Year 5, January 27th-30th, 2020: Ebbs and Flows

It was a normal Monday. Having choir on Monday afternoons means I don't get read alouds done on Mondays anymore, so that's pushed off to either doubling up on Tuesdays or making sure I get to them on Wednesday and Thursday. Fridays are also hard to do read alouds with Keturah or go in depth on assignments with Justin. And that's ok. At this point, they are doing a lot of the learning and reading on their own. We go over math every day and I check in with them every day. They aren't exactly self paced yet though. I would love to give them assignments and say "Due by Friday" but then I would still have to check in on them. It's something I need to remember to work towards, especially with Justin. But, that's not where we are at right now. So, as typical, they went off to do their schoolwork and Abishai and I had playtime. I actually didn't set any goals yesterday for today or the week. I will be more intentional about it tonight. And I didn't feel panicked by it because we had worked hard on Saturday and we were all busy most of the day on Sunday. And, I knew going out always takes a lot of energy for me, so, I just took it easy.

Since Abishai was wanting Mommy time last night, I figured he needed it this morning, too. I showed him his preschool workbooks, but he wasn't interested in them at the moment. And now, looking at them again, they would be perfect to start with. They are different ones than I was thinking of and still have, so I might keep offering to them to him. I got a message from a mom with a boy his age asking if it's ok that the boy would perform his letters for Grandma but would be silly and goof off for just her and I said, "Oh yes! Abishai has been doing that SAME THING the last few days!" It's a waiting game since no one says they have to be reading by a certain age. We don't need to push it at 4 and 5 yrs old. As we approach 7, perhaps, but most kids are somewhat interested in reading before hand (the average kid that doesn't have actual learning difficulties). It's better to cultivate a love of learning rather than do it by force. If they don't want to do anything after gentle prodding when they do turn 7, then you have an obedience problem. Anyway, my point is, I'm trying to take the gentler approach because there are young kids who want to learn to read and write but none of my kids have been that way. We started them at 5. Abishai will be 5 1/2. Slow and steady and perhaps more fun. That's my goal. Anyway, we will see how it turns out. He is starting to say that "Mommy will teach me to read soon." He's just grown up in a household of homework grumblers. We will have to approach it different verbage and I'll have to be a little more "here, do what I'm doing" with it. But for now, playing and thinking about it is good.

Choir went fine and we got some great conversations going among the adults and younger siblings. So much so that the choir director had to kick us out. But that felt good to reassure the newer homeschool moms. It's amazing to me how many new homeschoolers there are! I guess I'm right in the middle of our homeschooling years, so that makes sense. Same goes for parenting too. It's a weird but good place to be in. And it always lifts my spirits when I can help others. And since others gave me words of encouragement and hugs yesterday, my cup was full and I was able to be in a good mood and pour it out again. See how that works? Yup. Just like I said last night with Abishai, his social cup was overflowing! And he was so jazzed up that he didn't think he could fall asleep! Extrovert!

Speaking of, after another reminder in the sermon yesterday to "get out there and talk about Jesus" I was a bit frustrated and had hoped that our pastor would at least take into consideration that when he expands upon that part of the new mantra, that he addresses the fact that not everyone wants to or can or should "walk over to the next cubicle and connect people to Christ." What does that look like to a person who has literally been trying to do that for 20 years, working against her personality, just because that is how evangelism is defined? Well, let's try a different approach and definition of evangelism or at least paint a clearer picture. I don't disagree that we are all ambassadors for Christ. But not all are evangelistic in nature. Not everyone can strike up a conversation like that. But I was basically told to get out of my comfort zone. Um, yeah, thanks, been trying that for 20 years. I don't think that's why God has us where he has us. I'm often outside of my comfort zone just in the social circles I'm in, which are almost always Christians, and a lot of the time, homeschoolers. Ouch. That hurt.

Here is a post I wrote about it (no need to reinvent the wheel here):
Original post:
For those who struggle when evangelism is talked about in church circles, I would highly recommend reading the evangelism chapter in this book. The whole book is incredibly helpful and insightful. It has helped me not feel so guilty about not jumping into every opportunity that is presented. Not everyone was designed to be at the forefront. There are different ways to be evangelistic without walking up to strangers. It is something I have struggled with for 20 years. It’s time to redefine what it means to be an introverted evangelist.

