The J6 Journey: Year 5, January 17th-19th, 2020: Weekend Vibes

And off we go! On Friday we had gym day, and I discovered that there is an Aldi's not even 5 minutes away, so the boys and I handled the grocery shopping on the way home! That was after I treated them to McDonald's. Yeah for payday where I feel like I can actually treat the kids! We got home, got everything put away, and after a couple of hours of downtown, I was back out the door the same exact intersection that the Aldi's is on, all the way in Greenfield, 30 minutes away. By this time, the roads had been heavy salted because rain and sleet were on their way. I went to Mom's Night Out at Montana Mike's. Oh my it was good! They put us in a corner in a secondary room and it was so nice and quiet! There were 6 of us and we had a great time! When we came out, the cars were already covered in ice. I had to do a bit of scrapping and then cross the parking lot to Wal-Mart, which was right behind the restuarant because I forgot dishwasher soap and we had a huge load to do! After 11 years of not having a dishwasher, I love having one! The Greenfield Wal-Mart was quiet and clean and the young lady that checked me out was on top of it! I guess they carry a scanner now and can do your order on the fly, and they carry bags with them, too. They started doing that at Christmastime. I was like, cool, you seem legit and excited about your work, go for it! I think her name was Mackayla. Sweet young gal. When I first walked into Wal-Mart, I had to get my bearings. I don't think I've shopped in Wal-Mart for two years! But it quickly came back to me, although I was thinking about how the one in Marion, Indiana was laid out. I can remember shopping there with Jared when we were at Indiana Wesleyan University for that first semester of my freshman year of college. Anyways, I found what I needed and more, of course, but that's fine. I was pleased.

And then when I started to drive away, I passed all the semis that were in the parking lot and said a little prayer for them because the guys and gals were sleeping there for the night. After watching a vlogger talk about how she intentionally sleeps in her car and how some Wal-Marts let you do that, and some don't, and also another vlogger who couldn't stay at Wal-Mart although their RV was clearly broken (in Texas), and a family we know who slept in a Wal-Mart parking lot with their camper on their way to Florida, I kind of know and have a place in my heart for those kinds of travelers. I think about how they get into their big fancy cabs to sleep and what they do to entertain themselves after a long day's driving. Now they probably just use their cell phones to watch Netflix. Anyway, it's just the way I think. I also used the driving time to do my nightly prayer for the church thing. I signed up to pray every night from midnight to 1am for two weeks, but I'm often just too tired. So, I prayed while I drove. I prayed while I drove around the whole 465 circle with Jared the next day. The church is pushing a campaign about praying for the 317 area code, and you know what, that includes the west side, the north side, the east side, and the south side of Indy. And the "doughnut" counties right outside the 465 circles (more on that in a minute). Anyway, the ride home on Friday night was ok. People slowed own because it was icy, but I made it home safely, obviously. A little nerve racking, but hey, I try to be adventurous sometimes, so I went for it. It was a full, but great Friday.

Then Saturday came along and what a day! My cup is full to overflowing! Jared and I spent the day with our Indiana Association of Home Educators team. We had some people talk about different issues, we had time to discuss what the needs are in our regions, we had games, we had a town hall style advice giving session. Oh man, I felt like I was in such a peaceful, but exciting place! These folks are so passionate about homeschooling and serving the homeschooling community well, and they try to keep up with the times, too. They try to stay relevant and use social media, email systems, print magazines, 101's, meetups, etc. They just want to fulfill their mission of serving and protecting our fellow homeschoolers. Jared was a good sport, although his sciatica is still a wreck and he's in a lot of pain. I'm sure he would have spoken up more if he wasn't in pain. He took in a lot of information that I already knew, but hopefully he got a glimpse of what me and my peeps look like when we are together. He even came home and sent an email off to a pastor in Fort Wayne to put out feelers to raise up some volunteers up there. I know that Jared has a lot of skills to contribute, but I'll let him figure that out as we go along. From fundraising, to conferences, to selling books, to networking, to websites, to mailchimp servers, to social media, Jared knows a lot and could plug in and help in all kinds of ways. But I'm not going to push him. I'm just happy he's there and hopefully he doesn't have too many complaints or rolls his eyes too many times because once we get going, oh man, we get so passionate and excited, and pumped! Only 9 weeks to convention, so it's go time!

