Year 5, September 11th-13th, 2020: Remembering 9/11 and New Beginnings

 Oh goodness. I didn't write the blog out on Friday because it was a busy socializing kind of day. I spent a good portion of the morning scouring the social media apps for people posting about 9/11 and sharing our story numerous times. It's typically a somber day for me. I actually half woke up thinking Jared was still in bed and told him something, but I think it was just a dream. He leaves early on Friday mornings for his men's group. So, I frowned and missed him. I typically run the sequence of events from that day through my head as I go about my day in real life now. I'll post what I wrote on Facebook instead of typing out again to save time. But yes, we were impacted by that day and it's one of those flags marking a major turn in our story. Just like our years in Canada are a huge marking in our timeline. I say all the time, "This happened before Canada." or "This happened while in Canada." "Or this happened since Canada." I heard on a blog of other world travelers how they do the same thing. A marking in the sand. 9/11 is one of those markings. And so will be 2020 in probably a bigger way for us. Well, maybe not, but it's been a longer, more emotional process. So after contemplating that for awhile, I got my shower done, school done, lunch done and then it was time for park day.

Park day was at Wolf Run and only Brenda and Molly came, which was totally fine. We always have lots to chat about. And our kids hardly come back to us because they play so well together. Poor Justin. He was super frustrated from doing homework in the morning because he did the study guide instead of the test for science. And then he was gathering quote on Benjamin Franklin and one of them was about how you couldn't get time back, once you use it, it's gone forever. So, I'm glad we could go to the park and he could ride his long board and let out some steam. He said he was very distracted and it showed on his math test, which he only got half right. He got 100% on his science test, although it was closed book. So, I don't know. We are taking it as is. He is getting more right overall on his math, so I'm pleased with that. We will start the higher dose on medication as soon as I pick it up which will probably be on Sunday since we were busy at home on Saturday. Abishai brought his bike to the park because he was hoping to teach another little kid how to ride a bike. Well, there weren't any little kids interested, but it's the thought that counts. It was a 70 degree overcast day so perfect for being outside, despite all the pollen and ragweed.We all had to leave at a certain time, so we stayed for about 2 1/2 hrs.

We got home, ate a heavy snack and then Keturah and the boys had Bible class. Meanwhile, I returned two IAHE phone calls, wrote their emails up with links for websites and logged their calls. I made brownies for a girls' night in at Smiths house and quickly made a few burgers for dinner. Drinking coffee at 4 pm is the best energy boost of my day, I tell ya. Although, the heartburn is getting so bad. I'm going to have to figure something out or not drink it every day, I don't know. And then it was off to this thing at Smith's. Adrienne at purchased this livestream event put on by Joyce Meyer with worship by Cody Carnes and Kari Jobe. Well, she didn't realize it was set on Central time, so we had an extra hour to talk and and such. It was a couple of other friends and then 4 of us from Bible study. It was a fun evening, even when wifi cut out and there were too many ads during the program. Joyce Meyer is a popular Christian speaker, whom my mom loved. Joyce doesn't always have the same theology we do, but she seemed to have mellowed in the last 10 years since I've seen snippets of her speaking. She's also got a weird smile, I don't know. But she was plugging her newest book, sharing her story of abuse again, plugging a girls' program, etc. etc. It was an ok program but seemed to go on for too long. We didn't get through it all, but it was something interesting to try. The funny thing was that Jim, who was only expecting to watch Derrick, ended up watching Kendell and Nolan because Andrew and Conner were sleeping, and watching Quinn because Jeremy had to make a hospital equipment run. So poor Jim was stuck in the man shed with 4 kids teaching them about 9/11 because that's what he likes to watch on 9/11. He took the peanut butter MM's package with him to the shed and they were nearly gone when he brought them back in, lol. Don't worry, we all thanked him profusely.

