Year 4, December 13th-15, 2019: Change of Plans, Again

11 days! That's how long it's been since all of us were HEALTHLY all at once!  Ok, ok, maybe that's not a big deal, but for us, we don't get sick that often. And this time, everyone got sick with different types of viruses, with different symptoms, for different lengths of times, one at a time. I wish we could all it at once and be done. Today, it was Justin's turn. And he, like Abishai, was over it within 24 hrs.  But he was also super bummed because today was a gym day and he had been looking forward to it!  Poor Justin! He tried to do homework while laying on the bathroom floor but just couldn't.  He ended up alternating watching videos on his phone and sleeping. He even had a 2 hr nap in the afternoon (and ended up staying awake until 11pm because of it!)  Keturah wasn't feeling that great either. That meant, I had no students to teach. So, I worked on other things like deciding on health insurance. Benaiah was home as well, sleeping off and on. He finally sat up when Ava came over for a little bit.  Don't worry, we fully warned her that she was walking into a germ infested house. She didn't care. She needed to see her boy, awww. She couldn't stay long because she had promised to take her brother Grady to a school play.  That's a good girl! After she left, Benaiah decided to get dressed and go to Kroger to pick up a few things. I think that after more than 48 hrs at home, Mr. Extrovert, just needed to leave the building for a few minutes, just like his Grandpa, lol.  If you think about it, Benaiah is used to constant noise and people all day at school and all night at work. He's not used to hearing his siblings quibble.  We finished the evening watching Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, Episode 2, what I like to call the romantic movie of the series. This one came out in 2002, so Jared and I were just married and Benaiah was about to be born/was an infant. So, to see Anakin and Padme' flirt, fall in love, and get married, well, it's romantic. Plus, it's the facial expressions, skinny face, even his haircut reminds me a bit of Aaron, who I was just still getting to know. So, interesting times back then.

In the afternoon, I left Abishai on the tablet, Justin sleeping, Keturah doing homework (but she fell asleep), and Benaiah was supposed to be in charge, but he fell asleep. I was like, "If I put the three of them together, I might actually have a babysitter for the 4 yr old."  It's a good thing that Abishai is mostly good when I'm gone. I went to the follow up appointment with my gynecologist about my ultrasound.  I hadn't thought about it much this week because of dealing with all the sicknesses. Well, let's just say, I still love Dr. Durfee. She's got my back. Eventually, I will probably still have the surgery, but we can still wait a little bit.  I made sure to emphasize that I won't say no forever.  I just need a few months to a year to recover from this fall. We went over the dangers and complications of just leaving the cyst alone right now so I know what to look for. And I'll have another ultrasound in two months. The fluid filled sac on my left side/tube could be nothing, but it hasn't gone away either. The cyst is a tiny bit bigger, but it only grew .5-1cm in 6 months. And it is also just fluid filled. There's no solid bits to them, which would indicate a tumor. I have to look out for a sharp pain, that goes away within a few hrs/days which would be the cyst bursting and not an emergency, to major pain, nausea, vomiting, and the like which means the weight of the cyst put pressure on my right Fallopian tube, cutting off the blood supply.  That would be an emergency situation. She told me to go straight to Methodist admitting and ask for the Healthnet gynecologist and one of the doctors should be there and/or on call.  Sweet. I can handle that. Just as long as I know what to look for and what I should do next. Sigh. I think it helps that Dr. Durfee is slightly older than me, maybe late 40's, so she's seen a lot more than the younger doctors I typically see. Her demeanor is calming and peaceful.



Saturday was normal with late risers. I took Benaiah to the CVS Minute Clinic in New Palestine as planned. We met with a nurse practitioner and found out that not all Medicaid is the same.  There's MHS Medicaid and there's Anthem Medicaid. CVS doesn't take the MHS Medicaid. Good grief! And that's probably why the urgent care back in May has been fighting me with this bill! Both the urgent care and the CVS just listed "Medicaid accepted" on their websites. I checked beforehand. So now I have to call EACH clinic before I take Benaiah anywhere. We can't pay out of pocket because it's considered fraud to say you don't have money for medial care so you need Medicaid, but then pay for services. The system is so screwed up! So now this makes me worried for Benaiah's wisdom teeth extraction. I'll be calling soon to make sure they actually run his insurance to make sure it's covered under Medicaid MHS. Thankfully, this NP took pity on us and wrote us a quick note without charging us. She had heard of CFA's policy before, too. Praise the Lord for an out of the way CVS with a kindhearted doctor willing to bend the rules a bit. So Benaiah got his note and went to work, although his ear was clogged up and he's got some bad chest congestion. It all sounds loose enough though, not dry cough, so I'm sure it will clear up on it's own. It's just so frustrating to play these games all the time!