I was also able to talk to a few people that I've interacted with online and found out some things that need to be on my to do list. Some of the reps are stepping down this year and they happen to be the ones right outside of the 465 circle, so the doughnut counties, that we sometimes overlap with. I've been referring people to those reps, but now, I will need to make sure I'm the one to take care of those that email me, but are technically outside our region. No big deal since most of my friends are in a doughnut county (i.e Greenfield!) So, I'll help out more with that. And then I'll hopefully be an official admin for the Facebook discussion page. I already jump into posts anyway, so why not make it official. I'm not always great at the physical stuff like setting up and tearing down, but give me something online to do, and I'll do it. There were several people that said that they are only on social media because of IAHE stuff, so they don't share or answer as much as I do. So, I can help fill that gap, no problem.

It's just so wonderful to know that there are genuine people, who first of all love Jesus, and second of all, put their best foot forward in serving and protecting others. This week, a bill came into the State Senate that had a line in it that targeted homeschoolers, or it calls them out, but doesn't need to. So we are all jumping on that making phone calls, sending emails, etc. It's a bill about finding out if a child abuse case where the child is dead happened in a home that was homeschooling. Um, child abuse doesn't discriminate. It's in all kinds of home environments. 80% of the those deaths in Indiana last year were kids ages 0-3 years old anyway. They aren't going to find that there's that many cases where child abuse was happening under the guise of homeschooling. There was a case in southern Indiana and the child(ren) are testifying to certain other groups about how homeschooling was a cover up and they are calling for more regulation. So, there's a battle, in our state house, and it's urgent. We don't want this bill to pass as it is now. Praise God we have a few someones on the IAHE Action team that can be our hands and feet. Jared and I support them financially because it's that important. Protect homeschool freedoms. We are given the right to freedom of religion and the 14th amendment implies that we have parental rights. Don't take those away from us, ever.

Ah, just so insightful, lots of idea floating around, time to ask questions and get help and advice from others, and I even got up there and gave my two cents worth in the "town hall" portion. We had a hiccup about when lunch was delivered, but our executive director, Mrs. Tara Bentley, problem solver, kept the day going and we got through a lot of material. The facility was incredible! It's called E-Gineering, owed by Christian homeschoolers, that do a lot of website design and IT stuff. The board has been using their space for free for their meetings and now it's our turn! We do have a couple on our team that actually work there. But they let us have free reign in their kitchen, including, get this, one of those fancy pop machines you find in Taco Bell where you push buttons to select your pop and special flavorings, etc. So Jared was able to get his plain soda water! They had a fancy cappacino and latte machine and it was alright coffee to me. I guess I should have added sugar. The building even had like a home gym room, showers, and a pool table. What an environment to work in! We are grateful that we have been blessed with such a space!

Phew, anyway, I'm sitting here freezing tonight because the wind has picked up a ton! My heaters can't keep up! One did get up to 71 degrees but it's now at 69 degrees. I have my heating pad on my lap and I'm trying to stay warm. Ah! Our temperatures are now dropping to teens and single digits. I'm a little concerned because Benaiah took Ava and Justin downtown to Bankers Life Fieldhouse for WinterJam. I've texted him a few times and he's doing fine. Proud of him for doing it alone. I just didn't have enough energy for both things today and there were no artists this time around that I was dying to see, so it was a good year to skip it. The roads weren't really wet, but there were a few places that black ice could form, so I'm praying the kids home tonight. I knew Benaiah really didn't want a third wheel, but at the same time, I don't ask him to do it that often. I gave him and Justin plenty of cash to park in our favorite parking garage, get food and merch, and survive. They got great seats and I'm sure it was a lot of fun. I'm anxious to hear how the worship artists were like and such. I made the right choice in staying home because Abishai hasn't had much Daddy and Mommy time. Luckily, next week is very minimal on activities, so we'll have time to finally catch up. We've been working hard and running to and fro since the week before Christmas. We had to get right into everything and then had Jared's sciatica stuff, as soon as we got back from NOLA. I'm looking forward to not turning my alarm on this week. I turned it on 5 times last week. Ugh.I don't know how the men do it every day, but they do.