So, I got home late, tidied up what was left, and watched a couple of episodes of a TV show. Then it was off to bed. I woke up on Saturday with a headache because I hadn't slept enough and the weather is changing. It's been very cloudy, like totally overcast for 3 days and it won't rain. But it's supposed to rain a bit tonight, so we'll see. We got up and got going because boy, I had a long list of small tasks to conquer. And every time I crossed one off, I remembered anoher one. But, we conquered a lot of it. Jared spent most of the day putting together some knock off Lego sets he bought with an Amazon gift card he received for working at e2 for 4 years. Yes, a grown man's anniversary gift to himself was Legos. Told ya, it's what we love! Keturah cleaned most of the pool but Jared helped with the last little bits, so that's now done and drying. I just have to put it away when it's perfectly dry but not dirty again. Justin raked up the grass clippings from earlier this week and I cleaned up the flower beds again. The flower stalks were ready to pull, so I did those and the misc. weeds and grass. I fixed my scarecrow lady again, I hope for good this time and swept the front porch. Abishai came outside to play with the new Lego for a few minutes and act out a scene. I responded to emails, printed stuff for school, read my book club book and responded to those posts, bought some lotion on Amazon, defrosted chicken for dinner, went over schoolwork with Keturah and Justin, tested Abishai on his 10 commandments which he already has down if you give him the first word of the phrase, made bana muffins, and took a quick nap with Jared. Yup, that's what we did. Kids had screen time of course. Keturah worked on her puzzle and my old Legos. Justin played with Legos and read. Abishai bounced around everywhere. And none of us stepped foot off our property today and yet, we are content. That was Saturday.

We have a plan for Sunday. I hope I have emotionally and mentally prepared enough for it. I have my contingency plans in place for Abishai. We have to get up at 6:30 in order to leave by 8:30am. This is going to be a test of will power for all. And we have to do it next week, too. The kids have Crave on Sunday night and that should be fine. I just don't know. I did have to text our children's ministry this morning because I hadn't seen a sign up thing for Justin and come to find out, he and Grandma weren't serving this weekend. These poor staff ministers have been working long, long hours to make this work, so I don't blame them. I'm glad I did because she then texted a group of people letting them know of the update. Whoops! Another reminder to gently speak up and ask questions.

Lots of great 9/11 graphics this year.

Here's our story about 9/11.

I posted this on our homeschool facebook page and there's about 30 comments stating, "Nope, all of my 18 bookshelves of books brings me joy, so, I'm keeping them all!." Lol.

WORST packaging ever! Dudes! What if these bottles opened all over the delivery truck? Use a box!

Heavy duty toilet bowl cleaner my friend recommended to help with the bathtub. I paid 5x the normal price for these because I couldn't find them in the local stores. Yeah. These better work. If not, I won't need toilet bowl cleaner for a long time!

I was checking Benaiah's conception and due dates for the millionth time and used a pregnancy calculator. Isn't this hilarious? So, basically, he's over 950 weeks old! Bwahahaha, but yes, he was conceived on 9/11 or that weekend. Go figure.

And of course Benaiah was born on June 4th. How do I know his conception date? Well, because I track my cycles and always have because my mom encouraged me too and got a diary to keep them in. It's interesting to go back through the years to see what I wrote and how illegible some of the entries are. I did do the calculator for the other kids, too. It's just a fun exercise for those who love pregnancy, childbirth, and all of it like I do.

This was AFTER he came into our room literally 10 times telling us it was breakfast time. And showing us the box of Legos. And telling us he was going to use the scissors to open the box because "I've been practicing on my fruit snacks." This kid. Oh, this kid!

Abishai was ready for Lego building and play day with Daddy!

When I took the brownies to Smiths he wanted me to tell the moms not to eat them all because he wanted some. Well, he got some. And then didn't eat it all, lol.

I think I did this type of cleanup in the spring per my friend, but I really don't like the look of it, so I pulled most of the brown stuff. There are still flowers and plenty of leaves on these clumps of foliage so I think they will be alright. The stems have these hollow things on the end, and when you shake them, it sounds like there's a seed inside, so it makes me nervous. But these flowers are prolific in the flower bed, and it's ok if they don't do as well next year. I just didn't like the look of the brown.

See?! Still flowering!

He placed the oil right out on the rock.

Here comes the boat in the "water" to put out the fire! I told him that they wouldn't use water to put out the fire but some kind of foam because it was oil and oil and water don't mix.

He did take down the "fire" pieces when he put out the fire. How cute!

This is 6 months worth of tithe from Keturah and Abishai! They earned a total of $185 from Grandpa! When they earned money from me and I paid them in Legos, I think we forget to tithe. But how do you tithe in Lego bricks? 10% of the brick count on the box? Lol! The thought of Lego bricks being plunked down into the offering boxes cracks me up!

Jesus' money! Although, with the "coin shortage" it might be better to hang onto this coinage. I do have some cash I can put in the offering box instead. Hm,....

I think it was Jared that was enamored with spending all day on it. He says his fingers hurt because these knock off Legos are harder to build with than the real Legos.

