Year 6, February 22nd-25th, 2021: The Blur of the Mundane

 Monday was busy but productive. I explained to Abishai that I wear many hats and I think he understood it, but not totally. I had to put on my "house business" hat today and figure out the medical bills. Then I got into it and decided to just fix it all right now. That's all it takes. I just need to get started. So, now the big hospitals are on a payment plan, and I have an inkling of what to do next with the "minor" bills from various other places. So, I didn't get schoolwork done with Abishai. I did do some read alouds, but then I had a doctor's appointment, the only one for the week! Woot! Woot! The kids worked on their history DVD and then had screen time. Keturah had less screen time because she failed to read and/or listen to Uncle Tom's Cabin. So, she had to do that on the tablet through YouTube listening to an audio version on 1.25 speed. Ain't natural consequences fun? We did get to talk about some of the chapters though and it was a good discussion. Abishai was chanting something about Napoleon when he set up an army base after chores today, so something is sticking with them, right?

My doctor's appointment was very good, but I had to wait 1 1/2 hrs! Oh my word, that has been my longest wait in a long time. I should have put my earbuds in and listened to Uncle Tom's Cabin! We decided I would switch psychiatrists at their behavioral health, and then put in a referral to Eskenazi if necessary. She would also send a referral to IU Endocrinology for the hormones. She sent in a prescription for my really bad migraine days. And then she said she's finishing up her residency and will be leaving the practice in June. Super sad face. She's one of my favorites! My blood pressure was still pre-hypertension so we'll still watch that. I had only had coffee and a bit of food before I left so I was a bit all over the place. My temperature was a bit high at 99.1, but I was having a hot flash when it was taken. So, we made a bit of progress today, yeah. I did pray for I went in, so maybe that helped.

We had leftovers for dinner, including a nice salad to use up all the vegetables before the new ones come in tomorrow. And then Jared and Abishai played "street fighter" video game and I did my Bible study. And that's about it. It was super warm today at 38 degrees so lots of melting happened. 

Say, what?! What is this?! It's a YouTube video that was posted to our Friends Online Michael W. Smith fan group and I out of the corner of my eye, I spied a ponytail on his mullet! This is from 1990 or something. So I took a photo of my computer screen because in all my years of staring at videos and photos of him, I've NEVER seen him have a ponytail! I came on the scene just after the mullet days. And of course these videos are much more rare than today's videos. Craziness!

Loads of melting today and poor BB8's head looks like a little stump.

When I saw this tweet, it reminded me of going out on the PEI beaches no matter the weather. Some people go to the beach for the hot weather, tan, and going into the water. But there are others like me who love the water, the sea, at any temperature. The sea ice is so much fun! And to just walk along the sea dressed in warm clothes is just so different than in a bathing suit. Someday I'd love to live near the sea again.

This was a fun graphic I saw. I always teach that there is "here" in "there" which is a place, and the "they're" is easy enough to add the "a" back into it to see if that works. Someone else posted about "heir" being in "their" so referring to a person. Cool!

Abishai has decided to start trying to read words on his own. I overheard him trying to sound out words on the Risk game! And Daddy said he read some of the words on the Bible question in his story last night. The gentle approach is the best approach and to WAIT WAIT WAIT for the child to be ready. Now he's going to be more willing to learn because he has a reason to. So, I guess we did a little bit of school today because I showed him how a word is broken down into syllables and that some of the special sounds we were just learning are in those exact words. And yes, I'm trying to slip in more of the day of the week words, too. The problem is that he knows a song from preschool class at church that goes through the days of the week and he didn't catch on to all the names so he'll say, "Monday, Tuesday, Friday!" And I was thinking that yes, maybe I don't really think about teaching that until they recognize sounds and letters and can read them. Don't put the cart before the horse.

Abishai Trying to Read While He Plays!

Tons of melting last night. I had just taken a photo of the snow surrounding the candy cane. I'll try to at least put these way this weekend. Maybe the tree. We'll see.