(Here's a link to the book that everyone should read.)
Introverts in the Church

A further response, not really to any particular person, but when I had more time to post about it.
Under that first post:
 I need to reread it. I haven’t read many self help kind of books in the last 8 yrs, but I’m glad I did read this one. It eased my spirit and helped me realize it’s ok to not always be out there on the front lines. The tension I was and still am feeling is a real thing. And it’s ok. Tension is ok and so is being an introvert in church or the culture at large. Because, let’s face it, sometimes it feels like the louder people are praised for their successes while those who conquer mountains in the quieter spaces are never seen or acknowledged. I’m happiest when I’m helping other people that are fairly similar to me. I relate easier and can help them faster, like I did with some newer and younger homeschoolers today, who are all Christians. Being surrounded by ministers, sometimes I feel like there are too many of us talking to the church, but that’s not reality. It just feels that way to me bc I’ve been in my Christian bubble my whole life. We are not called to a comfortable life but I believe working totally against your personality is also wrong. God created introverts for a reason, just like he created enneagram 6’s, the fearful ones, to take care of the details and think through the consequences of decisions and be prepared for disasters. So I try to ignore the call to “walk across the building to talk to the next person in a cubicle about Christ.” Or even our physical neighbors. Jared and I have always struggled to reach out. But once the initial contact has been made and ice broken, we can follow up and support relationships. And I just want others to not feel guilty and ashamed that they aren’t the ones introducing others to Christ. It is a spiritual gift. You can be a part of someone’s journey and water the seed, maybe plant the seed, but more often than not, you aren’t there when the decision is made. I just wish this was clearer in church circles. Community outreach is great. But not all are called to participate in the way that is taught. So I’m hoping in the coming weeks, that is made very clear. Benaiah has the gift of influence and evangelism and has had that from an early age. Abishai has a huge heart and is very extroverted and will most likely end up like Gary. My middles are just like us and will have supporting roles. Anyway, just my thoughts from years of struggling with my role in the social circles I find myself in. Most of the time I don’t want to talk to cashiers, ok? I smile and be kind. That’s it. And I serve the church and homeschool (not all are Christians) community. And I have plenty of challenges and times that are outside my comfort zone. Acceptance of who we are is a great thing. The end.
(end of post)

I did actually reread that to make sure it was clear and it was, thank goodness. So much of my spiritual walk has been out of fear and guilt and shame. I simply don't take things every pastor's word for it anymore. I question a lot more than I used to. I think outside of my upbringing and legalistic tendencies. Don't tell me what I already know you are going to say. Don't give me the cheap Christian answer. And yes, 95% of the audience probably needs to hear it said the way it is preached. I have a different need and a different story. I need to find some good resources for someone in my situation that aren't by progressive Christians that have had an "awakening" or whatever. I don't want to shake off everything I've been taught, but tweak it a little to be clearer in my own mind through the lens of my own experiences that maybe others understand a whole lot quicker than I have or perhaps they aren't an Enneagram 6 and never gave it another thought. Perhaps I truly live in a Christian bubble world. But this much I know: I'm more comfortable with who I am now, (at my core, not the habits that need to change), than I ever have been. I apologize less and less, and I'm actually less arrogant, too. I'm more confident and can put my foot down, but I'm still teachable, you just have to prove your point better.  I'm assertive, not a bully. If I can't do something your way or I'm deeply uncomfortable with it, I listen to my gut, or rather the Holy Spirit.

Anyway, it was a very compare and contrast "how you approach Melinda" kind of day yesterday. I just didn't put it all into words until today when I had heard back from our pastor about my thoughts and the book I shared. Basically, I felt like he gave a very pat answer, where as the other guy in the afternoon, actually saw me as intelligent and had more grace and understanding because he's had a somewhat similar experience. I wrote him as well to encourage him that how he approached me and the others was exactly the way we needed to be approached and he appreciated the encouragement. I think people in leadership are sent so many more negative emails than they are sent encouraging ones. So I try to send a message when I do actually notice something right like that. Maybe I should approach my kids like that more often...eeek, I just called myself out! Moving on....

Finished the day with stopping at Michael's craft store and Aldi's. Moneys are low but we needed a couple of things. We are seeing how low the gas tanks can go before payday. Yup. So just a few things. Dinner, school with Justin, computer time, bedtime.

Finally! Instead of shooing him away, Justin actually included Abishai in what he was doing. Justin used to be very good at taking time to engage with Abishai, but I think the pressure from his schoolwork and him starting the separation process away from family has prevented the bonding. I try not to interrupt those moments or get mad when schoolwork isn't done because of them. I DO get mad when he's on his phone though instead of studying!