Cool! And it has a trap door underneath with a pully!

Easy to read but incredible book I'm reading with an online book club. We are doing a chapter a day and two posts to answer every day. It's a quick read, so easy to keep up with. And 5 of the chapters are based on age level suggestions, so we'll tackle those all in one day. That's my kind of book club. No time to get lost or quit in the middle! Get it done and applied in 2 weeks!

Pool is clean! No more algae! Yeah! Great job Keturah and Daddy! See, Mommy doesn't have to do all the cleaning work.

Not 100% done, but lots did get done today. I kept adding to it as things came to mind.

Today was the first Sunday back at the church building. To say I was nervous is an understatement. It took my praying my way out of bed and lots of deep breathes to hold it together and not snap at everyone. Getting up and out the door by 8:30am is just not something we do regularly. The alarm went off at 6:30, but we weren't out of bed until 7:10 and even then it felt too soon. I'm so spoiled that I can usually lay in bed dozing for a really long time. My body just responds better with a slower wake up. But, I can get up earlier and faster once a week. Really, I should be able to. I thought I would crash later in the day, but as you will see, I didn't have the chance (and it's for a really good reason!) Jared crashed and felt horrible because he waited up for me two nights in a row. Whoops. Anyway, at least this morning I had already decided on what to wear, what to eat, and how to get everything done quickly. The kids are usually pretty good about getting ready to go in under an hour. It's just me with reminding them and getting myself ready and taking care of any household things. Really, it's the tea and food prep and consumption that takes the longest. Boil the tea water, steep the tea, let the tea cool off, drink the tea before eating anything else because my stomach does better when it's warmed up. Meanwhile, I made avocado toast this something which doesn't take that long. I'm not sure I actually put it in to toast or not for my normal length because it felt too soft when I ate it. Whoops. Anyway, we actually made it out the door a few minutes early! I was pretty impressed! It helps that the kids are much more independent and they were used to getting up on Sundays to go with Grandma. Abishai did eat a banana oatmeal muffin and his fruit snacks, so at least he had something in his stomach. Sometimes he's one of the slowest eaters around. Sometimes not.

Jared and I drove separately because he was staying to help in the nursery. That was actually a blessing because we divided and conquered check in for Keturah and Abishai. Abishai's check in didn't go as smooth because Jared hadn't downloaded the app and tried it out. Keturah's was fine once I went through all the steps. They do want parents checking in the middle schoolers for worship in the morning. The church still felt very, very empty. I know it was the 9am service, so maybe it is more dead, but this, this was empty. Just a family per row, and not all rows were filled. I feel like we have more people at a kids' choir concert than we had in service this morning. It was too quiet. That's what it was. But, we wore our masks, and I took my glasses off during the songs so they wouldn't fog up. When we sat down for the sermon, I put the mask under my nose since we weren't close to anyone. I saw a lot of people take their masks off once they sat down even while they were singing. I guess Gary and Leah take theirs off. I've never seen them in masks actually. And they were on the front row but way over to the side and I couldn't see them. But oh boy did we hear Gary's singing! That's how quiet it was. You could hear him! Since I had my glasses off, I tried to keep my eyes closed while we sang and it helped me focus on enjoying the live aspect and hearing people sing. I didn't expect it to feel as good as it did. And it made me miss concerts even more. So, I might just go to that drive in concert that is two weeks away. We'll see. I think it will feel a bit more normal to me if I do.

Songs were fine. Sermon was fine. I did write three pages worth of notes and thoughts though. I had quickly read the "Love" chapter out of the Core 52 book since we had time this morning and it prompted a lot of thoughts about loving the people around me that made this decisions about policies at church. I did say to Jared when we sat down just how nervous I was and that it just feels weird to have the mask on and see all these people like this. It wasn't as shocking as the KP training night, but I did work hard at keeping an open mind. I just don't want this mask thing to be normalized. I want an end date.  I think I will take my mask off next time as soon as we sit down. I think it's entirely appropriate to wear it when talking to people. Because it's hard to stand 6 ft apart and actually carry on a conversation. So, stand a little closer and the mask keeps your spit from reaching your friend. Easy. I had to refrain myself from giving hugs though. But to see Benaiah walk out from the sanctuary with a mask on (new shirt and new shoes, too, that looked really nice on him) was really weird. And they closed the sanctuary doors so they could clean I guess. They don't want people to stand around for long periods of time. So sad. There were a few conversations taking place though. I know what it felt like! It felt like the 4:30pm service! Bingo! 