Bwahahahaha, I find this very ironic that this sticker is on Benaiah's water bottle. I wonder if Ava put it there. Cracks me up!

Especially sitting near these two things. Well, the Lego is from his secret Santa but he bought the Erector set himself.

Jared brought home his final for the juniors' Bible class. Easy peasy! At least for those who grew up in a Bible believing and preaching church. Or have a Grandpa willing to teach them these things. But these poor students don't have this luxury.  Still, Jared is very open about what will be on the test. Basic things like who wrote the Bible? What kind of books are in there? What is it about? How was it written?

The kids have to memorize all the books of the Bible and spell them. Oh and I did quiz Keturah and Justin on this and Keturah would take no part in it. Justin only got it partly right. Come on, guys! Maybe you need to do some reviewing. I'm going to keep this copy of the test and answers so that we can use it as a cheat sheet. Really, EVERY Christian should know this stuff. None of it is theological. It's just basic facts about the Bible whether you believe in it or not. Ok, well, I guess you have to believe that it is the inspired Word of God. But still, 66 books, and spell them. Not hard. Easy A.

Then, they students have to fill out 104 of 333 terms with "person" or "place" and give a short answer about it. Like, Adam, person, created by God, first man. Jared gives the person or place. So easy to memorize!

Socks knows that Justin isn't feeling good. He's become such a spoiled dog, too.

Are you comfy, Justin? Don't let that smirk fool you. He doesn't feel good. At least he tried to read for school. And he showered because it always makes him relax and not worry so much about his headache or in this case, throwing up again.  He threw up twice, and felt queasy and barely ate the rest of the day.

Abishai, the explorer.  All on his own, I heard him rummaging behind me in the corner. He was on the stool next to the telescope with his 'noculars "exploring." He also had gathered up some tools. So I helped him find a backback to put them all in. He asked for a map, a treasure map or explorers' map. So, I came up with a blank paper map from our school area he could roll up and play around with. He was thrilled! And all I kept singing to myself was, "I'm the map, I'm the map, I'm the map, I'm the map, I'm THE MAP!" from Dora the Explorer. How cute is he?

In his backpack, he had snacks, water, "nippers," "noculars," a map, a walkie talkie, a couple of guns, a crowbar for opening up treasure chests, and handcuffs for the bad guys.  I suggested the snacks, but he figured out the rest on his own.

He literally pretended that it was hard for him to pry open the piano bench, pretending it was a treasure chest. Then he said the paper inside told him not to open the red folder because there were bad guys inside. But he opened it anyway because he wanted to chase the bad guys! Wow, what an imagination!

Abishai spread out the Incredibles towel (from when the original Incredibles came out 15 years ago), so we could have a picnic and strategize about our next move.

I still don't like that blood pressure. I wonder if it will ever come down. I weighed the same in the spring before I went on birth control and was like 118/80. Did the birth control pills really mess with me that much? Or is this the hereditary part kicking in, but was triggered by the birth control pills. I'm going to have to look into bringing it down. I don't like this, even though the doctors aren't concerned yet.

I didn't buy it when I was in Kroger, but I should have. I want to. I'm going to go back and get it and some more of the same brand, but cheaper ones at Ollie's and take them to the girls in NOLA. I want to save mine and bring it home with me, though.  We'll see.

Ava's welcoming crew. It's been awhile since we've seen her.

One sicky.

Two sicky.

Being normal.

Three sicky with his girl tending to him.

"I'm a ninja warrior!" And the whole house just became the ninja warrior course.  He was kicking his legs up in the air and doing twists and turns and running back and forth throwing his crowbar.  Yikes! He won't go outside without someone with him, and everyone says it's too cold or they are sick.  See, winter isn't fun without the snow. I don't want to be cold unless it's for a good reason, like playing in snow. Sigh. This kid needs to get outside!

This is the premade barn I bought at Ollie's for Keturah and I. The barn structure itself is made already. You just have to decorate it.

There were so many options at Ollie's and again at Kroger! But Kroger's were twice the price! Same brand and everything! Let's see if this year's goes better than last year's with the girls.  Two year's ago, we made some houses and a train with the girls in NOLA. I don't mind paying the higher price for the premade stuff and bits of candy. We can always pull from our baking stashes to add to them if we want to.