Oldie but goodie. I think I have this in the computer folder of pictures I need to print out for Benaiah's graduation open house, but I wanted to be sure. Keturah is 7 months old and Benaiah is 7 1/2 yrs old in this picture. Gosh, only 7 1/2? Time flies!

Well, it's time to part with this girl. We've been making memories with her for exactly 8 years. She's made 3 trips to PEI and back at 1,600 miles each. A few trips to NH so we could fly back to Indiana. Numerous trips to New Orleans and Michigan. Four years of dealing with the sand and salt and snow on PEI. We got her when she had less than 50,000 miles on her. Now she's above 150,000. I don't know what the average person drives in miles per year, but that is 12,500 miles per year for us, 34 miles per day. Sounds fair. But my oh my is she dirty inside. Trash wasn't too bad, but we never had her steam cleaned and the ground in dirt on the gray interior is horrendous. I tried to vacuum and clean her about twice per year. But four kids and lots of activity, yeah, we are hard on our vehicles. I enjoyed having an Odyssey because it was extremely roomy. Our new van, which, whoops, I haven't talked about nor shown yet, is a a basic Dodge Caravan, actually a year older than our Honda, and is pretty clean with only 50,000 miles on it. Plus it has a tape deck! And the far back windows open! But it is noticeably smaller.  Bummer. We're already looking into storage solutions for long road trips. I grew up with Dodge Caravans. I knew our Odyssey was bigger.

I've tried to be very unemotional this time. We made the decision to start looking for a new vehicle right before Christmas so I had my mind on other things. And the new vehicle did fall into our lap in a very timely manner. But, if I start reflecting on how and when we got this Honda and how it's the only vehicle that Abishai has really ever known, the vehicle he came home from the hospital in, the vehicle we took to our beloved PEI, yeah, I get teary eyed. It's a car. I know that. But I think it's one of the ones we've had the longest. I think the red truck was longer because the loan was for like 11 years or something and we paid it off. Maybe someone will fix her up. Maybe they will just use her for parts. She's being sold/given to a mechanic who will sell it on an online auction. I took a lot of pictures today, although it looked quite different being empty. I was able to peel off the PEI inspection sticker we've left on there, and the decal that Leah put on it way before that when it was her vehicle. But, she's done. Time to move on. Sigh.

Jared is driving the other van for the foreseeable future because of his back. I could have taken pictures of it while it sat in the driveway these last couple of weeks but didn't think about it because it's so cold right now. And now that it's finally registered, Jared's driving it. Again, I love having a van at my disposal but right now, it's best for Jared's back and I don't need that much room for every day trips now that Benaiah is driving. We had a car and 3 kids in backseat for 4 years and did just fine before getting the van. I'm used to the car now, so it's working out fine. Plus, I have the 6 cd changer in my car, lol. Now, if I could just keep it cleaner than the gray van, that would be nice. The kids are older now so hopefully, they won't kick around as much. Abishai's pretty good about not putting his dirty shoes on seats anyway. And the interior is a darker gray and hides stains better, too. Onward and upwards!

Well, hello aloe leaf! I was watering the aloe plant in our room and this massive guy fell off! The leaves are very fully and juicy, so I'm not surprised. So, not to be wasteful, I ate a lot of the inside of the leaf. It has a pretty neutral taste, a bit slimey, but almost like a kiwi texture.

Then I used some on this bad boy and the rest of my arms which feel so smooth right now.  I was lathering up the aloe on my arms exlaiming, "Look at me! Look at how 'crunch mama' I am right now using aloe directly from the plant! No bottle needed!" Lol, anyway, aloe is pretty watery, but it's a touch sticky so you should let it dry for a few seconds before pulling your sleeve down. I put some on Keturah's scrape on her thigh from slipping on ice yesterday trying to beat Justin to Grandma's car. I guess it was a comical sight.

Yes, time for an update. It's been 5 months. It hasn't changed much in 3 months. It's still itchy from time to time. It still is sore when you press on it and rub it because of the internal stitches. It still looks ugly. It is what it is. I don't try to cover it up, but I'm not happy with how it looks either. It makes me want to cry sometimes to be honest. I think it's the scars from the external stitches that bother me the most. It's hard to look at.

