them back. We ate lunch and walked over to the turtle hospital that's right next door to the resort. They didn't have anymore tours available for that day so we signed up for one tomorrow at 4 pm. Hoping that Jon is able to get off work a little early tomorrow to go with us. Shepley was very enthralled with the turtles and has added it to her list of what she wants to do when she grows up!! (along with being a mommy, chiropractor, dentist, pottery maker, dance teacher and artist.)

Then we got in the car drove to the Crane Museum of natural history. The boys were very excited, the girls not so much! LH and Shepley kept saying, "I don't like museums." I sat them down before we went in and said, "Listen, we are a homeschooling family. Get used to museums!" Half way through the time there, LH exclaimed, "This is so fun!!" Of course at the time she had my camera and was snapping shots of wildlife, but she was loving it and learning as well!!

All the kids had a really good time and each liked different things and learned a lot. I'm always amazed at how much Breck loves to learn and just soaks things in. Now, don't get me wrong, he doesn't get excited at home when I pull out the worksheets!! (But sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do when you've got six kids!) But he just soaks in knowledge when he's living it or listening to someone. Trand had lots of fun exploring through the one mile trail through the woods and the two old, historic houses that were on it. One of them, built in 1904, had all sorts of information about Mr. Adderly who lived there and moved here from the Bahamas. He sold sponges from the ocean and made charcoal for a living. It told about how to do both of those things plus how he made the cement to build the house. Trand was excited to read and learn about those things. He is all about learning how to survive off the land. He often laments that he was born in this day and age and wonders why he wasn't a frontiersman or pioneer during America's earlier years.

We finished our tour in about three hours. I let them roam and wander and spend lots of time at Crane point out at the ocean. Cedar fell asleep in his stroller thankfully, although I have no idea how since we strolled over bumpy, gravel roads the whole time! Cama-Jane didn't have the easiest of times keeping up. Oh, and Shepley added bee keeper to her growing list of occupations for herself as well. :) They had a hive there and made key lime honey so we bought some in the store. They also had a butterfly garden, and she has decided that butterflies are among her favorite things since going to the botanical gardens in Naples last week. So she had a wonderful time.

After I picked up Jon from work, we went to the restaurant here at the resort and left the kids with some pizza in the room. We left Cedar as well--which we usually don't do with just Trand babysitting, but we tried it. The kids called twice. Cedar wasn't happy. So I decided to go back before Jon got the bill, and as I was walking out, LH met me at the door with him!! :) She and I decided to go to the drug store and get a nasal aspirator and some diapers.

After we got back, we finally got the kids in bed, and Cedar is actually asleep right now. I should probably go get some before he starts his nightly routine again!! If you think about it, I could use some prayers over the night couple of nights!! Thanks! But the days have been great! The weather has been beautiful. Warm and breezy and, well..... paradise, actually!!

Our adventures in the Keys Day 2--Wednesday

So I forgot how difficult nights are on vacations! And this time it's even worse because Jon has to get up and go to work (not like I don't have to get up and take him, but you know...) so I'm the only one available for night time duty. Cedar was up three different times to nurse, but only because he's getting sick again. He had a croupy cough (which seems to be his thing) and a major stuffy nose. Cama-Jane also woke up once during the night. This always makes it hard because there is only one of me. Oh how I wish I could clone myself for nighttimes!! I don't mind getting up with one who needs me, but it's just when two or more need me at the same time that it's really hard.

We finally made it through the night, and when we woke up, Trand had a really sore swollen throat. I texted my wonderful chiropractor, and she called me right away to give me lots of tips for both boys. I headed to the health food store. I already had some GOOT (garlic, olive oil and coconut oil) with me because I had it for Cama-Jane. I have used it before but forgotten about it until a friend brought it to my attention recently. It seems to really have helped CJ so hopefully it will help the baby. Trand is being a big pain about letting me put it on him.

So after taking Jon to work, I went to the health food store and armed myself with some ammunition.

We took it easy today just staying here at the house. We went to the pool twice and down to the beach once. The beach is nothing to write home (or blog) about. :) But that's not too unusual in the Keys. There are only a few spots for a nice beach. The rest is basically sea walls and such. But they do have a little roped off area, and the girls were fine with it. Breck's back is burned so he didn't want to go down. The little girls basically just played in the sand, but they had a good time.

