Year 3, June 9th-10th, 2018: Projects, People, and Paper!

*Super Smiley Face here for the above title! I haven't had a super clever on in months! Hehehehehe!*

SOOOOO, I wish the weekends would slow down so I could actually rest. but you know, #4kids, eek!  I thought we had a whole Saturday at home and it turned out we were sort of invited to another open house.  I can't remember if someone actually invited us, but the particular student did post on his Instagram for everyone to come and I'm one of his "followers" so.....We do know the family fairly well, and he's one of the "gang" of kids we know well, so, whatever, we went because we could.  I'm glad we did.  We do enjoy this family and it was another reminder just how close and/or popular Benaiah is with his friends.  He floats in and out of conversations with these people with ease.  He didn't inherit that from us his parents.  Ok, Jared had developed it, I still struggle, so I type instead.  But whatever.  POINT IS, Benaiah has friends despite being homeschooled all those years (see, there's no lack of socialization when you homeschool, so you can just leave that myth out of the arguments for or against homeschooling).  And we have friends.  And this is just the beginning of the end!  The end will take a long time for us, but still, in two years time it will be Benaiah's turn.  And then 3 yrs after that, Justin's turn....and so forth for another 15 years.....ok, I guess we're only half done raising kids.  But to see all of these kids who are incredible young adults, a lot of them heading to Johnson University or other Christian colleges to go into ministry, become so mature, appreciate their parents and let their parents' friends hang out with them, it's just so counter cultural.  And some of these parents are our friends and I can have conversations with them, even if it's not about the kids.  Score for me!  But the best part is when these kids can still show off their kid side and just have a great time. (see pictures below) I'm going to miss each and every one of them as they start heading off in different directions.  I've known these kids for more than 10 years.  Sigh. But they must grow up and we as parents have confident that they are strong in their faith and ready to be adults.  Thanks to a church who has come alongside us parents and provided opportunities for kids to gather and grow in leadership, to serve in all areas of the church, too.  I just love it!

I was supposed to work on some projects on Saturday but didn't get as much done because I was physically not up to it.  I did push through a couple of smaller items, so my desk is a little bit clearer.  And I pushed myself to go through Keturah's clothes this afternoon in between church services.  There's never going to be a perfect day to do anything I want to do and I can't keep making excuses.  I breathe easier when I know I've done something on my list.  Sunday was normal except we had meetings for all 3 kid camps.  Keturah's meeting was right after morning church and I thought I had all the paperwork done.  Nope.  KidJam itself needed more health papers and the church needed a photo/medical release thing done.  I had already put that information on whatever online thing there was.  How many places can you put an insurance number?  Same thing for Justin and Benaiah's meetings during the 4:30 service.  Jared had nursery duty, so I went with Justin and Benaiah was on his own.  99% of the information was the same as last year, so it isn't a big deal, but we do our best to attend meetings when we can.  All three meetings were well attended.  I'm just tired of filling out paperwork.  I don't like leaving blanks on the papers either, but sometimes I have to.  For example, we don't have a primary care doctor, so I just put the health clinic name and number down for that one.  Keturah's camp needed specific information on what she has had for immunizations.  We immunize but I don't remember which ones are required and which ones aren't and when she had them.  All I know is that she's had them.  And the clinic has only seen Abishai and I, so if they were to call the clinic, the kids' info wouldn't be there.  We just hardly ever use the doctor.  We don't need sports physicals or school physicals.  We typically wait out coughs, colds, flus, stomach bugs, etc and we only get those twice a year or so.  I have tons of doctors, but it keeps changing and even I don't know what the name of my current primary care is.  I just get her to fill the prescriptions I need, listen to her health speeches, and move on to the ones I really want to give me care.  Anyway, I know why the forms exist.  I know there are a lot of parents leaving their kids with the youth groups for the first time.  But I know I wasn't very gracious to those around me about it.  I guess I didn't feel like being social today.

So, a few projects got done, we spent time with lots of people, and filled out a lot of paperwork.  There ya go! Boom!  Title accomplished!

A note on projects: it's been fun to see Jared really care and actually accomplish house projects, which do include things I don't think are necessary like melting down metal wires and planting a gazillion trees.  I try my best to leave him to his stuff, just as long as he is keeping track of Abishai so I can do my stuff.  Jared used to be all talk about this or that project, but he's getting out there and procrastinating less and less.  That's called maturing.  I, on the other hand, have probably procrastinated more and more over the years.  So, I guess we've met in the middle and have some ebb and flow to the workload.  Lol.

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's super Abishai the astronaut!  It's the bubble mower box and it's perfect as a costume!  But he wouldn't hold still for a picture!

It's Abishai! In a box!

Benaiah mastered his new game from the yard sale yesterday in just a few hours.  His fingers are sore.  He's also now on season 5 out of 7 of Parks and Recreation.  22 minute episodes, 15-18 episodes per season.  Yes, that's about 29 hrs in 1 week that he's watched that show.  Thank goodness he had other things to do today and tomorrow he starts work at Chick Fil A!

Storms are a brewin'! Jared loves clouds and pointed these out on our way to the open house yesterday.  And boy did the storms roll in last night and all day today.  We heard it on the roof of the sanctuary during the morning sermon.  We were drenched coming out of church this evening.  Abishai was quite upset at being wet.  We desperately needed the rain though. 