At Aldi's, they had gluten free cauliflower pizza AND their version of the Everything Bagel Seasoning! Everybody raves about the name brand version of this season and when Aldi's brought their version to the store a few weeks ago, everybody was talking about it again. So, I HAD to try it, right? Well, I'm down for it. I'm not like "oh wow I love it" but it's decent. It's got garlic, onion, salt, sesame seeds, and poppy seeds. Actually, I was surprised that that's all it is. Ok, then. We'll see how it tastes on avocados. The pizza itself tasted like normal pizza because they used rice flour with the cauliflower. So, it was a a little gimicky. Oh well. Better than the other frozen gluten free pizza Aldis' has.

This is the back of the cauliflower pizza. 34g of carbs.

This is the back of the regular pizza I buy for the kids. 42g of carbs. Not much different, so not necessarily healthier. But, I scored today because every fresh pizza and breadsticks were 50 cents off! Keturah and Abishai like the cheesy breadsticks.

Oh goodness. I don't know what is with me. My emotions and thoughts are just all over the place. I could not fall asleep last night and started coughing because of the dry air, so I slept on the couch. Poor Jared, he never knows if I'm mad it at him or what when I do that. Praise God that 99% of time I'm NOT mad and I'm trying to let him get better sleep. Thankfully, I sleep well on the green couch, so I run the space heater to keep the room warm because SOMEBODY still has all the little blankets. Ahem. Jared still starts his night out with his big blanket roll but he's able to now push that to the floor halfway though the night, praise the Lord. He's still taking some pain meds, and furstrated by that, but I think he's still optimistic that the different kinds of pains in new places are just things shifting back to where they should be. He's going to all his chiropractor appointments, so that's helpful. He still doesn't sleep quite through the night yet, so he is very tired. But he's my faithful guy who gets up anyway and does what he needs to do.

Meanwhile, I was determined to get in gear today and not rush or push like I did on Saturday, but stop procrastinating on some things and get them off my list. Things like put the new mattress cover on and call a vacuum cleaner place to see if they will take the old vacuums to rehab or recycle. Yeah, silly things like that. And my piano student needs new books, yeah! She's not proficient, but she understands theory, so I'm trying to plug her along. She would be so much better if she practices though. She sight reads fairly well.  So we keep going. Now, my own kids, oh my goodness. Justin keeps trying to learn songs by writing down note names instead of actually reading music. I NEED to work with him on it. It's driving me crazy! Keturah is learning some theory and definitely some vocal skills at choir, and that's exactly what I wanted from it. I would like her to be able to read music, so depending on how far we go with it, I might have to follow up, but we'll see.

I also tried to figure out that mysterious tea again because Justin was having a cup of tea that I thought was similar. But I had it too close to my first cup of the day and got that "too much caffeine at once" notice from my body. So I didn't feel great for a bit, but I recovered. I pulled out a workbook for Abishai, and we just worked on figuring out how I would help him to right since he's a leftie and I'm a rightie. I think it will be ok. But he wanted to scribble and not write straight lines. Oh, he did show me his A and he tried to write a B. I saw a friend with a 4 yr old having her daughter do some tracing and doing so well and it kind of made me a little jealous because I'm not great at pulling out that kind of stuff. So, perhaps I will and see if he'll trace some things.  But I also don't want him to learn the wrong way, too. And again, it's going to be more difficult because the strokes will feel different for him than they do for me. Hm,...time to hit up the IAHE discussion page!

Both Keturah and Justin did their full load of work, after I kept pulling them apart and telling them to stay away from each other. It's like WW3 every time they are in the same room! Ah! But we survived the day. Then I was off to a parent meeting for the Senior class at Southside and Jared was to Bible study. The parent meeting was ok. Just some random stuff that to be honest, could have been done via email. But things were said that were really triggering to me and put me in a tail spin. I was at a high talking to homeschoolers yesterday, and then boom, I was reminded again as to why I still don't like it that we had to put Benaiah in school. I talked to him about it, and he said he wouldn't have gained the social skills if he didn't go to school and he couldn't learn at home. That is true. However, I don't think you have to live through the drama to understand some of it. But academically, it has sucked. Benaiah is not where I had hoped he would be. And his classmates suck. Hopefully it's a better experience for other classes, but I can't wait to be done with the school. The teachers and administration try very hard, but the whole situation is disappointing to me. I'm so grateful that we aren't in the same situation with the others. Public or private school is not an option for us. There's far more other opportunities than that in our area. I think I did needed to be reminded about why we homeschool, especially with the two that fight constantly. So now that I'm past the angry moments, I can regain my resolve to make homeschooling work for each of the others, however that might look like. Benaiah's right when he says I think that homeschooling is the only way and it's God ordained. I do think that most of the time. I have to hold my tongue with most people, but yes, there is nothing I'd rather be doing than being home with my children and educating them my way. The end.

