Year 2, Day 307 & 308: School and Ministry and Bible Bowl

I'm not feeling the creative vibe tonight.  But here goes.  Yesterday was all about catching up on school and preparing for yet another day out today.  The introverts in our household are feeling the need to have some downtime tomorrow, but we have church and normal Sunday evening stuff.  Then the last big field trip on Monday.  Benaiah and Jared with Gary finished out Rechurch yesterday, and then Gary and Jared got on the road to Johnson University in Tennessee, a 5 1/2 hr drive for an e2 event.  Yes, the travel season has not quite finished yet, but it will soon. Benaiah was exhausted because even if you are behind the scenes, you can sometimes be put on edge if something goes wrong, or could go wrong, especially when "performing" for a conference like they all were.  He had to be excused out of a day of school, plus a school field trip to the symphony, so he could volunteer like this.  But his teachers don't mind.

And then we all had to get up early so that I could take the boys to their Bible Bowl competition and Leah could watch the other two kids starting at 8 am.  Thankfully, Leah came to the house so I didn't have to hurry Keturah and Abishai through breakfast.  Bible Bowl actually went fast this time, but it was a bit boring.  At least I got out of the house though and spent time with the boys doing something different than normal.  Team was 4-6, with 4 being the wins.  Which means they didn't get a trophy.  Their team has now recycled, so there's younger and more inexperienced players on it, as well as many of the teams they played in division 3.  our division 2 team only had 2 players on it because 2 kids were out sick, so they didn't do well and will be in division 3 next time.  That means, yes, our two teams will go head to head.  And that's ok, it happens.  After Bible Bowl, we came home and rested.  I listened to some old school music, the others had their electronics while Abishai slept.  Then we finished up the day.  Jared and Gary aren't expected to arrive until 10:30pm, so I'm finishing up the blog early.

And yes, the clocks move back an hour tonight, but I didn't want the kids staying up and then being excited and then interfering with what I am trying to do with our schedule overhaul.  Keturah was complaining that she can't fall asleep at night when I put her to bed "early" but it's because our systems are so used to this later schedule, it's hard to try something different.  But, it's easier for the 3 youngest and I to readjust our schedules to match Jared and Benaiah's schedule which is much more rigid.  But I've talked about that a lot lately.  It's going to hopefully reduce my stress level and get me to bed on time and help me change my habits and feel better.

The guys did a great job on the ceiling on Thursday!  There was a bad chemical smell for about 24 hrs, and it's faded but every now and again I get a whiff of it.  Also, reminder to self.  Self, don't use even liquid fabric softener or use a ton less of it.  I don't usually use it because it doesn't help much and there's a lot of chemicals in it, but it was for Benaiah's comforter.  Next time I'll use essential oils on the wool dryer balls I have because when I walk in the boys' room, all I can smell is the fake lavender from the blanket.  That's way better than man stink, but still.  It's not great for the body either.

Dance party!

Karoke? Singing along to some of Abishai's very favorite songs about all kinds of big vehicles like steamrollers, monster trucks, garbage trucks, etc.

I love how he holds the guitar.

Daddy came home for a few minutes so he could say good bye to little one before his nap.  Abishai was confused this morning when he saw Jared's truck in the driveway and he did say to me, "Stay home, Mommy. I miss you, Mommy," very matter of fact.  But when Grandma came, he said bye and that was that.  No emotions.

Just a little screen time in his underwear/diaper, no big deal.

Justin wanted to play on the PS4, so he gave Abishai his phone so he could listen to his music on YouTube.  Abishai knows how to put the speaker/mircophone closer to his ear to hold it better.  I think he learned that from Daddy.

Huge beautiful moon tonight.

Gorgeous tree in the neighbor's yard!  Although it's yellow and I prefer red, I'm going to enjoy seeing this every year just like I saw the ones across the street from us in Beech Grove.  Nice!

And this is how you relax after 3 long, hard days.  He deserves it.  And when I posted this picture on Instagram indicating how proud we are of him, he got a few responses from his principal, Mr. Nanney, his English teacher, Mrs. McCollum, and a few friends of mine saying how proud they are of him, too.  We might fight like cats and dogs about the educational system at large, but otherwise, he and I do get along. By the way, he has been drinking energy drinks to get through the days, despite our repeated attempts to encourage him not to.  We'll see how far that argument goes.

Someday, I just know he's going to break that chair!

Keturah added the streamers from two weeks ago to her fan.  Oh, the creative one at her best.  She had a decent day with Grandma going to Grandma's nail appointment and then to the grocery store where she got tons of sweet treats.

Cutest storm trooper Star Wars every saw.  And Justin is under the blanket.  The same blanket I washed this week and is now on the floor.  Ahem.  Thanks guys.

Keturah drew this picture of herself while we were away today.  Great job!

Socks will wrestle with Justin and Benaiah when they are under the blanket.  But when Abishai went under it expecting Socks to do the same thing, Socks refused.  He knew not to hurt kids that are smaller than he is! He wants to protect his baby, not hurt him.  But anything bigger than Socks, he thinks he can attack and play with.  He was taught that from the beginning when Jared wouldn't let him hurt Keturah and Justin, but left Benaiah to defend himself.  He's one smart dog!