Um, no, don't buy this for Valentine's Day. They also had gigantic Valentine's cards that were pretty cute for $3 or $5.

I have no why he thought it was interesting to put his nose on the table number thing. I'm really liking the table number thing where they bring out your food. It helps a momma by making it less of a juggling act getting to their seats with little ones. They did forget my mocha, but that's because the machine that makes them had been out of commission just before I ordered. Anyway, clean, big restaurant in an adjucent parking lot to Aldi's. I think groceries might be something we do on the way home from gym day. It was nice to just have the two boys.

Bwahahaha, or Kraft Peanut Butter. That was my first "I'm not in Kansas, Toto,"moment 9 years ago. But I can attest to most of these. The Smarties there are chewy and kind of like MM's. The smarties we know them as, are called rockets in Canada. Not sure why the milk is bagged or whatever, but they do have regular gallons of milk, too. And they have loaded baked potato chips. Yum! And dill pickle, too!

This is the view from Benaiah's seats at WinterJam. Nice!

Checking out the merch, I guess.

I finished a bottle of real maple syrup, so I pulled this out to try. It's not bad! The maple syrup makes the honey run better and you can really taste the honey! So if you are used to using either one to sweeten your baked goods or put in tea or coffee, there you go. I think Leah bought for me on clearance at Kroger because it has one of those fancy discount stickers from there.

When we were putting Abishai to bed, I saw this. I knew he had borrowed it from my homeschool stash, but Justin is the first kid to really put down his plan in writing. I still think he could become a big hobbyist, or even a builder for Lego someday. He's been watching Lego builders on YouTube and how they buy Legos in bulk and such.

Speaking of Abishai, I forgot to say that when I woke him up this morning to say good-bye, he said, "I dreamed that there was a mini Fortnite on your phone, Mommy, and I was playing it. Then the good guys were chasing me." He had much more to the story, but I can't remember it now. He has very vivid dreams apparently because it's not the first time he's told us stuff. He needs some extra cuddles this week because we were so on the go last week I just didn't have time for it. I'm sure his love tank is a bit low. Oh, and he and Keturah went over to Grandma's before the boys left for WinterJam, just so everyone was covered. They had a great time and didn't do too much screen time. And Abishai got to wrap a gift for a baby shower but wasn't happy when Grandma picked out another bow that would match the paper. Abishai did not like that at all. Or when we pulled him off the screen to go home.He played on the Bible App on Daddy's phone and he played with his Hot Wheels cars and his Batman cave. And Keturah just hung out by herself.

How cold is it? Cold enough that two heaters can't keep up and the heating pad isn't doing much. Brr! The rest of the house is cozy warm. Sigh.