Today was Benaiah and Ava's one year dating anniversary, woot, woot! Ava had archery practice and also didn't feel great, so they ended up with take out and at our house again. She went home around 9. Just because the calendar says it's a special day, doesn't mean you have to make it super special on that exact day if you don't feel good. Celebrate it another time. I think they had two great date nights over the weekend, so I think that makes up for it. Benaiah had specifically taken today off from work for it though. And then they didn't schedule him for Thursday or Friday so he was going to have a very short work week. Which means a smaller paycheck. Which means, stop going on expensive date nights. He did get to pick up a shift for Thursday though, so that's good. Someone got fired or something. It happens. I'm just glad he picked up an extra shift because of it.

So, I'm emotionally drained. It's a good thing it's a light week for appointments. But as we approach February, those will pick up again. Lots of follow up appointments for Keturah and me, and tooth extraction consultation for Benaiah and I. Fun times!

Check this out! The hallway is finally clear! Woot! Woot! Those book boxes had been there for probably two years? Feels kind of empty and strange now though. Jared took some of the books to the office and told me to throw away the rest. Well, not all of them are being thrown away, but that's a different story. He also put away all the food the other night, including finding containers for them, so that was super helpful and not something he normally does.

Benaiah's anniversary gift to Ava. The materials were super expensive, $50, but I might split the cost with him if I get to keep the extra paint, tape, and brushes.

There is now way this kid would last in school. No way. He'd be labeled and medicated.

A "just because you're having a rough day" gift I found stuck in my car door handle when I finally looked outside today. I bet Jared put it there sometime during the morning because I saw a charge on our bank account then. I didn't look until about 5pm. Sweet.

Ooo, caught playing nicely!  Daddy said Abishai there a huge fit when he only got to play with him for a few minutes before leaving for Bible study. Poor little extrovert. So he got to watch some Captain America instead.

Ahem. Benaiah said it's because he forgets to check mark his name on the list or something. He says he's leaving it in his truck from now on. Which, actually isn't wise because it's expensive and the truck can be broken into pretty easily. Sigh.

I told Daddy to hurry home before little man ate all his pretzel rods and tooted in our clean sheets 20 more times.  Abishai's favorite snack now is the pretzel roads. He doesn't eat as much animal crackers or vanilla wafers. I think we are phasing those out. Sigh. He's growing up.

Benaiah peeled off the painter's tape and did the touch up work tonight. He wrote a note on the backside for her in pen.  Benaiah isn't very artistic, so for him to come up with this on his own is great. Obviously, he's learned some skills when he's been backstage at church, but I am proud of him for trying something like this. Just like his dad. At least they try.  Happy 1st Dating Anniversary, Benaiah and Ava!  Here's to many more!

Wednesday was a bit calmer emotionally, but I definitely felt a bit mentally exhausted. I pulled through and tried to stay on top of things. I didn't conquer much on the to do list, but I didn't have much to do in the place that has exact deadlines. That will change when I start tackling the taxes this weekend. We got school done without too much fuss. About mid day when Abishai was asking for attention for the upteenth time, I thought and then said to him, "How about you and I go to the Children's Museum tomorrow, just the two of us?" I can leave the other two at home and we can go off and play. That way they can still do school and they won't whine about getting home to do school. It will fill Abishai's need for people and since I don't have anything else at all tomorrow, I wouldn't feel rushed. The only thing is, Jared has to meet us there because I never got the access pass last summer. Yeah, we never made it to the museum at Christmas time. Oh well. I said I wanted the kids to read everything at the museum, but it's not a high priority anymore. It'll just be an Abishai and Mommy date. I'll have Daddy and Grandma check in on the kids, too, of course. I'll bring a book to read and my big camera and work on some photo skills. It will feel just like it did when Benaiah was little. Well, not quite, I still had Justin with us. Point is, I can pretend I only have a preschooler and not crazy emotional teenagers, lol. It will be fun!

