Year 4, March 4th-7th, 2019: Mood

Yup, that's me.  Just call me Mood.  For many reasons. But I'm done journaling about it in the Rooted study and talking about it with my counselor so I'll move on.

Keturah is finally feeling better, except now she has a couch and a runny nose!  It was a rough day of school, but we accomplished most of it.  And now Abishai has a high fever and has taken several naps.  We just can't win!  We need to get rid of these germs because we've got a busy few weeks ahead!  Eek!  And our internet went out last night, so the ATT guy came and replaced the router.  And now we are all catching up on our emails and blogs and videos.  In fact, Benaiah went to bed extra early last night because he couldn't play his game online!  He did get a two hour delay this morning for school because it's super cold again.  In like a lion, that's how March is going weather wise.

Abishai asked for his bed several times and couldn't barely sit up today.

Poor hot baby.  Actually, his forehead was hot and his feet were cold so Justin and I dubbed him "Southern Hemisphere" guy.  I.e. his head was the hot equator and his feet were the south pole.  Hehe, bad joke, I know.  Earlier yesterday though, he recognized the "J's" in Jared and Justin's names on the map posters in the kitchen! "Hey, Mom, look, Daddy and Justin's J's!"  He then recognized the "M", "B," "K," and "A-b-i-s-h-a-i." He's either going to be easy to teach because

Tuesday, the new Wednesday.  Oh boy, I'm glad this Rooted study is only 10 weeks long.  Having something on a different night during the middle of the week kind of interrupts our workflow because we have to rush to get ready for the evening, just like I do on Mondays for my counseling appointment and Wednesdays for Bible Bowl and Thursday is the piano lessons I teach.  Tuesday was our best day of the week because a) we weren't coming off of Sunday b) we were back in the grove of school after the weekend and c) if we didn't get it perfectly done we could keep working after dinner.  Sigh.  That is so not the case now.  But, we'll survive.  And surviving is what we are doing now.  I finally woke up without vertigo so that's good.  I'm still anticipating getting the full blown cold, but again, the timing is perfect to get it over with now and not a couple of weeks from now.  Abishai still had a slight fever this morning, but declared "I'm all better now!" and bounced around the house as usual.  Keturah is still awful with her cough and stuffed up nose.  I'm going to be so relieved by 10am on Friday when we can know what we are really doing with and if we made the right choice to wait or if there's anything else we can do.  Being sick has added another layer of stress on top of the stress that school has become for her.  I'm trying to still get her to do some work, because I don't know exactly when she'll get better and I want to stay on track with the things that Justin is doing.  And I'm simply bored.  I'm supposed to be teaching and instead of waiting around telling her to do the next right thing.  I miss my routine!  I know, I don't have much empathy.  I'm still learning.

Anyway, Justin got done as usual, and he stayed home from Rooted to watch Pirates, but then the internet started working again (it was not working all day) and he played Fortnite with his second cousins online, ahem.  I know I should be mad because he's not supposed to be on it during the week, however, a) he's been so good at getting his work done on time and well and b) his second cousins NEED Justin's Christian influence in their life, even if it's just through a video game.  So, if he can continue to build that relationship through the screen and then when we do get to see them again, they can continue to have fun and have great conversation, more power to them.  I know it makes Keturah so mad because she gets zero screen time, but it's a natural consequence of her not obeying when she's feeling ok to and doing her work.  I let her watch a ton of tv on Sunday, so she's can't complain that hard.  And the show she likes is entirely goofy, but moral and character building.  It's called OddSquad.  Abishai has been a little lost without his tablet time and we've had to get him used to watching DVD's instead (remember those?) I still want to type out all the DVD titles we own so we can have a record of it in a spreadsheet (just show we can show the younger ones what the older ones watched, or maybe their children someday) and then get rid of the DVD's and borrow them from the library if we have a desire to watch them again.  That's a big project that could be easily done by a child or in smaller chunks.  Yes, I'm weird like that.  Same with some (not all b/c I like the covers of albums and they are mostly MY collection) with music cd's.  Anyway, that's a project for another time.

Benaiah had school and work as normal.  Jared had work and Rooted as normal and shared "his story" tonight.  The story part is just a way to get to know others, where they are in their walk with God, any pivotal moments, etc. Jared kept his brief, and vague, except for when he came to know Christ at 7 years old and then when he decided to go to seminary.  His top influences in his life are his parents, me, and a couple that taught our college Sunday School class and have continued to speak into our lives.  I'm going to talk briefly about my current status of being broken and on the path to healing but I'm still struggling.  In fact, I shared something tonight that caught someone off guard and he thanked me for my honesty.  Yup, that's me, honest as the day is long.  And if that's part of my purpose and ministry to show that church people aren't perfect and they do struggle a lot, so be it.  But we'll see.  It will be interesting because the mix of people are interesting.  Everybody seemed a tad more comfortable tonight.  Our leader suggested we open up more and I'm like it's only been a week, give us introverts a bit more time, ok? We definitely found out who the talkers were, lol.