Abishai's army base contains an arsenal, sleeping quarters, and a mess hall! And I was the general! So he kept coming to me to ask what to do next! He even had a guitar to use when we celebrate our victories!

Abishai Telling Us About His Army Base

And he had a barricade!

See the text below for this explanation. And now, he didn't pick up the other things we needed for the experiments this week. Punk. Or good husband for actually picking up milk? I guess so.

Wow, dude! Are you playing the tuba?

Cutest 6 yr old ever! Cute pose even!

Well, I skipped blogging on Tuesday night because I came back late from Mom's Night Out and then I skipped on Wednesday night because I had Bible study and I had to clean up my mess from cooking a bunch of vegetables.  I also had to catch up on lots of other things. I keep trying to hustle myself but I still can't seem to get much else done during the day besides home school. It just seems to drag on and on. So, it's Thursday, 4 pm, and I'm trying to sneak in a few words before supper prep. I didn't even have hardly any doctor appointments this week. I have made a couple of phone calls. And I've done my Bible study. But wow, it's hard to get it all done. When my friend said that her "job" is (going to) the gym, because she doesn't have a job outside the home and her kids are in public school, I was like, yup, you choose your lifestyle and I've chosen mine. And mine doesn't include 30-60 minutes of workouts every day or loads of reading. You go be trim and I'll stay here and drink my fancy mocha full of sugar drink. We all good. I would say it isn't fair, but we've both made our choices. And I don't need to feel guilty for trying to do what I do AND try to do what someone else does or looks like.

On that note, I've got my psychiarist provider switched and an appointment with the endocrinologist both in mid March, so just a couple of weeks. Both telehealth appointments. If I wanted an in person appointment with endo, it would have had to wait until June or July. Crazy! Sometimes I feel like our health system is like socialist healthcare in Canada and we have to wait months and months for care. Are we just that short on doctors? Maybe Covid related? Maybe not since numbers are starting to decline a ton thanks to herd immunity. Maybe endocrinology will test me for anitbodies. Maybe they will get me an exemption to any Covid vaccine. I don't know but I don't want the vaccine still, and it's going to be required to travel by plane soon enough and if I raise a stink and pull out of the Israel trip over a vaccine, my in laws are going to be very, very unhappy with me. 

Anyway, MNO was great and I got to share a lot of info with new moms and eat some great Mexican. And then, my friend connected me with a newer friend and we had a "duh" moment over getting the documentation for Justin's test taking accommodations. Contact HSLDA! Booya! They have a special learners' team that can get this done or knows how to get it done. Woot! Woot! And then at Bible study, another friend gave me some powerful insight into what we were studying with Elijah and how it relates to how I'm feeling about church right now. Basically, God prepared Elijah through his growing up years and into his ministry years for awhile. Then he had his pinnacle moment on Mt. Carmel with King Ahab. And then, God told him to go away and hide at Kerith, a tiny brook, where no one could find him, while the drought dragged on. There God taught him to rely on only God even more until God was ready to release him again to ministry. It makes sense. We prepared for ministry through growing up and in our first 10 years of marriage. We went away and had a pinnacle moment in Canada, but also we were at the height of Indian Creek's ministries with being part of the "royal" family. We were in the limelight and I relished that, and took it seriously. We did what we could in Canada and then were booted out and sent back here to regroups, isolate, process, and come to terms with all the changes there and here. The pandemic forced us all into more hiding and created a chance for me at least to reevaluate everything I thought about Indian Creek, and to see some major shifts in the leadership there. It has worked to thin out the crowd a bit and keep the most loyal ones there, the ones that are willing to partner with the new leadership and move the church forward. And, a chance for us, as the Johnsons, to further separate ourselves from leadership and become mere mortals again, lay people, congregants. That's a major, major shift in my mind. Maybe not so in Leah's mind. She has her place and keeps on going. But she also connected with the new leadership in ways that God didn't allow us, too. And now I see why. My friend thought that maybe it's because the next two kids are introverted and maybe it's a chance for them to just be kids and under the radar instead of always being watched like royals and like Benaiah has been. I don't think they feel that way, but they didn't spend most of their growing up years in the limelight either with heavy expectations on them like Benaiah has. 