*Finishing this on Thursday morning*
After we brought Jon home, he took us to the Keys Fisheries restaurant. It was really yummy fresh fish, and I was jealous that Jon got macadamia nut encrusted grouper. I couldn't because of the gluten, but I tasted a bite of his, and it was the best I'd ever had!! So yummy!! Mine was good, though. I had a key lime marinated mahi. Trand got lobster tail nuggets--which were of course fried and full of gluten. I think he's realizing very much that he really needs to go gluten free. After being gluten free for a month, he's only had it still very little since he stopped the month. He still tries to stay away from it. But last night he got that, and he paid for it!! He felt so sick, and he didn't even finish it all. He is sleeping on the pull out couch bed, and as Jon and I were down here last night before going to bed, he was groaning and moaning about how full and pukey he felt. This morning he is still feeling full. He says his stomach is growling, but he can't get the full feeling gone. That's definitely a gluten symptom!!

I meant to bring my card reader, but I can only put on pictures right now that I take with my iphone.

Our adventures in the Keys Day 1--Tuesday

I thought I would try to blog about every day of our vacation. You don't have to read it if you don't want! :)  But it's a good way for me to journal before I forget all the cute, funny and crazy stuff that my kids do while we're here. And if you don't know, we are here because Jon is working at the hospital down here just to help out as an interim CFO as needed. He asked if we could come down with him one of the weeks that he was here so he is working all week, and I'm with the kids!! He did find a great resort for us to stay, though, so no complaining--at least not yet!!

We left Naples yesterday around 4:30. Even a 12 passenger van is not big enough for 8 people and their stuff for a trip to the beach!! Poor Trand. It was his 14th birthday, and we had been telling him that on his birthday he could pick anywhere he wanted to eat, and we would go out--just the three of us. Jon and I have a purity ring that we want to give him and talk with him about so we wanted to make it special. Well, those plans were foiled, and we just told him we'd do it when we got back. He seemed fine about it, but we let him pick where he wanted to eat on the way down last night. He picked Applebees.

Jon found an Applebees in Miami on his iphone that was on our route. When we walked in, you would have thought we were the only white family Miami had ever seen with six kids!! We got all sorts of looks and some not so quiet comments from the couple next to us. And the kids were pretty crazy. They had been cooped up in the car for 2 1/2 hours and then Shepley and Cama-Jane kept arguing about who was going to sit next to me. Oh, it's great to be loved!! :)

We finally got out of there and back on the road. Last night we stayed at the Holiday Inn and Suites here in Marathon. We knew we would be getting in late and Jon didn't want to spend more of the company's money on another night at the resort so we stayed there. You would have thought we were in the Ritz Carlton at the way the kids exclaimed over the place. I guess the little ones don't remember the last time we stayed in a hotel. They thought it was the most wonderful thing in the world. And then they did what every kids' favorite thing to do in a hotel is.... jump back and forth from bed to bed!! That was the best! We let Liza-Hill go up to the 2nd floor with Trand to find the ice machine, and she was completely thrilled. We finally got everyone settled with us in a bed, Cama-Jane and Shepley in a bed, Breck and Trand on the pull out couch bed, Liza-Hill on the floor, and Cedar in the bathroom. Oh, and everyone went to bed smelling the garlic that I rubbed all over Cama-Jane before she drifted off. :)

So this morning I had to take Jon to work. We took Cedar and Cama-Jane and left the others there with Trand watching cartoons. When I got back, the kids were dying to go to the free breakfast there at the hotel. Jon had told me it was packed in there. So I got ready and we went. You can imagine me walking in with my six kids. We got quite a few stares, and I believe everyone's worst fears probably did come true. They asked if they could have cinnamon rolls. They were hot and fresh and looked really yummy. I said, "yes," because I knew this was the only time they would get them, and I thought *what the heck.* It was like an immediate swarm over the cinnamon rolls, and they attacked them like a shark attacking a school of tuna. It was really rather embarrassing! I seriously think they each got two, and by the time we left the breakfast bar area, the cinnamon rolls were looking sparse!! So then we had to split up because there wasn't enough room for all of us at one place. The two tables that had surprisingly (or not so surprisingly) come available since our arrival were are complete room apart. So four of them sat at one, and I sat with Shepley and Cedar at another. Cama-Jane was having quite a hard time and kept hollering out and whining. I kept going back and forth between the tables with a baby on my hip. Breck was really helpful and did everything he could to make her happy.

