The J6 Journey: Year 2, Day 303 & 304: Happy 500th Reformation day!

I have had so much fun finding cool memes about Reformation Day and posting them all over social media! It's been 500 years since Martin Luther nailed those 95 Theses to that church door in Germany that articulated and "started" the Protestant Reformation! It was a bold act, but necessary, to get things moving along. Of course Martin Luther isn't the only person to be involved in this movement, and in fact, without some of the others, it would have never gained a footing. I don't remember all the details, but I love studying church history as it comes up in our history lessons. But this topic won't come again for another year or two as we are in the Old Testament and Ancient Greek and Roman times right now. I think it is super important to include church history into your life and the life of your kids even if you don't homeschool because they are most certainly not teaching it in public and even private schools. Did you know that Luther and others didn't want to start a movement and separate from the Roman Catholic Church but would rather have changed it from within? But they studied the Bible so much that they found so many inconsistencies between what the Bible says and what the Roman Catholic Church doctrines say that they couldn't reconcile the two and that's how the 95 Theses were born.

Anywho, I think it's fascinating and I wish I had the brain space to remember it all. And I do typically mention it every year on October 31st because I would rather not talk about the other holiday that American celebrate on this date, no matter innocent they are about it. We have our reasons and our children no longer question why we don't participate. I was really concerned about having a lot of trick or treaters this year because I know there a lot of kids in our new neighborhood, so I posted on the local Facebook pages a reminder that not everyone participates and in case people have forgotten, please do not go up to homes that don't have a porch light on. And I worded it carefully, including that some of our elderly neighbors that have mobility issues don't need to be trying to answer the door or deal with the constant doorbell ringing etc. I got many thumbs up on that post and even some "thank you for the reminder" comments. Yeah! Many years ago when we lived in Beech Grove, neighbors would still ring our doorbell even with the porchlight off. We probably had living room lights on though. So, we typically "hide" in another room. I won't go into details as to why we don't participate, but feel free to ask me anytime. In fact, a friend seeing my post, called me asking about why, and I was able to explain it to her. That felt pretty good, to be honest, even if they decided to still participate, I, at least, had a chance to talk about it.

Ok, moving on. Normal week so far, but things start picking up the rest of the week. After having several days of tons of pictures to sort through, I kind of have put down the camera and focused on the to do lists and schooling. I've missed capturing some moments, but that's ok. I'm also being careful how many pictures and videos I take on my phone because I don't like having to go through and delete them. But I post on social media a lot and it's easiest on there. But why would you care about any of this? Eh, cuz, I don't have a whole lot to share. Everyone's moods are fairly stable, we are chugging along through schoolwork, chaos happens 24/7 it seems, you know the drill. It's not boring because every day is different. And I have tons to work on with our routine especially and it's not because of the kids. They are doing things well and having to wait on me because I'm the one being lazy and not getting in gear and then freaking out by supper time that we haven't done enough. I want to wake up by 7 because Abishai had been doing that, but lately, as it has been staying darker longer, we tend to sleep in when he does. The clocks change again soon, so that might change things. If we could just start the day 1 or 2 hrs earlier than we have been, I know we would all feel better and kids would get to bed on time and so would we. It's always a work in process and finding what works. And I've been tweaking different things around the house, too, as you will see.

Helping Keturah practice her splits!

Doing school with Sissy! Actually, this was taken yesterday, but today, he went to the board, scribbled on and said, "I made/draw 4!" He tried to draw the number 4! Remember, he learned the number 4 because that's what his diapers say right now. But I did test him on a Uno playing card and asked, "What is this number?" and he responded quickly and accurately, "4!" Now, I need to go back and test him on other numbers to see if he thinks that all numbers are the number 4, but I thinks it's pretty genius of him to catch on so quickly. I know he has older siblings, but to be honest, we don't sit there and teach him things like that all the time. It's also pretty neat when Keturah notices that he's learned something new and runs to come tell me what it is. And they have a new hugging routine before naptime and bedtime where he runs up to her on the floor and knocks her over with his hug like you've seen him do with Jared. Sweet!

Yesterday, in the pouring rain, the roof was fixed! I believe they did the whole back half. They came back today to finish cleaning up, which happened right when Abishai was going down for his nap. That didn't go well because they were up on the roof and therefore, he had no nap. Sigh. At least he takes that in stride and is only a bit more crazy. Now someone will come on Thursday to fix the drywall in the kitchen around the canned lighting. Fun times! These repairs are never ending it seems though! Sigh.

Just your average Monday in our house. We read books sitting in a clear plastic tub on the table. Doesn't everyone do that? Again, so sweet! Until Sissy needs to do her other work and Abishai follows her around like a puppy dog, lol.

