Year 5, October 16th-18th, 2020: To Do Lists To Do

 You know, when it's time for a vacation, and you have all that before and after work to do? Oi. That's the mode we're in. I've got lists of things to do. I'm afraid I'm going to miss something. And this time, I don't have a firm enough plan. And I didn't take the time to work on the plan. Too much time on my phone, then 3 hrs at the park, then half a movie with the older kids while Abishai went with Jared to Jim's house. They just got home at 10pm. I can rest and relax until they are all in bed, nor can I think straight. Ugh. It was a cold day at the park and I ended up heaving out the sleeping bag just to keep warm. I think my knees are still thawing out. It's a good thing I tried to squeeze into my boots this afternoon. That's right. Somehow my calves are bigger. Pretty disappointing. However, I don't have to go shopping with Keturah tomorrow because miraculously, there were three pairs of jeans from the bags of clothes from the Smiths that fit her perfectly! And two pairs of sweatpants. That will do until I have another freer weekend with less stress. I still need to get some new jeans because the one pair I own that are the most comfortable when I sit down have a huge hole in the crotch so I can only wear them at home. I wear my "skinny" jeans out, but those are too tight when I sit down. That's what happens when your weight creeps up and not down. But let's not go there. I think there might be some shirts for me to keep from those bags and Justin found some nice Sunday shoes and another pair of sneakers and some socks!  The Smiths just saved us money and a whole lot of time this weekend!

So, my list is a little smaller. But I just need my brain to be clear. I need to rely on lists. And I need my kids to stay out of my hair. I need to work my plan. It doesn't feel like enough of a plan because of some unknowns, but tomorrow is Saturday. Saturday is when I put all the pieces back together. I'll run my midweek errands tomorrow and we'll get a good load of groceries, although Jared and I will be gone for a couple of days. 

I wish I would write down things during the day, or record our dinner conversations when we convey most of the funny moments. Let's see. Abishai was ridiculous this morning and while we got a lot of laughs, I was also loudly saying, "Grandma and Grandpa's turn next week! I want you all gone from 10 am on Monday to 5 pm on Friday. Don't darken the door of our house until then!" with a big smile on my face, shaking my head, laughing, but also being serious. It's time for a break. I've kept their spinning plates going for months. It's Jared's turn. I want them out so I can finish getting ready for our few days together. I need space and for a kid not to wake us up in the morning. Yes, I'll miss it some day and most days, we welcome it wholeheartedly, but we need a break.

Anyway, Abishai got on the piano and asked for a lessson on Thursday, so he gave he tried to practice today. He wasn't doing it quite right, but I heard him say, "2, 3, 2, 3, 2,3, 2, 3." Adorable genius. I'm not sure if I'm going to have much patience with him though. We'll see. The next piece of music was "Merrily We Row Along" which is really "Mary Had a Little Lamb" so he started to sing it. We sang all the verses together and then he came up with his own verse, " Mary had a bubble (fart) lamb." And he sang THAT for 20 minutes! Oh, and Mary and the lamb went to "bubble school." He was cackling! I finally got him and Justin scooted out the door for Bible class at noon. Keturah was to go at 12:30. I picked up the boys at 12:45 and then went to park day. Gary claims that Abishai doesn't know my real name. I think Abishai does know it, but prefers not to say it and to be honest, why would I teach him my first name? I'm Mommy, thank you. It's not something I am concerned about to be honest. It's not weird or odd. But anyway. Like I said, park day was COLD but the park itself was a great one with a huge sledding hill that they could roll down and enough playground equipment and such. We had about 8 of us families there, so that was great! Abishai followed a 12 yr old girl named Madison around and talked to her a lot. We are getting that free playground equipment from her family tomorrow. Then Abishai went straight up to Molly and said, "Molly, can Eli play soccer?" It wasn't "Miss" Molly, it was just Molly. It sounded kind of weird. But he went straight up to her with no qualms. I guess he knows our regular core families now. He also took his socks and shoes off about 30 minutes before we left. Did I mention it was maybe 60 degrees outside with a stiff breeze? Yeah, of course he took his shoes off. I found Justin playing Pokemon Go and some other kind of video game on his phone with Eli on Molly's phone under the playground. No, get up and MOVE, children. Video games are for later when you are not together. Several times Justin's head was in the clouds and I doubt he took his medication today. Keturah was fine, except I had found she used up all the toilet paper in the bathroom and I KNOW that there was 1 1/2 rolls left. She claims it was to stop the bleeding on her shoulder from a major wound she has caused herself. The one that bleeds through her shirt and dirties up her fingernails. She wouldn't confess to anything though.