Silas' open house was at his Grandmother's house.  His Grandmother has 25 grandchildren and you can tell she spoils them rotten.  Lots and lots of toys and several bedrooms are kid bedrooms/playrooms.  It's such a sweet 100 year old 3 story house in Southport.  It also had a nice two story detached garage with stuff for the big and little kids.  Like this old skeeball set.  Keturah hasn't really used one before, but we got her going on it.

Abishai found this sweet ride and wanted me to take it downstairs to the driveway.

Grandpa checking out the truck.

Then the big kids found no less than 7 scooters in the garage!  Yes, these 150- 200 lb kids zipping up and down the street on tiny scooters.  What a sight that was!

Benaiah on his way to meet up with his friends.

Keturah and Justin played on them, too.  Abishai was all over the house playing and we took turns watching him.  We didn't end of up eating a lot at this open house because the kids were playing.

Ethan ready with his ride.

Be careful of the traffic!

These kids are over 6 ft tall.  And yet, they managed to stay on these little metal scooters.

Best friends having fun.

Carefree living.  Outside, not staring at some electronic (although they do that too), having a blast.  And take note, the Strunk kids all have full time babysitting jobs and have to take care of the house while their Mama is in Zambia on a mission trip.  Yes, Lisa went without the kids! How fun is that?  But it sounds like she's taught them well how to cook, clean, run laundry and watch over the littles that she normally watches.  Sweet!  I think they will survive when they all go off to college.  Love it!

Sitting on the front porch, eating freezies, like they were youngsters.  Silas is the one in the red on the right side of the picture.  He actually graduated from homeschooling.  He and his older siblings were part of a full time co op, but still, it was home schooling.  A bunch of homeschooled kids from his co op and maybe outside of the co op had a graduation ceremony together.  It looked pretty neat.  He's a pretty shy guy, but is part of this crazy crew.  His two siblings are much older than he is, kind of like how there's a big gap between Keturah and Abishai.  Clint and Marnie are incredible people and they hope to open a coffee shop on Southport Rd which is on the way to Benaiah's school.  Actually, come to think of it, Benaiah and Silas were both in Beginner Bible Bowl together or a couple of years.  But the Webers have been part of our church for 15 or more years it seems. Clint sang with the worship team at one point.  And I think they have/had an employment firm or something.  Anyway, great people and we've been blessed to know them.  The guy cutting the freezies is our worship ministers' son who also just graduated.  He's the drummer that Benaiah is replacing.  Pretty nice guy, too.

Ah, this motley crew.  Miss Norah at the end is the foreign exchange student who has been here for a full year with the Strunks. She returns home to Europe next week.  Kaylin, Ethan's sister, said that it's going to be hard to let her go.  I think she really enjoyed having another female in the house of boys.  But those boys fiercely protect their sister, Norah, and their girlfriends when they have them.  I love them to bits!

These two hooligans.  Always up for a freezie and cupcakes.  But they had fun, too.

Indiana weather!  So, look closely, how does the temperature go down 4 degrees in 3 hrs and then climb back up 5 degrees in 1 hr????  The Weather Channel app is not always the most accurate.  But, it did feel cooler when the storms were rolling in.

On the way home we stopped at Home Depot for some citronella plants to keep the mosquitoes away, some veggie plants for the bunnies (there's a juvenile bunny hanging out in the front yard right now), and a wheelbarrow!  We've never actually owned a wheelbarrow before!  Our Beech Grove yard was small and it just wasn't necessary.  So, $50 later, we have one!

Keturah helped Daddy put the wheelbarrow together.  Yeah!

Nice! I guess you become official home owners when you have real tools like this!

I think Abishai partied too hard.  We did wake up him quickly and thankfully it didn't take him as long to fully wake up as it has in the past.  Poor guy.

His new favorite spot!  He LOVES his Canadian grocery store Canadian lawn chair!  I love how he propped up the tablet as well.  And his cute little stocking feet, with paci and blankie nearby.  He's so big and yet so little and cute!  Ah!

That's what happened Saturday night!  Grandpa and our good friend Karl took Keturah and Justin fishing for the first time!  And the fish were biting!  They caught 21 fish in under an hour.  Then Karl skinned and filleted them for us!  Perfect!  We needed some meat!  There were big mouth bass, blue gill, and croupies.

After not wanting to touch a piece of wet dog food with her bare hands, I was very surprised that she wanted to touch the fish!  Good for her!  Mr. Karl, who used to call Keturah "sugar bear" is the big guy in the background.  The kids really loved it!

Someone got his first debit card in the mail!  And he was so excited to use it to pay for his spotify music account on his own.  Jared has joint ownership of his account, but, it's an awesome big step for him!  Now he can pay for G-fuel drink, too! So exciting!  And check out that handsome smile.  He definitely got that one from his dad.  I can't find a high school picture of Jared at the moment, but if I remember to, I'll add it here tomorrow.

Huge rains today!  We needed it!

A big fat robin taking refuge under the little tree until Abishai chased it away.

Storm clouds before 11 am service!

Back to church for evening services.  Jared had to go early, so I had all 4 kids.  What a good big brother to help littlest brother walk into church.  Only two more years of this regular, ordinary, every week type memories to make.  Sigh. Heart melted.

I can't believe they are brothers.  The size difference alone.  I know in 10-12 years it won't matter, but still, so adorable!

Next up....potty training week!