And then in further reading in the daily material for our Bible study, that notion was confirmed. We aren't in a desert, but we are in a period of preparation for the next major shift. We are supposed to fly under the radar because then we don't feel the need to perform and I can wrestle with God on these heavy topics without being watched. I've been making the mistake of making them public. It's supposed to be a private thing. This is an intense time in our homeschooling. It IS my job. It IS my ministry. And sermons aren't always directed towards me personally. Sure you can get something out of them I supposed, but they are supposed to reach a broader audience and to catch those who aren't where I'm at or haven't been as churched or have come back or something else. So I need to just take a chill, let it be what it is, go if I feel like it, stay home if I feel like it, and remember, we aren't in the leadership family anymore. No one is looking at us. No one knows who we are. The people that do know who we are, know what we were 20 years ago and love us all the same. Those who remained friends or good acquaintances through FB are those you want sticking around.

So, I've got my tight little circle. Four main families of our EYB homeschool play group and four main families in our Bible studies/neighborhood church group. That's all I need right now. I have a place to serve on the IAHE and although I haven't been doing much proactive with it, we are coming out of the crisis of the last two months and I can dive back in again shortly. And Jared is doing his ministry thing, too. And that's where we need to be. Oh, one more thing about Elijah. He didn't stick around to help. He wasn't called to solve the people's problems or even to point the finger and say, "I told you so." He already did that, told the people of their punishment, and left them to it. God was saving him from their wrath, too. So, it's ok to hide a bit, or to be forced into hiding. It's ok to be disconnected with the world or even the church. Just keep riding the hamster wheel and taking the time to dig deep in preparation for the next big thing, whether it be a trial or a mountaintop. It's a phase, and it could be a long or short one. We went through a crisis in 2016. We are going through our health crisis' and mid life crisis' now. We are getting our health put back into order in preparation for what's ahead. We were put in this city, ,with the resources and many hospital and doctor choices to take care of our current needs. We might not have had that opportunity on PEI and Benaiah wouldn't have had the same opportunities as he has had here. 

So, I will be content. I will stay in the preparation phase. I'll work through my doubts. I will work through my health issues. And I will look ahead to what is next, which I'm kind of thinking will be in 5-10 years. Again, I don't think there will be a major shift in anything we are doing for at least 5 years, whether it be our ministries, or launching the next two kids. Then it might be time for a major change of scenery or routine or way of looking at things. But for now, we stay put. In this preparation phase. And I will content.

And in this phase, the mundane becomes a blur. Abishai has been sick this week with a head cold. His karate teacher said he's fine to come to class. He hasn't had any fever and he hasn't been around anybody but his Sunday School friends for an hour on Sunday. Just wear your mask and wash your hands. He hasn't even been that lethargic, so it's a very mild case of whatever. I'm not getting him tested for Covid. That's just too much. It's a head cold and we would treat it as such 18 mos ago, i.e. staying home on the worst of the days and then still going out over being fever free for at least 24 hrs. No testing needed to see which of the 1,000's of viruses it could be. I'm going to take him to the library tomorrow or Saturday to get his first library card and to pick up his books he ordered. School has been more of a struggle this week for him, but it's partially the timing in which we do it. Meltdowns over if it was the right time to make couch forts happened. 

Meanwhile, Keturah had a setback with her lying and confessing sin. She was on YouTube for much longer than necessary to finish reading Uncle Tom's Cabin via a sped up audiobook. The tablet is set up to link with my YouTube account so I can check the history as needed. It came up last night and as I pried around, I noticed that things weren't adding up. She had been grounded from electronics because of attitude yesterday, but claimed she need to keep "reading" the book. Um, yeah, not so much. So now she is indefinitely banned from personal electronics. I might turn off the wifi on my old laptop so she can watch DVD's we have at home. But no more free rein for awhile. She can read her print Bible, a print book or audio CD's, and communicate if she needs to with friends through my phone while I'm in her presence. She only felt bad that she got caught. Most of it was benign and fun videos, but they were watched during her punishment time. Big no-no. Back to the basics, Missy. Sigh.