I'm learning how to use the features on Instagram like captions on the photos and emojis! It is addicting though! Especially when there's a few people who use it alot, like Candace Cameron Bure from Full House and Fuller House, sister to Kirk Cameron, and they are both Christians. Candace is awesome, so open about her faith, and life, and I love her little insights into the movie and tv show making process. She's just full of fun. I watched Full House growing up and kind of grew up with her character D.J. Candace is a few years older than me though. But there's lots of inspirational things like Whole30 and friends on PEI who own a gym or sell Arbonne or grain free recipes and tips or homeschooling things and and and. Yup, and now you know why I'm not getting my work done. Whoops! I might have to go "hide" that app like I have hidden Facebook. And simply put my phone down with the ringer on loud for those actual real times of communication with a family member. Sigh. It's a constant struggle. But Instagram is fun and I'm trying to use it for business, too. Or like today where I wanted to make the point that it was Reformation Day, so I posted memes every two hours and they also post to Twitter and Facebook when I want them to. Somebody's gotta do it, lol.

Meanwhile, children hide under chalkboards with their guard dog right beside them. It was funny today at naptime. I was putting Abishai down for his nap and Socks came in and went to get up on Benaiah's bed. I've been noticing that Socks will often lay outside the boys' room during naptime like he's watching over Abishai. I think they have taken their relationship to a new level when Abishai invited Socks into his bed a couple of weeks ago. It's so adorable! And it makes me sad when I think that at some point, before Abishai is grown, Socks will be gone. That's going to be a super rough time. But for now, they are best buddies as boy and dog should be. Cue the sappy music and all those novels about boys and dogs like Lassie.

The new way of eating. Actually, I let him finish his apple yesterday, but today, I insisted he eat his crackers in the kitchen. I don't want this becoming a trend.

I finally moved the boxes off of the fireplace so we could use it!

Here's a couple of memes I used today.

Favorite one I used! Lol!

And tonight, we spent the evening in the fireside room to avoid having the living room lights on so we lit our first fire in the new house! I was so nervous because we didn't know when the last time the fireplace was used and if it had been cleaned out properly etc. But after some inspection, Jared deemed it safe, and made it happen. And it was perfect! There wasn't even ash that fell out of it onto the mantle. We have these blower things on each side but only one of them works and when we turned it on, that's when the smoke alarm went off. So we shut off the blower. But besides a few cobwebs, everything seems to be working well enough. Yeah! Super exciting! And I never dreamed I would have a real fireplace like this! Gas fireplaces might be easy, but they don't have the same smell and realness to them. Perfect!

And of course, we still had our electronics with us instead of actually talking to one another. Sigh. I let it go because all of them worked hard on their schooling today and it was just nice to sit in a room that wasn't full of toys or a big screen.

Totally unplanned, but he kind of looks like the old guy from "Up" doesn't he?

All snuggled in with Sister's blanket.

We haven't removed the tree branches from the backyard yet, so we have plenty of wood to use. I totally didn't think about this, but we could have roasted marshmallows! Yeah! We'll do that next time. Maybe we can even roast hot dogs or cook hamburgers. No, hamburgers would be too messy and greasy. Hot dogs would be fun, though. I'm so getting this stuff tomorrow at the grocery store!

Even with the paci in his mouth, this is the hardest working little big boy I have ever seen. He even told Keturah NOT to help him carry the firewood from the garage to the fireplace. "I do it myself" is his mantra. BTW, the garage isn't that cold, yeah! I thought I would freeze out there while doing laundry, but so far, so good. We don't open the door that often, so that helps. Someday I'll get it all pushed aside and we can put a vehicle in, but it still won't be for awhile yet.

1, 2, 3,....light!

It took a bit because some of the wood was wet. But I held my breathe because I picture a big cloud of dark soot coming out. Thankfully, it was the cleanest burning fire I have ever seen.

Dude, we have fire, unplug!

Perfect! Now we need a bucket to put ashes in and some fire poker thingies.....adding those to the Christmas wishlist right now!

Not sure why the gloominess, but these two were the most interested in the fire.

The fire at it's peak!

Oooo,.....picture perfect!

See, it's looking great under there, too!

Playing with the Cars themed Uno deck that we've had for almost 10 years and still have most of the deck. Abishai pulled out the police car and fire truck ones, aka, he matched them!

Bubba Miah set up his borrowed drum kit in the garage tonight. And Abishai can open the inner garage door so.....this could be an interesting set up. Thankfully, I can't hear it much when I'm in the kitchen or sunroom. And Benaiah's not home that much to play it.