Finally back in the room and getting everything packed up and ready to leave, I let the kids go and see the other floors with Trand. They were so excited about this even though every floor looks exactly the same!! I can't imagine people's thoughts as they saw the motley crew roaming the halls. We finally got in the car. We needed to get Trand a bathing suit. I saw a Beall's outlet, and I thought I could get something cheap there so we stopped. I have never seen anything more unorganized in my life. I went to his size, which is a 28, but there was everything there from 28 to 42. Trand is very picky. He is Mr. Conservative like his dad, and he is not going to wear anything colorful or remotely flashy so anything that I could find that he would wear was way too big. We left because I knew I couldn't get anything done with six kids. We did find another store, but it was a full price store, and I ended up paying $40 for a plain black bathing suit for him!! Seriously should have gone to Wal Mart before we left!

So we are driving down the only strip here in Marathon looking for Tranquility Bay, which is where we are staying. Obviously, we missed it, and the next thing I know we are on the Seven Mile Bridge. Great!! Nothing to do for seven miles!! But while we were on it, Trand found the perfect deserted island for him to live on one day--all by himself. We ended up going to Bahia Honda Key and to the state park there. It cost a fortune to get in so I was determined to stay for awhile. We all went to the restrooms to put on our bathing suits with Trand complaining all the way about how he hates the beach and the sand. I had already determined that I was going to have patience. I was going to keep my cool and be kind to my children no matter what. Because I'm telling you, when you have six children and five of them under the age of nine with one being a 20 lb. weight attached to your hip, life gets trying even in the easiest of circumstances. But standing in a parking lot, finding everyone's bathing suits out of their bags, walking to the restrooms, helping the little ones get theirs own, getting my own on, having them all run around while I'm trying to get the baby's on, slathering sunscreen on, then getting all the toys, towels, bags, hats, etc. down to the beach is not an easy task for this mama--all by myself. But we did it.

We met a lovely older couple who shared with me that their son and his wife homeschooled their three children, and they have a fourth due in July. That's always a nice conversation starter! :) They were very sweet and complimentary to the kids. The lady even offered to hold Cedar while I helped the other kids with things which was very nice and very unusual. That was a big help, and I was very thankful.

I took Cedar out in the ocean with the kids and we realized that he had pooped in his built in diaper bathing suit. I DID NOT want to walk back to the car and do what needed to be done so Liza-Hill and I (very secretively) took his bathing suit off and threw the poop out into the ocean. Thankfully it was really solid which is very unusual. LH and Breck thought it was great!! :) Jon chastised me later, but I know he would have done the same thing!!

The kids decided they wanted to walk down to this bridge and walk down it. It looked pretty cool so I said we could. When am I going to remember that carrying a 20 lb. lug around is not easy!! After walking up and down this beach for half an hour, I thought my arm was going to fall off. By the time we got back, he had fallen asleep so he was truly dead weight. We sat and played another 45 minutes or so and then made our way to the showers. That was quite the spectacle as well.

We finally made it back to find Tranquility Bay. I still had on my bathing suit because I was not going to go through all that involved putting our clothes back on. So I had to go check in while wearing it! And I didn't even have my cover up. So I couldn't find the main lobby. I walk up the building that I thought it was and the door was locked. Pulled and pulled and it wouldn't open, and I didn't see anyone around. I called Jon, and said it was the building that I was thinking. I told him the door was locked. i was totally frustrated and starving by this point. So we were just going to leave to get something to eat, but I saw four ladies walk up to the door and go in. Trand was totally laughing at me at this point. I whipped back around and walked up to the door. Okay, I had to PUSH the door open--not pull it. Wow!

We find out where we're staying, and we had to carry all of our stuff a very long way to get here. And since Jon wasn't with us, we all had to do our share. I had all the kids carry a load before I remembered that we could use those little dolly things. Trand got one, and the rest of the moving went smoothly except that when he got the pack n play out, it fell and broke. We've had that thing through six kids! And it breaks on #6.

The kids once again got to ooo and ahhh over everything. Liza-Hill informed me that she had chosen the bedroom she wanted. How did I know it would be the master bedroom? And she was completely serious. She took me upstairs and showed me the two smaller bedrooms, one for CJ and Shepley and one for Trand and Breck. Then she took me down the hall and said, "This one is mine." I asked her where she thought Daddy and I would sleep. Hmmmm.

The rest of the day was rather uneventful. We picked up Jon from work and then went to Publix to get some groceries. We came back and ate. Then Jon took the older four to swim. Cama-Jane, Cedar and I went to Kmart to get a pack n play. It took us forever to get through the line. I've had some bad luck lately getting behind people in the 10 item or less lane that have like 37 things!! So frustrating that no one calls them on it!

So we finally got the kids to bed with a promise of another exciting day!