Writing Christmas cards after organizing them, while watching Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones.  I always call it "Clone Wars" though because the animated TV show that we've watched a lot more or rather has been talked about more recently on various social media is called Clone Wars and it comes between Episode 2 and Episode 3. That's where the character Osaka comes in that Abishai likes, and the baby Hut.

Meanwhile, Abishai got his Minecraft time with Daddy for a bit, and then Jared worked on his project in the garage. I can't tell you what it is yet.  Abishai followed him out there multiple times and played with things and was cute. Thankfully he stayed in the little bit cleaner area, but it still makes me nervous to have him out there. I've swept and vacuumed enough that there shouldn't be loose nails or anything, but it's still a garage with dirty shoes and boots, tools, wood, sawdust, paint cans, smells, etc. I hate having the laundry machine out there. That's why I try to keep it clean. But this project kind of took over the nice clean area I had made after the flood. I can't wait for Christmas wrapping to be over so I can get rid of the extra cardboard and the toys can come inside. I want it cleaned up again. And someday I'll find money and someone to work with Jared to create a work bench so his tools are more contained. Someday. It's on the Christmas wishlist.  Speaking of Christmas, I wrapped up some more extended family gifts today. I offered to Keturah for her to help me, and she didn't care to. That's unlike her. She's always been into it. This preteen thing is not fun. That's why I haven't pushed many Christmas activities on the kids this year. They are bored or begging to come home or whining and the like. It's not worth the effort. Maybe that's why I didn't decorate. I'm just not in the mood for more fighting. But that's another story.

Justin finished up his schoolwork from yesterday's sick day. Keturah finished her Bible assignment and it was very good, good enough not make her redo the whole thing! A few spelling and punctuation and capitalization issues to correct of course. Yeah! And it was over 1,100 words. She had to tell Esther's story in first person.  So she had a lot of quotes to add. And from us practicing with quotations in her grammar, she got it nearly all right with some great descriptive words. I was very pleased. She had her screen time (and then some because well, she refuses to get off until we rip it out of her hands.) Justin had his screen time where he got to see this special little mini event featuring J.J. Abrams and a scene from the new Star Wars movie coming out next week. He then got to find and use a light saber in his Fortnite game. He was pumped about that. Daddy took Abishai to Lowe's as well. What's a Saturday without a trip to the "working store?" After that, I went to church to watch the children's choir Christmas musical. It was nice not having to worry about where to sit or what pictures to take.  In fact, I didn't even take one! I enjoyed it well enough. Some kids can sing and act and some want to sing and act, but can't. It's hilarious. It's a great musical, too. I did know a couple of kids in it, but went to support the whole crew because I like it when others come to see my kids. One of the main actors reminded me of Benaiah. One of them reminded me of Keturah. And I could so totally see Abishai up there next year. And it hit me that all these kids are younger than Keturah and they all look so small! And how can those little 5 yr olds stay up there? How will Abishai stay up there? How are my big kids so big? Ah!  After I got home, it was time for Jared and Abishai to leave to go pick up his parents from the airport. They just got back from their semi annual cruise. And get this, they only packed carry ons! I will never know how they do that. I can't. I just can't.  Oh well. Tomorrow is Sunday and it's a full one.

While Daddy was working, Abishai singlehandedly moved boxes off of the toy box and under the flip table so he could play inside. Then, he called it his "box truck" where the cab of the truck was the toy box and the boxes under the flip table were the trailer. Then, when he got more boxes aka the recycling printed cardboard, he changed his truck to be a trash truck.  Too cute!

I believe this was from last year's tour, but someone was playing "caption this" on the Michael W. Smith Facebook page. Poor Michael, I'm sure he has many, many, many other funny stories to tell of Amy and he's antics.

Blech, this one wasn't very good. I only added almond milk, so no sugar, but this wasn't real peppermint or mocha. Blech.

Abishai has been pining away for the other kids' advent chocolate, so I finally broke down and got out the Christmas candy. I just didn't want it gone in a heartbeat and I knew that once I opened it, I would be part of the problem. Abishai had gotten a small bag of candy that someone at school left for Jared and he had been very good at only eating a piece when he asked to. So, we refilled the bag and we'll see if this works. But I already found Keturah and Justin in the jars several times. Yikes!

Abishai filling the infamous Howell clear Christmas tree candy holder. Well, who knows what the original purpose was, but my parents always filled it with Christmas candy. And I guess I bought small bags, because it didn't fill up very fast. We did divvy up the bag into Abishai's bag, my section, and then Justin and Keturah's section.