Keturah and Abishai went to Grandma's house since they were both still sick, and Grandpa babysat because Grandma had Lifebridge.  The first thing Abishai said when getting home was, "I played Blockus with Grandpa!" Awww, and they watched TV, had dinner, etc.  Keturah was supposed to work on her Grandpa assignment which is due tomorrow (but I thought it was due Thursday) so now she's going to be a day late.  She also had other homework and I doubt she did much of it.  Ugh.  I don't understand how you can stare at a ceiling for 3 hrs, but fine, whatever.  Even when I'm sick I'm restless and have to go do stuff.  But that's my personality talking.

Oooo, a cat or something has been on our back deck!  I thought I heard a big thump last night.  Very educational to see actual pawprints though!

I'm assuming it's a cat.  I think other small animals don't have 4 uniform paws.

"Look, Keturah, I found this one!" Sharing some screen time with Sissy.

Tried out our new waffle maker!  I couldn't resist this $20 gem I found at Alid's.  It's like the ones they have at hotels that we like!  Waffles are done in under two minutes!  Our other waffle maker is a bit bigger, but it's 17 years old and grimy, despite trying to clean it.  I think this one is a bit more fun.

Happy Mardi Gras from my favorite game at the moment to you!

"I feel all better, Mommy, can I go outside?" Uh, ok.  Poor kid has been couped up in the house for months it seems.  He only stayed outside for a few minutes of it but the dog LOVED having his playmate again!

Best buds.

We love being outside!  Can we play water guns now?  He asks that every other day it seems.

Ready to come in.

Helping to sort laundry, so he tried on some underwear over his pants to see whose they were.  They were Justin's.

And now he has on a pair of his own over his pants.  Classic!

Found this set list on the CCM website in an article about the tour.  Cool!

Sick sleeping beauty.  I don't know how she sleeps like that with all those pillows and sideways on her bed.

What day of the week is it again?! Oh my, I'm so confused!  Somewhat new routine, different appointment times, internet is being MOODY, and catching up on school has thrown me so off!  Today felt like Tuesday! Or Thursday!  Not Wednesday.  Good grief!  And yes, our internet started acting up over the weekend, and we've two service calls since.  Thank goodness our phones have data!  Obviously, the internet is currently on or I couldn't upload, and I'm glad I haven't had much internet based things to do.  But I'm sure I've used bunches of the family's shared data plan in the last 3 days.  And it's so annoying to turn on and off the different apps on my phone to save on data, just so I can check email, which sometimes requires safari to open or Facebook or other apps.  I know, first world problems.  But it did severely interrupt Keturah's Bible class lesson with Grandpa and cousins today.  And she totally missed last week because she was sick.  Grr....I think it's time to "pull" the plug on Grandpa class because the microphone on the girls' computer doesn't work either.  And the con dstant change in when class is based on Gary's traveling schedule is beyond frustrating.  We weren't ready for class this week because we didn't know it was going to be today until Gary texted yesterday afternoon.

But anyway, Keturah finally had a day where she was upright and out of her bed most of the day.  She actually did finish all of her assignmenets, although I didn't have her do two of her subjects this week.  It was still like pulling teeth and we have so much behavioral issues to work on, but over it at the moment.  I want to sleep.  I need to work on a few things first.  So, it was a cold, but productive day.  And now everyone is home, and it's only 8:15pm!  That's what I love about Wednesdays!  No late night runs to pick up anyone!  And I finished my TV show I was watching, so no more binging unless I want to catch up on the CW shows or something.  Hm,....

When I went to bed, I saw this pretty boy all comfy cozy on the couch.  It's so hard to tell him "no." He looks so sweet!

True stories!

Big me and mini me....or Justin's little sidekick....or well, see below in the videos when Abishai made Justin the King and he was the servant and Keturah was in the dungeon!

My turn to make gluten free waffles with the new waffle maker! And then Jared came home and swiped one off the top of the stack thinking it was more regular waffles.  Grr!!! I froze the rest for quick breakfasts!  I'm not sure if we're going to give away the old waffle maker or not.  These round ones aren't as big as the square ones but, this is more fun, newer, nicer, etc. They do cook up a bit faster, too.  Not sure yet.