Meanwhile, I had to keep reminding Justin today that it's ok if he spends an hour on each school subject because his peers do and colleges do. And it's ok if a curriculum just says "study the text for your quiz" and doesn't give you a study guide. It's Spanish, you have to memorize ALL the Spanish words they threw at you. Yes it's a lot of vocab. No, they don't have a good vocab list. I have to look in the teacher's guides to see if they do. But in the meantime, take the text and read it over and over. The real world doesn't have black and white answers that you put on a test. We teach to mastery anyway over here. Clarify the assignment, but at the same time, you have to make your own leap and conclude what is best to understand and know the material. That's part of self learning. Oh, and I know he's feeling pressure to do his own projects. However, he doesn't start school until 10. He did school for 4 1/2 hrs today. That put him right up to his magic hour of "my friends get on to play video games at 3pm every day." And then he had small group. So, get up earlier. He has a regular alarm clock and I would probably let him have his phone at this point. So does Keturah. She also has an alarm clock. And I just need to stop being the nice mom and get them up when I do. I've been getting up around 8:30, and then start poking them at 9. I need to be more on top of it. Because then I wait around waiting for them to be ready for me. And when I don't have a project due, I don't get much accomplished. Sigh. We've got to adjust these routines!

Wednesday night is small group night, which I like. We had one more lady join our Bible study tonight, another neighbor, and it went well. We had lots to talk about. I didn't bring up my frustrations with Sunday's sermon, which tied into our book's lesson, because I didn't want to taint anyone else's perspective. Plus Jared had tried to talk to me about it through text and we aren't on the same page at all. I kept it together and listened and contributed other parts of the chapter. The other women didn't think this chapter hit home as much as the other chapters, so I pulled out some information that I thought was interesting, mostly background information about Abraham. We did talk about the 317 a bit and sermons and changes, etc. It's helpful to hear that from them, that I'm not alone with it, and we all know and have a heart for our church and trust the leadership, and most of our "problems" with anything is personal and comes with an understanding that they are minor annoyances and not something that needs to be changed just to make us happy. Discussion is helpful, gossip is not. We don't stay too long on those topics, thank goodness. Despite my hesitations, I reassured them that I trust our elders because I've known a lot of them for many, many years and they have been at the helm for many of those years and have been vetted and take their time in making decisions. I can trust that the staff our age don't make decisions on their own or out of lack of experience because they are backed by the elders. I would be a lot less trusting without those elders there.  I think I was actually preaching to myself when I said that. I'll just play my passive aggressive game now because the aggressive path didn't end well. I'll wait and see what God has in store.

I came home to loud noises coming out the front door only to find that Abishai was into some "mission" with Daddy to get Justin. Abishai's games and missions and imagination is what I had wished for the other kids but I was unable to really give them from myself. I know Abishai learns them from YouTube. Again, bittersweet, but I'd rather he have that kind of good influence rather than a lack of it because of my limitations. Ouch, I could apply that to other things. Eek! Anyway, little guy didn't want to go to bed again because he thinks he will miss out on things. He kept saying, "I love you, Mommy, so much!" all day long! And attached to my hip. I'm loving it and milking it. I'm not sure where he's getting that or that it just comes more naturally to him than it did the others. Or we finally became decent parents and encouraged it all along. Who knows. Each kids' childhood will look different anyway. I don't think it's a bad thing. If he didn't seek us out, I think he would miss out on attention, so I welcome it.

That's it. Perhaps I'll publish this and just have a blog post just for tomorrow's fun. We'll see!

Interesting. This is from the Royal Family Instagram Account. Matthew West is a Christian singer who literally wrote a song with that title, "Hello, My name is" and had a campaign with people filling in that blank.

Jared said this was sent in an email to the college's email list. Quite an interesting development. Not sure how we feel about it, so we will leave it as it is. My fear is that MCC will eventually fold. It's obviously not filling the need of producing ministry leaders right now. I'm interested to see what the new initiatives are.

I told him he could lay down and wait for me next to the bathroom door while I showered. I came out of the bathroom to see this set up, lol. I gues he got bored waiting.

Look, Mom, all my guys have beds made of Jenga blocks!

Always making police stations and jail cells.

"Gotta go on a mission. Mom, you stay here and protect the room from bad guys. Use whatever weapon you can find!"

Once upon a time, 7 years ago, our middles actually liked each other.  Someday they will like each other again, someday.

Well, hello there, dear brother, would you like to share? Lol. Paul-Mikael, my brother who is 6 years younger than me, is seeing a girl. Yeah! His divorce was finalized oh wow, last summer? It's about time for him to date again. He patiently waited throughout the whole two year divorce proceedings. I'm glad he has a social life and that hopefully, he will be happy again. This young lady is a year younger than him and lives in our township actually. And attends some church downtown. She's a social worker. And they met on the internet. Go, P-M! Have fun! She looks sweet!

The End