Year 3, April 13th-14th, 2018: Oh Happy Day!

First and foremost, today, April 14th, marks the 20th anniversary of writing my first letter to Jared.  Without that letter, we probably wouldn't be doing life together!  And look how far we've come!  Most of the time, I seem to be unhappy with myself and where I'm at, but at the same time, I do get glimpses of hope when I look back and remember how we've matured and what it has taken to get here.  Four residences, four children, many jobs, two memberships to churches, deaths of my parents, moving from and back to Indiana, all the things.....and by God's grace we have survived mostly intact.  Forever changed, that's for sure.

And what did we do to celebrate? Prepare the garage for well water treatment!  We moved more stuff around than we threw away, but that's what I expected.  But the guys and I didn't argue, so that's a plus.  We did some of the work last night because I didn't want to move stuff into the shed in the rain I knew was coming today.  That made today much more doable.  And everyone helped, including Abishai!  In fact, he asks to help and works harder than all of us!  I have a few pictures below of the progress we made.

Yesterday, our long time dear friend, Stephanie gave me a little facial and light upper body massage.  She had given Benaiah a gift certificate for one of his fundraisers last fall and I was finally able to use it!  I desperately needed it and I milked it for all of its' worth!  I feel so much better today and more at peace, too.  Why?  Because I had written down some ugly stuff earlier in the day, and my prayers were answered during our appointment.  Stephanie and her husband David are long time members of the Creek, and he was an elder at one point.  They taught our Sunday School class when we were dating.  Oh yeah, they were even in our wedding here in Indiana! Duh!  Anyway, very mature Christians and I hang on every word Stephanie says, she's that kind of mentor.  She also has fibromyalgia and understands what I am going through.  Anyway, long story short, we now have a bartering agreement, massage for accounting help.  What an answer to prayer!  I've been wanting some kind of treatment but didn't want to take the money (or time) out of the budget. But this works out well!  My hope that someone else cares and that I can feel better is restored!  She also had me try a supplement that I had been researching and wanted to try for a little while.  She adds it to her lotions and takes it orally.  She told me how she uses it, but didn't want to taint my opinion of it, so she didn't tell me how much it helped her or not.  She gave me enough to last a week as a trial and I'm actually pretty excited to try it!  There's no cure for fibromyaglia, but I'll try just about anything to reduce or manage the symptoms.  Having a chance to try this for free (it's wicked expensive) is another answered prayer and more hope that maybe this will work.  I felt incredibly relaxed during and after the massage and significantly calmer and happier.  And if this helps to put me back on a happier, more joy filled path, then so be it.  God uses lots of things for healing, including essential oils and natural supplements.  And He can perform a miracle, but he hasn't for me.  So, I will keep seeking ways that he puts in front of me that will hopefully help, usually not individually, but in a combination of other things.  It's another step in the journey.  I can't wait to see if I notice a difference!

That was a good part of the day on Friday because Stephanie's business is in Broad Ripple, which is 35 minutes away with no traffic, and closer to 45 or 50 during the 4 pm hr I experienced on the way home.  Eeek!  It's a nice part of town, obviously with more affluent than other parts of the city, with nicer schoolers, bigger trees, and a quaint "downtown" street that has lots of yuppity type shops.  And loads of potholes, just like everywhere else.  Saturday finished up with Benaiah helping out at special needs carnival at church working the tech booth for a nice sum of cash.  Meanwhile the kids and I went to the grocery store for one gift for a birthday party on Sunday and came out with other food we kind of needed but didn't have to have.  Whoops.  We met up at church where Benaiah was finishing up and Jared was preparing book boxes for one of e2's co founders to pick up on Sunday.  Home for leftovers, playtime, and bedtime.  Tomorrow, Sunday, is crazy busy with church, birthday party, church, homeschool group/crave/kids' choir.  And then every day next week we have somewhere to go outside the house.  We introverts are going to be exhausted.  And I'll have to cut back on school a little bit in some areas.  At least the weather will be a bit warmer and drier!  It did rain a bit today, but turned out to be almost nothing, compared to the states north and west of us having significant spring snowstorms!  Poor things!

The daffodils are still surviving this crazy weather!

Perfection.

And check out our "Chinese tree" as Justin calls it.  Our magnolia tree!  Justin just knows it that way from movies like Kung Fu Panda.

I took pictures of it from all kinds of angles from the ground, but I think I need to get up on a step stool or the truck bed because it's hard to get the full effect from the bottom view of the flowers.  But they do show up better when I put our pine tree in the background.

Another little garden flower.  I need to call my friend to come help me sort out this garden this year before it gets too overwhelming!

Look, Mom, I can really swing on the bar now!  And yes she can!

Little guy always works the hardest.  He always wants to be involved somehow, even when we tell him not to get in the way.

Yeah for the dog that we are all outside and can run with them.  He's slower and doesn't run as far.  AND he turned 8 years old yesterday!