Justin is doing ok. He had to do geometric proofs and we thought he had it down, but he totally bombed his test. There's a couple more lessons on it, so hopefully he'll catch on soon. I saw on FB that his friend Bryce was struggling with his geometry, too, just a different concept. Fun times! We'll see how science went this week. We were ready to do science experiments today, or so we thought, and I had told them a week ago to tell what they needed, but they didn't thoroughly prepare and now we don't have what we need. Grrr....we need a better microscope and better rubber bands that don't have dry rot.Whoops. At least we get to start their history DVD that I really want to watch, Gods and Generals, soon.

There's nothing going on this weekend besides normal domestic stuff. Bible class, karate, grocery run, taking down the rest of the Christmas stuff outside and inside, taxes, medical papers, naps? And somehow working on this pile of other stuff sitting besides me. Oh, one thing I did look into was replacing my engagement ring. For a real 1/5 carat diamond, plain yellow gold engagement band, it starts at $700. Oh my word! I was hoping to get away with $200-500. I can't be claiming poor through one side of my mouth and then expect to be ok with replacing something like that for that much. It's all I want for my 40th birthday/20th anniversary, but still. Yikes! I have to rethink that one. I did cry over it though. How stupid of me to loose my first one, the one we paid $1600 for a customized wedding band, too, at prices set in 2000. It was my own piece of fine jewelry. Everything else I own is costume jewelry, or basically each piece costs less than $100. Sigh. It's not fair. It's just an object, but it means a ton to me. I miss it a lot and often. I remember playing with it throughout my college classes. It was simple, but so perfect. I miss it a lot. But that's all I know about it now.

And now it's time for dinner.

I JUST vacuumed a few hours earlier! Foot crumbs! Aka dead skin! GRRRRR

Breakfast of champions this week. He ate three Nutter Butter cookies and milk for 3 days in a row for breakfast!

Justin hanging out with his stuff after Justin told him to get everything out that he wanted so Justin could study in peace. We also have to make sure there's extra underwear of Abishai's under the sink because if he dribbles just one tiny drop, he insists he needs to change it. This week, in one load of laundry, I found about a dozen pairs of underwear and I think that load was two days' worth. Yikes!

Cutest underwear you ever did see! Grandma did well picking it out! I actually own several of those duck creations when I was a kid.

Abishai brought out the kinex again and made this fun thing to keep the bad guys out.

He asked if we could this "trampoline" apart and said, yup, it's been there for months. He wanted me to take one photo of it before he destroyed it.

Warmest day all year! Spring is in the air!

The little boy whose motor is always running. Cute stuff.

Lazy bones who sleeps away the day. We got him some pain medication this week because he was grunting more and more as he was trying to lay down. The prescription cost $50 though! I think I have a coupon somewhere, but jeepers, there's got to be a way to get it cheaper! It was filled by our regular pharmacy. Maybe the vet's office itself would be cheaper, but I didn't want to go all the way to the north side for it.

It's a good day if you can have a nerf gun fight with your 6 yr old before going to work for the day!

Race you to the van! I win! You can't leave!

Selfies with my little guy who looks so much older!

It occured to me when writing my usual birthday posts on everyone's walls that all of these people are from different places around the world and from different social groups I'm in. From homeschooling to Michael W. Smith to PEI to back here in Indiana. My friends list is very varied and eclectic. And I've been writing the same thing on everybody's walls for over 5 years I think! I still mean every bit of it, but it helps me think about these acquaintances, what their life stories might be now, see their children and grandchildren. A peek into the every day life.

The start of a multi day fort.

Peek a boo!