Dark Chocolate Queen Anne's Cherry Cordials for me. I like the dark chocolate, my mom preferred the milk chocolate. Regular MM's and peppermin MM's. The usual Hershey's mini bar mixture. Mini Reese cup bells and regular Hershey's kisses that look like Santa Hats.

Our Jesse Tree is filling up and the prayer chain is getting longer. Abishai knows most of the stories already.  Yeah for night time reading with Daddy!

Wait a minute, what is in the #3 pocket? I spy a Paw Patrol snowboard!

Anyone else have this calendar growing up? Again, it was my parents and Jared's parents had the same exact one!  It's the first thing Abishai does every morning and says, "Now I get to move the mouse to the 1-4." It's a great way to learn numbers! Actually, I've gotten quite a few free regular full sized calendars, and one of them is that cat and pickle one, and I'm going to give it to Abishai since he seems so interested in the numbers and calendar.  We have that magnetic one there, and he did ask me what one of the numbers was, but it gets played with often and gets messed up. It's there when we need it though.

Where did Jared go? Well, I'm glad he's crouching because he took his shirt off to paint because he's notorious for getting paint on himself. How he is painting without a shirt on in the unheated garage beats me. It's not as cold as outside, but there's no heating vent in there.  I hope he gets his project done in time for Christmas!

What the what?! Obviously Abishai's been here, lol. He says it's his bed in his garbage truck garage. I guess truck drivers sleep with their trucks. He cracks me up! Or maybe the yellow board is the cab of his truck and the boxes are the trailer again. I don't know, but he did get a change of clothes for morning time. Lol!  He was thinking ahead!

Abishai says this is a tower to stop or slow people down? I don't know but it's so totally random and I'm amazed that the dog hasn't knocked it down yet. I did move it over to the wall though because I'm sure to knock it down when I come through.

And this is what he wore the "working store." Ok then. Changed the pants, but not the pj shirt. Funky alligator socks and Thomas sneakers. Gotcha. Have fun!  Don't forget to get Mommy a Christmas present! Well, I said that and then he immediately wanted to get a toy for himself. *facepalm* Really? He did try to think through what toy tools he had and which ones he didn't and needed. Again, at least he's smart enough to think through it. His siblings, not so much.

Sunday had a somewhat rough start, but we all made it to church. We are all on the mend or over our sicknesses, yeah!  The message was something that Jared and I needed to hear and the music was a great mixture of Christmas hymns and regular worship songs. Have you ever had one version of a song in your head for years and years so that whenever you hear it sung by someone else in a different way, it doesn't sound right to you or just replay the older song in your head? I do that with Christmas songs.  There's certain ones that I learned well from a few artists back in the late '90's and so that's what I hear in my head all the time.  Today's was "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" and it is Rebecca St. James' version I have playing in my head. Fun times!  Speaking of fun times, Dan had some cool hands on illustrations today.  One of them was displacing water with a huge rock.  Dan pretended he couldn't pick it up and asked for help from someone backstage. Well, guess who walked out? Gary! What?! You've been missing for 8 months and you walk out on stage?! Too much fun! The crowd loved it and we heard a lot of people talking about it. I also heard from several people that were waiting for Dan to say "If it is repeated, it's important" on several occasions during the sermon. Well, that's not Dan's famous line or style, so he didn't. Leah tries to downplay how much Gary has influenced people and put back on God, but I understand where the people are coming from. I hear it all the time from music loving fans when they talk about or meet their favorite artists. "Your song brought me back from drug addiction."  "Your life story is like mine and gave me hope." Of course we all know it's God working through people, but the people play a huge part and have to be willing to do it, too. And it feels good to have fulfilled your purpose and ministry people need to hear that they are making a difference. So, when I hear those compliments, I take them to be given with a sincere heart and not fangirling. In this highly critical world, compliments are a good thing in my book.

Then we had a pizza and salad lunch with Gary and Leah.  Gary had seen the lovebirds and invited Ava to lunch, which was sweet. She came late, but at least she had a chance to say hi and talk with Benaiah one on one for bit. We hurried out of lunch to go to a Christmas thing at the ICCC Shelby St. campus where Santa was waiting, along with crafts, a storytime, and friends. We did see Santa and Abishai ran up to and into his arms telling him everything that he wanted. It was so cute! None of our other kids were that bold.  In fact, Keturah and Justin just hung back. I got them to at least smile for a picture though. Then we went around to do the crafts and talk with friends and Abishai thoroughly enjoyed the crafts! He didn't shy away from it or get bored. He even sat still for a little story.  We got to see some old friends from our 24/7 days and our new neighbors and her sister's family! Yeah! I follow them on Instagram and see them sometimes at church, but it's nice to actually talk to them. Our new neighbor seems to be a little more outgoing than her sister, but I'm sure we'll get to know them as the kids grow up together. It was the perfect sized event and now I can check mark "see Santa" off my list without it costing us anything. Yeah!