The guys took out the workbench so we could access the water tank for the water treatment stuff.  The previous owner had just covered up, again, the oldest layer without treating it.  No termites currently, but lots of termite damage from last year and probably previous years.

Jared still needs to fully clean up this area, but at least they can get in there to figure out what parts to order.  I don't know if he'll rebuild a bench or buy something.  I'd like at least a very meticulous clean sweep of the area though.

Semi permanent location of the Christmas boxes.  I wouldn't mind putting all of this in the shed IF AND ONLY WHEN they were in plastic boxes.  Same goes with the baby stuff.  All of which is NOT in the "declutter" agenda this year since it had been gone through thoroughly when we moved to Canada and when we moved back.  Sorry, not sorry.  The baby stuff can also go out to the shed permanently if it gets put into plastic tubs.  There's plenty of other categories I didn't go through in detail 2 years ago that I can most definitely cut down on first.  That's this summer's project.

Excavator ride on's make great seats to watch TV.

A little bit more up close and personal.

I just wish I could put a sheet behind the tree so the colors would pop! It's gorgeous!

Stealing Justin's skateboard.  We stopped him before he went down the hill because he would have definitely gotten hurt and his pants would have ripped.  Then big brother found out today that it had been left outside, under the garage overhang, but still, we are usually very careful about leaving our stuff out in the rain.

Where's Keturah and Justin?

Prefect climbing tree!

Gorgeous color!

There ya go!  I pulled the branch down a little so we could see inside the flower.

FEARLESS

Why can't I come outside?  Because, none of us want to chase you if you take off.

This is exactly what truck beds are made for!

The long stick in the middle is a secondary tree that is growing and partially supported by the pine bush.  The tree itself is 6 ft tall so it's been growing undisturbed for a few years at least.

The day was warm enough that they could have a water gun fight at Grandma's house!  Keturah wore one of Grandma's t-shirts as a dress while her and Abishai's clothes dried in the dryer.

We finally bought the boy a proper table for his computer stuff.  Thankfully, he did properly clean the area before he rearranged it.  Actually, he got the older folding table and I got a new, longer, folding table with wheels to use.  Score!  We bought it at Aldi's of course!

Hardest worker ever.  Yes, that's little Abishai huffing and puffing behind that board with no shoes on.

He thought it was firewood.

Evidence of playing and working hard at Grandma's house and at home.

Yeah for dirty feet!

Justin also spent some time cleaning up his area as well.  He did this all by himself!  He went through some papers and found a better way to stack his bins.

Play hard. Sleep hard.  Adorable.

Twinning, but not really.  Father and son, working hard dismantling the work bench which was just holding crap anyway.

And now, biggest boy's hobbit sized feet.  Big, but very wide. The boys, including Jared, think it's ok to run around in the garage without shoes on.  Why would you do that?  Nails, and trash, and who knows what else that could damage their feet. #putshoeson

Yup.

I'm hungry.  Nobody is noticing or coming to be aid.  So, "I'll do it my big self!." 

Went into Kroger to get a birthday present.  Left with crazy kids and about a dozen more items.  Abishai kept getting in and out of the cart retrieving things he saw on the shelves as we walked past.  It was an interesting walk through the big store.  He immediately found a matchbox car and put it in the cart.  He wasn't fussing, but just tired and ancy, so I let it slide and kept the car until he remembers it or he needs a prize or something.  He was also grabbing things off the shelf like goldfish crackers.  Grandma must of let him get in and out of the car several times on their last shopping trip together because I don't remember having this much trouble with him staying put before.  But, he didn't argue or dwaddle in the toy area, so that's a parenting win!

Then we visited Daddy in the office as he was preparing boxes for one of the e2 partners who were driving through Indy on their way home from the midwest to the south.  Peek a boo!

Packing and receiving at your service.  And social media guru.  And Editor of all the books.

It doesn't matter what's on the actual screen but if they see the flickering glow of that lightbox in the corner of their eye, they will turn their heads to watch it.

Meanwhile Benaiah was paid to run the tech booth of this event on Saturday.  Acesss is our spicail needs ministry and twice a year they do a big vent like this, sometimes the parents can leave and go on a "parents' night out."  We are very proud of him!

Is that the way a minion eats a banana?

Yes it is!  Eating a banana without taking it out of ti's peel, way to go!

"Niah, how your day?" (Benaiah, how was your day?)  Abishai will sit on the other side of the table from someone and will ask "Justin, how was your day." and then will when Justin is done, Abishai will "yes," "fine.," or "ok"  It's the sweetest thing!

Tickle fight at the end of a long day!

When did my daughter become a fashionista?  She planned her whole outfit, including accessories, for tomorrow (Sunday).  She did a great job, too, even positioning the pants just so!  She just might have a talent for this line of work.  Sweet!

Beautiful sunset.

P.S. Up next on the blog...maybe some cute videos!