We did watch half of "The Patriot" and I'm glad that Jared had taken Abishai with him to Jim's. The violence is a bit shocking for a young person. I thought Keturah might even grimace a bit since I don't think we've shown her that amount of violence before (it is rated R). Violence has always been implied but not graphically shown in some of the shows she's seen. But she didn't flinch. It breaks my heart that she's not moved by these things, but I wasn't either. And that's because I did have a wall up around me and didn't show much emotion. I don't show emotion much now, but I do show more than I used to. I haven't seen this movie in probably 15 yrs or more and I have quite a different perspective on it now that I have an 18 yr old that could join the army. And my 15 and 12 yr olds wouldn't be able to defend themselves like that. And how scary to send the little children away with fighting going on all around. Wow! And of course, Heath Ledger, the oldest son, passed away a few years ago from drug overdose. He would have aged well I think and taken Mel Gibson's place. Oh, and all the other actors seemed so young! I have seen some of their current photos and it's amazing the changes in 20 years. Or even in the cinematography. It's an excellent movie and I can't wait to finish it. However, I had to tell Justin 5 times to stop talking to the dog during it. And the dog was hovering and wanted to be outside for a long time. So, I'm hoping that they are picking up on some of the important themes of the movie, too. Sigh

And now it's late. I haven't started my show. I feel like I'm behind. I need a shower. Don't touch me. Tomorrow is a new day to get more done. Steady on.

See, this is why I take pictures. This cutie wanted to make his own breakfast. So he poked holes in his oatmeal to hand place all his raisins and then he covered them with oatmeal. He asked for a cup of water and I told him only to put a little bit in, but he dumped the whole cup! He ended up eating it all, and a ton more snacks for breakfast though. And Jared told me that Abishai now weights 39 lbs! Woot! Woot!

Yeah, it was that kind of day. Good dog, bad little brother.

OOOOOOO, this picture came out great! It's hard to tell when it's on a phone and you can't see what you are doing! Lots of great colors at the park today.

Humongous sledding hill. The kids spent a lot of time running up and rolling down. Abishai said he hit his head on one of his tumbles but it wasn't that bad. And we did see the kids look both ways before crossing the street to the parking lot.

Finding new friends to play with, this time it was the Keifers now 2nd to last son, Samuel, who is also 5 years old.

Some more of the kiddos running around. I didn't have to play with Abishai much at all today, yeah!

Hey! We come to the park to move our feet, and sit on our seat! Well, at least the kids need to move. It's a time for moms TO sit on our seats for a hot minute. Go play!

Saturday we accomplished some things and then pooped out. Or rather, Jared ate too much olive oil on his biscuit and sent himself into gastric distress. I'm for sure thinking he will cut back on the olive oil intake now. He uses it like others use condiments and butter. Seriously, he's been in severe pain for 10 hours and event resorted to essential oils when Pepto Bismal, ibuprofen, and other conventional methods didn't help. He did finally sleep for awhile and hasn't need to vomit or use the restroom for a bit. Poor thing. I'm grateful he managed to go to the grocery store with me before it got really worse. We also were able to pick up the playground slide from my friend. Yeah! Perhaps we can work on putting it up next weekend IF we decide to put it on the current playground. I'm thinking it might be more fun on the treehouse, which Jared was supposed to work on today and didn't get a lot done on. I ran a few other errands, read my Bible study, watched another hour worth of "The Patriot" with the middles (that movie is so long!), and put Abishai to bed myself super early because he almost fell asleep on the way home from the grocery store. He and Daddy didn't get home until 10pm last night. And we have early church in the morning. I guess he might have to stay for two services if Daddy doesn't feel better. And of course Daddy gets sick just when we are about to go do something fun.

The middles finished some homework today, but other than that, they didn't do much. I think Justin was trying to figure out what kind of card game to make with the blank game cards I got him. Keturah already read a ton of the book about Macinac Island that I just got from the library this morning. Although they are not longer going there, it's still very close to the time period we are studying. I wish I knew where my copy of the book is! I'm just glad the laundry is done and the fridge and pantry is full. Now we can pack up the kids tomorrow. Then I can focus on what we need this week. I did some more studying of the town of Madison because I want to hit up some of the cool things my friends talked about. But I think Jared is willing to be spontaneous. Oh, Justin made up tuna all by himself and we ate it for dinner, too! 