I felt young and cute and old school in my outfit today.  Especially when I saw several youngsters in shoes similar t mine (which name escapes me, but they are name brand ones I bought for Justin, but in my size so I could wear the when he was done with them.)  I was a plaid kind of girl in high school.  Still am.  When I browsed through my shirts looking for some to give away I couldn't find it in my heart to give the plaid away.  Some were too small last year, but now I can fit into them again, yeah!  It pays to have saved the smaller stuff!

I came out yesterday morning to see that Abishai had given Socks all of his toys to play with.

This is what happens when the toddler wakes up "early" from his nap.  He did sleep for 2 hrs, but we typically expect 3 or even 4 hrs.  Again, I need to adjust to his schedule, because I have to be very efficient with homeschool during his TV time and his naptime.  He's into everything and none of us can concentrate when he's even doing things like this.  It's been a tough year so far.  It will get better as he gets older, but for now, it's tough.

Abishai laid his spoons just right on his plate that they made a bridge for his cars to go under.

And yes, knowing that he won't do this forever, I let him try it out, encouraged it even, because it's all learning!  He learned that no car can fit under that tiny space between the spoons and the plate.

Watching the moon wearing his "too big for him" Lightning McQueen boots because they are easy to slip on.  Thanks, Mrs. Alisha for pointing out the big moon and posting it on Facebook so Mommy could take the time to look up for once!

Are we ready?

Mostly ready to go knock 'em dead or down, or well, never mind.

We don't really have time between games, but these two tried to draw anyways.  In fact, Justin brought that huge old briefcase with his drawing supplies and a book to read in it.  He shared the book with Kylie so she could draw something from it.

The line up.  Benaiah is so much bigger than 90% of the kids this year.

A couple of the rooms we use at the church we use for Bible Bowl Round Robin have comfy couches.  The other rooms have hard chairs and because it was cold in all the rooms, well, our rears were cold too.  So, I'm grateful for the couches. And maybe, just maybe, I'll finish this cross stitch this year.  I seem to only work on it on long road trips or at Bible Bowl Round Robins.  People usually notice and complement it at the competition and I love showing it the kids especially because it's one of those lost handicraft arts.

The three amigos.  Again.  Talking about Pokemon'.  Again.

Benaiah telling the "New Brunswick" team all about how and why we don't shop at Wal-Mart.  It was interesting to hear how he told them what Jared had said.  Yeah, this team is from "New Brunswick Christian Church."  Why there is a New Brunswick CC in the middle of the midwest, I have no idea.

Like mother, like sons.  We always seem to have a large amount of large bags with us.  Always prepared!  Benaiah was proudly showing off his new gear from ReChurch.  They got a water bottle, a backpack, a notebook, AND a pen that looks like a car!  Sweet!

Monkey.  Especially with his rolled up pants.  This kid has no fashion sense.  He rolls up his pants so far that they look like capris.  He doesn't want them dragging but he goes to the extreme.

Ah, old school.  Thanks ReChurch worship band for starting me back on some of the oldies from the '90's in Christian rock/pop.  This particular album, Supernatural by DCTalk, which no longer exists, has a long history with Jared and I.  Jared had flown out for our second date to NH after Christmas of 1998.  This album had come out just recently and Jared had bought it back at home.  At some point, we were at the Christian bookstore and he bought me the cassette tape version of it because my dad's car only had a cassette tape player, unless you used that convertor and attached it to a walkman.  I definitely did that for a couple of years, too.  He also bought the CD for me to use at home.  So, I remember listening to it as we drove from Concord to Portsmouth and up the coast to Kinnebunkport, ME.  Ah, the memories.

The debut album from Third Day!  I was there from the beginning of this baby band!  And it's one of the few that are still intact (I think all 4 members are still in it) and going strong.  The other bands I loved were Audio Adrenaline (now extinct), DCTalk (one member now sings lead for the Newsboys), Newsboys, (who are still going strong, but only has one original member), Jars of Clay (also extinct) and Michael W. Smith of course, who will never retire and is coming out with his 22nd studio album next February.  (He also has 4 live albums, 4 compilation albums, 2 box sets, etc.)  Anyway, I went through some of the songs of these bands tonight and wow do the lyrics all pertain to what I'm going through right now.  Songs like DCTalk's "What If I Stumble?"  Songs of doubt, of God taking control when you don't want to give it up, a few songs of worship, songs to make you think.  I have nothing against the new popular artists but a few of them at least have a heavy focus on worship songs and I find it hard to go to concert that is all worship.  Maybe because I do attend a church with an almost concert level talent on the stage bringing a "show" every week.  And most people do not get to experience that, so they are willing to pay for that.  No, I just miss artists that write solely songs about their life journey with some theology mixed in.  There are some, but their style of music all sounds the same.  Each of the bands I listened to back in the day had unique music where you could tell, yup, that's such and such band.  Ok, this is probably all boring to you, but CCM, or contemproary Christian Music, was fundamental to me growing up.  And maybe it will help me again now as I go through this rough, dare I say it, rebellious part of my God journey.  Music is important.  So I need to make space for it.  It's just hard when the house is always so noisy all the time.  But it's fun, all the same.  Time for more dance parties! (That's a joke, the Johnson men don't dance. Lol)