Oh my. Baby, it's cold outside! Negative wind chill! Winter is upon us! But my kids still think it's ok to just go outside in just a hoodie. I had to literally shout at Keturah to put a coat and hat on. And she kept arguing! So she is grounded for the next few days because she kept going on and on about it and trying to get Justin in trouble when he wasn't fully dressed yet. Goodness! Anyway, the cold isn't supposed to last too long, thank goodness. I have the right amount of warm clothes, bu all those layers is very restricting and puts pressure on my fibromyalgia points. That's why I keep the temp inside the house pretty warm compared to most because I can't layer up too much beyond a sweatshirt or a feel like a snowman. I did get out my super warm fleece pj pants and they are almost too warm sometimes. But you know, you just get chilled sometimes and you can't get warm! Anyway, the wind coming across the parking lot was unbearable. I had zipped up tight, so was Abishai and I wish I had brought my scarf. Attendance was down a bit because of the cold and a 3 day weekend we think. Abishai didn't want to go immediately to class so he sat with us, for literally a minute, 60 seconds, and then Jared trotted him back down the hallway. Later in the evening, Chad Koke said there were 40 kids in his classroom, but only 19 in the Kindergarten classroom that hour. I guess we have a disproportionate amount of kids in certain classrooms so they aren't moving the 2's up into the preschool wing because they don't want any more crowding down the line. The 4's and 5's is a holding pen for preschoolers who aren't in Kindergarten yet. Once they move to Kindergarten, everything evens out for the most part. Anyway, church was fine. Emerson Kennedy spoke, and he's always interesting to listen to. Preacher's kid, a bit of a lisp, but so personable. He does his best to bring in jokes and verbage that hasn't pertained to him yet like marriage and kids. He called himself a Bible nerd. Anyway, next week we kick off a brand new sermon series and total rebranding of the church. Ok, maybe not total, but sigh, I wasn't prepared to be told what it was. Subconsciously I knew something was going to change, but I wasn't ready for exactly what and how. The end of an era for verbage around the church. Join us next week to find out what it is! Lol. Moving on because I know I'll talk about it more next time.

Lunch with Grandma, putter at home, back to church for nursery, back to home. Same old stuff. Justin went home with Bryce, who isn't going home from Montica's until Monday, so they had a sleepover and stayed up way too late, causing Justin to be very grumpy when I picked him up late Monday afternoon (we'll save the details for tomorrow, man, I'm being too cryptic in this part of the post!) At Crave it was announced that Aaron Schroeder is also leaving as a student minster, this time to Colorado. That just leaves poor Chad Monahan and the two secretaries, Kelsey and Chelsey, as the staff people for high school, Luke Green as middle school. And Kelsey is pregnant again. So, fun times! In fact at least 6 people on staff (or their spouses) are pregnant right now and all are due by July! That's nuts! But I'm a tad worried about CIY prep and any extra fun stuff for the kids in youth group. It's hard to do all that without a staff. I'm just praying that volunteers step up (not me, I have other volunteering I do) and fill in until replacement staff can be found. None of those changes have to do with the main transition of leadership last year. Those kinds of staff members come and go (almost too easily). It's sad though, because it's the only youth leaders the older kids have known. They don't know any of the ones that there before we left or during our absence. And these staff members came on the scene a few months before we did in some cases. Anyway, enough boohooing, it's not like Jared has stayed at a job longer than 4 years...yet....

Sunday night finished with a fire in the fireplace and Abishai falling asleep on the couch just because he wanted to. That is all.

Frost on the front door! And Abishai has to wear the blue hat again because I can't find the camo one again! I'm so mad! I put in the hood of his jacket and he wore it maybe once or twice out of the house and poof it's gone again! I want it back! I'll have to tear apart the closet and look in lost and found at church. My mom made that hat and it matches the mittens. If and when I find it, it's going to not be worn again and put in a safe place to be matched up with the mittens when we are done with them (and the matching sweater, my mom liked that yarn.)

A light dusting of snow. It flurried for a part of the day.

Sitting on the church pew, looking all handsome and swinging his legs to beat the band.

Woah, weird face!

Thankfully we won't reach those temperatures!

Abishai decided he didn't want lunch and wanted to play under the table at Grandma's house instead. I don't know why we allow these antics because it doesn't help later on when he really does have to sit still in a performance or something. We should be practicing the sitting still thing (instead of showing off thing) more often.

The sunroom! Brrr!!! It took forever to warm up!

I was explaining to a friend what Aaron and Shauna have for a shoe cabinet and pulled this photo off the internet. I love the idea but we have no room for one. Maybe in the next house.....