Ugh. If I have to tell one more person via a comment on a post to stop focusing on the presidential election and to actually pay attention to the local political races where votes really truly matter, I'm going to scream. Sigh. Moving on.

Yummy!

Looks great!

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He saw a mess he made and went about cleaning it up by himself!

Such a perfect sticker for Ketura!

Abishai the pirate!

Captin Adorable!

Silly doggie!

We got yellow slide finally and it barely fit in the van!

Waiting for his next meal.

Made in Canada but not called Rockets? Hm,....I'm ready for a smarty party!

I took a couple of photos for a friend who is grieving the loss of her dad something awful. We got the playground equipment from her as she is redoing their playground making it more adult like and adding elements from her Dad's backyard pond. This is still one of my favorite areas of our house.

We watch another hour of "The Patriot." This is the one scene I can remember from it. The melting of the dead son's tin (or whatever metal it is) to make new bullets for the Continental army's arsenal.

Bullet mold.

The President landed in Muskego, Michigan today. Gary's brother tried to go down to see the rally but you need tickets to get in. They did get to see the plane land though! Muskegon of all places?! A campaign stop?! Crazy!

Oh no! Not me, too! Thankfully I wasn't nauseous but I needed to stay home to be near the bathroom anyway. Praise the Lord for a)online church services finally! The one awesome thing about Covid is that it pushed Indian Creek and the rest of the churches into the 21st century with livestreaming services. Perfect for those with chronic issues that can't regularly attend in person church but want to feel connected. b)for grandparents that live nearby that can take all 3 kids for the morning, deal with sign ins, and all the things. c)I had nursery duty but I haven't been needed the last two times, so I didn't feel like I was being a hindrance because I couldn't make it. Jared spent the morning sleeping. I watched the 9 am service and then because I saw the tail end of Cornwall Christian's live service, I watched the replay on Facebook. I felt like I belonged both places! I especially loved hearing Mike's voice and his accent, and how he would point out people in the audience. They've updated the stage (yeah) but not much else has changed. I guess kids are staying upstairs during service because I didn't hear a call for them to go downstairs during the sermon. I saw familiar faces on stage but new songs. Oh how I miss my church family there. And here, well, was familiar enough I guess. Shan was the preacher and did a fine job as always. I was eating my toast when they did communion right after the worship time, so it was like having communion, especially with strawberry jelly on my toast. I then did my Bible study as well before waking up Jared.

We did go over to Grandma's house to eat up some leftovers and chat a bit. Jared ended up staying over at Smith's house because Nolan, Derrick, and Abishai were playing until 4pm! He still feels very groggy from the muscle relaxant he took. I'm not sure what he took though. I think it was more than ibuprofen . He tends to jump to the heavy duty stuff too fast. He came home and took another nap while I got the middle kids off the screens to take them to Crave and small group. Benaiah will bring them home. We did get to talk to Benaiah for a bit at lunch about his plans about getting a gun permit, just because he can. We aren't against guns, and we know he's responsible, but we wanted to know what he motive was. So, now we know, just because he can. It's not much different than Jared wanting it at that age, too. It's one thing to see the guns in the movies and it's another thing to have them in your house all the time. Jared used to own a handgun that was always locked up but it made me nervous. I've shot it before, too. Anyway, can't believe we are at THAT crossroads. But we are.

Abishai is getting his daddy time on the PS4 for the evening. He's going to be pretty sad this week, I'm sure. He's already given us extra hugs and kisses. In fact, this morning in bed, he slipped his hand and arm underneath me at my shoulders and wrapped it all the way around where his hand was on the front of my shoulder and he gave me a pat pat/rub like Daddy does. He's been watching us. And I like that! Oh, and new development, he declared that he will wipe himself from now on after using the restroom. See, sometimes, not pushing an issue makes for a simpler transition. They do these things eventually (if they are healthy and don't have any mental issues). Just in time for Grandma and Grandpa to take him for the week. All the kids are packed and ready to go. I drop them off at 10am so I can go home and clean up, pack, go to my doctor's appointment, pick up dinner and be ready when Jared gets home. I can't wait for child free time! Woot! Woot!