So Keturah was sifting through this CIY magazine (see below) and recognized Benaiah's picture in the back!  I had just read this magazine and didn't make the connection, although I did read the captions on where each picture came from.  She said she spotted the Canoe Cove shirt, Benaiah's watch and hat, and then recognized his face!  So I quickly headed to Instagram to see if I could find it there, and I did! They don't post a whole lot to their IG feed (not stories, but their regular feed) so It was only about 2 dozen pictures down.  And that's Kendrell, a neighbor of the Strunks, who was baptized this summer, too.  How cool!  Great job, Keturah, in recognizing you big brother!

Permanently in print!  This was at CIY Move!

"Can I go play now?" Ok. Then he comes in hopping in his box (see video below).  This is how preschoolers get their exercise when it's too cold out!

He fell over and then decided to try to get in the box.

"Take my picture, Mom!"  We also read together and tried the scissors again.  It was a great day.

Thursday was a great day! We got all our work done by 4pm!!  And Keturah is overall feeling better, but is left with a hacking cough.  I'm so glad we go to the doctor first thing in the morning!  We teased her all day saying, "Are you dying? Don't die!" or something like that.  It was a running joke.  I tried to be more gentle with my voice today and said "please" more and it worked well.  I also made sure she started with math right after breakfast and chores and that seemed to work well, too.  Then she can decide which subjects to tackle next, although doing our together time next is usually best because it frees us all up to go at whatever pace we need to the rest of the day.  Then we had supper over at Gary and Leah's and finished up with piano lesson.  I've got a bit of a to do list to work on (finally) with some deadlines like before going to a book sale next weekend and convention after that.  Plus I have to find documents before Keturah's appointment tomorrow, make sure Benaiah's ready for the SAT on Saturday, and find babysitters for when the grandparents are gone or busy this month.  Having this jury duty thing in the middle of the month, plus the mother in law leaving to go to New Orleans for a week has put a major kink in stuff.  Oh well, just gotta dig in and get 'er done. But I am looking forward to being the 4th wheel on Benaiah's date night with Ava tomorrow night! The third wheel, Chase, is also going.  But I finally maybe get to hear Ava speak and see how they actually interact with one another.  And I won't lie, I'm excited about the Captain Marvel movie AND I'm thinking about buying popcorn AND pop.  I haven't treated myself in awhile and I did a great job of NOT spending money the last part of February after overspending on Abishai's birthday party, so I think I deserve a bit of a treat.  Although, I do have the convention (I will bring a lunch but might buy a pop) and Winterjam coming up.  Praise God for the increase in salary this year that gives us just a bit more breathing room, and a large tax refund to take care of some medical debt and house repairs.  We are still very, very careful, but we don't have to count the pennies anymore.  Yeah!  On to date night with my cute son who loves to push those boundaries but is every so happy where he's at in life.  I don't take that one bit for granted and his smirky smile says it all.  He's taking the iniative, arranging all the dates, paying for all the dates, asking permission, gently pushing boundaries (as he should, no one wants to be stuck in a rut in their relationship) as far as what they are allowed to do, etc.  Ah, such cuteness and a genuine source of joy to this momma's heart.  Ah! I can't stand it!  I can't wait to report back here tomorrow about it!

After a brief text conversation with Daddy, we had to say goodbye so he could work.  We were sorting laundry and warming up next to the heater in the bathroom.

Abishai asked for a story and to fall asleep again in our bed next to Jared last night for the first time in a month! And he did so again tonight! We'll take it!  He's been extra snuggly with both of us lately.

4 yr old fingers.

Hugging tightly to that blankie as always.

He's getting so big!

He loves playing doctor at Grandma's house.  Yes, that's an original Fisher-Price doctor set from the 80's! It was Jared and Aaron's and it's in great condition.  The kids LOVE it!  "Boom Boom, you're done!"

Keturah is in a patient room and Justin is in the "waiting" room with a window in between.  Love their imagination!

Gary brought back a few small treats from Alaska, mostly edibles, and tiny because he only packed in a carry on.  These are chocolate rocks! There were tea, honey, salmon beef jerky, a small cup with a carabiner for a handle, chocolate, and a semi truck with "Alaska" on the side (it matches the small puzzle from Alaska we have actually that Gary brought back probably 8 years ago).  Yeah for sweet things!

Benaiah hung out in his room during piano lesson and almost fell asleep.  He also wrestled with the dog a ton.  And he let me tickle him.  Teens can be sweet sometimes!

Never too old for a snuggle on Daddy's lap!  We told him once again how little he was and how he would be curled up on Daddy's chest.  But man his he not a baby anymore!  Such a big preshcooler with an even bigger vocabulary and a huge intellect.  But yes, he stayed in his zip up jammies all day.  And went to Grandma and Grandma's in them.  Wear them while you can because I don't think we have more in a bigger size.  Oh so sweet!

The End