Anyway, we managed to pick up the kids fine. Abishai said he didn't like the mask and basically took it off in front of me. I just now remembered that we were told that if the kids masks fell off or got in the way, it's ok to just put them aside. So, I should have maybe let him do that. I don't know. Justin did see a friend and went over to talk to him. I also complimented on a stranger for wearing a Patriots jersey (and said hi to another friend). But still, not the same. Keturah did find in worship, too. 

Oh, my revelation during the sermon had to do with IAHE again. Just affirming that I do have a point of contact with non Christians and I can show the love of Christ to them in how I interact with them on the topic of homeschooling. And remember how my team leader said that God placed us with our specific experience to be the reps in this particular city at this time. Some of those experiences are from being mentored by other veteran homeschoolers on PEI and getting to know some non Christian homeschoolers. And just my own eye opening moments to broaden my circle of friends beyond the church. We are a little bit further along in the journey of seeing the bigger picture of the world than some. So, we plant seeds and nudge along people in our path in their thinking. The sermon was on inclusivity, which isn't a word I guess according to this spell check, but you know what I mean. Being inclusive. Letting others in that don't look like you or think like you. That can be as simple as a person of a different social economic class share a meal with you. Or for me, including in my inner circle of friendships, friends that don't homeschool and being ok with that. So, the affirmations of previous insights brought peace and joy and confidence in where we are at, even if my bathroom has peeling paint and my oldest doesn't have much of a relationship with the younger ones, or we haven't conquered the ADD thing yet. Bwahaha, my ADD is showing because I'm distracted again, where was I....Oh yeah, three pages of sermon notes. I was feeling pretty ok after service.

I took the 3 younger kids to Grandpa's house hoping that the grandparents would be home soon since Leah didn't have to teach Sunday School today. She's on the B team with Justin next week. And then I came home for about an hour or so. I read my Read Aloud Family book and enjoyed the peace and quiet. Then I took my Poldark book with me to Gary and Leah's to read before Jared and Benaiah got home from church. It's kind of weird to be home during the 11am hour, especially for Gary and Leah to be home, too. We had a simple lunch and fairly simply conversation at lunch. But, Benaiah did mention to me before he sat down that he's thinking about doing a completely different track of a career. Um, yeah, I'm still in shock. He's been talking to his co workers about what they are going to school for. He said he wants to got to IUPUI downtown and major in Accounting. Say what?! Why?! The money. The stability. He claims not the girlfriend but he won't tell us what her plants might be. He wants to save money and commute. And while most parents would be super excited about this development, aka, he wants to be frugal, he wants to stay close by, it is a stable career and there's tons of opportunities here, I was and still am in shock. Why would he give up Ozark that quickly? He knows my opinions about college in general. Ok, yes, we were encouraging him to take classes now cheaply that would transfer. But I want him to go away to college. I want him to have those experiences, too. I know he would do well in ministry and leadership and business. I also know that he couldn't go to Bible college for a year and transfer the credits. I tried that. It didn't work. But he could go the other way around, IUPUI for a couple of years and then finish somewhere else. I don't know. IUPUI is connected with one of the best business schools, the Kelley School of Business through Indiana University, at least it was a great place to go when I was looking into accounting degrees. Accounting is boring. It's steady, but boring. Benaiah has more potential than that. I guess he could still do ministry in a different way. I'm just bummed. I had my heart set on him going to Ozark. And then Justin picking a Christian college and degreeing in something to do with helping people like psychology. So, after Benaiah said that, I just walked away and walked outside. Thank goodness Jared was walking over for lunch and I could tell him before we went inside.

Oh, and of course, Grandma and Grandpa are all on board with this decision. And Benaiah of course, is all like, "it's my life and you can't control me and I'm not going to tell you the details of my life." Sigh. Thankfully, it didn't come up during dinner. After dinner, the kids went outside and Jared went with him. He ended up talking to Andrew for awhile and the kids ended up in Gary and Leah's yard in their tree and using the driveway. Oh what a wonderful scene and sight and sound! Leah said, "This feels like a 1960's neighborhood!" Well, it is a 1960's neighborhood, lol, but her point is, the activity of people were out front with us sitting on the front porch, Jared and Andrew standing in Andrew's driveway and the kids running wild between the two houses, crossing the street without anyone reprimanding them. It was bliss! And there was a breeze although it was getting a bit warm, even in the shade. And then the most wonderful thing happened. All the kids wanted to go to our house! Abishai I think initiated it. So I texted the Mama's, and they said yes. So, for several hours this afternoon we had three extra kids! That's why I didn't get my nap! What a worthy cause to skip a nap for! My dreams coming true! Abishai was so excited (see the video below.)