At least this fort is contained to this room and with just a little bit of adjusting, we can carry on as normal. Although, I kind of lost my sit down calm down Bible study seat.

Dog-O didn't want to come in! He was enjoying his sunbath! And probably the quiet solitude.

Based on some of his other films, I'm going to guess this is going to be pretty progressive and racy, but he's going to do it well, I'm sure. I just thought it was funny that I took a screen shot of when the post was in French or Italian instead of it's English translation. The series was filmed in Italy and I think produced by an Italian company, so it will be awhile before it reaches Amazon I'm sure. And the best source for news about it, and Aidan's career, seems to be these foreign (non English/British) accounts on Instagram and Twitter and Facebook. So, it's been interesting to see how especially the French interact with one another. I can't comment much on the posts or I think I'll be booted out or something. It's kind of weird an fascinating.

English, I sprakin'.

Abishai wanted to put our very cheap skeleton kit together. Oh my word it's so cheap! Oh well, it's useful IF we are careful. And if not, it was less than $10 at Ollie's. But here is his/her first pose that Justin gave it, "The Dab!" And I couldn't figure out how to get it to stay on the stand but Abishai did! Smarty pants!

I'll stay over here Mommy, and you can read to me. Oh the joys of homeschooling! You can learn wherever you want to! I love my "teacher" chair though, the red one. It reminds me of my mom having "her" chair with her little tray table beside her with her assignment books for us, and other things. It never moved for all the years I can remember growing up. It might have been my Dad's chair for awhile, but then when he got the pinched nerve, he usually just spent time in his bedroom after work. He typically left early and came home late after up to 2 hrs driving each way. I don't blame him. We could go talk to him, but he was in pain. Anyway, the memories I have are quiet unique, the good and bad, but lots of just "normal" neutral ones. So, I have my red teaching chair, Jared's petite grandmother's chair, that I adore because I can put my feet on the floor and it's a rocker. Not a recliner, but it suits me just fine and I love the dark red. You've seen it in other photos I'm sure. So, that's where I sit for read alouds with my teacher tools beside me on the fireplace stone.

Abishai's New Home

This is inside my new home.

And this is my backyard. Mommy, you can buy a pretend campfire you know. I want one. Oh yeah, now I remember where he saw it! It was at the Indiana State Museum! But I know I've seen some toy ones, as well. Honey, just use your imagination with an orange and/or brown pillow, ok?

Well, we had done a decent job with the produce box this week, but I did have some things that needed to be cooked. So I ended up cooking a bunch of different veggies at once using all the cooking methods. (See the Instagram post at the beginning of this set of photos). And, yes, red beets are VERY staining. I was super careful. But man, I love their texture and slight sweet but earthy flavor. And I feel so good about eating something so rich in color and vitamins.

Yikes! And that's white corn (which turned slightly yellow when cooked) behind my hand, and then small papaya that Jared bought. We love having a variety of vegetables and fruit in the house instead of just your standard American fare of peas, carrots, and green beans or apples, oranges, and bananas. The kids don't eat what I eat, but they are welcome to try it. Keturah will sometimes eat things like brusell sprouts while the boys won't.  Jared actually ate the fried purple tipped broccoli I cooked, they all did because it was gone when I got home from Bible study.  You're never too old to try something new!

Maybe that expensive medication is working! Socks was willing to play with his sheepy today! Woot! Woot! $50 for 30 days worth. You aren't actually supposed to give dogs human ibuprofen or naprosyn. It's not formulated correctly for their stomachs. And I guess for all the great years Socks has already given us and for his relatively cheap existence (like we haven't had any major medical problems or bills except that little knobby thing on his gums which was benign.), I guess paying for a pain medication when he's turning 11 is A-OK. He's worth it. We've been blessed with an extremely healthy, gorgeous, worry free animal.

This is what the kids are eating for dinner.

This is what I get to eat for dinner. No, I'm not becoming a vegetarian, but I find batch cooking pretty helpful when I think to actually do it. And I so happened to have a ton of great, colorful veggies on hand thanks to those Misfits boxes. I was going to change them to every other week, but we are still keeping up, so here goes! Beets, zucchini, yellow squash, white corn, sweet potatoes, purple tipped broccoli.