Oh, and while others had screen time/play time, I finally got all the pine needles out of my car from LAST Sunday! And the dirt from the horse barn from 9 days ago! And tidied up the trunk and put my cd's away properly, all the things. It wasn't that bad, but after handpicking out what I could, I vacuumed both my car and the van. I wasn't too nit picky because I still wasn't feeling good, and it took me longer because of that, but that's ok. I listened to some of my Poldark audio book. I'm finally down to the last hour of a 10 1/2 hr book! I bet I can finish it tomorrow after the kids leave. I'm not sure where they are headed first. And I'm not at all upset that I won't get many pictures or document their escapades. I'll have plenty of my own planning and plotting and photographing of gorgeous downtown Madison, IN (if it stays dry enough). The weather pattern did change slightly so I hope it stays dry after tomorrow! So many cute shops! I'm sure Jared won't want to go in all of them, but we'll see. First stop will be the visitor's center for a map and self guided tour guides. I'm thinking the historical places or something for Tuesday and then go in specific shops on Thursday. Gotta find a place to eat, too, but that means I have to find my list of ideas my friends sent me. Eek. Where did THAT post get buried?! 

Ok, kids will be home soon. We have to finish up "The Patriot" tonight. And now that the blog is done, I can watch my other show and go to bed early tonight, I hope.

 Man, I wish I hadn't promised that I wouldn't post pictures of Benaiah and Ava on the blog because Amy, her mom, posted Ava's senior photos today and they are gorgeous!  Maybe someday they will let me share more again. They having now been dating for 21 months! Oh my heart! Kudos to whoever helped Ava put together her outfits, did her hair and make up and took the photos, but Amy, her mom, posted Ava's senior photos on her Facebook page today. They are STUNNING! She looks way older than 17 1/2! Gorgeous young lady inside and out and Benaiah is VERY blessed to be a part of her life. This Mama wholeheartedly approves! I was only going to upload one photo but I can't help it. She's gorgeous! So, if you want to see her photos, you have to be friends with her or her mom.

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What I wrote on FB regarding my thoughts on the two churches this morning:

How strange, but how glorious it is that we can worship as one body, from Indiana to Prince Edward Island, Canada. Oh how I miss this congregation! I'm home today because I'm not feeling well and happened to see someone post Cornwall's livestream. So I watched the replay. And many of the same Scriptures were used in Cornwall's sermon as was used in Indian Creek's sermon, Indian Creek's being prerecorded. This is unity, my friends. This is hope. I know many of you have missed worshiping in person. But think on how God is using this pandemic to spread the gospel to millions online! And to unify churches across the globe! And to be reminded how blessed our family has been to share in these connections. Not everyone experiences life in a different country or a different state. Not everyone has the privilege of visiting multiple churches or knowing about the ministries around the globe. I would move back to PEI in a heartbeat. Part of my heart is there and always will be there. I think often of them, the churches, MCC, the communities. (Partly because I get email notifications from someone of my friends there when they post to FB). And this is why it was so hard for me to leave there. So very, very hard. I have healed. I have forgiven people there that harmed us. But as I continue to study God's word, our experiences there still come up. People I know/knew there still come to mind. I know many families who have left the church here because of the mask policy. And I'm sure other churches have had people leave, too. But why? Why can we not be unified as the global Church? Why can't we embrace and love people from all churches? Why can't we pray for other congregations and that their ministries be fruitful and grow? The mask thing has become the new fight like the color of the carpet or the types of songs we sing. I hate the masks. I don't wear it when I don't have to. But it's not going to change my love for the leadership who has made the difficult decisions. Or for the people who stay or the people who go. Seek out unity and reconciliation. Don't leave just because of a single policy. That's my soapbox for today.

P.S. And boy do I miss the PEI accent! Sweet people, I miss you! You have moved on and don't think of us that often, but I miss and love you all 

 

Gary and Leah's front tree in all its' glory!

Way up there, two kids are waiting for mom to get home with the keys so they can go have their screen time. Goofballs. It does no good getting ahead of mom! Oh, and it took Keturah 30 minutes to find her KP badge today after cleaning up her room this week. I can't wait for them to volunteer every week so things like that don't get buried.

One year anniversary of Shauna's double mastectomy came up on my FB feed today when I had asked for prayers for her.

The End