We hurried home and then Keturah and I were off to church. She got to hang out with Jasmine after their KP worship gig and Leah and I stayed in the room with the bigger kids, with two smaller ones, because we were a little short staffed all around. We had great kids tonight and no issues. We even got to talk and swap stories a bit. Then the three older kids were off to "silent disco" night in youth group. Silent disco is where you wear these headphones that are controlled by a single dj board so everyone listens to the same music and dances along without it blasting the ears of the non particpants. Justin had a blast dancing.  Ava and Benaiah listened but hung out to the side mocking everyone. And then the high school and middle school switched.  Keturah said she listened but sat on the sidelines with a couple of her friends. When they weren't dancing, the kids took turns packing up hygiene kits for the homeless.They all had a great time.

Meanwhile, it started snowing!  Big time flakes! 3 inches in 3 hrs! It might taper off and stop for a little bit tonight, but it will start up again tomorrow night. Jared and Justin did the first round of shoveling. I need to get Keturah to her ortho appointment tomorrow and I was going to go to the mall first to make some returns. And then onto Kroger to get the rest of the ingredients for cookies. We'll see! And then I have a mom's night out on Tuesday, so I hope the roads are clear by then. I feel like I have so much to do still. And leaving the day after Christmas doesn't help. But I'm leaving that panic attack for next week. I might even organize and wrap our gifts. I will probably make some new lists in the morning to help me not to panic. Anyway, that's a wrap on the weekend. Lots of things to do this week. Need some sleep to do them.  At least I was able to talk to Jared about some things, cry about them, and be with each other. We need more of that. One step at a time.

Wow! I didn't know the ceiling could look so cool from the Christmas tree lights at night!

It's getting real!

Uh-oh, here it comes! And I have things to do outside the house! Eek!

A little over dramatic, don't you think? Dan pretended that the rock was too heavy and called for help from backstage. Gary comes walking out and lifts it up. Everybody loved it since they haven't seen Gary in months. And he told Justin that he had to go help a "family."  Bwahahahaha, never, ever, done.

Awww, so sweet!  Talking to his girl when she's upset and comforting her.

We were getting ready to leave Gary and Leah's and couldn't help but notice and troll the cute couple outside. They took it in stride of course.

Run...run...leap! Abishai wasn't the least bit scared of Santa and told him all about his Christmas wishlist! Too cute! This made my day and made me feel like it was worth it to come out to Shelby St to their little Christmas craft thing. Cute!

I got some half smiles from the big kids today. Benaiah had homework and tech team, so he didn't come with us. Although, on the way back, we saw him speeding through the church parking lot like it was a runway.

Putting our names on the nice list.  The volunteers were all older people, maybe they are part of a small group of baby boomers, but they really enjoyed what they were doing.

Sweet, short, and simple! Lovely!

Of course Abishai found the train to play with.

Keturah did one of the crafts, as well as Abishai.

Jumping fro joy at the Christmas train.

He automatically grabbed the glasses and almost asked for a picture. Cute!

The volunteers premade the gingerbread houses, but the kids got to stick all kinds of things on it.

They got goodie bags with apples, oranges, candy, candy canes, and goldfish, all from Santa!

Aww, these are so cute!

After serving at church, I drove home in snow!

My outfit of the day. I didn't take the shoes off all day because of going from one thing to the next. I was comfy and warm. I hope it looked ok!

I wore my hair in a half up twist/bun and it stayed all day. I didn't thoroughly brush out my hair this morning because I was trying to preserve the waves I had. I knew I had another Christmasy one.  It was just a small size and hiding on me.

I encouraged Abishai not to stick Santa and Mrs. Claus onto the house so he could play with it. The white stuff is not smoke, it's snow coming out of the chimney. The door opens.

Stockings in the back, too.

Snow! Abishai immediately got on his boots and went straight outside to the sidewalk. He touched the snow for a minute and then came back in. What a boy!

Dog wanted to frolic, too!

Justin decided to bring home some of the glow stick gear they used tonight. Sweet! Abishai, Jared and I turned off all the lights and chased Abishai around for at least 15 minutes. It was cool.

Wow! That was quick! 3 inches in 3 hours!

My baby is home! I know Benaiah is a careful driver and went slower than normal. He talked about staying in a certain gear so he doesn't go too fast. He did fine. I trust him.

The End