They mostly played outside, for which I was grateful for. That means my kids had less screen time, less time to fight, and lots of physical activity. There were a few skirmishes, but for the most part, they played on the trampoline, swung on the tire swings, and even ran home to put a bathing suit on so they could use the hose on the trampoline! Such much fun and giggles! Keturah does notice the differences in Kendall and Quinn's age and maturity with her friends at small group. And there is. Kendall and Quinn have a lot of maturity, but it's different. Abishai didn't understand that he can't boss Nolan around. Nolan didn't put up a fight though. Abishai just said Nolan was "disobeying him."  He also noticed when Quinn said she wasn't going to spray him with water and then she did and that that's a lie. Ooooo, yup, he knows his Bible stuff. He can now recite the 10 commandments and I barely went over them with him. He's picking up so much so fast. With some prompting, Abishai did talk about the story in Sunday School and how he couldn't play with the kitchen set for very long. 

But overall, they had a blast! It was gorgeous out and I didn't mind going in and out and "watching" them. I mean if I had things to do, I could have gone and done them and the kids would have been fine. But I enjoyed helping them and watching them and resting that way. Jared took a nap but it didn't help much. Justin was messing around with the laptop that Benaiah gave him today after he wiped it. So that transaction went well. Justin spent about two hours loading up his apps and websites and talked to Bryce the whole time, while sitting on his bed and it made it harder for Jared to sleep. I'm allowing the laptop in Justin's room and anywhere because I can easily peek in and see him. With Benaiah, we were on different floors of the house so I had no clue what was going on. But at night, the devices are with me. The laptop can live on the corner of the puzzle table, but Justin can't set up shop there with it. I just needed a quiet horizontal space to put it so it doesn't get stepped on and that seemed to be the perfect place. So, Justin's happy. 

Then the neighborhood kids went home and I dropped off the middles to youth group. We were 20 minutes early but I didn't care. I wanted to drop and run. Benaiah ended up taking Leah's car to go see Ava and get to church early so he could do tech for Crave. So, I asked Benaiah to bring his siblings home and he did. That means I could putter at home and not go back out. Not that I have much puttering to do today. I did purchase tickets to got to Conner Prairie on Wednesday on Homeschoolers' Day. So I did do something productive today. And made sure all my emails were up to date. So, I think we are starting the week off well. It's going to be a busy one with a special zoom meeting with librarians for me on Tuesday afternoon, Conner Prairie and Bible study on Wednesday, counseling on Thursday, park day and Moms' Night Out on Friday. I think grocery shopping will be Thursday. Yikes! And we head into our unit on the American Revolutionary war, too. I purchased some used books online but the seller had some family problems so she's just now sending them this week. So, here we go! I hope I do a good job going through the details this time and keeping it all straight. I'm thinking of doing a big timeline and then adding to it as we finish a book. We'll see. We'll see.

For now, we had fun with the last bits of summer.

Football season has arrived! But without the fans in the stadium, or at least, drastically reduced. Next week's home Colts game will only allow 2,500 people in the stands. That thing seats something like 40,000. It's so sad.

Tom Brady, the "awful" arrogant quarterback left the Patriots after last season, so this should be interesting one for sure.

Should I? or Should I not? I might and just ask friend to come with me. You go as a car load for $100. Just the fellowship alone would be fun I think.

I tried to get a photo of his cute outfit but he doesn't stand still. This was one of Justin's absolute favorite shirts! I had to beg Justin to wear "cardboard" shorts instead of gym shorts. Keturah's outfit was ok.

Watching Abishai playing with Conner and Nolan from Leah's porch as they sit across the street on the boys' driveway.

So cute! And they are pretty good about not being in the road, too.

Trying to read a little bit while the boys play instead of going straight home.

It proved fruitful to stay awhile because then they all came to our house!

A little girl time.

A little boy time.

Uh Oh, they got out the hose to spray the trampoline down. This should be fun!

Chocolate ice cream for dinner! But what a beautiful sight to have a yard full of kids enjoying the outdoor equipment. These kids will be soon be old enough to ride between our houses without a second thought. It feels SO GOOD!

The End