Nothing fancy about this photo except it serves as a reminder that the toilet actually overflowed today. Abishai had just been there with a BM and Keturah had also been in there (with some menstruating mess), so when it overflowed, we had a bit of both floating around. It was nasty. And a bit smelly. And I tried, but couldn't fix it. I haven't had a toilet overflow on me in years. Usually it just gets stopped up. So we turned off the water and by hand poured the extra water out in the kitchen sink. Don't worry, I thoroughly scrubbed everything afterwards. And I did steam mop that floor and the dining room floor (Abishai had spilled a whole cup of milk the day before) and the hallways to the back door (paw prints) the next day. Fun times!

Oh my word. I have to laugh. I was in a hurry and trying to take a selfie. I'm so used to taking screenshots that I used those buttons instead of the big fat white button you see there. I'm such a goof! It was such a great photo I thought! And now I can't use it on anything. Grrrr! I was just happy I had something to wear and that it felt like fall/spring weather, so I've been wearing my fall stuff again because it's the only thing that fits me, like this oversized plaid shirt. Sure it's not particular "in style" but it was when I was in high school so it's "my" style that I feel covered and comfortable in. And my hair had some waves in it. No makeup per usual. Oh well. I tried!

"Gotta get my energies out!"

 

"Mommy, I need to get my energies out!" Abishai says as he makes laps around the front yard. He did big circles and little circles and medium circles. This was at 6pm. This kid was up at 7pm and he's still going strong. Surely field and track will be his thing later. Maybe swimming even. We'll see! Soccer? For now, he knows he wants to and needs to move, so out he goes! I made sure they all took a "recess" at lunch the next day, although it was a tad cooler. They all stayed outside for longer than I thought!

He used the tree like a pole and hung on to it as he rounded the "bend."

We have absolutely NO fashion sense in this house. None. This is how Justin goes to small group. Good thing the rest of the guys are athletes and dress similarly.

Last day to wear Christmas and snow socks. The snow is gone!

This is an ad on one of my phone games! No joke! Is FB's user base getting so low that they have to advertise now? I can remember when we didn't have FB and now how it is a staple of a modern mom's life! I can't do anything without it from events to information to photos to getting information to stories to yes, people, too! I still don't use Twitter and Instagram that much.

The next day, finally, Thursday. Abishai and the dog are ready to head out for the first bathroom run of the day. 8:30am. Abishai would be outside at least 3 more times that day.

Uh oh, the cutters didn't quite through the shapes on the dino nuggets! Is this evolution? Or adaptation?  Abishai and I had just read a book on Charles Darwin. I tried to familiarize home with the big words that we will discuss again in a year or so and often after that.  I also explained we can read a book and not agree with 100% of what it says. He's probably way too young to understand that, but it felt better to say it anyway. You can learn about a person without agreeing to what their believes are. What we do know that there probably lay it all out on a big conveyor belt and have a big rotating drum with a series of the shapes on it, like a pattern, so that they don't waste anything. Fascinating!

Another warm day, and another day for shorts. Oh wait, didn't he just wear that last night to youth group? Buddy, go change!

I didn't get to fully read this when I reposted this and downloaded it. Oh my word, how true is this?! 100% true! Very much! Like I totally get it! This is my day in a nutshell. 9am to 3pm. Why do you think they all get screen/quiet time from 3-5pm? I wouldn't want it any other way though.

It's time to go to the grocery store because I had to scrounge three different kinds of meats to have enough for everybody. I got to have my bacon wrapped scallops I had been saving for a few months on top of GF pasta. And then some of my veggies from last night and the last of the fried kale/collard greens. Yum-O. Simple. Only seasonings. A bit of oil, but no butter or pasta sauce. Plain but good filling food. And yes, Abishai has a small pile of Legos on the table at all time.

The End